Chapter 22

After discovering that Ash killed Hayden and ran off, we weren't sure how anyones going to be able to find him. Even if we tried, it would take a very long time considering how big the garden actually is. I've only known that it there was some time between Ash running off and the three of us returning back. Though, his disappearance and Hayden's death kept us on edge, we still planned to look for him after we discussed the clues.

We around the porch in front of the shack. Ace stood against the thick, wooden posts that supported the shack. Finn and Candice sat by each other near the edge of the porch. The hot temperature rippled in the airwaves of the sunny day. It's summer. We exchanged each other silent glares, hoping that one of us knew what else to to next, even with the new information Finn told us. Knowing that it was Ash who carried the role of the werewolf and ended up killing Hayden after that gave off a heavy feeling in my mind. There's no denying that he is the werewolf at all, and I didn't like that.

"So— Finn, could you lift up your shirt again," Candice awkwardly said to distract herself from the silence of the other two. She wasn't a person to stand the peace and quiet as I would see her around people at school.

Finn nodded back at her, keeping an eye on her as she inspected the bite once again. "I'm afraid this shit is going to cost me an arm."

"I don't want to doubt that. I can easily tell how deep every tooth mark is from here," Ace remarked, trying not to chuckle to loud. His teeth clenched the more he watched Candice rub her fingers onto the mark.

"So, how big of a werewolf was Ash that he was able to swallow your whole shoulder?" I painfully asked, but I had to fill the empty holes of my curiosity.

He shrugged his free shoulder, "I only had caught enough glimpse of him to tell that he was big enough for a beast. I'm more surprised I didn't catch up running out the door there."

"A beast that big to make take huge bite out of your shoulder?" asked Candice.

"Did anyone not see how big of a beast Chase was?" spat Ace.

Candice stared at him angrily, "Obviously not."

"But Chase would definitely swallowed more than his shoulder," I argued back, jokingly

"It's funny that this is the second time I went through something like this. Chase, Ash— what's next?" Finn didn't want to sound like that fact stung him as he said it. He covered it with his small chuckles and bittersweet smile.

"Seriously, I'm sorry that it happened to you again. You're a brave one." Ace gave up acting cold with his face loosing up with reassurance. He sat down on the edge of the porch.

"Thank you, Ace. But what are we going to do now?" Finn adverted our focus back on the matter at hand. The laying body of Hayden, the disappearance of Ash, and the mystery of this institution.

Candice studied the floor for a second, "We could always start discussing about what we found back there."

Oh, right.

"I should go first then. If it's alright with you?" I suggested to them. I looked at Finn for a small nod from him before starting.

I scatter the sheets of paper over the wooden floorboards, facing some of the papers towards them. "We found these when we searched the first room."

Candice outlines her fingers over corner of the paper, "Why are these scribbled?"

"I'm getting to that." Her expression apologized for that. I nodded for myself to move on. The other two scooting in closer to observe.

"Alright, so I, along with Ash, found several of these papers and only one sheet with normal writing on it. We found the... drawings strange and weird when we took a second look since that was unexpected. We didn't know what this was— or what it meant.These are the only things we've found in the first room though. When I went to observe the chalkboard, there was clear writing on it in contrast to the weird scribbles on these papers. It's unknowable why these papers have no connection to the writing on the chalkboard at all. The both of us just couldn't think of any clues. That adds a different question, why are there scribbles on these papers in the first place?"

The three stared intently at the stack of papers, eventually holding it up close. The shared confused reactions among their faces are just like the ones me and Ash had when we first discovered it. It's something that they should be confused over because of the tons of little reasons as to why these scribbles existed in the first place. Looking around the floor a lot more helped narrowed some of the reasons down.

"So, these drawings, did you guys ever figure anything out about these drawings? Like any inferences?" asked Candice.

"We actually, and surprisingly, did find something to give us a lead on. On these sheets there are two words written on two of them," I realized for myself about it as I grabbed to the sheets on the floor to find where the words are written.

My fingers searched for the boldly written words that I previously read back in the dimly lit room, but this time there's light to help see it clearly. The others watched with careful eyes. It took only a flip of the page and we stumbled on the words. Written clearly on the page are those two words.

"Do you?" questioned Candice. Her eyes read it over again, and from what little I could tell her, she had an effort to piece something together.

