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Chapter Text

Sebek Zigvolt had adapted to the feeling of being inside a coffin. When the coffin opened up, he did not hesitate to step out. He took his seat, and waited. He was probably at the end of the line. Great, he’d have plenty of time to prepare a speech for Malleus.

The headmaster quickly stepped up to the stage. “Good evening students, and welcome to the prestigious Night Raven College, the best school for magical monsters such as yourself.” the headmaster scoffed. “Unlike those sunny, happy, cans of pixie dust at RSA or,” he shuttered, “that public school.”

A red haired boy with pointed ears coughed behind him. 

“Right, of course,” the headmaster nodded, “I am Headmaster Dire Crowley. And at this academy, you will learn all the skills you need to exceed in life. Whether you must control your abilities, hone your transformations, or unlock your magical potential.”

“This school has chosen seven of the greatest monsters in history to act as the spiritual dorm leaders:

The Queen of Hearts: the queen of the fairies court of spring, whose strictness led to her miraculous reign;

The King of Beasts: a ruler of therianthropes who ruled with compassion and persistence, uniting the species under his care;

The Sea Witch: a benevolent Kraken woman, who helped all those of the waters, skies and land

The Sorcerer of the Sand: A snake-man whose mindfulness as an advisor led the kingdom to prosperity

The Fairest Queen: a beautiful nymph with tenacity, saving thousands under her care

The King of the Underworld: a diligent guide and ruler, who invented the creation of artificial life

And finally, but of course not last, The Thorn Fairy: who gave up her wings to pursue true nobility as queen of the vampires, uniting the race.”

Sebek was so proud. He had dreamed of attending this school. Ever since Silver was accepted the year before, he’d wanted to attend just to exceed him.

He wasn’t even a real vampire.

“Let’s begin the dorm selections.”

Sebek tuned out as the excessive listing of names began. There must have been 200 students there. He was in the last row, second to last seat.

A few rows ahead, two boys with blood of the feywild began to whisper.

“Hey,” the red haired one smiled. “I’m Ace!”

The blue haired one threw the hood of the robes over his head.

“Hey!” Ace whisper-shouted. “Don’t do that, I saw the ears.”

“Maybe, I’m just a really old vampire…”

Ace rolled his eyes. “So, what kind of elf are you? High elf? Wood elf?” He gasped, “Are you a drow?”

The blue haired one groaned. “I’m a wood elf, okay. Can you shut up?”

“No,” Ace said calmly. “Aren’t you excited? What dorm do you think you’re getting?”

The blue haired one looked at him like he was an idiot. “Heartslabyul, obviously.”

“Okay, maybe, but do you know anything about the dorm? They didn’t say a lot in the acceptance letter.”

At this point, the blue haired boy stopped paying attention.

A small boy with lavender hair stepped before the mirror.

“In your blood, I see the ripeness of apples, a well maintained orchard,” the mirror spoke.

“Well, yes, but—”

“Pomefiore.”

“Ah! But–”

“Mister Felmier,” the headmaster held out a hand and Epel walked himself down the stairs.

“So cool!” Ace whispered. “Oh, I can’t wait!”

Shortly after, a large burly man with a wolf tail peaking out of his robes stepped up to the mirror.

“Your heart yearns for a run in the wild, surrounded by those you love.”

The wolf had no arguments.

“Savanaclaw.”

“Of course!” the wolf turned to return to his seat.

“Wow, that dude was big,” Ace mumbled. He turned back to the blue haired boy. “Hey, you know what clubs there will be?”

“Oh, I hope there’s a track club,” the boy said. “I’m real athletic.”

“Me too!” Ace said. “I wanna do, like, basketball. Do you play basketball?”

“A little,” the blue haired boy got excited, but then slumped back down. “I shouldn’t be talking to you.

Eventually their row got called. The boys both stood up and followed the line up to the stage. The two boys were in the middle to end of the row, so they waited.

A frankenstein boy stepped up in front of the mirror. His limbs were a mix of green-ish flesh and metal. 

“I see electric joy in you, one that creates a heart your body lacks.”

The boy just nodded.

“Ignihyde.”

“Thank you, sir!” He excitedly floated off.

“Whoa,” Ace commented. “That kid was weird.”

“Can you shut up?” the boy behind Ace said.

After a while, Crowley asked the blue haired boy for his name.

“Deuce Spade,” he said. And he stepped up in front of the mirror.

“You are a strict young one, you wish to achieve greatness.”

Deuce looked like he had a thought, but he stayed silent.

“Heartslabyul.”

Deuce bowed, and returned to his seat.

Ace followed him, taking a place in front of the mirror.

“Ah, it has been a long time since I witnessed the untamed chaos of the feywild.”

“Yeah.”

“Heartslabyul.”

“WAIT!” Deuce shouted. “No, I’ll have to be in the same dorm as him!”

“Mister Spade, sit down!” 

Deuce followed the headmaster’s instructions. Ace soon sat next to him. 

“So, excited to room together?”

“You’re a fae?” Deuce asked. 

“Yeah,” Ace smiled. “I’m a sprite. A wind sprite.”

“Why didn’t you say that?” Deuce asked.

“I assumed you’d ask. I mean, I got the ears.” Ace pointed to his own pointed ears.

“You—”

After an age, the final student stepped up to the mirror: a green haired vampire.

“You are devoted to your cause, but I can tell you have not yet reached your true strength.”

Sebek did nothing but stand in pride.

“Diasomnia.”

“Naturally.”

Sebek walked down. As he was halfway down the walkway, the doors to the chamber burst open. A strange gray ball of fur jumped onto Sebek’s face.

He screamed, trying to pry the furball off his face. The red-haired housewarden and the silver-haired housewarden ran to help pull off the flaming mess on his face.

The creature jumped off Sebek’s face and launched itself onto the stage.

“HAHA!” the creature shouted, “I’m here! And I will become the greatest monster of all!”

“Somebody stop it!” The gray-haired housewarden shouted. 

“Couldn’t be me,” the lion housewarden moaned. “Can this be over already?”

From the ground around the furball, red vines sprouted. They wrapped around their tendrils around the neck of the creature, who squealed as he noticed. The tendrils quickly moved away, leaving only a red, white and black flower around his neck. 

“Hey, what gives!”

“That should tamper your power,” the red haired housewarden said. He grabbed the back of the furball’s neck as he was handed to the headmaster. 

“Thank you Rosehearts. Why don’t you gather up your new students?”

“Of course, headmaster,” Riddle stood at the head of the stage. “Hello, I am Riddle Rosehearts, housewarden of Heartslabyul. If you are one of my students, please rise.”

Ace and Deuce stood up, along with a decent portion of the student body. Riddle stepped down the walkway, and the students of the feywild followed them. 

“Mister Ashengrotto, you are already here. You go next,” Crowley gestured vaguely. 

The silver haired housewarden pushed up his glasses. “I am Azul Ashengrotto, housewarden of Octavinelle. Please, follow me.”

The next of four housewardens followed their example: Leona Kingscholar took the werewolves, Kalim Al-Asim and a gorgon who came with him took all the snakes, and some ethereal beauty gathered all the nymphs and nature spirits. A floating tablet collected all the robots and automatons.

“That’s Idia Shroud,” Crowley stated. “You will meet him in person at the dorm.”

“Yay…” the tablet groaned.

When everyone else was gone, it left only the vampires. The students looked around, muttering to each other.

“Did…” Crowley leaned into the mirror as if it would respond. “Did we forget to invite Malleus?”

“Hold on!” Through the doors came a small, batty man. He ran up to the stage, turning on his heels. The small man smiled. “Hi, I’m Lilia Vanrouge, I am your vice housewarden. I’m sorry, Malleus Draconia couldn’t make it, he is very busy. Please follow me.”

Sebek stood up and followed Lilia out the door. He was disappointed by the absence of Malleus, but he would have to settle. He truly was a busy man.

Crowley was once again alone in the mirror chamber. Well, save for a gray, hairy monster.

“What are you?” Crowley asked.

“I’m Grim,” the creature smiled. “I’m gonna be the best monster in the world!”

Chapter Text

Ace and Deuce followed the crowd of people down the hallway. Ace seemed excited, Deuce was less so. He kept checking the housewarden’s feet, making sure he was walking the right way.

Eventually they arrived in a room of mirrors. There were seven little inlays in the wall, seven mirrors, and the symbol of each dorm above them. Riddle led them through the mirror to Heartslabyul.

“Wow,” was the only thing Ace or Deuce could muster. The dorm was a castle of red and white and black. There was a large hedge maze and heart shaped bushes covered in roses.

“Are those roses…dripping?” Deuce asked. Ace turned to see the roses were red, but dripping away to reveal white.

“Weird,” Ace said. 

Riddle led them inside to the lounge area.

“That took much longer than it was supposed to,” he complained. He turned to his freshmen, face still neutral. “Tomorrow I will begin to familiarize you with the Queen of Hearts’ rules. But it is late, and we have a curfew. It’s time for room assignments.”

A goblin with glasses and a hat came up to Riddle. He was tall, especially for a goblin. Hobgoblin maybe? He was taller than Riddle, which wasn’t saying a lot, but he was tall.

“I got you, Riddle,” the goblin said. He held a clipboard with a list.

“Thank you Trey,” Riddle smiled.

“Alright, so rooms are assigned alphabetically,” Trey said. “So…Harry, Kelsey, Naveen and Puck?”

“Wait…” Deuce trailed off. He looked at Ace. “What was your last name again?”

“Huh? Oh, Trappola.” Ace only smiled.

“Does that mean…”

Eventually, the goblin got to the part of the list where Deuce appeared. Him and Ace were, in fact, rooming together. Deuce was a bit upset, but it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Ace, Deuce and their roommates made their way to their new room. Deuce was so tired at this point he immediately face-planted into his bed, and passed out. Ace laughed and actually cared to change into his pajamas.

Jack Howl was offered cold comfort by the new moon. He had never transformed in such an unfamiliar environment. 

He’d been excited. Leona Kingscholar was at this school, he was the housewarden! But…the introduction had been underwhelming. Leona placed the list of rooms on the table and went to his bed. Ruggie Bucchi, the werehyena, helped some people find their dorms. But he didn’t do much. He, too, seemed exhausted.

Jack was not having a good day, but at least his cactus was there.

His new roommates had commented on it. They were a little confused, but did it matter? 

“Just cover it up if we ever transform,” one said.

“Yeah, what are we supposed to do when that happens?” another asked.

Jack had gotten pretty used to controlling his beast form. He was actually really good at it. On the way to the dorm, his classmates were asking about how far along they were. Jack had full control, he didn’t even turn at the full moon, but he’d been comfy. This was a new place, he was scared.

But it would be fine. Right, Cactus?

Epel had been in the dorm for five minutes and he was already grounded.

His new dormmates had gotten talking about what kind of nymph they all were, they all assumed Epel was an anthousai, a flower nymph. He tried to stay quiet, but he was forced to reveal his true nature…and his true accent. His housewarden promptly scooped him up and tossed him in his bedroom. The housewarden had seemed to have taken an interest in the epimeliad.

“Apples are sweet,” Vil had muttered. “You have potential.”

Apples were also sour, but Vil was gone by the time Epel started screaming. 

Epel eventually consigned himself to his punishment, and dropped into his big comfy bed. He didn’t even bother taking his robes off. It was like a big blanket.

He didn’t fall asleep immediately, he just sulked for what felt like hours. And the hood and baggy robes helped with the sulking. 

By the time his roommates came in, he was asleep, his arms still crossed in a permanent state of huffing.

“Aww, he looks so cute,” his roommate said. And luckily Epel wasn’t awake to hear that.

Ortho had tried to help his brother, but there was only so much to be done. When the freshmen arrived at the dorm, Idia grabbed the floating tablet, and explained the basic rules. His voice was low and quiet, barely audible to the kids in the back. Some kids who couldn’t see his mechanical arm questioned what he was. He certainly didn’t sound like a robot.

Once his short speech was done, Idia showed them the list of rooms on his tablet, and had text-to-speech read it out. And then he returned to his nerd cave.

Ortho decided to follow him. 

Idia slumped into his gaming chair and began the pain-staking procedure of removing his electronic appendage. His right arm had been torn off back when he was little, but he’d been hard at work upgrading his new mechanical limb as much as possible ever since.

Ortho helped him take it off and place it in the charging station.

“Ortho,” Idia sighed, “Go make friends.”

“I will,” Ortho said, “but I wanna make sure you’re okay.”

“Ortho…” Idia ran a hand through his hair. “Th…thanks.”

“Of course!” Ortho hugged Idia. “You’re my big bro.”

Idia hugged him back with his lone arm. “Of course.”

Ortho ran off, and Idia prepared for bed.

The vampiric students were kept just at the edge of the dorm. Lilia entered the lounge, before promptly turning around. “Now, I know you just finished orientation, but this is the unofficial, vampire orientation. Students, batlings, you are invited in.”

With that, the students were able to enter. Sebek would have been able to, but he decided not to be mean. Were these students lesser to the great, Malleus Draconia? Yes. But they were vampires, worthy of some respect.

“Hey, Mister Vanrouge?” one student asked. “Where is the housewarden?”

“I’M COMING!” a voice shouted from the rooms. A very disheveled Malleus Draconia, still in his pajamas, rushed into the lounge.

“Ah, there he is!” Lilia gestured to the vampire prince. “Everyone, this is your housewarden.”

Malleus waved, quickly regaining his composure. “Students, batlings, it is an honor for you to attend this prestigious academy. I am excited for the year we have ahead of us. And if you ever need anything, remember your housewarden is always here.” Malleus smiled, a smile that would slightly disturb anyone who wasn’t Sebek. “I invite you into Diasomnia.”

There was polite applause, except from Sebek. Sebek was clapping very loudly. 

“Alright, room assignments,” Lilia took out a piece of paper from his room, and he began.

Sebek was at the end of the line, he only had two roommates. Lilia led Sebek into the room with a fatherly pat on the shoulder. 

“Welcome to school, kid.”

Sebek wanted to ask about Silver, but he guessed he was already asleep.

Sebek began to unpack his stuff, changing into his pajamas. It was weird…he didn’t know these people. But what did it matter? He was here to serve Malleus, not to concern himself with lesser vampires.

He had a little time to read a book by candle light. His roommates were asleep, but he was taped to the book.

“It’s late,” a voice called from the doorway. Malleus stood above Sebek, smirking. “I know we’re used to staying up, but classes are in the morning.”

“That is a terrible inconvenience to us!” Sebek shouted.

Malleus held a finger over the little one’s mouth. “You have to think about others, Sebek. Please, get some rest. You have a big day ahead of you, batling.”

Sebek nodded, placing his bookmark and blowing out the candle. He pulled the big blanket over his body.

“Goodnight, Sebek,” Malleus smiled, shutting the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Lilia was awoken by night terrors. This had been the norm for him for centuries, but usually it was the war, or Raverne, or Maleanor.

But in the past two years, he’d gained a new demon of his nightmares. This was this dream. In it, he ran through the woods, running, looking for something. Then he found it, Silver, no older than he appeared now. He was hunched over, clutching his stomach. Spilling between his arms was blood, guts, intestines spilling out as Silver attempted to put his body together again. Lilia, in this nightmare, stopped a few feet away from Silver, staring in horror.

“Father…” the cursed form of his son called. “Father, help me!” Silver held out a hand, letting the organ spill out of him. “Help me!”

Lilia jolted awake. After quickly checking the room, he jumped out of bed. In a lightfooted job, he ran to Silver’s dorm. He opened it, and, like always, Silver was fast asleep.

Lilia took a deep breath, shutting the door gently. He’d done this so many times. Ever since he adopted Silver, he’d become a rock, something to comfort him when the nightmares came. He’d go to Silver’s room, sometimes for a hug, sometimes just to make sure he was there. It anchored him—Maleanor was gone, Raverne was gone, their country was gone, but he still had Silver. He couldn’t worry about Maleanor, he had a mouth to feed.

Lilia placed a hand over the doorknob, as if to steady himself. He never wanted Silver to be a vampire, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

Lilia opened the door just a bit again. Even as a bloodsucking vampire, he slept so beautifully. The birds still flocked to him, squirrels and rabbits still surrounded him. It pained him to think he was drinking their blood. But really, was draining a human dry the better option?

Lilia took the gray sunlight as a sign he should get ready. Maybe he’d treat his darling little one to some breakfast. He didn’t need to eat human food anymore, but it would still be nice.

There was a large hustle and bustle as the freshman struggled to find their classes. Ace and Deuce were headed to the same class (Deuce had surrendered to friendship with the ginger) but their few collective brain cells working together did not help the search.

They had just about given up hope when a second, taller ginger appeared behind them.

“Hey-hey,” he laughed. The boys recognised Cater from breakfast, he was a junior in their dorm. “What were your names again? Deucey? Acey?”

“It’s Ace and Deuce,” Ace clarified.

“It’s Deuce and Ace,” Deuce corrected.

“Well, Adeuce, it seems you are lost. Here, I’ll help you out. Where are you headed?”

“Ummm…Professor…Cruel!?”

“You mean Crewel?” Cater asked. “Yeah, I gotcha. Come on, I’ll show you the ropes.”

Cater put an arm around each boy and started walking.

“You see them?” Cater pointed to a group of beautiful boys, with plants sprouting around them.

“They have nature powers like the housewarden,” Ace said. 

“Those kids are from Pomefiore. They’re all uber pretty nymphs and plant spirits like that.”

A tall blond man in a stupid hat took a flower and gave it to a taller, hotter, but equally blond man.

“For you, my Roi de Poison,” the hat man said.

“Thank you,” the beautiful man said. “See, Epel, that’s how it’s done.”

Cater turned his eyes to a trio of boys, talking casually by the stairs. Two looked like mirror versions of each other, each on one side of a short, gray haired boy with glasses.

“Does something smell fishy to you two?” Cater asked.

“Like, suspicious?” Ace asked.

“Like squid,” Cater rolled his eyes. “That is Octavinelle, they have all their origins in the water. Water nymphs, sirens, mermaids—”

“What was that last one?”

“Oh, don’t worry, they wear necklaces to stop their siren song. You should be fine…”

Cater trailed off and it did not offer any comfort to his underclassmen.

“Oh, and that’s the housewarden of Scarabia,” Cater pointed to a silver haired boy with a  snake lower body, walking (is it walking?) with a man with snakes for hair, tied back in a low pony.

“Woah,” Ace and Deuce watched as the silver haired boy lagged behind, huffed, and then his snake bottom turned into a pair of legs. They were still very scaly, but they seemed easier to walk in.

“They also take in birdfolk and avians and the like,” Cater said, “but those guys are cray cray and, like, fly into class.”

“Hey, shouldn’t that guy have his snakes covered?” Ace asked, referring to the gorgon.

Cater kept them moving and pointed to a group of boys with animal ears and tails. “That’s Savanaclaw. Big buff athletes, really competitive. I’m assuming you can guess what they are.”

“Werewolves?” Deuce asked.

“The technical term is therianthrope,” Cater said. “But yeah. By day they look human, but at night, they take the form of a ferocious beast.”

Cater was a bit disappointed that it didn't scare them.

“And, who are they?”

Deuce pointed to a quartet of boys in green blazers. Each held a parasol in one hand. Even from down the hallway, they radiated darkness.

Cater looked quickly between the feline man amongst Savanaclaw, and the tall man in green with horns. He grabbed Ace and Deuce’s hands and rushed them behind him. 

“They’re trouble. Vampires and werewolves don’t mix.”

“You just said not to call them werewolves,” Ace moaned.

Cater dropped the boys off in front of Professor Crewel’s classroom. “Alright, I gotta head to my class. If you guys need any help, Cay-Cay will be there.”

The boys thanked the upperclassmen, and took a deep breath, before heading into their first class.

Silver strayed from Malleus long enough to find Kalim.

“Kalim!” 

“Silver!” Kalim came rushing towards him. Kalim wrapped his scaly arms around him. “I missed you! How have you been? How’s your dad? Have you been eating well?”

“I’m good,” Silver hugged back. “My father is well, and I’ve been drinking lots of blood.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Kalim smiled. He let go of the hug but was still holding Silver’s hands. “It’s just that last year you cried when Malleus told you you had to bite a bunny for food and I wanted to see if you’d gotten better at it.”

“I have…” Silver trailed off. “I’ve found it’s best to kill it beforehand so you don’t have to watch the life drain out of its eyes.”

Kalim nodded in agreement. 

Silver was very bad at expressing his emotions, but the emotional distress of killing an adorable little creature was enough to make him cry. His face had been straight as he held the little fluffy bunny in his hand. But seeing the bunny sad made him sad and…

It had not been a fun afternoon.

“Father says if I can work on that I can upgrade to deer this summer,” silver said with optimism.

Jamil appeared from behind Kalim. The snakes in his hair poked out around his head, making him look like a true gorgon for a moment.

“Ah, hello Silver,” Jamil said cordially.

“Hello Jamil,” Silver returned. “Hello little guys.”

Some of the snakes in Jamil’s hair hissed happily. Jamil shooed them back behind him. 

“Oh, Silver, are you still in class 2-A?” Kalim asked.

“Yes, what about you?” 

Kalim was very happy. “Just go to class together! Jamil?”

“Please be careful, Kalim,” Jamil said, moving towards the staircase. 

Kalim took Silver’s arm and walked to class. Jamil was forced to stare Azul in the face. 

“Jamil!” The octopus cheered. “Are you ready for class?”

Jamil took a heavy sigh. His snakes peaked over his shoulders to see Azul’s face. 

“It’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Azul turned to the twins. “I must be going. I suggest that both of you head to class too.”

“Yeah, got it,” Floyd stood up. “Have fun with Sea Snake.” Floyd was halfway down the stairs, before promptly turning around. “Jade?”

“I will warm Riddle up for you,” Jade said calmly.

“Thank you!”

Ace and Deuce took their seats for the first period. Their teacher, Professor Crewel, was dressed in a large black and white fur coat. His hair was also split, black and white, with wolf ears sticking out through the comb over.

He was…weird. He kept calling everyone pup. But he didn’t give homework, no, not on the first day.

After that, the boys rushed to the classroom of Professor Trein, a high fairy, like their housewarden

Ace felt the need to ask, and Trein was happy to inform him of his species.

“Your housewarden, Riddle Rosehearts, is a fairy of plants, while I am a fairy of animals. Perhaps I should give you a research project on the types of fairies.”

“No, no, that’s fine, professor,” Deuce kicked Ace in the shins.

“Oh don’t worry, Spade, you’ll write that paper in time.”

The other teacher Ace and Deuce met that day was Coach Vargas, the athletics teacher. He had big deer antlers on his head, one of which had a whistle hanging from it. 

The boys had to run a few laps, but all in all, not bad for the first day.

When Ace and Deuce made it back to the dorm, they immediately wanted to chill. Ace wanted to show Deuce some card tricks.

They were stopped by Riddle.

“What are you two doing?” Riddle asked. “I thought I told you to go over the rules before the club fair.”

“Rules?” Ace asked.

“Club fair?” Deuce added.

Riddle blinked at the idiots. “Yes, there’s a club fair in an hour. I suggest you both go, you seem to be interested in athletics.”

“Yeah!” Ace shot up. “Dude, there’s gotta be a basketball team here, right?”

“Only if you at least try to memorize the rules,” Riddle quickly left. He needed to help Silver set up their stand.

Chapter Text

Epel squeezed through the taller students to get into the gymnasium. The outside of the gym was lined with tables, each with a few students at them.

Near the entrance was Rook and a goblin, at a table labeled Science Club.

“Oh, Monsieur Pommette!” Rook waved his hand so Epel had no choice but to approach.

“Hey Rook,” Epel said.

“What do you want to do, little one?” Rook looked around at the other stands. “Oh, you should go see Roi du Poison’s stand! You would make a marvelous actor.”

Epel slowly backed away. “Yeah, will do…”

Epel ran in the opposite direction. His eyes were caught by an empty table, with the words “Gargoyle Club” on a paper sign. There was otherwise nothing else on the table. Next to it, though, were a werehyena and werelion, and a sign labeled “Spelldrive Club.”

“Ey!” Epel walked up to the sign. The lion was asleep, the hyena was looking at the list. “Can I join the team?”

The lion opened his eyes to scan Epel. “Aren’t you in Pomefiore?”

“Yeh! And?”

“You’re kinda small,” the hyena said. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah!” Epel smacked the table. “Sign me up for yur dang team!”

The hyena handed him the paper. Epel signed his name.

“Apple huh?” the lion said.

“Epel.”

“I’m Leona,” the lion closed his eyes again. “Try outs are the day after the carnival.”

“And the carnival is…” Epel asked.

“This Saturday,” the hyena said. “We’ll be in the coliseum.”

“Hope to see you there, kid,” Leona muttered.

Jack and Deuce were both so excited to join the track team, they crashed into each other.

“Sorry!” They said in unison. “You first.”

Ace got so bored watching the flail around in pompousness, he moved on. There it was: the basketball team. Represented by a siren and a gorgon, the two sophomores seemed exhausted. 

Ace approached, cautious of the gorgon, who frantically adjusted things on the table. Two of the snakes in his hair held a pen in their mouths. 

“Ummm,” Ace covered his eyes. “Shouldn’t those be covered?”

The gorgon stopped moving, pausing to groan. He’d heard this question a million times before. 

“They don’t work,” he said. “Do you want to join or not?” 

“Yes,” Ace signed his name.

“Hey, Crabby,” the siren man tugged on Ace’s shirt. “Can you pass this to goldfishy?”

“Who?”

“Riddle Rosehearts,” the gorgon said. “I’m Jamil by the way. That’s Floyd.”

Ace took the note and moved towards the stand where Riddle was. Deuce caught up with him.

“Sunday, I have try outs at the sports field,” Deuce said.

“Same, but it’s…here I guess.”

