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“You guys ready?” Beta zipped up his bag and turned around, checking on the others. Hershey, who changed into a grey button-up shirt and black jeans, gave a quick thumbs-up before checking to see if he missed anything. He also wore a beanie just in case the headache became too much and his horns revealed themselves. It seemed like most people already thought that they wore contacts, so in a late-night chit chat they decided actual contacts wouldn’t be necessary.

Beta and Hershey turned as the bathroom door opened. Matrix walked out in a tight green shirt, blue jeans, and black sunglasses. He took off his glasses dramatically. Matrix, growing up, never had this opportunity. He never got to pick what he wore, how he looked, it was always just forced onto him. Even after leaving the house, his budget was low and most people didn’t want to see him in what he wanted to wear. Somehow being dead had been good for him. But the not-so effortless sex appeal washed away when Matrix saw what Beta was wearing: A grey oversized shirt and sweatpants. “Dude seriously.”

Beta looked down at himself and shrugged. “What?”

“It’s like 90 degrees outside,” Hershey added.

“Well I guess it’s good I’m wearing sweatpants.” He smiled, something he had begun doing a lot more.

There was a quick silence before Matrix just rolled his eyes. He put his sunglasses back. “Okay, let’s go.”

They checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi to take them to the train station.

Beta and the others had figured out what tickets they needed beforehand, and not having a laptop or a phone to buy it online meant they had to wake up early and buy it up front.

When they were waiting in the rather short line for a ticket, Beta started to feel a tingle in the back of his head. He scratched at it, but it didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Then, the ringing came, at first dull but then slowly louder to the point where he covered his ears even though he knew it was all in his head…it had to be.

“Ow,” Beta uttered aloud and Hershey turned around to look at him, getting a slight buzz himself before it faded away. “Beta? Are you alright?” Hershey asked, triggering Matrix’s slight concern.

Voices overlapped each other and he couldn’t shake them. He started to panic as everything else was blocked out, including any outside noise.

He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them to find Elias right in front of his vision, everything else melting away like candle wax. It was saying something, but Beta couldn’t make it out.

“I can’t hear you,” Beta said, unsure if he was talking out loud or in his head. He assumed it was out loud when he heard the murmur that was Matrix.

“I said ‘are you okay?!’” he repeated, holding onto his shoulder.

But Beta ignored Matrix and focused on Elias. “Charlotte, North Carolina. I need you to do something for me,” the voice rang out, now louder than he would have liked. Beta gave it a solid nod before his mom’s face faded away.

Everything stopped and the outside world flushed back in. The newly developed crowd stared at the young boy, but no one moved to help him. Seeing as he was now on the ground, Beta got up by himself and pushed the two other guys out of the “line” and to the side.

“What happened back there?” Hershey questioned once they were away from the crowd. “Are you okay?”

“Define okay,” Beta responded.

Matrix just asked, “Beta, what happened?”

“It was Elias. It said it needs us to deal with something in North Carolina.”

Hershey grunted, and Matrix could already tell he had a lot to say. “So first it brings us to go see a specialist in Illinois, and now the voice in your head needs help in North Carolina?” Irritation leaked from Hershey’s voice.

Beta simply nodded, as if his statement should have been clear.

Matrix, simplifying what Hershey was trying to say, gave a definitive statement. “We’re not going.” He turned around to get back in line, but Beta cut him off.

“What do you mean we’re not going?”

“We’re. Not. Going. Do I need to draw a picture for you?”

“It’s like two states closer than Illinois, plus Elias might be grateful and help me with my destiny,” Beta pointed out.

Matrix let out a fake gasp. “Oh my Gosh. No, you’re right. Let’s do it the dumbest way possible because it’s easier for you.” Matrix rolled his eyes. “Syncs, remember? Those things could be anywhere.”

“But Elias needs help.”

“Elias isn’t real!” Hershey hissed, his arms flailing in annoyance. “Let’s just get on the train so we can go see this specialist.”

“So you’re going to listen to it about Willow but not about Charlotte?”

“Exactly!” Matrix hissed, wanting to say, because there’s a greater chance Elias is in Illinois with this specialist rather than Charlotte, meaning there’s a greater chance for me to kill him. “Now let’s—!” He tried to get between Beta and Hershey but there was no use.

Beta stepped forward into Hershey’s face. “Ballocks,” he uttered, as if it were simply a fact. Hershey looked offended, and he was offended. “I’m the one who wanted to come down here in the first place. I think I should be making decisions here, not you. It’s my head, my voice, and my destiny. So I am telling you that we are helping Elias,” the Perna hashed out, trying to look bigger than Hershey when in fact he wasn’t.

Hershey raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “What are you, like 11?” Matrix’s eyes widened, considering he knew Hershey was younger yet he still had the confidence to say such a thing.

Beta scoffed at him. “I’m 19. You’re like 17.”

