On account of there being no track practice, I take my time this morning. I don’t really feel up to moving quickly anyway. I feel this sort of numbness which makes it hard to care about most things. It’s like the feeling you get when you’re really burned out on school and stuff, but worse. It’s debilitating.

I can also be less particular about my breakfast with no planned physical activity today. I eat a bowl of cereal. I never eat this on days I have track, it’ll make you throw up. Each little bit is a little stab of sweetness that I have become less attuned to since I started cutting back on my sugar intake at the start of the year.

“Alright, see you this afternoon, Kevin,” Dad tells me, walking past me to the door.

“Hey, real quick, can I ask you something?” I say quickly.

“What is it?” he responds, turning around and leaving the door half opened.

“How is… his interrogation going? Do you think he’s really the one?”

Dad sighs at me. “It’s a police matter, so don’t make lightly of this. It’s not a game.”

“I don’t mean it like that at all,” I defend. “He was my track coach… the thought of him being the guilty one, is… well…”

Dad’s features soften. “Well, nothing conclusive yet. He’s denied everything so far. But the evidence against him is pretty damning, so we’re certainly not letting him go. We’re searching his house, and we hope to get the confession today. Anyways, bye.” He fully opens the door and leaves.

I return to gloomily eating my breakfast. Of course, posting the blog post isn’t a crime, however sickening its contents. But they think that if he was openly posting this stuff, he was probably involved with some other sketchy stuff either on the internet or at school. I really hope that isn’t the case… either way, he’s at least going to be fired and have his teaching license revoked. Mom says the school is scrambling to find a sub for the last week and a half of school, and hopefully a new hire or a long-term sub for the spring semester.

“Finish up, I need to be heading out soon too,” Mom urges, stepping into the kitchen now dressed in her work clothes. “You’re gonna have to walk yourself to school otherwise.”

I sit there for a moment, starting down at the little that remains of my cereal. “Honestly, Mom, I’m not sure if I’m feeling up to going to school at all after what happened.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? They took him away, it’s safe there now,” she scolds me. “You’re not gonna use this as an excuse to get out of school. Hustle up, now.”

“Alright. I’ll finish up then,” I agree. I’m irked as I finish up my breakfast, though. I wasn’t making an excuse; I actually just feel really crappy about this stuff…

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Ashley’s parents drop us off at the band hall, as usual. But instead of heading to the library as we normally would, Ashley has something else in mind. She’s decided that we should all head inside the palace in the school and try and find clues about who the blog writer could be. She thinks that it’s not Coach Everheart like the police think. Apparently, some stranger has been passing her notes saying it’s not him. But then why did the police take him in yesterday? I’m honestly really confused by the situation. But with something as serious as this, I understand that there’s no being too careful. And if it really is him after all, maybe the palace will disappear now that he’s in custody? I’m not sure how that would work, now that I think of it…

Anja and Nova are waiting for us outside the door to the band hall, and after Ashley’s parents drive away, they walk up to join us.

“Well, as much as I am not looking forward to this… I’m ready,” Anja announces.

“You guys got Ted?” Nova questions.

“Yep! He’s in my backpack!” I answer. “How are you doing back there, Teddy?” I ask.

I hear vague, rumbling mutterings come from inside my backpack. I sling it off my back and unzip it to reveal a certain armadillo curled up next to my school folders. “What were you saying?” I ask.

“It’s more comfortable in here than you’d think,” he answers. “It gets very warm… I think I will sleep the day away, if you are so kind as to not rock the pack too much.”

“That makes me think of something,” Ashley says, frowning. “You’re not gonna make a mess in there, are you? I’m not fond of the prospect of explaining why we’re cleaning armadillo droppings out of Zoe’s backpack.”

“Of course I won’t!” Ted growls indignantly. “I may have the form of an animal, but my mind is that of an adult man still, and I am very much still potty trained.”

“I dunno,” Anja comments teasingly. “When you get too old, you kinda lose that again…”

“He’ll be fine, don’t worry!” I assure the others. Nervous about someone else seeing him, I zip up my backpack again.

“Where are we going in?” Nova asks plainly. “We can’t have anyone see us disappearing into thin air out here.”

“We could all go by that generator where we initially went in,” Anja suggests. “I mean, that’s a remote enough place.”

“Not remote enough to stop you from following me there,” Ashley points out. “I think we’re better off using our secret little practice room. It’s about as secluded as anywhere else in the school, given there’s no percussion sectional or anything this morning. Which I don’t think there is.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Okay, that works,” Anja agrees, shrugging. “And for the record, I was not stalking you.”

“I never said you were,” Ashley retorts. “Guilty conscience?

“You said I was back then, and so… well, never mind,” Anja stops, suddenly looking embarrassed. I giggle at their exchange.

Thankfully, Ashley is right, and the back room of the band hall is deserted as usual. We go inside of the storage practice room. I feel my nerves rising… the way that Anja and Ashley describe this palace makes it sound really horrifying…

“Uh… I have this feeling…” Anja says absentmindedly as we all stand in a circle. “There was something I was supposed to tell you guys… something important… hmm…”

“You can tell us later. Let’s stay focused,” Ashley states. “Nova, are you paying attention?”

“I thought I saw something outside,” Nova explains, looking out the small window on the door. He briefly looks out again and peeks around, and then returns to the circle. “Okay, never mind. Probably just being paranoid.”

“Good. Everyone ready? Okay, here we go again…” Ashley pulls out her phone, and presses that button as always…

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We pass to the other side, and we’re met by the unfortunately familiar scenery of the jungle… As before, we appeared in a sort of clearing.