Ace arrived at Riddle's stand, the Equestrian Club. There was a silver haired vampire sleeping next to him, and a green haired vampire shaking his head next to them.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered. 

“Do you want to join or not, Sebek?” Riddle asked.

“Oh, yes. It would be good for me to learn how to ride horses. True knights need to ride horses, of course.”

Riddle handed him the sign up paper, and told him to meet him at the stable, same day as Deuce and Ace’s try outs.

“What do you boys need?” Riddle asked.

“The weird siren wanted me to give this to you,” Ace sheepishly handed the note to Riddle. 

Riddle tossed the paper on the table and ignored it.

“Did you boys find clubs you liked?” Riddle asked.

“Yeah, Juice is doing track, I’m doing basketball,” Ace laughed.

“Yeah, I—hey, my name’s Deuce!”

“Alright, I should tell you the pop music club is about to perform, and Cater’s there so you should stay and watch it.”

“Of course housewarden!”

Riddle rolled his eyes. Those boys would be trouble.

Jamil had almost settled into a bit of routine when Azul arrived. The octopus leaned over, covering the width of the table, meeting Jamil’s face.

“Well, fancy meeting you here,” Azul smiled.

“Indeed,” Jamil said, “you don’t strike me as the athletic type.”

“Could your tentacles even be useful for basketball?” Floyd asked.

Azul ignored his dormmate. “You know Jamil, it’s not too late for you to transfer to Octavinelle.”

“And how would that work?” Jamil asked.

“I mean, your powers would fit right in among sirens—”

“Yeah, and how am I supposed to swim?” Jamil asked.

“He’s got you there, Azul.”

“Floyd, I don’t remember asking the peanut gallery,” Azul turned briefly to Floyd, before returning to Jamil. “I—”

“Hey, if you aren’t gonna sign up, you gotta go!”

Azul rolled over to see the line of people behind him.

“Fine!” Azul stood up and returned to his own stand, where Idia had yet to escape his hoodie.

“What was that about?” Idia asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Azul said. “Did we get any signatures?”

“What do you think?” Idia rolled his eyes, but Azul couldn’t tell because again, hoodie. “Are you sure I have to be here? I think I’m just scaring people off.”

“Nonsense, Idia, I need your assistance. I cannot lose to the twins!”

“Azul, I love taking on impossible challenges too, and I’ve done my fair share of Pokemon nuzlockes, but in what universe would the board game club get more members than the basketball team?”

“Oh, I’ve surrendered that fight. We just have to get more members than Jade’s stupid mushroom club!”

“So…any?” Idia shrugged. “You got us five signatures already.”

“Oh, come on Idia. Where’s your competitive spirit? You cannot only beat the competition, you must destroy them!”

“Are you here to hurt Jade’s ego or flirt with Jamil?” Idia peeked out from under his hoodie. “Cuz right now I think you just wanna flirt with Jamil.”

“Of course not!”

“Oh look, he’s coming this way.”

“REALLY?!” Azul shot up, looking around. When he found Jamil, he was still across the gym, explaining to prospective clubmates that no, the snakes would not turn them to stone.

“I hate you,” Azul groaned.

“Does that mean I can leave?” Idia asked.

“No.”

By the time Malleus actually got to the club fair, Lilia had almost finished his song. He sat in his seat, and applauded as Lilia finished.

“How in the world is that considered pop?” Leona groaned. Malleus wished Crowley hadn’t put their stands next to each other. “Oy, Ruggie, do you know what that kid’s eating?”

Leona pointed to Silver on the stand next to them, who had slept through the whole show.

“Are you implying my sophomore is on drugs?” Malleus leaned over.

Leona finally sat up, pulled his feet off the table, and smiled. “Maybe. Is he?”

“Of course not!” Malleus scoffed. “Silver is just an extremely exhausted boy. He’s always been like this.”

Leona turned to Ruggie. “I heard that in olden days, parents gave their kids alcohol to make them stop crying.”

“What are you implying, Kingscholar?” Malleus asked. 

“I ain’t implying nothing!”

Ruggie turned to Riddle, who was still trying and failing to wake Silver up.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“We have plenty of signatures. I will have to turn some of these people down. Such a shame.”

“Malleus!” Lilia approached. “Oh, don’t worry, Riddle, I got you.”

Lilia walked up to the sleeping Silver, lightly tapped his shoulder, and Silver immediately woke up.

“Ugh, what time is it?” Silver groaned.

An exasperated Riddle gave up and started packing up.

Vil had just about packed up the stand when a small Frankenstein boy approached him.

“Hello!” the boy shouted. Vil could hear he was smiling but he had a mask of sorts covering his mouth. “Do you have anyone for special effects?”

Vil shook his head. “Please, put your name right there.”

Ortho signed his name. “Thank you, Mister Schoenheit.”

Ortho happily walked up to his brother. 

“Did you find something you liked?” Idia asked.

“Yup!” Ortho cheered. “I’m going to be in the Film Research Club.”

“That’s…” Idia sighed. “I wish I could do the things you do Ortho.”

Azul approached the twins and smiled.

“How many signatures were you able to get, Jade?”

Jade sighed. “Sadly I was unable to convince anyone to join my club. And what about you, Azul?”

“I got six signatures!” Azul seemed very proud of that.

“Really?” Jade smiled. “I didn’t think anyone would sign with you after what you did last year.”

“Rookie numbers,” Floyd shouted. “Sea Snake and I got twenty-eight. We’re gonna have to turn people away.”

“Well, that’s just because of Jamil’s infinite charm, obviously.”

“Nah, if anything, the snakes were scaring people off.”

“You were also scaring people off, Floyd,” Azul recalled.

Jamil and Kalim slithered back to their dorm. Kalim kept talking about all the stuff they had planned, but Jamil stayed silent.

Lilia pat Malleus on the shoulder. “It’s fine Malleus. I’m sure some of the sports rejects will come rushing to the Gargoyle Studies Club.”

Malleus sighed. “They didn’t even get the sign right.”

Silver and Lilia rushed him out of the gym, just so he wouldn’t fight Leona again.

As the group headed out, Silver felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to check. 

U hungry? The text was from a familiar contact, and Silver sighed. 

“Father, is it okay if I go talk to my friends?” Silver asked.

“Sure,” Lilia smiled. “Be back by dinner!”

“Of course.” Silver rushed back into the gym. He found Ruggie, watching Leona leave. 

“Are you sure?” Silver asked.

“Positive,” Ruggie smiled. “Come on.”

Ruggie grabbed the vampire’s hand and pulled him into the locker room.

Chapter Text

Jack had been forced to help Ruggie clean up after an “accident.”

“Seriously,” Leona said, still relaxing on the couch, “if one of those vamps did this to you, just tell me. I’ll eat them for ya.”

“I wish I could, Leona,” Ruggie sighed. “But he hypnotized me. I don’t know who it was.”

Leona turned over and started his eightieth nap of the day. Jack finished tying the bandages on Ruggie’s neck.

“He’s right, you shouldn’t let this slide,” Jack said. 

“It’s really not that big a deal, kid, trust me,” Ruggie stood up to go back to his room. Jack stood up to follow him. “Don’t you have anything else to do?”

“Nope,” Jack said proudly. “As your junior, I have to help you.”

“You don’t need to do anything! Go study or something!”

“But you’re anemic!”

“That’s not what anemia is!” Ruggie closes the door to his bedroom, leaving Jack outside. 

“I’ll be available if you need me!” Jack said. There was no response.

The next day after classes, several of the freshmen were in the library. 

“Second day of school, and it’s a project,” Ace complained. 

“Come on, Ace, I need to get a good grade on this,” Deuce started looking through books. 

“Yeah, but what do you know about tinker fairies?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Deuce said, “that’s why we’re here.”

“Tinker fairies?” a vampire with green hair sat next to them. “You also got the project?”

“Yeah, but we’re in a group,” Ace and Deuce pointed to each other. 

“Hey, us too!” A werewolf and a nymph sat at the table. The werewolf continued, “We should share notes.”

“Right,” Ace trailed off, “notes.”

“Hello,” a Frankenstein boy appeared from between Ace and the vampire. “I’m Ortho. I also have to do a project on tinker fairies.”

The Frankenstein pulled a chair over. “What are your names?”

“I’m Jack,” the werewolf said. “And this is Epel.”

“Ey!” Epel coughed. “Hey.”

“I am Sebek Zigvolt,” the vampire said. “The royal guard to Malleus Draconia!”

There was a shushing in the library. Sebek crossed his arms and scowled. Ace and Deuce introduced themselves.

“I just don’t understand why we have to do this,” Sebek complained. “I mean, do fairies even do anything? They’re just so…weak.”

Ace crossed his arms. “Oh yeah? Really?”

“Yes,” Sebek doubled down. “All they do is float around complaining about pixie dust. And they still age. What’s the point in living forever if you age?”

“Do vampires not age?” Jack asked.

“Sometimes, but we get to a point where we stop, usually in our thirties or forties. Malleus is almost 200 and doesn’t look a day over 18.”

“What about that second year?” Ortho asked. “What was his name…Sulfur?”

“Silver?” Sebek scoffed. “He’s different. He barely counts as a vampire.”

“Hey, guys, as much as I’d love to keep talking about vampires, we really should start doing research,” Deuce turned back to the book.

In the end, the boys got very little done. They spent the whole session talking about their dorms and clubs, and even Deuce, who was trying so very hard to become an honors student, could not be spared from chit chat.

The boys eventually had to leave for dinner. Epel pulled an apple from his bag. Before he could take a bite, his snack was snatched. Epel turned to see a grey cat-like creature, with blue flames coming from his ears.

“Hey!” Sebek shouted. “That’s the cat that attacked me during orientation!”

The cat had the apple in its mouth and ran off. Epel ran after it. Sebek followed. Confused, Jack followed them. At that point, Ace, Deuce and Ortho followed them. 

The weird cat raccoon thing was chased into a disheveled house, fenced off by a crumbling gate and a concrete pathway that was being overtaken by nature. 

“Woah woah woah!” Ortho stopped the boys. “That’s Ramshackle dorm.”

Epel shrugged. “Thanks for telling me its name.”

“No, my brother told me about it. He says it’s haunted.”

“You are right,” Sebek stopped, “Malleus said to them that the building may be nice, but he thinks it’s cursed.”

“Okay, is it cursed or haunted?” Ace asked. 

“Maybe it’s both,” Jack said. 

“What I’m saying is we really shouldn’t go in there,” Ortho warned. 

“But my apple!” 

“Are you really going to risk curse or death for an apple that already has cat germs in it?” Ortho asked. 

Epel hated that he was right. Besides, he had more. 

That night, as Ace and Deuce got ready for bed, there was a noise on their window. One of their roommates opened the window. In came a flash of gray fur, with flaming blue ears.

“You again!” Deuce shouted. “Sevens, where do you keep coming from?”

“Where do I come from?” the cat-thing asked. “Does that really matter? What matters is where I’m going!”

“What is that?” Deuce and Ace’s roommate asked, pointing at it. He had crawled on the desk like the floor was lava.

“I’m the great Grim!” the cat said. “I would like to attend your school.”

“Seriously?” Ace asked. “What even are you? Are you even allowed to attend this school?”

“Yes! Anyone can go to this school! They just need a dorm! I’ll live in Ramshackle!”

“NO!” the three roommates said.

“Of course!” The fourth roommate, an animal fairy named Settimo, picked up the weird Grim thing. “Oh you poor thing, you must be famished!”

“Yeah, I could really go for some food!”

“Set,” the other roommate, Octavius, slowly got off his desk. “You can’t just adopt an animal.”

“I’ll bring him to the headmage. Surely they’ll let him stay. We’re a family here, right?”

Ace and Deuce groaned. “Are you serious? When the housewarden finds out—”

“Yeah,” Grim crossed his arms. “I’m sure your housewarden would love to hear about all the rules you’ve been breaking.”

“Wha-” Ace crossed his arms. “You know the rules?”

“I know the ones I’ve heard the red haired one yell.”

“Oh, I’m sure Riddle wouldn’t mind,” Settimo smiled. “I’ll take full responsibility for it.”

Ace sighed. “There’s no convincing you out of this, is there?”

“Nope!” Settimo smiled, shifting Grim in his arms. “I’m an animal fairy, what can I say?”

Settimo placed the stinky cat on the bed and tucked him in with a spare blanket. Grim got comfy in the bed, grinning like a menace to Ace and Deuce.

Chapter Text

“I hate homework,” Floyd groaned. “Hey, Goldfishie, whatcha up to?”

Riddle looked up from his notebook. “I am doing the assignment, which you should be doing.”

The second years had gathered in the library to work on their assignment from Trein–a heritage project. It was supposed to be an easy A, but only a few of them actually wanted to do it.

“Jade~” Floyd smiled at his brother. “Whatcha got?”

“Floyd, do you really need to copy my notes?” Jade asked. “I assumed you knew this stuff.”

“I’m bored!” Floyd complained. “Azul, what are you doing?”

“I’m drawing my family tree,” Azul said. 

Kalim looked over. “That part’s empty.”

“That’s my father’s side,” Azul explained. Kalim looked confused.

“You don’t know your dad’s family?” 

“No…because my parents are divorced.”

Kalim blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot!”

“It’s fine,” Azul kept going. “You should focus on your work, you have more siblings to add.”

“Ah, right!” Kalim kept drawing.

Jamil put his pencil down. He just meant to rest his hand, but Floyd immediately snatched the paper.

“Oh, Sea Snake, I didn’t know you had a sister,” Floyd laughed. “Najma, huh? Does she have snake hair too?”

“Yes, she does,” Jamil tried to stay calm but his snakes were either cheering or hissing at the mention of his little sister.

“Aww, the snakes get so excited when you talk about Najma,” Kalim smiled.

“How do they work exactly?” Riddle asked.

“They’re an extension of my consciousness,” Jamil said. “I can’t fully control them, but they act based on my thoughts.”

“Is that why one is trying to eat Azul?”

Jamil saw one of his snakes floating closer and closer to Azul. Jamil pulled it back, and it slithered on his shoulder in shame.

Ruggie looked back towards his paper. “What are you guys talking about for the presentation?” 

“I’m talking about how my mother raised me,” Riddle said.

“Oh boy,” Jade smiled. “This will be fun.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing,” Jade turned to Floyd. “What about you?”

“Well, I was gonna copy your answers, but it’s just so boring!” Floyd mopped. “Why do you keep talking about Dad?”

“Father gave us a lot growing up?”

“Like what?” Floyd asked. “A last name?”

“Well, Floyd, it’s because of him you’re a boy.”

“It’s because of him you’re so ugly.”

Jade stared at his identical twin brother, more confused than offended. 

Kalim changed the topic of conversation before fish guts started flying. “What about you, Silver?” 

Silver lurked in the back of the group. He had the paper pressed against his notebook. He’d been lost in thought, almost asleep, when Kalim asked him.

“Oh, I drew the family tree,” Silver offered.

Floyd grabbed it. The only things on the paper were two circles, one above the other, connected by a line. The top circle was labeled “Father,” and had a drawing of a bat in it. The bottom one was labeled “Silver,” with the word “ME” inside.

“You have to put your dad’s name on there,” Floyd said, handing the paper back. 

“No you don’t,” Silver said. “Parents’ names were optional.”

“He’s right,” Riddle added.

Jade started frantically erasing his father’s name on the paper.

“Is that really it?” Jade asked. “I know you were adopted but…no grandparents? No uncles or aunts? Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Silver repeated. “It’s been me and my father for my whole life.”

“Well, that still gives you stuff to talk about,” Ruggie said. “I mean, if the stories about your dad are to be believed, he certainly…had a life.”

The stories about Silver’s dad seemed mythical, contradictory, and the boys had a hard time believing he was a real person. But surely he was, because Silver was clearly born human, and someone had to turn him.

“There’s no shame in calling him if you need to, Silver,” Riddle patted him on the shoulder. “It’s important to have a lot of information for the presentation.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Oo!” Floyd crawled over his brother to meet Silver’s eyes. “Tell them how you turned!”

As Jade pushed his brother off him, hitting the ground with a thud, Silver shrugged. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”

“Seriously!?” Floyd crawled off the floor. 

“Yeah, I just remember being in a lot of pain, and I fell asleep. When I woke up I felt weird and was weirdly hungry. I think my father turned me, but I’m not sure.”

“He hasn’t told you?” Kalim asked. 

“I think he’s being vague on purpose,” Silver said. “And he gets all detached when I ask about it. I know…I know something attacked me, and he said turning me was the only way to save me. That’s about it.”

The room suddenly got silent.

“You know,” Azul put his pencil down. Floyd grabbed the paper from under him. “F…Floyd, you’ve met my family. But anyway, I think we could help with that. I mean, you have three sirens, a fairy with access to pixie dust, a hypnotizing gorgon, a lamia and…Ruggie.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ruggie crossed his arms.

“It means you’re the only one without psychic powers,” Jade said. “Azul, you spelled your dad’s name wrong.”

“You haven’t met my father!” Azul pinched the bridge of his nose. “But, Kalim can see the future. I’m sure we could twist that.”

“I mean…” Kalim laughed nervously. “Not really.”

Some lamia had the power to read the future, but Kalim was not one of them. At least, not really. He sometimes had dreams about things that would happen in the future, but there was no way to know when those things would happen. He once had a dream about Jamil seeing a bug, and the exact dream played out later that day. He had a dream early last year about Jade falling down and breaking a leg, and it only happened near the end of freshman year.

And most importantly, he couldn’t control it.

“I will…consider the offer,” Silver said. “I should get back. The sun is setting.”

“Yeah, I should go too,” Riddle began to pack up his stuff. “Sevens know those freshmen have made a mess of my dorm.”

“Yeah, I have to start dinner,” Jamil gathered his project, and Kalim helped.

“Oh, and I need to open the Mostro Lounge for the night,” Azul said. Jade packed his stuff. Floyd hadn’t unpacked anything to start with.

Ruggie returned to his dorm. He was hungry, as he always was. And sitting on the dorm’s kitchen table was a box of a dozen donuts. 

“Hey!” Ruggie smiled. “Lucky day.”

“Oh yeah,” Leona said from the nearest couch. “Jack brought those in. Go ahead.”

Ruggie opened the box and started eating. 

“Do you like them?” Jack asked, appearing from behind the unsuspecting hyena.

“Gah!” Ruggie fell into the kitchen island. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see if you liked the donuts.”

Ruggie sighed. “I always like donuts. But who told you?”

“Oh, well—”

“Sevens know where he got that idea,” Leona moaned. “But when he got back I mentioned you’d like them. He’s been very protective of them since.”

“Ugh,” Ruggie righted himself. “I gotta go finish my project.”

“Is it that stupid heritage project?” Leona sat up. “He’s still doing that?”

“Yeah, you did it last year?”

“Sure, that’s what you could say. I just talked about the royal family,” Leona strutted over to the kitchen and pulled a box of leftover bacon from it. “You know, the Lizard's the last of his kind?”

“What?” Jack asked. “That’s horrible. Um…Who’s the lizard?”

“Malleus Draconia,” Ruggie said. “What do you mean?”

“He said there were only three dragon vamps left, at least that he knew of,” Leona took another bite of the bacon, slightly upset it was cold, but what did he expect? “That’s all I remember from the presentation.”

Ruggie ignored his housewarden and made his way upstairs.

Jack looked towards Leona. “Why didn’t you let me tell him?”

“It doesn’t matter if Ruggie knows I told you,” Leona said.

Chapter Text

Trey could still hear the ringing in his ears from Riddle’s punishment. Seriously, whose cat was that?

Trey and Cater had left the dorm to get some air. The night was young, and they stumbled upon the housewardens of their year. Weird, all of last year they never hung out. In fact, they couldn’t stand each other. Leona and Malleus hated each other on species alone, not to mention their rivalry. Vil hated Leona because he was so lazy, Leona hated Idia because he tried to pet him once. Vil hated Malleus because he was prettier than him, and Idia hated Malleus because he kept making him do things. 

“H-hey!” Trey approached the group. “What’s up?”

“Oh, everything is fine,” Vil gestured to Leona. “We were talking about Trein’s heritage project from last year.”

“Oh yeah,” Cater took a seat. “I remember those presentations.”

“Oui,” Rook smiled. “I quite enjoyed telling all of you about my maenad heritage. Especially the part about ripping kings to pieces in the name of drunken wildness.”

Leona, Malleus and Vil moved away from Rook, just a bit. 

Malleus smiled. “I am still quite proud of my presentation.”

“Yeah, you and the two other dragons,” Leona said. “Seriously, are there only three of you left?”

“Yes,” Malleus smiled. “My grandmother and I are among them.”

“That’s three too many if you ask me,” Leona said.

“Then who’s the third?” Vil asked, getting the conversation back on track. 

“A…family member.”

“Being vague on purpose, I see,” Vil sighed. “Seems like your family is doomed.”

“Not true. I could turn someone, and if I have children with another vampire, there will be a strong chance they are dragons.”

Trey smiled awkwardly. “Um, what about you Idia?”

“I’m fine,” Idia mumbled under the protection of his hoodie. 

“Oh, come on out Shroud,” Malleus tried to pull his hoodie off. “Let’s see your face.”

“No,” Idia muttered. “Can I go home now?” 

“Of course not,” Vil smiled. “Let me see the makeup you did today.”

Idia let the hoodie be pulled off, allowing Vil to inspect his features. 

“Idia, I don’t want to be rude, but Malleus has no reflection and his makeup is better done than you.”

“You do wanna be rude,” Idia muttered. 

“Oh, well, maybe.”

“What about you two?” Leona asked. “What are you doing here?”

“The freshmen are being annoying on purpose,” Cater said. “I just need some space.”

“Oh, I understand,” Malleus said. “I love Sebek with all my heart, but even I get sick of him. I just need a moment of quiet.”

“Maybe you should just keep him in that crocodile form. He’s quiet there.”

Malleus and Leona exchanged hostile glares. 

“Well, look at the time!” Trey said. “We should get ready for dinner.”

“But…” Cater muttered. 

“Would you rather watch these two eat each other or listen to Riddle yell at the freshmen?” Trey asked. 

The answer was clear. 

Cater and Trey quickly returned to their dorm. Riddle had calmed down, but the flowers around Ace and Deuce’s necks indicated they were still in trouble.

“Hey, Riddle, did anything else happen while I was gone?” Trey asked.

“Nothing, but these boys were foolish enough to make deals with the fae,” Riddle pointed to them. “I will allow them to keep that cat until tomorrow, where I expect them to talk to the headmaster. Is that right?”

“Yes, housewarden.” The two sighed.

Riddle finished his cup of tea, standing up and making his way to his room. “Oh,” Riddle added, “And you can’t go to the carnival.”

“WHAT?!” the two boys screamed. 

“Housewarden,” Deuce cried, “you can’t.”

“Well it’s either that or your athletic tryouts the morning after.”

The boys were silent.

Idia made his way slowly to his dorm. He really, really didn’t want to talk to anyone. It was bad enough that Leona and Malleus had dragged him out of his room, now he had to brave the trip back alone.

“Clanker!”

Idia turned. An avian and a siren stood at the end of the hallway.

“What?” Idia asked.

“CLANKER!” The avian screeched loader. “Only a loser needs to be built.”

Idia pulled his hoodie over his head, and tried to pull the oversized sleeve over his robotic arm.

Chapter Text

Jack and Sebek couldn’t stop laughing when Epel told them Ace and Deuce were grounded. 

They stopped laughing when the cat popped out of Epel’s bag.

“Hi,” was all it said. 

Epel explained what Ace and Deuce had explained to him. The boys agreed to keep the cat, but forced it to stay inside Epel’s backpack.

“But I’m hungry!” Grim said.

“We’ll make sure you eat, don’t worry,” Ortho assured. “Now, what do you guys wanna do?”

“I think there are some rides,” Jack said. “Do you wanna try that?”

Epel and Jack made their way to the bumper cars.

“You’re going down!” Epel jeered. 

“Oh yeah?” Jack asked. “Your little nymph body thinks it can beat me?”

Meanwhile, a lion was fighting a bat at the water squirters. The objective was simple, shoot water at the target, fill up the balloon. It pops, you get a prize. 

Surprisingly, Lilia and Leona had gotten very into the competition. A pile of teddy bears formed between the two. 

As Leona put everything into winning, Lilia called it quits. 

“What?” Leona asked. 

Lilia held up the only three prizes he actually wanted: a squeaky toy crocodile, a small squishy unicorn plushie, and a tight sewn dragon plush. All were designed to be attached to one’s bag. 

“This was all I really needed,” Lilia said. “I mean, look at it.” Lilia held up the unicorn to Malleus, who, along with Vil and Idia, had been watching the battle intently. “It’s just like Silver!”

“I can’t say he’s very unicorn-like,” Malleus laughed awkwardly. 

“What are you talking about?” Lilia asked. “He’s pretty, elegant, and has a secret dark side. Much like a unicorn.”

“Unicorns don’t drink blood, Lilia.”

“Neither did Silver for most of his life.”

Lilia left to go find more games to play. Leona stared at the pile of plushies next to him. 

“What the fuck am I supposed to use this for?” He asked. 

“Why, Leona,” Vil knelt down and grabbed one of the bears. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Exactly,” Malleus grabbed two more. “Kingscholar you shouldn’t have. Here, take this one, Shroud.”

Malleus stuffed the teddy bear into Idia’s arms. Idia grabbed it. “He’s cute,” Idia muttered. 

“Hey!” Leona shouted. “I got three left!”

“Sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” Vil walked away. “I have to make sure Rook is still sober.”

Malleus and Idia disappeared as well. Leona stared at the remaining plushes. 

Riddle, Azul and Jamil were walking past the stall. Floyd and Jade were behind them, with Kalim, Ruggie and Silver lagging in the back. 

“Hey, the other housewardens got one,” Leona handed Azul and Riddle a plush bear. 

Kalim was holding a giant fuzzy bear plush. Leona looked at the completely average teddy bear, and handed it to Jamil. 

