R I T A R O S S

---

_{Night Of The Dance}

Sebastian had made his regular jerkass-comments to her, as was expected from the boy by Rita, but he did have booze, so she couldn't hate his guts as much as usual today. "Improving his grades, I bet." Rita said, fisting her hand and holding it up in front of her face, moving it slowly as she put her tongue in the back of her cheek, imitating oral. She chuckled as she took another swig from the drink Sebastian had brought with them. "Classic teacher pet."

He mentioned Lou, and how he wasn't looking so good - and frankly, there were quite a few students who were looking in rough shape, and she had caught Seb's comment about not drinking from the punch.
"What did you even put in the punch? There's no way anyone else spiked it, you date rapist you." Chuckles erupted from the two.

***

Things went from being calm and collected to quite a lot worse, a time later, Michael J. Fox's Fursuits came running through the dance hall, tearing at students and ruining the entire gymnasium. Half wolf, half people, it was a sight for sore eyes, and Rita couldn't quite believe it. "This another fucking clown thing?"

Sebastian vanished from her side, as one of the wolfs came at her, she does not recall what happened in the next second, all she could recollect was the fierce gnarwling of the beastman's jaws, it's warm breath, and it's rather soft fur. She opened her eyes, looking down, her hand was outreached and balled into a fist, her knuckles were white - except for spots of blood on them. Pulling her gaze further forward - some five meters in front of her, laid the shivering wolfman she had hit, the right side of it's face completely demolished, what could've been his eyebrow was dented inwards, blood pouring out of his nose, mouth and eye.

For the first time in a very long time, the young woman felt dumbfounded, shocked, even. But she snapped out of it when she heard someone call her name - A boy she recognized from the class with Jonas.

"Uh, yeah.." she said. Looking at her bloodied fist. "Uhm, adrenaline.." she said, still a bit stumped about how to explain what had just happened.

W I N T E R C A R L Y L E

---

It was a blur of moments when it happened.

She wasn't even fully aware when she heard the crashing sound. In fact, part of her just assumed it was a bunch of drunken idiots who knocked over the punch bowl or something, but when she heard the screams, she knew it was something else. She turned to look. It took her a minute, but she could make out the forms. The fur, the teeth. Even more unsettling, the eyes. A quick heartbeat later and she, herself, let out a scream. What the hell were those things?

In quick succession, she heard Mr. Lehrer behind her issue a command to get to safety. She turned to look at him and that's when she saw the glowing designs on his arms. It took her away for a minute, but she was quickly brought back to reality when she felt herself get picked up. She let out a small yelp, until she saw who it was. Sebastian. He quickly whisked her away to the upper area of the gym.

Winter's hand gripped Sebastian's arms and she felt a tingle through her body. She never felt it before. She closed her eyes and a clear image came into her head. She saw Sebastian. She wasn't sure what he was doing but based on how he looked he was clearly younger than what he was now. He looked almost 12 or 13. She let go when he got to the top and screamed for Rita. She would worry about whatever that thing was later, "You can't go down there! Those things will kill you! As weird as this sounds, I think Mr. Lehrer will take care of things." She remembered his glowing arms. What were they? What was that vision she had? What the hell was going on?

A I D E N M c K E N N A

---

To Aiden's relief, it would seem that Mr. Lehrer had little intention of making his evening any more difficult, as the teacher barely batted an eyelid. Aiden loosened up some, if only for a second, before another party-goer emerged from the gymnasium and greeted the three men grouped around the back exit. Aiden sighed under his breath, as it seemed his plan of maintaining a low-profile was swiftly slipping away, and trying to hold it together was like watching sand slide through his fingers. To make matters worse, the individual was none other than Winter Carlyle; one of the most popular girls in school. They'd been aware of each other for some years now, though Aiden didn't remember them ever having a conversation, and whilst she'd always been fairly non-aggressive - pleasant, even - Aiden was no idiot. He knew all about her breed, and it would take a lot more than a pearly-white smile to convince him that she was any different from that plastic-fantastic brigade she affiliated herself with. Nevertheless, he offered her a wordless nod in acknowledgement of her gesture, if only to stay on the sweet side of Mr. Lehrer.

It would seem that Elroy had taken ill, to which Aiden had to resist scoffing. It was always safe to assume the punch had been tainted after the first half-hour or so at one of these affairs, no doubt by some low-life like Sebastian, should his track record be taken into consideration. Mr. Lehrer was in the middle of asking Aiden to escort Elroy to the nurse when the evening's festivities took a nosedive.

It took them all by surprise, as the blood-curdling howl sounded out into the night. It was the very same noise he'd been spooked by earlier; but this time, from within the gymnasium itself. It was typical of Aiden's luck that the place he ran to for safety would place him in greater danger. The group peered back into the venue in time to observe a hideous, wolf-like beast bursting out the bathroom door, dispelling any ill-founded hope that this was some sort of practical joke. There was simply no costumer or make-up artist skilled enough to produce something this terrifyingly real, and as Aiden looked on in wide-eyed horror he found himself feeling silly for ever being scared by the movies. It seemed to take a few seconds for the reality of the situation to sink in, with everyone seemingly frozen solid. And then there were the screams.

Lehrer roared at the students to flee, launching the pale Elroy in Aiden's direction. Aiden had never been able to boast any upper-body strength, and paused expectantly as he waited for Winter to help him support Elroy's weight; but the burden was not eased. Looking around frantically, he soon discovered that the girl had vanished into thin air; as if by magic, she was gone. Typical, he cursed to himself as he realised that he had been foolish to ever expect the girl's supposed good nature to ever apply itself in a situation of need.

Mr. Lehrer seemed to be on some sort of suicide mission, as he rolled up his sleeves and darted back inside. Aiden could have sworn that the tattoos on the teacher's arms had been illuminated, casting off some eerie glow in the dark of the night. Of course, it had to be a trick of the moon, but Aiden had little interest in sticking around to find out as, with Elroy's arm over his shoulder, he began to haul the boy towards the woodland - and not without a great deal of difficulty, either.

He had not covered much ground before another howl called out of the woods, and Aiden was certain he could see large figured moving in the distance. He wasted little time in turning back around, and dragging Elroy back into the school. By this point, though the boy's eyes were open, he was essentially unconscious, and Aiden couldn't elicit any sort of response from him. Crouching down behind a low wall, he pulled Elroy's body down the corridor and into the girl's changing room.

Propping Elroy up in the showers, he turned on the water in hope of the cold water bringing some life into his burden, but it was no good. There was a series of loud crashing from the main gymnasium, and the screaming escalated. Aiden swore beneath his breath, slapping Elroy on the cheek. It was funny, almost; Aiden had always found Elroy rather attractive, watching his openly gay relationship from afar - and with the greenest of eyes. Here they were, in total privacy and with Elroy soaking wet... Had Aiden not been so stressed, his mind would have been in a totally different place altogether. But as it stood, the evidence of his panic was all too clear: despite the cold water running over Elroy's face, there was an angry red handprint that would surely sting with heat should he have been conscious. Aiden sighed... It was another reminder of his imposed isolation, forbidden even to touch another for fear of harming them. Another scream, and a growl, broke his self-pitying train of thought, as he remembered that sometimes the only way to protect innocent people was to harm those whom threatened them. To fight fire with fire.

