Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The soft whistle of the wind rustles its way throughout the tall trees of the forest. At the middle of it all lies a lone treehouse as big as a normal modern home and has just enough space to fit a balcony to enjoy the forest view from atop. 

As the wind breezes through the forest, an old man dressed in white attire walks to the balcony. He leans his figure to the wooden railings and closes his eyes, slowly breathing in the fresh bloom of Mother Nature before him. 

The old man in white can smell the wet leaves and muddy soil coming from the forest. He breathes out with a smile on his face, content washing over him as he admires a small part of the Earth's full beauty. 

The peaceful silence was scorched by the loud footsteps ushering behind him, interrupting his calm state of mind.

An old man dressed in a red suit and hat stood beside the old man in white, joining him as they dawned upon the vibrant green landscape of the forest, with the trees bending to the strong force of the wind.

“Lei è esaurendo i materiali commestibili per mantenersi.” The old man in red shifts ever so slightly.

The old man in white can hear the tiredness in that voice as clear as the day amongst them. He flinches at that thought.

“Sì,” the old man in white answers in a dry voice. 

The leaves from below the trees crunched and crackled regardless of the thick humidity present in the air wrapping around the forest. The two old men heard its echoes clearly from atop of their treehouse's balcony, despite being such a realistically small noise.

She is listening.

“Lui riuscito a trovare soggetti adatti? ” The old man in white hid the cringe on his face with the flick of his pointy nose up in the air.

“Sì, compagno,” answered the old man in red. 

The railings of the balcony screeched as the old man in white pushed himself off of it and stood straight, desperately fighting against his trembling figure.

“Dove sono loro? ” The old man in white’s brows furrowed in desperation, trying to hide the sense of urgency in his voice.

She can hear them.

“Non preoccuparti, compagno.” The old man in red held their tense gaze, taking a small step towards the old man in white. “Il nuovo membro ha trovato il nostro prossimo gruppo di sospetti.”

Their faces contorted along with the dim light of the sunset basking over the entire forest, one that speaks of a little secret locked within their grins. 

A high-pitched cackle broke through the forest, along with the buzzing sound of the cold air breezing through the tall trees.

The old man in white returned his eyes back to the nature below him, once again leaning his weight against the railing as the glow of the moonlight replaced the sun's rays. The old man in red huffs, crossing his arms as he stands beside the old man in white.

“ Magnifica .”

Chapter Text

He can't help but feel that the young man's eyes were watching his every move.

The chair was already big enough for him, and yet he feels like it didn't seem to fit him. Taking a deep breath in, Kubo straightens his posture and tries to set his mind straight. 

A group of students glances his way, staring at his small figure, then promptly cringes at him.

Kubo couldn't blame them; he’d do the same if he sees a lone kid with a big eyepatch that covers most of his face just sitting by the hallway. 

As such, Kubo tacitly avoided making any eye contact with anyone who passed by, fearing that he's drawing too much attention.

Other than that, a young man was sitting to Kubo’s left. How unfortunate, for he couldn’t see much because of the eyepatch covering that side of his face. 

Still, Kubo is certain he hasn't seen that teacher around before- he's not sure if they even are a teacher to begin with.

Kubo gives the young man a shy gaze, hoping that he wouldn't notice. The young man appears to be a lot friendlier than Kubo expected. Though, he hasn't met a man with a pointy nose quite like his before.

The young man's gaze lands on him like an arrow landing on its target. Kubo diverts his one eye in an instant, feeling those eyes peer through his entire being. Kubo’s breathing shakes as he fears he might be in big trouble on his first day.

After a while of staring at Kubo in loud silence, the young man beside him spoke. 

“Are you new here, kid?” The young man asks him simply.

“Yes sir, I am.” Kubo turns his head to the young man beside him, trying not to sound nervous.

His outfit looks formal, wearing a white polo jacket that matches the pattern of his yellow-blue checkered undershirt, holding what appears to be a British cane with a gloved hand.

Kubo found the young man's cane odd; he still looks young. The need to carry a cane baffled the one-eyed boy. His choice of style, perhaps? Kubo couldn't know for sure.

“Sir Lionel Frost!” Somebody calls from inside the Admin Office. To Kubo's surprise, the young man beside him stands from his seat. Sir Lionel quickly fixed the nearly invisible wrinkles on his sleeves.

“I better get going now, young one.” Sir Lionel grabs his cane before opening the door to the Admin Office.

Kubo raises a brow as he watches the young man hook the door handle with his cane, closing the door behind him. 

This won't be the last time Kubo is going to see Sir Lionel Frost. He's sure of it.

The sound of the Admin Office's doors suddenly flying open snaps Kubo out of his thoughts.

A female staff member walks out of the Admin Office. Her face contorts in confusion as she sees Kubo.

“Kid, what're you doing here?” She asks.

Kubo's gaze went to the employee. An unsteady feeling formed in his chest almost instantly.

“I'm waiting for my schedule,” Kubo gulps down the knot stuck in his throat. This time, he's sure he's caught in some sort of trouble.

“You're waiting in the wrong office, kid. Schedules are at the Principal Office.” The staff points a thumb to her left. “It's just down that hall.”

Kubo follows her finger. Low and behold, the Principal Office sign hanging from the ceiling was indeed pointing that way.

“Thank you, ma'am!” Kubo stands up from his seat. The staff member chuckles at him as the two individuals go their own separate ways.

~

Sir Lionel swings his cane from side to side, following the rhythm of the ticking clock on the ceiling of the Admin Office. The employee by the table grabs his eyeglasses from the far side of the desk. 

“Sir Lionel Frost?” He looks over at the young man's figure standing in front of him.

Sir Lionel nods in response. “I'm taking over Mr. Lint's last class for today.” The corner of his lips tug upward. “English class,” he adds.

The employee opens a drawer and takes out a folder. He lays the folder flat onto the table, cautiously raising a brow.

“Huh…”  

The employee drags his eyes onto the print written on the papers, carefully scanning through the files. Before flipping through a few pages from the folder, he takes the pen on his right and pops off its cap with the flick of his thumb. 

“Good luck with that class,” the employee says, writing a few notes onto the paper.

“I have plenty of hours to prepare myself.” Sir Lionel lifts his cane off the ground.

The employee circles something on the paper and stops writing, making sure he has forgotten nothing. With a nod, he flips the folder to close it and slides it to Sir Lionel using the tip of his pen. 

“Return this here to me when you’re done with your class.”

“Thank you,” Sir Lionel says before exiting the Admin Office, closing the door behind him with the swing of his cane.

He smiles to himself. He's ready.

~

Kubo feels like fate has accompanied him throughout the day; they dismissed his last class early, and afterwards, he hears the news of his next subject's teacher being absent, meaning he has no teacher for that subject.

Kubo finds the last class on his schedule easily, given that whenever he asks anyone near him, they're more than willing to answer all of his questions. 

About that, it seems like Kubo's getting a lot of attention from the students around school. Though, it wasn't just one or two people who had approached him, everyone around him glances his way, stares at him, gossips about him - he’s seen and heard all of it.

The moment Kubo enters the classroom to his last class, all eyes are on him once again. He’ll admit, this is going to take a long while to get used to.

Kubo scans through the room, searching for a vacant seat far away from the gaze of others. As soon as he spots one near the windows, he hurries towards it and slumps in his seat with a tired sigh.

“Finally,” Kubo drowns himself against the chair. “Peace and quiet-”

“Hey,” someone calls from beside him. Kubo closes his one eye shut, thinking he might've celebrated too early.

“If you're gonna ask where I live, please leave me alone.” Kubo tilts his head to the window with a groan, uninterested with whatever this is going to result in.

“People here have asked you that?” The girl beside him laughs. “Not surprised, you’re quite the eye catcher.”

Kubo rolls his eye at that pun. This school's students are really testing his patience. 

“Transferee,” Kubo lazily raises his hand up in the air without looking at whoever is talking.

“Really?” The girl gasps. 

“I guess that's just how you guys treat outsiders.” Kubo rests his elbow on the armrest. He places his chin on the palm of his hand and stares outside the window.

“Easy there, I’m a transferee too,” the girl replies. 

Kubo's eye widens upon hearing those words, whipping his head at the mystery girl beside him. He hears her sitting in the armchair beside him.

She has vibrant curly red hair neatly tied into a pair of pigtails while wearing a short pink dress. With just one look, he could tell that she wasn't lying. He hasn't seen her around much either.

“Winnie.” She offers a hand to him. “Short for Winifred.”

“Nice to meet you.” Kubo nods while shaking her hand.

Winnie smiles. “Do you have a name?” She asks.

“Kubo,” he answers as he lets go of her hand. As far as others are concerned, Kubo was quite glad to meet other transferee students around here.

“I've seen a lot of students trying to talk to you earlier,” Winnie mentions, prompting Kubo to raise a brow. 

“Don't you get annoyed?” Winnie asks him.

“I try to be polite,” Kubo shrugs. “And mind you, you are becoming one of those people,” he jokes as he points a finger at her.

“Wow.” Winnie gasps and places a playful hand on her chest. “Am I the new favorite now?”

“The only one who asks me the most questions so far,” Kubo says with a smug expression on his face, attempting to warm up to her.

“Touché.” Winnie laughs at him as she shakes her head. 

“I've told you so many times already, Wybie!” someone exclaims from behind them.

Kubo turns his head to where that shout came from. Winnie follows his gaze. 

Both of their eyes watch a pair of friends arguing loudly from the other side of the room with some other students watching along.

“Who was that?” Kubo asks as he watches cluelessly. Winnie spins her head to him in disbelief.

“You're really new here, aren't you?” Winnie gave him a loose chuckle. Kubo rolls his eye at her with a small smile. 

“Jokes aside,” Winnie scoots closer to him, “the gal is Coraline Jones, sources say she’s a big baddie.” Winnie points a finger to the blue-haired girl. 

Kubo watches as Coraline threatens to hit the curly brunette boy next to her with her notebook. 

“The boy next to her is her friend Wybie... or Wybourne, I’m not too sure,” Winnie ponders, pointing to the curly brunette boy cowering away in fear despite being seated beside Coraline.

“You said you were new here.” Kubo looks at Winnie, confused. 

“I have my ways. Shame to see you don't have yours,” Winnie teases as she flips her hair with sass.

“Huh. Touché,” Kubo mumbles quietly with a small laugh, genuinely impressed. 

Kubo could get around with someone like Winnie if he wants to play it safe in this school. Winnie seems to know a whole lot about tagging along with others pretty well; she'd come in handy, even though she usually has a lot to say. At least Winnie didn't pester him with asking his home address — Kubo appreciated that.

Kubo turns his attention once again to Coraline and Wybie at the back and cringes. Poor Wybie, he must be really frightened right now.

“Jonesy, are you sure you're not going to-” Coraline's loud chuckle cut Wybie’s sentence short.

“How many times am I going to say ‘yes’ to let you know I'm totally cool with slug hunting with you?” Coraline runs her fingers through her blue hair, trying her best to suppress her frustration.

Wybie rubs his shoulder shyly. “I-I just can't help but think you won't be comfortable with these th-”

“I told you, it's fine,” Coraline tells him before bringing her attention back to her notebook, her sigh coming off more like an irritated huff.

Wybie fiddles with his fingers awkwardly, not really knowing what to do about the situation. Wybie watches how Coraline slowly tightens the grip on her pen as she writes.

Even though Winnie says those two are friends , Kubo doesn't get the impression that they are.

“Sheesh, what rattled her chains?”

Kubo turns his head to the voice beside him, only to see a tall brunette with messy hair casually sitting on Winnie's armchair. He had a similar semi-formal attire with Winnie as his chin rested on the palm of his hand and his elbow rested on the thigh of his jeans.

“Keep your voice down, Eggs. You don't want Coraline hearing you.” Winnie slaps the tall brunette's arm. 

“Ow!” Eggs shouts in pain for a moment. “That actually hurt,” he whines as he rubs his arm with a pout.

“Aww, do you want me to kiss your arm to make your boo-boo feel all better?” Winnie mocks him.

“I'd like to see you try.” Eggs smirks at her offer, leaning his face closer to hers. Winnie didn't even hesitate to shove her palm against his face, pushing him away from her.

Kubo laughs as he watches Eggs stumble off of Winnie's armchair. As Eggs regains his balance, he catches Kubo's gaze.

“Hey Winnie.” Eggs taps Winnie's shoulder. “Is he one of the new kids around here?” Eggs asks her, as the two friends return their gaze to Kubo.

Kubo simply waves his hand, deciding that it'd be best to give Winnie's friend a good first impression.

“His name is Kubo.” Winnie tilts her head to Kubo.

“Rad.” Eggs tips an invisible hat to Kubo.

“The name's Arthur. I like it better when people call me Eggs.” He points to the egg with the word "Eggs" on his shirt.

“Why?” Kubo asked without thinking. 

“That's his favorite shirt, so he preferred everybody calling him ‘Eggs’ too.” Winnie looks over at Eggs with a smirk. Eggs crosses his arms as he looks away shyly, making Kubo chuckle a little.

“Seriously Winnie? In front of the new kid?” Eggs gestures his hands pointing to Kubo.

“We're all new here.” Kubo waves off his hand dismissively. “No need to be shy.”

“See, Eggs? He doesn't bite.” Winnie giggles as she nods in agreement.

“That…” Kubo lets his words linger as he raises a finger to correct her, “it honestly depends.” Kubo shakes his head as they all laugh.

A shrill cry echoes from the back of the classroom, getting everyone's attention, including theirs.

Kubo's senses seemingly heightened at the sound, wondering what might have caused it to begin with. When Kubo turns to look at the very back of the classroom, his gaze lands on a scene he never thought he'd see in this school.

“Cut it out, Alvin!”

A little boy in a red hoodie is forced to lean against the back wall, cowering in fear as Alvin, the much bigger boy, looms over the little boy's figure.

“What'chu gonna do? Huh? Call your ghost friends for help?” Alvin lets out a guffaw. The three bullies crowding over the little boy laugh at the pathetic sight in front of them.

Alvin gives the little boy a harsh shove, even though the boy already had his entire body pinned against the wall. Not even his much bigger red hoodie can help him hide his small frame from them.

The horrified look on the little boy's face is enough to push Kubo up from his seat. The sound of the metal grazing the marble floor was loud enough to get the attention of some students near him. 

A hard grip on Kubo's shoulder stops him from taking another step.

“Rule number one for transferees.” The hand tightens on Kubo's shoulder as he tries to take a step forward.

“Never get in a fight with old students if you want to stay out of trouble,” Eggs tells Kubo as he glares at the scene.

Kubo can't stand watching someone literally getting bullied, and nobody else seems interested in doing anything about it but him. 

Kubo's about to act on his thoughts to rip Eggs' hand off of his shoulder, but then a chubby ginger head boy enters the scene. The ginger head stands in between the little boy and Alvin and his goons.

Just as Kubo assumes the ginger head is going to make things worse, he pushes Alvin away from the little boy instead. 

Thank goodness . The brick inside Kubo's chest melts into nothingness.

“Hey! This has nothing to do with you, fat boy.” Alvin mocks. The insult makes Kubo grit his teeth together as the entire class watches silently.

“Back off, Alvin,” The chubby ginger head warns, “ everyone is watching you make an idiot out of yourself.”

The look on the bully's faces made the ginger head boy grin proudly to himself as he stood corrected. The three bullies began to back away in embarrassment as the class kept watching their scene unfold in dreadful silence.

“The fat boy with boobs made me look like a joke,” Alvin snarls at the ginger head. “We're not done yet, ghost jerk.” Alvin points a finger at the little boy.

And with that, their trio left their room like a bunch of cowering idiots.

Winnie's mouth hangs open as she stares at the little boy and the ginger head at the back. It takes a while before Kubo finds his voice again. 

“Do you know any of them, Winnie?” Kubo asks, not really expecting any answer. Winnie nods her head, anyway.

“From what I've heard, the chubby ginger head is Neil.” Neil wraps an arm around the little boy's shoulder. “Norman Babcock is the kid in the red hoodie next to him.”

Kubo, Winnie and Eggs continue to watch as Neil and Norman talk from afar while the two head back to their seats.

“People told me Norman can see and talk to ghosts and spirits. That's why he gets bullied a lot.” Winnie diverts her gaze away from Norman and Neil with the shake of her head.

“G-ghosts?” Eggs's mouth gapes as he pushes himself off of Winnie's armchair.

“Mhm,” Winnie nods while opening her bag. “Norman's distant relative can also do the same, and according to some, she’s the reason he can do that too,” she adds, bringing out a pen and paper.

“He has a cousin?” Kubo turns his head to Winnie.

The door to their classroom slams open. All the students inside flinched at the sudden sound. Winnie rolls her eyes and places her pen and paper on the desk, knowing very well that somebody outside was coming this way.

“Greetings! Sorry if I'm a tad late,” a familiar voice echoes inside the classroom.

The young teacher hurriedly rushes himself inside the classroom and throws his bag on the teacher's table. Eggs and the other students scramble to their seats as quickly as they can.

The once noisy classroom became dead silent in a matter of seconds.

“Hold up,” Coraline points out in a loud voice, “you don't look like Mr. Lint, sir,” Some students nodded their heads in agreement.

“Oh no, I'm not Mr. Lint.” The young teacher waves off his gloved hand at Coraline.

Kubo is right about one thing; their first meeting wouldn't be their last after all.

