Chapter 14: Guinea fowl in pastry

In the morning, Alex ran out of the house without answering his parents' questions. Their concerned glances slid over him, but he was too absorbed in his own thoughts to notice. With a determined step, he walked through the streets of the town, but something in his surroundings seemed different - heavier, darker. He had the impression that every tree by the roadside was casting a shadow on him that refused to let him go. Their branches, sharp as claws, seemed to whisper secrets of the deepest darkness. He felt stares on him, as if every window, every wall was alive and watching his every step.

When he reached the school gate, something in the air changed. The usual bustle of students in the courtyard seemed muffled, and the echo of their conversations seemed to carry a sense of unease. The creak of the door he opened sounded like a sentence. The corridor, filled with fluorescent light that always seemed dispassionate, now pulsed with a strange, hostile energy. Every step, every breath seemed to reverberate in his mind, resonating with questions that did not give him peace.

"Emma. Max. Penelope..." - the names swirling in his head reminded him of everything he had seen lately. He felt that meeting them would change things even more, as if the chaos wasn't enough anymore. His heart sped up as the lights of the corridor seemed to cast shadows longer and darker than usual.

The school, usually full of life, was now like a space suspended between dimensions. The conversations of the students, barely audible, were more like the whispering of ghosts than the daily noise. The glances his friends threw his way were full of anxiety, as if they all knew something but were afraid to talk about it. Even the poster on the bulletin board, advertising a cultural event, seemed to exude a strange aura, as if warning of something Alex could not yet understand.

As he walked the next meters of the corridor, he noticed Emma and Max at the end of it. They stood motionless, as if waiting for him. Their faces were tense, and their gazes betrayed that something was wrong.

- What is going on? You look like you've seen a ghost," chuckled Alex, trying to make his voice sound calm, although emotions were swirling inside.

Max, standing stiff as a statue, looked at him with a mixture of surprise and fear.

- Don't you know? You really don't know anything? The whole town is talking about it.... - his voice was quiet, but full of tension.

Emma added, leaning slightly toward Alex:

- Where have you been? Everyone was looking for you.

Alex, trying not to betray his own anxiety, quickly came up with an excuse.

- A family emergency. I had to go home. But never mind that. You'd better tell me what's going on.

Before Emma had time to respond, Penelope appeared. She emerged from a side corridor, almost imperceptibly, like a shadow.

- They hung William Baker in front of the city hall," she said in a calm, almost indifferent tone.

Her words shocked Alex. He blinked, as if trying to make sure he had heard correctly.

- What...? - his voice faltered, and his heart began to beat like crazy.

Penelope looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her face was almost devoid of emotion, as if what she said didn't matter much to her. When she turned her gaze back to Emma for a second, Alex tried to control his trembling hands. He recalled the scenes from the lab, the same ones that had haunted his dreams until now. How was it possible that this girl - now standing calmly in front of him, looking like any other teenager - could be capable of such cruelty?

Max looked away, as if trying to avoid the subject. Emma, on the other hand, looked at Alex, expecting him to say something, to do something.

- Who did it? Why? - Alex finally asked, feeling the questions burn him from the inside out.

- Who knows... - Penelope shrugged her shoulders, and the corners of her mouth twitched in a barely perceptible smile.

Everything about her seemed full of contradictions - she was both icy and boiling with hidden fury. Alex felt that was balancing on the thin line between understanding and complete chaos. It was clear that this place was no longer ordinary, and they were all just pawns in a game whose rules they did not yet understand.

"Who is Penelope really?" - the thought tormented him more and more.

Max looked at Alex with an expression of pure disbelief. After a moment, he sighed heavily, as if he had gathered up all the frustration of the past few days.

- I can't believe you haven't heard about it. The whole town is buzzing about Baker's death. - His voice, usually calm, now sounded sharp, almost accusatory. - What they did to him... Alex, it was sick. They hung him in front of the town hall. Without the members. There was some strange writing on his forehead.

Emma, leaning against a cabinet against the wall, shuddered at the memory.

- Max is right. It's all ... messed up. People are saying that Baker had something to do with a cult and research on children. Some say it's some kind of punishment. Revenge.

Alex felt a tightening in his stomach.

- Without members? What kind of inscription? - His voice betrayed disbelief, while trying to understand how twisted this world was becoming.

Penelope, who had hitherto stood silently with her arms crossed over her chest, looked at him with icy calm.

- That's exactly right. Without the members. They tore off his arms at shoulder height and his legs at the groin. And his... you know... small penis, landed in his throat like a guinea fowl in a pie. - She said this as dryly as if she were reading a recipe from a cookbook, which only emphasized the grotesqueness of this relationship.

- And he had two words engraved on his forehead. Something in Latin. - Max furrowed his brow, trying to remember. - Wait a minute... what did it sound like...?

- Chronotron Harmoniae," Emma interjected quietly.

Those two words hit Alex like a hammer. He felt his heart freeze in his chest. Chronotron Harmoniae. He had seen them before. On a machine. On the device that seemed to hold the key to everything around him - the inexplicable phenomena, the disappearing Emma, the terrifying Penelope in the lab. Even Baker was there then, amid the mechanical din and the smell of spicy perfume.

