Delano groaned. “Why are you making this scarier than it is?”

“I’m not making it scarier than it is.” Eroms took another bite of his chicken.

Then he did the unthinkable. He gave it to Melmarc.

“Hold my stick,” he said.

“What are you doing?” Delano panicked. “Get back to the back.”

Eroms ignored him. He walked up to the door, grabbed the handle and pushed it open.

Phone camera turned on and held up, Delano darted inside before Eroms could. Melmarc followed quickly behind. They had to be fast if they wanted to catch what was making Eroms smell blood and they needed to…

All three of them paused inside the room.

It was empty…

Well, not necessarily empty. It was a study, a large one. Its walls were covered in shelves with books of different kinds. There were binders and even newspapers. And by covered in shelves, it was so elaborately and thoroughly done that the shelves might have as well been the walls.

The only side of the walls not covered in shelves had a large wooden table in front of it. The table was far from simple. It was one of those tables you’d expect to see in a CEOs office. Large, wide, and varnished to a shine.

Light filled the room from a chandelier that dangled from the roof, casting everywhere in a bright yellow glow.

“What’s with this guy and chandeliers.” Delano had already turned his phone off and put it back in his pocket.

With nothing to see there was really no need for a phone.

He was looking around now, approaching one of the book shelves while Eroms simply stood, sniffing the air and frowning.

“I still smell blood,” he said.

Delano pulled a random book from one of the shelves then put it back. “Of course you do.”

Eroms glared at him, and he raised his hands in surrender.

“Look, I’m not saying you’re lying.” He pulled another book out and put it back. “But there’s no blood… and no body. Whoever was here’s gone. Probably heard us from a mile away and skedaddled.”

Melmarc spotted a door at the end of the room and pointed. “Maybe they used the door.”

Delano turned as if he was just seeing it. “Wanna bet it’s locked.”

“I’d rather not.” Melmarc stared at one of the pens on the massive table. It was red with bat designs.

Does this count as a sign of vampirism, he thought to himself, only half-joking.

“Still smell blood,” Eroms said, and he walked up to the only other door in the room.

Delano pulled another book from a shelf and put it back in. He was going through the books faster now. Removing and replacing without even opening them.

“What are you doing?” Melmarc asked.

“Secret entrance.”

“You think there’s a secret entrance to another room behind one of the book shelves?”

“I know you think it only happens in the movies, but,” Delano removed another book and put it back, “I’ve seen enough videos of houses like this and there is almost always a secret chamber.”

“And you think it’s opened by a false book in a book shelve.”

“Yes. And stop shaking the door like that, Eroms. Let Marc have a go at it.”

“It’s probably the bathroom or something. And it’s probably locked since no one’s supposed to be using it right now.” Melmarc paused. “Wait, why me?”

“Because,” Delano pulled another book and it got stuck. He smiled proudly. “Bingo.”

Eroms stopped whatever he was doing with the door and Melmarc wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be impressed or terrified. They were in the house of someone who could be a vampire and had just intruded on his study and found a secret room.

These were all the makings of a horror movie.

Delano would open the door now and they’d find a winding staircase. Eroms would be the friend that had their back and he would be the voice of reason no one would listen to, and Delano would end up getting all of them sacrificed to a vampire Lor—

“Shit!” Delano muttered under his breath.

He pulled out the book completely then put it back in.

“False alarm. Book was just too heavy.” He was already moving on to the next book. “Anyway, let Marc have a go at the door, Eroms.”

“Again,” Melmarc tossed his hands in exasperation, “why me?”

“Because you know how to pick locks.”

“Can you please stop picking out books, I’m worried you guys might give me a heart attack. And what makes you think I can pick a lock?”

Delano stopped and looked at him, a hand hovering over one of the books. “Didn’t you say your uncle taught you how to pick a lock?”

“My uncle taught my brother how to pick locks.”

“And he didn’t teach you? Why?”

Melmarc shrugged. “It was a reward thing. Eroms please step away from the door.” He rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “At this rate I’m going to get offered a skill that has to do with fear. Can we please go back to our room before we get caught?”

Eroms and Delano looked at him from opposite sides of the room.

