Monday September 13th – Traditionally, the Saint-Joseph's College organizes class days for the juniors because of the large amount of new pupils and the flustering shifts between last year's classes and the current groups. These days are held to strengthen the bonds between the pupils. Yet this year, the schoolboard is straying from tradition, seeing as this year's destination is Westmalle.

This year's atmosphere has also changed because of the tragic death of Tinne P., one of the juniors, two weeks ago. That's why the schoolboard especially stressed the importance of this two-day field trip, so the pupils could vent their feelings in a less strict environment.

To the three friends Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie, this doesn't matter, though. They lost one of their best friends and on top of that, they turn out to be freaks of nature. Their new gifts still take some getting used to. Anyway, they're ready and dressed in adventurous clothing just like their peers, and they have their bikes on hand and enough luggage for two days.

'This is so stupid! And so typical of our school: a field trip to get to know these morons of our class better. That's the last thing on my mind!' Kelly nags while she checks the texts on her cellphone.

'Yes Kelly, we know: social school business is not your cup of tea,' Nathalie sighs. The last thing on my mind right now is suffering through Kelly's endless nagging. I already did enough of that these past four years.

'Hé, I'm no antisocial monster, you know! I just don't feel comfortable during these things.'

'Yeah, I have to admit that I don't feel up for it either. Now that Tinne's dead and we have these', Nathalie whispers, so no one hears her say, 'powers', and continues at a regular tone, 'I'm so afraid of every new development in my life.'

'Ugh, tell me about it! I constantly have to control myself and stay calm or I'll fling half the school to Tokyo and I'm someone who gets angry pretty quickly. That's double hard!'

'I mostly have to be careful where I point my hands to and watch my words or I'll zip my dog to the roof.'

'Miss beauty queen doesn't seem to be bothered by anything apparently,' Kelly nods to Kim, who's laughing over by some classmates. She's wearing a tight army tank top with loose kaki green shorts underneath and sporting a pair of sunglasses that basically cover half her face.

'Unbelievable, Tinne is not even cold yet or she's already looking for new friends!'

'Everyone processes these things in their own way,' Nathalie sighs.

At this moment, Dorien joins them. The field trip hasn't begun yet or misfortune already rears its ugly head in the form of Dorien's baby face, Kelly thinks.

'Hey! Ready for the field trip?' the brunette with pink, chubby cheeks grins.

'Yeah, it'll really be super fun!' Nathalie laughs. Kelly gazes at her baffled and full of disbelief. When their eyes meet, Nathalie rolls hers and shrugs.

'I'm totally pumped up. I'm so incredibly excited,' Dorien smiles. Kelly has to control herself not to push her on the street in front of a moving vehicle. 'Oh, there's Kim! I'll go say hello to her too. Toodles!'

When Dorien scurries off, Kelly imitates her uncannily, which causes Nathalie to guffaw like crazy. It'll be one long field trip, the red-headed girl sighs exasperatedly.


After an exhausting two-hour bike ride, during which Kelly and Nathalie were cycling all the way in the back with delightful Dorien as their only company, the train of cyclists finally arrives at the youth hostel in Westmalle. At first sight the building looks quite underwhelming. It's completely white, to the extent that it hasn't faded, and built horizontally with a large glass hallway dead center of the building where its two sections meet and through which the green terrains in the back can immediately be accessed from the entrance.

Everyone moves alongside the left side of the youth hostel towards a roofed wooden bicycle shelter under a bunch of pine trees. The pupils stock their bikes there for the next two days and disembark their luggage, which they bring inside. Her hot pink travelling bag at her feet, Kim's already waiting for Kelly and Nathalie. Grinning broadly, she waves at them when they arrive, but they quickly take their luggage and walk past her.

'Hey, hello, I'm right here, you know!' Kim gestures wildly. Kelly sighs, spins around, and smiles:

'Sorry, we didn't recognize you with your sunglasses on.'

'Oh,' she removes her disproportionate sunglasses and stashes them in her travelling bag, 'Better?'

