Chapter 3

Now Look Alive

"Bloody hell—where'd you get this heart? I did not mean to be that forward." the girl stated, nearly immediately after her she'd just risen from the dead, called Enoch 'handsome', and preceded to ask him to solve a murder. She seemed to have been possessed for a brief moment by the nature of the heart that was not her own. Enoch was not used to putting someone else's heart in a different body, when at his family home they always came as a complete set. How curious a detail Enoch would've found it had he not been a bit flustered by her remarks. Enoch was too busy recovering from shock to reply with one of his usual snarky jabs at her. He'd nearly lost his focus by her bold statement and let go of her completely. She looked down at his arm, but did not seem to be frightened in the slightest that a boy she did not know literally had her life in his hand. "—However, you do happen to have your hand in a cavity in my chest. I think we might be somewhat even with the drop of formalities."

"I'm sorry. Would you like me to let go?" Enoch sneered, in reply. He let a few fingers drop threateningly, but wasn't actually intending on doing it after all the trouble he'd just gone through to revive her. Quickly realizing he did not want this girl's first and only impression of him to be awfully villainous and controlling, he changed his tune and attempted to be a little softer towards her. "…It's supposed to be a poet's heart. In case you were really wondering."

"Evidently, not a great one." she added, with a bit of a chuckle. She didn't seem very offended, which was a good sign. She also didn't seem to have a billion questions for him either. She just understood that this was a peculiar event. One of the few perks of being around his new kind. When it came to the bizarre and the macabre points of life, they didn't often pose stupid questions. The girl suddenly held out her hand to him. "Let's start over—I'm Persephone."

"Enoch O'Connor." he replied, simply, shaking it with his other hand. He suddenly realized that she'd been the one that the other kids had mentioned at breakfast. The one who supposedly left the loop about a week prior. While it was somewhat understandable to him why Miss Nightjar lied to protect their poor fragile minds, it was still a poor temporary solution. Did she really expect them to not ask questions after a certain amount of time? Just because Enoch's curiosity got him there first didn't mean that the others wouldn't eventually follow the same path and discover the ugly truth.

"Well, it's nice to meet another dead-raiser," she laughed again. Enoch's attention perked up at her good-spirited chuckle. He was not sure the heart could take the strain and it almost slipped right out of his hand. She noticed his slight panic to keep his grip and stopped. "Wish it were under slightly better circumstances."

"Likewise." he replied, earnestly. He wanted to smile, but felt it would've been too inappropriate given the circumstances. It turns out she really was like him. She was another person with the same peculiarity. Finally, someone who ought to understand him completely and she was already gone. In a few more minutes, or whenever he decided to let go, she would be dead again. Forever.

"How much longer do you think I have?" Persephone asked. She seemed to be taking the whole being dead situation rather well, which was a rather small comfort, but better than nothing. Enoch thought that panicking suited girls of their age much better. However, being peculiar had probably forced her to grow much more mature and independent, quite like himself.

"Not much longer."

"I suppose she brought you on to wake me up and ask who killed me." Persephone reasoned.

"She hasn't officially asked, but I assume that's why." Enoch answered. She looked a little confused, but waited for him to continue and explain things to her. "I just got here last night, and I reckon she won't mention you until I've been 'acclimated'."

"Sounds about right." she nodded. Apparently Enoch's assumptions about Miss Nightjar's unhelpful and secretive nature were very astute. She definitely had everything meticulously planned out and a bad history of keeping her kids in the dark in order to "protect" them from the nasty things waiting in the world. "—Then, why did you wake me up?"

"My own morbid curiosity got the better of me and I found you here. Sorry bout' that." he replied, honestly. She looked a little disappointed, but not much. She couldn't expect anything more of him. "Tell me who's killed you then. While you still can."

"I don't know. I never saw their face..." Persephone mumbled. Enoch could see her expression get tangled as she tried to remember those terrifying moments before death for him. He was just about to say she didn't have to try so hard, when she unexpectedly continued. "—which is why I need your help."

"I thought that was just some throw away statement made by this stupid, janky heart in your body. I can't solve a murder!" Enoch stated, immediately defensive.