Then Delano looked at Eroms. “Told you he was a spoilsport.”

“I’m not a spoilsport.” Melmarc pointed at him, then pointed at Eroms. “The door. Leave it. For crying out loud did you ever wonder what could happen if you’re right and Vlad turns out to be a vampire?”

“Uh…” Delano looked like he was just now thinking about it. Like really thinking about it.

“I’ll give you an idea. We’ll find him with his teeth in someone’s neck, and he’ll see us see him. And we’ll see him see us see him. And he’ll see us see him see us see him. Then guess who’s next on the menu.”

“Eroms? He’s larger so it’ll take a little longer for Vlad to get through him first.”

“Ha ha. You’ve got jokes.” Melmarc turned and made his way for the door. “I’m not a spoilsport, I’m just reasonable. How would you feel if you invited a guest over and they just started snooping around and going through your things?”

“Well, I can’t really say.”

“Yeah, I thought as much.”

This was one of the problems Delvers faced. Their lives were not their own. Everyone wanted to snoop around and learn what they weren’t supposed to learn. People were terrified of them sometimes, but everyone wanted their lives.

And there were people who made money off taking hidden videos of them, and finding out secrets they would rather keep to themselves.

Even Gifted high schools were like that.

There weren’t that many in the country, which meant most of the Gifted children ended up gathering in groups. Most high schools didn’t take in any Gifted higher than a D-rank, and sometimes they didn’t even take the D-ranks, so any Gifted that wanted to continue with school after getting their class had to enroll in a Gifted high school.

People could scream discrimination all they wanted but uncle Dorthna always explained it properly. When you give a child a knife, someone is liable to get stabbed. If it’s not another child, it’s probably going to be the one with the knife.

Imagine sixteen and seventeen-year-olds walking around with the ability to punch a hole in the wall. Or better yet, imagine there’s a loner who’s being bullied all the time and one day he decides to snap, and he’s got a skill that can fry someone.

It served a better purpose teaching the children with classes along with other children with classes. It wasn’t a hundred percent safe, but it was definitely safer than having to explain to a grieving mother why her son went to class on a normal day and had his head melted by heat vision.

“He’s right,” Eroms said finally. He was still standing at the door but he was no longer holding on to the handle. “I wouldn’t be happy if I woke up in the night and found a visitor going through my fridge.”

Melmarc pursed his lips. “Uhhh… not really what I had in my mind, but I guess that would work too.”

Delano let out a frustrated groan. “Why do you have to be so reasonable all the time?” he was already walking away from the bookshelves. “And why do you always have to be reasonable about being reasonable? Besides, didn’t you say a Vampire class couldn’t be real?”

And I thought angels were too divine to be physically accessible. Definitely didn’t think we’d be able to fight them either.

“I’m getting something to eat before we get to the room,” Delano complained as he opened the door. “Not eating was my punishment for dragging you out. Eating’s my reward for not finishing what I started.”

Melmarc didn’t mind that. He was more concerned by how ludicrous it would be if they opened the door to find someone just standing there, waiting for—

Something caught his eyes as Delano opened the door. It was just at the edge of his vision, seen in passing. But it was enough to make him hesitate.

He stared at one of the shelves. It looked slightly off, askew somehow. There was a space between that shelf and the one beside it as long as his finger. Was Delano right? Was there really a secret compartment? Had he just found—

He froze, staring, unable to move.

In the dark space between two shelves an eye watched him. It was eerie and still.

“Marc, you coming?”

It was Delano’s voice. And while Melmarc really wanted to answer, he didn’t know how to. He didn’t have the words or the will. And there was a smell, a strong smell that was crawling up his nostrils.

“Marc?” Delano slipped his head back into the room.

It startled Melmarc enough to make him stop looking.

“I thought you wanted to get out of here? There’s no one in the hallway so we should hurry.”

Melmarc looked at the space between the shelves, but nothing was there. Just the easy blackness that could’ve been anything.

“Uhm… yeah.” He shook his head. “Yeah. Let’s… let’s get out of here.”

He followed Delano and they drew the door as shut as they could.

