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Once he'd dropped Mathew off in his room, Clementine headed across the hall to his own dormitory. Sebastien followed behind him, but no amount of times he said Clementine's name would get him to stop and look at him. Clementine was far too upset. So, he stormed into his dorm—he went to shut the door in Sebastien's face, but Sebastien held out his hand, keeping the door from shutting.

          "I don't want to do this right now," Clementine uttered, heading towards his bedroom.

          "Just let me explain!" Sebastien insisted, distress in his voice.

          Clementine tried to shut his bedroom door, but Sebastien grabbed the handle and barged his way in.

          "Clem, please," he pleaded, staying by the door as Clementine headed over to the window and glared out of it.

          As he exhaled deeply, Clementine closed his eyes and tried to calm down. His thoughts were racing, his heart was aching, and part of him wanted to tell Sebastien to get out and stay out. But the part of him that cared about Sebastien pleaded with his angrier thoughts; there had to be a good reason Sebastien would keep all of this from him, right? At least he hoped there was. Sebastien had let him believe he could trust him; he'd shared a lot with this kid, and knowing Sebastien still had secrets made Clementine not only feel uncomfortable...but also a little betrayed.

          He sighed quietly, looking down at the snow-covered garden outside. When he'd looked through the student files, he'd seen a file with the surname Huxley on it, and he wondered...was Sebastien Professor Huxley's son? He'd seen how casual they were around each other, and he'd also witnessed that smaller winged hound sticking very closely to the one he now knew was Huxley.

          "Is Huxley your dad?" he asked him, still staring outside.

          "He is."

          Clementine scowled in both anger and disappointment. "And you're one of those winged hounds, aren't you?"

          "I am."

          He looked over his shoulder at him. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie to my face when I asked you if you knew what those things were?"

          A conflicted frown possessed Sebastien's face. "I couldn't."

          "Why?"

          "Isn't it obvious? If even one person knew what was going on here, it would jeopardize everything."

          Clementine turned to face him and frowned. "Did you think I'd tell the whole academy?"

          Sebastien shook his head. "No, but—"

          "So you thought it would be better to just keep lying to me?"

          He moved forward. "I—"

          "Stay over there," Clementine warned, pointing at him.

          Stopping in his tracks, Sebastien sighed in frustration. "I didn't want to hide it from you, Clem. I just...I didn't want to risk driving you away. I didn't know how you'd react and I didn't wanna take that chance."

          Clementine frowned in confusion. "What? Did you really think I'd want nothing to do with you? I don't care what you are, Sebastien; it's the fact that you lied to me that's upset me."

          "I'm sorry," he insisted. "I wanted to tell you—back in Ripperton, when I said I needed to tell you something...I was gonna tell you then, but...."

          "But?"

          "It didn't feel like the right time. We were focused on the Elliot thing and I didn't wanna distract you. And then when we were on the train and you asked what I was going to tell you, but the fact I imprinted on you was more important."

          "Okay, but you had plenty of opportunities after that to tell me."

          "I know, but...I didn't wanna ruin it."

          Clementine scoffed in confusion. "How would that have ruined anything, Sebastien?"

          For a moment, Sebastien stared at him as if he was trying to decide whether or not he wanted to answer his question. But then, he sighed and looked away. "I can't—"

          "Just tell me!" Clementine exclaimed.

          With a frustrated scowl, Sebastien looked over at him. "Because you went looking for those kids when we were in Ripperton."

          "What? Carmichael?"

          "Yeah."

          "What's he got to do with anything?"

          "Everything. No one leaves this place unless they graduate, Clem. No one."

          Clementine frowned strangely. "What about the kids that get expelled? Don't they get sent home?"

          Sebastien shook his head. "That's why Elliot never heard back from them. They never left."

          "So...you're saying that..." Clementine uttered, piecing it together. He understood what Sebastien was telling him, he just couldn't seem to accept it right away. "The kids that got expelled...they're dead, aren't they?"

          With an anguished look of guilt on his face, Sebastien nodded. "They were your friends...and I didn't know how to tell you—"

          "They weren't my friends; they were Elliot's friends."

          Sebastien frowned.

          Clementine stared at him, waiting for him to say something, but no words left Sebastien's mouth. He thought he should be more alarmed by the revelation that the expelled kids were killed, but he wasn't really surprised at all. However, he wanted to know why.

          "Why?"

          "Why what?"

          "Why are the expelled kids killed?"

