Blood Queen Reborn

Layla had entered the class later than the others, wondering where Erin had gone. When she went to sleep early, she thought that her roommate had just gone to bed after she did, but given that Layla couldn’t find her in their dorm room, nor in class, there was definitely something going on.

What she did see was that Peter was very anxious, looking constantly at the empty seats and over his shoulders. Not only that, but Quinn sat in the spot next to her, when he would usually sit with Peter in the back of the class. Things like this wouldn’t happen without a reason.

’Where are Erin and Fex? And what’s up with those two?’ She thought.

Since Quinn was sitting next to her, she decided to ask him what was going on.

Layla leaned over, "Hey, do you know where Erin and Fex are at?"

Quinn didn’t immediately respond, and glanced behind him, right where his roommate was at. He knew the answer, but it would take some explaining to do, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to involve Layla.

"I’m just asking since the portal outing is soon," Layla said with concern, "And I haven’t seen Erin all morning."

When she brought that up, Quinn realized that she was part of their team too. He knew what happened, and keeping her in the dark wasn’t fair.

"It has something to do with Peter. I’ll tell you more after class."

’Peter?’ Layla thought, before turning to look at the teen boy in question, which made him shrivel up in his chair. He looked incredibly guilty of something.

Del then entered the room. His cheery face was gone and replaced by a serious look.

"I’m sure some of you have noticed, but there’s been an incident with some students in the classroom," Del began, which got some students to look around, "The portal outing will be postponed until further notice."

Several students began whispering.

"Did something really happen to the Ice Queen?"

"Maybe someone decided to act because of her ability?"

"It’s not just her, but another kid who’s missing. They were both at the assembly."

"Forget them, what about the portal outing? I want to kill a beast!"

"Quiet down!" Del yelled, "This isn’t permanent, and we may proceed with the portal outing regardless of the missing students, but until then, we will be unable to go on the outing."

A student in the middle of the class raised his hand. Del looked at the student and sighed.

"Yes."

"What happened to the students?"

"Now if I could tell you, I would have, wouldn’t I?"

Class continued as normal, but that wouldn’t stop the whispering between the students. Rumors were already starting to spread about what happened. Layla was trying to piece together everything she could from their murmuring.

They mentioned that the missing students apparently went to a red portal planet, which made her blood pressure rise. To go to a red portal planet meant death, no one would willingly go to such a place, and Peter kept shriveling up whenever Layla looked at him.

’I wonder... is he guilty of doing something to them?’ Layla thought.

Anger was forming within herself, and she didn’t realize it until the pencil in her hands nearly snapped in two. Taking in a deep breath, Layla told herself that she was getting mad at Peter without knowing all of the information.

Growing up, Layla was told that the reason there was so much conflict in the world was because a level 5 ability user could always overpower anyone weaker than them, and there was no one keeping their abuse in check. It was just a fact of the world, the strong dominated the weak, and this line of thinking was encouraged. However, despite Erin having once had a level 5 ability, she was changing in her beliefs.

’But Erin was a level 5, and she could just be changing because she lost her ability...’ Layla thought, ’If she hadn’t lost it, then she would’ve been like all the other mid levels, selfish and abusing their power.’

Classes ended early that day, and the rumors continued to spread. Both Quinn and Layla left the classroom together, and right when Quinn was about to explain what happened, Peter left the room. Both Quinn and Peter made eye contact for a second. Peter looked just as nervous as that morning, and Layla’s nasty look towards him didn’t help.

Internally, Peter was hoping that Quinn wouldn’t ask where he was going. He needed to be somewhere soon, and feared he would get tortured again for being late.

’Quinn will understand,’ Peter thought, trying to reassure himself.

Once Peter left their view, Quinn couldn’t help but wonder where his roommate was going. Either way, he began explaining what he knew to Layla, about the portal room being empty when they first arrived, and how Peter was forced to push Erin into the red portal planet.

As he explained it, they went outside of the school building, and walked around campus where a few benches and trees resided. A couple of students were similarly taking a stroll around as it was a nice day out.

"Peter isn’t telling me who it was that did all of that to him, and I’m worried that it’ll happen again," Quinn spoke with concern, "You’re the last person I can trust to help me."

Layla sat there thinking about it. She had been so caught up in her dream fantasies with Erin that she almost forgot the reason why she was here.

It was to find out why people disappeared at this military base.

This had made her remember the crushing reality of her life. It meant she had a job to do. The only detail she couldn’t figure out was that the disappearances were related to a specific world leader, but this was still her strongest lead.

Layla nodded, "What do you need help with?"

"I have a feeling that the people who forced Peter to betray us, are the high levels I saw him hang out with," Quinn replied, "I just want some backup in case something goes wrong."

Layla had something to gain by working with Quinn, and there was an opportunity to find out more, she just needed to word things right.

"Do you think that it wasn’t just the high tiers, but someone even higher? Think about it, You said that there wasn’t anyone at the portal room when you arrived, right? Who would have the authority to make that happen?"

Quinn’s eyes widened, and he looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone around to hear.

Layla then leaned in close to him, a serious look to her eyes, "It’s just a hunch, but by working together, we can figure out who’s really behind all of this."

Quinn paused, then nodded his head, "Let’s do it."