The XP: Chapter 22

Game designers spend hundreds of hours designing bosses, the dungeons they wait in and the monsters that fill them. These challenges are giant, intricate puzzles, each with its own solution that can be discovered, practiced, and perfected.

Volnado was not a video game boss. He was a Game Master that had taken off his invulnerable armor and sacrificed his killing blade. Without his armor he had a finite amount of health which meant he could be killed, all the End of the World Club had to do was figure out how to get the job done. Luckily the End of the World Club had two huge advantages that Volnado had not considered. The first was that Volnado was a human, with human response times and a human attention span, the second was that he was really, REALLY pissed off and not very good at multi-tasking.  This was all the club needed to make a run at something no group of players had ever successfully done before. And the entire player base was watching them do it.

Their plan was simple enough on paper. Bob was playing Font of Wisdom which was refreshing Blackout’s mana pool allowing him to intertwine holy shell which was a spell that made him and anyone within three feet invulnerable to all forms of damage for five seconds. In that five second window he stopped casting the shell and would fire off a mass resurrect which would instantly revive and heal anyone on his team that had died. Without Bob’s song he could do each of these spells once before he ran out of mana.

Before the fight Stygian used three potions. Titan’s stance which made him immune to any game effect or damage that caused knock back. So he could take a hit and stay exactly where he was standing. If he died he died then and there. His second potion was blood syphon which allowed him to pick a player that agreed to give up their hit points to him, but any damage that he took would come from the other player’s life pool as long as they were alive. The third potion was Reapers Downfall which kept the other two potions in effect for a time limit of an hour no matter how many times he died.

Torcano Was stuck to the wall but had already consented to the Blood Syphon, so the first time Volnado killed Stygan he was actually killing Torcano, which gave Stygian a tiny window to hit Volnado again before Volnado hit Stygian a second time, killing him for a second or two before the mass resurrection him bringing him back to life potions and all. He was infuriating Volnado who was bound and determined to make him stay down.

Trart didn’t have any potions. All he had was a hundred thousand bombs. And every time he attached one or two stacks of ten to Volnado, he got killed by a massive blow from Volnado but the mass resurrection brought him back, he’d watch the bombs explode and he and Stygian continued their annoying dance of distraction and destruction.

High above the arena The Matriarch and Sezario watched the fight from their box. “They do know this is just a game, don’t they?” Sezario asked.

The Matriarch was watching the fight closer than he was. “You should know as well as anyone that games often represent an opportunity to settle feuds and conflicts without real physical violence.” She answered without taking her eyes off the fight below.

Sezario flinched as Volnado tossed Trart nearly the distance of the Arena, Tart Hit the arena wall and died before he was instantly resurrected and ran back into the fight. “Yeah but I don’t see these guys burying the hatchet so much as they are just digging a bigger trench.” He said as the fight raged on.

Volnado landed a massive kick straight to Stygian’s chest. He didn’t move an inch and slumped to the ground dead. He stepped over Stygian’s dead body and made his way toward Bob and Blackout. With a triumphant howl Volnado takes his first swing at Blackout, no quite processing that his fist flew straight through him as if Blackout were a Ghost. Volnado growled in anger and swung again. Before he could hit Blackout a mine attached to the back of his head. Volnado turned around just in time to catch Tart in mid leap with another mine which Trart slapped to Volnado’s face. Trart got his legs in-between him and Volnado and Pushes off hard trying to break Volnado’s grip. The mines on Volnado’s head go off launching him into the air. He lets go of Trart, Volnado flies back over Blackout and Bob, Tart flew in the other direction and landed hard.

Blackout finishes the resurrection wave and Stygian leapt through the air onto Volnado’s Chest swinging his massive sword as fast as he could before Volnado hit him once, and then twice killing him. He shoved Stygian’s body to the side and got to his feet. Another resurrection wave and Stygian grabed Volnado’s wrist. Volnado turned and mercilessly beat the life out of Stygian, blinded by his frustration and rage he wasted time killing Stygian three times in a row punching him to death.

