The air in the cemetery grew heavier, as if the shadows of the tombstones were listening to whispers only Kali and Dahlia couldn't decipher. Dahlia reached Kali.

  "Something just gave me a really bad feeling," Dahlia said, frowning. "I saw a limousine and... I don't know, I think something happened."

  "A bad feeling? We're starting with that again... By the way, have you seen Nicco?" Kali glanced around, unsettled.

  "He was with you a little while ago. Didn't you see him leave?" said Dahlia.

  "No... and he's not answering his phone," Kali added, checking her screen. She'd called three times already. Nothing. Not a single message.

  "What if he went back home?" Dahlia ventured, uncertainty in her tone.

  Kali pressed her lips together and turned toward the cemetery gates.

  "Maybe... Let's go check," Kali said, determined and worried.

  Without wasting time, both of them began walking quickly toward Nicco's mansion. The journey was tense, each step weighed down by that sharp stab of fear that lodges in your bones when instinct tells you something is wrong.

  When they arrived, the sight left them speechless.

  There, on the marble steps in front of the grand carved wooden door, were their backpacks. The ones they'd left in their rooms. As if someone had thrown them out. Literally.

  "This isn't normal," Dahlia whispered, her throat suddenly dry.

  Kali knelt down and picked up her backpack. "Nothing's missing... but they returned it like we weren't supposed to come back. Like... we'd been expelled."

  Dahlia looked up at the windows. All dark. Not a single light. As if the mansion—always alive with movement, murmurs, and the scent of expensive perfume—had been completely emptied.

  "What if... something happened to Nicco?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

  Kali looked at her. Her eyes burned with worry. With anger. With fear.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Then we're going to find him. I'm not just going to sit around while something happens to him."

  "We should go to the apartment... at least to drop off our stuff. And buy a... new lock," Dahlia said, seriously.

  "Yeah. And we need to talk to Skyler," Kali said, voice tense.

  They looked at each other and nodded.

  The streetlights flickered. A crow cawed from a nearby wall. And without looking back, Kali and Dahlia crossed the threshold of the Rossi mansion.

  The walk from the Rossi mansion to their shared apartment was silent, thick with tension. Kali didn't let go of her phone for even a second. Call after call. Message after message. Nothing. Nicco was still not answering.

  "Calling him again?" Dahlia asked, eyes on the road.

  "Yes. I won't stop until he answers. Something's wrong, Dahlia. I feel it in my chest," Kali replied, brow furrowed, fingers trembling around the phone.

  They crossed one of Aarush's main avenues. The streetlights flickered like in a poorly lit horror movie. That's when they saw him.

  A man. Medium height, scruffy beard, long coat, and dark sunglasses—even though it was already night. He walked on the opposite sidewalk, but his gaze seemed to pierce the distance. He didn't do anything. Just walked... slowly. Like he had all the time in the world to study them.

  "Do you know him?" Kali whispered, never taking her eyes off him.

  "I think..." Dahlia said, a chill running down her spine. "He was on the street when we went to Jake's house. He looked at us the same way."

  They looked at each other briefly, and without another word, they quickened their pace. Their backpacks felt heavier. The air turned colder. It wasn't just discomfort. It was fear. Instinctive. Primal.

  They climbed the stairs of the building almost running. By the time they reached their apartment hallway, Kali's heart was pounding hard in her chest.

  They opened the door... and there was Skyler.

  Sitting on their couch. A cup of hot tea in her hand and a neutral expression. As if she had always been there.

  "Skyler?" Dahlia asked, unable to hide her surprise.

  "We didn't call you," Kali added, looking around.

  "I know. But I knew you'd need me," Skyler answered calmly. "The apartment is protected. No one can come in unless you want them to."

  Kali looked at her, suspicious. "How do you know that?"

  "Because I set it up myself," she said, sipping her tea like she'd just watered a plant and not cast protective spells on their home.

  Dahlia frowned. "Since when do you know how to do that?"

  Skyler didn't answer directly. She just smiled a little.

  "For now, what matters is that you're safe here. But don't let your guard down."

  Kali crossed her arms, uneasy. "After everything that happened in this apartment... I don't know if 'safe' is the right word."

  "I understand," Skyler said, her expression suddenly more serious. "But trust me. You're not alone."

  The girls looked at each other. A mix of exhaustion, confusion, and something close to relief settled over them. Their legs were trembling. The warmth of the apartment clashed with the cold clinging to their skin.

  Kali sank into the couch, finally letting go of her phone. But she didn't set it down. She kept looking at it. Waiting for it to ring. To vibrate. For something—anything—to tell her Nicco was okay.

  But it didn't.

  And silence was her only answer.