The school hallways felt
different
now.
After their first direct encounter with the creatures, the air was heavier—thicker, almost suffocating. The knowledge that some of the students weren’t real had sunk into all of them, making every passing face feel suspicious.
Danial walked slightly ahead of the group, his sharp eyes scanning the crowd as they moved between classes. Students bustled around them, chatting, laughing, whispering—seemingly normal.
But he knew better now.
Somewhere among them, the impostors lurked.
"Alright," Naurah murmured. "We need a new approach. If we just wait for them to come to us, we might not get another chance before someone else disappears."*
"So what do we do?" Alex asked, glancing around warily.
Jian spoke up, his voice as calm as ever. "We make them reveal themselves."*
"And how do we do that?" Zariel asked, stretching his arms behind his head. "Make a school-wide announcement asking which students are actually creepy monsters in disguise?"
Danial gave him a side glance. "That would be interesting to watch, actually."*
"Focus, guys," Naurah sighed. "We need to identify patterns. Figure out which students are real and which ones are missing."*
Alex nodded thoughtfully. "So we start asking questions."*
"Exactly," Naurah said. "We talk to students. Teachers. Dorm supervisors. We look for inconsistencies in their answers. If someone is lying about a student being here when they’re actually missing, we’ll know."*
"And if we find one of the impostors?" Danial asked.
Jian’s shadow flickered slightly. "We make sure they don’t escape this time."*
A beat of silence. Then Zariel grinned. "Alright, let’s go make some monsters uncomfortable."
The group split up to cover more ground.
Danial and Alex took one half of the school, while Naurah, Zariel, and Jian took the other.
Danial wasn’t thrilled about being the center of attention again, but it did make approaching students easier. His presence alone was enough to make people talk.
Alex was the real asset here, though. With her siren abilities, she had a way of making people comfortable—coaxing information out of them without them even realizing it.
Their first stop was the cafeteria.
They approached a group of students sitting by the window, all chatting animatedly. The moment they noticed Danial, they immediately stiffened.
“Uh, h-hey,” one of them stammered.
Danial sighed. "Relax, I just want to ask a few questions."*
Alex flashed a reassuring smile. "It won’t take long, promise!"*
The students exchanged glances, then nodded hesitantly.
Danial sat down, adjusting his glasses. "Has anything weird been happening around here lately? People acting strange? Anyone missing?"
One of the boys shifted uncomfortably. "Weird how?"
"Like… people forgetting things they shouldn’t forget," Alex said smoothly. "Or maybe someone you thought was here yesterday isn’t anymore?"
The students went quiet.
Then, finally, one girl whispered, "Nabila."*
Danial’s gaze sharpened. "Who’s Nabila?"
"She was in our dorm," the girl continued hesitantly. "She… she was here last week. But when we asked the teacher about her, he said no one by that name was registered in the school."*
Danial and Alex exchanged looks.
"And you’re sure she was here?" Danial pressed.
"We all remember her," another girl said firmly. "She had the bed next to mine. We shared food. We studied together. But now… it’s like she never existed. Everyone else acts like she was never here."*
Alex’s expression darkened. "That’s exactly what we’re looking for."*
"You’re saying she was erased?" Danial asked.
The students nodded solemnly.
Danial exhaled. "Thank you. You helped us a lot."
They got up to leave, but one of the students hesitated before speaking.
"I don’t know if this matters," she said nervously, "but last week, Nabila said she thought someone was watching her. She said she kept waking up at night and hearing… a hum."*
Danial and Alex froze.
A hum.
Just like the one Alex had heard the night before.
Meanwhile, Naurah’s group had similar findings.
"Two more students are missing," Naurah said when they regrouped in the teachers’ lounge later. "Same pattern. Their names have been wiped from the records, and the school denies they were ever here."
Jian leaned back against the wall. "That means these creatures aren’t just replacing students. They’re erasing them."
"But how?" Alex asked. "And why?"
Zariel frowned. "We don’t know enough about them. What they are. Where they came from."
Danial drummed his fingers against the table. "And we still don’t know who’s real and who isn’t."
Naurah pulled out a piece of paper and started writing down names. "Then let’s start keeping track. We list every student we talk to. Every student we know is real. And then we compare that to the school’s records. If we see names disappearing… we’ll know exactly how many we’ve lost."
Silence followed as the weight of their mission sank in.
Danial adjusted his glasses, exhaling. "Then let’s get to work."
Jian smirked. "Now the real game begins."