---

_{@Surtr Inc}
Grand Ridge Academy – Outside Tuyen’s Dorm

---

Tuyen stiffened at first as Justin hugged her before allowing herself to relax into it. It was nice to get some kind of comfort after everything that had happened in the past month. And as much as she’d like to, she realised she couldn’t really pretend to be okay right now. It would take an idiot not to notice how much of a mess she was.

Min had been too busy trying to think what exactly was meant by magic, how exactly that fire had appeared, that he didn’t notice Tuyen had appeared until well after she’d come out. When he did a frown crossed his features and he turned to face the other two. “Tuyen, you-”

“Min,” Tuyen cut him off before he could say anymore, not even bothering to hide how tired she sounded. She took a step away from Justin before continuing to talk. “I appreciate you coming to check on me, I really do, but I’m not really in the mood to talk to you just now. Sorry.”

It was a first for her to refuse to just give in to Min’s need to spend time with her. Normally she wouldn’t mind, but right now it wasn’t something she wanted to do. Even though she’d managed to ignore her shadow for now she didn’t know how long that would last. She’d just rather not have Min around until she figured this all out.

Of course, Min didn’t take it particularly well. He’d come all the way over here in the hope of checking on his cousin before classes, yet she wanted him to leave. Of course his somewhat sour glare turned to Justin – he couldn’t be annoyed with Tuyen for it, that was just impossible. There was a high chance that it was Justin’s fault in some way. However he didn’t say anything, just giving a slight nod to Tuyen. He’d leave her in peace for now, as much as he disliked it, and talk to her later.

Holding back a slight sigh and adding her cousin to things she was ignoring right now, Tuyen turned back to Justin. “Do you, uh, have time to talk? It’s been a while.” She glanced at Min again. “Somewhere else, though.”

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

“It’s okay, Jordan, thanks,” Rien spoke to their friend first before responding to David, honestly glad she’d said something. But it wasn’t like what David said bothered them that much. Well, at least they’d make it look that way – had to keep up the whole not caring thing.

“I remember most of the end of the night,” now turning to David, Rien gave another slight shrug. “It would be hard to forget especially since I was too drunk to do something about it.” If anything that was part of what had disturbed them the most, the fact that they’d witnessed it all (and remembered it) while being close to passed out. Not that it had stopped them drinking as much afterwards.

“I’m afraid I just forgot you, even if I didn’t forget the night as much as I might like to. No hard feelings! I’m just not very good at remembering people when I’m drunk.”

That was a lie, they remembered some people very well from when they were drunk, but if it made David feel better it seemed like the right thing to say. 

---

"Lawson!"

Nate had only just slipped out the door when he heard the distinct growl of one of Grand Ridge's finest tutors - Norris wasn't one of his, but he recognised the man as hardass who wasn't above giving people shit, like he was to this blonde with the curly hair. Tempting as it was to slip back inside the bathroom, Nate considered whether that would just leave the man to give him shit once he was done reaming her out, particularly with one of the campus security guards at his back. That and he was curious as to what was going on - maybe she was the reason why the alarm had just startled him?

The two went back and forth with accusatory tones - Nate took particular offense when she threw a gesture his way and referred to him as 'bumblebutt', but given the hardass professor and campus security were here he kept his mouth shut instead of telling her to go eat a bag of dicks. Come to think of it, she did seem kinda jumpy - she had her arm held behind her back and she seemed to be going real hard on the guy, giving out whatever she took. It was almost admirable, but-

Yep. His line of thinking was cut short when the professor seized her by the arm - there'd be hell to pay if they pulled that shit with him - and marched her them into the girls' bathroom, the security guard in the doorway. Guess the guy's patience ran out. More back-and-forth went on in the resonant confines of the restricted space, but Nate couldn't make it out - instead, he slunk back into the confines of the male bathroom, keeping the door half ajar so he had an idea of when they were gone.

Eventually, footsteps and the grumbling of the Professor indicated that he was gone. Nate leaned out again, peering towards the doorway on the opposite side of the hall and watched as the blonde tore into the campus security guy and talked him into leaving, before coming out herself. For a moment, he tempted to make a crack at her when - holy shit, it was the same two people from the camp following after her - the darker skinned girls with the wild hair.

And they seemed to know the blonde, so Penny was her name, at least - the others he wasn't sure of, Lynn or something was a name he thought he might've pegged for one though. Listening to them speak with the door held open by a slight crack, he heard something which suggested that one of them - Lynn again, was it? - was responsible for the alarm.

"What happened was... how about I show you two just what happened?"

What was she even talking about?

Their small group started up the hallway. Again, by all rights - Nate should've just dropped out - but something pushed him to follow. They were up to something, after all.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Outside Tuyen's Dorm.

---

Yeah, get destroyed, annoying, overprotective cousin.

Justin thought to himself, coming really close to saying it outloud - he'd really love to say it, but he needed to look good in front of Tuyen. So, he just (visibly) added Min to the list of things he was ignoring right now. He released her from his embrace - and by that time, Min was long gone. Good riddance, but he knew that this wasn't the end of it. A temporary solution to a long term problem. He'd have to face Min eventually, and it wouldn't be pretty... just not right now. Another time, of course.

Tuyen asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else - and to that, Justin just nodded his head, and said, "I'll always have time for you... but yeah, somewhere else, that fire alarm's driving me crazy!" He shook his head as he realized he just couldn't ignore them anymore. Oh yeah, security guards are probably going to be pissed if they see them standing here, talking. Justin grabbed onto Tuyen's wrist, and pulled her out of the hallway. Eventually, leading them to a back area that everyone called the smoker's corner. It was a place near the trashcan behind the building, and was relatively dark and secluded. Hidden by the bushes, this was were kids smoked in a "smoke-free campus." There was nobody here at the moment, and that was what Justin was counting on.

Leaning against the wall with a foot pressed against the wall, Justin considered having a smoke. He knew that Tuyen probably wouldn't like it. "Yeah... I owe you a bit of a explanation, don't I?" Justin casually said. "After what happened at camp... shit's been hard, really hard..." He glanced at Tuyen and her rather ragged appearance "On all of us, it seems."

---

^{@FernStone@pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy - The Parking Lot.

---

After being told to relent by both of her friends, Jordan did just that. She just kept her mouth shut, as Rien basically just told the dude that they didn't remember him. Whether or not they were telling the truth was a mystery to Jordan. They could remember him, and could very well be repressing it to keep him off of her. Instead of dwelling too much on it, Jordan just looked off into the distance. When the hell will this just call this a false alarm, and just let them move on with-

"What the hell?" Kimberly caught Jordan's attention with a surprised exclaim. The crippled girl turned her head to see the drawing of a butterfly that she thought Rien was working on flying in the air. Right in front of them. Her mouth fell open as she stared at the butterfly for a few moments.

"What in the world?" Jordan said, as she looked at it. "H-How? How did this happen?"

Kimberly was more exploratory, and tried to touch it - but it moved away, and left Kimberly wanting to know some more about it. She raised an eyebrow, "This..." Kimberly trailed off, "... Is this magic?"

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Smoker’s Corner

---

Tuyen was quite happy to let Justin lead her out of the dormitories – the fire alarm had been starting to get to her too and it didn’t make sense to stick around. She was glad Min had gone without much of a fight, too. It made her life easier though she’d need to speak with him soon enough.

When they reached the back area that she didn’t normally visit, not being a smoker herself, Tuyen fidgeted a bit while trying to force herself to calm down. She caught something out of the corner of her eye and jumped ever so slightly, but quickly calmed down as she realised it was just the bush moving in the wind. Not something that didn’t exist.

Way to go make yourself look paranoid, Tuyen. She mentally berated herself as she went to lean against the wall beside Justin. Relax, it was a conversation with someone she was close to. It would be fine.

“Yeah, it’s been tough,” Tuyen shrugged with a somewhat weak smile. “I understand, and anyway I’m the one who hasn’t been responding to your texts. If anything I owe the explanation.” So she’d seen some of them, just hadn’t really gotten around to replying. It didn’t help that Min texted almost every day. “I guess I can’t really pretend to be okay, can I?”

She laughed slightly at that. Oh yeah, she definitely wasn’t okay. Seeing things and her shadow literally moving? Yeah, maybe going a bit crazy was a better way to describe how she was feeling. Didn’t mean she knew how to explain – or wanted to. How did you tell someone that you were seeing things without them referring you to a therapist? She did not want that. So, instead she did what she always did – deflecting and concentrated on her concern for the other person.

“But anyway, I imagine it’s been harder on you. You were right in the middle of it, weren’t you? I just kind of got dragged from place to place by Min… and that’s sticking with me enough. So many people saw worse…”

If there was one thing Tuyen was good at, it was belittling her own problems.

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

“I don’t know what I just did.” Rien was staring at the piece of paper they was supposed to be a drawing of a butterfly rather than the actual, very much alive butterfly that was now fluttering about. What?

They’d just been doodling away during the conversation, finding it easy enough to knock together a quick sketch. Butterflies weren’t hard to draw really. They’d finished when there’d been a lull in the conversation before inspecting the drawing. They don’t know what had prompted them to do it but they’d tapped it with the finger… only for it to go into the paper. Then their whole hand as they pulled out a butterfly.

That wasn’t normal.

“Guys, I think I just pulled a butterfly out of my fucking drawing,” Rien turned to face Jordan and Kimberley with their mouth slightly agape, letting the now empty piece of paper fall on the floor. “You saw that, right? I’m not going crazy… that is the butterfly I drew?” 

---

^{@Prosaic@Atrophy}
Grand Ridge - Hallway.

---

There was a need for Lynette to be smart when Aliana said to do it outside.

Like I was just itching to be a homegrown terrorist!

But, the New Yorker had enough tack to know that just wasn't appropriate. She just wordlessly gestured for the two to follow her, and Lynette lead them outside of the building. She was considering asking Aliana about what she meant by "that" but she decided to stay quiet just this once. Opting instead to lead them to the outskirts of the academy - behind the building around where they take the trash out. She was staring at a wall, she sighed as she pulled out the marker again. She didn't know what she did, but she did her best to replicate the drawing of the symbol of fire in a ring - just so she can recreate the same effects.

With expertly strokes, Lynette had drawn the same symbol of flames that she did before. Afterwards, she immediately took some steps back - in expectations that it would explode again. It was sitting there with black ink... and she briefly stared at it. Wondering what had happened before... before it started glowing with a brilliant blue color again. Her eyes went wide as she covered her face with her arms.

Instead of exploding again, a massive pillar of flames came out of it. Lynette jumped, as she wondered what in the world just happened when she drew that. "Holy shit!" She said as she looked at the effects. The grass and leaves were absolutely scorched, and there was a trail of soot from the wall to about fifteen feet away. She looked at her little girl posse as she said,

"... Did you two see that?"

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Smoker's Corner.

---

Ahhhh... the ugly question of what happened that night at camp.

It was true that he was in the thick of it. He may had committed a special kind of sin that he wouldn't be able to come back from - and he wasn't even a Christian. The sin of murder. It made him clutch his hand tightly, and hang his head. That wasn't something he was willing to share with anyone. Not with Tuyen, not with his mother, and definitely not with his precious twin sister Katie. Nobody. The sin of murder was the burden he, and only he, was going to carry. He clenched his fist, as he shook his head yet again.

"... I was." Justin softly said. "That axe bastard went after Claire, and I saved her...." With the help of something. He thought to himself as he looked at his palm. He saw faint embers come off of it, and shook it again. Everywhere he went, he saw fire. Or something. Where was the fire coming from?

Or was he just the fire?

