CHAPTER 48: Encounter

continued..

"This...is....ridiculously ...hard.." Zakiyye said as he hung midway between the second floor window and the ground , trying to avoid the numerous vines in his surroundings.

"Uh..." he looked up to see the window , thankfully it was open. He took a deep breath and kept moving upwards , slowly and carefully.

"At last!" he said as he stepped inside , through the window.

"Well lets see..." He mumbled to himself as his eyes glowed red and his book floated in the air. He gazed at his book and nodded .

"Straight ahead." he said.

_ _ _ _

*Dining Hall*

Malak , Laila , Noir , Zahhak , Aleena and Josh sat together at one dinner table .

" Wasn't Noel a part of your team? I was expecting to see him tonight..." Noir said as he sat across the table from Malak.

"About Noel he-*cough*" Malak coughed as he got elbowed by Laila sitting next to him . As the arm was under the table , Noir hadn't seen it.

"Are you alright?" Noir asked as he made a side look with Zahhak , who was just as surprised.

"Ah yeah..." Malak wiped his face with a napkin , "Ehm... Noel will not be participating because he wasn't deemed medically fit for it . Instead ...we have a new member who joined us , allow me to introduce you to Dolion , our prodigy...Dol-huh.." Malak stopped as he looked to the side but couldn't see him sitting in the row. "Hm? It seems like he isn't here....I believe I asked him to sit with us..."

"Ah if you are asking about that young boy...he offered me this seat and left quite a while ago.." Aleena said , as Josh sat next to her.

"Did he now..." Malak said as he continued his dinner , "speaking of which....I haven't seen many of our Killer guests....in a while...the brothers and the really strict man...wh-"

"COUGH ! COUGH!! COUGH!!" Josh suddenly had bouts of cough , his face turned blue and he signaled he was choking.

Zahhak immediately stood up from his chair and held Josh up. He clenched his fits across his abdomen and before Josh could stop him he started the Heimlich's maneuver. After about five tries , Samuel had finally held Zahhak's shoulder , breathing heavily , he said

"I think...I think he is fine ..now.."

"Are you?" Zahhak asked Josh with an innocent face.

Josh nodded his head vigorously.

"Alright.." as Zahhak let go , Samuel held up Josh , supporting him on his shoulder.

"Don't you think you went a bit too far on that..?" Samuel whispered , hardly managing to hide a grin.

" I'll make Zaki choke and let Zahhak do his first aid after he comes back." Josh whispered back , infuriated and still in shock.

"...."

As Josh sat back on his chair and Samuel turned , about to leave for his table,

" Are you sure you do not need a separate room to retire to ? That must have been a horrific experience.." Malak asked , sincerely worried.

"I will be fine...I have been through worse ..." Josh said as he smiled at Laila who smiled back.

"I ...I see....as I was saying .... maybe Zaki-" but before Malak could finish ,

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!" came a sound .This time Samuel had fell over flat , clenching his chest. "Is he seriously having a heart attack...." Noir was more shocked than worried .Josh only stared at Samuel with an unexplainable expression.

Again. Zahhak rose from his feet and rushed to his side . He laid him supine and sat down next to him . his hands above one another , about to initiate the CPR when Samuel , who had one of his eyes peeking , suddenly panicked and got up on his own.

"Stoop!! I am conscious!" Samuel said as he grabbed Zahhak's hands with his own.

"Are you ...sure..."

"Yea...yeah It just happens sometimes!"

"You...have heart attacks.. sometimes?" Noir said. still in a state of shock.

At that point , Josh only wished the earth would split open and bury him inside.

" The Killers.....have some worrying health issues ... " Malak said, also flustered by what he had just observed .

Laila and Aleena were speechless .

Bow was standing , banging her fist in a corner of the room , trying to control her laughter from escaping with teary eyes.

**********

*Gardens-outside*

" Batuhan ... do you see that...?" Jun said as he and Batuhan had finally managed to exit the maze , Bow had left them in.

Batuhan looked to where he was pointing , but there was no one there.

"I don't see anyone..."

"Huh..." Jun said as he too could no longer view anyone standing , " I thought I saw a boy looking up the wall..."

********

* Library*

Zakiyye moved around , shining his torch in the completely dark library.

It took him a while before he found the book he had been looking for , the third variant of the book about the Red Night.

"There must be something written here...something different....." his eyes glowed red .

He had copied the pages on his own and closed the book.

" I >>>>>>FOUND<<<<<YOU"

Something insidious whispered inside his ear. Fear filled him up and as he turned around a hand of a shadow pressed on his mouth with so much strength that he got pushed back into the library shelf and a few books fell over.

"ngh!!!" Zakiyye struggled as he couldn't utter a word . He had suddenly lost all the power in his limbs and was unable to resist. A pair of sharp golden eyes stared at him , surrounded only by a hooded.

The shadow clenched his chest with its other hand and flashes of images appeared in Zakiyye's mind , a boy , his chest grabbed just like this, but before Zakiyye could make sense of it a shockwave made the shadow fly back into the wall.

*cough* *cough* Zakiyye , coughing up blood , barely standing , took this chance to sprint outside the library's open window.

But as he reached for the window it shut. He looked behind and saw a young boy standing , the shadow right next to him. It was Dolion.

The shadow whispered something into his ears.

" I see..." he mumbled .

Before Zakiyye could make a move , a strong force pushed him back. His body, breaking through the glass.

As he opened his eyes , he found himself in midair, completely helpless as he fell towards the ground , a fall that guaranteed death.

*************