“You sure you’re okay?” Delano asked as they headed down the stairs, making their way to the dining room. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Wait. Did you actually see something and not say anything?”

Yes.

But he wasn’t going to tell his friends that. All it would do was inspire Delano to go back, and Eroms would be more than willing to follow.

“I’m not sure.” It was the answer he settled for, because it was partly true. He didn’t know what to make of what he saw.

Had they been caught snooping around? Or had he just caught someone doing something they wouldn’t want others to know?

It was all about the perspective. And Melmarc couldn’t really get the right perspective.

One thing he was certain of, however, was that he couldn’t get the smell of blood out of his nostrils now.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

…………………………

The African museum reminded Melmarc of an art gallery he’d been to with his parents once. But instead of paintings hanging on walls, it had objects in glasses.

And it was large.

They’d left the mansion in the morning about an hour after breakfast. No one had said anything but Melmarc had a feeling the extra hour was meant to give them all the time to associate and cause all the troubles they could.

Vlad had shown his face once more and had looked paler than the night before. If anyone else noticed it, no one was talking about it.

The same school bus that brought them all the way from school, played its part in bringing them all the way to the museum. And after an hour of walking, Melmarc was right bored of the place.

The museum was interesting enough as things went. It had a natural lighting that somehow made you feel like it was all sunlight, maybe streaming in form a glass ceiling. But anytime you looked up, you just saw light bulbs strategically placed. The place was busy with the constant movement and conversation of visitors and guests here to see different displays of their different interests.

It made it less quiet than Melmarc had expected it too be.

The items on display were… different, to say the least. There were masks and tools, clothing and other paraphernalia. He’d seen a painting of a samurai mask once. The masks had been designed in old japan in visual representation of something called the oni. That had been terrifying to look at.

The masks he was seeing in the museum were more on the eerie side. It didn’t look like it had been designed to scare you, but it scared you. It was like it scared its viewer simply by being what it was.

“… And this was given to us from the Edo empire,” their tour guide, a tall lanky man in a suit was saying. He looked like one of those people who dedicated their lives to their work, and wore big rimmed glasses. “They say the Oba of Benin gave it as a gift to commemorate the loving and peaceful nature of the colonials at the time. Some say it was a great sign of respect.”

“Great signs of respect don’t end up in museums,” Delano whispered beside Melmarc. “They end up in more important places.”

Melmarc couldn’t disagree. If it was important, it wouldn’t be on display. It would be somewhere else, somewhere less accessible. Then again, the Mona Lisa was on display in a museum somewhere.

Delano bumped him on the shoulder as they moved on to another exhibit. “They probably stole it from them.”

“Or took it as payment for something else,” someone added.

Melmarc turned to find a boy he didn’t know.

He might not have been the most social in his school, but he wasn’t a pariah. He knew every face in his class and almost every name.

So while it was understandable that he didn’t know the name of the boy who’d spoken, it was a bad sign that he didn’t know the face.

Delano turned to look at the new face. “And you are?”

“Just passing through on the exhibit.” The boy held his hand out for a handshake. “I’m Joshua.”

“And you’re in the wrong group.” Delano didn’t even attempt to take his hand.

This was one of the reasons he didn’t have many friends.

Melmarc shook the boy’s hand. “I’m—”

“Alfred,” Eroms cut him off, offering his own hand.

Melmarc released Joshua’s hand so he could shake Eroms.

Joshua looked Melmarc up and down, then nodded. “Alfred.”

He turned and shook Eroms hand. The rest of the class were already beginning their slow procession to the next exhibit so they could listen to another thirty-minutes history lesson of how the item was a gift from an important member of some land in the African peninsula.

It was always as a sign of respect for friendly relations and great respect. Honestly, Melmarc didn’t find it hard to believe some might’ve been given as a sign of respect and friendly relations.

But when every item had ‘respect and friendly relations’ tagged to their historical description, the stories started to get questionable. Maybe even intentional.

“We’re losing the others, Alf.”

Melmarc looked at Delano. “Uhh… yeah. We better hurry.”

It took him a moment to remember he was Alfred, for some reason. Eroms’, however, still had Joshua in a handshake and was introducing himself as Jonathan for some reason.

