He laughed with a goofy smirk. "Yeah, went for a hike, did some yoga in the woods," he ran his free hand through his hair and popped a gummy bear in his mouth. "A little jumpy today?" he countered, settling down in the grass. "You okay?"
Ella nodded, seemed like the usual Apple activities. At least something was still normal. At his next question she realised she was still brandishing her wand and flushed slightly. She lowered it, but kept a good grip on it.
"Not just today." She said cryptically, managing a little smile. "Have you ever noticed that it's kinda creepy round here? Like, shadows and stuff. There's more shadows than I thought."
"Yeah, it's definitely creepy around here," he said in agreement. "Man, some of the shit I've seen around here..." he shook his head. "I don't know, it might just be the weed," he laughed a little.
"Did you see something that freaked you out?" he asked curiously before taking a sip from his bottle.
Ella's ears pricked up at Apple's "shit" he'd seen. She looked at him strangely and popped the rest of the decapitated gummy bear in her mouth.
"Maybe. But, I think it was just a prank. It was Halloween." Ella was pretty sure she could trust Apple about anything private. "Just, with those students going missing..." She trailed off and bit her lip, already irritated from worrying it too much.
"Whoa whoa whoa. You saw some shit at Halloween?" he asked. "Was it like a dead horse thing with wings that kinda looked like... uh... bigfoot?" he grinned trying to ease the awkwardness of the question he had just asked.
That thing looked like it could eat students... but it had only nodded at him and walked away. No... it did not nod because it wasn't real. Someone had to be fucking with them. "Nah, nah, you're right, someone is just fuckin' with us. Like the whole Headless horseman thing."
"What?" Ella's brow furrowed in confusion. Had Apple seen something or was he just trying to make her feel better? "I don't know, it was so dark. I saw a clock, and it was just hanging there in mid air" which wasn't exactly out of the ordinary here. "But it had teeth and I think it smiled at me."
Ella blushed, feeling a little embarrassed, one side of her mouth turning up into a smile. "Right? It's just Halloween pranks." Even though those kids disappeared near the woods? Where you saw it? Her brain still naggedand she rubbed a knuckle into her temple. "Well, it's not funny anyway."
"Really? You saw a cloak with teeth?" he rubbed the back of his head. Maybe someone wasn't fucking with them. "That's weird that we both saw somethin' different though..." he shook his head. "Somethin' that doesn't even have a name."
"You're right, it's not a very funny prank. It's kinda scary. I hope those missing kids aren't connected to what we saw in any way." He shuddered to think of someone else running across that huge horse-bigfoot thing.
"Well, I've been looking..." Ella tilted the book over to Apple, shrugging. "But I can't find anything. What could they have been? Like, if they were real. Vampires?" Ella's eyes grew wide.
Apple took a closer look at the book, things were becoming creepily real. He flipped through a few pages of the book. "I don't know, oh wait... you said a cloak right? What... what is that thing called... it's like a shroud something..." he flipped through the book.
"I...I don't know" Ella said, defeated. She definitely didn't know enough about magical creatures yet to try and identify anything. "Go to the section on horses, that's what you saw, right? Do you think it was maybe a thestral?" But that would mean Apple would have had to have seen someone die...
Apple flipped through the book to the thestral. The creature looking back at him was not exactly what he had seen but an eerie feeling of familiarity crept up his spine. "It sort of looked like that but different," Apple ran his hand through his hair as he read the description. "But I've never seen someone die."
"What if it was like, a hybrid. Like, you know how zebras and donkeys have sex and they make a zonkey?" Ella realised how ridiculous that sounded and giggled. It was good to laugh again. "Or not."
Apple laughed. "A zonkey? I've never heard of that," he grinned. "It's not crazy though right? I mean... do you think?" He was almost tempted to draw some hairy paws on the picture and show her. "It's... possible right?"
"I guess but..why did we see different things? What are the chances? It's all gotta be linked, right? That's just like, logic."
Rather than feeling imminent danger at the thought of something else creeping around campus, Ella was strangely comforted by the fact that someone else was aware like she was.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Do you think there are more out there? Like maybe other people saw stuff too they just never said anything about it?"
He was confused and trying to think of all the possibilities. Perhaps they had discovered new monsters, the thought was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. "Maybe we should talk to Professor Baer," he suggested.
"Yeah! What if everyone has seen something?" Ella said, growing excited. She bounced a little when Apple suggested a teacher, I mean, he was kind of an expert.
"But, wont we get in trouble for not saying anything sooner?"
"Well we can just tell them the truth... er... well you can tell them the truth and I can kinda tell them the truth, I don't want to get kicked out of school," he laughed. "You were just freaked out and I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I don't think we'll get in too much trouble."
"Okay, let's do it" Ella decided, shutting the book and nodding. "I sure hope those students are okay" she added, staring wide-eyed at Apple for some reassurance.
Apple nodded once and reached over, he took Ella's hand in a gesture of comfort and smiled. "They'll be okay, and it's definitely better that we tell someone. Better late than never, right?" he grinned.
Ella squeezed his hand, realising how cold hers was in comparison. "Right. The end of this week, if the students haven't turned up we're going straight to the teachers."
Sighing, Ella grabbed Apple into a fierce bear hug. "You're the best. Thanks for not turning me in to the mental hospitals!"
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