"Why not?" she reckoned. What Enoch hoped was her first and hopefully only stupid question, heavily influenced by the fact she had a subpar heart in her body. "You were smart enough to find me without Miss Night's help and who better to think like a murderer then someone with our peculiarity."

"You werent that well-hidden and I got bored." he argued back. "Listen, I never agreed to do unpaid detective work—alright? I was only brought here to apparently do one thing and I believe I've already done it."

"Please Enoch!" Persephone said, desperately. His tone was clearly not a positive one and if she didn't think of how to convince him to help her real fast, she would literally be dead. "Everyone in the loop could be in danger and I don't want it to be my fault..."

"I don't know what to do though."

"I'll help you. We can solve it together." she smiled. He could feel the heart tighten with her smile and, thankfully she couldn't see it, but his own couldn't help but mirror the gesture. No one had ever offered to do something together with him. She was offering to spend time that she didn't even have to spend with him. Although, he would've liked it much better if the activity was something fun, like playing baseball or hopping train tracks. Beggars can't be choosers though. He should've figured the first time he'd received such an offer would be from another freak like him and it'd be something he didn't really want to do. "I'm certain I'll remember more with my own heart. Miss Night probably has it sitting in solution around here somewhere. We'll have much more time."

"I can wake you up with your own heart just fine. However…" Enoch hesitated, which was unusual given his brutally blunt and honest nature. While he was certainly no expert in peculiarity, he'd like to think that after many years of trial and error, he at least had a pretty firm grip on his own powers. "—Once a heart is exhausted, that's it. There's no charging it up again. I'll have to use dozens of hearts in order to keep you alive."

What he thought would be heartbreaking news, didn't faze her in the slightest. She actually had the nerve to smile at him again.

"Geez—you must be really new. Don't you know anything about our kind?"

He shook his head no. To be fair, Miss Nightjar had picked him up only nearly twenty-four hours ago. Was he supposed to have it all sorted by now?

"Dead raisers are the best peculiarity. So much diversity. No two are exactly alike in how they use their powers. I certainly don't do open heart surgery every time I want to wake the dead." she explained. Enoch naturally hadn't known that. He was also curious about how her powers might've differentiated from his, however, a demonstration was probably out of the question given she was supposed to be dropping dead at any moment. "The solution is a Himalayan salt brine, brewed by another dead riser Miss Night knows. That's how their power manifests. Meanwhile, you and I could follow the exact same recipe and it probably wouldn't do a thing."

"That's interesting…" Enoch mumbled. At least a billion questions were beginning to swarm his mind, but barely held back on asking any of them and abuse her limited time for his own intellectual gain. Endure it for a little longer. However, one of his questions was how she was in fact staying alive and fairly lucid through this encounter. He didn't have exact numbers because he was sometimes not able to even get a sensible word out of his patients, or most of the time, his parents intervened before the time limit could be averaged. Did it have something to do with the nature of her own powers?

"I'll teach you all sorts about peculiars like us, if you'd like." Persephone offered, with another smile. Again, she promised time she didn't necessarily have. But, at least this time, she noticed this painful detail. "—of course, that depends on you, I guess. After all, you're the one who decides if I ever wake up again."

"I suppose I'll have to get Miss Nightjar's permission. No doubt she has a say in all of this." Enoch argued, stubbornly.

"I already know what she'll say! She'll think it's inhumane to wake me more than once and refuse to let you do it. A desecration of my peculiar soul! You can't tell her." Persephone quickly added, with a sudden fervor. "I'm begging you, Enoch! You're my only hope..."

Although, they had a fairly stable connection in place, it was fabricated and based mostly in necessity. Persephone decided to grab his other hand in an effort to create a bond that wasn't so much essential to the function of a heart, but the duty of it.

"I need to think about it." Enoch muttered, hastily looking down at the ground and ripping his hand away from hers. He couldn't believe it, but that was the truth. He was actually considering her mad proposal with thought, despite the fact only minutes ago his answer was a firm and solid no. "Play dumb when she introduces us, and we'll see if it's even possible to wake you up multiple times on the same heart. I'm still skeptic that it'll even work."

"You're really just dragging this thing out because you're bored, aren't you?" she added, surprisingly matter of fact. Apparently, it hadn't taken her that long to figure out his character.