"Yeah, we had an assumption that those two words could be the start of a sentence. So that's another reason why we wanted to go search the other rooms more. That's all for the first room that we discovered—" I realized that there was another important detail that Ash had seen, "— Oh! When we were about to head out, Ash had saw a dark figure from across the window at the empty courtyard. Anybody seen the same thing?" I asked right away before my mind would keep doubting that I'm not the only one who had seen it.

"No? Ace hasn't even bothered with even looking outside the window, let alone seeing a dark figure," scoffed Candice at Ace, and he scoffed right back.

Finn sat quiet the whole time, with a listening and understanding look on his face. His eyebrows drooped as he looked away.

"What about you, Finn?" I asked him in notice.

"I'm not really sure if I did," he uncertainly replied.

I continued, "Oh, well that's fine then. So, we weren't sure if it was any of you guys, but that's what we went with the whole time. Anyways, we moved onto the second room to continue searching around and there was another word. Ash saw it carved under the front desk where the teacher usually sits. 'know' is the word, thought it wasn't two words this time."

"So, it would be 'do you know'? Now, it's sounds more of a question than just a statement to me." Finn replied as he sparked in realization.

"But even if we went along with that, what is it that they— the students could be asking for," replied Ace.

"That's the same thought the both of us had. We were proud after spending so long searching that room. Well until... we had horribly stumbled across the collection of blooded metal rods shoved up in a locker."

"Wait. What the— what?!" Candice sounded almost shocked as I was.

"I don't know about it either. Ash was more freaked about finding it out. Thought, it was concerning that the sharp parts of the tips are dried with, what it seems to be, red blood," I said before running back into the shack to find the rod I brung along last night.

"See," as I brought the pointed tip of the rod near their face, careful of it being too close. They looked at it astonished, as if their disbelief in my discovery wasn't in their doubt.

"What's with the blood on this? And why are the metal rods there in the first place," Finn asked, shocked and amused at the metal.

"From the suspicion from the first room, we assumed that that had to do with the students. It could and would be used to— maybe.. murder somebody? Ash said something about the 'end effect' and the worst part is that I couldn't think any different," I continued.

"So, the blood on these rods are linked to the students to causing murder? What would drive the students to doing something murdering others—"

"and the 'end effect'? What about?," Candice cuts behind Ace as she interrupts with a question of her own. I couldn't be mad that they are confused about what I was saying. I wouldn't get anything that Ash would say either.

"I don't know what happened exactly but we assumed from what we found from the first room, and these rods, that the students were experimented of some kind. Ash meant that the end effect is the result. There isn't much to do after we had discovered the rods, Ash had freaked out at first that he wanted to bring you guys down to see it for yourselves. Otherwise, we had to save it until we all met up," I explained to the best of my understanding. I tried to keep my composure for what I saw in the last room.

"Experiment of some kind. Got it." Finn took note of the assumed I made.

"There's the next room. There isn't much to explain, to be honest. The desks are scattered around like a small tornado swept through the classroom. Other than that, it only held the next word "who" on a floorboard. I must have dropped it while I ran out of the building but I recall that it wasn't easy to get off the floor itself." I watched my discovery stumble the three, mostly about how I was able to figure out that it was a loose floorboard that held the word.

"That's definitely a question. I'm almost sure I know what completes it but I'm not sure with all of the questions they could ask," Ace annoyingly shrugged it off.

"Maybe we can find it on our way back?" Candice suggested.

I nodded, "Thanks. It's the only thing we found in that room that surprised me the most." My mind flashed back to that memory of what Ash did after. His cradles from behind my back. His chilling whispers in my ear. It still made me feel weird thinking about it again. I know that it is a time to tell the three everything, but I couldn't— not now.

"The both of us were almost one room away from investigation the whole hallway. That's when we stumbled on a door that terrified us the most," I said it with too much ease, and watching the three of them listen in carefully with their eyes and ears.

I continued, "The door was painted white. An opposite color of all of the doors we've been through. Strangely, it's made out of planks of wood with scratches on them. When we stepped inside it..."

"What..." The three of them mumbled for me to go on. I needed a moment to recollect what we saw and felt while being in there.

I walked past through the cracks of the overbearing memory and emotion, "There were the last two words written in fresh blood... the sight of the blood and the fact that it's fresh must have been the horrible sight I've encountered. The two words completed the sentence with 'Do you know who we are?"

