Chapter 4

“Third one. No more time to waste,” Kingsley told his sister.

Calming blue eddies surfaced around Lyn’s spearpoint blade, sparking illusionary connections to the fiery presence of his Di Huo Jian as they roamed the streets. Created by the same swordsmith, these swords opposed one another if one lived for a different purpose. And because of the thick stains in blood and tears, Shen Sui Jian and Di Huo Jian had been painted with a strong will to obey their owners till death does them apart.

Kingsley led the way through the bushes, up the trees, down the tunnels. He scanned the surrounding. Eerily darker. Most of the shops were closed and the only lights brightened up the whole were the ones from ‘happy hours’. If they knew their lives could be gone anytime from now, would they still have the mood to be there? he thought.

He was about to call it off when he felt the sudden rising of hair at the back of his neck. It triggered the summon to awaken his sword.

“You felt it too?” Lyn nudged his elbow, suppressing the increasing power of Shen Sui Jian to be freed from her grip. 

Kingsley nodded and gave her a side look, signalling her to act normal. They continued walking. The ‘thing’ continued to tail, decreasing in distance. When the twins reached the entrance of a remote alley, they sped up and slid to the sidewall immediately. Swords were held tight above their heads. The moment the mystical presence came into view, Kingsley pulled out his fiery sword and lunged towards their opponents. Lyn stepped onto an isolated broken wooden box and hopped high to back her brother up with her icy sword held tight. Combination of the strikes scratched across the ground, tearing apart the cement glued together.

But there was nothing to fight at. “S—Smoke?” Kingsley blurted. 

His expectation of seeing figures of gigantic creatures turned into dismay. It was only smoke. A greenish smoke.

“What…?” mumbled Lyn.

Kingsley was puzzled too. But it wasn’t the time for them to think.

“Let’s get back first,” he said, grabbing hold of his sister.

***

Miracle's feet swayed by the strong push the moment she walked in 5 Lilium. Lyn was pushed behind. Kingsley tripped, stepping onto his own loosened shoelaces he hesitated to tie before entering the class. Swearing, he straightened his tie and shot a glance at his sister. She didn’t look any better than him. Her maroon hair was ruined, face was puffed up from all the bumps by her classmates.

"Wa sai! Kingsley! " Peter smirked and put his elbow on his shoulder. "You too have a day like this."

"Shut up if you don't want me to spill the tea." He gave a rough shrug to drop his hand away.

Everyone was crowding Miracle. To get to know her. To feel like they were close to her. These were humans. The beings that only cared about one another if the opposite fitted into the categories of pretty, rich or dying.

"Hey, hey Miracle! The dark secret in our school... have you heard about it?" The voice overtook the others.

Dark secret? Miracle shook her head.

The girl was about to start when Rex interrupted.

"Oh, come on Jessamine! Don't scare our new classmate! Who knows if it's valid?" he said, putting a knee on his chair and turned his head around to check for attendance.

"Please lah! I doubt it's a rumour kay. Bomohs here and bomohs there. This freaking place is so freaking cursed. That's why so many people out there pray to their own Gods. Jesus Christ lah... Guan Yin lah... But not us. We don’t pray. Don't you know how this island used to forbid travellers from staying overnight? And you call yourself a Malacca-ian ah?— Oh wait," Jessamine paused her lengthy argument as she remembered a point. "I forgot you just landed here few months ago. "

Rex rolled his eyes. "Even you’re saying it now-used to. Which means it's getting better! See? I'm a very good example. Nobody chases me out though I don't have any Malacca's nor Big Island's blood flowing in me."

"But Rex you also very funny one wor. Of all places in Malaysia, why your family moved here?"

"Well, my family loves mysterious places." He laughed.

"But—”

"Are you scared then?" Miracle muttered.

"What?"

Lifting her perfectly disguised eyes to meet hers, "Are you scared...?" she repeated, louder this time, "of the dark secret?"

Making a soft chuckle, "To be honest, I was once super scared leh. My mom used to tell me there’re monsters out there who eat up humans and she had witnessed it and what not..." Jessamine clarified.

"Seriously?! Oh my God!" Rex shrieked. "Why didn't you move away then?"

Her expression softened. "I am an Atheist; in fact, those who were born on this island hor, we are all Atheists because we don't worship nor pray to any specific God. We’re brought up that way. But for me lah, I still believe there are good beings doing their best to protect us from the evils. I’ve never regretted to be born here."

"Good beings? You mean like mythical creatures?"

Rex jerked his head to Miracle's direction.

"Mythical creatures? Phoenixes and dragons? No no no. Nobody believes myths in this generation, Miracle. How should I say this? Something like a good bomoh, good witches perhaps? Or maybe someone with a supernatural ability. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks like this. You see, there’re still so many people here living on this Malacca island despite knowing so many dark news about it."

"So it's witchcrafts and sorceries you believe in."

