3rd POV: October 23rd

Today was the day. The ten humans were finishing up their plan to gather evidence. During the weekend, they discussed the procedure and which job everyone would be. Six would go into the vent and into the lecture hall. And four of them would keep an eye out for anyone who would walk by or worst case scenario is they enter the lecture hall. At the moment, they were in their last class of the day. Mary was in a science classroom behind a table with few students. There were beakers, containers, and chemicals all around the room. Either in shelves, in a cabinet, or in a small round plastic container. They were all wearing protective glasses as the teacher was explaining.

"Now class, if you can see up here on the table. I have in this clear plastic container is calcium carbide. Can anyone tell me its density?" Asked Mr. Zorrillo, who is a skunk.

Mary raised her hand, "2.22"

"Correct." Zorrillo nodded, "Calcium Carbide is also quite dangerous. It may cause skin irritation and burning in the eyes. Which is why I'm wearing protective gloves, glasses and a mask. Now then I'll take a small sample of the Calcium Carbide." He picked up a skinny rod that was flattened at the end to pick a small sample. He dropped it in a glass tube before using a pipette that's filled with water. "Now then, if we add a bit of water to the calcium carbide, it'll react and release hydrogen gas." Zorrillo covered the tube with a cotton ball before pulling out a long rod lighter. He removed the cotton ball and held the lighter close as he lit it. Within a couple of seconds after holding the flame close to the tube, the hydrogen ignited. It was quick and it released a small pop sound.

Pop.

"As you can see, hydrogen gas is very flammable. And it's wise to keep large quantities of Calcium Carbide dry and away from water."

Ring!

The school bell rang, Mr. Zorrillo looked at the clock to see it was 3 pm. "Alright class, that's all we have for today. Next class, we'll explore more of the chemical gasses that are released in minerals."

With that, class was dismissed. All the students packed their things and exited the room.

"What do you do with the flammable materials, Mr. Zorrillo?" Asked a male weasel student.

"We keep them in the minerals and chemicals closet." Zorrillo pointed to a door at the back of the room, "There is another door behind that specially for flammable materials. Thankfully the room is made out of fire resistant material so if there was a fire, it won't touch any of the dangerous stuff."

Mary picked up her backpack and exited the room. Just as she walked down the hall, the female announcer began to speak over the speakers.

"Today is Environmental Day. It will be crowded later, so please finish up all business as soon as possible. I repeat... It will be crowded later, so please finish up all business as soon as possible."

Mary walked across the school towards the closest girls bathroom that was near Lecture Hall 2. When she turned the corner, the whole group was waiting.

"Are we all here?" Asked Mary as she looked all around.

Bianca nodded, "Yes."

"So what do we do now?" Asked Sarah.

Mary points to the bathroom, "We're gonna go in there and change out of our uniforms, and wait for when most of everyone is gone."

The girls except for Hannah began to walk to the bathroom.

Mason quickly tugs on Susan, "What should we do?"

Susan pulled out her phone and answered, "Just start walking around. We will text you if it's clear."

"Got it." Mason nodded.

The girls entered the restroom and into the empty stalls.

"So... where do you wanna walk?" Mason put his hands in his pocket.

"Around the school." Hector pulled Mason away.

Jacob glanced over at Hannah, "I'm surprised that you're not gonna do what they're doing."

"I wanted to make the scout group even. Also didn't want to get dirty from crawling through the vent." She shrugged her shoulders as they turned the corner.

In the stalls, the girls unzipped their bags and pulled out a pair of long blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt. As well as a pair of shoes, hair ties, gloves, a plastic sandwich bag, tweezers, and since the school doesn't have any medical masks, they will just use the white tie from their uniforms.

"Hey Mary," Lucy called from one of the stalls, "How long do we have to wait?"

"30 minutes after Environmental Day starts."

It was important to wait, so that most of everyone would be out of the halls.

Sarah was having issues getting her hair in a bun, "Can one of you help get my hair in a bun?"

"When we leave the stall." Replied Susan.

Mary finished folding her uniform up and with the shoes back in her bag. Then they sat and waited. It felt like hours to sit on a toilet, but they all were all scrolling through their phones. But Mary sat quietly, thinking of the plan until she began to remember the time where she and Legoshi hid in a bathroom stall. Not wanting to think about him and off rack, she decided it was time.

Mary exited the stall, "We're ready."

They all exited the bathroom stall which al

"Wanna use the bun maker?" Asked Susan.

Sarah nodded, "Sure."