“Take it,” Leona said. Jamil tried to argue but Kalim assured him to keep it. 

Kalim noticed Silver. Silver had won the big bear in the strong man game, but he strained his arms and seemed even more out of it than normal. 

“Did you eat before you came here?” Kalim asked. 

“A little,” Silver muttered. “I was supposed to eat after.”

“Are you gonna last that long?” Ruggie asked. 

Silver shook his head meekly. 

“Hey, we’re gonna head over here,” Ruggie pulled Kalim and Silver away. “We’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Silver felt bad about it already, and nothing had happened yet. 

When the boys had tucked into a corner behind a stall, Silver once again asked for permission. Kalim agreed, handing Ruggie his giant bear. Silver pulled the collar of his neck down and bit. 

Kalim tried not to enjoy it too much. 

A small werecat boy ran around carnival ground. He was looking for someone, someone special. 

“You know what happens if you can’t find him, right?” The boss said. The boss was the one who paid his big brother, but he knew he was chipping off the top. 

“Below minimum wage,” his brother would say, “but I get to keep you.” It was his mantra whenever he got a paycheck, whenever they were locked in a cage for a full moon, whenever the other members of the traveling carnival were rude to him. 

But now he was missing. And the little werecat ran through the carnival. He knew what would happen if he couldn’t find him. He was a liability. He was only kept around because he made a good assistant for Ernesto’s show, but by the full moon…

“Hey, whose kid is this?” 

The werecat looked up. A man with teal hair and split colored eyes looked down on him. 

“Azul, do you know whose kid this is?” 

The one with light hair and glasses looked at him with confusion. “Floyd, how would I know?”

The werecat ran off. That teal haired guy maybe wouldn’t be too scary, he rarely got scared. But he needed to find his brother, and maybe that was what scared him. 

The man in charge approached the running little cat. 

“Where is he?” He asked. “Where’s Ernesto?”

The little cat tried to sign, but the ringmaster ignored him. He didn’t speak sign, he refused to learn. 

The little cat kept going. He had to find his brother. He had to find Ernesto. 

Idia hid near the funnel cake stand, holding the stuffed bear tight. He had tried giving the thing to Ortho, but Ortho refused. It was a gift from a prince, after all. 

Idia looked the thing in its lopsided eyes. Maybe he could fix this. He’d fixed his arm, he could fix a toy bear right?

Idia was so focused on the bear he didn’t hear the insults launched at him. But he did hear them, eventually. He turned to see the students mocking him. Idia tried to to be bothered, or at least, to make it look like he wasn’t.

“OI!” Idia turned. Leona, Vil and Malleus had returned. Malleus would have been flanked by Lilia and Sebek, but they had been distracted by ring toss.

“What were you saying about Idia?” Leona asked. The bear plush had been tucked into this belt and attached behind him.

“That he’s not even real,” one of the boys said, with the confidence of a thousand men.

Vil walked up to Idia and pinched his cheek like a grandma. “Feels real to me.”

“Well, I–”

“Listen,” Leona interrupted. “I’ll give you one last chance. Back off before I change my mind.”

Malleus left with Lilia and Sebek. Vil slowly continued his search for Rook and Epel.

Idia tried to sink deeper into his seclusion. 

“Clanker!” someone shouted.

Leona balled his fists. “Oh look at that. I changed my mind.”

“Where’s Silver?” Sebek asked.

He, Malleus and Lilia had just gotten off the low quality rollercoaster, and Sebek was still looking for their white haired friend. It was weird, since Silver was the one who insisted on attending. It was good for Malleus, who was finally able to attend a school function. But now Silver had disappeared, certainly off with those weird friends of his. It was selfish, really. Sebek wasn’t able to hang out with his friends because he had to protect Malleus.

“I don’t know,” Lilia said. “He’s probably with the other second years.”

‘This is unacceptable!” Sebek shouted. “He is supposed to be at Malleus’ side at all times!”

“Sebek, it isn’t that big a deal,” Malleus assured him, “but if it makes you happy, you can look for him.”

“But I must protect you!”

“I got it!” Lilia pat Sebek on the shoulder. “Go find Silver.”

Sebek left his liege with Lilia. He tried to use his vampiric powers, but they weren’t nearly as strong as Silver’s. He couldn’t smell or hear Silver from a mile away like Silver could with him.

But he could, eventually, smell blood. Sebek followed the smell to behind an empty stall. A magic show, maybe? Peaking from behind the stall was a golden snake’s tail. Sebek peaked behind the stall to get a better look.

Silver was fangs deep in Kalim’s neck, with Ruggie keeping a cautious eye on them. Sebek watched as Silver took his mouth off Kalim’s neck, and onto his lips. Ruggie pulled The two close. Kalim cheekily kissed him on the cheek, while Silver pulled out bandages, so the blood didn’t get on the oversized fluffy bear.

Sebek gasped loudly, immediately making Silver turn. The two stared at each other, Sebek in shock, and Silver caught in the middle of an uncouth situation.

Sebek ran, shouting for Lilia. Silver’s instincts kicked in and he chased him. Kalim called out but Silver wasn’t listening anymore. His blood rushed too fast, he couldn’t make out faces, species, anything about the people he passed. He was like a predator, locked onto prey, and they were all trees. 

Sebek couldn’t tell Lilia. Silver wouldn’t allow it.

Vampires were fast, and as unhappy Sebek was about it, he was only half vampire. Silver was a full vampire. Silver caught up to him quickly. He tackled Sebek to the ground, holding his body down. 

Sebek squirmed to be released. Silver was strong, but he had little control over it. Sebek managed to get enough room to punch Silver in the chin.

Silver stumbled away. Sebek only noticed as he got up that Silver’s eyes were turning red, blood still dripping from his mouth (Sebek couldn’t tell if it was from his punch or the biting). 

Well, he wasn’t going to back down now. Sebek got in the stance for a fight. They’d sparred hundreds of times, this was no different.

Silver punched him in the gut and knocked him back onto the ground. Sebek tried to get up, but Silver knocked him back down. Fangs out, Silver punched him in the chest. Sebek grabbed Silver by the hair, pulling his friend’s face downward, into Sebek’s knee. Silver held his nose, grabbing Sebek by the neck. Instead of choking him, Silver slammed him into the dirt. Sebek used all his strength to push himself up, knocking Silver off him and causing him to stumble.

Lilia appeared behind the white haired boy and grabbed his arms, pulling him back. At the same time, Malleus appeared behind Sebek, holding him back to stop him and Silver from fighting.

“What’s going on?” Lilia asked. Neither Silver or Sebek had noticed the crowd around them, they hadn’t heard the chants of “fight, fight, fight.” Silver had been blinded by rage and bloodlust, and Sebek was too busy fighting for his life. They hadn’t realized the scene they caused.

As Silver’s eyes returned to normal, his body untensed and air finally left his mouth. He seemed disoriented. He knew what he’d been doing, and in the present moment he felt awful. But while he was doing it, while he was beating his best friend into the dirt…it felt exhilarating! It was amazing! He finally got to use the immense strength he’d worked so hard to control. And it worked! Sebek didn’t have any broken bones or missing organs, right?

“What is the meaning of this?” Crewel parted the crowds of students. “Both of you, headmaster’s office this instant! First Leona, now you two! Despicable children!”

Malleus let Sebek go. Sebek ran to Lilia.

“Master Lilia, I—”

“Tell me when you get back,” Lilia said. He seemed angry, or annoyed, or disappointed. Sebek couldn’t tell. Silver assumed it was all three. 

“I’m sorry, fa—Lilia.”

Silver and Sebek watched Leona leave the headmaster’s office. They carefully crept through the doors, their heads hanging low.

“Well now,” Crowley sighed, “I expected better from you boys.”

The vampires sat in the two chairs in front of Crowley’s desk. Sebek moved his head to look Crowley in the eyes, while Silver’s eyes focused on the flooring.

“So, would either of you like to explain what happened?” Crowley asked.

“Well, headmaster, Silver here—”

“I started it,” Silver blurted out. “I attacked Sebek. He was just defending himself. Please don’t punish him, headmaster. It’s my fault.”

Crowley looked the boy up and down. “Are you sure, Silver?”

“I’m sure.”

Sebek looked at Silver. Was he…was he crying? Did he really have the audacity to cry?

Wait a minute…Silver never cried. Well, he cries, but not over nothing. Not over stupid fights in the carnival. But Sebek wasn’t going to offer help. Not after what he did!

“Well, Silver, I’m going to suspend your club activities for the next week,” Crowley said.

“I understand,” Silver said.

“And you’ll have detention during that week.”

“Of course.”

“And Sebek, one day of detention? Sounds good?”

“What?!” Sebek shouted. “That’s it! Do you even know what he did?”

“Perfect!” Crowley smiled. “You two return to your dorm. Silver, I expect to see you in detention!” His smile never broke.

“Of course,” Silver nodded. Sebek stormed out of the office. Silver quickly left to chase him.

“Sebek!” Silver shouted. “Please, come back! Let me explain!”

“Explain? Really?” Sebek yelled back. “After what I saw? Ha! When I tell Lilia, he’ll tie garlic to your skin.”

“Sebek!” Silver chased after him.

Was…was that singing?

Azul appeared from the corner ahead of them. He played with an amulet in his hand. He was singing. Silver couldn’t make out the words, if there were any, but he knew better than to listen.

Sebek didn’t. He immediately fell into a hypnotic trance. 

Azul smiled. “How about you forget what you saw and tell your housewarden it’s your fault?”

Sebek walked past. Silver tried to stop him, but he heard voices on the other end of the corridor.

“Silver!” Kalim and Ruggie ran up to him. Kalim appeared to have ditched the giant plushie.

“Azul!” Silver shouted. “What was that for!”

“Oh, that was just a demonstration of my benevolence,” Azul said, putting the amulet back on. “Benevolence I expect you to repay. You think I don’t know about your little rendezvous?”

Silver balled his fists. “What do you want for it then?”

The carnival packed up and Gino had been left behind. He failed, he couldn’t find Ernesto. Had…had he been abandoned? 

“Little one?” Professor Trein approached the werecat. “What’s wrong? Did they leave you behind?”

Gino tried to explain in sign. Trein, luckily, understood enough. 

“You can stay the night with me,” Trein said. “We will look for your brother in the morning. Is that okay?”

Gino nodded. He took Trein’s hand and was led inside. 

In the disheveled Ramshackle dorm, a werefox banged on the door. 

“LET ME OUT!” He shouted. “Please! He needs me! Gino needs me!”

Ernesto wasn’t alone there, but his new roommates had no little brother to care for. He needed to get out. He had to. 

Gino needed him.

Chapter Text

Silver returned to the dorm. Sebek was already in the lounge area, head in his shoulders.

“You really don’t remember anything?” Malleus asked. 

“I’m sorry, my liege,” Sebek said, pain in his voice. “My memory fails me.”

“Silver!” Lilia gestured for him to join. “Can you tell us what happened?”

Silver didn’t say anything. He just turned to Sebek and apologized. 

“I’m sorry I punched you,” Silver said. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

Lilia stood up. “Silver, can you help me with something?”

Silver followed his father into the kitchen. 

“Silver,” Lilia looked his son in the eyes. “What happened?”

Silver said nothing. He only looked around cautiously. 

“Fine,” Lilia allowed. “Don’t tell me. I’ll find out one way or another.”

Silver sighed. “I’m sorry Father. I don’t know what’s been happening to me.”

“I understand Silver,” Lilia said. “I know you’re going through a difficult time. But…you’re just acting super…unlike you.”

Silver nodded. “Maybe when I get out of detention we can do more training?”

“If that’s what you want,” Lilia said. “But, listen, Silver, there’s no rush. I know it’s weird to you, but Sebek didn’t develop his powers until when was fifteen. You’ve been a vampire for less than two years. You will learn soon, but you can’t rush it.”

“I know.” Silver had heard this talk a million times before. In Baur’s words, he was an infant vampire in a teenage human’s body. Silver liked that description. 

“I mean it,” Lilia said. “Be careful, or those powers will keep controlling you when you should control them.”

“I know,” Silver repeated. 

“Alright,” Lilia said. “Why don’t you go to your room?”

Silver did as he was told. Sebek went to his room with an ice pack. 

Lili leaned on the back of the couch. “He’s progressing too quickly.”

“I told you this could happen,” Malleus said. He still had the teddy bear he’d stolen. 

“I know…he’s too young, he wasn’t ready for this. I just…” Lilia sighed. “This was a mistake.”

“No it isn’t,” Malleus stood up and grabbed Lilia’s arm. “He’s going to be fine. Silver is resilient like that. He’s just a fast learner.”

“Turners don’t develop this quickly!”

“He knows more vampires than he does humans, I’m sure it’s just his upbringing. Lilia–”

Lilia was trying not to get upset, but as he left, he passed Silver’s bedroom. This was all so unlike him, Lilia was beginning to fear that vampirism, his condition, was changing Silver.

That was exactly what Lilia had been afraid of. He wanted to turn Silver, he always had, but it was too much of a burden, a disease. He couldn’t put that on his little one. But now he didn’t have a choice.

“Please,” Lilia muttered, “please still be Silver.”

Jamil and Floyd had been placed in charge of tryouts. Coach Vargas had picked Floyd, Jamil had no idea. But the snakes seemed excited, holding his pens, fixing his jersey, placing themselves in a nice little ponytail. 

“Alright,” Jamil said. “We’re just doing some drills to see if you have what it takes.”

Jamil watched as the boys showed off dribbling, passing and stealing. Floyd was bored immediately, and Jamil found the procedure tedious. But he was away from Kalim, so it was something.

The final stage was free throws, in which Jamil allowed for three shots at the three point line. It went smoothly, and if a boy couldn’t make a single one, Jamil crossed them off the list. They didn’t have time for boys in need of such drastic improvement. Between the interdorm spelldrive tournament and the upcoming basketball season, he’d have a lot on his plate, not to mention Kalim and Azul. Sevens, Kalim was an idiot.

Jamil watched as Ace, the wind sprite from Heartslabyul, made two free throws and then the third one bounced off the backboard, hitting him in the face.

Floyd erupted into hysterics. “Oh, please Sea Snake! Put him on the team! Please please please!”

Jamil ignored Floyd, but Ace had done pretty good in the other drills. So sure, he could join. Especially if it kept Floyd entertained.

Jack and Deuce were so exhausted from their tryouts. But they both got in, so that was good.

“Oh, actually,” Jack stopped panting and went up to their coach. “My housewarden wants me in the interdorm spelldrive team. Would I still be able to do that?”

“Sure,” the coach said. “Just be careful not to work yourself out.”

“Of course!” Jack assured him. He then returned to the track to sit next to Deuce.

“Can’t wait to beat you in those races!” Deuce said.

Jack was panting a lot, which made him look even more like a dog. “You wish!”

Leona finally arrived at the coliseum for tryouts. The boys lined up, Leona checked them all in. And then he paused.

“Who’s from Pomefiore?” he asked. 

Epel raised his hand, his little body peaking out amongst the strong buff guys, all mostly from Savanaclaw.

“You know, if you wanna do a sport, I would suggest equestrian,” Leona said.

“Ain’t nah way I’m riding a darn horse!” Epel shouted. His commitment gave Leona pause.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

Epel wasn’t stronger than his opponents, but he was fast and knew how to pass. Leona liked that. The only member they had like that was Ruggie. But Epel? Epel lulled people into a false sense of security. Leona liked that.

Leona gave Epel the approval that he was on the team. Epel cheered.

Then Leona paused. “Are you going to be in your dorm’s interdorm spelldrive team?”

“Yeah!” Epel smiled.

Leona seemed pensive. “Alright. See you next week.”

Ruggie looked at Leona. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”

When Jack returned to the dorm, he immediately went to Ruggie.

“Is Epel really on the team?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Ruggie said.

“Oh…okay, it’s whatever,” Jack tried to play it cool but his tail gave him away. It wagged back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Jack left, and Leona laughed a low, quiet chuckle.

“He’s got a crush,” Leona said. “It’s very obvious.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen a wolf’s tail wag that much,” Ruggie said. “He must really have feelings for him.”

“You would know, wouldn’t you Ruggie?”

“GAH!” Ruggie fell back. “I um well, we, I, uhhhh—”

“I know,” Leona said. “Of course I know. Seriously, the bite marks? The dizziness? The fact you always insist on not reporting it. Either you’re really unlucky or you have a boyfriend with fangs.”

Ruggie blushed. “T…two boyfriends.”

“Damn!” Leona said. “I was impressed one guy wanted to date you, let alone two.” He sat up. “Now who is it?”

“I’m not telling you! You’re just gonna report him!”

“I really don’t care.”

Ruggie sighed. “Silver and Kalim.”

“Alright,” Leona stood up. “I’m going to find a new place to nap.”

“D-do you really not care?” Ruggie asked.

“No,” Leona said. “I’m just making sure you aren’t getting yourself into a mess I’ll have to clean up.”

Chapter Text

It was the first unbirthday party of the school year. As Ace and Deuce had been reminded countless times, unbirthday parties were a fairy tradition, started by the Queen of Hearts. Neither were very excited.

“Tea?” Cater offered them. Both took one. Riddle watched them like a hawk.

“Dude!” Deuce said. “The tart!”

“Right!” Ace uncovered a tray with a chestnut tart. “Here you go housewarden.”

Riddle looked at him like he was an idiot (which he was). “What kind of tart is that?”

Trey’s eyes widened to the size of golfballs, as Ace cheerfully said it was chestnut.

Riddle placed his cup of tea on its saucer and tried not to scream. “I will give you a…fifth chance. Destroy the tart.”

“But…but we worked so hard,” Deuce sighed. “I told you we should have made apple like Epel suggested.”

“Or pear,” Ace said.

“Apple? Pear? Are you dumb?” Riddle asked. “It has to be a strawberry tart!”

“This is stupid,” Deuce muttered.

“Who exactly wrote these rules?” Ace asked. “Cuz some of these are really stupid!”

“Wha–what?!” Riddle got so angry his face turned red. His pretty pink wings flapped behind him, as if they had perked up in self defense. “These rules are sacred text! The Queen of Hearts wrote them herself!”

“Well then maybe she should have written better rules,” Ace said. “Adn we aren’t even in her lands! Why do we have to obey her rules?”

Riddle stood up, so fast his chair fell back. His wings flapped rapidly, eyes wide.

And then, they began to close. Riddle’s vision became blurred. The world seemed to shift under him. His head…his head was pounding. His legs felt weak, he felt dizzy, he could barely…stay…

Ace and Deuce watched as Riddle collapsed into the dirt. Some kids screamed. Ace and Deuce were no exception.

“Housewarden!”

“Riddle!” Trey ran to Riddle’s side, quickly checking for a pulse, a breath, a heartbeat. It was slowed, but nothing life threatening. He’d be fine.

“Trey,” Cater tried to calm a frazzled Trey down. “We need to cancel the party.”

“No!” Trey insisted. “If we cancel on Riddle’s behalf, he’d get even more upset. I…” Trey stood. “Cater, Ace, get Riddle to his room. Deuce–” Trey handed him the tart. “I do not care what you do with it, but get rid of it. While you’re out, get the nurse.” Deuce nodded, grabbing the tart and running. Ace and Cater threw Riddle over their shoulders.

“The rest of you!” Trey commanded, “we’re going to finish tea and have our croquet tournament, as planned. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s what Riddle would want.”

Cater and Ace dragged Riddle up to his bedroom. Cater carefully placed him on the bed, spreading his wings to not damage them.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Ace asked.

“Of course,” Cater grabbed a blanket, tucking Riddle into bed.

Deuce, in the meantime, ran to find the nurse. That’s when he found him. Sebek and his fellow Diasomnia students. 

“Take this!” Deuce handed Sebek the tart and ran to the nurse’s office.

Crewel agreed to follow Deuce back to the dorm. The two rushed up to Riddle’s room. Crewel gave him a quick check up, confirming that Riddle would be fine.

Somewhere, somewhere underground, under a dilapidated dormitory, a bottle filled with a black liquid and a red mist, topped with a gemstone that slowly turned from opaque, to red, to black. A crisis is inverted, and an invisible barrier gets stronger.

By the time the unbirthday party was over, Riddle had woken up. He saw Crewel, Trey, Cater and the troublesome freshmen at his bedside. Trey expected anger, but something inside Riddle had numbed so much he couldn’t even muster aggression. 

“What happened?” he managed. “Why is Crewel here?”

The boys jolted at his voice. 

“Riddle,” Trey grabbed his hand. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Riddle said, adjusting himself slightly. “What happened?”

“Are you sure?” Cater asked. “How do you feel?”

“Are you still mad at us?” Deuce said. “We are so sorry, housewarden.”

“Yeah,” Ace nodded.

“I…” Riddle shrugged. “I don’t feel anything really. Is this about the tart?”

Trey grabbed Riddle to keep him steady, gently explaining what happened before he passed out. Riddle barely expressed anything, allowing Crewel to give him another medical check. 

“You seem to be fine,” Crewel said. “Trey, could you grab some pixie dust and mix it into his water?”

Trey stood up and went to grab it.

“Okay, I get it.I got mad but…” Riddle held his head, “Why did I pass out?”

Crewel shrugged. “I don’t know. I have to ask the headmaster. But, Riddle, you should be fine. Rest here for a few days.”

“But, I have classes!” Riddle said, emotion returning to his body. But as he moved his head began to spin and he needed to lay back down.

“You will be excused. And I will have Jade deliver your homework,” Crewel said. “I should go now. Please, do not overexert yourself.”

Riddle nodded. Crewel left.

“We’re really sorry housewarden!” Ace said. “Listen, we didn’t know about the rule. WE can make it up to you!”

“It’s…it’s fine. I just need a moment alone.”

Cater nodded, ushering the freshmen out.

Riddle looked at his reflection in the window. What had happened to him?

Chapter Text

Silver had ventured into the woods. The trees were so thick he didn’t need an umbrella to save himself from the sunlight.

He’d take a box to gather herbs for Azul. They were poisonous to the touch, but poison didn’t affect a vampire.

Vampire…after all this time Silver hadn’t gotten used to it. It was just so…weird. He’d gotten so used to being “the human.” That’s what Baur called him for years, but he eventually upgraded to “Lilia’s human.” Baur still called him that, but had to correct himself.

Silver loved being in Briar Valley, but he felt alone. He was the only human there. He thought at NRC he’d meet someone who had been human like him. But, so far, he hasn’t. 

Silver didn’t come just for Azul. He came with a crossbow. When he was growing up in Briar Valley, he’d hunt small animals in the woods. The blood was for his father to drink, and the meat was for him to eat, and the furs could be sold, or repurposed, or whatever. He didn’t need the meat anymore, but surely Sebek would.

Silver spotted a rabbit, sat behind a rock, and aimed the crossbow. With a quick shot, he hit the rabbit in the head.

“Mon dieu!”

Silver jumped back. Rook stood behind him, smiling so wide his eyes were closed.

“I have never seen another hunter at this school!” Rook continued. “Who taught you!”

“Oh, um, my father,” Silver began to pack up his stuff. 

“Ah, the elusive père de Silver,” Rook smiled. “I have heard so many stories about him.”

“Please just leave me alone,” Silver went up to the dead rabbit, removing the bolt and stuffing him in the box with the herbs.

“Oh, please!” Rook said. “I must see you in action again.”

Oh well. Silver needed time to train. And, as his father had told him, hypnosis was just as much for getting prey then for scaring predators.

Silver looked Rook in the eyes, and spoke. “You will go back to your dorm.”

Rook didn’t move. Damn it! Silver had gotten control of the ability, but he couldn’t give commands yet.

So he left Rook there, standing in the dark woods. Silver had places to be. 

Silver entered Riddle’s bedroom to see the twins had beat him there.

“Oh?” Jade asked. “Is that the herbs that Azul asked for?”

“Yeah,” Silver handed the box to Jade.

“Well, we should go,” Jade said. “Floyd, come on.”

“Alright,” Floyd moaned. “Take care goldfishie.”

The twins left, leaving Riddle and Silver alone. The fairy offered a weak smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Silver sat next to him. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” Riddle said. “Last time I left this bed was to use the restroom and…Silver, I just feel so exhausted. I feel like I don’t have any energy left in me.”

Silver sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“I guess we’ll have to cancel the equestrian club this week,” Riddle said, “since I’m bedridden and you’re still in detention.”

“Right,” Silver said. “I should get going. I need to get some training in.”

“Of course,” Riddle smiled. “Take care.”

Floyd suddenly burst back through the door. “Jellyfish, why is there a dead rabbit in here?”

Silver changed out of his gym clothes and back into his dorm uniform. Sebek had wanted to train extra hard today, to punish Silver even more than he was already being punished. What did it matter? Sebek was getting stronger, and so was Silver. 

Silver sat at his desk, trying to get in some homework. It was weird, filling out this project on his monster heritage. He didn’t have one. 

He’d been human so long, a human among vampires. As a child he grew used to the smell of blood. He never imagined himself as one of them, his ability to walk in the sun was too important to Lilia. He was used to aging fast compared to others. 

He didn’t even understand it until Lilia told him when he was about eight. When he was ten, Lilia drank his blood for the first and only time, and spent the rest of the month doting on his weak, cold little human. 

Silver never even imagined becoming a vampire until Baur brought it up. Was that what he wanted? An eternity with Lilia, with Malleus?

It was a shame he didn’t get to make that choice. It was a shame he turned before he was eighteen. That was Lilia’s plan; he would ask on Silver’s eighteenth birthday, and by his twenty-first, Lilia would turn him. 

Now Silver was stuck, seventeen forever. 

“Silver?” Malleus knocked gently on the door. “May I come in?”

Silver opened the door for him. “Malleus, is something wrong?”

“No,” Malleus smiled. “I just wanted to check on you.”

“Oh,” Silver said, “I’m fine.”