'A vast improvement!'

Kim picks up her pink travelling bag and skips to catch up with the two girls. Another hyperactive brat! Kelly thinks melancholically. The three friends walk to the side of the building with access to the green terrains, enter, and climb up the stairs to their room, which they share with Dorien.


The following moment, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie are crammed in a dank room on the first floor of the youth hostel, together with their peers from the group of classes 5LSC and 5HUMa, their homeroom mistress Mrs. Hofwegen, and a camp counselor. The camp counselor is a short, skinny woman with medium-long ginger hair. When everybody's seated on a chair in a circle, the camp counselor stands up and starts to speak:

'First of all, I'd like to welcome you to Westmalle and assure you that we're going to have a really great time together these next two days. Now, my name's Fien and I'm going to be chaperoning you. You're all here to get to know each other better, right, because this is the first time in five years that you're in this arrangement?'

Docilely, everyone says and nods yes, after which Fine continues. 'Well, to get started I'd like to play a kind of guessing game with you guys to see how much you already know about each other. Everyone is going to tell three facts about themselves, but one of them will be a lie and everybody has to guess what's wrong. Oh, and you also mention your names first, so I get to know those as well.

I'll go first and then we'll just continue clockwise. Okay, I'm Fien, I'm 27 years old, I was with the Girl Scouts, and own seven cats. What's wrong?'

'Your name isn't Fien!' a boy with a Justin Bieber hairdo smirks. The thatched roof of his hair has the same color as the pop star's, but for the most part he hardly resembles the child star. The boy, for instance, has a broad nose, a square face full of zits, and a big, dark brown mold on his right cheek. He also has a slightly (annoying and) nasal voice.

'No, no, I am in fact named Fien. Something else is false. Anyway, what's your name?'

'Emmet.'

'Okay, Emmet. Well, you guessed wrong. Does somebody else want to try?'

'You don't have seven cats!' a girl with a brown ponytail guesses.

'Yet I do. Try again.'

'Seven cats? That's sick!' Kim whispers.

'That isn't that crazy. I have two back at home,' Kelly whispers back.

'Yes, but you're not allergic to cat hair.'

All of a sudden Nathalie wickedly enthusiastically raises her hand and says:

'You're not 27 years old!'

'And why do you think so? Do you think I look older perhaps?'

'No, but I just think that you were actually in the Girl Scouts because then it would maybe make more sense if you did this too.'

'That's correct, nice thinking. I'm not 27. I'm younger.'

'How much younger?' a tall, blond guy asks.

'A lady never tells her age,' she chuckles. 'Okay, we're continuing clockwise, so the person to my left is up next.'

And so the game travels around the group whilst everyone laughs with and jokes about the facts that are incorrect. Until it's Kelly's turn…

'Okay, my name's Kelly. I hate school, I have three cats, and I…am a witch.'

Straight away Kim and Nathalie stare at her in shock, but Emmet is first to guess. 'You don't have three cats!'

As soon as he says that, the others burst out laughing because everyone expected the last fact for an answer.

'Come on now! It's pretty obvious that Kelly isn't a witch, hmm. Nathalie, your turn,' Mrs. Hofwegen intercedes amongst the laughter.

'Yes. I'm Nathalie and…'

The others turn to her, but Kim still watches Kelly in appalment. After the guessing game a few more games follow, after which the group goes outside with Fien. Kim and Nathalie pull Kelly aside for a little while.

'Are you out of your mind? Do you want everyone to know?' Kim hisses.

'What? Come on! These days there are people everywhere who claim to be witches. Why would they condemn us and burn us at the stake?'

'Because we have certain powers, Kelly! I don't think that applies to those other people too,' Nathalie whispers.

'On top of that, we're not even sure if we're really witches,' Kim whispers.

'You just worry way too much! No one asked about it and there's no one who keeps pushing. Chill out.'

Kelly slides between the two of them and joins the others outside. Concerned, the two friends peer at each other, shake their heads, and follow the group.