He zipped his XXL hoodie up as far as it would go, and pulled the hood down over his forehead. It was all instinctive, his primal side burning within him as it made his decisions. His shirt was pulled up over his nose in a makeshift disguise that he wasn't entirely sure would effectively mask his identity, but it was all he had. He at least had the benefit of only been seen by a handful of people that evening... He knew that he was putting his safety on the line; that if he survived all this, he was potentially sacrificing his right to a normal life. Once people knew you were different, you were fair game. But he'd climb that mountain when it came to it. If it came to it.

He breathed in deep, shooting a final glance at Elroy to double-check he was effectively hidden, and then burst out of the changing room.

He pulled himself over the low-wall, leaping straight down into the gymnasium. Before him, most of the students had been herded into the centre of the room by what was now a small army of the werewolf creatures. This made Aiden's arrival all the more apparent, and the beasts seemed instantly aware of him. While their humanoid forms may have suggested otherwise, the eyes that were locked on Aiden told him very much that these creatures were animals; and they were thirsty for blood. It was but a second, though it felt like an age, before one of the beasts bounded towards him; fast, heavy and snarling.

Aiden didn't think; and instinct took over him in the same way he was certain these monsters were ruled by their own primal urge. He closed his eyes tight, the image of the beast hurtling towards him burned into his brain as he lunged both hands forward, releasing a jet of flame that engulfed his predator. The werewolf let out a pained noise unlike anything he had ever heard, but Aiden maintained the searing heat that was flowing from his palms, as the animalistic scream gave way to silence and the smell of burnt meat. Aiden knowingly lowered his arms to his side; exhausted from his stunt as he tried to control his breathing.

Human screams broke the silence, and Aiden was afraid to open his eyes.

B e l l e D ' V o i r e

---

Belle knew she was weird. She nearly died and was brought back to life by insect DNA combining with her own. It wasn't the usual story of early childhoods shared among students and she was aware that it caused curiosity in her peers.

But real literal werewolves were something else altogether. 'Lunatic' Dance seemed almost grossly insensitive.

-

She'd taken to the benches at the sides of the hall to settle in for the evening, cradling a single cup of punch - thankfully now-spiked by some unknown but reliable imp - watching Alex flirt with her evening's date, a wistful and somewhat jealous smile playing on her face as Belle zoned out into a quiet daydream. Nothing particularly fantastical, but enough to excite the imagination. A series of what-if's and could-be's. She leaned back against the wall and hummed along to the music quietly, enjoying the ambiance and the general tone of the room. People were having fun. It was the start of a new year, and there was so much potential laid down before her and her peers. And with the unforeseen addition of Jonas' new class, she was excited to see what sorts of twists and turns this semester would lead her down.

She was brought out of her thoughts by two very unusual sounds - a deep, long, unnatural howl, followed by the shrill screams of terror. The hall was chaos. Wolves - Beasts - she wasn't sure what they were, but they flooded the hall in a great number, fierce and vicious and a mortal threat, snarling, drooling monsters like some horrific joke by a cruel higher power. The creatures wasted no time in their assault, herding petrified students into a shuddering, weeping cluster in the center of the hall. Belle, being on the outside of the room, managed to slink to the double doors at the end, but spotted Alex among the crowd as she did so.

Now in the hallway - terror clouding her mind, preemptive grief overriding any other emotional response, and shock queuing up for a debilitating onset - Belle slunk down to the floor, quietly sobbing against the wall as the magnitude of what she'd just witnessed set in. Things she'd scoffed at in films, fears she didn't know she had, the realities of mortality at an age where she felt immortal; the weight of it all pressed upon her. She heard another howl and her weeping doubled, her mind conjuring vicious images of crimson slaughter - but it was the sounds of shouted words over the hysteria that gave her an anchor to cling to, and she seized it with an unknown ferocity, pulling herself back to the moment at hand.

Picking herself up off the floor, wiping her tear-stained cheeks, she approached the doors she had fled through and carefully peeked through the glass windows to the scene inside. The wolves remained, but there was a pocket of resistance: Rita and Evander, back-to-back. Beneath them was the body - presumably corpse - of one of the creatures, head violently caved in on one side, and Belle couldn't help but notice the hands of her classmates - Rita's, clenched and dripping with blood, and Evander's turning to ice, frost spilling from his palms. She was trying to workout the meaning of it all hen she spotted Sebastian and Rita on the upper level of the gym, and Jonas darting outside. And then, to cap the confusion off, a figure - dressed like Aiden but disguised enough to be unsure - burst into the room and erupted in jets of fire at the closest beast, soon a charred, flickering corpse at his feet.

With the wolves attention distracted from the students they had gathered, Belle seized the moment. Standing fully and opening the door, she called out to Alex and waved her and the others over as the beasts began to approach Evander, Rita and the possibly-Aiden covered figure en masse. Waving students through, they quickly burst past her and flooded down the hallway, seeking the quickest exit from the gym building and then off-campus. With any luck, they found it soon; she wasn't confident in her classmate's capabilities against the beasts invading them. No matter what peculiarities they seemed to be sporting.

E V A N D E R D A R I O

---

Evander looked at the shivering werewolf who had been punched by Rita a moment before. Its head had caved in upon impact and was sent sprawling across the floor. He was momentarily shocked, just like Rita, until she spoke and blamed it on adrenaline. "Well if that kind of strength keeps up, then I'd think we stand a chance." He said before turning back to the other beasts inside the room.

He open his hands to reveal ice spikes created from nothing. Or rather the invisible water vapor in the air. Throwing it towards one of the beasts, he flicked his hand and all eight spikes sped up and hit the werewolf in record speed. It pierced the skin and made the werewolf stumble. Another batch, and it was aimed at the werewolf's head making it go down. Although he wasn't sure if it was just trying to recover or if it was truly dead.

Heat. That was the first thing that he felt when another person entered the scene, disguised but he was sure that Aiden had the same form, burst into the scene. He practically barbequed one of the beasts with his own power - fire. Evander sighed. Oh great, he had ice for a power. The two didn't mix well at all. But they had to make do for now. He heard stampeding footsteps and turned to the other students who were now charging for the exit and that girl from Mr. Lehrer's class was standing there and beckoning for the students to escape. Well, that would be more ideal. Hopefully, they won't remember him practically showing he was a hyperhuman. Who knows what might happen to him.

His attention snapped back to the other beasts as they approached him, Rita and the other person. Clicking his tongue, he sent another volley of ice spikes that was being created from his right hand. Who knew practicing at that basement would come in handy? On his left hand, a short bow of ice had been created. It'll last long as long as that fire-wielding person doesn't directly try to fry him or his ice. He then nocked an arrow of ice and then let the arrow loose, hitting the previously injured werewolf and possibly agitating it. Okay, hopefully, they get out of this alive. Hopefully.

T a v i a W o n g

---

Tavia might have described the dance as going nicely if stranger than previous dances. Normally she'd drink some punch, lounge with her friends, drink some bad liquor, then go home. There wasn't much dancing (which, as she liked to mockingly say, was a major bummer), getting any recognition for her costume (she hadn't ever expected any in the first place though, so no room for disappointment there) or chatting up her classmates. Noting it was both Kenneth and Winter and all the others from class in some way presumably causing this change made her laugh. Social Conscience shaking up her routine yet again it seemed.

Shaking her head ruefully at her standing table where Ken had left her, she took another sip from her cup. The night was still a bit early for drinking.

When the doors burst open, Tavia wasn't ready for wolves. When everyone started screaming, she took off for the doors, sticking to the walls and blending in with the other bodies. Of course, she was always ready for whatever life threw at her, part of being in the Wong family honestly, but not for wolves specifically. Nearing some exits, one of them turned toward her, and she immediately threw herself to the floor under several large props. Staring up at it from her hiding spot, stifling her breaths and anxiously waiting for it to move on, Tavia could see its black-gray pelt in clear detail. The canine features on a humanoid body was unnatural and seeing it in front of her pulled a shiver down her spine. The snarling maw and the blood shining on its claws weren't helping.

