Link to the last pt: A Weirder Route pt 4
Castletown, the next day...
"Hey, where is everyone?" Susie asked.
"Well..." Ralsei pulled Echo aside. "Echo, can you do a favor for me? Can you go back up to the Light World and bring all the stuff from the unused classroom into this closet for me?"
"Sure. Be right back!" Echo said.
...
Echo checked to see if all the cards were there, then neatly folded up the chessboard. That might be all of them... they thought.
They did a final sweep of the room, then knelt down and checked under the cabinet.
"There you are." Echo pulled out the dusty Joker card. "Okay, now I've got everybody."
...
"LIGHTNER?"
Echo stood up. "Yea?"
"YOU THREW ME AWAY, TO BRING ME HERE? I DON'T UNDERSTAND."
Jevil stood next to Echo, his gaze darting around, never landing on any one object for long. Echo cheered internally. Their plan had worked.
"I had a reason. You'll see." Echo said. "Follow me."
They headed into Castletown, which was now populated. Susie was tossing Lancer up into the air and catching him, while Ralsei watched, occasionally hiding his face in his scarf with fear, worried that Lancer was going to fall.
"Hey, Echo!" Susie waved. "Wait, is that Jevil? What is he doing here?"
"Uh... reasons." Echo said. "Guys, you know me. Trust me."
Susie shrugged and tossed Lancer into the air again. "Fine by me. Just don't cause TOO much chaos."
"AWW... BUT I LOVE CHAOS...." Jevil said.
Echo knocked on the door of the shop, then poked their head inside. "Seam?"
Seam looked up from playing solitaire and cleared their throat. "Lightner? You can come in, you know. Or don't. I don't really mind."
Jevil jumped on top of Echo's head and peeked inside the shop. "SEAM?"
Seam dropped the cards they were holding. "Jevil? What in the Angel's name are you doing here?"
"THE LIGHTNER... THEY PLAYED MY GAME, CHASED ME ROUND AND ROUND, THEN LEFT ME ON THE GROUND... AND BROUGHT ME HERE TO YOU." Jevil said.
"Thought you might want him back." Echo said. They stepped back from the door and let Jevil inside the shop.
"THE LIGHTNER IS RIGHT! I WAS LONELY, LONELY, BEING SO FREE... BUT I DON'T FEEL SO BAD BEING LOCKED UP IF IT'S WITH YOU." Jevil hopped up onto the counter and sat there, grinning at Seam in his usual fashion.
"I guess you can stay, then, if you want to..." Seam said. "...Thank you, Lightner."
Echo shrugged. "Not a problem. Though, if I could buy some of those Darkburgers? Maybe give me a discount?"
Seam laughed. "Ten D$ off, but only this one time."
...
"Well, we should go to the computer lab with Noelle and Berdly... Kris is probably wondering where we are by now." Susie said.
"Yeah, yeah, of course." Echo said. "One last thing."
They peeked through the window of Seam's shop. Seam and Jevil were playing chess contentedly. Echo jogged away to catch up with Susie, smiling to themself.
"What was that about?" Susie said.
"Oh, nothing." Echo said. "Let's go work on that group project, huh?"