Melmarc expected such a behavior from Delano, so it was a bit disorienting to have Eroms giving false names.

“And you are?” Joshua asked, holding out his hand to Delano once more.

Melmarc was impressed. The boy had just had his handshake ignore by Delano and was willing to offer it again. He was either really innocent or really suspicious.

He had blue eyes, was as tall as Melmarc, wore his hair in a mature way, and had a squared jaw. He also had a fanny pack around his waist with the zip open and an opened wrap of something edible sticking out.

Suspicious, Melmarc decided.

He couldn’t find any reason Joshua would want to make friends badly enough that he’d ignore his handshake being ignored and try again. Or maybe he’s just being polite.

It was logical. After all, he had been the one to join a group he wasn’t a part of.

Delano looked at the hand, and ignored it again. “You can call me Big C. Come on, guys, the others have left us.”

He made his way in the direction of the group where they were looking at a display of what looked like a machete. It was probably a friendly and respectful machete, like every other thing in the museum.

“It’s kind of worrying that they left us behind and no one noticed,” Melmarc noted as they left Joshua and headed for the others.

“No, what’s worrying is how easily trusting you can get.” Delano looked behind them and confirmed Joshua wasn’t following them. “When a strange boy walks up to your school trip and just slips into the crowd for casual conversations, you don’t go giving them your name.”

Melmarc gave a glance behind them at Joshua. In his white tee and blue jeans, he didn’t look very strange. He looked like he’d made a stroll to the museum to see the exhibits.

“He doesn’t look strange to me. Besides, Eroms gave him a fake name.”

“Which should tell you a lot.” Delano hurried them along. “If you start running into people even Eroms doesn’t trust, maybe you should start asking questions.”

Melmarc looked back again. Joshua was just standing there, waving.

He waved back hesitantly.

“Is anyone worried about the fact that the group just walked away from us?” he asked as he dropped his hand. “Or at how simply he just walked into the group.”

They were far enough from Joshua now that he wouldn’t hear their conversation and were almost back with the group. “How did he even get in without anyone noticing?”

Delano shrugged. “We’re like thirty people on this trip. And it’s a big museum. I can’t really say I’m surprised it happened.”

Melmarc nodded. He’d thought his classmates would’ve noticed. Or at least Mrs. Ella.

I didn’t even notice until he spoke.

Was it really a big deal or was he making a big deal out of nothing? And wasn’t it polite to give your name when someone introduced themselves? Was he reading too much into it?

“Tell me I’m wrong, Eroms, but… Hey, you good?”

Eroms was frowning. Maybe frowning wasn’t the word, but his face was hard. Something was bothering him.

He didn’t answer at first. He let them get closer to the others. Finally, he said, “He didn’t want to give me his food.”

A message flashed in front of Melmarc before he could reply to that.

[Melmarc Jay Lockwood, a new skill has been added to a selection of skills you have proven efficient in to some degrees over time. Would you like to view them?]

[Yes/No]

…

[Narcolepsy]

The Gifted regains a full health status when they fall asleep.

[Knowledge Is Power]

The Gifted releases a burst of mana that comes back to them as information

[Keen Sight]

The Gifted notices everything within their eyesight.

[Rings of Saturn]

The Gifted wraps a ring of pure raw mana around their body and can attack with it.

Melmarc read the new skills. Keen sight and Knowledge Is Power.

He was sure he’d heard of [Keen Sight] before, and its definition sounded… interesting. It was one thing to see what was in front of you, but it was another to notice everything.

[Knowledge Is Power] needed some thinking to figure out.

He understood the first part well enough. The second part was where his understanding became lacking. What exactly did it mean by the mana coming back as information

It wasn’t down the path of a Strength type, like he was looking for. But it was definitely something, and at this rate something was better than nothing. He could just imagine looking in a direction and seeing everything, not needing to take the time to…

Where he’d heard of the skill Keen Sight before dawned on him and it shook him to his core. He tapped Delano’s shoulder a little harder than he’d intended.

“Ow! What did I do?”

Melmarc couldn’t bring himself to be bothered by that right now. Besides, sometimes these things happened, you got too excited and hit your friend a little too hard.