The next activity, Billy, Billy, Bob, is more intense than the guessing game. The group spreads out in a circle and Fien explains the game:

'Now we're going to play the game Billy, Billy, Bob. Has anybody heard of it before?' No reply follows. 'Well then, in a minute someone is going to stand at the center of the circle and that person will have to point to someone and say "Billy, Billy, Bob" as quickly as possible. If the middle guy is able to say this completely, the person who was pointed to has to take the other's place at the center.

Though, the person who was pointed to actually has to make sure the middle guy can't say it by saying "Bob" before the other has finished their sentence. If that person manages to say "Bob" on time, the middle guy has to stay in the center and point to someone else to say "Billy, Billy, Bob" to. Does everyone understand?'

She looks around and sees a lot of confused faces. A girl with short, curly brown hair raises her hand and asks:

'So, for example, if you're in the middle and point to me, I have to say "Bob" before you say "Billy, Billy, Bob"?'

'That's right. Is that clear for everyone?'

Now the entire group nods affirmatively and the fun can begin. It isn't long before the victims in the middle are switching with others, but there are some who have to remain at the center for a long time. They miss their shots so often that they get a nervous breakdown right then and there, as it were, until they're finally allowed to switch.

Then it's Nathalie's turn and she belongs to the "lingerer" category. She points to Mrs. Hofwegen as her first victim:

'Billy, Billy, …'

'Bob!' she beats her to it. So, Nathalie points to the next one:

'Billy, …'

'Bob!'

Every single time, Nathalie's too slow and her nervous state and constant giggling create great amusement, which doesn't make it any easier for her. It's even causing her to stumble over her own words.

'Bzwilly, killy, …no, ah!'

Out of giggling frustration, she covers her face with her hands and directs herself to her next victim: Kelly. She points to her off the bat and immediately says:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

In her excitement, she does make a bush behind Kelly scatter into a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. It disappears (she orbed it away), but no one notices. Not even Nathalie, because she's happy that she doesn't have to stand at the center anymore. She switches places with Kelly, but as soon as she's in the middle, she points to Nathalie:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

Before she realizes it, Nathalie is sent back to the center. This makes the rest of the gang laugh quite a bunch. A little irritated, Nathalie directs herself to someone and points:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

She beats the other to it again, but suddenly, the bush she orbed away appears above the person she pointed to in a twinkling sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. Just as she's about to switch places with said person, the bush tumbles down.

As soon as that happens, Kim freaks and shrieks, instinctively stretching her hands. This causes everybody to stand still and the bush to be suspended motionlessly in the air.

'Great,' Kim mutters.

'How are we going to fix this?' Kelly sighs while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

'Nathalie, I think it's best if you just concentrate really hard and focus on moving that bush.'

'Easy for you to say. Just concentrate really hard!' Nathalie imitates her in a childish way.

'Just get it over with!', Kim folds her arms angrily, 'Before everything and everyone is moving again.'

Nathalie attentively studies the bush that seems to be floating motionlessly in the air and carefully points to it. 'Bush!'

The bush lights up a blue color and scatters into tiny, surging, blue light orbs, but they stay hovering close together. Nathalie peeks over her shoulder at her two friends. 'Now what?'

'No clue. Throw it somewhere where it won't stick out,' Kelly suggests.

Nathalie waves her arm to the shrubbery to the side of the circle of people and moves the blue sea of light over there. The bush materializes and gently drops. Just in time, because the following moment everyone's moving again. Luckily, no one noticed the bush and the game continues.


Soon it's lunchtime. The three courses – from soup to dessert – are swiftly devoured. During the meal, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie sit closest to the kitchen. Next to their table, there's a serving hatch through which the cutlery and dishes have to be passed to the kitchen after lunch.

Every time someone wants to take their used tableware to the kitchen, they have to pass by the girls and every time someone brushes past them, they bump into Kelly's shoulder. After a while, that irritates her to such an extent that her anger makes the table quiver.

