Fiona steadied her breathing as she rang the gate bell. A guard opened it a moment later.
"Welcome back, Miss Fiona. Your dad has been waiting for you."
His eyes flicked over her clothes, confusion obvious. She'd forgotten she was still dressed like that.
Just hearing dad is waiting sent a cold shiver down her spine.
She smiled politely and walked inside.
As she entered the house, none of her family was in sight.
"Miss Fiona, aren't you cold in that outfit?" one of the helpers asked.
Fiona glanced at her own clothes like she was only now realizing what she wore.
"No, not really," she muttered before hurrying to her room.
She changed into her usual knitted blue turtleneck and cotton shorts, then sat heavily on her bed.
The truth-or-dare chaos… the creature… Twilight… everything was spinning too fast. What's really going on, or am I running mad?
A knock snapped her out of it.
"Come in," she said tiredly.
A helper peeked halfway in. "Dinner is about to be served, and your mom calls for you."
Fiona nodded and went downstairs.
Her parents smiled at her as she arrived; Bluebell stuck out her tongue in childish disrespect. Fiona ignored her and sat. Helpers served the meal.
Everyone ate in tense silence until her dad finally spoke.
"So, Fiona…" He stirred his soup without looking at her.
"Yes?"
"How was your study session?"
The spoonful of food froze in her mouth. She swallowed hard.
"It was… fun, actually." She kept her eyes on her plate.
"Oh really?" He set his spoon down and finally met her gaze. "What exactly did you study? Since it kept you out so late."
She stopped mid-bite and forced herself to speak casually.
"Chemistry. We studied Chemistry."
If her dad could read minds, she'd be finished.
"I see. Must have been productive then." He returned to his meal.
When she finished eating, she excused herself, showered, changed into pyjamas, and called Aviva.
"Did your dad find out?" Fiona asked.
"Nope," Aviva whispered. "But about that creature… do you have any idea where it came from?"
"No, Aviva. Do I look like a wizard?" Fiona groaned, rubbing her temples.
"Well, should we call the police? I mean–"
"And say what? That a hunchback thing in a cloak chased us? They'll lock us up!"
"You're right," Aviva sighed. "But Fiona… someone needs to know–"
"Let's keep this between us for now. Twilight handled it."
Aviva clicked her tongue. "Speaking of Twilight… did you collect your science partner's number? The project is due Monday."
Fiona froze. She had forgotten completely.
"Oh no…"
"Relax," Aviva said. "Maybe he got yours."
"I hope."
"Gotta go. Bye!"
After they ended the call, Fiona lay staring at the ceiling. If Twilight didn't show up tomorrow, she'd have nothing to submit.
She headed to the kitchen for coffee, and froze at the sound of her dad's voice.
He was speaking quietly on the phone.
"Those creatures are looking for us… if we don't solve the puzzle, they won't hesitate to kill us."
A pause.
"I know, Steven, but we took something from the tombs. They'll want it back."
She leaned in too far and almost knocked over a tall vase, catching it just in time.
"I'll call you back." Her dad's footsteps approached. "Who's there?"
Fiona sprinted silently back to her room.
What creatures? What puzzle? What tomb?
She couldn't think straight. She forced herself to focus on her science project until sleep pulled her under.
Her alarm dragged her out of bed late. She went downstairs in her pyjamas, eyes half-closed, then froze.
Her parents were in the living room.
And Twilight stood beside them.
His amused smirk vanished only to reappear as he stared at her sleep-drunk face.
"Fiona," her mom said gently, "you have a guest."
A guest? Really? In pyjamas?
The universe definitely hated her.
"How about you go freshen up before attending to your guest," her father added.
Twilight's smirk deepened.
Mortified, she hurried to shower and dress. Today it was a white turtleneck and black shorts.
When she returned, her parents were gone. Twilight sat comfortably on the couch, sipping orange juice like he lived there.
She ate her breakfast while feeling his eyes burn holes through her.
When she finally approached, she stopped two steps away.
"Um… we can start now."
"Normal people greet," he said without looking up.
She clenched her teeth. "Good morning."
"It's not morning." He nodded toward the clock.
She turned, and saw it was afternoon.
"Right. Good afternoon," she muttered.
"You can reflect on your foolishness later. Take me to your laboratory."
How does he even know we have a lab? she wondered.
They entered the home lab. Small but equipped with standard school-level apparatus.
Twilight grabbed a lab coat and raised a brow at her until she put one on too.
"I was thinking we should do something simple," Fiona said.
"What pleases your brain," he replied, checking beakers for cleanliness.
She moved closer. "We can do a basic synthesis reaction… maybe prepare sodium chloride crystals from neutralization? It's easy and it's something we did in school."
He nodded once. "Better than your earlier idea."
She flushed.
He gathered the materials: dilute hydrochloric acid sodium hydroxide solution, evaporating dish, Bunsen burner, glass rod indicator
"Standard acid-base neutralization," Twilight said. "At least it won't explode with your level of intelligence."
She ignored him and began.
"Pass me the HCl," she said.
He handed it without a word.
She measured a portion of acid into a beaker.
"Sodium hydroxide."
He passed it, still silent.
She titrated slowly, adding alkali drop by drop until the indicator showed neutralization.
"Salt and water," she murmured. "Then we evaporate."
Twilight lit the burner and held the beaker steady with tongs while she stirred gently, watching the liquid reduce and leave forming crystals.
The reaction completed smoothly.
"We're done," he said, removing his coat and hanging it up.
Fiona watched him, realizing again how mysterious and irritating he was.
"I know you have questions."
His sudden words startled her.
"About the project? Well, I already researched-"
"Not the project."
He faced her fully.
"About everything."
She blinked. Of all the times for him to finally speak…
"Yes, I do," she admitted. "But if it doesn't concern me-"
"It does. You have the right to know," he said. "I can't tell you everything yet. But I can tell you this. Watch your grounds. You're not safe."
A cold dread settled in her stomach.
"Safe from what?" she whispered.
"From yourself. And from others."
He looked like he wanted to say more, but a knock interrupted.
A helper peeked in. "Just checking in," she said with a smile toward Twilight.
"We're done, Miss Hailey," Fiona replied.
The helper left.
Twilight turned to go.
"Wait!"
He paused.
"Do you still want to endure the company of someone you hate? Or what is it then?"
He tilted his head slightly, misunderstanding her.
"I don't hate you," she said quickly. "I just… what's happening to my body?"
His expression froze.
"That's called puberty," he said with a straight face. "Wrong person to ask."
Before she could correct him, he walked out.
Fiona let out a frustrated groan.
This boy has made misunderstanding me his full-time job.