Worse than Usual
The trio sat on their branch with an uneasy silence. Now that they were no longer fighting for their life every second, they learned that even this rest was filled with dread.
Every second they looked over their shoulder, over each other's channel, into the sky, down below, and every other angle in fear of some hidden beast.
None of them dared to speak, believing that doing so would resume time in the world, that it would awaken whatever it was that had killed 24 students already. Over a third of them... snuffed out in just a few hours.
Amyla was the first to break the silence.
'There's a lot more dead people this year.'
Koko nodded his head. At first, Kai slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at them, certain he had heard her wrong. 'What do you mean, this year?'
Amyla looked at him as if she wanted to laugh but didn't because of the situation and then said, 'Isn't it obvious? I've been stuck as an initiate for the last 3 years!'