In the record office, Seven's team of thirteen got to work. Luckily for them, the documents were stored in an orderly manner, and all they had to do was figure out what to search for.
"So what next?" The dark-toned guy Seven learned was named Dice.
"I-It's a student. A dead student so in my opinion, we should look for the death records of this school and gather them together..." Zed stated sternly, already moving forward.
"Gather them together?"
"Do you know what to look for? Seven is the only one who's seen the face, so...need anything, Elias?" Zed asked, seeing Elias smiling away at a corner of the room.
Shaking his head and disappearing into the corner of shelves, everyone else scattered in groups to search for the school's death records. The room was relatively large so it was going to take them more than a while.
Seven adjusted his cap and pinched his nose which itched a little in reaction to the dust in the air.
He looked through the old files and suddenly realized how hard this mission actually was. Even for a group of spiritually gifted students, it was a lot because they still had little or nothing to work with.
As a matter of fact, he was the only lead.
Unknown to them, a very unreliable one at that. Visions were messy and blurry, so there's no telling if he could recall 100% of what he saw.
But rest assured, he was going to try his best.
Pulling a book on the shelf that had a black cover with a golden rim, he opened it, realizing that it was the school's yearbook.
Year 2012!
Pulling another, it was the same. Different yearbooks that contain the basic information of students over the years...
"This section contains just yearbooks, which means there are different sections in this room. So the main issue is finding the death section and that shouldn't be too hard?" Seven said half-heartedly.
"A whole section filled with files of dead students?" He heard a voice from behind the shelf. It was undeniably Cordis'. Her amber eyes peeked through the stacked files and he just pursed his lips and nodded in response.
It was outrageous but they still had to keep searching. Somewhere in here, there was a document that had what they were looking for, and hopefully, they'd get it before sunrise.
"Seven..."
He heard her call out and he lifted his head to respond.
"If your vision was actually what happened, doesn't that mean Jace and the other guys are murderers?"
Seven lowered his head and shrugged, "I don't know...clearly, they locked him inside but it's hard to tell if the electrocution was planned or an accident..." He said, moving forward and Cordis followed.
"Either way, their actions led to his death," she argued.
"If anything had been done differently, would he have lived? It doesn't matter—these questions, they'll only complicate things cause in reality, we're trying to keep the 'murderers' alive, no?"
"..."
Silence settled between them as Cordis didn't say anything more.
"What matters then?" Another voice interrupted from beyond the shelf Seven backed. He didn't bother to look in the direction and equally made sure to take his time to answer:
"He's terrorizing the school...we shouldn't be forced to dance along and hear its melody. We did nothing...it only gets worse from now so he has to go," Seven said, his body shaking slightly as he recalled his own episodes.
He didn't know much about forgiveness but he wanted nothing less than to return the favor.
Leaving the corner completely, he decided it was enough questions for one day.
Happy they didn't push on, he went to a different shelf. And just before he could place his hand on another file, someone called out:
"Hey guys, come look at this!"
Following the voice, everyone gathered and stared at the mountain of files, they all had the same thought running through their mind:
'How many students could have possibly died in school to gather such a pile?!'
The corner was poorly lit and stuffy, so they had to gather the files in a more open space.
Placing it all before Seven, he exhaled sharply and dug in without wasting a second time.
With nothing to do, the ready of the team just waited around till he had something.
They gave him his space.
Elias went to sit beside him, however, offering some help, but he declined politely, saying he worked faster alone.
Still sitting very close to him, their shoulders brushed at intervals, it was tolerable. The smile was gone and though he could tell he was stealing glances at him, it wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.
Busy here...
---
Excusing themselves from Seven's position, they gathered around, some sitting, others lying down.
"So what's the next step?" A random person asked almost in a whisper so they wouldn't disturb Seven even though he was out of sight.
"We know the name of Dancing Phantom and exorcise it, I guess," Zed said, subsequently putting on her headphones and sliding backward so she could rest her head on the wall.
Silence followed and after a while, a huge gasp could be heard piercing through the stillness of the night...
"So we are all going to pretend like we didn't just see the amount of students that died over the years?" The blonde girl, Priscilla said, her shoulder slumping.
"Not necessarily dead, some probably disappeared without a trace," Lexis corrected, still earning herself a collective stare from the group.
Her tongue was sharp but her tiny mouth made it harder to get upset with her occasional bluntness.
"We won't be sleeping a wink tonight, too, huh? God please, end all this. Why wouldn't that dancing Jace just come clean and prevent thousands of other students from suffering with him?" Priscilla whined, clearly annoyed.
"You didn't think he would have admitted to murder, did you? After that week we caught him in the library, bro disappeared from school, probably traveled back home to get himself checked..."
"And here we are, cleaning up his mess. It makes you wonder why the dancing phantom isn't going after the other guys because, according to Seven, Jace wasn't alone?"
"There are still a lot of things we don't know concerning the incidents surrounding his death. And honestly speaking, I feel like we know enough to send him away into the afterlife."
Eliss joined them but he just remained in a dark corner to avoid being seen.
"Let's just get this over with and continue the training. It's getting harder to meditate..." Elias inputted from nowhere.
He was done spending time with Seven. He won't suspect a thing...now to the rest of the group...
Creak!
Everyone snapped their head towards the sound only to see a shelf slanting to the side, about to fall.
"Jesus Christ!"
Rushing towards it to stop the potential chain reaction it could cause, they all joined hands and put it back in place.
Yawning, they rearranged the files quietly. Too tired for anything.
With the distraction set in place as everyone was so carried away with either fixing the shelf or praying Seven finishes on time, Elias in the pretense to help, diverted to a corner.
Holding up a particular file and grinning as he went through it.
Dancing Phantom's file.
He had found it a few minutes after they arrived. Compared to these teens even with their spiritual aid, he was far more efficient.
After years of being dead and roaming the world as a child ghost,—Henry, currently using his brother as a human suit, knew way more than his brother's amateur friends.
Closing the file, he rolled his tongue against his cheek, and as he gathered a few more papers around, he lit them up with a lighter, and dropped it on the floor, chuckling proudly.
---
Still tossing files around in the record room...
Taking deep breaths as sweat beads fell from his face into the paper, Seven persevered, going through each file in search of the face he saw in the library the previous night.
With a strange premonition crawling up his neck, suffocating him, his eyes relentlessly swept through the pages.
He couldn't find him!
He knew he wouldn't but still...
He couldn't stop; he pushed on.
What else could he do? It was their only lead!
He was scared they would meet another standstill:
"This can't be our reality!" He muttered, trying to escape it at all costs. He could feel something in him growing each minute.
'Goddamit!'
Hearing silent but persistent footsteps approach him, his hands paused and he tightened his eyes, a burning smell reaching his nose.
The footsteps evolved to sprints, and soon, their labored breathing could be sensed, too.
"Some files are burning, we can't let it spread!" He heard a voice scream softly, still ensuring they wouldn't make much noise.
"Oh no, the fire alarm! Put it out before it rings."
"I think I saw the fire extinguisher somewhere!"
The voices didn't bode well for them and his hands trembled as they folded into a fist. His jaw tightened, and an anger so overwhelming enveloped him that he barely stopped himself from shredding the files before him.
It was no coincidence...
Their only lead, in this case, has long turned to ashes.
Blare!
An ear-splitting shrill of the fire alarm resounded in the building. Hitting his fist on the table, he lowered his head.