I don't know what my mum was thinking when I closed myself into my room for practically the whole day. But I still didn't agree with taking a day off school.

While sitting alone in my room, I tried to think. I tried to tell myself that I can face my fears. Sometimes I cried silently to myself. I had no idea what Jake was going to do to me. And as long as I'm here, in Blue Mist, I don't think I'm safe from him. But I can't leave either. Besides, what would I tell my parents?

I think the only solution if I want to live is to keep the secret. No matter how reluctant I felt about this. All that was left to do now was to hope that Jake would leave me alone.

Heading to school the next day, I kept my eyes open. The front of the school was crowded, and before joining them, I carefully checked the faces of as many as possible. Noticing no threat, I quickly entered the school.

Spending all my free time at school with Rudy and Nicole, we used the hallways a lot. But at the end of the day I hadn't seen Jake even once. And when it was time to go home, there was still no sign of him, the black pickup or his gang. Nicole walked me halfway to my home but from there I was alone. And when I finally reached our house, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I hadn't even realized how tense I had been. Without any dangerous events at school, the rest of my day went by better, too. I didn't lock myself in my room or stay as silent as I had been the day before.

The next day I wasn't that easygoing anymore. I was on alert, looking out for possible threats. But luckily I didn't see Jake that day too. And nor did I see him the next day. On Friday I was starting to calm down. I didn't let my guard down completely, but I didn't look around me all the time anymore. I was even more relieved when Nicole mentioned that Jake hadn't been at school those days at all. Though Nicole seemed a bit sad when she said it, I felt pretty good. I didn’t count the fear of thinking about what Jake might be up to if he is not here.

When lessons were over and I was at my locker, Nicole and Rudy were both with me. We were planning to spend the day together.

"I'm not forcing you to come anywhere with me again," Nicole told me, "but I hope you won't take too much advantage of it."

"Again some parties you're planning to go to?" Rudy asked her.

Nicole shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. If I find anything interesting for that weekend. But hey, have you two ever heard of a place called Night Pack?"

I shook my head. "Never heard of it."

"What about it?" Rudy asked, scowling.

"It's some kind of a club or something. I heard it was almost impossible to get in there."

"Nothing like this has ever been impossible to you," I said, remembering all those times I had to listen to her non-stop chatter about pretty much everything she has accomplished in her seventeen years.

"Now wait a moment. You aren't actually thinking about getting in there?" Rudy asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"So you know this place?" Nicole seemed happy about someone else here knowing about night clubs.

"In fact I do, and I don't believe they'll be letting you in. I'd recommend you to keep away from this place anyway. With the things that are going on there, it’s not actually... appropriate for you."

"And you know this how?" Nicole asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Just please promise me that you won't go near there," Rudy asked, his voice a bit pleading, but at the same time serious. It seemed to work, as Nicole finally gave in and nodded with a sigh.

"Okay then, I won’t. But what's so bad about it anyway?"

I shut my locker and together we headed towards the exit.

"I'm not very sure, actually. But it's... a rough place. There are people whom it’s better not to meet with."

Like this, chatting like friends do, we left the school, first heading over to Rudy's place. He said he must go home before going out. It made me wonder if his parents know what cellphones are made for.

In my opinion, Rudy had a pretty unique home. I’ve only been here a few times. Despite the huge two story wooden house, they didn't have much of a garden. Though here, in a secluded place in the woods, they had so much empty ground surrounding their home, not to mention the huge plain lands behind their house. This emptiness kind of surprised me too, knowing the number of people living here. Rudy lived in the same house with his mum, dad, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, two uncles, older brother and younger sister. At least the house was big enough for them all.

From the inside it was even prettier than from the outside. The styling was great, a mixture of historic and modern. I hadn't seen something like this before. It was roomy. And I have no idea, how many rooms this house held. Maybe I should ask Rudy later.

Stepping into the front room, we immediately had a great view of the living room too, as those two rooms were connected by a big arch. Rudy said we don't have to take our footwear off, as we only came in here for a moment. But I still wouldn't have felt okay with stepping on that gorgeous handmade carpet with intricate pattern. So I stayed under the arch, not going any further into the living room.

From there I saw an older woman sitting on a couch in the living room. When she saw us, she gave us a warm smile.

