"My name is Aden." Said the 'tree-pretender'—which Valeriana insisted on calling him—as he scratched the back of his head, stumbling slightly over his words as he talked. "I'm sorry if my approach was not to your liking, but I meant what I said." He looked between each of them, intimidated by the looks they were giving him.

"We're here to help retake your city of infested demons, shouldn't you be welcoming us?" Tamara asked him.

"That's the problem." Aden answered, shaking his head at the idea. "I don't think the you're welcome here at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Loquin has officially closed itself off from the outside world. It proclaimed the demand for its isolation. No one gets in, no one gets out." He told them, sighing. "But I don't think the higher family understands the intentions of the current lady."

"Asthore, you mean?" Courtney's brows puckered as she allowed the name to roll off her tongue. "Why would she do that?"

He gave them a look of disappointment and distraught. "I think she's somehow being brainwashed. After her father's death, she secluded herself within the family manor. Recently, though, she came out of her shell and suddenly proclaimed all that nonsense. The weather around the city had been . . . moody, somewhat."

"I think that a demon's somehow taking advantage of her vulnerability with her current state." Tamara thoughtfully concluded. "But, you know what? I think I know what Charles will say. If you want to take over a city, start with the ruler. You don't need hordes of demons and engage in battle to do so. Everything else will simply fall into place."

"Hey," Keelan chuckled, pointing out something he thought was amusing. "You're doing your job!"

"Shut up, ya good-for-nothing moron!" Tamara yelled at him, threatening to punch him with her balled fist.

Brindon came between them and separated the two. "Stop."

Valeriana frowned and grabbed Tamara by the arm. "Come on, you guys. We're discussing something important here."

"Have you heard of a demon staying by the lady's side? Or anything at all?" Corvan inquired, ignoring the exchange between the others.

"Hey!" Courtney exclaimed angrily from the background. "Tamara!"

Corvan, agitated by their behavior, turned and scolded everyone once and for all. "Calm yourselves! Enough with those childish antics!"

Tamara huffed, but backed down nevertheless. Everyone else was able to rest easy, but the ever mischievous Keelan was snickering to himself.

"Continue."

Aden looked at each of them, a crease appearing between his brows. Never minding the fact that they all possessed eccentric personalities, they still managed to go past the Death Tunnel. Although he had minor doubts about trusting them about the information they were demanding, he clearly had no other choice.

The boy sighed, pausing and blinking as he searched his memory. "Well . . ." He muttered. "It was during the day the of the black snow. Instead of the usual 'assistant', there was another person standing by Lady Asthore's side."

"I see. Anything else about this person you speak of?"

"He's exceptionally good at what he does." Aden shrugged. "But that's just about what I know."

"What do we do, then?" Valeriana asked, looking up at the first-ranker.

"We have to go to the family manor." Courtney said, looking concerned.

"No." Corvan replied, his voice firm. "We stick with the plan. We'll go through the city to the direction of the park and meet with the others. We aren't straying from our path and we aren't going to move without informing everyone else. If we have to visit the family manor, we'll do it right afterwards."

"I agree with Corvan." Tamara said.

Aden shook his head. "Lady Asthore is not an easy person to please. She changes attitude very easily. If one thing does not bend to her will as she wants it to or if something does not go according to her plans, she'll have it destroyed without any second thoughts. Right now, the state of the city is critical and unstable. If the people were to go against the lady's wishes, god knows what she'll do."

"She sounds like a brat." Tamara commented. "A spoiled brat. I'm getting a bad feeling."

"I know Asthore personally." Courtney said. "We played together as children."

At this statement, Aden stared at the former fifth with eyes wide open, seeming taken aback by the information that she gave them.

"You are . . . aren't you . . . don't tell me!"

Courtney raised a brow but held her head up higher as she dramatically introduced herself—even Valeriana had goosebumps. "Second daughter of the Evereeshan nobles. I am called Courtney."

"So it is . . ." Aden muttered, the look in his eyes making it seem as though his soul had left his body.

"So, is she?"

Courtney looked at Tamara. "Pardon me?"

