On a cold spring morning, Andrei Petrescu found himself on his way to the police station in Văleni with his uncle, because one of his colleagues, detective Andrei Guler, wanted to speak with him.

As officer Bundar's only nephew, he was very familiar with the place, but it did not take away from his nervousness. Andrei tried not to let his mind spiral into questions about what Mr Guler wanted from him, if it was about Adrian or some other crime he was not aware of.

He almost jumped when his uncle touched his shoulder.

"All good?" Flavius asked.

"Y-Yeah!" He quickly said. "Just... a bit sleepy."

"Yeah, I know." He rubbed his own eye. "Guler's schedule is a mess and we thought it'd be best to get it over with now. I'll drive you to school so you're not late."

He was led to a small office where Mr Guler was sitting at a desk. He did not seem that old - maybe in his early 40s - but a life of being constantly stressed out did age him in advance.

"Welcome, son." Mr Guler cleared his throat. "Please take a seat."

"Hello, Sir." Andrei replied in a calm tone, sitting down in a way that tried to signal he was of an inoffensive nature.

"Sorry to bring you here before the sun is even out." He said and yawned. "I just want to get this over with and I understood from your uncle that you may be able to help me."

"I will do my best, Sir."

"You heard about the guy from Ferești who broke into our police station?"

"Oh, yeah!" He said, stifling a little laugh. There wasn't anybody in town who hadn't heard about it and the reason why it happened. Gossip does marathons. There were a lot of 'I knew he was a creep' or 'of course Costel would cover him up'.

"Well, turns out it wasn't the only break-in that happened in that neighbourhood!" Mr Guler sighed.

Andrei almost said 'there's another pedophile?', but quickly shut himself up.

"One of the late Dehelean's neighbours, the Vașadi family, was on vacation between late October and March. They wanted to bypass the cold completely, I don't freaking know. Rich people. When they came back around the time of the police station debacle, they discovered that somebody had broken into their house."

The undead girl? Andrei wondered.

"Upon further inspection, turns out it happened soon after they left back in autumn. Somebody tampered with the security camera and it had been off ever since. 8000 euro worth of jewellery has gone missing."

"Jesus..." Andrei said under his breath.

"At first I thought it might have been our walking dead girl, that this was one of her hideouts - her name is Aurora, by the way; it's fine for you to know - but her DNA was nowhere to be found in the Vașadi house, unlike in Dehelean's. It also doesn't seem to be part of her MO. She didn't take anything from Dehelean either, except for a shirt and pants."

"She doesn't have a need for jewelry, I guess..."

"Right. Which means it was somebody else who did it."

There was something in the tone of that phrase that Andrei didn't like at all. Before he could stop it, the thought already burrowed in his chest and made him sweat with anxiety.

"How can I help you, Sir?" He quickly asked, as taking initiative would perhaps cushion the blow he sensed coming.

"Around the approximate time that the robbery took place, one of your classmates, Adrian Mateoc, was reported missing from home. Looks like he ran away." There it is. "Everyone told me that you and Adrian were close."

"R-Really?" Andrei suddenly flustered, his freckled face turning pink. "I, well, uh, uhm, I-I guess it's true, hahah, we've been friends since, like, forever-"

"Does he have any other friends," Mr Guler interrupted him rather sharply, "or acquaintances, someone he would have gone to for help?"

"Not really, no... He was, uh, kind of a loner. Not his fault, his father scared everyone away..."

"Yes, I met Mr Mateoc. Dreadful man..."

"Yeah..."

"That explains why Adrian ran away, but not the robbery."

"Adrian wouldn't steal." Andrei frowned.

"You think so?"

"Yes, he is always careful to stay out of trouble."

"Didn't he want to work for Bălașa?"

Andrei paled. "I-"

"Earlier last year, Adrian asked to meet with Bălașa because he wanted to join her coven as a human employee, which, in my opinion, would cause him a lot of trouble. But he was turned down. Skip to a few months later: Vașadi's jewellery is gone, as is Adrian."

"L-Look, listen! Adrian didn't steal anything! It's not something he would do!"

"People can surprise you. Maybe he sold the gems to facilitate running away."

"He didn't!!"

"How do you know that, huh? Have you been in contact with him since he ran away?"

Andrei froze. "N-No..."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No, Sir..."

