A/N Short chapter. I have also posted the first chapter of my new Alpha Force fic, The Assassin's Touch. I should be posting the next chapter in a few days.

PAULO

I woke up to screaming. My eyelids feeling heavier than sandbags, I groggily sat upright and looked around. My roommate was still asleep, lying on his back, but two guards were standing over him, looks of horror and revulsion on their faces. I was still struggling to grasp what was happening, when two more guards entered the room.

'What's going on in here?' one of the newcomers snapped.

The two guards who were leaning over my roommate turned around. 'He's dead, sir,' one of the replied, disbelief ringing in his words.

I blinked, wondering if I'd misheard. Looking at my roommate properly, I suddenly realised that he was lying very, very still. And then I saw the knife. It was sticking horizontally out of his chest, a small dagger with ornate carvings on the handle. Four faces turned towards me and suddenly it became clear.

'No way,' I said with a rush. 'I didn't kill him. I swear.'

Three of the guards looked at the remaining one. He was the guy who had asked what was going on and was obviously in charge. 'You expect me to believe that?' he said.

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'Because it's the truth!'

'Well then,' the senior guard hissed with more than a touch of menace, 'you tell me how he ended up with the knife in his chest?'

'I've been asleep! How would I know?' I was starting to panic.

'Well then,' the senior guard said for the second time. 'This is a dilemma.' He leaned closer to me and snarled. 'All I know is that I've got a dead body over there and I need to punish whoever killed him.'

'Well look somewhere else, because I didn't do it,' I argued. The senior guard looked evenly at me for a moment before reaching for a pair of handcuffs attached to his belt.

'I don't see any flying pigs,' he said as he snapped them onto my wrists. 'Let me know if you do, though. Maybe I'll believe you then.'

The senior guard marched down the corridor and I was dragged along behind, my arms clutched by two other guards. We walked through the main dorm door and into the corridor. Just my luck that it was nearing breakfast time and everyone was streaming into the recreation room and then into the dining room. The hall was full of people, all of them looking at me with varying degrees of amusement, concern and curiosity.

Alex and Hex frowned and scuttled towards us.

'What's happened?' Hex demanded.

'Dead body in room six. The only other occupant was this guy.' The guard on my right side fumbled for my pass. 'Paulo Garcia,' he read.

'So he confessed?' Alex said.

'Nope- he says he's innocent. But who else could it be?' The guards let go of my arms and started to head towards the dining room. The senior guard had left so they obviously thought they were off the hook. 'You can deal with him, yeah? Lock him up in a spare cell in the female dorms; no rooms left in the male section.'

Hex pushed me up against the wall. 'Explain,' he growled.

I wasn't sure whether he was acting or not. 'I woke up about ten minutes ago and was told I'd killed my roommate. I didn't touch him!'

Hex stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. 'Oh, God,' he groaned. 'This just keeps getting better, doesn't it.'

'What? What happened?' I asked.

'Amber was in a fight yesterday morning. The girl who started it, Mei, we moved her to the room Li's in.' Alex paused and I got a bad feeling. 'This morning we heard screaming and found Mei trying to suffocate Li with a pillow.'

'Is she ok?'

Nodding, Alex said, 'Yeah. Shaken up but ok. We've put Mei in a room by herself now.'

'You should have done that to start with,' I snapped.

'Cool it,' ordered Hex. 'You're in really deep, really hot water right now. We'll have to put you in the end room and try and sort out this mess.'

We had to wait for the crowds to lesson before we could make our way into the female dorms. Amber was coming out as we started to go in and she gave me a shocked look. I lowered my eyes and she took the hint, hurrying past us.

As we neared the end of the row of rooms, I mumbled, 'That cut over Amber's eye. Was that what Mei did to her?'

'Yeah,' answered Hex through gritted teeth. He stopped outside the last room of the row and unlocked the door. 'Sorry about this.'

'It's ok,' I muttered, stepping inside. As I turned around and Hex closed and locked the door again, Alex gave me tight smile through the hatch.

'We'll sort this out, Paulo. I promise.'