Nova and I walk to my car in silence. The student parking lot is mostly empty, the only remaining cars belonging to people in after-school activities. My spot is along the right side, where we would have marching band practice before the season ended a few weeks ago. You see, they want mostly marching band students to park here, so they can move their cars and we don’t have to track down random other students.

We remain silent as we get into my car. I put my key into the ignition, and the car roars to life. I consider putting on some music, so I don’t have to think about anything.

“Wow,” Nova says simply. I follow his gaze to see that an ambulance pulled in front of the school.

“I don’t think she’s gonna make it,” I tell him. “That was the same thing that happened…”

“…To your mom, yeah,” Nova finishes for me. He squirms nervously in his seat.

I pull us out of the parking lot. Somehow, as I watch the scenery of the town go by, nothing feels real. Like we never exited the Metaverse and this is all some elaborate trick.

“I can’t decide if I should feel bad for her or not,” Nova comments openly.

I sigh. “I know.”

“She was a bad person. But if she’s really gonna die…” Nova makes an uncomfortable face. “Right after she finally confessed?”

I don’t say anything to this. We pass by the public pool, which is of course closed at this time of year.

“What do you think she would do if she survives?” Nova asks. “I mean, she’d obviously be fired and stuff.”

“Well, I imagine she would go to prison,” I speculate. “And people who prey on children do not get treated kindly there. Maybe she’d be killed by the other inmates, while the prison guard looks the other way. This may have only shaved a few measly months off of her life span. But, assuming she survives prison, or avoids it due to a failure of the legal system. If she really felt differently, she would avoid the education sector, or any other job which deals with children. Try and live a peaceful life doing manual labor or something.”

“It would be good to not give her any more temptation, I guess,” he says.

“Yes. That is how people like her should live their lives.”

“I guess that would be the best way to do it. But like, what is wrong with her anyway?”

I take a deep breath. “Multiple things, Nova. Some manageable, some not. The biggest problem she had was just that she did not care about the effect her actions had on other people. That alone makes her the wretched person she was.”

“Well yeah, obviously.”

“And, I think it is fair to say after what we saw in there that she did have a chronic attraction to teenage-aged children. That… can happen to people. Especially ones who go through severe abuse, which it sounds like she did.”

“Yikes,” Nova comments.

“There’s a part of the brain which kind of decides who we find sexually appealing,” I explain. “Normally, it adjusts itself as we age. You and I find other high school students hot. But when we’re in we’re 20s we won’t anymore. Maybe if they look really mature for their age or something, but generally we will have moved on. But sometimes… that little part of the brain gets… stuck. No known way to fix it.”

“Ouch. So some people are just… doomed to be like this?”

“Yes and no.” I take a moment to pick the right words, as I pull around a local retail store, a sign reading Christmas sale on all home goods: 30% off hung over the front door. “There are some people doomed to have that sort of attraction, but they don’t have to end up like Ms. Truman. If they’re someone who does care about other people, they can still live a good life. They’d try and avoid temptation, kinda like you said. Although it’s not totally agreed upon what the best way to manage that is…”

“I hope that doesn’t happen to me,” Nova says.

“Me too,” I tell him earnestly. Once again, that unwelcome memory intrudes… me, tied by vines, helpless… I quickly try to shake it off, and I turn on the radio.

“We are just so relieved that you two are okay,” Ashley’s mom tells us. Her dad is driving us all back home, Ashley and I in the back seat.

“Yeah, it was a pretty close call for me,” Ashley says. “Thank God Kevin was able to stop her…”

“What a strange little scheme that woman was running,” her mom comments. “Why go out of her way to find Zoe and your friends, lure them back, and then go back to the office?”

I feel anxiety rising in my stomach… her mom is poking holes in the edited story we told. I intently stare out the window, worried that a look on my face may give us away.

“Who knows what that maniac was up to,” Ashley responds distastefully. “Probably trying to lock us all in there for a… well, you get the idea.”

“That just doesn’t make any sense,” her mom says. “The security camera’s footage getting corrupted was so peculiar too.”

“I guess we’ll never know,” Ashley says, shrugging. “I was too out of it to really tell what was happening at that point.”

“Lucky thing you were conscious enough to remember all of the crimes she bizarrely confessed to you,” her mom presses. There’s no doubt now: she’s definitely on to us.

“I’m not making that up, I promise,” Ashley says defensively. “She said the same thing as me just before getting sick, so that confirms it.”

“I’m not doubting the accuracy of your claim, don’t worry. But there is something very odd about what happened today, wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh yeah. There is a lot odd about it.”

“Like, how did you initially know what was going on again?”

“Oh Mom, we already talked about this, don’t you remember? We had heard from one of the teachers- it was Mr. Castro, you can ask him about it and he’ll back us up- that Coach Everheart might’ve had his Wi-fi used at a work party, so there was a chance he was being framed.”

“Kind of irresponsible for him to tell that to a bunch of children instead of taking it straight to the police.”

“Oh, well, I don’t think he really meant to do it, it just sort of slipped out.”