There were many questions to ask, but he kept them all to himself. "Honestly..." Justin said, "I really don't blame you for cutting me off - I need a lot of time to myself, too." He shook his head. Wondered where it all went wrong. It just started with him being sent to this awful town to learn a lesson, now he's in the midst of a supernatural crisis? Still there was the now to handle.

"Even though other people have seen worse...." Justin said, as he took a step forward, and grabbed her hand, saying, "... That still doesn't mean your problems are nothing."

---

^{@FernStone@pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy - The Parking Lot.

---

"... I think I need new glasses." Kimberly said as she wiped off her glasses with her shirt and looked at it. It was definitely real... or they were having a shared hallucination. She didn't know - but there was one way to find out. "Hurry up! Catch it!" She half-shouted - half because she didn't want to draw too much attention to them.

"How?" Jordan said, pointing at her leg.

---

Grand Ridge Academy - The Hallway to the Male Dorms.

---

Hagan visibly cringed when Martin said all these things to him. No. No way that he's getting his fag on him - he reached in and grabbed Martin by his collar, staring him real close in the eye. Teeth barred.

"I don't know what faggy thoughts are goin' through that weird little head of yours..."

He pulled a fist back, keeping it hovering at a very threatening distance. He added on, "... but keep me out of 'im."

Just a little too close for comfort. 

Hagan had responded how he'd anticipated, and yet he'd still given a startled yelp. Luckily, it wasn't an immediate hit. If he egged him on any more then he was destined to get a swift punch to the face. It wasn't so much that getting punched scared him, it was that Hagan was particularly good at punching. He had been punched a lot, it wouldn't be the first or the last time but he really didn't feel like having his nose broken today.

Still, he'd obviously struck a nerve, even if he wasn't quite sure how. He'd never seen anything to indicate that Hagan was harboring any unspoken feelings towards men but then again, he barely knew him. Of course, he could just have an unnatural repulsion towards homosexual men. That didn't seem like a stretch.

"Listen, Hagan, as much as I'd love to dick around with you some more, I don't want to get punched." he casted his glance pointedly at Hagan's fist, wrinkling his nose as if it was an offensive substance. "So, if you could politely let me off the hook for smearing my gay flirtations all over your atmosphere, that would be great."

"Well, nobody wants to get punched," Hagan replied, shortly and sweetly. "But, they do get socked any way."

Of course, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't ever keep his mouth shut entirely. "I've really got to ask though," he really should shut up but he had to know and maybe it would distract Hagan from beating him senseless. "Can you really see that tattoo on my neck? It's an actual, physical thing?"

"The fuck? Are you some kinda sparkly vampire that can't use a fuckin' mirror?" Hagan asked with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I can see it."

"No, but it would be really fucking cool if I was- Not the point! Not my point." he grimaced, "Can you uh. . . let me go for a second? I promise that you can deck me in the eye if none of what I'm about to say is of any interest to you." He threw Martin off, silently nodding his head and taking him up on his offer - no matter how retarded it sounded.

That was a wager that he could lose very easily. "I didn't get a tattoo, I don't know where the hell that thing came from. Honestly, I'm kind of freaking out that you can see it because my doctor sure as hell couldn't. I mean, don't get me wrong, she could be an unreliable source but I highly doubt that." he spun his hand as if it might speed himself along. "I guess I'm saying that-Jesus, I don't know what I'm saying. I really don't want to get hit. How high is the likelihood that someone gave me a tattoo when I was passed out on pain medication or something?"

Hagan took a moment to think about it - but not too hard. He didn't want to think too hard about what fag-boy is saying... but at the same time, he has a similar tattoo on his chest. One of a mighty shield... he noticed it on him the night after everything that happened. Though, this wasn't something he was gonna say to Martin of all people. "... I don't know," Hagan shrugged, "Seems like one hell of a stretch."

"You're telling me, man, I'm the one with the weird fucking tattoo on my neck." he was mostly glad that he wasn't getting punched, that was preferable, at the very least. "I can't really say that I know how it got there then. One night it's not there, the next night it is. I've had more consistency with guys that don't call me back." 

"Ew."

A grimace followed that statement as well, he couldn't really hold back the honesty, it was one of his more irritating traits. "I mean, hell, I don't even know why I'm telling you this shit but I figure if you can see it then maybe I'm not insane or we're both insane."

"No, you're just crazy," Hagan rolled his eyes as he crossed his arm. "What she probably thought was that tattoo was so damn ugly that she didn't even want to mention it so she didn't hurt ya' feelings."

"Ouch," Martin said, though his tone didn't portray any sort of hurt. "How did you know that my weak point was the tattoo? Curse you and your ability to tear me down with your words."

He was trying to keep himself from getting prickly about this. Perhaps choosing to share this with Hagan instead of anybody else had been his first mistake. He hadn't expected that anyone could see it though and the fact that Hagan could was startling to him. Startling enough that he'd taken the chance on asking him about it.

"Hagan, I know you've got some sort of hang up on making me feel like shit but can we be serious for a second? Why are you the only one who can see this? I mean, it's not that I don't  love your shining personality and pretty brown eyes but if I'm slowly spiraling into psychosis, you're not the guy I'd pick to have along for the ride. You haven't clocked me in the eye yet, so this must resonate with you a little."

"That can change at the droooop at a hat, friend," Hagan said, while rolling his eyes. "I don't know why I can see this tattoo - maybe you should ask a uh, say, a third party." That was Hagan's advice. "Then, we put this weird shit to rest."

He knew very well that Hagan would have no complaint with hitting him in the eye. At least he cared  enough to honor a wager, how charming. It almost made Martin like him, he was sure that Hagan didn't share the sentiment.

"Okay, so you want me to find some rando and ask him if he can see my tattoo? Just any old person?" he could respect that, at least then he'd be able to prove that it wasn't just visible to anyone. "I can do that, in fact, in a hallway full of fleeing teenagers, I'd venture to say that would be easy. Jeez, have we really taken the time to think about how idiotic it is that we're standing around admist a fire alarm?"

He didn't stand around further to ponder that query, instead he brushed off his coat and squeezed around Hagan to get back into the hall. From there, he grabbed the arm another one of the evacuating young men and he smiled at him very brightly, perhaps a bit too brightly, it was a little more than forced. "Hey, man, so I know we've never met and that's a damn shame but I'm Martin. Do you like my  neck tattoo? I always wanted a senseless swirly thing, it's meaninglessness is what makes it so special to me."

"What tattoo?" was the slightly confused and just a little scared response. "You don't have a tattoo."

"Well, gee, it seems I don't, sorry about that confusion."

"Okay then?" the other party was already trying to retreat and Martin hurried it along with a shooing motion. 

He turned back to Hagan. "And there you have it, Hagan. What the hell is going on? You're listening to me and you're not beating me senseless, so, what does this mean to you?"

When he turned back, Hagan had a raised eyebrow... okay, maybe there was a bit of something to think about. Maybe this was just one big prank that he was playing on him? Yeeeeeeah... that was what was going on. "I bet that 'rando' was a bud of yours - maybe your boyfriend, even." Hagan said. "There ain't no other explanation for this, fagboy. Everything's backed by a bit of science...."

"It's cute that you think I've got a boyfriend, flattering even." he said, "It's even cuter that you think that I've got friends. Literally, my only friend is Rita and unfortunately for me, she's not here at the second."

"Who the fuck is Rita?" Hagan incredulously asked. "Actually, I don't wanna know."

He was getting irritable, he wasn't a person that was known for his temper but he was known for being easy to push over the edge. It was then that the room went black, the color drained completely out of it. It could have easily been mistaken for a flickering light, it came back relatively quick but it had killed every speck of light in the hall for the few moments that it had happened. 

"The hell?" Hagan exclaimed with a raised eyebrow. The flash of darkness definitely didn't go unnoticed by Hagan. Though, for a moment, his sigil activated as if it was some kind of defense mechanism.

"You know what, Hagan, it doesn't really matter. I wouldn't even take my own word on this. So, if you're not going to believe me and you're not going to deck me then why are we loitering about? Someone might start to think that you can tolerate my presence and that would be awful."

"I can always change that," Hagan raised a fist. The way he kept bringing it up made it sound like maybe he wanted to be punched. Or shoved into a locker. Or something.... "Know what...." Hagan just threw a punch right for Martin's gut. Not exactly a full force blow, but enough to knock the wind outta him.  

The boy doubled over and reeled backwards, instinctively throwing his hands up over his face as if to block any other blows.  The room went black again, another moment of solid darkness, this time it was just a bit longer. Almost as if he were trying to conceal himself in the shade. It flickered away again, the lights searing into Martin's eyes when they returned.

He had gotten sort of used to the darkness flickering in and out around him lately, he had also gotten used to the onset of grogginess that followed it.

He was expecting to get hit and he had mentioned it enough that it might as well have been an invitation. "Okay-" he wheezed. "I know I kept  saying it but you didn't have to do it. Jeez, I'm used to these things ending in the shit getting kicked out of me. It's like weird to me that you're not ripping my head off my body. Forgive me for being baffled, big guy, but that's just normal for me."

At least Hagan hadn't gone full force on his face. That was nice. "Can I ask you something, Hagan? Like, as a fond acquaintance that you bully sometimes."

Hagan narrowed his eyes, with a strange curiousity, "What?"

Straight to the point, "You've let me waste way more of your time than I deserve. I'm glad you're willing to waste more, it warms my heart. I think we're really bonding." he cleared his throat. "Has anything odd been happening to you since the camp trip? Like, weird dream kind of odd. I haven't really gotten to ask Rita, but I know that you were there too."

"... Like what kind?" Hagan entertained him.

"Like uh," he couldn't believe he was about to get confessional with Hagan but honesty demanded honesty, right? 

He refused to believe that there wasn't something more to this, there had to be a reason that Hagan could see that marking. "I've had a lot of fucked up dreams lately, I'm not really going to go into detail but last night, I had this one in particular. With these two kids and this jacked up park ranger. He was like  literally trying to feast on their entrails or something. It was gross. The whole thing was just really messed up but one of the kids, he got this mark on him. They called him "awakened". Have you been having dreams like this? I know that's weird to ask but it can't be any weirder than imaginary tattoos, right?"

".. they were saved by those weirdos in robes?" Hagan said, his aggressive, dismissive demeanor shrugging off, over time.

This was progress and the fact that he'd responded honestly was enough to ease Martin's tense shoulders. "Yes!"

For the first time since they'd started talking, a very earnest smile found it's way onto Martin's face. "You had the same dream, that's- well, I'm going to be honest, that's weird but I think this means something, right? It has to mean something. Hagan, be honest with me here, do you have a mark like mine?"

Looking away a bit awkwardly, Hagan decided to just pull his T-shirt aside a bit, and show Martin the sigil - the shield that was on his chest.

"Dude, " he arched his eyebrows. "That's- That's something alright. So, this is a thing. This is happening."

He was a little more than confused, a little grateful that he wasn't crazy, and extremely curious. "Thank you for being upfront about this, it means a lot. I've been freaking out and knowing that it's not just me. . . Well, I feel much better. " the dark-haired boy looked thoughtful. "We both got these weird ass marks after the camping trip. Things were obviously pretty jacked up that night, I mean, that thing was barely human. Did this happen to everyone that was there? I can't imagine it's just me and you, as great a team that we make. What do you make of this, Hagan? What do you think it means?"

"I don't have a good answer to any of these god damn questions," Hagan just bluntly stated with a shrug. Everything that happened here goes past any possible explaination. "Everything's been pretty screwy lately... but how's about this..." He trailed off, realizing he had a good way to get away from this fag. "... How about we ask everyone who was there about these marks?"

