Dun dun duuuuuun...and the plot thickens. :)

Three days later, it was raining again. Lydia sat on a chair beside the massive face on the tower's clock, trying to focus her mind on reading one of the books Edward had brought up for her. The entire day thus far had been dreary and gray, and the patter of raindrops against the thick glass pane was not helping her mood. The first few days here had been almost a relief; she had finally had time to relax, think things over, and generally feel safe from the outside world. From the contact she had shared with Edward, she had been informed that nothing suspicious had yet been reported on campus. She hopefully took this to mean that her attackers did not know where she was, and neither did anyone else at Weston. However, Lydia had not yet dispensed with her recent practice of placing a chair under the door's handle when she was alone in the room, so it could not be opened from the outside. As calm as the last few days had been, suspicion still lurked in the back of her mind like a creeping fog.

Now, however, Lydia had to admit that she was starting to grow a bit weary of the tower. She was not disposed to venture onto the grounds of Weston due to the obvious danger of discovery and expulsion, as well as whatever lay in wait for her beyond the gates. It was not merely her own safety that kept her in the tower; she was well aware that, should anything happen to her, her family and friends would be left behind with the emotionally painful process of reconciling her death, a fate which she could have spared them if she had just been more careful. She was trying not to dwell too much on the fact that this was not fair, this should not be happening, her world should not be spinning in this direction. Those kinds of thoughts were poisonous and wearing, and really, she ought to have learned by now that it did no good to expect life to be fair. Even so, she could not help but wonder almost obsessively what was going on in London. What were Sebastian and Ciel doing? What of her father and aunt? And what of her workplace, for that matter? Were her fellow employees worried now that Irena had no doubt made them aware of the strange man who had chased Lydia from the office building? She had to think of a way to contact them. And on top of that, there was still the matter of the two field assignments now sitting blatantly on the bedside table….

Lydia sighed and closed her book, reaching out and laying a hand against the chilled glass of the clock face, which she had begun to think of as her 'window.' At least she had not been entirely alone these past few days. Edward appeared twice a day, before noon tea and after supper, to bring her food and water and clothing. Lydia had been worried that someone would think it suspicious if they found him nicking food from the kitchens, but apparently he did not have to nick it at all. The boys at Weston were allowed to request food from the kitchens or have it delivered to their rooms, where it was much easier to smuggle out. The prefects evidently had even greater privileges in this area, as they were allowed to send their fags to order dishes even if they did not specifically appear on the menu. Edward had explained to her the internal regulations of Weston- the responsibilities of prefects, seniors, and fags, the absolute authority of the headmaster in all matters, the distinctions of the four houses, and the school's dogmatic emphasis on tradition and honor. She had gazed at the floor to cover her discomfort when he said those words. She could tell that Edward was still struggling with himself over the fact that her presence required him to go against this code of tradition and honor he held so dear. Even so, Lydia trusted him enough to leave her safety in his hands, even if she could not suppress her instinct to bar the door to the hidden room, just in case.

"He's not bloody there!"

Lydia leaped from her chair in alarm, her book tumbling to the floor. In her musing she had completely missed the approach of a rather soft pair of footsteps on the stairs. She heard a thud on the other side on the door, and then a tentative knock. "Lydia? Are you in there? It's us."

Recognizing her brother's voice, Lydia flew to the door and pulled the chair away. The door opened to reveal Ciel standing beside Sebastian. The young heir was dressed in a very uncharacteristic schoolboy's uniform; beside him, the demon had donned a set of unrecognizable black robes. Lydia stared in blatant surprise. "What are you wearing?"

"What are you wearing?" Ciel demanded in a scandalized tone, taking in her current garments with wide eyes.

The brunette glanced down at the black trousers and dark green flannel shirt upon her body. "Edward's clothes."

"Why?"

"Well, one's clothing options are rather limited when one is unexpectedly forced to flee across London, escape in a wagon, and take refuge in a clock tower with only the clothes upon one's back!" Lydia exclaimed, unable to bite back a smile at her brother's startled expression. "There aren't any women at this school, apart from the employees, and Edward wasn't about to go nicking their garments, so I had to make do with whatever he had to lend me."

Sebastian held up a suitcase at his side. "I have brought your clothing and other possessions from the townhouse, master. I am sorry you had to go without."

"Thank you, Sebastian. Come in." Lydia opened the door wider and the two of them followed her up the stairs. She carried her chair to the window and set it beside the other chair as the earl and the demon stared around at the intricate and cozy little room. "Sit down, you two."

