"Will you just tell me who it is?" Temperance asked as they exited the front doors.

"And ruin the surprise? I can tell who was most likely to open the birthday gifts before they were allowed." Kanani's sing-song tone was getting more annoying by the second.

"Jesus, Kanani. Just get on with it."

"Fine," she spat out, opening her umbrella up as soon as they left the awning and angling it over the two of them. Temperance crammed in closer, trying to avoid the cold rain soaking her already-wet shoulders. "Know Helen Grace Hess?"

"Should I?"

Kanani scoffed indignantly. "She's one of the elites of the music industry. Learned Beethovan's Cello Sonata Number Three at seven years old. Her family donates a lot of money to this school. It's a fucking miracle you haven't met 'Her Highness'."

"Okay, and what's the connection?" She followed Kanani around the bend of the school, walking across soggy courtyard grass and around to the back. Temperance marveled at Kanani's ability to walk in stilettos through rough terrain and not break an ankle.

The rain was thankfully nothing more than a drizzle. Even so, Temperance still slipped on the wet grass with her worn-out combat boots.

Kanani continued, "Ji once made her a model for the annual fashion show in Bucharest and little miss 'I'm-a-natural-blonde-I-swear' biffed it on the runway. She tried to blame it on Ji, saying that she purposefully made the front of the dress long so Helen Grace would fall on her face. Honestly, anyone could see it was an accident, but she threatened to sue. Well, she planned on suing, until I happened to show her a certain little video of her falling flat on her face. She's been pressed since."

"Blackmail. Got it. But yeah, she sounds like quite a bitch," Temperance muttered.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Anyway, I heard from Tracy Huntington who heard from Aya Sakamoto that Helen Grace was seen leaving the laundry room that night. Aya said she was really freaked out."

"Why didn't she come forward?"

"Remember when I said no one was supposed to know what happened? I meant that."

Kanani refused to elaborate, much to Temperance's befuddlement. Nevertheless, she followed the girl in the orange-sherbert sweater vest with glittery heels and fake heart-shaped freckles on her high cheekbones.

Kanani made a sharp turn once they reached the very back of the university, letting them stumble upon an old, broken-down Victorian greenhouse. Several of the window panes were broken through, letting the rain fall inside like an open mouth. She could see several vines of ivy snaking through the opening, growing on blurry shapes within.

"Come on, she's inside," Kanani urged, walking forward.

Temperance's countenance twisted into an even more confused one. "What is she doing in a dirty, old greenhouse?"

"Oh, I put her there."

Temperance skidded to a stop, shoes stalling in the mud as Kanani continued on, leaving Temperance in the rain. "You put her there? What does that mean, exactly?" 

Kanani turned with a groan. "Ugh, you ask so many questions, damn. Just get your ass over here or go back inside without me."

Temperance's gaze flickered back to the school that stood menacingly behind her, blocking out what was left of the sun behind the clouds and shrouding them in a cold, gray shadow. As much as she wanted to not be involved in... whatever this was... she wanted to know what this had to do with Ji-Yeong. And if this truly absolved her from the responsibility of at least one murder.

Steeling herself, she jolted forward, joining Kanani who had already disappeared down the hill. She had to pace herself or else she would go sliding down the mud, and she knew Kanani would never let her live it down. Once she caught sight of that clear umbrella, she quickened her pace, her hair and clothes polka-dotted in a light misting. Kanani snickered at the wet girl beside her as Temperance found shelter beneath the umbrella once more.

"You're like a wet, little mouse," she crooned mockingly. "How cute."

"I will punch you again," Temperance threatened half-heartedly as she shivered.

Kanani let out a loud, ugly laugh at that, bringing a crooked grin to Temperance's trembling lips as well. She could say what she wanted, but maybe Kanani was not so bad, after all.

Kanani held open the shotty door once they reached the greenhouse. Up close, Temperance noticed the broken glass sparkling like Christmas lights on the overgrown grass. It smelled of wet earth and musk as the rotted wooden door opened.

Plants ran amok inside, much more than just the ivy vines. Foliage pushed up the ancient flooring and broke through the foundation, spilling into the greenhouse and taking over. Specklings of flowers mingled throughout the jungle, as thick vines hung low above their heads like vultures above dying prey. Tree roots curls over the ground like thick, ropey snakes, and Temperance kept this information in the forefront of her mind so she would not trip over them. Her gaze cut away from the floor to the whole of the room, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

In the center of the greenhouse, sat a very angry, very blonde woman. There was a cloth gag in her mouth, and her body was fastened down to a chair with duct tape. Even her ankles were tied down to the legs of the furniture. Her blonde hair was less bouffant than she anticipated from Kanani's description, weighed down with rain and clinging to her sizable forehead. Her green eyes were vengeful and distraught. Upon seeing Kanani, the woman seethed, body shaking and rocking the chair as her venomous eyes tore holes into Kanani's perfection.

Maybe Kanani was so bad, after all.

"Kanani!" Temperance gasped. "What the fuck? You kidnapped her?"

"I never said I didn't," Kanani said in her defense.

Temperance smacked her head with her palm. "Oh, my God! You can't just tie people up and interrogate them! This— This isn't like some movie!"

"Of course it isn't," Kanani chided. "They never do it right in the movies."

Temperance stared at the woman with the umbrella, incredulous. "You're fucking incorrigible, you know that?"

