Chris settled in the chair Ruby had just vacated. He opened his notebook before answering her question. "I might." He knew he needed sleep, but his brain wouldn't let him with all of these thoughts about the fog and their plan running through his head. That's why he needed to look through the notebook, to put his mind at ease enough to sleep.

"Okay.." She said quietly before turning around and heading to the living room, closing the door behind her. She stopped off at the bathroom to freashen up, and when she looked at her reflection she broke down in tears, what's was going to happen? Would her brother be okay? She sobbed quietly on the bathroom floor.

The house they were at was nearly empty, the walls thing. Coal could hear Ruby crying and he waited a moment. If he could hear it, Ember could too. But she must already be asleep and she wouldn't wake up for tears.
He closed his notebook and went and tapped on the bathroom door. "Ruby are you okay? Do you need to talk about it?" He wasn't sure how to handle this. He never had a girl friend long enough for her to break down like this and Ember doesn't cry much, let alone around him.

Ruby sniffled "n-no its f-fine, I'm sorry for disrupting you" she bit her lip wiping away the tears, she knew she cried to much, but she couldn't help it. She unlocked the door and avoided eye contact.

Coal stopped her with a hand on her arm, knowing it wasn't fine. "Really, if you need to talk, I'll listen, possibly offer advice if I can." He smiled a little.

She smiled and looked at his hand "i-i don't feel like talking right now, but when I do, I'll be sure to ask if I can talk to you, if your not busy of course" she smiled again reassuringly

Coal nodded walking off. He could be as friendly as he wanted but if the person didn't want to talk, he wasn't going to continue to try. He settled into the chair, thumbing through the pages yet again. He felt like he was missing something. Coal had already gone through and savagely recalculated everything once he found out Ruby was coming. He just felt like something was off.

Ruby went back to bed and decided she couldn't sleep so she began to read.

Coal continued shuffling through the pages, eyes growing wide as everything clicked. He jumped up and ran into the room. "Wake up. We have to go." He grabbed his bag and went to the door way. "Now." He practically yelled.
Ember stretched. "Five more minutes." Too tired to read the intensity of Coal's voice.
Coal went over to Ember and pulled her up by her arm. "Hey." She said, waking up more.
"We don't have five minutes." He pulled Ember outside, looking back to make sure Ruby was with them.

Ruby followed behind with a panicked look on her face "what's going on?" She said shaking

Coal opened the door, faint screams coming to his ears as the fog came in. "I calculated wrong somewhere. The fog caught up to us." He grabbed a flashlight that he was lucky enough to bring with him and shown it into the veiled area. Coal paused it on a black creature with a twitch that happened so fast it blurred together. It looked to be a cat of some sort. It turned its head toward them, lips missing forcing its face to be in a forever snarl. It moved toward them, twitching as it went.
Ember moved further behind Coal. "What is that thing?" She demanded, face showing her horror.
Coal drew a hand gun, but didn't fire it, it would be too loud and it would attract others. "It's a cat, changed by the fog."
The cat continued to come at them, a few feet from them not. Coal looked at Ember. "Are you going to do something?"
Ember rolled her eyes, saying a spell, transporting the creature away. "I didn't know if you were going to do something, smarty pants."
Coal shown the light through the fog, trying to get to the car.

Rubys eyes widened in shock and she kept closely to Embers side, speachless

Coal could see the car, light reflecting back to them some. But there was something off. Coal opened the passenger side door, knowing there was something on the other side. But the click of the door must have alerted what ever it was to their presence.
The creature stood up, reaching to new heights. It looked like it was human at one time, now it looking like someone had played tug of war with his body. The man opened his red eyes, staring into everyone's eyes. It sent a chill down everyone's back, seeing the cold hate emulating form the intense stare.
When the monster locked eyes with Ruby, he stopped, opening it's mouth wide. Sharp teeth filled the creatures mouth, and a screech filled the eerie air.
Ember put her hands to her ears, trying the transportation spell, but it didn't work. She said another, quickly, that should have thrown him back, but instead the creatures moved on top of the car. Reaching one of it's long, grotesque hands out for Ruby.

Ruby squealed "n-no get away from me!" She backed away, trippping over her own feet and landing in a sitting down position. The creature got closer and she screamed closing her eyes.

Coal pulled Ruby up by her arm, avoiding letting her touch the creature as she threw her in the car. He shut the door behind her and looked at the humanoid creature. Its eyes were covered over with black skin, only showing small indents were there once were eyes. His nose was just a small point coming off his face. The creature had a thin lipped mouth, easily fitting in with his face if it were closed. But at the moment it was opened, showing rows of short pointy teeth while it screamed in a pitch just low enough for human's to hear.
With Ruby in the car, the creature switched its attention to the car, slowly clenching it long fingers to make a fist.
Before it hit the window, Coal caught the fist with both his hands. He felt a darkness inside him with the touch and said a short spell to put a mental shield around his mind for protection. Coal shifted his hold so he could reach into his back. He pulled out a gun and fired it. The noise not nearly as loud as the creature's screams. The air grew eerie again as everything fell silent and Coal just stood there for a moment with Ember beside him, then the creatures hidden in the fog began stir filling the air with horrifying sounds.
"Hurry, get in the car." Coal raced around to the driver's side, starting the car.
Ember got in the back because Ruby had been shoved in the front, heart beating fast and her mouth open in shock.
Coal gunned it, turning off the air to keep the fog out, and sped away. He passed a few creatures as he went, but that didn't stop him. There was even one that he had to run over, because he couldn't avoid it.
Once Ember had regained her composure, she said. "What was that?" Her voice started fine but was hysterical by the end.
Coal closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. "That was what the fog does to living things."
This response caused Ember's haw to drop again, unable to form words.