There was something about being in so much danger that while her body's only goal was to get out, her mind had the chance to distance itself. And she couldn't help but wonder at how much of a B-Rate horror movie everything must have looked, with the horrifying monster and a distressed damsel in a stupidly attention-grabbing dress. Not that it was her fault, how did anyone prepare themselves for werewolves anyway? Silver bullets, clothing thrown at them by a familiar person, right? Anthony told her about it once.

A howl came from the center of the gym and the wolf went away after one final sniff in her direction. Keeping still, Tavia scanned the room for her friends. After several desperate seconds of her very carefully controlling her breathing and not thinking what could have happened to Anthony and Kat, she spotted their shaking forms where the werewolves managed to corral the students together. Letting out a trembling sigh of relief, she quietly darted toward somewhere, anywhere, with some mirrors. What was the point of having powers if they couldn't kill something? Sparing a glance behind her, she saw someone in a hoodie kill some werewolves with a liberal dosage of fire. That was the sort of thing that'd be useful right about now.

As Tavia raced up the stairs towards the mirror-lined walls of the work out room above the gym, she went through all the shit she stashed at school through her head for something useful. Before she could think of anything though, she skidded to a stop. Sebastian, Evander, and Rita were there, corpses at their feet. She didn't question it or Rita's clenched fists, the chill coming from Evander, or any of it because it honestly didn't matter by now.

She didn't bother to linger. Not even thinking about hiding her abilities, Tavia ran into the mirrors lining the opposite end of the room and disappeared with a flashy swish of her dress. The mirror plane gave her a chance to catch her breath and she near about collapsed. Several seconds of her heaving breaths in total silence and she was good to go. The hallways were a literal blur as she jogged through them. Students ran for the exits in slow motion as she passed them by. Belle and Ken looked like they were doing alright with getting them out.

Clearly, she was useless in a fight. After tonight, she was making her siblings teach her how to beat shit up, she swore to god. Jumping out from the girls' locker room nearby, she slammed into one of the walls because of the awkward landing on her heels. Tavia wouldn't have seen him if she hadn't fell, but Elroy's body was clearly hidden in the showers.

Wide eyed, she stepped cautiously toward him. She didn't know if she was glad or not that he didn't startle when she leaned over him. With no idea if this was the right procedure or not, she checked his pulse. Letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding, she sighed in relief. Sitting down on the shower room floor next to him, Tavia rubbed a hand over her face, reasonably frazzled. Maybe she should have ran out with the other students, but she couldn't just leave Elroy on his own like this. Leaning against the wall, her heart stopped beating in her ears, but she bitterly clenched her fists at every loud noise she heard coming from outside.

W I N T E R C A R L Y L E

---

Winter flustered at the mear mention of her having any sort of thing for Mr. Lehrer. Sure, she thought he was a good-looking man, but he was a teacher, and someone far older than her. She was even more upset that it was Sebastian suggesting such a thing.

Before she could respond in turn, Sebastian flipped over the railing. In an instant, he was moving faster than she thought humanly possible. She saw the broad spectrum of these "abilities" as well as ice and fire flew around the room. Normal teenagers demonstrating such abilities astounded her, almost as much as having living, breathing werewolves in her gym causing mayhem. And here she stood, torn dress and rattled hair, as others fought.

What happened before? She had a moment's time for clarity. She saw Sebastian in a vision-like image in her mind. He was younger, but she recognized him. How did she see that? Why did she see that? These were questions that needed to be answered, among other things. Mr. Lehrer, glowing arms and all, was the key, she was sure of that.

She heard the yelling of some language she had no hope of understanding. She turned to look and saw a hooded figure. The man was decked out in a unique style, much on point with the theme of the dance, but his yell was something otherworldly. The wolves stopped, the students stopped. Everything froze. His yell had sent everyone with a huge force. She crouched down, hoping the man didn't know she was there. He demanded Elroy and she was sure it was not for something good, like missed curfew. He looked at Aiden and made a demoralizing comment before the fire started. The gym was soon quelled in flames. She heard a familiar voice ring out as Mr. Lehrer came in, holding what looked like guns in his hands. Just what the hell was going on?

In a blink of an eye, the two started fighting, but Mr. Lehrer was no match as she was tossed around and buried. The figure dissapeared and she sat there, stunned.

Soon, the others got up and quickly ran for safety. No one made a mention of the hooded man. No mention of the fire and ice that came from her classmates. No mention of the werewolves. Instead, they were concerned about the fire. She shook off her fear and made a beeline for outside with the others.



She watched as the fire trucks and police arrived. She was glad the others were safe, but she couldn't put the night's events past her. Before she went to go find Sebastian, she looked for Mr. Lehrer. As the two made eye contact, regardless if he came to her or stayed away, she gave him a knowing look. A look that said...no...screamed "We need to talk."

She walked over to Sebastian and smiled at the man, "Seems you put more alcohol in it than you thought. There was a fire. Seems things got too rowdy at the dance. Our night was interrupted." Her face didn't betray her thoughts which were running rampant.

Things would never be the same.

"The building is all clear," said one of the firemen to a small group of first responders gathered outside the gymnasium. "Seems like the majority of students were able to escape through the fire exits. We did find one young man unconscious inside, and he's being treated for smoke inhalation."

A senior police officer furrowed his brow. "Any major burning?" he asked, scribbling something in his pad. The fireman shook his head.

"No, sir. No burns at all." he started, before clearing his throat. "It was strange. The sleeves on his hoodie were burned away right up past his elbows. But... No burns." The policeman looked baffled as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's... That makes no sense. Even students who escaped have some rather awful burning. Not even anything minor?"

"Nothing at all, sir. He wasn't even red. Just... Really hot to the touch."

The officer continued scrawling for a moment, seemingly too lost in his own note-making to verbally respond. Eventually, he spoke up, though his eyes never broke away from the book as he continued to scribble. "I'm going to need to take a few details."

A I D E N M c K E N N A

---

Fire surrounded Aiden. No, it didn't surround him - it consumed him. And it was coming from his own body; huge lashings of flame writhing and cracking like whips as they gushed forth from his first, spreading their burning fury unto everything they brushed. And so it grew; bigger and bigger, whilst Aiden felt himself shrink in comparison. He could hear the screams of pain as his rage licked the skin of strangers; but the louder they yelled out, the more distant they seemed. A mere whisper now, unheard over the roar of fire that encloaked him. He wanted it to stop... He wanted to keep it in, to shut down his body and prevent the destruction from flowing forth. But the fire continued to burn, and Aiden continued to lose his grip as blackness crept into his vision, obscuring the vibrant fiery glow with the quiet peace of darkness.

He woke up with a start, sitting bolt upright in his hospital bed. His scream was muffled by an oxygen mask that covered his nose and mouth. A machine nearby beeped furiously, mimicking his racing heartbeat. As he adjusted to his surroundings, he began to calm himself, wiping sweat from his brow as the monitor's tones began to slow some.

He noticed his mother and father speaking to a nurse down the hall, and they too had noticed him, rushing in his direction.

