I’d helped students through raids before. I usually had a way to talk to them as they worked their way through whatever situation an Endoran school dropped them into. This time I didn’t. And this time, even as I called other parents and strained to put my most chill voice on, all I could think about was that I’d let Stella down. That Zeta was in danger, and it was my fault. I could’ve done more to protect them.

So as I frantically tried to get a connection to my group of students, there was an awful voice in my head telling me I failed a massive test at being Zeta’s guardian.

And then the other fears began to trickle in. Like her getting hurt, or worse. That the first void related student death at a Cani school in this state in like a century would be on my hands. And that it’d be to one of my kids. That it’d be Zeta.

“Hey.” Caya said, stopping whatever she was in the middle of on one of the big consoles we used to monitor void business. All of us just had fog covering the maps, with no data we could use to help fix this. “Knock it off.”

That she singled me out when all the other teachers around us were also in various states of freaking out felt very rude to me.

“Is now really the time to say all the crap I’m doing wrong?” I snapped. I thought we broke up so I could get away from that. I almost said that out like a moron, but somehow I held my tongue.

“I’m not saying you’re doing something wrong.” Caya said. “You’re freaking out. That’s not like you. Take a step back and cool off. We’ll get through this.”

“Sure, yeah.” I said, hating that she was right.

I went to go walk around just to burn off some anxiousness. I was surprised Caya was still here and not checking random void nodes for our kids, but that’d be a pretty fruitless exercise, especially with the blocks the other school’s students put on everything.

I leaned against a wall and just tried to think of anything to calm me down. Thinking about Stella helped, but thinking about Stella also brought up a tidal wave of fear that everything was ruined for us after this. But thinking of her dorky laugh was a pretty good shield.

When I got back, Caya had the absolute slightest smirk, which was really good news. The other teachers seemed to be calming down as well, their shoulders less tightened and hunched over.

“Good update, I hope?” I asked.

Caya pointed to a cloudy spot on her monitor, which had a map displayed. It looked like someone had dropped blotches of blood on the map, but I could faintly see the markers that signified our students under them. I almost cheered but wanted to make sure first.

“I’m reading that right, aren’t I?” I asked. “So they’re in there…”

“Right.”

“And if they’re showing up…” I said.

“Then the block Wildfire Hearts put up is lifting.” Caya said. “And it’s just a matter of time before we can swoop in and bring them home.”

“And that’s just our class, right?” I asked. “How about the others?”

“Similar situations there.” Caya said. Some of the other teachers nodded, and again, their more relaxed body language made me feel insanely better. “I’m getting some reports that some students are making it back on their own as well, so they’re finding ways to get around the blocks Wildfire Hearts put up.”

“Awesome,” I said.

This is all a lot of Cani jargon, I know. I’d go into great detail here about the nature of what Endoran schools can do to interfere with Atrian ones, and vice versa, but the gist needed to understand is that:

-Endoran schools effectively took over our school’s trip and brought our students somewhere else

-Endoran schools blocked us from seeing students as they pranked or tried to attack our kids

-Endoran schools suck

This one got weird additionally because a bunch of void nodes were mashed together, which is terrific for their long-term stability. Again, lots of Cani jargon, I’ll back off.

In the middle of my cheering, I almost called Stella right there to give her the good news. I luckily realized in time before dialing, and very luckily Caya had her back turned to me while I checked my phone. I didn’t know what she’d think about Stella. Not that I really needed her opinion on us in an exes way. But it would be nice to have her support one day in a friends way once Stella was actually settled in her job and we were ready to talk about us more outwardly.

After another tense hour, the fog started to lift, and some of the teachers headed into the void while others waited for the returning students. I had never felt a weight lift off of me when I saw the map on my screen change to a clear one, and for the notifications popping up that my students were back home. I ran out to the spot they came back to, sending a mostly misspelled series of texts to Stella letting her know Zeta was safe. After I sent those, I realized I didn’t know what state Zeta and the others were in, leaving me still in a mix of elation and panic.