"Maybe." he added, bitterly. Suddenly, there was a loud ring. It was probably the dinner bell. "I've got to go now… Are you ready?"

Persephone nodded and braced herself as best she could. At least this time around she got somewhat of a warning before she was killed. Enoch removed his hand, taking the nearly exhausted heart out with it. She fell back down. After a quick scanning check to make sure she looked relatively the same as she had before he came in, Enoch left. He made sure to be as quiet as possible when closing the door and locking it again. Before he could even think about accepting the dead girl's preposterous proposal, he had to somehow get the key to her room back into Miss Nightjar's office without her noticing.

"Enoch! Marcie called supper nearly five minutes ago. What the heck are you still doing—?" a voice called from the stairs. A few seconds later there was footsteps and an eerily faint blur of green light. It was Andrew. Enoch had no time to even attempt to hide the heart and even if he could, it wouldn't explain the blood on his sleeves. Andrew couldn't help but look at him up and down, once he arrived on the scene. While surely this house was no stranger to weird, inexplicable scenes out of context, he couldn't help but ask, "Do you have an explanation..?"

"I thought it'd be a nice peace offering after screwing up at breakfast. Personally, I'm more of a chicken heart type of fellow, but sheep is just as good." Enoch laughed, presenting the heart out to him. It was a hastily put together lie, but he seriously doubted that Andrew would be able to tell the difference between a human heart and a sheep's.

"You dead raisers are weird folk. Put away the organ and wash up for supper already." Andrew sighed, immediately turning back towards the stairs. Enoch nodded and rushed to his room to put the heart back in the jar. He also took the opportunity to divvy up the solution Miss Nightjar had given him. He'd need to start testing its power. Odds were she wouldn't let him see Persephone for at least another week or so.

Enoch didn't have time to change his shirt, so he rolled up his sleeves and prayed he could get away with the improper etiquette just this once. After thoroughly washing his hands in the bathroom, he finally was able to walk downstairs. They hadn't waited for him, and Enoch couldn't blame them. He tried to discretely take his seat and join the chatter. Thankfully the others seemed to be too busy to acknowledge he'd been missing. Andrew, who was seated next to him gave Enoch an acknowledging nod and went back to his food. However, Enoch should've figured he wouldn't be able to get away so clean.

"Mr. O'Connor—so lovely of you to grace us with your presence this evening." Miss Nightjar added, icily, as he took up the empty seat.

"I'm sorry, Miss Nightjar. My situation upstairs took longer to deal with then I was expecting." Enoch said, in excuse. It was incredibly vague, but he prayed she wouldn't pry any further into the details.

"Just as long as you don't make a habit of it." she answered. Thankfully, she didn't see the small, relieved sigh escape him as he narrowly avoided dangerous territory.

"Enoch! Miss Nightjar's letting us have the talent show tonight after dinner, once we've cleared everything up. How does that sound?" Marcie exclaimed, from across the table, briefly breaking away from her conversation with Annie.

"Great. I'm really looking forward to it." Enoch replied, with an extremely forced smile and sounding not at all excited for it. He leaned over and whispered to Andrew, "How likely do you think it'd be for me to get out of this thing?"

"I reckon slim to none with how excited Marcie is." Andrew answered. Enoch's expression sunk for a moment, realizing he would be stuck wasting time for the rest of the evening. However, his expression quickly returned, at the strike of a brilliant idea.

"Can I actually join in?" Enoch asked, suddenly.

"You really want to show off?" Andrew inquired, curiously. Only seconds ago Enoch had zero interest in sitting through the parade of peculiar freaks, which Andrew understood completely. But, suddenly the new boy was actually wanting to take the stage with them. Andrew was smart enough to see he had an angle.

"Not exactly." Enoch added. "I just figure fair is fair. You lot might want to judge my power before you let me join."

"Mate—I'm literally a glorified human nightlight. Waking the dead is a fairly amazing power in comparison."

"It has it's perks I suppose." Enoch nodded in agreement. He couldn't argue how content he was with his own peculiarity, especially after seeing most of what the other kids here had been settled with. However, the pretty dead girl with the same powers still stuck helplessly in his mind. Was she a perk or a curse? Locking her back in that room would apparently not keep her from swimming around his head. It already seemed that he would not find a moment of peace until Miss Nightjar let him back in to wake her up again. "What was the other dead raiser who stayed here like?"

