August 2010 – Nathalie B. is a 16-year-old girl with short, light blond hair streaked with golden locks. Nathalie is built more sturdily and taller than most girls of her age, but she doesn't care. She's happy and fond of laughing, but unfortunately, she's also a sickly girl. That's why she's at her gynecologist's office for a check-up today.

In the ashen consultation room, she has settled into a soft, leather treatment chair. While Nathalie's lying on her back in the chair with her legs in the stirrups, her gynecologist, a blond woman of 32 with blue-ish green eyes, examines Nathalie's private parts.

'So Nathalie, how are you?' the gynecologist asks to put her at ease.

'I'm okay. It has just been my birthday. It was an awesome party,' she chuckles as she stares at the office's grey ceiling.

'Really? How old are you now?' During the conversation the gynecologist simply continues her examination.

'Sixteen. It was a really big celebration.'

'Sixteen, huh? I remember my sweet sixteen. You probably got a lot of presents?'

'Yeah, I don't think I ever got this many presents.'

The conversation continues for another couple of minutes until the gynecologist puts down her instruments and goes and sits behind her desk. She allows Nathalie to tidy herself up again and then ends the consultation.

'Well, that looked fine, Nathalie. You can go home now,' she says. 'Make a new appointment when you leave.'

'I will!' Nathalie nods. She exists the consultation room, leaving the gynecologist all by herself. Suddenly, the intercom buzzes. A women's voice sounds from the device:

'Mrs. Delie just called. She's cancelling her appointment for tomorrow.'

'Why?' the gynecologist asks surprised.

'She has the flu. Her GP won't let her go outside.'

'Okay, call Mrs. Peters and ask if she wants to have her appointment an hour earlier.'

'I will, ma'am,' are the last words from the intercom. The gynecologist rummages her desk a bit and muses, Sixteen, these girls sure grow up fast. All of a sudden, though, she hears a man's chilly voice say:

'Kill the witch!'

The voice is hoarse, sharp, and frightening, and has appeared out of nowhere. The gynecologist is scared out of her wits and instinctively reaches for her throat. What was that? she thinks.

The voice has stopped. Without further dawdling, the gynecologist takes her notebook, but the voice makes itself heard again. This time it's louder and the blond woman can understand it better, but it's also even scarier:

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!'

'Is anyone there?'

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the voice speeds up and repeats itself.

'Whoever you are, this isn't funny!' the gynecologist screams, but the voice has stopped again. The woman breathes a sigh of relief and calms down. She stands up confidently and walks to the treatment chair. When she turns around, a man is suddenly standing in front of her.

'Who are you?' she asks startled. The man doesn't reply, but steps closer and stretches his hands out to her.

'Aaaaaaaa...', an icy scream sounds from the consultation room, but no one heard it or saw a thing.


Shortly afterwards, policemen have gathered in the consultation room of the gynecologist, who was found dead there. Detective Rick Martens heads the investigation. Martens is a simple man who quickly made a career for himself through thorough police work, but now at the age of 41, the large man with his signature bristly grey moustache wants to take it easier. Today that's unfortunately not an option.

In a beige overall and with a blue tie over his white shirt, the detective walks into the gynecologist's office. Here he immediately addresses a member of the forensic team:

'Who's the victim?'

'Jessica Klein, a 32-year-old gynecologist,' the forensic scientist responds.

'Okay. Who found her?'

'Her assistant found her at 4:45 pm. She's still in shock,' the forensic expert points to the young assistant for a moment. She's sitting on a chair with a paramedic beside her.

'I want to talk to her later. Now I'll go see the coroner first.'

Martens enters the consultation room and there he sees the lifeless body of Jessica Klein, the blond gynecologist, sprawled on the floor. She's slumped on the floor like a discarded dishrag. Her eyes are wide open and her head is bent sideways at an unnatural angle, a gruesome sight for someone who doesn't have a cast-iron stomach like Martens.

The coroner, a small, stout white-haired man with a pair of glasses, leans over her and examines her neck. As soon as he notices Martens, he straightens up.

'The poor child! She was in the pink of health. She could have easily become 50 years older,' the coroner, who's about ten years Martens' senior, says.

'How did she meet her end?' Martens asks. The coroner tilts Jessica Klein's head to show the reddish purple fracture of her neck.

'Her neck was snapped. She died instantly.'

'Did you recover any fingerprints or other evidence?'

'Interesting that you should ask,' he produces a see-through strip from his research bag, 'We were able to lift a fingerprint off her neck, but…'

'But what?'

'See for yourself,' he hands the detective the strip. Martens takes a quick look at the fingerprint and reacts in astonishment:

'Well, I'll be damned, the grooves of this fingerprint run parallel to one another!'

'Indeed. I've never encountered such a thing in all of my career.'

'Take her body to the morgue and see if there's anything that could explain this fingerprint. I'll just have a chat with the assistant.'