"Let me make this clear, Mr Petrescu." Detective Guler leaned closer, over the desk. Andrei instinctively leaned away. "I have a shitload of work to do, a walking dead girl on the loose, a mayor's dead nephew who turned out to be a pedophile, an assistant in jail, two vampires breathing down my neck, an airfryer filled with gasoline that exploded last night in Hidiș, and a broken coffee machine at home. I am in a very bad mood, so I suggest you don't make it worse. Tell me everything you know about Adrian Mateoc's whereabouts, or I will logically assume you are helping your best friend hide, meaning you are an accomplice to a crime."

"I'm not-!"

"Then tell me."

Andrei looked away, hands kneading the ends of his coat like a small child.

"Where is Adrian Mateoc?" Detective Guler asked.

"I genuinely don't know. H-He left Văleni last year, but I swear it's a total coincidence if it was around the time of the robbery. We talked over the phone a few times, but he never said where he was. He mentioned he wants to go to Lăutari eventually, so I guess he's not there yet..."

"Did he ever mention anything related to money or selling things, stuff like that?" Mr Guler continued, softer. "Anything that sounded suspicious?"

"Not really. He, uh, he said he found a job really fast, but that's about it."

"What kind of job?"

"At a car shop. He told me his bosses are weird as hell, but that it's fine for the most part. They arranged for him to stay in an apartment and paid his rent too."

Detective Guler paused and slowly closed his eyes. God, please not Them.

"Sir...?" Andrei asked.

"I'm okay."

"... please don't force Adrian to come back. It was a voluntary disappearance. His dad will kill him for sure if he sees him again. Please..."

"... I won't." He sighed. "If he didn't steal anything, then I won't. He's almost 18, right?"

"Y-Yes, his birthday is in June."

"Alright. Thank you, Andrei. I'll keep in mind what you have told me."

"Thank you too, Sir!"

"Go before you're late to class. Sorry about it again."

Andrei nodded and got up. Officers wished him a good day as he went outside, where uncle Flavius was waiting by the car while smoking a cigarette. No matter how old he got, being driven around in a police car was still kind of cool. As he walked inside his school, his thoughts returned to more pleasant ones about his friend. He was glad to hear detective Guler would look out for Adrian too.

There was another thing as well. Andrei couldn't help but feel a little smug about the fact that Adrian, the guy who distrusted everyone, chose him for a friend. He was the only one who found space in his heart.

Andrei shook his head, but the warmth in his face was still there, so he hurried to the bathroom.

While all of this was taking place, Gabriel Eghedi found himself escorted into the Lăutari jail, through a series of grey and very cold corridors. There was a muted panic behind his stiff face and stilted steps. "We won't leave you here", "We'll figure it out", what the fuck, you guys?!

A pair of heavy doors with automatic locks opened and he was presented with a large common area, and several dozen heads turning to look at him. Gabi's throat was so tight he couldn't breathe, when he suddenly felt a heavy arm slam against the back of his neck and shoulders.

"Eyyy! What the hell did you get yourself into?" A jovial voice said, the owner of the arm pulling him into a hug from the side.

Gabi turned to look at him and his eyes opened wide in astonishment. "Mitică?!"

"Long time, no see!" He grinned.

"You know him, Dumitru?" One of the guards raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's my baby third-cousin-once-removed!" Mitică said, slapping Gabi's chest like it was a bag, earning a small 'ow'.

"Ohhh-kay."

"You can talk while you walk. Move it!" Another guard said.

"W-What are you doing here?" Gabi asked Mitică. "I thought you're in Oradea."

"I got transferred!" He said, mighty proud. "Jesus, man, last time I saw ya you were a little goober, now you're taller than me! How have you been?"

"Well... not too great, as you can see."

Gabriel was to share cell 5-2 (meaning the fifth cell on the second floor) with an older man named Ovidiu, who was in there for embezzling 100000 lei from his former job at a motors company.

"Be nice, you hear?" Mitică told him. "That's my third-cousin-once-removed!"

"What does that even mean?" Ovidiu groaned and turned his back to them.

"It's not that hard!" Mitică continued rambling at the door while the guards tried to tell Gabriel the rules of the place. "Our great grandfathers were twins, yes? My side of the family had a bunch of kids, Gabi's was all only kids marrying other only kids. That resulted in me having a random third cousin but no 2nd or 1st cousins-"

"Why are you still talking?!" Ovidiu snapped.