Susan pulled out a flat rectangular object that had a slit in the middle, and a hair tie. Using her hand, she gathered Sarah's hair before putting a hair tie on it. After making it into a ponytail, she pulled the hair through the slit of the bun maker. She pulled it down to the end before rolling it forward to wrap the ponytail up. When that's done, Susan pulls the end piece around so the metal rods that are in it lock.

"Thanks Susan." Sarah fixed her bun so her hair covered the tool.

Bianca had her phone out, "Want me to message Jacob to come back?"

"Yes." Said Mary.

Maddie poked her head out of the restroom, the hall was quiet. After a couple minutes, Jacob, Mason, Hector and Hannah returned.

They all exited the restroom.

"Alright then," Mary began to explain the next step, "let's get to the lecture hall before Environmental Day ends-..." she noticed Mason eating chips.

"What...?" Mason looks at them confused.

Jacob refocuses the group, "Let's move."

As they walked, Bianca was chatting with Hannah.

"Why was Mason eating chips?"

Hannah wiped her eyes, "He got hungry while waiting so we stopped by the cafeteria."

Mason leans over with a potato chip in hand, "Want one?"

Bianca squinted her eyes before knocking the chip out of Mason's hand. It landed on the ground but Mason quickly picked it up and ate it.

"Eww..." Hannah looked disgusted.

Bianca shook her head, "Why do you do that?"

"What... it's too good." Said Mason.

"Don't eat anything off the floor, that's gross." Replied Hannah.

Maddie turned her head to glance back at them, "What?"

"It's nothing." Bianca quickly started and waited for Maddie to look away. She then hit Mason on the shoulder, "Don't eat off the floor when Maddie is around. Don't forget that she has really bad gag reflexes."

"Oh..." Mason nodded, "I forgot she does that."

Bianca looked at him with an expressionless face of annoyance. The group gathered outside of Lecture Hall 2, prepared to gather evidence. Jacob gathered the bags up before walking into the storage closet, then exited with a ladder.

"Got your gloves, mask, tweezers, and flashlight?" Asked Mary.

The girls hold up their items as Jacob sets the ladder up.

Mason motioned towards the ladder, "Ladies first."

Bianca approached the ladder and climbed up. She felt a small breeze of hot air hitting her on the face, "The AC is on. I feel hot air."

"Is it hot?" Mary asked.

Bianca raised her hand and felt the vent panel, "No. But we shouldn't be in the vent for a long time." She put her through the metal openings of the panel and attempted to pull it off. But it was tough to get it off.

"Is it stuck?" Asked Hector.

Bianca tugged harder, "No. It's just hard to pull off."

Mason looked up at her, "Put your back into it."

"Shut up, Mason." Bianca glanced quickly at him before pulling much harder.

Mason moved to be behind Bianca as she pulled as hard as she could. Then the vent panel detached, Bianca lost her balance on the ladder. Jacob rushed forward to grab the panel as Mason went to help catch her. She slid down the ladder as Mason quickly raised his hands to catch her, but Bianca caught herself. Everyone held their breath during the whole thing due to the sound that echoed down the hall.

"Are you alright, Bianca?" Asked Susan

She nodded, "Yeah... just surprised I didn't fall off." Bianca was just about to step down the ladder when she felt hands on her thigh. She glanced around to see Mason holding her. "Get your hands off my legs."

"I was catching you." Mason retracted his hands as Bianca got off the ladder.

Mary pulled out her phone and got in front of the ladder. "Alright. Once we get into the vent, remove the ladder and watch out for people down the halls." She looked at Jacob.

"Be safe."

"I will." Mary ascended the ladder before using her upper strength to get into the vent.

She was followed by Bianca, Maddie, Susan, Sarah, and Lucy.

"What message should we send if someone were to enter the lecture hall?" Asked Mason.

Lucy turned to him on the ladder, "I don't know. Make something up."

"I've got it. I'll send "Tangerine" as a code name for "get out." Right?"

Lucy entered the vent and looked down through the hole confused, "Ok?"

Hector folds the ladder up and is helped by Hannah to put it back in the closet with the vent panel. Then the four split into two, Jacob with Hannah, and Hector with Mason.

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Inside the vent, it was dark. The only thing illuminating the path was their phone's flashlight. The air was humid due to the heat being pushed through by the school's AC. They were going slowly to not make too much noise, or cause damage to the vent itself. Worse case scenario if they fall through the vent. But they were making progress slowly.

