Theo tossed and turned on his bed as he forced his eyes to close. Yet, no matter what he did, his body forced him to wake up. He already tried walking around his room, jumped off of his bed only to go down again, and intentionally opened the curtains just so he could close them. 

Yet, none of those were enough to kill his energy. 

How he still had energy to remain awake yet nothing to eat dinner was beyond him. Earlier, he only stared and poked his food and barely touched anything. He couldn’t even remember what the meal was, only that the others were surprised that he didn’t eat anything. Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself from snapping at anyone. 

The caretakers, except for Father, managed to act like their conversation from before didn’t happen. He managed to see Rui from the corner of his eyes, talking to the others with a smile. Though when his eyes managed to catch a glimpse of Theo, it faltered for a bit, like it was his way of reminding him about tonight, before smiling again. 

“Once everyone’s asleep, change your clothes into something light and easy to wear. When you’re done, check your sister’s hair.” 

What did that even mean? What did Rui want him to do? Why did he want them to change their clothes? 

Rui wasn’t planning to send him and Korri out of the orphanage, was he? 

He furrowed his brows and wrapped his blanket tighter around him. He had a lot of questions in his mind, each of them popping right after the other. But he doubted that all, or maybe even more than half, of them could be answered. 

After even more tossing and turning, he finally got up again and opened the curtains, flinching when the light of the moons outside got in his eyes. Before he closed the curtains again, he looked up and stared at the moons high above the clouds. 

Three moons… what a rare sight. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw all three of them in the sky. 

His hand shivered, and he sat on his windowsill. Three moons usually meant that the gods were in favor of anyone’s plans, and there was no chance of those plans failing. 

He placed his hands on the windowsill and clawed his fingers against the wood. If that were the case, who would the gods favor when two plans clashed against one another? 

With a sigh, Theo pushed himself off of the windowsill and shook his head. He was overthinking things. Maybe Rui wasn’t just thinking earlier and said that out of impulse. Maybe that didn’t mean anything at all. He didn’t hear the caretakers’ conversation, Father didn’t have golden eyes, and there was no Golden Eyed Ghost in the orphanage. 

But if none of those were real, then why could he still remember them perfectly? Why did he still feel nervous thinking about them? 

This is stupid. He pushed himself off of the windowsill and walked across the bedroom, stopping in front of his door. Just go to bed, you’ll forget it in the morning. Like always. 

His hand flinched as he held the cold doorknob, almost like the cold was spiking in his palm. Still, he held his breath and--

“What the Hel?” He placed his other hand on the doorknob and gave it a twist. Once, twice, three times, he twisted the knob again. At first, he thought that his hold on it was just weak. 

But when he heard a knock on the other side of the door, he finally understood. 

The door really was locked. He couldn’t remember locking it. In fact, he couldn’t remember if any of the doors in the house were locked, especially from the outside. That way, anyone could get out anytime they wanted to. 

His mind drifted back to the conversation he overheard this lunch. Father said that he and Yuan were fit for something, and that he seemed to be more suitable than Yuan. Was finding ways to break out of their locked room a test of their ‘fitness’ or did Father just lock him in because he knew that they might escape? 

He gritted his teeth and groaned. If it was an escape that they didn’t want, then it was an escape they would get. 

Theo pressed his ears against the door. It didn’t sound like anyone was outside. In fact, if it weren’t for the knock earlier, he would have assumed that no one was still awake, waiting for him. 

It seemed like Rui really wanted to make sure that, whatever his plan was, would work. 

He walked to Korri’s bed and shook her awake. But instead of getting up, his sister groaned before twisting from her bed and turned her back away. It wasn’t until he nearly pushed her off of the bed when she finally sat up and looked at him. Before she could fall down to her bed again, he lightly smacked her face, waking her even more. 

“Ow.” She furrowed her brows down and frowned. “What- what is it this time? Is it… another midnight snack?”

Theo shook his head. “I wish.”

“What is it then?”

“Well…” He looked at the door behind him before turning to her. 

It seemed like she understood what he meant. Korri blinked, then crossed her arms. “Are we really going to do it?”

He jumped off of her bed and nodded. “I don’t think we have a choice.”

Another moment of silence passed between them as they changed their clothes, with only the closet and floorboard creaking from their moves. Theo clicked his tongue when he realized that the only loose tunic he had was a sleeveless one. He just wished that Rui had cloaks with him, because he didn’t want to feel the cold night. 

After tying one of his boots’ laces, he helped Korri with her dress--placing the left side of her tunic above the right before tying her sash behind her--and tied her hair into a braid. He hoped he was using the pins correctly. He didn’t want Korri’s hair flying all over the place in case they needed to run. 

“Kuya Theo.”

He raised a brow. “Hmm?”

“Do you think this has something to do with what Father said earlier?”

“I…” He grabbed a small red ribbon from her nightstand and tied the end of her hair into a bow. “Which one? The one in the dining area or the one in the parlor?”

She grabbed the end of her hair and fiddled the bow. “I dunno… maybe both?”

Theo looked down and crossed his arms. “I… I hope not. I don’t want to think that what Father said was the same thing.” He brushed the side of her hair and framed them on the side of her head, then brushed the loose hair that covered the middle of her face. “Now let’s go.”