"Both of you shut up!" The guard said. "Eghedi, these two will tell you the rest since they like yapping. Lunch is at 12:00 sharp."

"Thank you..." Gabi warily said.

Also while all this was taking place, Adrian woke up with a sore throat. He drank some water and the soreness was still there.

In the bathroom he reached for the toilet paper but accidentally knocked it over and he watched it helplessly roll towards the other side of the wall.

He grabbed his toothbrush and it slipped from between his fingers, clattering with an awful sound in the bowl of the sink. He tried to stop it, but it only resulted in the toothbrush flying towards the bathtub with an even louder clanking.

He opened his cupboard to find the cereal was almost done, and his fridge to see there was only one mug-worth of milk left. The fridge door was quite heavy and had a tendency to slam itself closed. He tried to stop it from happening as he took the milk carton to the table, but in taking his attention away from the carton he misjudged the distance and it fell off the edge of the table. The milk started spilling out before he fully turned around.

"...Is this karma for last night?" Adrian said out loud.

After he cleaned the floor with some tissues, he searched his closet for clothes to wear at work. He fruitlessly looked for a missing sock before thinking "fuck it" and just grabbing a different pair entirely. He really didn't want to arrive late for work. Mr Robert never minded it, he was very chill, but the other mechanics wouldn't stop nagging him about it all day if he was even 5 minutes late. Something something kids these days take nothing seriously, what if we did the same, you want this job or not, why does the car smell like cleaning alcohol, blah blah blah. Assholes.

His phone started ringing and he answered swiftly when he saw it was Andrei.

"Good morning!" He said as he tugged his boots on.

"Good morning, dude!" Andrei said. He sounded nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"A, uh... a detective asked to talk with me."

"About what?" Adrian asked, heart freezing for a moment.

"It's been discovered that there was another break-in, but last year, and some jewellery was stolen. It, uhm, it happened around the time you ran away…"

"Wha-... ...They think I did it?!"

"I-It's a possibility, he said! I-I told him you wouldn't have done that!"

"What did you tell them about me?"

"N-Nothing! I mean, I only know what you told me."

"Oh my Gooood, dude!" Adrian rubbed his hand over his forehead and up into his hair.

"It's going to be okay! S-Sorry!"

"It's fine, just... God, man, God! Can this morning get any worse?"

"Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, it's just that everything is going wrong this morning. I don't know, it's like I got afflicted with bad luck."

"Oh, sorry about that... I gotta go to class now." Andrei said as he peeked out the bathroom door.

"Me too, to work. Talk to you later, dude!"

"Stay out of trouble!"

"I will!" Adrian said as he picked up Aurora's phone, charged to 80%. He wanted to give it back to her when he had a moment to sneak into the woods, then not speak to her until the others came back from Lăutari. He was quite done.

Adrian wondered, his whole body prickly with dread, if the detective heard about the house going in flames in Hidiș too. It wasn't fair! Aurora said she would just scare that guy! 'She tricked me!' sounded like such a pathetic excuse, though.

He shook his head and tried to close the door to his apartment, but fumbled to turn the key. "Man, come on...!" He wiped his fingers on his jacket and tried again. The lock turned with a deafening tronk that echoed in the quiet building. There was no reaction from Mr Vasile, so he must have already left.

Adrian tried to tuck his keys in the same pocket as his phone, when Aurora's phone started ringing. Gabi's Korn ringtone startled him and he struggled to pull the thing out of his other pocket, the stupid fucking zipper refusing to open. When it finally yielded and he could pull it out, he saw the "Scam Likely" tag for one second before the phone slipped out of his hand like the toothbrush did.

The phone fell in slow motion to the ground as Adrian physically felt his face twist into an expression of shock, then in less than a second it ricocheted straight for the stairwell. "She's all that you desire, Liaaar" echoed as it fell to the ground floor and landed with a sickening crack of the screen.

"Fuuuck!" Adrian mouthed and was about to make a run down the stairs, when he heard the building's door open. Through the guitar solo he could hear Garofița's gasp.

"What the-?!"

The call stopped. Gabi silently pressed himself to the wall so she wouldn't see him if she looked up.

"What's the matter?" Vitalis' voice echoed as well.

"It's Gabi's phone!" Garofița babbled, plant water stirring in the bottle she was carrying. "It's Gabi's!! It's his!"

"Are you serious?" She gasped too.