"I've got to give Midford credit for this," Ciel remarked, choosing a chair as Lydia seated herself on the bed facing them. Sebastian wandered toward the other chair, looking calmer than she had last seen him.

"Indeed, it was very good of him to let me stay here. I was so out of sorts when I arrived, I never would have got to safety on my own." Lydia gave them a questioning stare. "Now really, you two, what is the reason for the strange uniforms?"

Ciel heaved a long, put-upon sigh that reminded her of the prefect from Violet Wolf house. "As of today, I am officially a first-form student here," he stated with an utter lack of enthusiasm. "I have been assigned to Blue Owl house, and Sebastian has entered employment as our housemaster. Our actual relationship is, of course, a secret. Only Edward is aware of it."

"You enrolled here as a student?" Lydia raised her eyebrow. "I understand you were charged with a case involving Weston by Her Majesty. However, could you not conduct your investigation in some….other manner?"

Ciel shook his head. "Weston College in an independent, self-governing institution. Interference from outside authorities is unwelcome and looked upon with suspicion. If I were to come here as an outsider, I would draw so much attention to myself that it would be almost impossible to investigate anything."

"I see," Lydia nodded, wondering how exactly this situation was going to work. "May I ask what exactly you are investigating?"

"Show her the file," Ciel directed to Sebastian, and the demon handed over a slim folder that looked to have only a few pieces of paper in it. She opened it and thumbed through a collection of six photographs and accompanying biographical information.

"Who are these boys?"

"They are students of Red Fox house, all in their fifth or fourth form." Ciel reached over and pointed to the top photograph, which hosted a handsome, smiling young man with blonde hair and a tailored suit. "That boy is Derrick Arden, son of Duke Clemens, cousin to Her Majesty the Queen. According to the letter I received from Her Majesty, all of these students have been neither seen nor heard from by their families for almost a year. And I am here to find out why."

"For a year? That seems very suspicious." Lydia took a closer look at the photographs. "Could they be up to something illicit?"

"Anything is possible at this point. I've just begun my investigation. So far, I haven't managed to do anything but attract plenty of stares by stepping on the lawn accidentally. I got the Prefect Four's attention, but not in a good way." Ciel sighed again, leaning forward calculatingly. "I'm going to have to think of some way to get close to them to find out more about these students. I would just ask the Headmaster directly, but apparently he is very busy and only the prefects may see him. This whole thing is highly bothersome."

"I would say so," Lydia murmured, sliding the folder closed again. "That reminds me. What were you yelling about when you were coming up the stairs….something about somebody not being there? Did you mean these boys?"

"Ah. No." Ciel shook his head, frowning suddenly. "I was not yelling….I was simply frustrated. Yesterday Sebastian and I went to seek information from Undertaker, as is our practice for cases involving missing or murdered people. But when we reached his funeral parlor, he was not there. The entire shop was not there. Gone. None of his possessions were left behind. I cannot imagine what could have become of him-"

"But that's impossible. I saw him!" Lydia interrupted suddenly. "He was driving the wagon I jumped into in London to escape pursuit by the assassins' leader. He was the one who brought me here."

"What?!" Sebastian and Ciel exchanged glances of great surprise. "You were with him? What was he doing driving a wagon out to Weston?"

"He said he was delivering coffins," Lydia recounted, biting her lip. "He is an undertaker, so I didn't think it was odd until we arrived here and I started to wonder why a public school would need coffins. The assassins caught up to us not long after, and I had to flee his wagon and hide in the mist. I suppose I could have returned to him after they left, but he was acting in a manner that was making me distinctly uncomfortable, so….I decided I would be better off climbing the fence and putting through a call to Sebastian. So I have no idea where he went after I left." She glanced over worriedly at her brother. "You don't suppose he could still be here, do you?"

"Highly unlikely," the young earl shook his head. "This college has hundreds of students, and Undertaker is….well, not very subtle. People would notice a crazy mortician running about."

"I suppose…."

"Even so, this doesn't make sense," Ciel protested, rubbing his head fiercely. "Why would he close up his shop and vanish into thin air without informing me, but still be making deliveries as if everything were business as usual? And why would he bring coffins here?"

"Master, if I may interject," Sebastian requested as Lydia opened her mouth. "Did you actually lay eyes on the contents of his wagon for yourself?"

