The spacious cul-de-sac where the empty Pacifico store stood was just as deserted and quiet as before. I touched my hand to the shop window, but still, nothing. No orca sounds or sudden visions like the one I had in Elliot's Emporium just a few minutes earlier.

I sighed and let my hand drop from the window pane. As I paced the length of the shopfront, my gaze wandered up to the atrium ceiling. The tops of lush, yet perfectly manicured palm trees brushed the cross-panels of the transparent dome. It made me wonder if those trees were real or simply manufactured to appear that way.

The more I walked along the pastel terrazzo avenue, the more I had the urge to try something...

There was absolutely no one around, but I checked anyway. When I confirmed that the coast was clear, I made my way to one end of the store. Then I pulled my shoulders back, leveled my chin and started walking like I was on the runway again.

Something split the air and a thick fog settled over the avenue. The light coming from overhead became enshrouded in it.

I kept walking. Kept imagining that this was a real runway show.

As above, so below...

My thoughts were followed by a fresh mist curdling around my ankles. It only took a glance to see that the vapor was seeping out from under the entrance of Pacifico.

I'd never seen a mist like this. True blue and aggressive and somehow ancient. Even as the pathway extended itself, traveling on and on into the distance, the mist never thinned.

So this was it. Whatever realm I had unlocked before could only be done via modeling for the catwalk.

As soon as I made the connection, the orcas were there. Undulating in and around my periphery, they moved as a whole herd. I wish I could stop and marvel at their black and white forms, but my gut propelled me to keep going. To keep walking.

Even though I knew they were only ghosts, I couldn't help the urge to hesitate – to move out of the way whenever they swam so frighteningly close to me. They seemed so real. Like aquatic monoliths... or gods.

The clicks and chirps made by the pod made me suspect that they were amused by me.

Still, I kept walking.

.... I probably would have walked forever had Sean Mori not stepped out in front of me.

He wasn't wearing any shoes this time.

"Whoa."

Sean caught me by the shoulders and I stopped abruptly.

"Aqua?"

Strangely, he looked like he had just woken up from a deep sleep, even though he was the one trying to snap me out of a daze.

I blinked to clear my vision. The orcas were gone. So was the blue mist. The avenue had shrunk back to its normal dimensions.

Once he was sure that I was all there, Sean let go of me and took a step back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I wanted to practice my runway walk somewhere private." It wasn't a complete lie. "Not to be rude, but where have you been?"

"I just got back today," he said, averting his eyes. Yeah, judging by his body language, that was definitely a lie.

I shook my head as I dug his cell phone out from my pocket.

"Here."

I held it out for him to take.

"Is that mine?" Sean's eyes went wide. He hesitated before taking back the phone. "How did you get this?"

I told him the truth.

After Sean processed all the info about the paranormal investigator, he worked his jaw and shook his head. "Those guys..."

"What do they want?"

"Not sure, but they've been here before. I think they want me to trust them. But I don't."

Then Sean shot me a weird look that had anxiety written all over it. It was like he wanted to ask me something, but there was a chance he might spontaneously combust if he did.

I think I knew why he was so on edge.

"I didn't watch the video. The investigator told me that I should."

Sean's face went from anxious to incredulous. "You didn't?"

I explained, "I wouldn't do something like that without your permission. I still want to see it, but only if you say it's okay."

Sean looked up at the paned ceiling. His throat bobbed. "None of what's happening is okay, Aqua."

"Yeah, I know," I said, my voice rising higher despite my will to stay calm. "But I said – we said that we would talk about these things. Things don't have to be the same as they were, but I want to help you."

There, I said it. Bobby once said that I was the one making a big deal out of relaying this information to Sean. Standing there, outside of the Pacifico store where I'd had my first real moment with the guy I very much liked but was afraid of scaring away, I prayed he understood where I was coming from.

It was clear my words were not what Sean was expecting. Still, there looked like so much he wanted to say. His hands couldn't stay still. He dragged both of them through his hair, fighting every feeling that passed through him.

"Of course you do," he said finally. "Of course you want to help me, but... don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want your help."

Something changed in Sean then. Something resolute and restrained took over his presence. In other words, it didn't feel like he actually meant what he was saying.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Are you pushing me away because you want to protect me from something? Or are you too proud to admit that you really need help?"

"You don't get it, do you?" This time it was Sean who raised his voice.

My eyes narrowed. "Get what?"

"The numbers," he said. Then he laughed. "They've stopped."

I wanted to congratulate him, but he didn't look all that happy about it.

"Um, isn't that a good thing?"