“The name's Sir Lionel Frost, children.” He leans his lower back comfortably against the teacher's table facing the students, casually swinging his cane from left to right.

“Sir Lionel Frost? Never heard of him before.” Winnie raises a brow.

Winnie gives Kubo a look. Upon observing him having this perplexed look on his face, Winnie's confusion turned into curiosity. It was almost as if Kubo saw him before, but didn't know why he's here.

“If you're wondering, I'm here to be Mr. Lint's substitute teacher for the day,” Sir Lionel says simply. All the students groan in chorus.

“Oh,” is all Kubo can say to that.

“Do you know him?” Winnie squints her eyes at him suspiciously.

“We met at the Admin Office earlier.” Kubo turns his head to Winnie as he nods his head slowly.

“What were you doing at the Admin Office?” Winnie asks again, wondering why he was there with this new teacher to begin with. Kubo slightly regrets answering her questions every time she asks him.

“I was there to get my schedule,” Kubo replies swiftly.

“You don't get your schedule there, idiot,” Winnie scoffs.

“It seems like some of you are busy talking at the moment,” Sir Lionel announces as he focuses his gaze at Kubo and Winnie, making the two kids shut their trap.

Sir Lionel's eyes linger on them two, before pulling it back to the other students.

Winnie points her thumb at Sir Lionel, mouthing the words ‘You know him!?’. Kubo brings a finger to his lips and shushes her in case she asks anything again.

“With that said, perhaps I can suggest a game we could play.”

What?

“A game?” A student comments with a playful scoff.

“Who do you think we are, dude? Preschoolers?” Another student mocks, causing some students to laugh.

Sir Lionel chuckles along, waiting for their laughter to calm down.

“I can assure you, it's not just any game you've ever played before.”

The sound of Sir Lionel's cane landing on the marble floor can be heard echoing across the walls of the classroom with each careful step he takes.

“There's a catch, then?” Winnie raises a hand, seeing the playful glint dancing within Sir Lionel's eyes.

“Why, of course.”  Sir Lionel turns his head towards the redheaded girl, “whoever wins will get the trip of their lifetime.”

“Now that’s interesting.” Kubo's eye almost pops out of its socket. He turns his head to Winnie, who has the same look written on her face.

“Either that or he's just messing with us,”  Winnie smirks as she leans towards him.

“Maybe we're taking a trip to Jerusalem,” another student guffaws mockingly.

Sir Lionel swiftly turns his body to face the entire class from behind the classroom.

“Not even close to that. The kids who win this game will be taken to Tree Noyxu; the sanctuary of the last sasquatch on Earth.”

Chapter Text

No one knows if Sir Lionel is merely playing around them.

Kubo smells something fishy going on with Sir Lionel and this ‘game’ he offers out of nowhere. It feels like his gimmicks are all meant with purpose, though he doesn’t know what for.

Sir Lionel stands in front of the teacher's table and scans through each and every student inside the classroom, like a hunter choosing its prey. He walks around the teacher's table to get his bag, unzips it open and grabs something inside with his gloved hand. The students remained silent but curious.

“Do you see anything?” Winnie asks Kubo, leaning closer towards him. 

“No,” Kubo whispers back with a shake of his head.

After a minute of rummaging through the things inside the bag, Sir Lionel  flips out a deck of playing cards, making most of the students gasp in shock.

“Aren't those illegal inside schools?” Coraline points out from behind the class.

“I'll only be here for a day, young girl.” Sir Lionel smirks, “breaking the rules could only mean so much.”

Sir Lionel's gloved hands almost glistened as he shuffled the cards on the teacher's table with smooth precision, like he possessed some kind of magic , leaving all the students speechless in pure awe.

Sir Lionel sprawls all his cards flat against the table. With one tap of his cane against the floor, all the cards simultaneously faced downward like a stack of falling dominoes, making the students gasp in bewilderment.

“Is he even a teacher or is he just a con man?” Winnie jokes.

“Maybe he's being both.” Kubo leans in his seat as he gives Winnie a teasing smirk.

“Gosh, you're so impossible.” Winnie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, making the one-eyed kid chuckle.

“Looks like all of you were entertained by that little show.” Sir Lionel fixes his gloves tighter around his fingers as he faces the class of students once again. 

“Entertainment merely hides the purpose of the cards on the table.”

Sir Lionel reaches for chalk resting on the side of the table. He guides the chalk in his fingers as he makes long and short strokes across the chalkboard, with his brows snapped together in concentration.

Once Sir Lionel feels like he's done, he places the chalk back, dusts its grains off of his gloves and slightly steps aside so the class can see his work.

The drawing was of an intricate spider symbol drawn on the board. The lines that form the spider's shape look so detailed, it almost seems like there's some sort of cryptic message hidden within its lines. 

“Eight cards on the table have this symbol imprinted on them. The rest remain blank.” Sir Lionel points the edge of his cane at the board.

“I will call your name one by one, and you shall choose a card from this deck,” Sir Lionel states as he rests his cane on the floor, placing his palms on top of its handle. 

“After getting your card, make sure no one sees it; including yourself,” Sir Lionel warns as he tightens his grip on his cane’s handle.

The class look at each other and talk among themselves.

“We will reveal your card once every student receives one. No cheating,” Sir Lionel emphasizes as he cautiously eyes some students.

“No promises, Sir!” Eggs cheers from his seat, making some others laugh.

Sir Lionel nods his head to Eggs, and the boy responds by placing his feet on his desk with a salute, making the young teacher raise a brow.

“Before I forget, the eight chosen students for this trip would receive more than just the luxury of visiting an ancient tree that's home to the last sasquatch on Earth,” Sir Lionel clears his throat.

Most of the students listening raise their eyebrows at the statement, curious as to what Sir Lionel meant.

“And what could that be?” Winnie gestures her hand as if she's encouraging the young teacher to continue his words.

“We'll take care of your bonus grades for all of your subjects, passing scores in all quizzes, projects, seatworks, assignments and activities you'll be missing out on during our little trip,” Sir Lionel smirks as he slyly checks out the back of his gloved hand.

That one sentence alone caused wild cheers and hurras inside the room, with the class getting excited at the competition the young teacher placed amongst them all. Sir Lionel's smirk turns into a grin, unbeknownst to the class.

“He's got to be the best substitute teacher to visit ever ,” Kubo gasps in disbelief while shaking his head.

“Oh, I am SO getting one of those spider cards.” Winnie slams her palms on the desk as she laughs along with him.

Now that Sir Lionel has dropped the cat out of the bag, suddenly everybody has their eyes on grabbing one of those lucky spider cards. Well, who doesn't want a chance to go on a field trip without worrying about your school priorities?

Kubo will consider himself lucky to get his hands on one of those spider cards for sure. In spite of the fact that he is a new student, it would be weird if his first days in the school were him going on a field trip; in his mind, it'll be okay if he doesn't get lucky.

“Settle down now, children.” Sir Lionel leans his cane against the teacher's table and brings out a long sheet of paper of what seems to be their class' master list.

The classroom's noise started to calm down as Sir Lionel waited, until he's sure that they're all silent. When the room was practically soundless, he started.

“Wybourne Lovat.”

“Shit,” Wybie curses a little too loudly, earning a round of silent chuckles from everyone.

Wybie stands up from his seat and accidentally hits his armchair with his foot, creating a loud screech against the marbled floor. Everyone flinches at the sudden noise.

Wybie can hear the little footsteps he makes as he walks to the teacher's table. He can feel everybody's eyes sticking to him like glue. Even if his mind is completely wrecked, he desperately tries to focus to get to the teacher's table.

When Wybie arrives in front of Sir Lionel, he gives the young teacher a shy glance.

“You made it, young man. Congrats.” Sir Lionel pats Wybie's shoulder. Wybie shrinks into his black jacket as some students had the nerve to laugh at him.

Sir Lionel gestures his gloved hand to the table, tapping his cane against the floor, mimicking the sound of a ticking clock.

After a quick second, Wybie suddenly snatches a card from the table. He holds the card against his chest, his breathing heavy as he does so. 

“Well done, Mr. Lovat,” Sir Lionel tells Wybie with a small smile, ignoring how the boy's eyes grow wide as he sees a card safely tucked in his chest.

Wybie is about to open his mouth to say something, but decides against it and instead walks back to his seat without question.

Kubo looks at him with a frown, watching Wybie walk back like he's on the verge of having a panic attack. But when Wybie talks to his friend Coraline, he seems just fine.

“Weird,” Kubo whispers to himself.

Coraline tells Wybie something and points to his back — Kubo couldn't tell what they were talking about. Wybie tilts his head and looks back, only for his gaze to meet with Kubo's. 

Kubo quickly averts his gaze away and shakes his head, hiding his embarrassment by hiding his face with a hand.

“Cedric Von Ace.” Cedric glides towards the table, taking a card and hides it in his pocket with a swift flick.

“Salma Ramsay.” Salma rolls her eyes as she approaches the table. She adjusts her eyeglasses as she examines the cards, before carefully picking one.

“Elizabeth Afton.” Elizabeth's blonde pigtails bounced as she hops to the table, her eyes shifting from left to right before grabbing a card with a toothy grin. 

“Norman Babcock.”

“I really hope he's okay.” Kubo sighs as he watches Norman pick a card from the table, visibly nervous.

“Hey.” Kubo turns to Winnie's voice.

“I'm sure he's doing alright. After all, he's got company," Winnie tells him. Kubo cracks a small smile as he watches Norman walk towards Neil.

Kubo doesn't need to hear their conversation to know that Norman lost a huge weight off of his shoulders the minute he sat next to Neil.

“Well,” Kubo gives  Norman and Neil one last glance. He smiles, before looking back at the teacher's table. “I guess you're right.”

“Abigale Catherine.” Abigale pops a bubble gum before grabbing a card nonchalantly.

“Coraline Jones.”

Winnie covers her mouth as Coraline stands up and confidently walks towards the table.

“Are you okay?” Kubo asks in confusion. Did Coraline amuse her or disgust her? 

“Y-yeah,” Winnie nods forcibly. “I'm alright.” Kubo gives her a funny face. He could easily tell Winnie was lying.

“Ted Timothy.” Ted puts his shades on and grabs a card, before walking back to his seat like a popstar.

“Michael Glend.” Michael stands up and walks out of the classroom. Everyone's eyes follow the student. The room filled with awkward silence.

With a blink, Sir Lionel clears his throat and proceeds like nothing happened.

“Hazel Brown.” Hazel looks over the cards and picks the farthest one to the right.

“Arthur Trubshaw.”

Eggs walks towards the table like he's being controlled by a horrible puppeteer. He almost looked like a zombie with broken bones that's still trying to walk.

“Ugh, why is he such a big dork?” Winnie groans as she gives herself a face palm, and Kubo is lucky enough to control his laughter.

“Chavereen Veena Aicelle.” The girl hums a little ‘eenie-meenie’ song as she points to the card before picking one.

“Winifred Portley-Rind.”

“Good luck!” Kubo applauds with a smug grin. Winnie glares at him before walking towards the table.

Another round of students has been called to pick a card of their own. And then another. And then another.

Kubo thought that despite him giving the best-worst first impression to Sir Lionel, the young teacher would probably call him last.

And that's what exactly happened.

“Last but not least, Kubo…” Sir Lionel pauses as he squints his eyes at the paper

“It's fine, Sir.” Kubo raises his hand to stop Sir Lionel from mispronouncing anything.

Kubo stands up from his seat calmly, ignoring everybody's gazes following him as he walks towards Sir Lionel.

“A lot of people struggle to read my last name too,” Kubo tells him with a smile.

“Well, Kubo. I believe this last card belongs to you.” Sir Lionel lifts a brow as he gestures towards the teacher's table.

Kubo stares at the last card. Suddenly, his hands start shaking badly, like an earthquake just spontaneously happened within his palms. Not long after, his breathing starts to get unsteady. That earthquake in his hands sent aftershocks through his entire being.

Kubo can't understand why he feels so nervous when he's just getting a card.

Before his body betrays his mind, Kubo closes his one eye and takes a slow deep breath in to calm himself down. As he exhales, he immediately grabs the last card.

An excruciating jolt shocks Kubo's entire being when his hand comes into contact with the card. His head throbs like it was hit by a speeding truck as his heart thumps painfully inside his chest. 

Kubo felt so lightheaded, he even thought that time had momentarily stopped. But, against all laws of existing sciences, his body appears to be fine on the outside. His hands weren't shaking even though he felt it doing so tremendously. His chest remained perfectly calm, despite him feeling his heart hammering violently against it.

Kubo looks at Sir Lionel, who is staring at him with eyes open as wide as dinner plates, almost like he sees his soul being in a horrible state.

As soon as Sir Lionel's cane lands onto the ground, Kubo feels like he just snapped out of something. Out of what, exactly? Kubo asks himself. But at the same time, he doesn’t want to know the answer to that at all.

Kubo takes a step away from the teacher's table. He forces himself to look away from Sir Lionel's gaze before walking back to his seat, feeling like he just made a fool out of himself.

Winnie looks at Kubo, choosing to remain silent but concerned as he slumps down on his seat with a heavy thud.

“Alright children,” Sir Lionel claps his hands. The sound made Kubo flinch, and it takes him a moment to realize that Winnie seems unnerved as well.

“Now that all of you are done choosing, we shall now reveal your card on the count of three.” Sir Lionel nods his head.

“One. Two. Three!”

Kubo flips his card to face him. He couldn't even believe what he's seeing; he got one of the lucky spider cards.

Everyone else flips their cards as well. The classroom is filled with mixed voices of complaints and shock.

“To the eight students with the spider cards, please stand up from your seats.” Sir Lionel makes his way behind the teacher's table, placing his gloved hands flat on the wooden surface. 

Winnie's the first to stand up from her seat. Kubo faintly remembers how she told him that she's dying to get the lucky spider card earlier. Now, all the excitement in her face seemingly disappeared.

Not long after, Eggs stands up too with his arms folded on his chest. 

Then Coraline stands up, followed by Wybie; the first one called among their class .  

Norman also stands up with his gaze locked onto the ground, followed shortly after by Neil who seemed worried and bothered at the same time.

Kubo scans through the students that are standing, and they all had one thing in common: all of them had the same unreadable expression on their faces. 

Kubo hesitates, before standing up from his seat. 

The gossip in the room returns instantly, and Kubo instantly wishes he didn't get the spider card in the first place, regardless of the perks that come with it.

“Wait,” Sir Lionel's sharp tone rings out of nowhere, and that alone was enough to make the class flinch.

One. 

Two. 

Three. 

Four. 

Five. 

Six. 

Seven.

There were only seven of them.

“Where's the last student?” Sir Lionel asks in a low voice. Students look at each other, trying to locate the one who had the last spider card.

Finally, a seat from the back corner of the classroom moves against the floor. Everybody looks at the back, only to see a little girl with a black dress, red shoes, and long hair that went behind her shoulders. 

She looks timid, judging by how frequently she tries to avoid everyone's gaze as she hides her hands behind her back. 

She's the only student Kubo hadn't seen around before.

“Do you have the spider card?” Sir Lionel asks.

The little girl purses her lips before she reveals the spider card in her small hands. Sir Lionel nods approvingly, which prompts the little girl to put her card and her head down.

“Congratulations to the eight students chosen to take part in our trip to Tree Noyxu. Will you please state your names and make your way in front to fill in the important details?” Sir Lionel brings out a pen and paper.

“I guess I'll be the first to start, then.” Winnie clears her throat before speaking,

“I'm Winifred Portley-Rind, it's a pleasure to meet you,” she says in a firm voice, as Sir Lionel writes her name down on the paper.

“Please make your way to the table, Ms. Portley-Rind,” Sir Lionel tells her. Winnie wastes no time and walks towards the teacher's table. 

As she finishes writing down for a few moments, Winnie makes her way back to her seat. 

Kubo takes it as his cue to stand up.

“The name's Kubo Mizūmi,” Kubo says not long after, before walking towards the teacher's table, and writing down his name, address, and age as indicated on the paper.

“Arthur Trubshaw, everyone! But, I'd like it better if people call me 'Eggs',” Eggs says cheekily, making Sir Lionel smile a little.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mr. Trubshaw,” Sir Lionel says as Eggs hops to the table.

“I'm Coraline Jones,” the blue haired girl says nonchalantly as Eggs returns to his seat.

“Wybourne Lovat, but people also call me Wybie,” the curly haired brunette follows while Coraline walks towards him and punches his shoulder.

After writing on the paper, Wybie waves a hand to Coraline while making it back towards his seat.

“I'm Norman, Norman Babcock,” the spiky haired boy tells everyone.

“The name's Neil Downe,” the ginger head greets, quickly giving Norman a smile as he walks to the table.

As soon as Neil drops the pen beside the paper, he spins around, walks towards his chair at the back and sits down.

“We're down to the last one,” Sir Lionel whispers to himself.

The little girl stands up from her seat. She wraps her arms around herself as she quietly walks towards the teacher's table, shying away from everyone's gaze.

“Hello there,” she says in a small voice.

Sir Lionel looks at the little girl and contemplates. She doesn't look up to him with her blue eyes glued to the floor.

“What's your name?” Sir Lionel asks.  Everyone thought she wouldn't reply, but she eventually spoke.

“Agatha.”

“Agatha...?” Sir Lionel gestures his gloved hand to her. 

“Agatha Prenderghast.” The little girl looks up to him.

