Pride x Familiar by Albert Ruckholdt

Guardians to
enlist your help, we cannot order you to help us. We can only ask
for your help.”
    I frowned. “Are you saying we can choose to walk
away from all this?”
    He nodded. “Yes. Your Guardians have left the
final decision in your hands.”
    Maya whispered, “My mother is letting me
decide?”
    The Countess nodded sagely. “She is indeed. The
choice of whether to help us or not lies with you. We will not hold
it against you if you choose to walk away.”
    I studied the slowly revolving image of the
Academy’s computer network. The black building or box kept drawing
my attention, as did the blinking domino doors at the end of the
bridge.
    I took a deep breath and shoved my hands into my
trouser pockets. “I have no love for Crimson Crescent. I’d gladly
screw up their plans. Count me in.”
    Caprice said quietly, “If he’s in, then so am
I.”
    Rina Sayen shrugged as she wrapped her arms
protectively about her. “I don’t know what help I can be, but I’ll
do what I can…if you’ll have me.”
    In the corner of my eye, I saw Maya Khayman
stare at the carpeted floor. She was shaking her head slowly. “I
don’t know what my mother’s thinking, but I think she’d want me to
help. So I’ll do what I can to protect this school. Besides, my
younger sister is here. Even if I’m a disappointment to my family
and to her”—she looked up and stared at the Countess—“I no longer
want to be a disappointment to myself.”
    The President and Vice-President stared at the
four of us for a long while before bowing respectfully and thanking
us.
    I almost took a step back, shocked to be treated
this way by two Aventis. Actually I was more than shocked. I felt a
little repulsed.
    Why the Hell are Aventis acting so respectful to
us?
    Maya looked uncomfortable at first, then
bitterly turned away.
    Rina looked embarrassed and continued to hug
herself.
    Caprice was staring at the President and the
Countess through narrow eyes.
    She spoke in her customary flat voice. “What do
you want us to do the next time Crimson Crescent invades this
Academy?”
    The Countess folded her arms. “We want you to
let them break in.”
    I saw Caprice stare at the mysterious black
box.
    She asked, “You want to learn what’s
inside?”
    Severin and the Countess nodded guiltily.
    “And then what?” she asked. “Will you instruct
us to move against Crimson Crescent’s operative?”
    Severing answered her. “Yes. If the opportunity
presents itself, we’d like you to apprehend them—”
    “—and steal their Fragment,” the Countess
declared.
    Everyone looked at her, including the
President.
    With a cunning smile, she admitted, “I know the
Powers-that-be will not allow us to keep it, but I’d like us to be
the ones to steal it from Crimson Crescent. It might gain us some
goodwill points with the Powers-that-be.”
    I burst into laughter, which earned me a
kaleidoscope of looks ranging from confused to annoyed. “You want
us to steal the Fragment for you.”
    The smile on the Countess’s lips widened.
    Caprice muttered, “Assuming we can capture the
intruder….”
    The Countess waved a hand lightly. “I have no
doubt you can do it.”
    I gave the other two Familiars a flat look, and
turned down the corners of my mouth. “You can’t be serious.”
    “I’m completely serious,” Simone claimed.
    “Are our Handlers aware of this?” Caprice
asked.
    I grimaced inwardly when she used the term
‘Handler’.
    The Aventis preferred to call them Guardians. In
fact, Severin and the Countess had been referring to them as
Guardians all along.
    Our Guardian was Arisa since she was responsible
for us, and was ultimately accountable for our actions. That
included any successes and failures. But I felt referring to her as
our ‘Handler’ was somewhat demeaning to her and to us.
    Arisa was one Aventis I felt I could trust…just
barely.
    However, I realized Caprice was making our
relative social ranking clear by doing