Mary not long after entering the vent felt sweat drip off her forehead as she began to feel hot. The vent creaked every small step along the way. On all fours they crawled.

"There's the first right turn up ahead. That'll lead us into the lecture hall." Mary said as she glanced back at the column behind her.

"Let's hurry. I'm starting to sweat." Muttered Sarah.

They continued forward. Maddie held her phone in the right hand as she was also trying not to crawl into Bianca. She glanced her light to her left and saw a cockroach. Startled by it, she immediately went up, forgetting that she was in a vent. Her head hit the metal ceiling which startled all the girls.

Bam!

Maddie rested her head against the floor as she held the back of it.

"What the hell was that?" Bianca turned to see Maddie.

Mary stopped to see Susan crawl up Maddie, checking if she was alright.

"Are you alright? Did you hit your head?"

Maddie nodded before lifting her head up. Sarah flashed her light to the left and saw the cockroach. "It's just a dead cockroach."

"Oh my god-" Maddie covered her mouth. Her eyes became clammy as she was holding back her gag reflexes.

Susan rubbed her back, "Keep it together. You are alright." She said calmly.

Bianca helped by kicking the dead cockroach away. Mary decided to crawl ahead. She turned right at the first split and saw the opening. She touched the vent panel to check if it's loose. Thankfully she can just push it and the bottom part will lift up.

The room was dark, except for the sunlight that was coming through the windows on the right side of the room. There was a red carpet that covered the bottom and ran up the stairs. There's twelve rows of long desks with chairs. They were located on the left side of the room.

"Can you open the vent?" Bianca whispered.

Mary jumped a bit by the sudden whisper by Bianca, "Yeah... it can be pushed open." Before pushing the vent open. She looked down to see how far the drop was.

"Is it far?"

"Not really. About 3 meters." Mary slowly turned to face Bianca before sliding backwards out of the vent.

Her legs dangled out before she held on the edge. Mary lets go and lands safely. Seeing the potential of not landing right, she grabbed one of the chairs and placed it under the vent. And she helped her friends out one by one.

After Lucy got down, they all grouped up.

"Alright, now we begin our search." Mary pulled out her gloves and the white scarf that'll become a mask. "There's twelve desk levels, bottom area and the walk area where we are now. We will split up so we get two sections to search. Look closely for any hairs."

They nodded and quickly put on their gloves and masks. And they all split up, one per section. Mary got the first two, while Sarah got the bottom area. They scouted all down the rows slowly. Using their phones flashlight as a way to see, and having a pair of tweezers on the other hand.

After 15 minutes, nothing was found.

Mary mentally was starting to think if this was a lost cause. She was preparing for the realization that there's nothing to find and should just leave.

"I found something."

Mary quickly looked up and saw Sarah waving at the bottom. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around Sarah.

"What is it? What did you find?" Asked Lucy.

Sarah raises her hand and in her tweezers was a piece of fur. One hair, about an inch long, and it was grayish light brown.

"Where did you find it?" Asked Susan

Sarah pointed near the projector screen, "It was near the screen by that dark spot."

They all continued to study the hair, but Mary stood up and approached the projector screen. Her eyes were fixed on the dark spot on the red carpet. Her stomach turned and she imminently felt sad.

Maddie noticed, "Mary... are you alright?" She asked.

Mary took a deep breath before answering, "This is the place... This is where Tem died."

They all went silent.

Susan walked over and stood next to Mary, "We will find out who did this."

Mary wiped her eyes as she felt a bit teary eyed, "For Tem."

"For Tem."

Susan gives a side hug. Just then Lucy turns on the voice recorder on her phone, "We have found a hair that is light brown, grayish in color. This could be the killer's."

"What are you doing?" Asked Bianca.

"Recording some notes." Lucy replied, "For later."

"Let's hope you don't do a murder mystery podcast."

Susan walked back with Mary to the group, "Alright. The good news is we got a hair sample. Now we need more than five to have the DTC to work with."

Mary pulled out her sandwich ziplock bag and Sarah placed the hair in. "Now we have a new area to search. Instead of the rows, let's primarily focus on from the entry doors, down the stairs and all around this red carpet."

With the search area condensed, it seemed easier but still the challenge. They scoured the steps, searching for a single hair strand. After a couple minutes, another hair was found, then another and another. They had five hairs in the bag, but now they search for one more to complete it.

"Any luck?" Asked Maddie out loud.

"No." Everyone else muttered.

