Fenton had arrived back at the northern parking lot. Not much had changed since he left which confused him.

Where are all the monsters? Something strange is going on.

He put on his backpack, stuck the fake fangs in his mouth, and smoothed out his Victorian cape. He held a snowglobe of Lake Sarai in his hand and he entered the sub-building.

Being this close to the fire was dangerous, but Fenton noticed something strange. It didn’t go past the sub-building, the main building, or into the second building either.

He wondered if someone was stopping the fire from spreading. Fenton decided there could be no other reason for this all happening, and he had to know. His horrible desire to know everything overpowered his fear, and he trudged on through the smoke and flames. After his thinking went around in circles, he decided that it had to do with Ace's disappearance.

It didn’t mean anything, but Fenton was completely desperate.

After all the strange things that happened the last night, he hoped that his friend would return. He reasoned that the dead came back from the grave, so his dead friend should have returned as well.

As he walked towards the cafeteria he felt a familiar aura. However the closer he got to the cafeteria the hotter it got. It was sweltering, and Fenton took off his shirt and covered his mouth with it to get through.

He ran towards the cafeteria and tried to push open the doors, but it was no use. They were hot to the touch and he burnt his hands. He focused on the door handles and they sprung wide open. The chairs blocking the entrance skid to the side and he ran in, coughing and wheezing. Half of the cafeteria was on fire, but the other half was not.

As if separated by some imaginary line it would not go any further. Tyreceus sat in front of the flames, untouched, breathing perfectly fine in the ash and smoke.

He lost his focus when Fenton came in and panicked.

He ran over to him and grabbed him. They ran out into the southern parking lot, now with a few stragglers that weren't there when the last rescue team arrived. Without Tyreceus inside the building, the fire quickly spread again, and he tried to speak as fast as possible so he could go back inside.

“What are you doing,” Tyreceus screamed.

“I wanted to find Ace,” Fenton shouted.

Tyreceus became irrationally angry and screamed even louder. “Why does everyone mock me,” he cried. “He’s dead! Stop doing this!”

“No, no one is-”

“I cannot lose another one...Don’t do that again.”

“Yes, Uncle Ty. I’m sorry.”

“ It’s okay. Don’t act stupid. We can’t afford that right now.”

Fenton felt embarrassed as he looked at Tyreceus, getting scolded like he was still small. Suddenly he realized something was off.

“Why are you shorter,” Fenton asked.

“I’m not shorter, what's wrong with you,” Tyreceus said.

They both inspected each other and Fenton realized he had grown yet again. The pain from trying to survive blended with his overnight growth spurt and Tyreceus was so tired he didn’t notice at first either.

“How much have you been using your abilities,” Tyreceus asked.

“It hurts when I blink,” Fenton replied. “I think that says enough.”

“ Just stay here and relax,” Tyreceys groaned. “I’m going back in. I can’t use the full extent of my powers, but I can at least stop the fire from spreading.”

“You need to sleep,” Fenton yelled. “You’re going to die if you stay there forever!”

“Don’t argue with me,” Tyreceus snapped. His hair burst into long flames that draped over his shoulders like a cape. Fenton stepped back and his eyes went as wide as the moon.

I’ve never seen him use this ability, Fenton thought. Why is he doing it now?

Suddenly Tyreceus froze. He tried to relax, and his hair returned, curly and brown, in a slack ponytail. He was staring off at something in the distance and he was shaking. Fenton turned to look and he made a strange noise in his throat.

It was Ace and Gabriel.

Ace ran as fast as his tired body could take him and he ran straight into the arms of his father. Tyreceus was afraid that he was seeing things, that this was his mind playing tricks on him.

Ace unashamedly cried as he hugged his father. For Tyreceus it had been 41 days, yet for Ace, it had been almost three years. He had lost his new family and thought he would never have his old one back.

Reluctantly Tyreceus embraced his son and tried not to panic. “You died,” Tyreceus whispered. “You’re dead and you’re one of them.”

“No, I’m not,” Ace cried. “How could you say that?”

He cried even harder, and Tyreceus was overwhelmed. He noticed that his son was now taller than him and that his voice sounded different. Ace let out a few small noises when he cried and Tyreceus relaxed knowing that he had never changed. He was still a small baby to him, making funny noises and grunting, and it was his job to be there for him.

Fenton was afraid that this was another trick as well. His eyes flashed momentarily and he saw that Ace was indeed living. “He’s alive,” Fenton whispered. “He isn’t one of them.”

Ace finally let go of his father and nodded vehemently, trying to get him to understand.

“I found him last night,” Gabriel said. “We fought one of those things, but it was smarter than the others.”

“Yes,” Ace said. “They keep trying to get me. I don’t know why.”

“They’ve been talking to me too,” Fenton shouted. “I thought they were mocking me since I thought you were dead! Why do they want you?!”

“They don’t want me,” Ace explained. “Candice does.”

They all looked at him, and slowly it all came into their minds that this was all planned, that it wasn’t some strange occurrence, that they had been deceived.

“How come I never thought of that,” Tyreceus said. “This is her ability, but this is… astronomical. There’s no way she can keep this up.”

“She can’t,” Gabriel replied. “A few hours ago we saw some of them just collapse. She’s getting tired. Now’s our chance to get out of here, or at least finally sleep.”

Tyreceus gripped Ace’s arm, afraid to lose him again.

“Let’s leave,” he pleaded. “Let’s go home.”

“I thought about that at the beginning, but I think we can’t leave until we kill her," Ace said. "She's just going to follow me!"

