I think she just doesn't want to hangout with weirdos like us.

LANCE

I dashed towards where I remember she stood. Frantically looking around the yard. Trying to make out the faces of other students. Her shoulder cropped raven hair, there's a lot of girls with black inky hair in the vicinity. A few are on neck length hair, but nothing is like hers.

A few paces to my left, there's a group of cheerleader girls giggling and wiggling their pompoms on their hands. A tall girl with short hair face her back at me.

Moon rose? I strolled towards her.

"Moon rose!" I gripped the girl's arm and force her to face me. When our eyes met, I knew it wasn't her. Moon rose has crimson eyes. Not dull metallic gray.

"Moon what?" the girl asked in a high pitched voice. The way she somehow makes her tone thrill sounds like an owl with a bad sore throat.

"I'm sorry. It's just I'm looking for a girl – a small girl." I hovered my hand in the air, right to my shoulder. "Barely this height and she has very short hair – black short hair with a blue rose in her hand. Have you seen her?"

The group looked at each other. The tall girl at the center, I think she's the leader with curly locks of blonde hair looked at me up and down.

"How lame. Is this your new tactic of picking up girls, transferee stink?" Snickers filtered the group. Only those bullies in my class called me that. How the hell did she know? I don't remember her in the lectures earlier. I shake my head and left them.

For almost thirty minutes I continued my search. Grabbing any girl I find with short black hair. An impulse to search inside the buildings swept over me. But I don't think I'll see her there. She always appeared in places where there's a crowd and there's me.

When she drops that blue rose at my bed on my birthday, she refused to make her appearance. It's always with people she showed me her face. Probably to blend in when she decides to disappear.

Frustration itch my palms. I want to talk to her. I want to ask her what she knows. I can feel it in my gut. She's like me. I know she's keeping tabs on me. But what does she want?

I groaned in disgruntlement and ran towards the fence. The flimsy old fence I used when I snuck in from the field. The oak tree is still here. I made my way out of the vast dead fields.

I can't look at the dead plants. Scared of seeing my very own masterpiece. Scared of repeating the same mistake again. Knowing this ability of mine is sensitive to plants, I carefully trotted my way across dead stems and thorns. My heart is not racing against my chest. I sense no adrenaline rush in my body. Which means it's working. My ability to steal life force is not activated yet. I'm walking in a thin rope of playing safe.

At a fair distance, I saw the dead curve. The rusted metal glistening in the center of brown withered plants. I quicken my pace. Careful not to let the excitement overwhelm me. I notice this is somehow one of the triggers to that power. Another thing could be the direct touch.

I reached the metal gate without any problems. The wooden shabby house is still there. Looks as empty and filthy as before. Withered plants scattered the area. The road pavement is lined with potted plants. And is not dead.

Why?

"Lance," At my left, I see Magnus beckoned me to approached him.

"Sup," I rattled the gate, it didn't open at first. When I use some force it toppled down like cornsticks. He's kneeling in the very area where that man shifting bat 'Auf' disintegrates into ashes. His hands are running across the black soil.

"I sense blessing," he mused.

"Mine?" I stood beside him, not paying attention to what his index finger is scraping in the dirt.

"No, not yours. This one is different. I can fairly say it's the opposite of what you have." I shot my eyes on him.

"What do you mean?" I crouched and looked down where his eyes are trained. He's not actually scraping dirt. Magnus is tracing the part of the ground where there's a sign of digging like someone just buried a dead animal on site.

"Magnus did you actually bury the ashes?"

"Huh?" We stared at each other's eyes. Unable to grasp what we tried to tell one another. I pointed at the dirt.

"This is where the 'Auf' turned to ashes. Last time I check, it's hazy gray. And I hell sure just left it on its own yesterday. Now look."

Magnus twists his body to take out something from his left. "This one was here. At the center of this dirt bump."

He handed me a rose. The same blue rose I always received from Moon rose. I can't hide my surprise. And Magnus is frowning at me while I'm gaping at the flower, dumbfounded.

"She was here?" Instantly I'm on my feet and paced around. "Moon rose!" my feet crunch in the dirt and dead branches. Magnus leaped to come after me.

"Moon rose, where are you?!"

"Wait, wait whose Moon rose?" Magnus blocks my way with his arms flinging. I huffed. Taking few minutes to calm my agitated self. Putting a two steps distance from him. I might accidentally absorb his life force again.

"Moon rose is this girl, she keeps appearing before me recently. Giving me that blue rose. I want to ask her who she is. I know there's something she wants from me. No girl would appear and disappear like popping birthday rockets, leaving traces all over the place the way she does. It may be a gut feeling but I think she's the second Eklektos the 'Auf' is talking about."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," I confirmed. Magnus stepped back. His face frowning, confusion slowly suffused his features.

"I don't understand," he murmured. "If she really is the one, why won't she come to us? She appears to know the 'Auf'. I'm sure she had her fair experience with them. She's keeping an eye on you because you're like her. But why hide? I – I mean we can help her."

I highly doubt that.

"No, no. We must find her. She might be in danger somewhere. Yes, that must be it. She may be threatened not to come to us. So she keeps her identity hidden instead, while at the same time trying to reach out to us for help."

I watch Magnus tiptoed on his feet. Hands clearly agitated on his side. The possibility of Moon rose being threatened came to me. But I can see in her eyes that wasn't the case. There's something more to it. She's not keeping tabs on me because she needed help...

She's observing me because she thinks I needed help. Either that or she just wants to avoid hanging out with idiots like Magnus.