'Kelly, calm down,' Kim tries to soothe her. She gently grabs hold of Kelly's hand and squeezes it lightly to let her know she understands. Yet again someone bumps into her and it's none other than Emmet. Someone who had been bugging Kelly the entire time this morning.

'Oh I'm so sorry, Kelly, I really didn't mean to,' he apologizes, his words dripping with sarcasm like liquid honey from a spoon. His slightly nasal voice seems to highlight his insincere apology. Kelly takes a deep breath through her nose and breathes back out. She is gritting her teeth so badly that it looks as if her braces might snap. She raises herself up squinting her eyes.

The windows behind Kim and Nathalie start to tremble and quiver just like the table. The two friends notice and both grab hold of one of Kelly's hands.

'Kelly, just count to ten and calmly breathe in and out,' Nathalie whispers in an attempt to calm her down.

'You can do it, Kelly! Do it for us,' Kim whispers.

Kelly closes her eyes and slows down her breathing. She's nodding her head to indicate her counting pace. After seven ticks, she's completely relaxed and the table and windows cease their trembling.

Meanwhile, Emmet bluntly smacks his used plate on top of the other dirty tableware, loosely balancing it on a dish-stacked Tower of Pisa. The two female chefs in the kitchen are only just able to prevent the stack from tipping over while Emmet nonchalantly saunters off. Next, the middle-aged female chefs grunt and mumble something incomprehensible.


After lunch, the pupils get a break. Nathalie and Kelly stroll along a long, wide gravel path that winds through the entire terrain, until they reach a wooden gate. Here they take a seat on the ground. Kim isn't with them because immediately after the meal a classmate took her aside for a chat.

Once they're seated on the relatively dry ground, Kelly takes her guitar from her guitar case. Before they left, she had laid her guitar in the van that a couple of teachers used to drive to Westmalle. She tunes the guitar and starts playing and singing a few melodies while Nathalie fumbles around with her cellphone and sings along with some of the songs.

'You know, I feel like Kim's being awfully friendly again with those people from Latin. She's really starting to change,' Kelly says while she strums her guitar.

'Yeah, I thought she never wanted to have anything to do with them again after you-know-who,' Nathalie shakes her head.

'Maybe she's scouting the other Latinists for a new boyfriend?'

'Ha! That would be funny. No, I figured Kim would want to spend more time with us since the three of us are the only ones who have these kind of powers.'

'Maybe she actually wants to stay as far away from us as possible, so she isn't confronted with who she really is?'

'But she doesn't have to, does she? We've known each other for five years. She doesn't have to be ashamed of us or something.'

'As long as she doesn't hang out with Emmet out of her own free will, we have nothing to worry about.'

This causes Nathalie to snicker and Kelly laughs along with her. At this moment, Kim comes sprinting towards them.

'Hey! What's so funny?'

'Nothing…well, you know, Emmet,' Nathalie shrugs. She continues typing on her cellphone.

'Don't get me started on that Justin Bieber lookalike! Hasn't he realized yet that his hairdo is so 2009?' Kim rolls her eyes while she goes to sit down cross-legged on the ground.

'Some people just can't take a hint,' Kelly grins to Nathalie. The two chuckle, but Kim doesn't understand the innuendo.

'Why was that funny?'

'You know,' Kelly shrugs. She plays another tune on her guitar.

'What do you mean "you know"? I honestly don't get the joke.'

Nathalie gazes up to Kelly and the two share a look of mutual understanding.

'Hey, hello? I asked you something.'

'Yeah, I heard you,' Kelly says.

'Then why won't you answer me?'

'Because you might not like the answer.'

'Well, go right on ahead. I'm a big girl. I can take it.'

Kelly puts aside her guitar, places herself right in front of Kim's face, and takes hold of her hands. 'We feel that you're spending a little too much time with your classmates. You seem to have completely forgotten about us. And even though Tinne has only been dead for two weeks, you seem to be entirely over her death. Just when the three of us are experiencing a major change in our lives, you don't want to have anything to do with us.'