“She can’t die,” Fenton shouted. “I saw her get up! She’s immortal!”

“No, she’s not,” Ace argued. “Everyone has a weakness. Even monsters.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Tyreceus said. “You’re not chasing after that girl anymore. We’re leaving.”

“Dad I-”

“Ace I am not going to see you die twice,” Tyreceus begged.

Ace shut his mouth, seeing the distress on his always calm father’s face. Tyreceus examined his son, amazed at how different yet similar he looked.

“You look like mother,” he mumbled.

“I look like my mom?"

“The older you get, the more you do.”

Ace started to remember Infiniti's words. About how his family was all born liars. He was paranoid that his father was lying to him as well. Then he remembered.

The watch.

“Dad where did you get this,” Ace asked. He flashed the watch on his wrist and Tyreceus shook with rage.

“Why did you touch this,” he screamed. “What have you done to us!? You’ve doomed us all!”

“I, I didn’t mean to-”

“Shut up and give it to me,” Tyreceus screamed.

Gabriel and Fenton looked uncomfortable as Ace’s father quickly went through extreme emotions like someone going through psychosis. Ace quickly took the watch off and held it out.

“Can I pick you up,” Tyreceus asked Infiniti.

Of course, you can, Infiniti purred. You’ve always been my favorite, Invi-

“Tyreceus,” he interrupted. “That’s my name. Don’t get confused.”

He picked up the watch and put it on, groaning as he could now hear Infiniti’s cackling rattling inside his head. Ace was now completely paranoid and distrustful of his father.

“Was he about to call you Invictus?"

Tyreceus smiled and ignored Ace's question.

The fire in the background continued to spread as their reunion went on, and they had long forgotten about it as they had become accustomed to the burnt landscape and corpses. The campus was starting to smell worse, not just from the burning buildings and trees, but from the sweltering corpses festering and decaying under the afternoon sun.

Ace was overwhelmed by the smells around him, the heat of the flames, and now his father was lying to him or simply ignoring his questions, after two and a half whole years of separation.

“Why did you have that watch,” Ace asked. “What are you hiding?”

The flames burned brighter behind Tyreceus and they consumed the entire cafeteria. They were now making their way to the science building. Tyreceus smiled weakly and Fenton knew that it was time to go.

“Let’s give them some privacy,” Fenton mumbled. He and Gabriel walked off and Ace glared at his father, still wanting answers.

“Don’t ignore me,” Ace said. “I would rather you lie to me than say nothing.”

“You’re right,” Tyreceus admitted. “That was wrong of me. I’ve done a lot of bad things Acheus. A lot.” Ace suddenly didn’t want to hear the answer and started to wonder if it was something he should never know.

“I knew your biological mother,” Tyreceus admitted. “She gave me this sword. I promised her I would take care of you. I promised.”

Tyreceus started to cry, but not in sadness but in relief.

“I was scared I had failed her and you.”

“Don’t cry, Dad."

He rubbed his father’s arm and suddenly Tyreceus stopped, afraid to be seen crying in a parking lot of strangers. However, it was not an odd sight at this point to see a grown man crying, as everyone was traumatized and fatigued. The scene went right over their heads, as they were more preoccupied with the fire that began to move again.

“Why did you lie to me about her?"

“She was not a good person. Your family, they are not good people.”

“Are they still alive?”

Tyreceus simply nodded and Ace started to breathe hard, angry that all along he had been denied the truth.

“Why-”

“I never told you, because they would kill you and me as they have done to many others like us,” Tyreceus said. Ace glared, and the look in his father’s eyes was strange.

Like a rabid animal.

“You can’t-”

“Don’t tell me what I can do, Acheus,” his father said coolly. “I have done a lot to keep you alive, and not in the normal sense most parents do for their children. I’ve killed people.”

Ace didn’t want to hear more. This was a lot different than he expected the answer to be.

“Stop,” he whispered. “Don’t tell me more.”

Tyreceus gripped his arm tighter and glared at him, right into his eyes, now wanting to tell Ace everything.

“You will know, Acheus,” Tyreceus said. “You will protect this sword and watch after I die until you die, and your sons will as well. Do you understand me?”

Ace nodded rapidly now feeling small again as if he were being commanded to do his chores instead of protecting sacred magical artifacts.

A loud explosion went off, as the fire reached one of the chemistry labs in the science building. Tyreceus jerked in surprise and remembered that he was the only thing stopping the entire campus from being burnt down to the ground.

People in the parking lot ran off to find a new oasis from the heat, but soon there wouldn’t be anywhere else to hide.

“Ace I will tell you after this,” Tyreceus said. “You need to wait until I take care of this.”

He’s just avoiding telling me the truth, Ace thought. What else is he lying to me about?

“Don’t bother,” Ace replied. “Let’s just pretend this never happened.”

Another explosion went off, and people screamed. The ground began to shake and everyone ran, afraid that now the ground was about to explode as well. Out of the ground shot a giant monstrosity made of bones, whirring and spinning in a cylindrical fashion.

It shot up in the air and burrowed down into the ground, creating holes all over the parking lot.

“Run,” Tyreceus screamed.

They all ran, but another horror came out of the ground. The bones formed a giant worm, the outsides made jagged and sharp, and a singular hole at the end, an artificial mouth. The inside of its mouth was sharp and jagged as well, with the blood of its past meal pouring out.

It had two passengers, and they grinned as they saw Ace.

It was Putrid and Fury.