“Would you be a kind child and write your information?” Sir Lionel gives her his pen. Agatha doesn’t speak, but she nods her head.

“That is Norman's cousin,” Winnie's voice comes through Kubo's train of thought, and his gaze lands on Agatha with a frown.

Kubo can't help but feel bad for her. Even if Agatha has Norman and his friend Neil with her on their trip, Kubo has a strong hunch that she might not want to talk to anybody at all.

Agatha finishes writing on the paper, and for a moment her frail gaze meets with Kubo's. 

Her eyes spelled out a little bit of discomfort. The way she looks at him made Kubo feel like a stalkerish creep.

It just occurred to Kubo how often he's been staring at other people he doesn't know. Granted, he was a new student, but the sight of her quickly averting her gaze away from him hammered down that thought, making him cringe.

Kubo promises to himself that he'll find the time to apologize for his weird behavior, maybe during their trip. He didn't want to make her feel awkward.

When Agatha goes back to her seat, the school bell rings from outside the classroom.

“That concludes our class for today! Congratulations to the eight chosen students once again,” Sir Lionel announces to the class one last time before zipping up his bag.

“Adventure awaits, children!”

Chapter Text

Every moment before has prepared him for the day everything falls into place.

The woman beside him gently shakes his arm to wake him up from his slumber. As Sir Lionel opens his eyes, she greets him with a warm smile. 

They begin their morning together along the rising sun.

No words were shared between the two lovers, nothing but exchanging sweet smiles and quick glances to each other.

Adelina, Sir Lionel's fiancé, wants to go with him on this trip ever since he was ordered with this task, despite being very aware of the grievous consequences that will follow.

She doesn't want him to do this alone, and he wasn't complaining either.

The minibus provided to them for their trip was set by the higher ups, and conveniently it was sent to park in their house. The two of them checked everything again and again, just to make sure that they were ready.

“Let's go?” Adelina's hand reaches for his shoulder to smoothen the small wrinkles on his sleeves. 

“Let's go.” Sir Lionel gives her a smile.

~

“Are you sure you have everything you need Coraline?”

Coraline forces a fake smile onto her face and nods her head.

How she hates hearing their usual flimsy words. Her parents always sound like they don't care about anything that's happening.

As expected, the minibus arrives at the time Sir Lionel told her. Mel and Charlie gave Coraline goodbyes and kisses on the forehead.

Coraline doesn't care for their actions that much, for she knows her parents didn't either.

The minibus stops just in front of the Pink Palace. Sir Lionel hops out of the driver's doors and begins walking towards their family, his signature British cane in hand.

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Jones,” Sir Lionel greets Coraline's parents. “Hello there,” Sir Lionel looks at Coraline, who waves her hand reluctantly in response.

Coraline's parents then talked about how this was an amazing opportunity for their kid to get out of the house.

More like they just want her out of the house , Coraline thinks as she rolls her eyes. Their conversation bored her to death as they went on and on about safety measures. She turns her attention towards the minibus instead.

As Coraline walks towards the vehicle, she notices the same spider symbol on Sir Lionel's cards imprinted on the side of the minibus for design.

Coraline wouldn't even be surprised if Sir Lionel said he's working for a super secret agency group in a big conspiracy that's run by the government. Coraline laughs at the thought. 

“We'll have to get going now, Mr. and Mrs. Jones.” Sir Lionel's gaze went to Coraline for a moment, then brought it back to her parents.

Coraline waves her hand to her parents with a small smile, before dragging her bags and making her way to the minibus' doors. 

As the doors open for her, Coraline notices that the driver's seat area is occupied. She raises a brow, expecting it to be empty.

“Hello there, young one,” the woman behind the wheel greets her; she wore a tight long sleeve shirt and baggy leggings that went up to her knees. 

Though, Coraline found it weird that the woman also wore long socks to accompany her red high heels.

“Who are you?” Coraline asks. 

“I'm Adelina, Sir Lionel's fiancé.” The woman gives her an animated smile which makes Coraline cringe in her mind.

“Why are you the one driving?” Coraline asks again, trying not to sound rude.

“Simple,” Adelina laughs, “because Sir Lionel can't,” she jokes with a wink.

No matter how oddly interesting Adelina looks to Coraline, the way the older female stares at the blue haired girl is utterly creepy. 

Coraline feels that there's something wrong with the way Adelina acts, even if she still can't put her finger on it yet.

The minibus' doors suddenly slam shut with a loud thud. Coraline yells out loud in surprise, dropping her bags in the process.

“Calm down, Caroline, it's just me.” Sir Lionel stands behind Coraline with his palms in front of him, almost like he's shielding himself from her.

“First off, it's Coraline ,” she emphasizes, pointing at the teacher with her blue-nailed finger.

“And second, watch it with those doors.” Coraline carelessly snags her bags from the minibus' floor. 

“Seriously, I thought you were gonna murder me right there.” Coraline turns away from them with a huge huff to calm her nerves down, ignoring the other two adults who are dead silent.

There's only 10 people max onboard in this minibus. Each side has three rows of two seats, and that doesn't even count the back seats.

Coraline chooses the seats near the window, specifically the left side of the row near the doors. She knows everyone would want to sit beside the windows. Might as well take some of them when nobody else is with her.

Besides, everyone can probably sit in every row and still have plenty of room. Coraline has nothing to worry about.  Well, other than trudging through this two week-long trip.

Coraline throws all her things on the seat on her right before leaning against the windowpane. She allows herself to stare outside and relax.

It took a few minutes for the minibus to move again. Coraline is amused that they're dumb enough to drive all the way to Wybie's house, even if it's only walking distance from the Pink Palace.

At least that means there's more time to kill. Plus, once they get to Wybie's house, she finally has someone to talk to on this dumb field trip.

It didn't surprise her at all when the minibus abruptly stopped not after five minutes.

The minibus doors open, and Coraline laughs when she immediately hears Mrs. Lovat's voice ranting on and on and on from outside.

Coraline pushes herself up from her seat and quickly rushes towards the doors. She can't help but see all the action unfold for herself.

“If my grandson comes back with ONE scratch on him, I WILL sue you!” Mrs. Lovat yells at Sir Lionel.

Wybie is standing beside his grandmother, his hands covering his face, probably hiding his tears.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Lovat caught a glance of Coraline standing by the minibus doors. A wave of relief crashed upon the elder's face.

“Wybourne, why didn't you tell me that Coraline's coming with you?” Mrs. Lovat asks. Wybie's reaction is priceless. Coraline could barely even hide her laughter.

“Grandma…” Wybie silently sneers as his hands travel through his curly hair, gripping it as if his life depends on it. “I told you about this yesterday!” He groans, trying so hard not to raise his voice.

“Hello, Mrs. Lovat!” Coraline calms her laughter down, facing Mrs. Lovat with a bright smile. 

“Well hello there, Coraline,” Mrs. Lovat greets her back, returning her smile. She looks at her grandson and gives him a small push

“Grandma!” Wybie yelps as he struggles to keep himself on his feet.

“Please keep an eye on Wybourne for me,” Mrs. Lovat tells Coraline with nothing but worry in the tone of her voice.

“We will absolutely make sure that they'll all be safe,” Sir Lionel says out of nowhere, Coraline almost forgetting that he was there with them.

“I am NOT talking to you!” Mrs. Lovat gave Sir Lionel a glare.

“Thank you, grandma, ” Wybie says before Mrs. Lovat can say anything else. Wybie gives a small kiss on his grandmother's forehead, slings all his bags over his shoulder and makes his way towards the minibus.

Coraline slightly steps aside so Wybie can get in as she waves her hand to Mrs. Lovat. Mrs. Lovat waves back to her as the minibus doors closes.

Coraline smiles to herself at the sight, before following Wybie inside the minibus. Wybie sits on the row to Coraline's right and throws all his stuff on the seat beside him just like she did.

“Can we pretend nothing happened back there?” Wybie asks with the tilt of his head.

Coraline gives her a smirk. “Absolutely not .”  

Wybie groans as he plants his hands on his face as Coraline cackles at him.

The minibus starts its engines and drives off to their next stop: Blithe Hollow.

Oh boy, this bus is going to get crowded in a hurry.

~

Sandra walks to the door and leans herself against the doorframe, looking at Norman and Neil who were sitting on the front porch's stairs.

The two boys didn't talk as they sat next to each other. Sandra opens the door and sits beside Norman, hoping that either of them notice her presence.

Norman fiddles with his fingers within the pocket of his red hoodie, lost deep within his own thoughts. Ever since he saw the spider card in his hand, he was already nervous about the idea of even going on this trip.

“I'm so glad that you three were fortunate enough to go on this trip together.” Sandra places a careful hand on Norman's shoulder. 

“Your weekend sleepover paid off well, didn't it?” Sandra turns her head to face Neil. Neil smiles at her and replies silently with a polite nod.

When Neil told Norman that he too got the card, it somehow calmed down Norman's troubled thoughts, though he didn't know why he's feeling so much dread despite the fact that there will be less people on the trip. Norman just has a really bad feeling about all this, and he's worried that he's not the only one that thinks the same.

“Where's Aggie?” Neil looks around him.

“I think she's still in her room,” Norman looks up with a frown.

Sandra lets out a long sigh as she gets up from her seat and walks back inside the house to get the other kid.

“I'm so pumped for this trip Norman,” Neil looks at his best friend with an excited smile. “We get to go out of the town and meet new friends! For free!”

“Easy for you to say,” Norman mumbles as he lifts his knees to his chest and hugs his legs, placing his chin on top of his knees.

“There would only be eight of us there.” Neil comments. “Plus the fancy Sir teacher, of course,” he adds as he gently nudges Norman's shoulder. 

“Why would you be afraid?”

“I don't know,” Norman shies away from Neil's gaze. “I'm just not as hyped as you right now.” Norman is sure Neil knows what he's talking about.

“Listen,” Neil sighs, “if any of the kids there mess around with you, I'll kick their butts.”

“I thought you like butts,” Norman points out with a small smirk.

“Shut up.” Neil snorts.

Sandra and Agatha walk out of the house, each carrying some of Agatha's bags for the trip.

“Hey guys,” Agatha greets with a small smile.

Norman gives Agatha some space beside him as an invitation to sit down with them.

“Hi Aggie!” Neil greets with the wave of his hand. Agatha waves back and sits beside Norman.

“Are you excited?” Norman asks.

“Are you kidding me?” The two boys are genuinely shocked when they hear Agatha wheezing. “I'm absolutely terrified! ”

“Words out of my mouth.” Norman says as he claps his hands. The eyebrow cousins gave each other a high five, as if their agreement was even a good thing.

“I'm done.” Neil throws his hands up in defeat. “I'm done convincing you two to loosen up on this trip.”

Neil's reaction alone was enough to make Norman and Agatha laugh.

“Here comes the bus, kids!” Sandra cheers as the minibus parks itself in front of the Babcock residence.

The sight got the three kids to get up from their seats and carry along all their bags with them.

“Promise me you'll look out for each other, okay?” Sandra walks towards the children.

Agatha, Norman, and Neil grins at the woman. The three children nod to Sandra and went towards her to give her a quick goodbye hug.

“We will, mom,” Norman says.

Sir Lionel hops out of the shotgun seat. “Hello there, children,” he greets, looking at the children with a warm smile.

“Good morning, Sir! ” Norman, Neil and Agatha greet Sir Lionel.

“Go inside the minibus and settle in, yes?” Sir Lionel tilts his head to the minibus parked on the road.

The trio gives their last goodbye to Sandra, before making their way towards the mini bus.

“Good morning, Mrs. Babcock,” Sir Lionel nods. “Good morning, Sir,” Sandra greets back as they shake hands.

“Let's go!” Neil bellows as he opens the doors of the minibus for the three of them. Norman and Aggie share a laugh as they step inside the minibus.

They can hear two familiar kids talk amongst themselves from their seats.

If Norman remembers their names correctly, the boy's name is Wybie- Wybourne? And then the blue haired girl's name is Coraline.

“Hey cous,” Agatha whimpers from behind, struggling to carry her bags. Norman wastes no time and helps her carry her things.

“Hi!” Neil greets with his usual charismatic cheerfulness.

Wybie and Coraline stop talking and look at Neil, catching both of their attention.

“Hi,” Coraline smiles dismissively.

“So…” Neil trails off, letting his eyes wander around the minibus, “where do we put our stuff?” He asks, sounding like he's testing her waters.

Coraline's eyes sized the three of them up as if she's judging them one by one.

“Our things are only beside our seats. Put yours wherever you want, but don't steal our spot.” Coraline points her thumb behind her.

Norman didn't feel too good about the way Coraline said her words. 

“Thanks!” Neil replies, still giving Coraline a bright smile. Neil waves a hand for the two cousins to walk with him.

“I don't think she was happy about other people being on this trip,” Norman whispers as he scoots closer to Neil. “Besides her one friend, that is.”

“She'll warm up to us at some point,” Neil shrugs, “maybe she's not a morning person,” Neil says as the two of them place their things on the seats at the back.

While Norman and Neil fix their things, Agatha goes to the last row of seats to the left and chooses her seat beside the window.

“Hey Aggie, wanna join us?” Neil's head pops up from behind her seat. Agatha looks behind her and shakes her head politely with a small smile. 

“We'll be at the back if you need us.” Neil gives Agaths a thumbs up and sinks back to his seat, knowing very well that she wants to be left alone.

The minibus drives away from Norman's house and goes off to their next stop; Cheesebridge.

~

Herbert and Eggs stand in front of the Portley-Rind mansion as they wait for Winnie.

“Promise me you won't be too reckless out there on your own, Arthur,” Herbert cautions as he fixes his son's sleeves. 

“Don't worry, father, I will,” Eggs places a hand on his father's shoulder and smiles.

The large doors of the mansion croaked open. Winnie walks out of the doors, carrying a lot of gargantuan bags all by herself. 

Eggs gives off a funny face. Does she really need all of that stuff for a two week-long trip?

“Is your bug spray there with you? How about your protective gear?” Lord Portley-Rind yells as he trails behind his daughter.

“Yes father! Everything is already here!” Winnie groans, struggling under the weight of her own bags as she walks down their mansion's ridiculously long staircase. She growls as she hears Eggs's bubbling laughter from below.

“You need to be safe out there, little angel!” Lord Portley-Rind shouts.

“You reminded me of this last night! Repeatedly! ” Winnie adds, almost tripping on one of the stair's steps. Eggs drops all his things to help his best friend with hers.

“Don't fret, Winnie,” Eggs chuckles as he carries some of her large luggages, “he only wants what's best for you.”

“Sure, he does,” Winnie rolls her eyes tiredly as they arrive at the bottom of their mansion's staircase.

“Thanks,” Winnie tells him, giving Eggs a grateful smile.

“Don't even mention it.” Eggs shakes his head with a chuckle.

As the two arrive at the bottom of the staircase, Eggs and Winnie place all of her bags on the ground, both letting out a tired sigh. 

“Say, why don't you carry our lighter things, while I carry the heavier ones?” Eggs suggests.

“You sure?” Winnie raises a brow. Eggs nods to her firmly while giving her a smile.

“I'm glad Arthur is going to be there with you, Winifred.” Lord Portley-Rind smiles at the two children as he arrives at the bottom of the staircase.

Eggs and Winnie's eyes met for a brief moment, before facing Lord Portley-Rind with a forced smile on both of their faces.

“Please, look after my little angel, Mr. Trubshaw,” Lord Portley-Rind adds.

“Oh, don't worry about it, your lordship. The two of them went through a lot together. I'm sure they'll be fine.” Herbert waves off his hand with a teasing grin. 

Eggs hates the fact that his father's words were specifically meant for him.

The minibus arrives just in the nick of time. Winnie looks at Eggs and smiles, grabbing their lightweight things. When Eggs's gaze lands on hers, he couldn't help but smile too.

Sir Lionel steps out of the minibus and walks towards them with his cane swinging from left to right.

“Looks like it's time for the two of you  to go.” Sir Lionel gives the two children a smile.

“Shall we?” Eggs tilts his head to the minibus. Winnie loops her arm around his. “We shall,” she smirks.

Eggs and Winnie wave goodbye to their parents as they approach the minibus.

Eggs places the bags on the ground and pulls the door open for Winnie. “Ladies first,” he says. The redhead laughs at him with a playful curtsy, before entering the minibus.

They can already see the familiar faces of their classmates as the Eggs places his and Winnie's backpacks on the seats to the right, just near the minibus doors.

“Hey guys!” Eggs greets them.

“Hey! Over here!” Neil shouts from behind while waving his hand from the back seats.

Eggs smiles at him, more than happy to know that he's finally going to talk to someone else. He isn't particularly close to anyone in this minibus other than Winnie, but Eggs wants to know the others with them there too.

When Eggs arrives at the back, he spots Neil, Norman and Wybie playing with UNO cards.

“Sup bro! You play?” Neil asks him.

A grin grew on Eggs' face, taking a seat beside the ginger head. “I'm in.”

~

“We're all set,” Sir Lionel says to his fiancé as he closes the minibus doors behind him. Adelina nods her head and starts the ignition.

Sir Lipnel looks at the children from behind, a relieved smile making its way on his face. 

“They're enjoying themselves there, aren't they?” Adelina asks from the driver's seat, her eyes focused on the road ahead.

“I didn't expect them to even talk to each other at all,” Sir Lionel shakes his head in disbelief.

“They don't even look like they know each other well,” Adelina chuckles. 

