Page 51 of Trivium

“You’re all cowards!” She seethed to the room at a last attempt to get people’s attention. The crowd quickly went back to their conversations, talking about her in hushed voices. At least they were talking. The more people who knew about Park, the more likely it was someone would come forward.

“Loveleena,” Emerson said, eyebrows furrowed. “Have you lost your damn mind? What the hell.”

“I’m fine,” she spat, annoyed.

“Is what you said true?” Artie asked.

“Yes,” she said, aggressively stabbing her fork into her noodles.

“Tell us about your friend, then.” Artie’s request was firm but soft, and despite her rising frustration, she obliged—leaving out the part where Ren snuck her into the Academy and forged her attendance papers.

“Maybe,” Emerson said between mouthfuls, “people aren’t telling you anything because they genuinely don’t know.”

“I don’t believe for a second Park just ran off into the forest,” she argued, stealing food off his plate. “Someone has to know something.”

“If anyone does, it’s Ren,” Artie said, picking up his belongings to leave. “Anyway, I’ve gotta go.” He pointed to Loveleena as he walked toward the exit. “If no one wants to tell you the answers, don’t give them a choice.”

Artie was right. And right now, she had the perfect opportunity to do just that. Her noodles sat abandoned on her plate as she got up to leave.

“Hey!” Emerson threw his palms up with a questioning look. “What about sparring together during free period?”

“Change of plans.”

✧✧✧✧

Her first stop was the small bookstore in the village. It took almost her entire coin purse to print Park’s photo on all the paper the shopkeeper had. Then, she spent the next few hours writing MISSING in bold letters underneath, with a corresponding message. Some of them simply stated the last time he was seen. Others described his personality, his likes, his dislikes. Most of them offered some sort of reward, and on a few of them, she started a rumor about Ren—for no other reason than to piss him off.

Last seen with Ren Elmerian.

A secret love affair? Ren and Park were in love.

Did Ren betray Park because he was jealous?

The story itself didn’t matter as long as it created enough intrigue that Ren would be hassled by curious students.

He had no interest in helping her find Park? Fine. But she wasn’t going to let it be easy on him.

She spent hours putting up the posters all over the Academy and throughout Defender Village. Pleased with herself, she swiped a bottle of wine from the kitchens and headed to her last stop.

Breaking into Ren’s apartment was surprisingly easy.

And it was even more fun with a popped bottle of wine in hand. In fact, she was enjoying herself so much, she thought she should break into apartments more often.

Ren’s place was just as she would have expected. Simple, organized, and meticulously clean. Ugh, his cleanliness was insufferable; it made her want to pull stuff out of the drawers just to make the room feel more human.

Instead, she wandered around the studio, examining the details of his life, until she finally plopped down on his perfectly made bed and pulled open his bedside drawer. It was bare except for a notebook, watch, and photograph. Setting the bottle down, she picked up the watch, running her hand over its grey palm leather-band and silver casing. Its wands clicked away, reading about two hours behind, and she set it to the proper time before gently replacing it and picking up the photograph.

The colours had faded, showing the passage of time. She ran her fingers over the silhouettes of three young children, two boys and one girl by the looks of it. They were all dressed casually but in an attire foreign to Jarrian fashion, and she wondered where the children had gotten their clothes. The little girl's dark hair flowed in silky straight strands down to her waist. The boys were taller, but not by much. Siblings, she presumed. She didn’t know why but the thought of Ren having a family never crossed her mind.

Her heart softened, as she thought of her own family. It was the first time she had been away from them for this long, and if she was honest with herself, she was starting to miss them.

She tucked the photo back in the drawer, closing it quickly, and began her work. By the time she left, Ren’s apartment was covered top to bottom in posters of Park that read:

May no one look for you when you go missing.

Your complacency is murder.

And, her personal favorite: