Melody Peace Pov:

I don't know how long I sat under that willow tree in the next couple of days. It had become my sanctuary, its soft leaves swaying in the wind in unison, making a dome around me where I could laugh or cry or sleep without anyone knowing. The murders continued to happen, drowning after drowning. They cancelled the term before it even began. I hadn't spoken to Frida for weeks. It was as if I had lost a friend. Again. It was as though she had gone into hiding, she wouldn't talk to anyone, no one knew where she was when you asked for her, and you almost never saw her in the hallway.

No one seemed to know about this tree, so I began to claim it as my own. I laid down a picnic blanket and I even managed to make a wooden birdhouse with food in it, as well as decorating the trunk with fairy lights in case I needed some alone time at night. A small wooden box was buried in between two of the thick roots, where no one could find it unless they knew what they were looking for. I filled it with books, papers and pens, some snacks, spare bird food and a candle and lighter.

I crawled under the leaves and sat down on the picnic mat. I could smell popcorn coming from the cafeteria. But I couldn't think about food. I wanted to know what had happened that day of the snowball fight. Where the water had tried to kill her. Who had water controlling as their mist? Who was at my old school? I didn't know that someone else had come to this school other than Abigail. What was Frida hiding from me?

I curled up, I held the notebook to my forehead in frustration. I couldn't answer any of the questions that I desperately wanted the answers to. Eventually I drifted off to sleep.

"You think I'm cute when I'm angry!" I snarled at someone. Was it me? Was it someone else saying this? It sounded like me...

"WELL BE PREPARED BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO BE FUCKING GORGEOUS!" Yep, that was me. Why was this happening? Where was I? Everything is just black, why?

A scream.

"Melody," it was Frida, she sounded delighted. What was happening?!

I woke up. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and checked my wristwatch. 11:46am

I groaned. I had been asleep for 2 hours at least, although I couldn't be bothered to actually do the maths.

Frida. She was walking along in the grass. The leaves had grown much more since when I first brought her here, before she stormed off. I thought we could share this place but she clearly showed no interest in its strange beauty. She probably couldn't see me through the dense vines. I stood up on weary legs and pushed the curtain of leaves aside. She had stopped to tie her shoe, giving me the perfect opportunity to run to her.

"Frida!' I shouted. She stood up quickly and began to back away but I managed to hold her still.

"What do you want?" she frowned, pushing my hand off her arm. She had learnt to block me. How? No one could block my mind reading. All I heard was a soft buzz. Other than that, there was nothing.

"You blocked me," I murmured, staring down at my hands.

"What?"

"You've blocked my mind reading. How? You need to teach Clawdia and Abigail and everyone!"

"No!"

"Why? I'm invading their privacy without even knowing what I am doing until I know what they are thinking! Please teach them how to block me like you did, I'm sick of all the noise!" I gave her two valid reasons, she has to say yes.

"I said no, Melody!" Frida snapped.

"Why are you like this? Why don't you speak to me anymore, why do you just disappear and reappear unannounced, why-"

"Stop asking questions!" She lashed. I jerked back at her tone. She was angry and that made me angry.

"Why do you think I ask them? I'll stop once you've answered this: what happened?"

"Nothing, Melody," she sighed and walked away.

"Frida Marigold, you come back here right now or I'll- "

"ENOUGH!!"

I glanced up to see Clawdia, marching towards us. "Clawdia, what are you doing here?"

"Whatever fight you two just had, knock it off. Because there are more important things!"

"Oh shut up Clawdia! This is between me and Melody and no one else-" she didn't get to finish her sentence before Clawdia slapped her. Frida rubbed her stinging cheek.

"You can't just treat people like that Frida, I don't know why but you are being secretive and I am so sick of it!"

"Well I like my privacy!"

"SHUT UP!" Clawdia yelled. "You guys were best friends and now you act like enemies. When one person disappears, so does the other, and I have no idea where either of you go but it stops now. You guys are fighting like it's all that matters in the world but there are bigger problems! Don't you see? People are dying. And we need to work together to figure out who did this." Her voice was shaky and I could see there were tears in her eyes.

I glanced at Frida, her eyes staring at the ground in a shameful expression.

'She knew.'

"Frida."

She glared at me. She grabbed my hand, the annoying buzzing came but it stopped. She had opened up her mind.

'Took you long enough to realise I knew.'

I pushed her over and she landed on the grass with a thump. She reminded me of when I pushed Abigail over, her hair covering her face. But she was angrier than Abigail. She stood up again and was about to say something but Clawdia stood in the way.

"What did I say? Just let me talk to you two!" Clawdia's expression softened. "Abigail hasn't shown up for two days. I don't know where she's gone or why but-

"Wait, Abigail's missing?" Frida sounded worried. 

"Yeah and you would know if you two hadn't kept fighting with each other and avoiding everyone else!"

"When did Abigail go missing?" Frida said swiftly to change the topic. I could tell she didn't want to admit to anything Clawdia had just said.

"Yesterday actually. I woke in the middle of the night and saw her blanket flung over her bed, as well as the door wide open. Her shoes were muddy so I followed the tracks. The human footprints turned into horse hooves and they led me to the entrance of a nearby forest outside of school bounds. I didn't want to go alone so one of you has to come."

"I'll go with you," Frida stepped forward. "But whatever you do, don't let Melody come," she whispered, quietly. But not quietly enough.