"Oh Aiden," his mother said, wanting to hold him but aware of the heat that currently emanated from her son. "What were you thinking? Are you hurt? We were so worried, I--"

Aiden sat in silence, not making eye contact with either her nor his father. He tried his best to remember the nights events... They'd argued at the dinner table, he'd left... For some reason, he'd gone into the school. He vividly remembered sprinting across that great lawn. Why had he done that? From there, things became foggy... He remembered being in the gymnasium, but not how he'd gotten in or who he'd spoken to. His memories were more like blurry snapshots of meaningless scenes; and then there was the fire. Oh, the fire... How had it started? The next thing he knew, he was being carried out of the building by a fire crew and loaded into a waiting ambulance. And then all was black.

As he began to piece the nights events together, Aiden felt sick at the picture he was beginning to draw. Fires didn't start that quickly, not on their own. Not with a sprinkler system like the school had. And why had he been there in the first place? He wasn't even in costume. Aiden desperately wanted to say he had no clue what had happened, but there was no escaping the black doubt that plagued him in those moments; he may have been unable to coherently remember much at all about the night before, but something within him just knew. He knew by the heat that throbbed in his hands, he knew by the fatigue that ached his exhausted body. It was a feeling he knew all too well.

"Son," Hugh said, his voice lowered to an almost sinister level as he leaned in close to Aiden. "They're onto you," he whispered. "I don't know what you're doing, or why you're doing it. We'll talk about that at home." He spoke quickly and urgently. "Your mother and I were questioned out in the waiting room. He wants to speak to you next." As he spoke, Hugh pulled a hockey mask out of his duffel bag, clearly burned so that its edges had melted and blackened. He placed it on the bedside table. "You were late to the dance because our car broke down. You went as Jason. You burned the hoodie and the mask yourself as part of the costume. You were nowhere near the fire."

Aiden just looked at his father; his eyes wide and blank.

"Are you listening to me?" Hugh demanded. "This is serious. You stick to your story. You had the mask with you the whole time. You tucked it into your pants or something once you got sick of wearing it. Things like this get overlooked all the time."

"Dad, I'm scared." Aiden said. "I didn't d-- I didn't mean to..."

"That's not relevant now. We'll talk later." Hugh said, as the police officer knocked on the ward's door. "Be smart, kid." Hugh said, taking his gently-weeping wife in his arm. Like some sort of twisted procession, he and Amélie filed out of the ward, and the police officer strode over to Aiden's bedside.

"Good morning, Mr. McKenna," he said with a false cheeriness that unsettled the hospitalised boy. "I appreciate that you're in a bad state, but I have a few questions about what happened last night. Best to get answers whilst it's still fresh in your mind." He smiled. Aiden swallowed.

B R Y N N R E Y E S

---

Screams echoed through the gymnasium, punctuated with fierce snarls and growls as students fled left and right. The noises made a hauntingly surreal accompaniment to the slow The Weeknd song playing as Brynn’s eyes tried to make out the disturbance. School dances didn’t come with much screaming, save some crazy partiers that yelled for no reason all the time, and the screams that echoed through the gym spoke more of terror than delirium. The crowds parted in jerk movements to reveal a few hulking figures. With both the wrong and right proportions for students in costumes, they seemed both large and hairy, with odd-shaped beaks on their faces.

Had someone started a fight? Brynn wondered, mind skipping around as the figures moved through the crowd. Those nearest to the costumed individuals shied away with screams and yells of surprise, and Brynn realized something was horribly wrong. One of the flashing lights caught the costumed figure, revealing not a man but a morphed humanoid that Brynn could call nothing else but a humanoid wolf—a werewolf.

“Oh my god, are those?” Adrielle said from Brynn’s left, eyes wide in alarm. Brynn was mute next to her friend, hair standing on end when she realized that one of the creatures was looking straight at her.

Staring eye-to-eye with the werewolf, Brynn was momentarily transfixed by how eerie the wolf features looked on a human build, how strange the long snout and dilated eyes looked on a oddly hair face matched with sharp, elogated canines that seemed to be too long to fit within the werewolf’s mouth. Only when the werewolf broke its gaze and charged over did Brynn snap out of her daze, pulling Adrielle out of the way with her toward the other side of the gymnasium and into a more sheltered corner.

“Oh my god,” Adrielle repeated, teeth clenched together in a vain effort to stay calm. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god—”

“Adrie, I need you to calm down right now,” Brynn told her friend sternly, one eye on the werewolves a distance away from them now and the other on her hyperventilating friend. Adrielle’s continued whispers of “oh my god” told Brynn that her friend was in no shape to deal with the werewolves, meaning that there was no chance that Adrielle would be any help with heroics. Brynn was fine with that, but now she had a hyperventilating individual on her hands that she was rather attached to.

Looking around the gymnasium, Brynn spotted a familiar-looking girl—Belle—slipping out of the double doors on the side of the room and into the hallway. Her eyes skipped over the pandemonium in the center of the gymnasium and towards the set of back doors that were closest to her, and Brynn’s resolve hardened.

“Adrie, we’re going to get out of here,” Brynn said, looking to her friend. The trembling girl beside Brynn looked at her with wide eyes, mute in fear.

A shrill scream from the other side of the gymnasium caused both girls to flinch, and Brynn grabbed her friend and made a dash along the far wall for the back doors. The chaos was still mostly gathered by the main entrance into the gym, and it was due to this fact that Brynn managed to get both Adrielle and herself halfway toward the exit. However, their synched movement across the back of the gymnasium did not go entirely unnoticed as a werewolf broke away to chase after the moving targets with a high-pitched howl to mark the start of its hunt.

Crashing into the wall, the wolf rebounded and came to a snarling stop in front of Brynn, growling as it changed course. The sudden appearance of the werewolf caused Brynn to freeze up again, pure fear filling her mind. There was a distinct feeling of an overflow a piercing thought of being torn to shreds filled her mind—the feeling of some pool of intangible substance spilled over, splashing out and onto the werewolf in front of her. Both Brynn and the werewolf snapped out of their momentary daze, rearing back. Brynn carenteened backwards into Adrielle, causing both girls to crash to the floor, while the wolf fell back in a sprawl of limbs before quickly clambering up and fleeing with its tail between its legs.

Brynn’s heart thudded painfully loud inside her head, blood rushing adrenaline through her system. She shot up to her feet, eyes flicking around the room to scout out the danger, but rather than seeing a group of werewolves tearing into students she saw students rebuffing said wolves with all sorts of mechanisms—fire, ice, bare hands. Brynn’s adrenaline-fueled mind took longer than usual to conjure up coherent thoughts about who the element-wielding students were, and it took her a few seconds to place them and realize that most of them—no, all of them—were in her Social Conscience class. In fact, none other than Mr. Lehrer was in the element-wielding students’ midsts, arms adorned with glowing symbols that swirled fanciful designs on flesh in the middle of the battlefield.

That her teacher and classmates were using superpowers—elements and glowing tattoos and bare, bloody hands—provided Brynn amazing clarity into the class’ circumstances. Suddenly it struck Brynn that her encounter with the werewolf earlier—the way the beast had fled, its tail an indication of its terror that so resembled Brynn’s own after seeing herself get torn into shreds—was out of the ordinary as well. In fact she’d seen this sort of thing before—when her brother managed to magick himself from the bathroom into the closet during a round hide-and-seek back when Brynn was in grade school. This sort of miraculous mystery that was inexplicable at its core unless someone gave up on trying to explain it and just accepted the illustrated worlds of Marvel or DC and went with the flow.

And just as quickly as the clarity came, it was gone.