He grabbed Stygian’s sword and stood up. The resurrection wave goes off bringing Stygian back to life. Volnado’s hands grew red hot. “Stygian you need new gear, this garbage you have now is so two expansions ago.” He said as the sword shattered into multiple pieces as his hands returned to their normal color. Stygian kicked up into Volnado’s crotch with both feet sending him flying back over Blackout and Bob. Volnado landed almost at Tart’s feet. Trart droped five stacks of ten bombs on Volnado’s body. The explosion litup the Arena and Trart took a moment to grandstand by the flame as the spectators lost their minds.

The crowd noise died instantly as Volnado walked out of the fire. “Are you kids done screwing around yet? Because I’m ready to fight!” Volnado yelled.

Tart turned to face Volnado. Stygian joined him shoulder to shoulder. “Got any other brilliant ideas?” Stygian asked.

Trart shook his head.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 22

Thompson looked himself over in the mirror. He was alone, uncomfortable, moving his body trying to remember how he ever felt comfortable in a gi. He pulled his belt apart for the third time and tied it back up again. Rolled his shoulders trying to find the room for them to sit naturally, everything about this felt awkward and un-natural. He checked the wall clock and tried to figure out if he had enough time to run before Cynthia caught him.

The knock at the door answered that question for him. She entered the room cautiously until she saw him full dressed, she closed the door behind her and walked over to stand behind him. He looked at her through the mirror, she smiled at him and made a few slight adjustments to his top and belt, instantly causing everything to sit right again. She ran her hands down his shoulders. “You look good.” She complimented him as she stepped back.

He turned around to face her. “Well I feel terrible.” He admitted.

She nodded, her smile lost a bit of its luster. “If it means anything I really, really appreciate this. You could have turned me down.” She said taking a step away from him.

He followed her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her close. There was no mirror between them now. “I could never turn you down.’ He assured her.

Their kiss was short but relaxed them both. She lowered away from him reluctantly. “You ready?” She asked.

Thompson shook his head in the negative. “No. But let’s do it any way.” They exited the green room hand in hand.

The Gym had been built for basketball games. There were bleachers on the walls that could be extended out with a crank mechanism giving spectators a place to sit and watch the games. Today the hoops were up and the Combat studies post grads were giving their semester presentations to their advisers. Foster had grabbed himself a spot in the front row. Sanders along with his father and professor Bannister entered the gym. Foster and Sanders waved at each other, Foster stood up to greet them when they got close.

“Foster, this is my dad.” Sanders said as Foster and William shook hands.

“And this is Professor Bannister.” Foster shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you both. Would you care to join me?” Foster asked, gesturing to the largely empty front row. The trio nodded and they took their seats. “So what’s your interest in the graduate showcase?” He asked.

William and Professor Bannister looked at each other, paused for a moment and then Professor Bannister shrugged. “Starting to look for new talent.” He admitted.

Foster nodded. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” He offered.

Thompson and Cynthia entered the gym and walked to the mat in the center of the room. Thomson moved to his side of the mat white Cynthia faced the audience of about twenty people. “Thank you all for coming to my graduate showcase. My name is Cynthia, and this is my showcase.” She moves to her side of the mat as the audience claps.

The referee for the match preps Cynthia and Thompson for their fight. They face each other and bow, square off and each drop into their own stances. The fight Thompson had with Foster was short, brutal, and ugly. There was no finesse, neither of them were interested in showing off. Each had and end goal and no interest in dragging things out. This presentation was a different situation entirely. Thompson and Cynthia had a long history of sparing with each other but they had never gone full out against each other in a competitive exhibition. Thomson had no desire to show Cynthia up and fully expected to lose. Cynthia was looking to show off. She was chaining together combinations of moves that was forcing Thompson to legitimately pay attention in order to stay on his feet. She knew he favored solid stances and was deliberately attacking his base forcing him to stay mobile and never allowing him to set into a position he could find immovable footing. Thompson realized quickly that while this was an exhibition match, she was fighting to win. The Referee called point after point in her favor. The exhibition was best of three first to five point matches. And while he had every intention of making Cynthia look good, the tiny ember of fire in his chest had different plans. As more and more of his concentration was drawn into the actual fight he could feel the fire gathering power in his chest. In what felt like the blink of an eye he realized he had Cynthia in a choke hold which she quickly turned against him, hip throwing him off the mat. He was back on his feet before he had consciously processed the throw. He charged Cynthia and the ref stepped in his way only to catch and explosive blue flaming foot to the chest knocking him to the ground out cold. Foster took a step off the bench but Cynthia held her hand out to stop him, waved at the unconscious ref and moved around the mat keeping Thompson’s flaming blue eyes on her as Foster and Sanders dragged the referee away from the fight.