"That's a lot of people, big guy." though, he did think it was a good idea, for the most part. "Let's start smaller though, I can ask Rita, because I know her. Hell, I could probably ask Kimberly or Rien. You seem to know the punk chick, you could probably ask her."

Claire immediately came to mind - the firecracker that he had a thing for, but yet she didn't seem to feel the same way. Was it because he didn't dress punk? Buuuuut... Martin boy here had a point. He could ask her... where ever she was.

Though, it was a long shot, he didn't want to struggle to contact Hagan again. "Don't take this wrong but can I get your number? It might be easier to check back with you and you won't have to be seen in public with me. I'd hate to hurt your image."

Hagan bared his teeth - he didn't want to do this, but he sighed as he said. "... Get out your damn phone."

"Thanks, pal." he couldn't help but find this a little amusing but he brandished his phone and pulled up the contact screen, handing it over to Hagan. Hagan sighed again... he was gonna regret this at some point, but there was some serious weird shit goin' on. Even though he hated Fagboy, he also hated being one step behind everyone else more. So, he merely punched away his number, and shook his head.

"Alright then, man, I think it's safe to say that we're set. We should probably get the hell out of here. I'll message you with the details if I figure out anything important." he tucked his phone back into the pocket of his coat. "Seeya, wouldn't want to be ya or whatever the cool kids say."

"... Riiiiight back at you." Hagan rolled his eyes, praying that this wouldn't end horribly.

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Smoker’s Corner

---

Tuyen watched Justin carefully as he talked, noticeably distressed about whatever had happened that night. She knew he wasn’t telling her the whole story but decided it was best not to push him on it. There was things she didn’t really want to talk about too, after all. She understood.

“I’m glad that you made it out alive,” she responded quietly. Really, she was surprised more people hadn’t been killed. She only made it away because of Min dragging her and Martin’s distraction. Though it wasn’t really like she’d escaped what happened that night.

“Yeah, I just really needed time to think. I’m glad you understand unlike some people…” Tuyen sighed slightly. It was basically impossible to cut her cousin off, even though she hadn’t wanted to talk to him at all. Really she hadn’t wanted to talk at anyone at all.

She was a bit taken aback as Justin grabbed her hand, kind of staring at it for a few moments. She knew her problems weren’t nothing – but it didn’t mean she’d prioritise them over anyone else’s. They weren’t really important problems. Anyway, how did she even start to explain them.

“Talking about my problems would just make anyone think I’m crazy,” Tuyen looked away. “You know, seeing and hearing things that aren’t actually there. Last thing I want to do is go see some therapist.”

She glanced at her shadow, pleasantly still and normal for once. She wondered just how long that would last and just how she could even begin to explain that. If she could even explain it.

“It’s hard to talk about. I don’t even know how to talk about it.”

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

“Uh, shit, I’ll try and get it!” Rien half jumped after the butterfly, trying to grab at it but failing horribly. Okay, maybe they weren’t quite awake enough for this. But they also didn’t think they were hallucinating. That had definitely come out of the paper. And anyway, the drawing wasn’t there anymore.

After another failed attempt at getting the butterfly, they turned back to Kimberley and Jordan with a shrug. “Uh, I could just draw something again? Something not moving this time and see if the same thing happens…” 

---

Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Rita had turned back. She had felt something, no, that wasn’t quite right, she had sensed something, and it had caused her to turn back around. Claire was glowing; first blue, and then red. Rita had no clue what was going on, but she knew it wasn’t a good thing. Something unnatural was occuring; something that reminded her of Scott’s freakout. She flinched when Claire raised her hand, her fingers shooting up to shield her face from a blow that didn’t come.

Rita didn’t wait around for Claire to finish her sentence. The other woman said go, and so she went, racing down the stairs as fast as her feet would take her. She didn’t know where she was going except for away. She pushed past a group of students, unable to comprehend how they were not freaking out too over what they, she assumed, had all seen. She eventually forced herself to slow down, the weight of stares making each step harder than the last. To the normal bystander, she was just a new kid freaking out over a little fire alarm. Rita paused next to a tree and caught her breath, her eyes glancing over her shoulder to make sure that no glowing red girl or giant mutant with an axe was chasing her.

“What the hell?” she muttered, leaning back against the tree. Had she imagined that glow? Was she going nuts? That was certainly the weirdest thing that had happened, but even before there was something off-kilter about their conversation. Why would what was basically a stranger volunteer that information about themselves? It was clear that Claire had appeared shocked when she had said it. And why would Rita ask something like that in the first place? When had she become so blunt, so mean? Rita twisted her bangs and gnashed her teeth as she rested there, uncertain and uncomfortable.

Then, she snatched her phone out of her pocket and typed, then deleted, then typed, then deleted, typed, deleted, typed, deleted, until sending:



She shoved the phone back in her pocket, despite knowing that until she actually got a text back she’d be checking it every thirty seconds. She had tried to make it seem casual. Hopefully it seemed casual. She figured it was better than sending him one saying that she felt like she might be losing her damn mind, and she needed a reality check. Rita headed to the bike racks. Maybe if Martin didn’t respond, she’d just ride past the cafe and keep going til she was out of town, or in front of a mental ward.

---

Grand Ridge - Outskirts, Near Dumpsters.

---

After insisting to Aliana that she was fine and feverishing agreeing with Lynette to have her them what the heck had happened, Penny walked with her friends out of the main building. She slid her sunglasses down over her eyes and took the opportunity of being out in fresh air to smoke a much needed cigarette, protesting ever so slightly when she realized where Lynette was taking them. Folding one arm over the other, Penny watched with an amused smile as Lynette produced a marker and began sketching on the brick.

“First firecrackers in toilets, now graffiti? Oh man, are we going to go egg some signs next? Toilet paper the boys dorm? Maybe steal a horse, break into the dean’s office with it, and then accidentally give it a heart a—HOLY SHIT!” screamed Penny in unison with Lynette, jumping back as a pillar of fire erupted from the wall like a geyser. She ripped her sunglasses off.

"... Did you two see that?"

“If I say no will you do it again?” said Penny, with a laugh and a clap of her hands. Even while still looking a little green, she was buzzing with energy as she bounced back and forth, toeing the soot. “Oh my God, that was so freaking cool!” She realized she was shouting and, after snapping her head back and forth to make sure that the coast was clear, bounded over to Lynette and Aliana so that she could speak more discreetly. “Where did you learn to...how did you...that’s like some wild, crazy, magic bullshit. I gotta, wait, wait, I gotta show y’all something too. It’s no fire blast but this is gonna, hoo, this is gonna, just, just watch.”

Penny put her sunglasses back on the top of her head and dropped her backpack on the ground so that she could fish out a handful of pens. Standing at the end of the trail of soot opposite the wall, the blonde held the pens with her arm outstretched so that they were level with her head. She released her grip and, for a split second, the pens began to cascade from her hand before her sigil glowed and they suddenly and violently blew away from her as if blasted from a gun. They slammed against the wall in a shotgun pattern, the plastic casing shattering into tiny fragments as ink stained the wall.

“Pretty fucking wild, right?” said Penny, absentmindedly wiping away the blood trickling from her nose and trying to ignore the headache that had just been retriggered. Her eyes narrowed on Aliana; her smile a childish, cheshire grin. “Well? You were being a bit cryptic earlier, you know. What did you bring to show and tell today?”

---

^{@Prosaic@Atrophy}
Grand Ridge - Outside.

---

When Penny used her abstraction, Lynette noticed the aura around her. Which faded when she stopped... she slowly pieced everything together. Still, she took note of Penny's ability which seemed to be telekinesis? She needed to study more, yet she was impressed by her power. She wanted to know more about this - magical powers were basically out of her wildest dreams! She expected to find something occult when coming here, but she definitely didn't expect it to be outright magic.

"Wild's just the tip of the iceburg, ain't it?" Lynette playfully said as she thought about the other symbols that were appearing in her head. Fire was just the tip of the iceburg, it looked like. She played with her marker in her fingers, and considered drawing them. Before Aliana activated her abstraction again, and she turned invisible - to Penny she did, but to Lynette, her skin turned invisible, but her aura illuminated brightly. She turned back physical, and her aura returned.

"Even though you're a 'bad magician'," Lynette air-quoted as she spoke, "You still saved my ass - I doubt I'd even be able to do that."

She laughed for a moment, but she wanted to bring attention to something else. "But... what are we even?" She asked. "People don't just suddenly develop the ability to turn invisible, telekinesis, or...." she looked at the marker, before she said, "Whatever I do - but let me see something else."

Lynette ran up to the wall with her marker, and drew another symbol on the wall - this time smaller. She drew the symbol of air? She believed. A circle with a flowing line through it, and a orb in the center. When the orb was completed, she focused for a second, and a gust of wind came out of it. Not quite powerful as a tornado, but enough to force Lynette to take a step back, and rustled the dirt.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Smoker’s Corner.

---

Of course, Tuyen's words definitely didn't go over Justin's head. The phrasing made it clear that Tuyen had something that she was unsure of talking about... he needed to end the ambiguity here and there. He needed to let Tuyen know that, whatever was going on, she was not crazy. How was he going to do that? Well, he was going have to show her something crazier than what she had going on. He focused for a moment as he closed his eyes

Well, it seems I have something to do with fire - so... time to get fired up. Justin would normally cringe at a pun like that, but he tried to tap into that fire that was burning inside of him. He thought back to when he first realized he had a taste for fire - when Scott Reese almost killed Claire - then thought back to a few minutes again when he got pissed off at Min.

Then he felt something - he felt the heat that he was radiating off his body. He looked at his hand, and couldn't help but notice that his hand was on fire. He gave her a confident smirk. "Well..." Justin trailed off, "... The situation just got a whole lot crazier, so I think I can understand."

---

This wasn't some sort of hollywood film, there was no sudden realisation to David that he had said anything wrong nor would he ever understand what it was by his lonesome. The mere utterance of what he had proclaimed threw one of the others into a snarky, aggravated response that had to be calmed before the conversation could continue - the drunk and their female compatriot did just that. David stood in confusion for the seconds that it took to unfurl the situation, it wasn't as though he had accused them of anything... All he had done was state in surprise that even someone drunk could forget that event and asking for further confirmation...

That was when things became weird.

The drunk returned to David and claimed to remember fragments, doodling within their sketchbook continuously... then with what seemed to be a flick of their wrist, a butterfly seemed to leap out of the page. It could have been thought of as some sort of optical illusion if it hadn't then flew off into the sky.
The others seemed just as surprised, with the drunk sputtering and the photographer making a futile attempt to capture it. David again stood silently, this time from surprise rather than confusion. The drunk suggested that they draw something else, an item to capture the butterfly. This was when David returned to his senses, whatever was left of them after the second supernatural-esque event that he had the mischance to partaken in...

"A net..." eyes never leaving the butterfly as he mumbles those first words, "A butterfly net, er that's what you need." He returns his gaze to the group before continuing, "One of those circular ones you see in Hound of the Baskervilles. And Spongebob..." he mimics the shape of the item to the drunk in case they hadn't seen either.

---

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Smoker’s Corner

---

“…What?” Tuyen couldn’t help but stare when Justin’s hand went on fire. That wasn’t normal. She took a step away from him, just because the heat radiating off his body was a little uncomfortable, before looking at the fire again. There was no way that was an illusion. That, or her and Justin were both seeing things. “That’s real, right?”

She shook her head in disbelief. Okay, maybe it wasn’t her who was going crazy. Maybe it was just the world. It definitely wasn’t normal for someone just to be able to set their entire hand on fire. If anything, she was a bit jealous. It was a lot cooler than anything she could do.

