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Elliot paced around the dorm, and as he did, Clementine watched him from the windowsill he'd sat on.

          "This is bad," he muttered, shaking his head. "We're all by ourselves—what are we going to do?" he exclaimed, looking over at Clementine. "I'm pretty sure Stephanie saw our faces when Carmichael grabbed them that first time—why didn't they call us out at the trial?"

          Clementine sighed, tapping his fingertips against his leg. But he wasn't freaking out about Carmichael and co like Elliot was. No, instead, he was thinking about everything else that had happened. Ian saw his face, Ian was coming for him, Sebastien had shown his face, and not only that, but he was on some sort of jury, too? He had no idea there were other students here that weren't studying the same classes as everyone else...but it made sense. That was why he never saw Sebastien in any of his classes.

          He dragged his hand over his face, staring out of the window as Elliot continued to ramble. What was he going to do now? He'd lost the cover and safety of Elliot's friends, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. Now, his idea to rope Elliot's friends into helping him take down the Ravenblood was off the table—but he wasn't completely torn up about it. He preferred to work alone, and despite the fact he was exactly that now, he still had a plan. He wasn't sure how he'd avoid Ian and whoever he might have told by now, but he was set on how he was going to take some of his foes down—once he had names and faces for them.

          Where would he find some death caps? Probably out in that forest...but the thought of heading back out there after what had happened this morning sent a shiver down his spine.

          "We should find new friends, right?" Elliot blurted.

          Clementine tutted and looked over at him.

          "What about that uh...Kristine—yeah, her. I've seen her all by herself a lot. Or...Trent, uh...Olana—those are just a few of the loners. What if we gathered them all up and made a group out of them all?" he suggested. "That could work, right?"

          It actually might. Elliot might be a bumbling, cowardly idiot, but he had his moments...and right now was one Clementine couldn't help but praise. "That's a good idea," he said with a nod. "Do you know any of them personally?"

          He shook his head. "No, but...surely after today, and everything else that's been happening, all the loners will want to group up, right?"

          Nodding, Clementine slouched back a little, trying to relax his aching body. "It's just finding the time to do it. Lunch has already been, we're stuck in our dorms until next period, and we have detention tomorrow."

          Elliot nodded, pondering. "Well, there's always afternoon break—it's only twenty minutes, but it should be long enough for us to find at least one or two of the loners."

          "Yeah," he said, nodding again. "All right. What's next period?"

          "Uh...." Elliot reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with his class timetable on it. "I have...music."

          "That means I have art. Those classes are close, right?"

          "Yeah, just down the hall from each other."

          "Okay, so we'll meet out in the hall."

          Elliot nodded. "Okay." Then, he leaned against the wall beside the window. "What uh...happened to you?" he asked.

          "What?"

          "Your face—it's bruised."

          Clementine wiped his face—like that was going to do anything. "Oh, I ran into a door—wasn't looking where I was going."

          "A door?"

          "Yeah," he snapped defensively, glaring up at him.

          "Well...do you need anything for it? I might have some painkillers."

          "No, thanks," he said with a shake of his head. As much as he'd like something to relieve his pain, he couldn't mix any other medicines with the pills he was already taking. "Where do you think Carmichael and that will go now?" he asked, changing the subject.

          Elliot sighed heavily and shook his head. "Back home, I guess. They got expelled...and that's what happens, right? You either...get killed or...try to kill someone, get caught, and get sent home. They'll be okay, though. Carmichael's parents are rich, so his father will probably get him a nice job somewhere. As for Stanley and Bernard...well, I don't really know too much about them, but they're Carmichael's friends, so he might help them out."

          Nodding, he gazed out of the window again. "Sucks."

          "Yeah. But...I did tell them it was stupid."

          "They just wanted to avenge their friend."

          "They should have told the teachers! We had evidence and a witness that saw the web—"

          "But it might not have been web, remember?"

          Elliot sighed again. "Yeah, well...there's no point in looking into it anymore now, is there?"

          As much as he wanted the Molly case to end, Clementine couldn't stop himself. "You don't want to know who really did it?" he asked, looking up at him.

          "Well, yeah—I mean...well...she wasn't my friend—"

          "But Carmichael was." Shut up, shut up, he told himself.

          "Yeah, he was. Well...we could keep looking into it—"

          Clementine looked back out the window. "I don't know," he finally uttered. "Maybe we should just lay low for a while, gather a new group."

          Staring at him, Elliot slowly nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to get chased around the school or out in a forest again. I'm going to write to Carmichael, though. I want to make sure he's okay once he's home."

          "Good idea."

          "I'm going to go and do that now. What are you going to do?"

          "Sit here...do nothing," he mumbled, shrugging.

          "All right." Then, Elliot headed into his room, leaving Clementine alone.

