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Clementine hadn't seen Sebastien for two days. He'd made sure to drag Elliot, Mavis, and Mathew around the academy with him three times a day—he'd even wandered off on his own for a few moments to see if that would make him show his face. But nothing. And as he stared down at his specially prepared All-Hallows' Eve lunch, his impatience and anger started to become dismay and disappointment.

          It had all been a little too good to be true, hadn't it? The guy that was making his life hard so happened to want to help him on his quest to kill the Ravenblood. This guy that could kill three students with his bare hands and possessed incredible investigatory skills wanted to assist him. And then he disappeared. Of course he did. How could Clementine get so lucky? Yet again, his hope had been torn away from him, and now, he had to work out how he was going to deal with the remaining Ravenblood on his own. Well, he had his allies, but after what Sebastien had told him about the Ravenblood President, he wasn't convinced Mathew would be enough.

          "What's wrong, Clemytine?" Mavis asked, leaning over the lunch table to look at his pouty face. "You've barely touched your special All-Hallows' Eve pumpkin wine."

          "Or the pie—don't you like pie, Clementine?" Mathew asked.

          He sighed, prodding at the cherry pie slice on his plate with his fork. "I'm not really hungry." Then, he looked at Elliot's untouched plate. "You've barely touched anything either."

          But Elliot smiled. "I'm saving room for the party tonight. There's going to be all sorts of special occasion foods. Candy apples, pumpkin pie, apple bread, and let's not forget soul cakes!"

          While Elliot fantasized over the foods he'd mentioned, Mathew sighed and looked over at Clementine. "Have you still not heard from your Sebastien?"

          "No," he muttered quietly.

          "I am sure he will turn up."

          He nodded, glaring down at his pie. The more he thought about the loss and the possibility he'd not be able to beat his enemies, the worse he felt. He sighed, looking over at Elliot. "Did you get a reply from Carmichael's friend yet?"

          "No, but I don't think I'll get anything until after the holiday. I'm hoping for something tomorrow or the day after."

          "I think your friends are okay, Elly," Mavis said, patting Elliot's hand. "They are probably just busy getting back into the swing of normal life. I'm sure it's a huge change, going from looking over your shoulder every day to no longer being possible prey."

          "Yeah," he said with a sigh.

          "Everything will work out for us all," she said with a nod. "I have heard good things come when you answer this particular god's call."

          Clementine could only hope. He didn't believe in this cultish nonsense, but right about now, he'd stoop so low as to ask for a miracle.

          The gramophones buzzed. "All students may now proceed to the assembly hall for final celebration preparations. All students may now proceed to the assembly hall for final celebration preparations."

          Everyone quickly left their seats, disposed of their plates, and filed out of the lunch hall. Clementine remained in the middle of his allies' huddle but made sure to check every corner, hallway, and corridor they passed for signs of Sebastien or Ian. He glanced at every face around him and constantly looked over his shoulder, but there was no sign of either of the people he was looking for.

          He had thought Ian would have made a move by now. After all, three of his goons had been killed when they were sent after him. Was he afraid? Was he plotting? Clementine didn't know, but what he did know was that he was pretty much screwed unless Sebastien decided to show his face. How could he have been so stupid? He'd let himself believe Sebastien. If he hadn't then maybe he wouldn't be feeling so hopeless right now.

          Clementine sighed, following his allies into the hall, where two long, rectangular tables had been set out. Upon them were all sorts of magickal crafting supplies. Crystals, strings, herbs, glues, sewing kits, mortar and pestles, scales, fabric pouches, and even several vials of differently colours liquids, which Clementine assumed were potions.

          "Quick, over here," Elliot urged, leading them to the table, sitting in front of a collection of crystals and charms.

          As he sat down, Clementine looked over the crafting supplies. He didn't care much for it, but it was what he was supposed to be doing, so he picked up a piece of black fabric and started sewing golden-thread runes into it.

