“KAELIN!!” A voice full of anguish screamed whilst running from behind.

Finally, it reached the cafeteria bench where two people appeared to be seated. They turned almost startled by the voice.

“Oh, hey! Sandwich boy! What’s up?” And just like the name suggests he seemed to be holding onto sandwiches.

“Stop with that name, you equally deserve to be called that as well.” He slammed the plate on the table and looked straight at Lin.

Lin knew immediately what this was about and looked away.

“Why were you there? WHY WERE YOU AT THE FOREST ENTRANCE?!”

“Robin… I can explain-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Demi spat out her drink.

“Cough! Cough! The forest...!!” She wiped her mouth.

“Demi...! Are you okay??”

“What were you doing there? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Let me see…” she reached for his face.

He immediately held both her hands in his own, stopping her examination. “Demi, really, I’m fine...! Don’t worry, nothing really happened back there…”

Once both Robin and Demi calmed down, it was time they got an explanation.

“So… I went in to find some troublemakers…” He narrated the entire reason but with very few details.

“Sigh… here I thought something happened and maybe that’s why you sent me your location.”

“Well, I did send it in case something did go wrong…”

Demi was very agitated, considering all that she had to deal with the past few days. But she listened keenly to very word to pinpoint anything out of the ordinary.

“…Why does she look so mad..? I’ve never seen her like this before…” Lin began to contemplate within himself as to how adverse the situation could have been. One can’t blame him though; his forest adventure wasn’t as wacky as her own.

“You really gave me a scare and the fact that I only saw it this morning really did not make it any less scary.” Robin mumbled.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine, whatever, as long as all of you were safe in the end.” His eyes turned to Demi and looked back at Lin. “You better solve this issue now…” He walked away wishing him good luck.

“Demi...” He called out in a soft voice.

“Were you perhaps at Downey east?”

“Yes! How did you know?”

“Uh…” She started to sweat from outing herself. It happened to be the same exact spot they chose to enter the forest. “I happened to walk past it recently is all and remembered because the fence was wide open…” The master minds behind the fence were none other than the twins.

“I think you shouldn’t take that route anymore, I found that the fence was intentionally cut with a sharp object...”

“Sure, no problem!” She laughed nervously.

“But tell me this, did anything strange happen while you guys were in there?”

“Hmm… nothing out of the ordinary… wait! There was something strange.” Lin was in deep thought.

“We followed, what we assumed to be one of kid’s dog through the forest and I remembered not taking a single turn and yet somehow we came full circle and ended up in the same spot we started… and as for the dog… we couldn’t find it anymore…”

“What..?” This reminded her of the first time they went in as well. “Could this be the work of the barrier Forsyth mentioned..?” She thought to herself.

“Yes, I found it strange too…” Lin felt like skipping out another detail that he assumed would be disturbing to hear.

“And what about the dog? You guys would have searched for it right?” But Demi asked for the very detail he wanted to skip.

It seemed they had totally forgotten about the dog’s existence and went home that day. Only later at night did Lin remember about the dog and rushed to ask Kyra. It seems the mystery flew over both of their heads. She immediately called up Jeremy’s house and asked of their dog. Jeremy nonchalantly said that it was sound asleep and that he never brought it along with him on the trip. “Did we mistake the dog’s owner?” Lin enquired. Kyra had no other answer, so she agreed that it was a mistake.

“Well… turns out it wasn’t a dog with an owner it just happened to resemble another dog, even the collar…”

“Sigh…” Demi pushed her hair back. “How’s Kyra doing?”

“She’s totally fine, but I did feel bad about dragging her along since she seemed really frightened by all this. She insisted that she wanted to find her friends…”

“She’s certainly strong on her morals, isn’t she? Kind of like you, I suppose.”

“Haha! You think so?”

“Hopefully something like this doesn’t happen again, but if in a minute chance that it does happen, how about telling me too?”

Lin felt a heavy sensation in his chest. He did not mean to worry her more and felt he had to answer half-heartedly.

“Sure…” He smiled cheerfully.

“Gosh, your smile is as blinding as ever. I need shades.” She teased playfully.

“Oh! How about you grab those shades? You’ll be needing it for a while.”

The day after would be the day their hidden agenda begins. The rules were simple:

1. Begin the search around the school.

2. Find a discreet spot to watch out for blanks.

3. Take a picture as proof.

4. Never get caught.

“Now that the ground rules are addressed, do you have any questions?” William asked.

“Are you sure nobody would be there at school tomorrow; I mean our school occasionally does Saturday class as well...” Dylan sounded unconvinced.