The brunette shook her head. "No, unfortunately, his wagon was covered. I just took his word that there were coffins in there. I suppose it could have been something else. I didn't want to go poking around in his wagon when he was giving me a lift…."

"But why would he lie?" Ciel huffed in displeasure, causing Lydia to think of another unpleasant piece of information she would have to impart. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Actually, there's….something else I have to tell you as well, Ciel. While we were riding through the countryside, we began talking, and….well, the conversation didn't make much sense at any time, really. He was talking about how many of our relatives he's buried….and then, out of nowhere, he turned to me and casually mentioned that your father was murdered."

Ciel stiffened and Sebastian's eyes became hard and bright. For a moment, the only sound was the soft humming of the gears as they wound the clock. Then the young heir flushed furiously and spat, "What?"

Lydia quickly relayed a synopsis of Undertaker's commentary about the state of Vincent's body and the sequence of his injuries. Ciel's mouth fell open, and Lydia was not sure whether she was vindicating or further traumatizing her brother. "He finished by telling me that the head looked as though it had been blasted by a cannon," she ended, working her hands nervously. "Something other than the falling roof hit Vincent hard enough to kill him. He wasn't breathing when the room caught flame, so he had to have been dead before the ceiling collapsed."

The aura of the clock tower filtered through a hazy moment of shock. Ciel's fists hardened in his lap. "I knew it!" he proclaimed without a trace of victory in his voice. "I knew it! But why-" The young heir jumped up and began to pace before the glass. "Why would Undertaker keep this from me? For years! All the times I've been in his shop, he never said so much as a single word! When I find him-!"

"Pardon me, young master," Sebastian interjected again, his red eyes flashing. "But I think we must consider that this news is coming from Undertaker. He has been a trusted source of information in the past, but his actions of late have been extremely suspicious. I too find it very odd that he apparently held onto this information for years, only to reveal it to Master Lydia during a chance encounter and with no apparent purpose in mind. We ought to weigh these facts before we implicitly trust him in this matter."

"He said to me, 'All things have a proper time,'" Lydia relayed as Ciel collapsed back into his chair, gritting his teeth savagely. "I have no idea what he meant. And there's also….another thing about Vincent as well."

"Something else? What is it?" Ciel demanded.

Lydia indicated toward the school buildings. "When I first arrived here, before I met up with Edward, I was wandering the halls of one of the academic buildings with no idea where I was. I came across an extensive glass case full of trophies encrusted with gemstones in the colors of the different houses. In that entire case, there was only one with blue sapphires. I stopped to read the names inscribed on it because I was intrigued. Your father's name was on there, before he married mother and took the Phantomhive name. Vincent Cantor. He must have once been a student at this school."

Ciel breathed deeply and touched the bottom of his contract eye. "Father…." His body folded suddenly, narrowing sharply. "I….I need to take a moment. Carry on….I'll be…." He waved off Lydia's concerned inquiries and rose again, striding back out the door and leaning on the railing that began the descending stairway. His back to them, he stared down into the blackness of the unlit tower.

Lydia bit her lip worriedly, deciding to give him room to sort through his emotions. She could not have avoided telling him, for to do so would have been to lie by omission and violate his trust. She leaned toward Sebastian and murmured, "Perhaps you could fill me in on any information you may have found about the hallmark on that woman's false leg? You and Ciel were at the House of Lords and the Royal Archives that day, right?"

"Indeed, master," Sebastian reached into his bag and removed another folder, this one hardly thicker than the last. "The hallmark we discovered on the leg is actually the family crest of a certain nobleman by the name of Baron Kelvin. He used to be an outlier in the former earl's social circle. According to the records, he was an upstanding philanthropist who contributed regularly to orphanages and established his own work house for poor children. However, all of that information is dated years back. The last report we were able to discover about him stated that his wife had left him for reasons unknown, and afterward he appeared to cease his charitable contributions and appearances in society. He left the London manor he once lived in, and we were able to find no further information as to where he might have gone."

Lydia flipped through the papers in the file. "I've never heard of anyone called Baron Kelvin," she muttered, before happening upon a photograph of the man himself with several young children. She took one look and almost tossed the folder back into Sebastian's face. "Holy Mary!" she gasped, her hands giving a sudden tremor. "That's him, all right! That's the man, the one who offered me the drink and left me unconscious in the alleyway on the night Vincent was killed! And look, there's the ring on his pinkie finger!"

Ciel did an about-face and returned suddenly to the room, angling behind Lydia and staring down into the photograph. "You're sure that's him?"