“Boys will be boys.” Sir Lionel relaxes onto his seat, looking up to the rear-view mirror to see the boys playing.

The sound of the minibus engine and the light laughter of the boys at the back are the only sounds Sir Lionel can hear as they drive towards their last destination.

The more they drove, however, the farther and farther they got away from the city.

“How the devil does this boy go to school and back every day?” Sir Lionel looks around him, his brows knitting tightly in concern.

Their minibus was approaching a lone house at the end of the road. It was the only house in the area surrounded by tall fields.

“Are you sure we're headed in the right way?” Adelina's eyes meet with Sir Lionel's gaze, her face filled with nothing but worry.

BUt sure enough, the one-eyed boy in his red Kimono came out of the small house whilst carrying his things with all his relatives.

~

“Stay safe out there, young man,” Kameyo says as she cups her grandson's cheek with her hand.

“Don't worry, sobo . I will,” Kubi whispers with a smile and wraps his arms around his grandmother.

“Are you sure you can take care of everything while I'm gone?” Kubo turns his head to Hosato, his uncle.

“I'll be alright, Kubo,” Hosato says with a calm smile. “But I think Mari would definitely miss you more than anyone.”

“Will not!” Mari stomps her foot as she crosses her arms, making their family chuckle in delight.

Kubo walks towards Mari and kneels down to her height. “Hosato will need all your help while I'm away, alright?” He smiles reassuringly.

“Do you really need to go, aniki? ” Mari frowns. Although that usually work, this time he has no other choice but to leave.

“I have to,” Kubo sighs, “but I promise, I'll be back soon.”

As the minibus hits its brakes, Kubo gets up on his feet again. It's time for him to go.

“Be careful, Kubo,” Kameyo says one last time, giving her grandson a smile.

Kubo smiles and bows down to his family in respect. Two little arms stop him before he can take another step forward. Kubo looks down, only to see Mari clutching onto his legs.

“We'll miss you, aniki ,” she says with a whimper, wiping her nose with her arm. His heart melts instantly.

Kubo places his hands on Mari's sides and lifts her up in the air, before pulling his little sister into a big hug.

“I'll miss you too,” Kub says, before placing her back on the ground. He tussles Mari's hair, and he smiles as he hears the little girl giggle in delight.

Kubo grabs his bags and faces the minibus in front of him. He takes a deep breath in, then finally walks towards the vehicle.

Sir Lionel steps out from the shotgun seat, approaching Kubo with a smile.

“Sorry, my home is far away from society,” Kubo chuckles.

“Oh, not to worry,” Sir Lionel waves his gloved hand with a laugh laugh. “I just need to talk to your family, and then we'll finally go to our destination.”

“Alright, sir. Thank you!” Kubo nods with a grin.

Kubo opens the doors of the minibus. He steals a look from inside, and everyone is already there.

“What's up, eyepatch? ” Winnie takes her eyes off her phone and gives Kubo a smirk. 

Kubo can't help but laugh when he hears her playful voice. Kubo walks into the minibus, feeling the corners of his mouth turn up.

“Giving me nicknames already?” Kubo teases with a lopsided grin.

Winnie slams her phone down beside her and grabs the next nearest thing from her (in this case, her travel pillow) and throws it towards Kubo without warning.

Kubo playfully flinches as soon as the pillows land on him with a loud thud.

“Hey!” Kubo yelps.

“That's a sign in case you get any ideas .” Winnie gives him an icy glare, before turning her attention to her phone. 

Winnie will let no one else have the last words, and that thought made Kubo chuckle at her. He keeps his voice low, just in case.

As Kubo's gaze wanders around the minibus, he sees that almost all the seats are already occupied except the ones on the third row to the right.

“Where do we put our things?” Kubo sets his things down and gets Winnie's travel pillow from the floor.

“Next to your seat, kid,” Coraline says from beside them, blowing up her bubblegum with a pop.

“Thanks.” Kubo nods. Coraline give a thumbs up as she chews on her gum.

Kubo casually throws Winnie's travel pillow back to her before he grabs his things from the floor. As Kubo walks by Winnie's seat, she strikes his shoulder with her travel pillow, making him chuckle.

Kubo takes a seat and settles his things down on his seat. After he finishes fixing his bags, he notices all the boys on the trip were in the back seat.

They're playing some sort of card game. Given Kubo's recent experience with cards a few days ago in his school, he's a little worried about what they're doing back there.

“UNO!” Kubo hears Eggs's voice shout from behind the minibus.

When Kubo looked to his right, he saw that girl who turned in her spider card last. 

Agatha, wasn't it? Kubo remembers the apology he planned to give her for creeping her out the last time their eyes met.

Kubo counts to three before standing up on his feet, but the minibus' doors close with a loud metal thud, making him and everyone else fall immediately silent.

Chapter Text

Every single one of them froze on their spot, their eyes as sharp as knives as they looked for the sound's source.

“Oops! Pardon me,” Sir Lionel says to them with a loose chuckle.

Sir Lionel walks across the aisle and clears his throat before speaking. 

“Now that we're complete, I would like to give you children some ground rules while we're on the mini-bus.” Sir Lionel's footsteps stop in the middle of the minibus. “First, no jumping or running while the mini-bus is driving.”

Sir Lionel sees Eggs snicker from the corner of his eye, but he proceeds rather than scolding the tall brunette.

“In case you have motion sickness, or if you need to quickly use the bathroom, please inform me immediately.” Sir Lionel taps his cane on the floor with each step he takes.

“We will reach our destination within one to two hours. I hope you brought some snacks on board, as required.” Sir Lionel quickly spins around and stands up straight when he returns in front of them.

“Adelina, our driver, and I would stay in front of the pack if you have questions. We ask nothing but your cooperation. Thank you.”

Sir Lionel gives them all one last look, before making his way towards the front of the minibus. Sir Lionel pulls on some kind of sliding door, hiding him and the driver from their sight. 

A loud bang came from the front, and the minibus starts moving again.

Kubo grips onto his seat to keep his balance as the minibus drives away from his home. 

“Weird,” he mutters.

“You're not alone, kid,” Coraline says. “They look suspicious, right?” She asks.

Kubo's gaze lands on Coraline, giving her a small nod. Coraline sighs. “Same feels,” she replies as she leans back in her seat.

“I'm Kubo.”

“Oh, I know your name,” Coraline gives him a look with a smirk. “Isn't that girl one of your close friends?” She asks as she nods her head towards Winnie.

Kubo follows her gaze. Winnie sat in her seat with a pink colored mask covering her eyes.

“Yes,” he responds. “Yes she is.”

Coraline thought about it. And then, she smirks. 

“Hey! Redhead!”

Winnie's head perks up at the sound of someone saying the word ‘redhead’. Winnie removes her eye mask and blinks her eyes to refocus her eyesight.

Kubo looks at Coraline, bracing himself in case this doesn't end well.

Winnie's eyes land on the two of them. Her face contorts as she straightens her back.

“Who was that?” Winnie asks.

“Here.” Coraline raises her hand and stands up from her seat and walks towards Winnie.

“I can see you scrolling through Emma Thompson on your phone earlier from here, you're a fan?” Coraline says with a sly smirk.

The way Winnie's entire face glowed as red as her hair was enough for Coraline to chuckle.

Kubo's eye bounces back and forth between the two girls, confused on what to make out of their entire conversation.

“Haha, he, you know what?” Kubo almost loses his balance as he stands up from his seat. “I'll just... go over there…” Kubo stammers as he ducks his head away from the two of them.

Coraline and Winnie didn't even pay attention at all how Kubo fearfully walks away from them, with his palms facing in front.

The last thing he sees is Coraline taking a seat beside Winnie. Kubo silently prays they wouldn't kill each other after a few minutes.

Kubo visits the boys at the back, who are still playing the same card game from earlier.

“You came back! Wanna join us this time?” Neil beams as he looks at Kubo with a bright smile.

“Thanks,” Kubo smiles, “but I think I'll just watch for now.” Kubo leans on the seat to his right and crosses his arms.

“Alright,” Neil shrugs, turning his attention back to the game. “Whose turn was it, anyway?”

“Eggs.” Wybie points a finger to the tall brunette. Eggs gave Wybie a playfully solemn look. 

“I am so sorry,” Eggs mumbles as he gently places a black card with a +4 sign on the stack of cards in the middle, giving Wybie a frown.

Wybie groans as he grabs four cards from the stack of cards in the middle of them. When Kubo looked at Wybie's hands, his eye almost popped out of its socket.

“Why do you have so many cards?” Kubo asks worriedly.

“It's part of the game, don't worry,” Wybie shakes his head and laughs nervously as he struggles to hold all his cards.

“What color, Eggs?” Wybie asks.

“Blue!” Eggs shouts pridefully. Kubo notes the way Wybie shifts in his seat.

“Uno,” Norman says in a soft voice as he places a blue #2, making sure no one sees the last card in his possession.

Neil places a blue cancel sign card on the deck.

“Why the skip card Neil?” Eggs pouts.

“That's the only blue card I have! Sorry,” Neil laughs mockingly.

Wybie places a blue card with two circling arrows. Norman covers his mouth, and Kubo looks at him, confused. Is he in shock, or was he surprised?

“What does that card do?” Kubo asks.

“It's a reverse card,” Norman whispers.

“It basically reverses the flow of the game,” Eggs adds, placing a blue 9 card on the deck.

Neil throws in a blue colored 7 card, but Norman tops it with a green colored 7 card.

“Nice,” Wybie says as he gives Norman a smile, placing a green +2 card on the deck.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kubo shakes his head, “I thought the cards were all supposed to be blue?” He asks as he points a finger at the deck.

“That's another rule of the game,” Eggs tells him as he grabs two cards from the deck, “you either play the same color of cards, or a card with the same number.”

“Oohhh,” Kubo nods his head. “Why is this card game so complicated?” He whispers as the boys laugh at his words.

“Uno!” Neil shouts as he throws a green 5 card on the deck with a smile. 

Wybie places a green card with a cancel sign, and Eggs smiles. Kubo can see that his smile screams sarcasm.

Norman scoots closer to Wybie and looks at the cards in his hands. That was enough to tell Kubo that Eggs is in trouble.

“Oh boy, g ood luck tall guy,” Norman chuckles.

Neil gently places the last card in his hands and looks at Wybie's cards. Wybie smirks.

Wybie stacks his cards neatly and places them face down in front of him. He cracks his knuckles with a smile, making Eggs gulp.

Wybie placed his cards on his hands again. He breathes in, and the boys lean in closer to see what happens next.

Wybie suddenly stacks his card after card after card on the deck, with each card having either two arrows, a +2 sign, or a cancel sign.

Neil, Norman and Kubo laugh hard as they watch Eggs's face drop with every card Wybie plays.

“Uno!” Wybie yells proudly and slams a +4 card on, before throwing his last card on the deck in triumph.

Eggs places his last three cards in the middle of the deck and starts clapping his hands. Norman and Neil clap with him, and not long after, Kubo joins their applause.

“Very well done, Wybie!” Neil cheers, as Norman chuckles.

“Thank you, thank you,” Wybie places a hand on his chest and bows playfully.

“Remind me to never play a +4 on you ever again,” Eggs gives the curly haired brunette a finger gun.

“Let's keep that a secret from the girls,” Wybie winks.

“Speaking of, what are the girls doing?” Neil asks as he collects the scattered UNO cards.

“They're talking about some Emma person, I don't know.” Kubo points his thumb at the two girls in front.

Kubo and the boys follow his thumb pointing at the two girls.

There they are, scrolling through Winnie's phone and laughing like two deranged squirrels. To Kubo's surprise, they haven't killed each other yet.

“Ugh,” Eggs scoffs as crosses his arms, rolling his eyes at the two girls who were both enjoying their time as they conversed.

“All girls ever do is talk, and talk, and talk, and talk ,” Eggs flails his hand to mimic the two girls near to them. The other four boys strained their laughter at Eggs's reaction.

“Have any plans on getting your girlfriend back?” Neil places a hand on Eggs's shoulder while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

The immediate flush of red on Eggs's cheeks was the trigger that sent the boys laughing like a bunch of idiots.

”What!? She's not my girlfriend!” Eggs barks defensively. Thankfully, the boys' laughter drowned his statement. Eggs wasn't sure if he should be happy about that or not.

“She's just…” Eggs pauses and thinks of something to say, despite the boys' continuous laughter. “She's just a great friend.”

“Sure she is,” Neil gives him a smug grin.

“Good one, bud,” Wybie jokes with a laugh.

Eggs realizes that the boys weren’t fully convinced by his claim, making his feelings for the redhead worsen.

Kubo raises a brow. “Hmm,” Kubo pokes Eggs' cheek, who was still looking at the girls.

“The look on your face is betraying you, pal,” Kubo teases, making Eggs glare at the one-eyed kid.

“Thanks for that, I really appreciate it,” Eggs grumbles as his shoulders slump down.

The sound of the robust engine driving against asphalt underneath them filled their silence after a few minutes.

“You're a transfer, right?” Neil asks out of the blue. 

“Yeah. Winnie and I just got into the school along with Kubo, who we just met yesterday.” Eggs nods his head to the eyepatch boy. Kubo slightly waves his hand in acknowledgement.

“Have you been friends for a long time? You and that girl?” Neil asks.

“Winnie,” Eggs corrects him. “Yeah, we're very close.”

“How close are we talking about?” Neil presses further, moving closer to Eggs, who gives Neil a look.

“Well, Winnie's father wanted her to move to this school,” Eggs tells them as his gaze turns to Winnie.

“She didn't want to, because then she'll be far away from me,” Eggs sighs.

“So, her father asked if I could go with her, but my father and I couldn't afford to move out of the country.” Eggs smiles. “Then her father took care of our expenses just so I could join her all the way here.”

“Whoa,” Norman's jaw hangs open, “that's an enormous privilege.”

“Yeah,” Eggs shrinks on his seat, “pretty scary,” he mumbles.

“Oh, so you two are very close ,” Neil says, and Eggs responds silently with a nod. 

Norman lightly taps Neil's shoulder and eyes Eggs. Noting how Eggs seemed bothered, Neil slowly backs away.

The boys' attention quickly darts forward as soon as they hear the sliding door from the front burst open.

“There's a gas station nearby. We'll stop by once we get there,” they hear Sir Lionel say from afar.

“What's going on?” Kubo asks out loud. 

“Same question.” Wybie stands up from the back seat.

“The two girls asked Sir Lionel for a bathroom break,” someone's voice erupts from behind the seat Kubo has been leaning against. 

When he turns his head to look, his eye widens.

“Oh!” Kubo lets out a small gasp. Agatha has been sitting behind him all this time; the girl he owes an apology to. 

“Hello there.” Kubo shyly waves his hand at her

Agatha waves back at him. “Hi,” she responds timidly, and Kubo quickly averts his gaze away from hers.

The minibus arrives at a small gasoline station and parks just by the parking lot.

“Are you guys gonna go down, then?” Wybie asks.

“I'll grab some snacks.” Norman grabs his wallet from the outer pocket of his bag.

“Wanna come along, Aggie?” Norman turns to Agatha and stands up.

“Sure.” Agatha takes off her earphones and wraps them up neatly. She puts them inside the pocket of her dress and stands up. 

“Let's go.” Agatha stands up.

Kubo takes a huge step to the side, letting Norman and Agatha walk past on the aisle of the minibus.

Kubo stares at the two cousins walking towards the doors and blinks.

“I think I'll just stay here,” Kubo says as he returns his gaze to the boys.

“Yeah, I'll sit this one down.” Eggs relaxes himself in the back seat, placing his hands behind his head. “Unless you have other plans?”

“No,” Kubo crosses his arms as he leans on the side of Agatha's seat.

“Same here,” Neil shrugs, “no plans.”

Eggs looks over to Winnie's seat and quickly finds that she's not there. A light bulb blinks beside Eggs's head.

“You guys want to help me then?”  

“Help you?” Wybie lifts a brow as his mouth twitches. “... with what?”

Eggs gives them a lopsided grin. The three boys all looked at each other, wondering what Eggs had in mind.

~

“He's been the talk of the whole school a few days ago, and you're telling me that you're close already?” Coraline takes a sip on her slurpy.

“What can I say?” Winnie plops a chip in her mouth.

“He's a fun guy to talk to,” she shrugs before crunching on the chip.

“His politeness kills me to be honest,” Coraline's face grimaces, “but yeah, that's true,” she agrees.

“Look,” Coraline bumps Winnie's shoulder, “minibus mates, 3 o'clock.”

Norman scratches his head. “I swore I grabbed my wallet before going out,” he says from the vending machine nearby.

“You could pay me once we get back, cous,” Agatha says as she opens her wallet once again. 

“This is not yours, sir.” Agatha looks from behind her cousin before politely shaking her head. 

From Norman and Agatha's view, they can see the translucent green color of the ghost groan with a frown.

From afar, Winnie and Coraline watch the two cousins silently.  

“Aren't they the kids who can talk to ghosts?” Coraline whispers, scooting closer to Winnie.

“I'm sorry for cutting the line, sir,” Norman apologizes with a shy smile to seemingly nothing but thin air.

The translucent ghost grumbles something that Norman can't catch, but thankfully Agatha did.

“Of course,” Agatha replies.

“Don't worry, you won't see us again,” Norman adds.

"Here." Agatha hands over the chocolate bar to Norman.

“Thanks, I'll pay you later,” Norman smiles, taking the chocolate bar from her. “We gotta get back before the minibus leaves,” he mentions.

