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Ripperton was a sight to behold. Tall, beige-brick buildings lined the bustling streets; monuments and shimmering metal statues stood at the end of every road, and the smell of cooking pastries, gunpowder, and multiple colognes and perfumes filled the cold morning air. A bell tolled loudly in the distance, seagulls screeched as they circled over the nearby fish market, and small groups of children laughed and screamed as they raced through the ankle-deep snow, chasing one another. It was very different to Ulrora Slope, and Clementine felt as though he might just like it here more already.

          "Guys, look!" Mavis called.

          They all looked to where she was pointing. Over by the golden statues of a horse, unicorn, and pegasus, a man had a camera set up and was taking pictures of people in front of the statues.

          "Let's get our picture taken!" she cheered, clapping her hands.

          Mathew nodded. "That sounds fun—it will be a great memory to have of our visit here."

          Elliot looked over at Sebastien and Clementine, who glanced at one another and nodded.

          "Yay!" Mavis squealed.

          The five of them headed over to the statues. When they reached the man, Mathew told him they'd like five photos—one for each of them. The man nodded, took Mathew's money, and instructed them all to stand in front of the statue.

          They did as he said, standing side by side. Sebastien moved his arm around Clementine's shoulders, Mavis side-hugged Mathew, and Elliot held up his thumb.

          As the camera clicked and flashed five times, they remained as still as possible. Then, the man handed them each a photo, everyone said their thankyous, and followed Elliot, tucking their photos into their bags.

          "My aunt's place is a short walk from here," Elliot said, leading them away from the station and over to a small fountain which stood outside a church. "We can get a carriage to take us if you don't want to walk around in the snow, though."

          Everyone glanced at one another for a few moments.

          "Walking sounds fine," Clementine said.

          They all nodded in agreement.

          "Okay, it's this way," Elliot said, starting to lead the way up the busy street.

          Clementine walked at Sebastien's side, glancing around at the statues of lions and horses, and the towering white buildings. His eyes widened a little in awe when they passed the world bank; a huge mural of dragons battling each other had been carved into the building's front, and atop it, several shimmering gold dragon statues overlooked the snowy, cobblestone streets.

          But staring at the endless art Ripperton had to display didn't keep Clementine distracted for as long as he'd hoped. Ever since he'd woken up this morning, he'd felt miserable, and he hadn't been able to shake the feeling. Part of him suspected it was because he knew his time would be up sooner than it was supposed to have been, but he also wondered if it was because of Sebastien that he felt so depressed. That kid made him feel a lot of things, but this sadness was by far the least expected.

          He liked Sebastien. Despite their unprecedented meeting and the strange, conflicting build-up to their arrangement, he found that his feelings about this guy had drastically changed in no time at all. He'd started thinking about him uncontrollably; he'd spent a lot of his time worrying about him and wondering where he was, and all it had taken for him to understand where it was all leading was a kiss that hadn't been forced. He did care about Sebastien, and knowing that the time he had with him was limited hurt.

          Clementine knew he shouldn't waste his time and energy thinking about it, but how could he not? No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts always found their way back to Sebastien. Knowing Sebastien felt the same only made it harder to ignore, too. But they both knew nothing would come of it. Clementine's time was approaching its end and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

          It was time to think about something else. He took his eyes off the statues and looked over at Mavis. "Hey, Mavis."

          She looked back at him and smiled. "Yes?"

          "You never really told us why you want to get into the New World."

          "Yeah," Elliot said with a nod.

          Mavis shrugged as Elliot continued leading them up the street. "I just figured it would be a better place to live. Things have gotten very dangerous around here since the war and I'd like to be somewhere where without so much gore."

          "If you hate violence so much, why did you come to a place where you have to kill the other competitors?" Sebastien questioned.

          "Because this was the only way to get to the New World. You have to prove yourself, and...I got pretty good at surviving, so I thought I had a good chance at being in the last five."

          "Don't you mean ten?" Elliot mumbled.

          "Five girls and five boys," Mathew said.

          "Oh yeah."

          "So was the fae world affected by the war, too?" Clementine asked curiously.

          "Not so much the world...more like the people. But it's in the past now. I don't want to talk about that tale."

          Clementine nodded and let them all continue walking in silence. Could Sebastien be right about Mavis being exiled? She barely ever spoke about herself or where she'd come from, and she seemed to be getting upset just now, too. He wondered, what could someone like Mavis have done to be exiled from her home? He didn't know very much about the fae at all, so he was curious. But if Mavis didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to pressure her into doing so. Whether or not she spoke about it in her own time, he still wanted to make sure she got to go to the New World with Mathew.

          "It's just up here," Elliot called, pointing up the street they had just turned onto.

          They headed up the street lined with white brick buildings and snow-covered trees. Clementine watched as a black automobile passed by, spewing slushy ice from the road onto the pavement with its tires. The snow started falling a little harder, and as he shivered irritably, he wrapped his arms around himself.

          "We'll go find Carmichael's place after we drop our stuff off," Elliot said, stopping in front of number two-two-seven. He took a deep breath and climbed the steps, and when he reached the black front door, he clinked the knocker three times.

