I couldn't take my mind off of Smiley as I walked towards school the next morning. I was even more distracted than usual, which was saying something.
If I could tell Wilbur what I knew, I was sure that he would be able to figure out everything in no time at all. But that was what I was scared about. If he figured it all out and then decided to go all hero-mode on him, then he'd probably take a page out of my own book and not tell me. Worst-case scenario, he might even act himself.
I gritted my teeth and sighed irritably. Why does everyone in my life have to be so heroic?
My house was pretty far from the college, which meant a long walk for me. Not that I minded. Nightmares had woken me up again and disrupted my sleep like the annoyances that they were. I really didn't understand why their frequency had been ramped up so much.
Usually I got Philza to drive me, but he had left for work before I could ask. Besides, he seemed stressed. I didn't want him on the road for longer than he had to be.
The ground had dried up remarkably since last night's rainfall. The trees on the side of the pavement were beginning to blossom, finally shaking off the cold weather. I was happy to see the small green buds. At least something was still alive and well in the world.
I flipped up the hood of my sweater and tucked my hands into the pockets of the hoodie. My glasses slipped down my nose. I freed a hand and pushed them back up. They were old glasses of Wilbur's, back from when he needed them for looking at computer screens. Now I needed them. College did sad things to one's eyesight.
A scuffling sound made me look up, glancing around warily. An alley cat slinked out from behind a pyramid of garbage cans piled beside the wall, giving me a long look. I blinked at it. It stared back.
It's just a cat. Stop being so skittish.
I crouched down. The cat padded over to me, but it stayed a distance like any smart animal would do. It was a pretty enough cat for one that lived on the streets, with dark brown fur interlaced with blond. I had never seen a cat with brown eyes before, but this cat proved me wrong.
My reaction to the cat just showed me how shaken I was. Anyone could randomly jump me at any time. My marks weren't covered, either. If Smiley decided to pass by, I'd be dead.
What does he have against Gifted?
"Sorry, cat," I murmured quietly under my breath. The cat perked up. It looked like it was trying to frown at me.
I shrugged it off and stood up, continuing on my way towards the college building. When I glanced back, the cat was gone.
***
"You look tired," Tommy noted as he grabbed his textbooks from his locker.
"Oh, really."
"Mhm," Tommy said with a nod, completely oblivious to my sarcasm. "Looks like you need more sleep. That would probably be good for you."
"Gee, alright, I'll try."
Tommy glanced over at me, before looking over and around us. "Uh... stay aware of Haden, okay, big man? I heard that he's been more moody lately. Might have something to do with all the deaths on the news."
Of course. Because Haden was a Gifted too, which meant that he could very well be on Smiley's hit-list as well. If I were him, I'd be on guard as well.
In fact, I already was on guard, especially after my last encounter with the killer. I never thought I'd say it, but I actually might've felt bad for Haden.
Normal people probably didn't realize who Smiley's targets who. But when you're a Gifted, you tend to pay attention to these sorts of things. If a bunch of Gifted suddenly turn up dead, you notice. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone just dismissed the new turn in all the Gifteds' moods for hormones or something.
"Hey, Tommy," I said.
"Hm?"
"You wouldn't consider going after the killer, would you?"
Tommy shut his locker and looked at me. Large eyes, innocent face. He was really just a boy. I could barely believe that I was actually asking him if he would consider going after a dangerous murderer.
"Maybe," he said slowly. "It depends on whether or not he's hurting my friends. I don't like that he's hurting people, but it's not like I can do something about it, right? I mean, I'm not skilled. Or trained. Or anything, really. I can't go up against a Gifted as powerful as him."
His last sentence surprised me, but also solidified my thinking that normies didn't see what was truly going on. "You think he's a Gifted?" I asked.
Tommy nodded and rolled his eyes like the answer was obvious. "Duh. Who else would be able to take out Storm and Lapis?"
I froze. No way. There's no way that Tommy has figured it out too. Honestly, how smart is everyone nowadays? This isn't possible.
"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.
"Wilbur told me," Tommy said. He pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and unwrapped it, taking a bite and smiling. "I'm special like that."
Betrayed by my own brother. I take that personally.
"He's smart," Tommy said thoughtfully, still nibbling at his chocolate bar. "I never would've guessed. But he didn't say anything about the man being a Gifted. That's all me."
My frown deepened. I could finally understand another reason why some people hated Gifted. Just because a person was skilled didn't mean that they were a Gifted. It just meant that they were above normal levels. Not all Gifted were incredible; not all normies weren't powerful.
I could see how that would irritate some people.
"Maybe he's not a Gifted," I said, trying not to be too obvious.
Tommy looked at me like I had sprouted a third eyeball. "Uh huh. Sure. Whatever you say, man. As if someone like me could go up against Storm."
There was a rancorous note in his voice. I frowned at him again, but he had turned his attention back to his candy, munching away happily. Maybe there was more to Tommy than I had thought.
***
I finished off my test and sighed, leaning back in my chair. The test hadn't been as hard as I had expected, but it had definitely challenged my lacking memory. It was a good thing that I was good and figuring out what questions wanted from me without actually knowing the material. That tended to backfire with math, but other than that, I was good.
I stood up and walked over to the teacher's desk, handing my paper in to her. She gave me a curt nod, barely even looking up from her computer. I took the cue and strolled out of the classroom.
Tommy wasn't in the same class as me. It was already impressive that he was attending the same college, but he definitely wasn't in the same class as me. My ego didn't need to take that hit.