“Okay everyone. Get all the hentai jokes out of your system now,” Anja comments. “It’s going to be serious business from here on out…”

I look around at the others, who are taking in their surroundings… Oh no. We have a stowaway.

Standing a few feet away from the rest of the group is the girl who often sits at the table nearest to us in the library. She is also glancing at the scenery, looking clearly shocked… but honestly, not as shocked as she should be. Compared to Anja’s reaction when she was accidentally taken into here, this girl’s is suspiciously tame.

“Oh god damn it!” Nova yells, seeing her as well. “I’m sorry guys. I should’ve looked more carefully…”

“Oh, that’s the girl from the library yesterday!” Zoe comments. “Oh poor thing… she must be so confused… let’s take her back.”

“Wait,” the girl says. “Don’t send me back… I want to help.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Anja questions, looking aghast.

“Anja… it has been a while,” the girl greets, acknowledging Anja with a nod. “I came in with you by my own choice… please hear me out.”

“You snuck up on us?” Nova interrogates. “What the hell, do you have a death wish or something?”

“What do you know about our operations?” Ted questions in a growl, his pistol drawn.

The girl’s reaction to Ted would’ve been comical had it been in less stressful circumstances. She casts her gaze down on Ted, noticing him for the first time, and is stunned for a moment, eyes wide in shock. Then, her face collapses into a deeply thoughtful expression. “I have been…” she starts.

But she’s interrupted by the arrival of the vines. They come at us from all sides. Anja and I are thankfully prepared for them and knock most of them away with our wind magic and sword, respectively. Zoe and Nova yelp with surprise. Zoe trembles and raises her shotgun in the direction they were coming, while Nova wildly swings at a one which barely misses him. Ted instinctively retreats into his shell, his reflexes overwhelmed by an attack from all sides.

The stowaway girl, being outside the group, is not so lucky, and gets quickly trapped by the vines. “What the hell… Wait, no… NO!” she yells, hyperventilating as she’s lifted into the air.

“NO! RUTH!” Anja shouts, throwing herself at the scene and knocking several vines back with more wind. Ted springs out of his shell and makes the remaining ones drop her with well-aimed gunshots.

“Surround her! Now!” I order the team. We hustle over to where the girl named Ruth fell to the ground, making a circle around her and facing out with each of our weapons drawn.

This horrible, hissing voice speaks from every direction, in a cadence that sounds vaguely familiar… “Eh, that’s okay… that one is too fat for me anyway. You can keep her.”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Anja yells. “Show yourself, you rapist monster!”

“Oh? But why should I?” the hissing replies. “You already know who I am, don’t you? You watched me get carted out of school just yesterday! Hehehehe!”

“Identify yourself then,” Ruth commands them, getting back onto her feet. “Say something that only Coach Everheart himself would know. For instance, where would you like to go on vacation?”

“What’s the matter? Don’t you trust the police?” the voice replies.

“Not particularly,” I admit. “So, you’re not going to reveal your true identity that easily, huh?”

“I’m not a fucking idiot, Ashley!” the hiss says. “If you want to know who I am so badly, how about you come in and find me? I’ll call off my vines and let you come…”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s not a trap or anything,” Nova snarks.

“But you won’t be able to resist, will you?” the voice taunts. “I’ll be waiting…”

There is an eerie quiet now. I’m not sure whether to let my guard down or not. The voice said they would not attack again, but can we trust that? At any rate, the thought that we are still being constantly watched from the shadows is unnerving…

“Thank you so much for coming to my aid,” Ruth says. “What should we do now?”

“Honestly, I think we should just leave now,” I answer. “Nova is right in that the invitation to pursue is clearly a trap. And we now at least have confirmation that Coach Everheart is not the culprit. Let’s go back to safety and discuss this.”

“But I don’t get it,” Zoe questions. “How could it not be him? Didn’t the police say they traced the source of that blog post to his house?”

Anja gasps loudly. “Oh yeah! I just remembered what I was going to tell you! But uh, I’ll tell you back in the real world.”

“I also think I have an explanation for at least part of this,” Ruth offers.

“You certainly have a lot of explaining to do either way,” I tell her. “Anyways, returning now…”

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After another brief dizzy spell, I return to the band hall at school, with no remaining trace of the jungle we were just in. I am exactly where I was, pressed against the wall next to their practice room. I do trust my senses; I have no history of psychosis or any strong visual hallucinations. At this point, supernatural activity is the most likely explanation for this experience. I was not expecting this outcome.

The door to the practice room opens. It’s Nova, the boy with messy hair and a frequently crass tongue who has sexual feelings for Anja. “Alright, get in here,” he tells me.

The tone of some of the group members is rather confrontational. This is understandable, given that I have stumbled upon what is presumably a very tightly kept secret. Perhaps they will conclude from this experience that they should refrain from discussing supernatural affairs in the school library.

I walk into the practice room. Everyone turns to me at once. Ashley, the leader of the group, has an unreadable expression. Zoe, her blonde-haired girlfriend, looks at me nervously, although I think I also detect a small amount of excitement. Anja, as usual, avoids my gaze and looks at the ground, trying to act as if she had never looked up. Whenever it is convenient, the two of us will need to have a private conversation regarding how we feel about past events.

“Please take a seat. And start from the beginning,” Ashley orders calmly. Nova closes the door behind me, and I oblige her and take a seat across from the group.

“Here, since you already saw him, I might as well let him get some air,” Zoe chatters. She unzips her backpack. I am very confused by what she means by this, but I don’t think it’s my place to ask about it at the moment.