Martens steps outside of the consultation room and approaches the young, trembling, and shocked woman. He squats down to her to get on the same eye level.

'Are you Mrs. Klein's assistant?' he asks her.

She nods anxiously. 'Yes, I'm the one who found her.'

'Tell me a bit more.'

'Her previous appointment, a girl who had just turned sixteen, left her and I said through the intercom that Mrs. Delie had cancelled and she replied that I needed to call Mrs. Peters. Five minutes later I wanted to ask her something, but she didn't answer. So I went to her and found her here: dead!' The young woman immediately bursts into tears again.

'Thanks for your cooperation. If there's anything else you remember, you can always drop by or call the police station, okay?'

With red, teary eyes the young woman nods and Martens rises again. Something about this case is definitely out of place, the detective ponders.


September 1st – The pupils of the Antwerp Saint-Joseph's College return to school. Saint-Joseph's College consists of a kindergarten, elementary school, and high school, and owes its reputation as a prestigious school to its open space. The green, refreshing park, the ancient castle for the seniors, the warm cafeteria adjacent to the large gymnasium, and the main school building on the other side of the school pond each contribute to the good atmosphere of the school that harbors toddlers, children, and teenagers.

Nathalie B., the blond girl that had an appointment with Jessica Klein, starts her junior year here. She's standing by herself at the toilets of the main building's playground, the usual rendezvous spot for the older pupils. A girl with short, brown hair and blushing cheeks walks up to her.

'Hey Nathalie! How are you?' the girl greets her cheerfully.

'Hey Dorien! Oh, I'm okay,' Nathalie says glumly.

Dorien and Nathalie go way back to elementary school and they are the best of friends. Yet Nathalie knew all too well that she would be submitted to tales of a Greek island where Dorien had spent her holidays. She didn't feel up to it for the moment. As a matter of fact, she didn't feel up to anything. Today she just couldn't manage being happy and cheerful.

Dorien immediately notices her bad mood. 'Ow, that doesn't sound too convincing. Did something happen during the holidays?'

'Well…', just when Nathalie's about to pour her heart out, Dorien catches sight of a different girl: a beautiful, long-haired brunette.

'Kim! We're over here!' she waves enthusiastically to the girl. Kim, the long-haired brunette, walks up to them at once when she notices them.

Kim Jansen is the kind of girl that gives boys a wet dream. She's gorgeous, has long, wavy brown hair that reaches until just above her well-shaped behind and she has stunning greenish grey eyes. She isn't just astonishingly beautiful, but she also has a heart of gold.

Oddly enough, she isn't your typical popular girl that everyone wants to be around. Perhaps it was because she hung out with the school geeks, whom she actually called her best friends. Perhaps because her ex-boyfriend did belong to the popular crowd and she was trying her hardest to avoid him. When Kim reaches Nathalie and Dorien, she greets them warmly.

'Hey. How was your holiday?' She brushes her glossy hair across her left shoulder and smiles at her friends.

'Mine was so incredible,' Dorien blabs out. She had been waiting the entire time for a moment to tell her tale. 'Cyprus is amazing in the summer!'

'And you, Nathalie? How was yours?' Kim addresses her.

'Not so well actually,' she responds.

'How come?'

'Well, a couple of days after my birthday, I had an appointment with my gynecologist. Afterwards, I left her and the following day she was dead. Can you believe it?' Nathalie tears up just thinking about it and sobs. Dorien hugs her to comfort her. Kim wants to embrace her as well, but she suddenly notices two other girls: a short girl with gingery brown hair and an even shorter blonde.

'Hé, there's Kelly and Tinne,' Kim nods to the two girls. They just arrived on the playground from the park alley and have spotted their three friends.

'Look, Kelly, there are the others!' Tinne, the blonde and the shortest of the pair, points to their friends.

'Where? Oh, there,' Kelly, the one with gingery brown hair, recognizes their friends. Just like Tinne, Kelly C. befriended the others because she had no one else, but the group gets along with her a lot better than Tinne. She calls a spade a spade and she isn't afraid to share her sometimes inappropriate opinions. With her pinkish skin, braces, and acne she isn't the prettiest girl in school, but it didn't stop her from being the first of the group of friends to lose her virginity.

Kelly has medium-long, brown hair with tuffs of ginger falling to her shoulders. She used to have problems with alcohol and nicotine, but she has quit those. She does still have an addiction to blond men who are at least four years her senior, like her gay friend Björn.

Kelly and Tinne cross the distance between them and the toilets and steadily join Nathalie, Dorien, and Kim. The remainder of the playground starts to fill up too.

'Hey. How's everything going?' Tinne beams.

'We're fine, but Nathalie has had it a bit rough,' Dorien smiles cautiously.

'Burn,' Tinne laughs, but when the others glare at her, she changes her tone, 'No seriously, what's wrong?'