“I guess I’ll try to explain then, since I can’t show whatever is happening to me.” She’d realised she was the only one who could see her weird shadow all the way back when no one else noticed it. “I think my shadow is alive, or something. At least it moves and does things. I also think it’s why I see things.” And hear things, but she’d leave out the voice in her head that could be the shadow or herself. “It makes it so hard to do anything… then there’s the tattoo on my chest, and I know I definitely did not get a tattoo.”

She felt a bit better after getting all of that out – though she didn’t know if he would get half of it, since it was a little hard to explain. Her shadow didn’t appear to other people. If it did someone would’ve noticed a long time ago.

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

Rien thought for a while about what David suggested before nodding. “Ah, yeah, I know what that is! I can probably draw one of those.” They just hope that it turned out how they needed it and not with holes or anything. Or that it even came out of the paper. They didn’t even know how this thing worked.

They quickly got to work drawing. It wasn’t too hard to draw a circular net with a handle. They made sure to give it some shading just in case this strange power required it to be three dimensional when pulled out. They honestly didn’t know.

Once they knew they could do it they find it quite simple to stick their hand right in the paper. Well, looked like it hadn’t been a hallucination. Or they were really going mad. Ignoring that thought, Rien grasped the net inside and pulled it out.

“It worked!” Rien triumphantly held up the uncoloured net with a grin. They didn’t know what the hell this was or how they were doing it but it was cool. “Now we can catch the butterfly.”

---

Grand Ridge - Outside.

---

Invisibility. Telekinesis. Summoning elements like she was trying to call forth goddamn Captain Planet. Perhaps it would be wise to view these bizarre phenomenons through a cautious lens, but Penny was too excited by the mere prospect that they had gotten, to borrow from Aliana, the freaking ability to use magic seemingly out of nowhere. Well, almost out of nowhere. She remembered her ability triggering for the first time when their little sleepaway camp turned Sleepaway Camp. She remembered Scott Fucking Reese. She remembered the eldritch shadow. She remembered little else, and when she tried she could feel her head hurt, as if a pressure was pushing upon her eyes.

“We’re fucking awesome, that’s what we are,” said Penny with a cheeriness that had been sadly uncommon for the past few years. She ran a hand to try and smooth out her hair that Lynette’s wind has furiously whipped in to her face. “And are you serious, Aliana? Invisibility is, like, single handedly the coolest ability ever. Lynette and I can’t just go around blasting things and blowing shit up, but you could go just about anywhere you aren’t allowed to, literally anywhere, and not get in trouble. Think about it: peek on the answers for a test, sneak inside of a bank vault, or,” with a wink, she added, “hang out in the boys’ showers. Hell, you could even probably get away with mur—”

A dark thought ripped the smile from her face.

“Son of a bitch,” she said quietly with a huff and then slung her backpack, repulsing it with such force that hit Lynette’s graffiti wall with a loud clap and bursted at the zipper. “Shit. Shit, shit.” Her words were muted; she was mostly talking to herself. She stomped back and forth like a caged bull, ready to charge the moment the gate was opened. “God, I’m like such an idiot. Acting like a total kid. Showing off and shit. So stupid. Why aren’t the two of you…”

She stood her ground and shot her friends an accusatory look. The gates opened, and her words, violent and angry, charged out of her mouth, ready to gore and trample.

“Why the fuck aren’t the two of you more freaked out by this?” she exploded. “I thought y’all were smarter. Don’t you realize what this means? Obviously, it’s not just the three of us that have, like, become goddamn mutants or whatever the hell you wanna call it. The same shit that happened to us is what happened to Scott Fucking Reese. Right? Of course I’m right. That dude was hardly bigger than me. Hell, it probably is happening to, like, a buncha people. And yeah, Reese was an asshole, but, but, but that doesn’t mean you just start murdering people.” Case and point: she was an asshole, she didn’t want to murder anyone. “What if this thing makes people snap at some point or, or, I don’t know, even if…”

Maybe it didn’t turn people into psychopaths. Case and point: she had her ability for awhile, and she still didn’t want to murder anyone.

“Even if it doesn’t, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other people like Scott Reese. More dangerous than him, even. You blew up an entire bathroom, and you don’t even know what it is that your doodles do,” shouted Penny, pointing an accusatory finger at Lynette, before turning towards Aliana. “And who’s going to be able to point the blame at someone who wasn’t even there? You can get away with any fucking crime you want.” She pressed her hand against her collarbone, her fingers rubbing her sigil. “I embedded a quarter into an oak tree. What if that hits a fucking person? What if it kills them?”

Her voice softened, but only slightly. “I’m not saying I don’t trust the two of you.” She did. “But I’ve grown up here my whole life. There are a lot of Scott Reeses in this town. What’s gonna stop them? Who’s gonna stop...hah.”

She smirked in realization and gestured to the chaotic scene around them. Of course, of course. They would. At least, she would. Even alone. She hated this town, but she wasn’t about to let others ruin it. She glared at her friends, challenging them with her eyes that burned with disgust. They knew her well enough to know what she was thinking, she just hoped that she knew them well enough—she assumed they weren’t cowards, but then again, had there ever really been a chance for them to prove her correct before?

---

Maddie woke up around 1AM after a strange dream she had about two kids, a lovecraftian abomination, and a trio of wizards. Not only was it a bit weird, it somehow bothered her, especially what the wizards had said in the end of the dream. Awakened. With a sigh, she tried to shake the thought out of her head, and went back to sleep...

... However, upon drifting back into sleep, Maddie had seemingly awoken in an endless black space. Just a giant black void... even though this was obviously a dream, it felt real. Like she was standing here, wide awake. However, directly across was her was a massive being taking the shape of a giant black wolf. Lying on his side, and staring directly at her.

"... Madeline Levine," The beast said in a deep gravelly voice, "... You have a debt to pay."

Maddie wanted to remind herself that the wolf in front of her wasn't real, that the void she stood in was just a dream, yet she didn't. Instead, she went along with the "dream". "A debt? What do you mean?" she asked the beast.

"It's simple; in the accident that claimed the life of your sister..." The beast said... as seemingly the distance between itself and Maddie just closed. The Hound stood up on it's four legs as he looked at Maddie, easily coming up to over twelve feet at the shoulder. "... You too, were supposed to perish"

A small gasp left Madeline's mouth when the wolf mentioned her sibling. She hadn't told anyone about her first near death experience, so how did the beast know about it? "How did you- Just, who are you?" Maddie sternly asked.

"I am the Hound, Madeline," The Hound stood valiantly as he faced Maddie. "I know everyone and everything..." He trailed off.

"The Hound, huh? I'll make sure to remember that." Maddie nodded, crossing her arms. "So, what do you want from me?"

That was when the Hound took a few steps towards her, until he was merely inches away from her face. His red eyes staring her head on. "... Your life, of course." He simply said, "Like I said, you were supposed to die.... that is something I need to correct."

Madeline thought for a moment. If she went ahead and allowed The Hound to collect her soul, she could see her sister again, she wouldn't live with the feeling that it was her fault that half her family got hurt. Even so, Maddie always wondered why she survived.

"... Sorry, but I can't leave just yet. I have to figure out why I lived through two near-death experiences. And I still have to look out for my friend." Maddie took a step back, and turned away from The Hound.... and he was right there, staring her in the face.

"... You don't have a choice in the matter, really," The Hound spoke, seriously as possible, "Either you go willing, or not willingly at all... in the end, you'll be returned to the source. So..." He took a few steps forward, and raised his eyebrow, "... Why even fight a battle you can never hope to win?"

"As tempting as it sounds, I've already made up my mind."

That was when the darkness suddenly wrapped itself around Madeline, almost almost it was a physical, amorphous substance. It bound her entirely from the neckdown, and the Hound walked around her, "I think you don't... understand," The Hound said, "So many have made the same decisions as you, and choose to fight the inevitability of death... only to fail all the same."

The Hound shook his head in a vague sense of irritation, and then followed that statement up with, "Out of all of the newfound Awakened... there's only two I want. Afterwards, I'll let the inevitable conflict with the.Glutton play it's course... but, by fighting, you'll drag inothers that have no stake in the battle. Even the friend that you so desperately want to keep safe."

Leaning in, the beast stared her directly in the eyes, and said, "... Do you want others to be hurt on your behalf?"

It was when the void seemed to have a hold on her, that Madeline started to freak out. She tried to free herself from the darkness' grip, but met with failure. So she instead continued to listen to what The Hound was saying. 'Glutton'? Does it mean the monster from the corpse camp-out? Maddie thought to herself. Apparently she wasn't the only "Awakened" that The Hound needed to collect, and if she didn't leave then, more people would die than needed.

"N-No!! But-!" Maddie nearly yelled in fear.

"Now you want to rethink your stance? Well..." The Hound mocked her, chuckling softly. "... I've already made up my mind. The hunt begins."

The Hound lunged at her, engulfing her in his jaws...

Then Madeline woke up with a yelp, shooting up from her bed. After looking around her dorm to make sure she was back in reality, she got up and threw on her everyday attire. "There goes any sleep I had left..." Maddie sighed, running a hand through her hair. She then glanced at the lotus on her wrist. The strange marking had been there ever since she survived the massacre, and with every wound she got, a blue light would envelop and heal her. Madeline didn't want to believe it, but as time passed, she had gotted used to her new ability.

She grabbed her bag, and left the room. Only for the fire alarm to go off.

"Well fuck my life." Madeline cursed under her breath, breaking off into a sprint to catch up with the other students.

---

Grand Ridge Academy - Outside Main Building

---

Once Maddie got outside, she stopped to catch her breath, before pacing around in place. "This better just be a drill, this better be just a drill..." she repeated to herself, her hands in her pockets. It was obvious that she was afraid about what might have happened, her pyrophobia always creeping back to her. So she tried to calm herself down by watching the other students, only to see one of them glowing blue.

Wait what?

Madeline turned her atention to the familar looking brunette, and the sickly looking girl. The former's glow turning red as they seemed to argue. Once the smaller girl left in a hurry, she took the opportunity to check on the brunette. "You alright there?" She asked.

---

The girl had left before Claire could even finish her sentence. Yeah, that sounds about right. Little pussy couldn't back up her bark... Claire shook her head as she looked at the red color that had surrounded her, before it turned blue... and eventually faded away. "Huh...?" She asked herself. This blue aura saved her, but why did it turn red? Perhaps it coresponds with her current emotion? Or maybe it flares up when she gets angry-

"You alright there?"

Claire immediately froze up - because she was reminded of what in the hell she just said out loud. In front of a large group of people. She stiffly, and awkwardly turned around to face the girl - whom looked a little familiar to her. Not familar enough so that she wasn't frozen in place.

"Y-yeah, yeah..." Claire stammered for an answer. "... I just got into a lil' scrap with her, t-that's all."

"It's alright. We all get mad once in a while." Maddie shrugged. "I'm Madeline, Maddie for short." She introduced herself, holding a hand out for Claire to shake.

Claire was unsure of how to go about it. She didn't know if she should... and she was worrie that the field will do something to her new "friend." Still, she took that risk, and took her hand, looking her in the eye as she introduced herself as, "Claire, it don't get no shorter t-than that, hun." She tried to keep up that confident aura around her, but it was clear that she was shook by it.

"Right. So, what's with that mouse chick?" Maddie asked a bit curiously, stuffing her hand back in her pocket.

"I.. really don't know to tells ya' the truth," Claire scratched the back of her neck. "To cut a long story short; she did a little something, and then decides to come at me for whatever god damn reason...." That red aura surrounded her for a moment, flashing on and off. She relented for a moment, and stood there slackjawed.

"Aaaaand It looks like you got some sort of magic power too." Madeline added.

"... Huh?" Claire raised an eyebrow as she looked at the girl. "Magic power...? Magic don't exist, sweetheart."

