Help! My Moms Are Overpowered Tyrants, and I'm Stuck as Their Baby!-Chapter 184: Something was off

Something was off.

It wasn't the taste of the cafeteria's soup although that, too, was a crime against humanity. It wasn't the flickering enchantments overhead, which kept blinking out with a little musical "plunk" every three minutes. And it definitely wasn't the way Riven was currently trying to sneak an entire wheel of cheese into her sleeve while Aria looked on, faintly appalled.

No, what was off was a particular absence. Or, more accurately, two of them.

I stabbed a suspiciously gelatinous dumpling with my fork and tried to focus, but the sense of unease wouldn't let go. Mara and Elira had vanished. Not in the metaphorical, "off on some errand for the queen" way, but in the actual, physical, "have not laid eyes on them since sunrise, and now it's dusk" way.

I watched the room with what I liked to think was cool, detached suspicion, but what Riven called my "impending coup d'état face." The cafeteria was full students jostling, witches bickering over stale bread, a pair of junior warlocks holding an arm-wrestling match on the salt-stained table beside us—but nowhere could I spot even the faintest glimmer of Mara's ridiculous swagger or Elira's silent, ominous presence.

"You're frowning," Riven announced, stuffing the cheese deeper into her sleeve. "That's never good."

"I always frown," I said, poking the dumpling harder. It jiggled. Offensively. "It's how I communicate that I'm thinking."

Aria rolled her eyes, which, for her, was practically an opera of emotion. "You're more brooding than usual. That's saying something."

"Don't encourage her," Riven muttered. "She's just upset because no one's tried to assassinate her in a week. She gets bored."

I opened my mouth to reply, but at that exact moment, the system's voice sliced through my mind like a lazy, amused razor.

[Would you like to know where your personal bodyguards are? Or should I let you stew in existential dread a little longer?]

I ignored it. Dignity above all. "Has anyone seen Mara or Elira today?" I asked, directing the question as generally as possible, so as not to seem bothered. Because I wasn't. Obviously.

Riven shrugged, a chunk of cheese tumbling out and onto her lap. "Nope. Maybe they're off doing something actually important, like not dying of food poisoning."

Aria shook her head, lips pursed. "They're not on any of the training rosters. And Mara didn't show up to spar with the new recruits, which is…odd."

I tried not to fidget. "Maybe they're playing hide-and-seek. Very advanced training technique."

Riven shot me a look. "If this is some kind of surprise birthday thing again, I will "

"I told you," I interrupted, "my birthday isn't for " I paused, trying to remember. Was it this week? I'd lost track. Too many assassination attempts, not enough calendars.

[You forgot your own birthday again, didn't you? I really should start leaving you notes on the bathroom mirror. Preferably in blood.]

I pressed my lips together, resisting the urge to respond aloud. That way led madness and, more importantly, explaining why I talked to myself. novelbuddy.cσ๓

Aria leaned forward, lowering her voice. "You think something's wrong?"

"No," I said automatically, just as my stomach twisted in direct contradiction. "Well. Maybe. It's just… off."

Riven nodded, solemn. "Paranoia is healthy. Keeps you alive and moderately entertaining."

I made a show of examining my soup, which had formed a skin, as though it had ambitions of hatching into a new, lower lifeform. "If something had happened, we'd have heard."

"Unless they're being discreet," Aria countered, eyes narrow. "Or unless someone wants us distracted."

I looked up sharply. "Distracted by what?"

Aria smiled faintly. "By each other, perhaps?"

Riven groaned. "Aria, you are not going to start another of your 'maybe it's all a test' monologues. Please. I haven't recovered from the last one."

But Aria only shrugged. "Everything is a test, Riven. If you assume that, you're rarely disappointed."

I let the conversation drift, watching the cafeteria for any sign, any hint of their familiar presence. A hundred faces none of them Mara's lopsided grin or Elira's predatory scowl. The room felt hollow, somehow, for all its noise.

[Missing your muscle already?]

I stiffened. [They're not muscle. They're ]

[Friends?] The system's voice oozed with delight. [You're almost adorable. Like a hedgehog with a switchblade.]

I stabbed the dumpling harder. It refused to die.

"Alright," I said, abruptly pushing back my chair. "Let's go look for them."

Riven blinked. "Now?"

"Yes, now. Unless you'd prefer to eat whatever this is." I gestured to the table, which looked like a battlefield after a siege by underqualified cooks.

Aria stood at once, adjusting her immaculate cuffs. "Where do we start?"

I hesitated. Mara and Elira didn't just disappear. If they were hiding, it was for a reason. But if they weren't hiding—

I frowned, a knot of worry twisting beneath my ribs. "Their quarters, first."

