Chapter II


Her little ears were thrown back, as she was carefully listening to the noise outside of her room. This was another tricky part, never getting caught while putting a publication up. She hadn't slept much, as this piece of news had taken her more to write than usual, but she felt that in any case she would catch up on her sleep until noon, when breakfast would be served. There were two groups of students. The night animals, who woke up later, but also finished later, and the early risers, which had morning classes and other matinal activities. So even her sleeping in would not arise suspicions. But she needed that piece of info up on the door of the dinning hall before the early birds would line up for their morning meal. She went down the stairs, towards the cafeteria. She could smell the aroma of the hot infusions spreading through the hallway. Her favorite, the Radiolaria, was made by leaving the water to boil in the rays of the rising sun. You could add pretty much any flavor to it, but the method by which it was made altered its quality; it had that warm, fuzzy feeling when you drank it. You could only produce the drink in certain places, where the sunrise was actually powerful enough to bring the water to ebullition, and even with that, Emmy suspected there must be some kind of conductor plaque that would help diffuse the heat, because she had tried, a month before, to make her own infusions in the backyard early in the morning, and she had never gotten it right. Emmy would of course be one of the first in line to breakfast, in a couple of hours, be it only to get her hands on one of the Radiolaria cups before it was gone. This drink was so popular she wondered why the staff didn't produce more of it. Nowadays, it could even be bought in stores, a chemical replacement, granted, but it tasted just the same. You added one of those purple spheres to your drink and within seconds, you obtained just about the same results.

"Emelda Gallegher" she heard him say before she had time to notice him. She had only just gotten to the last step, and was not even fully engaged in the anteroom when he caught her offguard. How could she have been so careless? Thinking about infusions and breakfast, when she was on such an important mission! And now she was caught in the act, she was exposed and before the morning was over, the whole school would know. Then, without any doubt, would come the principle's office. And yet she had always been on such good terms with the principle! Ok not the best of terms, but neutral enough to keep her out of trouble. "Well, perhaps not", she thought. Perhaps it wasn't too late. After all, she hadn't yet put anything up. "Kristopher Kregger" she replied coolly. What to say next? He made it easy for her : "You're putting up that little News thing?", he asked. It seemed more of an affirmation than a question, from his tone. "Why do you automatically assume this?" she replied almost too quickly. "Darling, you're holding a paper entitled The Secret News in your bag. If you want to keep it a secret, perhaps you should push it further into your bag and actually hide it." Darling? She felt insulted. Or rather, patronized. Who was he to judge her? A grey little coyote, smaller than her even, thin, white belly and plain dark eyes, unlike her eyes which were truly amazing and her soft rich fur which may not have been to the taste of magazines, but which was noticeable anyhow. That guy barely had a personality... and he dared judge her? Well since he knew anyway, and it was too late to pretend anyhow, she took out the article and quickly taped it to the door. At least, this is what she intended to do because in reality she couldn't put the sheet straight on the glass doors and get her tape roll quickly enough. When she did find the tape, it kept sticking to her fur and then wouldn't stick to the glass anymore. On top of that, she couldn't have left scotch tape full of red-golden hair on it, it would have been much too incriminating. Not that it mattered much now that mister Kristopher knew. But if one does something, he might as well do it right, she thought. While she struggled to get the damn paper sticking to the glass, Kristopher just stood there in his comfortable sofa, not offering any help. His mutism annoyed her excessively as she could not see what he was doing and she could not tolerate the idea of being observed, the way little laboratory rats are. She was a free, learned animal, with all the dignity it entailed. Just as she was about to tell him that, she turned around and then stopped short. Kristopher had already forgotten about her, he was back to reading his book. Great! Now books were more interesting than her! She stared, incredulous, at him, until he raised his plain eyes to meet her gaze. "Emelda, don't worry about the so-called popular kids. " he said again on a tone that made her want to throw her claws in his short fur. "What?" she managed to slip. "I don't care about them at all!" "What's that you're hanging on the door?" Emmy felt her fur rise up in eagerness to share her discovery "You'll never believe what Quendal and cie are up to!". "Quendal and cie", he cut in, "whose existence you're not remotely interested in...". She was outraged. And he on his end, seemed so uninterested, and in his remark, casual and laid-back! She already knew she would not be able to fall asleep, not with this bursting anger in her, and yet she didn't let it show. She had already done a spectacle out of herself, but now the surprise element which had given Kristopher so much field was gone, and she had no intention of continuing the discussion any further; he didn't deserve her attention an instant more, even less to know her thoughts. And judge them. She had a new sworn enemy, and in that moment, she suddenly knew who the next article would debunk; everyone had a secret and Kristopher could be no exception.