"Holy shit. I have a hunch of what they might be referring to." Candice sat back confidently in her hunch.

"There only one possible answer to that. It's about the werewolves like Ash and Chase, right?" Ace looked in my eyes in hopes that the obvious is right.

I bit my bottom lip in uncertainty, "I'm not sure about it. Apart from the claw marks, it's safe to stick with the Candice's hunch that it's about the werewolves until we find more evidence to support it. Ash and I didn't have much time to think about it because of a few things that kept us distracted. The line of bloodied rods impaled into the walls that directed our attention to some locked cellar door."

"The cellar door?" Finn questioned.

"There was a door that led to something underground— or at least that's how far down we think it is. It's bolted shut with locks, so we were unable to get it unless we find something to cut it open." I felt the need to hear out what Candice and Ace has to say about their findings, to find a connection to mines.

Finn looked at me surprised, "So that's why you were out here in the shack. It's makes sense to me now."

"That's all for what I've found. We can discuss more about it later but what did you two find?" I glanced at the astonished two.

The sun's heat beamed from upwards on the top of our heads. It made me feel heated even though there's only little bit of wind blowing on the outside. It was the beginning hours of the afternoon sat about the shack. We shuffled different spots and positions all throughout the whole time we talked. I finished filling in my part of the investigation and are waiting to hear what Candice, Ace, and Finn had discovered. Something had reminded me that Ash or any one else like Hayden, Chase, and Bailey isn't here to be with us. It felt empty snd it gave me a gut feeling that I'm losing people around me.

Ace started the conversation as he tucked his right leg into his chest, "We started searching our floor the same way you did, with the first room. There wasn't much to find for the few minutes we went around there. Again, it's supposed to just be a classroom. It was thanks to how enthusiastic Candice is that we found something hiding in the desk."

"Is that a compliment?" Candice chimes in from how he described her.

He lightheartedly shook his head as he continues, "It was a notebook— journal really. When we looked through it, it was filled with writing that looked like an adult wrote it, a teacher. According to what you found about the students, something is off between them. We read through the pages and the writing had a purpose. To record something in date, chronologically."

"In date? How long ago?" I asked curiously. What he said has peaked every part of me, like I wanted to know it more specifically.

Finn also joins in, "How often is it recorded?"

"Well, it seems like it's a journal or diary entry everyday. Something about the health of the students on a daily. One page was explaining how the students are well behaved to another page closer to the end that talked about how strange they are acting. There were a lot of pages so this is the best that I could describe it," he continued with what he was saying before checking his shirt, "Oh, did you bring the journal along with you?"

She sat still for a moment to give it a quick thought until her eyes widen, "Right! It's somewhere inside the pocket of my jacket. When Lianne came to look for us, we were in a hurry to head out so I couldn't held onto it for long. Here," She dug inside her jacket to reveal an old and small journal book out in front of us.

"Your damn jacket really holds wonders." Ace scoffs, playfully or not.

We looked at her with a funny face as she held out the journal in her hands, "What?! My dad gave me this jacket, and it's pretty handy for carrying stuff." We couldn't debate about it any further but for sure we would the next time.

I sat closer beside Finn as I shuffled through the pages in the book. The edges are winkled with stains of what I would assume to be coffee, "Right... it would take me some time to read through it, but from what I've read, whoever is writing this journaled on how the health and wellbeing of students are escalating for the worst. Bizarre, really"

Candice and Ace sat with their doubtless expression, "But why are they journaling it like it's something personal? Like it's seems to be the only journal we've found on the whole floor.

"The children in the room are mumbling something foreign," I read a sentence out loud on one of the pages. My fingers traced over the very words that are pen written on the lines.

"Mumbling something foreign... a different language?" asked Finn.

"It sounds nothing like what I can understand. Their eyes are kept at the window." I continued to read out the rest of the sentence.

"Well, it's incoherent now. Damn— a sound, maybe?" Ace tries with a different answer. He looked like he was also having trouble figuring it out.

I turned the pages back and forth before closing the book, "Okay, what about your other clues? That should help clear things up."

They nodded before Candice continued, "Here's another object we found that's in my jacket," she grabbed the inside of her jacket, "A belt of some kind, it's torn at the end. Not to mention the blood on the silver at the end."

