Stoll ran down the hallway along with the other three girls. He didn't know who Bailey's boyfriend was personally, but he cleaned Robert Reuters' dorm long enough to know who he was. There's another murder, he thought miserably.

They rushed over to the right side of the second floor and Bailey was hysterical. They had arrived at Dorm #67 and the door was slightly open. Stoll hesitated but pushed past the door.

Stoll's chest compressed and he felt light-headed as he saw the horrific scene in front of him. Robert Reuters' dead body was on the right side of the dorm, slumped against the wall in his bed. His eyes were open, blank and white, and so was his bloody mouth. He had a knife in his chest and his white shirt was soaked in dried blood.

Saira screamed when she saw the corpse, backing out of the dorm. Orchid was by Stoll's side, gripping tightly on his arm, her shaky breath on his neck. "What the hell happened to Robert? Oh my god," she whispered.

"This is a total bloodbath," he said, scared.

The floor was smeared with dried blood, almost like Robert was dragged across the floor onto the bed. Bailey stumbled forward in tears, wailing. "R-Rob and I got into a fight earlier this morning, so I went to classes on my own. I realized that he wasn't in class, so I-I went back to his dorm to check if he was okay..." Her voice broke. "I can't believe this shit."

"And you found him like this," Orchid finished for her. She nodded, but her eyes were unfocused. "Bailey—"

Bailey collapsed to the floor and Orchid gasped. She quickly crouched down and grabbed Bailey's wrist to check for a pulse. "She's okay, she just fainted." She sighed in relief. "Jesus Christ, this is brutal."

"Another murder." Stoll was terrified. Silverleaf isn't safe anymore.

"I-I'll get a professor," Saira said anxiously, looking queasy at the sight of a dead body. She ran off and Stoll stepped over the puddle of dried blood to go to the bathroom. He shut his eyes and twisted the doorknob, reopening them to see a bloody shower—blood puddled at the drain and was spattered onto the shower curtain. So that's why there's a trail of blood, Robert was dragged from the shower to his bed.

"Stoll," Orchid called from behind him, her voice trembling. He went back to the dorm, seeing that she propped up Bailey against the wall. She was shaking so badly and Stoll realized it was her third time seeing a corpse. "We need to get into that gothic literature club. We need to find what book they're reading." She was sitting on the floor, fingers digging into the wallpaper to ground herself. "This feels impossible.

"I know," he agreed. He pulled her to her feet and steadied her. "Gray, it'll be okay. We'll get to the bottom of these murders. The aftermath of the storm may have left a flood, but after the water drained away, the police would come. It's a matter of waiting."

Orchid looked up at him, shaking her head. "What if the killer strikes again when it's too late? Look at what happened to Rob." Robert's corpse was still on the bed, haunting the two. "I'm scared," she admitted. "Alright? I'm terrified."

"Me too," Stoll said softly.

"Gray! Finnegan!" Saira's voice came from the hall. Stoll turned away to see a scared Saira Levine and shocked Professor Asher. She narrowed her eyes at Stoll but then noticed Robert's corpse and Bailey's unconscious body.

"Mr. Reuters! Miss Preston!" Asher screeched, running toward. She examined Robert's body and saw the trail of dried blood across the floor and bathroom. "He's dead, that's for sure," she whispered.

Professor Asher spun around to see Bailey. "She fainted, but she didn't bump her head as far as I can tell," Orchid told her. Asher looked at Orchid, then Stoll, then Saira, and back at Stoll.

"We're going to the headmaster's office," she said shrilly. Great, to Headmaster Roux yet again. Stoll had just gone to Roux an hour ago to discuss his thieving actions. This day is so chaotic, he thought.

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

"Dear God!" Helen shrieked, standing up from her desk once she saw Bailey's body being dragged by Stoll and Asher. "What on earth happened to that girl—"

"Roux!" Professor Asher yelled. They had set Bailey on an armchair and Helen rushed over to check for injuries. Headmaster Roux walked out of his office, pale and stunned once he saw Bailey. "She fainted."

"O-Oh, well, the Nurse's Office is right next door—"

"There's been another murder," Stoll blurted. He felt Orchid's glare from behind him, but someone had to speak up. Helen the secretary looked appalled while Roux blinked blankly. "Robert Reuters is dead, he was stabbed to death i-in his dorm."

"I took photos!" Saira also blurted. She scrambled over to show Roux and he went as white as a ghost. Then she started to explain the short version of what happened.

Headmaster Roux was silent for a few seconds. It was painfully quiet for Stoll who wanted to scream—someone died on campus again! And this horrible man-child, whose system of justice was heavily clouded, was silent.

"What were you three doing in Miss Gray's dorm?" The question caught Stoll off guard. Crap. He blanched, but Orchid, like usual, stepped in.

"Saira and I were in my dorm last night, catching up on homework, but we forgot to bring our worksheets to class and we knew that Professor Asher would get mad if we came empty-handed." Orchid glanced at Asher. "So we snuck upstairs to get our homework and Stoll—I think that's his name—came earlier than usual for garbage collection. That's when Bailey ran in to tell us about Rob's death."

Then the silence came again.

"You can not tell anyone, this stays between us," Roux said quietly. Stoll blinked, his temper flaring. Calm down, calm down, calm down— "Silverleaf students will go berserk if they realize there's been another suicide."

Suicide. Roux was going to cover another murder up with his suicide excuse. Stoll was about to protest, but it was Orchid who spoke up. "But He-Headmaster Roux, it wasn't suicide. Rob was dragged from the bathroom to his bed with a knife in his chest."

"Yes, yes, and that's horrid, but we can not cause distress until the police come," Roux added hastily. "All of you, you must stay silent, this is our secret, understood?"

Professor Asher was the first to nod and then Helen. The three adults looked at the Originals and Stoll felt light-headed. The image of Robert's body could not fade away from his mind.

The thing is, Stoll thought. We're the Originals, we expose kept secrets.

"Well? Miss Gray? Miss Levine? Mr. Finnegan?" Headmaster Roux asked.

Stoll didn't dare to turn around and face Orchid or Saira. He was suddenly seething with rage. After the history of Samuel Anders and Maya Bell, Silverleaf was still covering up the truth.

"Alright," Saira said, being the first to cave. Stoll couldn't blame her, she still had a scholarship that Roux could revoke any time and her mama was in a tight situation. It wasn't worth pissing off the headmaster.

Then Roux's sharp gaze turned to Stoll and Orchid. Oh, crap, he swore under his breath. Before Stoll could think, Orchid said, "Yes, I understand, Headmaster Roux."

It felt like a stab in Stoll's heart. They were this band of people who exposed the misdeeds of this very academy. It felt so wrong to Stoll, it went against everything Orchid said they should stand for.

"Thank you, Miss Gray." Then there was only Stoll. With a snarl, Stoll nodded slowly. "Good. This stays a secret until we have contact with the police."

Stoll Finnegan was betraying himself, maybe even destroying himself.