          Sebastien hesitated—

          "Do you need to, like...eat a certain amount a day or week or something?"

          He shook his head. "Not us—not me. You've already worked out the building goes cold whenever someone dies."

          "Yeah, and the whispers."

          "It happens because...well, it's not us eating. It's—"

          "The building...."

          "Yeah. There's...something here," Sebastien said quietly, caution in his voice. "A spirit, I think. My dad didn't tell me much about it other than it needs so many souls a year to feel satisfied. It's been here for a long time and my kind—the kludde, have always served it or something."

          "Why?"

          "I don't know. But...I don't want any part of it. That's why I wanna get out of here and join the Zenith's council. I told you I don't enjoy killing—that wasn't a lie; I don't wanna be trapped here forever killing and eating kids to feed some hungry spirit," he explained sullenly.

          "So...is everything here a lie? Is everyone just gonna die?"

          "No. Ten kids do graduate and head to the New World. If everyone died, then people wouldn't keep sending their kids here. They have to uphold their reputation."

          His answer relieved Clementine. It gave him some comfort knowing that Mavis and Mathew would still head to the New World. "So, are the whispers the voices of everyone this spirit thing has eaten?"

          "I think so. It devours their souls or something."

          Clementine felt a chill spiral down his spine. "And...when I die here, I'll get trapped too, won't I?"

          Sebastien frowned sullenly and looked down at the floor.

          He didn't want that. When his time came, he planned to leave the grounds and die somewhere else, but if he wasn't going to be sent away when Sebastien handed him in, he'd die on the premises, and just like everyone else, he'd become a voice in the choir of suffering, tormented whispering souls.

          "I don't...wanna die here," he uttered. "I wanna go wherever Anette did. That won't happen if I'm killed in this building or anywhere on the grounds, will it?"

          Sebastien shook his head.

          But they'd made a deal. Sebastien would help him kill the Ravenblood, and then he'd let Sebastien hand him in, thus solving the biggest murder case Aldergrove had seen.

          "I won't let you die here," Sebastien said quietly.

          "What?"

          He lifted his head and stared despondently at Clementine. "I won't let you die here, Clem. I won't let it have you. I don't...I don't want you to suffer like that."

          Clementine frowned as Sebastien started moving closer to him. "But we made a deal."

          "I don't care about that anymore," he said, reaching him. He took Clementine's bandaged hand and stared down at it. "I care about you."

          Staring at him, Clementine's sadness began to consume him once more. "But if you don't hand me in, you won't have as good of a chance of getting into the Zenith's council."

          He shrugged, looking into his eyes. "Oh well. There are plenty of other things I can do over in the New World. I don't wanna condemn you to an eternity of suffering in exchange for a stupid job that I'll probably end up getting bored of one day. I wanna do whatever I can for you, and if you wanna be with your sister, then I'll make sure you get to her," he said firmly. "I promise."

          Clementine smiled sadly as he looked down at the floor. "But you helped me; you deserve your part."

          Sebastien moved his hand to Clementine's chin and made him lift his head to look at him. "I got you," he said, smirking. "That's enough."

          As he began to feel flustered, Clementine smiled and tried to look away again, but Sebastien pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around him.

          "You're more important than a job."

          Clementine moved his arms around Sebastien and held him just as tightly. He wasn't as horrified as he felt he should be; he and Elliot had already talked about the academy being haunted and the souls of everyone that died here getting trapped inside the walls, and it turned out that they were right...more or less. Of course, it was harrowing to know that a hungry spirit was dwelling in the walls of the building he was currently living in, and the fact it needed to devour children's souls was even more mortifying, but he wasn't terribly surprised. He'd seen and learned of many more horrific things this world had to offer—the Ravenblood and their wrongdoings, for example, and the cultish practices that took place in honour of gods and deities that did nothing for their followers in return. Aldergrove's secret felt like just another cultish ritual, and he wasn't going to go poking his nose in and risk the hungry spirit's wrath being unleashed on him. He was there for one reason and one reason alone. It wasn't his job to put an end to this. He was sure many other kids would come after him, and one of them was bound to expose what was really going on here. All that mattered to him was that Sebastien wasn't here when it happened.

          "Will the spirit let you leave?" he mumbled.

          "It let me leave to come to Ripperton with you. I don't think it really cares what I do. I'm not like the others—my dad is kludde, but I don't know what my mom was, so I'm only really half kludde."

