Chapter 3The Red Flag Party

On the Uber ride to the airport, I called my mom.

It was noisy on her end; she was probably at the grocery store getting ready for Thanksgiving.

"Mia? What time does your train get in tomorrow? I'm getting everything ready for the turkey."

I stared out the window at the highway blurring past, my throat tightening.

"Mom, I'm not coming home."

She froze.

"What's wrong?"

"The study abroad program bumped up their timeline. I'm flying to London tonight. I can't be there for Thanksgiving."

The phone was silent for a few seconds.

"That's so sudden."

"Yeah. They said we could move into the dorms early, and the school approved it."

My mom didn't press further, but her voice dropped, clearly disappointed.

"Well, be careful traveling alone internationally. Do you have everything you need?"

"Don't worry, Mom. I've done this before."

"Call me the second you land. And don't cheap out on transportation. Take a cab from the airport, don't go wandering around at night."

"I know."

She kept giving me advice, rambling on for a while.

While I listened, I checked my phone.

The class group chat was still popping off.

Seraphina had sent several photos of designer cocktail dresses.

The chat was losing its mind.

"Oh my god, these are stunning! I'm going to take a hundred pictures."

"It's honestly a shame Mia isn't coming."

"She's always been like that. A total loner."

Seraphina replied with a very neutral emoji.

"It's fine. We have to respect her choice."

Those words looked polite and graceful on the surface.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that the person behind the screen was absolutely furious.

After takeoff, the city lights below slowly vanished beneath the cloud cover.

I leaned against the window, unable to sleep.

I wondered if I was just being overly paranoid.

What if Seraphina really just wanted to create a memorable, bonding experience before we all graduated?

Maybe the "offline challenge" really was just a trendy, harmless game rich kids played.

But I didn't regret my choice.

There are some parties where, if you miss them, the worst that happens is people call you a buzzkill.

But if you go, and something goes wrong, regret won't save you.

Around 4:00 AM local time, my plane touched down at Heathrow.

As I dragged my suitcase off the jet bridge, I took my phone off airplane mode. My screen was instantly paralyzed by notifications.

Missed calls: 87.

iMessage alerts: hundreds.

Every single person from my class had tried to contact me, even people I barely ever spoke to.

My heart plummeted into my stomach.

Something happened.

I immediately opened Chloe's chat.

"We're here! The mansion is gorgeous!"

"We have to hand over our phones now, ttyl."

"I feel kind of dizzy. I don't know if the alcohol is hitting me already."

There was a massive time gap after that.

At 1:30 AM, she sent a voice memo.

It was only five seconds long.

In the background, I could hear crying and chaotic, heavy footsteps.

Her voice was shaking uncontrollably.

"Mia... call the cops... Lakeside Estates..."

The next message was a voice memo sent at 3:17 AM.

"Mia, how is it fair that you didn't come?!"

"Why were you the only one who didn't show up? Did you know something?!"

"You didn't come. You literally saved your own life."

My hands went completely ice-cold.

I tried calling her.

No answer.

I called again. Still no answer.

I called Professor Miller.

The line connected, but it was absolute chaos on her end. People were crying, someone was yelling for a doctor.

Professor Miller's voice was raw and hoarse:

"You landed in London? If you know anything about this, you need to tell me right now."

"Professor, what happened?"

She went silent for a second:

"Something terrible happened. Try not to panic."

"I need you to screenshot and save every single private message between you and Seraphina right now."

My chest tightened:

"What happened to Chloe and the others?"

Professor Miller didn't answer the question directly.

"Check the class group chat first, but do not send any messages."

I hung up, my fingers shaking as I opened the group chat.

"What are we going to do?! My life is ruined!"

"I don't want to live anymore after this!"

"Where is she?! I want her to pay for this!"

The messages were flying so fast I couldn't read them.

I scrolled back to the top, reading down from the newest messages.

The further I scrolled, the faster my heart hammered against my ribs.

Until I found a photo sent around 2:00 AM.

I stared at that photo, feeling the blood freeze in my veins.