Korri nodded. She jumped out of the stool and followed him as he walked to the door again. He knelt down, letting his head reach the keyhole’s height, and hummed. There had to be a way for him to open it, one that didn’t include kicking it. As much as the thought of kicking down doors sounded fun, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to wake everyone up. 

Wait a minute… 

“Check your sister’s hair…”

Korri grabbed her hair again. “What’s with my hair? What did Kuya Rui even mean by that?”

“Korri, stay back.” He darted to her nightstand once again and opened the drawer. Fortunately, there were still more pins inside. Ones he could use to open the door. 

He grabbed two of them before continuing, “This is gonna take a while.”

He turned back to the doorknob and bent down one of the pins, making one side stand straight up while the other rested on a line. After biting the rubbery end, he placed it on the lock and fiddled with it again, just until it was bent enough. 

“‘Stop reading dumb books,’ he said.” Theo scoffed as he placed the second pin inside the knob. “‘They’re full of dumb things you won’t use in your life,’ he said. Well look who’s finally using hairpins to open doors.”

“Kuya Rui’s still kinda right, though,” Korri replied. “It’s not like you’ll be lockpicking with hairpins for the rest of your life.”

The doorknob finally clicked open, and a smile formed on Theo’s face. He stood up and dusted his clothes before turning to his sister. “Oh yeah? Then how do you expect to open locked doors?”

His sister shrugged. “I dunno, with keys?”

“Oh, shut up.” He lightly smacked his sister’s nape, making her glaring at him. 

The door creaked open, and he took a step back. For a moment, it stopped, before fully opening once again. Rui stepped out of the shadows, almost as if he arrived with the darkness as his ride. His hair was pulled back, allowing Theo to see his bright eyes as he smiled, and a cloak covered his body. 

Surprisingly, there was no lantern in his hands. Or maybe he shouldn’t feel surprised. After all, the last thing they wanted was to get caught. 

“You kids ready?”

“What a dumb question,” Theo replied. “Of course not.”

Korri nodded. “He’s right, though. What are we even supposed to be ready for?”

“As much as I want to feed your egotistic sass, I don’t think now’s the time for more sarcasm. But for now…” He opened the door and gestured his arm out. “After you.”

Theo held his breath. The dark didn’t seem inviting. If anything, it looked more malicious than ever. He felt like the Golden Eyed Ghost would jump out at any moment, finishing off what it failed to kill nights ago. 

He held his sister’s wrist and nodded. “Let’s go.”

He stepped out of the doorway first, then he slowly dragged his sister outside next. Once the two of them were out, Rui closed the door behind them. 

“Sorry about that,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t know where Aunt Felicia puts the keys, so I just prayed that you would put hairpins in Korri’s hair and hope you’ll realize what I mean.”

“It was dumb,” Korri replied. “You could have just said to use the hairpins. I kept thinking I had something in my hair the entire day.”

Rui hummed. “True, but it wouldn’t be as fun that way.”

Even though it was dark, Theo slightly knew where he was going. He moved his hands from Korri’s wrist to Rui’s cloak, making the knot in his stomach slowly loosen. Despite that, he couldn’t feel calm. He felt tense. It didn’t help that he jumped with every creak of wood, from the floorboards to the stairs. 

When they reached the last step of the stairs, Theo nearly slipped on the floor. Fortunately, Rui was able to grab him by the shoulder before he could fall down. 

“Careful,” he added. “But don’t worry about going to the front door. We’re leaving by the back. It makes things easier.”

Theo raised a brow, but he didn’t say anything. It seemed like his earlier suspicions were true. They were going to escape. 

The kitchen, unlike anywhere else, had a lit lantern. Fire danced in the middle, providing a warm flickering glow. A sigh left Theo’s lips as he saw the cloaks by the chairs. At least he wasn’t going to leave the house in the cold night. 

A hand on his shoulder made him jump, and it didn’t help that he thought he saw the Golden Eyed Ghost again. Fortunately, it was just Rui’s eyes that seemed to look like a bright gold color from the lantern light. 

“Wear these. I’ll tell you everything else you need to know once we’re outside.”

Theo scoffed as he grabbed the cloak on the table and wore it over his body. “I’m pretty sure I already know what’s going on.”

“Just because you’ve eavesdropped on a single conversation doesn’t mean you already know everything.” Rui picked up the lantern and sighed. “Believe me, there’s… a lot of things that you don’t know. But…” He lifted his head before turning around. “I don’t think this is the best place to talk. Now come on.”

Theo turned around, a shiver traveling down his spine as soon as he saw how dark the hallways were. For a split second, he thought he saw someone by the halls. But the flash was gone before he could even confirm who it was. 

“Did you see someone?” Korri asked as she turned to the hallway once again before turning to him. “Do you think someone’s watching us?”

He placed a hand on his sister’s back and led her out of the kitchen. “I’m sure that someone’s watching us. It’s impossible that no one is.”

“Who do you think it is?”

The first person that came to Theo’s mind was Yuan. If he remembered what he heard earlier, it sounded like Father was pitting him against Yuan. Apart from that, it would also seem sensible that Yuan was the one watching them. After all, they were still alive. If it were someone else, maybe they would have been stopped already. 

But then that would mean that Yuan had an idea of what was going on in the first place. It didn’t sound possible. Especially that it seemed unfair that one of them was informed. Unless, of course, Father was planning on something. 

He shook his head before following Rui out of the kitchen.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s someone behind us.”