POTENTIAL: TWENTY-SIX

**ALEX POV**

The girls just entered the adjacent room. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Until now, I still couldn't believe that Quinn, whom I thought was just an ordinary girl, was actually a killer. That's probably why she acted so friendly – to have potential victims. But I still wondered why she did it and what her motive was.

The girls continued with their tasks, while Sky and I kept a close watch on them through the CCTV footage.

Four hours had passed, and they were still energetic. They finished all their cookies and juice, but their energy level remained top-notch. I was impressed with their acting skills, especially Maica's. Honestly, I was enjoying what I was seeing. The tricksters tricking another trickster.

We saw the three of them sitting in the middle of the room. In the middle was a small table with a bottle, and I had a feeling I knew what game they were about to play.

"Spin the bottle," we both said simultaneously, causing us to exchange glances.

"We're going to play spin the bottle, but with a little twist. Whoever the bottle points to has to choose someone who hasn't been chosen yet. The chosen person will give their first impression of the selector and then explain why. No hard feelings," Trisha explained through our earbuds.

"The confrontation," Sky declared. It was the time when everything would be revealed.

I set down the glass, thinking it contained juice, and walked to my spot, just outside the door of Trisha's room. "See you later, babe," I teased, letting out a laugh.

"They're listening," he replied, causing my eyes to widen. I suddenly remembered we were wearing earbuds. I just avoided eye contact and continued walking. "Careful, babe," he teased, stopping me in my tracks. My cheeks suddenly warmed, so I quickened my pace. I've had enough embarrassment lately, and I'd make sure this would be the last.

I reached the door of Trisha's room, next to Sky's and mine. The hallway was empty, and it emitted an eerie ambiance. I admit I'm scared of ghosts, but I have no choice now. This was where I was stationed, and I would endure it.

I took out my phone connected to one of the CCTV cameras. Through my phone, I could see what was happening on the other side of the door I was facing.

"Shall we start?" Trisha invited, and both of them nodded. Trisha held the bottle and spun it forcefully. The bottle spun several times until it stopped, pointing its tip at Maica.

"Me already?" she protested. "Okay, since Trisha already said her impression of me. Quinn, it's your turn." A shocking reaction appeared on Quinn's face, irritating me. To hear what Quinn would say, I used my clairaudience on her.

"Okay. God! I never thought this would be so pressure-filled. Okay, uhh..." Quinn cleared her throat. "Maica, my first impression of you is you're trustworthy." Nice one, Quinn, because that's exactly what I had in mind right now. "Thinking that Alex is your friend even though he killed someone before, needs a lot of trust for Alex to believe that you won't use your friendship to betray him." I was speechless at Quinn's explanation. That's precisely why I had so much trust in Maica because, from the very beginning, she never broke the trust I gave her. I trusted her not to be the reason for my downfall, and she fulfilled that.

"That's sweet, Quinn. Thank you."

"Oh, Maica, spin the bottle now." The bottle spun again, and I never expected it to stop at Quinn. From that moment, the air instantly shifted, making the atmosphere heavier than before. I looked serious and focused on the footage.

"Can you believe it, Quinn right away?" Maica teased, causing Quinn to laugh.

"Pick someone, Quinn," Trisha instructed directly.

"Would it be you, Trisha?"

"Are you sure? You can still change your mind?" Here we go.

"I'm certain."

"Okay." My heart pounded with anxiety. "My first impression of you was when I saw you at the back of the school yesterday. You were crying, so my first impression of you is sensitive. You're sensitive to what people say about you, that's why you easily get emotional."

"Really?" Quinn asked, embarrassed.

Trisha's smile disappeared instantly, replaced with a serious and angry expression. "Of course not, because we know that you're just fooling around, pretending." I approached the door and waited for the go signal.

Quinn frowned. "What did you say?" she asked, laughing.

"Spit it out, Quinn. Why did you kill five of our classmates?" Maica asked seriously, making Quinn furrowed her brow in confusion.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Do we look like we're joking with you?" Trisha asked sharply. I neared to the door and waited for the signal.

Quinn escaped a chuckle until it turned into laughter. "I like this game! Fooling each other and then a confrontation. This is a very nice idea, Trisha!"

"Thanks, but no thanks. Now tell us!" Trisha demanded, removing Quinn's deceptive mask.

"How about, no."

"Alex!" Sky shouted through my earbud. I slammed the door open, surprising Quinn. I pointed my hand at her, making her immobile. Quinn was now floating in mid-air, looking at us with her grin.

"I never knew you could do this, Alex," Quinn exclaimed, trying to break free from my hold.

"Just like you, Quinn, you don't know me either. Now tell us why you killed our classmates?"

"If I say I don't want to, I don't want to!" We were shocked when Quinn's fingers suddenly elongated, resembling tentacles. Quinn was about to grab the table, but I beat her to it by striking her with my energy wave. "I'll be back, Alex, and I'll make sure no one is left alive." Quinn threw several stuffed toys at us, but I immediately stopped them using my telekinesis. But when I looked at her location, I couldn't see her anymore.

"She escaped," Maica announced while looking at the broken window. Sky entered just in time, immediately looking at the direction Quinn ran.

