//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: Change Of Pace // Story: The Night Janitor // by Knox Locke //------------------------------// [Cozy's Perspective] This was a major problem. The disappearance of the backpack and the tome it contained would make it extremely difficult to reach the item she needed to retrieve. The book had been stolen. She was sure of it. Why else would it have disappeared? Now, she had to deduce who stole it, and determine whether it was worth the risk involved in stealing it back. This was something she'd have to finish pondering later, for the doorbell had just been rung. "I'm coming," she grumbled as she left the still-damaged sofa and fluttered over to the door. Opening the door, she did a double-take. She wasn't sure who she'd been expecting, but it certainly wasn't the changeling standing on Knox's doorstep. Cozy momentarily chided herself mentally for once again thinking of it as "Knox's doorstep." She lived here too, and that wasn't anything liable to change anytime soon. Sometimes it was just hard for her to accept that Knox had completely opened up his home to be her home as well. "Um... Hi," murmured the soft-spoken changeling, drawing Cozy's thoughts back to the matter at hand. "Hey," replied Cozy, failing to contain the awkwardness of the moment as it permeated into both of their voices. "I just..." started Ocellus. "I wanted to talk about last night. You know, at the school." "Y-yeah," Cozy stammered. "I s-suppose that makes sense." "So, may I come in?" "Uh, sure," she replied, only now realizing her unexpected guest was still standing outside. Ocellus made her way over to the couch and sat down. Looking at the scorched cushion, she gestured with a hoof. "What happened there?" she asked, her natural curiosity kicking in even in the midst of this awkward encounter. "Long story," Cozy said, making her way to the couch and taking a seat next to Ocellus. "So, you wanted to talk about last night?" "Y-yes!" Ocellus said, obviously louder than she had meant to, for she lowered her voice quite a bit before speaking again. "Yes, I wanted to ask you why you were there." Cozy groaned as she fell backwards against the back of the couch. She had really hoped Ocellus wouldn't be this direct. Now, she couldn't even work to steer the conversation. Instead, she'd have to keep her answers as vague as possible. "I needed something," she said, regaining some of her composure. "By any chance was that 'something' the book I saw you grab before Knox walked in?" "Somepony give her a prize!" she said with a voice coated in sarcasm. "Why did you need the book?" Ocellus asked her, ignoring the sarcastic comment. "It had information I needed," she said. 'This isn't going so bad,' she thought to herself, 'but if I'm forced to go further into this, though, I might have to actually open up to her.' She glanced at Ocellus. 'Let's hope it doesn't come to that.' "Well, yeah," Ocellus said, already getting tired of this kind of answer, "I kind of assumed that. What I meant was, why did you need the information?" "I need to get something of mine," Cozy replied, desperate to give as little information as possible. "Something I haven't seen in a long time now. The book would've told me how to get it back." "Why do you need it?" 'Dear Celestia, she's going to keep asking questions until she's satisfied,' Cozy thought, bring a hoof to her forehead. She looked to Ocellus, the determined look in the changeling's eyes confirming her suspicions. 'Maybe this will be for the best,' she thought, seeing no way out of this. 'At least if I open up, she won't think I'm up to no good again. Besides, it's not like she's asking about my Master Plan.' "Cozy?" Ocellus questioned, watching the young pegasus squirm uncomfortably under the pressure she was unknowingly putting upon her. "You OK?" Cozy took a long deep breath and sighed. 'Here we go.' "I'm assuming you know about my panic attacks, seeing as you're friends with Gallus. Not to mention the whole spying thing." She watched Ocellus' cheeks flush with pink at the mention of her not-so-friendly behavior and the changeling gave a slight nod. Cozy simply smirked. It'd been a while since she'd had leverage against somecreature, but she didn't plan on using it against Ocellus. She simply wanted to watch her squirm a little bit. "Well, a friend of Pinkie's thinks she can help me," she continued. "She can cure your panic attacks?" Ocellus asked, skepticism coursing through her words. "No," Cozy answered bluntly. "She can just help me manage stressful situations better, but she needs an object that reminds me of my past." "And that's why you need to get to this hard-to-reach item of yours," Ocellus stated, having put the puzzle together in her head. "You wanted the book so you could get the item so you could give it to Pinkie's friend so you could have less panic attacks, and that's why you broke into the school instead of just going in with Knox. Is that about right?" "Yep, that's about it." "Well, why is this 'item' of yours so hard to get to?" "Sorry, Ocellus, but that's all your getting out of me," Cozy responded decisively, having determined what she'd shared to already be more than she was comfortable with. "You want to know more, help me get that book back!" After Ocellus left, Cozy had run through the conversation again in her head. "That's strange," she said to the empty house. "She never asked me what happened after she left." No matter how long she waited, the house refused to respond, so she started pondering her earlier quandary of whether or not she should steal the book back once she knew who had it.