That feeling one gets when things get worse, even though they thought they already reached the bottom? Yes, that's exactly what Flora was going through at that moment. She was tired of life surprising her in the wrong way, exhausted from believing that the storm would stop just to be trapped by a hurricane.

They made it, the mission was successful, and yet, the old diary she was crushing between her hands lost its meaning once she gazed at her friend's unconscious body.

At least an hour passed since they made it to Clio's house. Flora had never been so glad to come across that sight; from the gray stains on the white walls to the slight creaking of the wood door, everything came across as welcoming.

Clio's room seemed smaller that day for Flora, she would swear that the yellow walls were getting smaller and smaller. Soon she'll be trapped, crushed to death.

Her friend's voice broke the spell.

"A heads-up next time would be great," the young woman complained once she regained consciousness. "And by the way, that bomb smells awful."

"How am I supposed to do it without alerting the demons? And the smell is lit, is extra sweet."

The blonde helped her sit up, she forced her to stay in the bed a bit longer, leaning against the headboard.

"That's the point, it's so sweet it burns my nostrils. Now show me what you're hiding," ordered the redhead, pointing at the arm her friend had over her lower stomach. "I saw you flinch when you helped me."

Flora winced at Clio's caring touch, she backed away a few centimeters before allowing the girl to lift her shirt. The wound was still dirty, dry blood stayed accumulated in the deep cut.

"Are you trying to die from infection?" Asked the firefighter.

The injured young woman shrugged. "I stopped the bleeding."

"With a dirty cloth? And you didn't think about cleaning the wound? You know where the first aid kit is."

"I didn't have the time."

"But you had the time to drink mate?" Clio signaled at the beverage on the bedside table.

"I'm feeling like shit, of course I need to drink mate."

"Bring me the first aid kit."

"Ya voy, there's no point in arguing with you when it comes to first aid."

The blonde had always been the type of person who won't give the arm to twist, she wears her pride on her sleeve. To let her suffering come to light would be accepting her failure, her weakness, and that prospect terrified her. For an instant she wished that Momotaro was in Clio's place, he wouldn't have tried to push her, in that sense they were similar, both preferred to keep their vulnerability to themselves.

It didn't matter how much she buried her emotions under silly comments or bad jokes, her friend never failed to see through the mask. In front of Clio she was naked, no barrier stayed up to protect her. So Flora was left with no other choice but to let her wounds be healed.

The redhead put her knowledge of first aid into practice. First, she cleaned the gash using physiological saline solution, then, applied some povidone-iodine before dressing the wound.

"It's a deep cut, you'll need some stitches," explained Clio. "We should go to Genevieve."

Flora gulped, and her breathing quickened.

"I tried to communicate with Stefan, I called Genevieve, Stella, and Gellert. No one is answering."

"How's it possible?"

"I don't know. Do you think they're in danger? The demons were waiting for us after all. What if they know the location of the headquarters? Not even Stefan, he always answers, it isn't like he could have signal problems with his power."

"What do we do now?" Murmured Clio. The question was drowned by the uncertainty.

"Sobrevivir."

"Meaning?"

"We survive," translated Flora. She kept squeezing the diary between her hands, holding on to their last hope. "I'll start reading this. You should eat something. Do us a favor and check if Mr. Cheaney is still alive, he was sleeping on the couch."

The owner of the house left her friend alone, understanding that under all those words she was asking for space.

To open the diary meant to face her fear. With uttermost conviction, Flora told herself that even if the old pages didn't have any benefit for them, it wouldn't be the end, they still could create a new solution.

Caught up in the reading, she abandoned her worries. Soon the girl was sharing a life with a person she never met, the investigation slipped out of her mind for a second.

"Any info?" Clio interrupted her, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Only about his personal life. There's still a lot of pages left, maybe I'll —"  Flora didn't finish the phrase, a familiar tingling sensation in her arm interrupted her. "It's Stefan."

Both girls looked at the ink, expecting to receive good news. The message contained an address, followed by the order to meet them there.

The trio made it to the gathering point in no time. Their worries were the main engine for their movements, the surroundings were insignificant, not even the sea's ceaseless wind seemed to be a bother.

Clio knocked on the little cabin's door twice. The silhouette of a face peeked out the broken window before letting them in. Genevieve, Stefan, Momotaro, and Titan were waiting inside.

Flora's throat closed for a second, obstructed by the words and the tears that she refused to let flow. They were alive, that's all she could think of.

"Nice place you have here. The windows and the roof need some work, I know someone who could help." Mr. Cheaney disintegrated the silence in an anticlimactic way.

"Thanks, I guess," answered Stefan, a little baffled by the old man's comment.  "We should start now that we're all here."

One by one they shared their stories, words and emotions intertwined in a tragic speech. None of them mentioned the future, yet they all knew that the horizon wasn't shiny.

"—then she used her powers to heal him. They're still in Bertram and Geller's house." Momotaro finished. Titan stayed next to him the whole time, his head laying on his owner's legs.

"So, the same demon who attacked you was the one at the headquarters?" Asked Flora. "And you're saying that Lorcan turned a light inside his darkness, Stella did the same, but the others couldn't do it?"

"Maybe it's related to magic," commented Zygmunt. "Only the lights created by powers work."

"That makes sense," The blonde whispered.

Everyone looked surprised by Mr. Cheaney's conclusion, but the biggest revelation was yet to come.

"I know who the traitor is." Momotaro dropped the bomb. "Casimir."

"Casimir? The goody two shoes?" The redhead questioned him.

"He's not as good as you think," Momo continued. "I know what I'm saying."

"Are you sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that you're still pissed over the fact that he accidentally used his power on you once?" Clio doubled the bet. "You sure as hell can't take it when you're not in control, and you're stubborn as a mule. I'm being honest."

"There's a big distance between being honest and being an asshole."

"You two stop it!" Yelled Stefan. "Clio let him finish, I'm sure that he has an explanation."

"I do." The tattooed boy confirmed. "I had my suspicions about two of the members, Casimir and Noah. I thought the quickest way to solve the problem was to test them. I asked Stefan and Flora to keep Noah away from the information, on the other side I made sure that Casimir knew about our plans. If Noah was the traitor then the demons wouldn't have a way of knowing about the location of the elder's families or our plan to go visit them, if Casimir was the traitor he would be able to inform the demons about it."

"And the demons knew our location and the time of our plan. They were waiting for us." Concluded Flora.

"Exactly. Now that I know who the traitor is, I want to ask for permission." He requested.

"What kind of permission?" Asked the leader.

"I want to be the one to capture him, and I want to interrogate him."

They got together once again. What's your opinion about the chapter?
Have a nice day ❤️