'What? So I can't spend any time with my classmates or have any fun? Should I be deeply depressed and constantly burst into tears because my close friend has died? Should I be a millstone around you guys' neck because I'm suddenly able to stop time? And I may seem totally heartless, but I'm suffering too.'

'Then why don't we notice?' Nathalie snaps.

'Because I need to keep strong for you guys.'

'Why?'

'Because you're completely stricken with grief and one of us has to be the others' rock. If all three of us are sitting here sobbing, there isn't anyone around to tell you everything will be alright.'

'Kim, you don't need to act strong for us. We want you to cry with us, we actually want you to show all your emotions.'

'Yeah, we're big girls. We can take it,' Kelly smiles.

'O thank goodness!' Kim sighs chuckling, but her laughing transforms into sobbing and her sobs quickly escalate to tears. She shields her mouth with her hands, shuts her eyes, and weeps like a little baby. Kelly crawls over to her, hugs her, and presses her against her shoulder.

'Let it all out,' she caresses her hair. Nathalie, too, crawls over to her. She lays down her head on Kim's shoulder and rubs her arm.

'It's alright, you know,' she whispers. The three friends sit there like that on the ground until Kim has stopped crying.


When their lunch break is over, the three girls walk hand in hand to the meeting place at the back of the youth hostel. There, the rest of the group and Fien are already waiting for them.

Next, Fien leads the group a bit further down the terrain to a dry, sandy spot under some pine trees. Here she proposes to play the game Unfaithful Spouse. Everyone splits into pairs of two and lies down in a circle. One partner lies down on their stomach on the ground, while the other sits on top of their partner.

Then someone who's left by themselves is going to wink to two people and they have to try to get from under their partner. The partners have to prevent this, though. If someone manages to break free and sit on top of the person who is alone, the partner that lost their "spouse" has to wink next time. The pair that stuck together then have to switch positions.

During Unfaithful Spouse, Nathalie reigns triumphant, while both Kelly and Kim bite the dust. Especially when Kim has to lie beneath her ex, seeing as he's very muscular and practices judo. There's really no way for her to move an inch when she's being winked at, because her ex just keeps her pinned down.

Kelly's problem, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Because of her tiny figure she can't stop any partner, not even when she wraps herself around someone's leg. Her classmates simply drag her along with them. Then there's Nathalie, who can easily hurl her partners away thanks to her height and can suppress them just as easily.


After plenty of romping around, playing, and exercising, the pupils can feast on their dinner. The three friends' clothes are riddled with stains, as are the girls themselves.

'This isn't fun anymore. I feel so dirty,' Kim stares blankly ahead of herself while Kelly and Nathalie dig into their meal.

'You only need to make it through tonight and tomorrow. Then this'll be all over,' Nathalie slices a piece of meat, jabs her fork into it, and puts it into her mouth.

'After dinner, I'm going to scrub myself so hard. I want to get rid of these dirty sand and mud smells. And I'll immediately put on different clothes. We weren't going to do any sporty activities after dinner, right?'

'I don't think so. Just eat up!' Kelly encourages her. Slowly but surely, Kim digs into her heaping plate, which eventually gets devoured completely.

The same ritual as during lunch repeats itself, with the serving hatch and the bumping, but now Kelly has moved over a bit more, so she doesn't risk blowing the wall in front of her from the building. Again, the used tableware is brought to the serving hatch and, again, Emmet inconsiderately places his plate on top of the dishes. Again, the two middle-aged female chefs grunt and mumble, but now they address one of the teachers.

'That boy over there, with his Donald Trump hairdo,' one of the chefs points to Emmet, 'has very brutally smacked down his tableware. That one doesn't seem to have any manners.'

The teacher stands up and taps Emmet's shoulder, 'Emmet, you'll be helping the chefs with the dishes later on.'

'What? Why?' he asks befuddled.

'Because, according to them, you need to learn how to handle tableware with care.' The teacher nods affirmatively to the female chefs and goes to sit down again while Emmet faceplants the table and mopes.


