Everyone had backed up against the wall. A few people were muffling their own screams. Anniversary had taken someone under her arm, breathing heavily and comforting them as best she could. And one of our brothers was lying, dead, in the middle of the floor.

I looked around the room for answers. For longer than I could take, I got none. Just frightened stares, hushed whispers, and pointing fingers. My arm tightened around Jeff's, who also looked like he didn't know exactly what to do from here.

"Max...I think we should leave. Maybe it's best that we don't know what—"

"Hodek, you're going to be the death of me someday. We are not going now." I gave him a stern sideways look and walked over to Anni, making sure to steer clear of the body on the ground. I felt a little shaken myself, though I had no idea what had just happened. She didn't acknowledge me, only kept reassuring who I realized was another one of my original sisters, Iris. The black paint on and around her eyes was dripping down her face, and she kept clutching at her own bow tie like a precious relic.

"Why didn't it do anything. Why didn't I do anything? I could have stopped him. I..."

"Shh. It's okay. It's not your fault." Anni looked up to address the room, her gaze passing right over me without any kind of registration. "It's not anyone's fault." She sighed shakily. "Everybody...clear out. Go back to your quarters. I'm going to lay Jade to rest and later we can all say our goodbyes."

"No," I heard from nearly everyone within earshot, their protests starting to clamor much to Anni's dismay. She seemed to panic, then looked down at some contraption on her wrist and pushed a button at random. At once, everybody except for her, Hodek and I yelled in pain and covered their ears. It was like some dog whistle for them, though I couldn't tell what was causing it. Suddenly regretful, Anni pressed the button again and the pain seemed to stop.

"Go to bed. There are a couple spare meals in the dining hall if you're still hungry, but nobody stays in this room unless I specifically ask you to. Now go."

She sounded more mad and anguished than I'd ever heard her, and I was tempted to wave in front of her face to see if she even knew I was there. But I knew that now wasn't the time to do anything like that. The room quickly emptied except for the three of us. When I didn't move from my spot, and neither did Jeff, she turned her back on us and started reorganizing the various new ties in a nearby table drawer.

"I said everybody clear out. That includes you and your friend, Masquie."

"I...someone said you wanted me to come back inside. Was it just so you could tell me to go, along with everyone else?"

"Please don't make this more difficult than it has to be."

"That's what you're doing. You're making this more difficult for yourself. Let me help. For once." I took a step forward and placed a hand on her arm. I couldn't see her face, but she seemed to be near tears. That was the thing about Anniversary; she wasn't easy to break down, but this combined with whatever happened earlier this evening was enough to do the trick. She turned around faster than I could even see and crushed me in a hug. Though startled, I held her tightly and muttered, "It's going to be okay" into her shoulder. She let go of me, took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes.

"Oh, you're too helpful for your own good. We should have known better than to keep you for ourselves," she said in what otherwise would have been a joking manner. But for some reason, I had a feeling she meant it this time. I dismissed it, noticing that Hodek had managed to detach himself from me and was now crouching by the corpse with pure curiosity. I resisted the urge to comment on it and instead turned back to Anni.

"Can you tell me what happened? Who did this?"

After a sad, reverent look at the limp body, she narrowed her eyes.

"It was Jade. He just...completely lost it. One minute he was fine, but then he put on his bow tie when I reminded him and next thing I knew he'd collapsed on the floor. Then the next he just charged at random people, out for blood. None of the others' ties worked. Nobody responded, they didn't think to. He almost killed Iris. I had to..." She cut herself off, not willing to say anything further than that. I swallowed.

"Anni, I'm so sorry. I could have...maybe I could have held him back before things got out of hand, but instead I was out looking for—"

"Don't you dare blame yourself, Masquie. You know better than that. I know you know better than that. Right now, we can't focus on who did what or why things went the way they did. What we need to do is find either Altaris or the Elder, ASAP. We've gone for too long without a real leader, and look what happened. What the hell did..." she looked up at me as if she suspected me of something.

"You said you found Event dead in a cabin."