Malleus stepped inside. “Is homework good? I heard your friend passed out the other day.”

“Riddle is fine,” Silver said.

“Strange,” Malleus said. “Do you need anything, Silver?”

“No, I’m good.”

Malleus seemed a little disappointed, but he left the room. 

Silver turned back to his notebook. He had finished writing down everything he knew about his family heritage, and it barely filled a two page spread. All of it was about Lilia. 

“I don’t even know what kind of vampire I am,” Silver whispered aloud. 

When he would present this project, he wouldn’t have much to say. Kalim went on about his abilities, the history of his family. Even Jamil could talk about gorgon history and harmful stereotypes. What did Silver have?

He had Lilia. He had stories of Lilia. He had stories about his father, not about him. 

When Trein asked, Silver’s answer was simple: “I was adopted, I don’t know my biological parents. My father was an orphan. I’m an only child.”

Kalim suggested they take a DNA test, but Silver didn’t really care. Any possible medical problems disappeared when he turned, and nothing about his biological family seemed…it was someone else’s family, not Silver’s. 

Silver would always be the odd one out, the one who remembers being human. He’d just have to accept that.

Chapter Text

As the school day continued on, a shingle fell from the roof of Ramshackle Dorm. 

Inside, a man in religious clothing looked at the fallen shingle. “Of all the places to be trapped, it had to be the building falling apart.”

The werefox kicked at the door again. It didn’t open. He kicked it again. Nothing.

“The definition of insanity,” the man said, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

The werefox finally backed off. “I seriously don’t believe you haven’t tried kicking that door before.”

“I sure have,” a skeleton laid on the couch. “But after all these years, I got bored of it.”

The skeleton had been there the longest. A hundred years ago, Skully J. Graves attended this prestigious academy. He’d been placed in Ramshackle dorm, since, as a skeleton, ghosts were as close as it got. 

One day, his roommates had all been led out of the dorm, but Skully was stuck inside. The headmaster told the school that Skully went missing, but he knew where he was.

Skully had been there, alone, for a hundred years. 

Then Rollo got stuck. Rollo Flamme went to Noble Bell College, and on a visit to NRC, he got stuck. Skully was just happy to get some companionship. Rollo was confused, but over the summer he adapted to this new life. The cafeteria ghosts brought them food, and they’d talk to each other to keep each other sane. Skully had been walking that tightrope for decades.

Then, not even a few months after Rollo joined, Ernesto got stuck inside. Ernesto, unlike the others, was in an extreme rush to get out.

Gino, he had to find Gino. Gino needed him. If he wasn’t with the carnival, they’d kick Gino out. 

He’d tried, and failed, for days to get out. He knew at this point his boss would have left Gino on the streets. The poor baby. Every bone in his body itched for escape. He had to see him. He had to protect Gino.

But he couldn’t. He’d failed as a brother.

Then there was Grim. None of the boys knew who Grim was, but he was there. He’d been giving some extra food to Skully and Rollo since the late summer, and while he was not bound to Ramshackle like they were, he still enjoyed being around them. Frankly, Rollo only tolerated Skully, so anything to keep him busy.

Rollo had collected every book left in the dorm and piled them onto the poor coffee table. He had just finished one when he began to look for another one.

“Have you read any of these, Ernesto?” Rollo asked.

“What does it matter?” Ernesto said. “We need to get out.”

“It’s hopeless,” Skully said. “Nesty, buddy, I’ve been here for a hundred years. You aren’t getting out of here.”

Rollo and Ernesto had been locked in a cell, and Skully was the cartoonish skeleton still in shackles, to prove how hopeless escape was. The only problem was that Skully talked. A lot. Skully hadn’t had anyone to talk to in the hundred years he’d been there, and it was abundantly clear that those years left their mark.

“Ernesto,” Rollo said calmly. “We have proven that we cannot leave the premises, but Grim can. When he returns we can discuss possible escapes. Until then, we have to remain calm.” 

Ernesto huffed. “Fine.”

“Wonderful,” Rollo was just happy one of his new roommates was silent. “Now, have you read any of these?”

“I…I can’t read,” Ernesto admitted.

“WHAT?!” Skully and Rollo shouted.

“I never learned,” Ernesto shrugged. “I mean, I can read a little, but only the stuff about money.”

“Unbelievable,” Skully groaned. “Reading has been the only thing keeping me sane all these years.”

It clearly wasn’t working.

“Well,” Rollo crossed his arms. “I hope wherever this Gino is, he is getting a proper education.”

Rollo pulled a book from the top of the pile. It had no author, no fancy cover art, just a single word. “Feral.”

“Skully?” Rollo showed him the book. “Did you read this?”

Skully raised an eyebrow. “I’ve read every book in this building five times. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”

Rollo shrugged and opened it to the first page. “I guess I’ll tell you if it’s any good.”

Chapter Text

Ruggie was on edge all day. When he finally sat with Silver and the others, he looked like he’d finally lost it.

“What’s wrong?” Kalim asked. 

“It…” Ruggie sighed. “It’s a full moon.”

The table gasped. Silver turned to him. “It can’t be that bad,” he assured Ruggie. “You’ve done it a million times before.”

“Yeah, I just feel like everyone in my dorm can control themselves on a full moon but me. Even Jack can do it!”

Silver turned back to his plate. “At least you have a transformation.”

“Oh,” Ruggie felt a pang of guilt in him, “sorry.” The guilt was quickly replaced with an idea.

“Why don’t you bite me?” Ruggie asked. “Drink my blood so I’m too tired to go crazy during the full moon.”

Silver gestured for Ruggie to keep his voice down. “I can’t, Ruggie. It’s too risky.”

“Please!” Ruggie put on his puppy dog eyes.

“I…” Silver winced. He gave in, whispering, “Alright, fine. I’ll do it.”

“Yay!” Ruggie kissed Silver on the cheek. “You’re the best.”

Leona had all the freshmen, and some sophomores, lined up in the lounge. Despite his misgivings, he had to do this.

“Alright, this will be your first full moon at Night Raven College. We just have to go over a few things,” he began. “Larger animals like lions, bears, and wolves will be locked in the cages downstairs. They are uncomfy, but a destroyed bed in the morning will be worse. Prey animals like rabbits, deer and sheep will be allowed to stay in their rooms. I know many of you have control during a full moon, or at least you think you do. This time you have to go in the cages. If we find you weren’t very destructive, you can stay in your room. Any questions?”

Crewel and Vargas nodded behind them. No one asked anything.

“Alright, go get ready.” 

The crowd dispersed. Leona turned to his teachers, and as if from nothing, a small boy appeared behind them.

He was a werecat with dark skin, dark magenta colored hair, and a cutesy freckled face. He was dressed in nice clothes for his tiny size, and Leona guessed Crewel must have dressed him.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“This is Gino,” Crewel gestured. “Gino, say hi.”

Gino waved.

“He was abandoned at the school so me and Trein have been caring for him. He’s a werecat, as you can tell, so—”

“You need me to lock him up?” Leona asked. 

“Just put him in a spare room or something,” Vargas said. He’s well behaved, right Gino?” 

Gino nodded. Gino walked deeper into the dorm. 

“Where’s his family?” Leona asked. 

“All he has is an older brother who went missing during the carnival,” Crewel said. “We’re looking, but we can only do so much.”

Leona looked at the little kid. “Just one night?”

Gino nodded. 

“Come on.”

Leona led the kid to a spare two bedroom. Gino happily jumped onto the bed. 

“I’ll lock the door. You can’t leave here until the sun rises.” He paused. “Have you turned before?”

Gino nodded.

“Then you should be good.” Leona closed the door. As he closed it, he saw Ruggie and Silver. Silver had his umbrella over his head. Apparently, even inside, the sun was too much for him.

“Why is the bloodsucker here?” Leona asked.

“He just needs a couple books,” Ruggie said. He pulled Silver into his dorm room. He shut the curtains, and sat at the foot of his bed.

“Are you sure?” Silver asked again. “You could be really hurt.”

“Yes,” Ruggie said. “I’ve spent a year at this school incapable of controlling it. I don’t wanna embarrass myself again.”

“Fine,” Silver knelt down next to him, sinking his fangs into Ruggie’s neck. He drank, careful not to make a mess or drink too much. It was a careful game he played. But Ruggie and Kalim enjoyed it. They enjoyed it a bit too much, but Silver didn’t have room to complain.

He pulled away, insisting it was enough. He could see the weariness in Ruggie’s face. He was pale and delirious. 

On the plus side, this happened so much Silver has gotten very good at bandaging these bites.

Silver grabbed his umbrella and placed a kiss on Ruggie’s cheek.

“Stay safe,” he said.

“Of course, Silvy,” Ruggie gave him a goofy smile. “Love you.”

Ruggie’s eyes widened, still not used to saying that. Were they official? Yes, Silver had just kissed him and they’ve been letting him drink from him for a year now but…

“I love you too,” Silver said. He threw the umbrella up and rushed out of the dorm. 

Leona laid on the floor. Through the massive window, he could see the moon slowly rising. It was time. He approached the door and locked it.

He felt his body transform, hands into paws, hair into mane. He was conscious of it, he knew it was happening but he’d just…gotten used to it. It didn’t bother him anymore.

He laid on the floor, listening to the distant sounds of howling and barking. Clearly he was not alone. 

Leona walked over to the foot of his bed and laid down for another nap.

Down below the dorm, Jack heard his dorm mates bang against walls and doors, begging for release. But he was conscious, he was awake. He knew what he was doing.

He tried barking to communicate, but now one seemed in the mood to talk. So he curled up in the corner, and waited for this nightmare to be over with.

A hyena desperately clawed at the windows. Unlike Leona and Jack, Ruggie had little control over his hyena form. He was used to waking up with clothes torn to bits and furniture destroyed. And since hyenas weren’t predators, he wasn’t allowed in the cages. He was a scavenger, he could only do so much. 

When the sun rose, Ruggie woke up to see a small boy wrapped under his arm. Ruggie pulled away to see the eight-year-old werecat curled in his arms. Ruggie was still too anemic to really care. 

Sweet little Gino realized Ruggie woke up and skittered away. How he’d managed to open both doors with only his paws, Ruggie had no idea.

“Morning,” Leona opened the door to see Ruggie still on the floor. “We’re gonna get some early breakfast. Are you–”

“Give me a sec,” Ruggie tried to pull himself up. He felt weak.

“Ruggie…” Leona shook his head like a disappointed father. 

“Shut up!” Ruggie sighed. “I’m gonna put a lot at stake going along with your plan. If you still want me in, I suggest you don’t go badmouthing my bite marks!”

Leona took the hint and left Ruggie alone. He had Jack deliver some cold water, but that was it.

Chapter Text

Lamia naturally could see the future, but it was a trait that had faded in the Asim family’s bloodline. Kalim had the dreams, but he had no control over them. 

Tonight was another night of dreams he didn’t understand the meaning to. 

Levitating mid air was a beautiful red rose. From within the petals came a black, viscous goo. Ink-like, and it dripped into the nothingness around it.

Kalim jolted as claw marks formed behind him, from the markings came more of the same black goo. Kalim stepped back, away from the floating scratch, and tripped over a conch shell. When he picked up the conch shell, more of the black goo slipped from it. But as Kalim sat there in a pool of ink, it began to evaporate, turning from a black liquid into a black mist.

From the goo came a black and red snake. It jumped at Kalim, wrapping around his neck. But just as soon as it had enclosed Kalim’s neck, it disappeared into more black mist.

A crown hovered in front of Kalim. It was gold, but as Kalim reached for it, the metal quickly corroded, with gemstones popping out. One hit Kalim in the face. Another, a sapphire, burst into flames, boiling the ink around him. 

Kalim was ready for this prophetic dream to be over. He stood up and turned away from the cursed artifacts. Behind him, to no surprise, was a floating goblet. This one was silver, and like the crown corroded until it was black. Kalim, fully sick of this, grabbed the goblet and looked into the goblet. Inside were two large shiny snake scales, one black and one white.

Kalim finally woke up. He took a moment to anchor himself, he was usually shaken after a prophetic dream. Once he’d realized he was back in his room, he began to get dressed.

Jamil eventually walked in to wake him up. 

“You’re awake already?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, I had a weird dream,” Kalim said. “Alright, I have all my clothes, am I missing anything?”

“Makeup,” Jamil said. “And don’t forget your project. We have to present today.”

“Oh, right!” Kalim ran into the corner of his room and pulled out his notes and presentation on his family history.

“Silver.”

Kalim shook Silver awake and let the boy gather his notes. He reached the front of the classroom, placing the board on a stand Trein had prepared.

“You may begin when you are ready,” Trein said. A small werecat sat in his lap, looking at Trein’s gradebook.

“So,” Silver began awkwardly. “I’m a vampire, but I wasn’t born a vampire. I was born human, but I was raised by a vampire. My uh…My father was a general in the army in Briar Valley. He lived for many hundreds of years. He…he helped fight off invaders. And…he was close to the crown princess and her husband…before she…um…”

Silver’s presentation was mostly about his dad. But then, suddenly, it got to him.

“My father says he found me abandoned in the woods, and despite his better judgement he took me in. It was hard for him: he had to learn to cook, he had to find clothes, and he had never really seen a human baby before. But I think he did a really good job. He taught me how to use a sword, he taught me to hunt. A lot about the person I am is because of him.”

Silver stalled. He looked at his last note card. “Just over a year ago, I…I guess I died. Something happened and the only way to save my life was to turn me. And ever since I’ve been getting used to…everything.”

Silver stopped. 

“Alright,” Trein put down his pencil. “Anyone have any questions for Silver?”

“How’d you die?” asked a dryad.

Silver paused. “I don’t remember.”

“So, you said your dad’s a bat,” began a werewolf. “Can you turn into one?”

“Well, actually…” Silver held his head. “I don’t know what kind of vampire I am.”

Whispers filled the room. Even the kids not paying attention were looking at him.

Trein urged him to continue. And so Silver did. “I don’t remember much from that day, but there were two other vampires besides my father who I think were there, or they were there when I woke up. It could have been them, and they’re all different kinds. And whenever I ask my father about it he gets all evasive and doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Silver stopped. Trein nodded.

“As a father myself, I imagine it was a hard day for him,” he said.

“Yeah,” Silver rubbed his arm. “I guess it was.”

“Thank you Silver, you may return to your seat.”

The students clapped for him. The werecat in Trein’s lap applauded too. Silver sat back down, next to Kalim. His face didn’t change, but his heart was heavy.

After lunch, that same day, Silver seemed…upset.

“What’s wrong?” Kalim asked. “Did something happen? Is your housewarden mad about—”

“It’s fine,” Silver said. “I just…that presentation made me feel empty.”

“Empty?” Floyd asked.

“I just…there were so many questions I couldn’t answer.”

“That’s fine,” Ruggie said. “I don’t know everything about hyenas.”

“I know it’s just…I technically died, and of course people are gonna ask about that, but I…I don’t know.”

Silver held his head in his hands. Kalim rubbed his back.

“You really don’t remember?”

“Nothing,” Silver said. “I think I was training with Sebek. Maybe? Next thing I know I’m shirtless in bed and suddenly craving blood.”

“Shirtless?” Ruggie asked.

“Y’know?” Azul began. “We might be able to bring back those memories.”

“What?” Silver asked.

“Well, three of us have siren song abilities, Jamil can hypnotize, and Riddle’s pixie dust could probably distort Kalim’s powers.”

Silver looked around. “Seriously?” he asked. “You’d do that?”

“Of course!” Azul said. “For a price.”

Silver sighed. “What else do you want, Azul?”

“Some of my dormmates have debts they’ve yet to repay. Many of them are immune to siren song, but not to vampiric hypnosis.”

“You realize I’m still learning how to use that, right?” Silver asked.

“What better way to learn than with practice?” Jade asked.

Silver sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Then I guess I’ll get some pixie dust after classes,” Riddle said. “And you two?”

Kalim nodded. Jamil shrugged. He didn’t have much choice at this point.

“I’ll stand guard,” Ruggie said. “I don’t want you to be in any trouble.”

Silver nodded, and he smiled. Slightly. The others couldn’t tell but Ruggie could. And it made him happy.

“Thank you,” Silver said. “All of you.”

“We’ll meet you at Ramshackle,” Azul said.

“Why Ramshackle?” Silver asked.

“It’s haunted,” Floyd said. And that was that.

Chapter Text

Silver and his fellow sophomores stepped into the decrepit manor that was Ramshackle. His guard was immediately up, but he’d come too far to turn back.

Jade, Floyd and Jamil moved some furniture out of the way so Silver had room to lay down. Ruggie sat on one side of him and took Silver’s hand.

“If they do anything funny, I’ll eat ‘em,” Ruggie said with a stubbornness that put Silver at ease.

“I trust you,” Silver said. Silver laid back, his head on Kalim’s serpentine lap. “So, how does this work?”

“Just relax,” Jamil assured him. “Try to remember what happened that night.”

Silver shut his eyes, and as usual, he felt himself slip into unconsciousness. But this was different. The firm grip Ruggie had on his hand seemed to be the only thing grounding him. He felt like he was floating in a void. He couldn’t feel anything except Ruggie’s hand in his, but even that left him as he fell into a stupor.

In the distance, a faint voice whispered, “so, what’s for dinner?”

Silver opened his eyes and he was back in the front yard of his father’s cottage. A steel blade was in his hand, Sebek was mopping about losing again. Baur and Malleus sat on a bench, watching what had been a duel. Lilia was halfway through the door.

“What?” Silver asked.

“Anything you want for dinner, Silver?” Lilia asked. 

“Oh…” Silver shook his head. “No, I’ll have whatever, father.”

“I as well, Master Lilia,” Sebek said.

“Alright, I’ll start dinner and get the blood out,” Lilia stepped into the house. Malleus followed him to prevent any culinary mishaps. Baur gestured for Sebek to follow him inside.

“Are you coming, little one?” Baur asked.

Silver nodded. “Just give me a minute.”

Baur headed in, and Silver was left alone with his thoughts. A bird landed on a wooden post. Silver knelt down to meet its eye.

“Hey little guy,” Silver smiled. He held out a finger, and the bird pecked at it, intrigued. Silver paused for a moment. “I’m fine, I just…I wonder if they treat me differently since I’m human.” Silver looked around. “They must think I’m super fragile and weak, and I bet Sebek’s mad he keeps losing to me.”

Tweet tweet.

“Yeah, if a dhampir keeps losing to a human, he probably is doing something wrong.”

Silver laughed to himself. His mind drifted, imagining his father and friends talking over blood, a part of their lives he wasn’t allowed into. “Blood is bad for humans,” Baur had explained, “they have such little use for it.” Despite his shocking wrongness, Baur had never bitten Silver, or his son-in-law. Baur was noble like that, and he said he’d been drinking exclusively animal blood for centuries.

“I wonder if they wish I was like them,” Silver wondered aloud. “Bluebird, do you think…do you think I’m just a meal to them? Like that witch in the candy house who fattens kids up before they eat them?” 

The bird gave an incredulous look. He clearly had no idea what Silver meant.

Silver stood to enter the kitchen, maybe he could stop his father’s cooking disaster before it started. Then he heard it. A hypnotic sing-song voice that called his name.

“Silver~” the woods itself seemed to be calling him. Silver took a step forward, cautiously looking at the trees. He grabbed his sword off the floor.

“Hello?”

“Silver~” it repeated.

“Who’s in there?”

“Silver~”

“Can I help you?”

Silver was a few feet from the house now.

“Silver~”

Silver was annoyed at this point. He held his sword in front of him. “Show yourself!”

Silver couldn’t make out details of what came at him, but the force was so strong it broke his arm and tossed his blade into the yard. He felt the creature rip at his stomach, he felt the air touch his organs. He felt blood pool below him, soaking into the grass. 

He screamed. He screamed like he never had before and never would again. He screamed for help, he screamed for his father. He cried, of course he cried, his body was being torn apart. 

Silver jolted back to wakefulness, still screaming. His powers caused the furniture in Ramshackle to move back. Jade and Riddle stumbled back, Jamil’s snakes whipped in the air. 

It took Silver a moment to realize he was back at school, and he placed a cautious hand over his stomach. Was that really a vision? It felt so real, he remembered that pain, he remembered the panic, the fear. 

But he didn’t see it. He didn’t see what the monster was, he was too panicked, too scared, too…

“Silver?” Ruggie asked. Despite the screaming, the telekinesis, and the panicked breathing, he still held onto Silver’s hand. 

“Put me back under,” Silver said. “Put me back under.”

Floyd seemed to be the only one okay with this, but Azul stopped him. 

Silver wasn’t satisfied. He needed to know. He turned to Kalim, who hadn’t moved. “Put me back under.”

“I won’t,” Kalim said firmly. 

“Why not?” Silver was exasperated, finally pulling his hand away from Ruggie. “I couldn’t see it, I need to see it.”

“Silver, look at yourself.”

Silver paused and realized what had happened while he was under. His skin was pale, he’d sweat through his blazer, and tears of blood ran down his face. 

“I…” Silver felt suddenly sick. “I have to go.”

Silver grabbed his umbrella and ran out the door. He didn’t mean to, but the door nearly fell off the hinges when he opened it. 

“Silver, wait!” Ruggie shouted. 

He didn’t wait. 

Silver ran into the Diasomnia kitchen looking for one thing—blood. He pulled a bottle from the cabinet, popped the cap, and drank directly from it. He was so hungry…seven, what was wrong with him?

He kept drinking until a hand was placed on his shoulder. He put the bottle down, looking Kalim in the eyes. Kalim half smiled, slithering to sit next to him. 

“Are you feeling better?” Kalim asked. 

“A little,” Silver took another sip, using the back of his hand to wipe off the excess. 

“I’m sorry it didn’t work,” Kalim apologized. 

“No. I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Silver leaned on Kalim for support. “I just…I thought if I knew what happened it would make it easier.”

“I’m sure it’s really hard,” Kalim held Silver’s hand. “How long have you been a vampire again?”

Silver paused to do the math. “Sixteen months.”

“If you were a baby, you wouldn’t be walking yet,” Ruggie said, appearing above the two. He sat next to them on the kitchen floor, putting his head on Silver’s shoulder. 

“I know, I just…I’ve been surrounded by vampires my whole life and they know what they’re doing…but I don’t. I mean, I can’t drink blood properly, I can’t control my powers—Seven’s sake, I can’t even transform yet.”

“It’s not your fault,” Kalim squeezed his hand. “You’re new to this whole monster thing, it’s okay. I know once you figure it all out, you’ll blow everyone away.”

“Yeah…” Silver took another sip. “I still wake up sometimes and feel weird in my body. I thought I could control my strength but I guess not. I can’t drink from animals, I still drink from humans. Whenever I drink from a cup I’m so…messy. I can’t hypnotize, I can’t control my speed or senses or—”

“You know what you can do?” Ruggie asked. “You’re really good with a sword. And you’re really nice. And animals still love you even if you want to eat them.”

“And you’re really hot!” Kalim added. 

“That too.”

Silver laughed. Now he had that goofy smile he always had when Sebek did something stupid. But this wasn’t Sebek. These were the people he loved in a whole new way.

“Come on,” Kalim stood up. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Ruggie helped Silver up. Silver shut the bottle and left it on the countertop. He didn’t really have time, as the boys pulled him further away. 

“Thank you,” Silver said. 

“No problem,” the boys said in unison. They pulled him up the stairs, with Ruggie already looking for his bedroom. 

Malleus stepped out of the shadows and walked over to the bottle. There wasn’t a lot left in it. 

“Poor boy,” he muttered to himself. “There must be some way to help you.”

A light bulb went off in Malleus’ head. He knew just what to do. Last year, Lilia’s pedagogy didn’t work very well. But this was different. He was gonna help Silver his own way. 

Ernesto and Rollo helped Skully move the furniture back into place. Skully didn’t have muscles, he wasn’t very good at moving furniture.

“Should we have helped them?” Skully asked.

“Oh course,” Rollo said with a straight face. “Morality dictates we should have helped. However, it would have been unwise to stress the vampiric one any further. The last thing they need is to find three strangers trapped inside the dilapidated dormitory.”

“You’re only saying that ‘cause you won Go Fish!” Ernesto pointed out. “Still, based on all the screaming, we probably made a good call.”

“I mean, look at what he did,” Skully said, pulling the table back to its spot. “Did anyone get a good look at him?”

Ernesto and Rollo shared an annoyed look. Skully was off in his own world.

“Well,” Rollo suggested, “Anyone up for another round of Go Fish? Or would you care to switch to a different one? One you may actually win.”

Chapter Text

Silver had slathered himself in sunscreen, finally ready to continue his club activities. He always loved horses, he was so excited to ride them.

But, about thirty minutes into the meet, as he was trotting with his wonderful horse, Malleus appeared just over the fence. One umbrella was over his head, protecting him from sunlight. Another was in his hand, and it was clear to Riddle that Malleus was going to take Silver for something. Riddle walked his horse over to the two. 

“Is something wrong?” Riddle asked. 

“Rosehearts,” Malleus smiled, “I’m temporarily transferring Silver to the Gargoyle Studies Club.”

“What?!” Riddle asked. “Unacceptable! Because of Silver’s actions, we haven’t been able to hold a true meeting for our club in weeks!”

Riddle wasn’t willing to admit that part of that was also because he passed out and was placed on bed rest. 

“I’m sorry,” Malleus said. “But I’ve already filled out the paperwork with the headmaster. Furthermore, as your senior, and as Silver’s Housewarden and future king, my word is final.”

Wow, Riddle thought, he’s pulling all the arguments out. This must be important.

“Silver,” Riddle turned to him. “You can say no—”

“Okay,” Silver said. He grabbed the reins of his horse. “Let me go change.”

When Silver returned, Malleus greeted him with a hug. “This is going to be fun!”

“Malleus,” Silver said solemnly. “I understand you might be upset about not having any other club mates, but I don’t think I can match your enthusiasm about gargoyles.”

