I was able to bounce back from that fairly quickly after eating, and the rest of the day passed without much conflict for me. Hodek, on the other hand, started to look more off-put by the second, reminding me time and time again that we had very, very different upbringings. I didn't get the feeling that it was the constant talk of combat, strategy, and strict schedule that made him uncomfortable; it was more the idea that all this had been my childhood that seemed to disturb him. After our talk in his room the night before, he made a point to be more reserved with his opinion of this place, but he wasn't the best at hiding it. I tried to stay optimistic and for the most part it worked. Besides, he would have to come around eventually, right?

It was hard to keep count of exactly how many days had passed since we first arrived, but I figured I had more important things to worry about. All I know is that we were more or less a week in when I pulled Anniversary aside by my room after training, and asked her about Event. Nothing I'd learned here could have prepared me for the way she shuddered when I said his name out loud.

"No," she said.

"That...that's all you're giving me? No? That doesn't even make sense."

"I said no, Masquie. Don't you have somewhere to be?" She tried walking past me, but I stepped to the side and blocked her way.

"I'm on break, and this is what I planned to use it for. Did something happen? You can tell me, I'm not a kid anymore."

"It's not that, I just...I'm not going to subject you to something like this. Not on the first couple of days back. I know what'll happen if I tell you, I know what you'll do."

"What, then? Just give me an answer. Did someone take him away...?"

"I sent him outside and we lost him! Now will you drop it?"

We were both frozen for a good moment. I lifted a finger to point, but didn't know where to.

"You...lost him? What does that mean?"

"It means we don't know where he is and we have to assume that he..." she took a shudder of a breath and closed her eyes. "...that he's dead. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"How can you not know where he is, didn't he have a tie with him?"

Anni folded her arms and averted her gaze, sighing with regret. "He was one of our very best, too. I think he actually started picking up some mannerisms from the Elder."

"But what happened to him? Where did he go, why did you send him out in the first place?"

She picked at a small patch of fabric on her uniform like she wanted more than anything to avoid answering me. "He...well, I sent him on a mission. Maybe it was two years ago? No, less. But we haven't heard from him at all since his last audio transmission, we have no choice but to say he died. He was supposed to find the whereabouts of a girl named Altaris."

I narrowed my eyes. Altaris? I'd never heard such a name be used for any of us. It almost sounded Latin. "And he was sent to do it alone? That's a little careless, even if he—"

"Masquie, I know I'll never be the kind of mastermind our Elder was. But Event wasn't alone, I made sure of that much. He'd been sent out with a team of about seven, and I gave each one of them the basics of the mission."

"Which were...?"

"Find a young woman, I think around the age of 19 at the time, whose eyes can turn yellow. Wait until they go back to normal, because in that state she's at her most dangerous. I handed Event a slip of paper to be used only when they recover her, it had what I believed to be the Elder's untrue name on it. Once Altaris read it, she would understand."

"The Elder's untrue name...are you sure she would've wanted that?"

"Absolutely. I was actually thinking about sending another division out, but there just aren't enough recruits to do it now. And considering what happened to Event..." she stared past me, unblinking, still hugging herself. "I'm not sure I could take that just yet." She seemed to realize that she still hadn't answered my question in full, and sighed. "Just come with me to the record room. I'll try explaining all of this better."

I glanced back toward the room where Hodek was staying and felt a pang of worry. "Can I bring him with me? I don't want to leave him alone for too long, especially not here."

Anni's mouth twisted in consideration. "If you must. But I've noticed, he does seem to have this little habit of speaking for you. Are you sure we can trust him with these things?"

"Well, he's seen more of the world than I have. Besides, I trusted him, and look where I just so happened to turn up." I patted her on the shoulder and opened Hodek's door to poke my head in.

"Hey. You're not doing anything, are you?"

He sat up straight and reached for his knife, pausing when he realized it was just me. "...not really," he said under his breath.