“Guys, you go to this school, not me. Besides, we need the gates to be open anyway or else we have climb up there ourselves...”

"Dude, I checked ahead of time, even club activities are not held on Saturdays. But student council meetings do occasionally happen on Saturdays. So, I think we’re moderately safe.” Demi reassured.

“This wasn’t part of the deal…” The sinister voice was back and in cat form yet again.

“AHH!!”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The three screamed in unison as they were stuck together by the hips as they turned to the cat.

“A noisy bunch...” the cat mumbled.

“H-Hey! When will you stop doing that?!” Dylan shouted while still holding onto Will who was squished between the twins.

“You thought it was a one-time thing?” She chuckled. “Anyway, I never asked you to locate those things. So why would you do something like this?” The cat’s eyes glowed red.

“Before that, why is it that you can’t join us?” William immediately broke free from the twins’ hold and asked promptly.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, I’ve exhausted the previous vessel and without it I can’t roam freely like before. So don’t make me exhaust this one and tell me why you are taking an extra step in the deal?”

“Just to see if what you say is actually true. We can’t make the deal unless we actually know how much of a threat those things will be…” Demi started going on and on about the possible reasons, but they were all mostly false.

The actual reason was for them to hold the location on the stakes so when the time comes when Forsyth finally betrays their trust, they wouldn’t be as powerless against the powers of an undead. They wanted the blanks completely eradicated and the only ticket to that is Forsyth.

Forsyth didn’t say anything to the overflowing reasons but simply responded with, “I’m coming.”

The three had already calculated this possibility and immediately brought out their best stance to capture the cat.

“What. Is. The. Meaning of this!!” The cat hissed from the inside of a clear bucket made into a prison cell.

The cat shook the bucket tirelessly, but it was futile from the heavy books stacked up on top that William had never bothered to read.

“Do you want to kill the cat from suffocation?!”

“Don’t worry there are holes at the bottom, you can breathe just fine.” William crouched down.

“Mark my words, you will soon be compensated for this horrid behaviour..!”

“Before we leave, check if you need anything else for the mission. Lock the doors when you leave and meet me outside your house, I’ll deal with this.” William seems to have thought everything through.

While the twins scuttled out of William’s apartment while glancing back and forth at the cat, Demi turned to Dylan.

“You have the keys right, put it in the pocket with the zipper once we are out of the house.”

While they were gathering everything and rechecking their goods, Demi’s eyes shifted towards the kitchen.

“Hurry up, Demi!” Dylan called her from the front door.

“Coming!” Demi dashed outside allowing him to lock the door.

They met up with William and started walking towards the school. It was walkable distance, and the twins knew the route like the back of their hands.

The metal gates were cold, and the entire campus was desolate. Something about a usually bustling atmosphere suddenly stripped to silence has a strange effect to most.

And the three certainly felt it.

“Okay, this is where we split. I’ll go this way and the both of you go left.” Will suggested.

“If I learnt anything from horror movies, we should never split!” Dylan started playing the scenes in this mind.

“I might actually agree…” Demi said as she peaked at the corner.

“Fine with me I just assumed we could experience the creeps just for the halfway point and return back.”

“Let’s just huddle together and walk around the building..!” Dylan proclaimed as he took the lead.

“Are you sure you want to be leading the way?” Demi scoffed.

“Screw you! I don’t see you trying to take the lead.” Dylan turned to face his fears like a champ.

“Move aside, wimp. I see you visibly shaking.”

They were at each other’s throats as expected and it was time they stopped this nonsense.

“Both of you out of the way, I’m leading and that’s final!” William started walking on ahead.

They submissively followed along.

The school felt larger than before, the windows were blackened by the curtains and the corridor railing was locked shut. It felt more like a prison than before. In that sense prisoners somehow give life to the prison cells.

“There’s a camera somewhere here...” Dylan looked around in an attempt to locate it. “There!”

Yesterday after school, the twins went around the school trying to mark down all the places with security cameras around the school. Demi searched inside the campus and Dylan was in charge of the outside.

“Dylan!” Lorraine approached while waving from behind.

“Oh, hey Lorraine!” Dylan seemed to be a bit engrossed while he stood directly in front of a camera.

“What… are you up to?” Lorraine asked a little confused.

“Ah! Nothing… just trying to find the blind spot.” Dylan quickly realised this was needless information to tell Lorraine. “… Forget I said anything!”

“Blind spot? I can pitch in some ideas…

That camera is not troublesome like the 360-degree ones back at home, so it should be easy enough to avoid. Flashlights would also do the trick!”

