Eight stood quietly at the back of the crowd, suddenly thankful for her unremarkable height.

Miss Heathershine was currently perched in the middle of the main square, a downright pitiful expression on her face. Today she wore a mournful navy-blue dress, modest and so incredibly opposed to what the normally prideful woman would usually wear. She folded her hands over each other, resting them on her stomach.

Her nails were painted a stormy sapphire.

"It is with great sadness today, that I announce my beloved familiar has passed away."

The crowd erupted into a pandemonium at once. She felt nauseous.

"How did he die??"

"Noo!"

"Where is he?"

"This can't be!"

Miss Heathershine lifted up a dainty fingernail and effectively hushed the crowd. Tears were budding at the corner of her eyes.

Eight knew that she should've felt pity for the woman, but all she felt was a cold, hard weight settling at the bottom of her stomach. No one knew the peacock was mechanical. A fake. How could Miss Heathershine lie so effortlessy? Why would she do it?

The flawless image she built up of the woman in her head was crumbling, and the harder she tried to piece it together the more it fell apart. Some people went forward to comfort her, and the whispers danced through the air like ill-spoken secrets. The atmosphere was fragile and tense; suffocating, like one singular misspoken word could crack it.

"He was found, crushed under a branch. It was a terrible sight..." she sighed, her voice cracking in all the right places. The pitiful whispers grew tenfold. Then, like a curse, the beautiful eyes settled squarely on her.

They weren't sad.
They were knowing.

Sharp and disinterested, but knowing. No one else could see through her lies.

She gasped and stumbled back, and the womans eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She was doomed. The disk she stole from the mechanical bird yesterday burned in her mind, a sullen reminder of her misdeeds. Did she know?

Suddenly, a reassuring hand flew to the small of her back. She whipped around sharply, only to be greeted with green eyes.

Sixteen.

He seemed calmer than yesterday. Was he lying too? How much better was everyone else at hiding their secrets than her?

"Anything wrong, Eight?" he asked gently, reaching out another hand to steady her. She flinched away, and a hurt expression came over his face.

I have to stop acting so suspiciously.

"I'm fine," she purred, "just a little rattled. The peacock didn't deserve to die." Tinges of genuine sorrow laced her face. Technically, she wasn't telling a lie. Sixteen nodded, seemingly satisfied with the explanation.

Miss Heathershines voice knocked them out of their conversation. Everyone that had stepped up to comfort her was shooed away, leaving her again as the centre of attention.

"Because of this, training for the First years have been suspended and rescheduled for next week. We believe that everyone needs time to mourn," she finished. A few inappropriately timed 'whoops' signalled everyones relief, especially hers. She had more time to figure out what was happening now.

Suddenly, her goal of leaving this Quarter and joining One seemed far off and distant. Everything was going wrong.

"...but we will not waste time. Sir Burr and I have decided to schedule the yearly Meet in this week, so you won't all be idle."

The Meet?

The Third years seemed excited, and the Second years were buzzing.

"For the First years who are confused, the yearly Meet is a large gathering of all the Quarters, from A to D. This gives you a chance to meet old friends that have been seperated due to the Quarter change, so I suggest making the most of it. It spans for the duration of three days, " she explained quickly, and the Third years nodded sagely at her words.

That meant that she would be able to see One again! A giddy smile graced her lips, and she resisted the urge to jump up and down. For a moment, the fear of everything semeed to be overshadowed by her pure joy.

"That is all. Have a great week," Miss Heathershine said, and with that the woman was gone.

"Happy to see One, eh?" Sixteen piped up from behind her, a knowing smile gracing his lips. She startled slightly, not expecting him to be that perceptive. He was still hiding something, and no matter how much it pained her to keep secrets, she had to find out what was happening between him and Miss Heathershine first. Her moment of joy had evaporated.