"It's the closest assumption we can relate to." Decorating her thick lips with a smile, Jessamine walked back to her seat.

The pungent scent of her rose perfume was so strong that it itched Miracle’s nose. She wasn't any annoying pest but the way she brought herself made her one. Overly-makeup face marked the biggest impression of hers. Bright blue striking eye shadow with dark eyeliner messily drawn matched with glossy orange lipstick. She probably failed in her art classes if she ever attended one.

"It's the cycle, exactly like what you had in mind," Kingsley confirmed, walking towards the round table at the corner of the canteen as their morning break began. "The 18th year cycle. Some think it's because of the bomohs' works interjecting with one another that create such an issue, and some think it's because of some sort of serial killers who lusted for human hearts."

"What's a bomoh? And why do people here have 'ah', 'lah' and some other weird words when they speak?"

"People here refer bomoh as somebody who is expert in doing spells and casting magic. Close to a witch. Those lah, ah, meh, lor, they are all language tags used by Malaysians. Don’t worry. You’ll get used to them, but you don’t have to use them. I mean, it’s not like it’s a compulsory thing to do," Lyn explained, eyeing the students in group of three walking past their table to the vending machine.

“Yea. Some people think these tags lower their status,” Kingsley continued.

"But I still don’t get it. Why would they enrol in a school like this when they already knew it’s of no good?" Miracle spiked her question, face twitched as she took a bite at the bread stuffed with bacon and cheese Hayden prepared in the morning. Meaty, but not raw-y.

"Don't make that look, Miracle!" Lyn slapped her shoulder and helped her to flat the bread so it would fit inside her mouth for the second bite. "Well, mortals here think that education is the only weapon to improve their lives. Here is underdeveloped, so there’s only this school available up till now.”

“But this land sits on is exactly the centre point of the three worlds," Kingsley interrupted, cleaning the mustard sauce he dripped accidentally on the rusted bench. "Remember the three victims dad told you? The cycle is already repeating. Just that it has yet to occur in this school again."

“Plus, the green smoke we encountered yesterday. Those evils weren’t able to shapeshift into smokes eighteen years ago,” Lyn paused. “They are evolving.”

"Who else knows about this?" Miracle mumbled, trying her best to chew the slices as she danced her eyeballs, studying each people coming into her view. "I'm pretty sure the students know nothing. The real thing I mean."

"True. They don't know. Only the Principal knows," Kingsley said. He clicked his tongue when he saw Peter brushed past, walking to the queuing section at the bread counter. But Peter rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"Principal? He's a TinXi?"

"He is. But we only meet him once in a year during the annual dinner. Dad forbids us to get engaged with him due to personal reasons which we don’t know." Pulling her watch to the front of her wrist as if somebody ignited a memo in her, "Shit, Kingsley! 10:20a.m.! We gotta meet Mr. Sam!" Lyn shrieked.

"For what? I'm still not done with my bacon," Kingsley frowned.

"Idiot!" She smashed the remaining into his mouth. "We failed in his last week's paper. Let's go before he really thinks we’re some sort of dumbass. Catch up with you later in class, Miracle. Bye!" she bid.

"Doooiiiilookkklikicareboutliterature?" The brother muffled, splashing out some of the residues before he was dragged away.

Miracle chuckled and left the table as soon as they did. She walked along the hallway linking two blocks in the middle. Announcements hung onto the abandoned notice boards were flying at one end. Black and white pictures of humans consumed more than half of the space stole her immediate attention. She pulled the papers, leaving tiny pieces struggling at the tips of the thumbtacks.

2001-Missing students found dead. The headline spoke in her mind.

She gasped and ran a hand over her mouth. Eyes widened. Sweats streamed her neck as her eyes lined the never-ending names. They were the list of victims from 18 years ago. Scattering the papers apart, Miracle scanned for similarities just to solidarize her assumption.

Hearts stolen was the keyword in all descriptions.

And it was all she needed to conclude.

"Miracle? Miracle!" A familiar voice came up to her, followed by a warm and soft tap on her shoulder.

She snapped from her deep thoughts. "H-hmm?"

"Miracle," his voice trailed as his gaze lowered to the matters Miracle had in her grasp. "You're...interested in cases like these?" Rex asked, cupping a load of worksheets in his hands. He knocked his knee to the slipping pieces to keep them stabilized. But when they failed to obey, he tipped his toes to the side border and landed the Chemistry practices on top.

"Well..." she hesitated.

Waving it off, he winked, posing a gun-shooting act. "Anyway, I'm here to ask you out tonight. You free?" He was trying to create a sense of informality.

She stared at him, taken aback by such random request. Her lips parted, but no words said.

Rex's patience only lasted for a while.

"I'll take your 'no response' as a yes, yeah? Tonight, 7.00 p.m. at Cappuccino Café. See ya!" Rex rushed off to the other direction.

Tired to even think, Miracle gave up the option to chase after.