Sarah crawled down a couple steps continuing to search, "We just need one more hair." As she began to feel increasingly frustrated.

Mary searched all over the bottom level, no hair has been found except for one spot she has not checked. The dark area on the carpet. She got on her knees in front of it and gently brushed her hand across it. It felt a bit tough, which was probably due by the little amount of dried blood left. Mary felt her stomach turn by the thought of it. But with a quick flash, she spotted something. Using her tweezers, she reached into the carpet and after digging into it she spotted part of a hair.

"Found a hair." She called out.

All the girls rushed over to see.

"Great. Now we have enough for a test." Said Susan

Mary attempted to pull the hair up but it was stuck.

"What's wrong?" Asked Bianca.

Mary again tried to remove it, "It's stuck on the carpet."

Bianca reached with her tweezer, "Hold it." She began to dig into the carpet, attempting to free the hair.

After a few minutes, they managed to free the hair from the carpet. But it was covered in dried blood and red fuzzy stuff from the carpet.

"Can we clean it?" Asked Lucy.

Susan pulled out her ziplock bag and opened it. "I'll clean it when we get back to our dorm."

Mary placed the hair in the separate bag before standing up. They all walked back up under the vent.

"I'll help lift." Mary offered as she removed her mask and got into position next to the chair.

Sarah was first to be lifted up. Mary positioned her knee on the chair so it can be used as another step. Sarah stepped up and pulled the vent open. With a couple of breaths she hoisted herself up and into the vent.

Mary looked over at Lucy, "Text Jacob, tell him that we are on our way out."

Lucy pulled out her phone as Sarah poked her head out of the vent to help pull them up. After helping Bianca, Maddie, Susan, and Lucy into the vent, Mary was left to enter.

Sarah reached out for her, "Jump. I'll catch you."

Mary pushed the chair back and climbed onto the desk. She didn't have a lot of room for a run up but she'll do her best. Mary lunged forward and jumped. Sarah caught her hand as Mary hit the wall.

"Mary, are you alright?" Sarah worried about almost dropping her.

Mary nodded, "Y-yeah." She used her upper strength to climb into the vent.

Sarah backed up to give Mary room to enter before going in front. They climbed back through the vent towards the opening. As they approached, they saw Jacob waiting at the bottom with the ladder all set up. Jacob helped Bianca, Maddie, Susan, and Sarah out of the vent. Mary was last to leave as she carefully turned her body so her feet went first.

Jacob extended his hand to help Mary down, "Was there hair?"

"Yes." Mary nodded as she reached the bottom, "We have enough for a test."

Jacob quickly grabbed the vent cover and climbed the ladder to reattach it.

They were hot, sweaty, and covered with dust. Lucy and Sarah both disgusted by how they looked.

"Eww... I'm changing immediately." Sarah did her best to wipe off the dust of herself but it did little.

Hector grabbed their backpacks and returned them as Jacob folded the ladder before putting it back in the closet. The girls took off to the bathroom to change back into their uniforms.

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Mary POV:

Our heist was a success. We've got six hairs for the DTC to do a test. After changing, we quickly returned to the girls dorm followed by the boys. Now we're relaxing in the room. Susan was at the moment in the bathroom cleaning the hair that had dried blood and part of the red carpet on it.

I was writing to the DTC. Everyone else was just doing their own thing, like right now the boys are once again in a discussion that Mason started.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Jacob as he and Hector were both in the middle of a video game on Hector's laptop. Both had controllers plugged into it.

"A baby biscuit." Mason explained, "For them to suck on."

"Is this a toy?" Hector looked over confused as much as Jacob was.

"Nooo... it's like food for babies. I think it's called Rusk."

Jacob shook his head in response to Mason's statement, "I've never heard of Rusk. That's a horrible name for a baby's product. It sounds too similar to rust."

"It's a twice baked bread and used as baby food." Mason pulled his phone out and searched for Rusk related products, "See, meant for babies."

Bianca lowered her phone, "Why are you talking about Rusk?"

"Mason brought it up." Hector responded.

Mason turned to Bianca, "I was trying to remember that product my younger sister was eating when she was a baby."

"So you want Rusk?" Asked Hector.

Mason sits down next to Hector, "No. I was going to ask if any of you had Rusk?"

"Why would any of us remember Rusk?" Jacob began to get annoyed, "I don't think babies would remember eating it."

"Join the Rusk gang." Mason jokingly said.

Just then, Susan exited the bathroom, holding the hair in her tweezers, "I got it cleaned."