"What's with that ruckus?" Mrs Petruța, the landlady, came out of her apartment too.

Adrian ran back to his door and tried to open it as silently as he could.

"C-Call Mr Marius!" Garofița said. "Or Robert! Or I don't know!"

"I'm doing it, hold on." Vitalis said. "Don't touch it!"

"I'm just looking, damn." Petruța grumbled.

Adrian hid back in his house, feeling his heart was going to explode. He was so fucked, he was so beyond fucked! His mind was going 1000 miles an hour, thinking about all the fingerprints on the phone, hers and his!!!

"Oh, Vitalis is calling." Robert said while eating breakfast.

"Why's that?" Roxi furrowed her eyebrows.

"I dunno." He quickly wiped his mouth.

He answered and put it on speaker, placing it in the middle of the table. The voice that came out was Garofița's instead. "Mr Robert!!"

"Woah! What's wrong, kid?" He said.

"Did somethin' happen?" Marius asked.

"I found Gabi's phone!!"

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"Good job, Garo!" Mihai smiled.

"Where was it? In the forest?" Roxi asked.

"I-I found it on the floor of your building! I came to water your monstera and it's here! Right here!" Garofița said.

"Looks like someone just dropped it here." Vitalis added for clarity.

"Did Aurora bring it back?" Roxi thought out loud.

"Garo!" Robert took a quick sip of water. "Get a plastic bag and put it on like a glove to pick up the phone, then turn it inside out. Take it to Eduard, okay?"

"I-I will!"

"I got plastic bags." Mrs Petruța piped up.

"We'll call y'all and Eddy back a bit later, okay?" Marius said.

"Okay. See ya." Vitalis said.

"Where did this come from, anyway?" Vitalis looked up the stairwell, but all she saw was spiraling metal and concrete.

Garofița collected the phone as instructed, then looked up too. The building was silent except for them. She turned to Mrs Petruța. "Ma'am, did you notice anybody walking in? Like the undead girl?"

"Nah, not really." She replied, scratching her cheek in a way that Garo found annoying.

"Well, who walked out?" Vitalis gestured with her phone in her hand. "Maybe they saw someone."

"Mmh, I remember hearing Vasile." Mrs Petruța responded. "His dingy-ass car always wakes me up. Crina doesn't wake up until later and Mugur is away again. I don't know if Teodora or that boy left for work yet."

"Who?"

"Uhh, Adrian! Yeah, Adrian was his name."

"Ugh." Garo said on reflex.

"Why do you hate that guy?" Vitalis asked.

"I just don't like him!" She said.

Adrian contemplated throwing himself out the balcony as he listened through the door. As he heard the three come up the stairs, he whipped his head left and right, trying to find a last minute salvation, then he sat down and tugged off his shoes. When they knocked on the door, he said the most non-chalant "Just a second!" he could muster.

"Uhm, good morning!" He tried to seem surprised.

"Hey kid, sorry to bother." Vitalis said.

"Not at all! I, uh, I was about to leave." He smiled and pointed at his boots.

"We won't keep you long-"

"Did you notice anybody coming into the building?" Garofița butted in. Vitalis squinted at her a little.

"N-No?" Adrian innocently frowned. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Don't worry about it." Mrs Petruța waved her hand and kept walking towards the next apartment.

"Oh, okay..."

He closed the door and put on his shoes, almost losing balance and falling over, almost cracking his skull against the door, which was probably a good idea at that moment. He should just tell them everything, Aurora's desire to join Amante and what Aurora did the other night, and that he was her get-away driver. Fuck. He screwed everything, he can't come clean in any way that won't screw everything. What if they kick him out? Will they even let him into the encampment? Will he have to leave Ferești?

Could he get the phone back?

He shook his head and went out into the hallway. He tried to glance non-challantly at the group of women talking with old Mrs Doina. Garofița was looking at him.

He was startled and Garo's eyebrows twitched closer, startled back by how jumpy he was being. Adrian made a half-hearted wave and rushed down the stairs. She watched him go.

"And, oh, by the way!" Mitică said, fingers spread out as he had been counting facts. "Are you GFS?"

"What's that?" Gabi asked.

"Gay for the stay."

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, nobody needs to know what takes place here!"

"Uhhhh, nooo, no thanks."

"Weren't you bisexual? Or wait, crap, was that our other cousin?"

