“Oh,” Rachel breathed. “And here I thought we were on the same wavelength.”

Before anyone could say anything, she raced for the ladder. But instead of grabbing a rung, she simply leapt. Two black, feathery wings burst from her back and like that, she was gone.

Cami found herself frozen stiff. “Did that just happen?” she asked no one in particular. “We all saw that happen, right?"

“Sure did,” Helena replied. “Also, are we all just skipping over the part where Olivia’s a vampire? Because that was also pretty notable, if you ask me.”

“She isn’t going to suck our blood, is she?” Jane asked.

Olivia groaned. “I have standards. And a consistent source. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“A source?”

“Why, do you wanna try?”

“We have bigger problems,” Cami cut in. “Like the runaway mothgirl.”

She went for the ladder, but Olivia stepped in front of her.

“I’m the one with superhuman speed,” she reminded Cami.

“And I’m the one who caught you despite all that,” Cami retorted.

Helena threw her hands up. “Can one of you go after her already?”

Before Cami could so much as budge, Olivia pushed past her and practically flew up the ladder. Cami stumbled back, barely keeping her feet on the ground.

For a moment, the three of them just stood there, grappling with what had just happened. Finally, Helena asked, “It’s just us humans now, right?”

“Guess so,” Cami managed. She was pretty sure she was human. Just friends with the fey. Nothing more to it than that. “Y'know, I didn’t think the club would ever actually engage with the supernatural.”

Helena snorted. “Then why did you make the whole thing?”

“I just wanted an excuse to talk about UFOs,” she confessed, wringing her hands together. “And a captive audience besides Jane, who’s already heard most of my rambles.”

Jane laughed, but there was no humour to the sound. “Yeah, and look at your captive audience. We have a vampire, some kind of moth girl, and all this talk about… Awakening? Did I hear that right?”

“Awakening,” Cami confirmed. “You know. Whatever that means.” Maybe she could grill Trintio about it, whenever she next saw him.

“Is it even safe for them to be this open about the whole…” Jane gestured vaguely about. “The whole... thing? There’re always plots about the government cutting these kinds of people open.”

Helena scoffed. “What are you, a narc?”

“No,” Jane blurted out, maybe a bit too quickly. “I’m just speaking in hypotheticals. Right now, those two are running around a local park with wings and fangs out, doing who knows what. Isn’t that dangerous?”

Cami mulled this over. This park had its stubborn regulars, people who saw a body pop up and thought little more than to keep their eyes peeled and bring a pocket knife. Any activity out of the ordinary was bound to spell out trouble. “Yeah, that's not good."

But before anyone thought to act on these concerns, Olivia dropped down from above, carrying Rachel bridal-style. The other girl was limp in her arms, but her eyes were wide open, face frozen in a look of shock.

“Ta-da.” Olivia dropped her unceremoniously into the nearest chair, where she slumped over like a puppet with its strings cut. “We can interrogate her now.”

Cami, Jane, and Helena stared at the stiff, scared-looking girl before them.

“Is she in shock?” Cami asked.

Olivia chuckled, patting her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.” Her hand was ice-cold, seeping through Cami’s jacket and into her bones. “It’ll wear off.” Olivia gave her a squeeze, but that felt more like a warning than anything else. This is something I’m capable of, it seemed to say.

“Did anyone see you?” Jane cut in. She slipped between Cami and Olivia, scaling the ladder. “Because if anyone saw someone take someone else down and drag them into the woods…” She trailed off, grunting with effort as she pulled the bunker door shut.

“No one saw us,” Olivia said, not so much as a reassurance but as a command. Her eyes met Jane’s, and maybe it was a trick of the light, but were they glowing again?

Jane’s grip on the ladder rung faltered, almost like she’d forgotten she had a body. Just before she could fall, she found herself again and grabbed, gasping.

“What just happened?” she managed to sputter out. “Because something just happened, right?”

“I’m no vampirologist, but I think she just tranced you,” Helena said. She’d preoccupied herself with poking at Rachel’s prone body. “Y’know, when vampires use their incredible charisma or magical powers to assert their will over comparatively weak-willed mortals.”

Everyone looked at her.

Helena blushed. “I read a lot of trashy vampire fics in high school, okay?”

“I wouldn’t consider myself weak-willed,” Jane muttered.

“That’s why I said comparatively. Even the most stubborn bastards can’t do shit against vamps.”