"Then what's with the aura?"

At that moment, seemingly because Maddie brought attention to it, her aura had activated. That blue glow... she looked at her hand, then at Maddie with curious eyes. "... You can see it?"

Madeline nodded. "I don't think anyone else sees it though, and whatever witchcraft i've got ever since I almost got axed to death." She answered, shuddering at the memory.

"Wait..." Claire recalled what happened at the camp. "... You're that girl who almost got killed, weren't you?" She looked at Maddie like she seen a ghost.. because by all means, she should had died that night.

Madeline nodded again. "Yep, second time I almost died. Not suprising if I'm concidered a spectre at this rate." She chuckled, looking down at the lotus symbol on her wrist. "When I got struck down, this blue light covered and healed the gash that 'Voorhees' cousin' gave me... Still was painful as hell though."

Blue light? Could it be related? Claire asked herself, but she wondered if it was appropriate to talk about all this here. Her eyes peered across the horizon and she saw all these people staring at her from her earlier... freakout. After Maddie spoke, Claire damn near lunged in, and grabbed onto her wrist, and whispered into her ear, "Hows 'bout we discuss this elsewhere, friend?" She said.

"Erm, yeah..." Madeline agreed, looking around.

There was a tight feeling of relief as Claire pulled Maddie away from the prying eyes of the crowd. As much as she tried to poster like she didn't care, she was starting to care a whole lot more now that she put that information about herself out there. Which she hopes that Maddie didn't hear, but she seems to be more interested in her aura... which seemed to once again manisfest as Claire yanked the girl around. Eventually, they made it to the parking lot, where a massive crowd formed due to the fire alarm going on. Now, it may seem contradictory that Claire left one crowd for another - but in this one it's not paying attention to her. Claire merely leaned up against her truck, and crossed her arms. She didn't know how to process what Maddie said... but, she had an idea.

"So... there's some funky shit goin' on. First Scott turns into a horror movie villain, then my friend has a flaming lion jump out of him, and then this..." Claire said as she extended her arm, just by bringing thought to her aura, that was enough to make it appear. "... Followed by a series of un-fuckin'-fortunate events that end up with that orange thing attacking us...." She trailed off as she thought about Zoey, and her currently shitty condition.

"I know. Do you think anyone else got whatever we have?" Maddie asked as she searched through her bag.

"... You mean the cooties?" Claire snorted at her rather poor wording.

"If you can call it that." Madeline chuckled as she grabbed a hunting knife from her bag, having made sure to keep it with her at all times after the massacre. "Ah, here we are!"

Claire immediately lunged at her arm, and tried to push it back in the bag. She looked her in the eye as she said, "...Hey. sweetheart," She shook her head, as she pointed at the massive crowd "Remember..."

"I know, I know. I'm just gonna show you what I meant by that 'blue healing light' bullshit real quick." Madeline explained, and in response, Claire just moved so that she was blocking Maddie from the crowd.

"Do it."

Maddie nodded, before giving one of the palms of her hands a small cut, then quickly stuffed her knife back in her bag.

"... You're oddly okay with hurting yourself," Claire just dryly noted, hinting at a darker part of Maddie. Still. she watched it heal near instantly. "... So, you don't die? That's what I'm getting at here. I don't got a whole lot to bring to show-n'-tell other than this, I guess. Which does something." Her aura turned on yet again, and faded.

"Well, not exactly. I've noticed that the bigger the wound, the longer it takes to heal. So I still might be able to die, if i'm not careful."

"I hate to find out if you can," Claire said as she looked around at the huge crowd. "But... you keep that on you because of what happened at camp?" This was Claire's point exactly. Scott was still out there, killing people because of all those bodies that are found on the news. It made Claire sick to her stomach... but she clenched her fist as she looked directly at Maddie,

"... and that's why we need to find others like us." She said.

"Right. You said that one of your friends had summoned some 'fire-lion', yeah? Maybe we should look for him?" Madeline suggested, shoving her hands back into her pockets.

"Justin." Claire corrected, "Lookin' for him might be a good idea, but... I don't know where he's been the last while." She shrugged her shoulders.

"How's about this?" She looked at the crowd and wondered if he could be standing in it right now.... "Gimme your number, and you go to your classes or whatever while I look into a few things.."

"Oh, sure!" Maddie grabbed a small notepad and pen from her bag and wrote down her phone number, tearing the page out and giving it to Claire. "Here you go."

"Thank ya miss... but while you have that out..." Claire quickly grabbed her hands before she could put it back "... Lemme give you my number so you can tell me if you got somethin' to report." Claire wrote down her number on another page and gave it to Maddie.

"Thanks. Guess I'll see ya later then?"

"Yeah... it was great meeting ya', Mads," Claire dryly says, almost fearing she was being sarcastic. "... Just stay safe, and make sure to call me if anything goes wrong." Sliding her hands into her pockets, Claire stauntered off. She needed to find Justin soon as possible.

"Right, see you around..." Madeline walked away, stuffing the notepad in her pocket.

---

^{@FernStone@pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy - The Parking Lot.

---

When Rien made the net, Kimberly felt a surge of excitement overtake her. She looked between each member of her group. Rien didn't exactly seem all enthusiastic to take the task, neither did David - albeit a bit more subtly than Rien, just standing around. Jordan didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of catching that thing. So it was all down to Kimberly. She almost grinned as she took the net and ran towards the butterfly. She had to remember that she had to, y'know, keep this all a secret (Though she'd look a bit ridiculous chasing a butterfly around). She broke off into a near-sprint as she went after the butterfly, and kept her net at her waist as she waded through the crowds.

That was in hopes that they wouldn't pay her any mind. Though, Kimberly found it weird that there was a floating butterfly that literally looks nothing like a real butterfly flying around, and that nobody noticed it yet. Or at all. Okay. She ran after it as fast as she could - muttering apologies as she bumped into people - and once she got into range, she swung the drawn-net at it. The butterfly tried to dodge, but it was caught in the net. Kimberly fist bumped... as everyone looked at her all confused. Yet, she ignored those glances and looks as she walked back - she held the net tight so that the butterfly couldn't fly out.

Making it back to the group, she presented it to the group, "What do you guys think it is?"

"Art brought to life..." Jordan trailed off, she wondered what in the hell was going on in this town anymore. "... I think that's a question for Rien." She turned towards her blue-haired friend, and just blankly looked at her for a few moments.

"What exactly did you do?"

"Whatever it was," Kimberly said. "It was amazing!"

---

^{@Prosaic@Atrophy}
Grand Ridge - Outside.

---

Penny's outburst put a bit of conflict in on Lynette; she thought that their newfound powers were incredible, and something that she could only had dreamed of when coming here. On the other hand... they were dealing with something unseen here. There definitely could be other beings out here like Scott Reese - or even worse. And they were making light of it. In the end, Lynette sided with Penny and realized that she was being stupidly flippant with her newfound power.

Lynette sighed.

"You have a point there..." Lynette said... even though she personally had little attachment to this place, it didn't mean she was a soulless monster that would leave them all to die. "... This is definitely the start of something bigger, I mean...." She trailed off as she thought about what happened at that damn camp. The horrific sight wasn't something she was going to forget.

"What I'm trying to say is; you're right. We should take this a bit more seriously," Lynette started off as she looked at Penny. She played with the marker in between her fingers. "But, we need to gather a bit more evidence before we start jumping to conclusions." She walked back over the wall, and slowly drew down the symbol for earth on the battered wall.

"Yes, it is possible that this power could drive us mad or something... we need more evidence that it does that kind of thing to people, of course," Lynette was half-done the symbol when she stopped, then turned towards Penny. "And... as for the moral issue, I trust you all that we won't abuse this... because right now..."

She finished drawing the stone symbol, and it glowed a bright blue color.

"... I just want to learn."

Taking a quick step aside, a huge chunk of the wall was torn out and sent flying backwards. It went past her, and she shook her head.

"Honestly... it's not our business to stop anyone, not our responsibility, and definitely not our fight," Lynette said as she looked at the group. "We're not gonna start donning capes... I came here to learn-" about the past of this town, and it's connection to my family. "-so that's what I'm going to do. Learn. And let any conflict play it's course."

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Smoker’s Corner.

---

So you have an evil shadow, eh?

Justin pondered for a moment as he thought about what Tuyen was saying. Was she really crazy? Justin would be understanding because it could clearly be a lot more than... he looked at his flaming hand, and it extinguished by itself. If she was crazy, then he was a special kind of crazy, too. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

"MMmmmm... Dr. Liao's prognosis is that you have a case of the crazies," Justin said in a very sarcastic tone, trying to make light of the situation any way he could... but realized he may have sounded insensitive to Tuyen's plight. Still, there was a lot he could do, but there was that tattoo she mentioned. Then a lightbulb went off in Justin's head. Without a second thought, he tore off his shirt, and turned around. Getting down on a knee as he tapped the back of his shoulder where his sigil was located.

"... Like this?" He asked... even though he was impulsive and a bit tactless, he knew basically asking to look at Tuyen's chest would be taken the wrong way.

---

Stalking wasn't exactly Nate's forte but the girls seemeed preoccupied with whatever it was they were focused on, probably . Lynn seemed to be leading the trio, taking them on a path which led towards the edge of the academy - out of the way of others, in other words. Once or twice he had to duck down behind a trash can or tuck into a space in the wall - and he was surprised even so they didn't catch his fat ass behind it. Eventually they came up to where the collective campus' trash was dropped for collection... and Lynn was drawing a symbol on the wall? What? Was this some kind of satanic ritual thing that the weird girls around this place did?

Before he could continue down that line of thinking, the symbol began to glow. And then-

What?!

Nate fell backwards, almost knocking over one of the trash cans he'd been knelt behind to watch this little scene. A pillar of flames had erupted from the symbol, scorching the ground and plants around it - Nate could almost smell it, if only for a second. The girls almost seemed surprised by it too, just a little - or at least like they were enjoying the show. Which confirmed that feeling in Nate's gut - what was going on? The curly haired blonde seemed excited for sure, then she followed up with a trick of her own - blasting a bunch of pens into the wall like the birdshot from the twelve gauge Quent got him to try out at the range that one time.

At least that time Nate didn't end up nearly knocking over the cans and catching their attention when he saw that - but it was still mindblowing to watch. The collective memory of all eighteen years' worth of video games he'd run through couldn't hold a candle to seeing something like this.

Finally, the third girl - the other east-coaster with wild hair - stepped forward, looking to show off what he could only guess was a third trick? It had to be - Nate could see a glow emanating from her wrist, then... nothing? Literally, nothing - she disappeared. Then, so did Lynn - leaving only the curly blonde to watch. It didn't last long - both reappeared in the span of a couple of seconds, but hell - that made three things that Nate hadn't expected to see today, nevermind one.

Only thing that he couldn't help but notice was, like him, they took it in stride. Most people would've freaked at that - Nate? Maybe not so much, at least after the first couple times - but here they were, laughing, joking and showing off - Lynn scrawled another sigil on the wall and watched as a gust of wind blew from out of nowhere, scattering loose trash all over the place.

Again, the curly blonde started talking about it - how great it was, then dropped a name for the other east-coaster - Aliana. She made some good points, too - it wasn't like people wouldn't notice if they went ham on the place, throwing pens and chairs around or blowing up a classroom. What would he do if he was invisible? Peek on the answers for a test? Check. Sneak inside of a bank vault? Check, sorry Quent. Hang out in the boys' showers? Well, seeing as he didn't need to be invisible to do that already, it was kind of a moot point - though, genders swapped, no - that was a line he wouldn't have crossed. What would Mom have said to that? Jesus.

