User: THGF1234

Arthur Knightgale was on the move-to kill. I rushed through the halls with my feet clanking against the hard floor. I come out into the grounds and I call out, "Ari?"

A voice, a familiar voice, calls out, "Here," from the shadows behind the school building.

I hold my breath as I recall that voice. Arthur. I bring a officer with speed around to see Arthur Knightgale. My face changes from fear to horror within a moment. He has Arabella in a hold with his arm and the other clutching a knife.

"Hello there, Director," he says as he waves his hand with the blade moving within his hand. "Adam..." Arabella trails off as she clutched at Arthur's arm with her fingers. I take a deep breath.

"Everything is going to be fine, Ari." I said, taking careful steps forward. "Not everything." responds Arthur. "Oh Ari, you would have made a beautiful angel. A vengeance angel, I could have used your skin to form wings."

The words he speaks makes me shiver but I don't show the fright in my eyes or body. "Let her go!" yells one of the cops but Arthur continues to speak, "I would have made your head bow in prayer and carved your eyes out so you could never open them again, oh you would have made the most wonderful cries!"

He forces the knife to deepen into Arabella's neck, drawing small drips of blood. "Drop the knife!" demands another officer as Arthur continues his deadly malice. "I would only strip the skin, leave the muscle exposed but not the bones, it would have made you so beautiful."

He pushes, no, draws a line along her neck, Arabella whimpers with stubbornness, then Arthur puts the knife along the uninjured side of her neck and reaches into his jacket slowly. "Don't move!" warns another cop. He pulls out a paintbrush and covers the bristles of it by dipping it in the blood along her injury.

He places the brush into Arabella's jacket pocket and says, "Think of me each rime you see a painting," he releases the knife and Arabella. Arabella holds her wound and glares at Arthur as the officers and I came to his side. Arthur says, "I had so much fun Ari but at the end all games must come to an end."

They handcuff him and take him away as he speaks his last remark, "Enjoy your victory, Ari but don't forget there's still one more player on the board." "Ari, are you okay?" I ask her warily. "Yes, I think I'm fine. I just need a few minutes to recover."

I nodded gravely and I meet with Detective Hail who says he wants a school dance to happen, that angers me. "A dance? With a killer on the loose? That's a bad idea." I say, infuriated. "I'm not stopping until we catch the murderer." says Hail with a deep tone.

I sigh. "Let's discuss with Miss Blackwell, then Mr. Bennett?" says Detective Hail. I sigh and agree. I walk toward her, sitting on the back of an ambulance, finally saying, "Ari?" She jumps, stumbling back before looking into my eyes. "I would advise against sneaking up on me Adam." she snaps, putting the ice down and trying to get up.

"Sorry, don't stand." I say, trying to grab her by her arm. "I'm fine." she retorts, removing her arm from my grasp and turning away from me. "Okay, wait, Detective Hall wants to talk with us." I call out to her, she pauses and turns to face me. Hail comes forward to us. "About what?" she asks me.

"A school dance." interjects the detective and Ari raises her eyebrows in a shocked speed. I roll my eyes and give her a look that clearly shows my dislikes for the officer. "I told him it was a bad idea." I defended. "Yes, it is. A terrible one. Have we learned nothing from this situation? The worst thing we could do is gather everyone together in one building. Again." she says in an unnerved tone.

I remembered Edan's corpse. Gabby. Walter. Gwendoline. And all of the others that died. I nod, giving the officer a look of triumph. "I completely agree, but this time. We will catch them." the officer assures her. "It doesn't matter. Carter Hollow is being shut down," I snarl and, mentally saying, "Already falling apart," still against the idea.

"No one is leaving this campus, Bennett." The detective growls, finally showing anger. "There is still one more murderer and I intend to find them, and until we do no one is leaving this school. I don't care what anyone else has to say about it." He snaps, glaring at me and Arabella. Moments of silence follows the officer's tone.

Arabella says, giving in, Okay fine, a school dance it is. Tomorrow night in the courtyard, no more buildings. Everyone stays outside." Then she turns away and leaves us. We glare for a moment and then the detective says, "Good luck Bennett. Maybe you will find Trace before I will." "Maybe." I threaten him, "See you later, Hail." I storm away, grumbling under my breath.

A hour follows, I finally meet Arabella in the main office. Arabella looks into my eyes and touches her wound as she winces. "Want to talk?" I asked her. She nods and gets up from her desk. We walk through the hallways of the academy into the library. We sit down on one of the many tables and chairs. We talk for a while until I noticed a trail of blood on the floor, I get up and walk toward it.

"Adam?" wonders Arabella. That's when I see them. Skye Pierce wore a long bloody smile up to her cheekbones. Lily McCalley leaned on Skye's shoulder and on her cheeks was a sad face and a happy face. Macbeth and Painter, drawing in blood. Another two murders. Trace had struck again.

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The evening of the dance was nice but for some people, it was scary and heart wrenching to see who would be the next victim. I looked over the crowd of laughing and smiling people and the ones who talked quietly and warily looked around. Then suddenly I saw three figures, almost like a dream.

The first figure was Hamilton Meredith Lee. She held a knife in her hand and two masks, a happy and a sad face, her insane eyes shimmering through the masks as she switched between the two. The second was Arthur Knightgale. He was painting a picture of an angel weeping.

The final one was, who I presumed to be Trace, wearing a long coat with a big hood covering their features. It held a knife. Then people shimmered in the crowd. Beth Rose and Skye Pierce was talking. So was Sarah Jordan, Marilyn Maverick and Harlow King.

Eden Morez slow-danced with Mary-Kate Tesler while Lily McCalley did the same with Matthew Jackson. Walter McGraw danced with Gabby Caperealla. Gwendoline de Angelo was singing on the stage with Reid Hollows playing a guitar, Sabrina Longcape playing on a piano, Joules sang along with Gwendoline, her voice singing and Leia White was on the drums.

Trace slashed a knife through Beth Rose, leaving Skye alone, unaware of her friend's sudden murder. Macbeth killed Matthew and then tore Joules into mist. Trace crushed Sarah Jordan and stabbed Harlow King, their screams in a chorus. Then Trace killed Reid, the last note he played whistling before the guitar smashed to the ground.

Arthur killed Walter McGraw, Gwendoline de Angelo and Leia White like they were little animals. Hamilton killed her last victims, smashing Sabrina and Mary-Kate and ripping Gabby into nothing. Arthur killed Marilyn and Trace killed Eden, Skye and Lily. Trace looked at me with a glare.

Trace says, "Catch me if you can, I'll vanish without a trace." before vanishing. Arabella brings me into existence by shaking my shoulders. "Adam, are you okay?" Ari asked. I nodded and said, "Yes, I'm fine." But I can't shake that feeling off.

We need to find Trace.