She passed over the object for us to observe. The tear looks obvious at the end of the belt, like it has been forcefully ripped. My thumb rubbed against the silver part of the belt where it straps the two ends together. The blood, that Candice mentioned, isn't easy to see until I held the silver out under the sun.

"What would have happened for a belt like this to be ripped apart like this? It's a pretty thick and wide belt." I remarked another detail of the belt. I'm more fascinated on how a belt this thick could be ripped.

"This isn't something you could wear around your waist. Where did you find this, Candice?" Ace seemingly wanted to ask Candice if she could tell us where she found it.

"I actually didn't find this in a classroom. It was wrapping around a hook on the outside of the door," Candice recalled.

"A hook outside of the door?" I find that strange.

"Well, besides the door. With the help of the flashlight, I was able to spot it pretty easily. The belt wrapped around it," she corrected herself.

"Did you know what room did the door lead into?" I had questions that I hope will clear up my confusion.

Candice sat and pondered it a bit before looking over at Ace, "It was locked. Took us too many tries to open it before giving up and going to the next room."

What she said stumbled me even more. A room was actually locked? For what reason? I sat around with a lot of questions that I know the other two couldn't answer for me.

"What?! Is it okay if we check it out when we go to look for the floorboard?" I nervously asked the three of them. I get nods in respond.

"Beside the room behind the door, there wasn't much we could do. We moved on to the next open room." Candice brushed that off quickly.

Ace continues on with the clues, "The next room took as long as the first room to find anything that we can consider a clue. We looked round the room in the same places until we found something that is pretty more unusual than anything. It was a large bone— it was only half of it. We found red cloth wrapped around it. "

He didn't pull anything out like Candice did, and considering that I rushed them out both, it's something that I expected. I couldn't imagine how big of a bone he would be describing or what it looked like, but now i'm imagining that it's in half. Red cloth. That's sounds very similar to the likes of what I found while I was searching. The postulation that it's very much about werewolves.

"Red cloth... was the red the actual color or— is it blood?" I had very clear doubt that it isn't just the color red.

Ace stared at the bone in his hand as his face turned into a mix of confused and disgusted, "I wouldn't have any clue since the blood have already dried up. I mean, I hope not."

Finn spoke out right away, "—But even if blood did dry up, it would leave a rough and hard patch. Rub the cloth and see if it's a little bit stiff."

For a second, I had questioned what made him think that way. Again, this is his second time that he ended up bleeding out all over his clothes. TK

Ace actually looked stumbled that he wasn't the first one to think of that. He pinched the red colored cloth, "I honestly didn't think of that. It does feel a little bit itchy and stiff."

I gently took the bone off his hands and onto the middle of the circle for everyone to see, "Have we considered the bone itself? It's bizarre that you could find it in an institution for learning."

"I wouldn't be surprised about it after reading the journal or knowing about the other clues. Let's safely assume that this cloth might have been bloodied. What then?" Finn suspiciously stared at the large bone in front of us.

"I guess we hold onto it. If i can remember, there's only one more thing we found through our whole search," Candice responds, not sure about it also.

"Well, it's underwhelming if you say it like that. The last clue is just little to add to the pile we have, but it should help back our concerns about what the whole students wellbeing is all about," Ace corrected Candice.

"Whatever, Ace. There were cutouts of— well, people and there are some heart shaped too. Strange? Not really at all. It just gives me an eerie feeling that the students had that for the intent to learn. Does that even make sense?" remarked Candice about the last finding. She wasn't so sure if she had her feeling about the cutouts, just right.

"Really? I don't know if that's a clue or not." Finn sat there, uncertain of it also.

"Well, should we hold onto that also?" I asked to the three. They nodded to each other and at me.

"That's all of what we've found then. I'm still stuck on why or how I felt strange about those paper cutouts though." Candice didn't want to wrap it up just this yet.

"Is there anything specific of the cutouts that seem off to you?" I asked.

She stood still for a second before recollecting her memory, "Well, I remember that there's writing on the back of it. It wasn't the right time to read through it back then."

That didn't help anything. I already thought that the paper cutouts was something normal thats done.

"Do you have it with you right now?" I asked, curious and hopeful that she brought that along also with the journal.

Candice shook her head disappointedly and shrugged, "Nope, I was too unsure that I didn't consider bringing it along with me."

