"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, I have to go" Henry says, trying to get away from the two girls who stood in front of the school gate after school. They were Margot and Julia.
"You stole the money, didn't you?" Margot asks furiously. Margot knew in her mind that Henry would have to be the thief because she judged by cover and the words of the janitor. Also, there was no way in the world Magnus would do that.
"No! What are you even talking about?" Henry replies, acting oblivious. Henry had to hurry and head home, in order to return the money to one of Amanda's workers.
"So why am I seeing a dollar note sticking out of your pocket?", Julia asks, looking at his filled pockets. Julia also considered chances of Magnus being the thief but for now, Henry was the prime suspect in her twinkling eyes.
Henry stuffs his hands in his pocket and slowly backs away. He speeds up and runs away in shame and fear, takes a taxi and heads home. Margot and Julia stare, confused. Now, they were certain that Henry was the thief.
"What's all that about and why did… oh gosh, did Henry just run away from Julia and Margot?", Anthemon asks Magnus as he holds her hand tightly. The couple were walking out of school building and they were met with a scene of Henry seemingly running from the girls.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it has something to do with him being quiet of late" Magnus replies.
"Hey, so umm, we didn't really talk about what happened during the last weekend" Anthemon says, slightly expressing concern.
"Look…" Magnus sighs, "…if it was bad, I just want you to know that was my first kiss with anyone ever in my life"
"Magnus?"
"Yeah?"
"That's exactly what I was about to say too" Anthemon says, squealing and jumping with excitement. She was happy because that was the first time she shared a kiss and with someone who's first kiss also happened to be with her. Magnus begs her to stay calm yet she was so happy and joyful inside, she couldn't. She enjoyed the fact that she shared a kiss with someone who she had a lot in common with. Magnus enjoyed the kiss they shared the last weekend but he wanted to know whether Anthemon's kiss was from a place of love. He didn't know how to find out about that without hurting her feelings. He thought to ask her about what he heard from the gossip girls but seeing how much joy she was in now, everything just left his mind. Magnus gives Anthemon a kiss on the cheek before they part ways and head home.
Elaine, instead of heading home after school, heads to the man's cabin, the one all the gossips were drooling over. She denied within herself the fact that he was dead. Some part of her still didn't understand why a ten such as himself would be living in such an old cabin. She had so many questions for him. Like, how he got his cheek scar, how he ended up living in a cabin and what on earth his name was. It was unfair that he knew her name and she didn't know his. As she walks, she takes a bushy path, the one which led to the man's cabin. However, as she gets closer to the cabin, she hears unfamiliar voices conversing.
"Whoo! The trip was awesome babe", a voice said. The voice sounded a bit old and raspy, with a Black American touch to it.
"Anything for my darling", another voice replied with a country accent, like that of an old cowboy.
Elaine gets closer to the cabin, peeping for a few seconds through the bushes before stepping into the little yard of the cabin.
"Excuse me", she says politely.
The two voices which were communicating were that of an old couple. The man had a Southern and country accent and he wore a cowboy hat. He looked like he really enjoyed rodeo. The woman however was black and had majority of her hair gray. It curled up beautifully at the ends and she wore an African totem round her neck. They looked like a really good couple.
The man looks questionably at Elaine before he asks sharply,
"How did you find us?"
He stands in front of the woman who was his wife and extends his left arm slowly in front of her. Slowly, he pushes his wife behind him.
"I mean no harm, please", Elaine says.
"Well, that's what they always say and before you know it, you'll be in a sack, being carried off to your demise", the man replies sternly.
"Okay, I'm sorry", Elaine takes a deep breathe and sighs, she begins to explain.
"My name is Elaine and there was a man living here. Well, umm, I thought… no, I heard he died so I was just passing by just for the memory"
Elaine looks behind the man and sees the woman slightly sobbing.
"Ma'am, I know that you might think I'm spying on you or anything but it's not like that"
"Hush now young lady! We cut off our ties with our individual families and decided to come and live in this cabin close to the woods. No one knows about our whereabouts", the man rebukes, clutching tightly onto his wife's hand behind him. She places her head on his back. Even though they were old, the love they had for each other was incredibly strong.
"This is not what it seems Sir, I can assure you what I said earlier was right. There was a man living in this cabin, almost two days or a day ago and I heard he passed away and I was just passing by his home. You know, just to remember the fun times we had together", Elaine says, bringing out a sad smile. She was unsure as to what was going on but it seemed as though this mysterious man had actually died without a trace, a man whose name she didn't know.
"Lady, are you okay?" the old man asks, expressing genuine concern, his grey eyebrows creasing.
"Yes Sir. I am", Elaine replies, slightly stammering. In her mind, she thought that was a weird and uncomfortable question to ask a sane person. Did this man think she was insane?
"No one else lives in this cabin apart from us, are you sure you have the right cabin?" the old man asks, his voice seemingly shaky.