She nodded cooly. "Yeah, I guess I am." Eight shrugged, smoothing down her white tights and fidgiting with the hem of her cream coloured shirt. Everyone wore the same thing: a cream t-shirt and white tights. I wonder why Miss Heathershine only gets to dress in such a pretty way.

Sixteen seemed openly shocked with her declaration. "Wow! How cool. Well, it's to be expected, I guess. One always said that you were quite closed off with your feelings. I see that she was right." He nodded.

"How do you know so much about me?" she blurted out. You can't get so much information from only one person.

"The yearly Meets are very long. One talks about you a lot more often than you think," he replied smoothly.

"It's surprising you even remember all of this. I see that the family genes run strong. You should be in Quarter B with all the smart people, then."

"Strength is my main attribute."

Liar.

The crowd had thinned out, and by then they were the only people in the main square. When did everyone leave?

Sixteen noticed it at the same time she did. "Well, I'm going to train with Enzo and Justin. Rumor has it that they're going to hog the gym until the Meet starts, so I have to smuggle myself in there to get some space!" He exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air. With a friendly wave of his hand and a flick of his wrist, he was gone.

Perfect.

Now she could think. Her shoes pounded against the tiles of the main square and she powered through the grounds. She needed to get to the sleeping sector. The disk burned in her mind, and she knew at once that she had to figure out what was on it. Something told her that it was crucial.

She had wrapped it up in cloth to protect it from scratches and hid it under her matress. She would have to find a better hiding place from it later, but for now all she could do was hope that it was still there. The overall layout of Quarter A had become more apparent to her the longer she lived here. Everything branched off from the main square, so it was easy to find your way as long as you didn't wander too far out. The library, gym, sleeping sector, cafeteria and grounds were all in a cardinal direction from the main square itself, and she thanked her lucky stars that she knew how to orientate herself now.

The familiar grey tones of the sleeping sector greeted her soon, and her speed seemed to double. Hah! At this rate, i could be in Quarter C. I can be speedy if i want to!

The grand double door stood blockily in her path, golds and silvers dancing along its rim like vines wrapping around a tress. It was a stark contrast to the buildings otherwise grey exterior. Pushing the door in, Eight was immediately assaulted with a blast of cool air. It was a welcome reprieve, after all that jogging. The soft peach carpeting crumbled underneath her shoes and she made a beeline for the door on the left. The boys and girls shared seperate sleeping sectors, and she was lucky that there weren't many girls in Quarter A. They all shared one, large room; so the boys room was surely chaos.

The stark emptiness of the room was a welcome and relaxing sight. There were only four girls in total in Quarter A; herself, and three others who were Third years. They didn't really intermingle. Enzo's promise to introduce her to them suddenly rang hollow. She sighed, passing the emlty bunk-beds and settling on her one, which was directly situated in the corner.

Eight wasted no time in reaching her hands unerneath the mattress, the weight that pressed down on her arm more of an inconvenience than anything else at that point. The soft fabric brushed past her fingertips and she gently pulled it out, cradling it in her hands. Was it just her, or did it look a bit off?

Eight shook her head. She was probably just paranoid. The disk was still there. That's all she had to worry about.

Now, how to play it?

There weren't any disk players in Quarter A. The footage in the disk could only be reviewed by a DVD player, of course. It made little sense for the mechanical peacock to record whatever it was for nothing.

Suddenly, it hit her.

A security room. There must be one somewhere in the Quarters.

Then again, the peacock itself could've been a recorder and DVD player all in one. With such an advanced piece of technology, it seemed very likely.

She was left with two options.

1) There was a security footage room somewhere in the Quarters.
2) The peacock itself was the 'security footage room.'

If it was option two, she was screwed. No, the disks eventually get full, right? There must be a place where it's stored and replayed.

Mind made up, she removed the cloth and tucked the disk safely in the band, making sure it didn't get scratched.

She had to find the security footage room.

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This took me so long to type out since school started again.
I'm sorry guys, please forgive me haha.