A sudden silence surrounded them as they walked into the house. Slowly, they made their way through the building, searching for Theo, who had vanished without a trace.

"Theo!" Chelsie shouted, her voice echoing through the corridors. "Where are you?"

While Chelsie walked through the corridor and repeatedly called Theo’s name, Nalira suddenly stopped when she noticed a half-open door beside her. Suspicion stirred in her mind. Theo might be inside. Trusting her instincts, she decided to check.

As soon as she pushed the door open, she realized her guess had been correct. Theo stood inside the room. However, something felt strange. He didn’t move. He kept his head lowered, staring at something in front of him. What exactly had caught his attention?

"Theo?"

"Holy sh*t!" Theo immediately clutched his chest and spun around. His face had turned pale. "Hey! What are you doing standing there?"

"...I should ask you the same thing." Nalira walked closer. "What are you doing in here?"

Theo raised the object in his hand. "A picture frame. I found this lying on the table while walking through this room." Theo sighed, his pale face slowly fading. "Looks like, I know who owns this house now, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to—"

’BANG!’

"Lira! Theo!" Chelsie rushed into the room. Her face had gone pale, and panic filled her eyes. "Oh my God... th-the owner of this house. It turns out that..."

"...Elsie, slow down." Nalira tried to calm down Chelsie. "I can’t understand what you’re saying."

"While I was walking through the corridor, I found several photographs of the owner of this house." She swallowed nervously. "They all belong to Miss Daisy."

"Wait, what?" Nalira fell silent for a moment, processing what Chelsie had said. "But, how —"

"She’s right." Theo cut her off and handed the picture frame to Nalira. "See for yourself and tell me who that is."

Nalira took the frame and stared at it in silence. The woman in the photograph was unmistakably Miss Daisy. She stood in the middle of a vast grassy field while hugging a brown dog tightly in her arms. A warm smile stretched across her face, making her look completely different from the stern woman Nalira usually knew.

"Oh no. This is bad. Really bad." Chelsie bit her lower lip as the color drained from her face. "If Miss Daisy finds out that we broke her front door, she’s going to be furious with us." She immediately shot Theo a sharp glare. "This is all your fault. If we hadn’t forced our way inside, we wouldn’t have ended up in this situation."

"That’s only a problem if she finds out." Theo flashed a sly grin. "If she never learns about it... Then everything will be perfectly fine, right?"

"Huh?" Chelsie furrowed her brow. "A-are you saying we should keep this a secret from everyone?"

"Exactly." Theo stroked his chin. "As long as none of us talks about it, nobody will suspect a thing." A mischievous smile appeared on his face. "So... what do you think?"

Chelsie glanced at Nalira. "Uhm... I don’t know, but I feel like this is too—"

"Uhm... I don’t know. This feels a little too—"

"I agree."

"L-Lira?" Shock spread across Chelsie’s face. "Are you serious? What if someone finds out?"

"This girl is way too innocent." Theo shook his head and let out a mocking laugh. "Hey, look around." He spread his arms and gestured toward the room. "Do you see anyone else here besides the three of us?"

"..."

"Exactly." Theo chuckled. "You can’t even think of anyone. Only the three of us are here. Nobody else."

"...Elsie, Theo has a point." Nalira crossed her arms and nodded. "As long as none of us tells anyone, everything should be fine."

"Uhm..." Chelsie hesitated for a moment before lowering her head. "Alright then."

"Good." Theo smiled in satisfaction. "Looks like we all agree to keep this little incident a secret." He rubbed his hands together. "Now then, it’s time to—"

The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed through the house, instantly silencing everyone in the room. Strangely, the footsteps grew louder and clearer, making the three of them realize they weren’t alone. Something was in the house, and it was moving toward them.

"Uhm... I-I think we should leave this house right now," Chelsie said nervously.

"Yeah, I agree." Theo nodded immediately. "We need to get out before—" His face suddenly stiffened. Slowly, he raised a trembling finger and pointed toward Chelsie. "Oh, crap..." His voice cracked. "B-behind you."

Chelsie let out a small laugh. For a moment, she thought Theo had decided to play a stupid prank. But then she noticed something, neither Theo nor Nalira looked amused. Chelsie began to doubt her own thoughts. Slowly, she turned around and froze instantly. The bull-headed creature stood directly behind her. Its massive body nearly touched the ceiling.

"N-no..." Chelsie’s entire body trembled. Her legs nearly gave out beneath her. "T-that’s impossible... H-how did it get inside...?"

"Elsie, listen to me carefully," Nalira whispered. Now... move slowly backward, and don’t make any sudden movements, or—"

Before Nalira could finish her sentence, the creature immediately launched a punch at Chelsie. Chelsie instinctively raised her staff and tried to block the attack, but unfortunately, she was too late.

The punch slammed into her with terrifying force. Chelsie flew across the room and crashed into a bookshelf. Wood splintered apart as the entire shelf collapsed on top of her.

"Elsie!" Nalira’s eyes widened in shock. She immediately dashed toward Chelsie and knelt beside her. "Damn it..." Nalira checked her pulse and clenched her jaw. "She’s unconscious. We need to get her out of here."

"Argh. Damn it. Why has everything turned out like this?" Theo gripped his sword tightly; sparks of electricity could be seen enveloping the blade’s surface. His eyes burned with anger. "Fine. If that’s how it is..." He pointed his sword at the monster. "I’ll kill this bastard myself!"

Theo instantly launched a brutal counterattack at the creature. His blade slashed across the creature’s body, but it wasn’t enough to easily incapacitate it. Damn. This creature was by no means an easy opponent.

"Argh, bloody hell! Damn it!" Theo growled in frustration. His jaw clenched. "Why won’t this creature damn thing die!

Theo launched repeated attacks at the creature, but this time it managed to dodge his strikes. It seemed the creature had studied Theo’s movements, and to make matters worse, it successfully parried his final attack and instantly clamped its jaws around Theo’s neck, leaving him unable to move.

"Aaarrggh!" Theo writhed in pain as the creature tightened its grip around his throat. His breathing grew shorter. "H-help me."

"Theo!"

Nalira gritted her teeth. She clenched her sword tighter. She knew she must save Theo as quickly as possible before he died. Yet, seeing how Theo’s attacks were merely wounding the creature, she knew that approach wouldn’t work. Damn it. She had to come up with another plan fast, before the creature crushed Theo’s neck and killed him.