B R Y N N R E Y E S

---

“Damn. Still can’t believe someone decided to start a fire at the school dance,” Adrielle said, frowning as she took another sip of her frappacino. Brynn nodded in agreement, idly tracing shapes on the misty exterior of her own frappe. “Seriously, what were they thinking? When will people get it into their heads that burning stuff up isn’t cool?”

“At least we got out okay,” Brynn said, sighing and smoothing over the shape in the condensation with a thumb, obliterating it from the plastic surface before she took a sip of her frappe. Pumpkin spice, just because she felt obligated to try it on the first day it came out. She grimaced, successfully reminded of why she hated the flavor. “We’re lucky no one got hurt.”

“No one you know of,” Adrielle corrected. Brynn pulled a face, and Adrielle hurriedly made amends. “Of course, that probably means no one. I mean of course they’d tell the student council if anything bad happened—you all organized the event! There’s no way they’d keep you out of the loop entirely.”

“Thanks Adrie,” Brynn said, a wry smile on her face as she went back to staring at the mist-less plastic exterior of her drink. Honestly Brynn didn’t feel much about the dance. What was there to feel? It wasn’t the council’s fault that some idiot had thought it a good idea to torch the place.

Still, Brynn couldn’t help a twinge of disappointment at the ominously bad start for the council this year. She had thought she’d had enough on her plate with just schoolwork and council meetings, and she wasn’t looking forward to starting volleyball season while participating in some sort of police-involved investigation along—assuming that it came to that, of course.

Brynn counted herself as a person that minded her own business for the most part, nodding along to whatever gossip that was passed onto her. But, if asked by an authority figure such as an officer, she would naturally answer with the truth. No use in not saving your own skin when it came down to it, especially not when it’s about strangers and whatnot. This, however, only counted when it really came down to it, and Brynn didn’t see that happening.

That she might be asked to point fingers at classmates that had yet to prove themselves to be anything other than decent people was depressing enough. The worst part, however, was that Brynn distinctly remembered a certain XXL-size hoodie in conjunction with the arsonist, and that exact hoodie belonged to a boy her last period class that had no shortage of rumours surrounding him or what he’d allegedly done.

E V A N D E R D A R I O

---

Evander blinked, his hands dangling at his sides. He felt heat. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was in absolute hell. Although he was sure that it was far worse for the others students, as he was emitting cold air that kept him from feeling the true intensity of the heat that the fire was exuding. It took another moment to settle in that he was inside a burning building along with the other students. He saw Sir Jonas beckoning the students outside and he followed the stream of panicked students out of the burning gymnasium. Once he finally took in a breath of fresh air, he was tempted to collapse then and there.

Before the paramedics could arrive and examine him, as per protocol, he slipped out of the school and into the streets. He couldn't let them touch him, lest he reveal his cold skin and inevitable interrogation. He had to keep going. He muttered something under his breath. He was sure Emily was fine; she should've been with her friends anyway. He let out a shaky breath. What had transpired inside that place? Yes, he remembered simply watching the dance when suddenly there was fire and screaming. But... he felt like he had used his power. It was like there was a tingling feeling in his body, and his hands were cold despite the heat. Why had he used it though? There was no reason to. And with that kind of heat, it would've been hard to make something.

He unlocked the door and headed into his house. Stripping off the thick clothing he wore, he immediately collapsed onto the bed. He was more than sure that his parents would talk to him tomorrow when he woke up. Because why wouldn't they? There was a fire started and practically burned the gymnasium of Mather Memorial High School. And he was there, along with the other students. But for now, he won't worry about that. He surrendered himself to the sweet embrace of sleep.

E V A N D E R D A R I O

---

Contrary to what Evander expected, the dining room was absolutely silent with only the sound of utensils hitting the plate to fill the void. None of his parents seemed to comment about the dance. Whether or not this disappointed him, he still kept the neutral expression that he always had on his face. His father excused himself as he finished the last bites of his food and then left for work, leaving his mother and he by themselves. Evander stood up, but before he could leave, his mother spoke.

"Are you alright? I heard there was a fire at the school." Mary's tone was laced with worry. For some reason, Evander felt a rush of relief run through his body. He guessed he did kind of fear that his parents had not cared about him anymore. But it seems that was not the case.

"'Nay, I'm fine." His mother tongue slipped out as he called her mother. However the mother did not find that surprising as they usually mixed all three languages they knew when they are speaking to each other. "There was a fire. Don't know how it started but..." He shrugged.

"Good." The woman breathed a sigh of relief as she fixed the plates on the table and placed them on the sink. "I hope they find out what caused it... or perhaps not?" She turned on the tap water and let it run against the porcelain plates.

"What do you mean?"

"While I believe that it could've been something technical. There's also the matter of the them... people like us." Mary began cleaning the plates and utensils used. She then shook her head, "Anyway, you should rest for now."

Evander nodded and then headed upstairs once more. He was looking forward to going back to school on Monday though. Why... well, he'd like to see and hear what the investigations have produced. Taking a seat on his chair and booting up his computer, he began playing online video games. Nothing to do over the weekend anyway, unless the police come knocking on his door to question him about last night's happenings.

As he was about to get on his fifth round for the day, his phone began ringing and he had to set aside everything to pick it up. It was Emily, at least she was fine. But he knew this was going to be a very, very, long talk so he turned the computer off and then leaned back on the chair to make himself comfortable.

"To start it off, any injuries on your part?" And the conversation continued from there.

B e l l e D ' V o i r e ^{cameo by Tyler as Aiden}

---

Belle idly batted at a wandering fly as she uncrossed-and-crossed her legs for the third time in two minutes. She was anxious, and growing impatient, and fairly certain her looming fidgeting was starting to irritate the other people sat around her in the reception area. A nurse passed by and gave a polite smile - it was not that nurse's first time around - and Belle opened her mouth to flag her down, but she was swiftly out of the room. Clearly, she had no interest in being caught in that trap again. The fly came back and landed on Belle's arm, and again she shoo'd it away, but this time it only flew to the arm of her chair; she turned her head to look at it, stood stock-still on the pale wood, seemingly staring back at her.
Buzz off. She thought.
The fly took off, flying away and landing on the wall on the other side of the room. She thought nothing of it. Belle tapped her foot, and stopped when an older gentlemen opposite her issued a sharp look. She returned an apologetic look, and stood up, walking over to the reception desk.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know which room Aiden McKenna is in? I know he's on this floor..." She asked the nurse, who carefully put her pen down and affected her best polite smile. "I just...I have to be somewhere in an hour and I've been waiting since twe-"
"That hallway-" the nurse answered, pointing past Belle's shoulder - "and then the fourth door on the right. But he's seeing someone right now." She finished, and went back to her paperwork. Belle thanked her, and turned around down the corridor. The fly watched her from the wall, and another landed unnoticed on her elbow.

---

Belle approached the door quickly, carefully attempting to peek through the reinforced glass window to check if the room was clear - but failed to see anything before the door burst open toward her, a suited man pocketing a notepad brushing past her in a decidedly brusque manner.
"Excuse me, sir, is it okay to go in?" She asked, surprising the man who clearly hadn't seen her before exiting. She noticed the CHPD badge on his hip, glinting in the harsh fluorescent light. A cop, then - Detective, judging by the plainclothes and notes.
"Oh, yeah, sure kid. He's all yours. Visiting hours end at-"
"Four, yeah, I know. Thanks!" Belle smiled, and slipped into the room, shutting the door behind her as the detective walked off down the hall towards the elevators.

She lingered against the wood paneling for a second, waiting for Aiden to notice her presence, before taking a few steps towards the bed and pulling up the chair that the detective had been sat in, parking her ass in it before leaning forwards, her chin resting in both hands.
"Hey, Aiden. You feeling okay?"