"What is she?" Trisha asked, now on everyone's minds.

We were in the kitchen at the moment having a so-called meeting. All of us were now contemplating what we saw earlier. No doubt that all of us were surprised about what happened back in Trisha's room.

"Sky and Mister Treasurer is right – Quinn is not what we think she is," I reiterated the words I heard once.

"What could she be?" Maica asked, busy munching on snacks.

"None of us know," Trisha pointed out.

"But I saw something at her back," Maica reported, grabbing our attention. "A tattoo."

"What does it say?" I asked.

"Just numbers," she replied.

"Like this?" Sky interjected, then showed us his laptop screen. On the screen was an image of a group of numbers, which I presumed to be what Maica was referring to. It was taken by the CCTV and consisted of six numbers: 122122.

"What's that?" Trisha asked.

"I tried to decipher it but I couldn't get a concrete answer. So, I thought it might be a date but when I searched it online, this is all that came up." Sky pressed something on the keyboard and the search result for that date appeared on the screen.

"Jerkillious? Isn't that the beef jerky that got banned because it tested positive for harmful chemicals?" Maica confirmed, reminding me of that product.

Sky grabbed his laptop and continued searching for clues. "What happened to the factory?" Sky asked, focusing on his laptop.

"That's what's puzzling because there's no registered factory manufacturing this product," Maica replied, perplexing the three of us.

"How's that even possible?" Trisha inquired.

"Weird," I commented.

"According to this article, they not only discovered poison from that product but also amino acids found only in humans," Sky shared.

"Please tell me I'm wrong with what I'm thinking," Maica exclaimed, fear and concern painted on her face.

"Jerkillious is not made of beef. It's human flesh." My eyes widened upon hearing Sky's declaration. I pictured people eating it, unaware that they were consuming human flesh.

"But what does this have to do with Quinn? They're not conducting human experiments, aren't they?" Maica anxiously asked.

"They might have conducted human experiments, and the failed samples might have been turned into jerkies," Trisha explained, nearly making me feel nauseous.

I asked, "But why would they need to turn them into jerky? They could've buried them, right?" Maica shrugged, clueless.

"Financial aid," Sky guessed. We all looked at him, not fully understanding his point. "Science experiments require a lot of money; that's why they need sponsors and investors to carry out their experiments. Let's just say they have no sponsors and investors. To continue their projects, they need money, and that's how they came up with this business," Sky explained, helping us understand. "But there's one thing I can't quite figure out."

"What is it, Sky?" Maica asked.

"How they get their supplies."

"You mean, how do they get human volunteers?" Sky nodded in response to Trisha's question. We all fell silent, seemingly searching for possible answers to our questions. I decided to look for answers in movies, hoping to find something.

After a minute of brainstorming, an idea came to mind. "Remember the movie 'Venom'?" I asked them, and only Maica and Trisha nodded while Sky shook his head. "The antagonist used beggars and street people as human samples. What if they did the same?"

"Probably. Because my mom told me that twelve years ago, beggars and street people disappeared simultaneously. And a year after that, Jerkillious was first released in the market," Maica explained.

We never thought we would end up like this. Because of Quinn, we solved a case that was left unsolved before. But Quinn's motive and the one who created her were still mysteries to us.

"So, what's the plan?" Maica curiously asked. All eyes were on Sky since he was the only one who knew what our next move would be.

"We'll go to her apartment tomorrow after class," the guy suggested.

"You mean later?" Trisha clarified, showing us the time on her phone. We were surprised to find out it was already almost four o'clock.

"Geez! We can't go in without enough sleep!" Maica worriedly reasoned.

Come on. You'll just sleep in class later.

"Let's just sleep. We still have 3 hours," I suggested, which they all agreed to. We immediately headed to Trisha's mom's room and prepared to sleep. We couldn't sleep there in Trisha's room because the window was broken. Quinn might come back and attack us while we slept.

We let the girls sleep on the bed while Sky and I settled on the floor. It was comfortable since Trisha lent us a thick comforter. Maica quickly fell asleep, but I still couldn't feel drowsy.

"Can't sleep?" Turns out, it was Sky and me who couldn't sleep. I was facing away from him, and he was facing me. Even though it wasn't our first time sleeping next to each other, it still felt like the first time for me.

"Sort of," was my brief reply. I heard Sky move, and I was startled when I felt his hand slowly wrap around my waist. My body couldn't move and started to feel cold. But my eyes widened when I felt Sky's body pressing against my back. I could feel his breath on my neck, giving me goosebumps.

But gradually, my body relaxed until, eventually, I liked our position. With him by my side, I felt safe and protected. The same feeling I had when he kissed me. Bliss and happiness were now invading my entire body. Before long, sleep visited me. I held Sky's hand, feeling his face getting closer to my neck. I felt Sky's lips touch my neck, causing my hair to stand on end.

"Sorry," he whispered an apology.

"If you're planning to do something, you should stop. Two girls might see us," I warned.

"I'm not planning to do something... yet." Hearing the last word of his sentence made my face burn. I closed my eyes and waited to fall asleep.