Thompson charged Cynthia in a blinding blue streak of screaming flame. She sidestepped and took his feet out from under him, catching him in the small of the back with her elbow and drove him into the ground hard enough to know the wind out of his lungs and dissipate the fire everywhere except his eyes. The pair got to their feet slowly. There was nothing beautiful about the next few blows, no artistry, no craft. Thompson started off by bringing the full force of his elbow to Cynthia’s jaw, He carried the shot through and when he righted himself she was still on her feet. Her body awash in emerald green flame. She wiggled her jaw back and forth knowing it was going to be a new world of pain when the adrenaline wore off but not caring in the moment. The Blue fire took his body over again as Thompson was on guard for everything, except the lightning fast kick to the nuts that brought him to his knees and put stars in his eyes. He never saw the uppercut that took him off his knees. As he few through the air the blue flame separated from him, keeping his body shape for a second before the fire dissipated into thin air. When he opened his eyes again, they were clear.

Cynthia was standing on the far side of the mat facing away from him. The green flame rising up her body in calm, even waves. Thompson got to his knees first, shook off the upper cut and shot to the nuts and then got to his feet. Cynthia turned around to face him and saw that he had chosen a more fluid stance. She charges him and he uses her own style against her, tripping her up, and catching her as she rotates to strike back at him, He grabs her wrist as she tries to strike him, they hit the mat together and he uses his free hand to tap out. Her flame disappears. Both of them are bruised, bloody and going to be in a lot of pain very soon. None of which stops Thompson from kissing Cynthia before be breaks away with a smile. “You win.” He congratulates her as they pick each other off the map to the applause of the crowd. 

Shades of Justice: Chapter 26

Dante took a step back from the goggles. “Yeah I don’t think so.” He said skeptically.

The cord moved the goggles closer to Dante’s face. “You cannot hear what you must see, because I cannot tell you what I have to show you, put the googles on.” The Witness demanded.

Dante sighed heavily, grabbed the googles and strapped them to his face. “Ok, but I feel like this is a huge mistake.” He said as the view field of the goggles opened up and he found himself floating in deep space. “What am I looking at?” He asked.

The Witness appeared next to him. “Shimmeron’s are hard to find, I mean, yes they are made of light and light is easy to see, identifying one specific wavelength, tracing it back to its source, and then hoping it’s the right source is a bit harder.” The Witness explained as points of light blurred by them.

Dante watched they passed planets and nebula's at blinding speeds. He touched his face. “These are just goggles, why does this feel so real?” He asked.

The Witness looked back at him over his shoulder. “Ok look, we only have so much time, I can find your friend or we can have a School House Rock segment that explains the inner workings of my hardware.” The Witness snarked.

Dante was a little shocked. “How do you kn – actually, never mind. Where are we going?” He asked. The Witness pointed at a point of light that was getting larger. “That’s not an answer that’s a point of light, You know what, I was almost buying into this whole images are more powerful than words and even with everything I’ve seen, I’d really appreciate some words, start with what that point of light is.” He asked.

The Witness gave a heavy sigh. “That is, very possibly, the Shimmeron you are looking for.” The Witness explained.

Dante squinted in the direction of the point of light. “See the ‘very possibly’ isn’t causing me to be bathed in confidence right now.” He replied as they got closer and closer to the light. “And are we really out in space right now, or are we still back in your room on the asteroid?” He asked. As the light became bright enough that he couldn’t stare directly at it. In fact Dante felt like they had stopped moving completely and there was nowhere he could look that wasn’t blindingly bright. “What the hell is going on?” He shouted.

Back on the Asteroid Dante was holding his hands up trying to block the light that was bleeding out from under the googles strapped to his face. The Witness watched him as the light flooded into Dante’s eyes and filled his body with light. Dante blinked twice and looked at his hands. “Actually we’re in both places at once, but something tells me that doesn’t really matter right now.” He said.

Dante pulled the googles off his face but the light was coming out of his eyes now. It had taken him over completely.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 49

Mew woke more rested than she had felt in ages. She didn’t have a history of remembering her dreams but she could remember the vague sense of flying. It was one of those morning where her mind and body had woken at the same time. With nothing to do she felt no need to rush her morning along and decided to lounge in bed until the flying sensation was banished by the smell of bacon coming from the kitchen.

