Chapter 3: The Black Hole

"Scheißkerl!" Sabine swears in a low growl. "I knew he had to know something. This is happening with the school as its origin point. How could he not know or be involved somehow? He's like an old bloodhound. Always up someone's ass about something he's sniffed out."

Henry scoffs at the news.

"Asshole." is all he has to comment on the culprit. It’s as if Henry had always thought it so.

"But, eh… if, if it’s a poison, then there must be a way to fix it? An antidote? Or something?"

Henry began to pace. His mind raced for a moment. He imagined a heist, a break in, reverse engineering a bio weapon to produce a cure.

He came back to reality.

"Did you see where he keeps it? What it looks like?"

Stina stays silent, brooding at the news of the Rektor's involvement. Someone's car is going to have a little malfunction, soon... she thinks, already plotting the sabotage in her head.

"I'll do you one better than that!", Jonas says. He reaches under his bedsheet and pulls out a small red vial that he hands to Henry. It's completely empty and it has a large black 2 printed on it.

"I'm not completely sure where he keeps it but I have a suspicion," Jonas then continues. "I've been watching him, before I moved here, you know, ever since I first caught him poison the cafeteria food. And a few times, I saw him enter his office but never come out. And then suddenly, he was somewhere else. I'm pretty sure he has a secret exit in his office. Probably a secret room as well."

'Ah. So that's why Kajsa and I haven't been poisoned and come down with the Uglies. We don't eat school lunches or cafeteria food.' Sabine connects some dots in her head.

"What if this effect...The Ugliness...is only the current stage in his plan? What if there's something worse that he and Krafta want as the end result?" She ponders aloud with much concern. "We have to find this secret room..."

After following Jonas with the others, Mikael weighs the boy's words carefully. "Järnek is an asshole," he says in agreement with the others, "but Sabine's right. We need to assume there's more to it, whether Järnek himself knows it or not. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past that weasel-faced bastard if he started all this just so his daughter could actually have a chance at winning the stupid Lucy contest. I'm betting Mia doesn't eat the cafeteria food either, huh?"

He turns to Kristina. "I never knew you to be friends with Mia, but I could have sworn there was something going on with you two at the assembly. What was up with that?"

"So what? We ask our friend here…" he motions to their chaperone for the evening "… to find a cure to this, if she can?

Or do we sneak into the office and try to find this secret place?" Henry starts throwing his fist into the palm of his other hand as he paces.

"Or pay the Rektor a visit and have out with it? Ask him a few difficult questions. If we don’t like the answers, well…"

He continues to punch his palm.

"I say sneak and search. We'll deal with the bastard later, once we have something in hand," says Stina. "Louise is going back with her speedboat, we could go with her and sort this out tonight." she adds.

She has never broken in anywhere. The prospect of having to do it becomes in her head like a mechanical problem. She thinks locks... alarm wires... locked compartments. "We'd better find some tools somewhere."

When Mikael relays his theory about Sven and Mia Järnek, Kristina opens and closes her mouth a few times, looking like she wants to interject but seemingly too nervous or scared to do so. Only when he addresses her and asks about Mia directly, does she swallow nervously and reply. "Uhm, that theory, it, uh, doesn't work out," she says. She looks down at her hand and says: "You know how it spreads by sexual contact? Well, I, uh, I got it from Mia." Before anyone has a chance to react, she quickly adds: "It was just a one-time thing. It didn't mean anything. But, well, it happened. And two days later, it started to become visible for her. And a few days after that, it started for me."

As Henry and Stina begin planning for your next step, Kajsa interrupts: "Breaking into the school at night, that's really risky. Especially if Järnek is a bad guy. You do know he lives right next door to the school, right? I think he can look into his office from his living room."

She hears Kajsa's reservations, and thinks it over. "Good to know... maybe there's a way to make a diversion..."
She tries to recall if the Rektor has a car, and what type it is, in case she could do something with that. Bypass its alarm, start it... maybe drive it and leave it parked in the middle of the road somewhere else making it look like a kids' prank... spray it with insults all over... her head fills with crazy and probably unfeasible plans.

Eyes unintentionally wide, Mikael is speechless at Kristina's words. "That explains the looks, I guess," he says after too long. "I guess you're right then. But if you contracted it from that, and others too...he couldn't have just 'put it in the soup', right? Otherwise the Black Hole would be quite a bit more of a party. Right?"

"Jonas," he asks, "Do you have any idea who's been here at the Black Hole the longest? Or who's had The Ugliness the longest? Maybe if we can trace this backwards to the first case we can learn more."

Turning back to the others, he adds, "And yeah, we should definitely check out the school, especially Järnek's office."

"We have a lot to think about on our way back." Sabine speaks up. "Thanks for your help, Jonas. I hope its not too late for stopping Järnek, before his little experiment goes beyond its current form."

"Its getting late. We should be starting back soon." She adds.

Once the group is out of ear-shot of residents of the Black Hole, Henry asks.

"When? Tonight or tomorrow? I can do tonight but tomorrow would give us time to plan and prepare!"

She thinks it over. "Well... True, but tonight most of us made excuses with our parents to stay out... Might as well go take a look around while we have time? I've got a few tools where I left Spike. My ride." she looks at her friends "in case we need them"

Henry makes a face that says he hadn’t thought of that, and that it was indeed a good idea.

"I mean… if you’re already out tonight…"

"The longer we wait, the better chance Järnek has to cover his tracks, if he has any reason for concern. Though if we're not careful we might tip him off. Whatever we do, we need to do it right - we can't let him know someone is on to him, just in case the proof we're looking for isn't in his office."

As you're debating this, Louise comes over to you again. You do notice some antagonistic glances even at her, coming both from some of the 'cultists' and some of the regularly dressed teens.
"I'm going to head back to Svartsjölandet," she says. "If you come with me now, I can drop you off not far from Stenhamra. Otherwise, you'll have to find your own way back home."

Just as Louise finishes speaking, Kristina takes Mikael's hand. "I'm scared to stay here," she says. "This place is creepy. I... I don't know if I want to be here without you."