          "You said you were a demon—"

          "Yeah, kludde are a lesser species of demon. They serve a master, which in this case, is the spirit here."

          Clementine pulled out of their hug so that he could see Sebastien's face. "Will your dad let you leave?"

          Sebastien shrugged. "He can't stop me, even if he wanted to. He let me participate in classes, so he must suspect I'm planning to leave."

          "Well...when we're done killing the last of the Ravenblood, why don't we just leave together?" he suggested. "We could go somewhere and spend whatever time I have left away from this place."

          As he ran his fingers through Clementine's hair, Sebastien smiled. "I'd like that. But what about Mathew and Mavis?"

          Clementine felt guilty. For a brief moment, he'd actually forgotten about them. "Oh, yeah. Well...once there's only ten kids left, including them. Then we can go."

          Sebastien smirked. "It's a deal." Then, he leaned closer and kissed Clementine's lips.

          "Do you have any idea how we're gonna deal with the last four Ravenblood?"

          He shook his head. "No, but considering we just killed three more of them and one of their wolf walkers, Lucinda's gonna be panicking right now—well, more than before. She's not gonna let her guard down or send anyone else after you, so we're probably gonna have to go to her."

          "To the Law Institute?"

          "Most likely. But she's a lot stronger than any of the others we've faced, so we're gonna need to get her alone or find some people to help us. You don't wanna involve your friends, though, do you?"

          Clementine shook his head. "I don't wanna risk getting them caught up in this. Today was far too risky; Mathew got hurt, and Mavis...well, I suspected she wasn't the fighting type, and I guess I was right."

          "What if we get just Mathew?"

          He sighed hesitantly. "I don't know. What if he gets hurt again? He might not even wanna help. I don't wanna force him."

          "So don't force him. We can just ask him—tell him the truth."

          "What?"

          "Or make something up. I don't know...tell him there's someone trying to kill you because they think you killed Ian, and you wanna kill them before they send more goons to kill you."

          "I don't know. Mathew's told me before that he doesn't wanna be involved in henchman and bodyguard stuff, and asking him to help us with this kinda feels like asking him to do just that."

          Sebastien moved his hand to the side of Clementine's neck. "But this is different, right? He's your friend and you're asking him for help—it's literally to save your life, right?" he said, smirking.

          Clementine sighed heavily. As awful as it made him feel, Sebastien was right. If they were going to take out Lucinda and the remaining three Ravenblood, they were going to need help. Mathew was the best option, and he'd rather ask for his help than lead him into it and give him no choice but to fight. And it wasn't like he planned to continue using him after, was it? It was just this one time.

          He pushed as much of his guilt aside as he could and nodded. "Okay. But he's gonna need a few days to heal up. We'll give it...until Wednesday. Then we'll ask him."

          "Sounds good."

          "In the meantime, we can just...come up with plans—one for if Mathew helps, and one for if he doesn't."

          Sebastien nodded. "All right. We still got their files, so we can look those over—they'll help us come up with the most effective plan."

          "Yeah."

          Then, with a quiet sigh, Sebastien dragged his thumb over Clementine's cheek and frowned. "Are you...sure you're okay with what I just told you?"

          "What? That you're a soul-fetching demon dog that's a part of a pack of soul-fetching demon dogs that feed a hungry spirit living in the academy halls?" he asked, smirking. "Yeah. I don't care what you are, as long as you're not Ravenblood. I do wish you'd told me sooner, but...I get why you didn't."

          "I'm sorry again—"

          "It's fine. You told me now, so," he said with a shrug. "Just...do you have to go every time the professors are...well, eating?"

          "Yeah. Kludde feed on the energy created when we transfer the soul to the spirit. If I don't get any of that, I guess I'll starve to death."

          Clementine frowned. "Then...how will you eat when you leave this place? How didn't you starve when we went to Ripperton?"

          "I only have to feed every month, but if I feed twice in one month, then I don't have to feed next month. I'm kinda saving up all the energy so I have a lot of time to get set up in the New World when I get over there."

          "Oh...that's pretty smart."

          "Yeah, I'm something of a genius," he said, smirking.

          With a quiet laugh, Clementine leaned back against the wall. He wanted to tell Sebastien how he wished he could go with him to the New World, but he wouldn't live that long. He didn't want to say something that would pull them both into despair, either. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy a moment of quiet. The next few days were bound to be tense, but once Mathew had recovered...it would be time to take out the last four Ravenblood. And after that, he'd spend whatever time he had left with Sebastien.

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