"GUYS!  GUYS!" Rori practically leapt through the library wall, startling all the poker players.  Furfur even threw her cards in shock.

"What?" En snapped, irritation clear as day in their voice at the game they loved so dearly being interrupted.

Rori pointed behind him as he exclaimed, "The fourth island's been open for a while, as you guys probably know, and... there's this haunted house... and Flauros has been collecting stuff from it!  I think he's going to try to talk to us!"

"Really?" Ryn's storm blue eyes widened in excitement. "Finally!"

"I suppose that would be quite helpful for both parties," Stolas muttered under his breath as he got to his feet, his sword bag swinging slightly as he did so.

Rori could hardly contain his excitement.  He'd been waiting for this for days.  He wanted so badly for the living players to know that the ghosts were okay and just hanging out in the afterlife, and to be able to talk to someone without them having to die first.  And maybe the medium even knew what had happened to Tristan, if he somehow managed to wind up in a different plane of existence or something.  Rori didn't know how that stuff worked, he was just a nature boy who knew about nature boy things.  

"Slow down, tiger!" Furfur called to him from a few yards behind, amusement evident in her voice. "I'm sure he'll still be there if we're just a minute slower."

Rori let out an exaggerated sigh and slowed his pace slightly.  She was right.  He allowed himself to fall in line next to her and strike up a conversation to distract himself.

"So, Texas, right?" he recalled. "You must not be used to this kind of tropical climate."

"Oh, hell nah," Furfur chuckled. "It's dry and hot in Austin, basically year 'round.  This is a complete change of pace for me, but it's nice."

She paused before asking, "Hey, where are you from?"

"I mean, I don't have one answer for that," Rori responded.  He hadn't expected her to ask that, so he took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I was born in Rio de Janeiro but moved with my mom to Winthrop, Washington at a young age."

"Damn, that's a crazy change-up," Furfur commented. "Why, though?"

"I mean... my mom wanted to explore new terrain.  Winthrop has really neat temperate forests, and great hiking paths as well.  I know those trails like the back of my hand; I was practically raised on them." Rori took a deep, reflective breath, his hand drifting to his necklaces.  The ones his mom had given him.  He missed her so god damn much.

A flicker of jealousy seemed to cross Furfur's eyes briefly. "Y'know... your mom sounds like a cool gal."

"She is," Rori smiled.

"I'd, uh... I'd give a ton to have mine back," the geologist said quietly.

Her words took him by surprise, and he suddenly remembered what Tristan had told him the day they'd wound up in the afterlife together.

"There's a helluva lot of people out there who'd give an arm and a leg just to have more time with theirs."

That's what Tristan had said when Rori mentioned his mom.  And now Furfur had said something similar.  He couldn't imagine life without his mom, and yet these people were going through it every day.  It was admirable, for lack of better words. 

Furfur, without warning, gave Rori a friendly shove, a big smile on her face.

"But that's all just the past now.  Look at us!  We're about to do a cool seance like in those awesome horror movies!  Except it's real life, so how neat is that?" 

Rori stumbled slightly from being taken by surprise, both by the physical touch and the sudden shift in tone.  

"Whoa!  You think we can all ride that later?" Ryn pointed to the roller coaster looming in the distance from the fourth island.

"If we can somehow get it working, then hell yeah!" Furfur responded, glancing over her shoulder to grin at the veterinarian.  

"Let's first focus on making sure the seance goes well," Stolas reminded them.

As they stepped onto the fourth island, Rori suddenly felt a tugging sensation from an invisible force, like something was trying to pull him.

"What in great heavens is going on?" he heard Marzy ask.

"Follow it," Stolas instructed, moving past Rori to lead the group in the direction they were being pulled.

Rori found himself unsurprised when the pull led them into the haunted house, through the dark rooms and twisting halls to a room resembling an old, creepy cabin.  In the back corner of the room, a pentagram was scrawled on the floor, and in the middle of it sat Flauros himself, his eyes squeezed shut in concentration.  Finally, he opened them, his red irises locking on the ghosts almost immediately.

"It worked," he breathed before scrambling to his feet.  He then seemed to take a quick second to compose himself, straighten his posture, and hold his head high.

"Ghosts of the fallen mortals, I have summoned you here in a ritual that connects the deceased with the living," Flauros began, using the same regal tone that Rori had heard constantly while he was still alive.  The opposite of what he'd heard from the medium when he and Tristan had stumbled across his cabin.

"Yo," Furfur said, raising a hand in greeting.

"Flauros, how is everything with you all?" Stolas asked.

"Quite uneventful at the moment, warrior of the Goetia," Flauros replied. "After your most chilling execution, an air of calm has been restored to the island."

"What the hell's wrong with Iris?" Ryn butted in.

Flauros blinked. "Ah, I had a feeling you would be wondering that.  You mortals are so predictable.  The flautist is... quite peculiar.  He has been cursed with demonic energy that manifests itself in his mind, in the form of his sense of justice.  This darkness clouds all rationality and possesses him to believe that any imbalance must be removed, no matter the cost.  He chose to display this in a series of chess boards, each one missing more chess pieces than the last while representing the latest deaths.  This was to get across the idea of sacrifice, but I am sure you, my Goetian warrior, were already familiar with that."

"Yes, I was," Stolas agreed.

Furfur turned to look at him. "Then why didn't you tell us already?!"

