CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter may contain content that might be troubling to some readers, including, but not limited to, depictions of and references to death, self-harm and suicide, graphic violence, sexual assault, strong language and more.

Please be mindful of these sensitive themes and other possible triggers. Remember to practice self-care before, during and after reading.

LORELEI

Napapunas ako ng pawis sabay lunok ng laway habang tinititigan ang countdown timer. Less than ten minutes left before the bomb would go off. Tinext ko na agad sina Loki at Alistair para sabihing natagpuan na namin ang bomba.

"What should we do now?" tanong ni Jamie. Kung kanina'y pangiti-ngiti pa siya, ngayo'y nagkaroon na ng bahid ng pagkabahala sa mukha niya.

Pinaupo muna namin ang lalaki sa librarian's desk at sinigurong nakatalikod siya sa mga kapwa niya estudyante. Creating unnecessary panic was the last thing that we wanted to happen here.

"You have the chessboard puzzle?" tanong ko sa aking kasama.

"Here." Inilabas niya ang papel kung saan iginuhit niya ang arrangement ng mga chess piece sa board. I was not too familiar with how that game worked, making it hard for me to contribute anything to the group.

"Let's call them," I said as I dialed Loki's number first. Once he was connected, I dialed Alistair's number next and put it in a conference call.

Biglang dumikit sa akin si Jamie at inilapit ang bibig niya sa phone. "Hello, Loki! Na-miss mo na ba ako?"

My goodness, Jamie! Marami pang mas importanteng tanong kaysa riyan.

"How's everything on your end?" Loki ignored his question. I could picture his bored face by listening to his monotonous voice. Kahit na kulang-kulang sa ten minutes ang natitira sa amin, sigurado akong napanatili niyang maging kalmado sa ganitong sitwasyon.

"The bomb is strapped to a student's body," sagot ko. "And we have no idea how to crack the chessboard code."

"Creative." Narinig kong parang humikab siya. "Mine was placed inside the piano in the auditorium. How boring. How about you, Alistair?"

"Under the bleachers here in the gymnasium," my childhood friend answered. Walang kahit anong hint sa boses niya na kinakabahan siya. "May mga nagre-rehearse na taga-Theater Club dito, but I managed to convince them to let me search the area."

"Any ideas on the code?" tanong ko habang nakatitig sa nakasulat na queen sa isang square.

"It must have something to do with the chesspieces on the board, right?" Alistair asked. "Do you think the ranks matter?"

"I think they were randomly picked by the bomber," Loki replied. "It doesn't matter whether it's a king, a queen, or a pawn on a particular square."

"How about the coordinates? No, they won't make any sense."

"The password requires only eight letters. If every piece stands for a single letter, then our answers won't fit that criteria. Plus, the chessboard only gives us eight letters from A to H. Too limited."

I scratched my chin, trying to make sense of the whole puzzle. Kahit sina Loki at Alistair, nahirapan sa pag-decode. If Moriarty was the one who created this code, he did a great job of posing a challenge to the QED Club. But now was not the time to praise him. We only had about seven minutes left before the explosion.

What if each chess piece represented something, but not individual letters? There were eight squares per row and column. There were eight rows and columns. The password was eight letters long. Eight . . . that number must mean something.

"Hey, do you know a code that has something to do with the number eight?" I asked over the phone, hoping that it would help them. Among the four of us, Loki was the only one knowledgeable of different codes.

"Ah! I've been thinking the same, Lorelei." He must be scribbling on a paper. "There are eight squares in every row, and every piece on each square must represent a particular unit. We have to mark every square occupied by a chess piece and—"

Silence.

"Hello? Loki?" Na-disconnect ba ang tawag o sadyang natigil siya sa pagsasalita? "Hello?"

"Binary code."

"Bina—what?"

"This is a binary code! An eight-digit sequence with only two numbers—zero and one."

"Paano natin malalaman kung alin ang zero at one dito?"

"The squares?" sagot ni Alistair. "Maybe the empty squares represent zero while the occupied squares represent one."

Mabilis kong kinuha ang aking pen at sinulatan ang papel na ibinigay sa akin ni Jamie. I crossed out the names of the chess pieces and replaced them with 1. Ang mga square na bakante, sinulatan ko ng 0. And the board looked like this:

"Jamie, is your phone connected to the internet?" Agad akong lumingon sa aking kasama. "Can you search for the binary character table?"

"On it!" she complied without rolling her eyes at me. It only took her seconds before showing an image of a series of 0s and 1s plus their equivalent letters.

Ipinag-match ko ang series ng mga numero sa aking papel at sa table na ipinakita niya. Unti-unting na-reveal ang mensaheng itinatago ng code.