Ace clicks his tongue, "That's disappointing, you've brung the whole journal and a bone in that big jacket of yours but not the cutouts."

Candice rebels back at him, "You're starting to make me the bad person for having a jacket that's very useful. Plus, I was only just unsure of it. We can go look for it if we need to."

I smiled weakly at them both as I knew that they were only arguing because that's how they are with each other, "Okay, let's talk about this for another time. The rest of the day light should be used to find somewhat of where Ash ran off to."

Finn holds onto the post as he pulls himself back up, "Right, what Lianne said. Ash must of have ran in either to the right or to the left exiting the door. That's still when I still fell to the ground."

Ace brushed off his jeans and jumped off the porch, "There could be footprints from him. We can look for tracks that he left behind, if he left any."

Everyone else jumped off the porch behind him. Just as we walked ahead further, Finn held onto my shoulder as he stopped me on my tracks , "I'll go with Lianne and take the left into the garden. Candice and Ace will take the right and search of what's there. There are plenty for us to look around."

The both of them didn't debate anything, just agreed and walked along side each other. We stood behind for a couple of seconds as we watched them walk away while engaging in another conversation. Just like that, we walked our own separate ways which left the two of us alone.

"If your shoulder doing okay," I wanted to start the conversation with something simple.

He tried shrugging that shoulder before giving up, "It's hard to move it around, only little shakes. It almost feels like it's paralyzed but it's probably only hurts when I move it."

I gave him a sympathetic look at his shoulder, "I'm sorry that you had to go through this again."

He smiled back at me, "Don't down yourself too much about it. I'm going to be okay. I even consider myself lucky for that."

We walked along the concrete path that led us out of the gate that we entered through, eventually having us stopped right in front of it. The heat of the sun had made heat waves easy to see in the air. The flowers and plants that surrounded our legs had looked healthy while some were too unlucky that it withered. It was normal for a summer weather.

My first thought of Ash had led me to think about the footprints he left behind, or what resembles it. Even though, it was a concrete path that we had walked on, it had only stopped where we left the shack area. It was only left with dirt tracks that should be easy to leave tracks on.

I looked around the ground for any sign of trails, "I'm sure he had to run out this way but I don't see any tracks except for ours here."

He observed the dirt under his feet also, "He looked big, strong, and fast enough to avoid leaving trails on the dirt— like jumping across this part of the area. If is isn't here, it must be further out or where the other two are looking around."

"Right but shouldn't there at least be a clue that he went through this way?" I didn't know what else other than footprints would help us right not.

"Not if he didn't take this way," he sighed, "He could have just avoided walking here but manage to make it out this gate."

It's plausible that he's more right than me, "This place is awfully big from how much we discovered of it. It's only up to the four of us to find the way outta here— Shit, I'm getting sad again."

He chuckled at my attempt of exclaiming my tiredness, "Then, let's get to walking ahead. We'll see how much we are able to cover by sunset"

We made our way out of the large gate to the grass path where we first entered from yesterday. It felt refreshing seeing a somewhat new environment from the institution again, but I imagine that it felt refreshing no matter where we are. The tress welcomed us, the only dirt path only led us to the outer part of the east wing, and a whole lot of flowers.

"The sunlight should be able to help us see if there are any beastly tracks in this dirt," I spoke before leaning closer to the ground to inspect.

Finn, who isn't physically cable to doing large movements as he could before, stood above me where the sunlight wasn't blocked, "See anything?"

I still kept silent for the moment I focused on the area around me, "Not at all, just the shoe prints from ours."

He nodded as we walked more further down the path, making sure we kept a look out for anything. My mind was too drained of energy to focus or talk much at all, even from the horrible death of my dearest friend. I didn't want to continue with this. Ash was gone. Hayden, Chase, and Bailey are dead. Finn is injured for the second time. What the hell can do right.

"You okay, Lianne? You look like you're gonna pass out." Finn, to the best of his ability, holds his face in front of mines. His eyes expressing concern.

My words slow a bit, "No, I'm alright. I'm just worn out from the night we had. I want to talk about what the clues could show us."

He stopped beside another cobblestone wall that was the entrance for this path. And now the exit. I rested against the heated layers of stone away from the heat.

"Alright, what'd you got?" he asked curiously, his back leaning on the corner of the wall.