Dylan took a step back and blinked profusely. The very legal image he had of Lorraine was instantly thrown out of the window.

“Uh…”

“Ah!” She covered her mouth. “I swear, I didn’t do anything illegal..!”

“.. It’s fine, I know you wouldn’t do things like that.”

“Sometimes I tend to make elaborate plans to sneak out of the house from time to time with one of our servants and let’s just say I’m experienced when it comes to avoiding security cameras.”

“Information I did know I needed but interesting nonetheless! I should be paying you for this information.”

“Pay me? Haha, sure… but wouldn’t that make it black money?”

“Then just let me thank you for sharing your wares, I suppose my collateral is keeping this a secret and also in addition I’m not doing anything sketchy— at least it won’t put anybody in harm's way!”

“I have no idea what to say to that, but… I’m afraid Demi will have a hard time bailing you out of jail.”

“You think Demi would bail me out of jail?!” Dylan laughed out loud.

“She wouldn’t?!” Lorraine was shocked.

Dylan had nothing more to say than laugh.

“Can I assume it’s because your mom forbids you from going out?”

“Yeah… did Demi tell you that?”

Dylan nodded in response. There were some things he’s yet to know about Lorraine, her mother being famous, rich and uptight wasn’t information he readily knew rather Demi informs him about such things.

Thanks to Dylan’s heads up, the three swiftly make it past the camera and reached a small area behind the school. Just when they entered, they knew the exact kind of people that loiter this place. Vandalism and cigarettes butts covered the area. These three were proud to own the title of goody two shoes and were glad their criminal records were squeaky clean, that is, until now…

“I want to skip this area…” Dylan complained as he cautiously took small steps to avoid the cigarettes.

Demi arrived at the scene last and immediately noticed something was wrong. And it seems William had noticed too as he backed away slowly after almost letting out a scream.

William bumped into Dylan who was behind and didn’t notice the very thing they found so shocking.

“Ow! What is it?” Dylan switched focus from the ground to the wall and noticed a huge dark spot with protruding hairy legs and a bulbous head.

“Ew… which idiot drew a spider on the walls?” Dylan pointed at it and looked at the others who seemed to be overreacting.

“Why do you look so nervous, it’s just a drawing? Haha! Will, what happened to your tough guy act?”

A low squelching noise emerged from behind and just as Dylan turned the spider was gone.

“What?! How did…” Just as he finally realised the severity of the situation, both Demi and Will pulled him closer.

“What the hell?! Was that an actual spider?? Why is it so damn huge?!!”

“Dylan! Quiet!!” William screamed.

While they watched the spider’s movements carefully as it pounced from one wall to another, Demi was busy rummaging through her bag.

“Finally, this is turning into something handy…”

She pulled out a very familiar kitchen utensil used for almost any slicing and dicing– a very trusty and handy kitchen knife!

“DUDE, WHEN DID YOU GET THAT?!” Dylan mouthed as he held his head in shock.

“Demi?? Why would you bring a knife?!” Even William was understandably shocked to see a murder weapon in her hands and realised maybe she wasn’t joking when she suggested murder as a form of escape.

“Self-defence obviously!” She readied her blade and in a warrior stance she aimed for the spider.

“Demi stop that! You’ll hurt yourself!” William cautioned from behind as he approached her slowly.

“Will, stand back! Even I don’t trust myself with a knife…”

Demi shifted her gaze back and forth to locate the spider as it bounced off walls. It finally landed on the floor, but its movements were unusual. It seemed to be banging itself on the wall continuously. And just as she stepped closer the spider stopped moving and fell on its back. It was dead.

“Were its sensory or locomotory system damaged or something?” Demi examined the dead spider with her knife.

“It… killed itself?” Dylan perked up.

“Do you really think so?” William found it difficult to believe that an insect could somehow kill itself on its own.

Just as Demi backed away from the insect, she noticed it twitch one last time and a faint shadow moving away from it.

“H-Hey, what’s that?” Demi pointed.

The shadow continued to move to a point where a shadow itself isn’t even supposed to reach, but it did.

“The shadow…” William noticed it too and decided to follow.

The shadow led them to an alley way to the back of the school near the dumpsters. Its movements were slow and resembled nothing more than a mere shadow it just didn’t have an owner.

It slithered through the piles of trash and entered a drainage gutter. It felt like water gently drained into the checkered metal.

“A dead end.” William spoke dejected.

“Hey! Who goes there?”

A blaring voice towered them from behind before they could even react a flash on light revealed their identities.