"Sure as day, it is! I don't know the children, I don't think I've ever seen them, but that man….it's him."

Ciel re-took his seat, bowing his head and adjusting his uniform restlessly. "All of this information, these clues….the vanishings at Weston, Undertaker's disappearance and his claims about my father's murder, grandmother's will, this Baron Kelvin person, the attacks on your life, and my father's history at this school….how does it all fit together? Where is the connection? I don't understand….I don't see it. We need more information," the young heir declared, lowering his hands and intertwining his fingers. "We have got to start this investigation in earnest."

"I want to help, however I can," Lydia declared, and Ciel nodded.

"First of all, we'll need a safe place to keep all the documents and evidence we find. Blue Owl dormitory is no good; it's too close to the general population. I suggest we store everything here, and Lydia, since you'll have time to do research, I want you to look through everything and report anything noteworthy you find to us. Sebastian and I will-"

Ciel was interrupted by a sudden chiming of bells from the direction of the academic buildings. Lydia leaned toward the window quizzically. "I've been wondering about those bells. Where are they coming from? And why aren't there any bells in the clock tower?"

"I don't know," the young heir shook his head, speaking quickly. "But they are indicating that afternoon studies are about to start. We had better return to the school. We will leave these folders here with you. In the immediate future, I will have Sebastian sneak into the records office and look for information on Derrick Arden and his friends. I'm not sure if Weston keeps records from former students, but it couldn't hurt to look under my father's name as well. I shall begin my investigation by asking around about our vanished students. I suppose I shall also inquire as to whether anyone has seen a person matching Undertaker's description on the grounds, although I still find that highly doubtful. We will meet again and share information as soon as I can get away from Blue house." Ciel stood and nodded up to his sister. "Be safe. Keep that chair in front of the door."

"Sebastian, wait," Lydia called as the demon began to follow her brother out of the room. "If you can, try to keep the morning and afternoon of this coming Saturday open. I would like you to come with me into the forest so I can complete the field assignments I have been given."

"The forest, master?" the demon tilted his head in bemusement.

"Yes, that between here and London. I may be in hiding for my life, but I still have a job to do. So do try to remain free of obligations on that date, so you can accompany me for safety's sake."

Sebastian bowed gracefully. "Yes, master. I will do so. Please have a relaxing evening; I shall return after classes with your supper." The demon turned and smoothly glided out the door. Lydia followed him to the doorway with her chair. As she pulled the door shut, she heard Sebastian say, "Young master, please allow me to carry you. These stairs are too extensive for you to descend quickly. You shall be late for class."

Ciel huffed, and Lydia could well imagine the look upon her brother's face as he grumbled, "Oh, all right, but you had best put me down before we get outside. I will not have anyone seeing me in such a state." The brunette stuffed her fingers into her mouth to muffle a laugh as she turned the door closed and braced the chair's back once again under the handle. Crossing the room, she sat down on her bed and opened up the suitcase from the townhouse, rifling through her familiar possessions with satisfaction. She hoped Edward wouldn't mind if she did a bit of decorative embellishing in this space. Her attention was more urgently drawn to the pair of files left behind by Sebastian. Picking them up, she laid down on her stomach and proceeded to review them piece by piece, committing every picture and written fact to memory. Outside, the rain carried on its tapping as the tiny figures of schoolboys far below fled from its reach, books and coats held over their heads like pleas for absolution.

/

That night, Lydia had a dream.

It started with the tapping. At first, she thought it was the rain still drumming against the clock's glass face. But it gradually grew louder, thicker, more insistent, until her dream-self sat up in bed and peered around the midnight darkness of the tower. The moon glowed unnaturally bright through the glass, and she could see the entirety of the empty room illuminated. The tapping sounds disturbed her, like fingers against some solid surface. It seemed to be coming from outside the door. In her dreaming state, Lydia did not feel afraid. She was not aware that she was dreaming. She crawled out of bed, adjusted her nightdress, and walked over to the desk and lit the lantern. Taking it in her bandaged hand, the young girl padded over to the door and pulled the chair away. She opened it to a wall of blackness. She could not see the stairway or the railing; it looked as though the space beyond the door had made itself a void, darkness so thick she felt she'd gone blind. Still the tapping continued, now sounding as though it were coming from the bottom of the spiral staircase which should have been in front of her. Lydia held her lantern higher and stepped into the void, and immediately the hollow interior of the tower sprang into existence, as if it had merely been waiting for her touch. She walked to the railing and lifted her light high above her head. The glow of the lantern was many times brighter than a natural flame. It illuminated the spiral steps all the way to the bottom. There was someone down there, standing in the center of the swirling stairway. He was dressed in a black suit, with a black top hat on his head. Lydia could only see the margins of his face underneath the hat's brim, but his features looked familiar to her.