I faced him with enough distance between us, so I wouldn't end up too close to him, "About the journal— about what the teachers wrote about the students wellbeing. I'm starting to think that the clues that I found, the bloodied rods, correlates to the end effects of what the students went through What's bothering me is why did the teacher wrote about the students in a horrified way. It started off with the students behaving like normal to the end where the students are acting strange."

"Right..." Finn agreed.

"So, what could have happened to the students while they were getting journaled. What could have made them as strange as how the journal described it as. Well, it isn't just something affected the student's mental health so horribly to lead them to this, but I'm thinking that the torn strap belt could mean that they were experimented on."

He stood up straight in straight surprise, "Experimented...? I know that there isn't anything that could deny it but that's a big thought."

"Well, it isn't much of a thought anymore, it's a sure. The torn belt straps— that cant be worn around the waist, too thick to. Candice found it outside a locked door. That locked door might have something to do with it. And with the last room I went in, there's no doubt otherwise." I said that with confidence.

He looked at me with deep thought in his eyes before leaning off the wall, "That's fucked up if that's what happened to the students. Why are they experimenting on them? They were testing something that had to do with werewolves that's for sure, but why and what else?"

That's a good question, it's something that would take more than thinking for believe it. I stood beside him as I thought of something, "Well, maybe it's not just an institution. What if it's an institution that is meant for a specific purpose, like for holding students who aren't well."

"Could that be what it seems like on the outside? The locked room, the torn strap belt, and the other clues could say otherwise. They must of have another purpose which is to experiment on those children." It's starting to make sense to us.

I debated for more answers, "But what about the parents?" I exclaimed.

"What?" Finn asked absentmindedly about the fact it's children we're talking about.

"The parents of those children. They had to be admitted to that institution by them, right?" I paced back and forth in realization.

He shook his head confusingly, "None of us knows if there were parents present. We only know that the students were admitted to the institution in some way, and what the teachers were planning on doing."

What he said was right. I wasn't sure if the children even have parents also. My mind scrambled for an answer, "If they did, why did they let the institution continue on with their experiments?," I stood there with nothing in mind about it, "You're right, we can't answer that right now. Let's just go."

We continued down to where everything was been cluttered. The shack full of tools. The enormous water fountain that barely and surprisingly works. The loads of bushes and plants lined up as walls. And the two dug up graves for Bailey and Chase.

So far, we didn't find any clues or ideas to where Ash had went. The amount of times I looked down was enough to get me lightheaded. Since, this was basically the center of garden, there was a bigger area that we have to look around. And without anything to give us a clue to were exactly Ash had been, it really felt like it's going to take an eternity to look.

I opened up the door to the shed as I took a look inside, "The bushes and plants look too perfect for us to assume that Ash ran through here."

He tiredly looked back, "Yeah, you're right about that one. Do you think that he would've stayed in that form the whole time?"

I thought back to when we saw Chase as a beast. It was just a transformation with all of the fur and stuff. So what if there was a reverse to that? Ash could have just walked around here as his usual self, no need to rampage through anything.

"I don't think so...? With Chase, we wasn't able to change back or anything. He changed to a beast unwillingly. That would apply to Ash also then, right?" I had to connect what happened with to the both of them.

He walked out of the shed and sat on the bench closer to us, "Well, I suppose that would be true. I couldn't say much myself because I had only saw him ran out. But for Hayden, Ash could have transformed because of a certain trigger. A trigger that made him into a werewolf against his will, like he wasn't able to control any of it."

"Holy shit, that would be it. So, he had to still be a wolf as he ran out of the shed and to who knows where." I sat beside him with the joy that we're able to think deeper about this stuff. Although, there was something that I still haven't told anyone yet.

We sat in silence as I felt the more need to tell him about that moment. Minutes later, when Finn had looked like he was rested enough, "There's something I want to tell you about— the night where we're investigating the building."

He looked at me with his full attention and I continued talking, "We were looking around the room before the last one, the one where I found the floorboard. What happened was during the same time when I picked up and read what was on it... Ash wrapped his arms around my shoulder— it's very strange I know— and he whispered some stuff to me. Like he was love struck or something, I only could describe it like that because of the cartoons I used to watch. He said something about having some intense love for me."

He looked at me with a baffled look, his eyes more shocked than I've ever seen. His mouth seemed to be speechless, "So... that happened. What happened next..?" He awkwardly asked.

