Dark Empathy by Archibald Bradford (inspiring books for teens TXT) 📕

passed the Lapine a glass of water; gulp after gulp she downed the whole thing in a few seconds, all eyes in the room on her.

Finished her drink she opened her mouth to answer, her foot thumping rapidly against the floor, but Miranda’s finger shot up in front of her.

“Slow down kiddo, take a breath… then answer.”

It took some effort, but Rebecca nodded and drew in a steadying breath.

“Yes, I found the guns.”

“What kinds?”

“All kinds.” She replied, but was quick to elaborate as Mirand’s expression turned pained; “Every one I remember you showing me. Blasters, flamers, uh those little castor pistol things. Plus some more I didn’t know.”

Miranda sighed, the situation being just as she feared.

“I want to slap you silly for being so reckless but this is what we needed to know. How many?”

The Lapine had to swallow before continuing, the adrenaline that had her motor-mouthing when she arrived had since dissipated in her system and she was beginning to feel kind of shaky.

“Seven crates in total, I don’t know how many in each, but that’s a lot right?”

Jan’s tongue lolled out as she smiled.

“Oh I don’t know, depends on the size. We talking bread boxes or-”

“Crates, I said.” Rebecca insisted, though the corner of her mouth twitched with faint amusement; “It took two of them to carry one.”

“That would be a lot of bread.” Christine remarked.

Several people turned and gave her odd looks, making her shift in place uncomfortably.

“Oh thbbbt! It’s late and I’m tired.”

“That’s a good point actually. The tired part, the bread was stupid.” Miranda turned to the tub of Undine in the corner to address the excited elementals within; “Can you report all of this to the Bastion?”

“Already did!”

The operative frowned at the excitable blue-skinned girl that responded.

“Just the Bastion.”

“We did! Honest!” The gossipy monster’s voice turned defensive.

After a long look at both of them to ensure they were indeed telling the truth, Miranda turned back to the others, absently cracking her knuckles.

“Alright then. Until we hear from headquarters, we’re on standby. Which means we’re not moving on the place tonight, so everyone get some sleep, especially you Becks.”

“I’m not tir-”

But Miranda cut her off.

“You will be, this shit has a way of catching up to you all at once. Thank you by the way, for everything you’ve done. Now go home and go to bed.”

“Is that a good idea?” Jan asked.

Her bond-mate sighed.

“Maybe not, but it’s necessary to maintain her cover. For all we know Sinclair has eyes on her home, so if she isn’t there come morning…”

“She might know we’re on to her.” Kala finished.

“Its fine, I’d rather be in my own bed anyways.”

Miranda smiled at the punk bunny’s continued gumption.

“Just remember what we talked about, any deviation from your normal routine, any unexplained absences, it all comes back to you getting jumped. Simple excuses: you went for a walk to clear your head, you had to stretch your legs, you needed a run-”

This time it was Rebecca’s turn to give Miranda a strained look.

“You know that Lapine do other things right?”

The operative turned a bit pink, but smiled.

“Fair enough. Just remember to keep your lies simple. You start getting convoluted you’ll end up with inconsistencies.”

After another surprising hug, Miranda sent her on her way.

__________

A half hour later a drained and exhausted Rebecca was opening the door to her loft and stepping inside.

Her heart nearly stopped though when she came face to face with Carol, sitting at her kitchen table with her arms crossed over her breasts.

“Where have you been?”

In all the chaos of the day, Rebecca forgot one critically important detail: they had a date that night.

“I let myself in. I was worried about you. Because you know, you weren’t here.”

Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the bunny: tired as Rebecca was and with no time to prepare herself for the encounter, her ears were flat to her head and her eyes were fearful.

Carol stood and stepped towards her, her face growing colder by the moment.

“Seems like a simple question, easy to answer, but you don’t have an easy answer. Do you?”

With chills going down her spine Rebecca tried to smile, desperately wracking her brains.

“N-no, sorry, I um. I forgot about tonight. Sorry. The uh, lawkeepers had a suspect in custody, they wanted me to identify them.”

“Did they now? Past midnight and the lawkeepers wanted you to ID someone, is that the story you’re going with?”

Rebecca nearly bit her tongue off: so much for keeping her lies simple.

The Lapine’s mouth was dry as Carol’s gaze seemed to strip everything away, but after a moment she smiled and pulled her into a quick hug.

“It’s okay, I get it. Violence has a way of throwing you for a loop. I just wish you didn’t decide that late night runs were the way to deal.”

If she hadn’t been so afraid, Rebecca would have repeated the same thing she had told Miranda.

Their embrace over, Carol stepped towards the door.

“Now you better go wake up that tubster of a roommate and let her know you’re okay. She was worried about you too.”

The anxious bunny would have been relieved, but something in Carol’s voice was setting off alarm bells.

With no other choice if she wanted to maintain her cover, she did as she was told.

“Hey S-Sandra?” She called as she opened her roommate’s door with a gentle knock; “Sorry to wake you like this but-”

Her throat closed when the light spilled into the room.

The first thing she saw was the blood, there was so much of it, all over the bed in the middle of the room.

Sandra’s body was on the floor