"What are we looking for again?" Cana said, kneeling on the grassy field beside the tree.

"We've gotta find out why this tree fell in the first place. It just doesn't make sense."

"Like the fact that we're playing detectives while they're having fun inside?"

"You know you followed me out here, right?"

Just then, the glass doors slid open again, another guy stepped out.

We stood up as he approaches us. He looked at us, then the tree. "Guess we had the same idea," Cato said. "Mind if I join you?"

It's not like we have exclusive rights over the tree so we let him. And so we spread out, checking every inch of the fallen tree, hoping to find something, anything that could help. The tree was wide and tall, at least the same height as the dorm. Leaves are scattered around its sturdy, barky trunk. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

At first glance, everything was exactly as it looks. A tree fell. That's it. No Shade. No dead kid. Whoever Major Coleman called, they did a great job cleaning up. I looked at where Kent's body was supposed to be lying. Now, the grass had been mowed down, the only trace of him left was a dark patch created on the dirt, like a dried mud puddle after raining. The image of his death returned, reminding me of last night's horror. My heart started pounding. It's all right. It's morning. We're safe. I had to tell myself, repeatedly.

I took a deep breath and continued working down to the base of the fallen tree. That's when I noticed something strange. The base was cut diagonally. I ran my fingers on its surface. It was...smooth.

I tried to recall what I've remembered last night. The Shade floated behind the tree. Then Mr. Donovan followed. After that, Mr. Donovan screamed and the tree started to slide and crashed to the ground. That's about it. So what happened last night? Shades have no physical body so it's just impossible for them to touch things let alone fell a tree. I walked over to the stump and squatted by it. The surface has the same, smooth diagonal cut. Next to it was another dark patch of the ground. I assumed it's where Mr. Donovan's body was found.

"Hey guys," I said. "I think you should see this." They immediately came over and sat beside me.

"So it's been cut," Cana said. She ran her hand on its surface. "A clean cut."

"Way too clean," I said. "What could cut down a tree this size, this smooth?"

"A chain saw, maybe?" Cato offered. "Although it's not exactly something you carry around with you."

"And wouldn't that take at least minutes before it cut through?" Cana said.

"Not to mention the noise it would make," I said. "We couldn't have missed hearing something like that. In fact, I don't think we ever heard anything before Mr. Donovan screamed."

"So what could cut a tree in half as if it was butter without making any kind of noise?" Cana asked.

For a moment, we just stared at the stump as we try to come up with possible answers.

Cato shook his head. "No idea."

"Isn't that kind of impossible?" Cana said.

Cato nodded. "By normal means, yes."

I took in a lungful of the fresh, mountain air. The forest was full of life. Birds were signing. I spotted a squirrel scurrying down a tree. It was invigorating. I should have been enjoying this, but now that I've got my answer, a new, more troubling thought prevented me from doing so. If no natural means could've have done it, then what about a supernatural one? But that would mean...

"Vergil, you okay?" Cana said. "You've been staring at that stump for a while."

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I wasn't even aware of that. "Oh, yeah, no—I'm fine."

She held my gaze as if she knows I was hiding something and was waiting for me to tell her. I don't know why but somehow I felt guilty. I dropped my gaze down on the stump again. It's not that I'm trying to hide what I know. It's just...I'm not sure yet. It's not in the handbook. I feel like it's too ridiculous that it's almost stupid. Even I don't believe it myself.

If she did notice, she didn't say anything. "Well," Cana said, stretching her hands up in the air. "This was fun. Now, about that party..."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "They're probably waiting for us."

I turned to Cato. "What about you?"

He just shrugged. I took that as "I got nothing better to do so why not?" The three of us went back inside. Cato told us to go on first, said he's getting a cup of coffee.

Inside the karaoke room, I didn't expect to see only Harmony and Demi inside. "Hey, guys!" Demi waved at us with a big smile. Both of them changed out of their uniforms.

Cana sat down next to Harmony. "What happened to the others?"

"Caprice mentioned the word, shower and everyone took off," Harmony said, combing her hair with her fingers. "We agreed to meet back here."