After having cleared the tables, the pupils get a two-hour break, except for Emmet, who has to help the chefs with the dishes. Some pupils go up to their rooms to rest a bit, like Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie, and others seclude themselves on the massive terrain to come to their senses. Just like two blondes who crave a moment of silence.

The two of them are sitting in the playground near the youth hostel. The playground is a large sandbox filled with white sand and equipped with playthings, such as a jungle gym. One of the two girls is just digging a hole in the white sand with her hand.

'This is so exhausting. Those counselors want to play so many games, but it doesn't feel like I'm really getting to know my classmates any better,' the digging girl's friend grumbles.

'Yeah and then they also want to organize some kind of race against the clock tonight. No, thank you!' the digging girl sighs, but suddenly, she feels her hand stroking a much harder yet smoother surface. It seems as if a whitish gray stone has appeared in the hole she has been digging.

She wipes her hand around the stone to expose it completely, but at a certain point she feels two holes in the stone. She jabs the holes and removes the sand from them whilst digging around the object. Suddenly, she recognizes what kind of stone she's dealing with.

'Aaaaaaah!' she screams. The girl bounces up and patters on her feet screaming hysterically. The scream can be heard miles away. Already other pupils come running towards it and they witness the horrifying discovery: a human skull.

In the kitchen, Emmet is able to hear the scream as well and he also sees people starting to gather around the playground. Curiously, he watches from the window. What's going on out there? he wonders.

He's being sneaked up on from behind, though, by one of the chefs, a 45-year-old woman with short, black hair and glasses. She bares her teeth, revealing her rotten, crooked, and yellowy dentures.

Before Emmet fully realizes it, the chef grabs him and bites down on his shoulder. To prevent him from screaming, she holds her hand over his mouth. The other female chef, who's about the same age as the other one, but has golden curls, advances on him, licking her lips, a large kitchen knife in hand. While the first one bites him and keeps him from moving, the other cuts him horizontally above the groin, like one would to eviscerate a pig.

Emmet wants to shout at the top of his lungs due to the extreme pain, but is unable to and his eyes roll to the back of his skull. Next, the golden-haired female chef holds the knife high above her head to administer the final blow.


Several hours later, the police has arrived on the scene and the entire playground is being excavated. Four more skeletons are found. The sandy playground now resembles an archeological site, where forensic scientists try to uncover the human remains with brushes and trowels.

After finding the four extra sets of remains, the police decides to search the entire premises in case other cadavers are buried there. Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim watch the spectacle in shock with their arms folded across.

'How coincidental is it that just on our field trip a set of bones is found, just when this field trip is uniquely held in Westmalle, just after we discovered our magic powers?' Kelly wonders.

'Are you trying to say we attract bad luck?' Nathalie peers at her from the corner of her eye.

'No, but it's just a little too coincidental, isn't it?'

'It might as well be some serial killer. It doesn't have to be a…' Kim wants to finish her sentence, but can't come up with a word that could make the situation seem any less awful.

'Come on! You don't believe that yourself.'

'Okay, you're right. But what do you suggest we do? Attack everybody until we run into someone with a pentagram on their forehead?'

'It doesn't have to be that Wiccatin. That one's old news, thanks to us.'

'But what do you want to do?' Nathalie asks.

'Well, whatever this creature may be, it managed to kill four people without anyone noticing or asking about it, until now. That Wiccatin's victims were found time and again, but he didn't leave a trace. I think these creatures each possess some kind of gift that makes it impossible to link them to the bodies,' Kelly reasons.

'Yeah, so?'

'This creature is more advanced than that Wiccatin. Not only can it not be tied to the murders, but no one finds out either. That's why I feel we should practice our "gifts" tonight, so we're ready to take down this freak.'


In the kitchen, the female chefs are in the process of rinsing their countertop, which is stained red with blood, with a high pressure cleaner when Fien walks in unsuspectingly.

