Week 2 Vote Goal #2: 205

Though Jason attempted to distract himself with some last minute rehearsal, he couldn't stop glancing at Olivia's reply on his Liasier.

It'd been at least twenty minutes since Olivia had left to contact Banshee, and some feeling that twisted his stomach into knots kept worrying that something was wrong. After the first fifteen, he'd sent her a message.

[I'm just ensuring that you're on schedule?]

Her reply had come through a few minutes later . [Yup! Everything is all good, just might take a little longer than originally planned. This Lumi stuff is actually important unlike all that performance stuff. I'm sure the High ShadowSpeaker won't care if I'm late.]

Jason read the message for what felt like the hundreth time. It sounded like it could have been her, yet... something was still off. He'd expected her to ask for Melissa's schedule, and though he wouldn't have been surprised to hear those temple-dismissive words out of her mouth, it wasn't sitting right.

I should have given her a code word, thought Jason, pressing his lips together as he forced himself to put the Liaiser down. Or gone with her. He forced himself to take a breath and look away from his Liaiser. If it goes another fifteen minutes without an update, I'll call her.

Fifteen minutes passed by.

Jason called Olivia. She rejected his call, following it with a message.

[Busy, Frostsong. Later.]

He stared at the message.

She hadn't called him Frostsong, teasing excepted, since he'd apologised.

Jason tapped the piece of ice that hugged his ear and said in a low voice, "Sae?"

The piece of ice grew a beak and half a wing that Jason covered with his hand. "What's up, featherbutt?"

"Is it possible for you to locate Olivia, or would that be asking too much of you?"

"Do I look like a bloodhound to you?"

Jason frowned. "A what?"

"Look, kiddo, I'm a bird," said Sae. "I ain't got a good sniffer on me, and I don't have the magic voodoo stuff that--"

Jason stood up, pretending to be interested in the papers in front of him. "Yes or no, Sae?"

Sae's half-formed wing ruffled. "I guess I could have a look around, see if I could hunt her down, but I'm not making any promises, buddy."

Jason paused to scan the room and see if anyone was watching. With a casual movement, he lifted the papers up in front of his face, giving Sae a cover to poof back into existence in. "Go now. If you can't find Olivia, search for any Serpent related activity. Come back in ten minutes if you don't find anything. I think she was heading for the Starlight Hall to find Banshee."

"Yes, boss," said Sae, sprouting both wings in a puff of snow and darting up towards the ceiling.

From the corner of his eye, Jason watched his Ascended fly over the heads of everyone in the room and disappear through the performance hall door as his ten minutes of agony began. He was beginning to sort through the finalised list of tasks for the third time when Ella walked over, her two Pillarguards standing a few metres behind her.

"How are you doing over here?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of the table and leaning on her arm. Various colours of spray paint covered her forearms, a stark contrast to the black clothes she wore. "I think I've seen you shuffle those same papers at least six times now."

"I'm just ensuring I haven't missed anything vital with the performance so close," said Jason. "It appears to have become my responsibility that everything is ready for tonight. How have your set pieces been going?"

"Pretty much done!" said Ella. "I kinda spent all of last night working on them. Didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but they're done, and I'm pretty proud of them, if I do say so myself. I made an extra one, too. Liv mentioned something about an aurora scene, so I thought, why not? I'm not paying for the spray paint! Would you wanna see?"

Jason glanced at the performance hall door. Sae would be able to find him easily enough, and Olivia wouldn't be gone long if she returned. "I'd love to see them. Please lead on."

Ella jumped off the table and led Jason outside to a small courtyard that his mother had set aside for her. On the short walk there, Ella talked about the various techniques and ideas she'd put into the set pieces. There was a spark in her words, a genuine joy that had the smallest smile lurking on Jason's lips.

They turned the corner into the courtyard.

They froze.

Every single one of her set pieces had been defaced.

One had been tipped over and was covered in large, dirty footprints from at least three people kicking, jumping and stomping across the canvas. Another looked as though they'd tried to set it on fire. Most had been slashed in several places. Yet the worst of it was that every single one had been vandalised by the cans of black spray paint that now lay scattered across the ground.

ELLA OTHER-CURSED.