Sean looked down at his cell. "They've stopped because they're over now. Done." For a moment, he hesitated before saying, "Zero six, zero eight, eight twenty-five. It's a date and time. I didn't realize it until it was happening."

No.

The words left my mouth before I even realized it.

No. No. He couldn't have predicted that man's death –

"Yes. It's June – zero six."

It happened on the eighth...

Sean kept up with my thinking. "The time was 8:25 AM. It's too perfect, Aqua."

I braced my hands on my knees and leaned on them.

God, I'm going to be sick.

"How could you know that?"

Sean ignored my question and said, "Now do you still want to see the video? Don't you want to see exactly what the mall was counting down to?"

He held out the phone right under my nose.

All I could focus on was catching my breath. I didn't even want to look at that thing.

"No? That's fine." He took it back. "I'll just tell you."

I shook my head and tried to stand up straight once more. I think I understood now why Sean was trying to push me away earlier, but I couldn't chicken out now. I told him that I would be there to talk if he needed it. As raw as he was in this moment, Sean was being more forthcoming with me than he had been in the past.

"The guy had a bad heart. That much was true. He collapsed, but I don't think it was from a full blown heart attack. Because when I got to him, he was still... anyway." He shook the memory from his head.

When Sean looked at me again, his green eyes seemed to burn with an even greener fire.

"The mall took advantage of an opportunity. I don't think that man was going to die. I think the mall just took what it wanted and killed him."

Was I hearing him correctly? The mall did what now?

Sean scanned our surroundings and said as casually as ever, "Offerings take place around the mall at all hours of the day. The trash receptacles just hide it. The mall takes what it wants. For food. Or if it needs the energy."

Okay. Enough of this.

I walked past Sean, taking his phone in the process. If he was going to stop making sense, then I would figure this out on my own. Regardless of how sarcastic he had been, he had technically given me permission to watch the video.

Sean didn't stop me from finding the answers myself. If anything, he seemed relaxed. As if all the cards were on the table now and there was no going back.

I smashed play on the phone. What struck me right away was the roughness of Sean's breathing over the playback.

He was repeating the numbers, sounding crazy and desperate.

"0 6, 0 8, 8 25. Christ. It's happening. It's almost there."

The frame quivered. My heart thrummed in my chest as I watched the time 8:23 stamp stuttering in the top right corner of the screen while Sean approached the collapsed individual.

The man groaned.

I nearly dropped the phone. On the playback, Sean actually dropped his phone. It landed in a way that let it still record, though not everything was in the frame. I could only see Sean from the neck down as he scrambled to help the man. He flipped him over, making it possible for the camera to record his features.

Then that's when I noticed the stuff trailing from the victim's face down to the creases in the floor tiles.

"Stop! He didn't do anything!" Sean hissed at no one in particular. "No. Let him go. NO!"

Webbing of glowing silk formed a net from the floor and attached to the old man's chest. Blood broke out along his mouth with a little splurt. His eyes were unfocused, his head lolled as Sean tried to protect his heart from being ripped out. But it happened. The glowing net won. It enveloped the poor man's heart like a caught fish and dragged it down between the speckled tiles.

By this time, the time stamp on the recording read 8:25.

Crumpled in Sean's arms, now the man was truly gone. Sean's face was out of frame, but I could see his body shaking from shock. The leftover blood was not as much as you would think. It was as if the heart had been strained from the body like you would wring water out from a towel. I closed the phone.

Sean gently removed the phone from my hands. "They are not your friends, Aqua."

His voice felt far away. I looked up from my hand where his phone had been until our gazes connected.

"The orcas," he emphasized. "I know that's why you're here. The numbers didn't start until Pacifico bought out this space. I've had enough time to put the pieces together."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. "I don't care about the stupid orcas, Sean. I just wanted to find you."

Because you're the one I care about.

I had no idea when it happened, but there were tears running down my face. Not only was I scared, but now I felt dumb for crying over a boy. I had just witnessed a paranormal phenomenon grate a man's heart out from his chest like it was a block of cheese, yet I cared more about the boy I liked being here with me in the flesh.

I used my sleeve to wipe my face. This wasn't how I wanted Sean to see me.

"I'm sorry. I... I won't tell anyone about the video. I don't think the paranormal crew plan on it either."

Sean was silent for a moment. Once again, I had no idea what he was thinking.

"You did find me, Aqua."

The response was a little delayed, but I appreciated him saying that.

Then softer, he added, "I'd still be lost if you hadn't."

Part of me wondered if I was really supposed to hear that. Didn't he say earlier that he was already back to work?

Before I could ask about it, He said, "I don't know why the ghosts are talking to you. But I really think you should stay away from them. And... stay away from me."