"Because none of you ever asked."

"Now, is there any form of prophecy you wish for me to pass on?" Flauros intervened.

"Uh, just say hi to everyone, I guess?" Furfur shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't think about that.  I miss the girlies, though."

"Tell Sophie I'm proud of her," Stolas said, his head bowed.  Rori looked over at him, somewhat surprised.

Flauros nodded. "That I shall do for you.  Will that be all, then?"

"Actually, one more thing," Rori said quickly. "Do you know where Tristan is?"

"Tristan?" Flauros repeated, thinking for a moment. "...ah, the defender of the streets.  I have not.  Is he not with you?"

"No.  Could he have passed on?" Ryn asked.

"If no one else has passed on, or felt the ability to, then I, an experienced demon overlord, highly doubt it.  He may have wound up trapped between planes, but that possibility is also highly unlikely."

Rori couldn't help but feel worried for Tristan.  Sure, the street fighter definitely still hated his guts, but that didn't mean the feeling was mutual.  Something really bad could have happened to him.

"Do you think he could have been exorcised?" Ryn spoke.

Flauros's eyes narrowed. "An exorcism, you say?  My naive mortal, you would know  if there was an exorcism afoot.  Such a term is not to be tossed around so haphazardly.  Remove such a powerful term from your vocabulary at once."

Ryn shut her mouth quickly, visibly startled by the medium's reaction.

"Anyways, if that will be all, you may always alert me if something must be communicated by whatever means you so choose-" The alleged demon cut himself off at the sound of footsteps and distant voices.  Startled, he took a step out of the pentagram, and the pulling sensation Rori had been feeling went away.

"Well, I suppose that is all we'll be getting from him for now," En sighed. "How unfortunate that we didn't gain much from this experience."

"Hey, at least we know that we can talk with him now!" Ryn objected.

"Hang on, I have an idea," Furfur spoke up. "What if we go check on Iris now?  Y'know, maybe someone's there talking to him, and we can hear for ourselves what's going on?"

"Not a bad idea," Stolas agreed. 

As they headed out of the haunted house and past the group of living students nervously passing through, Rori found himself next to the imposing combat specialist.

"Hey, uh, Stolas?" he asked, recoiling slightly when he was met with the stern amber gaze of the looming figure.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Flauros really thinks he's a demon?" Rori had to admit, the thought had been eating at him for a while now.

Stolas hesitated. "It's hard to say.  Either way, it's a rather impressive persona.  Did you ever feel like you believed him, Rori?"

"...yes," Rori admitted. "After knowing him for, like, a day, I started to second-guess my judgement.  He seemed... really confident about being a demon."

"I don't think you were ever the only one.  I'm sure that he caused several people to stop and reconsider."

Stolas's words definitely made Rori feel a little less embarrassed about being so gullible.  

"So, when did you find out about the chess boards?" Rori inquired, deciding to change the subject before the feeling of embarrassment returned.

"By the second board, I was near certain.  I'd analyzed every possible aspect of the first board, and once I saw that the second setup began with an 'R', I understood that it could not be a coincidence.  The culprit had to have had a reason for each setup, and it really was as simple as the first letters.  He had wanted it to be solved rather easily, because do you know what makes a crime more impactful?" Stolas turned to Rori, waiting for an answer.

Rori thought about it. "...what?"

"Putting a face on it.  I'm sure you've probably seen Iris in action, didn't it feel so much more real actually seeing him doing it?" Stolas pointed out.

"Yeah, it did." 

"And besides, the rules of the island never say anything against tampering with crime scenes or the slaughtering of livestock.  Iris would not face any real consequences, even if he was caught."

"He didn't seem to put up a fight when Dana and Will led him to his cottage to put him on house arrest or whatever," Rori said. "Do you think he's planning to escape?"

"I doubt it; it goes against his sense of balance," Stolas replied simply.

Rori considered his words as they approached the line of cottages and phased into one in the second row.  

"He effing escaped!" Furfur exclaimed, her mouth open in shock. "Of course that son of a gun happily went along with the restraining thing!"

Rori turned to look at Stolas, whose lips were pressed into a thin line as he scanned the room.

"No," he finally said. "He did not escape."

"Uh, I don't know if you're blind or something, but he's gone!" Furfur gestured to the empty cottage.

"He is not."

"Why are you arguing with me for no reason?" the geologist demanded.

"Because I am correct.  Look up."

Rori got the feeling that he didn't want to look up, but when he did, he gasped out loud.  

Tied to one of the ceiling beams was Iris, his gleaming flute sticking out of his chest, sticky with fresh blood.  

"Bloody hell..." Marzy gaped.

"I had a feeling he would be the next target," En said.

"Well, where is he?  He should be around here somewhere, then." Ryn looked around for any signs of the flautist's ghost.

"No.  He's still alive," Stolas corrected. "He can be seen breathing, just barely."

Marzy squinted, but soon added, "Stolas is correct.  And it doesn't seem like the flute is in deep enough to cause any damage to organs or bones, neither is it seeming to be near anything of the sort anyways."

"So who did it?" Rori asked, dropping the question everyone was undoubtedly thinking.

Stolas didn't say anything.  If Rori didn't know any better, he would say that the combat specialist looked rather puzzled.  

And if Stolas didn't know who did it, then could the case even be solved?

***

(2042 words)

hehe silly chapter goes brrrr