          At least they already had a plan for their numbers problem. But Ian was still going to come after him, group or not. Clementine also needed to figure out how to find out who the rest of the Ravenblood were. He'd already decided he was going to go after the school roster but doing so now with Ian watching him was going to be difficult. He needed to get rid of Ian first. How would he get out into the forest to get death caps, though? Ian would surely follow him.

          He pondered, glaring out at the trees. Was Ian aware of the monster in the woods? Could he possibly use that to his advantage? Lure Ian and his friends in there...wait around for that thing to show up...and watch it devour them. Would that work? It was a possibility. That creature had been so close to making a meal of Elliot's friends that he was sure it might be hungry enough this time around to actually catch someone, and Clementine would make sure that someone was Ian.

          Just then, an eerie creak of the walls sliced through the silence.

          Clementine felt the hairs on the back of his neck spike up, and as the woodwork started oozing whispers, he frowned—it was happening. The temperature dropped, the academy groaned and murmured...had someone died? Had someone been murdered? He desperately wanted to see if his theory was correct, but the bitter cold kept him where he was, his thoughts racing, his heart thumping. All he could wonder...was who? Who had been killed this time?

          Why did his mind immediately jump to Sebastien? Had Ian killed him for interfering earlier? Had those lizard girls burned another bully alive?

          Elliot poked his head out of his room.

          Clementine looked over at him.

          And they both stared at one another as if to say the same thing: 'Someone was dead.'

          With a haunted look on his face, Elliot shuffled out of his room and made his way over to the table. He sat down with his paper and pen, and as he resumed writing, he shivered in the cold. "Every time this happens, I can't help but feel like there's hundreds of ghosts just creeping out of the walls to watch me," he muttered.

          Wrapping his arms around himself, Clementine nodded. "Yeah...."

          "Who...who do you think it was? I mean...if we're even right about this happening when souls pass on."

          Clementine shrugged. "I don't know. We'll probably find out at some point."

          Elliot nodded and looked down at his letter. Then, he got back to writing.

          But the cold remained intact for longer than any time before. Clementine waited, looking around...expecting the academy to silence and warm any moment, but a whole two minutes ticked by and they were still enthralled in the cold.

          Elliot stopped writing to look around. "Why isn't it passing?"

          "I don't know," he mumbled. "Maybe the ghosts are taking advantage of all of us being shut away in our dorms."

          His spotty-faced roommate shivered and cringed. "I don't want to think about actual ghosts roaming the halls."

          "Have you ever seen a ghost?" Clementine asked him.

          He looked over at him and frowned. "Uh...well...no—I don't think so. Have you?"

          "No."

          Elliot finished his letter and sealed it into an envelope. "Do you think...well, I do believe in the afterlife and all that, but...do you think that the people that die here get...trapped? I know we were just assuming before, but...what if it's true? What if Molly is still here—w-what if this is her trying to reach out to us?"

          Clementine sighed, shaking his head. But as the whispers finally started dying down, he rested his arms in his lap. "I don't know. Can seelies do that? Reach out after death."

          "I don't know. Maybe. There's a lot they can do which has always been a mystery to most ethologists."

          "Then maybe," he said, although he didn't believe that was what was going on.

          Just then, the crackling of a gramophone came from the hall outside. "All students, please proceed to your next class. All students, please proceed to your next class."

          Elliot sighed, standing up.

          Clementine also stood up, but he couldn't fight the hesitation that had gripped him. What if Ian was waiting outside? What if he had gathered his goons and was waiting in the hall somewhere?

          His heart beat a little faster. Ian was going to find him.

          "Come on," Elliot called, pulling their door open. "We can walk to class together, and then we'll meet just like we said."

          Seeing that Ian wasn't outside, Clementine made his way over to him and nodded. "Yeah."

          They stepped out into the hall and joined the crowd of students leaving their dorms and heading to class. If he just stayed among the crowd, he'd be fine. But he kept looking over his shoulder—he glanced down every corridor, his eyes frantically searching for any sign of Ian and his friends. But to his relief, he didn't see any of them. That wasn't necessarily a comfort, though. If Ian wasn't out looking for him right now, that had to mean he was plotting something—unless...he really had killed Sebastien...and was nowhere to be seen because he was busy hiding his body.

          Why was he even thinking about that annoying, insufferable idiot? He didn't care. So what if he was dead. He deserved it.

          "Okay, I'll see you in a while," Elliot said as they stopped walking.

          Noticing that he was standing outside art class, Clementine tried to compose himself and nodded. "All right."

          Then, as Elliot followed the crowd down the hall, Clementine took a deep breath...and headed into class.

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♠ Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! ♠

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♥ How do you feel about the characters? ♥

⤠ What do you think will happen next? Will Elliot and Clementine get the chance to form a new group of allies? ⤟

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