"The last time I checked, the lake was artificially carved out to make sure the safety of the visitors." Aefia spoke with gritted teeth and scanning the area around them while trying to plan out a proper way back, especially for Lewis who was still a newbie in fighting. If he weren't here... I would have taken whatever way I could find to get back to the campsite.
"What were the others doing when you left the site?" She asked while using one hand to bring out her phone and flicking the screen on with a swift click of the button. "Well some were busy with the breakfast while the others were just hanging around and chatting with their friends..."
"Then they are completely unaware of whether Stephany and her friends are still there." She replied while frantically typing onto her phone. 'Hey George. Are you available for a quick chat?' "Anyways... You need to return to the camp base to make sure the others are safe. If anything goes wrong, just text me, I will be online at all times." Her voice dropped to a chill as she started walking towards the open route of the woods.
"Well how do you know that there might a much bigger factor to this here?!" He shouted behind her while catching up to her quickening frantic pace, as she sometimes ran to make up for the lost time. "Why isn't he answering?! He always has his phone with him and answers any message whenever he receives them!" Her frustruation lasted only a swift moment as she glanced at the 'typing...' chatbox at the bottom of her screen.
"Who? George?" Lewis asked while glancing at her screen. "You know you can just type into the group chat right?" He spoke while taking out his own phone to start typing. "That could be an answer if either of us wanted to answer the questions of Henry when we get back." She replied while squinting her eyes at her screen. "Ugh! Great! He doesn't care about it."
Glancing over at her phone, he read the message out loud. "You are old enough to learn how to cook for yourself Husky. Well he has a point honestly."
"That's not the problem!" Her own thumbs typed onto the surface. 'Well it's more deadly then what you expected. I just killed...'.
"Why did you do that?"
"Then he will be concerned enough."
Finally, it seemed that her brother was starting to get the panic attack of an elder sibling. 'Killed what?! What is with you and that '...' In every sentence?!'.
"Yep... Now he is open for a more serious conversation." She replied while typing the next few lines onto her screen in a full paragraph like text. "So you just had to prep the chat to get him to start typing? Well that's a good idea over there."
"Sent..." With her thumb pressing down in the small arrow next to the typing box, she looked up and took off in a sprint. 'Well remember how you said that there was an artificial lake created in the middle of the mountain to allow for the visitors' safe travels? Somehow those bear-hybrids managed to cross it and one has entered the woods that I am in.'
Finally, she glanced sideways at her brother's screen for a while and smacked him at the head. "You are supposed to run for your life you idiot! Why are you busy talking pictures and captioning them 'Send Help'?!"
Pocketing her own phone, she reached the end of the forest threshold and shoved him in front while standing against the barrier caused by the fallen leaves. "Start texting me and don't even dare think about posting anything online. I have your account followed." She spoke while running back to where she had just come from and dissapeared into the greenery with hurried and panicked breathes.
"Why is she always so serious about this things?" Lewis spoke to himself while walking up to the campsite to find a bored Merissa. "Did you find her?" She asked while placing her hand against her chin and looking up with a tilted head. "Yeah, she was hanging like a bat from a tree branch." He answered while looking around to trace the different scent in the air. "What is that scent? It smells like a fragrance I guess? Something mom would likely wear maybe?"
"Even I don't understand that. For some reasons, I woke up this morning to find my clothes all outside the bag and covered in a scent I don't remember bringing. I thought maybe Aefia put it as a prank... But if she did, she would have come around to check my reaction at some points. And Aefia has never been a person to prank." She replied while sitting up straighter and placing the twig she was playing with, on her lap.
Suddenly, he felt the jolt of realization as he quickly took out his phone to frantically start typing. "Who are you texting?" The naive girl spoke while stepping up to glance at his phone. "Oh... So she is in fact in a mission." She replied while watching Lewis slid his fingers against the surface.
'Hey, strong Jasmine scent attracts those things right? Well Merissa found herself in a 'prank' this morning covered in that scent. Are you thinking what I am thinking?'
A small moment of typing lasted only five seconds as the message arrived a while later. 'Maybe... Just go check Stephany's tent silently. Don't get anyone suspicious and look for a small perfume bottle I guess. Maybe one similar to mom's.'
'Got it.'. With the last message hanging in the air, he and Merissa moved quietly towards the far centre of the crowd of tents and making sure there wasn't anyone watching. "Well I will move in..." Merissa spoke while jumping into the tent as Lewis backed off while staying behind, waiting for the bottle to drop out of the ventilation gap at the back of the tent. He was busy texting his sister while frantically watching the time.
'Stop texting! You are not the only person I am talking to alright! If you have any questions go ask George!' with the final sentence, she put a timer at their chat and turned offline with her status turning 'busy'. "She is in a phone call now! Or is she just faking it?!" He softly muttered to himself as he looked up at the tent. Finally, a small thirty milliliter bottle of scent fell out as Merissa came out while gasping for air. "I tested the smell, this matches perfectly with the scent I work up to."
Snatching it from the ground, he took a picture and sent it into her chat. 'I think we found it.'. The chat remained silent although she was back online and removed the timer on the chat. 'Don't you think you are a little too late? I already found her little group covered in blood.'
The message dropped like a bomb with another moment of typing following immediately after it. 'I might as well be forced to go find her. Good luck dealing with those dramatic bloodied friends of hers. They might try to send the teachers over so try to stall them as much as you can. I honestly don't know if she will have my death certificate ready the next time.'