'Hé, I heard Emmet needed to help with the dishes, but no one has actually seen him for the past five hours. Do you have any idea where he might be?' she asks.

'Yes, he was drying a kitchen knife when he accidentally cut his arm. He was bleeding an awful lot, so we called an ambulance, which picked him up. He's at the hospital. He's fine,' the black-haired chef with glasses explains.

'But I didn't hear an ambulance anywhere, let alone see one?'

The female chef gazes deep into Fien's eyes and her own eyes narrow for a moment. 'He cut his arm and went to the hospital.'

'He cut his arm and went to the hospital,' Fien repeats monotonously, after which she blinks and smiles, 'Oh thank goodness, I was getting worried.'

Without a care in the world, she leaves the kitchen behind. The female chefs grin smugly.


At night when everyone, including Dorien, is asleep, Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly kick into action. Dressed in their colorful, woolly pajamas, they gather in a circle on the floor of their bedroom.

'Okay then. Nathalie, you're up first!' Kelly whispers. Nathalie looks at her pillow and hisses:

'Pillow.' The white fluffy object doesn't move, though. 'Pillow.' Again nothing.

'Maybe you have to point to it? You pointed to that bush too,' Kim offers, whispering.

'Pillow.' This time Nathalie points to it with her index finger and the pillow scatters into tiny, surging, powder blue light orbs and vanishes in a beam of light.

'Where did it go?' Kim asks.

'I don't know.'

'Okay, so that doesn't really work either. What if you kept your arms spread open, so you can catch it?' Kelly suggests. Nathalie looks at her blanket and keeps her arms wide open.

'Blanket.'

Her blanket disintegrates into tiny, powder blue light orbs and reappears in a sea of blue light in her hands. Suddenly, Nathalie is holding her blanket.

'Yey, it worked!' she squeals happily.

'Good job, Nathalie! Okay, now it's my turn. I just need to concentrate.'

Kelly calmly breathes in and out. She peers at the blanket, which Nathalie has placed on the floor in the meantime, and squints her eyes at it, but the comforter won't move an inch.

'Are you trying to stare that blanket to death?' Kim chuckles.

'No. Shush!' Kelly hisses. She keeps staring at the blanket and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it starts to lift off the ground. The blanket hovers a few inches above the floor and gradually rises. Little by little the blanket climbs up in the air. The further it rises, the higher Kelly has to aim her gaze.

Eventually, the duvet stays suspended in the air above the heads of the three girls, lightly twirling around its axis, while Kelly continues staring at it in concentration. How she keeps this up without any neck pain and without blinking too much remains a mystery to her friends.

Kelly doesn't possess infinite concentration, though. With a sigh her head sags, which causes the blanket to drop at the same time.

'Oh!'

Because of the sudden drop, Kim freaks and stretches her hands. The comforter unwaveringly stays suspended in the air. Motionlessly, the sheet hovers in the air, as if an invisible hand is holding onto the ends.

'Nice reflexes, Kim,' Nathalie nods approvingly.

'Yeah, but that's the point! I'm only able to do this if I'm startled.'

'That's why we're practicing right now. You just need to concentrate, like we did. I think it also has to do with visualization,' Kelly explains.

'Visualization? Since when did you become a self-help guru?'

'Hé, I'm only telling you what I think. And I think you should imagine yourself freezing that sheet and making it move again.'

Kim closes her eyes, sighs, and gently raises her hands. She stretches them while making little circles in the air. As if at the snap of a finger, the sheet drops on top of the girls. They immediately burst out laughing, but they hold their index fingers in front of their mouths while they giggle to keep it quiet in case Dorien wakes up.


The next morning, the girls are playing another game with their group of classes, Mrs. Hofwegen, and Fien, but this time Nathalie trips and injures her knee. Kelly and Kim immediately rush to her aid. When they reach her, they see her blood ooze from her wound drop by drop. They support her and carry her to the building to receive medical attention.

'This is so typically you to injure yourself during such a simple little game,' Kelly says disappointed.

