During that afternoon, Katie had a study period. She was planning on heading to the library to read and relax. She was just turning a corner when someone caught her arm. She instantly yanked herself free and spun around to face whoever had grabbed her, ready to aim a kick where it hurt.

"Easy! It's just me," Luke said, grinning and raising his hands.

She relaxed.

"Good grief, Luke, you scared me!"

"Sorry," he grinned. "I couldn't resist it."

"You're terrible," Katie grinned back as she kissed him.

He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer. He leaned back against the wall.

"You know, we're probably breaking a dozen school rules, right now," she said.

"Probably," he agreed. "You're right, we should go outside."

So they did. The wind was still cold, but not too strong. They sat outside.

"Please tell me you're not skipping class," Katie asked, a small smile on her lips.

"No," he grinned. "Study period."

Katie wasn't certain she believed him, but she wasn't skipping class.

"Something's troubling you," Luke said, eyeing her.

Katie sighed.

"I don't know if it's troubling me... it's more... perplexing."

"You're going to have to elaborate, I'm afraid," he grinned.

"Lucy says she thinks I'm different."

Luke blinked.

"You hadn't noticed?"

Taken aback, Katie didn't answer at once.

"Well... I guess I had, kind of..." she finally told him. "I just hadn't actually thought about it until she mentioned it."

Luke leaned back, staring ahead thoughtfully.

"I suppose you were sort of pushed into changing by the circumstances..." he mused. "Same as me. I always kept an eye out for my sisters, but since Victor..."

"Yeah. My mother's always overprotective, but since they were killed, it's ten times worse, if that."

"Ah, that's a mother for you," he said reasonably.

"True," Katie conceded.

They paused a moment.

"Lucy also thinks we shouldn't try and find the Red Cloak."

Luke stared at her.

"You're not seriously considering giving up, are you?"

"No, no... but... what are we supposed to do now? We don't have any more leads, and if the Red Cloak saw us, they'll have cleared out everything incriminating at the amusement park... and we still have no clue who it could be."

"Have you asked your parents why there hasn't been anything in weeks?"

"I asked my father... I can't ask anyone else, it would be strange. But he didn't know. Nothing like this has ever been done before."

Luke pondered for a moment.

"How well did you know Georgia, exactly?"

"Hm... we played together when we were little, but we hadn't seen each other for years. Why?"

"D'you have any idea if she'd ever met Victor?" Luke asked.

"... Well, my family met him, so it's possible. I don't know for sure. What are you thinking?"

Luke looked at her, still frowning.

"I'm thinking it's not that unlikely that Victor and Georgia knew their killer."

"... What makes you think that?"

"Well... they were far from incapable warlocks, but there are more powerful ones to choose from. The leaders, for example, are among the most powerful."

"Yes, and that much more difficult to get to," Katie finished.

"Exactly."

"But then, why drain them?"

"... To throw the Council off the trail? Not to waste their power? Could be lots of reasons."

Katie nodded mutely.

"That gets me thinking... what if they weren't the real targets? What if it was someone above them?"

Luke scanned her face.

"And the killer was trying to get strong enough to confront their real target... so if we follow that theory, you're saying..."

"Yes. I think whoever did this could be after our parents."

After she left Luke a short while later, Katie was restless for the remainder of the day. She'd been tempted to call her parents and tell them about her conversation, but had eventually decided against it. This wasn't exactly something one could discuss over the phone. Finally, the bell rang the end of class and it took a lot of effort for her to not run across the hallways and out to her car. The drive felt much longer than usual, or than it really was. But fortunately, her parents were both back from work when she arrived. She bolted out of the car, locked it and went inside.

"Mum? Dad?"

She heard noise coming from the living room as she pulled off her coat and set down her bag. And sure enough, her mother's voice called back.

"In here, darling."

Katie found them sitting in front of the television and was about to start telling them what was on her mind, but she stopped when she saw Hazel, curled up in an armchair with her book.

"Uh... Hazel, why don't you go read that in your room? I need to talk to Mum and Dad."

"Oh, but I..."

