Monday arrived without bringing anything new.
At Blackwood High, the hallways filled once again with students, conversations, and complaints about teachers. Exams were drawing closer, homework wasn't going to disappear by magic, and the football team continued to take up far too much space near the lockers.
For Vivian and Brittany, that was almost comforting.
After so many weeks in which every rumor seemed to hide something, returning to the usual problems of school was a welcome break neither of them was willing to waste.
"If Mr. Harris says his test is easy one more time, I'm going to start suspecting that he enjoys watching his students suffer," Brittany remarked as she closed her locker.
Vivian laughed.
"He says that because he already knows the answers."
"Then he should take the test himself. We can sit back and watch."
"I'm sure he'd find a way to turn it into a lesson about responsibility."
Brittany grimaced.
"I hate it when you're right."
They walked toward their classroom without hurrying. Along the way, they talked about their classes, a girl who had shown up with an impossible hairstyle, and their plans for the following weekend.
Neither of them mentioned the four hundred dollars.
They didn't talk about the letters or the balloons, either.
Not because they had forgotten about them, but because they were trying to prove that they could get through an entire morning without allowing the Clown to occupy every corner of their minds.
For the moment, they were succeeding.
During the break, Madison and Chloe approached them.
Chloe had a drink in her hand and was telling them about a ridiculous argument she'd had with her father that morning. Madison listened with a faint smile, although she seemed to have something else on her mind.
"Hey, I just had an idea," Madison said when Chloe finished her story.
Brittany looked up.
"That could be dangerous."
"Not as dangerous as your ideas."
"My ideas are excellent."
"Last time, you tried to convince me we could make it to a movie by starting to walk ten minutes before it began."
"And we almost made it."
Vivian laughed before joining the conversation.
"What's your idea, Madison?"
Madison tucked her hair behind her ear.
"I was thinking we could go out next weekend. Find somewhere quiet, relax, and hang out. Without having to worry about classes or anything else."
Chloe immediately nodded.
"We could go somewhere we can sit down, get something to eat, and talk. I'm tired of doing the same thing every weekend."
Brittany glanced at Vivian.
She didn't need to say anything. They had both understood the proposal in exactly the same way.
An ordinary afternoon.
No notebooks spread open on a table, no conversations about dead men, and no wondering whether a letter would appear when they least expected it.
"Sounds like a good idea," Vivian replied.
"Agreed," Brittany added. "But we have to invite Ana and Madeleine. There's no point organizing something like this without them."
Madison smiled.
"Of course. The more, the merrier."
Chloe raised her drink in a mock toast.
"Then it's settled. All we have to do now is find a place."
"And make sure Brittany doesn't make us late," Madison added.
"I'm starting to regret agreeing to this."
All four girls burst out laughing.
For a few minutes, the immediate future seemed simple again.
That same afternoon, Vivian called Ana.
Madeleine was with her when the phone rang, so both of them heard the proposal from the beginning.
"A place to relax?" Ana asked. "With no obligations?"
"Exactly," Vivian replied. "Madison came up with the idea. Chloe wants to come, too."
There was a pause on the other end.
"And we don't have to investigate anything?" Madeleine asked, moving closer to the phone.
Brittany, who was sitting beside Vivian, leaned forward so they could hear her clearly.
"No. No investigating, no chasing rumors, and no turning an outing into an emergency meeting."
"That last part was directed at you," Vivian murmured.
"I have never turned an outing into an emergency meeting!"
"Yet."
Ana burst out laughing.
It was a small sound, but Vivian smiled when she heard it. It had been a long time since she'd heard Ana laugh without some hidden tension lingering behind it.
"Fine," Ana agreed. "I'm in."
"Me too," Madeleine said. "We could use some time out."
They agreed to talk again during the week to decide on a place and a time. Nothing too elaborate. Maybe a park, a café, or somewhere they could spend several hours without feeling obligated to do anything in particular.
When the call ended, Brittany sank back against the sofa.
"Six girls. A free afternoon. Food and ridiculous conversations."
"You say that like it's a historic event," Vivian replied.
"After the last few weeks, it practically is."
Vivian didn't argue.
Because deep down, Brittany was right.
Ryan had heard the conversation.
Not because he had been actively searching for information about their plans, but because he had been paying attention to their movements from a distance for a while. He knew their routines well enough to recognize when the four girls were together and when they preferred to keep apart.
Madison's proposal had reached him clearly.
A quiet place. A free afternoon. All six of them together.
Ryan remained silent.
He had no reason to intervene. There were no threats, no suspicious rumors, and nobody had mentioned anything related to the Clown.
For once, the girls were planning something that had absolutely nothing to do with him.
And that was fine.
More than fine, actually.
Ryan didn't want their lives to shrink into an endless cycle of waiting for the next letter. They had already been through enough for fear to become a habit. If they could reclaim some part of their normal lives, even if only for a few hours, he had no intention of taking that away from them.
However, just as he was preparing to turn his attention elsewhere, he felt a sudden sense of unease.
It was faint.
A difficult-to-place pressure, like the feeling of having forgotten something important before leaving the house.
Ryan frowned.
He looked around the room. Nothing was out of place. His computer was still running, the Nexum documents were exactly where he had left them, and the mark on his chest remained quiet.
He couldn't sense any unusual presence.
Nor could he detect any specific threat.
"What the hell…?"
He waited a few seconds.
Nothing.
The feeling almost completely disappeared, leaving behind only a vague discomfort he couldn't connect to anything.
Ryan considered the possibility that he was tired. He had spent too much time concentrating on different matters, switching between Nexum, his training, and his occasional surveillance of the girls.
Not everything had to be a supernatural sign.
Sometimes, an uncomfortable feeling was just that.
An uncomfortable feeling.
"I'll worry about it if it happens again."
He decided to let it go.
For now, he had no reason to disrupt anyone's plans.
Even so, Ryan had no intention of leaving everything entirely to chance.
He opened a drawer and took out a small red balloon. With a flick of magic, he inflated it, watching as its shiny surface stretched until it regained its proper shape.
He didn't attach a letter.
He didn't write a message, either.
He simply prepared a small spell that would allow him to track the balloon's location and sense whether anything unusual happened nearby.
It wouldn't require constant intervention. He didn't need to listen to every conversation or watch every movement. He only needed a signal if the situation took a turn serious enough to require his attention.
Ryan held the string between his fingers.
"Just to be safe."
The balloon vanished from his hand, discreetly sent to a place where it could accompany the girls during their next outing without attracting too much attention.
If everything went well, they wouldn't even know it was there.
If something went wrong, Ryan would be able to act.
He had no intention of showing up over an argument, a minor accident, or any problem the girls could handle themselves.
But if a real threat approached, he wouldn't stand by and watch.
At least, that was the idea.
Ryan leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to the computer again. He still had work to do on Nexum, and he wasn't going to waste the afternoon worrying about a feeling he couldn't even explain.
The girls would have their outing.
He would have his work.
And the world would keep turning.
For now, there was nothing else to do.
Still, as he returned to his tasks, that sense of unease lingered somewhere in the back of his mind.
Small.
Silent.
Nameless.
Ryan decided to ignore it.
The time to act hadn't come yet.
And if it were up to him, it wouldn't come anytime soon.