“Well Matrix died when he was 21 and he’s been up there for four years, so he’s technically 25. I died when I was 17 and I’ve been up there for, oh well let me see,” Hershey pretended to count. “Ten years and a half, so I’m technically 27…and a half. How long have you been up there, a few days maybe? Please do not come up and tell me you’re in charge. Come back in eight years when your IQ is higher than a turtle’s.” Beta’s jaw dropped.

Matrix, realizing it was getting too heated, intervened. “Look Beta, do you think it’s possible that this Elias thing will be there?”

Beta nodded, still staring Hershey down. “Honestly, yes I do.”

Matrix sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine, we’ll go,” he said, giving in.

“What?!” Hershey cried, bewildered by his friend’s actions. “Are you guys even listening to yourselves? We don’t what this thing is, for all we know it could be a Sync—!”

“Hershey,” Matrix touched his arm, trying to calm him down. He, despite it, did not appreciate that at all. “Do not touch me.”

They were silent for a while, all staring each other down. Beta was the first to blink, and he broke eye contact with Hershey and looked away Hershey sighed, giving in. “Fine, whatever. Let’s go.”

Realizing they wouldn’t move without Hershey’s approval, Hershey was the first to take a step, the other following him.

They got off the train roughly 20 hours later in Charlotte. Once they stepped off the train, they wandered into the city. It seemed normal. People on every block, the weather hot and sticky, trash in the street. It was near the end of July, so the kids were milking the rest of their summer break.

“I’m not a big fan of this idea,” Hershey reiterated, turning to Beta as he looked around, expecting to find anything. Beta rolled his eyes, afraid he would be like this the whole way. Matrix looked up at the skyscrapers, very much distracted and ignoring them. “We don’t even know what we’re walking into.”

Beta frowned. “Can’t you just be patient? Come on.” They walked into a nearby coffee shop and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary, not that they expected it to jump out at them. Beta walked up to the counter and ordered. The lady looked at him for a second, his eyes giving her the creeps. She ignored the impulse to ask about it and took his order gladly.

“Um, can I ask you a question?” Beta said to the woman working the register. Thankfully, the line behind them wasn’t very long.

“Sure. What do you need to know?”

“Anything strange happen lately? Somewhere in this city?”

The woman chuckled. “A lot of strange things happen everywhere. But here, not much. Well, that depends on how you define strange.” She continued confirming their order when Matrix pushed past Beta and spoke up. “Weird as in people getting eaten, people disappearing and ending up dead in a few days. That kind of weird,” Matrix explained.

The woman shook her head. “Nothing I can think of, sorry.” The Stak nodded.

“Um, forget the coffee,” Beta said as he walked out the door and the others followed. The moment Beta was outside, a burning sensation came from his tattoo and he started to feel light headed because of it. Matrix and Hershey’s started to burn as well, scratching at their sore spots.

“I guess he’s trying to send a message,” Matrix concluded.

Beta looked around. Everyone looked so normal to him. Shame on him for thinking it’d be easy. “I’m just not seeing the crazy insane problem here,” Beta admitted.

“Well maybe because the problem to humans doesn’t seem so crazy or insane,” Matrix countered. “Come on.”

They continued down the street, asking around, and were able to afford a ride to the police department.

The station was small, local. It was beside a post office and a dairy queen and the parking lot was full of cop cars and a few station wagons. Once they were there, they went inside and Matrix silently thanked God for air conditioning. They went up to the front counter where a bald man typed away at a computer, refusing to look up as they walked in. A few people were sitting on benches in the lobby, but they paid no attention to them. “Hey,” Matrix said, trying to be smooth.

The man looked up for a brief second, anxiousness showing. He then went back to typing. Beta looked at Hershey and Hershey cleared his throat, starting to speak.

“Um…we’re here to check out any weird cases you’ve had. You know, we were just wondering if—”

Before Hershey could finish, the man looked up and cut him off. He had a slight southern drawl as he spoke. “Unless you three have FBI or local police badges, I need you to let me get back to work. Good day, gentlemen.” He went straight back to the computer and Matrix ground his teeth, which was never a good sign.

“Okay…” Matrix said delicately. “How about you give us some information or I go find it myself.”

Hershey hit him in the chest. “Dude.”

“What?” Matrix said in response.

“Is that a threat, sir?” the man asked, putting a hand on his handcuffs.

Matrix smiled. “Do you want it to be?”

“Okay, we’re leaving now. Goodbye.” Beta pushed Matrix out of the door and Hershey followed.

“What’d I do?” Matrix asked.

“Everything! Just stop making things worse and let us figure this out before you end up in a jail cell.”

“Yes, let us figure out the mysteries of this thing that doesn’t exist,” Hershey went on.

Beta stared at Hershey, a hint of anger building up inside of him. Matrix watched the two stare and narrowed his eyes. “Um, if I could interject real quick?” They turned to him. “Hershey can literally just hack into their computers and get the information. Just sayin.’”

Beta looked at Hershey sideways, anger lessening. Hershey, slowly, began to smirk. “You forget who I am boys, you simply forget.”