Agatha nods to Norman, and the two cousins start walking back to the minibus.

The place seemed empty as the two of them entered the minibus. Empty and silent, like suddenly all the others disappeared.

“Where did everybody go?” Norman asks as they stop their footsteps.

Agatha scans the place a bit more thoroughly, quickly noticing that the others are merely hiding from behind the seats. She smiles and begins to walk to her seat again.

“Aggie?” Norman asks, slowly freaking out.

Agatha sits on her spot and laughs as she points at Eggs, who was visibly hiding behind Coraline's seat. 

Eggs shushes her with a finger. Norman raises a brow and walks towards the back seat, only to learn quickly that the boys are hiding.

Neil is hiding behind Coraline's seat, Wybie is hiding behind Eggs's seat, and Kubo Is hiding behind Wybie's seat. Norman slides closer to Kubo since he's the nearest to him.

“What are you doing!?” Norman whispers. 

“Eggs wants to scare Winnie,” Kubo whispers back to him, trying to hold his laughter. Norman wasn't as amused by that, however.

“Hey! By the way…” Kubo grabs something from his back pocket and gives it to Norman. “You dropped this earlier.”

“Oh! That's where that went,” Norman facepalms himself before grabbing his wallet from Kubo.

“Thanks-”

“Guys, be quiet! You're going to ruin the surprise!” Eggs tells them in a panicked hush.

Norman gives Kubo a thumbs up and quickly slides to Agatha and quickly pays her for earlier. 

“Here.” Norman gives Agatha money. She nods to him and takes it.

A round of low laughter erupted from the boys, making Agatha roll her eyes. 

“You see them, Norman? They're going to get in trouble for whatever they're gonna do.” Agatha rolls her eyes as she looks at the boys and shakes her head, before plugging on her earphones.

Norman glances at Agatha as he sinks back to his seat, preparing himself for what's about to come.

~

“That little girl was silent,” Winnie shrugs. “Until earlier, of course.”

“I forgot her name.” Coraline takes a sip from her slurpy once again, tapping the tip of the straw on her chin as she thinks.

“Agatha,” Winnie answers. “We should try talking to her later.”

“We should get back inside before we do.” Coraline stands up from her seat and casually tosses the empty slurpy in a garbage can. 

Winnie grabs the last couple of chips in the bag and shoves them all into her mouth. She crumples the emptied bag of chips, throws it in the garbage can, quickly wipes her mouth with her arm and follows Coraline back to the minibus.

When the two girls enter the minibus, everything is oddly silent.

Too silent, even though Norman and Agatha are already inside just a few seconds ago.

Winnie squints her eyes. “Where is everyone-”

Eggs jumps out from behind a seat, landing his feet on the floor with a loud bang, making the two girls scream.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!” Eggs sings in a loud tone through his megaphone, with Kubo and Neil joyfully clapping to the beat of his song.

“I want to go home,” Wybie mutters under his breath as he claps along with them, visibly ashamed.

The sliding doors from the front bursted open, with Sir Lionel rushing to the scene in a hurry.

“What is going on here!?” Sir Lionel yells. Neil and Kubo stop clapping and whip their heads to the tall brunette.

“Happy Birthday, Sir!” Eggs cheers through his megaphone, making the three boys laugh loudly. 

Wybie looks like he wants to disappear after agreeing to help with this so-called ‘plan’.

“Why do you even own one of those!?” Winnie shouts, placing a hand on her chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“And gave us a shock as well.” Sir Lionel crosses his arms while holding his cane with one hand.

“We are here to conduct research disguised as a field trip! Not to throw some kind of birthday party.”

Sir Lionel tugs the end of his glove with a sneer. “Be more like Agatha, next time,” he says, gesturing his gloved hand to the little girl at the back.

Agatha doesn't even notice the dozens of eyes suddenly staring at her as she scrolls through her phone with her earphones on in peace.

“She's polite, kind, and quiet ,” Sir Liomel spat before pulling the sliding doors, closing them shut with a hard thump.

“Task failed successfully, boys.” Eggs takes off his sunglasses.

“It's a good thing you know,” Wybie rolls his eyes. 

“You got us good, though,” Coraline points to Eggs with a smirk.

“Stop indulging him,” Winnie groans as she makes her way back to her seat. “And go back to your spot, you dork!” Winnie tells him with a laugh, sticking out her tongue at him.

“There we go.” Eggs' lips tugs into a smile.

“I know the plan is to get Winnie's attention, but that was a bit overkill.” Neil pats Eggs's back. The smile on Eggs's face disappears in a matter of seconds.

“He has a point, you know,” Wybie comments and Kubo laughs.

“Hey guys, I'll just ask Norman for some snacks," Neil says before jogging towards Norman sitting at the back seat.

“Yeah, I think I'll ask for snacks from Jonesy too,” Wybie follows, giving Eggs a thumbs up before rushing towards Coraline's seat.

“You have someone to steal food from?” Eggs glances over to Kubo.

Kubo sees a peculiar little girl from the corner of his gaze. 

“I think I do,” Kubo looks back at Eggs with a smile.

Eggs salutes to Kubo before making his way in front, presumably going to pester and annoy the heck out of Winnie again.

~

Agatha breathes out as the minibus drives off. She rests her head against the windowpane, selects a song on her phone and allows her eyes to bore themselves with every vehicle that drives beside theirs.

She misses going out on road trips like this, even when she's with complete strangers. The feeling of nostalgia will always be there.

“Is that Hamilton?” A faint voice asks from beside her. Agatha hits pause to check if she heard the question right.

“Excuse me?” Agatha's eyes grow wide once she sees who's asking her.

“I asked if the song playing on your phone was from Hamilton,” Kubo tells her again with a small smile. Agatha's eyes land on the screen of her phone in consideration. 

“Is there going to be a problem if I said yes?” Agatha looks back at him.

“Nothing,” Kubo shrugs. “I was just curious.”

“What do you want?” Agatha squints her eyes, trying to see through his words.

“Not much else, besides your snacks,” Kubo jokes with a laugh, but abruptly stops himself, noticing that Agatha didn't really know what to do.

“Sorry for sounding patronizing,” Kubo quickly apologizes as he rubs the back of his neck.

“I'm sorry too,” Agatha averts her eyes away from him. “I'm not used to talking to other people.”  

“It's alright,” Kubo chuckles a bit to lighten up the mood, before mentally slapping himself. Great, he's weirded her out twice .

Before Kubo can even get himself out of the situation, the minibus suddenly pulls into a harsh stop. Kubo forgets that he's just simply leaning against Agatha's seat as he scrambles on his footing.

“Is someone running over there?” Sir Lionel yells from the shotgun seat as the sliding doors in front slowly pull open.

“Sit beside me before Sir Lionel sees you. You’ll be in trouble again,” Agatha gestures her hand to the empty seat beside her.

“Are you sure?” Kubo lifts his head. 

“Before I change my mind,” Agatha warns him.

Kubo hurriedly pushes onto his feet and throws himself towards the vacant seat beside Agatha without another word.

Just in the knick of time, Sir Lionel appears from behind the sliding doors, checking if somebody was making ruckus among the children.

“Thank you,” Kubo breathes out and runs a hand through his hair. 

“Food, right?” Agatha reaches for her bag and brings out a pack of cookies.

Kubo looks at her, confused. Agatha eyes Sir Lionel, who's still looking around. 

“Act natural,” Agatha whispers.

“Oh! Right.” Kubo slowly takes the pack from her and opens it for the both of them. 

Sir Lionel looks at Kubo and Agatha suspiciously, before carefully closing the sliding doors. Not long after, the minibus starts moving again.

“Thank you, again,” Kubo tells her with a shy smile.

“No problem.” Agatha gets herself a cookie from the pack.

“I was struggling to open that pack earlier, so thank you too,” she smiles.

Kubo contemplates if he should give his apology now. Besides, Kubo has already apologized a thousand times. I'll just get it over with , Kubo tells himself.

“I just want to say sorry for weirding you out,” Kubo blurts out.

Agatha takes a bite out of her cookie and stares at him, trying to think of a good way to respond.

“You need to be more specific than that,” Agatha tells him as she crunches onto the cookie in her mouth. 

“Okay, I deserved that,” Kubo laughs with a shrug. 

“Well, sorry for imposing myself on your personal space to save my butt,” Kubo starts as he counts with his fingers.

“Sorry for not knowing how to start a conversation earlier — that probably weirded you out,” Kubo mentions.

“It did,” Agatha agrees with a small laugh.

“And sorry if my first impression towards you was creepily staring into your soul at school,” Kubo lists off, tilting his head to Agatha. “That was everything, right?”

“I didn't expect you to actually name everything one by one,” Agatha chuckles a bit.

“You told me to!” Kubo protests playfully.

“If I didn't, I'd probably weird you out more!” He adds, unable to hide his amusement any longer.

Neil and Norman silently watched Kubo and Agatha from the back seat. Neil grins at the sight, but Norman's face seems troubled. 

“Don't worry for Aggie too much,” Neil looks over to Norman with a sigh. Norman is still staring at the two like a lifeless statue.

It isn't clear what Kubo told Agatha from where they are, but she laughs out loud anyway, and that alone made Neil's grin grow even wider.

“See? Aggie's enjoying herself,” Neil says again, but got no response from Norman.

Well, Neil can't really blame Norman for acting like this; he's just scared for Agatha, and Neil knows it's completely normal.

“Look at it this way, bro.” Neil placed a hand on Norman's shoulder.

“This is the first time Aggie talked to someone other than me and you. Willingly!”

Norman looks at Neil with his lips set onto a thin line, for he knows that he can't argue with that at all. 

Agatha has always been a hard person to talk to. Seeing that she's talking to another like they've known each other for a long time stuns him.

Norman returns his gaze to the two once again, only to see them talking and laughing around each other.

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” Norman sighs.

Their small talk is interrupted by the sound of the sliding doors opening out of nowhere.

Norman lets out a girlish scream, and Neil bursts out laughing. Norman glares at Neil, who gives him a nervous smile.

“Look ahead now, children!” Sir Lionel says from in front of the minibus, catching everyone's attention.

Sir Lionel breathes in and looks straight forward, feeling the excitement bubble inside his chest. He smiles as he exhales.

“We're here.”

Chapter Text

It feels like they're entering a completely different world, away from their own.

Tall and small trees stand firm beside the asphalt road, with the soft light from the sun's golden rays kissing its leaves. The wind speeds by as their minibus drives through the scene, like they're going inside a magic portal.

“Whoa, look at that one!” Coraline gasps as she points to a little bird flying beside the minibus.

The little bird seemingly turns its head to Coraline, before flying upwards to join the flock of birds flying gracefully in the purple-pink afternoon sky, singing a beautiful song that only they can sing.

Wybie takes photos beside her despite the minibus driving at a fast speed.

“No way! Is that a deer?” Eggs points a finger on the window. Winnie peeks over his shoulder.

A young little deer pops its head from behind the thick bushes of leaves, making Eggs and Winnie fawn over the forest animal.

“Aww! It's so cute!!!” Winnie places her hands on her cheeks and  squeals as she tilts her head with a grin.

The little deer bucks up on its feet and clamors along with the minibus. It leans its head closer to the window where Eggs and Winnie watches, before running back towards the tall trees. The two share a surprised gasp at what they just witnessed.

Different forest animals roam amongst the wide green landscape, along with a few crew of older people working in the forest grounds.

“Wow! Did you see that?” Neil shakes Norman's shoulder before he sticks his face against the window. Norman smiles and records Neil through the lens of his phone, a bright smile on his face.

The kids are amazed at how peaceful yet beautiful this forest reserve is, and each wonders what the ancient tree looks like.

“If the entrance to this forest alone looks like it was given all the love and care in the world, what would Tree Noyxu even look like…” Kubo looks out the window, seemingly breathless by the beauty of the forest passing by.

“I couldn't even begin to imagine,” Agatha grins at him as she leans towards the windowpane.

Sir Lionel has spoken great things about Tree Noyxu when he chose the eight of them for this trip, so it must be a spectacular sight to be seen.

“Sir Lionel?” Winnie calls from her seat as she raises her hand.

“Yes, Winnie?” Sir Lionel turns his head to her.

“If I could ask, w here do all the old people go to rest?” Winnie clears her throat and turns her head to the window once again.

“Good question. W e're just making our way to that exact location.” Sir Lionel says with a smirk.

Their minibus drives towards the incoming metal gates from a distance. The gates stand beside tall and sturdy chunks of wood that acts as a huge support barrier. 

The thick wooden walls are so absurdly tall, it completely blocks the sun's rays. 

The sunlight goes dimmer the closer they drive to the metal gates. The minibus stops just in front of them a few moments later.

There's a different aura amongst the forest after suddenly losing access to the sunlight. Whatever that aura is, it makes everyone fall completely silent because of it.

It was so quiet, the only sound the children could hear was the driver's seat window rolling down, along with the low whirring hum of the vehicle's engine roaring loudly.

A guard posted outside the metal gates walks toward the minibus. The guard opens his palm out to the driver, as if he's asking for some form of receipt.

“What's your business, ma'am?” The guard asks in a grungy voice.

Adelina leans down beside her seat, rummaging her hand through the bag beside her. She smiles once she feels a sandpaper-like substance on her fingertips. She flips the piece of paper outside her bag and hands it over to the guard.

The guard takes the slip away and skim over it for a few seconds. 

His eyes grow wide in shock.

“P-pardon me, m-ma'am,” the guard apologizes and shakes his head in panic. “You and yours may proceed.”

The guard covers his mouth to recover from the shock and clears his throat. 

“Open the gates!” The guard bellows.

The sunlight peers through the metal gates as two other people push them wide open, revealing a grassy meadow field with wooden cabins surrounding the wide plane.

There are people jogging, playing games like tug-of-war and tag, while some are simply laying on a picnic blanket on the ground and enjoying the sun's warm blaze.

The kids gasp in awe as their minibus drives into the place.

“Welcome to Dews' Cabins, children!” Sir Lionel announces with a grin.

“The cabins you see around the fields are where our staff stays for the night after a long day of taking care of the forest. Though, this is just the entrance.”

“This is amazing!” Winnie gasps as her mouth hangs open. Eggs closes her mouth with the flick of his finger before anyone notices.

“Dews' Cabins is the only place we can leave our things in this forest reserve. Tree Noyxu is just a few miles from here,” Sir Lionel faces his students.

“And we're not visiting that place without being prepared.”

Sir Lionel points forward. The children's eyes follow the tip of his cane. 

“That is the place we'll be staying in.”

In the middle of the field beholds the biggest cabin that stands out among the rest, almost like it was a very expensive mansion made entirely out of wood. The minibus stops its engines in front of the huge cabin.

“We have arrived at our destination!” Sir Lionel opens the minibus' doors.

“Grab all your belongings and follow me, please,” he says before stepping outside the vehicle.

“Do you need help with your things?” Kubo stands up from his seat and moves himself away from Agatha's seat.

“I'll tell you if I need any help. Thanks for the offer.” Agatha politely shakes her head before giving him a smile.

Kubo gives her a small nod, before walking back to his spot to gather his things. 

Agatha's gaze lingers on him, before facing her own spot to arrange her own things. She shoves everything she sees on her seats inside her bag and closes the zipper. Agatha felt a pang of dread inside her and took a minute or two rearranging her bag. 

As soon as she finishes, Agatha sits on her seat and breathes out. She lets out a loud shriek as soon as she looks up.

Wybie was looking down at her, his arms and chin resting on top of his seat, a smug smirk plastered on his face. 

“You like Kubo, don't you?” Wybje teases.

“How long have you been staring at me like that!?” Agatha cringes at him to hide her panic.

”The more accurate question is h ow long have you been staring at him like that?” Wybie steps down from his seat and stands beside her.

“Oh! I'm sorry for making you jealous, I didn't know Kubo is your boyfriend ,” Agatha wriggles her eyebrows to tease him back.

“More like he's your boyfriend,” Wybie teases her more

“More like you're a lurker,” Agatha shakes her head.

“More like you're in love.”

“More like you're a weird stalker.”

“More like-”

“I swear, I will lose my sanity if you two continue arguing,” Norman sneers from behind as he tosses his bag over his shoulder.

“Uh oh,” Neil whistles.

“I agree with you Norman,” Kubo comments not far behind as he walks up to the four of them, crossing his arms on his chest.

“I'm everybody's boyfriend! How about that? Hmm?” Kubo smirks.

Agatha places a hand on her mouth to hide her grin as Wybie puts a fist above his mouth.

“Why don't you help your tall friend clean his birthday confetti instead, Wybourne?” Coraline glances over Wybie as she gathers her things.

“Actually, that's a good idea!” Eggs stands in front of Coraline and crouches down in front of her, just so he can mock their significant height difference. 

“When we host your party, I'll make sure to bring confetti,” Eggs says, giving Coraline a sly wink.

Coraline rolls her eyes as she shoves Eggs away from her, which only made Eggs laugh.

“You guys should do less fighting and more packing.” Winnie carries their bags and shakes her head.

“We have others waiting at the back,” she tilts her head to the back seat.

The afternoon sky slowly transitions into a darker color due to the sun setting.

“Double time now, children!” Sir Lionel calls from outside as he hits the side of the bus twice using the handle of his British cane.

