Haunteds

Chapter 27

"Cana, hey..." I couldn't hide the worry in my voice.

In response, she looked up to me and an annoying smug spread over her face. "Got you too, huh?"

I can feel my face burning. "You're the worst," I said, looking away. But I can't stop myself from smirking.

There was still no sign of the Shade. I felt the muscles on the back of my neck loosen up. Maybe it cannot keep up with the speed of the train. But even so, all it had to do was to take shadow form and appear anywhere inside this train, then take its physical form again. Like it did last night when it withdrew its black tendrils and dropped the ceiling on us.

"Wait here," Major Coleman said. Then he walked down the aisle, weaving through the crowd of passengers and disappeared behind the door towards the next car.

"Where do you think he's going?" Leo asked.

"No idea," I said.

"Hey," Demi said. "What do you think happened to that driver?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Leo said. "Right, Vergil?"

"Um...Yeah," Was the best I could manage.

But Leo came up with something better. "He's fine. The Shade should have lost interest in the driver the moment we ran out of there,"  he said. I guess this is what he and Eris do best. But without Eris, he tried to bring me to it. It's just that, right now, my mind is on the fact that our lights did nothing.

I motioned for them to come closer to me. "Our lights..." I whispered. "It didn't do anything."

"Maybe because it's so small?" Leo suggested, holding his light between his thumb and index finger.

"Are there different kinds of U.V. lights?" Cana asked.

No one answered. If there are different kinds, then that would explain what just happened. Or is Leo right? Does size really matter in this kind of situation?

The P.A system chimed as it always does before making an announcement. "Thank you for riding with us today. This is an express train bound for Dimasalang. Next stop is Dimasalang station, Dimasalang station." The passengers started panicking. Some students were shocked.

"Wh-what? I didn't know this was an express train."

"Wait, that can't be right."

"That's three stations over my stop."

"Um honey, I'm going to be late. Looks like I rode the express train. Haha. Love you."

The car door slid open again. Major Coleman came back.

"A little heads up would be nice," I said.

A smile spread over Major Coleman's face. "I trusted your acting skills."

"I almost lost it," Leo said.

But Major Coleman just shrugged. "Better that than being scared."

I blinked. "You mean you chose the most absurd explanation on purpose just to make us laugh?"

"I need you kids to act normal," Major Coleman said.

"Yes, because it's normal for a group of agoraphobic teenagers to get on a train," Cana retorted.

"Fear makes people panic, lose control of themselves. Especially their mouths. Can't have you kids accidentally blurting out our situation," Major Coleman explained.

"Major," I said. "Were the lights your men were using different from store-bought?"

Major Coleman thought about it for a while. "I didn't ask for such specification so I believed them to be the same. Can't be sure, though."

"Is it weird that the Shade still hasn't come back?" Cana said.

Demi jolts straight up as if someone poke him from behind with a sharp object. Then he remembered where he was and whispered, "You think it went over to the other groups?"

"Let me check," Major Coleman pulled out his walkie-talkie and made a call.

I took this time to look around while Major Coleman was busy on the phone. "Bring them there," Major Coleman said, ending the call. 

Then, I caught someone staring at us. When someone caught me staring at them, I reflexively look away. But this guy held his gaze. Yes, there was another male besides us inside the female car. Corporate attire. Neatly combed hair. And he looks young, I would guess he's in his early twenties. 

But aside normal looks, he was creeping me out. His eyes were wide open. His jaw went slack. Like he recognized us and he's trying to remember from where. But that's impossible. I haven't seen this man in my entire life. I tried to break away and look at him again. And saw his eyes still fixed on me. Wait. Maybe not on me. On us. I saw his face lit up. He made his way down towards us. 

This can't be good.