"Seph? She was alright. She got along with everyone alright too…" Andrew hesitated. It would seem like he was either struggling to pull up memories of the girl, or debating with some unknown force about what else he could add to this short, vague statement on her character. "Miss Night doesn't really think we should talk about her."

"Why not?" Enoch asked.

"Well, in her words, 'it's not proper to always be dwelling on the past'." Andrew replied, in an impression that sounded nearly identical to Miss Nightjar. "She thinks we should think of her fondly on occasion and keep moving forward—well, keep moving forward as much as we can in a loop of suspended time."

"But, you don't think that?"

"I don't know what to think…" Andrew sighed. Enoch could see the doubt blooming in his mind about the sudden disappearance and the half-assed excuses attempting to cover it all up. "You'd think she would've at least said goodbye to everyone. That was the strangest thing about it."

"Well, I sure hope you lot don't hold it against me now that I've taken her place." Enoch added. While it might've been prudent to cultivate that feeling of unease that Andrew had and use it to his advantage to overthrow the headmistress at a later date, Enoch held back mentioning anything he knew.

"No, of course not. You should be fine. Although, Victor is probably going to give you some trouble, by the look of it. I reckon everyone else should like you proper."

Enoch nodded in agreement, and they went back to eating in silence for a while. Dinner eventually drew to an end, and it was time for the moderately anticipated talent show. Enoch asked Miss Nightjar if he might be able to participate in the show and she agreed, provided that there was some time at the end. So, while everyone was busy making the final preparations he grabbed his jar of rat hearts and as many little clay men as he could carry. One or two would've sufficed for a simple demonstration, but he obviously didn't really intend on wasting the opportunity to only display his powers.

By the time Enoch made it downstairs again, everyone was mostly prepared. Miss Nightjar escorted him outside towards the yard. A small makeshift stage had been constructed with wood and old drapes. Despite being the only audience member, there were enough seats set aside for the entire house. About a dozen lamps illuminated the area in a warm comforting light. However, in peculiar fashion, there were also balls of light that glowed in a similar fashion to fireflies. Enoch took a seat in the middle row, while Miss Nightjar stood beside him in the aisle. An eye, he recognized as Marcie's peaked out from behind the curtains.

"We're ready, Miss Nightjar!" she called out. Miss Nightjar reluctantly took the stage as the first act, despite the fact everyone was well informed of what her powers were.

"In humble tradition, we welcome Mr. O'Connor into our peculiar world," Miss Nightjar added. She did not smile or make him feel at all truly welcomed, but Enoch expected she wouldn't, so he was not surprised or bothered. If he wanted to be there it also might've bothered him more. "We hope he will treat us kindly, and we can gain another trusted ally in these difficult times."

To end her short prelude, she transformed into a bird and zoomed off into the night. There was clapping from behind the curtain and, to be polite, Enoch clapped along as well. The official first act of the actual show was Marcie, of course. She teleported to different parts of the house and brought back different items, as proof she'd really been there. Although, Enoch reckoned she stayed away from people's bedrooms because it was not "proper". She'd learned enough manners and control to keep herself out of places she shouldn't be. Of course, he also reckoned Miss Nightjar gave her specific instructions that a certain supposedly vacant room was off limits, for the time being. The next act was a grand combination of all the kids with bodily peculiarities. Walter's head managed to squeeze in between his sister's and Ella was cutting off limbs at lighting speed. It was surprisingly less gruesome then Enoch's own peculiarity, for she did not bleed after any of the cuts she made. After she had about four extra legs and six extra arms, she attached them onto the body of Walter, and he began trying to waltz with himself and his sisters. Enoch couldn't help but laugh a little as he stumbled all over the place and nearly fell off the stage. Edgar and Andrew also went together as a duo. Part of Edgar's peculiarity was not only in his shadowy appearance. He could control light as well. Which meant that the bioluminescent boy was completely under his control. Thankfully, he used it harmlessly and just had Andrew dance the Hokey Cokey. Next was Charlie. He could manipulate earth. For his act, he caused a minor earthquake which was concentrated solely in the audience area. Meanwhile, the stage remained completely stationary. He ended his act by offering to go grave digging with Enoch sometime because his power was real useful for dredging stuff up.

