What happened next would be discussed in hushed whispers for years afterward, though most of the details were deliberately forgotten or suppressed. The two men simply... left. Not through the door—they were there one moment, gone the next, leaving behind only the lingering scent of sulfur and the memory of eyes that reflected no light.
Cassius surveyed the terrified classroom with mild interest. The teacher had fainted. Half the students were crying. The other half were recording everything on their phones until he looked at them directly, at which point the devices mysteriously stopped working.
"Class dismissed," he announced pleasantly.
The exodus was immediate and chaotic. Students trampled over each other in their rush to escape, leaving Cassius alone with the unconscious teacher and the acrid smell of fear.
He sighed and sat down at Dario's desk, picking up the abandoned chemistry worksheet. The equations were still there, half-completed, written in Dario's careful handwriting.
Such a peaceful life, he mused. Shame about the interruption.
Closing his eyes, he felt himself sinking back into the depths of their shared consciousness. When Dario's eyes opened again, they were wide with confusion and terror.
The classroom was empty. The teacher was gone. His phone showed seventeen missed calls and forty-three unread messages, all from the past hour.
Dario stumbled to his feet, legs shaking. The last thing he remembered was the taser, the pain, the desperate retreat into the safety of unconsciousness. Now he was alone, and from the evidence scattered around the room—overturned desks, bullet holes in the wall, scorch marks on the floor—something terrible had happened.
His phone buzzed with a text from his best friend Harry: Dude, what the hell happened? The whole school's talking about you. Are you okay?
Dario stared at the message, dread pooling in his stomach. This was exactly what he'd spent years trying to avoid. Cassius had been quiet for so long, he'd almost convinced himself the other presence was gone.
He'd been wrong.