“Mm-hmm. And then, you figured out all by yourself that it was really Ms. Truman who did it?”

“Well, not all by myself. Ruth helped us out a lot. She’s extremely smart.”

“So did the idea to check her room come from Mr. Castro, or from Ruth?”

“Well, a bit of both. I was the one who kind of put two and two together on that. She had been acting weird towards Kevin the past few days, so I had to check and see.”

“And why didn’t you tell your concerns to school staff or a police officer?”

“Are you kidding me? They wouldn’t ever believe me. Remember how we got treated when Zoe was being bullied? They’re useless, the whole lot of them. Remember how that one officer yelled at Nova for basically no reason? Way to single out the only black kid, so typical. Isn’t the police just awful?” (Ashley is rambling on and on, talking unusually fast. I get the impression she is trying to change the subject.) “I think that one Hurt guy who came to our house is probably the only guy on the force who knows what he’s doing. Maybe they should’ve sent him, none of this would’ve ever happened. But no, they were just so…”

“Ashley… that’s not the point. What you did was reckless. You almost got yourself raped, for Christ’s sake!”

“Yeah, well, Kevin’s my friend, I wasn’t going to leave him in there with that sexual lunatic of a teacher!”

Ashley’s mom sighs. “Never mind… Why did she suddenly do a 180 and confess like that?” she asks quickly.

“Well, I guess someone managed to talk some sense into her.”

“Did they talk some sense into her, or beat some sense into her?” I suppress a gasp.

“I don’t know, whatever they did, it worked.”

“And then, just as she was about to out her conspirators, she just starts throwing up?”

“Yeah. That was crazy.”

“Ashley, did you know that an illness very similar to that is what took Ellen’s life? You know, your friend Anja’s mom?”

“Huh?” For the first time Ashley sounds genuinely startled. “No, I… didn’t know that.”

I tear my gaze away from the window and look between Ashley and her mother. Ashley’s resolve seems to be breaking; I can see her going a little pale. Her mom is looking over the car seat, gaze fixated sternly onto her.

“Ashley. Zoe. Listen to me very carefully. If you know anything, anything at all, about what this woman was involved with- anything which you and your friends might not have wanted to tell us- you stay out of it. Do not stick a single little toe into it. Are we clear?”

“Yeah, of course Mom,” Ashley says nervously. “I mean, come on, do you really think I want to get myself tangled up in some trafficking thing?”

“Yes, I do,” her mom replies emphatically. “And I know that you’re not going to listen to me, because you are so stubborn. But this is not in your jurisdiction. This is dangerous, deadly business. Understand? If you see any more adults acting strange, you don’t just barge into the room and endanger yourself. You tell someone. Come and tell us, and we’ll know what to do.”

“What are you guys going to do? You’re not cops or anything.” Ashley argues.

“Ashley.” She says it so sternly that I feel a chill run down my spine. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, I get it. Sheesh.”

“And you too, Zoe?” she says, turning her gaze to me. Her green eyes, which are just like Ashley’s, seem to pierce my soul.

“Yes ma’am,” I say meekly.

This has undoubtedly been the longest day of my life. And even though it is still mid-afternoon, all I can think of doing when we get home is going to bed. I’ll do my homework in the morning or something.

Zoe and I take a brief walk to go set Ted back in his habitat, and then go back to our rooms. After we enter the hallway leading to them, I feel Zoe grab my hand. I turn to her as she closes the door behind us.

“Ashley?” she says in a low voice. “Your parents… they suspect us, don’t they?”

“Yeah. I mean, we basically admitted we had been doing some amount of detective work for this. And of course they don’t want us to be involved.”

“But… you’re not going to stop, are you?”

“I can’t. Zoe, my mom doesn’t understand the stakes here. We are the only ones with this Metaverse power. The only adults who can help us are Lucy and Ted. It’s our responsibility alone.”

Zoe looks a little bit queasy and doesn’t respond.

“If you want to back out… I understand,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “No… you’re right. It’s the Spider Man thing. With great power comes great responsibility. It’s our duty to help anyone who’s suffering from this.”

“Good girl,” I tell her, feeling a rush of affection for her. We embrace lovingly. Over her shoulder, though, I have nagging thoughts. What if something happens to her on this endeavor? What if she decides I’m too dangerous to be around…

I quickly let go of the hug. “I’m going to lay down in my room,” I tell her. “Let me know when dinner’s done.”

“Okay Ashley,” she tells me, looking at me with big, worried blue eyes.

She goes back out while I stumble into my room. I’m so exhausted that I almost don’t see it.

On my desk is a sheet of paper. For a brief, foolish moment, I wonder if it’s another note from Ruth. But then, I notice the handwriting, which is sprawled and messy. I read the note.

I killed her. Keep poking around in our affairs, and someone you care about is next.

And then, at the exact moment I finish reading the last word, the note dissipates, green sparks running across the page until it vanishes into nonbeing.

I don’t have the mental capacity to think about this or any implications. I just fall onto the bed and pass out.

~Beginning of Movement IV : Diving Into Dark Water ~