"Yes. What about it?"

She twiddled her thumbs and reluctantly sat by our former brother's body, unclipping his bow tie and examining it with care. "That would be a start. There isn't any chance you could lead a team and try to find anything useful on him, is there?" I was about to answer when I saw that she was ready to put the tie around her own neck, and I instinctively tried to rip it out of her hand. She held it out of my reach, giving me a funny look.

"Woah, there! What are you—"

"Don't put that on."

"...why?"

I pointed at Jade without a second thought. "Isn't it a little weird that as soon as he put on that tie, he went crazy? I don't think you should test it out on yourself."

"Masquie, what are you saying? These ties are the Elder's invention! She wouldn't make something to hurt us."

"No, she wouldn't. But I think that one's gone haywire. At least try a different one." I sighed and held out my hand. She reluctantly gave me the bow tie.

"Fine. Still, we have to act fast. I need you to make a new division and take them out to find someone by the given name of Alexandra Schröder. It's more likely she goes by that since we—"

"Alex is dead."

I looked behind me to see that Jeff was now leaning against a wall, simply listening to us. His face read strain, but it didn't show in his voice. He sounded as calm as ever.

"She was killed by someone named Clockwork. I saw it myself. Unbelievable, how quick she went down. I wouldn't bother looking for her anymore."

I wanted to protest, though I didn't exactly have any good reason to. I knew he was lying about something. But I also knew that if I pointed it out, I might just make things worse. So I kept my mouth shut and turned back to Anni, whose hands were shaking. She'd picked a new bow tie off of a nearby table, and was now holding it tightly to her chest. After what seemed like forever she gave it one last desperate look, whispered, "Tell me what to do," and clipped it onto herself.

What's that supposed to mean?

Without so much as another breath she fell flat on the ground, with her eyes still open. I immediately ran to her side, not sure of what to do.

"Anniversary," I muttered.

She didn't respond.

"Anniversary."

Still nothing.

I could have sworn there was static building in my mind. I started shaking her, I tried ripping the tie off but some part of it had attached itself to her neck. Strangely, I didn't get the feeling she was dead, but I was just as frantic in my thoughts and actions as if she were.

Then she sat straight up.

I shifted back. She didn't look like herself. Her expression had gone completely blank for a moment, but then she blinked and looked around herself as if this all were new to her.

What just happened?

"Anni...?" It felt almost impossible to talk right now. She ignored me and rubbed the back of her head, wincing.

"She just had to be standing...oh, well. This will do."

There was a small pause as she realized I was sitting right next to her. Her eyes lost their previous glaze.

"Oh. Well, hello there," she said, smiling politely like she'd just run into an old friend. Something in her voice was different, but I couldn't point out exactly what. She still sounded like Anni. But the way she talked now was off-putting. She stood up and I followed suit. Hodek grabbed my shoulder and gently pushed me back, like he knew he was going to have to defend me.

"How funny, Masquerade. I thought I'd never see you again."

My blood ran cold at her new tone. For a minute, I was certain that Hodek's demon had come back to torment us, but the look on his face told me otherwise. It seemed that he didn't even recognize what was in front of him.

"...Anniversary, was it? That's not you. Who's there, how are you talking?"

"Why don't you ask—" she started, looking in my direction, but then frowned. "Hm. Oh, of course, of course. I never tested them out on you. This will be tricky."

Anni stumbled forward, and Hodek and I respectively took a step back. He drew his knife again, but I wasn't ready to attack just yet. I had a weird feeling that despite everything, I wouldn't want to hurt whatever was inhabiting her body. She continued talking.

"Oh, you two certainly are a sight. Callow...and callous. It's just too perfect. Well, it would be, at least. If you weren't getting in the way of things."

"Why are you here. What are you doing in her body," I asked, my voice shaking. Anni paused and tilted her head.

"This is a new attitude. You never had a problem with staying by your Elder's side before. I wonder what could be different this time."

I almost felt my heart stop, and all the years of looking and wishing for just a stroke of luck seemed to come flying back to me.

"...it's you."