Victor made his way to Kelvin's dormitory, his footsteps echoing in the quiet of the night. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. He knocked again, louder this time — still nothing. A creeping sense of isolation washed over him; it was late, and he was alone.
Anxiety began to seep in, and his knocks grew frantic. The cold wind cut across his face, and for a brief, unsettling moment, he felt a cold, clammy touch. Startled, he spun around — but there was no one there. His heart hammered in his chest.
In a panic, he pounded on the door, the rhythm of his knocks making the hinges shudder. Then the wind returned, fiercer this time — almost like a claw, tearing at his shirt.
Trash lifted off the ground, swirling into a small vortex, and in the middle of it, a shadowy figure appeared. Just as his blood ran cold, the door creaked open, and Kelvin's sleepy face appeared.
"People need their sleep, you know?" Kelvin mumbled, clearly irritated.
Victor, pale as a ghost, stared at him. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" Kelvin asked, bewildered.
"Never mind. Let's just go," Victor said, his body vibrating with fear like a 2011 Nokia phone on full buzz. The strange feeling from before had vanished, but the terror still clung to him.
Kelvin raised an eyebrow. "So, uh… where exactly are we going?"
Victor hesitated, his voice trembling. "To… hunt… ghosts?" The words sounded ridiculous even to him.
Kelvin gave him a long look. "Okay… but where do we start?"
As they climbed over the dormitory wall, Victor sighed. "It's not like you can just call them, or choose when to see them. It's—"
He stopped mid-sentence. Kelvin's eyes had gone wide, his face pale. Victor had been walking backward, facing him as he talked.
Kelvin was pointing behind him.
Victor's blood turned to ice as he followed Kelvin's gaze. He could already tell he wouldn't like what he was about to see. Slowly, fearfully, he turned.
In the distance, a girl sat suspended in the air, her head resting on her lap as she brushed her hair. If calling someone a witch just by looking at their face could ever be justified — this was it. Her face was hideous, scarred, her hair ragged — hair that no amount of brushing could ever fix — and her expression said only one word:
"Delicious."
Then, as if stepping down from an invisible chair, she put her head back on. She started toward them — and her head promptly fell off again.
Victor spun around, but Kelvin was already running — in the wrong direction. Straight toward the school yard. The worst possible place to go at this hour.
Victor tried to follow, but his legs felt like lead. Kelvin moved faster, like an ostrich fleeing danger, while Victor's breath came in shallow bursts.
Kelvin darted into a classroom, slammed the door shut, and hid behind a desk. His breath was ragged, his heart pounding like a bass drum in his chest. His mind screamed that the creatures would hear him, but as he glanced around, he saw nothing — just rows of chairs and strange shadows cast by the corridor light.
It's all in your head, he told himself.
Then he opened his eyes.
A girl was standing right in front of him.
She had no face.
In a trance, the faceless girl crouched, handed him a piece of paper, and vanished. Kelvin's mind screamed, but his body wouldn't move. His vision blurred, and everything went black.
When he came to, he was sitting at a table. His wrists and legs were bound.
Two people sat across from him. One he didn't recognize — but the other was… Emilia?
"How…? What…? Who—?" Kelvin stammered his voice cracking.
"This is just a dream," he muttered to himself, heart pounding. "Wake up… wake up…" He kept muttering, but he wasn't waking up.
"Oh, you're awake," Emilia said, her tone cold. "Where's Victor?"
Kelvin froze — he'd forgotten all about Victor. "I don't know! What's going on?"
Emilia's eyes narrowed. "We're the ones asking the questions. Who are you? What are you?"
Kelvin blinked his head spinning. Who was he? What was he? None of this made sense.
Emilia leaned forward, voice low and suspicious. "Listen carefully. A spirit called Mr. Smiley was released into this school. Every year, he comes out to take a student. He's already claimed one this year…" She paused, lowering her gaze for a moment. "…But when you showed up, he came back. All the spirits — both known and unknown — are active tonight. And to make things worse, you've already communicated with one of them. So tell me — who are you? Are you one of them? Did Mr. Smiley send you?"
Kelvin just stared, blank with confusion. Then he remembered — in class, she'd mentioned a Clera who had been taken.
"Speak the truth," the muscular boy beside Emilia growled. "Or die."
"I—I'm…" Kelvin stammered, voice breaking. "This must all be some kind of prank. Hahaha. You got me. Now can you release me?" He laughed nervously, though part of him already knew this wasn't a prank.
Emilia slid a piece of paper in front of him. On it were four letters: OTEH.
"What does this mean? What is OTEH? Who is OTEH?" she demanded.
"I… I don't know!" Kelvin's voice trembled, panic rising. He peed himself without realizing it. "Please, don't kill me! I don't know anything!"
The muscular boy grimaced. "Yuck." He and Emilia stepped aside to talk in hushed tones.
"I don't think he knows anything," Emilia said quietly.
The boy's reply was harder. "What if he's possessed?"
"Well… if that's the case, there's only one way to find out," Emilia said grimly.
"Tomorrow," the boy added.
They turned back to Kelvin. "You must be confused. We're sorry if we scared you," Emilia said softly. "Meet us here tomorrow after school. We'll explain everything. We're the Golden Circle. This is Stephen — the librarian. We'll sort things out then."
Stephen pointed upward. "If you don't show up, even the Big G won't find your soul when the time comes."
Kelvin swallowed hard and nodded.
"Don't scare him," Emilia muttered with sarcasm. Then she knocked Kelvin out cold.
He woke up lying in a classroom, disoriented. Voices echoed nearby — soft, rhythmic, like chanting. Fear seized him, and he ducked lower behind a desk.
A group of students walked by draped in red cloaks, holding candles, chanting in unison. Then a hand clamped over his mouth, dragging him deeper into the shadows.
Kelvin almost screamed — until he heard the whisper:
"It's me."
It was Victor.
Kelvin exhaled in relief and shoved Victor's hand away. "What the hell is going on in this school? Who are they? And where were you?" he whispered, wide-eyed.
Victor's face was pale and grim. "Those were The Red Hoods — the school cult. I've heard rumors, but I've never actually seen them. Tonight… I've seen things I only thought were stories. You must be really special — for all this to be revealing itself now."
He paused.
"Who are you, Kelvin?"