Ye Devils

As they exited The Widow's Walk, they found themselves underneath the night sky, the setting sun nowhere to be seen. The streetlights had turned on and the thin blanket of fog had returned. They all slowly started making their way to the lighthouse that was visible from nearly the entire island thanks to its elevated position.

As they were walking, Vera looked at everyone.

"Someone mentioned Riftmoor, are you guys from there?" She asked, trying to get everyone's minds off of the restaurant.

"Ah, no. We recently visited it." Andrew answered.

"Well, I'm from there, and so is Mathias." Faust said.

"Oh, that's nice. I brought it up because, well, I'm assuming you all saw the news."

"Mhm, yeah." They answered in the affirmative.

Vera sighed, "We're not from Riftmoor, but we do live pretty close to the city. I didn't know it was so bad there. There were a lot of leaked documents recently from the politicians. I don't even know what to say, some of things they were doing were just… abhorrent. But the rioting is too much for me. Luckily there are a lot of peaceful protests going on though."

Andrew and Luke glanced at Leo for a moment, but Faust really studied his figure. After a brief moment of silence, Leo spoke casually without a hint of remorse, "Yes, hopefully the politicians get ousted. I'm glad the Wolves and Eagles are gone as well."

"Oh yes, aren't they the gangs? The news didn't say much about them, and we don't hear about them being so far from the city."

"Yes, they are. They were as bad as the politicians, worse even, believe you me." Leo trailed off slightly.

"What's a gang?" The relatively silent Hugo spoke up for the first time in a while. It seemed he was pretty shy around strangers.

"It's like a group of people. Whether that's just you and your friends or something worse depends." Leo answered him with a smile.

"I don't get it." Hugo mumbled.

"Don't worry, you'll learn when you get older." Leo said with a chuckle.

They continued walking to the lighthouse. They were currently getting closer to the docks. Past the docks there wasn't anything but trees and the road that went to the lighthouse and beyond. It was where they encountered the angry driver from earlier.

It was there that they noticed Vera seemingly in discomfort.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, it's just that this bug won't stop bothering me." She swatted her hand near her face.

"Stay still for a moment." Leo said and she did. After she paused, the bug that was fluttering around her head finally landed, revealing itself to be a tiny moth. Leo's eyes narrowed.

"It's on your ear." He spoke.

She quickly slapped the side of her face, with just enough force to kill the bug without hurting herself.

"What was it?" She asked.

"A mosquito." Leo answered as he turned away from her to keep walking. Vera didn't really think it felt like a mosquito, but she didn't question it.

As they walked, Leo was contemplating the connections between everything.

The strange fish and how they were served seemed to be omens, that much was clear. If Leo had to guess, Faust would become blinded somehow and Andrew would get involved with ghost roses. How he would, Leo didn't know. Would Andrew die? Would the roses grow on him? What did that signify?

As for Luke, Leo guessed he would become silenced somehow, or something regarding his mouth. Vera, Leo was the least certain of. Onions? He didn't understand what they meant.

Then there was Hugo.

It was the most obvious out of all the dishes, but maybe at the same time the most enigmatic. The raw fish, Leo didn't understand, but he clearly understood that the head being chopped off meant death. What else could it mean if not that?

But he was never given the plate, so Leo wasn't certain. If it followed the pattern of matching with Leo's plate with his side dishes, then obviously the plate being given would be the raw fish. But at the same time, what if it didn't follow the pattern?

Then you had the fish eggs. Leo had no clue what they meant, if anything. He was certain they did mean something, but there was always the chance that it was just a red herring.

Finally, Leo arrived at his own plate. His fish was surrounded by all the other fish, so he assumed he was going to be at the center of the storm. His fish was practically ripped apart, leading Leo to believe his omen also meant death.

Leo, like usual, was the person furthest behind in the group of everyone walking. So when he suddenly stopped, nobody noticed. He stared at the ground, a cold sweat appearing along his back. His gaze slowly lifted itself towards everyone.

He realized what it meant.

If he pieced it together correctly, his omen was simple.

'Surrounded by the others, you with be thrashed to death.' The others, in this case, was everybody in front of him.

"Why did you let me die?" A soft voice whispered in Leo's ear. He immediately turned his body towards the voice, only to find empty air. His gaze trailed over to the trees along the road, that were swaying gently to the breeze.

With trembling eyes and a rapidly beating heart, Leo turned and quickly made his way back to his companions. They didn't even notice his arrival as they laughed to each other without fear.

Leo watched their backs as they continued walking, his gaze settled on Hugo. Seemingly sensing something, Hugo turned around and gaze Leo a gentle smile. Leo closed his eyes in frustration and when he opened them a moment later, the lighthouse was nearing his view.

It was then that Leo started thinking about the moths. What did they have to do with anything? And the smell? Leo balled his hands into fists as they entered the large building. His mind was unable to come up with anything, so he sat down in a random chair to calm himself down.

He was determined to figure out what it all meant.

"Can you believe it?"

Hearing a voice directed at him, Leo looked up and saw Clarence the marine biologist standing before him.

Clarence continued, "That bastard isn't even on the island anymore! He left about a few days ago to, and I quote, 'Go get something.' Now, he can't get back on the island because the ferries aren't running." Clarence sat down next to Leo in anger.

"I've wasted an entire day now being cooped up in here, trying to contact the man. Now I've got to wait for this hellish storm to blow over." He continued with a groan. He looked up at Leo for a moment, "Are you and your friends heading out again tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Leo answered simply, not really being in the mood to talk.

"Do you mind if I accompany you all? You all know the town better than I do at this point."

"I'm fine with that, the other's will probably be fine with it too."

"That's great! Maybe we head out to the beach, maybe try to spot whatever it is my friend found."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be interesting." Leo said, feigning interest. In truth, he didn't pay Clarence much attention as he instead thought about his problem.

As they were talking the Bennett couple entered the lighthouse with happy expressions. Seeing them, Leo's annoyance rose. But that annoyance changed to something else once the two walked past them. A faint stench emerged from them, the same as the water. Leo recoiled slightly upon smelling them.

They walked forward and entered the kitchen. That's when an old man that could only be described as insane walked into the room yielding a knife. Bishop lifted the knife and pointed at the two.

"Get out of me lighthouse, ye devils!"