"So you haven't started yet?" I asked Demi as I sit down next to him, across from the girls.

"Oh, Leo sang some," he said. A bag of gummy bears was opened in front of him. "But I guess he was tired 'cause he said he was going to bed."

I looked down at my blood-stained uniform I was still wearing. Last night didn't really offer a lot of chances to clean up and change. "A shower sounds nice about now."

"Yeah," Cana said, inspecting the ends of her hair. "All right, I'm going."

"Yeah, me too." I said.

We promised we'll be back right after but after showering and getting dressed in a plain, white shirt and black chino shorts, I find myself lying on my bed. My mind keeps coming back to the clues we've seen outside, about the theory I chose not to tell them.

There was a knock on my door. I got up to open it. "Hey," Cana said. She was wearing a sleeveless, blue, cotton shirt dress that ends in white laces just above her knees. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," I said. I thought about keeping my theory a secret, at least until I figured out how the Shade did it. But then I remembered about how she comforted me last night and thought if someone was going to hear my stupid theory and laugh at me, I'd rather it to be her. "Can I tell you something?"

"Is this about the tree?" Cana said.

I blinked. "There really is no hiding from you, is there?"

She just shrugged. "You weren't exactly hiding it."

I invited her in. When she passed by me, the same strawberry scent filled my nose. Must be wearing perfume. Or maybe it's her shampoo?

"So..." I said, locking the door behind us to make sure no one can listen in on our conversation.

Cana stepped up on Demi's mattress that was still on the floor. "So," she said.

The sweet scent reminded me of last night. When she...hugged me. I remember her soft skin, her warm body pressed against mine. And now, here we are. In my room. Alone. Just like last night. My heart started beating so fast and hard that I was afraid she might hear it.

She never mentioned it. And I don't really have a good reason to bring it up so we acted like it never happened. So it is possible that I may be reading too much into her kind gesture. I mean, she did the same with Harmony. It's just that I've never hugged a girl before. The whole thing just caught me by surprise. That's it. It was probably nothing.

I shook my head and get back on track. "This is going to sound crazy, but I think the Shade did it."

Cana studied me for a while. "You mean the tree or Kent?"

"Both. And Mr. Donovan."

Cana furrowed her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. "But the handbook said—"

"The Shade is a living shadow," I finished. "It has no mass, no body, no way of touching physical objects. I understand that. But the handbook also described the Shade having no eyes. And we both know that's not true."

Cana thought about it for a while. "So the previous haunteds were lazy."

"I don't think so. When I asked Mr. Donovan last night, he looked like he didn't have a clue. That's why he went after the Shade."

"So the eyes are new. What does that have to do with the tree? Or Kent? Or Mr. Donovan?"

"That's what I'm getting at. What if the Shade can now touch things? And the reason it wasn't in the handbook was because it never happened before, like the eyes?"

"Okay. So the Shade has eyes and can touch things. Still doesn't explain the tree."

"When I think about last night, I'm certain I've heard Mr. Donovan screamed first then the tree started to fall right after."

"Right."

"I think the Shade needed something to kill us from a distance since it can't get close to us. That's why it cut down the tree."

"And Mr. Donovan?"

"Based on the timing of his scream and the falling of the tree, I think he probably just got in the way." The conversation stopped as Cana sat down on my bed, absorbing my ridiculous claim. I decided to keep quiet as well. Outside, I could hear the footsteps coming up and going down the stairs.

"Pretty crazy, right?" I said, because any longer and the silence would be unbearable.

She shook her head. "It just doesn't explain how the Shade cut down the tree. And how would you even prove that the Shade did it?"

"We have to know how Kent and Mr. Donovan died."

"You don't mean, like, examining their bodies, right?" Cana asked, looking like she was about to puke.

"Oh no, no," I said, waving my hand in dismissal. "Nothing like that. Just a report of the cause of their deaths would be enough."

"So we wait for Major Coleman," she started playing with her hair. "But for now, karaoke," Cana said as she got up off my bed. "Come on."