Ashwock Academy ✓

C H A P T E R - S I X T E E N

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Rafe finished making the pasta she was cooking, pouring into eight separate bowls. Trevor poured the sauce into each of them, garnishing it with a basil leaf. Finally, when they finished, they took a step back. 

Rafe smirked. "Not bad." She forgot to sign it for him, but he could understand. He did agree, especially since he had never really cooked much in his life, but he couldn't get his concentration off of finishing. Him and Rafe found some pasta noodles stashed in the pantry but no sauce, so they had to make one from scratch and off memory. And they were pretty proud of how to turned out.

A grin spread across his face. Loading four bowls onto a tray each, they each carried a tray back out to the cafeteria. Every face turned toward them, happy that they finally got something to eat. Damien jumped down from his table almost immediately, the smell of tomatoes instantly filling up his nose. His stomach growled, mouth watering for something to put in it. He ran to Trevor and grabbed one of his bowls, bringing it right back to the table. Rafe and Trevor then distributed the rest, grabbing one for themselves and bring them back to another table.

Fletcher, Ella, Trevor and Rafe sat at one, while Jackson, Damien, Raven and Teony sat at the other. They both whispered amongst themselves, trying to make it so that the others didn't hear while also shoving food into their mouth.

"Guys, we need to find out who's the murder, or we're all going to be dead," Rafe whispered. She also made her handsigns brief, just in case one of the other students picked up on what they meant from Trevor using them all of the time.

"What if it was Marisa?" Trevor suggested between bites of . "Just because she's dead doesn't mean she didn't do it."

"Then why would she have killed herself?" Fletcher pointed out. "Plus, I really don't think she killed anybody. She was just... misunderstood."

"Well, somebody did," said Rafe. "and I know it has to be one of them. I trust you too much."

"I don't think it was Teony, either," Ella said. "She's been nothing but helpful to us."

"True, but you never know," Trevor contradicted. 

Fletcher took a deep breath, trying to let his fear out with the air. He had gone way too attached to everybody in the Academy, and was heartbroken to think that he would have to experience more of his friends' demises, including somebody that is actually a murderer. He still hadn't healed from Marisa's death, much less the thought of everybody else's, maybe even including his.

Ella put a few more noodles in her mouth as an excuse not to talk anymore. She didn't want to point fingers, even if she thought she knew who it might have been in her head, because if she did she feared blaming an innocent soul and that being the death of them. She was also scared of people blaming her, but she was glad that at least a few people actually believed her. 

She just wanted everything to end peacefully.

Damien stuffed all of the food in his mouth, ecstatic that he could enjoy something since he came to Ashwock. Jackson, however, did not enjoy it. No matter how hard Damien tried to cheer him up, he couldn't get over what happened to Marisa. And the more he thought about it, the more angry and suspicious he came. At that point, he didn't trust anyone except Damien and Fletcher, the ones he had spent the most time with and he knows the best.

The rest were all suspects for him.

Raven didn't know what to think. She knew that people were still against her, Jackson and Trevor in particular, no matter how hard she tried to tell them otherwise. The thought of someone being possessed with dark magic frightened her, and what was even more frightening was the thought that she might be next.

And then, the memory of the dark cloud came back to her.

Raven didn't know what it was, or if it was one of the students, or if it had done something to her, but she did know that it really happened, even if Teony didn't see it. And it was nothing normal.

Even if she wasn't going to say anything, Teony knew who killed Jessica. The pieces fit perfectly, the perfect cover. But she wished that she didn't know. She wished that none of that had ever happened and they all had a nice time together at Ashwock, with Rum, Fox, Marisa and Jessica.

But she knew that she would have to tell everybody eventually, even if they were her friend.

Damien finished his pasta, throwing his ceramic bowl in the trashcan along with all the nice silverware. He didn't care about what happened to Mr. Barla's stuff, not after he left them there to their deaths. Jackson followed his action, but instead of walking over to it like Damien did, he stayed at his table and shot it like a basketball. It went right over the trashcan, and when it was about to go behind it, Damien's hand acted as the backboard and pushed it in. They both grew a small smile, but Jackson's died right after, making Damien's sink as well. He tried, but he couldn't make him happy.

Not yet.

Rafe stood up, bringing the empty table closer to the table where Damien, Jackson, Teony and Raven were sitting, and sat down. Confused, Trevor, Ella and Fletcher went to join her. They all grabbed a chair, moving it to the table.

"Okay," Rafe started. The other four turned to look at her, along with the three from her original table. "when we were in the basement, somebody must to have found something. Mr. Barla didn't send us there for no reason."

They all looked at each other. "Nope," Raven said sadly.

The others shook their heads, but then Damien remembered what he grabbed from the desk. He felt his pocket, relieved to feel a little lump in it. "I found a key. In the desk."

They all looked at him as he pulled a small bronze key out of his pocket, showing everybody. Fletcher reached in his pocket, pulling out a similar one. They both placed them on the table, and noticed that they had different patterns on the bottom, Damien's key being much more curved than Fletcher's.

"What does it all mean?" Ella asked. Nobody had an answer.

"Nobody found anything else?" Trevor asked hopefully. "Anything that might tell us what to do next?" They looked at him with disappointment.

They were stuck, until Raven spoke up.

"Well," She started. "I think that we should find out who Theodore is first. Maybe he'll help us get out of her."

"Yeah," Rafe said. "and when we do find him, I'm going to beat the crap out of him."

"Maybe there are some more answers in the basement," Fletcher suggested.

"No way am I going down there again!" Jackson exclaimed. Ella agreed nervously.

"Well it might be the only way," said Fletcher.

"How about we use the library?" Teony said, a little quiet. They all looked at her, and she shrugged. "There has to be a book about Ashwock there, and if there is, Theodore is sure to be listed there. Maybe we can even find him and ask him about the academy."

"And maybe he's the one murdering everybody," Fletcher whispered.

They all pondered what Teony had said, and Rafe spoke up. "It's the best plan we've got." They all stood up, leaving their pasta behind and started to head toward the library.

But what they didn't know at the time was that Theodore was dead, and had been dead for a long, long time.

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