Images from the past returned with brutal force: the steel cogs, quivering in a disturbing rhythm, the girl crying for help from the depths of space-time, and now - Baker, massacred, stripped of his members, hanged in front of the entire town. Is it them? Is it their work?

Alex felt his mind crumble under the weight of the questions.

- There is something else. - Emma looked at him with concern. - The night Baker was killed, people started seeing things. Shadows. Mary. Something that seems invisible and yet visible.... It looks mega strange. We don't know what's going on

Max nodded, nodding with concern.

- Emma is right. It's not just us - it's the whole town. There's something strange going on everywhere. I barely made a shitload of money when I first saw those ghosts.

Penelope rolled her eyes, pulling away from the wall.

- As always our Maksio - perpetually terrified. Maybe it's just the shadows of the trees. Or the fog. - Her voice was full of sarcasm, but her eyes betrayed something else. - Or... maybe it's souls. Who knows? But it doesn't matter. The important thing is that someone quartered Baker and hung him like a fucking turkey on Thanksgiving. So the question is: who will be next?

Max swallowed his saliva, looking away.

- Fuck, no matter what happens, we're screwed. - His voice trembled slightly, as if he himself was afraid to say out loud what he was thinking.

The tension between them increased. Alex felt the chaos of thoughts begin to overwhelm him. Chronotron Harmoniae. Specters. The murder of Baker. Everything seemed intertwined in an unsolvable knot.

- Listen. Before we start throwing around accusations and making up theories, we need to find out what really happened. We rule out suicide. That's obvious. - Alex tried to sound confident, although his voice betrayed hidden fear.

Emma looked at him intently.

- Do you think this is the work of some sect?

- I don't know. But we have to find out the truth. Let's meet tonight. Let's talk. We need to start putting all these pieces together.

Penelope smiled crookedly, as if trying to relieve the tension.

- Well, it's time to throw the freaking guinea fowl on the grill.

Emma and Max exchanged glances, after which Emma nodded.

- Good. Let's meet later. Now I have to run to class.

Max moved after her, mumbling something about how the story wouldn't wait. Penelope stayed behind, looking at Alex with a strange expression on her face.

Silence reigned in the deserted corridor, broken only by the muffled echo of conversations from behind closed classroom doors. The glare of the sun, obscured by heavy clouds, spilled a dull glow across the linoleum, giving everything a disturbingly unreal dimension. The atmosphere was strange, tense, as if the corridor itself was hiding something.

Penelope stood next to him, a seemingly ordinary teenager. She looked downright innocent - just a colleague, maybe even a friend. However, Alex, no matter how much he wanted to believe it, had already seen what she could do. He knew there was something indescribably dark behind her smile and gentle movements. And yet... this scene did not leave him. He stared at her, wondering one thing: how old is she, anyway? The experiments she participated in must have taken place at least four decades ago. How could it be that she looked like a schoolgirl, almost as if time didn't apply to her?

- Are we having some ghost games here, or do you want to confess what you did to William? - he chuckled without thinking before he could bite his tongue.

The words hung in the air, and Alex immediately regretted his thoughtlessness.

Penelope looked at him with a mixture of concern and amusement. Her eyes seemed to search for a moment to see if he was serious. But instead of answering directly, she nodded toward the hallway.

- You're bullshitting," she said. - Her voice was cool, but at the same time a bit carefree, as if she didn't care about the question at all. - And actually... I'm not the only one who carries the burden of secrecy.

She pointed slightly to something in front of them. Alex looked in the direction she suggested, and for a moment he had the feeling that the shadows had finally come to life. The corridor seemed to change, as if the reality around them began to pulsate, taking on new shapes.

- See what's going on. - Penelope sighed theatrically, crossing her arms. - Since the day William died, everyone has gone crazy. A quartered old man and immediately paranoia. People are acting as if they had never seen a corpse before.

Alex looked at her with suspicion, but decided to maintain his composure.

- Sorry for the text about Baker. - He sighed, as if searching for the right words. - When I see the bored rich kids from big families, it just presses on my tongue.

Penelope raised an eyebrow, and for a moment something disturbing flashed in her eyes.

- Don't take it seriously. - Alex looked away, looking at the window, where light slid across the panes. - It was a silly joke. Out of place. Sorry.

To his surprise, Penelope only nodded her head with a slight smile.

- Cool. It is known not from today , that we rich are fucked up. - Her voice was quiet, almost gentle. - We need to find out more. Together. - Her smile widened, although it still carried something sinister. - And the secrets? Well, maybe this is just such a game.

She took a step back, as if she was already losing interest in the conversation.

- I'm running away to biology. So long, handsome.

- For now. - Alex replied, trying to reciprocate her tone, but deep down he felt his body stiffen with tension.

Penelope turned and walked away, her footsteps echoing almost silently on the floor. Alex stared at her distant silhouette, wondering who this girl really was. Her jokes and calm tone were like a false melody, hiding a dark undertone. He saw what she was capable of when she exploded, turning everything around her into a bloody nightmare.

He decided one thing: to keep her in good humor. This was the best option - both for him and for anyone who would come within range of her wrath.

He looked at the shadows disappearing in the distance.

- She was like a ticking bomb. Who knows when it will explode and repaint the walls with blood again. - He thought, and a cold shudder ran through his body.