Tossing her bag at the wall in a surprising change of tone, she started calling herself out, then... calling them out. She made the point he'd thought up just a couple moments back about not freaking out, then pointed out that after what happened at the camp, this couldn't have been just a coincidence. Right. It all made sense now - a few people had said Reese had turned into Bruce Banner's redneck cousin, complete with Hulk rage and the like - even a car slamming into him hadn't stopped him for long. So he had a 'power'? Maybe it had made him crazy?

A sharp sinking sensation hit him in the gut when he realised what the implication of that line was - he was still wanted, after all. If someone saw him around here, no doubt there was a good chance Quent could've been one of the first-responders to that call. And he'd be going up against that. Nevermind more people going crazy like Reese.

After that thought had been planted in their heads, the conversation seemed to take on more of a serious tone. Nate watched as Lynn stepped back over towards the wall again and began to draw yet another symbol. Moments after she was done, it began to glow blue, then it tore away from the wall and...

"Shit!"

Nate fell back against one of the trash cans, knocking it over and reflexively drew his arms up to shield himself from the incoming chunk of debris - it loomed in overhead, about to crush his head and...

What the fuck?

Colour had bled from his vision, leaving a mass of light and dark patches which encompassed the space around him - a mass of gray overtaking the blended brickwork and metal colours of the building. When he tried to find some measure of stability, pressing a palm into the stone ground, he instead felt his entire mass lurch inwards as it sank through the stone and beyond, his arm being absorbed all the way up to his elbow. Mouthing a silent yelp, he stopped - tried to take a second to breath, then pulled back upwards, the sensation like passing through water - albeit without any damp to it.

Was he dead?

Am I a fucking ghost? He recalled the rushing sensation where that chunk of the wall should have smashed him square in the face, like he'd stuck his head on the front of a rollercoaster. Maybe it had and, hell, there was something on the other side, but... no. No, he wasn't dead. He couldn't be...

It clicked just then, this was just like the trio and their powers. Blinking, Nate shifted his weight forward, drove a palm into his knee to force himself to stand - because at least his feet hadn't sunk into the ground - then pressed the other palm into the stone to give himself the needed push. This time, he felt solid ground beneath his feet - and the sensation of being immersed in water dissipated, colour seeping back into view.

Only then he realised that the trio had been watching. Somehow, something in the sense of words poured from his mouth as he adressed them in deadpan, "What, you never saw a guy fisting the ground?"

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Smoker’s Corner

---

Tuyen gave a short laugh in response to Justin’s sarcasm – she knew he was just trying to make her feel a bit better, but it wasn’t exactly what she wanted at the moment. Oh, she knew that she did. Didn’t make it particularly nice to hear even if it wasn’t meant.

On the other hand, she was quite taken aback when Justin just suddenly started stripping. The hell? Not really something she wanted to see right now. She understood when he talked and went from looking away to staring at the sigil on his back. Just like the whole flame manifestation it was cooler than hers. Would be nice if she just had a phoenix-tiger thing.

“Yeah like that,” she nodded. It was a relief that someone else was going through whatever was happening. “Different design of course, but it is like that.”

That was when she noticed her shadow ago, moving in front of her to half block Justin and filling her with a crashing wave of insecurity. She’d always known it would reappear but had only hoped she could ignore it until she was done talking. But of course, it had been stupid of her to think that. Just what she wanted was to prove that she was crazy.

That’s because you are.

“Ah, well,” she tried to ignore the doubtful thoughts and phrase what she wanted to say. In the end, she couldn’t even come up with a decent excuse. “My shadow is moving again so it might be best if I go. I’m fine! Just makes it hard to have a conversation…”

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

Rien gave Kimberley a thumbs up when she came back with the butterfly. They were glad that they hadn’t had to go traipsing after it. They were still too hungover for that kind of stuff.

“Uhhh,” Rien was a bit taken aback but Jordan’s question. What did they do? “I’m not sure, I just pulled the drawing out of the paper. Weird, huh?”

Though now that they thought about it there were so many uses for it. If they needed something they could just draw it and manifest it! How could was that? They didn’t know why the hell they could do this but might as well use the weirdness. It certainly seemed to be real.

“Well whatever is going on, this has turned out pretty cool for me!”

---

Grand Ridge - Outside

---

If there was anything that could be said about Grand Ridge, it was, despite it's prestige, far more relaxed than the likes of other universities such as Yale. This academy was a bit less stringent and bit more flexible with class scheduling – and if there was anything that Andrea learned from her first attempt, it was that you never signed up for early morning classes. Not if you wanted to get a good night's sleep and actually be able to function that day. Andrea was instead able to use that time to take it slow and get ready for the day. A leisurely breakfast, an easy jog around campus, take a quick shower, and do some light reading back in her dorm over a cup of french-pressed coffee with the pumpkin spice creamer she kept in the mini-fridge... and most of the students were either in class or just waking up. There was something to be said about keeping a good schedule. Mom taught her that.

The only difference now is that her light reading normally comprised of actual, good literature. Long gone are the days of binging on the Guardians of the Flame series, or Dorota Masłowska's Snow White and the Russian Red. Oh, and Stanisław Lem's The Star Diaries! Good times, good times... but now? A collection of online newspapers, new and old, dating all the way back to the Great Depression era. She didn't realize it before, but Farmer's Hill has, ah... something of a problem, if you will. People living here had the nasty habit of dropping like flies and going missing like hair bands. She didn't mean to reduce all the tragedies to a handful of similes and idioms, but one would think that people would stop for a second and notice the statistics and try to solve the problem. For whatever reason, Farmer's Hill somehow fell off that radar and the people in the town refuse to talk about it.

Honestly, it felt like a live rendition of Silent Hill. Ever since the terrible tragedy that happened this last summer, she found herself looking into the town's history. Now she wondered if every new second she spent here was worth the risk. It was a shame. Most of the states in America's countryside seemed to have problems with confronting issues such as healthcare, especially of the mental health variety. Andrea was lucky she was taken care of by New York, but out here? Farmer's Hill was the only place worth visiting for quite a few miles. And some of the, uh... what do Americans call them? Good old boys? That's so weird. Apparently it was a nicer way of calling someone another American slang for the rural types: “redneck”. Well, she heard some of the “good old boys” around here weren't the type to visit the doctor. It might have been an exaggeration, but apparently they'd sooner splash liquor on an open wound than go the doctor, and if it were mental health, they just called them retards and slapped them around with paddles.

Rural America had some problems, but so did she and she wasn't about to presume the worst of anybody here without knowing their story first. She'd want the same to be done for her.

The muffled sound of a bell rang three times in succession, followed by a pause, and then repeating the sequence. It bounced through the hallways of Grand Ridge and reverberated through the walls of her dorm. The fire alarm? There was no announcement of a drill or test or anything. Either this was some kind of prank or this was the real deal. Then again, America... Andrea just sighed. It didn't help ease her mind that she was just thinking about the poor management of mental healthcare in this country.

“Attention fire brigade,” and intercom spoke calmly through the speakers, “sprinkler code three-one-one has sounded. Repeating: attention fire brigade, sprinkler code three-one-one has sounded. Students and personnel, calmly follow evacuation procedure to the nearest safe location.”

'Please don't let this be the day that I die.' Andrea thought to herself. She didn't hear any fireworks or anything going off from where she was, and there wasn't any sound of screaming college students either. That was promising. She looked at herself up and down. Perhaps there was once a day that she would've asked herself, “Am I really going to go out like this?” Even after the breakfast, the jogging, the shower, she ended up moving back into her comfy, sky-blue pajamas with a bunch of little cartoon-looking sheep on it. Her feet were wrapped up in bunny slippers like she was some cliché on a television show, and her blonde hair was still slightly wet from her shower and was messily put up in a bun – and was in dire need of a thorough brushing - but it didn't bother her self-image too much. Something like this? It was inconsequential. She was seen in far, far worse, but more importantly, she felt comfortable. She wasn't going to let today bring her down. After all, today was one of her favorite days of the week: rehearsal day.

With that, she went to her desk and withdrew a book, Ready to Fall by Marcella Pixley, from one of the drawers and topped off her tall thermos with coffee, and shuffled her way out the door, following the flow of people towards the nearest evacuation zone.

---

The drive with Dexter went relatively... uneventfully. Britney was wondering if she should bring up what happened in the camp with him - but, maybe another time? She didn't want to drop a whole lot on him out of the blue, so she just kept the conversation light. Like discussing how good his new vehicle was! It wasn't long until they came up on Grand Ridge - Farmer Hill is only so large, and one can reasonably get from one point to another on foot - aaaaaaaaaaand... everyone was flocking outside because of the fire arm. Britney's rather bright smile contorted downwards as her eyes drooped a little. It's gonna be one of those days, ain't it? She asked herself with a deep sigh as the vehicle came to a stop. She had, unfortunately, missed what prompted the fire alarm - but she hoped that it was just some stupid highschool prank so she can go to her damn classes. Britney shook her head as she stepped out the car - might as well stick around, and if classes are cancelled, the Sucre isn't that far away. She decided to take a look around, trying to find somebody that she recognized so she could ask what happened.

What definitely caught her eye was a rather tall, blonde haired girl that she had sort of recognized at first glance. Turning her head and giving her a good look made her realize that it was Andrea - one of the transfer students that she had befriended - and immediately honed in on her. Slowly but shortly, Britney tried to make her way through the crowd as she followed her, and once she closed the distance, she greeted, "Andrea!" She cheerfully said, "Do you know what's going on?"

Andrea was currently in the process of figuring out how to drink coffee and be nose deep in a book at the time as she slowly shuffled along with the crowd, which was quite frankly an awkward and embarassing time to be caught by one of the friends she's made here. With a mouthful of coffee, she looked doe-eyed with surprise to see Britney, and held up a finger to excuse herself as she swallowed it all down. "Cześć!" She cried back to her with her Polish accent. "I'm sorry! Please forgive, well..." Britney merely laughed.

She made a gesture that went down her whole body, indicating her choice of clothes, her hair, lack of makeup, and so forth - then raised both hands in the air - the book and the coffee. She greeted Britney with a smile, "Fire alarm. I hear from some of the others that there were fireworks in a girl's bathroom. Hopefully not a sick white boy, yes?"

Britney couldn't help but laugh at that last comment much to her friend's satisfaction, but she was annoyed at the possibility that, yes, it could have been a stupid prank. Still, at least her classes won't get cancelled. "That joke made my day," Britney said as she realized that she may have caught Andrea a little off guard. "I'm just glad it's something harmless - it seems like we never catch a break here."

"Oh, yes..." Andrea agreed somberly, looking at the friendly little eyes of her slippers for a moment before looking back up into the eyes the much taller girl. She's been trying to dodge this conversation for a while now out of respect, but part of her also wanted to be able to reach out. The only way she saw that happening without coming off as too desperate or clingy was to get Britney to reach out as well. Finally, Andrea said, "I was actually reading about it again this morning. I can't imagine what that must have been like."

"For some..." Britney trailed off as she talked about it, "... It was worse than others. I was there, but I didn't get to see the worst of it..." She shook her head as she wondered if there was a little more she could had done to stop that senseless death.

Andrea looked carefully at Britney, but otherwise didn't say anything. She took in what she could in the moment - the sound of her voice, how it softened and slightly trembled, the fidgeting in her fingers and the blankness in her eyes as it seemed like she was revisiting the scene. It was a look that she had seen far too often in the mirror, so she knew that there was nothing anyone could really say to make it better - there wasn't any making it better. The truth was that it was one sad day in the Hill's long history of travesties; not that she would ever say anything like that to her, she had no intention of belittling her trauma. Only that there were a lot more people in this town who would understand how she felt. There was a lot of potential for a huge support group, larger than even what the college had to offer, but only if more people were willing to open up.