“Sorry,” he whisper-shouted. “But something just happened.”

“It better be some kind of Gifted bad guy breaking into the museum to steal some old artifact that grants you an invisibility buff.”

Melmarc paused. He looked around. “Uhhh… I don’t think so.”

“Then all I have in response is this.” Delano smacked him on the shoulder.

Melmarc sucked in a sharp hiss, rubbing his shoulder. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a toxic friend?”

“Eroms tells me all the time.”

Eroms was looking around them. His height made it easy to look over their heads. “I don’t see a bad guy. Unless you count Joshua.”

“Not just a bad guy,” Delano explained. “A bad guy with powers.”

Eroms didn’t correct himself.

Melmarc opened his mouth to bring Delano back to the reason he’d tapped him in the first place but was interrupted by one of their classmates.

“Where’d you guys go?” It was Tracy, she’d sat with Eroms on the way from school and had given him food. “I was looking all over the place for you.”

“Toilet,” Delano answered easily.

Tracy’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “All three of you? At the same time?”

Delano threw an awkward arm over Melmarc’s shoulder. “What can I say? We’re just that tight.”

“Okay.” Tracy looked at his arm on Melmarc’s shoulder. She sounded like she didn’t want to touch the subject. “I was just asking because it was weird. You guys were there, then you were gone. It was kinda odd.”

She was paying attention to us?

“Nice to have you guys back.”

Melmarc would’ve answered something friendly, even if only to shake off whatever odd vibe Delano had given her with his arm around his shoulder. An arm that was still around his shoulders.

But she’d been looking at Eroms.

Regardless, he had more pressing matters to discuss. He shrugged off Delano’s arm and turned to him.

“I got a new one,” he whispered as quietly as he could in the crowd, not wanting to use any specific words that would give him away.

He was hoping Delano would know what he was talking about.

“A new…”

It took him a moment but Delano figured it out.

“We can’t talk about it here.” Delano slipped his hand in his pocket and was bringing something out. “Too many people. Just type it.”

Melmarc grabbed Delano’s arm before he could bring out his phone. The museum had a no mobile device policy. You could bring your phone in, but you weren’t allowed to be caught using it.

It was an odd rule, because what if you needed to take a call.

“No phones allowed,” Melmarc reminded Delano.

Delano was puzzled. “Where did you get that idea from? No one ever said anything about phones.”

Melmarc nodded at one of the posters on the wall. It read in clear black words on white walls: NO MOBILE DEVICES ALLOWED.

Delano countered it by nodding at a woman in a business suit seated on one of the chairs in the building.

She had her mobile phone in her ear and was making a call.

“Well.” Melmarc kept a firm hold on Delano’s arm. “It’s probably a very important business call.”

Delano gave him a look, then sighed. “Alright, then how are you going to tell me what I know you want to tell me?”

Melmarc thought about it.

They were close friends but he didn’t think there were any kind of coded sentences he could use that would not in some way end up being difficult to interpret, and make their conversation sound very awkward.

“You could write it,” Eroms suggested.

“I could,” Melmarc agreed. But he didn’t have a pen. “D, got a pen on you?”

Delano scoffed. “Who brings a pen to the museum? You might as well ask our tour guide over there for one.”

Tracy turned and held out a pen. “I’ve got a pen.”

“Uhm… thank you?” Melmarc took it hesitantly.

“Just give it back when you’re done. It’s the only one I have.”

Delano snatched the pen from Melmarc before he could reply and scribbled quickly on his palm. He showed it to him.

Has she been listening to us all this while?

He’d written it in short hand so that it didn’t occupy his entire palm. Words like ‘been’ were spelled as ‘bin’ and ‘while’ was ‘wyl.’

“No.” Melmarc took the pen from him. “She just overheard us and was nice enough to help.”

With the pen he scribbled his own piece of information and showed them.

I just got keen sight.

Delano looked up from his palm. “So?”

Melmarc groaned. Someone in the crowd asked the tourist guide why all the items were given in good faith.

“Isn’t there anything here we bought?” the boy was asking. “You know, paid for with money or something equally valuable.”