01001101—M
01001111—O
01010010—R
01001001—I
01000001—A
01010010—R
01010100—T
01011001—Y

"Moriarty!" I exclaimed after cracking the code.

"If we've only suspected that he used his alias as the password, we wouldn't have gone through the trouble of decoding it," natatawang komento ni Loki. "Imagine how many minutes we could have saved."

"But we can't take any chances," tugon naman ni Alistair. "Mas mabuti nang dinecode natin ito para makasiguro."

"When you key in the answer, make sure that it's in all caps."

We hung up so we could focus our attention on defusing the bomb. Inutusan ko si Jamie na i-type ang password, pero sinagot niya ako ng paulit-ulit na pag-iling. I got no other choice, I had to do it myself.

Less than three minutes left before the explosion. I remembered Jamie telling me earlier about taking advantage of the situation. Dahil doon, pumasok sa isip kong tanungin siya tungkol sa isang bagay na matagal nang bumabagabag sa akin.

"Jamie?" tawag ko.

"Hmm?" taas-kilay niyang sagot.

"We might die here if I input the incorrect password, so I want to take this chance to ask you a question."

Ilang segundo siyang nanahimik, tila pinag-isipan kung may karapatan akong magtanong sa kaniya. "Sige, pagbibigyan kita. What's your question?"

I looked her in the eye, observing her b*tchy face whenever I was alone with her. Noong unang araw pa lang na nagkakilala kami, ipinakita na niya sa akin ang other side niya. Tandang-tanda ko pa ang kaniyang unang tanong sa akin noon: Is something going on between Loki and me?

"Why are you so clingy to Loki?" I asked. "You seem very attracted to him. You even act as if you're desperate for his attention."

Her annoyed facial expression relaxed and her mocking smile waned. "Why? You jealous? Are you also attracted to my Loki dear? Ang akala ko ba'y 'di mo ma-imagine ang sarili mo na ma-fall sa kaniya?"

Hindi tamang gamitin niya ang possessive pronoun na my bilang pang-modify kay Loki dahil unang-una, hindi niya pagmamay-ari ang roommate ko. Also, we hadn't had any confirmation nor hint that these two got mutual feelings for each other.

"Just this once, be serious and answer my question," I told her with a straight face.

Then there was silence. She cut her gaze away, the sparkle in her eyes gone. Parang may sumagi sa isip niyang malungkot na alaala. Was it a sensitive question? Was it too personal?

"Loki . . . reminded me of my brother. They're both smart and charming in their own ways."

"Your brother? How old is he?"

"He should have been twenty last May."

"Should have been?"

She returned my gaze with a glint of sadness in her eyes. My gut told me that her melancholic expression was genuine. "He's been dead for two years. Died because of an accident. He was also a student here. He was actually the student council president."

"I-I'm sorry." That was a crack on her mask. Sa ilang linggo kong pagkakakilala sa kaniya, ngayon ko pa lang yata nakita ang ganitong side niya.

"But why am I telling you that?" She wiped the tears from her eyes and pointed at the bomb. "Focus on deactivating that thing! Gusto ko pang makita si Loki dear!"

That was as far as I could go about her brother. Truth be told, I wanted to know more, especially after she mentioned the word accident. Sa ngayon, hindi ko na muna ipu-push ang pagtatanong sa kaniya at magpo-focus muna ako sa kailangan naming gawin.

Kahit na-crack na namin ang code, hindi pa rin naiwasang manginig ng mga kamay ko. Lumayo nang ilang hakbang sa akin si Jamie habang sinimulan ko nang pindutin ang keypad ng lumang cellular phone. Malamig man dito sa library, pinagpawisan ako.

M-O-R-I-

One minute left before explosion.

Kung kinakabahan ako, lalong kinakabahan ang estudyanteng kaharap ko. Naiiyak na siya't namumutla na sa sobrang takot. Parang hihimatayin na nga siya.

M-O-R-I-A-R-T-Y

Ipinikit ko ang aking mga mata sabay lunok ng laway. Wala mang ticking sound ang bomba, dinig na dinig ko naman ang mabilis at malakas na tibok ng puso ko. If our method of decryption was wrong, we would all blow up.

Click.

I pressed the OK button as I remained frozen on my feet. There was not any loud boom, just the usual chatter in the library. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the timer on the bomb.

It stopped at 0:59.

Napaupo ako sa sahig at bumuntonghininga nang malalim. Nakahinga na rin nang maluwag si Jamie. We did it! We defused the bomb and eliminated Moriarty's threat! Nang naka-recover na ako mula sa tensiyon, I called Loki and Alistair to check their status.

"We're still alive!" sabi ko nang kumonekta na ang tawag. "How about you?"

"Alive and kicking," Loki replied.

"Same here," Alistair answered.