I looked at him with wide eyes back to tell him that I was in that much disbelief too, "Well, he then just fell asleep on me. I don't know what happened to him that second but he woke up unaware of what he said."

"I'm guessing that you wouldn't know the cause of it? Since, from what've you told us, it was just investigating that happened." He pointed that out with certainty that only had me nod at him back.

"Maybe, whatever happened to him, it has to correlate with him being the werewolf." He spoke.

"But werewolves aren't supposed to be lovestruck. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to be— I don't know, okay?!" I argued back before my thoughts started to splatter everywhere.

Finn sat with a lot of hesitation, his hand buried between his laps. What could he say about that, honestly? That moment, the moment when Ash held me in his arms, it couldn't relate to what had happened in the shack. But maybe it's ostensible.

"Lianne! Finn! Where are you?!" Ace's voice sounded from the behind the cobblestone wall behind us.

The voices startled us as we bolted to the wall, looking past it for the two.

"Here!" My shout was enough for them to look around until they spot the both of us halfway unhidden by the big cobblestone wall.

They ran up as fast as they could. I, in a confused way, asked them, "What?"

Candice was tired enough to having to catch her breath while Ace only looked like he only needed to swallow his spit. "We found a room that will answer our question about the institution's real purpose."

Finn looked at me with surprise. I did too, back at him. The next thing you know, the four of us rushed back to the front big gates of the wing.

We continued down the trail that led past the entrance of the institution and onto where Candice and Ace were supposed to look around. It was towards the other side of the school and circled around to the back of the building, where me and Ash saw the dark figure from the window across.

I panted quietly for my breath as I walked slower behind the two, "What is it?"

We headed down a flight of stairs until we arrived quickly to a door that was already out of anyones view. Ace opens up the door by the twist of the knob before he said, "We found that there were a flight of stairs that led to this door, and when we opened it, we've found something that could prove that there was an experiment happening all along."

I didn't have a time to react differently other than being more surprised. We slowly followed each other through the door as the sight of different medical equipments welcomed us. First thing that caught my attention, the smell of something old and rusty was faint enough for it to not stink.

"Woah," I looked around in utter amazement. The examination table laid in the middle of the room with lots of medical tools like scalpels. There were blank screens that lined up against the wall that only served as my reflection. The light of the afternoon sun leaked through the opening of the door to only reveal only little much of what we were able to see.

Finn tugs on the examination table closer to him as he observes the strap buckles, "The torn strap must of have belonged here then. This would be that the locked door have led to this room from the floors above."

"But why is the locked door floors above if it had lead to this room? This room is below the grown itself," Ace debates back at him.

Finn only glanced at him with the side eye before he stood there in silence. I figured that he didn't know why. His eyes glared back at his hand that rubbed against the cold silver metal that served as a railing for the table. Supposedly, it wasn't only used as a table, but as a bed also. The height of the table was enough to hold someone as little as children.

Candice scooted closer to me as she stood awkwardly, "I agree with what the both of them said, though. We've only found this room because I was walking along the wall, so this room was just out of nowhere."

"Right." I couldn't disagree with her thought.

"Anyways, this really proves that there are experimenting on kids. That's really means something about what was written on the journal, and everything else," she continued, her hand waved at the two to follow back out the door.

Something had stuck out to me about this room being floors down than the third floor. What if this room was accessible from the second floor too?

"Wait—" They paused and watched me walk around the room once more. I looked around to where the sun had given enough light for me to see, I noticed that there was an opening on the roof, and what it seems that there is something blocking it's entrance from there too.

"Guys, remember when I told you about the cellar looking door in the last room?" I spoke as I still kept my eyes on the large opening.

The voice of Candice spoke from the door, "Yeah... What?"

She walked to stand behind my back as she looked up too, her eyes also noticing something, "There's another way to get in?"

I replied, "There is, from the last room on my floor. The room that surprisingly served no purpose other than having a locked underground door."

I looked back down and retreated to the light outside of this room, with Candice already following behind me. The scattered tools and equipments made this room more obvious that this isn't meant for educating children.

"This room might be the big key to what this school and its history." I said firmly, internally relived that we're uncovering a lot more than I expected.

The three of them looked at me sternly. The sun shining brightly through the leaves of the tree over us.