Roman and Patton stood before Signora Calvierri and Francesco, dressed in clothing they had borrowed from Damon.
"So, basically," Patton explained. "both of our parents are dead from the plague. I'm a gondola… driver, so money's a bit tight, so having my brother go to your school for special people would be brilliant… yeah."
Francesco takes a step closer, looking closely at the two of them. "Have we met?"
"I've just got one of those faces." Patton explained, only to be cut off by Francesco as he walked closer to the two, keeping his eye on Roman.
"I wasn't talking to you."
"He's got the same face," Patton tried to explain, getting nervous. "which is because he's my brother."
"Carlo, explain yourself." Signora Calvierri asked. "Why have you brought me this imbecile?"
The steward steps forward.
"Signora, they have references from His Majesty the King of Sweden."
"What? Let me see." Signora Calvierri looked over at the steward, holding out her hand in order to take the psychic paper from the steward.
She looked it over for a few seconds before smiling up everyone.
"Well, now I see what got my Steward so excited." she smiled before turning to her son. "What say you, Francesco? Do you like him?"
"Oh, I do, Mother." Francesco said, circling Roman like a predator. "I do."
"Then we would be delighted to accept him." Signora Calvierri said, standing. "Say goodbye to your brother."
The steward hustled Patton away, pushing him towards the door.
"Tell Uncle... Doctor." Roman called, not noticing Francesco nearing behind him. "I'll see you both really soon, okay? I'll be fine."
As Patton was being ushered out, he watched Roman wave before noticing Francesco baring his teeth at him.
"Roman."
The steward lead Roman up a stone staircase, past a lot of pale young women, the other girls, into a room with several beds. The room is large and beautiful. The girls each give Roman a dirty look, as if they don't accept him. He walked over to one of the beds that has a white dress laying on it.
"There are clothes on the bed." the steward ordered. "Get changed and wait here."
"Blimey. This is private education, then?" Roman said, looking around as the girls and the steward leave. Roman looked over to a boy sitting on the bed and went over to sit by him.
"Hey. Hello, I'm Roman. What's your name?"
The boy looked up at Roman, his face filled with sorrow and fear. His dark hair is pushed back and there are signs of tears that were frantically wiped away.
"Virgil."
Roman blinked a couple times, trying to get past the boys looks and fear before focusing on the problem at hand.
"Listen, we're going to get you out of here, but I need you to tell me what's going on." Roman said, trying to keep his voice friendly as he tried to calm the boy down at the same time as trying to get answers. "What is this place? What are they doing?"
"They, er, they come at night." Virgil explained, talking slowly. A nod comes from Roman to keep talking but take his time. "They gather around my bed, and they take me to a room with this green light and a chair with straps, as if for a surgeon."
"What happens in there?"
"I wake up here. And the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax." Virgil said before tears run down his cheeks.
A bell tolls around them, causing Virgil to look around frantically, as if the calvierri's are going to come hurt him again. Roman wraps an arm around the boy's shoulders protectively.
"Don't worry. It's alright. We're going to get you out of here." he said soothingly. "You're brother is helping us. Damon, was it? He's going to get you out of here no matter what."