"The college has counselors," Andrea meekly suggested, "have you tried talking to them? Maybe a support group?"

"I talked with the counsellers," Britney admitted, "But, I don't think they really understand...." Her voice dropped as she shrugged, avoiding eye contact. How in the world would Britney explain the dreams that she has been having? And how they seem less like dreams, and more like seeing. She shook her head.

"... But, a support group?" Britney almost smiled at that idea, "That sounds like an incredible idea..." Especially since she wanted to test something among the survivors... if she thinks what did happen, happened then it was only going to get worse from here and they needed to stick together.

"I'm just lost how I'm going to get everyone together," Britney sighed, "Especially how... should I just say divided the group is."

"Myślę, że... there's more people feeling just as scared and confused than you might realize." Andrea reassured, remembering the days she spent in the care centers in New York. "Will it be easy?"

Andrea answered her own question with a shrug, but then continued, "but maybe the group will bring everyone together. Just don't tell them the people they don't like is going. Maybe the fact they see them there is... uh... ah, głupek... makes them empathy."

The polish girl made an awkward and frustrated grimace as the verb-case for the word managed to escape her, though apparently fully aware that whatever it was she just said sounded pretty stupid.

Britney thought what she just said sounded pretty stupid... but she got the gist of it. She understood what she meant. Whether or not Andrea realized it, but Britney had a lot of power. Merely through her insane amount of connections to the people of Farmer Hill - from Grand Ridge and beyond. Even if a few people didn't care for her, they couldn't help but listen when she spoke.

"I think I can pull a few strings to get as many people in the group as possible," Britney said, "But... I still think I could use a little help organizing everything and... perhaps you could be that help?"

"Sure!" Andrea happliy agreed with a smile. Then her expression on her face began to look a little more embarassed and subdued, "Actually, I, ah... well, nevermind that. It's very easy. We can just talk with the counselors and schedule a date. A roll with butter!"

Andrea's metaphor went over Britney's head, but she still understood the main point. She could only help but smile at Andrea's embarassment, "I'll get started..." She looked at the crowd and saw them going back into school. "Looks like the coast is clear... but we can always afford to make a stop by the counsellor's office - but...." There was something else on her mind, though she just shrugged her shoulders. "... Uh, nevermind, let's go." She gestured for Andrea to come along.

"Empathetic!" Andrea muttered to herself as she trailed behind Britney. "The word was empathetic! Psia krew... "

Cafe Sucre - Window Table.

---

Wheels hopped the curb as Rita came upon Sucre. She braked quickly, the bike whipping ever so slightly out from behind her, although she did not lose her balance and easily regain control. She dismounted and chained the bike to a pole, doubtful that there was someone looking for a bike to steal but not too certain that there wasn’t someone looking to pull a prank on her. Her hair had been whipped every which way by the wind, but the ride had been nice and a very much needed moment of relief. She went to smooth her clothes, only to catch a glimpse of Martin in the window; her mouth made a little O as she gave a wave that was close to her chest and hurried inside.

The person behind the counter looked up from their phone at the chime of the bell, and Rita glanced between her and Martin. She gave her friend a complicated hand gesture, which might’ve translated to, “I’m going to go order something, because it’d be weird not to, although it’s even weirder not to say hi to you first, but things already seem weird between us, and I might not get back up once we start talking, and then they’ll think I’m some weirdo mooch who can’t afford a drink, or you’d feel obligated to buy me a drink, and then I’d”, you know what, maybe it didn’t translate at all. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what might very well be her last five dollar bill. Enough for a cup of tea, a tip, and dinner from a vending machine later that night before spending Sunday and the rest of her week flat broke and racking up credit card debt until she found a part time job.

“Hey,” she said as she sat down, drawing the word out as if to exercise caution.

Rita looked down. Where to start? Apologize for being a total bitch to him at the camp, or apologize for ignoring him since she had moved out, dodging texts and conversations as if she were the last nerd in gym class on the team opposing an army of jocks with red rubber balls? She stared at the lines on her finger, which appeared to be little more than the doodling of a bored girl with a sharpie. She couldn’t possibly jump right in, say, hey, I just sat down, and this is crazy, but also I might be, so help me maybe? She drummed her fingers on the table. Her lips parted.

“Thanks for coming,” she said, glancing at him before looking back down. Better than silence, but not by much. "Um..."

"No need to thank me, I was dying for a reason to see you."

That came on kind of strong, made it sound like he was some guy in a movie that had been waiting to see his girlfriend. It was true though, he had been dying for a reason to see her. The fact that they'd gone so long without contact had worn on him a little. She was the steadiest person that he'd ever had in his life and he had been so excited about going to college with her. He had pictured being able to go to lunch with her and to talk about their classes. Instead, he'd been spending his time trying to avoid shadows and imaginary tattoos on his neck.

He took in her appearance, trying to steady his anxiety by remembering that she was just Rita. Even if she had gotten angry with him and avoided him for almost an entire month, she was still Rita. He couldn't dispute that he'd heard about some of her more bold comments lately but that didn't change the fact that she was Rita. He wasn't about to lose his best friend over one snippy comment at a camp with an axe murderer.

"Let's cut to the chase, chickadee." he offered her a lofty smile, "I'm sorry for uh. . ."

What had he done exactly?
That had been the trouble with this. He still didn't exactly know what he was apologizing for. He wanted a way to take all of the blame on himself but that was hard when he wasn't exactly apologetic about trying to reassure her. Whatever, he hadn't come here to try to back out of his own apology. He had come here to make things right and then discuss all the other terrible things.

"I'm sorry for reassuring you. I didn't think about how idiotic it sounded until you pointed it out to me." he couldn't help but notice how awkward his own voice was sounding, he was starting to chew his thumb nail. "This is going to sound cheesy as hell so forgive me for ruining my whole gloom and doom image but I was trying to. . . I don't know. I was trying to convince you that I wasn't going to let anything happen to you but I realized in all this time that I've had to reflect over shit, you don't need my protection or my reassurances. We're not one single unit. I forget that sometimes, I haven't had many friends."

She kept her eyes on her steaming cup of tea, watching the water change from a muddy clear to a reddish brown. A faint blush had risen to her cheeks, and she pulled in her lips to hide her smile. She bit down on them, hard, but not hard enough to draw blood, when he brought up what she had said. She still couldn't look straight at him; all she could muster was an occasional cursory glance at his hands or his chest. Eye contact was out of the question, otherwise Rita feared he'd be able to read her like a large print book. She fiddled with the tea bag, up and down, up and down.

"I know. I meant what I said when I called you a loser," she said bluntly, and then gave a little chuckle. "But that's not a bad thing. I like that about you. Another thing we have in common." She looked up at him and raised her tea cup. "To having no friends. Well, almost no friends."

Her eyes narrowed. Martin was trying to hide it, but there was definitely something dark on his neck. A bruise, maybe, or a tattoo, but he had never struck her as the neck tattoo kind of guy. She didn't really know what the neck tattoo kind of guy was like, but she knew it wasn't like someone like Martin. She looked directly at him, gestured at his neck, and asked, "What's up with that thing? Did you lose a bet?"

The sigil on the fingers caressing her cup of tea dimly glowed.

"Oh, that."

For some reason he couldn't place why he'd been so apprehensive about talking about this. He found that he wanted to tell her about it. Had he been silly to think that it was best to hold this off until they talked everything out? Why had he changed his mind so quickly? It was as if some kind of fog had come over him. The compulsion to respond was a little overpowering. Weird. "Rita, believe me when I say, I wish I knew." he responded, the words spilling out without any grace. "I woke up the day after that whole catastrophe, I was a little loopy on pain meds and I looked in the mirror and I fucking screamed."

He found himself folding his collar down and tilting his head to the side to show her the curling mark. It started at the base of his collarbone and ended at the bottom of his jaw. It was wispy, curling, and a dark, inky black. It stood out starkly on his pale skin. "Just like a little girl, I shrieked. I scrubbed it for like a whole hour. My skin was bleeding and it was still there and at that point, I just kind of decided, I'm insane."

He laughed, it was a sharp sound that didn't seem like he found it all that funny. "No one and I mean no one could see it. But then! Today!"

He slammed his hands onto the table as if for dramatic effect, "Hagan fucking Rosefey, who hates my Goddamn guts goes "Nice tattoo, faggot"." by the time the word vomit stopped, he was looking kind of winded and very confused. "I wasn't supposed to talk about that yet. Can we rewind?"

"Yeah, of course," said Rita, pinching her sleeve and pulling it over her left hand. So, the mark of the beast had appeared for Martin the same time it had for her. She should've showed her arm to him right then and there, but for some reason she hesitated. He didn't want to talk about it yet, so she used that as her justification. It wasn't lying if he didn't ask. She slid her left hand down to her knee, and took a sip of her tea. "Sorry for bringing it up."

"And, uh, I'm sorry for avoiding you. Really, I am. I just didn't know how to broach the subject and I figured you were still mad at me, so I kind of...just sucked for a while, I guess." She gave a pained smile. "I wish we could rewind things to before that night. We could've just hung on your couch and made fun of crummy romantic comedies but, no, I wanted to be adventurous. Now I can hardly sleep at night, and when I do..."

She shuddered and changed the subject, her eyes lingering on her drink.

"Is your shoulder feeling better?"

"It was partially my fault that we went, I just had to be the starving artist and seek inspiration in the wilderness." his mouth pressed into a thin line, the mention of her nightmares hadn't gone unnoticed. "All I dream about are shadows."

This was said sort of cryptically, albeit Martin had a habit of being cryptic. He didn't really know how to explain the shadow dreams or the flashing lights. He hadn't even explained everything to Hagan, not that he was even sure that Hagan wanted to hear about it, but it was just too weird. It wasn't like telling someone that he could play guitar or he could juggle. "Hey, I think I'm affecting shadows." was this whole other ballpark of crazy and he wasn't even sure that he believed it.

He knew that something abnormal was happening but he wasn't a fucking superhero. Even if he was, this was an exceptionally useless power. "Oh, it's fine. I think. The weird thing about throwing yourself in front of a guy with an axe is that you don't really consider how you're going to land."

He knew that it shouldn't funny but it actually kind of was. He'd misjudged his landing in an almost comically bad fashion. If he had been able to review himself in that moment and if it hadn't been so harrowing then he would have laughed. "I'm lucky that I wasn't hacked into two equal sections but I can't help but wondering, was it really worth it? My doctor told me I was brave but honestly I'm just a just a dumbass. That was stupid shit that I pulled."

He leaned forward on his elbows, regaining a bit of his usual confidence around her. "How have you been occupying yourself without me? I know it must have been pretty traumatic. Have you been doing okay?"

"No."

It was a flat, honest response that surprised Rita as she said it. Normally, she would have brushed the question off with an "I'm fine, I'm fine" and that would be the end of that, but a no? A no demanded more. And before she could even think to stop herself, she was telling him more.

"I'm not okay. I hate this place. Everywhere I go I wander into an argument. Everyone I talk to seems like they just want to beat me with their baggage and then place the blame on me. I'm practically broke because of your mom overcharging me for rent, and I can barely study. And you know that girl who freaked out on me? I tried talking to her again to bury the hatchet, but I ended up just saying horrible shit to her and made her look like a complete lunatic. And the worst part is, I kind of liked it. I liked it a lot."

She looked up and locked eyes with him.

"Does that make me a horrible person?"

"Yes and no," he answered honestly, "It's horrible because I feel that you should have taken the high road because I have a superiority complex and that's what I would have done but it's not because I completely understand why you'd want to get back at her. There's more than a few people that I'd like torment."