The last act was supposed to be Beatrice. However, she seemed to take one look at Enoch and completely freeze. While he couldn't argue that he didn't give off the most friendly vibes, he didn't think of himself as completely terrifying. The girl hadn't even seen him covered in blood and holding any vital organs yet. He waited patiently for her to recover, assuming she just needed a moment. However, she ran off stage rather promptly. It sounded as if the other kids expected this behavior, and it wasn't exactly Enoch's fault. They all came out at the abrupt ending and tried to make excuses for her, as they filled the empty seat surrounding him. The only other one absent was Charlie, who had likely run after her.

"Miss Nightjar said I could join in—Shall I properly close out the show?" Enoch chimed in, suddenly. Thankfully, he was met with mostly positive responses. He might've been met with a bitter grumble from Walter, but Andrew was cheering far too loud for him to have been heard by anyone. Enoch took the stage with his jar of hearts and a handful of little clay men.

"Apologies, but I haven't had much time to prepare myself and I realize you've already had yourself a death raiser up until fairly recently." Enoch stated. He'd already started to press the hearts into the little clay figures and setting them down. They seemed stationary and lifeless, but that was simply because Enoch had yet to give them orders. "However, I feel like my act is something fairly unique to myself."

Once he had seemingly matched all his soldiers with hearts, they were ready for his command:

Attack!

For clay, they moved rather fast. It only took them a moment to descend upon the crowd. The other kids wouldn't get hurt, Enoch just needed to create enough of a distraction, so that Miss Nightjar would surely come out to bring order again. She wasn't there yet, but Enoch figured at the volume some of the girls were screaming at, it wouldn't be much longer. He'd saved one soldier in his front pocket with Persephone's key tied to its back. As the rest of the army created chaos and distraction, Enoch whispered different instructions to this one,

Go return this to Miss Nightjar's office for me.

The soldier nodded and departed Enoch with a dutiful salute. Enoch sighed and took a seat on the stage to just watch things. He was beyond just tired at this point, but at least was somewhat satisfied with getting one thing off his back. It only lasted a brief moment before Miss Nightjar came storming out, blowing a whistle that sounded remarkably like a bird. The little soldiers wouldn't have usually stopped for anyone who wasn't Enoch, however, their lifespans were running short, and the loud noise caught them too much by surprise. They all managed to run back to him, using the rest of their remaining lives and exhausting their little hearts. Enoch scooped them all up and put them into the jar for the time being. Miss Nightjar calmly but sternly insisted that since the show was over, they should all start getting ready for bed. They obeyed, except Enoch. He anticipated he would not be allowed to simply walk off after using his powers to terrorize the others, so he remained where he was. Sure enough, she immediately turned to him after the others had disappeared inside.

"Mr. O'Connor—please tell me this was just an accident caused by your lack of better judgement." she sighed, sounding as equally tired as he was. Surely deciding to take in another kid was a challenging fleet and Enoch was not making it any easier.

"I will not lie to you headmistress. I did it on purpose." Enoch admitted, figuring lying would be useless. However, that also didn't mean he had to tell her the entire truth either. "I don't like them…"

"You've barely given the others a chance. It's only been a day."

"I want to go home."

"You can't go back there. I'm sorry…" she answered, solemnly. Enoch was actually quite surprised about how easy it had been to finesse her. While his statements couldn't exactly be classified as lies, they were heavily emphasized in overly dramatic tones. He wasn't that homesick, and he didn't really have that many negative feelings towards the other kids.

"Fine. I'll take my punishment tomorrow then. I'd like to go to bed now." Enoch added, already picking up his jar and beginning to walk towards the door. He was about to finally leave, when suddenly Miss Nightjar spoke again,

"I daresay you might've had me fooled with that act, Mr. O'Connor," she exclaimed, with a secretly sinister cheer. Enoch quickly turned, trying to ignore the chills she'd sent right down his back. Miss Nightjar held up a lifeless little clay figure with the key attached to its back. "—I believe you've made the rookie mistake of miscounting your men."