Aiden blinked, curious as to why his classmate had turned up. He wanted with every ounce of his being to be frustrated, to fend off Belle and anyone else who wanted to bother him today with hostile glances and a specific roll of the eye. And yet, as she sat there, politely awaiting response, Aiden could do nothing but resign himself to her charm. He and Abelle had never been best friends, but the girl was always so... Nice. And unlike the majority of the student body at Mather Memorial High, Belle had a sense of integrity and conviction that emphasized the genuine nature of her demeanor. He sighed, leaning back into the uncomfortable bed.

"Hey, Abelle. I wasn't expecting you." he said earnestly. There was a pause before he mustered a weak smile: "Thanks for coming. I appreciate it." He was only half-lying. It was true that he had neither anticipated nor wished for any visitation from his peers... But on some small level, the gesture had touched him. "I'm doing okay. Should be out soon, they're just keeping an eye on me to make sure everything's good." He paused again, looking away from the girl as he wondered whether Belle had a more complete memory of last nights events. Well, it would certainly explain why she had turned up out of the blue... "So," he said, sheepishly as he tried to shatter the awkward silence. "Crazy night, huh?"

"Yeah, I know. Someone ought to check on you though, right?" She replied, chuckling slightly. She wasn't great at 'joking around' - Alex often did the socializing for her. "That's good to hear, though! Glad you're on the mend. You look really great..." she trailed off, her gaze drifting to a blackened hockey mask that had been left on the bedside table.
"Yeah, it really was, huh? I mean, what I can remember of it...I was just paralyzed with terror at that fire, you know? It was all such a rush." She half-smiled, not wanting to betray the true uncertainties she had regarding her memories of the night previous. She had always been sure of her mind, even with intoxication taken into account, and the fog that clouded her memories now disturbed her. She gestured to the mask. "Your costume, I'm guessing? Jason, right? Always liked a cheesy slasher...shame we never got to see it." She regretted her choice of words near-immediately - she knew the basic minimum around Aiden's previous hiatus, and she had heard the rumors that were already spreading like wildfire - but she never meant to pay them any attention. She didn't want to believe Aiden had it in him. He'd always seemed...gentle.

Belle flicked her arm as she felt a tickle, and looked to the ground where she had flung a small brown beetle that had been clinging to her wrist, its six legs flailing in the air as it tried to right itself. She felt sorry for it for a moment, and then it was back on its legs - and again, stood stock-still, pointed decidedly towards her.

Aiden shot her a stern glance, faster than a throwing knife and just as sharp. What was she hinting at? Was this some kind of mind game? No, he scolded himself. It was easy to expect the worst from people, but he couldn't shut everyone down without reason. Even if it did come so naturally...

"I was late," he said bluntly. "Had some stuff to attend to. I hadn't been there long before shit hit the fan." He clearly did not want to discuss the matter any further, breaking his gaze away to inspect the ground in search of anything interesting to distract him. That was when Belle seemed to flinch, and threw a beetle from her sleeve. Aiden watched as it squirmed, eventually righting itself and then... Standing still. It made no effort to flee, no beat of its wings. Perhaps it was stunned.

But no, for in the next moment the insect did move, crawling at a comfortable pace back towards Abelle and beginning to scale her nearest leg. Aiden scoffed, bemused by the tenacity of the bug.
"I think he likes you." he joked, watching the beetle move further up his visitors body.

Belle watched the beetle crawl back towards her, her head snapping up as Aiden cracked a joke. She broke an uneasy smile and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Poor thing's probably just scared..." She stood from her chair and bent over, laying her hand flat on the ground to scoop up the bug. It obliged, and rested in the middle of her palm as she brought her hand up to eye-level. Just a regular beetle, antenna twitching slightly. From her elbow, the fly took off, and buzzed around near her wrist, flying in a concentric pattern but never landing. "Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuh..." she said, letting out a long breath as she watched both insects in their equally peculiar behavior.

Belle looked at Aiden, who responded with a bemused gaze that likely matched her own. She cleared her throat, and carefully closed her fist around the beetle.
"Well, I guess I should take him outside...don't want any staff freaking out about contamination." She walked towards the door, watching the fly out of her peripheral vision as it dutifully followed her. "See you in class on Monday, hopefully?" She asked, Aiden giving a parting nod and nothing else before Belle made her way down the corridor, into the elevator, and out of the hospital.

---

"So he's okay then?" Alex asked through a mouthful of fries, the hum of the mall behind them forcing her to raise her voice above the buzz. Belle was idly playing with the straw of her shake, carefully watching a small wasp that was standing next to the cup. She had hidden it behind the wrapper of her burger, so she could observe it safely without anyone trying to kill it or shoo it away - just to watch it's behavior, see if it did anything peculiar. So far, it had done nothing. Belle wasn't sure if that was the most peculiar thing it could be doing. She looked up.

"Yeah, I think so. Just shaky. I think he already knows what people are saying, you know?"
"Mmm..." Alex nodded slowly, finishing her mouthful before replying. "You don't think it's suspicious, though? After all the talk around his last disappearance?"
Belle issued a stern look that she saved for special occasions. "I think no one knows anything and it's all just talk. Sometimes people forget how powerful a rumor can get."

"You're so wise, Belle." Alex said, chuckling, forcing Belle to break her stare. She took a sip from her shake and looked at the wasp again. Still motionless. She had walked through the park on her way to the mall to meet Alex, and had had a few more close encounters with some six-legged fellows: the few bees left in the late season leaving their flowers to hover near her, before returning to their work as she walked away; butterflies fluttering through the long grass, circling her legs for a few paces and then moving on; even ants, so determined in their mission, breaking from their ranks to deposit tiny leaf fragments and twigs at her feet before rejoining their march. After the beetle at the hospital - only leaving her hand onto the bush outside when she had firmly (and out loud, she was embarrassed to admit) asked it to, she couldn't help but notice; and now, she was carefully watching every insect she saw. Alex finished her fries, and Belle cleared her throat, standing up and shooing the wasp away as Alex bent down to pick up her bags.

"Docks?" Belle asked as they started to move towards the escalators down to the ground floor of the mall. Alex side-eyed her, but in truth she had been expecting it.
"Sure. But let me drop my bags off first. I'd hate to get that sea-salt smell all over my new clothes."

W I N T E R C A R L Y L E

---

Winter had been drastically changed since the events of the school dance. While she tried her best to maintain the facade that everything was all right, she knew deep inside that things were very much wrong. The authorities chalked up the fire to the missing students, Elroy and Louis. It was even further substantiated when Louis was found outside the woods, delirious and spouting off nonsense that he and Elroy had started the fire and he left Elroy in the woods. A search party was formed to find the missing boy, but she knew he wouldn't be found. At least, not as easily.

Aiden was let off the hook for the fire, though. She heard rumors circling that he started it and, due to his past, it wasn't hard to believe he could have been the one, but she was thankful he wasn't blamed for it.

School moved onwards and people continued their existence as if nothing happened. She couldn't help but feel weird. The events of the school were just too bizarre. Seeing everyone with various sorts of powers, seeing the hooded man turn the gym into an inferno, Mr. Lehrer with two guns fighting werewolves, and a massive memory wipe that left her and, she assumed, Mr. Lehrer as the only two to know what truly transpired that night.

Another change that happened was her finding herself spending time with Sebastian. She would never have considered him as anything more than another student, but she felt drawn to the guy. Was it because she felt the connection when she touched his arm and saw him from years later? Was it due to the Social Conscience class and her opening up to these other students more? Was it because he was a good looking guy? She didn't know for sure, but she enjoyed his company, none the less.