'Yes, Nathalie, go on. You can tell us anything,' Kelly assures her.

'Yeah, so I went to my gynecologist's after my birthday and the next day I was told that she had died,' Nathalie tells her story again.

'Darn, that's tough,' Tinne mumbles.

Then the school bell rings. Afterwards, the principal announces the homeroom teachers, teachers that'll supervise a class for an entire year, via a microphone and said educator raises his or her hand. Next the principal assigns a group of classes to a homeroom teacher, after which those classes follow their teacher into the school building.


Tinne, Dorien, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie are in the same group of classes with Mrs. Hofwegen, a pleasant young teacher with chestnut brown hair and wide hips, as their homeroom mistress. Kim is in 5 Latin-sciences (5LSC) and her friends in 5 Human sciences a (5HUMa). Together with the rest of their classmates, they enter their classroom and seat themselves on metal chairs with wooden seats. Kelly sits down beside Kim.

'It's so cool that we're in the same class this year,' the former whispers.

'Yes, I'm so happy that Latin-sciences is paired with the Human sciences,' Kim whispers back. When everyone has found a seat, Mrs. Hofwegen calls them to order. The pupils shut up and Mrs. Hofwegen introduces herself, after which she gives an overview of the coming school year.


After four periods, the first day of school comes to an end and all pupils receive a new and mostly heavy set of books to take home. So does Kelly, who has to carry the set to the sixth floor of her apartment building. She arrives at her apartment, but struggles with the set of books when she wants to enter through the door. A blond female neighbor of 56 with blue-ish green eyes helps her out with the books for a moment before they tumble to the floor.

'Thanks, Lidia! These books are getting heavier by the year,' Kelly pants.

'Anything to help. You know, in my day, we had to write down everything the teachers said in a small notebook with a fountain pen and then copy it out again at home,' Lidia tells her. Kelly regains her balance and steps into her apartment.

'Wow, you guys must have had it rough in school,' she says.

'Yes, but luckily I've long graduated. That's not an option for you anytime soon, is it?'

'No, unfortunately not. Thanks again! Bye.'

She closes her apartment door and leaves Lidia alone in the hallway. Lidia wants to open her apartment door when she suddenly hears something.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the same man's voice that Jessica, the gynecologist, heard whispers in the hallway.

What kind of noise is that? Lidia turns around and peers through the hallway, but there is no one in sight. She shakes her head and turns back around.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the voice continues, only louder and sharper. Terrified, Lidia fumbles around with the keys to her apartment and she drops them on the floor. When she turns around to pick them up, the same man that was at Jessica's is suddenly standing in front of her. She's spooked:

'Ooh! Please, you startled me.' Yet the man shows no emotion and grabs her at the neck.

'Help!' Lidia shrieks. Kelly hears the cry for help from her apartment and storms out.

'Lidia, what's the matter?', she sees Lidia lying dead on the floor and screams, 'Aaaaaa…o no!'

Just like Jessica, Lidia's slumped on the floor like a discarded dishrag with a neck fracture and her eyes spread wide open. Again the killer is nowhere to be found.


Not much later, the sixth floor of Kelly's apartment building is packed with police officers. Detective Martens is also present. He immediately seeks out the coroner at Lidia's body.

'Who is it this time?' he asks the coroner.

'Lidia Schellekens, 56 years old.'

'Was she killed the same way as Jessica Klein?'

'Yes, a broken neck as well and another parallel fingerprint.'

'Again? So we're sure it's the same killer?'

'100 per cent sure! By the way, don't you see the similarities between the victims?'

'What do you mean? They were two different women. The first was 32 years old, the second 56, and they ran in different social circles.'

'No, they were both blond and had blue-ish green eyes. And the last people to see them alive were teenage girls that attend the same school.'

'Really? Who was the last person to see her alive?'

'Kelly C., sixteen years old,' the coroner points her out from a few feet away, 'The girl next door; she found her this way.'

'Thanks. Take her away,' Martens nods to Lidia's body. 'I'll have a chat with this girl next door.'

Assistants carry Lidia away on a gurney while Martens walks across the hall to Kelly's apartment. Kelly's leaning against the doorpost of her quarters and staring absently at her surroundings.

'Hello, I'm detective Martens of Homicide. Are you Kelly?' he smiles in a friendly way.

'Yes, that's me and if you were wondering, no, I did not kill Lidia. She was a lovely and helpful woman,' Kelly bows her head in respect for the deceased woman and sobs for just a moment.

'So you knew her well?'

'Yes, she occasionally babysat me when I was little and she helped me with my homework from time to time when I didn't know something. And now…' She's too upset to finish her sentence and just shuts her mouth, her lips trembling from sorrow.

'I'm sorry for your loss. When you walked into the hallway, did you notice anyone suspicious?'

'Detective, this is an apartment building. Do you have any idea how many suspicious people I run into just climbing the stairs?'