          Footsteps echoed from the other side of the door; it clicked several times as if multiple locks were being freed, and then, the door opened, revealing a dull-orange-haired woman. Her face was strikingly similar to Elliot's, and as she stepped out into the light, her eyes shimmered the same green as his.

          "El, my baby!" she cried happily, wrapping her arms around him. "How was the train ride?"

          "It was fine," he said, pulling away from her as he frowned in embarrassment. "These are my friends I told you about in my letter."

          His aunt looked at each of them with a smile of adoration on her face. "Aw, you all look so tired! Three days on a train is awful, I know. I trust my son has told you the house rules," she said, leading them into the house.

          Clementine frowned. Son? He looked over at Sebastien, who smirked in response, and then glanced at Mathew and Mavis, who looked a little confused.

          "No running, no touching anything without asking, and I don't care what you do with your time, just be back here before eleven," she said strictly. "I'll also be making dinner at six, so if you'd like to eat, be back for that, too. Your father will be coming by at six, too," she said, looking down at Elliot. "I'm sure he'll want to see you."

          "You told him I was coming home?" Elliot questioned, dread in his voice.

          "I had to, El. You know that. Take your friends upstairs and show them where they'll be spending the night. I'll get started on dinner. You know how long it usually takes me to prepare TheWeek of Serenity's feast," she said excitedly.

          "All right," Elliot mumbled. "This way, guys," he said, starting to lead them upstairs.

          "Your dad is coming?" Clementine questioned quietly, looking over at Elliot.

          He sighed, trying to hide the unsettled look on his face. "I don't want to think about it."

          "Isn't she your aunt?" Mathew asked. "Why did she call you her son?"

          "She just does that—it's weird," he answered as they reached the top of the stairs. "There's my room," he said, pointing to the middle of three doors, looking at Clementine. "You can share with me if you want. That one is spare so you can have it, Mavis," he said, pointing to the door on the left. "And you two can have that one," he said, nodding at the one to the right as he glanced at Sebastien and Mathew.

          "Is this where you grew up?" Mathew asked, pushing open the door Elliot had directed him to.

          "I didn't always live here, but I grew up in the city." He put his bag down by his door. "I'm just going to ask my aunt if she knows how to get to the address Carmichael gave me, so you guys can get settled in while I do that."

          They all nodded, and as he headed downstairs, they went into the rooms Elliot had pointed them to.

          Sebastien, of course, followed Clementine into Elliot's room and closed the door behind him. "You connected any dots yet?" he asked.

          Clementine placed his backpack on the floor and glanced around the bedroom. It looked very different to Elliot's dormitory room; instead of books and journals, the shelves were lined with hand-painted models of animals. His bed sheets had childish, fish-shaped patterns, and the rug was dotted with several small toy horses and soldiers.

          "What do you mean?" he mumbled, trying not to tread on any of the toys as he made his way over to the bed.

          "Aunt calls him her son, says she had to tell his dad he was coming, spare bedrooms," Sebastien said, leaning against the wall beside the door.

          "Yeah, that was all a little weird. Seems like you've already got theories."

          "I do."

          "Are you gonna share them?"

          "Not yet," he said, and as Clementine scowled, he shrugged. "We should look around a little first, right? See what we can find."

          "We've gotta go look for Carmichael."

          "You've gotta go look for him. I don't know that guy. I can hang around here while you're all out there doing that, save you some time."

          "I don't think Elliot's aunt will appreciate you rooting around her house."

          "How's she gonna know?"

          Clementine sighed hesitantly as he reached into his bag and took out the pen in which he kept his pills. He wanted to help Elliot as soon as possible, so if leaving Sebastien here to look for anything that could do just that was the fastest way, he'd do it. "Just don't get caught," he grumbled, taking one of his meds out.

          "When have I ever been caught?"

          Placing the white pill in his mouth, Clementine frowned over at him. He swallowed it, sighed, and put his pen back in his bag. "What if we can't find anything or aren't able to get him to work out what he is?"

          Sebastien shook his head. "We'll work it out, don't worry. Your little friend will be free soon enough."

          Just then, Elliot's door opened—

          "What are you doing in here?" he asked, glaring at Sebastien.

          Glowering down at him, Sebastien went to answer—

          "He was just telling me he's not feeling so great," Clementine interjected. "He's gonna stay here while we go look for Carmichael's place if that's okay."

          Elliot's face seemed to light up a little. "Fine," he said. "But stay out of my room."

          Holding up his hands, Sebastien slinked out of the room, leaving Clementine with Elliot.

          "Did your aunt give you directions?" Clementine asked.

          "She said it's not too far from the pie factory," he said with a nod. "It's about ten minutes that way." He pointed over his shoulder. "We can go right now if you're ready."

          "Yeah," he said, standing up, trying to ignore the nausea and dizziness his medication burdened him with.

          He followed Elliot out of his room and onto the landing. He waited by the stairs as Elliot fetched Mathew and Mavis, and then, he followed them down into the hallway. He wasn't sure how long they were going to be gone, but he hoped that it would be long enough for Sebastien to find something that would help them get Elliot to understand what he was. 

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