"Good. You're coming with Anni and I to the record room. You won't be bothered by any guards there, you won't even have to do anything."

"My two favorite activities. Uh, can I ask why exactly you're taking me?"

I shrugged and opened the door all the way, waving him forward. "So you're not penned up in here like a teenager who's afraid of the sun. How often do you leave this room, anyway?"

"No comment." He got up, stretched, and decided against leaving his newly prized weapon here, stuffing it into one of his pockets as he followed me outside.

—

The walk to this supposed "record room" was a surprisingly long and confusing one. While Anni was adamant about knowing the way, it seemed that she got lost a couple of times herself. I looked around the halls as their light started to fade, and turning my gaze back ahead I saw a small white speck in the distance. It was a single lit lantern, hung next to a ladder. Anni sighed with relief when she caught sight of it, and began climbing up. I lifted my mask from my face with a finger before snapping it back on.

"Does anybody else know about this?"

"About what?"

"Any of it. Event disappearing, the mission, this room? Didn't you think to tell your immediates?"

Hodek had been rooted to his spot for a few minutes, even after I'd started up the ladder. "Immediates?" He muttered.

"You had a brother, right? It's kind of like...everyone is more or less extended family here. Your immediates are the ones closest to you, sort of like a club. I guess that makes me one of yours," I said without looking down. Hodek waited a moment, then followed me.

"If we're not counting the brother part, then sure."

When we finally arrived, I wasn't even sure if we'd went the right way. For starters, the door to the record room didn't even look like a door. It was more like an extra piece of wall somebody had nailed on as a placeholder. We were almost standing in pitch black, so I was dumbfounded when Anni took a small metal chip out of her pocket and stuck it in a slot I didn't realize was there. She opened the door, and dust flew. The good news was that we could see clearly again.

"Don't let all of this fool you," Anniversary said through poorly disguised coughs. "This is the second time I've been here this week, and there's still plenty of cobwebs stuck to the door."

"By what, magic?" Hodek asked under his breath. I sighed and shook my head.

"So what were you going to show me here, Anni?"

She was currently untangling countless wires from each other, unperturbed by the snapping noises that occurred every now and then. "Before we lost track of him, Event would give us...well, he'd give me consistent reports through the tie, telling me how far along the division was, where exactly they were, who was still there..."

"Wait, 'who was still there?' You mean, some of them—"

"Some of them came back home, Masquie. They didn't die. Anyway, I still have his old recorded updates here. Everything in those seems to be going smoothly, until around the time that Major left."

Wait. Major...why do I get a strange feeling from them? And why would they abandon a mission this important? They seemed a lot sharper than some of the others.

Hodek tapped my shoulder and nodded towards a frail-looking wooden chair in the corner of the room. "I think I'm just going to chill there. Don't really want to get caught up in whatever kind of family drama this is."

"Okay. Some of this stuff might be a little sensitive, anyway."

"Can't be any more 'sensitive' than you," he said, stretching his arms with a smirk as if preparing for a nap to end all naps. I rolled my eyes.

"Wow. Alright, you know what I mean. Just...whatever you hear doesn't leave this room, got it?"

"Aye-aye, partner."

At least we still have that going.

"Masquerade."

"Yeah," I responded, turning to Anniversary with my hands behind my back. She held a pair of ancient, busted-up headphones in one hand and a tape in the other.

"You're lucky I was feeling nice today, otherwise you'd be in training right about now."

"I know."

She took a quick glance to locate the tape player built into a panel on the wall, and stuck the tape inside. She rewound it until a tiny screen to her right read 17:10:26.

"This is where things started getting a little weird. Here, you can..." as she hit play and handed me the headphones, a loud screech of feedback came from them that lasted about five seconds before being completely cut off. Anni was frozen for a moment, then disconnected the poor things to examine the plug. It had been scratched mercilessly, rendering the headphones useless. She sighed.

"Fine. We'll all listen, I guess."