          While his allies talked about tonight's party, he carefully scoured the hall with his eyes. He spotted three of the Ravenblood he'd seen in the student files, one of which was Harper. She was sitting at the other table chattering to a few other girls, but then she leaned over to the table Clementine was sitting at and mumbled something to the boy sitting behind her. Clementine frowned, watching...and when the tall, curly-haired boy got up and headed up onto the stage where the professors were sitting—Ian. There he was. Sitting there with a dreamcatcher in his hands. Harper leaned back and muttered something to him, and as a smirk crept across his face, Clementine scowled. What the hell was he smiling about?

          Clementine watched as he worked on his dreamcatcher, but when the tall, curly-haired kid sat back in his seat, Ian was once again hidden behind him. Rolling his eyes, Clementine shuffled around in his seat and went to get back to work...and that was when he saw him. Him.

          Upon the stage behind the seat Professor Warren was sitting in, Sebastien was standing in his jury robes talking to Professor Huxley.

          A scowl of anger immediately warped Clementine's face. The hopelessness lingering in his heart combusted, and the only thing he felt right now was sheer, utter rage.

          He watched with a look of murder in his blue eyes as Sebastien spoke to Professor Huxley, smiling, laughing, acting as though everything was fine—acting as if he hadn't been missing for two days! Clementine felt he could get up, storm over there and punch his stupid face right now, but that probably wasn't the wisest idea.

          So, he waited. He kept his eyes on him, watching his smirky lips as he spoke. He tried a few times to try and work out what he was saying, but he wasn't very good at lip reading.

          They didn't talk for much longer, though. After a few more minutes, Professor Huxley sat beside his colleagues, and Sebastien turned around and headed down off the stage. Clementine went to get up, but when he saw three girls rush over to the white-haired kid, he hesitated. The first thought that struck him was, were these girls about to kill him? But no—why would they do that with the whole school watching? He watched as they giggled, blushed, and waved their hands around. Sebastien was smirking—of course he was. And when he started replying to the girls, Clementine lost his patience.

          He got up—

          "Where are you going?" Elliot asked.

          Ignoring him, he made his way to the end of the table, around it, and towards the stage. He kept his sights on Sebastien, who, when he saw Clementine coming, glanced and smirked at him. But Clementine responded with a hostile scowl.

          He barged past the giggling girls, who gasped and uttered irritably at him.

          "Excuse me, ladies," Sebastien said, moving his arm around Clementine's shoulder.

          As the girls giggled and wandered off, Clementine backed away, making Sebastien let go of him. "Where the hell were you?!" he growled quietly. "It's been two days!"

          "Has it? Oh...."

          "Don't give me that! You just disappeared on me—I thought something happened to you!"

          Sebastien smirked. "Aw, were you worried about me, babe?"

          Clementine pointed at him, gritting his teeth in anger. "Why the hell did you just leave the other night?!"

          "I had to do something—"

          "What?!" he demanded.

          "God, what's got you so riled up?"

          With a growl of frustration, Clementine moved a little closer, resisting the urge to grab his collar. "We're supposed to be working together, you asshole! You don't get to just ditch me and say nothing for days at a time! For all I knew, you could've been killed!"

          "Well, obviously, I wasn't—"

          "But you could have been," he snapped. "I've spent the last two days looking everywhere for you!"

          Sebastien smiled sweetly. "Aw, that's so swee—"

          "Enough!" he snapped, failing to keep his hushed voice.

          A few of the students looked over at them, muttering to themselves. Clementine glanced out at them, but then turned his back so they couldn't see his face.

          "I'm editing our deal," he muttered.

          "Is that so?"

          "You are not to just randomly cut our meetings short. Also, you don't wander around on your own, either. You could get killed."

          Amused, Sebastien laughed quietly. "I admire your adamance, Clem, but in case you forgot, you can't come onto my side of the academy."

          "I don't care! When you're over here, you stay with me always! And stop calling me Clem!"

          Sebastien snatched his hand. "Should I hold your hand too?"

          Clementine yanked his hand away. "I'm serious!"

          "So am I," he said, reaching for his hand again.

          He slapped Sebastien's hand away and glowered at him, but as he slowly reached out...and took his hand again, Clementine didn't resist this time. Was this what it was going to take? To keep Sebastien from disappearing, was he going to have to put up with his ridiculousness? Was he going to have to play this silly little game of his? Fine. He'd do it. If it was going to keep him from wandering off, he'd hold his hand.

