Two days had passed since that day.
Not much had changed. At least, that was how it looked.
Surprisingly, Nate had actually kept his word… technically. Right after we left the old building that afternoon, he took out his phone and deleted The Photo right in front of my eyes.
"Gone forever," he had declared with a satisfied nod.
But I wasn't an idiot. I knew Nate. I'd bet my left ball he was lying. I was sure somewhere, deep in a cloud server or a hidden USB drive, a backup existed. The whole ritual felt meaningless. I knew for a fact he'd pull it out again the next time he needed to drag me into his mess.
"How long are you going to make me wait?!" a shout came from outside my balcony, snapping my thoughts back to the present.
"On my way! Five minutes! Give me five minutes!" I yelled back, already pulling on my school uniform.
Yeah. Nothing has changed, I thought as I opened my bedroom door.
I hurried downstairs toward the first floor. The faint smell of warm bread mixed with freshly brewed coffee drifted through the air. Mom was there. She always was at this hour.
The first floor of our house doubled as a café. It was something she'd built herself after the divorce, turning what remained into something that could keep us afloat. Mornings like this had become routine.
"I'll be heading out," I said as she prepared to open for the day.
"Take care," she replied. Then she paused. "Oh, we're short on ingredients. Could you stop by the supermarket after school?"
"Sure, just send me the list."
I stepped outside and immediately spotted Nate squatting near the entrance, staring at something on the ground. He was so focused he didn't even hear me approach.
"Hey, let's go," I said, tapping his shoulder.
"Woah!" He jumped. "You scared me! What took you so long?"
"I woke up late."
"You know how long I've been waiting?!"
"Right, right. Sorry."
I glanced at where he'd been crouching. A small puddle of mud stained the pavement, out of place against the dry concrete. By the time I looked back at him, he was already walking ahead.
I decided it wasn't necessary to ask him. Doing weird things for no reason was classic Nate.
We started walking to school.
This was our routine. Every morning, the same path. The street was quiet. The same cracked sidewalks we'd walked since middle school. A vending machine that never worked. A stray cat that stared like it owned the place. Everything was the same.
Usually, Nate would talk nonstop, jumping from topic to topic.
But today felt off. He was quiet. And he was walking faster than usual.
Eventually, I couldn't keep up. He was walking ahead of me.
Not far. Not enough to matter. Just enough that I noticed.
Except Nate didn't slow down when I did.
I adjusted my backpack strap and kept walking. It didn't feel intentional. At least, that's what I told myself. He wasn't ignoring me. He just… didn't look back.
"So," Nate said suddenly, turning around and walking backward, hands in his pockets. "You remember that room?"
I sighed. "The one with the book?"
"Yeah. That one."
"I remember telling you not to go back."
He grinned. The same grin he always wore when he thought he had something impressive to say.
"I went back."
Of course he did.
"You're paranoid," he said. "Nothing bad happened. It just… explained some things."
"Explained what?"
He stopped walking so suddenly I almost ran into him.
"Magic."
I stared at him. "…Really?"
He nodded. No smile, no joke this time.
Before I could say anything, he bent down and picked up a small stone from the street. He wrapped his fingers around it and closed his eyes.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the stone softened. It didn't crumble, rather it dissolved. It turned into wet mud that slipped through his fingers and splattered onto the pavement.
I blinked.
"…So that's what you were doing in front of my house earlier," I said, clapping my hands slowly.
"You noticed?" he said proudly. "Cool, right? I didn't believe this was possible before."
"How does it work?" I asked.
He wiped his hand on his pants, frowning slightly.
"The book didn't explain it like instructions," Nate said. He hesitated, then added, quieter, "It just… told me what would happen."
He glanced down at his hands. "After that, it worked."
"Don't tell anyone," he said quickly. "I can try telling you what it said. But I don't know if it'll work."
"Is that… okay?" I asked, remembering the book's words.
[A human with no talent.]
"I doubt it matters," he said.
Before I could argue, he rushed back, picked up another stone, and handed it to me.
"Hold this."
"Is it okay to do this out here?" I asked.
"The book said not to show it to anyone," he replied. "But there's no one here except us."
I hesitated. Still, curiosity won.
"Don't imagine anything. Just hold it and wait."
I followed every step.
Yet… nothing changed.
The stone stayed a stone.
Nate watched me closely. He looked like he was waiting for something to happen.
"Guess it didn't work," he said. "I'll ask the book later."
"I'm fine," I said quickly, tossing the stone away before the disappointment could settle on my face.
I didn't mind it. Actually, I didn't want him bringing me up to that thing again.
"By the way," I said, checking the time. "We're late."
"Oh crap. You're right. Let's hurry."
We walked the rest of the way together.
----------------------------------
That afternoon, he didn't walk home with me.
He said he had something to do.
I didn't need to ask what. He was with the book.
He had invited me to come with him at lunch, but I'd declined. I still had to stop by the supermarket for my mom. But deep down, I knew that was just an excuse. I couldn't put it into words, but when I looked at that book, I felt a creep crawling up my spine. An uneasiness, like something was wrong.
So he went alone.
For the first time this year, I walked the familiar path by myself.
As I passed the usual corners, I thought about how it used to be four of us.
The other two were Lucas and Selene. They hadn't been around for months. "Family matters," they said. The two of them were engaged, after all.
I wondered what they would think about the book.
Lucas probably wouldn't care. He already had everything. Wealth. Talent. A future neatly laid out.
Selene, on the other hand… she might have been interested. She always had that curious, almost otherworldly air about her. Drawn to strange things. Unexplainable things.
That was how we met, actually. First year of high school. Back when it was just Nate and me.
A year and a half ago, maybe. We were talking about something stupid. Aliens, maybe. Or a manga Nate wouldn't shut up about.
But then, suddenly, a girl walked up to us out of nowhere and started talking like we already knew her. A few minutes later, Lucas appeared, surprise painted on his face. That was possibly the last time I saw him show any real emotion.
That was our first encounter.
At first, Lucas didn't like us. Or that's what I thought. he didn't talk much, just existed there.
But Selene kept coming back.
And eventually, Lucas stopped resisting. Or maybe he just became open to us.
That was how two became four.
I snapped out of my thoughts as I reached the supermarket. I pulled out my phone and opened the list my mom had sent. The grocery list was longer than usual; it took me almost an hour to buy everything.
-----------------------
That night, my phone buzzed while I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Bzzz bzzz.
I glanced at the screen.
Mr. Richard.
I answered before I could think.
"Hello?"
"Cael?" a man's voice asked. He sounded tired, and there was a tremor of hesitation in his voice.
"Yes?"
"This is Nate's father," he said quietly.
The room felt colder in an instant.
"He didn't come home," he continued. "I thought… maybe he was with you."