Kanani replied with a simple beam, eyes flickering with mischief. She turned to the captive. "Now, Helen Grace. Are you going to behave, or am I going to have to start breaking some fingers? I can do it in a way where the bone splinters, oh, so prettily."

Temperance threw her head back with an exasperated groan and ran her hands down her rain-soaked face. Kanani ignored her, but Temperance did not miss the way her shoulders shook with laughter as she crouched before the blonde.

Helen Grace glared daggers, shifting between the two, before she finally relented, nodding hesitantly. Temperance took a hesitant step forward. Everything about Helen Grace was soaking wet — not just her hair, but her uniform, her shoes, and her face which was decorated in a pale trail of mascara. She must have been here a long time.

Kanani reached up and removed the gag, placing it below her chin.

"You've lost yer goddamn mind, Matthews," Helen Grace hissed with a Manchester accent. "The fuck ya want, anyway? Money?"

"I want nothing to do with your blood money. I just want answers."

Helen Grace eyed her suspiciously. "Like test answers?"

Kanani tsked. "God, did that dye seep into your brain? No, not test answers. What do you remember about the last movie night? Think real hard about it. It was — what? — nearly a month ago?" She turned to Temperance for the answer.

Temperance went to open her mouth to answer but the hostage beat her to it.

"I can tell time, you li'l bitch," Helen Grace snapped. "I remember it was a shitshow. Terrible movie."

"Mmm," Kanani mused. "Not the right answer."

Temperance flinched as Kanani moved with a terrifying fluidity, reaching for Helen Grace's fingers. The blonde shrieked as Kanani took hold of the digit, and snapped it sideways.

Helen Grace squealed like a pig, rocking the chair until it squeaked beneath her wild bucking. Temperance covered her mouth to prevent bile from pouring out. Kanani smiled sadistically.

"Fucking hell, Kanani!" Temperance hissed.

"Just doing what I need to," Kanani replied coldly. Temperance flinched at her tone and promptly shut her mouth, lest she be next on Kanani's warpath. The back of her head still smarted from when she was shoved to the ground.

When Helen Grace fell quiet, sobs racking her chest, Kanani continued her interrogation. "What do you remember." It was a statement. Not a question.

Helen Grace stared at Kanani, eyes as big as saucers as her lip trembled and she whimpered low in her throat. Then, it was like a veil was removed from her eyes, her pupils brightened and her face slackened ever-so-slightly. "The... The laundry room. I..."

Temperance quirked her brow, coming in closer and willing her stomach to settle while also ignoring the digit that was twisted off to the side. Kanani also leaned in, hanging on the captive's every word.

Helen Grace furrowed her brow as she thought back. "I-It was dark... the machine was still going... 'round and 'round... and..."

"And, what? Don't make me go for another finger, Helen Grace."

The girl shuddered and sobbed, swallowing back slick snot. "She was there on the floor... oh, God. The blood... so much blood..."

"What happened next?" Temperance whispered.

Helen Grace took a moment, visibly thinking back. "Mr. Vladimir — Mircea. He was there. He... told me to leave... and then, he..."

Temperance's jaw hit the floor, body chilling from something other than the rain.

Kanani's shoulders tensed, and suddenly she was standing, angrily marching across the broken floorboards and fetching a simple bottle of water. She violently tossed the cap, throwing it somewhere in the jungle and returning in front of Helen Grace. She shoved the bottle into the girl's quivering mouth and violently yanking her finger back into place. The captive shrieked, tears rushing down her cheeks as she bit down on the bottle.

Kanani growled, "Shut your yowling and drink it. Now."

The two locked eyes while Kanani forced her to drink water, and a calmness came over the shivelling girl. While Kanani crouched once more and began cutting through the restraints with a pocket knife from her pocket, Temperance stared at the ground, analyzing the answer.

Mircea was there. While Temperance was in the wall, Mircea was there, observing the carnage. Is that what he meant by he knew she was not the killer?

Was that because he's actually who killed her?

Her blood ran cold, as she suddenly sprinted from the greenhouse and out into the rain with Kanani calling after her, still crouched and cutting through the tape.

Temperance sprinted over the hills, through mud and grass and tree roots that tried to grab at her ankles and bring about her downfall. But she persevered, making her way to the little cabin at the skirt of the woods.

Without thinking twice, she ran to it, grasping at the handle and pulling it open dramatically—

And came face to face with Mircea. His handsome features were as sharp as ever, lips full and long dark eyelashes sweeping across angular cheekbones.

Except it was not in the typical way one comes face-to-face with someone.

The man was upside down. On the ceiling. Defying gravity.

His eyes were shut, arms crossed over his chest much like the corpse version of herself from her dream. She stopped dead in her tracks, words lost in her throat as she tried to comprehend what she was looking at. Her eyes trailed upward, noting how the man's feet were securely fastened to the ceiling, not unlike how her muddied boots remained on the earth as God intended.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open, an icy fire swirling around her, and she gasped at being discovered, as though he walked in on her and not the other way around His full lips parted, shock written on his features.

They remained quiet for a beat, staring at each other with a nearly palpable tension in between them.

"Uh, hi," she squeaked, unsure of what to say after too much time passed.

He blinked, equal parts sleepy and bewildered. "Good afternoon, Miss MacKenzie... To what do I owe this... pleasure?"

☽☼☾

This is the last of the daily updates to signify the end of NaNoWriMo 2022! This series will continue with weekly updates! I am unsure of upload days as of now, but it will be announced soon!