Kubo stays behind from the others to clean up the vehicle for a bit, making sure that he checks and double checks every corner of the seats everybody is in to see if they'd left anything behind. Kubo will also pick up any leftover trash he sees, before eventually exiting the minibus.

Before Kubo hops off the vehicle, he quickly looks over his shoulder for the last time. When he’s sure that all is well, he gently closes the minibus' doors.

“What were you doing inside there, young man?” Sir Lionel raises a brow.

“I was cleaning, Sir. Force of habit,” Kubo clears his throat as he places his things on the ground.

“That's very polite of you, Kubo,” Sir Lionel smiles at him. 

“Come along now, children.” Sir Lionel picks up his cane and starts walking towards the vast wooden mansion. 

Sir Lionel opens the doors to the enormous cabin. Once inside, it doesn't look like a cabin at all; it looks more like a luxury hotel room made from wood situated in the middle of a forest. Two long staircases arch on each side of the lobby, leading to two big doors resting on the second floor.

In the middle of it all, there’s a small water fountain, where two old men sat side by side.

One wears a tall red hat, brown pants and leather boots with heels. The other, meanwhile, wore a more formal  black and white suit.

“I don't like that guy with the red hat, he gives all the red flags,” Coraline whispers. 

“I don't like him either,” Wybie shivers as he instinctively moves closer to Coraline.

As the children step closer to the two old men, the clearer they hear them conversing. But the old men aren't talking, they are laughing . Laughing about what, they were unsure of.

The only sound in the room is the deafening echoes of clanking footsteps against the marble floor as they slowly approach the two old men. 

The children remained completely silent. Sir Lionel clears his throat, loud enough to grab the attention of the two old men

“Good evening, Seniors,” Sir Lionel says with a bow.

Two pairs of groggy eyes scan through the group of children, their gazes lingering on each kid one by one. For a moment, all of them felt like they were being examined.

“Are these the new recruits?” The old man in red grins as he rubs his hand underneath his chin.

“You would be correct,” Sir Lionel answers as he stands up straight.

Neil’s face visibly cringes the second he hears the rigidly crooked voice of the old man in red, prompting him to scoot closer to Norman for extra confidence points.

“I know, he looks sketchy as heck,” Norman mumbles, making Neil chortle quietly. Norman doesn’t hesitate to place a hand on Neil's shoulder as a means of comfort.

“These are the people in charge of Dews' Cabins, Senior Canshert and Senior Bedcuny.” Sir Lionel turns to the children with a bright smile. 

“They're the two Seniors responsible for preserving Tree Noyxu and the forest reserve, the home of the last sasquatch on Earth,” Sir Lionel explains as he gestures his gloved hand to the two old men. 

“We have been protecting Tree Noyxu ever since the Elders founded this place,” Senior Bedcuny — the old man in white tells them with a grim smile.

“Then all the Elders died, of course,” Senior Canshert — the old man in red jokes with a loud guffaw.

The children give each other a silent message of concern through looks and glances, unsure of how to react to the old man in red's statement.

“Stop scaring the little ones, compagno ,” Senior Bedcuny chuckles, and Senior Canshert laughs along.

”Was that supposed to be a joke?” Kubo whispers to himself as he hugs himself, genuinely confused. 

“I don't think so,” Winnie says as she stares at the two old Seniors.

“If it was, I'm sure Wybie can do a better job,” Coraline says with a huff. 

“Gee, thanks,” Wybie replies as he rolls his eyes with a scoff.

“You should guide these young critters to Mr. Shinkop, Sir Frost. They'll need all the rest that they can get,” Senior Canshert mentions with a stern look on his face.

“Of course, Seniors.” Sir Lionel simply nods his head and bows to them once again. 

Sir Lionel's gaze lands on the kids.

“Follow me this way, children.”

The children follow Sir Lionel, feeling the lingering gaze of the two old men.

“Thank goodness we left that lobby. Those two old people are freaky.” Agatha breathes out, hoisting her bag higher on her shoulder. 

“Agreed, those dudes give me the creeps,” Norman shrieks, making the children collectively nod in agreement.

Their group continues to follow behind Sir Lionel upward as they walk up the staircase near the lobby. 

All their footsteps stop just in front of an enormous door.

“Mr. Shinkop?” Sir Lionel says in a loud but gentle voice. 

After a few seconds of silence as a reply, Sir Lionel speaks once again. 

“Our new recruits have arrived,” Sir Lionel says again, repeatedly knocking his cane against the enormous wooden door. 

The doors slowly move wide open, revealing yet another old man. This time, there are two gigantic bags under his eyes, and his back is hunched into a sharp C curve. He's most likely the janitor of the place, judging by the waist bag that has a brush on it.

“New recruits, eh?” Mr. Shinkop asks in a groggy voice as he stretches his limbs with a loud yawn.

“That would be correct.” Sir Lionel replies.

Mr. Shinkop sighs heavily, dragging the doors by the handle, opening them wider for the children to enter.

A luxurious room reveals itself upon them, complete with a large space for the four double-decker bunk beds standing that are all evenly spaced on the right side of the room.

There's also four bathroom stalls on the left and their very own kitchen against the wall facing the entrance doors. To top it all off, there was a huge ceiling fan above the room, as well as a huge dining table in the middle of the room with a chandelier hanging on top of it.

“I'm starting to forget that we're in a big wooden mansion right now,” Neil gasps as his gaze roams around.

“Whoever designed this room has gone insane,” Winnie comments under her breath as her eyes land on the big ceiling fan on top of the room. 

“You will stay here for the rest of your trip.” Mr. Shinkop rubs his left eye with the back of his hand as if he's desperately trying to stay awake for days.

“Are you sure you're alright mister?” Wybie asks out loud. 

“Yeah, you kinda look like a zombie,” Coraline adds with a worried look on her face.

Mr. Shinkop ignores their concerns as he unzips his waist bag and brings out what appeared to be small IDs with laces on them.

“Here.” Mr. Shinkop gives the IDs to Sir Lionel. 

“What's this for?” Sir Lionel asks.

“For the kids. They're required to wear that ID whenever they wander around the place, so everybody knows who they are and what they're here for.” Mr. Shinkop tilts his head towards the children.

“Hmm, convenient,” Sir Lionel replies as he hands over the IDs amongst the young children.

“We're basically VIPs then?” Eggs asks as Sir Lionel hands his ID.

“More or less.” Mr. Shinkop shrugs.

Eggs looks at the boys with a coy smile. 

“Nice,” Kubo says as he hooks the ID around his neck. Kubo looks back at Eggs with a smug face, making them both chuckle.

“This is no place for trouble, boys! There are a lot of ghosts around here, and they like to mess around with naughty little kids like you!” Mr. Shinkop points a finger at the children.

“Is he telling the truth?” Neil asks as he leans closer to Norman, who was already looking around.

Norman throws a glance to Agatha, wondering if she also sees anything. As if they have some sort of twin instinct, Agatha secretly looks to Norman as well and shakes her head disapprovingly.

“We see nothing.” Norman says.

“I can hear you from here, little boy!” Mr. Shinkop glares at Norman.

“The rumors are true, then? You can see ghosts?” Winnie asks Norman with a raised brow.

“Yes!” Neil says with a bright smile. Norman's heart sinks down in panic.

“No! I mean-, well, kinda, but-” Norman groans irritably and glares at Neil, who rightfully looks like he immediately regrets speaking without thinking.

“Sweet! Looks like we're going ghost hunting, boys!” Eggs wraps his arm around Norman. The smaller boy quietly contemplates shoving Eggs away from him.

“Wait, ghost hunting?” Wybie asks as he hides behind Coraline.

Norman furrows his thick brows at Eggs. Still, Eggs gives him a playful wink.

“Oh dear...” Agatha plants her hands on her face.

“There's nothing here, Wybie. Egg boy was messing around.” Coraline rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.

Eggs's face went blank, pressing his lips together in a thin line as he awkwardly stared at Coraline.

Mr. Shinkop growls irritably at the children.

Eggs unwraps his hand and slowly steps away from Norman with his palms facing forward, looking at Mr. Shinkop in fear.

“Keep a sharp eye on these children, Frost.” Mr. Shinkop glares hard at the children to shut them all up.

Mr. Shinkop huffs. “They are such a handful, just like the others,” he grumbles.

The gang stands there awkwardly as Mr. Shinkop walks away.

Sir Lionel clears his throat, before speaking.

“Settle your things here for tonight children, please. I'll meet you tomorrow morning when the bell rings.”

Sir Lionel holds on to his cane, giving them all a small smile, before making his way downstairs without uttering another word.

“Have some self control, Arthur. Seriously? ‘Ghost hunting’?” Winnie snatches her things from the floor and gives Eggs a dirty look, gesturing her head to Norman.

“It would be really fun to go ghost hunting though.” Eggs frowns before carrying his stuff over to the bed where Winnie is. 

Eggs stops in front of Norman and smiles shyly.

“Sorry bro,” he quickly apologizes before catching up to Winnie.

“By the way, can I be at the bottom bunk?” Winnie asks from inside the room.

“Go ahead,” Eggs says with a nod.

“If you wanna find some ghosts, this place doesn't have any. He says so.” Kubo points a thumb to Norman. 

“Do you guys really believe him?” Coraline enters the room with Wybie silently trailing behind her, an annoyed look plastered on her face. 

“Of course there’s no ghosts here! He was probably just lying for us to behave.” Coraline hurls her stuff beside another bed.

The rest of the children suddenly stop what they're doing and pay attention to the sudden commotion. Norman freezes in his spot, giving Coraline a tense look. 

“How did you know that he's lying?” Kubo asks out loud as he lifts a brow at Coraline, taking a few steps towards her. 

“Ooh.” Everyone in the room went silent.

Coraline throws daggers at Kubo with her eyes. However, Kubo doesn't feel threatened in the slightest.

“What? Have any of you seen a ghost before?” Kubo asks.

“Uh, no…” Coraline gives him a weird look. Kubo looks at Wybie, then Eggs, then Winnie, knowing very well they all had the same thought. 

“You guys love gossiping about Norman seeing ghosts, so pay up by believing him!  If he says there are no ghosts, then there are no ghosts .” Kubo argues.

Everybody, including Norman, was stunned at Kubo's words. Coraline gives Kubo one good look, before finally looking away and minding her own business.

“Good luck on that,” Coraline scoffs with the roll of her eyes as she carries her things over to the bed where Wybie is.

“I'm with Kubo on this one, Jonesy,” Wybie mumbles, placing his stuff next to their double-decker bed. 

“Trust me when I say he has no idea what he's talking about. What makes you think Kubo knows Norman any better than I do?” Coraline mentions.

“Because Kubo is less meaner to Norman?” Wybie blinks.

Coraline slides her bag on the top bunk and frowns a little, realizing that she did sound a bit harsh on saying those things about Norman.

Coraline sits down on the bottom bunk bed and purses her lips, the regret starting to kick in. Wybie sits down with her and gives her an understanding smile.

“Top bunk or bottom bunk?” Wybie asks to stray away from the issue. Coraline smiles at him, knowing very well that Wybie can easily read her thoughts.

“You know I'm never at the bottom.” Coraline says with a wink, patting the top of Wybie's head before climbing up to the top bunk.

Wybie sees Neil walking towards his and Coraline's double decked bed, and Wybie didn't need to hear any words to see that Neil wants to talk about what happened.

Before Neil can approach any further, Wybie stands up from his bed and stops Neil from taking another step closer.

Neil opens his mouth to say something, but Wybie was already a step ahead by placing his palms in front of him as a way of telling Neil to stop whatever he's about to do.

“I-I know what Coraline said was mean, but I swear she doesn't mean it,” Wybie cautions in a soft voice. 

“Does she?” Neil looks over to Coraline, who was already lost through scrolling in her phone. 

“Yeah.” Wybie nods firmly. Neil raises a brow at Wybie, clearly unconvinced.

“I didn't like what she said too, and she knows that,” Wybie says.

~

Norman took the time to gather his thoughts, thinking about whether to thank Kubo for stepping up for him, or tell him that it was unnecessary to do so. 

“He's a weird kid, isn't he?” Norman hears Agatha's whisper from beside him, and he couldn't help but agree with a nod.

“I saw you two talking at the minibus earlier,” Norman mentions, prompting Agatha to raise a brow.

“Did you say anything to make him do that?” He asks.

“No.” Agatha cringes, thinking Norman might've put some malice towards her interaction with Kubo in the minibus earlier. 

“Besides, no one ever stands up to Coraline like he did. If anything, I would've discouraged him,” Agatha whispers to Norman, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Kubo's just weird that way.” And with that, Agatha walks to one of the unoccupied bunk beds.

Norman didn't know how to feel about what Agatha said. Kubo suddenly acting out — for him , more or less — wasn't something he was expecting to see. Kubo came out of nowhere, so to speak. 

Norman sees Kubo slowly approaching their group, and before the one-eyed boy can get any closer, Norman turns his attention to Neil.

“Hey Neil,” Norman calls out, trying to appear like he didn't see Kubo going their way. 

Neil, who was at the other side of the room along with Wybie, looks up to Norman at the sound of his name.

“Would you mind if I go join Aggie instead?” Norman asks.

Neil follows Norman’s thumb pointing towards Agatha at the far side of the room organizing her stuff on her bed in peace.

Neil nods to Wybie, before looking back at Norman with a smile.

“Sure! Kubo seems okay with sharing.” Neil hurriedly carries his things to the last empty bunk bed.

“Hmm?” Kubo's head perks up just as he gets close to Norman and Neil. 

Neil turns his attention to Kubo and gestures his eyes to the remaining empty bunk bed.

“Oh, right! Yes!” Kubo laughs as he walks over to where Neil is whilst carrying his things. 

“Thanks Neil,” Kubo says with a smile as he settles his bags on the double-decker bed.

“No problem.” Neil lays down on his bed and smiles back. 

The night sky outside was completely enveloped by thick blackness. As if on cue, the lights inside the room turned off, leaving the children to rest in the darkness.

The only source of light Kubo can see was Coraline scrolling through her phone, and some flickering stars from outside.

“Goodnight to you, bro.” Neil brings the sheets towards him. 

“Goodnight.” Kubo waves a hand.

“How sweet, ” Eggs jokes in a loud voice from his bed. Kubo laughs as he climbs on the top bunk of their bed.

As Kubo rests on top of the bed, he looks over his newfound friends, all tuckered up and sleeping.

Kubo lays down on the mattress and sighs, before closing his one eye, feeling himself drift away to sleep.

Chapter Text

Agatha wakes up to the sound of a loud horn blaring from outside the cabin’s walls. 

Among other things, Agatha can clearly hear the light snoring coming from the ones still asleep inside the room, making her wonder if she’s the only one awake.

Agatha yawns as she stretches her arms and legs as far as she can, trying to shake herself up. She turns her head from left to right, trying to align her vision straight. 

Turns out, she’s not the first one to be awake.

“Hey!” Winnie calls for Agatha from the room’s doors, while Coraline waves a hand to her. 

Agatha gives them a shy smile. She doesn't want to give them a rude first impression, so she chooses to fix up her bed instead of engaging in any sort of conversation. 

“I told you she’s not one to talk,” Agatha can hear Coraline comment from the far side of the room. 

Agatha laughs quietly under her breath. 

“None of the others will if you continue talking like that,” Winnie scolds, knowing very well that Agatha heard what Coraline said.

Agatha is surprised when she hears nothing but silence a few seconds after Winnie's scolding of Coraline, considering what had happened last night. When Agatha was sure she wasn't going to hear another word, she decided to speak up. 

“I choose not to talk often,” Agatha says without the need to look at them, her voice loud enough for Coraline and Winnie to hear.

Agatha can hear footsteps walking towards her, but she refuses to look and instead busies herself with tucking the sheets of her bed neatly under the mattress. 

The footsteps come to a halt, and Agatha can sense two figures standing beside her bed.

“It's fine if you don’t want to,” Winnie says. 

Agatha finally looks up to Coraline and Winnie, seeing them both have funny looks on their faces. Agatha raises a brow; were they going to make fun of her?

“We plan to leave the boys behind,” Coraline tells her. As if on cue, someone asleep inside the room snorts loudly. 

Winnie and Coraline struggle to hide their laughter, as Agatha covers her mouth before she wakes the rest with her laugh. 

“The horn wasn’t enough to wake them,” Winnie chuckles. 

“At this point, only Sir Lionel can do that,” Agatha replies with a grin as her eyes roam around the boys who are still comfortably asleep on their beds.

Coraline gasps, “she can talk!” She teases playfully, prompting Winnie to smack her arm as she restrains herself from laughing out loud.

“I don’t have a mouth for nothing,” Agatha answers as she stands up from the bed.

“By the way, don’t forget your IDs,” Coraline says as she hoops the lace around her neck, with Winnie already holding onto hers.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Agatha says as she walks up to her pillow, grabs the ID from underneath it, and wears it on.

“Besides talking, all I can think of is eating food,” Winnie jokes, making Coraline and Agatha chuckle under their breath. 

“Seriously, I’m starving.” Winnie rubs her stomach. 

“Now that you say it, I’m getting hungry too,” Coraline replies with a sniff. “I think I know why.”

Agatha looks up to the ceiling, and a wave of a tasty savory smell almost immediately enters her nose. 

“Mmm, smells like eggs and bacon,” Winnie points out, pursing her lips.

“So? What are we waiting for?” Coraline says with a smirk. “Let’s get down there before the boys annihilate our breakfast with their loud snoring.”

