Zeda and Carrie were twelve minutes late when they arrived at the administration building for the meeting.

Zeda's heart pounded frantically as they entered the elevator that took them up to the conference room.

Her eyes quickly scanned the large room as they hesitated shyly at the door.

At the head of the polished obsidian table, as usual, sat Mr. Percival. To his right were Mrs. Amelia, Sloan, Christie, Ava, and Adrian. To his left were Vyr, Draven, Rylan, Kodak, and Torvin. Everyone was ...