"No, I am, it's just, uh, I'd rather not get in a relationship while here."

"Got it!" Mitică gave a thumbs up.

"You're bisexual?" Ovidiu asked.

"Uhm, yeah?" Gabi said, remembering he was there.

"Does that mean I have to call you by some other pronouns?"

"No, no, uh, 'he' is fine."

"Cool."

The three of them walked down for lunch together. Gabi obviously sat down with his cousin and his friends, while Ovidiu sat down at another table with some other old men. The canteen was plain and unremarkable, the exact same walls and floors as everywhere else in the jail, the same tables and chairs for many rows, the same cracks in the paint, stains and dust. They were served plain polenta with some vegetables. Gabi looked around, but he couldn't recognise any of the former cult members that had been caught. Where were they?

Mitică's tendency to talk people's ears off worked pretty well in calming Gabi's nerves. He reassured him that jail (at least this one) was nothing like the American movies, with non-stop gang warfare and creative forms of violence. Honestly, the hardest part of being imprisoned was the boredom. Gabi believed him, the appearance of the place alone seemingly designed for sensory deprivation.

Also, Gabi had yet to see the ghosts that apparently haunted the Lăutari jail. He supposed they wouldn't just hang out with the prisoners.

"Is it true that part of the prison used to be an orphanage?" Gabi whispered, weirdly worried about being too loud while everyone else spoke freely, many voices on top of each-other.

"Yeah, we're in it right now!" Mitică replied.

"Oh, damn..."

"Vivi claims she died in that corner over there!" He casually pointed with his fork.

"Oi, new guy!" A gruff voice called out and Gabi felt his heart drop to his feet.

"Y-Yes?" He turned around.

"What's wrong, Peti?" Mitică asked, mouth still full.

"You're a cryptozoologist, right?" Petre, who was in there for drunk driving, ramming his neighbour's parked car and then proceeding to beat up said neighbour, walked up to their table and loomed over Gabi. All heads were turned towards him again.

"Y-Yeah. I, uh, I'm a student, though..."

"Listen, when I was like 8 years old I went to the countryside and fell asleep under a tree. When I woke up I had these on my leg." He lifted his pant-leg to reveal disturbing scars on his calf, cutting deeply into the meat in the shape of long fingers. They almost looked like burn scars. "I never figured out what happened. What do you think?"

"Well... it depends." Gabi tilted his head to the side, the turn of the gears helping him calm down again. "Where did this happen? Was there woodland nearby or was it just a lone tree?"

Garofița and Vitalis found Mr Eduard at Amante. They caught him with an Avon magazine over his face as he leaned back on a chair. He got up with a start when he heard people entering, then eased up when he saw it was just them.

"How are you, ladies?" He smiled.

"Pretty alright." Vitalis said. "Did Robert call you?"

"He did! You brought the goods?"

Garofița held up the plastic bag with the phone inside.

"Perfect. They said they're speaking to the lawyer right now and will call me back. I'll make us some omelettes until then."

"I'm not hungry." Garofița replied. "I ate with Vitalis earlier."

"Well, I am hungry." He said as he went into the kitchen.

"Bring me a drink too." Vitalis said. "From Roxi's cooler, on the side of the wall."

"Where- oh! I see it!"

"How are you holding up?" She continued asking.

"Eh, I'm holding." He replied along with the sound of a pan pulled from underneath many other plates.

"Can't the Bisclavu clan send one of their own to table at Amante while Roxi and the boys are away?" She raised an eyebrow. "Not like anybody else ever comes in here. Have they become that stingy?"

"Oh, it's more complicated, actually. They're setting up a farm. All hands on deck are needed."

"A farm?" Vitalis and Garo asked almost at the same time.

"Yeah, with cows and work horses, if I understood correctly."

"The fuck do these rich idiots know about cow farms?"

"They have the necessary land and funds to start!" Eduard said as he came back with two glass bottles, one with booze and one with pear juice.

"Thank you!" Garofița said.

"You're welcome, dear!" He went back to the kitchen, where there was the sound of oil heating up.

"So the plan is for you to manage everything by yourself until they get Gabi out? Sounds like they abandoned you, Eddy." Vitalis said. Garofița side-eyed her.

"It happens, sometimes." He responded, unperturbed. An eggshell was cracked.

"You're always calm, Sir." Garofița said.