The three girls exchange a series of light giggles as they walk to the enormous wooden doors of their room.

Agatha lets Winnie and Coraline pass through first, before gently closing the doors shut.

~

Kubo bolts up on his bed to the sound of the huge wooden doors slamming open. His heart beats faster than the speed of light as he frantically looks around the room, only to see the others with the same panicked look on their faces.

“Why haven’t you gone downstairs? The horn went off 15 minutes ago! You missed your breakfast!” Mr Shinkop’s angry tone was loud enough to make the boys' ears ring.

“There was a horn?” Eggs asks absentmindedly out loud, before immediately covering his mouth with his hand in instant regret.

“There was,” Mr. Shinkop sneers as he turns his head to Eggs, giving him a death glare.

“How come we never heard of it?” Neil wonders from below Kubo’s bed.

“Because you were all fast asleep,” Mr. Shinkop answers as he turns his back to them and starts to walk out of their room. 

“By the way,” Mr. Shinkop pauses in his steps, “the girls may or may not have eaten all of our breakfast stock for the day.”

“WHAT!?” The boys shout in unison, as Mr. Shinkop chuckles while he walks away.

Kubo’s eye quickly wanders around where the empty spots on the double decker beds are, and slowly his brow furrows into a glare.

“The girls didn’t wake us up!” Kubo yells as he swiftly hops off of his bed.

“I have a feeling they did that on purpose,” Wybie mutters as he fixes his bedsheets.

Eggs checks on the bottom bunk where Winnie should be sleeping. “Oh my god, they did!” Eggs exclaims as he jumps up on his feet. 

“I don’t know how they managed to convince Aggie to go,” Norman points out as his thick brows slant downwards, pushing the sheets onto the mattress.

“I feel betrayed.” Neil frowns as he walks in the middle of the room.

“Plot revenge later,” Kubo says as he grabs his ID and quickly runs towards the open wooden doors. “We can eat food first.”

“TAKE ME WITH YOU!” Eggs shouts as he chases after Kubo.

“YOUR ID, EGGS!” Neil calls out as he hurriedly wears his own ID.

Eggs swiftly makes a u-turn and grabs his ID hanging around one of his bags, before running outside the room.

“ME TOO!” Wybie yelps as he hooks his ID around his neck, almost tripping on his own feet as he dashes out of the room.

“Hop on, Norman.” Neil crouches down and hands Norman's ID to him. “I’ll run like the wind.”

“N-Neil,” Norman whimpers as he warily climbs on Neil’s back, “I-I don’t think this is sAFE-!”

“TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND!” Neil roars as he quickly bolts towards the open doors. 

Norman screams on the top of his lungs, trying his best to desperately hold onto the collar of Neil's shirt.

“SLOW DOWN, IDIOTS!” Mr. Hopkins yells at them, watching as the five boys frantically run down the staircase. 

Wybie trips on the way down, mumbles a quick ‘sorry’ to the staircase, before he starts running again.

Mr. Shinkop slaps his forehead with a groan.

The five boys shove their palms against the enormous doors with all their might. As the wood heaves open, the outside reveals a long table, food and chairs under a canopy tent. 

The three girls are sitting in front of a propped up chalk board laid on the grassy fields under the tent with smug grins on their faces.

Sir Lionel turns his head to them as the boys put their hands on top of their thighs, catching up with their breaths. 

“I can’t believe it took 15 minutes for the horn to wake you up,” Sir Lionel comments.

The three girls cover their snickers and giggles under their hands, looking at the boys mischievously.

“Fortunately, the girls aren't hungry enough to finish a breakfast meal prepared for eight people,” Sir Lionel says as he tilts his head to the girls, giving the boys a teasing smile.

“They started it by not waking us up in the first place!” Kubo complains as he crosses his arms, making the three girls silent in an instant.

“If I were you, I’d start eating the food before it gets cold,” Sir Lionel replies with a wink.

“Yes sir!” The boys answer in unison, before rushing towards the table, filling up their plates and eating breakfast right away.

“Kubo does have a point though.” Sir Lionel looks over Agatha, Coraline and Winnie who were all sitting on the grass.

The three girls shyly look away from the older man. Sir Lionel shakes his head disapprovingly, before looking back at the boys.

Neil slurps up the rest of his food like a vacuum cleaner and slams his plate on the table. 

“Done!” Neil cheers.

“‘Done’!?” Wybie questions, looking up to Neil with a puzzled look on his face.

“You’ll get used to it,” Norman tells him as he scoops up a spoonful of food in his mouth.

After a few minutes of the boys eating away, they finally finish their breakfast and sit alongside the rest of the children.

“Great! Now that we’re all settled for breakfast, we can run through our to-do list for this week.” Sir Lionel leans his cane against the chalkboard. 

Sir Lionel then grabs a piece of chalk and writes down a checklist on the board, while the children watch him silently.

“First, let me welcome you to our current location. Dew’s Cabins is the organization in charge of protecting and preserving Tree Noyxu at all costs. The eight of you are chosen to participate in a research project about a recent study that Dew's Cabins are currently working on, all about the majestic creature that lives here; the last sasquatch on Earth.”

Sir Lionel takes a little time to pause, before continuing onto the discussion.

“Dew's Cabins only has one rule,” Sir Lionel says in a low voice as he points the chalk at the children.

“Know your place in the daylight, stay indoors during the night.”

Coraline raises her hand, catching Sir Lionel’s attention. 

“Yes, my dear?”

“Why choose the eight of us specifically?” Coraline asks out loud, pointing her nose up high. “Because we won your random card game at school?”

“When you got your eagle card, I asked if you would like to state your name and make your way to the front.” Sir Lionel plays with the piece of chalk in between his fingers.

“You had every right to refuse, and yet none of you ever did,” Sir Lionel continues as he places the chalk down and dusts off any remaining chalk off of his gloved hands.

“Fair point,” Coraline mumbles with a shrug.

“As your mentor and guide through Tree Noyxu, I won't let you venture there without giving you proper knowledge beforehand.” Sir Lionel tosses his cane upward and catches it swiftly. 

“Here’s our plan.” Sir Lionel taps the handle of his cane to the first bullet written on the board. 

“Firstly, you must learn basic sasquatch behavior. For two days, I'll teach you what they are within the scientific community.”

“I thought we’re just on a normal field trip,” Eggs frowns, making everyone laugh.

“That’s what field trips are for, dummy. We learn outside of school.” Winnie lightly bumps Eggs's shoulder. 

“Is there a field trip without the learning part?” Neil asks.

“I’d be happy to get on one of those,” Norman agrees with a chuckle.

“That’s called a ‘vacation’,” Agatha answers, making them all laugh lightly.

“Moving on, the second thing we need to do is to train for the dire circumstances when Sasquatches act rampant.” Sir Lionel drags his cane down to the second bullet. 

“In my estimation, it'll take another two days to prepare you for our sasquatch encounter, knowing all the do’s and don'ts necessary.”

“So does that mean we get to explore other animals, Sir?” Wybie speaks up, twiddling his fingers.

“There’s a lot of living things within the forest surrounding Tree Noyxu,” Sir Lionel nods.

“Yes!” Wybie cheers in a hushed manner.

“For our last day, we practice what to do when we’re inside Tree Noyxu and what we do in the actual encounter.” Sir Lionel takes back his cane.

“If we’re successful.”

“Is the sasquatch really real , Sir?” Kubo asks as his eye widens in excitement.

“If we claim it’s real, then it’s definitely real, my boy,” Sir Lionel responds with a firm nod.

“Before we proceed, do we have any more questions?” 

Eggs raises a hand. 

“What is it?” Sir Lionel asks him.

“Do we get to shower? I haven’t showered since we went here,” Eggs mentions, making the kids laugh under their breath. 

“You do smell a bit stinky.” Sir Lionel sniffs, smiling at the kids’ growing laughter.

“Well, you can shower after we talk about this brief introduction to sasquatches.”

Sir Lionel points the handle of his cane to the bottom of the chalkboard and pulls it upward.

The chalkboard rotates downward and upward, revealing a chart with a crude drawing of a sasquatch beside rows of bullet phrases.

“The very first accounts of seeing big and strong hairy people date from at least the 15th century. They were located in Caucasus, which is a region between Asia and Europe.” Sir Lionel pulls out a map from his jacket, and lets gravity unroll it for them.  

“I thought we’re only going to talk about sasquatches,” Winnie scoffs.

“Shh!!!” Wybie covers Winnie's mouth, making her look at him furiously.

“It has been called many names, ‘Yowie’ in Australia, ‘Ebu Gogo’ in Indonesia. In the Himalayas, it’s called ‘Yeti’,” Sir Lionel tells them as he rolls up the old map and puts it back inside his jacket.

"Here in America, we call it 'Bigfoot'. But where I came from, in Britain, we like to call it the 'Sasquatch'." Sir Lionel points his cane at the sketch of a big hairy creature. 

“Because it sounds fancy?” Coraline jokes.

“It sounds more scientific , I guess,” Agatha says with a shrug. 

“Precisely!” Sir Lionel points a finger to Agatha.

“Oldest known reports of a large, hairy, upright walking creature was reported in the Exeter Watchman.” Sir Lionel brings out another piece of paper, except this time, it’s a wrinkled copy of an old newspaper.

“The date listed for this incident was September 22, 1818.” Sir Lionel taps on the upper left corner of the newspaper, making everyone gasp.

“Wicked,” Kubo breathes out in amazement.

“You’re holding history, Sir,” Neil says out loud. Beside him is Norman with his mouth wide open in astonishment. 

“Every state in the US has a recorded Sasquatch sighting.” Sir Lionel rolls up the newspaper parchment and tucks it safely under his jacket.

"But sadly, after a few years, Sasquatches have been declared to be an endangered species.” 

“Oh no…” Wybie murmurs under his breath, as the other children collectively frown at his words.

“But don’t fret, my children. That’s why we're here.” Sir Liomel pushes his cane firmly against the ground. 

“This forest is the only place that has created a Sasquatch refuge over the years. One remaining Sasquatch lies within these woods. There’s nothing for you to be afraid of.” Sir Lionel rests his gloved palms on top of the cane’s handle.

“Together, it is our quest to catch evidence of this legendary beast.”

Chapter Text

Their situated canopy tent is encircled by lighted lanterns hanging from the sides, and as the sun falls for the day's end, the lantern's light blooms brighter.

After two days, Sir Lionel has finished teaching the students all they need to know about the Sasquatch, from its origins to its behavior, with the help of those who have seen it.

“Now, it is time for us to train when we do see a Sasquatch,” Sir Lionel says whilst wiping the writings on the board with his gloved hand. 

When Sir Lionel returns his gaze to the children, they are either yawning or fighting sleep with their eyelids.

“Sir?” Winnie yawns and extends her exhausted hand.

“Yes, my dear?” Sir Lionel asks.

“Isn't it a bit late for training?” Winnie asks, before yawning yet again.

“I could tell.” Sir Lionel chuckles at the sight of the children bored to the point of sheer sleepiness.

“I suppose you could take your dinner and rest early then,” Sir Lionel suggests with a smirk, knowing very well that some of the children would awaken at the mere mention of food.

“Yes! Food!” Neil zips his head up from the table and aggressively wipes his hands against his face in an attempt to wake himself up.

“Finally! Something for my stomach!” Eggs pats his tummy. “My ears are tired from hearing the word ‘Sasquatch’,” Eggs adds as he stretches his limbs.

“Food sounds nice,” Norman says softly as he nods with his chin on his palm.

“Seriously, did anyone ELSE take notes besides Aggie and I?” Wybie asks out loud as he shuts his notebook.

“You took notes?” Coraline asks him with her head down. 

“Were we supposed to take notes?” Kubo asks not long after.

Wybie's face contorts as he scratches the back of his head in bewilderment.

“Don't bother asking, Wybie.” Agatha rolls her eyes as she writes down some final notes before closing her notebook.

“I appreciate you two taking notes from our discussion,” Sir Lionel says with a modest smile. “And as for everyone else, go relax for the rest of the day; we have a hard day of training ahead of us for tomorrow.”

Sir Liomel tosses the chalkboard over his shoulder and comes to a halt.

“Before I forget, your food is already inside your room,” Sir Lionel says, smirking as he walks away.

Eggs is the first to push himself up from his seat and rush inside the large wooden cabin. 

“Hey! Hey!” Wybie shouts at Eggs.

“Where is he going?” Kubo questions, turning to face Winnie.

“To our room, probably planning to eat everything he sees on that table.” Winnie replies as she rises up.

“I'd start running if I were you.” Winnie then jogged towards the enormous cabin.

“Jonesy!!” Wybie exclaims as he notices Coraline still half asleep.

Wybie stands up, grabs Coraline's hand, and begins to run after Eggs, ignoring her protests.

“I'm not missing my dinner!” Kubo scrambles to get up from his seat and jumps towards the large cabin.

“Guys, we could just stroll to the room, you know,” Agatha says as she rises up and walks quietly.

“You could, but you won't have any food when you get there!” Kubo replies to her as he continues running.

Agatha's face sank.

“Hey! Wait!” Agatha screams as she picks up her speed.

“Buddy, wake up, I don't like this,” Neil urges as he taps on Norman's cheek repeatedly in panic as Eggs runs ever closer to their room

“Not now Neil, I'm sleepy.” Norman gingerly swats Neil's hand away. 

“But you said that food sounds good??? All that food is gonna be in Eggs's stomach if we don't hurry!!!” Neil shakes Norman like a rag doll but to no avail.

Neil grunts in frustration as he looks to all the others making their way to the large cabin. 

“Please don't get mad at me for doing this.”

When Norman feels his entire body being pulled up by two powerful arms, his eyes explode out of their sockets.

“Not this again!!!” Norman screams.

“Yes this again!!!” Neil shouts as he runs towards the large cabin like his life depends on it.

When Neil finally climbs at the end of the flight of steps, he exhales and shoves the wooden doors open.

Everyone else is eating their supper quietly at the table. The first thing Neil notices are the two dishes of meals that have been left untouched.

“There is still mercy,” Neil sobs as he walks into the chamber, letting the wooden doors close on their own.

“Hi guytsh!” Eggs waves his spoon in the air as he greets the two boys.

“Don't talk with your mouth full!” Winnie chides. 

“Oh, shorry,” Eggs apologizes before swallowing his dish.

“Norman! You look like you just saw the Devil himself!” Agatha jokes with a chuckle.

“Trust me, it's way more horrifying than that,” Norman says in a hushed voice. 

Shortly after that, Neil feels Norman's body freeze still.

“Did I hurt you?” Neil asks worriedly.

“Y-you can put me down now,” Norman tells him. Neil's face flushes red as the realization hits him like a truck.

“Oh! Sorry about that.” Neil stutters as he carefully puts Norman on his feet again. 

“Really? Right in front of my chicken dinner?” Coraline asks with a disapproving look on her face.

“And my pizza?” Wybie joins her as he gestures his hand to the slice of pizza that has almost touched his mouth.

“Inviting them to the table would've been nice,” Kubo comments as he plops a spoonful of food in his mouth.

“Thank you.” Agatha nods to him in agreement.

Neil and Norman exchanged glances before joining the rest at the table for dinner.

“Sorry for being a little late,” Norman says as he and Neil settle in their seats.

“Don't worry, we're just getting started. Besides, I bet Eggs just rushed in here to scare us,” Winnie tells Norman. 

“Stop thinking that I'm going to eat all the food! Just because I can, doesn't mean I would!” Eggs retorts with a sharp frown.  

“But you might.” Wybie points his spoon at the tall brunette. 

“It's scary,” Norman comments.

“It's possible,” Kubo adds.

“It's terrifying.” Neil shivers as he grips onto his silverware.

Eggs frowns at their words. He shakes his head and licks his lips as he pulls a chicken leg from his plate.

“Plus, you ran like a golden retriever when Sir Lionel told us our dinner is in the room already,” Coraline says.

“I was hungry!!” Eggs barks as he takes a clean bite out of his chicken.

“Nobody blames you,” Norman tells Eggs. 

“Totally! Talking about nothing but Sasquatches for two days bored me to death too.” Neil nods his head knowingly.

“In defense of the Sasquatch, their history and behavior is pretty interesting if you care to pay attention.” Wybie swallows his food before he continues speaking.

“C'mon, Wybie. Do you actually believe that those things really exist here?” Coraline rolls her eyes.

Wybie blinks. “Do you have to doubt everything you don't believe in?”  

Coraline takes her time to give Wybie a stare, before shrugging nonchalantly.

“If there's no Sasquatches here, then what are we doing here?” Eggs points out as he puts his spoon and fork on top of his clean plate.

Everybody blatantly agrees with Eggs with a nod, as they proceed to eat their dinner in silence.

Wybie opens his mouth to protest, but a dawn of realization hits his face. 

“Eggs has a point there,” Wybie trails off, his voice trembling as he says those words.  

Something about what Eggs mentioned was off. 

“Hang on…” Agatha wanders quietly to herself.

As everybody continues eating their dinner on the table as usual, Agatha's thoughts begin to wander as she stares at the table, her brows knitting together.

“Eggs is right, it doesn't make sense.” Agatha realizes in a hushed voice.

From the corner of his eye, Kubo could see from the look on Agatha's face that she sensed something about what was spoken.

Kubo turns his gaze to Agatha as she puts her hand over her lips like she just had a major revelation.