“Oh,” Malleus smiled. “We’re not studying gargoyles.”

“I…I don’t understand.”

“Well, I know you’ve been having trouble with your abilities, so I thought using your club hours would be a way to efficiently train you.”

“Umm…” Silver was afraid to ask. “Couldn’t we do it without taking me away from my club?”

“Well, we still have the spelldrive tournament coming up,” Malleus said. “And while the practice could surely help with control, I think this allows me to personally help you with your advancement.”

“I suppose it’s best,” Silver said. “I don’t want to accidentally hurt the horses.”

Malleus grabbed his hand and pulled Silver towards the dorm.

Malleus had spent the last few minutes returning Silver to the base state of strength control he had before he got into a fight with Sebek.

Once that was done, Malleus led Silver to the track. They changed into their PE clothes, and Malleus got ready at the line.

“Just a lap,” he instructed. “We need to work on your speed.”

Vampires had super speed, but despite Silver’s overall fast advancement, he’d never been able to use it. But Malleus insisted, and Silver was already covered in sunscreen. He lined up next to Malleus, and got in a beginning position.

“Feel the magic in your body,” Malleus said. “Feel the blood. Shift the energy into your legs.”

Silver tried to do as he was told, shifting his feet to try to place magic in it.

“GO!” Malleus ran off, and within seconds he was on the parallel side of the track. Silver tried, but could only manage a swift jog. Once he realized he was going at normal speeds, Silver stalled until finally stopping.

Malleus turned to him. “Try again!”

Silver did so, returning to runner’s position. He didn’t wait for Malleus, instead shooting up.

For a moment, a brief second, he ran at extreme speeds, but the shock made him stumble and fall flat on his butt.

Malleus smiled. “It’s always weirdest the first time. Go ahead, try again.”

Silver repeated this cycle. In what might have taken Malleus only a few seconds, it ended up taking a few minutes, as Silver got used to the feeling of super speed. With every failure he worried he would disappoint Malleus, but every time he looked back, Malleus only gave a supportive nod.

Malleus had Lilia drop off Silver's homework, and the two made their way to the woods by the school. Silver followed Malleus much like a lost dog would. When Malleus stopped and gestured for silence, Silver obeyed.

In a single swift motion, Malleus cut a rabbit at the neck and held it in his arms. The smell of its dripping blood put Silver on edge.

“Um, Malleus? What is this for?”

“Something I’ve noticed about you Silver is that you have an intense bloodlust. It seems any time it’s offered, you take it. And in your rush to consume, you’re sloppy.”

“I’m aware that I’ve become a bit of a messy eater,” Silver said.

“That’s more of a cultural thing,” Malleus said. “You don’t have to be perfect. But anyway.” Malleus knelt down, placing the rabbit on the forest floor next to him. “Your test for today is to stay here for an hour and not drink that bunny’s blood.”

“And my homework?”

“It could help distract you,” Malleus said. “Now, take a seat.”

Malleus took out a stopwatch he must have looted from the track. Silver sat down and opened up a notebook to begin.

For the next hour, the boy sat there in the trees. Malleus calmly read one of his books, but Silver was about the opposite. Part of him just wanted to collapse, his exhaustion coupled with his intense physical training. But the smell of blood—sweet, sweet blood—kept him awake. Silver was barely able to do any of his homework, as his stomach and tiredness battled out for who’d take control.

“Have you read up on your vampiric lore?” Malleus asked.

“What?” Silver looked up from the textbook. “Oh, no, sorry.”

“I see,” Malleus sighed. “Could you tell me the basics? I’m sure Lilia kept you well informed.”

Silver took a moment to pause. “On the bottom are rat vampires. They are seen as the lowest class but are most resilient. Next are bat vampires, like Father. They’ve been historically seen as worthless, but in modern times they’re regarded as middle class. They’re also the most common. There’s the vampires that turn into a swarm of flies, the ones who turn into wolves, the ones who turn into mist.”

“Good,” Malleus said.

“Then there’s crocodiles like the Zigvolts. Upper middle class citizens who tend to hold high positions in Briar Valley, like General Baur. And then there’s bird vampires like…like Prince Raverne.”

It seemed to pain Malleus to bring up his father. But he allowed Silver to continue.

“Hold positions of nobility,” Silver continued, “with different houses being different birds. And finally, there’s dragons, like you.”

Malleus seemed proud.

“Incredibly emotional, incredibly territorial, and incredibly powerful.”

“Excuse me?” Malleus asked. “Is that what Lilia told you?”

“His exact words, yes,” Silver said. “I don’t think that first one is true though…you aren’t very emotional.”

“Perhaps the males of my species hide behind a straight face, not letting their true emotions show.”

Silver shrugged. “If that’s a slight towards me, it’s not like I have control over it.”

“I know Silver. I’m trying to say you and I aren’t as different as you believe.”

Silver looked back towards his textbook.

Eventually, a little buz went off and Malleus smiled. “Amazing, you made it an hour.”

Silver shut the book and reached for the rabbit. Malleus stopped him. 

“Come on, there’s one more thing I want to cover today.”

Malleus led Silver away from the corpse, and eventually Silver lost the scent and his body seemed to relax. When they entered the Hall of Mirrors, Malleus saw the exact hyena he needed.

“Bucchi!” he shouted. A very frightened Ruggie turned to him. “I need your help with something,” Malleus continued. “And by me, I mean Silver.”

Ruggie relaxed when he saw Silver. “What exactly do you want?”

“Silver’s hypnosis is subpar, so having someone like you, with no psychic abilities, to train with would greatly benefit him.”

Ruggie backed away. “Thanks but…I gotta practice for the Spelldrive tournament.”

“Bucchi,” Malleus said, in an attempt to be calm, “I wasn’t asking.”

Ruggie had no choice but to follow Malleus and Silver into Diasomnia, a dorm that stood as the antithesis to his (although, to be fair, Savanaclaw had beef with everyone, and only part of it was Leona’s fault.)

Ruggie sat on one of the lounge couches, and Silver stood in front of him.

“Start by placing him under hypnosis,” Malleus instructed. 

Silver did so. He looked Ruggie in the eyes, watching them widen, briefly turn red, and then slowly closing to half cover his eye.

“Let’s do something simple,” Malleus said. “Instruct him to stand up.”

“Stand up,” Silver commanded.

Ruggie did so. He swayed as he lost all control of his body. 

“Sit back down,” Silver said. 

Ruggie did so. 

Silver was visibly uncomfortable. Malleus tried to distract him. “Really strong vampires can implant their will into victims without even speaking. I don’t expect you to—”

Ruggie suddenly stood up and walked towards Silver. Ruggie, still in this trance, wrapped his arms around Silver. Silver was too shocked to move. But he needed this. He was tired, and stressed, and strained from all the reminders that he was an incomplete person. 

Malleus let it happen, but when Ruggie pulled off for a kiss, he pulled the hyena away. 

“That’s enough,” Malleus said. “I can take Bucchi back to his dorm.”

“Oh,” Silver paused. “Okay.”

When Malleus returned, Silver had passed out on the couch. He expected nothing less. 

He took a moment to tuck the boy in. Lilia was right, he was progressing too quickly. 

Lilia entered the lounge, holding a cup of blood. “How’d it go?”

“He’s becoming more powerful by the day,” Malleus said. “I’m just happy to see him back to normal.”

Lilia nodded. “Me too.”

Malleus looked back at Lilia. Why won’t you tell him? He thought. It’s damaging him, and you still refuse to tell him.

Chapter Text

The chaos of Heartslabyul had seemed to calm down, and now that Riddle was out of bed again, things seemed to return to normal.

The Spelldrive tournament was coming up. Riddle had agreed to help with Trey’s food stand, so he was trying to practice magic and memorize the ingredients in case a visiting guest has allergies or sensitivities. 

“Cater?” Riddle asked. “Can I have a little bit of pixie dust?”

Cater already had a bug full of the stuff—Trey was experimenting with adding it to his food—so he approached Riddle in the lounge.

As Riddle reached for the bag, he and Cater heard a loud popping noise inside it. Cater froze in panic. Riddle took action, grabbing the bag and launching it out the window. It exploded midair, like a glittery confetti cannon.

“What was that?” Cater asked.

“Where’d you get that dust?” Riddle interrogated. 

“From the well!” Cater said. “I don’t know why it blew up like that!”

There was a loud thud from the hallway.

“What was that?” Riddle shouted. He ran into the hallway, Cater not too far behind him. When he reached the source of the noise, Riddle found Trey at the bottom of a staircase, cradling his leg.

“Trey, what happened?” Cater asked, rushing to the goblin’s leg.

“I don’t know!” Trey said. “I had that pixie dust you gave me and it just…exploded. And it knocked me down the stairs.”

“Housewarden!” Ace and Deuce came rushing up to them. “Housewarden something’s wrong!”

“We can tell,” Riddle said. “Let me guess, pixie dust?”

“How’d you know?” Deuce asked. 

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Our neighbor sprained his ankle, but I think everyone else is fine,” Deuce finally noticed Trey. “What happened?”

“Cater, could you help Trey to his room? I need to check the well.”

Riddle and the freshmen approached the pixie dust well. Riddle ran a hand through it. The sparkling gold had faded into dull bronze colored dust.

“Just as I thought,” Riddle said. “It’s been tampered with.”

“Is that bad?” Deuce asked.

“We need that for magic!” Ace added.

“It’s actually not as bad as it seems,” Riddle said. “The actual well hasn’t taken any damage. If we get rid of the bad batch, maybe replace the powersource, we can replace the supply. But it’ll take a while.”

“Phew,” both freshmen were relieved. Riddle left the well and ordered some card soldiers to clear out the well.

“This is no prank,” Riddle said to Ace and Deuce. “With the spelldrive tournament so close, there is no way it’s an accident. Especially with Trey…”

“What’s wrong housewarden?” Deuce asked. “Oh, do you need replacements for the spelldrive team? Cuz me and Ace—”

“Yes,” Riddle got a devious little smile on his face. “I need you and Ace’s help.”

“Oh, okay sir!” Deuce said.

“I need you to check out the other dorms,” Riddle explained. “This prank may be ultimately harmless, but its timing is too perfect. I need you to investigate the other dorms, see if anything is suspicious. If you do so, I can put you on the team in place of Trey and Puck.”

“For real?” Ace asked. “Housewarden, you’re amazing!”

“Don’t push it!” Riddle said. “I’m counting on you.”

The duo first went to Scarabia. When they were let in, they found the hall decorated with stone statues. 

“Are those…students?” Deuce asked. 

“Calm your horses,” Jamil emerged from the lounge. “They’ll be back to normal in an hour or two.”

“But they’ll still be sore,” Kalim complained. “I don’t know if we’ll still be able to compete.”

“Don’t say that!” Deuce said. “Once you all recover, you just need to try twice as hard!”

“You’re right!” Kalim shouted. “Jamil, this is gonna be so fun!”

“I’m sure…” Jamil sighed.

“What exactly happened?” Ace asked.

“Someone tossed a lightbomb in here. No one was hurt, but the gorgons lost control and…” Kalim gestured to the area around him. “I think you can guess.”

“I see…” Ace seemed lost in thought.

The boys then moved on to Ignihyde.

“HEY!” Ortho waved them over. “What’s up guys?”

“Hey Ortho,” Deuce said. “Has anything weird happened?”

“Weird? What do you mean?”

The two explained what happened with Scarabia and Heartslabyul, and gave Riddle’s theory that they were deliberately being sabotaged.

“Well, now that you mention it,” Ortho began, “when our team started practicing, the power went out.”

“WHAT!” Ace shouted. “You’re all robots right? That’s seriously dangerous.”

“Yeah,” Deuce added. “One of you could have died.”

“You two realize the lights are back on, right?” Ortho pointed to the lamp above him. Sure enough, it was on.

“Oh,” the boys said in unison.

“My big brother was able to turn it back on,” Ortho said. “But my dorm was kinda already looking for an excuse to quit. And they all did.”

“Hmmm,” Ace seemed to be thinking again. “Thanks for the help, Ortho.” 

Ace and Deuce moved onto Savanaclaw. As the sun pierced their clothes, they noticed Jack training in the front yard.

“JACK!” Deuce ran up to him. “Hey man, you training for the spelldrive tournament?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “I have to be in perfect condition! If what I’ve heard about Diasomnia is true, I have to be in great shape to defeat them!”

“Oh yeah!” Ace smiled. “We’re gonna be on Heartslabyul’s team.”

“Wow, really?” Jack asked. “I mean, you’re both in sports, so I shouldn’t be too surprised. But don’t expect me to go easy on you just cuz we know each other.”

“Ha, you know it!” Deuce cracked his knuckles.

“So…Jack, could you tell me…how do you play Spelldrive?”

Jack looked Ace in the eyes like the idiot he was. “Wait, you signed up to play spelldrive but you don’t know how to play?”

“Yeah…”

Jack sighed. “Fine. I was gonna run drills with my roommates. If you want, we can teach you how to play.”

“That would be great, thanks,” Deuce sighed.

“What’s all this racket!” Savanaclaw’s housewarden emerged from the entrance. “And who are these froshes?”

“Housewarden Leona!” Jack bowed. “These are my friends! They’re going to train with me?”

“Are you seriously helping the competition?” Leona asked, his face morphing from exhaustion to annoyed. 

“Well, housewarden, if we don’t help them, there won’t be a competition,” Jack said.

Leona sighed. “Whatever. Is Ruggie back?”

“No sir!” Jack said. “Do you know where he went?”

“He’s with the bloodsuckers,” Leona said. “Him and Silver are “studying.””

“Sir, why did you put that in air quotes?”

As if on cue, a very angry Malleus Draconia appeared through the mirror. In one hand was an umbrella, in the other was Ruggie’s arm, thankfully still attached to the owner.

“Kingscholar, I believe this is yours?”

Ruggie looked at Leona, awkwardly smiling.

“What about him, Lizard?” Leona asked. 

“Oh, I think you’re fully aware of what he did,” Malleus said.

Leona and Malleus had a silent staring competition. “Ruggie, why don’t you go with the froshes to practice.”

“Uhh, sure Leona,” Ruggie said. Malleus let go of him, never breaking his stare with Leona.

Ruggie, Jack and the fae boys disappeared, leaving just the two mortal enemies.

“How have you been preparing for the tournament?” Malleus asked.

“I’ve been training real hard,” Leona said. “What about you?”

“I’d be training much better if you didn’t send your hyena to distract my teammates.”

“You think I sent Ruggie?” Leona laughed. “He doesn’t listen to authority! You should know that! Besides, he and Silver are friends. I’m sure they were having fun studying.”

“Studying?!” Malleus shouted. “Bucchi was practically on top of him when I found them. I need you to hose him down and keep him out of my dorm.”

“You were the one who invited him, though ‘invite’ is a strong word.”

“That was necessary training. Sending him to deliberately distract my dormmates is not.”

“Again, I didn’t send him! If Ruggie wants to flirt with his boyfriend, that’s not my problem.”

“BOYFRIEND?!” Leona swore he could hear thunder.

“Tell ya what, Lizard, I’ll give Ruggie some advice. I’ll tell him to stay away from Silver until they’re both eighteen. Oh wait…Narcolepsy’s never gonna be eighteen, is he?”

“Narcolepsy? Really? Silver has a condition, what’s your excuse?”

“My excuse is not having time for your bull–” Leona took a deep breath. “Go ahead and practice, Lizard. You’re going to need it.”

“Oh, will I? I crushed you pretty hard last year,” Malleus said. “And I beat you in the fall formal court, correct? How did third place taste?”

“At least I can run again.”

“Well, I wish you luck, Kingscholar,” Malleus turned to leave, the sun beating down on him. “Now that all the actually beautiful popular people are gone.”

“You little!”

Malleus disappeared, leaving behind a very angry lion.

“So, how’d it go?” Leona asked. 

Ruggie was still exhausted from practice. “It went well. Some people got minor injuries, but I don’t think anyone will be hurt for too long. Silver’s at least distracted.”

“You don’t have to try too hard, he’ll probably just fall asleep.”

Ruggie sat down. “Scarabia and Heartslabyul are down. I know Ace and Deuce are gonna replace them, but really, we aren’t in danger.”

Leona did not appreciate Ruggie’s leniency, but he wasn’t wrong. And with Jack as a factor it couldn’t be too obvious. 

“If they replace Silver, we’re going with my plan,” Leona reminded. “Got it?”

“Got it.” Ruggie sighed. As much as it pained him to manipulate Silver, he needed to get up in the world. “What else do we need to do? Got an idea to get rid of Pomefiore? Some of them are pretty athletic.”

“Wait a minute,” Leona’s ears perked up. “We’re being watched.”

“What?!” Ruggie turned around. “Who’s there?”

“Come on out Jack!”

Chapter Text

“Seriously?” Jack asked. “Have you two been…sabatoging the other teams?”

“Why are you even up?” Leona asked. “It’s late. Go to bed.”

“Why would you do this?” Jack asked.

“Why?” Leona asked. “Because that bloodsucking lizard always wins everything.”

“Wha…what?”

“Why? Aside from the humiliation in the tournament for two years running? Besides him continuing to be more popular despite never showing his face outside of class. Despite him being some ‘untold beauty.’” Leona groaned. “He represents everything I despise. He’s first in line…and because of it he gets all the attention. He’s always first!”

Jack was in shock. “Housewarden…that’s not a reason to—”

“What do you know?!” Leona shouted. “You don’t know what I’ve been through! You don’t know anything! You’re the big brother of your house right? You don’t know what it’s like to always be second place!”

“Leona…” Jack said.

“Forget this,” Ruggie said. “It’s too late to stop this now. I’ve got Silver halfway around my finger and I’ve already traumatised my other friends. We’re doing this. We have to win!”

“Ruggie…” Jack said. “I was hoping you’d help me reason with him. Why? What do you have to gain from this?”

“Jack…I’m sure you’ve gotten second place before, but you don’t know what my life is like,” Ruggie suddenly matched Leona’s anger. “I need to turn the world upside down…I will do anything to get out of this hole I’m in.”

“Is that why you hang out with Kalim?” Jack asked. “You just like him for his money?”

“Huh, what?” Ruggie said. “No that’s different, I—What’s it to you furball!”

Ruggie stormed out.

“I…” Jack turned down. “I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, pup,” Leona said. “I’d love to see you tell Crowley by the way. See how far you get.”

“I…”

Leona left Jack agape in the lounge. Jack stood there, thinking one thing to himself.

I can’t let this happen.

Silver was deep into his studying when he heard it.

“Heeeeeey.”

Silver turned to see Ruggie in the doorway.

“Ruggie?” Silver asked. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be here. Malleus will—”

“Who cares what Malleus has to say!” Ruggie walked closer to Silver. He placed a finger on Silver’s chin. “I only came here to see you.”

“Umm, do you wanna study again?”

“Let’s drop the act,” Ruggie said. He grabbed Silver’s arms and pulled him off the chair. “I wanna talk.”

“About…?”

“Anything.” Ruggie pulled Silver onto the bed. “How have you been lately?”

“Well, I’ve been training,” Silver said. “Not just for the tournament, to hone my abilities.”

“That’s great!” Ruggie cheered. Despite his ulterior motives, Ruggie did feel genuinely happy for Silver.

“If I’m being honest with you, Ruggie,” Silver continued. “I don’t think I’m progressing at all. I can’t control my strength while training, and I still can’t use my super speed on command. I’m worried that if I play in the tournament, someone could get hurt.”

“I…I think you should drop out then,” Ruggie said. “If you’re worried someone could get hurt, you shouldn’t do it. Plain and simple.”

Ruggie laid on Silver’s body, his head nustling against Silver’s chest like a cat. Silver’s face was burnt pink now.

“I…You don’t have to do this…”

“What if I want to?” Ruggie said, rubbing his head against Silver’s pectorals. 

“Then…I suppose I can’t stop you…” Silver tried to turn away. “But, please be careful, if my housewarden—”

“SILVER!” 

Silver shot up, looking at the doorway again. It was worse than Malleus.

It was Lilia.

“Fa-Lilia, I—”

“Get out!” Lilia shouted. “Get out you wretched hyena!”

Ruggie shot up and ran out the door. This time Malleus didn’t escort him. He just ran.

Silver was not so lucky. Silver would have to explain everything to his father. 

He’d live. He’d be grounded for a month at least, but he’d live.

And he was pulled off the team. So Ruggie got what he wanted.

Ace and Deuce were still trying to get a hold of spelldrive when they saw Jack running into the coliseum. They were going to practice with Epel, but he was…a mess.

“Their roots are overgrown,” Deuce said. “Something in their shampoo.”

It was a permanent bad hair day, but overall a hair cut could fix them up. Still, most refused to practice until the problem was fixed.

“Hey, Jack!” Ace shouted. “Think you could help us a little bit more?”

“Actually,” Jack said. “I know I can help you.”

“Great!” Deuce said. “Grab a broom—”

“My housewarden’s behind this.”

Ace fell off the broom. “What?”

“Housewarden Leona is behind this,” Jack explained. “He’s had Ruggie pulling pranks to take out the competition.”

“Wha…why?” Deuce asked.

“Because he lost to Malleus Draconia last year? If you ask me, that’s a stupid reason. But people are getting hurt, and I cannot sit by and watch this happen.”

“So go to Crowley,” Ace said.

“He’s not gonna do anything,” Jack said. “But I know you two will. Or at least, your housewarden will.”

“Hey!” Ace and Deuce shouted.

“Well…” Ace said. “What are we supposed to do?”

“The tournament is tomorrow,” Jack said. “I know they’re going to pull something with Diasomnia.”

“JACK HOWL!”

“Speaking of…” Deuce muttered.

Sebek stomped into the coliseum. “Jack Howl, how dare you! Silver had to drop out of the tournament because your hyena was courting him!”

“Wait…” Jack said. “Silver’s out? That’s great! That means you can’t play!”

“Are you praying on our downfall, werewolf?” Sebek asked. “Too bad, we had Master Lilia ready to replace anyone who was injured, so we’re prepared.”

“Damn it!” Jack said. “Sebek, I need to tell you something. I think I have a plan.”

Chapter Text

Sebek and Lilia had taken their place in front of a food stall, looking for pre-game calories. Just down the side street was a crowd of visitors. Because of the way the staff funneled them through the entrance, there was a bit of a clot.

Perfect, thought Ruggie. He reached into his bag, placing his hands around a spherical glass potion bottle.

“Hey Ruggie!” 

Ruggie jumped, turning around to see Ace.

“Hey man,” Ruggie said. “What do you need?”

“Well, I’ve just been having so much fun with spelldrive,” Ace explained, “I was thinking about transferring to the spelldrive team.”

“Yeah, well, sorry bud,” Ruggie said. “We’re all full.”

“Oh, come on!” Ace said. “Can’t you throw me a bone!”

“Ugh,” Ruggie moaned. “Jamil’s gonna be so mad when he finds out. Fine, I’ll give you Leona’s contact info. Don’t expect him to answer.”

Ruggie grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a random set of numbers that vaguely matched a Sunset Savanna phone number.

“Thanks man!” Ace said. “You’re a real one.”

Ace walked away. Ruggie rolled his eyes, looking back. Sebek and Lilia were still there, the crowd had thinned but there was still a chance. Ruggie reached back into his bag and…nothing.

Where’d it gone? Where was it? It was just there!

“Shit!” Ruggie muttered. He snuck out from behind the stall. He had to tell Leona.

Leona Kingscholar stood with confidence inside the coliseum. Jack had just come in to warm up. Leona paid him no mind. This was it.

“LEONA!” Ruggie ran into the coliseum shouting. His tiny frame struggled as he reached Leona.

“So?” Leona asked. “Is it done? Is he gone?”

Jack stopped his pushups. He didn’t like the slight glee in Leona’s voice.

“No…” Ruggie said. “I…someone stole it.”

“WHAT?!” Leona shouted. “What do you mean?”

“Looking for this?” Jack asked. The upperclassmen turned to him. In Jack’s hand was the stink bomb Ruggie was meant to use to cause a stampede.

“Jack…” Leona sighed. “I knew you’d be a trouble maker.”

Riddle, Ace and Deuce walked out from the locker rooms. Sebek, Lilia and Silver smiled from the other side of the field.

Ruggie shouted at Ace. “How did you—”

“Do you really expect a fairy to not be sneaky?” Ace asked. “That was a mere party trick.”

“I expect better from you Leona,” Riddle said. “Honestly, you should know by now that cheaters don’t prosper.”

“Housewarden…” Jack stepped back, handing the stink bomb back to Ace.

“Ugh,” Leona said. “There’s no point anymore. If Malleus can still play, we’ve lost our shot.”

“Leona, listen,” Ruggie grabbed Leona’s arm. “We still have a chance! I know we can’t beat Malleus, but we can still get second place!”

Leona’s eyes widened.

“Come on!” Ruggie continued. “We’re still leagues better than the other teams! We have strength and speed! Just—”

Ruggie screamed in pain. Leona was crushing his arm with a single hand.

“Ruggie!” Silver shouted.

Ruggie knelt down in pain, using his right hand to cradle the injured limb. His forearm was broken, he didn’t know which bone had snapped, all he knew was the pain.

Leona grabbed Ruggie by the neck, claws sinking into his neck. 

“This is your fault,” Leona snarled. “You messed up! Because of you, I’ll never win! Nothing will ever change!”

Leona dropped Ruggie. The hyena dragged himself away before hiding into the fetal position. Pain. That was it. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Leona stood over the crying hyena. He’d given up when he learned Malleus had survived, but something…something inside him had snapped.

Jack ran to stop his housewarden from hurting Ruggie anymore. But before he could get there…

Leona fell forward, and collapsed. 

“Housewarden!” Jack ran to the collapsed Leona. Silver finally shook Lilia’s grasp and ran to Ruggie’s side.

As if on cue, the staff arrived.

