54 Consequences

The first class on Tuesday was Calculus. Pele was there earlier than last week. And all of Kyrie's contacts had come up with nothing. Kyrie hadn't found the necklace Pele had given him. Kyrie sighed and said, "Pups, I'll turn in our homework." It'd be best to get it over with now.

Later today he and Syra were going to meet up with professor Hogswell. It was doomed to be a bad day and this was something he could deal with now.

Centra's eyes widened. She'd forgotten about the box Pele had given them. She was curious about the contents, but she didn't want to ask. Dislike was a tricky thing. Even as one got over it, it would rear its ugly head.

And the nightmare Centra had last night was of her brother holding Taru.

But Liza didn't have that problem. Centra nudged her and Liza rolled her eyes. She looked up at Kyrie and said, "What was in the box Pele gave you?"

Kyrie fidgeted with the corner of their homework papers. "It was a necklace. But-" Kyrie nodded to himself and took a deep breath. This would be good practice. "But I lost it during the festival."

Jasper frowned. Losing something during a festival wasn't losing something. "Y-you m-mean it w-was st-stolen."

Kyrie grimaced as he accidentally tore a corner of a piece of paper. Jasper was right. But he didn't want people going after that boy. "I lost it. It wasn't stolen. I'd pulled it out to show it to James and sat it down when I helped break up a fight. Right James?"

James nodded. "Yeah."

James and Kyrie had spent some time alone during the festival. And they had broken up a fight. But Kyrie hadn't shown James a necklace. Either way, this wasn't the first time they'd lied like this. It wouldn't be the last either.

But this time James felt guilty. He'd just lied to his friends. He didn't like that. He didn't do that. He would get the real explanation as soon as possible.

Class should've started already, and Pele was standing near Kyrie. Their group had been the last group he needed to gather homework from. Pele frowned. He was familiar with Kyrie and James' joint lies. It was clear to him that James was out of practice and that, Kyrie, he'd gotten better at it.

Pele placed a hand on Kyrie's shoulder as he took the now torn papers from Kyrie. He whispered, "I understand you wanting to hide something, but you'll need to do better to pull that off with me." Pele glanced at the papers and quickly flipped through them. He frowned as he reached the end. "Kyrie, James I need to speak with you about your homework."

Pele straightened the papers in his hand, spun on his heel, and started his class.

♢ ♢ ♢

James waved at their friends as they left, "See you later!"

As Ren and her team passed them, Ren waved to Kyrie and tapped her wrist. It was a gesture that meant call me.

Kyrie nodded. He had several things he wanted to discuss with her.

After the last of the students left Pele closed the door. He walked back and leaned against the desk at the front of the room. "What's going on? Why'd you lie to your friends about the necklace?"

Kyrie reached for the ribbon on his left wrist, but James beat him to it. "You hurt your self with that last night Ky."

Kyrie blushed and dropped his wrist. He really needed to kill that habit. He'd fidget with Taru's case, but most people got tense when he did that. They couldn't be sure if he was planning to attack or if he was simply fidgeting.

James sighed and removed his holo-watch. "Here you can fidget with this."

Kyrie took the watch and played with it as he spoke. "There was this kid at the festival." Kyrie glanced up at them, then down. His hands stilled. They'd all lost people in that attack. "It was the festival in Avalon. He was chasing his little sister through the crowd."

Kyrie ran his thumb over the face of James' holo-watch. "His little sister accidentally ran into me. And I let her. I –" Kyrie swallowed heavily. "I wanted to help her brother catch up to her, so I let it happen."

Kyrie's hand tightened around James' watch. And the screen cracked. He'd accidentally used his ability.

"I –" Kyrie closed his eyes as he took another breath.

James laid his hand on Kyrie's. Kyrie looked up at him and James nodded. He'd help. He helped.

Kyrie continued, "I was too late. His sister died in the attack. I –" Kyrie licked his lip with nerves. His heart felt heavy in chest. "I hadn't meant to – I wanted to keep everyone safe but –" Kyrie looked between James and Pele. His chin trembled and his form was wracked with guilt. He was wracked with survivors guilt and with the guilt of being a hero.

"I couldn't. They were too scared that I'd turn to trust me." Yet, they trusted he wouldn't lose control. "They wouldn't put up isolation barriers or evacuate like they had the civilians do. Like the boy had. Like I'd made the boy do." Kyrie closed his eyes and took another breath. His hand trembled under James'.

Kyrie opened his eyes. "It was the boy. He stole it and my wallet. I – "

Kyrie loosened his grip on the watch. He stared at its cracked screen. He and the watch were so alike. Broken but still running.

"I let him steal it. I'd forgotten the necklace was in my pocket too." Kyrie looked up at Pele. "I'm trying to get it back, but I don't want him to get in trouble. So, I lied. I – I don't know the others that well. They don't know me yet either, so." Kyrie shrugged, "it seemed better to lie so they wouldn't report it."

James nodded. "Ah." Unfortunately, Kyrie was right. If he'd told DJ or Centra the truth they'd have pushed him to report it. James didn't know Liza and Jasper enough to say what they'd do.

Pele sighed. Kyrie was right that the punishment for thievery was harsh. Too harsh for a child but Laserath treated many children like an adult once they reached seven. Though a child had more restrictions on what they could do. Pele wouldn't take the risk of ruining a child's life. He'd been around enough of that in Avalon. He'd saved his sister from that by moving here.

"Let me see what I can find. If he's stealing then he needs help."

Kyrie smiled softly and with relief. Pele wasn't mad. He'd help Kyrie handle this in a way that would help the boy.

"Kyrie, send me a message with the information you have. I'll find him and see what I can do."

Kyrie nodded. He'd send the message to Pele later that night. James and Kyrie left for their next class.

♢ ♢ ♢

Kyrie and Syra met Hogswell in his classroom after their last class of the day.

Hogswell's arms were crossed as they entered. "Kyrie we need to talk about the rex berry you picked yesterday."

Kyrie grimaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't know the berry was illegal here. I only used it on myself."

Hogswell frowned but nodded. "How much have you used?"

Kyrie shifted uncomfortably. As he tried not to fidget with the ribbon on his left wrist."Not a lot. Just a bit sometimes."

Hoswell sighed but nodded. "Are you having any of the effects of over usage?"

Kyrie coughed uncomfortably as he glanced at Syra. He didn't really feel like saying that he didn't have erection problems in front of her. Instead, he went with, "Uh, no. None."

Hoswell's relaxed and nodded. "Good." He walked behind his desk and grabbed his gear. He slung a recurve bow over his shoulder and attached a sax knife to his hip. The knife was nearly the length of his torso.

"Your detention will be helping the local guild, Lily-Livered with missions after class. You will help them affter class for the next two weeks. Your weekends are yours ... as long Lily-Livered doesn't need you." Hogswell walked to the door. "Come on. I'll help out today. But you'll be on your own after that."