"I can't believe his family refused to visit him for Christmas," Flora complained as she walked with her best friend through the corridors of the headquarters.

"Perhaps they had another important engagement," Clio tried to find an excuse.

"At Christmas? What other things can you have to do? Go eat with someone else? Noah spent two days unconscious and when he finally woke up they refused to see him, it doesn't give me a good feeling."

"We don't know the situation well enough to draw conclusions."

"The only conclusion I can draw is that Noah just woke up and has to spend Christmas alone."

"That's what we're here for," Clio reminded her. "Now he won't be alone."

The entrance to the infirmary was already visible at the end of the corridor. On normal days it would not be possible to have such a clear view due to the large number of people walking through the narrow corridor, but that morning most of the members were celebrating with their loved ones.

Flora lowered her voice to answer. "What if he's waiting for his family? Let's be honest, we don't have the best track record with him, I like him now but I'm not sure what he thinks of us."

"It's not that complicated, we offer him company and if he doesn't like it he can stay alone," whispered Clio before opening the door.

The infirmary looked like a ghost of what it had been the day before. Only three patients and Celina occupied the wide space full of stretchers. The noise made by the wind passing through the large windows was louder than the sound of the voices.

In the middle of the right row of stretches, Noah was waiting. He had a bandage on his head and another on his left arm. He sat looking at the landscape from the window across the room, his gaze not even moving when the two young women stood next to him.

"I can see the Christmas spirit is invading the infirmary," Flora commented, pointing to the red and green garlands hanging on the walls.

"Is that your way of saying Merry Christmas?" asked the redhead, turning his body towards them.

"You could at least pretend you're happy about our visit." Flora sat in the chair next to the young man. "How're you feeling?"

"I've been worse, just a bit of pain in my head. If it were up to me I would have gone home but Celina insists it was a serious blow."

"If you hadn't made it to the headquarters on time you'd be dead. You're lucky to be so fast," Celina yelled from the end of the room.

"See? They treat me like a dying man. Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"We're here to keep you some company." Clio sat next to her best friend. "You can't complain about us, at least we're better company than the ghosts in the graveyard."

Noah put a hand to his chest, feigning a wince. "I can't tell Momotaro the details of my fantastic night without him making it public. There's no privacy in this group anymore."

"I'm offended that you didn't invite me," Flora commented. She opened her backpack and pulled out a gift-wrapped box. "But, cause I'm amazing, I brought you a present despite your betrayal. Merry Christmas."

The young man received the gift and carefully opened it, without breaking the wrapping. As soon as the box was in sight, Noah stopped moving. Frozen with his mouth slightly open.

"Looks like Celina was right, he's not right," Clio commented. "I think you killed him."

"How?" That's all he got to say. His gaze never left the telescope box.

"Last night, after you told Momo what happened, he went to the cemetery to talk to the caretakers. They told him they didn't see anything suspicious but they did find your smashed belongings next to Zygmunt's grave. Even if I can't get yours back I thought that you'd like a new telescope. I'm guessing it might not be as good as the one you had before, but the seller said that's a great option."

"Thank you, it's perfect."

Flora was surprised to hear the vulnerability in the young man's voice, it was the third time she witnessed the real Noah, stripped of his false arrogant tone of voice.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like it. I didn't know you liked stargazing."

"I'm an astronomy student. I know, it's not the first option people think of when they meet me." He placed the gift on the small nightstand. "I think we've talked enough about my life. What do we know about what I brought?"

"I imagine Momotaro already told you that the police are working to identify the bones. He told us that if all goes well they'd have the results today," explained Clio.

"It's more of a confirmation at this point," Noah commented, looking down at his hands "I'm sure we're all thinking the same thing, it must be the missing members."

The young women didn't answer, the uncomfortable silence was the confirmation of the redhead's words. The same theory was whispered in every nook and cranny of the headquarters since he brought the remains, everyone spoke under his breath but no one dared to raise their voices as if they feared attracting misfortune.

"They are no longer assumptions, the police confirmed it."

Momotaro's voice appeared out of nowhere, causing Flora to jump slightly in her chair. She lifted her head to find her leader standing at the edge of the stretcher.

"So it's official?" Clio asked.

"Yes, the bones belong to some of the missing members, including Gina," Momo replied. "The police suspect that one of those who did this must have a power that allows them to somehow accelerate the decomposition, because taking into account the date of the disappearance it's impossible for the bones to have reached their state naturally and they didn't find any chemical traces."

"They're doing a great job of hiding their tracks," Flora commented.

"I want to be part of the investigation." Noah stared at the leader.

"No, you won't, neither of you are going to do it," Momotaro refused. "I need you to help me with something else, it's not that I think that you're doing a bad job, it's the opposite, that's why you're going to take charge of looking for the missing children . Bertram, Miles and you are the only ones besides me who got a close look at the creatures that took them, and I need someone I trust in charge."

"Do you think the children are still alive?" Noah asked.

"I hope so. The quicker you get to work with Bertram and Miles the better."

"Do I have to work with those two? I thought you were asking me to do it by myself. I'm fine with bringing Bertram with me, but Miles hasn't even finished initiation training. I already told you I'm not working as a babysitter. "

"He's going to try to get in the way of your investigation anyway," Momotaro said. "That way at least I can make sure Lorcan's little brother isn't going to commit suicide under my leadership."

"Why doesn't Lorcan take care of his brother?" Noah insisted.

"He has a lot of things to worry about right now, give him a break," Flora jumped into the conversation.

Momotaro walked over to Noah and placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "If there was any other option I would leave you alone but right now I don't even know who I can trust," he whispered.

The leader walked away from the group without saying anything else. He walked towards the door, ignoring the greetings from the other members present in the infirmary.

Flora followed him with her eyes, she wanted to ask him about his last words, had something happened that she didn't know about?

It had been like this for a while, ever since all her effort was focused on the search for Agatha she felt that a part of her disconnected from the reality of the headquarters. She was no longer aware of everything that was happening within the group and that made her feel out of place.

A portal appeared in the entrance of the infirmary.

"Momo!" Bertram shouted as he crossed. He had a bloodstain on his right arm and a cut on his forehead.

"What happened?" Momotaro asked.

"Intruders. And traitors. The safe." The young man tried to explain but the words came out of his mouth without meaning.

Flora ran towards them, Clio immediately following her. Her mind prepared her for the worst case scenarios, she was ready to face another attack on the headquarters.

"Breathe, calm down, and try again," Momotaro instructed the youngest.

"A group of demons entered your office, Jacob was with them, I think someone else helped them. They destroyed the safe, emptied it and left."

"What was in the safe that could be of interest to them?" Flora asked.

"The scepter."