'But you didn't see anyone out of the ordinary that you didn't recognize?'

'No, no one that stuck out.'

'Thank you for your cooperation. One of the officers will ask for a written testimony, but hang in there.' After these comforting words, Martens retreats and leaves Kelly alone with her grief.


Lidia's murder contrasts sharply with the joy in the class of 5LSC and 5HUMa the next day. After all, it's Kim's birthday; she turns sixteen today.

'Now that you're sixteen, you're finally legal to drink alcohol, right Kim?' one of her classmates says. The boy is lanky, blond, about 6ft. and 3inch. tall, and good friends with Kim's popular ex.

'Alcohol isn't really my thing, so nothing changes for me,' she replies.

'Really, though? It's a welcome bonus either way,' her classmate chuckles. Mrs. Barends, the class' new, short, and blond math teacher, is standing at the front of the classroom, impatiently waiting by the blackboard for the pupils to shut up.

'Come on. Quiet, everybody! It's time for math now!' she orders them.

'That's right, I'm trying to pay attention,' Kelly hisses. Math was never her forte, but since it's only the first lesson, Nathalie thinks she's overreacting.

'Oh Kelly…' She nudges her teasingly, but she accidentally knocks over Kelly's utensil case. The utensil case drops off the school desk, but Kim immediately launches herself forward to grab it.

During her body hurl, she's completely hanging over her desk and fully extending her arms. Instinctively, she's also stretching her hands while doing so. Suddenly, she's able to simply snatch the utensil case from the air.

'I got it!'

With the utensil case in hand, she slides back into her seat and puts the case back in its spot. Yet then she notices Kelly and Nathalie gazing around them in surprise. Their mouths are wide open in bewilderment.

'Is something going on?' Kim asks.

'Well, aside from the fact that everyone stopped moving…' Kelly whispers while she looks around.

Now Kim gazes around too and indeed: no one is moving. Everyone is sitting motionlessly above their notes and Mrs. Barends has stopped writing on the blackboard. Not a sound is to be heard: no breathing, whispering, or scratching of writing utensils.

'Not everyone's standing still. We're still moving,' Nathalie remarks.

'Yeah, that's true and really weird,' Kim stands up, strolls about, and occasionally waves in front of the other pupils' eyes.

'They don't blink, nor do they breathe,' Kelly whispers.

'Why are you whispering?' Nathalie asks.

'What if they can still hear us?'

'Don't make a fool of yourself!' Kim looks someone straight in the eyes, but gets no response. 'This is probably one of their lame pranks.'

'Then it has to be one heck of a prank if Mrs. Barends is in on it too,' Nathalie says. Meanwhile, Kim is standing in the center of the classroom and flailing her arms about.

'Come on, the prank is over! Start moving again!'

Still, no one is moving. It's really starting to get on her nerves. So much so that, out of frustration, she goes to stand right in front of someone and waves past the person's ears, her hands stretched.

'Wake up!'

Suddenly, things are beginning to liven up again. Everyone is back to taking notes and sound returns. Then Mrs. Barends faces the class and sees Kim standing in the middle of the classroom.

'Kim, could you be so kind as to return to your seat?' the math teacher sneers.

'Yes, ma'am,' she squeaks before she sits back down on her seat. No one is laughing and everyone is staring at her as if she has just gone mad.

'This was so weird!' Kim whispers, still flustered.

'Totally not normal!' Nathalie murmurs.

'We'll talk about it during recess,' Kelly whispers.


After the first two periods, the relieving recess follows. Juniors and seniors have to stand on the playground behind the school building. It's a relatively small playground that's partly covered in concrete and partly in asphalt. Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly discuss the situation in a corner of the bare playground.

'You can't possibly call what happened this morning normal,' Nathalie exclaims.

'What exactly did happen this morning, because I can't keep up anymore?' Kelly asks in confusion.

'Well, your utensil case fell off your desk, I wanted to catch it, and I stretched my hands. Suddenly everyone was frozen and when I stretched my hands a second time, everyone was moving again,' Kim explains.

'Strange things are happening a lot lately, aren't they?'

'What do you mean? Did you experience this kind of stuff too?' Nathalie asks.

'Well no…not really, but…'

Suddenly, one of their peers interrupts Kelly. A short girl with short, brown hair, a pointy nose, and pale skin approaches them. Up until last year this girl was in the same grade as them, but she had to redo her sophomore year.

'Hé, I heard that your neighbor from across the hall was murdered yesterday.' The girl's high-pitched squeaky voice cuts through marrow and bone.

'Is that true?' Nathalie asks Kelly.

'Yes, Lidia, my neighbor, was found dead.'

'You know what I think? I think you killed her,' the girl sneers. She peers at her, arms akimbo and a superior look in her eyes. She never got along well with Kelly.

'Get a grip, Greet!' Kim barks.