Why did he keep doing that?
He was saying things that he didn't even want to say. What was possessing him to be so upfront about all of this? His life goal was to be unflinchingly honest but not to the point that it hurt people. He didn't really know what had gotten into him but he didn't like it. Sometimes you just didn't say certain things. Telling your friend that they had done something terrible was one of those things.

Rita deserved honesty but couldn't he have worded it a bit better? Preferably leaving out the superiority complex bit?

"I'm sorry, that was kind of blunt. I'm not really sure what's going on today, I'm kind of talking before I think. I'll try to contact Alice though, I might be able to get her to refund some of your money." he shook his head, "If it makes you feel any better, things have been shit for me too lately. Nothing quite as bad as that though. Who knew that your secret talent was to get people to spill their guts?"

He actually looked apologetic for a moment, "I hate that you've been here for such a short period of time and you're already being driven out by the locals."

He didn't dwell too much on how things had been bad for him, there was no need to address it yet. He planned to cover this all in one sweep. "I'm already kind of shoving my foot in my mouth so I might as well address what I was going to address. First I have to ask though, are we cool? No more avoiding and dodging my texts?"

His voice was warm when he said, "I mean, I've missed our movie dates and it's just not the same without you."

"Yeah," she said, hesitantly, and then reached out and put her hand on his as reassurance. Martin hadn't done anything wrong in the first place, yet he was the one trying to make amends. A shot of guilt resonated through her heart, and with a squeeze she let go of his hand. If he looked, he would've noticed the lines on her fingers. "We're cool."

"Although, it doesn't make me feel any better that things aren't going well for you. And I don't want you to try and get the money back. Seriously, I was the one who was irresponsible with my savings; I wouldn't be able to accept it." She shot him a serious look. "So don't. I can just get a part-time job somewhere like a normal broke college kid." She dropped the look and turned her gaze out the window, as if she was already searching for opportunities where she could become a wage slave. "You said there was something else you had to address?"

For a moment, he'd thought he'd seen something on her hand, like ink stains. Could that be it?

He gathered together his will, scraping at his nail polish as he tried to figure out how to breach this subject. It had been easier with someone that he didn't care about seeing him as crazy. Though, that conversation with Hagan had gone surprisingly well and if Rita could see the mark then that meant something. "I found that mark on me when I woke up after everything happened but not only that, I've been having these reoccuring nightmares about shadows. They're not even like. . . I don't know, something feasible, they're not shadow people with axes or anything. They're formless sometimes. They're animals or monsters other times but they're always shadows."

He laughed a little awkwardly, "I have this mark but not only do I have this mark, Hagan has a mark."

Now was as good a time to test this as any and it wasn't like he was a weapon of mass destruction. He'd been doing it unintentionally for way too long now, maybe with some focus, he could make it happen intentionally. Just like a light switch, he focused on making it get dark. His neck began to faintly glow and the cafe was plunged into a cloak of darkness. It was like the lights had flickered if flickering lights could take out the illumination of the window with them.

They came back all too quickly, and he was glad that the place wasn't too packed. "That keeps happening. While talking to Hagan, I came to the genius conclusion that it probably wasn't just us. That's where you come in. Rita, do you have a marking?"

The plunge into darkness caught her off-guard. Stranger still, the barista behind the counter didn't even seem to notice.

"Yes, I do," she blurted out, then clumsily tried to retract the statement. "I mean, no, I...I don't know."

Why was she even trying to keep this secret from Martin? She pulled down her sleeve and held up her left arm so that Martin could see the four lines that wrapped around her fingers, coursed down her palm, and came to a frayed end at her elbow. She left her sleeve pushed up.

"It showed up after the...after the attack. Nothing I do will make it go away. But, but I can't do anything like that," she said, staring at Martin with a hint of apprehension in her eyes. She leaned forward, supporting her chin with her left hand. From where he was sitting, Martin would be able to see the dull glow of her sigil as she asked, "How are you able to do that?"

"I don't know, I focused? It has to do with the mark, I think."

The glow hadn't slipped past him, it was just like his own marking. Every time things went black, he glowed just the same. She may not have been able to make the lights go out but she was doing something. Hagan hadn't activated whatever his marking was when Martin had spoken to him, but this was further confirming his theory that these did things somehow. His was something to do with shadows, that was what he knew for sure.

He held out his hand to her, intending to take her hand so he could get a closer look at the marking. He hadn't been able to observe Hagan's, it wasn't easy asking a guy if be could have a closer look at his chest. "You're doing something with your mark, Rita. I don't think it's as simple as mine. Has anything out of the normal been happening? I know you said people have been spilling their guts to you lately, is that out of the normal for you? I mean, I've only really had my experience with you and I have an honesty policy."

She let Martin take her hand.

"I don't know. They're not nice when they're telling me those things, so that's pretty much par for the course." Her brow furrowed behind her bangs as she chewed on her cheek. People hadn't been this brutally honest to her in the past; usually it took a few weeks before they hit her with the disappointing truth. She kept her eyes on their hands as she asked, "Have you always been honest with me?"

He turned her hand over between his, his thumb tracing over the lines that marked her skin. "I try to be,"

He wasn't prone to lying or choosing to omit information, though he definitely wasn't perfect. He didn't think to mention everything and there were things that slipped his mind. He trusted Rita with his life and that meant that all of his information was as good as hers. It would always be strange to him that he'd found someone that he clicked with, someone that he could see in his future. Rita was the kind of friend that he didn't want to lose.

It was good to be in this with her. He was glad that whatever divine being was handing out markings and magical powers had chosen them both. He laced their fingers together and smiled at her. "There's nothing that you could ask me that I'd feel inclined to lie about, keep that in mind."

Rita could've accepted that. She should've accepted that. Yet, it wasn't the answer she wanted. It was vague and noncommittal, like it was marked with an asterisk. She knew she shouldn't doubt her only friend, but she couldn't help it. Why didn't he just say yes? Even if it was a lie, it was a solid answer. There was no wiggle room. Now there was, and already distrust was seeping in to fill the cracks. Her nails bit into his hand, pinning it to the table. Obviously, she wasn't strong enough to actually keep his hand down, and she didn't press hard enough to break skin, but it wouldn't feel good. She glared at him, and the lines on her arm flared.

"Did I fucking ask if you tried? I'm serious. Have you always been honest to me?"

Her outburst had startled him, though not enough that it would have caused him to blacken the room out again. He could feel the pressure of her hand on his and her nails digging into his skin. It was that strange compulsion again, the one to answer her without holding back. "No, you didn't ask if I tried. I haven't always been honest with you, if your definition of honesty includes telling you everything."

Before he knew it, the words were trickling out of him. "Rita, I can juggle, I never really talked about it because it was lame. I live for attention, I dress like a Hot Topic reject because my mom never gave me any when I was a kid. I want to go vegan to inflate my own self righteous ego but I figure I don't have the dedication to commit to it. I once had a turtle but it died, I took two weeks out of school to cry about it. I'm allergic to cats. My doctor didn't actually call me "brave", I just really wanted to pretend like someone had. In fact, I believe she told me that I shouldn't have risked my life like that. I can't spell the word rigorous off the top of my head. I was almost diagnosed with dyscalculia as a child but nobody followed up on it."

His brain was spinning as years worth of garbage was tumbling out of his mouth, "When I was six, I dropped my mom's wedding ring down the drain because I wanted her to get mad at me, she didn't. I once cut a girl's pigtail off because she called me ugly, it was in second grade, I got in trouble. My mom still wasn't mad at me. I hate my dad, he tries to win me over with expensive gifts and he's currently cheating on his new wife. I have a step brother but I like to pretend he doesn't exist because he's got a life that I would kill for. I'm kind of an insomniac though I figured that was obvious because I'm always exhausted. My favorite movie is Interview With The Vampire, I own all of Anne Rice's novels and I'm very pretentious about it. I liked Twilight. I wish dogs liked me more but they tend to scare me. In middle school, I kissed one of my bullies and got my ass handed to me. Most importantly, I'm ga-"

That was it!

"All of the truth and none of the filter, you can literally wring the truth out of people. Holy shit, that's cool and terrifying."

"But I didn't even do anything," she said, pulling her hand back. She was positively exhausted by Martin's outburst, and not entirely convinced that what the last thing he had said was true. How could anyone force someone to compulsively tell the truth? Then again, how could anyone plunge the world into darkness? Of course, he could just be feeding her false truths and pretending as if she was pulling it out of him. She couldn't figure out why Martin would do that, but it made more sense than her being a human truth serum.

"Okay, so if what you say is true, which, to be honest, I don't really believe it, then we could test it. I can go ask the barista a personal question that she'd never tell a stranger." She flashed her eyes at Martin and her mark glowed, but he would no longer feel the obligation to tell the truth. "Will you back me up?"

"I wouldn't have told you any of that if it wasn't spilling out of me like a broken faucet." he responded, he was feeling a bit uneasy with the things that he'd said. He'd almost went on a spiel of all the men that he'd thought about kissing in the last few years, that would have been embarrassing. He only kept those things in because they didn't do anything to move him forward, they were just things but now they were things that Rita knew.

He had almost told her that he was gay. Why hadn't he done that yet?

Though the questions seemed to have lost their affect, he was still very curious of what Rita could get out of people. Call him morbid but if she could make him admit that he only put on this goth gimmick for attention then he was sure that she could get anything out of anyone. "Of course I will, let's see what happens."

"Okay then."

She slid out of her chair and approached the counter, giving a look over her shoulder to make sure that Martin was right behind her. She mulled the question over in her head. She could ask something very embarrassing or extremely personal, something about her sex life or a deep, dark secret, but she shook the thought from her mind. She needed something that was concrete; something she could fact check. A spark of inspiration came over her. Rita reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone.

"Excuse me," she said, getting the barista's attention. "What your email address and the password to your account?"

The woman spilled forth the information with a look of bewilderment on her face while Rita typed it into her phone, showing Martin that she now had access to the other lady's account as she swiped down through the columns of spam, bill notifications, and job postings. A devilish smirk appeared on Rita's face, and before the woman could call her out for, somehow, stealing her information, another question was already on her lips. "What's the worst thing you have ever done?

Her life just got so much more interesting.

Martin hadn't meant to create a monster, and now that Rita believed him, he wasn't going to just let her exercise this power in all the wrong ways. He very lightly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her away from the counter with minimal force. "Come on, Mistress of Evil, I'm glad that you believe me now."

He didn't blame her for wanting to test her powers out but he also didn't want to bear witness to the slow mental decline of a woman spitting all of her information at a college student. This was amazing though, he didn't know what the hell had happened at that camping trip but it had left them with something extraordinary. He had the ability to affect shadows and Rita could make people tell her anything that she asked. He didn't know what Hagan could do but it had to be something.

It was hard not to feel a sort of thrill, this wasn't normal but he was excited. "Rita, this is something else. I mean, your power is a thousand times cooler than mine but we have powers."

He pulled his phone from the pocket of his coat, intending to send a message to Hagan but instead catching sight of the time. He was more than positive that the fire alarm had ended by now and he was pretty sure he had a class to get to. He hadn't thought he'd get so caught up but he was glad that he was glad he was on good terms with Rita again. He had mostly cared about making amends.

"So, this is gonna suck but I think we should head back." he ran a hand through his hair, a smile surfacing. "I've got a class to catch and I'm figuring that the fire alarm can only ring for so long before they fix the issue. However, maybe we can catch a movie tonight, if you're not too busy becoming a super villian."

"I will push decorating my evil lair to another night," she said, giving Martin a hug. All of this still felt crazy, but she would stress about it later. She walked over to her bike and unchained it. "See you tonight."