CHAPTER 4

Elena's heart raced as she watched Lucas walk out of the café. Now, there was a thick, unspoken tension in the atmosphere; her friends' eyes had grown very wide with worry and curiosity. All this seemed to be some kind of warped game, the rules of which she didn't know, coupled with the sudden appearance of this mystery man and his cryptic messages.

Marcus broke the silence, bending at the waist with his voice lowered. "Did he see you? You think he knows we were talking about him?"

Elena shook her head, still staring at the door. "I don't know. It felt like he looked right at me, but it was so quick."

Lydia tapped her fingers on the table, brows knitted as she murmured, "This is getting creepier by the minute. What if he is the one sending the messages? Or what if he is being watched, too?"

Jenna craned her neck over her shoulder almost half-expecting to find him just there. "We have to be careful. If he's some kind of dangerous dude, we can't just barge up and confront him; we have to find more information."

Elena nodded, trying to get her thoughts together. "But how do we find out who he is and why someone thinks he is dangerous without putting ourselves in danger?"

"Oh, leave that to me. I'll get the info. Some chipping around, see if I can find anything about Mr. Mysterious Lucas."

Jenna cocked an eyebrow. "Be careful, Marcus. We don't know what we're up against here."

"Relax, I'll be suave," he promised, but if the barely contained excitement in his eyes were any indication, it was the last thing he would be. "Meantime, Elena, maybe you should stay away from the forest. If these messages are a warning, it's best to be safe."

Elena continued to nod, but, from time to time, she shook off the feeling of being watched. The café, which used to be a comfort zone, became a trap for her now. Her eyes moved over the faces of other coffee drinkers—all of them familiar—and a thought started hitting her that maybe one of them was behind those messages.

They decided to leave; the air was far too thick for their banter to be maintained as before. As they left the café, Elena felt a shiver start in her very being, totally unrelated to the cold. She glanced over her shoulder and half expected to see Lucas—and then some dark figure—behind them.

Streetlights cast long shadows across the pavement as they walked. The city was quiet, a time of night that should feel peaceful—and yet, not really. Jenna offered her a ride home, and she accepted, just wanting not to be alone just yet.

Jenna kept flicking her eyes at Elena, her worried mood plain. "You okay? This whole thing is really weird."

Elena let out a deep sigh and massaged her temples. "I just feel… out of sorts. Like something major is going to happen that I'm unprepared for."

Jenna nodded as her brow furrowed. "I know. But remember, we're here for you. We'll get through this together."

Elena smiled, with a surge of gratitude for her friend. "Thanks, Jenna. I don't know what I would do without you guys."

Finally pulling into Elena's driveway, Jenna hugged her before hastily jumping out of the car. Elena had looked into the rearview mirror as Jenna pulled away and saw that she was crying. She was scared, she realized. Elena took another deep breath before bolting into the house and locking the door behind her. The house was quiet, and she felt a sort of strange comfort surrounded by familiar surroundings.

She continued to her room, her thoughts racing. Indeed, the happenings today seemed unreal, like scenes from a movie, and the picture of Lucas's intense glaring eyes and blood-cold messages to keep away just did not want to leave her head.

She sat down on her bed, and her phone buzzed. Shaking her hand as she reached for it, she was very much ready for some bad news to come through those unknown numbers, but it was just a text message: "Found something interesting. Meet tomorrow?"

She was immediately intrigued by what he had to say, and she responded to the offer to meet up. If Marcus had turned up anything, it could be the key to understanding what exactly was going on. As she laid her phone down, another message appeared from the unknown number: "Last warning. Don't get involved."

Elena's eyes looked up; her heart was pounding with vehemence. The message was direct, and it gave her some chills. Whoever was behind it was looking up close, and they knew about her plans to investigate.

Her gut told her to back off, let it go, and stay away from the threatening danger. Another part of her, elusive, elusive to herself, never really gave up in search of answers. She broke into a run. She couldn't just turn her back on the mystery that cloaked Lucas and those eerie warnings. She just had to know, no matter how dangerous it might lead to.

In the morning, Elena met Marcus in the park. She chose a place to chat in public without drawing attention to herself. The sun was shining bright, and the park was full of people—so much zealous vitality of the people set an ironic contrast to their conversation.

He appeared so triumphant when meeting her. "You won't believe what I've found," he said, lowering his tone. They then started walking along the pathway.

Elena felt where the excitement mixed with fear was coming from. "Regarding?"

"Lucas isn't who you think he is. He belongs to some sort of research organization or institute or something," Marcus said, his eyes gleaming almost maniacally, suggesting he found this tidbit particularly thrilling. "I could sort of dig anything out—what exactly it does—but trust me, I can hazard a guess. From what I gathered, it's big. Like, government-level big."

Her eyes widened. "Govern—what does that even mean? What kind of research?"

Marcus shrugged. "I don't know. But it does explain why he's so private and why someone might want to keep people away from him."

Elena shivered. Now the whole situation sounded much bigger and darker than she'd first thought. If Lucas was mixed up in something secretive, even dangerous, it explained the warnings. But it also meant they were in so much deeper than they'd realized.

Meanwhile, as they conversed, Marcus was urging them to continue, perhaps even to speak to Lucas themselves. However, Elena was still unsure because the threats had been very clear: the nature of the risk increases from this point.

Then Elena's phone buzzed. She looked at what it was all about maybe another warning. But a call. A number was blocked. She took it up hesitantly and, her voice shaking, answered, "Hello?"

"It fell silent for a moment, and then a voice she didn't recognize—calm, authoritative—said, 'You were warned. This is your last chance. Back off, or carry the consequences.'

The call cut off abruptly, and Elena went cold. She looked up at Marcus, her face white. "That's them, Marcus. They called me."

Marcus frowned, his expression serious. "What did they say?"

Elena swallowed hard as the weight of the threat began to sink in. "They said. we're finally out of chances. If we don't stop, something bad is going to happen."

Instantly, both of them realized what they had been doing: playing with fire, and now they were out of warnings. The stakes had just gotten higher, and anything they decided to do next would be serious.