An Artistic Duo

Chapter 7- Traitor

"You lost them! To be able to turn all monsters into ghosts! Exactly what I need. I could double our attendance."

"But, won't the students become suspicious with so many new students arriving at Haunted High?"

"Leave the students to me. There is power in gossip. I will manage the rumor mill."

"Did you get all that?" Future asked, startling me into the room.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Principal Revenant said.

"Somebody fancies herself a junior reporter," Future taunted, holding up my notepad.

I snatched my notepad away from him. "You're... you're wearing chains."

"I'm wearing a lot of chains." She revealed the ball of chains dragging behind her. "Do you like them? I'm more than happy to share them with you, dear."

Paint cans splattered onto Present as I threw a paint bomb from my bag. Porter flew into the room, three more cans in front of him. I stared at the circling paints and the boy controlling them.

"Porter!"

"Get out of here!" Porter yelled.

I flew out of the room, not even wanting to think about what would happen to him. Panic spread throughout my body as I flew into our hideout. What if he got far worse than one chain?

"Principal Revenant... planning something... and then I got caught... and then she had all these detention chains... and then Porter-"

"And then he told me exactly where to find all of you," Principal Revenant said.

The Hall Moanitors floating through the wall and putting us in chains. At that moment, shock spread through my body. Porter couldn't have told them. He wouldn't betray my trust. The feeling of betrayal threatened to enter as I looked at the villain.

"He... told you?" I breathed.

"Oh, yes. I offered to reduce his detention for good behavior. And, so, he gave you up. Very easily," Revenant explained.

"No. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that to us," I said in denial.

Porter appeared in front of us.

"Look, all of his chains are gone!" Clawdeen exclaimed.

"I thought I could trust you. How could you?" I questioned, tears forming in my eyes.

"Oh, you know how these bad boy types are. They only care about themselves." Revenant smirked as the Hall Moanitors cackled.

"Yeah, I can see that clearly now," I spat.

"(Y/n)-"

"Don't," I cut him off sharply. "We're done."

He looked at me with regret and misery. The amount of hurt in his eyes almost made me want to fly over to him and forgive him. But he betrayed us. He betrayed me. His ghoulfriend.

We were brought to Revenant's office. She straightened, examining our miserable faces. She had an evil glint in her eyes, telling me that this would never end well. Not with the looming ball of chains behind her.

"Now, then. It's very important that you tell me how you ghouls turned yourselves into ghosts," Revenant said.

"Why should we tell you anything?" Twyla questioned.

"If you tell me, I will reduce your sentence. Those detention chains could be a lot lighter," Revenant offered.

"You can't buy us off like that no-good, back-stabbing, traitorous paintergeist," Clawdeen said. She turned to me. "I'm sorry, ghoul."

I shook my head, sighing. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"One way or another, you will tell me what I need to know," Revenant threatened. "What's that? What are you doing there?"

"Taking notes. When all this is over, my ghouls Spectra and (Y/n) over here are going to write a story, telling the world what kind of principal you really are," Clawdeen snapped.

Revenant used her powers to summon the book and make it fly into her hands. "Wicked? Evil? My dear, you flatter me. Interesting. The Boogie Mansion. Boogie sand? How very enlightening. Head to the Monster World and get to the Boogie Mansion at once."

"And just how do you expect them to get there? Without me to fly them across?" River questioned.