          "Fine," he snapped. "We're making charms. You're joining us."

          Sebastien smirked as Clementine pulled him forward, leading the way. "Whatever you say, babe."

          Clementine escorted him over to where his allies were sitting and made him sit beside him.

          "Oh, you found him!" Mavis cheered, clapping. "I said—didn't I say? What a happy day!"

          Elliot nodded. "Yeah, what a day."

          "Clementine was worried about you," Mathew said, looking at Sebastien as he let go of Clementine's hand to grab a piece of fabric.

          "Aw, I knew you were," he said, smirking at Clementine.

          Clementine rolled his eyes and picked up the piece of black fabric he'd been working on.

          "I thought you law students weren't allowed to help us," Elliot said, watching as Sebastien tried to figure out how to thread a needle.

          "We're not," he mumbled, staring intensely at the golden thread.

          "Then why are you over here?"

          "For Clem, duh," he said, easing the thread through the needle.

          Clementine rolled his eyes as Sebastien smirked victoriously, proceeding to stab the fabric with his needle. No matter how many times he told him to stop calling him Clem, he wouldn't, would he?

          Sebastien continued, "And we're not allowed to help you guys with your murdering. Sewing some charms for a party isn't breaking the law."

          Elliot scoffed and got back to work.

          "Did you two make up?" Mavis asked curiously. "We heard you had a bit of a falling out—did you break up?"

          Clementine sighed irritably. "We're not even—"

          "We had a little fight, sure," Sebastien said with a nod, concentrating on his sewing. "But we worked it out in the end."

          "What happened?" Mathew asked.

          "Yeah, you were in a bit of a rush to leave the other night," Elliot uttered.

          "Nothing," Clementine grumbled.

          "Oh, you know how Clem gets. He refused to talk about his feelings with me. So, I left to give him some space."

          Clementine glowered at him. "That's not what happened."

          "He's still in denial, I'm afraid. But I can't stay mad at him," Sebastien said with a sigh.

          He gritted his teeth...but he was supposed to be putting up with it, right? To an extent, anyway. So, he did his best to calm down and concentrated on his work.

          "Are you excited for the ball?" Mavis asked. "Will Clemytine be your date? I simply cannot wait!"

          "I don't know," Sebastien said, looking over at Clementine. "Will you go to the ball with me, babe?"

          Clementine rolled his eyes. "I guess."

          "Wait, we needed dates?" Elliot asked.

          "I don't think so," Mathew said. "It probably wouldn't be appropriate to be expected to find a dance partner in a school where you are fated to kill one another."

          "Well, lucky for us, I've already done all my killing," Sebastien said, nudging Clementine's shoulder.

          "How did that go?" Clementine asked. "I heard you all killed each other in the first few days."

          "Yep," he said, successfully sewing his first rune. "It was crazy."

          "Barbaric," Elliot murmured.

          "Nobody waited for someone to make the first move like you all did over here. We just got right to it. All the loners worked together to take out the groups first, then we went our separate ways and killed each other one by one. Seventy of us were dead on day one. Things slowed down on day two, but day three was when everyone else died. Now, there's just twelve of us."

          "Do you hold the trials over there?" Mavis asked. "Or do the professors not care?"

          "None of us got caught or snitched on each other, so there wasn't any need for a trial."

          "Seems a little unfair," Elliot said.

          "Not really. We're just smarter than you."

          "What's that supposed to mean?"

          "Just...stop," Clementine said with a sigh. He really didn't want to have to listen to them bickering. "We've only got a few hours to get these finished."

          "Clementine is right," Mathew said.

          Elliot sighed and nodded. "All right. Can you pass me the string, please?"

          Clementine nodded and handed Elliot a cutting of white string. Then, as everyone got back to work, he sighed quietly and focused on his fabric. He was glad Sebastien wasn't dead, and as much as it annoyed him to have to play along with his stupid games, he'd do it in order to get what he needed from him. He was sure it was going to be a long night, but he'd get through it. After all, tonight was the night Ian would die, and nothing was going to get in his way.

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