I have three choices.
One: I can complain about sharing with two people who will constantly pester me and make me talk.
Two: I can keep my mouth shut and not get yelled at by my classmates about being an uncooperative jackass and endure said pestering.
Three: I can find a corner somewhere to hide in and sleep.
Obviously the only solution is three.
Hiding in a dark, quiet corner is the best choice anyway, honestly. I was raised in a dingy little basement. A damp little hovel tucked away in the shadows of the boat is basically my natural territory.
The boat arrives at the island some time after night falls.
I'm tempted to stay hiding on the boat and just not bother to endure the island at all...
But realistically the Order would just take that as an excuse to make me redo the year.
I was dragged here with every intention of being lazy and doing the bare minimum...but I actually need to succeed now. What a cruel, rude twist of fate.
Well.
I'm just a glorified cheerleader whether or not I have any skin in the game, but still.
For once I actually care about the outcome.
Ironic because all I keep hearing from the students who pass by and accidentally wake me up is about their plans to fool around and turn the survival trip into some kind of spring break.
Which sucks.
Because I need these exorcists to do the full sweep of Gloom Dwellers so I can graduate, not fool around and waste time.
If they waste their time, they're really wasting my sleeping time, because I'm the one guaranteed to fail if we have to tally points.
I'm among the last to step off the boat, running groggy fingers through disheveled pink hair.
I really am tempted to just stowaway back and forth on the boat and pretend I'd been on the island when the boat came back for the students.
Classmaster Thomson addresses us one last time.
"Starting from this moment, you all have seven days to find and eradicate the Gloom Dwellers located on this island. Use your training, your intelligence, and your spirit powers to survive and to hunt down and eradicate the resident Gloom Dwellers in that time."
He gestures an arm out to indicate the island we're on. "When I return, the Chief Exorcists will sweep this island. If it's found to be clean, you will all graduate. If it isn't...you will face the consequences. Good luck, and follow The Light!"
He spins on his heel, walking back toward the boat we rode here on.
Everyone waits, quiet and still, until they're sure he's gone, and then we turn and look at one another.
There are eighteen people in total in the class, not counting me, but half of the class is gathered closer to the middle, leaving everyone else standing near the edges.
Not surprisingly, Flynn stands in the middle with everyone else, Amelia included.
I hang out next to some barrels piled on the sand.
Not even close to being a surprise.
Amelia and Flynn come from illustrious lines of exorcists and are some of the top of the class. They'll always be popular.
Honestly, it's refreshing.
If they weren't so popular, they'd be bothering me far more often.
Everyone else is congratulating one another or exchanging knowing looks about how to get out of working during this last week before freedom.
The funny thing about exorcist kids is they don't care about the point system. They don't even notice it. They just assume their points will be high, or that they'll wipe out all the Gloom Dwellers for sure.
All that matters to the students eagerly chatting is how to maximize this unsupervised time for the most wild and reckless fun.
It's really annoying how stupid this class is.
Exorcist candles are waved around like glow sticks.
Thomas, one of the class clowns, has an Exorcist Lantern that he waves wildly in the air, struggling to activate it.
As he fails over and over again, the crowd cheers him on.
Amelia, with a candle in hand, uses her illusionist powers to make it appear to light up, just to end the chant. I can tell it's what she did because I can see her candle flare up when she does it.
Either way, it ends the tomfoolery with the lantern.
She scolds Thomas about using the lantern recklessly, but I doubt he listens at all. He just looks frustrated, angry, and he storms off.
The rest of the group breaks apart shortly thereafter.
Amelia and Flynn drift in my direction, though they don't address me.
I yawn and stretch my arms, pretending to ignore them as I wait to see what's happening.
Amelia surveys the beach. "This island is a small one. We're unlikely to miss anything as long as we're thorough."
Flynn grins at her. "Right! It will be more than easy to catch whatever might be out there! Let's show everyone how it's done and go explore!"
I eye him, but decide against speaking up.
They're taking this more seriously than the rest, at least. Since that's what I want, it's best if I encourage this by just keeping my trap shut.
Amelia scans the treeline, and then sets her eyes in a specific direction. "We'll start from here and work our way northward. That way we won't cover the same ground twice."
The three of us move through the trees in silence. It's relatively easy to traverse - the underbrush isn't too dense, and the ground is relatively even, so it's not too tricky even lit only by the moon and candles.
While Amelia scouts the area and checks the forest for danger, Flynn and I scan the branches above us and the grasses around us for clues.
Gloom Dwellers are in theory hard to find without bait, because they're so dedicated to hiding away alone in whatever dark holes they can find and only coming out to strike when starving or when they think their prey is weak.
However, they're actually quite easy to track down.
They leave behind traces of 'gloom'. A pale, sticky substance that they create and manipulate with a thought. They use it as weapons, but also for mundane things like shelter and travel. And they are litterers. They never clean up after themselves, so when there's a Gloom Dweller around they're always easy to track down and find.
It's why they're mostly wiped out now. Gloom Dwellers are ultimately just dumb beasts that eat human souls. Dangerous, but easy to outsmart.
So it is notable that we don't find any Gloom at all.
We walk for hours and see not even a trace.
Nothing in the air, nothing in the dirt, nothing stuck to any surfaces.
Just plants, and plants, and more plants.
Normally I wouldn't care at all about how long we spend out here looking without success, but today I'm intensely invested. Because if we don't find them, I'm screwed.
So, of course, we don't find them.