"Please, Hazel? I won't be long, I promise."

Hazel scowled.

"Why can I never listen to your conversations?"

"Because it's complicated grown up stuff, you wouldn't understand," Katie said.

And she would be scared out of her mind, she added to herself.

"Hazel, dear, listen to your sister. Go on, off to your room, young lady."

Hazel huffed, but left the room, carrying her book. Katie waited until she heard her door close, then turned to her parents.

"What is it, Katie?" Kendall asked. "Is something wrong?"

Katie took a deep breath.

"I was ta-thinking about Victor and Georgia..."

Her parents exchanged a perplexed glance.

"What about them, dear?" her mother asked.

"You're not afraid of that happening to you, are you?" Kendall inquired.

Katie shook her head.

"No..." Well, only a little, maybe, she corrected mentally. "No, not exactly. But I'm worried it might happen to you."

She could see the confusion on their faces.

"What do you mean, Katie?"

"Well..." Katie began. "We had two attacks, one on a Silverwolf, one on a Starchild. And they were both drained of all their magic, which they were pretty good with. But what if they were just some sort of... test run before aiming at someone stronger?"

"You mean the clan leaders," Kendall guessed.

Katie nodded.

"Sweetheart, that's a clever theory, but I see something wrong with it," Helaena said. "It would take a lot of power to just drain those poor people, so wouldn't that suggest they're already powerful?"

Katie had thought something along those lines too.

"Yes, but maybe they didn't feel it was enough. And now with both Victor's and Georgia's power... I don't like to think what they could do..."

A few more days passed. Katie and Luke did their best to sneak some time together. They'd had a few narrow escapes, one particularly scary time being when after going out for a burger they'd spotted Luke's father a few feet ahead, mercifully not looking their way. They had darted into a corner and waited about ten minutes before coming back out into the open, and they had both decided they needed to be even more careful. But they also wanted to live as normally as possible, so when Luke's parents and sisters went out of town for the weekend, they immediately organised a date.

Officially, Katie was going to Gideon's to keep him company because Valerie was busy that weekend and wouldn't be around much. Luke had claimed he had an essay due Monday and couldn't afford a failing grade. Once their families were dealt with, they went to the cinema. It didn't get much more normal than that, in Katie's opinion. They had picked a film about magicians, just to see how it compared to the real thing. And they found it hard to keep from laughing. The film itself was good enough, but it was full of things that didn't work in real life.

"I mean, creating fireballs is not that quick!" Luke was commenting as they made their down the street after the film had ended.

"I know, it took me a week to even get a spark!" Katie laughed. "And they use their magic like it's not taking its toll on the body, which it always does, in the end."

They walked hand in hand, like any ordinary couple their age. It was dark, and the streets were bursting with lights and people enjoying the weekend. Many were couples or families heading to or from restaurants.

"It almost feels too easy," Katie mused, leaning into Luke.

"Why is that?" Luke asked, kissing her hair.

"... I don't know, maybe it's my overthinking nature taking over again..."

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Probably," he agreed. "But I see what you mean. I keep expecting my father or yours to catch us and blow our heads off."

Katie laughed, then sighed with contentment.

"It is nice to not have to worry about being seen, though, isn't it?"

"It is," he agreed. "Let's just hope a member of one of our clans doesn't spot us."

"If so, we'll just deny." she shrugged. "There are probably dozens of people with similar appearances. And anyway, we're not breaking any laws or official rules, it's only our parents who want us to stay away from each other."

"But it was not meant to be, our love was too strong to be ignored!" Luke said theatrically.

Katie burst out laughing. They turned a corner into a side street, which was a short cut to the car park where they'd left Luke's car. But in the middle of the street, they found a tall metal fence blocking their way.

"... Did we take the wrong street?" Luke asked.

"No, we definitely went up this way, I recognise that hardware store..." Katie said, pointing.

Luke followed her gaze, frowning.

"Yeah, but that fence was definitely not here two hours ago..."

He took Katie's arm and turned around. But as they did, they froze. They weren't alone in the street.

The Red Cloak stood before them.