Her fuzzy slippers scraped along the floor as she shuffled out of her room in a furry blue robe that had always been two sizes too large for her, she considered this the one and only benefit of reaching her adult weight height in her freshman year of high school.

Her father was in the kitchen, making enough food to feed an invading army, her brother was nowhere to be found, but she saw a game of Galactic Alliances spread out on the living room coffee table.  “How late did you two stay up last night?” She asked as she shuffled toward the coffee maker.

Her dad shook his head a little. “long enough to that he’s been reading about GA strategies when he should have been working as this district's elected representative.” He grumbled fake offense as he flipped the pancake was cooking.

She pulled a coffee cup down from the cabinet, filled it and let the coffee warm her hands. “So he’s beating your pretty bad huh?” She asked using the coffee cup to hide her smile.

He glared at her playfully trying to avoid smiling. “I prefer to call it 'lulling him into a false sense of security'.” He replied.

She nodded. “Uh huh. And how secure would you say his sense is right now?” She asked.

He sighed heavily and lifted the pancake out of the pan. “Too secure for my liking.” He admitted.

Eamon groggily shuffled into the kitchen, his hair a mess.  “You two are loud in the morning.” He accused while grabbing a coffee cup out of the cabinet. “You know we could always play a different game.” He said as he filled his cup with coffee.

His father shook his head. “You are free to forfeit the game at any time, but it would be the first game of GA that you’ve lost in more than half your life.” He replied with a smiile.

Eamon turned around to face his father who was holding a big stack of pancakes, his father took the coffee out of his hands and replace it with the plate of pancakes and then ushered him out of the kitchen. Mew followed after her brother with the plates of bacon and eggs. Their father watched then set the food on the table and he drank coffee as his kids reconnect for the first time in over two years. 

Lidarion: Chapter 21

Lisa had never been to the Lidarion Docks in her life. But once she was past the district gate she felt instantly at home. The same could not be said for Squints. The second the smell of rotting fish hit his nostrils he turned an unhealthy shade of green.

Lisa was lost in the sights and sounds of the docks, the fish sellers, the supply shops, the ship design and repair guild, They hadn’t even reached the actual docks and her childhood was flooding back to her with incredible clarity. She looked down at Squints and saw him holding back the impulse to be sick. “Are you going to be ok?” She asked.

Squints burped and nodded with determination. “I have never liked this district. In fact I’ve never been a huge fan of the ocean.” He lamented.

Lisa looked confused. “You’re people are historically sea faring islanders, how can you hate the ocean?” She asked.

Squints shrugged his shoulders. “Dad moved us from the islands when I was a baby, I don’t remember him talking much about our home on the island and I’ve never had a desire to go back there. I’m a dry land Gnome I guess.” He explained.

Lisa nodded. “I’m the exact opposite. I love the ocean, I love sailing, I grew up in this world and I love every part of it.” She said with a smile.

They reached the doc masters office and made their way inside the tiny one room shack. There was an older gentlemen leaning back in a wooden chair, an old floppy tri-corner hat down over his eyes, his feet were up on the desk and he was snoring deeply. Lisa knocked on the door loudly. The man shot up, throwing his hat behind him in a panic. “I’m awake already!” The man growled with droopy half asleep eyes. He looked around the room, not stopping to focus on Lisa or Squints. He ran his hands through his gray hair. “Where’s my hat?” He asked himself more than anything else. He checked the floor, found it behind him and placed it back on his head. Finally acknowledging Lisa and Squints. “How Can I be of service?” he asked.

Lisa pointed to his log book. “We would like to book passage on the next passage to Cela’an.” She explained.

The barely away dock master rubbed his chin. “Not many ships make that trip anymore, and the ones that do, don’t do it very often.” He opened his log book to check the records he had of who was coming and going and when. “There’s one ship scheduled to dock in a few days that could make the voyage, for the right price.” He glanced at Lisa.

She smiled. “Price is not an issue. We just need to get there. What’s the name of the ship?” She asked.

He ran his finger down the page to the entry he was looking for. “The Woah Mom El” He groggily stumbled through the name.

