55 Chapter 40: Murderer Revealed

"You're the murderer, aren't you?"

In the distance, the first firework lit up, a spray of orange and pink stars.

"Ivory it's not what you think!" Rei panicked, shaking his head.

"At first, I thought it was Kyle. Afterall, the Headmaster was killed by suspicious flowers and Kyle's power is nature, but Kyle was on a trip to another country, so that didn't make sense. Luke has Raspberry heart and all the attacks seem to be performed by a powerful magician so it was physically impossible for Luke to be the murderer. Easton isn't smart enough to devise a tactical plan so the only option leaves you."

"No, Ivory! You're being tricked!" Rei argued frantically, his hands shaking, "Didn't Raven mention anyone to be wary of?!"

***

FEW YEARS AGO…

"Ivory…" Raven leaned forward with a serious expression, "Remember the time we were held hostage by the neighbouring kingdom?"

"Yes?" I replied, although my answer sounded like a question.

"I don't know if I'm overthinking things, but when everyone was panicking about you stuck inside the monster's lair, except for one person." Raven concluded.

"So what? Not everyone clearly shows emotion on their face." I argued, shaking my head, "I think you're reading too much into thi-"

"Ivory." Raven interrupted, "Trust me. That wasn't an act, if you were there you would understand."

"Alright." I nodded half-heartedly, "I'll be cautious around them."

Raven inched forward, "Whatever you do, stay alert. He's not normal."

"Mhm… Anyway who is he? You forgot to mention who his was." I asked, laughing at his mistake.

"My bad." Raven chuckled, "It's…"

***

"…Easton." I mumbled.

Behind us, a flare of red and orange lit up.

"The fireworks are so pretty for such a dreadful day." Rei sighed, turning towards the night sky to watch the fireworks burst.

Easton?! It was Easton? The same boy who screamed when a single spider touched him?

"IVORY! RUN!" Rei grabbed my arm.

"Huh? What?!" I demanded, confusion clouding my senses.

"That wasn't a firework!" Rei screamed, his voice breaking as fear was contorted on his face, "That was a stream of fire from Easton and Luke's balcony!"

I instantly sped up and our heavy footsteps hammered against the hallway as we ran to the Luke and Easton's balcony. Our breaths were quick and uneven, but our breathing and footsteps wasn't the only sound in the hallway.

"RUN FASTER!" I shrieked, my heartbeat a blur of thumps.

I felt Rei's grip of my arm release me,

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I bellowed, "JUST KEEP RUNNING!"

"…What… is that?" Rei's grey eyes widened in terror as his legs trembled but refused to take another step, "This shouldn't be possible…"

At first glance, it appeared the whole hallway behind us was coated in black, twitching beads. After a second glance, the black beads were spiders the size of a human eye. White fangs protruded out of their mouths, slick with venom. The sound of fangs clicking was horrifying and Rei only watching them skitter closer.

"Hurry up!" I grabbed Rei's arm and dragged him with me.

Rei seemed to wake up from his aghast trance and we both sped closer towards the closest balcony, our speed boosted by Rei's wind element.

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Rei commanded as we entered the balcony, "CLOSE IT WITH ME!"

We shoved the heavy glass doors shut and a sense of dread crawled up my back as I watched the spiders scurry faster.

"Oh." An amused voice behind us laughed, "You arrived quicker than I expected."

Rei and I had forgot we weren't alone.

"…Easton." Rei stated, "Why are you doing this?"

"I would tell you." Easton shrugged, "But villains normally get killed right after they make a long speech, so I'm going to leave. Have fun!"

Easton winked playfully before disappearing in a flash.

"How did he do that?" I demanded, "His power is 'Firebomb', he shouldn't have the power to teleport like that!"

"First, where's Luke?" Rei surveyed the half-ruined balcony.

Stone had been ripped of the balcony and clearly, a fight had happened.

"…here." A weak voice replied above us.

Rei and I glanced up and noticed Luke on the roof over of us. Luke glanced at the massive wound of his arm which was bleeding profusely before freezing it with his ice element.

"It's nice we're alive and all." Rei piped up sarcastically, "But we have a whole hoard of spiders outside the door. And that door isn't going to last long. Either we make a plan, or we all die painfully."

"It's nice to see you haven't changed." Luke coughed, smiling faintly.

"Rei, can you carry us with your wind element to the ground?" I requested, giving Luke a hand to jump back onto the balcony.

"…I'll try." Rei gritted, glancing down at the ground.

"Don't drop us halfway." Luke joked.

Rei glanced up at Luke, "…There's a chance that could happen."

Luke shut up instantly.

"Rei… you might want to hurry up." I gestured at the glass door with piles of spiders starting to create cracks.

"I'm on it." Rei answered as he concentrated on summoning orbs of wind to his disposal.