"Is she a brat?"

"Sadly, yes. I remember saying she was unfit to rule because of her selfish attitude. But we're close friends." Courtney took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "She's very sensitive and prideful. Even my father deemed her unworthy of inheriting the position. I was worried for her the past few weeks after I heard that Loquin was under the siege of demons a little bit after the death of Lord Caleb. I never realized that it was she herself who closed it off from the world."

"This is a big problem." Corvan told himself. "I do not think the others are aware of this." The first-ranker then turned to Tamara in all seriousness. "Tamara, I cannot summon Avaro as there's a possibility that he—"

Before he could even finish, Tamara turned her back on him and said, "I'm on it."

Valeriana jumped in excitement. "I finally get to see Tamara's familiar!" She exclaimed. "What's her name?"

The third-ranker flashed her a big, smug grin. "Her name's Iolani."

"Ee-yoo . . . huh?"

"Iolani." Tamara repeated.

Valeriana eagerly watched Tamara perform the needed 'ritual' to summon Iolani. A burst of water seemed to have materialized from the ground and took the form of a bird. The bird-shaped blob of water flapped its wings and sprinkled droplets in all direction. It almost seemed to be trying to get the coat of water out of its feathers.

When all was well, a fiery, red hawk took its place on Tamara shoulders, its majestic wings folded on its side. 'Thou hast summoned me, kouill?'

"I told you to stop calling me that." Tamara frowned. "It sounds so much like 'quill' that it's ridiculous."

Valeriana's brows perked curiously. "Do all familiars have something they call their contractors? I mean, Avaro has ham jar and you have quill."

Hearing her pronounce the words wrong made Corvan eye her inquiringly.

The hawk's sharp eyes turned towards her. ''Tis kouill.' She strictly corrected. 'Do pronounce it properly! Thou shalt not follow Tamara's horrible example.'

She held her hands up in apology. "Right. Sorry."

It peered curiously at her face. 'So tell me, thou art Valeriana?'

"That's me. I guess." She said, feeling uncomfortable with the scrutiny of Tamara's familiar.

The third-ranker grabbed the beak of Iolani and forced her to stare into her eyes. "Hey! I have a job for you to do! Don't go ignoring me."

Iolani began to rebelliously flap her gigantic wings that Tamara leaned her head back as she was getting slapped on the face. 'Thou hast to learn to respect this one more! Now let go!'

"Alright! Now stop flapping around!" Once the familiar did as she was told, Tamara let go. "Yo, Tree Man, what's the message?"

Aden seemed to despise the nickname they had begun calling him. "For now, please learn to blend in more as the current state of the city is very chaotic. Anyone well-dressed will sure have a hard time getting through."

"That and make sure to inform Charles and Rowe that the plan still goes. We meet at the park."

Iolani lifted herself up in the air. 'Thou canst count on me.'

In order to deliver the message, Iolani would have to communicate with the other familiars. The others only hoped that nothing would go wrong.

With that, she disappeared from their line of view.

"Wait. Who are you people anyway?"

Valeriana, who previously watched Iolani disappear from afar, raised a brow at Aden. She didn't mean to look as though she was bragging with her actions. If ever, she was confused knowing that someone didn't recognize the Celestial Twelve—if not her, then the rest of the rankers.

Tamara cracked up at the question.

"Celestial Circle." Brindon simply told him, letting the term roll out of his tongue smoothly without speaking any other words aside from it.

"I hope you heard of Celeste Academy." Keelan grinned widely as he watched Aden's face break into confusion, then realization, bewilderment, and suddenly disbelief.

"Haha! Look at his face!" Tamara exclaimed. She reached out and placed her arm around Keelan, pulling him towards her while laughing loudly. "Right? Right?!"

Valeriana gave them a questioning look. She couldn't help but feel somehow confused about what kind of pair they made when combined. Sure thing was that they made a strange and weird combination.

"Alright, that's enough. Tell us what we're supposed to do."

"W-well, maybe w-we should start by removing those winter clothing?" He suggested, looking unsure of what he was saying.

Nevertheless, Corvan and the others obliged.