'At least I'm making an effort to participate. You're just standing there, complaining all the time,' Nathalie fires back.

'Come on now, let's not start this again. We all know damn well that Kelly doesn't like this type of stuff,' Kim tries to keep the peace.

'Fine. Oh, earlier I overheard the most interesting bit of news: apparently they discovered a pillow in the trunk of a tree this morning,' Kelly grins to Nathalie.

'Oh, so that's where that went,' she laughs, but then she feels another jolt of pain in her knee. The girls reach the youth hostel and put Nathalie down on one of the picnic tables in front of the building.

'Kim, you go inside and get some help. I'll stay here with Nathalie.'

Kelly seats herself beside Nathalie and comfortingly rubs her back. Kim, on the other hand, scurries inside and tries to find help, to no avail. Eventually, she tries the kitchen. Without fair warning, she runs into the shining and spacious kitchen, but as soon as she sees what's going on inside, she stops dead in her tracks. After all, the two female chefs are gnawing on Emmet's severed left leg.

When Kim catches them, they gaze at her with big eyes while their hungry, yellowy teeth are still buried in Emmet's flesh. The three of them share a panicky look, after which the chefs put down the bloody teenage leg on the kitchen table. They step from behind the steel table, bare their horrible, rotting teeth, and threateningly advance on Kim. Swiftly, the golden-haired chef grabs a cleaver and hurls it at Kim's head.

'Aah!' the pretty brunette freaks and in a panic freezes the entire room again. The cleaver stays suspended mid-air a few inches away from her stubby nose while the female chefs don't move anymore. Great, just my luck.

She takes the cleaver from the air and carefully puts it down on the kitchen table. Afterwards, she bolts outside. There, Nathalie and Kelly see her running towards them screaming in terror.

'The chefs! The chefs, they're the monsters! And I think they were eating Emmet!' she screams when she reaches her friends.

'Okay, take it easy. Don't panic! Where are they now?' Kelly tries to calm her down.

'In the kitchen! One of them threw a cleaver at me, so I freaked and froze them,' she pants.

'Umh…I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think your move stopped them for very long,' Nathalie points to the chefs, who stomp out of the youth hostel growling.

'O no. What now?'

'This. Brick!' Nathalie aims her hand at a loose brick beside the picnic table. The stone scatters into tiny, powder blue light orbs and with a wave of her arm the blonde moves the sea of light towards the chefs. The brick materializes and hits the short- and black-haired chef. In its hurl, it rips away a piece of her facial skin, but that doesn't bother her, because she keeps on walking and growling.

'So, that didn't work,' Nathalie mutters.

'Wait up. This'll stop them,' Kelly squints her eyes and focuses on the female chefs. Suddenly, a picnic table next to theirs shifts and slides over the ground with great velocity towards the demonic women.

Without ever moving an inch, the two female chefs are crushed and squished by the heavy, wooden table. This seems to work, because the cannibalistic chefs bleed to death and breathe their last.

'Wow Kelly, good job! But did you really have to use that table?' Kim asks.

'Umh…I actually wanted to throw them through the glass door behind them, but…umh…this'll do, I think.'

'Oh well, at least it beats throwing a brick,' Nathalie shrugs. This makes Kim and Kelly chuckle and they give Nathalie a pat on the back.


A little later, the female chefs' lifeless and mutilated bodies are discovered. When the three friends are asked what happened, all three of them reply that they found them like that.

Immediately after, Emmet's severed and gnawed-on body parts are found in the kitchen, as well as the murder weapon and a few organs of at least three more victims. The police decides that there's no doubt the female chefs were the killers and send their bodies, as well as the victims', off to the precinct. The field trip is ended a little earlier and all pupils are picked up by their parents, bike and all.

Even though one of their pupils was murdered, the teachers still feel that their classes have grown closer towards one another thanks to the successful teambuilding. And nothing is closer to the truth, but whether this adds up for every class remains to be seen. It certainly applies to Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim, because nothing brings people closer than a terrible secret.