Mr. Lehrer, though, was an enigma. She would watch him whenever she saw him. He would stare, in turn, but the two never spoke. Did he know about her remembering the events? He did his best to continue class as normal, but she couldn't help but think that there was more to this class than what he said on the first day. She wasn't dumb by any stretch, it was those in this class that displayed remarkable powers. Aiden's fire, Sebastian's speed, Rita's strength. She didn't know if the others displayed any gifts, but she assumed it was the case.

Did she have a gift? She thought back on the image she saw of Sebastian from years ago. Was that her gift? How could she know? Mr. Lehrer had the answers, she was sure of it, but he was not saying anything if he could help it. She would have to go to him.

Missing. That's what he asked. She ignored Sebastian's joke (the guy constantly thought she had a thing for Mr. Lehrer. She would have to show him how wrong he was later) and spoke up, "When I think of missing, I think of memories. Memorie are a tricky thing, if you think about it. We go on through our lives, creating new memories, but we also lose memories. How many of us could say we remember when we were two years old, 10 years old, heck maybe even what we were doing a year ago? Not many, I assume. The dance was two weeks away and it's almost like we've forgotten what happened that day too. Funny, isn't it, Mr. Lehrer?" She hoped this hint would hit it's mark.

E V A N D E R D A R I O

---

The two weeks went by in a flash for Evander, and it went on normally. Emily sustained quite a few burns, but nothing too major, much to his relief. They would often talk about the fire and who could have possibly started it. But Emily, like many others, chalked it up to Louis and Elroy, both of which were had been reported missing after that. It was extremely suspicious after all - to have disappeared after the arson. And when Louis was found and he began stating that he and Elroy were the ones who caused the fire - the mystery was solved. The people now rested easy, knowing that the arsonist was caught.

However, Elroy remained missing. Search parties were sent out but he hadn't been found yet, and two weeks had already passed. It made Louis claimed that he left Elroy in the woods to rot, but no body was found. It made Evander doubt that Louis was telling the truth. The body would've been there unless someone moved it. But Evander didn't care much for the happenings so he didn't chalk up any conclusions and only waited for what the police investigations would come up with. However, the fact that the people were still well aware and feared the fact that there was a fire still remains. His parents still warned him that it is possible that it wasn't Louis who was responsible for the fire and urged him to be careful.

After all, an ice-powered human had no chance against someone who wields fire with them.

And now here he was, finding himself drifting off as he waited for the class to start. He hadn't gotten particularly closer to any of them, gotten involved with some small talk out of class or discussions in class but nothing more than that. If the point of this class was to know yourself better to be more sociable, then he was certainly not meeting the goal. But, at the very least, he got to know the others more than just baseless rumors and passing by them by chance.

He raised his head to look at the board as Sir Jonas began scribbling something on it. Like most of the others, he also felt that their teacher had been hinting something with his 'define this one word' lectures. It was as if there was a hidden message within it but it continued to elude him, his mind dancing around the lecture trying to find what exactly the teacher is trying to get at.

Then there was also the case of Winter starting to act... a little bit odd. Evander didn't know the girl that much, only bordering acquaintance by this point, but he could tell. The way she acted on the first few days, and how she acted when he passed by her or was part of the class she was in, was different from now. It was like she was worrying about something only she could understand. Maybe it was a family problem so maybe he shouldn't pry. But he couldn't help but feel kind of worried, albeit only a little, for the girl. She and Sir Jonas seemed to have an understanding as well, as he noticed that they had been exchanging looks every now and then.

They were presented with another question as to what the word missing means to them. Sebastian joked about what he felt the meaning was - that the certain something that was missing was the whole point of this class. But Winter gave a more serious reply. Memories. It was like she was hinting at something there, shooting that look at the teacher. There it was again, that feeling where he is forgetting something. Winter mentioned the dance. Evander didn't know how or why, but he only remembered leaning on the wall and the finding himself on the ground, meters from the wall he was standing on, with fire above. But he disregarded the feeling, thinking it was like the same phenomenon before where something dire had happened and his mind just couldn't register it anymore.

To Evander, however, he had no answer to the teacher. He didn't feel like anything was missing yet. Maybe what he was missing was that drive to socialize, but he didn't feel like that was truly the answer that Sir Jonas was looking for - even if the question (along with most of his other questions) were subjective. So he took the chance to wait and see how the teacher would react this time to Winter's answer this time around.

B R Y N N R E Y E S

---

The thoughts the word on the board jolted forth were quelched immediately as Bynn forced her mind toward other matters. “There must be something about your lives that feels like it's missing.” Why yes there was, but Brynn would be damned if she ever opened her mouth about any of it. Instead, she waited patiently as Sebastian delivered his one liner, which was becoming the norm around here. The next person that spoke, however, was Winter, and Brynn stopped for a second to look at the younger girl.

While Brynn and Winter never really formally “hung out” in public settings, Brynn had always been vaguely aware of what Winter was up to due to their shared circles. Word was constantly passed around about who had started dating who and which individuals had decided to engage in a round of not-so-mature bantering that consisted more of little actions than actual arguing. Still, Brynn realized that she hadn’t heard much about her friend at all—no boyfriend rumours, no hosting parties, no crazy antics. It was almost like the other girl had cut herself off from their circle—which was easily done as things went around here. You had to fight to stay in the circle, not out of it.

At Winter’s words, however, Brynn felt a cold wave slide over her. For some reason the words had resonated with her, but Brynn was unsure as to why. She’d never had amnesia, never had some incident in her life she’d tried to repress and never think about again. Sure she didn’t remember what life was like at age two, but she was fairly sure she remembered who her teachers and classmates had been in fifth grade. Being one who prided herself on her memory — it’d gotten her through all of her history classes — Brynn didn’t like the feeling of not being able to remember something. And that feeling was precisely what rose up when she tried thinking about the dance.

The prep she remembered — hanging up lights, draping multi-colored streamers over basketball hoops and whatever else clung to the walls of the gymnasium — as did the hours she’d spent at Adrielle’s. Just over three, to be precise, Brynn thought with a frown. She’d left her friend’s house at precisely 7:17 pm — a time engraved into her mind because of the repeating digits and because Brynn had made a fuss about being late in the car since the dance started at 7:00. They’d arrived just after 7:30, met up with their friends, and…

And what? Brynn wondered, brows knitting as she scoured her mind for an answer. Rather than producing the memories of what happened next, Brynn’s mind produced facts — statements. She saw the beginnings of a fire — smoke — and acted accordingly, leading Adrielle and then her friends to the back door as others exited through the front. But… Why don’t I remember what happened? Brynn wondered. Why is it that the next actual memory I have of everyone already outside, with the fire trucks pulling up?

_{Extracts from the private journal of} B E L L E D ' V O I R E

---

(Pages 1-4)

(Page 5)

B E L L E D ' V O I R E and A I D E N M C K E N N A

---

Missing. Jonas' lessons had certainly taken a particular kind of lean in the weeks since the dance, and his incessant subliminal prodding of the class had only cemented Belle's suspicions that there was something he wasn't telling them - some grander purpose or plan for her and her peers, sneaking under the nose of the school board. In her mind, she listed everything she had on Mr. Lehrer, all his quirks and the peculiarities she'd experienced since his arrival in Crestwood: two large fires within a week; the haze that the Lunatic Dance had become; the shared looks between Jonas and Winter in-class since said dance; her newfound influence on insects; hell, she even counted the class itself against Jonas' credibility. He was lying to her, her peers, his colleagues...from experience, Belle found people rarely hid pertinent information if they had good moral direction. She thought of her bugs - and she was thinking of them as her bugs now, their attention almost comforting now she had accepted her abilities - and of what she could do with them to quell the lies. But, that wasn't like her. She lacked that kind of aggression, and Jonas, while suspicious, wasn't putting any of them in danger. He barely even acknowledged them outside of Social Conscience.

