With a look at Kattie and a nod toward the door, the girls took their leave. In their room they did their meditations then fell fast asleep. Lana made sure to wear her mouth mask because she was sure after the day she had, the nightmares would come. And come they did.
The next day at the market went much the way the previous day did. The market was a resounding success, selling out of everything. There were a lot of questions about the kitchen to which Lana happily responded, informing the customers it would soon be on the market. The group then had dinner at the tree. Lana and Kattie sparred, practicing their moves while the boys headed off to the VR center once more.
Lana was feeling her days were like Groundhog's Day. Though she expected something to change soon. The soldiers who had been out in force quit their sentry duty yesterday. She fully expected the bad behavior to resume. She went to bed that night wondering when the shoe would drop.
Monday morning the homeroom teacher announced there would be a portal outing in a week. Everyone was to select a group of 5 and inform the teacher. Combat classes were cancelled that day to choose groups and practice a little. Lana's team was selected so they hung out under her tree and marveled over her venus fly trap which she affectionately named Seymour. It had grown a few inches and the pods to catch flies were also getting bigger. With the extra time off, Lana was able to start growing food earlier for the next weekend's market. She wanted to be better prepared.
When she checked her current balance, she was sitting at 7,517 credits. She was seriously debating buying more blankets. Her fingers were itching for them but she fought herself to keep her eye on the prize. An outing was coming soon. With any luck, they would get enough crystals to buy the next level yet of both skills and get these two team members up another level. Dobin on the other hand needed a different solution.
On Wednesday, heading back from her tree, she noticed a boy leaving the second-year area with a level 4 earth book and a beast crystal. She made a point of remembering his face. Someone she cared a lot about needed that book.
The next weekend's market yielded even more than the last one. After buying more supplies to handle the amount of packaging required her balance was still over 10,000 credits. However, a level 4 and a level 5 ability book would not be cheap. She got lucky last time and found them used. There was no counting on such luck. She needed high numbers.
Lana went to bed Sunday night with hope in her heart. If they could get a good planet and under the right circumstances, they could do this. They learned in class they could get 100 credits for a basic tier beast crystal, 1,000 for an intermediate tier and 10,000 for an advance tier. They just needed to hope for a planet with advanced tier beasts they could beat.
The next morning, only Peter was at breakfast. Lana's heart dropped into her stomach as she felt the shoe had dropped in the night. In class, they were told the portal outing was cancelled due to two missing students. This told her Quinn was with Vorden which made her quite nervous. She knew Quinn was a vampire and was afraid Mister Hunk would end up a meal. By lunch time, she started hearing murmurings that Peter had pushed Vorden through a portal. She sent a message to her brother:
Follow that Peter Chuck kid. I want to know who he meets with.
Dobin replied with a thumbs up emoji.
After lunch, he sends her a message:
Met with Earl. Room 4212.
Lana sent her own thumbs up emoji.
Since Vordan was gone, her sparring session was not going to take place so she went to knock on a certain door after her afternoon class. The boy who answered was beaten and bruised. Yet, he was the same boy that had the book and crystal the other day. She didn't feel guilty in the least when she pushed him into his room with a root tearing up his floor to pull all four of his limbs in different directions. She was surprised that despite the pain he must be feeling, he refused to give her any information. She then, happily decided she needed to try something else. Instead of using her normal vine as a whip, she summoned her climbing rose vine. She walked out of the room with a healed boy, an ability book, a beast crystal and all the information she requested. She was really thinking she needed to buy a dominatrix outfit after what she just did and the level of pleasure she took in it.
As she stepped into the hall, she again heard whisperings. This time that the two missing students had returned. Already on the second floor, she simply needed to head down through a few fire doors to get to the second section. On the way to the rooms, just passed the fire door to enter the hall, the girl she saw in the library with Quinn that day ran passed her. She tried to drop off the book to her brother when she realized he must be at the VR room since he was out. She just carried her prizes with her to the next room. She knocked hesitatingly afraid he'd be asleep after having spent time on a red portal planet.
Portals were used to travel between planets that have been discovered. Space ships were still used but portals expedited travel. The colors represented the level of safety for those on the planet. Green meant the planet was fully explored and humans were living there in some form of shelter and paid taxes to the owner of the planet. Orange was not fully explored and a party could run into a beast not yet seen which could be beyond their skills. Red was unexplored or too dangerous for all but the most experienced traveler.
She heard angry footsteps and the door flung open. A startled Vorden appeared in front of her. "Oh, hi."
A shy smile replied, "hi yourself," she looked him over really quick. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I know his secret now."
"I figured you would. I was just hoping there would be no traumatic reveal."
"Oh, no. There WAS a traumatic reveal, very much so." Vorden shuddered at the memory.
"Would you like me to bring you something to eat instead of eating downstairs?"
Vorden smiled at her, "that would be wonderful."
She smiled and ran off to her tree where her friends would be, with her kicking herself because it was time for her to cook, not time for the VR center. Dobin was waiting on her. She stopped by her room and put the basic tier beast crystal in her room before heading to her tree. She handed the book to her brother then began cooking. He looked at her with a question. "It was donated," was all she was willing to say.
She made sure to make a nice hearty meal and set aside a plate for Vorden. She still had plenty of packing materials left from the weekend so she was able to use a plate that was not part of the kitchen. She also made some desserts. She then realized she should ask her tree to make a food pantry rather than keeping these things in her bedroom up in the branches, but she would do that after Vorden had his food. She grabbed her last jar of apple cider and headed off to deliver the food telling everyone she would be back and eat after she delivered it.
When she got to the room, she noticed Peter was in the hallway next to the door against the wall crying. She then knocked on the door and trudging footsteps approached. It was Quinn.
"Is Vorden still here?"
Quinn nodded and let her in, not even looking at Peter.
Vorden was lying on his bed when she approached. He looked at her, shocked she was there so fast.
"Did you not notice how fast my kitchen cooks? Yes, I got everyone else eating. I'll eat mine once I get back. I wanted you to have a hot meal. This is the last jar of apple cider so savor it."
Vorden looked at her, "thank you but you should have eaten first."
"Excuse me? Did you know you were going to be pushed through a portal and knew to bring food with you?"
He chuckled wryly, "no. No, I did not know."
"Exactly, now enjoy a nice hot meal."
As she turned to go, "I'm glad you returned safely as well, Quinn."
He looked at her, "Why do you never offer me any food?"
"Do you eat it? Or do you need some blood. Do you eat steak? I can give you some if you need it."
Quinn chuckled, "No, I'm all good. I do enjoy a barely cooked steak. I think" He shared a glance with Vorden then looked back at her. "Thank you for thinking of us."
She nodded, "I'm off to my food before it gets too cold. Have a good rest!"