“What is the meaning of this?” Crewel shouted. “What happened?”

“Professor Crewel!” Jack yelled. “Housewarden Leona injured Ruggie and then he just collapsed.”

“What?” Crewel ran into the pit, alongside Vargas. “Vargas, get the stretcher. Jack, help him bring Leona to the infirmary. Silver—”

Crewel turned to see Silver already holding Ruggie bridal style.

“Come with me.”

Somewhere, somewhere underground, under a dilapidated dormitory, a bottle filled with a black liquid and a yellow mist, topped with a gemstone that slowly turned from opaque, to gold, to black. A crisis is averted, and an invisible barrier gets stronger.

Leona woke up in the infirmary. His whole body ached, his mouth felt dry. But aside from that, he felt…nothing. Nothing at all.

Leona sat up, he saw Ruggie in a chair, with Silver there to comfort him. He had bandages around his neck, his left arm in a sling.

Crewel approached the pair. “As a school nurse, I can’t prescribe any sedatives or painkillers. But I can recommend some teas with similar effects, albeit much lessened.”

“That would be good,” Ruggie said. Crewel stepped away.

Silver grabbed Ruggie’s healthy hand and interlaced their fingers.

“Are you mad at me?” Ruggie asked.

“A little,” Silver admitted, placing his head on Ruggie’s shoulder.

“Are you gonna break up with me?”

“I…I’ll have to think about it. And talk with Kalim.”

Ruggie sighed. “Listen, everything I said in our little cuddle sesh…I meant it. I know it seems like I had an ulterior motive, and I did, but…I meant what I said. I really do love you.”

Silver stood up. “I hope you feel better, Ruggie.” And with that, he was gone.

Ruggie sat for a bit, soaking up the solitude. After a few minutes, he noticed Leona was awake.

“When you passed out,” Ruggie said, “it took Jack and Vargas to stop Silver from pulling you apart limb from limb.”

Leona laughed. “He must really like you.”

“Ruggie,” Leona said. “Listen…I’m sorry. I…I don’t know what happened to me back there, but it’s not your fault. And…I shouldn’t have hurt you.”

Ruggie raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, man,” Leona said. “I…I guess I’ll try again next time.”

Ruggie gave a half smile. Crewel returned with the tea and discharged Ruggie. Then he turned to Leona.

“You have the same symptoms as Rosehearts,” he said, “but I can’t figure out if there is anything else that caused it.”

Leona sighed. “I guess I’m bedridden for the next week? Like the Little Read-Head?”

“Yes,” Crewel said. “Some of your dormmates offered to take you back.” Crewel almost left, but then he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, someone else is here to visit you.”

A fluffy blur of orange and yellow rushed and jumped onto Leona. 

“UNCA LEONA!”

Cheka, Leona’s nephew, squeezed Leona to the point he could hardly breathe.

“Oh Sevens,” he muttered. “What do you want?”

“Neji said the tourmament got canceled,” Cheka said, “because you were sick.”

“Yeah, I’m real sick,” Leona said. “You should probably get away from me.”

“We should make you some soup!” Cheka said.

“No, I’m fine,” Leona said. “Where’s your dad? Or Neji?”

“They’re talking to the dog person about you,” Cheka said. “I wish I could see you play.”

“Well, I can’t,” Leona said. “Sorry.”

“Awwww,” Cheka frowned. 

Cheka was eventually pried off of Leona and Leona was led back to his dorm.

Still, something ate at him.

“What…What happened back there?” Jack asked.

Leona just shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Chapter Text

“Epel, stop running!!” Ace, Deuce and Jack followed Epel up a hill. Ortho and Sebek had been walking around, and decided to follow them.

“Why are we running?” Ortho asked.

“That darn furball stole my apples again!” Epel kept running. Deuce and Jack were able to catch up to him. Sure enough, he was chasing Grim, apple in his mouth.

Grim again snuck into Ramshackle. Epel stood outside the door huffing.

“Epel,” Jack said. “Let it go! It’s just an apple. You have plenty!”

“Nah!” Epel shouted. “If he gon keep takin mah apple, he gon face mah wrath!”

Epel kicked down the door to Ramshackle. 

Inside, chomping on the apple, was an orange haired werefox. Laying on the couch, reading a book, was a strange man in religious clothes. On the opposite couch was a skeleton in eccentric clothing.

The freshmen screamed.

“What are you people doing here?” Jack shouted. “Who are you?!”

“Would you calm down?” Ernesto shouted. 

Epel took a cautious step into the dorm.

“DON’T COME IN!” the three shouted.

Epel stepped back. “Why?”

“Listen, this is going to sound ridiculous,” Rollo said. “But this dorm is cursed. If you enter you cannot leave.”

“Not true,” Grim said. “Students are fine to enter and leave.”

“How would you know that?” Rollo asked.

“Also, I was a student when I got trapped,” Skully added.

Epel entered the dorm, then cautiously exited.

“I guess we’re good.”

“Then come on in,” Skully said, moving to Rollo’s couch to welcome the guests.

The freshmen entered the dilapidated dorm.

“Allow me to begin the introductions,” the fox said. “I am Ernesto Foulworth, and the man in the strange, eccentric clothing is Rollo Flamme.”

“Was that a compliment or an insult?”

“I’m Ace, this is Deuce, Jack, Epel, Ortho and…” Ace paused. “Sebek, why are you wearing sunglasses?”

It suddenly occurred to the group that Sebek was, in fact, wearing sunglasses. They kinda made him look cool, but mostly he looked like an idiot.

“Just because I have the ability to withstand the sunlight to some degree, it doesn’t mean I am immune,” Sebek shouted.

Ace groaned. “Well, we’re inside now. Take them off, you look like an idiot.”

Sebek took his sunglasses off, his hair flapping as he moved his head. At that moment, for Skully, time seemed to slow. Each second of Sebek’s face seemed precious and holy. Something about his face made Skully’s bones shutter in joy.

Rollo looked up at Sebek. “Oh, are you–”

“I’M SKULLY!” Skully climbed over Rollo’s body to reach Sebek. He jumped over him, standing in front of Sebek. He coughed, “I’m Skully J. Graves. You’re a vampire correct? That’s wonderful. I’ve read a lot about vampires. Tell me all about it.”

Sebek stared up at the very tall, very lanky skeleton man. 

“Hi…” Sebek said. “Skully? Are you a…”

“I’m a skeleton!” Skully said. “My limbs are detachable. You can take one if you want! I’m not using them for anything!”

“Um…”

“Skully, I think you need your bones,” Rollo told him, putting his hat back on.

“Oh, come now, Rollo,” Skully said. “I’m sure this vampiric beauty can find a use for them.”

Skully grabbed Sebek’s hand, bowing and kissing it.

“Wow!” Ortho said. “Skully’s acting like a love interest from a reincarnation manga.”

“You read manga?” Deuce asked. 

“Yeah, with my brother,” Ortho said. “He doesn’t let me read the romances though. He said anything could turn spicy and before you know it, I’ll be traumatized for life.”

“Spicy?” Rollo asked. “Like a cookbook?”

“Wait…do you not know what it means?” Ace asked.

“It’s like…” Deuce pondered, “A cooking manga?”

“Huh?” Ortho asked. “Why wouldn’t Idia want me to watch some couples cook?”

“Oh, enough about those sinful books!” Skully said. “What brings you all to our wonderful prison?”

“Grim keeps takin mah apples!” Epel shouted.

“Oh,” Grim said. “I gotta help feed these guys. They can’t leave, so me and the staff ghosts are keeping them fed.”

“We sent Grim to get an apple for Ernesto,” Rollo explained. “He’s been separated from his younger brother, so a good fruit would be good for his mental health.”

“Ah yes…” Ernesto said. “I hope poor Gino is okay.”

“Gino?” Jack asked. “Is your brother a werecat with dark skin?”

“Yes,” Ernesto said. “We’re adopted brothers, I know we don’t look alike. But that changes nothing.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that,” Sebek added. “Silver’s adopted and he’s treated no differently because of it. Well, not because of that detail.”

“Why, who’s Silver?” Skully asked, infuriated. “Is he your romantic interest? Must I get rid of him?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Deuce,” Jack turned to his clubmate, “wasn’t there a little werecat with Vargas at practice?”

“What?” Ernesto turned back to the wolf. 

“Oh yeah!” Deuce said. “He was helping Vargas set up for the meet.”

“Now that you mention it,” Epel said. “I remember seeing a little werecat hand out packets for Crewel’s class.”

“Yeah!” Ace said. “And he’s been helping Trein collect homework too.”

“I think Leona let him into the dorm for the full moon too,” Jack added. “He’s super cute. We bought him pancakes in the morning.”

“So, Gino is taken care of?” Ernesto asked. “That’s good to hear. Still, if you could tell him I’m here, that would be much appreciated. I just want him to know I still live, and I’m going to be there for him. I swear, I’ll get out of here and find him!”

Ortho nodded. “We’ll tell him. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you,” Ernesto said. “Oh, Epel right? I enjoyed the apple.”

“Thanks, they’re from my family in Harveston.”

“We should get going,” Jack said. “I’m sorry we can’t help. We’ll tell the staff.”

“Thanks,” Rollo said. “It’s something.”

“Aww,” Skully pouted. “Promise me you’ll visit me, handsome.”

“Oh, that’s not my name,” Sebek said. “It’s Sebek Zigvolt, royal guard to Malleus Draconia.”

“Great, another person to worry about,” Skully said. “Guard x prince is such a boring trope.”

The freshmen left the dorm. 

“Skully?” Rollo asked. “What was that?”

“What do you mean?” Skully asked. “I simply took an interest in that vampire.”

“You took more than an interest,” Ernesto said. “You could barely get your hands off him.”

“Well, I hope when you two meet someone who makes your heart spin like he does for me, you will understand.”

“Heart spin?” Rollo asked. “You don’t have a heart. You’re a skeleton.”

Deuce and Ace walked towards their room. Deuce seemed awkward. Something was…different. 

Ever since school had started, Ace had been bothering him non-stop. But this time…this time something was…different.

“Juice?” 

“Huh?” Deuce looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“You seem a little out of it,” Ace said. 

“Of course I’m a little out of it,” Deuce said. “We just met three guys trapped inside that old dorm. You gotta feel bad for them.”

“I know,” Ace said. “But it’s gonna be okay. It’s not our problem right?”

“R…right,” Deuce said.

Ace walked away and found his eyes drifting towards his roommate’s butt.

Oh, no. Was he…

No, he couldn’t be.

Right?

Chapter Text

“Hello!” Ortho popped out from the decorations Heartslabyul had set up.

Ace and Deuce turned to him. They were both dressed like robots, with gray facepaint and cardboard hotglued to bodysuits.

“Wow that is bad!” Ortho said. “Did you guys even bother asking us for help?”

The theme for Halloween that year had been to dress up as a species from another dorm. Riddle had gotten second to last pick, and he had chosen robots from Ignihyde.

In hindsight, Frankenstein would have been better. But his card soldiers had gotten to work making their costumes. Ace and Deuce…well they tried.

“Hello Ortho,” Riddle smiled. His costume was stylish and better made, even having a mock skirt. Riddle couldn’t sit down because of it, but he looked nice.

“Hello Housewarden Riddle,” Ortho said. “You look very nice.”

“You as well,” Riddle said. “I know Idia got nymphs but…”

“Oh,” Ortho gave himself a spin, allowing the gray toga to float like a ballet skirt. “Big brother wanted to dress like the lampades. They’re nymphs native to the underworld, and are known as torchbearers.”

“I see…” Riddle said. “It certainly matches. You went very traditional. And the prop is made nicely.”

Ortho held out the prop torch. “Thank you! Big brother based it on the lightsticks you bring to concerts.”

“Hmm,” Riddle muttered to himself. “I’ve never been to a concert before. Could you—”

“Who wants pizza!” Cater appeared from behind Riddle.

Ace and Deuce both grabbed slices of pizza. They stepped away from Riddle to eat in peace.

The boys ate, looking at Halloween costumes and talking about the future exam. When they’d finished, Ace turned to Deuce. 

“Hold on,” he said, “you got something right there!”

Ace placed his thumb on Deuce’s cheek, running it down to remove some tomato sauce.

Deuce’s face was about the same shade as the tomato sauce.

“Dude, are you okay?” Ace asked, licking the sauce off his thumb.

“I—um—well—you—” Deuce coughed. “Thank you.”

Ace laughed. “Aren’t elves supposed to be super refined and stuff?”

“That’s high elves,” Deuce said. “Wood elves are more…normal.”

“I don’t think you’re normal,” Ace said. “You’re cool, man.”

“Thanks…” Deuce said.

“Goldfishie!” Floyd shouted. 

Riddle was promptly tackled by a giant eel man.

“Floyd!” Riddle shouted. “Get off me!”

Floyd got off him. “Gotta say, Goldfish. I’m not a fan.”

“Well, let me see yours!”

Floyd gave Riddle a spin. His dorm had dressed like water fairies, so he, Jade and Azul dressed like blue Peter Pans, with water lilies and fake wings taped to their backs.

“I must say,” Azul and Jade approached the pair. “Riddle, you could have done so much better.”

“I could say the same to you,” Riddle said. “I mean, I can see the seams from over here.”

“Oh please, you think this is bad?” Jade said. “We came from Idia’s section. He apparently made the straps too long for his toga. Vil helped him tie them back, but for ten precious minutes you could see his whole—”

“I honestly wish I could care as much as Jade does,” Azul said. “Leona and Malleus seemed entranced by them.”

“Oh,” Riddle was suddenly reminded. “What do you think of Leona’s costumes?”

“He cheated!” Floyd groaned. “He’s using the same pirate costumes from last year. He just had Remora glue sea shells to it.”

“Of course he did,” Riddle sighed. “I knew he was up to something when he called mermaids.”

“It was lovely to speak with you Riddle,” Azul said. “But we really must be going.”

“Oh, Azul,” Jade smiled. “I see him too. Go ahead.”

Azul ran off in the direction of Jamil.

“Wow,” Jade said. “I expected him to at least pretend not to care.”

“He’s probably just gonna talk business with him,” Floyd said. 

“Sure…” Jade said. “Business…”

“Jamil!” 

Jamil turned to see Azul running up to him. He stopped, letting the octopus catch up to him.

“Do you need something Azul?” Jamil was supposed to be dressed as a werewolf, but his clothes were just regular red Scaldings Sands clothing, with a fake tail and ears attached.

The snakes in his hair were also ruining the costume.

“I just wanted to say hi,” Azul said, panting. “You look nice.”

“Thank you,” Jamil said. “You as well. Though, I think it could use more glitter.”

“Haha,” Azul’s face shifted at the bad joke. But then his eyes lit up. “Is that the headdress I gave you?”

Jamil laid a hand on the silk headdress, decorated with small seashells.

“Oh, yes,” Jamil said. “I never formally thanked you for it.”

“Ah, that’s great,” Azul smiled. “Now, what do I get in exchange?”

Jamil sighed. “Of course. I can’t even get a birthday present.”

“Hey, I’m not gonna ask you to work for the lounge this time. I just want you to not campaign for Fall Formal court.”

Jamil was confused. “Really?”

“I figured Kalim was going to nominate you since he won last year,” Azul said. “I just…I don’t want you to campaign.”

“You realize I can’t control if Kalim does it all for me, right?” Jamil asked.

“I know.”

“Okay,” Jamil said.

“Really?”

“I’m not really into this whole thing anyway, so I really wasn’t going to do anything. At least now I have an excuse.”

Azul smiled. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

Ruggie was still in the sling by Halloween. Instead of looking like a swashbuckler, he sat on the bench checking his bandages.

Leona approached his junior, holding a box of donuts.

“Here,” Leona said, “in case your boyfriends leave you.”

“Like some donuts are gonna make the pain go away,” Ruggie bemoaned.

“So you don’t want them?”

“No, I want them.” Ruggie grabbed the box and opened it in his lap. 

When he finished the first donut, he looked up to see Silver and Kalim. Silver was dressed as a long, a myth from the Land of the Red Dragon, meant to mimic the reptilian creatures in Scarabia. Kalim was dressed like a werewolf, and something about his costume made Ruggie…

“Wow,” Ruggie said. 

“I know right!” Kalim smiled. “Silver looks so cute!”

“Yeah…Silver.” Of course Silver was cute, he had a natural attractiveness about him. But Kalim…

“You’re both beautiful,” Silver said. 

Ruggie put the donuts on the bench next to him and stood up.

“How’s your arm?” Kalim and Silver asked, accidentally, at the same time. The three laughed about it.

“It’s good,” Ruggie said. “The teas have been helping.”

“My father has some home remedies he suggested,” Silver said. “Although, you might want me to make them. When I got injured and he gave me the tonics, I’d just end up bedridden from stomach aches.”

“Yeesh,” Ruggie said. “Remind me to never get on your dad’s bad side…Well, I guess it’s too late.” Ruggie shrunk into himself. “Listen, I’m sorry about the Spelldrive Tournament. I know it was a stupid thing to do, and I should have been more careful. I didn’t want you guys to get hurt, and I didn’t care about anyone else.”

Kalim’s smile waned. “Well, it was pretty bad.”

“And I can’t say you trying to injure Malleus doesn’t make me a bit angry.”

Ruggie sighed. “Would you still be mad if I gave you a donut?” 

Kalim and Silver each took one. That was the real display of affection. Ruggie does give away his donuts to just anyone.

“Listen, Ruggie, I know what you did was pretty bad, but…” Kalim stopped. “I still want to be with you!”

“Really!” Ruggie asked. “It’s fine guys, I don’t expect you to forgive me. If you never want to see me again, I’d get it.”

“I know, but…” Kalim started crying. “I just love you so so so much!”

Kalim hugged Ruggie. Silver carefully joined the hug.

“Guys…” Ruggie smiled. “I love you too.” He turned to Silver. “I…I meant what I said. I do love you. I just…I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“I understand,” Silver said. “I’m the future, though, please explain your evil plans to me. There was a moment where I thought it was all fake.”

Ruggie laughed awkwardly. “I assure you, there wasn’t a word I didn’t mean. I do love you.”

Kalim pulled them into another hug. “Aw, you guys!”

“KALIM!”

Kalim turned. “I have to go back to Jamil.” Kalim kissed both boys on the cheek and ran off.

“I should probably go too,” Silver said. “I am, technically, grounded.”

Ruggie smiled, giving Silver a kiss on the cheek. Then he watched his other boyfriend walk off, and just had to hope he didn’t fall asleep and get lost.

Vil from a young age had been interested in vampires. So, when he got the first pick, he picked Diasomnia. He knew much about vampires already, but ran their costumes by Lilia just in case.

Lilia’s only objection had been the knee high boots, but he decided not to voice them.

Vil, Rook and Epel walked around the school in their beautiful clothes and fake fangs. Epel found them annoying, and they gave him a lisp, which made the sweet voice Vil had him doing much harder.. 

Epel managed to shake Vil around Idia’s station, and found Jack in his pirate costume.

“Jack!” Epel shouted. He took out the fake fangs and tried again.

Jack met with Epel. “Hey, how have you been?”

“Pretty good,” Epel said. “I thought this costume was gonna be awful, but I like the cape.”

“Yeah, my housewarden said these costumes were from last year, but he fixed this one so it would be in my size.” Jack was very proud.

“Jack, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask for a while,” Epel said. 

“Y-yes?”

“Can I pet your tail?”

Jack was horrified. “What?! Of course not!”

“Come on!” Epel complained. “Just one little pet?”

“I…no! You’ll have to fight me!”

“Fight you?” Epel shouted. “I know I’m dressed like a vampire but we don’t have some sort of ancestral feud. Just let me pet your tail.”

Epel tried to sneak behind Jack to get to the tail. Jack kept moving to keep Epel off the tail. But eventually he messed up and Epel got to pet his tail. 

“So,” Epel said, trying to start a conversation as he pet the fluffy tail. “How’s your cactus?”

“My…my cactus?”

“Yeah, the one you told me about,” Epel said. “The one in your room.”

“Oh?” Jack smiled. “You remembered that?”

“Of course,” Epel said. “You were so passionate about it.”

“Oh, he’s fine,” Jack said. “He’s getting lots of sun!”

Epel smiled at him. He finally stopped petting the tail. Now that it was free, he realized just how much his tail was wagging.

“Are you good?” Epel asked.

Jack turned around so Epel didn’t have to see it. But Epel saw it. 

The two stood there awkwardly until Rook called for Epel.

“I have to go,” he said. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. His stupid tail had ruined the moment.

Sebek smiled. He was so so so so so so so so happy to be matching Malleus.

He was happy to be in photos with Malleus and Lilia and random visitors. Even when Silver returned, his smile never waved.

And then Crewel and Trein approached. In toe, in a dalmatian onesie, was Gino.

“Boys!” Trein shouted towards the vampires. “The crowd is dying down. Would one of you like to take Gino trick or treating?”

“Oh, of course we would!” Lilia smiled. “Come on Gino, we don’t bite. Well, apparently, Silver does, but only if you ask him to.”

Silver looked down in shame.

“This is a mistake,” Trein muttered.

“We can’t leave the school in this mess,” Crewel said. “Just be back by eight.”

“Of course!” Lilia said. The teachers left.

“I wish to attend to you, Master Lilia! I have never gone trick-or-treating.” Sebek yelled. “But I must stay here and guard Malleus.

“Oh, Silver can do that,” Lilia said. “After all, he’s still grounded.”

“Really?” Sebek said. “But…I must…”

“Go ahead, Sebek,” Malleus said. “It would be nice to spend time with Silver.”

Silver groaned. “I’m getting the talk, aren’t I?”

Gino got all ready and wandered off after Sebek and Lilia. He paused, for a single moment, looking into Ramshackle.

But then he disappeared beyond the gate.

It wasn’t very long after Lilia and Sebek disappeared, that Malleus spoke to Silver.

“How do you do it?” Malleus asked.

“Do what?” Silver asked.

“How do you…polyamorize?”

Silver was confused. “Do you mean Kalim and Ruggie?”

“Yes, exactly!” Malleus smiled. “How did that come to be?”

“Well, Kalim was saying that his family had a history of the eldest child taking multiple wives,” Silver explained. “He initially said it as a joke, but then we thought about it…I…I liked both of them and thought I would have to choose, but Kalim suggested we all just…date each other.”

“What Asim described is polygyny,” Malleus said. “Some vampires do it but it has fallen out of fashion. My grandmother told me one of my ancestors had three wives.”

“Well, that’s not what we have,” Silver said. “I don’t know how to explain it…I just love both of them, and both of them love each other, and both of them love me…I know it must sound stupid but…”

“No…” Malleus said. “This was greatly helpful. Thank you, Silver.”

“Do you…plan on taking multiple spouses, Malleus?”

“I could,” Malleus said solemnly. “But I believe it would be best to start with one.”

“I see…” Silver said. His mind was clearly elsewhere. 

Malleus gave him a gentle smile. “I know Lilia seems cruel, but he just wants what is best for you.”

“I know,” Silver said. “He won’t make me leave them because they make me quite happy. But he’ll be keeping his eyes on them.”

“Absolutely,” Malleus said. “Oh, maybe he will invite them over for dinner? If Lilia’s cooking doesn’t scare them off, you know they’re meant for you.”

The two laughed gently. Silver had been so busy with training he had forgotten that Malleus more than anything just wanted to talk.

Talking was nice. It reminded Silver that his fate was not as bad as it seemed.

Chapter Text

It seemed like just another Housewarden Meeting. But this time the headmaster had a notepad ready.

“Alright,” Crowley said, “it is time to discuss the nominations for Fall Formal court.”

The group nodded.

“Who would like to begin?”

“I shall start,” Riddle said. “I will be nominating Cater Diamond.”

“Thank you, Mr. Rosehearts,” Crowley said, writing it down.

“I will be nominating Epel Felmier,” Vil said. 

“Really?” Leona asked. “Did you clear that with him before you did?”

“Of course,” Vil said. “I don’t expect him to win, but I want him to try.”

“I’m nominatin’ myself,” Leona said. 

“Of course you are,” Vil sighed. “Has losing three times not shown you that you won’t win?”

Azul spoke up. “I shall also be nominating myself.”

“Really?” Kalim asked. “I didn’t think you’d be into this thing.”

“You underestimate me, Kalim,” Azul said. “Speaking of, who are you nominating?”

“Jamil, of course!” Kalim said. “It would be so fun if we both won king of the Fall Formal!”

Crowley nodded. “Shroud, what about you?”

“Oh!” the tablet Idia used lit up. “I…well, I nominate…Ortho!”

A distant ‘hm?’ could be heard from the tablet.

“Ortho Shroud will run for Ignihyde,” Idia restated.

The speakers began to squeal as Ortho presumably grabbed his brother in a big hug. Idia muted the audio.

“Alright…two freshmen, huh?” Crowley shrugged. “And Diasomnia…”

The group turned to the empty chair Malleus was supposed to sit in.

“Of course,” Crowley sighed. “Luckily, I have a message from Lilia. They nominated Silver.”

“Oooh!” Kalim said. “Now I know who to vote for!”

“Kalim,” Azul said, “shut up.”

When Riddle returned to his dorm, he found two very confused freshmen painting the roses.

“What’s up with this dance?” Deuce asked. “And why won’t Epel just shut up about it?”

“You mean the Fall Formal?” Riddle asked. “It’s a very important event. It’s much like homecoming in other lands.”

“Okay,” Ace said. “But what is it? Is it like the Fall Festival back home?”

“Somewhat,” Riddle explained. “Every year, there are three formal dances held at the school, this is the first. It’s supposed to mark the passing of autumn into winter. This one is unique in that it has a court, which was an idea taken from the Fall Festivals of the Feywild.”

“Court?” Deuce asked. “Like king and queen?”

Riddle smiled. They were getting it. “Yes. Each dorm nominates one person to run. The person with the most votes is crowned king, second place is queen, and third place is prince.”

