Narbeth calmly suggests.

     " Take deep breaths, Diamond. "

I'm about to yell at him but Lucifer is quicker.

     " Y o u  a b a n d o n n e d  h e r, w h y  w o u l d  s h e  l i s t e n  t o  y o u !? " He then flips his small head toward me. " A l s o,  y o u  a r e  c h o k i n g  m e. " I give him an apologetic look and unclench my hands from around his neck. Still, my teddy bear's statement seems to have triggered Ice's best friend.

     " I didn't abandon h... " He stops, turns to me, apparently realizing he shouldn't be speaking to my plush toy. " ... you. I didn't abandon you. My perfectly constructed ruse to drive Lord Robert away went according to plan, though. "

Peter Pan's son cracks a halfway smile and my twin gives him a friendly slap on the shoulder to congratulate him for being smart, or something along those lines. I can only guess. Winnifred exclaims, pointing at the stuffed animal in my arms:

     " So we're all just going to gloss over the fact that it's TALKING?! "

     " Unless you want me to turn you in to the authorities instantly... Yeah. And I'm not referring to any weak Earthly law enforcement systems, either. " My tone is menacing and no one dares to respond. Consequently, I'm the one who has to keep the conversation going.

     " We are going to leave my bedroom, separately. If we all get out at once, following each other, it will raise suspicion. Then, we meet somewhere safe, discuss what I found out and how it affects Detective Hua's ongoing investigation. " I realize I sound almost bored, as if my idea is the simplest thing in the universe to comprehend and any five-year-old could have proposed it.

     " Sounds like a plan. " affirms my brother.

" I'll leave with Winnie to keep an eye on her, sis. " " You see, you can use your brain, after all. " I hear him chuckle bitterly inside my head and they exit.

     " Who would've known you would ever be so willing to skip class... Shorty. " Narbeth comments.

     " Miss Goldilocks told me I was dispensed from attending them today. " My absolute exhaustion is crystal clear, showing through my voice.

     " Hey, I know this doesn't fix anything, but... You don't deserve this. " He truly feels sorry, reading his first layer tells me that much.

     " This? " I don't know why I want him to explain any more, but I'm strangely craving for someone to verbalize all of this insanity. I'm always curious to know what people are thinking, after all.

     " Finding Heather and having to work with us three. Understandably, you dislike us even more than you used to, right? I'm pretty sure there's also a ton of stuff I couldn't imagine, which you're going through at the moment. "

I hug Lucifer, my breaths coming out shakily.

     " So, a speaking teddy bear, huh? " he adds, grinning. I scoff and push myself up with my palms, letting go of said-bear. I look into its diamond eyes:

     " Do you mind wriggling into my bag, little buddy? "

Before it does so, I put my sceptre away too. I'm actually reasonably torn between calling Lucifer a "he" or an "it". He is kind of alive now... It's kind of alive now..? I don't know and frankly don't care. I have more pressing matters on my mind than figuring out pronouns for an enchanted toy.

     " Narbeth, let's go. "

Thanks to our common telepathy, Ice and I, accompanied by his two best friends, gather near an empty classroom in a distant hallway. Within seconds, Merlin's creation produces a short, slightly bent, metallic spike the size of a hair pin from out of one of his many pockets. He always wears pants with a ridiculous number of those and his backpack doesn't falter from the trend. While he picks the lock, faithful to his playfully mischievous roots, I make sure to stand the furthest I can from Winnifred. " Done! " he joyfully whispers. We all enter the room, I come in last and lean with my spine against the door once I've closed it delicately to avoid any sound.

     " And now, finally, what did you guys find out? " impatiently asks my twin.

     " I don't think sugarcoating anything is gonna help so... " I draw a quick breath in. " Winnie's a bloodsucker, guys. "

I cannot help but feel a twinge of satisfaction as her friends both step to the left, toward the rows of desks and away from her, standing in front of the blackboard. Her eyes glimmer with tears and she snaps at me:

     " A what?! What did you just call me?! " Ice is quicker, and he walks back to his initial spot to answer her.

     " Either a vampire or a werewolf, most probably. But we should let Diamond finish. "

     " Surprisingly mature of you, Ice... " I mutter, then go on. " My understanding is that your parents are King Aridbite and Countess Vesh. They gave the orphanage a lot of money to ensure you'd be safe there and an incident reported in your file led me to the conclusion that you must be one of these two creatures, if not both, even. What really confirmed it was their signatures, in Demon Language. I haven't completely ruled out possession as a possibility, but... First we need to know how come you were never thirsty until, well... You had to quench your desire for blood with Heather. "

     " It doesn't make any sense. Someone can't resist and survive all this time without drinking any blood and then suddenly need it to the point of..! Y'know. "

Narbeth's argument is rushed, impulsive and, most of all, showcases his frustration. It's strikingly out of character for him. Before any of us can add anything, we simultaneously notice my brother's state. His bright icy blue eyes turned glassy and one of his eyebrows is turned down into a focused frown, completed by pinched lips. We wait, wary of breaking his obvious concentration. Then, my twin regains his usual facial expression, effortlessly displaying how brash he often is.

     " Diamond, if I tell y'all, right now, what I learned... You gotta promise not to freak out. "

I nod, purposely not giving him a precise answer. That statement alone makes me want to punch him. Then again, when have I not? Twisting his hands together, in a nervous way that he rarely exhibits, he says to the blonde:

     " There's medication to fight the innate need for blood that creatures of your kind feel. They could contain blood particles or some are created with enchantments. " I cut him off sharply.

     " You want to give Winnie a lesson or you're trying to ease the subject in? Because if what you're about to tell us is that the reason Heather is dead right now is because that IDIOT forgot to take her daily pill, I swear I will..! "

     " You are not going to do anything. Not to her. Not at all. " I stare at Narbeth in disbelief.

I grab the door's handle and spin it outwards, opening said-door behind me. I let my body pull me out with gravity. My eyes skim their three dumb faces. I... I can't... I can't even... I land on my right foot. Within a millisecond, I'm using it to propel myself and sprint down the corridor. The several wooden doors, the beige stones of the walls crushing me, the sleek marble tiles streaked with silver, the occasional chandeliers with their swirly golden structures... They all blend together, blurred out in the corners of my eyes. As it happens when I run faster than I habitually do, the strikes of my shoe soles against the ground travel from my heels to my skull each time. Panting, I slow down. The zippers of my bag chiming from the abrupt motion, I whip around to stare at the school between the separated gates. Its name, engraved on cubes of the same stone used to build the gigantic and enchanted building, catches my attention. They're welded to the iron fences and one another, into an arch formation over the gates. The Forest's Earthly Academy. I never truly thought about how suspicious it sounds. What screams "almost everyone at this school comes from some kind of alternate universe" more than that? Speaking of The Forest... It reminds me that Narbeth was right, there is definitely more on my plate than this whole amateur murder investigation we're attempting. I still need to get Ice the payment I promised him. And I'm not entirely certain who brought Lucifer to me, but does it really matter at this point?! Somehow, I wish I was back home, where my only problem would be dealing with my unhinged villainous parents...