'Kelly would never hurt anyone!' Nathalie defends their friend as well.

'Besides, Lidia was the kindest person I've ever met,' Kelly says. She doesn't want to think about her neighbor too much because it only causes her grief. The pain is still too recent.

'But you're just the devil!' Greet snarls with her squeaky voice.

'You annoying…!' She doesn't finish her sentence, but she squints at her out of profound hatred.

'Kelly, leave her,' Nathalie holds her back.

'Bitch!' Greet cackles. She strolls off and Kelly is still squinting her eyes out of anger. Suddenly, Greet flies against the glass door of the school building. It appeared as if she tripped, but the momentum with which she smacked against the metal-framed door seemed different. While some concern themselves with her, the three friends burst out laughing:

'Hahaha, serves her right!'

'Sluts!' Greet scolds them when she storms past them.

She never learns, Kelly growls internally. She squints her eyes again. Now Greet flies halfway across the playground and lands painfully on the hard concrete surface. This time it was obvious that she in fact whizzed through the sky and didn't just trip.

'Oow!' she moans. Immediately, the atmosphere on the playground shifts and a few girls help Greet on her feet. She's all scratched up and her knees and hands are bleeding. She's taken to the school's receptionist at once where she can be looked after.

'Did you do that, Kelly?' Nathalie asks.

'I don't know. I just squinted my eyes.'

'I think it might be better if you didn't.'

The bell rings and the pupils have to get back to class. The girls get in line behind the slow mass of teenagers trying to enter the building.

'Nathalie, I would watch it if I were you,' Kim warns her.

'Why?'

'Well, we each experienced something weird today. Who knows what might happen to you?'

'Stop it!' Nathalie blows her off. This is all a big coincidence, she thinks.

'I would still be careful,' Kelly advises her.

'Oh, don't be so paranoid,' she bolts inside in an irritated way. On the other hand, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times…, she doesn't want to dwell on it and hurries up the stairs of the school building.


The rest of the day passes without any strange events, to Nathalie's great pleasure. At least until the five friends arrive at the bicycle shelter alongside the park alley and Kelly's cellphone rings.

'I have to take this. You guys go on ahead!' she remains in the middle of the park alley and answers the call. Tinne, Dorien, Kim, and Nathalie walk into the bicycle shelter without her.

The bicycle shelter is enclosed by green steel fences and only has two exits, which merely emphasize the similarities between schools and prisons: a small gate ornamented with spikes at the park alley and a large one at the side of the main school building. The shelters themselves are entirely brown due to rust, despite the rooftops of corrugated plastic that protect against the rain. Not that they help much against the almost constant Belgian downpour.

The four girls unlock their bikes when, all of a sudden, they notice a pack of cycling children storming towards Kelly from the park. It often happens that the elementary school kids of Saint-Joseph's College receive bicycle lessons and apparently today was such a day.

'Kelly, get out of the way!' Kim warns her. Kelly can't hear her, though, because she's trying her utmost to concentrate on understanding her cellphone.

'Kelly, turn off your phone!' Tinne yells. The cyclists are approaching and still Kelly doesn't notice them.

'Kelly, here!' Nathalie shouts. She's waving her arm to signal that she has to come to her. Even the cyclists are fanatically ringing their bells. Only now does Kelly notice them when she turns around. She is startled and shrieks.

'Kelly!' Nathalie waves her arm towards herself and Kelly suddenly lights up a blue color. Kelly's figure fades in the powder blue light and changes into a calm sea of surging light orbs. The blue light orbs scatter swiftly and quickly hover towards Nathalie. They leave a blue light trail for a short bit, but Kelly has vanished.

In the bicycle shelter, the light orbs glue together again and Kelly appears from the bright, blue sea of light, after which the light fades. Nathalie and Kim manage to catch her just in time when she materializes anew. Meanwhile, the enthusiastic children ride past in confusion.

'Wow, that was weird!' Kelly wobbles on her feet. She's still flustered and searches for a look of understanding from Nathalie and Kim.

'We told you so, Nathalie,' the latter says smugly.

'What's up with you guys today?' Dorien asks, having witnessed the entire spectacle, her eyes the size of saucers.

'No idea,' Kelly mumbles. She frees herself from her friends' grasp and dusts herself down. 'Well, I propose we stay the night at Kim's to discuss this entire mess.'

'Yeah, it'll be just like a birthday party. A sleepover!' Kim cheers.

'You know, I would love to come, but I have tennis practice later,' Dorien answers.

'And I need to be home early to pick up my baby sister,' Tinne says.

'It's okay. We'll have plenty of fun with just the three of us,' Nathalie snickers. The friends say goodbye and ride home on their bikes.


The following morning, Tinne arrives at school really early. Via the park alley the short blonde rides into the bicycle shelter, which is already open. She's so early that there's nearly no other bike inside and there isn't a living soul to be seen. Gosh, I'm early. No one's here, she thinks. Though, all of a sudden, she hears something:

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!'

