As soon as Dylan and Carlos left the room, Dylan grabbed the other boy, pulling him over, “Dude, why did you say yes so quickly. You could’ve at least stood up for me.”

Carlos fidgeted his hands, like a chastised 5-year old kid, “Sorry, it’s just not the wisest decision to stand against the government.”

“Yeah right,” Dylan snorted.

“I actually meant it,” Carlos’s eyes grew hooded, his expression more solemn than Dylan had ever seen, “My parents, they were placed into a similar situation, framed as scapegoats. We fought. They still arrested us.”

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Dylan mumbled. Well, that explains why Carlos didn’t attend school at his age. How could Dylan never bothered to ask? Carlos was his assigned partner for months now.

“It’s alright, old history anyway,” Carlos shrugged, his face still paler than usual.

“Wait, so how’d you get out?”

“Marina, she watched a few of our court trials and convinced the judges to let me go. Only me though,” Carlos’s voice continued to quaver.

That was just messed up. Dylan concluded, he offered a few words of comfort before Carlos returned to his desk. While Dylan paced around the lounge.

Marina acted all weird and intimidating earlier, like some kind of capital capitalist, even that rhyme sounded weird. What was all that about the signature anyway? What would happen to Phil?

Dylan frowned, turning to check the Meeting Room.

He saw Phil, his father went into the Meeting Room. He dragged Carlos to the door, pushing the boy’s ear next to the creaks of the door as he did the same.

“You promised not to threaten them-,” Phil’s voice echoed through the cracks, firm and solemn. Carlos’s eyes widened as Dylan frowned, the pair leaning closer to the room.

That was all they heard until footsteps thumped from upstairs, growing louder by the second. Carlos shot up, throwing Dylan across the lounge before he turned away from the door, the boys both pretending to examine the health state of the nearby house plants and bookshelves. Seconds later, a senior officer trudged down the stairs, taking sips of his tea as he went.

The boy’s act proved to be flawed as the senior officer examined the pair before mumbling, “What are you two doing?”

After a stretching silence, the officer continued muttering, “Never mind, I’m too old for this stuff.”

He then ordered Dylan and Carlos to organize the files of every single officer’s desk. Unfortunately, they were stuck with piles of journals, reports and files for hours straight. Dylan had expected more regarding the dead officer’s case. Strangely, no panic occurred, no commotion in the office, not even a single person asking Dylan for the gruesome details.

He shivered and realized, it was just as Marina had told them. Forget about the black blood.

“This is child labor,” Carlos groaned next to Dylan as they mindlessly read the files in Marina’s office.

They hadn’t seen Marina after the odd interrogation, and the senior officer had just exited the room for another brew of tea or something stronger, according to his murmurs.

Dylan huffed as he read the color-coded reports.

“1032, December Dranem Yearly Carnival Security. Dranem Central.”

“1033, February Missing Dog. Steve Reynolds.”

“1033, June Land Ownership. Marge Pippin.”

“1033, October Dranem School Fall Fieldtrip Security. Dranem Central.”

Boring stuff. He opened another drawer. This one filled with red file. Looks like somewhere is actually organized, Dylan mused to himself as he took a folder out.

“1033, June Seasonal Reports. Erukas Labs Central.”

Dylan heard his own heart thumping in his throat. He stuffed the file back.

Dylan closed the drawer just before Marina came in.

“What are you two doing in my office?” Marina eyed the pair with suspicion.

The senior officer appeared a second later, explaining the situation.

“I appreciate the gesture, Mr. Pence. However I feel that my office is organized on my own accords” Marina gave the man a forced, tight-lipped smile.

“Alright, you two can continue the work inside the files room,” the officer sighed.

The day fast-forwarded. He and Carlos didn’t actually finish their work. At noon, Carlos insisted on a trip to the bakery, where the guy swore, he’d never go back to the office for the day. He and Dylan had an early leave.

Dylan arrived home mid-afternoon. He closed the door only to hear shuffling in the house. Ann sat on the living room sofa, a notebook before her. She slammed the book shut as she heard Dylan.

“What are you doing here? I thought school ends 2 hours later,” Dylan glanced at the grandfather clock.

“Came home early,” Ann coiled into the sofa, holding the notebook to her chest.

“Want to tell me what’s going on dearest sister?” Dylan stepped closer cautiously before tackling Ann. Sneak attacks always worked the best, Dylan thought as Ann became stunned for a second before she fought back. A loud thump followed when Dylan fell onto the floor.

“Loser,” Ann mocked, imitating an ‘L’ with her hand. She still held the book with the other. The yellow, washed-out pages sticking out of the worn-down covering.

“I lasted longer than last time,” Dylan scoffed.

“Yeah, ‘cause I wasn’t prepared. You doofus”

“Ouch,” Dylan put a hand over his heart and acted hurt. Ann giggled. A comfortable silence falling over the siblings.

“So, want to tell me what’s so important that you missed school” Dylan gazed at his sister.

“It’s nothing, I promise,” Ann flinched but still said with a singsong voice.

Dylan paused and nodded, “Yeah, right.”

If Ann didn’t want to tell him, he’ll just find out by himself. Dylan grabbed the book out of Ann’s grasp, ran to the opposite corner and began flipping through the tattered pages.

Jen’s signature stared back at him.

He glanced at Ann. She stilled on the couch, her eyes hooded. A silent permission.

Dylan crouched down, leaning against the wall, skimming through the book. Most of the pages were filled in by Jen with Ann’s handwriting inserted in the few margins. It was just ordinary research, complex words and chemical formulas. They blurred onto the pages.

He flipped through mindlessly.

“Lab #12”

The underlined words stared back at him, Jen made a note saying, “Used for Pill testing, test subjects often used prisoners, non-consensual”.

“Ann, what’s this?” Dylan frowned.

“Just Jen’s research, we’ve worked on it for a couple years now,” Ann said nonchalantly, her voice cracked as she mentioned Jen’s name.

“No, I meant the Lab.”

“It’s something Jen was obsessed with,” Ann frowned, “She thought ‘evil is brewing’ in those labs. Personally, hard to believe somewhere like that even existed.”

“Oh.”

Dylan hesitated to tell her about Marina’s files. She knew Jen’s side of the story though, so at least he could divulge part of the truth.

“Well, I saw a few of Jen’s notes about these labs as well. Me and Phil are planning on following the maps to check.”

“Wait, there’s maps?” Ann stumbled, her eyes widened.

Oh. She didn’t know that.

“It’s a totally different story. If there’s maps, we can know for sure if such labs exist. If so, we’ll know what kind of ‘evil’ is present,” Ann rambled, Dylan swore he could hear the gears turning inside his sister’s head, “If the lab isn’t there, we could deduce the lab existed there in the past, or it simply didn’t at all. Dylan, this is just brilliant. You and Phil need to go tonight. Just keep this a secret, ‘K? No one’s gonna believe a story without evidence.”

“Evil” reminded him of the officer’s black, oozing blood. A wave of nausea hit him

“Funny Phil told me the exact same thing. To keep the stuff a secret,” Dylan mumbled as his sister grew into more of a fanatic by the second, she leaned in to examine Dylan.

“Don’t change the convo, what else is there besides the maps?”

“You know, why don’t you ask Phil. He has the notes,” Dylan pushed his sister away slowly, creeped out by her zeal.

Ann just groaned in disappointment and took the notebook back. Not before punching Dylan’s forehead with her knuckles.

Dylan decided prodigy or not, Ann will always be a gremlin.