Jesse's POV

Leaving the cafeteria was strictly forbidden during the lock-down so the moderators could rangle all the students, but it seemed that we had other ideas. I noticed Erin across the room getting up and stealthily moving out the doors. Lukas must have noticed it too.

"Jesse," he said softly to me, "Why's she leaving?"

"I don't know any more than you do," I said. He began to follow.

"Lukas!" I said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm finding out what she's doing," he said, "Something about her is weird today, and I'm not talking about how she wouldn't talk to me earlier."

There was no stopping him, so I caved and followed.

We were luckily able to successfully sneak out because the teachers were distracted by a commotion that Magnus was making with a football player; I didn't even want to know.

Outside the doors, once Erin thought she was alone, she broke into a run, darting out the front doors of the school into the rain.

"Come on!" Lukas said, pulling me along. We ran across the wet, squeaky floors and past the rows of lockers to exit out after her.

Outside, the rain was horrible. It was practically raining sideways because of how strong the wind was. It looked as though the sidewalks were starting to flood. The clouds blocking the sun made it seem like it was late at night. We had to hold our arms out in front of us just to see. Across the way, Erin was standing in front of a large, black... thing.

"—the heck?!" I exclaimed over the wind.

"I wanna get a closer look!" yelled Lukas. He began carefully going down the stone staircase to the bottom where this large black circular shape was. Erin stepped into it and disappeared. Once she was gone, it slowly began to close.

"Jesse! Hurry!" Lukas yelled. I grabbed the rail and made my way down the stairs as we jumped in after her.

We fell through a dark tunnel that only lasted about four seconds before landing onto a dirt ground.

I opened my eyes and looked around. The environment was calm, yet it ominously stuck feelings of anxiety in me. The sky was black and the ground was mostly flat. Gravestones sat around in the background with a whistling noise coming from the distance.

"Ugh... creepy..." I said.

"Why would Erin come here?" Lukas asked, "It's really uncanny."

"Well, whatever the reason, we're gonna find out. We're not just coming here for nothing."

We stood and looked around until Lukas said,

"Hey, over there!" He turned around and pointed to a big, black, castle.

"Ooh, now we might be getting somewhere," I said, "Let's go."

There was a path before us leading to the gates of the castle. It was a bit of a lengthy walk, or maybe it just felt that way. It felt like something was trying to pull me back, like a warning. A light wind would occasionally blow by that picked up only a couple pieces of dirt. I could tell we were both nervous, but not nervous enough to turn back.

"Look, Jesse," Lukas said quietly. I stopped and looked up to find that castle just before us, stretching far up into the dark sky.

"We're here."

"Okay, here goes nothing," I said as I placed my hands on the door knobs.

Inside, we heard a familiar voice. Two familiar voices. We kept quiet and hid in the shadows.

"And after all I've done for you, you still insist on taking my pride. My joy," a female voice said with a calmness that somehow made it eerie.

"Yes, she seems to have a problem with... killing things," said a male voice.

"Wait a minute..." I whispered, "That's... that voice..."

"The Phantom," Lukas whispered, "Who's the other one?"

"I don't know. I'll find out."

"Well," the female voice said briskly, "I say she wasn't punished enough."

I carefully crept a little way out of my hiding to get a better look. In better lighting, it was like I had an epiphany of who the female was.

"What do you see?" Lukas asked.

"It's Fire Queen!" I said, "But there's this other guy there."

"I completely agree," said The Phantom.

"The other guy is The Phantom," I said.

"What?"

"The Phantom is there with them. He's... transparent. And dark."

Before I could go back to my hiding place, I accidentally locked eyes with The Phantom. My heart jumped as he stared back at me. I remained completely still, silently praying he wouldn't notice me. 

"Jesse, what's going on?" Lukas asked. I didn't answer or move. The Phantom and I both knew, however, that I could see him and he could see me and Lukas.

"Jesse?"

The Phantom turned his gaze back in front of him, and I slowly scooted back, careful not to make a sound.

"He sees us," I said.

"Now, Erin," The Phantom said, "What do you suppose we do? You're almost an adult, after all, so I think it's time you decide your own consequences."

"Earthly wretch," Fire Queen added.

"I think Erin's there," I said.

"What's The Phantom doing?" Lukas asked.

"I don't know, he's acting like he didn't see us. I'll see if I can get a closer look."

"Don't risk it if he seems to have noticed you."

"I think it's too late for that."

Lukas didn't answer, so I began to slowly crawl out again. I saw Erin dressed in all black kneeling at the throne that The phantom was sitting on, with Fire Queen standing right next to him.

The Phantom's eyes flickered over to me again, but this time he seemed to be smirking at me. He returned to a serious expression as he turned back to Erin.

"Erin, I believe the shame you're probably feeling is punishment enough."

"Yes, master," she answered.

Fire Queen looked over and shot The Phantom a look like she was saying, "What are you doing?"

"Because I know you know that our current target is the Order of the Stone."

"Yes, master."