Olivia, who’d watched the two bicker with a bemused expression, finally chimed in with, “It’s magic more than charisma. You can’t be expected to fight against magic. Also...” She turned her probing eyes to Helena. “Did you read trashy vampire fiction, or trashy vampire fan-fiction? Just so I know exactly how to make fun of you.”

Before Helena could retort, Rachel seized her arm. The girl had bolted up all at once, as if revived by lightning. She wrapped herself around Helena, her eyes still wide with shock.

“Olivia?” she shrieked. “Why’d you do that?”

“Why did you run away?” Olivia retorted.

“I was worried I’d messed up,” Rachel moaned, clinging to Helena for dear life. “You guys are way more behind than I thought.”

“Behind what?” Cami asked.

Rachel gestured vaguely to the bunker around them. “The everything. The Awakenings, the mission, and so on.”

“Well, it’s not like anyone’s told us anything,” Helena muttered. “Olivia’s a vampire, you’re some kind of moth thing, and Abigail’s death probably is a lot more complex than it looks.”

Rachel laughed. It was a hollow sound, one that didn’t suit her at all. “Oh, that’s an understatement.” But before the weight of her words could sink in, she clapped her hands together and said, “How about I try to catch everyone up? I don’t know everything, but I definitely know more than the rest of you.”

“That’s not saying much.”

“Exactly.” She clambered onto the table, towering over them. “I don’t have to go over how supernatural creatures exist, right? Because, well…” She pointed at Olivia. “You guys have accepted that.”

Olivia avoided her eyes. “Yes, Rachel. We’re both recognized as nonhuman monsters. That’s been established.”

“Oh, c’mon, they don’t see us as monsters!” Her wings fluttered anxiously behind her. “At least, I hope they don’t, because most of them are gonna be nonhuman by the end of this.”

Cami’s heart sank into her stomach. “Wait, what?” This was supposed to be a fun year. One of adventures and shenanigans and figuring things out. All of that went out the window if even her species was in jeopardy. “No, no way. I'm a human, Rachel. You're mistaken.” What if she had to become some bloodsucking fiend of the night? No, no, no.

“I thought you liked this kind of stuff,” Rachel murmured, frowning. “I mean, you founded this club.”

Helena cleared her throat, inching towards the ladder. “Yeah, well, there’s a difference between being interested in something and wanting to participate. I think zombies are cool, but you don’t see me trying to make a real-life infectious apocalypse, do you?"

Rachel nodded sagely, the example soaring over her head. “That’s a mistake you only make once. Anyways, can I keep explaining?” She didn’t pause nearly long enough for anyone to answer. “In case you haven’t noticed, magical beings are real. Most of us built our own secret worlds and societies, moving away from humanity's presence. But some of us stayed, hiding in the shadows. Until now.” There was a mischievous glimmer in her eye, but it didn’t have the playfulness Cami had grown accustomed to. “We’re going to rise up and assimilate humanity into a world where normalcy is dead. Where everyone can coexist. Where things are okay for everyone.”

Jane raised a hand sheepishly. “You want to… assimilate? I don’t know if you know this, but that word has a lot of unfortunate connotations.”

“It means a good thing in this context,” she said, and she left it at that before continuing, “We’re after a world of peace and coexistence. And every supernatural faction wants a representative from this world, who can lead the change. We’re the representatives, and we’re going to awaken into our true selves!” She was full-on beaming now, like she’d presented them with salvation.

Cami still couldn’t shake her dread. It lay in her gut, twisting and gnarled. “This is beginning to sound like a cult.” She’d meant it as a joke, but Jane and Helena were nodding along.

Rachel’s face fell. “Really? This is gonna happen whether we like it or not. I’m betting only one of us will be human by the end of the month, and that’ll be the human faction representative.” She snickered. “It might be boring, but you’ll have the protection of the factions, so it isn’t too bad.”

“You’re saying all of this way too casually,” Olivia muttered.

“You’re just cranky because the vampires haven’t told you anything,” Rachel teased. “Which is a shame, because another Awakening is just around the corner. Actually...” She trailed off, snatching her phone from her pocket. It had a crack on the screen Cami could’ve sworn was new. Probably one she got from the chase with Olivia.

Cami’s own phone buzzed in her pocket. Then Jane’s, and Helena’s, and Olivia’s.

It was a simple email, one sent to her student account.

SUBJECT: WOODSHORE’S INFAMOUS FOREST PARTIES RETURNING THIS HALLOWEEN WEEKEND!!