CORRUPTED. MURDERER. BETRAYER.

WORK CREATED BY THE OTHER SHOULD NOT BE IN SKYPILLAR'S TEMPLE.

PARTNER KILLER.

The words were still dripping down the canvasses as Jason placed a hand on Ella's shoulder.

"Ella--"

She shook him off and continued to just stand there, staring with wide eyes that flicked from one piece to the next.

Jason glanced back at her two Pillarguards. Both had a hand resting on the hilt of their Lightblasters, and Jason became concerned that the behaviour wasn't just because the vandals might possibly still be around.

"You two," said Jason, demanding the attention of the Spiritpillars. "Search the area. The spray paint is still fresh. They had a small window of opportunity. The culprits may still be around."

Both the Pillar's gazes flicked to Ella, cementing Jason's theory about who the Lightblasters were for.

"But our duty--"

"Demands you protect her, and this is fairly clear evidence that someone intends to do her harm!" Jason pointed a finger towards the courtyard. "I'll stay with her, now spread out and find them!"

They didn't argue further, advancing forward into the remains of Ella's set pieces.

Jason pulled Ella away, to the other side of the bushes. Her lips were pressed so tightly together that he could no longer see them. Her eyes were unfocused, staring out at nothing with the glimmer of tears behind them.

"Ella?" he said. She didn't respond. He took her hand and held it between his, right in front of his chest. "Ella. I need you here with me. I need you to listen to me."

"I..." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I knew people wouldn't be happy to see me, but I... I didn't think--I thought..."

"They're wrong," said Jason. "Those things that they wrote, they are not true. They are the lies of scared people that want someone to blame. They will delude themselves into whatever they can to feel safe."

Ella looked up at him, her blue eyes lost and drowning.

Jason held onto her hand just a little bit tighter.

"I'm trying to believe that," she said quietly. Slowly, like every word was an effort. "But I just don't know if--"

She didn't get to finish.

The sound of bells raced across the golden starstone, swivelling both Jason and Ella's heads towards the noise--towards Kaladrel, yet they were too loud to have been from an outer or inner district. Too loud for just one skyshrine to be ringing.

And his tattoo hadn't yet gone cold, which meant the bells had been rung manually.

"It's the Velkala and Dreltao temple skyshrines," said Jason."They're both chiming."

"They're both under a Manifested attack?" said Ella, pulling her hand free.

"Maybe," said Jason, though he doubted it. Sae. Where was Sae? "They both border Kaladrel. It could be something--"

"Spiritcaller, Frostsong!" Jason and Ella turned to find the two Spiritpillar guards racing back towards them. "We're under orders to evacuate everyone to the central courtyards!"

Jason felt a tug on his tattoo. He glanced to his left to find Sae clinging to the inside of one of the bushes, covering the branch in a thin coat of frost, something that only happened when Sae was particularly flustered.

"What's the situation?" said Jason, ensuring their attention was away from Sae.

"The Serpent has appeared outside of Kaladrel," said one of the Spiritpillars. Ella blanched. "Pockets of his followers have also been spotted outside the other temple skyshrines, effectively surrounding the temple. They claim they will all Manifest if anyone attempts to leave the temple grounds."

Jason swore under his breath. "Understood. Escort Ella there, I need to ensure the performance hall is cleared."

The Spiritpillar shook their head. "The performance hall will be cleared by other Pillars. You need to come with us now."

Jason clenched his jaw. "I was given a duty by Cryophoenix to follow today if anything were to occur. I--Ella?"

Ella staggered in place, grabbing her head. She shook it so violently that both Jason and the two Spiritpillars were forced to take a step backwards to avoid being hit. With a strangled noise, her hands dragged down her face to rest over the centre of her chest and her attention snapped onto the centre of the temple.

"The middle," she said, a fervour in her voice. "I have to get the middle. I'll be out of his reach there. He can't get me there but--" Her words choked off, her eyes squeezing in pain for a few seconds until she recovered. "I have to get to the middle!"

Without warning, Ella took off at a run.

The Spiritpillar guards ran after her.

Jason turned back to the bush where Sae was hiding, scooping the Ascended up in his hands and holding him close to his face.