With that, she blocked his account with a state of paranoia rushing over him, while he stood on his feet and turned towards the centre of the crowd, scanning his eyes for the approaching group of students. "Is she just going to leave the rest of the matter in our hands like that? But to begin, I don't seem to understand what is going on with her or you?!" Merissa spoke while catching up to his steps soon after.
"Go and hide inside your tent. It might just be for the best. And you should probably try to get rid of that scent too. The next thing might be that those gang members try to place the blame on you two." With a stern reply, he turned to go and sit with his group of friends while the originally naive girl seemed changed with the current course of actions and headed towards their tent.
***
'Jasmine attracts the bears to your area so in case those students you suspect has it at their pockets or even has it sprayed onto themselves, they are sure to be victims of the bear attacks.'
While she was headed towards the artificial lake, her steps turned alert while her eyes stayed opened for any incoming threats, her fingers moved in rapid motions against her screen thanks to adrenaline. 'Well great! It seems that this was all in fact 'not' an accident as you had predicted. For once please be serious. It was a setup to kill Merissa.'
Her teeth gritted in anger as she looked up to stab another bear at its skull while moving it aside and using the same bloodied hand to continue typing on her already redened screen.
'I told you to stay away from that girl before. But you kids never listen to their elder siblings even when you know the consequences.'
'What did you honestly expect me to do?! I didn't know she would be dumb enough to go out of the boundaries and use predatory means to kill someone! Stephany has a record of killing students who outshine her!'
'And the last time I checked, you were one of them. And I did want you to step out of it but you seemed to be scared and keep silent about this.'
'Can you seriously just say what I can do to keep those bears away from the campsite long enough for me to find that girl with the mind of a stick?!'
As soon as the message sent, George went entirely offline and she was left to pocket her bloodied phone while she dodged more bears while getting onto the densely packed area. She did sustain a few injuries to her arms and a little bit at her face, but it wasn't long until she noticed that her own fingers were also bleeding due to the strong grip against her knife. Why isn't it getting larger today?! A dagger at least? Her eyes stayed locked at the black blade and its dull edges. Do I need to start sharpening it on a consistent basis now?!
Coming to a stop, she had finally reached the lake, only to see that somehow, the smell of jasmine was dense at this point. Quickly, she pulled out her phone and typed onto her screen. 'Are these creatures supposed to be originally smart? Before they smell the weird taste of jasmine?'
A short moment later, her phone dinged with a notification. 'Yes, until someone lures them around the corners to reach the otherside. Then, they would forever remember these methods and spawning in large groups to attack humans. Which honestly isn't the case because they are said to be herbivores and only eat the jasmine flowers.'
'Then what makes them attack humans?!'
'When they are covered in the same scent as what they eat. Those hybrids are said to be a very hungry species and it's best to never take along jasmine scents. Which it seems like your classmates were stupid in doing so.'
'No they were not stupid! They had it all planned! Because I have seen how badly Stephany had been treating her group of friends lately and I might as well lean onto the information that she wants them dead along with a few more people. Maybe even including me.'
'And how do you know?'
'Because I don't keep my bag inside our tent. I have an inventory skill and I keep my items there. So when she didn't get the chance to contaminate my clothes, she did to the only remaining victim inside that tent.'
'So what do you want to do now?'
'I honestly don't know anymore. But I should try and rescue her at least, maybe she will speak some truth if we take her back safely. However, I highly doubt that.'
'Then just rescue her. That should be enough. If she is dead, just bring her body back. But try to get her alive, we have a chance to instigate her for her murders.'
'Alright.'. But before she could press on the send button, a slight change in the atmosphere caused her to pocket her phone in a swift movement and turn around without getting the time to chain the pocket to prevent it from falling out.
Within the time it would take her to spin around and check her surroundings, a hand wrapped around her chin and a kick to the back of her knees sent excrutiating pain up her nerves. "I was looking for you this morning, and I couldn't find your bag." Stephany's voice echoed above her as a knife was held up at her throat with a small pressure pressing against the skin around there.
"Are you really trying your attempts again in killing me again? You tried to kill your friend by tieing them to a tree and watching them suffer in the scent and the bears. Then... you had Merissa as your victim too." Aefia smiled, but her hands stayed dangling at her sides. The girl behind her clenched the knife hard against her own grasp as she recalled that the person she was harming was still someone connected to the bloodline of the Imperial family.
"Why is it so... That you don't want to fight me back?" The words left her mouth as she pressed the knife harder against her throat that caused Aefia to raise her hands and flinch due to the sharp pain. "Because I am simply tired trying to chase behind my enemies now. I had enough and wanted to give you a second chance... Only to have you stalk me again." Her reply was still too calm for the girl's liking.
The knife started to carve it's way deeper into her throat, but by the time she had almost reached through the skin, a bear-hybrid pounched at her from the the back and causing Stephany to topple over. Aefia ducked as soon as the knife left contact with her throat.
Her ears rang with the girl's screams, with blood splattering from the sides.
By the time she managed to make it back up in an attempt to run, her feet made contact with a root and she stumbled backward while watching the bear stare at her with fierce eyes. Her breathe was held as she watched the bear bend it's head forward and showing a gesture of bowing, then a few more joined in before they all ran back towards the otherside of the lake, taking the dry detour in a pack.
Her eyes fell to the dead Stephany and her mind ached. Strange... What was that gesture?!