Unsure of what to say or do next Elaine apologizes and proceeds to leave but something feels a bit off.
"I'm sorry Sir, but when did you arrive with your wife from that trip you were talking about?", Elaine asks.
"A few hours ago. Why?"
"Sir, I am really grateful for your patience with me. Goodbye"
Elaine leaves and questions the truth behind this mystery man's death. A part of her lost some trust for Margot and ever since, she saw Margot from a different, more knowledgeable and no-filter perspective. Besides, she herself had lied to Margot and the gossips before. Something smelled fishy and if she needed answers, Margot had them in abundance.
Henry arrives home and as promised, there is a figure in black and a hoodie, seated on his porch. The figure was clothed in black from head to toe, only eyes were left bare, with a hoodie on the head. He didn't even know if it was a boy or girl. As Henry approaches this person, he tried to make out the gender of the person but that seemed impossible. He was a bit scared. This was his second encounter. The masked person had an extended hand and Henry took out from his pockets money which summed up to a hundred and five dollars. He takes away five dollars and give a hundred to the masked person. As he does so, he asks the person about Amanda but all he sees are a creepy pair of sticking-out eyes unwilling to answer any unprofitable questions. The figure counts the money and leaves, running with relatively abnormal speed. However, Henry doesn't notice since he now had his eyes glued to his phone. He was thinking of ways to repay Margot and he knew a war would break out if he didn't. He thinks of borrowing again and lifts his head to meet an empty porch and no trace whatsoever, of the masked person. Henry now stood with the burden of four hundred and five dollars and the need to find Amanda, weighing on him.
Magnus gets home and sends a text to Anthemon.
"I'd like us to do that again sometime"
"You mean what happened during the weekend? The kiss?", she texts back
"Yeah", he replies
Anthemon sends him a heart emoji and Magnus erupts with excitement.
Sabine, now in her home, sits angrily on her bed, staring at a sheet of paper she held. She read lightly,
"MURDER PLAN
- Befriend
- Infiltrate
- Betray
- Distance
- Murder"
Suddenly she picks up a pen and angrily cancels the 'befriend' option and whispers to herself, "That didn't work out anyway, infiltration is next".
A few months pass by and Sabine spies intently on Anthemon, from the class to the washroom to the road she takes home and how she even holds her pen to write. As she did her spying homework, she makes a discovery. That was the discovery of Anthemon's plan when Henry made Magnus' crush on her known to the whole class. Sabine herself, as partly evil minded as she was, wouldn't have thought for a split second that this seemingly Princess character Anthemon, would come up with such a malicious plan which came at the cost of Magnus' heart and a part of her comfort.
"Hey, won't you go out for break?", Magnus asks Anthemon softly.
"No, I want to stay in the classroom. You can go for break though", she says, smiling.
"Aww, okay… take care okay" he says, smiling.
As he nears the door, he hears Anthemon ask.
"Why did you have to talk like it's the end of the world?"
He looks back at her and smiles. She smiles back. He leaves.
"Because it is", a voice says sharply from behind her.
Anthemon is startled and looks back to find Sabine sitting on a table behind her with crossed legs and her head on an arm resting elbow first on her right knee.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Anthemon asks politely, her neck turned to Sabine's direction.
"I need your notes from the previous subject", Sabine requests, walking over to stand beside Anthemon.
"Umm, okay", she replies, taking out a notebook from a pile on her desk. She hands it over to Sabine.
Sabine grabs a chair and sits beside her, flipping through her uncompleted notebook.
"Thanks"
"It's no problem", Anthemon replies. She tries to act like she's okay but she's not, she knew Sabine had a problem with her but she couldn't just pinpoint it. Her eyes fall on Sabine's notebook.
"Whoa! Sabine, your handwriting is very beautiful", Anthemon cheerfully compliments and Sabine smiles. Sabine proceeds to open Anthemon's notebook and she gasps. Anthemon looks at Sabine slightly with a smile forming slowly on her face.
"Anthemon! Your handwriting is very beautiful", Sabine says, smiling.
"Thanks! I try"
"Have you ever felt like, you just need to make the notes look perfect?", Sabine asks.
"Yes!" Anthemon replies, "That's exactly what keeps me going"
"Yeah, me too"
Anthemon was glad she had something in common with Sabine but something was still a bit off. But, it was slowly dying and she started to open up to Sabine. Sabine talked about how she felt the unseen pressure to be perfect and how that was a good and bad thing. She went on to say that was her drive and Anthemon could relate. Anthemon went on to say that she thought she had something in common with Magnus only. The conversation took a weird turn when Sabine brought up a question which shocked Anthemon to the core.
"When are you going to tell him?", Sabine asks, suddenly being serious.
"Tell who what?", Anthemon asks confused.
"When are you going to tell Magnus that you don't actually like him?"