Lisa shook her head. “It’s not Woah Mom El, it’s Womamel” She said trying not to smile.

Squints looked up at her. “How would you know that?” He asked.

She smiled down at him. “Because it’s my brother’s ship and It’s short for ‘Worst Mistake Of My Life.’” She explained.

The Dock master nodded. “Anyway, the Womamel will be docked here in the next few days, you might be able to book passage then. He said.” As he was already situating himself back into his napping position. Squints and Lisa saw themselves out. 

The XP: Chapter 21

In another private box on the opposite side of the Arena The Matriarch sits on the balcony overlooking the now empty arena. She has been working on her knitting and is almost done with an elbow high glove. Sezario comes out of the shadows and joins her on the balcony. “I was beginning to wonder if you would show up.” She said with a smile.

Sezario grabbed a chair to sit in. “Yeah, I’ve been around.” He said sitting down.

The Matriarch gave him a sidelong glance. “Around huh?” It wasn’t a question, but not an accusation either.

Sezario shrugged. “You know me.” He said with a blank face. Down in the Arena The End of the World Club returned from their ten minutes of preparation. Sezario was shocked. “I honestly didn’t think they were going to come back.” He said.

The Matriarch shook her head. “I never had a doubt in my mind.” She said.

Sezario looked at her. “You think they actually have a shot at beating Torcano?” he asked

She nodded. “ I think they have more than a shot.” She said not taking her eyes off her knitting.

Sezario looked back down at the group again. “You have anything to do with that?” He asked.

The Matriarch didn’t stop knitting. “You know me.” She parroted.

Sezario nodded as he watched Trart enter the Arena alone, running to catch up with the rest of the group.

Bob nodded at Trart as he rejoined the group. “You all set?” She asked. Trart Nodded. “Ok as this is officially the stupidest thing we have ever done.” She smiled.

“Hey at least we’re living up to our name.” Blackout Pointed out.

Bob nodded. “Well then, before we do this I only have one question.” Everyone looked at her. “Have you all figured out what class you’re going to start tomorrow?”

Trart fake coughed into his fist. “Later today.”

The others nodded, Bob included. “Fair enough, have you all figured out which class your going to start a half hour from now?” She asked, everyone nodded. “Well then there’s only one thing left to say. “Ladies and Gentlemen of The Almost Entirely Awesome Adventures of the End of the World Club it has been an absolute pleasure playing this game with you.” Bob threw her fist into the center of the group and the other four joined her in a five way fist bump.

The End of the World Club finished their huddle and Turned to face Torcano in a line. The Arena went crazy, the streets of spectators outside the Arena went Crazy and once the timer for the beginning of the match counted to down zero, the End of the World Club went crazy.

University of Console Herorics: Chapter 21

Faith was laid on Lacey’s bed, using her legs as a pillow of sorts. She had been crying, evidenced by the obscenely large pile of used tissues on the bed. Her eyes were red and its doubtful that she’s gotten any decent sleep in the last few days. Lacey was running her hand through Faith’s hair as she continued to cry. The Alarm on Lacey’s phone went off, sending her phone into a noisy fit. She grabbed it and quickly silenced it. “Ok, one hour till meeting, into the shower with you.” Lacy commanded.

Faith rotates and gave Lacey a comical pout. “I can’t just skip it?” She asked.

Lacey looked down at her friend. “The shower or the meeting? Because at this point I honestly wouldn’t recommend skipping either of them.” She couldn’t help the smile from showing. Faith stuck her tongue out. “Well that’s mature. Look, you and I both know that if you don’t do this now it’s going to eat you up inside for a very long time.” She was trying to sound as matter of fact as possible.

Faith rolled over to face the crappy romance on the TV again. “Or I could just move as far away from this school, my family, and boys, as possible.” She grumbled.

Lacey started to poke at her friend in an attempt to get her to move. “Uh huh, and when you find this mythical island of Amazon’s, what do you plan on doing there?” She asked sarcastically.

Faith held out her hands and made a wave motion with her right hand. “Weave baskets. Pretty ones, with shiny shells threaded in them.” She explained.

Lacy moved her legs out from under Faith plopping her on the bed by herself. “Well then, shall we take a basket weaving class first or you do you just wanna pack and jet?” She asked.