"Sweet." I looked up from my notebook, "The bag is on my bed."

She walked over and placed the hair in with the other hairs and zipped it up, "How's the letter?"

"It's going well, keeping it short and simple. I'm finishing the last sentence." I glanced up at Susan before she sat down next to me, holding the bag.

"Would you read it out for me please?"

"Sure." I finished the last sentenced before reading the letter:

~~~

" To James Watson, I would like to ask if you can help with my science report at school. We are studying DNA testing and must write an essay for it. It would help if you would test some hair samples that I was given by our classmate to help with the report. We would like to know the species, blood type, and the ways on how genetic testing happens in the lab. I would be very grateful to have your team at the DTC contribute your expertise to my essay. Thank you so much.

Mary Dragonheart"

~~~

"James Watson is the director of the DTC?" Asked Susan.

I nodded, "Yes. I looked him up. And I think that's all I can write."

"Yeah." Susan nodded, "Now you need to send it."

"I'll head to the main office to get an envelope and send it from there. I need to get our stamps before I leave."

Susan stood up and walked over to her closet space. She dug into her pile of books before pulling out a sheet of stamps on it. In Archeania, whenever the royal family sends out a letter, they have their own separate stamps to use from the normal public ones. This was due to make sure people don't fabricate fake royal letters, and it's a law that the government too also has their own stamps. On the stamps we use, there's a symbol of the crown with a sword and royal scepter on either side, crossing right above it. And the stamp is shaded to black and blue, similar to our country's flag color which is black, white and blue. The post office has a machine that scans letters so that they will be sent to the proper destination. But if the machine scans an envelope that has the royal stamp on it. It'll read the small bar code on it and add it to the records so nobody can reuse the stamp. After that, there's a worker who will then add an ink stamp on it which has the royal symbol on it. Which clarifies that this is from the royal family and should be read at once.

"I should also take some yen with me, it'll cost to buy some stamps. Plus it'll go through international shipping." I reached over to get a couple of yen from under my phone. Next I lightly ripped the page out of my notebook, then my phone, stamps and the bag of hair. "I'll be back soon."

As I'm leaving the room, I hear Mason continuing on about Rusk. I exited the dorm and headed to the main school building. I entered the main office as the secretary looked up at me.

"Hello." She greeted me.

"Hello. I'm here to send a letter."

The gazelle nodded, "Alright, do you need an envelope and stamps?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yes please."

She reached into the filing cabinet and pulled out an envelope and stamps. "Will this be sent within the country or internationally?"

"Internationally." I raised Archeania's stamps.

"You'll need two stamps which will cost you 500 yen."

I looked at some of the yen I had, and thankfully there was a 500 yen coin to give her. She handed me the two stamps and the envelope. I quickly wrote down the school's address on the upper right and the DTC address in the center of the envelope. I folded the letter and inserted it, next I added the bag of hair. Next I had to lick the sticky part which tasted terrible. Then finally closed the envelope. Walking to the mailbox was like walking in slow motion.

This was it. All the questions are in this letter, and the answers will come soon. I hope.

I stared at it before finally letting it slip through the slits of the mailbox.

"Thank you." I turned to the gazelle before leaving.

"You're welcome." She smiled.

I walked down the hall, feeling somewhat relieved and nervous. Relieved that we've found evidence and the potential of the killer's species. But extremely nervous about the test failing. But I had to stay strong and hope for the best. Just as I was about to exit the building, I spot Legoshi quickly jogging down the center path towards the school's entry gate. He had on his white button up shirt and pants, and his backpack was on. Ever since that night, there's been no communication between us. Or the fact he doesn't look at me at all like purposely looking away.

If he is gonna act like that? So be it. But you know... He did say he was taking care of his grandfather. Nothing wrong with that but that whole haircut just doesn't add up. I know I should over think it but...

I then noticed that he looked exhausted with dark areas around his eyes.

He is acting suspicious... Hmmm... With the letter sent and now having to wait for the results, I could do something else.

I watched as Legoshi disappeared around the wall as he left the school grounds.

I'm gonna do a personal investigation.

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And Done! Now with the heist complete, the answers will soon be revealed. This took a while since I was creating the flag of Archeania, plus work had me busy. But yeah, I'm happy the story is continuing forward. If you have ideas of food, clothing, or stuff for the characters to do, comment below. Anyways I hope you all are in good health. Remember to smash the vote bottom and comment below. And I'll see you in Chapter 18!😁💛💙

(Word Count: 4452)