"… So in conclusion gentlemen, this why I feel we should be taking an active part of the schools defenses. I will personally handle all the work of planning and organizing everything, as long as you can supply me with the manpower."

Duane concluded his speech; he felt it had gone rather well. It had been roughly the same thing he had told Tessa, but expanded. All he had to do now was wait for there verdict. Perhaps he should have been more polite...

"Stop spying on the bikini girls!" Trish said to Troy, throwing a balled-up napkin at the back of his head. "That's just creepy." Although why an organization which tried to keep the MOH from getting pregnant would show nothing but porn on TV and have a huge window facing the swimming pool, which seemed to be frequented by teen girls in bikinis and old guys, was something of a mystery to her.

"Somehow I get the feeling we're all doomed," she said to herself. "But then, what do I care? If the world goes to hell, chances are I won't have to study for my final exams at the end of the term."

She finished the folds on her origami sparrow. This one was special-- the sigil wasn't using an actual object to track the mysterious person down, as it had done with Laurella's drawing. She hoped it would work.

"Let's see if we can track this guy down," she said. She whispered something to the bird, and it rose unsteadily off the table an hovered towards the door. Trish grabbed a croissant roll from the table and followed it, humming to herself.

I TOOK YOUR ADVICE. she typed. I HAVE BREAD! CROISSANT BREAD! WHICH IS YUMMY! AND FRENCH!

Outside, the sparrow took a sharp right and fluttered down the street.

"Good boy," Trish said. "Find me Not Task Malben."

"You forgot to speak in capitals," Troy said, dodging the napkin. How it had taken so long to reach him was yet another mystery that wouldn't be explained. "I mean, we're ninjas. We can do that, right?"

Not bothering to wait for her answer, he gulped down the last of the orange juice and wiped his mouth with the napkin. "Shall we go?" he said, making his way to the window. "We can't let it get too far ahead of us, can we?"

Harm wakes up!
 

Harm's eyes openned slowly, "Is that an origami bird and who just jumped out the window?"

Sitting up and shaking his head, Harm woozily thanked Micheal and flopped onto a nearby deck chair.

I think I'll rest here a while, I think that knock to my head must've loosed my senses...flying origami... With that Harm shut his eyes and napped.

The paper birdy flew surprisingly well for a bird made of paper, except that it did not soar out into the sky to a destination unknown like expected, but rather to another mansion only a few large grassy fields away.

There, it flew straight up to the third story window, bounced against the glass, fell, then looped back around to bounce against the window again. There would be no doubt where "Not Task Malben." was, and his evil twin, "Faze/Kings/Saki".

"Will you be fine in here?"
Stacey was surfing channels. "I've been alone in your room before, haven't I? Do what you gotta do. I'll seek out that chewing gum commercial."

Laurella changed into simple blue jeans and a "I love a man with tentacles" black t-shirt and went into the kitchen to start baking.
"Let's see. Stacey loves Death By Chocolate. Let's see if I have the stuff to actually make it."
She found everything she needed to make a relatively small cake. There were no candles, but Stacey wouldn't give a shit. Hell, she probably only mentioned her birthday just so she could get a cake and eat it, too.
"Time for some baking music."
Laurella put on her headphones and was listening to numerous MP3s from various animes that she downloaded off the Internet.

Jimmy stood leaned on a wall near the demonic portal, and kinda glanced it over with half-closed eyes, before yawning audibly and stretching out. Honestly, this really should have been more interesting for him, but the number of guards and rules along with the 'edutainment' made it feel more like a school field trip to him than anything.

He was half tempted to cut out, but watched a bit longer. It was true that the demonic energies were making him feel a bit skivvy, though that could have just been the constant presence of authority figures, as well. Especially considering he wasn't completely certain he was supposed to be in there, but none of the other protectors had stopped him from getting on the bus.

Slowly he reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out Harm's cross necklace--the one for Laurella--and began to twirl it on his index finger, while slowly slipping into thought, his mind wandering to how dangerous all this was. The entire world was at stake, and his life too probably.

'Then again...' he thought to himself, 'this world has already gone to hell... what do I care?'

He let out another, quieter yawn, and decided that he, indeed, did not care what happened to the gate. He'd just do whatever felt like the most fun at the moment... and at the moment he just really wanted another shot at those 'Death Books'.

"Why didn't we notice that other mansion right over there?" Trish mused to herself.

She stared up at the mansion for a moment. The sparrow fluttered with some difficulty into the front yard, then promptly expired on the doorstep.

Then Trish was gone.


Normal people would have just walked up to the door and knocked, but Trish wasn't normal. Troy made a point of letting her know that on a daily basis.

The girl dropped lightly from a tree branch to a balcony on the far side of the mansion, which did not face the street. A silvery dart glimmered in her hand as she fiddled with the lock on the window. Then she was inside, listening for the tell-tale sounds of a keyboard being used. She thought she saw a dining room down the hallway. Maybe the kitchen was nearby..?

HEY, she typed. YOU DON'T HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY POP TARTS AT YOUR HOUSE, DO YOU?

She was still hungry.

PROBABLY, typing could be heard in a room of the mansion with Trish's ninja hearing, WE'VE GOT FREAKING EVERYTHING ELSE. GRANTED, I CAN'T EAT MUCH OF IT.....SAY, WHY DO YOU ASK?

Task looked about, wondering if they'd tracked him down or something. Which would be pretty weird. What were they, Ninjas?

"No real reason," Trish said suddenly, standing in the doorway. She was staring down at her phone. "Awwww. The battery's dying. I knew I should have charged it before school the other day."

She looked up.

"HEY!" she said. "You! You're the kid who fell asleep in class!"

Apparently her amazing ninja deductive skills weren't that amazing when it came to remembering important details about classmates.