"Hello?" she called, her voice echoing down the funnel of empty space. "Who are you?"

The figure did not answer, nor did he move, but Lydia was certain she knew who it was.

"Derrick Arden?" she questioned, beginning to move down the long spiral stairway, still leaning over the edge to keep him in her view. "It's you, isn't it? What are you doing here? Where have you been?"

The disembodied tapping stopped. She heard nothing, not even breathing. In one swift move, at an angle that should have been impossible, he wrenched his neck back and looked up at her. Her eyes caught his, and Lydia suddenly remembered fear. There was something wrong with his face. His eyes neither moved nor shone. They stayed frozen in a single direction, the flesh around them dried and tuckered. His skin was pale and waxen, and his mouth was spread open into the most horrible, rictus grin she had ever seen. The teeth were jutted out like sabers and the lips peeled back unnaturally, leaving dry, gray gums gaping out over the gullet of the throat. Lydia looked upon him and felt a shaft of horror spear her heart. She dropped the light and screamed.

She was still screaming when she screamed herself awake. Lydia sat bolt upright in her bed, enormous eyes scanning the shadowed room around her. Then she screamed again. She had seen it- only for a second, but so solidly that she knew it had been there- that same tall, pitch-black silhouette looming silently beside the rain-soaked glass. Lydia threw herself out of bed, grabbed the legs of the nightstand, and hurled it at the space in the corner of the clock face. It hit nothing but the glass, making a tremendous 'gong' and crashing brokenly to the floor. Lydia grabbed her candle and tore at the matches, sure that the eerie specter would sneak up behind her while she struggled to light the blasted thing. A tiny flame finally kindled, Lydia held it out in a shaking hand and whirled around, casting crazy shadows about the room as she searched for the shadow that had woken her. She saw nothing. Bolting over to the desk, Lydia lit the rush lamp and then illuminated the other lamp Sebastian had brought up that evening. The room considerably brighter, Lydia raised her bandaged arm defensively and began to pace methodically across the floor. The room had a perfectly rounded interior- there were no dark corners to hide in. Her heart on the verge of bursting, Lydia checked behind every piece of furniture and around every side of the perpetually turning gears. She checked under the desk and even under the bed, although she had to do it from a distance in case anything jumped out at her. She looked up into the reaches of the ceiling and down upon the silent grounds far below. Then she tiptoed down the small flight of stairs and stood dumbly in front of the door. The chair was still fitted tightly underneath the handle. Shivering, she clutched her arms and listened for tapping. She heard nothing. The rain had stopped. A half-insane part of her mind wanted to open the door and step out into the hollow blackness, cast her lantern over the railing and see if Derrick Arden really was waiting far below. Lydia backed away from the door, afraid she might really be possessed to do it, and fled back into the room. She had to check under her bed again and under her covers before she climbed in, pulling them up to her chin and staring fixatedly at the spot where she had seen the silhouette. She wondered what she would do if it reappeared. She was sure she could not stay in the room with it, but running out the door and down the stairs into the dripping dark below held its own mortal terrors. Lydia was almost tempted to rip the bandages off her arm and escape into the light, although in her current disjointed mental state, she had no idea where she would end up if she did so. She squeezed her body to itself and prayed.

The silhouette did not return, and the atmosphere seemed to become less heavy. Lydia was eventually able to lie down again, but she did not sleep. She held onto the candle and let it burn down to a stub, her mind ablaze and actively seeking to avoid gazing into the dimness surrounding her ring of light. She stayed awake until the morning came and sunlight flushed golden through the giant circular clock, scrubbing the darkness from the floors and walls. At last, her candle flickered out and her hands dropped onto the sheets as she unknowingly passed over into dreamless slumber. Even so, an ominous foreboding trailed her into her rest.

It was the first nightmare she had had since she left the manor.

Well, I hope that didn't scare anyone too much. I apologize if you were reading that last part alone in the dark. In the past, I've occasionally had some...rather strong reactions to my writing. It's the power of words, I tell you!

Anyway, thanks for reading. Tune in next time to see what the heck is going to happen next.