Startled, she looks around, but there's nothing to be seen. Hurriedly, she locks her bicycle. A freshman boy is just cycling through the park alley when he notices a weird man standing behind Tinne. Who's that? he wonders.

'Kill the witch!' it sounds loud and hoarse from behind Tinne's back. She's startled and spins around to face the man behind her.

'Who are you?' she asks him. Without any warning he extends his arms to her. Meanwhile, the freshman has dismounted his bike and watches on cautiously from behind a tree.

The strange man roughly grabs hold of Tinne and snaps her neck without hesitation. Lifelessly, she drops to the ground in the bicycle shelter. The snapping of her cervical vertebrae is deafening and makes the freshman boy tumble backwards out of fright.

'Aah! What's this?' he screams. The man turns to him and gazes at the boy, a hollow expression on his face. The boy in turn catches a very clear look of the man. His skin is pale and his hair long, sleek, and black. He also has a high forehead, which has been tattooed with a reversed pentagram.

A pentagram? as soon as the boy notices it, the scary man vanishes. All of a sudden he's nowhere to be found, as if he were a fata morgana. The boy looks around, but sees no one. He's the only witness. Panic-stricken, he calls the police and flees.


A half hour later, Nathalie, Kim, and Kelly arrive at school. When they cycle through the park alley, they see a large mob of policemen gathered near the bicycle shelter.

'What happened here?' Kim asks.

'I hope no one was kil…' Nathalie doesn't finish her sentence hoping her greatest fear hasn't come to life at her own school. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times…

'Let's get closer,' determined, Kelly drags her two friends to the scene of the crime. They approach the bicycle shelter and inside they see their friend Tinne lying dead on the ground. Police officers and the coroner circle her body like a flock of vultures.

'O no, Tinne!' Kim cups her hands over her mouth and bursts into tears.

'How is this possible?' Nathalie's absolutely guttered. How could this have happened a second time to someone I knew personally?

'There's the detective that's investigating Lidia's murder,' Kelly points out detective Martens.

The detective with his bristly grey mustache catches sight of the three girls and approaches them.

'Did you know the victim?' he asks.

'Yes, that's Tinne P.. She's…was in our class,' Nathalie replies hoarsely.

'How did it happen?' Kim snivels. Her eyes are red with tears.

'Girls, I can't share that kind of information with you guys.'

'Please, sir, Tinne was one of our best friends and we won't tell. Is there really nothing you can share with us?'

Martens has his doubts for a moment, but his heart goes out to the affected teens. 'Well, her neck is broken just like previous victims we've found.'

'Has the police found any kind of evidence?' Kelly asks carefully.

'Yes,' he sighs, 'each victim had a parallel fingerprint on her neck.'

'Who found her?' Nathalie asks.

'We don't know. We received an anonymous tip.'

'Do you have any suspects?' Kim asks.

'No, we haven't been able to link anyone. But I really can't tell you more. Swear to me that you'll keep quiet!' Martens peers sternly at the three of them.

'Don't worry. We'll be as quiet as the grave,' Kelly reassures him.

'I have to move on now. Do you know anything else?'

'No. Thanks for answering our questions,' Nathalie thanks him kindly. Martens departs and leaves the girls alone. The freshman boy that witnessed Tinne's murder then approaches the scene.

'Oh my, what happened here?' he tries to act surprised, but fails. He sounds far too forced and looks around the area way too panicky.

'You don't really seem surprised that our friend was found dead here,' Kim remarks suspiciously.

'Nonsense, I'm very surprised. I'm really not the person who tipped the police,' as soon as he spills the beans, he bites down on his lip out of anxiety because he gave himself away.

'You alerted the police?' Nathalie eyes the boy with a grimace that's a mixture of incomprehension, astonishment, and anger.

'Yes, but please, I really don't know anything, nothing at all!'

'Did you see who did it?' Kelly asks. The boy clams up and peers at the ground in shame.

'You did see it. Spill!' Kim orders him. She barely doesn't pinch his ears like an angry mom.

'No, I don't want to. And even if I did, you still wouldn't believe me!'

'Calm down. You know what? After school, you come with us and tell us everything you saw. How's that?' Kelly proposes in a reasonable tone. The boy agrees and nods, after which the party of four struggles through the dismal school day with mixed emotions.


After school, Kelly, Nathalie, Kim, and the boy who witnessed Tinne's murder go to Kim's place as Kelly proposed earlier. They're in Kim's room, but the boy still feels uncomfortable.

'Okay, tell us what he looked like. Nathalie will draw a sketch of your description.'

Kim tries to comfort him by smiling at him in a friendly way and gives him an encouraging pat on the back. Nathalie, on the other hand, keeps a pencil, an eraser, and a sketchbook at the ready. She's the only one of the three girls with a knack for drawing.