"And I am very fond of the techniques you're using! Befriending them to gain their trust! Genius! I mean, once you think about it, helping them fight Nightmelody might have even been the right decision! Who cares if a couple people were lost? It's all about the bigger picture."

"Of course, father. That was the plan," Erin replied.

"Excellent!"

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Fire Queen said, "I wish to congratulate you on your stellar progress."

"And soon enough, they might end up right here in this very room for me to finish the job," The Phantom said, "In this very room."

"Jesse, what's he talking about?" Lukas whispered urgently.

"It's... this was their plan all along!" I whispered, "Erin, Fire Queen, The Phantom, they've just been trying to kill us!"

"No, that—that can't be true," Lukas said.

"See for yourself."

Lukas and I scooted over to switch places so he could get a look at the scene. I could still hear the conversation.

"So, I see you've had plenty of success with this Lukas, the others probably trust you too, and I see you just couldn't hold off on killing that other one, Petra," The Phantom said, "Just make sure you save the rest for me to take care of." He chuckled.

"Of course," Erin said.

Lukas didn't move, just said,

"Jesse? I've seen enough. Let's just go."

We crawled back into the darkness and discreetly found our way out the door.

Outside, down the path, the same black hole we came through floated just above the ground. We walked back without a word. I was no longer afraid of the world; it felt significantly less scary. Just plain and gloomy. We arrived at the portal and jumped into the black tunnel.

We came back to the same place we had left. Right in front of the school in the pouring rain.

"L-let's get inside," I said, grabbing my arms to keep warm.

We made it to the door, and I pulled on the knob. It wouldn't budge. I tried again.

"Ah, no!" Lukas exclaimed, "How could I have been so stupid?"

"What?" I asked.

 "It's a lock-down, Jesse. It means every entrance is locked up."

"Uh-oh," I said, removing my hands, "And that means— "

"We're stuck out here."

"Well, I'm sure we could somehow find our way in," I said.

"It's no use, Jesse. They've completely locked up the school. We're stuck."

We sat down on the hard, wet stairs, trying to keep warm.

"This is my fault. I'm sorry, Jesse," Lukas said, "I-I shouldn't have followed Erin in the first place."

We sat there in the dark, soaking wet.

"Hey," I said, "M-maybe someone will notice us missing."

Maya's POV

"And that is everything I know about blending eye shadows! Now, let's move on to learning about mascara!" Cherry explained eagerly.

"Augh! Make it stop! Make it stop! I can feel my brain cells committing suicide whenever you talk!" Magnus exclaimed, grabbing his ears in anguish.

"It's what you get for what you did!" I said, "Keep going, Cherry!"

"Hey, Maya," someone said behind me, tapping my shoulder. I turned around and saw Aiden.

"Oh, hey, Aiden, what's up?"

"Do you know where Jesse and Lukas are? I can't find them anywhere."

"Well, they've gotta be somewhere," I said, "They're not allowed to leave."

"Oh, wow, thanks. For a moment there I thought I was looking for something that doesn't exist," Aiden said sarcastically.

"Hey, man. No need to be all grumpy. I'll help you look."

"Look for what?" Cherry asked.

"Jesse and Lukas have gone missing," I said, "Will you help us find them?"

"Oh, yeah! Totes! And maybe this can be how I can get in closer with them!" she said.

"Now, I'm starting to think that they aren't even in this cafeteria," Aiden said.

"You mean to say they snuck out?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"But, leaving the cafeteria during the lock-down is against the rules!" Cherry protested.

"Well, they'll just have to make a few exceptions," Aiden said.

"Ooh! You mean we're sneaking out?"

"Uh-huh."

Cherry grinned and excitedly clapped her hands together.

"Ooh, adventure! This is exciting!"

"Yeah, yeah," Aiden said, "Alright, so you see over there, Mr. Tharp?"

"Sure," I said, "He's like, the laziest teacher ever."

"Exactly," Aiden explained, "Even if he did see us escaping, he'd never actually do anything about it."

"Man, it's a wonder he hasn't been fired yet," I said, "Okay, so we'll just sneak past him and look around?"

"I was thinking that. We'll split up and search different parts of the school to cover more ground faster."

"Yay! We're gonna be so rebellious!" Cherry exclaimed. Aiden looked slightly annoyed.

"We'll just have to keep it down," he said.

"Oh, yeah, right," she whispered.

Stage one of the plan, sneaking past Mr. Tharp, was successful, as predicted. I decided to search toward the gymnasium, Aiden the library, and Cherry walked around the halls looking for clues. So far, so good.

Cherry's POV

Walking down the main hallway, the entrance doors caught my eye. What if they had escaped the school all together?

I pressed down on the crash bars and opened the doors to the outside.

Lukas's POV

With my teeth clenched, my head rested on my hand as I let the rain down my face. 

I heard a noise from behind me and looked back. A warm light emerged from the opened door of the building and a figure was standing there.

"H-hello?" Jesse said.

"Oh my gosh! I did it! I found you!" Cherry exclaimed as she stepped out with us.

"Wait! Get the—" I exclaimed.

"Huh?" she asked. The door closed behind her.

"—door."