Faith sat up grumbling. “No, I can’t run away from my problems for the rest of my life. I’m a big girl, I’m getting in the shower.” She got up and grabbed her towel and stopped near the bathroom door to turn back to her friend. “You’re making me adult, I’m never going to forgive you for this.” She said with a smile.

Lacey pointed at the bathroom. “SHOWER, NOW!” She was trying not to laugh.

Faith opened the bathroom door. “RUDE!” She said as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Forty five minutes later Lacey and Faith were standing outside the Nu Tau Delta house. Faith had really cleaned up. Her makeup was perfect, she had her favorite Nu Tau Delta letter shirt on, her shoes matched the letters in the shirt. Sisters passed the pair and headed into the house. Faith watched as the last of the sisters headed into the house. She looked at Lacey to her left. “Whatever happens in there, we’re still friends, right?” She asked.

Lacey nodded and they headed into the house together.

In order to be a sister in good standing with the sorority you only had to attend ten hours of sorority functions a month, including weekly meetings. There were rules and regulations from their own organization as well as school that kept them from demanding a larger mandatory time commitment. The result was that these weekly meetings were often only ever attended by the girls who lived in the house, or were trying to become more involved in sorority politics. Tonight however the house was standing room only. Every active sister had arrived no less than five minutes early. Faith knew instantly that her sister had leveraged some very serious threats to get the entire sisterhood to be in the same place at the same time, and that it was supposed to embarrass and humiliate her.

Tanya and the other five girls on the sorority council were sitting at the only table in the room. Set right in front of the fireplace. Tanya rapt her gavel three times before she spoke. “I call this meeting to order. Before we get on with our official business we have a sister who would like to address the chapter.” She said with a smile on the verge of predatory.  Some of the girls turned to look at Faith, others were polite or reserved enough to wait for her to reach the front of the room, crawling over and stepping in between the girls filling every available space in the gigantic living room. Once she reached the front of the room there was no denying that every set of eyes was on her, many staring angry laser beams into various areas of her body, attempting to turn their mental judgement of her crimes into physical punishment by way of their eyes.  Faith looked around the room and realized that she couldn’t name even ten girls in the room. She cleared her throat. “Sisters of the Beta Sigma chapter of Nu Tau Delta. I come before you tonight to ask forgiveness. I come before you to clear my conscience. I come before you tonight, to admit my faults and failures.” Her opening did little to lessen the intensity of the stares she was receiving. Never the less she persisted. “Some of us thrive in this, class based society. Where it’s not what you do, it’s the image of yourself you present to the outside world. It’s not about the quality of your life, it’s the size of your bank account. It’s not how you make other people feel it’s all about how many people worship you.” A few of the glares had softened. Many soured and she could feel the silent wave of acidic rage washing over her from behind. “I am here to apologize because I thought I was immune to the realities of that system. You see, I had friends and a life before I became this, person.” She pulled the pins out of her hair, letting it fall messily to her shoulders. “I let my Sister warp and distort how I saw myself. They say you can become a brand new person in College and I was so afraid of who I might become that I somehow convinced myself to become the person I hate most.” She lifted her feet one by one and pulled her shoes off tossing them gently to the floor. “I’m not saying this world is wrong for everyone, or that it’s a horrible reality that destroys more decent human beings than it creates. Many of you will go on to become outstanding and exceptional people. But for me it means becoming a carbon copy of my sister. “She pulled off her Nu Tau Delta Shirt revealing a plain black tank top underneath. “And honestly I’d rather die.” She turned and tossed the shirt at her sister. Her fist picked it out of the air like a bear trap snapping shut. “So, Tanya, I quit.” She spun toward the door and stepped her way out of the room. Girls practically diving out her way this time.

Tanya stood up, barely controlled fury in her eyes. “You walk out of this house, I tell our parents everything. “ She threatened.

Faith threw up the middle finger on both hands still heading for the door. “I dare you, lets see who comes out of that info dump on top.” She said as she opened the door and headed out into the night. Lacey scampered out of the room and snuck through the door before it closed. The room was dead silent for a moment. Then the front door opened again and Lacey tossed her own letter shirt on the floor and closed the door again. For a split second Tanya lost control and tossed her gavel at the nearest window, shattering it. A majority of the room got up and filed toward the door, murmuring as they left the house. None of the girls picked up the abandoned shirt.