'He had a hooked nose, hollow cheeks, jet black eyes…'

'Jet black, seriously?' Nathalie interrupts him skeptically.

'Just do what he says!' Kim hisses. Nathalie resumes sketching and the boy continues:

'So, he had spiky hair, pointy ears, pale skin, and the freakiest thing of all: he had a reversed pentagram tattooed on his forehead.'

'A pentagram? This dude is sick!' Kelly is revolted just thinking about it. I've come across a heck of a lot of weirdos in my lifetime, but this one trumps them all, she thinks.

'Were you able to draw a sketch?' Kim asks Nathalie.

'Yeah, but it hasn't paid off much,' Nathalie shows the drawing that's actually pretty accurate.

'Yes, that's what he looked like,' the boy nods in confirmation. He seems pretty certain.

'Thanks for your help,' Kelly squeezes his shoulder approvingly. He's smiling again.

Next, they search the Internet for something that matches Nathalie's sketch. They start by typing in "pentagram" in the search engine Google. Thousands of hits appear: pages upon pages of occultism and complete nonsense.

'Almost all of them are sites on witches,' Kelly concludes when they skim the screen.

'Who knows, maybe that's what we are,' Kim chuckles.

'Witches? Us? Have you gone insane?' Nathalie scoffs.

'Wait!', the boy butts in, 'That's what the guy said: "Kill the witch!".'

'Hé, if you're messing with us, you're barking up the wrong tree!'

'Nathalie, this could be really important,' Kelly defends him.

'Important? I'm supposed to believe that some freak is hunting witches?'

'Nathalie, I don't want this just as much as you do, but this lunatic has killed people,' Kelly tries to appease her.

'You've gone mental! I'm out!' she storms out of the room angrily and leaves the house.

'Nathalie, wait!' Kim calls after her.

'Let her go. She'll come around on her own,' Kelly says. At least I hope so.


Furious and sobbing, Nathalie bolts through Kim's neighborhood, but after a couple of yards she slows down and loafs about the streets. Because of everything that has happened lately, she's completely flustered.

What's wrong with them? I want out of here! I wished I was at a bus stop already, she thinks and suddenly, she lights up a blue color just like Kelly before. Her body fades in the light and scatters into a surging sea of powder blue light orbs. The sea of light then rises into the air in a blue beam.

The following moment, the blue sea of light appears at the nearest bus stop and the orbs reshape into Nathalie's figure. She orbed to the bus stop as it were.

'Stop it!' she screams to no one in particular and she starts crying.


Meanwhile, Kim and Kelly continue to plow through the Internet with the freshman boy.

'Try using Google Images,' Kelly suggests and Kim types in "pentagram" in "search for images on the Internet". Again thousands of results appear: pentagrams in all shapes and sizes.

'That's a lot of pentagrams,' the boy remarks, slightly overwhelmed by the abundance of images.

'Do you see the killer amongst them?' Kim asks.

'No,' he shakes his head, 'maybe if you scrolled down.'

Kim does as he says and suddenly, the boy recognizes the ugly front from the pictures.

'There, that's him!' he points to the image. Kim clicks on the icon and the party of three sees a site filled with pictures of strange beasts appear on the screen. "Demons and creatures of the dark" is used as the website's heading.

'There he is: the Wiccatin,' the boy points to the screen again. He's pointing to the image of a screaming figure with a bleeding pentagram on its forehead. Kim clicks on it and reads what it says on the picture:

'The Wiccatin is a low-ranking demon and kills witches to prevent them from developing their powers and destroying its kind. Its favorite prey are blond witches who haven't yet discovered or are only just discovering their powers.'

'Blond witches? O no, Nathalie!' Kelly realizes what kind of danger they're all in. She sends the boy running and when he has left, she and Kim hurriedly search on.

'Does it say anything on how to make this Wiccatin disappear or something?' Kelly asks. Kim scrolls further and sees something that might help.

'The Wiccatin can only handle one witch at a time. Two or more witches would overpower it.'

Kelly shakes her head. 'We need to hurry to find Nathalie. She might be next soon.'

'But where could she be? She left in a fury.'

'She's probably at a bus stop, as always. I'll ask Björn to drive us around.'


A little after twilight, Nathalie, calm again, is still waiting at the bus stop. Suddenly, she hears the icy voice of the Wiccatin:

'Kill the witch!'

Panic-stricken, she looks around, but she's all alone in the brightly lit street. Just her, the bus stop, and a few dark green anti-ram posts (small metal posts that protect shops and precarious crossroads against swerving traffic) alongside the sidewalk.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' it sounds louder. Nathalie, watch your back! Don't let it get to you, she tries to empower herself.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the pace accelerates. Suddenly, the Wiccatin is standing behind Nathalie. She senses its presence and whirls around. The Wiccatin grasps for her, but startled, she instinctively orbs out in a hovering sea of blue light. She reappears from the waft of powder blue light orbs several feet down the road.

