A Murder Of Crows {2}

"Checking our dorm first doesn't mean shit. They don't know it's us," Kieran said.

"Everyone knows you and our lovely student council president don't exactly get along," Val pointed out. "Of course he'd suspect you first. He knows what kind of person you are."

Kieran flicked her a look. "And what kind of person am I?"

"The kind who would beat kids in a shady back alley and steal their money," I said.

"Did you want a demonstration?" Kieran said, his glare now fixed on me.

"I was stating facts, not picking a fight," I said. "The Crows want a reason to come after you. Now they've found one."

"They can't prove it's me," Kieran said dismissively.

Val shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I found. A little more caution won't hurt us."

"Yea, caution like not talking about this in the middle of the dining hall?" I suggested.

"No one's close enough to hear us," Val said, reaching for my spoon again. She pouted when I grabbed it and held it under the table. "Not nice, Jpeg."

"Everyone be on your guards, but don't be obvious about it," Kieran said. "We'll shake them off our trail and keep going as we have been. They can suspect me all they want; suspicion isn't proof."

"And you've got the best of the best covering your tracks," Val said, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

"If you were the best of the best, we wouldn't need him," Mia said, jerking her thumb in my direction.

"I can't tell if she was insulting you, me, or both of us," I said to Val.

"Probably both of us," Val said, letting her arm slide from my shoulders. She didn't seem put down by the insult, though. She dug into her lunch, her information delivered and the rest weighing on Kieran's shoulders.

So I copied her example and started eating. Kieran was talking to Mia in a low voice, probably about what to do so they didn't get caught.

As long as I was safe, they could do whatever the hell they wanted. We had a deal that even if someone got caught, they never gave away the names of anyone else. It was the golden rule driving this whole thing.

"Are you worried?" Val asked me.

"Why would I be worried?" I nodded towards Kieran. "No blood on my hands."

Val's lips quirked into a smile as she eyed me. "Always a mystery, Jpeg. No guilt for any of it."

"You're one to talk," I said. I turned my gaze away from her and started eating again, wondering just how I'd screwed up badly enough to get myself stuck with these people.

Lunch ended and we headed back to class. By the time classes were over, I was ready to sit in my room alone, finish my homework, and relax the rest of the night.

I locked the door to my room, contemplated barricading the door, and finally decided Val would still find a way in. She was determined, I'd give her that.

I sat at my desk, looking around my room. Crowe Academy had several different dorms, some made for single rooms, some for double rooms, and some for people to live with up to four in a room. The single rooms were more expensive, but I liked the privacy.

I turned on my TV, flipping to the news channel. They'd probably run a short segment on the attack, and it was best to keep up with any information they had on us.

Sure enough, the anchor on TV was accompanied by a vague picture of cop car with its lights on. I turned the volume up.

"-nother victim was found beaten on a side street late last night. Police have no revealed the victim's age or name, but believe the attack is connected to several other similar attacks around town. Caution is advised to anyone traveling the streets, especially alone or at night," the anchor said. "Any information should be reported to the local police. An investigation into the attacks is continuing, aided by testimonies from the previous victims. We'll update you as the investigation unfolds."

The story switched to something else and I turned the TV off. Interesting. So they still weren't saying the cause behind the attacks.

I turned my computer on, leaning back in my chair. So simple to avoid. So simple to get caught up in.

Drugs were a fascinating thing.

We were all told not to do drugs, to just say no. But was it really so bad if they weren't illegal drugs? Just something to help you focus, to help take the edge off, to help you sleep. A bottle of pills you could pay a little more for if it meant not going to the doctor for a prescription. It wasn't meth or heroine; just prescription pills to help you along in life. Surely it would never be addicting. Surely you could stop as soon as the problem was solved.

Surely you'd never find yourself cornered in an alley after missing a payment.

He was a smart man, our boss. The Doctor, they called him. No one knew his real name. No one dared to find out, not even me.

He could sucker kids in, promise to fix their issues with a few pills for the right price. Need more? Keep coming back. And back. And back. Until you're hooked and hopeless, desperate for money before he sent his Collectors after you and made you the next example.

The Doctor. The Collectors. The Crows.

Fancy titles for people who were average behind the mask of letters. The Doctor was just a man who dealt in various drugs. The Collectors were just people like me and Kieran. The Crows were just students with a little more recognition than the rest.

And here we all were, tangled up in each other. It was just a game, in the end.

I shook the thought from my mind. I was good at games. It didn't matter who the other players were. I didn't have to be the winner, as long as I wasn't the loser.

I got to work on my homework, letting that consume my thoughts. I had to keep up my appearances here. As far as anyone was concerned, I was an average students. I got good grades, I occasionally answered questions in class, and I didn't cause any trouble.

That's how I wanted to keep it, especially if the Crows were looking into Kieran and his friends. I should've seen this coming, though. Kieran had a complicated history with the Crows, and it was no surprise they turned their attention right on him during all of this.

It was about two hours before I heard my door creak open. I pinched the bridge of my nose and didn't bother turning around.