"There's no point in freaking out." He shrugged. "It won't make the stressful thing go away faster, will it?"

"I guess so."

"It's not that stressful, buuut I do hope it's resolved soon." He laughed softly. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping everyone at the encampment, and I don't hate the Bisclavus as much as other people do," Vitalis stuck out her tongue at him, "but it does get tiring. Just... talking to people. I live by myself in the woods for a reason."

"I thought it's because you're a serial killer." Vitalis said.

Garofița laughed, thinking it was a hyperbolic joke, which it was but only partially. Eduard laughed too.

His phone started ringing and he answered as he sat down in front of the girls to eat. "Salutations!" He said.

"Never say that again." Marius replied. "Are Garofița and Vitalis there yet?"

"They're here." Eduard pouted and ate his omelette.

"I'm here, Sir!" Garo piped up. "I have the phone in a bag like Mr Robert said!"

"Good job. Listen, Mirabela talked with a new lawyer and Robert will come back to Ferești to fetch the phone. You said you've seen Aurora before, right?"

"Y-Yeah, one time!"

"And that other time the fairy girl told you where she might be. When Gabriel's phone was lost."

"Yes, Sir."

"Okay. Do you have anythin' else about Aurora? Have you seen her since? Or thought you might have seen her?"

"No, Sir." She said, then paused for a moment, squeezing her own hands.

"Tell him if you know something." Vitalis encouraged. "Even if it's a small thing."

It wasn't small, that was the reason for the apprehension. "I, uh... I-I wrote a note, before the, uh, the Anyte Fair. I told Aurora to go away and left it in the storm drain. A-And then I took a nap and when I woke up she left me a reply, apologising for scaring me. I-I-ah- Sorry for not telling you..."

"Do you still have that note?"

"I-I do! It's in a box!"

"Alright, bring it along with Gabi's phone. It probably has Aurora's fingerprints on it."

"And her writing that you can compare." Eduard chimed in.

"Exactly."

"I will, Sir!" She said, heart still beating fast. Nobody got mad, thank God.

"Garo, listen up." Mr Marius continued. "Since you're the one that found this evidence and you aren't part of Mirabela's coven, at least not officially-"

"I'm not!" Garofița quickly said.

"She's not!" Vitalis said too.

Eduard raised his hands in surrender while still chewing.

"Let me finish, damn it. Since you're not affiliated with Mirabela, or Gabi by extension, it would help him out if you made a statement."

"O-Okay?"

"So, when Robert comes back to Ferești, he'll take you to Lăutari for a day to deliver everythin'."

"What?!" Garo squeaked.

"It's just a day, promise."

"B-B-But I'm a missing person! I can't talk to police! I'm hiding!! They'll-!!" She said, already panicking. Vitalis put her hand on her arm, brows furrowed in worry.

"We know that! We talked with officers, they'll take your statement anonymously. You'll be safe. Don't worry, kid."

"But-! But...!"

"Think of it as a trip!" Eduard shrugged again. "And you'll do something useful while at it too."

Garo glared at him, then turned back to the phone. "D-Do I have to go today?"

"Of course not! Robert will arrive probably around evenin'. He'll sleep and tomorrow mornin' you'll go."

"Alright..."

"Put the note in another bag, not the same one with the phone. Everything will be fine, kid."

"I will..."

Garofița exited Amante with Vitalis, feeling very much upset.

"It's just a day." Vitalis said, petting her head. "It sucks, I know, but they're genuinely careful about stuff like this."

"I don't want to be involved in stupid criminal shit!" Garo cried out.

Adrian, who was at the end of the street on his way to them, suddenly stopped upon hearing that, perhaps out of the guilt currently eating him alive, and walked the other way.

"Why isn't he at work?" Garofița glared at him.

"Girl, chill out." Vitalis pouted.

"Can't they just take the evidence without me?"

"They're already known for abusing the law. They could be accused of forging the evidence too. Since nobody knows who you are, it would add more legitimacy or something. Nobody gotta know you are friends with Gabi, or that they arranged for you to come." Vitalis rolled her eyes. "What a fucking circus."

"I just want a quiet life..." Garofița muttered.

"Well, now you know to keep a bigger distance from these guys." Vitalis took out a new cigarette.

Garofița scowled at her, but didn't say anything else.

