ROYAL BLOOD

SOMEONE VISITS

In the cabin, the planchette glowed again and pulled someone inside. The person fell out of the portal and looked around him. That person saw nothing but darkness. The moon was the only source of light. The person looked back and saw a forest. Panicking, that person ran forward instead and saw houses. The houses were all dark with no sign of living beings. The person kept running and saw the only lit house a little far from the others. The person sighed and ran towards the house. The person hesitated for a while and knocked on the door.

--

Lore, Jackson and Wisteria helped Rufus clear up the dishes. Rufus fed the fireplace with some logs and lit a fire.

"It's a bit cold tonight." Jackson said.

"Yeah." Rufus replied.

"We've been wearing the same clothes for two days." Jackson said.

Lore and Wisteria nodded. "Didn't realize." Lore said.

"I have my late brother's clothes somewhere. I'll pull them out for you." He looked at Wisteria and said, "I'm sorry but I don't have any female clothes."

"That's okay." Wisteria said, "I don't mind wearing your brother's clothes."

Rufus nodded and disappeared to his room.

"We need to plan something out." Wisteria told Lore and Jackson.

"I won't sleep tonight unless we come up with something." Lore said.

Wisteria nodded and Rufus came back with a few pair of clothing and handed over. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Lore, Jackson and Wisteria got up quickly. Rufus walked towards the door slowly and asked, "Who's there?"

The person kept knocking on the door and heard someone approach the door.

"Help!" the person cried.

Rufus turned back towards the others after hearing someone ask for help.

Lore gulped and watched Rufus open the door.

The person stepped back after hearing the door open. Rufus looked at the person standing out. He knew the person. The person looked at Rufus and felt strange. Rufus looked familiar to the person. The two kept looking at each other. Rufus turned back towards the kids and opened the door wide revealing the person to them.

"Leo!" Lore cried.

"Lore!" Leo said and ran towards him. Lore hugged Leo tight and felt warm and relieved. Leo let him go and said, "Buddy, are you okay? Where is this place and what happened?"

Lore smiled at him. He was very happy to see Leo again. It was like a miracle. He was thinking of Leo the other day and now he was standing right in front of him.

--

Lore finished telling Leo everything that happened from how they reached there to how they were betrayed by Urbane.

"How did you find the game?" Lore asked Leo.

Leo replied, "I had seen the four of you enter the woods. I wanted to follow you but at that moment Patricia called me for some work. Suddenly, cops showed up in a few moments and they brought out professor Baron's body. Patricia freaked out and looked for you. Jackson and Wisteria's parents called in to ask why you weren't back home. I thought that you were fooling around and entered the woods just to play. But I got worried once Baron's body was discovered. Patricia panicked when she couldn't find the four of you. She asked filed a missing complaint case to the cops who were investigating the forest. I didn't tell Patricia that I had seen you in the woods because I sensed something fishy. Patricia just didn't leave me alone from then. So, I couldn't sneak out. I thought you would return back but a day passed and there was still no sign of the four of you. I got worried and I just sneaked out into the woods a few minutes ago. I saw the cabin and I checked inside. I saw the game and when I read the description of the game, I was sure that you played the game and disappeared. So, that's how I reached here."

Jackson exclaimed, "Wow."

"Now what?" Wisteria asked.

"We find Grivald, I guess." Leo replied.

"But how?"

"Maybe Rufus knows something?"

"I don’t know." Rufus replied.

"Then we'll just look for him tomorrow." Lore said. They agreed to this because no one had a plan. They were just exhausted. Wisteria went inside Rufus's room to change her clothes. Leo went out to stroll.

"Be careful and don't let anyone see you." Rufus told him.

"Yeah, it's alright." Leo said.

Rufus cut out the lights inside and went to sleep. Lore walked towards Leo who was staring at the vast darkness.

"Hey." Lore said.

"What's up?" Leo asked.

Lore smiled. "How's Patricia?"

"She's okay. She was extremely worried when you disappeared. She didn't eat anything. I don't know how she'll be when she wakes up tomorrow to see me disappeared as well."

"Well were you worried when I disappeared?"

"Of course not."

Lore poked him and said, "Shut up"

Leo laughed. He kept staring at the sky and said, "You remember how Patricia used to tell us that dead people become stars?"

"Yeah, I do. I also remember how we used to say it's nothing."

"After mom and dad…" This made Lore change his expression. Leo continued, "I realized that once you lose your loved ones, you'll automatically look up at the stars in the sky hoping it to be one of them."

"Yeah. Are you okay? You're being extremely philosophical."

Leo hit Lore's head and said, "Shut your mouth, Loser."

Lore laughed and said, "I missed this Leo a lot."

"I missed this loser too." Leo said and smiled.

--

Ryan watched the brothers move inside and he ran out of his house. He entered the forest, bent down near a Mulberry tree and whispered something. The trapdoor opened once again and he went down. Like Grivald, he kept walking through the long tunnel until he reached Gary's study. He knocked on the door. There was no response from the other side. Probably asleep, he thought yet he kept knocking. Soon enough, he heard a shuffling sound from across the door. The door opened and Gary looked at him sleepy headed.

"What brings you here at this hour? Make sure that it's something worthy for disturbing my sleep." He asked.

Ryan replied with his eyes gleaming, "His brother is here."

This made Gary grin, "Bingo! It's going to be a double kill."

Ryan nodded grinning from ear to ear.

--

Lore looked outside the window. A new morning. A new chapter in his life, he thought. He could hear Leo talking to Rufus asking him questions about that place. Wisteria slowly approached him and said, "A new day and we don't know what to do." She sighed.

Lore nodded and asked, "Came up with anything?"

"Not yet." She replied.

"I hope we find a way."