"Val," I said. "Get out."

The door shut and Val laughed a little. "Have a heart, Cor. I brought a present."

I finally spun my chair to face her. She held up a puzzle and sat down on my floor, taking the top of the box off and dumping the pieces on my rug.

"Come on," she said, moving them around and picking out the edge pieces. "I know you're not still working on your homework."

"Actually, I am," I said. "Two problems left."

"Then finish them and come help me with this," she said.

I sighed and finished my homework. When it was done, I tucked it back into my bag and joined Val on the floor.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting blackmail on that guy? The Doctor will be pissed if we don't get him his money," I said.

"You worry too much. I'll have what I need by tomorrow morning, and the rest can be Kieran's problem," she said. "You of all people know how easy it is to get blackmail on someone nowadays. I can track everything they've ever done online."

I did know. I could hack my way into just about anything, and Val could track and trace just about anything anyone had ever done online. Together, we were a dangerous pair, and a valuable asset to the Collectors.

"Is Kieran nervous at all?" I asked.

Val shrugged. "Hard to tell with him. He acts all calm and unbothered, but for all we know, he's panicking inside. He's tough to read. Mia, too. But with the Crows getting more involved, they have to be hesitating even the slightest."

"No, I don't think they will." I picked up a puzzle piece and spun it between my fingers. "They're too smart to hesitate. They'll already be planning how to cover their tracks better and how to move against the Crows."

"I think we're having an impact on you," Val said.

"I'm not going down for any of this. If that means they have to stay focused too, I'll kick their asses into gear however I have to," I said.

"Teamwork for the sake of personal security," Val said, tossing another piece into the edge pile. "It's a funny life we're living, huh?"

"Hilarious," I said.

We gathered the edge pieces and began putting them together into a border. I hated how well we worked together, and I hated the comfortable silence between us. It was too normal. Anyone who saw us right now might assume we were friends.

There was no friendship to be found. We might use the word for lack of something better, but there wasn't the loyalty and trust that came with real friendship. Just necessity. Val needed me to help her group, and I needed Val to keep my secrets.

The silence lasted for a while. We built the border, and started piecing together the inside of the puzzle. Wordlessly, we each picked two corners to build out from, and swapped pieces as we needed to. We'd spent evenings like this before, just building puzzles together.

Val, of course, broke the silence a while later. "I think things will start to change around here."

"Oh?" I pushed another piece into place and searched through my pile for the next one.

Val nodded. "I think the Crows are going to get more serious. I think the school will put more pressure on them. It won't be long before the truth gets out about why these kids are victims. The school will want the situation under control, and the students are the best way to do that. They'll have better luck finding out who's involved."

"Even if they do get serious, it doesn't matter. Kieran is an obvious choice for a place to start, but he's right. They don't have any proof," I said. "Eventually, they'll have to give up and focus on someone else."

"Unless they get a lead," Val said. "Even a tiny lead will be enough for them to lock in on Kieran and the rest of us. They'll go at it from every angle they can think of, and use any scrap as an excuse to keep searching all of us."

"You don't sound worried," I said.

"Because I'm not. I think it's going to be fun," Val said. "The Crows are smart. But so are we. They work well together, but we cover our weaknesses with brains and talent. You and I are just getting sucked into other people's war, Jpeg. I'm excited to see how it'll all play out."

"The Doctor won't let us lie low until it's all over, so we'll just have to play it smart," I said. I looked at our half-finished puzzle and picked up a piece. "Think we'll win?"

Val took the piece from me and put it where it belonged. "I think we stand a chance."

There was a knock on my door and I gestured to it. "Manners. Polite. Societal norms when you want access to a room that isn't yours."

"Come in," Val called.

The door opened and the girl in charge of my hallway came in. "I thought I heard voices in here. It's getting late, Cor. Your friend's got to head back to her own room."

"You heard her. Get out," I said, standing up.

"I'm going, I'm going. Don't ruin our puzzle. We'll finish it later." Val stood up and started for the door. She looked over her shoulder at me, a grin starting to curve on her face. "See you tomorrow."

She shut the door, leaving me alone in my room. I looked down at the puzzle, but didn't bother picking anything up. She'd barge back in tomorrow most likely. We'd finish it up and put it away, just like all the other puzzles.

I sat down at my computer, just staring at the screen. Val seemed to know something else. But what wasn't she telling us?

It made me feel a little on edge, even as I tried to push it from my mind. Something was going to happen, and soon. The Crows were going to make a move, I had no doubt of that. Val wouldn't have brought it up if she didn't know something.

But what? Just what were they going to do?

Tomorrow. It had to be tomorrow. That's why Val had said "see you tomorrow". That grin was the one she got when she was pulling her own strings for amusement.

I placed my fingers on the keyboard but didn't type anything. There was only one word whispering its way through my mind right now.

Tomorrow.

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A.N.- Alright, so the update schedule for this for now will be new chapters every Friday and Monday! If I can write faster, I'll update more often, but for now this buys me time to work on new chapters. I hope you're all enjoying so far!