37. 'Shroud'

*Qin Shan POV

Song Meng and I explore the courtyard together and stand in the delicate light of the moon. Before we know it, it is nearly 11pm and time to get back to the dorms.

"Ready to go back?" I ask the quiet figure next to me. Song Meng opens his eyes and they seem to bore right through me

"Yes. Let's return." I smile at him and hold out my hand which he takes. He walks me back to my dorm and I give him a last hug before entering the room.

I look through the curtains to see his tall figure slowly walk into the darkness and can't help but smile.

---Morning---

Today is cloudy and I am dead tired. There seems to be impending doom arriving and the sky seems angry.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I pull on a sweatshirt and black jeans, wake up Huan who is struggling to escape the clutches of sleep, and step out of the door.

Yawning, I make my way to first class. Song Meng is already there. He looks nervous for some reason - biting his lip and looking around. This behavior is so unusual for him that when I approach him, he doesn't focus on me until I am right in front of him.

"Is there something wrong?" I ask him and he furrows his eyebrows.

"Its nothing, just thinking about an exam I have soon." It is an obvious lie and I plan to get the truth out of him.

"Today seems off." I mutter as we take our seats and he nods along with me.

"Mmm..." The bell rings and class begins. I look around and notice that half of the normal students are missing. Zhong Long's group is nowhere to be found, along with some of the other cliques. This is a little bit strange. Song Meng is also acting strange, occasionally glancing out the doors and windows. Even the teacher seems to be talking a little bit hesitantly.

This strange behavior goes on throughout the rest of class and when the bell chimes, Song Meng pulls me up and out of the door.

"Is there something wrong?" I repeat my question from earlier.

"Later..." he mutters "Can we go somewhere right now?" He asks me looking me in the eyes for the first time today.

"Uhh... sure." Is the only thing I can say. I am really confused right now.

"Okay let's go back to my dorm first." He nearly drags me by the arm to the boys dorm (which is much closer than the girls dorm to the classroom).

We arrive and he flings open the door. Wu He is nowhere to be found which is strange. Song Meng quickly grabs keys from a drawer and just like that, we hit the road.

"What is going on?" I demand. He sighs.

"I'll tell you once we get to a safe place." My eyes widen. What safe place?

"Umm.. Okay." The car speeds on, there is thick fog encompassing the air around us which Song Meng just ignores.

Finally, after driving for about an hour, we arrive at the "safe place." It is a high-tech looking building with dark tinted glass windows and massive doors. I see at least 10 security cameras inconspicuously hidden among nearby foliage.

Song Meng takes my hand and pulls me inside. Then, we both exhale.

"What is going on here? What is this place?" I manage to squeak out.

"The Court knows that you are alive." Panic is written all over Song Meng's face and I feel the blood rush out of my face.

"W-What?" This is a nightmare come true.

"They will go to the school first and cause massive damage. There will be casualties and it is too risky for you to be there right now." Song Meng's face is ashen. No wonder many of the students weren't attending the first class.

"What about my friends...what about HuanHuan?" I stutter out... Song Meng looks me dead in the eye.

"They shouldn't bother them unless they get in the way." His voice cold and hard. I gulp.

Suddenly my phone lights up. It's HuanHuan

'Qin Shan, where are you?'

'There are people at the dorm...I don't know them?'

'Are you playing a trick on me or something?'

'Where are you?'

The remaining color rushes out of my face. Song Meng's eyes narrow

"What?" I have no words so I just hold my phone out to him.

"No...they shouldn't" He seems lost for words for once.

"I need to go back." I say. Unsurprisingly he shakes his head.

"No. It is too risky."

"Huan needs me right now. It's all my fault that she might be hurt or, heck, dead right now!" I start to run out of the building but Song Meng takes my hand.

"If we are lucky, Wu He will have retrieved her." The answer is not good enough for me. My best friend might be hurt.

"No. I need to go back." I turn away again and leave Song Meng, who is in shock, behind.

"Shan! You can't!" He starts to say but the door shuts and I run down to the nearest large street and flag a taxi.

At the school, it is chaos. There is smoke in the air. Students are running around. I start to head to my dorm. I hear my phone exploding with messages and texts from Song Meng... I ignore them and try to run towards the dorms.

My dorm is a mess. There are objects strewn everywhere but no sign of Huan. Panting, I look around and exit the wooden stairs when suddenly someone grabs me.

"Qin Shan. How nice of you to finally appear." A voice whispers in my ear and then I lose my sight. I struggle, but they are too strong.

"Tck...naughty. The boss will be happy to see you soon." Something covers my mouth and I fade out of consciousness. The last thing I feel before darkness is the buzzing of my phone. Nonstop. I'm sorry Song Meng.