Chapter 7: The Mistake

Calvin opened the door right after the first knock.

Warona walked in, fussing and frustrated.

"What's up with you, what happened?" He eyed her.

"I did what you said."

"Lemme guess, he wasn't there today? But I swear he goes to that cafe every once in a while and –"

"No! He did – I mean he was there."

"Tell me what happened then."

Calvin looked like he was dying to hear good news.

It took her a few minutes to voice out her next sentence . . .

"I – I think I met him before."

She wanted to slap herself for every single time she stuttered today.

Calvin's orbs widened in fear.

"You did?"

"Yep, turns out we've crossed paths. It was on my birthday." Warona kept her eyes downcast, trying to hide her uneasiness.

"Ah shit", the boy pulled on his hair and his expression morphed into worry, making Warona even more worried of how deep they were in this shit.

"What, is that a bad sign?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

The devil knew her way before she knew him. Of course it was a bad sign.

"A huge one if you ask me," Calvin took a sit on the couch while Warona paced around.

"And here I thought, what could go wrong? Nothing," he sighed. "You can never know what he got up his sleeve, Warona."

"I know," she dropped herself next to him. "And . . . that's why I want you to be my plus one this Friday."

Calvin seemed to have stopped breathing.

Before he could ask anything, she handed him the card to read.

"I can't believe he gave this to you," perplexed. "The Black Mask Society's events are intensely and deadly confidential."

"Is that the secret community my parents belong to? That's what's it called, The Black Mask?"

"Yes, it's also known as the black church. I didn't expect him to pull such a bold move on you. Seriously."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"It's too dangerous to go there," Calvin leaned back and handed the card back to her. "You can get killed."

So what is this, a trap?, she thought it through.

"No," Warona immediately objected.

Get killed?

She didn't believe that.

Maybe she believed in herself too much but, no. No one was going to be killed.

Besides, she was aware death would be involved once she signed into this.

It was too early to give up. Too early for Calvin to be saying that.

"Yes," he corrected. "Yes you will. I can totally see how this whole thing goes down from here, Warona."

"No, don't say that –"

"He obviously already knew who you were, what you're capable of, and worse, maybe even your weakness. We should probably quit by now, I don't wanna put your life in danger and you're too young to die –"

"Calvin!" She called him out of his haze. "No."

"Yes! Maybe this is the sign. Telling us to back out before everything turns into a huge mess. Maybe I should stop here."

Warona realized the boy was obviously having a panic attack or something, she tried to prove him otherwise by objecting to his pessimistic mindset.

"Don't be stupid, Calvin. We have just began, okay?" She put her hands on his shoulders. "We can do this."

"I've been here before, Ron. I've been here a thousand times before."

Warona saw the tears in her cousin brother's eyes before he even turned away from her.

She felt terrible and she had no idea what to do.

It was good to know that Calvin tried to do something before, despite his failures.

But Warona wasn't going to allow that to pull him down. He wasn't alone now and she believed they could do this together.

"This is what happened to me whenever I tried to save the twins back at your household. I couldn't even call the police . . . I was so helpless. Riegel and Hans made me believe that I could never do anything in my life."

She was glad that he was opening up even more and filling her in.

"Listen, Calvin . . . I know you're scared but, I just want you to remember that I'm here and I'm capable of something. You said I was special, if that's true then I promise to use whatever kind of powers I have to save Ren."

Warona wasn't really talented in comforting people with words and that was the best she had ever done. To seal the deal off, she gave her cousin brother a hug and smiled when he hugged her back.

"We could do this. We can save Ren. We must save her no matter what." She patted his back when he sniffed.

"Can you promise me that?"

Warona pulled away and looked at the grieving boy.

"I promise to fight for her till the end, her life and all the other kids' lives are in my hands."