"Ano na'ng gagawin natin ngayon?" sunod kong tanong. Sinubukan kong tumayo, pero nanghina ang mga binti ko kaya napaupo ulit ako.

"We've saved the school from a tragedy. Our faces and names deserve to be printed in every local newspaper. Aside from media attention, we also deserve some medals and certificates. What do you think?"

I chuckled at Loki's jest as I looked up the ceiling. We lived to see another day again. How many times would our wits be tested by Moriarty?

"Let's call the authorities and ask them to dispose of these bombs," Alistair suggested. "Kahit na tumigil na ang timer, puwede pa ring sumabog ang mga ito."

"Let's meet at the clubroom once everything's clear," Loki added. "Moriarty made his first move. It's time to discuss our countermove."

I hung up the phone and dialed the police station's hotline. Ipinaliwanag ko sa kanila ang sitwasyon sa library at sinabing nakadikit sa katawan ng isang estudyante ang bomba. Gusto ko mang tanggalin na ang pagkakatali nito, nagdalawang-isip ako dahil baka may magalaw ako sa wires at bigla 'yong sumabog.

It took ten minutes before they arrived at the library. Napatingin sa kanila ang mga walang kamuwang-muwang na estudyante, nagtataka kung bakit may mga awtoridad dito. A familiar face stood out from their group as they approached the librarian's desk.

"Hey, isn't that guy . . . ?" Jamie nudged me on my left arm as her voice trailed off. She was staring at Bastien Montreal, the only living link we got to Moriarty.

Calm down, Lorelei. I needed to act normal. I needed to forget for a while the thought that he was one of Moriarty's minions.

"Lorelei! Jamie! Matagal-tagal na rin tayong hindi nagkikita!" nakangiti niyang bati sa amin. Pinanood niya ang kaniyang mga kasama na tanggalin ang pagkaka-strap ng bomba sa estudyante. "Remember the case in the abandoned warehouse? 'Yon yata ang last time?"

That particular case was etched in my mind. Doon namin siya na-trick para mahiram ang phone niya at makuha ang number ni Moriarty. Jamie was a big help back then, thanks to her retentive memory.

I began to understand why Loki was sometimes keeping secrets from me. Hindi ko kasi alam kung paano mag-react sa harap ni Officer Montreal. Kani-kanina'y hindi na ako pinagpapawisan dahil wala na ang banta ng bomba. Pero ngayo'y naramdaman ko na namang may namumuo sa noo ko.

"Mukhang busy kayo ngayon, officer?" Ngumiti si Jamie sa kaniya. Mabuti pa siya, kaya niyang magpanggap na parang wala siyang alam.

"Thanks to whoever set this up, naging productive ang araw namin." Pilit na ngumiti pabalik sa kaniya si Officer Montreal. Alam naman niya kung sino ang mastermind ng mga bomb threat na ito.

Mayamaya'y tinawag na siya para tulungang dalhin sa clinic ang estudyanteng may suot na bomba. Natanggal na nila ang naka-strap sa katawan nito at maingat na inilabas ang pampasabog. Sabay-sabay ring lumabas ang mga pulis nang nasigurong ligtas na ang library mula sa kahit anong banta.

Everything was clear, so Jamie and I decided to return to the clubroom. Excited na nga ang kasama ko na makita ulit si Loki na parang ilang araw niyang hindi nakita. I wanted to ask her more about the connection between Loki and her brother, but I chose to hold my tongue. Now might not be the time. Baka hindi rin niya i-entertain ang tanong ko.

Saktong paglabas namin sa library, nanindig ulit ang mga balahibo ko't nakaramdam na parang may mga matang nakamasid sa akin. Kapareho ito ng naramdaman ko noong palabas kami ng high school building kanina.

My head turned to the left where I caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Sandaling nagtagpo ang tingin namin. Hindi ako puwedeng magkamali. He was the guy that I chanced upon at the hospital, the guy near the abandoned school building, and the guy who followed me in numerous occasions.

Nahagip din sa paningin ko ang babaeng kausap niya. Nakatalikod siya sa akin at tanging ang abot-balikat niyang buhok ang nakita ko. Napansin niya yatang nakatingin sa direksiyon ko ang kaniyang kaharap kaya lumingon siya sa akin.

That was Margarette. Our eyes locked for a few beats, and neither of us bothered to utter a word.

"Hey, bakit tulala ka na naman?" nakapamaywang na tanong ng kasama ko. Bumalik na siya sa dating Jamie Santiago na kilala ko, laging iritable kapag ako ang nasa tabi niya.

"S-Sorry. Let's go." Kumalas ang tingin ko mula kay Margarette bago ako nagpatuloy sa paglalakad patungo sa destinasyon namin.

I could not help but wonder what's her connection with that mysterious guy.

q.e.d.