“Who’s running for Heartslabyul?” Ace asked.

“Cater.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Ace said. “I’ll vote for him!”

“Do not!” Riddle said sternly. “If you vote for the candidate from your own dorm, your vote will not be counted. Otherwise, everyone would just vote for their own dorm.”

“Oh,” Deuce said. “That makes sense.”

“Usually only juniors win, but it isn’t uncommon for underclassmen to win second place or higher. So there’s an additional rule: once you win king or queen, you can never run again.”

“Really?” Ace asked. 

“Yup. Last year, Kalim and Malleus won. The year before that it was Vil. It really does boil down to a popularity contest.”

“Is the competition tough this year?” Deuce asked. 

“Not really,” Riddle said. “Leona’s popular from sports, Silver has a pretty face, everyone knows Cater. I honestly don’t imagine it will be that hard to choose.”

Riddle was almost away, but then he remembered something.

“Oh, don’t forget to study for fall exams too.”

The boys panicked. Deuce nearly fell off his ladder. The exams…they were this week.

That day, after napping through all of the spelldrive team’s practice (he was “still on bed rest,”) Leona stood up to make an announcement to the team.

“Alright,” he began. “I know you’re all stressed about exams and excited for the formal. Many of you may be deciding who you want to vote for. I assure you, it’s quite simple. If you’re not in Savanaclaw, vote for me.” He pointed to Epel below him. “If you are in Savanaclaw, vote for Epel here.”

His teammates whispered. Epel? Really?

“Oy!” Leona shouted. “Epel didn’t choose to run, his housewarden made him. But if he wins, he never has to do it again. So everyone vote Epel if you can’t vote for me. Got it?”

The team nodded. 

“Alright. Hit the showers. Good luck on the exam, or whatever.”

Epel came up to Leona. “Thank you, sir. You didn’t have to do that. Vil said he’s gonna handle everything.”

“As much as I hate to help Vil, you deserve a little crown for all your hard work.”

Epel smiled. “Well, thanks anyway.”

Epel walked away. Ruggie gave Leona a knowing look.

“I expect you’ll be voting for the vampire?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Ruggie said. 

“Whatever,” Leona walked off. Surely he was going to find somewhere else to nap.

Ace was still extremely worried about the upcoming exam when he went to basketball practice. It was pretty clear if he didn’t do something, he was gonna fail, and Riddle was gonna kill him. Or, if last time was anything to go by, Riddle would pass out. And while Ace would get to keep his head, Riddle might not.

“Y’know, Crabby,” Floyd approached his clubmate. “My housewarden is offering a study guide.”

“Really?” Ace asked. 

“Yeah!” Floyd said. “Azul even made it an audiobook!”

“Wow,” Ace smiled. “That’s almost too good to be true!”

“You wanna come take a look?”

Ace followed Floyd all the way to Octavinelle. Azul was sitting in the Mostro Lounge, sipping tea with Jade.

“Another customer?” Azul asked. “What is your name?”

“Ace Trappola.”

“Ace,” Azul began. “I can tell you are in need of help. In the spirit of the Sea Witch’s benevolence, I will give it to you for a small fee.”

“A fee?” Ace asked. “Oh, you need money?”

“Not exactly,” Azul said. “I’d like to have your vote for the Fall Formal.”

“That…that’s it?” Ace asked. “Sure!”

He was already planning on breaking this deal. 

Jade handed him the flash drive. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

Ace walked away. He had no idea what he was getting into. 

Azul watched him leave. He smiled. 

“How many does that make?” Azul asked. 

“That would be 186,” Jade said. 

“You’ve both done well,” Azul smirked.

“What can I say?” Jade shrugged. “I’m simply one hell of a—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll destroy your collection of ceramic mushrooms.”

Jade smirked. “Your words are empty, but I will allow it.”

“Azul!” Floyd complained. “What’s the point of doing this anymore? I mean, you’re doing all this for a vote?”

“Of course,” Azul said. “You should know this by now.”

“Ehhh,” Floyd moaned. “Could you tell me again?”

Azul groaned. “Fine! I recorded those audio books myself. They contain a secret subliminal message that will make them vote for me whether they like it or not!” Azul let out an evil laugh. “And, when I win King of the Fall Formal, our deal with Crowley will be met, and all those losers who didn’t vote for me will work at the Mostro Lounge. I’ll have to open a second location!”

Azul had done the math. He already had nearly 30% of the student body. Assuming the rest of the school was split roughly evenly amongst the other candidates—it was the best case scenario. They’d need to keep an eye on the other candidates. But come on?

Silver and Epel were only surface level beauties, Leona had just gotten exposed for tampering with the tournament, Cater was popular but too many people found him annoying, nobody knew Ortho, and Jamil could easily fade into the background. 

“Cater is the main competitor, with Epel and the narcoleptics also posing a modicum of a threat,” Azul muttered to himself. “We should focus our endeavors on students who follow Cater on Magicam.”

“Sure thing!” Floyd said. “Seabreem’s pretty popular.”

Azul looked at the list of students Jade had composed. Everything was going perfectly according to plan.

Chapter Text

The cafeteria was abuzz with conversation, as Riddle handed out ballots to entering students. 

“Who are you voting for?” Kalim asked Jamil.

“It’s not important,” Jamil said. He placed the ballot under Kalim’s to hand it in.

“I voted for you, Jamil,” Silver said as they walked to the ballot box.

“Oh!” Jamil said. “Thank you.”

Riddle took the votes, logged them and slid them into the box. He himself had gotten the first vote: he picked Silver. It was a difficult decision; Azul, Jamil and Silver were all so well behaved. But Silver was the more kingly one in Riddle’s mind.

Meanwhile, the freshmen proudly showed off their ballots to each other.

Ortho had voted for Epel, in an act of competitive respect. Jack had also, bashfully, voted for Epel. Epel himself voted for Leona, which Ortho understood with grace.

“Yeah!” Deuce said. “I voted for Epel too!”

Deuce showed off the slip pridefully. Epel and Jack gave him a suspicious look.

“Deuce? You voted for Azul,” Jack flipped the paper around to show Deuce that he had, in fact, voted for Azul.

Ace checked his paper and sure enough, he had also voted for Azul.

“What the—” Ace said. The two rushed to the ballot box to ask Riddle for an extra. The ever diligent Riddle had plenty of extras. He then watched in horror as Deuce aloud said, “I’m voting for Epel,” and then, as if in a daze, he checked Azul again.

“Dude,” Ace said. “What is happening?”

“Ah,” Crowley said. Unknown to the freshmen, the headmaster had snuck into the cafeteria. “That’s what he was planning.”

“What do you mean?” Riddle asked. “Why do you keep voting for Azul? Do you even know Azul?”

“Gentlemen?” Crowley asked. “Did either of you procure an auditory device from Azul Ashengrotto?”

“Ye…yes.” 

Riddle shook his head. “Both of you are idiots.”

“Wha–why?” Ace said. “It helped me do better on the exam.”

Riddle sighed. “Azul is a siren,” he explained. “Sirens can enchant you with just their voice. The sound you listened too might have had some subliminal effect. Now you’re both under his control.”

“WHAT!”

“HA!” Sebek shouted. “Foolish fairies. You were so desperate to improve your grades you fell under the control of a siren! Pathetic.”

Silver could hear what Sebek was saying but chose not to speak up.

“Okay, how do we break it?” Deuce asked. 

“You can’t,” Crowley said. “An enchantment like this must be dismissed by the caster.”

“Welp,” Epel placed his vote in the box. “We had a good run Ortho.”

“We’ll try again next year!” Ortho said cheerfully.

“NO!” Crowley said. “You must resolve this post-haste!”

“Why?” Jack said. “I mean, I’m not a big fan of Azul, but what could possibly go wrong with letting him win?”

“I made a deal with that kraken boy,” Crowley explained. “If he wins King of the Fall Formal, anyone who didn’t vote for him must work for him to repay the debt.”

“WHAT?!” Riddle shouted. “That is ridiculous!”

“I’ve already heard of his plans to turn Ramshackle into a second location.”

“Wait,” Sebek said. “But what about…”

“I know you six appreciate your little clubhouse. Would you be a dear and help fix this?”

Before the boys could say anything, Crowley turned towards the door. “I’m counting on you!”

Riddle grumbled something about a neglectful headmaster.

“Guys,” Jack pulled his fellow freshmen in. “What about the guys in Ramshackle?”

The group thought for a moment. Deuce put on his thinking face, “There has to be a way out of this.”

After classes, the group met in Ramshackle to catch the residents up on Azul’s plan.

“So, our prison is going to be turned into a jazz restaurant?” Rollo asked. “And we have no say in the matter?”

“I mean, is there anything we can do?” Ernesto said. “We can’t exactly fight him.”

“I know!” Skully said, grabbing tighter to Sebek’s arm. “Oh, won’t you be our hero and save us!”

“I talked to Ruggie about Azul,” Jack said. “If I had to guess, I’d say he’s gonna make you work for him. And of course, you won’t be paid.”

“You know,” Ernesto said. “It was below minimum wage, but at least the carnival paid me.”

“What do we do?” Ace said. “Riddle counted the votes. Azul’s in the lead.”

“But we have no idea how many votes were legitimate or not,” Deuce added.

“Then hold a redo,” Rollo said. “Give them a chance to vote again.”

“Okay, but how do we break the spell?” Ace asked.

“What in the name of the Feywild is this!”

The group turned to see Riddle and Ruggie standing in the entrance to Ramshackle.

“Ummm…” Rollo stared at the group. “Hi?”

Jack and Epel calmed down a very protective Riddle, enough to explain the situation. 

“Hold on a minute,” Skully said. “You’re two of the guys that did that ritual with the white haired guy.”

“You mean Silver?” Riddle asked. “Umm, I guess so.”

“Well, sorry we couldn’t say hi,” Skully said. “We were playing cards upstairs, and once we heard screaming we decided it was best to stay out of it.”

Riddle chose to ignore the skeleton that could barely pry himself away from Sebek. “If you guys can come up with an idea, I’ve already gotten Crowley to agree to host a recount.”

“But we don’t know how to break the spell!” Deuce said.

“Let’s sleep on it,” Ruggie said. “I’ll ask Leona if he can help. I wouldn’t bet on it though.”

Skully sighed. “Oh, Sebek, parting is such sweet sorrow. Be sure to send me a portrait of you in your outfit for the dance.”

“Uhh,” Sebek gave a half smile. “Sure.”

“Leona?” Ruggie entered Leona’s room. Leona seemed angry at first, but a plate of kebabs satiated his anger.

“What do you want?” Leona asked.

Ruggie explained the situation, though he left out the strangers trapped in Ramshackle. Instead, he used Leona’s fear of second place against him.

“So the cephelopunk thinks he can cheat?” Leona asked. “He’s your friend. What does it have to do with me?”

“Come on Leona!” Ruggie said. “I know you’ve made deals with him in the past. How do you break it?”

“Easy,” Leona said. “You remix the audio.”

“What?”

“Remix the audio. Play it backwards or something,” Leona explained. “That should break the spell.”

“Tha-thanks,” Ruggie said. “You wanna help with this, or–?”

“Nah,” Leona said. “Those froshes should know better.”

“Please, Housewarden Leona!” Jack shouted from the hallway. “It’s the right thing to do!”

“What the…” Leona handed the plate back to Ruggie. “Both of you, out of my face.”

Ruggie walked away. “Thanks for nothing.”

Chapter Text

Lilia handed a student another pin. “Make sure you vote for Silver for King of the Fall Formal!” he shouted.

Silver was proud that his father cared enough to campaign for him. Still, Silver wasn’t all that invested.

“Silver!” Kalim shouted. He and Ruggie ran up to Silver. “So, who are you going to the dance with?”

Silver sighed. “The only reason I’m allowed to go is because my prince nominated me. If not, I’d still be trapped in the dorm.”

“So,” Ruggie put the pieces together, “you can’t go with anyone.”

“I have to protect Malleus anyway,” Silver said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine!” Kalim said. “Ruggie and I will go together! And we’ll save a dance for you!”

“Thank you.”

The two continued onward to see Lilia. 

“Hey, Lils,” Ruggie said.

“Don’t call me that,” Lilia said. 

“We need your help with something.”

Silver watched his boyfriends talk to his dad, unknowingly looking an angry protective papa bear in the eyes. He did nothing.

Lilia’s campaign, his insistence on DJing, all of it was a distraction. He was still hiding things from Silver.

Deuce was still trying to put his outfit together when Ace came into the room.

“Are you really gonna wear that?” he asked.

Deuce looked at it. “Yeah. It’s gothic masquerade themed.”

“You’ll look like a clown,” Ace said.

“At least I’ll match the theme!” Deuce said. “Is red and black plaid really gothic? You don’t even have a mask.”

Ace ignored him. “Hey, are you going with anyone?”

Deuce looked at him. “Uhh…no? Why?”

“We should go,” Ace said. “You know, as friends.”

Deuce was a little disappointed by that. But still, he accepted it.

“Let me see what you’re wearing!” Riddle barged into the room. He briefly inspected the outfits. “Deuce, you’re doing great. Ace, go see Trey for a mask. I need you to at least try.”

“Yes, housewarden!”

“Housewarden!” Ace asked. “Are you going with anyone?”

Riddle was about to say something, but he stopped. “I can’t. I’m too busy fixing your problems.”

Riddle left as quickly as he appeared. Deuce was left looking at Ace.

Were they really just friends?

Epel had also picked out a truly beautiful outfit for the dance. And by that, he means Vil picked it out for him.

Vil had really put all his eggs in Epel’s basket. The housewarden seemed confident that if anyone would win, it would be Epel.

“You have a natural beauty,” Vil said.

Epel’s outfit was a near exact match to Rook’s. It was different, a little bit more Epel, but it was Vil’s idea of Epel. Not who he was.

“Epel?” Vil asked. “Let me see you in it again.”

Epel did another spin, showing off the puffy shorts, the shoulder cape, all the little ruffs and stitches. Epel felt like a mannequin.

“Can I please just sit down?” he complained.

“Yes,” Vil said. “Don’t ruin the outfit.”

Epel laid on his bed, enjoying the moment of comfort.

“Your phone’s ringing,” Vil said. Epel grabbed the phone. Once Vil was gone, he put the phone on speaker and started undressing.

“Epel?” said the phone. It was Jack.

“Jack?” Epel asked. “What’s up?”

“Well…” Jack said shyly. “I just wanted to congratulate you. Ace said if you get rid of all the fake Azul votes, you’re a top contender.”

“Really?” Epel asked. He was now shirtless, and on the phone with a cute boy.

“So…” Jack said, “Are you taking anyone to the dance?”

Epel paused. “Not really. Rook and Vil are gonna take me.”

“Oh…” Jack said. “I was wondering if you would…go with…me.”

Epel looked at his phone. “Um…sure.”

“Really?!” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Epel said. “Pick me up at seven.”

“Okay!” Jack said. “I won’t let you down!”

Jack ended the call. Epel felt awkward.

Azul was beside himself with joy as he returned to the lounge. For one, his plan was going exceedingly well.

“Jade,” he said. “What do preliminaries say?”

“According to Riddle,” Jade began, “you are in first, with Silver in second and Jamil in third.”

“Wonderful!” Azul said. “Still, I wish Jamil could secure second place. Oh well, Silver is no competition.”

“Have you seen Jamil’s outfit for the dance?” 

“No,” Azul said. 

“Kalim posted it on Magicam,” Jade showed Azul the photo.

“Oh my!” Azul blushed.

Jade swiped to show a picture of Jamil with the mask on.

Azul nearly fainted. “My oh my, he really is a prince! And I will be the king!”

“Really?” Jade asked. “Won’t that make him your son?”

“Well, no!” Azul said. “If a king takes a male consort, they cannot also be titled king, so they’re titled prince consort.” Azul paused. “You know this and you’re just messing with me.”

“Maybe.”

Floyd entered the office. “Hey Azul, how’s this?

“Teal?” Azul asked. “Both Jade and I are wearing this purple color.”

“I know,” Floyd said. 

“And what are those pants?” Jade whispered in horror. 

“Can’t you at least match with Riddle?” Azul asked.

“No.”

Azul rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry boys, soon this will all be worth it,” Azul looked down at the list. “All of this will be worth it.”

Azul laughed like a maniac. The twins giggled along, although for once they seemed more sane in comparison.

Idia didn’t want to go, but because his little brother was running for king, he decided to get the outfit out of its box and finally put it on.

“Shroud?”

Idia jumped. He saw Malleus in the doorway, giving him a small smile.

“How’d you get in here?!” Idia asked.

“Oh, young Shroud let me in.”

“That…” Idia sighed. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to ask you out to the dance,” Malleus said.

Idia nearly fell over. “What?”

“Was I unclear?” Malleus asked. “I was under the impression that this is how one gains a date to school dances.”

“I…” Idia muttered. “I didn’t expect you to be there.”

“I missed freshman year, yes, but Silver has greatly helped me arrive at events such as this.”

Idia sighed. “Do you really wanna go with me? Cuz I don’t really want to dance…or talk…or do anything. I’m only going because of Ortho.”

“Hmm,” Malleus hummed. “Shroud, I am fine if you wish to stay in the corner. All I ask is that I take you for one dance. We need not be center stage, and it will not last the whole song. I just wish for a moment with you.”

Idia’s blue flame hair turned pink. “Ummm…okay.”

“Wonderful!” Malleus said. “Shall I escort you?”

“No, I’m going with Ortho,” Idia said. “Just one dance.”

“One precious dance,” Malleus repeated. “I understand. Take care of yourself, Shroud.”

Chapter Text

The gymnasium was decorated with black and purple banners and streamers, with dark colored balloons tied anywhere humanly possible. Fold out chairs and tables dotted the basketball court, with enough room left for a dance floor.

Riddle was dressed in black striped pants, a black corset over a red ruffled shirt, and a creased black hat with a red feather. 

He was in the midst of setting up the voting stand near the entrance when Floyd showed up.

“Hey Goldfishie!”

Riddle jumped. “Floyd!” Riddle hit Floyd’s arm with a rolled up piece of paper. “What do you want!”

“I just wanted to see what you’re up to,” Floyd looked at the collection of pens and papers. He was dressed in a teal ruffled shirt, a leather jacket, and black and white striped pants. 

“Just last minute voting,” Riddle said. “It’s not that big a deal.”

“Oh yeah,” Floyd laughed. “You are in charge of that. Tell me, who’s in the lead?”

Riddle grew redder. “I can’t tell you that!” Truth was, Floyd would have known. He was working with Azul, right?

“I’m just messing with you, Goldfishie,” Floyd said. “You know it’s more fun when it’s a surprise.”

Floyd promptly took the hat off Riddle’s head and ran.

“F-Floyd!”

Silver, Sebek and Malleus may have been late, but they were there. Malleus was rarely ever there.

“What do you wish to do, my liege?” Sebek asked. 

“I’d like to inquire about that dance Shroud owes me,” Malleus said.

“Ah,” Leona approached the trio. “I didn’t expect you to actually be here, Lizard.”

Malleus gave a soft smile. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss Silver’s big moment.” Malleus leaned in closer. “Speaking of, I’d stay clear of Silver. He’s still quite angry about what you did to Bucchi.”

Leona rolled his eyes.

“I’ll see you on the dance floor,” Malleus sang.

Leona ignored them. But Silver’s angry glare followed him all the way to the punch bowl. 

Leona wasn’t sure, but he might need to make Ruggie calm down his feral vampire boyfriend.

When Leona turned around, though, Ruggie was way ahead of him, sitting at a table with Silver and Kalim. Silver’s lust for murder seemed to disappear seeing Ruggie was finally out of the sling. Silver spent his time putting Ruggie’s exposed ears and fixing his mask.

Maybe Leona was safe.

Riddle pulled Ruggie aside and over to the DJ booth.

“We need to break the spell now!” Riddle said. “If we don’t do it soon, we won’t be able to count the votes before the coronation.”

“Then do it!”

“We need to get rid of Azul,” Riddle said. “If he hears his own voice, he’s going to figure out what we’re up to!”

Ruggie cursed. “What about the twins?”

Riddle thought for a moment. He remembered what Floyd told him earlier. “No, just Azul. The twins will know, but they won’t do anything about it.”

“That sounds right,” Ruggie said. “But—”

Ruggie noticed Leona, who had been taking a nap nearby, had stood up and approached the food table. Jamil was testing Kalim’s food for poisons.

“Hey,” Leona spoke to the gorgon. “We need to get Azul out of the gym. Can you do that?”

Jamil thought for a moment, and then nodded. He finished checking Kalim’s food, placed a few meatballs on his plate and walked away.

Right into Azul. The tomato sauce splashed onto Jamil’s clothes

“Oh my goodness!” Jamil shouted dramatically.

“Oh dear,” Azul turned to him.

“Azul,” Jamil looked Azul in the eyes. “Could you help me clean up?”

Azul’s face lit up. “Yes! Of course! Please, come with me!”

Azul and Jamil rushed right out of the gymnasium.

Riddle gave Lilia the signal. Lilia switched out the current song for a remix of Azul’s voice. Once it was finished, Riddle took the mic.

“Attention!” Riddle said. “There has been a tampering with the votes. If you wish to recast your vote, please go to me and Trey over by the front. The previous votes have been declared null and void, so if you wish to vote again, please do.”

Riddle gave Lilia back the mic and rushed over to Trey.

“Are you ready?” Trey asked. They’d hidden boxes for each candidate under the table to make the sorting and counting faster, but still, it would be a lot of work.

Riddle cracked his knuckles. “Born ready.”

Azul had, by some miracle, gotten the sauce and the stain out.

“You’re good with that,” Jamil said. 

“My mother owns a restaurant,” Azul said. “That was one of the first life skills she taught me.”

“Really?” Jamil said. “I learned that too. Cooking, cleaning, sewing. I guess that stuff works in the service industry too.”

Azul looked at Jamil. “They’re good skills to have. I imagine Kalim isn’t exactly clean.”

“With that boyfriend of his?” Jamil asked. “You know how many bloodstains I’ve had to wash out of clothes!”

Azul laughed.

“So,” Jamil said. “You plan to take over your mother’s restaurant?”

“Hardly,” Azul said. “I’m a business minded man. I wanna start my own company. I want to be an entrepreneur.”

“Really?” Jamil asked. “Actually, I’m not surprised.”

“What about you?” Azul asked. “If you could escape your life situations and do anything, what would you do?”

“I’d open a restaurant,” Jamil said. “Or a catering business. I don’t know. I know I get mad when Kalim makes all these rash decisions that I have to handle…but I like cooking. I like coming up with recipes and…I’d even like to study it one day.”

Jamil seemed lost in thought. “It sounds like everything I want is under the sea.”

“What do you mean?”

“Freedom,” Jamil began, “a chance to cook what I want to cook…and you.”

Azul blushed. “Me?! What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Jamil approached Azul. “In this outfit? You look radiant.”

“I…well…you…heh.”

Jamil was inches from Azul’s face at this point.

“I never asked,” Jamil continued. His breath was warm against Azul’s face. “Why are you running for king? It never seemed like something you’d care about.”

Azul paused. “When I was little, I was bullied. I was ugly. I was…I don’t want to talk about it. But…I thought if I won this it would prove to them that I…” Azul knew what to say, but he also knew this was dangerous information. But…this is Jamil, right?

Jamil grabbed Azul’s hands, placing them on shoulder. “Go on.”

“I want to prove that I’m liked, that people want to be around me,” Azul finally said. “That I’m not that useless, ugly little half-kraken in a pot in the back of the classroom.

Jamil shrugged. He wrapped his hands around Azul’s waist. Azul did the same, he was practically sitting on the sink at this point.

“I can’t imagine it,” Jamil said. “All I see is a beautiful octopus man, with truly dazzling gray eyes.”

Azul laughed. “And all I see is a handsome man whose snakes have been remarkably well behaved tonight.”

“They know how to behave in front of royalty,” Jamil joked. “I voted for you.”

Azul smiled. “What a coincidence. I voted for you.”

“AZUL!” 

The two turned to see Floyd in the doorway.

“Hey Sea Snake,” Floyd said, as if the two weren’t practically on top of each other. “Are you two done?”

Azul pushed Jamil off of him. “This was fun while it lasted. I must entertain the twins.”

“You owe me a dance,” Jamil said. 

Azul turned. “Huh?”

“After the coronation,” he added. “You owe me a dance.”

“What?” Azul asked. “Why?”

“I’ll give you something in return,” Jamil assured. “Go on. Enjoy the dance.”

“I like your outfit!” Epel said as he and Jack awkwardly danced. They’d been unfortunately squeezed right between Silver and Kalim, and Leona and Vil. Ortho was dancing by himself, not too far away. He was just vibing.

In the corner, the great Malleus Draconica was cradling a shaking Idia. From here it looked like they were crying, but Ortho assured them he was just nervous.

“Thanks,” Jack said. “My housewarden picked it out!”

Jack was wearing a fancy white dress shirt under brown overalls. A top hat had holes cut out to expose his ears. The style was consistent with Kalim, Ace and Ortho, but Jack was assured it was an accident.

“I didn’t have much else…” Jack admitted. “But you look nice.”

“Thanks,” Epel said sarcastically. “My housewarden picked it out.”

“Attention students!” Crewel took the microphone from Lilia. “Would the candidates for King of the Fall Formal please come up to the stage?”

Excitement filled the gymnasium. Epel let go of Jack’s hand.

“It’s time to go,” Leona said.

“Housewarden Leona!

“Captain Leona!”

Epel followed Leona up to the stage. He took a spot between Leona and Ortho. Silver and Azul tacked themselves onto the end, while Jamil had somehow taken the front with Leona.

“Alright,” Crewel began. He held the envelope with the results. “Your Prince of the Fall Formal is…”

Lilia played a drum roll sound.

“Epel Felmier from Pomefiore!”