"And then," said another inmate, who was in there for burning down his brother-in-law's store after a poker quarrel, "I put my beer on the nightstand, next to my lamp. It was like this: my phone, the lamp, the beer. But when I looked again, it was by my phone instead!"

"A-Again, it's weird, but it's not necessarily supernatural." Gabriel said. A group of curious men had gathered around him and Mitică in a circle, some seeking answers for their strange encounters, most of them just wanting to listen.

Everybody had a story of something unexplainable happening to them or someone they knew, but few common humans had in-depth knowledge. What most people knew came from movies or the internet, or their town's token supernatural citizen.

"Oi, Gabriel." Another inmate piped up, in there for beating up a friend for allegedly stealing his girl. "Is it true that there's a vampire in Ferești?"

"Yeah, she's my boss." Gabi replied.

"Is she hot?" He asked, earning some calloused laughter from the group.

"I mean, if you're into BPD demons, sure."

"The hell is BPD?" An older man asked, in there for trying to kill his mother-in-law.

"Busting Pussy Down." Someone answered, another drunk driver, who somehow flew right through someone's kitchen wall.

"I met a vampire once." Mitică said with a very philosophical tone, sitting backwards on a chair. "My God, was she feisty. She slapped the shit out of me at least once a day."

"Oh God." Gabi turned to him.

"Don't fret, he was exactly where he wanted to be." Peti said, earning more laughs.

"And don't judge!" Mitică said. "You fell in love with a ghost once, Gabriel!"

"Can we not talk about that?" Gabi flushed. "It was... a dark time."

"Yeah, I heard you almost offed yourself to be with her." He continued. "Listen to your big cousin! Life... is short. You will die eventually. Just wait."

"Okay."

"I think I fell in love with a ghost too at one point." Another inmate said, in there for selling marijuana at a university campus. "Yeah, in my childhood home, I'd go to sleep with the door open and this pale face would emerge from the dark and chat with me, then crawl in bed at my side. She was really nice!"

"Brother, you got turbo-molested." Somebody else replied, in there for being a drug mule.

"What? No! She was sweet!"

Everybody disagreed.

Garofița made her way to the shelter to let them know she would not sleep there that night. If she was going to be away, then she wanted to spend as much time as she could with Buddy and her pets. The weather was gradually warming up anyway.

She tried not to be mad at Vitalis for her comment. Garo was already trying to lay low, she didn't need reminders. And Vitalis went to Amante too, all the time, and was around Gabriel and Roxi and the others too, the hypocrite! Garofița slapped her own forehead to make it shut up. She didn't want to hate Vitalis.

"Hey, kid." Melinda greeted her as she was setting up her bed.

Garo told her and Barbie that she was going Lăutari the next day and they didn't seem too worried either. Melinda paused and looked at her for a moment longer, which gave Garofița an idea.

"Do you want to come too?" She asked.

"What?" Melinda made wide eyes.

"Y-You said your son is in Lăutari. I thought maybe you'd like to visit, or if not, uhm- S-Sorry, nevermind."

"No..." Melinda said, her eyes with heavy bags looking softer than usual. Brighter. Hopeful. "No, d-don't apologise, I... I need to make a phone call first."

"Okay!"

Melinda nodded and hurried to the phone set up against the wall.

"That's so sweet of you, Garo!" Barbie smiled.

Garofița smiled too, feeling proud.

Melinda suddenly returned. "Is it okay with Robert and the others if I come as well?"

"I-I'll ask them, don't worry." Garo said.

She nodded and ran to the phone.

Adrian walked down the street, feeling the evening wind cut through his flimsy coat. It was too early to put away the winter ones. He recognised the voluptuous woman smoking outside of the shelter as Barbie from the encampment.

"Hey there, sweetie!" She waved.

"Hi, uh..." He glanced uneasily at the rows of bright windows. "Is, uhm, is Garofița here? I need to ask her something."

"Oh, sorry, hun. She left a while ago. She's sleeping at her own place tonight. The place she squats in, you understand."

"Oh, okay..." Adrian nodded, realising he had no idea where that was. Somewhere by the forest, if he heard right?

"You can ask her tomorrow! But do it quickly, she's leaving for Lăutari to testify for Gabriel."

"T-Thank you... Good night!"

"Hi! Hiii!" Garofița hugged Buddy and crawled with him under the nest of blankets. His tail was wagging like crazy and he pressed his stinky face against hers. "I'm going to be away for a day, but don't be scared, alright? I'll be right back." She said and kissed his nose.

