Chapter 2

7:12 a.m. Black*Star had made them late to school once again. Tsubaki and Eve rushed, panting, into Class Crescent Moon, relieved to see neither the crazy Professor nor his obnoxious rolling chair.

"You made it. Nice job," said Soul. "Where's Black*Star?"

The girls exchanged glances. "We lost him," said Tsubaki. "He stopped to harass Hiro out on the veranda. Eve and I figured there was nothing we could do, so we just went on ahead."

Maka nodded. "Hiro will be fine. He's survived a lot worse things," she said darkly, and they all shuddered at the memory of the Holy Sword Excalibur's reign of terror.

The dull roar of wheels crescendoed from down the hall, and the classroom fell silent. Professor Stein collapsed through the doorway with a familiar blue-haired nutcase in tow.

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki screamed as her meister was dragged to the blackboard in chains.

"Crazy old man! You can't chain me up! I'm Black*Star, the big man who helped defeat the Kishin!"

"You've been late to class nearly every day this quarter—that is, on the days you weren't skipping to fight someone," Stein said calmly as he fastened the final lock.

"Damn, he's never getting out of that," said Soul.

"What an idiot," said Kid.

"What a horrible thing to do!" cried Maka. "Where's Professor Stein going to write out his lesson now? He's got chains covering the entire blackboard!"

"That's your problem with it?" said Liz.

Stein pounded his desk. "Listen up, all of you. Before we start today's lesson, I've got an announcement from Lord Death. Parents' Weekend is coming up."

Beaming, Eve pulled out her phone. For once, she couldn't wait for Parents' Weekend. She didn't have a mother or a father, but she had Hannah, her mentor from St. Daniel's Orphanage. Perched right on the Delaware coast, St. Daniel's had been Eve and Macy's home until they moved to Death City two years ago. Eve had been on…well, not the best terms with her friends and teachers from the orphanage when she left, but Hannah had stuck by her and Macy in their decision to attend the DWMA.

Scrolling through her contacts, Eve finally found Hannah's number. Are you still coming to Parents' Weekend? I'm really excited to see you! she texted, adding an enthusiastic emoji.

"As you all know, Parents' Weekend is a time for all the folks of Academy students to visit for a couple days, follow you to all your classes, take up space, ask stupid questions and ultimately just check to ensure we're not killing you here." Stein sighed. "Of course, you're in mortal danger all the time as part of your training, but we try not to let your moms and dads find out about that part."

Eve's phone buzzed, and she leapt to her feet. "It's Hannah!" she cried. "Professor Stein, I have to take this call!"

"Detention, Fannon. 3:00 today," was the Professor's response. Eve didn't care about being punished, even though Stein's detentions were feared schoolwide as the most scarring experiences—physically and emotionally—of any student's life.

"Hannah!" she squealed into the phone, her hands shaking as she stumbled excitedly into the hall.

"Evie!" came the familiar voice of the woman who had raised her. "Honey, I would love to come this weekend…but I just can't."

Eve felt her smile fall. What to say? The disappointment was such a heavy weight on her soul, and on Macy's. Both girls felt like dissolving into tears.

"Eve?" Hannah said. "Hon, please. You know I'd just love to come and see you and your new school. But there's been this awful flu going around at St. Daniel's. Even the big kids that usually help out with the little ones are stuck in bed. Kacie and I are the only ones up and about, and we just can't let our children get any sicker."

Eve was silent.

"Evie…"

She hung up, jamming her finger into the ugly red button as if to kill it. Eve, you idiot, she scolded herself. How could you expect her to forgive you after all that happened? You took all the good things you had there and let them slip away without a fight. Self-abuse was a sickly sweet respite. She wanted to hurt.

Tsubaki was worried about Eve. Her phone call with Hannah shouldn't have taken this long…unless the two of them had gotten to reminiscing on the past and lost track of time. Something told her this wasn't the case, though.

She found her best friend nestled under a bathroom sink, her black hair sticky with tears and her green eyes a shiny mess.

"Hi," she said, sitting down to rest an arm around Eve's neck.

"Hi."

"She can't come, huh?"

Eve nodded.

"I'm sorry."

A pause.

"I know it's not my fault she can't come. Everyone at St. Daniel's is sick."

"Of course it's not your fault."

"But it feels like it is. Tsubaki, I screwed up so bad. Hannah—all of them—did nothing wrong, and I just cut them off. I'm so…so…" Another storm of tears took over.

"Ashamed?" Tsubaki asked.

"Uh-huh. Sometimes, I…I feel like coming here was a mistake, like I abandoned the people at the orphanage that took such good care of Macy and me."

Tsubaki grabbed her shoulders. "Don't you dare say that, Eve. If you hadn't come to the Academy, Black*Star and I would never have met you. Sure, Hannah and everyone at St. Daniel's loves you, but so do all of us here! And I know that if your birth parents were here, they would be crazy about both of you."

Eve's head shot up. "What?"

"What?"

"Say that again."

"All of it?"

"That last part. My mom and dad."

"Eve, what are you getting at?"

She stood up, combing her tear-soaked hair away from her face, her eyes sharp with a newfound intensity. "Tsubaki. I've been alive for fifteen years, and I know nothing about my parents. Can you believe that?"

Tsubaki was silent. She knew where this was going, and she didn't like it. Eve had had these moments before; a sudden obsession with her past that came and went with the fervor of a divine revelation. Her parents were practically a non-entity. Eve and Macy had nothing but DNA that could possibly serve as evidence of their roots. They'd been left on the steps of St. Daniel's as infants, just like children in a fairy tale.

"There has to be something, right?" Eve continued, pacing furiously back and forth like a mad pendulum. "I mean, two whole people don't just disappear, especially when they have kids!"

"Eve…"

"Come on! People don't just leave their babies without at least a letter saying who they are, right? Not in real life!"

"That's what happened, though, Eve! You can't just decide you're going to find the identities of two people who obviously don't want to be found!"

"But I'm their kid! I have the right to know!"

"I think you're setting yourself up for a lot of pain."

"I don't care! Everyone else here knows at least their parents' names. I know nothing. I want to find them. I have their surname, right? Fannon? That's a start!"

Tsubaki sighed. She supposed there was no point in explaining that "Fannon" was likely a false name. "Okay. I suppose there's a very small chance that Hannah might know something about your parents. A very small chance. Maybe Kid will take you on Beelzebub if you really want to talk to her in person."

Eve didn't know what to feel. It was like that swoop of energy that came right before the first big drop on a rollercoaster; the promise of something scary and exciting coming around the bend. She laughed shakily. "Wow. I'm actually doing this. My parents. My parents…and Macy's. I'm going to know who they are."

Kid looked up at Eve from his seat, arms crossed. "Let me get this straight. You're actually asking me to fly you to Delaware right now, just because your former teacher might have some small bit of information on your elusive birth parents?"

"Please, Kid!" Eve pleaded. "Beelzebub is so fast, it won't even take the whole afternoon!"

"Why can't you just call Hannah?"

"Kid, this is important! I have to talk to her in person!"

He sighed. "Okay. We're going as soon as class gets out, though, got it?"

She grasped him in a smothering hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Kid, I promise I'll get you something really symmetrical as a thank you gift! Anything you want!"

"Careful what you promise, Eve," said Liz. "He's been getting all teary-eyed over the pyramid of Anubis again lately."

Kid's eyes swam with tears. "It was just so beautiful! And I destroyed it!" He broke down into messy sobs.