Chapter Thirteen
Kelvin entered the prefects' room sweating profusely without knocking. Immediately, the prefects began to shout at him as he had startled them.
"Why are you sweating like a pregnant fish?" one shouted.
"Who asked you to enter without knocking? Get out!" another hooted.
"Guys, relax. Kelvin, come with me," Stephen said, getting up from his bed.
The others gave him looks that said "you're encouraging indiscipline," but he ignored them.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you know what they would've done to you if I wasn't there? Not that I would have cared, but Emilia would kill me if something happened to you at the hands of prefects. And why are you sweating like a fish?" Stephen scolded.
"Victor… he was… kidnapped," Kelvin said, trying to catch his breath.
"What do you mean kidnapped?" Stephen asked, worry in his voice.
"Vines… came… and… and they took him… I tried to stop them but they were too fast," Kelvin said, still struggling with his breath.
"Oh, so wonder boy has limits," Stephen murmured.
Kelvin raised his head and gave Stephen the "Seriously? Out of all I said, that's all you got?" eye.
"Go get Ryan. I'll call the girls to meet us at the park," Stephen ordered and got back to his room.
Cell phones were one of the many things that were banned in this school, as the authorities saw them as nothing but a distraction. If you were caught with one, it would be seized, you'd be made to destroy it yourself, and then you would be punished as if destroying your phone was not punishment enough.
But the prefects were the authorities in the dormitories, and the teachers had ignored them.
In about ten minutes, they all converged at the park.
If only they knew what lay ahead—the horror they had just scratched.
"Lead the way," Stephen ordered Kelvin, who complied without complaint.
They all followed Kelvin as he led them in the direction in which Victor had been taken. They half-jogged, half-walked for about ten minutes, and then they reached an interesting intersection. In the middle of the woods, a small clearing with five different footpaths.
"Did you know this was here?" Ryan asked, as surprised as everyone. They had all thought this place was just bush and nothing more.
"Look, a broken branch—and some more up ahead," Emilia said, and they continued. The woods became thicker as weeds blocked their way. Night was approaching, and the cover of trees made it darker, faster.
"Did anyone bring a torchlight?" Nora asked. They all looked at each other with expectant eyes, but no one seemed to have brought a torchlight.
Suddenly, the bush rattled.
"What was that?" Ryan asked as everyone looked around.
Then came a light growl—and then the rattling of the bush. They all backed up against each other, finally realizing what they had gotten themselves into.
They had walked into the woods of a haunted school… with no plan.
Then they heard the sound of a bell, which made them all jump. It was the school bell for evening studies.
"Kane Kane Kane," Cynthia, who had been quiet all along, chanted—and a glowing light appeared in her hands.
Cynthia was one of the people who adapted easily. She had moved from the scared girl to the quiet but outspoken girl. She was always the one to come up with a spell to save the day.
Looking around with the light, they saw shoeless, swollen feet up to the legs that had hair dangling beside them. They were horrified at what the light showed next. In fear, the group—who had sworn to fight monsters—scattered into the bushes with screams of fear and fright.
Only Cynthia and Kelvin stood—but not out of bravery. They were frozen out of fear.
A girl had put her head on her lap and was sitting in the air, brushing her hair. If calling someone a witch just by looking at the face could ever be justified, this would be it. Her hideous face with gruesome scars and ragged hair—hair that one would have thought all the combing would straighten up—and an expression that said:
"Delicious."
Emilia was running for dear life when she tripped. These monsters had never made her this scared, but the sight and presence she felt was almost as powerful as Hakeem.
Then she thought, What's with all these monsters and removing their heads? But now was not the time for humour.
She looked up—and something was staring right into her eyes. For a second, she felt lost in the gaze… but then she passed out.
Stephen had run out of breath, and he stopped.
Then a buff loaf rolled up to him.
Then he heard that haunting voice.
"Will you buy my buff loaf?"
He looked around but didn't see anyone. Then he looked down, and five meters from his feet stood a dwarf, holding a glass case with buff loaves.
Whoever said dwarfs were quiet clearly has brain damage, he thought to himself before he screamed and fainted.
Ryan was quite the athlete—he didn't even know until that day.
But he wasn't the only speed demon.
As he ran, he literally saw a speed demon racing through the trees after him. It was moving so fast he didn't even see it until it suddenly stopped—and was just watching him.
He was running, but it seemed like the beast had stopped, and he wasn't getting any farther from it. It was a weird mixture of animals for a body—but the head looked familiar.
It took him a second to place the face. But then he remembered—he had seen it in the school's yearbook. He was a prefect. The yearbook said he was in charge of the school zoo, but that had sounded ridiculous. There had never been a zoo in the school. But now, he wasn't so sure anymore.
It cranked its neck as if studying him—and that was when he realized he had been doing stationary running. And he was still running.
It studied him.
And then it vanished.
He took a deep breath as he stopped running in relief. But relief, in this situation, was overrated.
In a minute, it appeared right in front of him—knocking him out.
Nora was the only one to make it out into the park. She was not just running—she was fleeing, with a spell aiding her. And it seemed to make her the most rational person in a crisis… except for the fact that she fled.
Just as she got out, she felt an insane amount of guilt. She had left them to die—but she couldn't go back. Not without a plan, seeing that that is what landed them in that situation.
She was terrified. In fact, petrified.
But she had to get to the library and think.
And just then—the faceless girl appeared.