The Devil's Spawn

ACT IV: RUSTED IRON GATES

"You are all late!" Princess roared as she tapped one foot on the concrete asphalt. Her brows were knitted together, and both of her hands rested on her hips, indicating her annoyance. Sky waved at the approaching group from behind her platinum blonde friend before tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ears.

"Well excuse me, princess. And for the record, we are only five minutes late," Kou retaliated, his arms crossed in front of his chest as an act of defiance.

"Seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, to be specific," the platinum blonde female corrected.

"No wonder why they call you the infamous robot president of Pristine Academy," Nana teased, a cheeky grin adorning his porcelain face.

"Alright," Leon stepped before a full-blown fight could commence and ruin their trip. "Now that we have all arrived, get in." The redhead pointed towards the parked van beside him before climbing up towards the driver's seat.

"Wow! Sir Leon, you are rich as hell!" Nana commented as he practically bounced towards the van, completely buzzing with excitement. The said male only rolled his eyes and started the engine.

The rest hastily got inside the van, randomly assigning seats. Prism, on the other hand, dragged King with her towards a seat near the window — much to Kou's whining.

"No fair!" The ginger-haired male complained but was dragged away by Yue. In the end, he sat behind Prism, pouting at the said girl when she only laughed at him while uttering an apology. Next, he glared at King who offered him a smug smirk.

"Is everyone in?" Onyx questioned, turning to face the others from where he sat beside the driver's seat. In his head he counted each body and only hummed in satisfaction when a chorus of 'yes' rang, the loud sound piercing Leon's ear, much to Onyx's amusement.

"Alright then, hit the breaks, Leon!" He cheered, amping up the excitement felt within the confined space of the van. Even Princess, who usually does not humor such activity — viewing it as a waste of time, cheered quietly, a smile adorning her lips.

Only King remained quiet, a permanent scowl decorating his face all the way to their destination. However, this did not affect Prism's enthusiasm one bit. "We'll be fine," she assured the ravinette beside her, offering him her brightest smile.

The said male squinted his eyes, as if finding the smile he gave too bright. "Sure," he finally replied but only for Prism to know he is not ignoring her kindness. Alas, the sick feeling pooling in his gut only worsened the closer they were to the place, rendering him pale.

Roughly, three hours had passed and Leon could already see the massive estate up on the hill. Due to its location found on the edge of the map, lush green trees and plants decorated everything, left and right.

"That's some massive house! And that's telling something judging by how far we still are!" Amber gawked, eyes sparkling in delight. To her, the mansion is a jackpot, a goldmine of juicy articles that will make everyone stop and turn their heads in curiosity.

"That's where the rich of old times live," Yue said, eyes also trained curiously at the looming estate.

Once closer, the group found the road to be less accommodating to visitors like them. They swayed up and down and left and right, bumping heads with each other and sometimes squished on one side due to how bumpy the road uphill is.

But all ends well, with their trip coming to a halt in front of the estate's huge, iron gates — now rusted and coated in vines. A couple of houses surrounded the said estate but all of them are no longer occupied.

Excited, Prism detached herself from King and ran towards the entrance, a camera already in hand. But before the dark-haired girl could even snap a photo, the ear-grating squeak of iron bars forced everyone to cover their ears.

"What just happened?" Prism breathed out in surprise, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Did you touch it, Pri?" Hori asked, her lips pursed after getting goosebumps.

The girl in question shook her head and raised both hands in surrender. "I was holding my camera!" She defended and pointed to the camera hanging around her neck.

"O...kay? That's creepy, so that means we are in the right place." Hiro stepped forward and examined the rusted hinges before mindlessly touching the rusted gates and dirtying his hands. The blonde male tried pulling the gates in an attempt to close them but struggled. Then he tried to push it to make it open wider, only to come up with the same outcome.

"A little help?" He finally asked, small beads of sweat already rolling down the side of his head. Hori, his twin, was the first to answer his call, and together they tried moving the gate but to no avail.

"How in the living hell is this thing so heavy?" Hori gasped and in her pettiness, kicked the iron gates as hard as she could. As expected, it did not budge.

"Even our track and field star with the strongest legs could not make it budge," Hiro said with his teeth chattering.

"Oh, it must have just been a coincidence. Stop losing your marbles before we can even examine the inside." Princess rolled her eyes and went in first. Sky hurriedly followed behind her friend seeing as to how they were both paired and she carried the camera.

"She's right, there must be an explanation to that. The gates are old and rusty after all," Sora chimed in, finally speaking after staying on the sidelines since the beginning.

Prism shrugged and followed suit, the previous incident already forgotten. They all followed inside one by one and gawked at how massive the front lawn is, complete with marble fountains and overgrown grass.

As they all moved up and about, one of the most enthusiastic of the bunch, Amber, felt reluctant to go inside.

"Amber?" Rose called in concern but her voice only fell on deaf ears as Amber still stood stiffly in her place, unmoving.

For some unknown reason, only she can hear it whispering.