Epel stood there in shock. Leona pushed him up to accept the tiara from Crewel. It was silver (plastic silver) with fake pearl beads. Epel stood there, basking in the glory of it all. 

“Next up,” Crewel spoke into the microphone, “your Queen of the Fall Formal is…”

Lilia played another drum roll.

“Silver from Diasomnia!”

Silver’s eyes widened. Ortho urged him to take the step up. His face portrayed no emotion, and he gracefully took the silver coronet (again, all fake plastic).

Silver, meanwhile, was trying to figure out who was screaming louder: Lilia or Sebek.

“And finally, your King of the Fall Formal is…”

Lilia played another drum roll sound.

“LEONA KINGSCHOLAR!”

Leona stood in shock. Epel clapped for him excitedly, as Leona approached Crewel to accept the crown. Silver half heartedly clapped.

Azul was fuming. What happened? What went wrong? He hadn’t even won third? What happened to all his votes? What went wrong?

What did they do?

In a fit of blind rage, Azul reached for Silver. Maybe in hindsight, attacking the vampire who was known to be unstable was not the best idea.

Silver slammed Azul into the ground, his princely glamor slipping as anger covered his face.

Ortho and Jamil pulled Silver off Azul who slowly stood up.

“What did you do?!” Azul shouted. “You cheated!”

“Us?” Leona asked. “You’re the one controlling people into voting for you!”

Azul seethed in rage. As Silver calmed down in the corner of the platform, Azul matched his anger with a fury.

The twins watched from their table across the gym, sipping from plastic cups and toasting to a plan well foiled.

They watched in mild horror as Azul began to sway, before falling off the platform with a thud.

The twins put down their food and ran to Azul’s side. He’d hit his head, and there was a bit of blood, but everything seemed fine.

“Get him to his room!” Crewel said. “I’ll check on him shortly.”

Floyd and Jade each took a side and dragged the unconscious Azul to his room.

Somewhere, somewhere underground, under a dilapidated dormitory, a bottle filled with a black liquid and a lavender mist, topped with a gemstone that slowly turned from opaque, to lilac, to black. A crisis is averted, and an invisible barrier gets stronger.

Azul finally woke up to a surprise. He was in his bedroom, laid in his bed, and the twins had each found a seat in his room. Crewel was by his bedside, giving a routine check up. His face was one of slight annoyance.

“You’re awake,” Crewel said. “Your injuries are minor. If they aren’t healed by break, they will by the time you return. You have no obvious symptoms of a dangerous condition.” He said it all so quickly, robotically. Azul hadn’t realized it but this was his third time saying it. “Make sure you drink lots of water and rest for the next week. It should be easy.”

Crewel then grabbed his bag and walked out, leaving a confused Azul in his bed.

“Evening,” Jade said. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a ship anchor being dragged through the sand,” Azul groaned. “What happened?”

Floyd and Jade explained that Azul had lost consciousness and taken a fall. They also explained how Azul’s spell had been broken. In true Leech fashion, they noticed Jamil taking Azul away, realized the music was meant to break the enchantment, and said nothing.

Azul laid there on the verge of tears. Jamil…he’d finally gotten that sweet tender moment with Jamil…and it was fake?

But Azul didn’t cry. Because aside from that crushing loss, Azul felt nothing. He laid there void of emotions until Floyd got bored and left.

“Riddle came by to tell us the results,” Jade added. “You were last. You only got seven votes.”

Azul sighed. “Did he say who voted?”

Jade smiled. “No, but he did say two were discounted because they were from Octavinelle.”

Azul took a groggy moment to process that. “You and Floyd still voted for me?”

“Indeed,” Jade smirked.

Azul put his face in his hands. “But you know they wouldn’t be counted!”

“Oh well,” Jade said. He stood up and left the bedroom. 

Azul laid there for a moment longer, before he started ripping off his accessories. He didn’t have the energy to get up and put on pajamas. He just laid in bed until sleep overtook him.

“What’s going on, Crowley?!” Crewel shouted.

Crowley turned in his rotating chair to face his weredog employee. “Whatever do you mean?”

“This is the third housewarden to lose consciousness. They all show no symptoms of any illness, but report feeling tired and emotionless. The first two times it was concerning, but now? What exactly is going on?”

Crowley shrugged. “I have no idea, Professor. But I assure you there is no need to worry. The boys are fine, plain and simple.”

Crewel stepped towards the door. “I know you’re up to something.”

“I haven’t a clue what you mean.”

Chapter Text

As snow began to fall over NRC, the Mirror Chamber was once again filled with students. This time they were not there to enter the school, this was the beginning of winter break. They were on their way out.

Ace and Deuce lagged behind. “I’m going to Clocktown,” Deuce said. “If you want to come visit—”

“I can’t,” Ace said. “I’ll be busy.”

“Okay…” Deuce said. “Would you be able to call me?”

“Of course!” Ace shouted. “I’ll Facetime you. Maybe I’ll get to meet your mom.”

“Maybe,” Deuce shrugged.

“I bet your mom’s hot,” Ace wondered. 

“DUDE!”

“I bet you look just like her.”

Deuce stepped up to the mirror.

“Well, see ya,” he said.

Ace hesitated. “See ya.”

Ace lagged behind for a bit to see Jack approach the mirror. 

“Where you off to?” Ace asked.

“Home,” Jack said. “I’m excited. I get to go sledding with my little siblings. Epel made me this.”

Jack showed off a short scarf.

“Really?”

“Vil wanted me to knit,” Epel said, peeking behind Jack. “Anyway, see you losers in a few weeks!”

“Epel!” Vil shouted from the front. 

“Where are you off to, Roi du Poison?” Rook asked. Vil was speed walking at this point. 

“My father and I are going to have a vacation week,” Vil said. “No work, no filming, just me and him and some romcoms.”

Rook smiled. “I am happy for you.”

The two disappeared beyond the mirror. Jack and Ace followed just behind.

Riddle helped Ruggie carry his bags into the mirror.

“This feels like less than last time,” Riddle commented.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Ruggie said. “Maybe there’s more students this year?”

“Not in the register…” Riddle pondered, “Oh, do you think those people in Ramshackle need food?”

“Ugh! But the kids!” Ruggie complained. “Nevermind, beggars can’t be choosers. Have a good break.”

Ruggie carried his bags into the mirror.

“Come on little one,” Trein called. Gino appeared behind him, pulling back to avoid following him. “I know you want to look for your brother, but now is not the time. Stay here and you’ll catch a cold.”

Trein dragged Gino further. The little kid fought back. 

“I know! I know you want to find your brother! I’ve already reported him to the local police! There’s missing posters! There’s nothing else we can do!” 

Gino continued to fight, finally breaking free and making a run for it.

“Gino!”

Floyd appeared from seemingly nowhere and caught Gino.

“Hey little man,” Floyd said. “Is this yours, Red Squid?”

“Yes, indeed,” Trein said. 

“This is why I suggested I take him,” Crewel said. 

“But the girls would love him,” Trein argued.

Gino kicked in anger.

Trein sighed. “I’ll take him this time. If we don’t find his brother, you can have him for the summer.”

With that, he dragged Gino up to the mirror and the two went through.

“Anyone else?” Crewel asked.

“Yes, of course!” Malleus led his cohort of vampires to the mirror chamber. “We are going, Trein.”

“You seem quite excited, Malleus.”

“Of course I am,” Malleus smiled. “The winter gala is being held in our homeland. And now Lilia has no excuse not to attend.”

Lilia groaned. For the past 17 years, he’d been using Silver as his excuse not to go (he couldn’t possibly leave a human baby alone with hungry vampires on the loose.) When Silver was turned, they gave him a break, knowing he was so stressed with a new school, new powers, and new body. But this year, no one had an excuse.

“Goodbye Riddle,” Silver offered a soft smile. He seemed calm again, for once. “Maybe when I get back I’ll be allowed to do the club again.”

“I hope so,” Riddle nodded.

And then they left.

“Goldfishie!” Floyd cheered. “On your way out?”

“Indeed,” Riddle said. “Are you still staying behind?”

“As always,” Floyd said. “Azul’s still on bed rest too.”

“Oh well,” Riddle shrugged. “I guess I must return to my mother…”

“You sure?” Floyd asked. “You could stay with us.”

“I’m good…” Riddle said. “Have a good break, Floyd.”

“You too, Goldfishie.”

Riddle left through the mirror. Floyd wandered off. His job was done.

The school got quiet when everyone was gone. It was a feeling Octavinelle had gotten used to. At least half the dorm came from the northern oceans and were hesitant to return in the winter. Did they feel bad for not spending the holidays with their parents? Of course. Jade and Floyd loved their parents, and they loved Azul’s sweet kraken mother.

But their family understood. They could pamper their sons when they returned in the summer.

Floyd wandered the halls of the school. They had been allowed to enter the school to receive food deliveries.

But then Floyd heard it. The sound of cooking. Meat sizzling, vegetables being chopped, drawers being opened and closed, shakers shaking. And the smell! The smell of grilled steak, fries and whatever salad dressing that was! It lured Floyd to the cafeteria kitchen like a cartoon character who smells something good.

When he arrived, he found Jamil alone, cooking.

“Sea Snake!”

Jamil jumped slightly, less at the surprise of someone being there, more so that it was Floyd.

“Hello Floyd,” Jamil said, his face neutral.

“Whatcha up to?”

“I’m cooking,” Jamil said, “Fries and steak, with a salad.”

“Sounds basic,” Floyd stated. “Doesn’t Scarabia have a kitchen?”

“It does, but I couldn’t find the right ingredients. Kalim was…insistant on this.”

“Sounds like Sea Otter,” Floyd remarked. “But…why are you here? Shouldn’t you guys be home for winter break?”

“Oh,” Jamil’s face morphed. “It’s just tragic. Kalim…he’s been acting differently. After the results of the exam, he started acting rashly. He’s demanded the whole dorm stay behind over the break to improve ourselves.”

Floyd raised an eyebrow. “Really? He seemed fine at the dance. But, then again…” Floyd watched as Jamil finished the food. “Do you think whatever Jellyfish has going on is rubbing off on him?”

“No…this is different,” Jamil said, clutching the tupperware close to his chest. “I…I’ve never seen him like this, Floyd. I…I’m worried.”

“Hey,” Floyd put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure Sea Otter will be fine.”

Jamil looked Floyd in the eyes. “Would you mind coming and checking on him?”

Floyd felt his mind be overwritten. He knew something was happening—Jamil had never acted like this before, for one—but those doubts were quickly swayed. 

“Sure!” He agreed. “Let me grab something from my room first.”

“Thank you Floyd!” Jamil said. “I owe you one.”

When Floyd was out of earshot (Jamil checked,) he smiled, laughing to himself. He grabbed a piece of meat from the tupperware and gave it to the snakes in his hair.

“Good work boys,” he said. “You think they’d be smarter, but like a fish, they fall for it hook, line and sinker.”

Jamil laughed to himself in the kitchen.

“Floyd?” Jade asked from his desk. “Could you check on Azul for me? I have a feeling he’s doing something stupid.”

“I can’t,” Floyd said, packing a couple random items into a bag. “I got places to be.”

“Where could you possibly be going?” Jade asked. “We’re the only ones in the school.”

“No, the snakes are still here.”

“Really?” Jade turned and stood up. He focused on his brother’s uninterrupted packing. He shoved him onto the bed.

“What are you doing?”

Floyd stood up. “Well, I was wandering around—”

“Okay.”

“And I saw Sea Snake—”

“You saw Jamil?”

“Yeah, he was cooking in the cafeteria kitchen and said something about Sea Otter acting weird.”

“Kalim’s acting weird?”

“Yeah, and Jamil wanted me to go check on him.”

“Hm,” Jade pondered. “That’s suspicious, right?”

Floyd had a moment of clarity. His eyes returned to normal. “Yeah! That is suspicious!”

Jade sighed. “Perhaps we should investigate. But before that—”

“I think a half-kraken-half-siren would like to visit his special, snakey someone.”

The two smiled as they went to Azul’s room. Azul was clutching the wall as he walked, using it for support as his legs failed him.

“See,” Jade said. “I told you he was doing something stupid.”

The twins each grabbed a side of Azul and hoisted him back onto his bed.

Azul sighed. Bedrest clearly wasn’t doing him well.

“I’m fine!” He insisted. “I just need to remember how legs work.”

Jade sat uncomfortably close to Azul and explained what Floyd told him. Azul was immediately intrigued by Jamil’s name. 

“Does he need help?” Azul asked. “Well, I’d be more than happy to provide.”

“I knew you’d be,” Floyd said. “So put on real clothes! Let’s go visit your man!”

Chapter Text

Azul, Jade and Floyd arrived at Scarabia to little fanfare or invitation. This was already suspicious. If Kalim knew they were coming, he’d at least be there to greet them.

The three adventured deeper into the dorm. Azul for once needed his cane, and despite regaining his ability to walk, the cane helped.

“Sea Otter?” Floyd shouted. “Sea Snake?”

Scarabia seemed full, odd for winter break. When the trio arrived, the lounge was full of students nose deep in a textbook.

“Hello?” a cheerful voice called. “Who’s there?”

Kalim emerged from the hallway. Upon a first look, he seemed perfectly fine.

“Kalim,” Azul said. “We are happy to be here. Jamil invited us over.”

“Kalim!” Jamil appeared behind Kalim. “Oh, you came. All three of you.”

“Unbelievable,” Kalim said. “I told you to always tell me if you’re inviting people over…”

“Kalim–”

“We should throw a party!”

Azul blinked in shock.

“Kalim,” Jamil placed a calming hand on Kalim’s shoulder. “We can’t throw a party. The students have to study.”

“Oh, Jamil, it’s fine!” Kalim said. “We have guests! This will be so fun!”

“You know,” Azul stepped closer to the group. “If you need help studying, I could be of some assistance.”

Truth was, Azul had a bitter taste left in his mouth after the dance. Jamil’s love and affection? It was fake, it had to be.

“Besides,” Azul continued, growing closer to Jamil. “I owe you a dance, and you owe me something in return.”

Jamil’s eyes widened from the shock, but he quickly recomposed himself. “I see.”

Kalim ran into a closet to look for a game to play. “Let’s see…”

Jamil sighed. “Kalim, could we please focus on studying?”

“You worry too much Jamil!” Kalim said. 

“But, you told these people they must stay and study.”

“Did I?” Kalim asked. “Oh, I must have blacked out again. Am I forgetting something else?”

“Yes,” Jamil said. “You said you wanted to call Silver today.”

“Right!” Kalim put the games away. “Let me grab my phone.”

Jamil followed Kalim.

“He seems fine,” Floyd said.

Azul joined the brothers on a couch. “That’s right. He just seems like Kalim.”

“He was acting strange,” said one of the students, a Naga. “But, I guess he’s fine now.”

“UNBELIEVABLE!” 

The group turned. Kalim was standing in the doorway, his face one of anger.

“I specifically told you to study, to practice, to train! And what are you doing? That’s right, absolutely nothing!” 

The Scarabia students stood up. “Sorry housewarden!”

“Get to work!” Kalim shouted. The students scrambled.

The three fishy boys sat in awe.

“What are you looking at?!” Kalim shouted. “This place is a disgusting mess! If you’re gonna laze about you might as well contribute!”

The three stood up and ran into the hallway. Kalim continued to scream as Jamil tried in vain to calm him down.

“What the fuck was that?” Floyd asked.

Azul and Jade pondered the afternoon’s shenanigans. Seriously, what was that?

“Kalim’s mood shifted within the span of a minute,” Azul said. “Strange…even at his worst, Silver needed something to prompt the mood swing. What could have possibly made Kalim so angry?”

“Maybe he’s pregnant,” Jade said.

“What?” 

“Oh, maybe!” Floyd encouraged. “Wow Remora, getting two guys knocked up and it’s only sophomore year. Amazing.”

“That’s obviously not what’s happening!” Azul said.

“How are you sure?”

“So many reasons!” Azul bemoaned. “Including but not limited to that’s not how people work and that’s really out of character for these three!”

“Silver is technically eighteen now,” Jade said. “Perhaps we should alert the authorities.”

“Are either of you listening to me?” Azul asked. “Hmm, Silver…is it possible that Kalim’s being turned into a vampire?”

“What do you mean?” Jade asked.

“Silver’s mood swings are caused by him turning into a vampire, right? Vampires are turned by drinking a human’s blood and then feeding them the vampire’s blood.” Azul checked to make sure the twins were following along. “We know that Silver has been drinking Kalim’s blood. So if enough of Silver’s blood got into Kalim, it could trigger a vampiric transformation.”

“That could be the case…” Jade thought. “But from what Silver’s told us, the transformation is quite noticeable. I mean, he slept through it, sure, but he’s Silver. And besides, Scarabia’s sun hurts vampires. If Kalim had been turned, he’d be roasting.”

“Also his legs are still a snake tail,” Floyd added. 

“So it’s not pregnancy,” Jade said, as if that had ever been a reasonable explanation, “and it isn’t vampirism. What could be the cause of these mood swings?”

Azul took a moment to think. “Floyd, was there anything suspicious when you met Jamil in the kitchen?”

“Kinda, we were just talking and the next thing I know I’m in my room with Jade.”

“Seriously?” Jade asked. “Do you remember any of our conversation?”

“Not really,” Floyd said. “I just remember hearing you say something about Sea Otter and thinking, ‘wow, that is suspicious.’”

“I have a theory,” Azul said, with slight confidence. “I’ll need you two to help me test it out.”

Azul walked back into the lounge. Kalim was shouting at the students to finish their studies.

“You know,” Azul said, “Our dorm did pretty well overall in the exams. If you’d like, we could help you come up with an improved study guide.”

Kalim’s mood shifted again. He turned to Azul with a smile. “That’s a great idea! Right Jamil?”

“Well—”

“Why don’t you guys stay in a spare room?” Kalim asked.

“Kalim!” Jamil said. “You can’t go making rash decisions like this.”

“Thank you!” Azul said. “We appreciate your charity.”

Kalim led the trio to a sophomore room while Jamil and his snakes seethed. Jamil tried to calm himself down.

No…not yet.

Chapter Text

Jamil was mostly asleep when he heard a knock on the door. He stood up to answer.

Azul and Floyd entered the room. 

“Excuse me, Jamil,” Azul began. “How are you?”

“Azul,” Jamil moaned. “What do you want?”

“I found this game in the closet,” Azul said. “Would you care to play a round with us?”

Jamil raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“As a member of the Board Game Club it is vital that I learn of this new game.”

Jamil sighed. “I suppose Kalim’s already asleep. Why not? Let’s go to the lounge.”

The three sat down in the lounge. Jamil lit a small light and described the rules of the game. They began to play. After a while of silence, Azul sparked up a conversation.

“So, how long has your family known Kalim’s?”

“Forever it seems,” Jamil said, resetting the board. “I believe our servitude goes back generations.”

“That sounds awful,” Azul said. 

“It’s probably the best we could get at the time,” Jamil said. “Our family was cursed. For a gorgon to not be able to turn people to stone…they’re barely a gorgon anymore. It’s sacrilege."

 “Strange,” Azul said. “What do the snakes do if they can’t turn people to stone?”

“Nothing,” Jamil said. The snakes hissed. “I mean, I wouldn’t accept life without them, but still…”

“That’s sweet,” Azul said.

“What about you two?” Jamil asked. “You’ve known the twins your whole life?”

“We’ve been classmates since elementary school,” Floyd explained. “But I didn’t really know Azul existed until middle school.”

“How does that work?” Jamil asked. “You didn’t realize he was your classmate?”

“I tried to make myself scarce,” Azul said. He seemed nervous that the topic had been brought up.

“Didn’t really work in hindsight,” Floyd said. “I mean, you were just the most adorable, squishy little—”

“Floyd!” Azul raised his voice. “I told you to never bring that up!”

“You sound like a cute kid,” Jamil said. “And yet…you’re ruling over them as a housewarden. What’s that like?”

“Ruling is a strong word,” Azul said. “They hold no binding allegiance to me. The moment I stop entertaining them is the moment they leave me behind.”

“Are you sure?” Jamil asked. “During the dance, they seemed really worried about you.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Azul reasoned. “Any boy would be upset when their toy breaks.”

“Yeah,” Floyd said. “Azul’s still entertaining, and we’d like to keep him that way.”

Jamil sighed. “Still…”

“It’s getting late,” Azul said. “I appreciate the time spent with you Jamil, but we should pack up.”

“Of course,” Jamil went to clean up the board game. 

“No, I insist,” Floyd said. “I remember where it goes.”

Jamil seemed surprised.

“Let me take you to your room,” Azul said. “You seem exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” Jamil said. “Please, get some rest. Both of you.”

While his brother and Azul went about distracting Jamil, Jade snuck into Kalim’s room. He was still awake, his face lit up by his cell phone.

He looked towards the door. “Oh? Jade!”

“Hello Kalim,” Jade approached Kalim. “Why are you awake at this hour?”

“It’s Silver,” Kalim said. “I’m trying to call him, but it’s so late he’s probably asleep by now.”

Jade nodded. “And what about Ruggie?”

“He doesn’t have the internet at home,” Kalim said sadly. “I miss them…But Jamil’s been there for me.”

“Jamil seems worried about you,” Jade said.

“I know,” Kalim said.

“I mean, keeping all these students over winter break? It’s honestly quite cruel. I can’t imagine you doing it.”

“Yeah,” Kalim said. “I guess we need more training.”

“You guess?”

“I…I’ve been blacking out. I just have…gaps in my memory. Jamil says it’s stress, he says because I’m responsible for all the losses our dorm has taken.”

“Hmm,” Jade turned on the lamp by Kalim’s bed. He thought for a moment. And then he began to sing.

“Poor unfortunate souls, in pain, in need.”

Kalim bolted up. He dropped his phone on the bed.

Good, he was under Jade’s control. Jade slid in front of him.

“Hello Kalim,” Jade said. “I need you to answer a few questions for me.”

“Okay,” Kalim said. He was lost in hypnosis.

“Do you know the name of the student who is using mind control on you?”

“I do,” Kalim said.

“What is his name?”

“I…I can’t tell you.”

Jade was shocked. “Excuse me?”

“I can’t tell anyone,” Kalim said in a monotone voice. “I made a promise.”

“I see…” Jade said. “Get some rest, you sweet little thing. You don’t know what the future will bring.”

Kalim promptly collapsed into his bed, snoring slightly. Jade placed his phone on the bed. “Goodnight.”

“How’d it go?” Floyd asked.

“He…he didn’t tell me,” Jade was still a bit in shock from the reveal. “He said he made a promise to this person and he wouldn’t break it.”

“Really?” Azul asked. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”

“It certainly hasn’t happened to me,” Jade sat on the bed. “It’s so weird…”

“Well,” Azul said. “There’s only one person here who Kalim is close to, at least, enough to keep that kind of promise.”

The next morning, Jade and Azul went into Kalim’s room, very early in the morning.

“What’s up guys?” Kalim asked. “What are you doing here?”

“We wanted to help you wake up,” Jade said. “I made tea. Now, let me help you get dressed.”

Jamil then promptly walked through the door, still rubbing his eyes.

“Kalim? It’s time to…” He looked on in horror. “What are you doing here?!”

“Ah, Jamil!” Azul smiled. “We’ll be helping Kalim today. You can go back to bed.”

“What?!”

“You know what I realized?” Azul said. “You are the most hardworking, dedicated, exhausted member of this dorm. Consider it a gift from Octavinelle.”

“Gift?!” Jamil said. “You don’t give gifts.”

“I’m feeling charitable,” Azul said. “Come on, Jamil.”

“That’s a great idea!” Kalim said, slithering out of bed. “You deserve a break Jamil.”

“I can’t just sleep,” Jamil said. He rushed out of the bedroom to the kitchen. He found Floyd giving out orders to the students.

“What are you doing?!”

“Huh?” Floyd looked back at Jamil. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?”

“Answer my question, Floyd!”

“Oh,” Floyd gestured. “We’re making breakfast! I have some experience from the lounge you know.”

“You can’t cook for Kalim,” Jamil said. “It could be poisoned!”

“I’m not gonna poison him,” Floyd said, offended. “But if it worries you so much, you’re welcome to try it.”

It went on like this for hours. Azul and the twins helped the rest of the dorm with physical exercise, memorization, and studying.

As the boys sat in the lounge, Azul checked the time.

“Oh my,” Azul said. “It’s past three already. Let’s take a break before we continue.”

“I shall make some tea,” Jamil said, standing up.

“Let me join you,” Azul insisted. “I assure you Jamil, today should be your day off.”

Jamil led Azul through the hallways.

“Why are you really doing this?” Jamil asked.

“Why, it’s simply some Octavinelle benevolence on display.”

“Don’t lie to me Azul,” Jamil insisted. “You can trick the others, but you can’t trick me.”

Azul smiled. “Jamil, you wound me. I assure you, I’m giving you a break out of the kindness of my heart.”

“It’s something from your heart,” Jamil muttered. “I wouldn’t call it kindness.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Jamil said. His snakes seemed more excited than usual. Jamil forced Azul onto the wall.

“Jamil–”

Jamil grabbed Azul’s chin, forcing the kraken to look him in the eyes. Azul could feel something worming into his mind. He gripped his head in pain.

“What are you doing?” he shouted.

“Don’t fight it, my dear,” Jamil said, his monotone piercing. “It’ll only hurt you more. And we both know this is painful enough already.”

Azul felt a sharp pain in his mind as he collapsed to the ground. He fought for control. But…Jamil’s voice, it was almost soothing…And those eyes…He could get lost in those eyes.

Jamil continued. “Now, tell me, Azul, what master do you serve?”

Azul slowly stood up. “I…I serve…”

Jamil looked into his eyes. Azul’s eyes were reddish orange, their pupils missing, emitting a faint glow. Just like Kalim’s had been.

“I serve you, Jamil.”

“Good,” Jamil smiled. “Let’s get to work.”