As Kubo finishes his dinner, he could sense that Agatha was hesitant to speak up, judging by her frequent attempts to raise her voice to the others who were having small talk.

Kubo moves his plate away and clears his throat before speaking. 

“Aggie has something to say,” Kubo declares in a loud voice.

Everyone's focus is now on Agatha, who is eagerly waiting for her to speak up. Agatha looks around, only to learn that everybody suddenly has their eyes on her.

“Go on. What is it?” Coraline raised a brow.

As Agatha's face spoke for her growing confusion, she turned her gaze to Kubo, who encouraged her to speak what her mind was thinking about, almost as if he knew that she wanted to share it to everybody.

“I just realized something…” Agatha trails off, trying to figure out how to best explain her thoughts.

Neil turns to Norman, his face filled with astonishment and confusion, while Norman simply shrugs. 

Agatha notices their reaction, but Neil motions with his hand to her, as if to urge her to continue.

“I remember earlier, Sir Lionel mentioned something about Sasquatches almost being extinct,” Agatha starts, carefully choosing her words as she fiddles with her little fingers.

“Yeah, I remember that,” Eggs agrees. 

“This reserve is the last place to have a Sasquatch on this planet,” Wybie butts in.

“Well, how sure are we about that?” Agatha counters, making everybody fall silent. 

“Just think about it. Is there really a real and living Sasquatch that lives in Tree Noyxu?” Agatha questions. “If there is, then this place should've been mentioned somewhere in science classes before.”

“Duh. He's a researcher?” Coraline argues. 

“And a licensed teacher? I hope?” Winnie adds. 

“Wait, wait, I think I'm getting your point.” Wybie stands up from his seat.

“How sure is Sir Lionel and the others that there's a real Sasquatch here?”

“Right? Sounds suspicious enough-” Agatha points a finger at Wybie. 

“Hold up, hold up.” Neil waves his hands, trying to slow down the conversation and digest everything they're implying.

“Are you guys saying that those creepy old dudes-”

“The Seniors,” Norman corrects him.

“Seniors, yeah. Are they up to something? Sir Lionel too?” Neil repeats.

“That's ridiculous! If they were, the school wouldn't allow Sir Lionel to come to our school in the first place!” Winnie exclaims, the dread in her voice starting to kick in.

The massive oak doors flew wide open at the heat of the conversation, causing the children to shut up almost immediately.

Mr. Shinkop stood behind Sir Lionel. Mr. Shinkop's face is visibly irritated, and Sir Lionel looked disapprovingly at them.

“We can hear your yapping from the first floor,” Mr. Shinkop sneers.

Kubo shrinks in his seat, apparently embarrassed by the silence that has resulted from the chaos he has once again caused among the group.

Winnie and Eggs exchange glances as they uncomfortably shift their stance on their seats.

Norman's gaze drops to the floor, and Neil's lips form a thin line, both avoiding the awkward glances the others had been exchanging. 

Coraline leans into her seat, as Wybie and Agatha sit down slowly.

“Children, do get some rest now. It's way past dinner time, and we have training tomorrow,” Sir Lionel cautions them with a concerned look on his face.

Sir Lionel shoots a glance at Mr. Shinkop before nodding to the door. The sound of their footsteps clacking against the floor blares throughout the quiet room, ending with the heavy thud of the oak doors closing shut.

Kuvo slowly stands up from his seat, prompting everybody else’s gaze towards him.

“I'm sorry for causing things to go out of hand, again…” Kubo speaks up, pursing his lips before talking again.

“Sir Lionel is right. Let's just get some sleep,” Winnie adds.

“I should be the one apologizing,” Agatha tells Kubo with a frown. 

“Me too,” Wybie adds with a sigh. 

“If Sir Lionel heard everything, then I’ll take all of it.” Eggs frowns, slumping his arms on the table.

“But what if something does happen to us?” Coraline asks, a concerned frown on her face.

“Not helping,” Norman sneers, shaking his head.

“Though the school would definitely know about it for sure,” Winnie tells them.

“I know we’re all paranoid, but there’s eight of us.”  Neil motions with his hands to their group.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“A lot of things,” Norman responds nervously, causing the other children to laugh as well.

~

The moon gave way to the sun as tomorrow arrived, signaling the start of the children's Sasquatch encounter training sessions.

“These training sessions are known as S.E.T.S. or SETS for short. These SETS will help us construct our strategy for documenting the Sasquatch encounter while remaining safe,” Sir Lionel says to the children, who are standing in a single file line in front of him.

“Hold on.”

Sir Lionel squints his eyes and counts them off with his finger.

“One, two, three, four five, si-” Sir Lionel comes to an abrupt halt, his stern expression giving way to fear.

“Where did the other two children go!?”

The other children look around the area in fear. Winnie and Coraline exchanged glances before face palming almost simultaneously.

Wybie and Eggs move towards a stack of enormous pieces of tree trunks that are carefully put together, resembling a bird's nest, not far from the other kids.

“Look at this wood,” Eggs says as he approaches a lone log alongside the nest.

Eggs lowers his head to get a better look. He notices a light slab of wood on top of the log, as if it were concealing something beneath it.

Wybie approaches Eggs and leans in closer, palms on his thighs. Eggs carefully grabs the slab and quickly shrieks away after seeing what's underneath.

“Bloody hell!” Eggs screams.

“It's a salamander!” Wybie exclaims, taking a step back.

“It's alive, buddy!” Eggs gasps as he pokes the creature's back with his finger, puzzled. 

Wybie approaches the wooden log and crouches next to the tall brunette.

“Does it bite?” Wybie asks. Eggs taps its mouth without thinking. 

Eggs screams as the salamander sends out such a harsh shriek.

“Geez!” Wybie exhales loudly.

Wybie tenderly pinches the small creature's sides and sets it on the palm of his gloved hand.

“It's a little... uh…” Wybie squinted.

“Is it a newt? Or a salamander?” Wybie tilting his head.

“He's just hanging out,” Eggs replies, smiling, as Wybie shrugs and the creature sits on his palm.

“His name is Cedric,” Eggs says with a goofy smile. “It struck me as Cedric when I first saw him,” he adds, softly patting the top of the creature's head with his finger.

“Look at those beady little eyes.” Wybie points a gloved finger at the salamander’s head.

“I know.” Eggs nods and looks at Wybie. “It looks like you,” Eggs teases, making Wybie glare at him.

Sir Lionel clears his throat to express his presence to Eggs and Wybie. Sir Lionel folds his arms across his chest as he repeatedly stamps his boot on the muddy ground beneath them.

“We need a lot more training than I anticipated,” Sir Lionel says in a scolding tone, as Eggs and Wybie glance away sheepishly.

Chapter Text

“Sasquatches are known to have a skin tone that ranges from black, dark brown, reddish brown, to gray. The palms of their hands and the soles of their feet are said to be lighter in color.”

“Among the three models, which of them is more likely to be a Sasquatch?” Sir Lionel points to the mannequins shaped like a Sasquatch, propped up in front of the children.  

“Is this a trick question? They all look the same!” Kubo whispers to himself in a panicked tone.

Neil hides behind Norman, trying to avoid being called upon to answer. Norman rolls his eyes, aware that he doesn't know the answer either.

Wybie slowly raised his hand, but Sir Lionel didn't seem to notice. Coraline grins mischievously and swiftly lifts Wybie into the air, catching Sir Lionel's attention.

“Yes, Eggs?” Sir Lionel points to Eggs as Wybie lands on his feet again.

Coraline quickly covers her mouth to stifle her burst of laughter, ignoring Wybie's fuming face.

“Uh… the gray one?” Eggs answers with unsureness present in his voice. 

Everyone gazes at Eggs in genuine amazement, seeing how he quickly figured it out despite initially seeming caught off guard.

However, as the excitement fades from Sir Lionel's face mere seconds after that answer, they realize that Eggs didn't give the correct answer.

“All of them have Sasquatch colors,” Agatha answers casually. 

“Indeed correct,” Sir Lionel says to Agatha. 

Everybody looks at Agatha, and she gives them a polite smile.

“The color of their fur isn't the sole criterion you need to consider in Sasquatches. These creatures are also recognized for their height, often standing 7 to 10 feet tall—several orders of magnitude taller than the average human.” Sir Lionel explains.  

“Which one of these matches the color and height of a Sasquatch?” Sir Lionel flimsily taps his cane onto one of the Sasquatch mannequins.

“The tallest, duh,” Coraline sasses while pointing a finger to the tallest mannequin, making everybody laugh a little.

“The second tallest with the chocolate brown hair counts too! It's taller than you by a lot, Sir.” Wybie answers, raising a hand. 

“Marvelous observation, Wyborne,” Sir Lionel commends, making Wybie smile gleefully.

“Now that you know the basic traits of a Sasquatch, I'd like to move forward to some of their key behaviors.”

Sir Lionel retrieves a small remote controller from his back pocket and directs it toward the three Sasquatch mannequins, then presses the red button on it.  

The center of the Sasquatches' chest cavities slowly opens, revealing some sort of speaker system.

“These models have high tech!” Eggs exclaims as his jaw practically drops to the floor in astonishment.

“Tailor-made by Dews' Cabins engineering team to supplement their cause.” Sir Lionel dusts off one of the Sasquatch models before clearing his throat. 

“The Dews' Cabins research team have reported that Sasquatches are mostly silent creatures, but real-life encounters have credited them with howls, grunts and growls,” Sir Lionel discusses to them.

Sir Lionel walks towards the tallest Sasquatch model with gray fur and stands beside it.

“Children, observe.”

Sir Lionel points the remote at the Sasquatch model and presses a button on it. 

The speaker on the chest of the Sasquatch played a slow, guttural growl, almost as if the sound itself was recorded in close proximity to a real-life Sasquatch.

“Why do they sound like monkeys?” Kubo thought out loud, slightly raising his hand. 

“They are quite similar, but Sasquatches have a lower pitch due to their size,” Sir Lionel replies while nodding in agreement. 

“I never expected Kubo to know what monkeys are, where did that come from?” Agatha asks, turning to Kubo with a baffled look on her face.

“What if I like monkeys?” Kubo asks back while giving her a funny face.

“You like monkeys?” Agatha emphasizes.

“I like monkeys,” Kubo repeats with a shrug. “But you? I'd make an exception.”

“Oof!” Eggs chokes, while Winnie gasps beside him.

“Shots fired!!!” Coraline laughs in amusement. 

Agatha rolls her eyes with a groan as Wybie's mouth hangs open in shock. Neil holds back a laugh, while Norman only covers his mouth, both from a fly and to hide his grin.

“Settle down now, all of you.” Sir Lionel waves his palm at them to calm them down.  

“Let's move on to the more behavioral side of a Sasquatch.”

As if on cue, the three Sasquatch models straighten their forms as if they were ordered to stand up straight.

“Observe each of the Sasquatch's movements,” Sir Lionel instructs.

The first Sasquatch with gray fur does a funny robot dance. It emits a high-pitched growl that gets a round of laughter from the kids.

“Sasquatches don't do robot dances, got it,” Neil mutters to himself while taking notes on his notepad, causing the group, including Sir Lionel, to burst out laughing.

The second one, the tallest with dark auburn fur, grumbles in a lower pitch and slouches while putting its hands in front as if it doesn't know what to do.

“He looks scared,” Winnie points out. 

“Yeah. It almost looks real ,” Eggs agrees with a nod.

The third one, the second tallest with dark chocolate fur, displays poise as it straightens its back and politely takes a bow.

“Put 'Sasquatches are also tall gentlemen',” Norman jokes while pointing to Neil's notepad, making both of them chuckle mischievously.

Sir Lionel clicks the button on the remote, and the three Sasquatches freeze on their spot while maintaining their poses.

“You've learned all about the size, shape and behavior of the three models. Now, you should be able to tell which one of them is close to a true Sasquatch.” Sir Lionel announces.

The group of children murmured among themselves, seemingly unsure of which Sasquatch model to choose.

Sir Lionel quickly noticed the confusion among the children and smiled ever so slightly. 

That's when he catches a shade of red and white from the corner of his eye, and his smile falters. Still, he keeps his poise firm and strict. Sir Lionel clears his throat to catch the group's attention. 

“Children, you could walk towards them, touch their fur, smell their fur, simply to get an up-close grasp of what we are dealing with,” Sir Lionel tells them. 

“After five minutes, I want you to stand in front of the Sasquatch model you think has the best match.”

The children look at each other and give Sir Lionel a quick nod.

Sir Lionel trips slightly as he walks to where he saw the glimpse of the two men in red and white, thankful that most of the children are busy thinking about the Sasquatch activity.

Most, but not all. Unbeknownst to anyone, a child from the group has quietly followed Sir Lionel.

 ~

“Eggs, for the LAST time, Sasqatches don't do robot dances,” Coraline scolds him while crossing her arms.

“Sasquatches are cool, robot dances are cool, so the gray one definitely has to be it!” Eggs argues, and nobody could tell if he was being serious or if he was just joking.

“I have never agreed and disagreed to something more than what Eggs just said,” Wybie comments, genuinely impressed.

“Do you really buy this Wybie? I had it in my notes!” Neil asks worriedly.

“No!” Wybie looks at Neil, befuddled that the ginger head actually thought he believed Eggs. 

“Agree, I will trust Neil's notebook more than I trust Eggs's judgment,” Winnie jokes with a quiet laugh.

“I heard that Winnie!” Eggs points to Winnie who simply rolls her eyes at him.

“Quit trying to get Winnie's attention, we all know you like her,” Coraline teases.

Eggs's face quickly brightens up to the tip of his ears. 

“Oooh busted!!!” Neil shouts. He quickly stops once he feels Norman elbow his side while giving him a cold glare.

Agatha's face rose from her own notebook as she simply walked up to the Sasquatch in the middle, with dark auburn fur, stuck in the pose she's familiar with all too well.

She looks at the group and sees that they are still arguing about whether Sasquatches are trained to know robot dances, and somehow their topic shifted to Egg's feelings about Winnie. 

Agatha rolls her eyes and diverts her attention back to the dark auburn-haired Sasquatch.

Agatha takes the time to study the Sasquatch's facial features. The entire face looks 3D printed with incredible detail, as all realistic robotic models are expected to be. She reaches her hand out to touch the thickness of the fur, and it feels as though it's been coated with smooth silicone. The texture is elastic enough to resemble plastic, yet realistic enough to convey the sensation of soft fur.

“Woah.”

Agatha turns beside her, only to find Norman looking up at the Sasquatch model, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his red hoodie.

“It looks weirdly real up close,” Norman points out.

“A master puppeteer must've made this one,” Agatha chimes in.

“Also a mad roboticist,” Norman adds.

“Like the action figures in your room,” Agatha points out, making the two of them share a brief laugh.

Norman finally breaks his gaze away from the Sasquatch model and looks at Agatha. 

“Have you seen Kubo?” He asks her. For some reason, her chest tightens uncomfortably upon hearing Kubo's name, like her heart is trying to tell her something. 

Agatha frantically looks around the room, and her gut feel stands corrected. She looks back to Norman, her face filled with dread and horror.

“Kubo's not here.”

~ 

Kubo follows Sir Lionel to a small, dimly lit room at the end of a hallway. Kubo takes care to keep his footsteps silent, hoping Sir Lionel won't notice his presence. Sir Lionel quickly scans the area and then opens the door, looking left and right. 

Kubo's chest pounds loudly in his ears as he helplessly watches the door slowly close on its own. His heart skips a beat when he realizes that the door hasn't fully closed yet.

He waits for a moment, anticipating that someone from inside might close it. A good 10 minutes pass by, and still, the door remains untouched.

He hears distant voices engaged in a conversation coming from that room.

Kubo glances behind him to ensure he wasn't followed, then quietly steps closer to investigate. 

As Kubo moves nearer, he hears more and more.

“Why are you having doubts now, Sir Lionel?” an old man's voice questions him. 

Doubts about what? Kubo asks himself. Are they talking about the Sasquatch hunt for Sir Lionel's research?

“They're just children, por pavor, you have to understand where Lionel is coming from,” a feminine voice snapped back.

Oddly enough, she sounded like Adelina; the woman who drove their minibus to this place.

“You know what you signed up for!” an old disgruntled voice growls.

“Either you join the kids on their unfortunate fate, or have you and your beloved creature be spared!”

The room falls under a tense silence for a while.

Kubo's whole body flinched as he suddenly heard the metallic sound of a cheap office table being shoved against the marble floor, producing a horrible screeching noise.

A round of footsteps raced toward the door, and Kubo had only a split second to react. He finally decided to throw his body away from the door.

Sir Lionel flung the door open, and Kubo quickly positioned himself in front of him, as if he had just walked towards the room.

“Kubo,” Sir Lionel said, exhaling, genuinely rattled by Kubo's sudden appearance.

Not wanting to be caught spying on Sir Lionel, Kubo gave him a confused look.

“Why are you here?" Sir Lionel asked, returning to his usual strict and formally poised demeanor as he dusted himself off and adjusted his suit.

Kubo gulped, feeling a knot in his throat. “The others asked me to look for you,” he blurted out, doing his best to maintain a steady voice.

“Time has run out, hasn't it?” Sir Lionel reaffirmed. After hearing what he and the others in that room were discussing, something in his choice of words sent a shiver down Kubo's spine.

Realizing there was no safer response he could offer, Kubo simply nodded his head. Luckily for him, Sir Lionel didn't seem to notice anything suspicious.

“Let's head back to the group and return to our last phase of training, shall we?”