"Hey granny! Where are mum and dad?" Rudy asked her.

"Your mum is upstairs with Lila; dad is not home at the moment." Then she looked at us two. "Selina and Nicole, I haven't seen you here a long time," she said with another smile. "So you were the one mentioned in TV? About that accident."

"Yes," I said modestly, with a small nod.

"I understand if you don't want to talk about it. I just wanted to say I feel sorry for you. And I hope living with knowing what had happened there isn't very hard for you."

"It's not that bad. I didn't know any of those others. But thanks," I said quietly, trying to smile too.

Looking at Rudy, it seemed like he was waiting for something. He looked at his granny questioningly. The old woman sighed and stood up from the couch. "Excuse us for a moment," she said, and together they left towards the kitchen.

"Cool house," Nicole said, walking around the living room. "Would be a good place to throw a party."

I rolled my eyes. At times it feels like it's the only thing Nicole thinks of.

"Hi," a quiet but high little girl's voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a small girl with long wavy blond hair, who might be about four years old. She was Rudy's sister.

"Oh, hi Lila," I said and smiled to her.

"Did Rudy come home?" she asked with her high voice.

I nodded. "He’s in the kitchen with your grandmother."

The girl nodded too and skipped into the living room, sitting on a corner couch, swinging her legs over the edge.

"So, is Rudy a good brother?" I asked, just to fill time.

"Mhm," the girl nodded again. "And a good teacher."

"Teacher? What is he teaching you?"

Lila shrugged. "All kinds of things, to "get ready for life" like he says." She raised her hands to make the quotation marks with her fingers and imitated formal voice, which made me and Nicole helplessly laugh. She was so cute. "But he says it won't save me from going to school." Now she winced.

"You don't want to go to school then?" I asked. "But why?" I added, when she shook her head.

"It doesn't sound fun."

I smiled. "Everyone has to go to school. Maybe you'll like it."

Lila shrugged.

Then Rudy came back, with their granny behind him. For some reason he looked serious, but this impression was gone immediately when he saw us.

"Hey Rudy!" Lila yelled when seeing his brother. "Are you leaving again?"

"Yes. I'll be home later than usual today."

Lila sighed and slid off from the couch. "Stay safe," she said to him, leaving through the front room again.

"You have a cute sister," Nicole said when we left the house.

"I have to be a good example for her," Rudy replied.

"So you're already preparing her for school?" Rudy raised an eyebrow at my question. "She told us you were teaching her," I added.

"Oh, that. Family traditions." He shrugged.

We weren't going to do anything that special; we just hung around the city, in the park, and stepped into almost every shop that we walked past just to spend some time together. When we got hungry, we entered the Mist's Diner. All kinds of different sweet smells hit my face immediately when we stepped through the doors. This was one of my favourite dining places in Blue Mist.

When we had ordered our meals and chosen a table in the back corner under the window, I suddenly noticed a familiar face, alone behind a table on the other side of the place. It was Claudia, Jake's mother. She looked out from the window and seemed to be deep in her thoughts.

"Um, I'll be right back," I told to my friends and stood up. I just felt the need to talk to her.

"Excuse me," I said when I was next to her. She hadn't noticed me arrive, so I had to get her attention.

She turned to face me, for a moment studying my face, like trying to remember if she knew me. "Oh, Selina," she said. "What brings you here?"

I took a seat across the table, trying to think about what I actually wanted to say. "I wanted to ask that... Jake didn't do anything to you because of me?" I lowered my voice when asking this.

She shook her head. "No, we practically didn't talk at all that night or for the next few days. But I must say I'm glad to see you're okay."

I nodded. "He came to me on Monday. But after that he wasn't even at school, so..."

Claudia sighed and turned to look out from the window again. "I know."

"Where is he then?" I asked, not knowing if I actually even want to hear the answer.

She shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. On Monday he came home earlier than usually. And he was too quiet that day, like he was somewhere in his own world. The next morning he left early and I haven't seen him since."

"You think something bad has happened?"

She shook her head again, and she looked rather nonchalant, but I think I saw a shade of concern in her eyes. "It has happened before, he runs away like this. There's nothing to wonder about. His kind can be hard to keep at home all the time. They need more freedom."