'Hé, that's actually pretty useful!'

Next she makes a run for it. The Wiccatin growls and chases her.

'No way you're going to put your hands around my neck!' Let's hope this works. 'Post!' she points to an anti-ram post and it scatters into a surging sea of blue light orbs. It shifts position, maneuvers in the path of the Wiccatin, and reappears as a solid metal post.

'Kill the…aah!' The Wiccatin crashes against the shifted anti-ram post, which hits it in the gut, tumbles over forwards on the ground, and stays down.

'Yi-ha!' Nathalie flees cheering. She wants to be as far away from the Wiccatin as she can as soon as possible.


In the meantime, Kelly and Kim are aimlessly being driven around by Kelly's older gay friend Björn. The two girls are hanging out of the car's windows and inspecting the streets, on the look-out for Nathalie.

'There's the bus stop!' Kim points to the stop all of a sudden.

'Björn, drive slower from here on out,' she commands the older guy. Suddenly, Kim notices something different.

'There…the…Wic…Wiccatin!' she stutters. She's pointing to the creature with the pentagram tattoo lying on the sidewalk, still knocked-out.

'Nathalie couldn't have gotten far then,' Kelly concludes. They drive for a short while and discover a panting Nathalie on the corner of a street. They immediately jump out of the vehicle.

'Nathalie!' they cheer.

'Oh, I'm so glad to see you guys!' she pants. The three friends immediately hug each other.

'Did you come across that guy on your way here?' Nathalie asks.

'Yup, he's lying flat on his belly,' Kim nods.

'It's a Wiccatin, by the way,' Kelly grins, feeling a tad bit superior because she identified the creature.

'A what?'

'A Wiccatin, but that's unimportant right now,' Kim hugs her tighter. Though, all of a sudden, the Wiccatin appears out of nowhere and it's standing right next to them. It growls and stretches its arms out to snap their necks.

'Aah!' Kim freaks, instinctively stretching her hands. This causes the Wiccatin to stop entirely, as if it were frozen, and there isn't a peep out of it.

'Hé, that's neat,' Kelly chuckles.

'Yes, but this is neater. This is for Tinne!' Kim kicks the Wiccatin in the groin. This causes it to move again, but it sags through its knees while shielding its private parts with its hands.

'My turn. This is for Lidia!' Kelly squints her eyes. Because of her strong emotions, the Wiccatin flies all the way to the bus stop, through the panes of the cubicle. Groaning, it tries to get on its feet from the shards of glass when the three friends come running.

'Screws!' Nathalie stretches her hands and each corner of the bus stop lights up a blue color for just a second. Next, a small pile of screws appears in the palms of her hands in a powder blue sea of light.

'Why did you do that?' Kim asks.

'That's why!' she points to the glass panes of the bus stop. The top pane falls down and the panes on the sides drop sideways, all three right on top of the Wiccatin.

'Aah!' it screams as it shields its face with its arms. The glass panes crush it and it immediately explodes. From the highly unusual spontaneous combustion, an inferno seeks its way out past the shards of glass. When the flames have died, nothing but ash remains from the vanquished Wiccatin.

'That was for Jessica,' Nathalie sighs complacently.

'We did it!' Kim cheers.

'Yes, it's gone. Now Tinne, Lidia, Jessica, and all the other witches it has killed can rest in peace,' Kelly concludes. After their victory, the three heroines confidently leave for home, but they haven't yet gotten rid of evil. This is only the beginning!


A.N.: In the general Belgian education system, high school amounts to six years. Belgian children start kindergarten at the age of 2.5. Kindergarten consists of three separate years and is then followed by six years of elementary school and six years of high school. The numeration of the grades of Belgian high schools don't continue that of elementary schools, so by the time Belgian pupils are juniors in high school, they're in the fifth grade of secondary education.

Furthermore, high school pupils choose a "major" that they wish to study and follow the classes assigned to that "major". They do so with the same classmates during almost every class. It's important to note that in Belgium "a class" doesn't just refer to a course taught by a teacher, but also to the group of pupils who share the same courses throughout the year, such as 5LSC or 5HUMa.

Similarly to college or university, classes assigned to "majors" in high school vary depending on the "major". For example, pupils that choose Latin-sciences as their "major" receive four hours of Latin and are mostly taught science subjects, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and geography. Pupils that choose human sciences, on the other hand, are taught behavioral science, cultural studies, and the natural sciences, a course which combines the material of the science subjects of Latin-sciences, but doesn't go into further detail.

Some general classes, such as language courses and religion, are taught to the entire group of pupils of 5LSC and 5HUMa (in this case) and in the very same classroom. Therefore homeroom teachers are usually language teachers since pupils spend most of their time in those classes and (that) classroom(s).