“And why is literally everything a gift for friendliness and respect,” Delano called out, simply because he could. “You’d think some of them would be… I don’t know… smuggled.”

“The museum does not house any—”

The tour guide was interrupted by another of their classmates.

“The museum doesn’t…” he tried to finish when another student asked something Melmarc didn’t catch.

“No, that one was also a… a gift.” The tour guide was stumbling over his words. “The museum does not house smuggled or stolen items.”

He seemed quite adamant to finish that sentence, like it was some kind of a disclaimer.

Delano raised his head to say something else and Melmarc tugged on his sleeves to stop him.

“D, focus.” He tapped his palm.

“Sorry. What were you saying? Why is this one a big deal, again?”

“It’s what the chess prodigy we were talking about had.”

Delano looked from him to his palm, and back. Then he looked at Eroms.

Eroms shrugged.

“Of course I wasn’t going to ask you,” Delano said. “What would you know about—ow!”

Eroms had flicked his ear.

Delano turned to Melmarc with a pained face. “Did you see that?”

Melmarc had seen it, but he needed them to focus right now. He wanted to know if it was a good enough skill to pick. It wasn’t necessarily what he was going for but he’d be stupid to call it bad.

With a gun and the skill, and no really advanced superhuman strength, the chess prodigy had made himself one of the best shooters there was.

“Delano.” Melmarc’s voice wasn’t loud but it was firm, a harsh whisper.

“Alright,” Delano said. “If it’s what you say it is, then it’s a good one. I don’t think there’s any Strength with this one, though.”

Another of their classmates looked back. Melmarc needed a moment to remember his name, but Delano was already speaking.

“Yes, we think of any skill combinations and try and figure out what Class it will get. You got a problem with that?”

The boy looked back.

“And this is why I’m your only friend,” Eroms told him.

“Nope.” Delano shook his head. “Marc’s my friend, too.”

Melmarc wanted to groan. He was having a hard time getting them to focus. It wasn’t that they took him for granted, it was simply that they couldn’t stay on certain tasks when they were together. Melmarc had seen them do something similar when their own parents were around.

The group moved on and they followed.

“All I’m asking,” Melmarc said as they walked, “is if you think this is a good enough one.”

“Good enough, as in, not to wait for others?” Delano mused. “I don’t know, to be honest. Anything added to it will give Intelligence or Agility.”

“I know.”

“So no Strength.”

Melmarc wasn’t foolish. He had dreams, yes. And a strength type class was at the top. But not too long ago he had been hit with a reality where he wouldn’t be getting a Class. Then he’d gotten a class. Now he was being picky.

If he was being honest, the skills he had before were slowly being replaced by passive skills. Fist of Thunder was gone, so was Let Me In and You are not alone. Now Echo Draw was gone.

His stubbornness was testing faith, and Bob Slater was just dancing around the corner with a cup of coffee.

Melmarc didn’t want to end up with a passive skilled Class. There was nothing wrong with them, but he wanted something he could toggle on and off.

And he didn’t want Rings of Saturn.

“I can see your brain trying to figure out how to win a chess game with only a pawn,” Delano said after a while. “So how about we do this? Let’s put a pause on this and make our pick when we get home, alright? Because between our boring African artifacts lecture and that creepy guy still staring at us because he thinks we don’t know, I’m just going to end up saying something and slipping up.”

Melmarc turned. “What guy?”

He found the person, or the suspected person, easily.

Joshua was seated on one of the chairs reading a book.

“He’s just reading a book. What makes you think he’s watching us?”

“Because if I wanted to watch people in a place where I couldn’t use my phone, I’d pretend to be reading a book.”

“I don’t know,” Melmarc said. “Sounds like paranoia to me.”

Eroms chuckled. “He’s been a member of a conspiracy theorist community since he was five. Paranoia is Delano at this point.”

“We’re not just conspiracy theorists,” Delano muttered as they moved on. “We do hang outs too.”

Melmarc took another look at Joshua as they moved. The cover of the book was entirely brown with no writings or pictures of any kind. But he couldn’t help a feeling he was getting.

Is it upside down?