"Why on Earth would a fairy killer quote The Raven?" said Lee. "It just makes no sense at all."

The five of them were sitting outside; on the lawn that was so neatly mown it had stripes. Pieces of paper were spread around them, trapped under paperweights, lest they were caught by the light breeze. Joy was stretched out on the grass, shielding her eyes from the sun with A Clash of Kings, and Emmy was kneeling beside her, rifling through the report on the investigation. The boys were peering over Edgar's handwritten copy of The Raven, pieced together from the murderer's notes.

"What, so you have no idea either?" Emmy looked up at Lee, her forehead puckering with a frown. "I was hoping you'd have read an analysis on it or something. I mean, I get that it has a raven in it, but that's it. Something tells me it's not just 'cause the killer likes ravens."

Lee picked up the piece of paper with the poem on, squinting at it, as though it might cause clouds to clear. "Yeah, somehow I don't think that's what this means." Edgar glanced over at his parabatai. His forehead was puckered with a frown, as though he was deep in thought. "There must be something. I just don't see why..."

Noah cleared his throat. He was fiddling with a stray daisy that had escaped the lawn mower, plucking its petals off as if he was playing effeuiller la marguerite. "Maybe it's just someone who liked the poem." He dropped a couple of slender daisy petals. Some caught the wind and were whisked away, but others drifted down, landing delicately on his jeans. They stood out like an angel's stray eyelash. "Does it really matter what the significance of a poem is?" Edgar opened his mouth to interrupt, and Emmy raised a hand, as if to begin gesticulating her point, but Noah shook his head. "I don't think we should be worrying about ravens and Poe and everything. We know the killer's a demonhunter, and we know they go after fairies. There's no point to figuring out –"

"Of course there is," Emmy burst out, cutting across him. She was looking at Noah as though he was mad. "It might help us find out their motive! It could tell us who they are. Don't be silly, Noah..."

Noah shook his head again, letting his decapitated daisy fall onto the grass. "I just don't want to get distracted with solving some puzzle when the murderer might go and kill more people." He looked up at the others; both sets of parabatai were exchanging looks of slight confusion. He sighed. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

The slight breeze ruffled Lee's hair, which was the colour of jasmine flowers in the noon sun. "Maybe you're right," he said, frowning at the handwritten poem. "Maybe...maybe we should take a more practical approach." He glanced over at Edgar, who was fiddling in his pocket for his packet of cigarettes. He pulled one out, and he lit it, so its tip smouldered. Lee glanced away before any disapproval could show on his face. "How about Emmy and I go and see if they can find out who's taken any of Poe's poetry books out of the library recently? There aren't many demonhunters in the area, so it might just be someone here at school, and that might give us some leads. Noah's right – the murderer could well kill again – so how about you three go on patrol tonight?" He pointed at Noah, Edgar, and Joy; Noah was plucking blades of grass; Edgar was trying to blow smoke rings up at the Tudor redbrick building; Joy turned a page of A Clash of Kings.

There was a short pause, and then the expectancy of the conversation seemed to filter through to the three of them; Noah smiled appreciatively, and Edgar glanced up, exhaling a cloud of stinking smoke. "Sure," he said, flicking his ash onto the perfectly mown lawn. Emmy coughed pointedly, but Edgar just ignored her. "We can go after dinner or something. I dunno. When do you guys want to go?"

Noah ran a hand through his messy hair. "After dinner sounds good to me." Joy dog-eared her page, and she looked over at Edgar, shrugging.

"Guess that settles it, then." He pushed himself to his feet, brushing cut strands of grass off his jeans. Emmy quickly gathered the papers up, and Joy helped her to shove them back into the folder, pulling off clingy blades of grass as she did so.

The other two boys also got to their feet, and they noticed that Edgar was looking past them, at a figure standing under the great brick clock tower that cast a shadow over the lawn– it had been a Victorian addition to the school, and as such was covered in cast iron gothic railings and leering gargoyles. Giles stood there, swinging a shining seraph blade at the air, clearly practising his moves. Even from this distance the three of them could see how the soft light illuminated his severe features. Edgar breathed out another cloud of smoke. "If it's him, it would be so worth it," he muttered, and he smirked as Giles noticed the three of them staring. Noah and Lee quickly looked away, but Edgar waved in a friendly manner, still smirking.

"Don't jump to conclusions," said Lee, shooting a disapproving frown at his parabatai. "It could be anyone, and besides, Giles hasn't even been here."

Edgar pointed his cigarette at Lee lazily, as though it was his finger. "That's exactly what he wants you to think." He grinned at Giles as he made a crude gesture in their direction.

The girls had finished getting everything together, and Emmy looked at Giles over Edgar's shoulder. "Oh, look." She wrinkled her nose, and she clutched the folder closer to her chest. "C'mon, guys, let's make a move before he comes over here." She and Joy headed off in the opposite direction, towards the entrance by the Demonologie rooms, and the boys followed, though Edgar couldn't resist returning Giles' gesture before doing so.