The Primary suspects were Nico and Leo.
It was about a week after the fire and the Headmaster, Mr. Brunner, had hired a very well known detective that would be investigating the deaths that had occurred. First Hazel, then the Janitor Pete, and now... Frank.
Frank had been inside the haunted house, helping out as one of the zombies, and happened to be in a place where he was unable to escape.
He burned to death.
Leo was really somber and quiet, and hadn't cracked a joke all week. They blamed him for the fire. Apparently he had come to the haunted house just a couple minutes after Nika and I, and had been inside near the place where the fire had been started from. And with his history of fire starting... yeah things weren't looking good for Leo.
Nico however, was suspected for the death of Hazel, his little sister. Apparently they had been fighting the night she had died, and Nico had a track record for threatening to kill people. He had also been suspected in another murder back in his home town, but it had never been proven so his mother sent him here, hoping that maybe his attitude would change.
It was a friday afternoon, and classes had just ended. Jason, Leo, Nico and I had all come to hibernate in our room.
"HhhhHHhH," Leo groaned into his pillow, "I hate life." Wow that was a mood. "Maybe just pray that you're this killer's next target," Nico droned, shuffling through a weird looking deck of cards. Wow that was an even bigger mood.
I didn't feel like sitting in this depressing hole so I got up off my bed, sliding on my shoes.
"OaaAAtTSSsS," Leo groaned, "where are you going?" I rubbed my nose, sniffling slightly. I could feel a cold coming on. "To find Nika," I answered, walking to the door.
"Are y'all dating yet?" Jason smirked, loosening his tie. I frowned, confused, "what do you mean 'yet'?" I asked, my hand on the door knob. Leo butted in, sitting up on his bed, "he means are you and Nika a thing? Because? Well? You're literally always together and you constantly flirt sooOoOOO..." He trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
"First off, she's my closest friend here, so obviously i'm going to spend time with her, secondly I do not flirt with her at all!" I said, exasperated.
"Suree keep telling yourself that," Nico said boredly. I shook my head, opening the door and leaving, not in the mood to argue with them.
I more or less knew my way around Charford now. It was difficult at first, and I still discovered new corridors everyday, but for now, I knew the basics.
I walked along, looking at the stone walls with pictures of students from years before. Not even paying attention to where I was going I crashed into someone. They had been holding numerous papers and half of them went flying.
"Well now you've done it!" He exclaimed, shaking his head at me. "You delinquent children will be the death of me, literally!!!"
It was the detective, Harris Armstrong, that had been hired to investigate the murders and had framed two of my roommates. I was not a fan.
"Maybe you should watch where you're going," I replied snarkily, annoyed that he merely existed.
He looked up and me and furrowed his brows. "I know you, you room with those two idiots." He remarked through gritted teeth. The two idiots being Leo and Nico. I rolled my eyes, waiting for him to pick up the rest of his papers so I could leave. Harris stood up and stopped me before I could go. "Hold on, I want to talk to you quickly," he said menacingly.
"About?" I asked, irritated that I had to deal with this. "I haven't done anything..."
Harris shook his head, "I wanted to ask you about the two boys who I believe had something to do with the deaths. Leo Valdez and Nico Di Angelo? Well what are your thoughts on the boys, do you think they're capable of murder?"
I sighed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to get out of this. "Leo is the most caring person I know here, he loves everyone, so no, I don't think he had anything to do with it. As for Nico, I don't know him well enough to judge."
Another thing I didn't understand about Harris' theory, is that he thought two people were involved. What were the odds that there were two people?? In the same place? Capable of brutal murder? He also had no evidence that either of them were responsible for Pete's death.
From what I had seen, the both were just being framed for doing absolutely nothing. They were both still grieving over their friends' deaths and this wasn't helping their mental health whatsoever.
Harris could choke on a rat, as Nika would say.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I was heading somewhere," my sassy side kicked in and I rolled my eyes very visibly so he could see, and strutted off over to see Nika.
Adios Harris.
Knock knock,
My knuckles rapped against the wooden door of her room and it swung open almost immediately. Percy was standing there and it looked like he had already been in the process of opening the door.
"Literally get out Percy!" I heard someone yell from inside. "And you can go with him blonde bitch!" Someone giggled, and Percy and Annabeth stumbled out as Piper threw pencils and erasers at them. I moved to the side and I don't think they noticed me, as Percy kissed Annabeth on the cheek and grabbed her arm, pulling her away. They were the schools 'it couple' and everyone thought they were the cutest.
I personally didn't have an opinion.
Boys weren't allowed in the girls rooms, but no one followed that rule, and as long as we didn't get caught it was all ok.
I stuck my head inside and Piper groaned, "I jUST goT  rid of the other one and now you're here? Get OUT OTIS!" She yelled at me, throwing another pen. I dogged it and looked over at Nika who was sitting on her bed doing homework. She saw me and smiled, getting up and coming over to me as Reyna muttered about how annoying boys were and Piper continued to complain about me not getting out.
"Come on," Nika said, "let's go for a walk."
She closed the door behind her as we made our way down the stairs and out the door, into the cool misty forest.