Outside the school, Sebastian lied on the grass with his eyes shut and his head spinning as grass crunched beneath him. When he came to, Lauren walked over and helped him up back on his feet. He had tried to keep his balance during the quake but failed.

“W-what happened? What’s going on?” He asked, nervously.

“Come see for yourself...” Lauren responded, pointing over to the giant, gaping hole that had appeared in the ground.

The two walked over as the ground had split in two, a giant glowing staircase had also appeared and run down. Eventually, the Earth stopped shaking.

A secret passage? I never knew we had one here this whole time. Sebastian thought as he stared down, wondering where the stairs led underneath the black abyss. How did she find this place?

“It’s a little hard to explain, like I said,” Lauren replied, almost as if she read his mind, or she knew what he would be thinking. “Come on, shall we head down before it closes up again?”

“I’ve yet to know where this will lead to, but I’m sure it’s important, so...”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

As they left, a shadowy figure looked over from a window, while another from a tree nearby; one with confusion and worry, the other with mischievousness and delight.

Sebastian and Lauren walked down the stairs as the ground behind closed in on them until it was completely dark. There’s no turning back now. Some bright lights appeared from the previously black ceiling as it shone and moved like a planetarium in 3D. Shooting stars danced around and fell. Sebastian’s mouth gaped as he the whole spectacle.

Lauren told him to watch where he was going, as they stumbled across some floating blocks above what appeared to be a light blue, bottomless pit. One by one, Lauren jumped on each different colored one, like it was hopscotch. Sebastian, on the other hand, carefully tried to follow suit, like it was some obstacle course, without falling off.

Eventually, the two made it to the other side and continued to walk down the merry path. This time, Sebastian and Lauren got on some weird-looking space train tracks. Sebastian looked and saw that he and Lauren were now upside down somehow. He looked up and saw a familiar-looking path, almost as if it was the same one that led to the ABCD.

“Hey, I was wondering...” Sebastian began.

“Will you stop it with the questions?” Lauren retorted. “We’ll get there soon enough, and your answer will surely come!”

“That sounds real—”

“Is someone there?” An older voice shouted, “I can hear you from a distance, and you look familiar. Show yourself!”

Sebastian widened his eyes and covered his mouth. He remembered Clause was here, waiting in case someone suspicious was to show up. Maybe the man would keep a secret? Then again, he’s not a great liar. Sebastian asked Lauren to lie low for the time being as he used his magic to float over to where Clause was.

Hmm, was I hearing things? Clause thought, Man, it sure is boring with no one to talk to, and when things were starting to get—

“Hello, Counselor Clause.” Sebastian interrupted with a greeting.

“Oh, goodness!” Clause turned back and got spooked.

“A-apologies if I scared you, sir.” Sebastian frowned at the guy’s cowardice. What would he have done if the traitor person did show up?

“Me, scared? Not at all, dear boy!” Clause came back to his senses and exclaimed. He didn’t want one of the students to think an adult was a useless wimp, but wasn’t sure how to convey it. “I was just about to call you on my phone.”

“Why is that?” Sebastian placed his hands on his hips, not convinced by what the older man was saying.

“For you see, I think I have found out who's behind all of this!” Clause added proudly.

“But do you have any proof?”

“Um...” His trail went off shortly after hearing that, “No, not really...”

“Then how can you be so sure?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“Also, shouldn’t you be in your post? What if someone was to, you know...”?

“Oh, that’s right, my apologies.”

As Clause walked away, Sebastian turned and looked down, only to notice that Lauren wasn’t there anymore, even though he told her to stay put.

“Would you like to accompany me?” Clause asked him.

“Oh, sure thing, sir.” Sebastian replied and hurriedly followed him without looking back.