"Do we knock, or break the door down?" Riven asked, all innocence.

"Both," I decided. "Knock politely, then break it down. We'll be thorough."

We left the cafeteria, trailing a thin wake of suspicion students watching, a teacher's familiar (some sort of pigeon with a monocle) eyeing us as if we'd stolen its thesis. The halls of Arcanum stretched long and echoing, each lamp flickering just a little too dim. I kept expecting to turn a corner and spot Mara, half out of uniform, or Elira, silently judging everyone.

But their rooms were empty. Beds made, weapons missing. No sign of violence just a faint, lingering trace of ozone and something else. A tingle in the air, as though magic had been burned through, fast and messy.

Aria knelt, examining the floor. "Someone was here. Several someones. There's ash no, dust. And the residue of a containment rune."

Riven poked the wall, frowning. "That's not normal, right?"

I shook my head, unsettled. "Not unless they were fighting dust bunnies."

[Or perhaps actual bunnies,] the system offered helpfully. [Magic does strange things in old buildings.]

I ignored it, instead sweeping the room with my own senses. The magic was wrong, jagged at the edges. Not Mara or Elira's signature someone else had been here.

"We need more information," I said aloud.

Riven flopped onto the bed. "We could ask Velka. She always knows when something dramatic is happening."

I stiffened. "I haven't seen Velka, either."

Aria's head snapped up. "Wait. So it's not just Mara and Elira it's Velka, too?"

"Wonderful," Riven muttered. "We've lost the entire disaster squad."

I turned on my heel, heart hammering. "Come on. If Velka's missing, that means "

A shout from the corridor cut me off. I sprinted out, the others close behind.

Down the hall, a cluster of younger students huddled around a shattered statue. In the center stood a girl with shadows flickering around her boots a telltale sign. My breath caught.

"Velka?" I called, too loudly, not caring.

She looked up. Her eyes were wild, hair mussed, uniform scorched. She was alive barely.

"Elyzara!" She staggered toward me, dragging Mara and Elira behind her, both looking like they'd wrestled a small dragon and lost. Mara grinned, bloodied and triumphant; Elira was bruised but upright, her smile wicked.

"You're alive!" I blurted, relief flooding my veins so fast I almost swayed. "Where what ?"

Mara raised a finger, swaying. "Long story. Golems. Guards. Magical bureaucracy. Do not recommend."

Elira managed a wry smile. "We brought you a present." She nodded to the scorched bundle Velka was dragging a battered golden mask, its runes still faintly glowing.

Velka grinned, eyes shining. "You missed all the fun, princess."

For a heartbeat, I wanted to scold them how dare they vanish, how dare they worry me? But the relief was too sharp, and all that came out was a laugh, half-mad, half-hysterical.

Riven stared at them, aghast. "You look like you went through the laundry on infernal mode."

Mara bowed, unsteady. "And survived, thank you very much. Any cheese left?"

Aria, who'd been fussing over Elira's bruised arm, suddenly froze. The flush of concern faded from her cheeks, replaced by something raw and brittle. Her gaze flicked to Velka just once, but it was enough.

Velka's smile was all predator, no pretense. "Going somewhere, Aria?"

Aria jerked back, knocking over a stool. "I—I should go check on the infirmary—"

She turned, but Velka was faster. Shadows unspooled from Velka's fingers, coiling around Aria's wrist in an instant. The shadows looked soft, almost gentle until they tightened. Aria let out a tiny, undignified squeak.

"Leaving so soon?" Velka's voice was a purr, almost friendly, but her eyes glittered cold as garnet. "But you've just arrived. Don't you want to explain what happened to me? To all of us?"

The table went silent. Riven stopped mid-bite, cheese dangling from her mouth. Mara straightened, expression hardening, and Elira moved quietly to block the only exit.

Aria's composure cracked. "You don't understand, I—"

"Oh, I understand perfectly," Velka cut in, her tone silk and steel. "You're the one who locked me up. You're the one who made that… thing wear my face."

Aria's breath came shallow, eyes darting for an escape that wasn't there. "I—It wasn't personal—"

Velka laughed, sharp and wild. "No? It felt pretty personal from where I was chained to a wall, darling."

I watched, equal parts horrified and fascinated, as Velka reeled Aria in, inch by trembling inch.

"Maybe you'd like to tell us why," Velka said, low and dangerous, "before I find out the fun way."

Aria's knees buckled. The room seemed to close in, the laughter and noise of the cafeteria fading until only Velka's shadows remained hungry, waiting, and terribly, terribly patient.

"Go on," I said softly, voice like frost. "We're listening."