There wasn't much else to talk about with her, so we ended our conversation and I walked back over to my friends.

"Who was that?" Nicole asked.

"Just someone I know," I said negligently, hoping they wouldn’t turn too much attention to it. "So, what were you two talking about here?" I asked them to change the subject.

When we were done eating and left the dining place, we headed to Nicole's place, like we had agreed just moments ago. Nicole's house was smaller and rather modest, with only one floor, and it was located in the middle of the city, unlike Rudy's which was completely secluded, and unlike mine too, actually, which was on the edge of the city.

We stayed there and watched a movie until it started to get dark. When it was time for me and Rudy to go home, Nicole said she would come with us, because she wanted to go over to one of her relative's place, who also lives in Blue Mist and not too far. So, if we wanted to go all together, we chose a path that made all of our journeys longer, but at least we could be most of our way together, before our paths parted.

The sun had completely gone behind the horizon already and the full moon shone amid the stars. Streets were almost completely empty, and we were pretty close to where Nicole, Rudy and I had to go different ways, when we heard some strange noises. At the moment we were on the edge of the city where small residential houses were on our left, and some trees on our right. Nicole stepped closer to the slope and looked down. Rudy and I followed her. And there we saw some bigger campsite. There were numerous log fires and few big tents set up, although there seemed to be many more people than would fit in those tents. This is where the sound came from. Laughter and loud chatter.

"I wonder what's going on there," Nicole mumbled. "I haven't heard about anything about this at school."

"Maybe they're not from school," I said.

"What do you think; maybe we should go and check out what's going on. It could be fun." Nicole pondered.

I was just about to remonstrate when I saw how Rudy looked down there. His gaze was hesitant and overall strange.

"I think we should better stay away," he said. "Who knows what's going on there or who they are."

Nicole let out a loud moan. "You always have to ruin everything. Not all of us here have such strict rules from our parents."

"Really, I doubt this whole thing. Let’s get out of here." He declared before turning around and walking away. Nicole sighed and rolled her eyes, but followed him. I took a last glance down at the valley, and saw something. I stared at the woods right next to the campsite, frowning.

"You coming?" Nicole shouted.

"Yeah," I replied and jogged after them. But I still couldn’t help but wonder if what I saw was correct. I thought I saw a shadow of some strange animal running in the forest. I don't think it was a dog. It didn't look like one. I decided it was probably nothing.

When Nicole had left, Rudy and I continued alone. Rudy was rather a quiet person, the complete opposite of Nicole. I was somewhere in between. On our way most of the time we both didn't say anything until we reached the spot where I had to turn the other way. Rudy offered me to walk me further, but I didn't want him to stay out even longer because of me so I refused.

As it was very dark and the streets were mostly empty, I felt a bit creepy walking around here alone. Speeding up, I kept my eyes open, remembering Claudia's recommendation to stay near bigger crowds.

It wasn't a long way from my home anymore. I was at the end of the street and was about to turn a corner when I saw someone walking in the middle of the road, apparently aimlessly. I wouldn't have paid much attention to him, if I hadn't recognized him in the moonlight. I held my breath and stumbled back, leaning my back against the wall of the apartment house. After a long while of standing there, I peeked around the corner to see if he was still there or if he had seen me. It seemed like he didn't notice my presence. But his step was way too slow, which meant he hadn't managed to get much further past me.

If I now chose another way to get home, it would extend my path. But I surely wasn't going to walk past Jake. If he hadn't seen me, maybe I could wait here until he’s gone. But what was he doing here anyway?

I flinched when I suddenly heard voices of more people, and a strange laughter. I peeked around the corner again, seeing dark figures come from all directions, all walking towards Jake. I couldn't even count them all. But it seemed like they were all boys, aged somewhere from thirteen to twenty. But I couldn’t be sure due the darkness. Their laughter was something that really sounded strange and sent shivers through my body. And then I suddenly understood they were circling Jake. He was standing still now, looking at the ones around him. It looked like he wasn't expecting this to happen, and clearly it wasn't anything pleasant. Jake glowered at them, as they got closer.

"What do we have here," a deep guy's voice said, still laughing. "A lonely jaguar."