Ruby felt like she was having a panic attack, she was panting and her eyes were wide open, then she realised her brother must have been like that...why had it wanted her? Was it her brother!? She kept staring out the window with wide eyes, and she had tucked her knees up to her chin and was rocking back and forth. She thought it must have been her brother, because who else would know her? "W-was that A-a-austin?" She asked still staring out the window

Coal shook his head. He was freaking out too, just on the inside. He was told what was going to happen to the people trapped in the fog, but he had no idea. He defiantly didn't expect that. He took a calming breath, keeping himself together because the girls seemed to be falling apart. 'I have never meet your brother, but from what you have said, I doubt that that was him." The fog was thinning as Coal zoomed down the highway and he was able to relax some.
"What happened to the people?" Ember asked, leaning forward in the back seat.
"I'm not sure why, but they change into monsters. Corrupted by their worst flaws and traits." Coal answered, keeping his eyes locked forward on the road.

"He had autism.." She said quietly, would that make him a horrid monster? She stopped rocking and put her legs down, still facing the road but with a blank expression on her face. She now refused to let it show that it bothered her, she was just being stupid. She didn't allow herself to think anymore about her brother or the monsters, she just focused on the book. She was slightly put off at first, because coal said there was no such thing as safe dark magic, but now she read and practised spells in her head.

Coal nodded, quickly falling back into his own. He was trying to figure out how he made that stupid mistake. He went over it in his mind, over and over. Having to find it.
Ember was a ball of pent up energy. She laid in the back, kicking her feet in the air as she read. She was aggravated that he spell had not worked on that gross thing. She was reading her most advanced movement spell book she had, working on memorizing the best of them to use in case something like this happened again.

Ruby carried on reading and sighed. She traced overr patterns with her fingrr and memorised spells

They had drove from the fog sometime ago and Coal stopped at a small little house. "We have to hurry, but this is one of the sources that I found." There were bags under his eyes and when he blinked his eyes stayed closed longer than what they should have. He had not been sleeping well and it chose this time to bother him.
Ember opened the door and practically tumbled out. She looked at Coal remembering something. "Where did you get a gun? I thought they were all destroyed years ago."
Coal just shook his head. "They were, but this was made by an underground place. I got it to keep us safe, just in case. Looks like it came in handy." He yawned and began to walk inside.

Rubt followed inside and found a seat, openening her book again and reading. She was slightly shocked at the sight of the gun but then she thought, its coal, he's full of surprises.

Coal went to the door, knocking on it timidly. It was late after all and he knew the person inside would not be too welcoming of them at this hour and for this reason.
Lights flickered on in the house as the person woke and moved slowly to the door. They heard some shuffling on the other side of the door, a slight pause, then clicks as locker were unlocked. The door opened to show an old man, grumpy as can be. "What are you doing here?"
Coal looked away, ashamed at his mistake, "I did incorrect calculations and got trapped in the fog. We had to rush out and I needed to talk to you before moving on."
The old man nodded, opening the door for them to go in. He made his way to the living room, sitting in a chair that Ember swore shot dust into the air. "I already answered you questions once. What more do you need?"
Ember sat down next to Coal, tapping her foot impatiently. She wanted answers, she was tired of all this confusion and fright.
"I need you to go over it again and then I have a few questions." Coal had met this man earlier that year and had spoken to him a few times. This man knew more about the fog than most, but Coal was never able to get the answer to how he knew this stuff.
The old man groaned, getting up. 'Since this is going to be a while, I'll need a drink." He started to shuffle into the kitchen before stopping, asking in an after thought. "Would you like anything?"
Coal shook his head, but Ember nodded. "Anything with caffeine."

Ruby sat by them quietly, she didn't have a clue what was going on but she pretended she did. She played with the sleves of her shirt and tied her hair up neatly in a pony tail

The man returned a bit later, handing Ember her tea. He sat down, took a drink of his tea, and began. "I am a last generation dark spell castor. I was taught by my parents and they were taught by theirs all the way back to the Great War. With this magic, I have learned of the fog, what is running ramped though the world as we speak. But that's all putting it simply. I gave you detailed description before and wish not to again. Now ask what you are going to ask so you can be gone and I can sleep." He scratched his thin haired head.
Coal nodded, pulling out his notebook and a pencil, ready to write anything of importance. "How do you know of the fog?"
The man took a sip of tea. "From my parents, and my gift. Being a dark castor gives me an open mind to the darkness. I have learned most of what I know from the darkness."
Coal scrawled the words in his notebook, writing quickly, making his words sloppier than usual. "So the darkness is inside of you?"
The old man nodded, a grumpy look making his already grumpy face more grumpy. "Yes, but being a dark castor allows for me to control its power over me."
Coal nodded. "What has the darkness told you of the fog?"
The old man sighed. "Not much, just that with the fog, it will take back what was stolen from it. I don't understand what it means, but it's what the darkness said." He stood up, shuffling off slowly. "But that's all I have in me tonight. I hope I helped."
Coal got up and bowed to him. "It is much appreciated. I hope you sleep well." Coal's eyes fell, remembering how little sleep that they had had.
They went outside, going to the car quickly, afraid of what could be hiding in the darkness even with the fog absent.