"Did you find Olivia?"

"I did," said Sae. "She's okay, but--"

"Frostsong!" Jason looked up to find one of the Spiritpillars waving after him from ten metres away. "We need you to try and talk her down! She trusts you, you might have a chance to stop her Manifesting!"

The world froze for a moment in Jason's mind.

Did he try to save Ella, or did he slip away now and prepare to fight her?

There was no choice. He had to try.

Jason put Sae on his ear and ran after Ella.

*+*+*+*

Olivia woke up with her head throbbing, which was enough to tell her that she had indeed made a spectacular faceplant on the carpet and probably knocked herself out for a lot longer than a minute.

She touched her head, finding it sticky and... cold? With a frown, she ruffled her hair. She could have sworn it was snow that fell out of it, but it was far too dark to tell. Her only source of light was a thin, faint crack of light along the floor just off to the left. She had no idea where she was or how long she'd been out. Naomi and Sam could have had two minutes or two hours to move her here.

Which led to another question: were they working with the Serpent?

Olivia forced herself to take a breath, to embrace the shadows around her. They were her friends: her allies. They were not suffocating, they were on her side. She closed her eyes, imagining them sinking into her skin with every breath.

"Olivia?"

Olivia opened her eyes to find a glowing pair of violet eyes hovering in front of her.

"Viri!" whispered Olivia, pulling her Ascended into a soft hug. "I thought you'd still be in my bag!"

"I moved into your shadow when you were fighting off that other human," said Viri. "It was risky but I need to be near you, and they took your bag after you passed out."

Olivia nodded. "Good choice. What happened? Where am I?"

"I believe you're in the closet of one of the dressing rooms," said Viri. "After you blacked out, Naomi broke your glasses, then had Sam move you in here where they gagged you and tied your hands. I think someone is still outside guarding you."

Olivia frowned. With someone out there, she couldn't just transform and jump through the wall without some incredible suspicion arising, but she might not have much of a choice if Cryo five-tapped her.

"Well, then thanks for getting rid of those for me," Olivia said as she found the remains of the gag resting on her lap. She ran her fingers along it, surprised to find that it hadn't been untied, but cut clean through. The cloth that had bound her hands was the same. "Huh. How did you cut this?"

Viri just blinked.

Olivia could have just been imagining things, but the cloth felt cold where it'd been cut. Her hand went back to her head as a possibility dawned on her--a slightly insane, highly unlikely possibility--but her tattoo wasn't warmed so it was possible...

Olivia pursed her lips. "Did you have help cutting this, or did you find something?"

"We could say that something found me," said Viri.

"And... We're still good?"

"We're still good, Olivia."

Olivia still had about a million and three questions to ask Viri about the something that had found her. If Cryo's Ascended knew who she was, did that mean Viri knew who Cryo was? Was that why the shadows could always show Banshee where Cryo was? And the Starsong amulets, was it possible that...?

She shook her head. She had to get out of this damn closet and manage to survive the day before she could even worry about Starsong amulets.

"Is the something going to bring a certain someone in for backup?"

"The something will try."

Olivia repositioned onto her hands and knees. Given the way the last few weeks had gone, she was going to plan for worst case scenarios. Even if her tattoo had been warm and Cryo was without a doubt on his way, she wasn't about to sit in the closet and wait to be rescued.

Olivia started running her hands over the walls, searching her surroundings for anything that might help.

If worst came to worst, Banshee could always come and 'rescue' Olivia while putting whoever was outside her room in the naughty corner with a blindfold.

But first, Olivia Shadowheart was going to try and save herself.

*+*+*+*

A/N - I hope you're all ready for just this constant state of increasing "UH OH" until the book is done => 

Think we can get another bonus chapter or two this week? ;D The MVP of this chapter is Charis, who earned a total of 7 bonus votes for vote goal #1 with her AMAZING singing talents on Discord <3 If you haven't joined yet, feel free to come join usss! <3 <3 

https://discord.gg/ZEmVwTY

My NaNo word count is currently at 30k, chapter 90 is complete, and we're still like... flippin' at LEAST 3-4 chapters from the end (someone take this keyboard off me)