The hallways were pretty empty, just a couple of people finished their test and milling around. All the other classes were still ongoing, and not many people in mine had finished yet.
I quickly made my way towards the stairs down to the bottom level. For a college, there was quite a bit of rook around the campus. A few buildings, lockers everywhere, classrooms everywhere as well with the most confusing naming system possible. It was worse in winter when you had to walk across to the other building where your next class was through the freezing wind.
"Are you ditching, too?" a sullen voice asked.
I glanced over to see Haden standing next to me, his hands in his pockets. Out of limited list of people that I had actually interacted with before, Haden was definitely at the bottom of the people that I actually expected to talk to me in the hallway.
"Nope," I said, continuing down towards my locker. "I finished a test. I'm smart. All the time."
"Sure," Haden said halfheartedly. "You know, I never really believed that you're a Gifted, but in light of everything that's been happening... are you nervous?"
I gave him a look. "'Nervous?' About the killer going around, you mean?"
"That guy," he agreed. "I still don't like you, but I guess I have a sense of justice as well. You can't die to him or something before I get to punch you around."
He sounded so down that I couldn't suppress my laugh. "Yeah, I'll make sure to keep that in mind the next time I run into him."
Haden gave me an odd look. "'Next time?'"
Shoot. "Slip of the lip. I mean, if I ever meet him. Hopefully not, 'cause you know, I like being alive and all that."
He nodded. It felt weird to actually engage in conversation with a guy who pushed me around on a daily basis, but I supposed that having a common fear of a dude possibly killing you does that to a person. He might even actually be a decent human being.
"Maybe now would be a good time for you to figure out that power of yours," Haden said with a smirk, before sauntering away.
I stared at him as he went. Of course that was the final thing he would say to me before walking off in the most annoying fashion possible. Why did I even bother thinking that he could be a real person?
What a nerd.
Still, though, he did have a point. I needed to look into my power and get a hold of it again. It had slipped on me last night, and I did not need that happening. I still didn't want to ask Phil, though. He'd get on my case about me rejecting it and all that, and I wasn't really in the mood to be lectured.
Haden was scared. The other couple Gifted in my college were probably scared too. No one was safe from the fear.
It seemed like, no matter where I went, Smiley would always be looming over me.
Stop. Come on, you're Technoblade. You're awesome. Who's Smiley? This weirdo with shady killing habits.
I reached my locker and quickly undid the lock, sighing as I put my books in. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced down at it. No new news reports, and nothing from Phil. More importantly, no word from Tubbo. I wasn't clingy --- in fact, I tended to accidentally ignore people all the time --- but Tubbo wasn't usually the type of person to disappear without a word, even if had only been a day. He would definitely tell someone before doing anything, whether explicitly or in an extremely vague manner.
Did Tubbo say anything about skipping out on Tryxel recently? Am I that oblivious? I honestly don't know.
I sighed again, this time with a lot more force than the last. Somehow my attention span still couldn't last me past a day.
"Techno!"
Tommy rushed up to me just as I reached the main entrance, puffing from the short run. I waited patiently as he bent over, his hands on his knees, as he tried to regain his breath. After about a minute, he straightened up again. "Man, you walk so fast. Are you always in a rush?"
"I'm not in a rush, though."
"Could've fooled me," Tommy grumbled. "So, where are you going, again?"
"Out and about," I said vaguely. "I suddenly feel the need to go looking for a friend of mine from work."
Tommy looked around quickly, before leaning in close to me and whispering very loudly, "As in, another bounty hunter?"
I sighed and scowled at him. "Tommy. You don't have to whisper so loudly. Yeah, they're from Tryxel. And I actually haven't seen them in a day or so. Probably time to start getting worried."
"A day," Tommy said dubiously. "You straight-up ignore my text messages but when it comes to your Tryxel friend you can't stand not being around them for a day?"
"I'm not the clingy one, my friend is," I grumbled. "It's just weird that I haven't seen him in a while and got absolutely no word at all."
Tommy scoffed, but he grinned in a way that showed that he was just fooling around. "Whatever you say, Techno. But talking about friends... I made a new friend yesterday at the skateboard park. He was being weird and kept trailing this person around, so I cussed at him and now we're friends."
"You cussed at him," I repeated. "Tommy, that's not how you make friends."
The boy shrugged. "Worked for me. At any rate, he's supposed to be dropping by at this time. I said that I'd show him around the school since he's apparently going to transfer here tomorrow."
I gripped the strap of my backpack tighter. "Oh, really? How old is he?"
"One year older than I am," Tommy replied with a grin. "But he's shorter than me. I love it when people are shorter than me. Like you."
"Hey, I'm still taller, you child."
Tommy punched my shoulder and scowled at me. "Aw, come on, I'm a big man. The greatest man. No one is more manlier than this man."
"Child," I said idly. "But whatever. So, what's your new friend's name?"
But Tommy was already distracted by a figure running towards us from the college study building to the left. I raised an eyebrow as he waved and cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting, "Over here!"
"What a great name," I remarked sarcastically. "'Over here.' Love it."
"Could you not be insufferable for two seconds?" Tommy said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm not insufferable. I'm just witty."
The guy Tommy had been shouting towards finally reached us, slowing down to a walk. He pushed back his hood and grinned, a friendly smile that hinted at hidden mischief behind those dark eyes.
Dark eyes that I knew all too well. I saw them every night at work. That was, except for yesterday --- a night he had spent at the skateboard park, making a new friend.
It was Tubbo.