Instead, Belle turned to her notebook, twirling her pen in her hand as she thought of how to answer the question posed to them, thinking on all her ruminations from the past two weeks. So much she didn't know, was unsure of, unaware how to find the answers.
Truth, she scribbled first, and then below it, Answers. She paused.

Aiden had found it hard to concentrate in most classes as of late, but Lehrer's whimsical one-word explorations had consistently proved to be the biggest challenge. It was almost as if the curriculum of the class itself was a distraction; each task that was set seemed to send Aiden bounding down a corridor of unrelated thought in which each door held a dozen unanswered questions. In fairness, he did see the good intentions behind Lehrer's 'Social Conscience' schtick, it was just unfortunately timed. At this time in his life, when so little was clear to him and so much of the physical present remained uncertain, how could he seriously be expected to ruminate upon abstract notions such as this?

It was a concern of his that had been stirring for the past weeks; since the night of the dance, Aiden had found it near enough impossible to distract himself from his obsessive desire to remember. Because of course, the most unsettling element of that night's events were that he seemed so incapable of properly remembering them.

The one thing he did remember was the fire: he remembered the bright orange burned into his retina with ease, and it was of no difficulty at all to recall the smoke that pierced his nostrils or the heat that licked his skin. Everything else seemed to be blurred, somehow: there was a faint awareness of his own presence within those forgotten moments, but all their form and detail seemed to evade him completely. Certainly, Lou and the still-missing Elroy may have been held responsible for the blaze that night; but back in the hospital, every burning fiber of Aiden's being had told him that he had abused his powers, urging him to rediscover the circumstances surrounding that one undeniable fact.

Realizing that he had yet again derailed his train of thought in one of Lehrer's classes, Aiden scrawled the word "Memories" into his notebook, then slam his pencil down in frustration. He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room in search of some distraction, and was just in time to catch what had to be the third or fourth suspicious exchange between his teacher and Winter Carlyle. He rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath just loud enough for Belle, who sat beside him, to hear.
"No prizes for guessing who's coming out of this shit show with an A."

Belle looked up sharply from her notepad where she had been carefully writing a bulleted list of everything from minor quirks to major suspicions, devolving into random, barely-connected word salad. Aiden had spoke and she set her pen down.
"Excuse me?"

Aiden nodded in the direction of Jonas and Winter, whom were still engaged in some kind of thinly-veiled cryptic conversation. He was consistently irritable lately, especially during this period, and the idea of somebody else cruising by and flaunting it to the rest of the class was tugging on his last nerve.
"Winter." he said, matter-of-factly. "Her and teach are awfully pally lately, don't you think?" His words were bitter and venomous, but his eyes had broken away and directed themselves back down to his notebook. He feared, had he left them fixed there for but another moment, the girl might have combusted on the spot. Quietly seething to himself, Aiden barely noticed as the temperature around him began a steady climb.

Belle wasn't sure how to respond. She rarely partook in this sort of...pettiness. She closed her pad carefully, hoping Aiden hadn't seen what she had been scrawling on the paper.
"Maybe she's just receiving some tutoring." She said, trying to be polite enough not to dismiss Aiden, without involving herself in base gossiping. She would have thought Aiden knew better about rumours.
She shuffled her chair over as a gust of heat erupted from Aiden's vicinity, gently removing her cardigan. Not the first time she'd done so since the 'seating plan' had been set it stone.

Aiden's head darted around to look Belle in the eye, one brow raised noticeably higher than the other. He looked almost furious at the suggestion of Winter and Lehrer's innocence; as though Belle's endearing ability to look for the good in others had doubled as Aiden's ultimate betrayal. He scanned for face, hoping for some trace of mischief to suggest she was joking. Alas, no such detail was present. He narrowed his eyes, and turned back out the window.
"Whatever you say, Belle." He had little interest in arguing with her over this, but the stubborn demon in him compelled him to have the last word. The brief pause was punctuated with a bitter mumble: "She's certainly receiving something."

Belle nearly had to stop herself from batting his arm.
"You're being incredibly crude, Aiden." She said, disapproval on every syllable. "Yes, there is obviously something we're missing, but I don't think Winter is that low caliber, nor is Mr. Lehrer of that little integrity."
The temperature continued to emanate - even seeming to climb further - and Belle began to worry.
"Are you running a fever, Aiden? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, instinctively sliding up the zip on his hoodie and pulling the oversized sleeves down over his hands. "I'm just tired of sitting through this shit when there's like, a billion other things I'd rather be figuring out right now than whatever Lehrer chalks up on that damn board." he said, louder than he'd have liked but still managing to maintain a private conversation. He lowered his voice further, turning to face Belle. "Sorry. You don't need to hear this. I just have a lot going on right now. The fire..." he allowed himself to trail off. Everyone had been affected by that night, he didn't need to pour his heart out.

Belle leaned away, moving her hand to her sides from where they had been reaching out to comfort Aiden.
"Are you okay, Aiden? That fire was terrifying for everyone...do you need to talk about it? Do you..." Belle hesitated, but bit the bullet anyway. "...do you know anything?"

Aiden froze for a moment, as it seemed that his angry exterior cracked, if only for a second, giving Belle a glimpse of a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding truck. All too quickly, a scowl returned to his angular face as he allowed his brain to process the implications of what Belle seemed to be suggesting.
"I know that I didn't sign up to be interrogated today," he spat. "I had enough of that before Lou confessed. I'm innocent, Abelle." he was putting little effort into keeping quiet at this point, before the girl's naive nature and earnest eyes succeeded in quelling his temper enough for him to think rationally. He lowered his voice to a faint whisper. "But other than that... No, nothing." he confessed, a grave seriousness to his tone. "How about you?"

Belle recoiled mentally. She had already accidentally accused him at the hospital; and now, here she was again, tripping over her words and forgetting the context in which she said them. Foolish.
"Everyone was affected, in one way or another. I've certainly had my share of...affectations. But I can't let that change anything."

Aiden looked at Belle quizzically. She was being uncomfortably selective with her wording now. Affectations? What on Earth was she talking about? Unless... This was her way of telling Aiden she knew more than she was letting on. Something about the eye contact the girl held with him told him he was right, as it began to dawn on him that he and Belle might have had more in common than he first assumed.

And yet, before either of them could elaborate, Mr. Lehrer began informing them of a field trip planned for the weekend, and the moment was stolen. Aiden instinctive response to 'lose' his permission slip and avoid the experience altogether was swiftly overriden by the notion of spending time out of town with Belle. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to speak away from prying ears.

And it would seem they both had a lot to discuss.

J O N A S L E H R E R:

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^{2:37 PM, Monday, Social Conscience Class | Mather Memorial High School}

S E B A S T I A N S C O T T:

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^{7:05 PM, Wednesday Night | The Beau, North-East City}

J O N A S L E H R E R:

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^{3:22 PM, Friday | Mather Memorial High School}

S E B A S T I A N S C O T T:

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^{4:51 PM, Friday Evening | Orlaith Valley Trail and Park | feat. Aiden McKenna}