Walker crawled on all fours (or rather all threes) and laid down on the other side of the nest. Garofița stretched her legs and tip-tapped at his stomach.

"Where's Bezea?" She asked.

A meow came from Walker and she popped out from under his collar.

"Crow!" Garo called out.

It cawed from the roof, above the window.

Spider, spider, spider

It came out of Buddy's doggy sweater and ran over his snout, making him sneeze.

"The whole gang is here!" Garofița smiled and snuggled under the blankets, pulling them up to her chin and ears and around Buddy's face. "Good niiight!"

"Niiight" Walker repeated with the same enthusiasm, even though his eyes were already closed.

Garo giggled again.

She fell asleep almost immediately.

"Aurora..." Adrian tiptoed through the edge of the woods.

Instead of going left of Mrs Delia's store and finding Garofița's house, he went right, sneaking between old buildings until he saw trees. It was dark and cold and every sound made him jump. "Aurora...!" He hissed through his teeth.

"I'm here!" She said behind him.

Adrian yelped, clutching his heart. The damned girl only smiled, a street lamp illuminating her from behind. "Did you bring back my phone?" She asked.

"No, I didn't." Adrian replied with an indignant tone. "I dropped it and somebody else found it!"

Aurora's big eyes somehow got even wider. "What? Who found it?"

"Garofița! A girl who's friends with Gabi and the others! She's going to Lăutari tomorrow to hand it over as evidence!!"

Aurora was quiet for a moment. "... what does she look like?"

"What does it matter?!" He cried out, then groaned. "B-Black hair, black eyes, short as hell. You've seen her around for sure."

"Yes, I did... Hmmm..."

"I wanted to talk to her, get the phone back somehow, but I kept losing her... Do you know where she squats?"

"I do, but she has dogs." Aurora quickly said. "And it's really late, you'll scare her. Not to mention the dogs."

"Yeah, I heard."

"You really don't want to wake up her dogs." She stared at him. "M'kay?"

"Okay, fine..." Adrian said. "I'm going home. I'll see what the fuck I can do tomorrow."

"Good night!"

"Whatever."

"Enough chit-chat, everybody go back to your rooms!" One of the guards barked.

Gabi headed to his cell with a sigh, preparing for his first night in jail. Ovidiu warned him not to make noise, then started snoring. Gabi rolled his eyes and laid down as the wing was engulfed in darkness. There were sounds of people still talking and the guards' heavy footsteps, but otherwise it was pretty peaceful.

As he tried to relax, he looked up at the grey ceiling.

Then he furrowed his brows.

Was there something there?

Gabriel never screamed louder in his life. Its echo was covered by the high-pitched and cruel laughter of a little girl.

"Vivi!!" A guard shouted. "Leave the newbie alone and fly back to the office, God damn it!"

Garofița was up first thing in the morning, waiting by the encampment as Mr Robert chatted with everybody. They were running late, but gossip was just too damn fun. Garo stayed quiet, though. Melinda was there too, more nervous than her.

"You're going as well?" Vitalis asked.

"Yeah, Garo invited me..." Melinda nodded quickly.

"Oh, how nice!" She smiled genuinely. "You'll see little Mihăiță again."

Garo smiled too. She kind of hoped Vitalis would be jealous of her hanging out with another person. She wasn't sure what she hoped. She shook her head, feeling stupid.

"Did you ask Robert?" Melinda said, biting her nail.

"I will." Garo said.

"Wh-? What do you mean 'will'??"

"Oi, what time is it?" Vitalis asked.

"7:10!" Eduard replied.

"Oh, shit! Enough!" Robert spun around and opened a car door. "Ready to go, girl?"

"Mr Robert!" Garofița trotted up to him. "Could, uhm, Miss Melinda come with us too, please? She wants to visit-"

"Yeah, yeah! Sure! Come on!" He motioned to the car. "Before Marius gives me an earful again!"

Garofița cheesed and pulled Melinda after her. She looked back through the window and saw Vitalis grinning.

"Ain't you sneaky!" She said.

Garo snickered and waved everybody goodbye.

"Did Mr Robert leave yet?" Adrian came running into the encampment, panting as he looked around.

"You literally just missed them." Vitalis said as she lit her cigarette.

Adrian threw his head back with an expression of pain and desolation.

Bonus Illustrations: