*opens door and falls into room* I'm back! Whew!~ I finally got this darn chapter written. Hopefully it's all right. Please enjoy! :)

The streets rang with the clatter of traffic and the bustle of human voices as Lydia strode down the steps of the Royal Hospital in London. She had dropped in thinking to visit Meirin, but had been informed that the maid's condition had improved to the point where she had been satisfactorily returned to the town house two days past. Instead, Lydia had spent a good two hours in the company of her aunt, carrying stacks of linen and pitchers of water from room to room as Madame Red made her rounds. Sometimes the two women spoke in low, serious tones, and other times the mood lightened and there was laughing and merriment between them and the patients they encountered. Lydia found it refreshing that none of the clients or hospital staff were concerned with who she was- since she was accompanying Doctor Durless, they simply assumed her to be a charity aide. Her aunt was doing well, and had taken charge of the town house since Ciel and Sebastian had begun their secretive residence at Weston. She found it hard that she could not communicate regularly with her niece and nephew, but Lydia had assured her that the case they had set out to conclude was almost solved, and they would be able to resume their regular identities and living situations in less than two sunrises' time. The Fourth of June was only a day away. Lydia did not mention the mortal danger they had found themselves in, or the disturbing condition of the missing students. If all that had to come out, she would prefer it be revealed after their stay at Weston was through, when her aunt would not have to lose sleep worrying about her relatives being attacked by a ghoul or bludgeoned by a cricket bat. If they could just make it through tomorrow without either of those things happening, the game would finally be up….

"Keep that revolver of yours loaded," her aunt advised as Lydia left her. The young girl looked back for a moment, surprised, before Madame Red smiled and Lydia realized she must have been speaking with her father. Nodding, she patted the lightweight holster strapped under the thick waist-ribbon of her dress, and bade her vibrant aunt farewell.

Lydia headed uptown, avoiding Camden, as she did not think she could tolerate speaking with friendly neighbors as though everything was normal when her stomach felt like it was clenched in a mass of sailor's knots. Ciel could handle himself during the tournament, and anyway, he would have Sebastian watching over him from the sidelines. She was not worried about that phase of the plan. However, the midnight tea party was causing her considerable concern. It was on this occasion that the plan was to reach its conclusion, and she was still unsure where she ought to locate herself during it. It didn't help that she had never seen the private garden in which the tea party was to take place, so she would be risking too much by trying to leap there directly. This meant she needed to station herself nearby….but how close was too close? Would the tea party be guarded to ensure privacy? And what sort of person was the mysterious Headmaster whom they would finally meet face-to-face?

Lydia was so busy thinking about these problems that she didn't notice someone was trying to talk to her until they touched her shoulder. The brunette glanced quickly down into the eyes of a slightly shorter girl with freckles and brown-reddish hair. She wore colorful clothing and she held a stack of handbills in her arms. "Pardon me fer interruptin' ye, miss, but ye look like a lass that could use a bit o' cheer. Do ye know there's a circus in town? Come an' be amazed by magical acts performed by the best talent in all o' England!"

Lydia smiled politely. "Oh, well, that's rather kind of you, but I'm afraid I am far too preoccupied-"

A brightly-lettered handbill was determinedly thrust into her face. "Don't mind yer troubles now, miss. Put 'em from yer mind as ye enter our tents o' wonder and mystery!"

"But I-"

"An' a lucky young lady ye are, too, 'cos fer a limited time, we're givin' out one free ticket a day to ye fine London folk. An' today, our winner is you!" The girl didn't miss a beat as she proceeded to tie a beaded drawstring pouch around Lydia's wrist, from which she could see the ticket peeking out. "We'll surely be honored by yer presence!"

Lydia sputtered out a few more incoherent protestations as she was battered by a swell of passerby. She fumbled with the handbill in her face, her eyes skidding down a procession of lions and tigers and bears to a large emblem in the middle of the page….

"Holy Mary!" she yelped, causing several pedestrians to steer away from her. "This is-! But how could this be here?" She looked up, intent on seeking an explanation from the handbill girl, only to find she had vanished so thoroughly that she'd left not even an opening in the crowd. The only proof of her existence was the florid handbill and the drawstring ticket pouch upon Lydia's wrist, stirring faintly in the breeze.

Lydia blinked and stared again at the seal she had come to associate with the mysterious figure of Baron Kelvin. A silhouette of a lion rearing up on its hind legs, surrounded by a haze of frills and fanciful curls. The first time she had ever seen it, she remembered thinking that it looked like a circus animal. But this connection made no sense- of all the information they had found about Baron Kelvin, there was nothing to indicate the man had any ties to a circus, of all things. Could it be merely a coincidence?

Lydia began to walk, keeping her eye out for the young handbill girl in case she reappeared. She was sure they had never met before, but the girl had been most insistent that Lydia come to the circus, even to the point of giving her a free ticket. That was odd. Glancing past the seal, Lydia scanned the paper for information about this supposed circus. Noah's Ark, it was called. It was located at the fairgrounds, and their grand finale performance was-

Tomorrow night. Lydia exclaimed under her breath and kept walking, heedless of where she was going. Of course, it had to be tomorrow night. It could not possibly happen on any night except the one most inconvenient for her. She checked the time below the date, and saw that the program was slated to run from 8:00 to 11:30 pm. Theoretically, she ought to have time to leap to the fairgrounds, investigate the circus for connections to Baron Kelvin, and leap back to Weston before the midnight tea party began. However, Lydia had learned over her years assisting her father that things which worked out in theory did not always work out in practice. Tomorrow night was not one during which she could afford to make mistakes. She would have to speak with Sebastian as soon as it was safe for her to do so. For now, she needed to make herself scare for the rest of the day, then find someplace to change into her Weston uniform before she leapt back there at dusk to spend one last night in hiding.

/

Light beaded in the corners of her eyes as Lydia felt herself materialize in the cool interior of the Swan Gazebo. According to the clock face of Big Ben, which she had been looking at just before she had leapt away from London, it was fifteen minutes until Weston's nighttime curfew. She stared across the night-washed lawn to the tower's clock, which confirmed the same. She was just about to settle into one of the vacated chairs and wait until it was safe to leap to Sebastian's room when she heard a faint intake of breath behind her.

Lydia was at the railing of the gazebo before she knew who the breath belonged to. As she tilted her body and heaved herself over the edge, she turned her head to catch a glimpse of the pale figure of Gregory Violet sitting frozen on the settee. His hood was down, his hair mussed, and even in the low light she could tell he had been crying. The next second, her feet hit the lawn and she crashed away through the shrubbery, angling toward the ruins of Violet Wolf House.

"Wait! Come back!" She heard the thudding of his feet as he gave chase, tailing her as she raced around a corner of ruined brick and over a pile of shadowed debris. He was not fast enough to catch her, but his voice would carry across the grounds and alert the others to her presence. Son of a gun! Even if she leapt away, there was no guarantee he would not rouse the other prefects, and the last thing she needed was a school-wide manhunt on the night before the tournament. Fuming to herself, Lydia dodged behind another wall and pressed herself flat against the ridge, waiting for him. She heard his footsteps increase in tempo as he drew nearer. As soon as he came into view, she lunged out of hiding and tackled him across the grass. The impact knocked the breath from both of them, and for a moment everything was a tangled muddle of limbs and robes as they tumbled down the lawn. Lydia dug her knees into the ground and flipped herself on top of him. He tried to push her off, but the brunette roughly seized his wrists and pinned them on either side of his head. "No more yelling!" she demanded emphatically. Panting, the two youths stared at each other as the darkened shell of Violet Wolf House hovered above them.

The slender prefect gritted his teeth and tried to regain control of his arms. Lydia let him wear himself out, twisting and fluttering like a sparrow caught in a snare. He did not attempt to scream for help, perhaps knowing he and Lydia would be the only two outside so close to curfew. Eventually, his lungs seemed to reach their maximum capacity to supply his body with energy. He relaxed his struggling in exhaustion and stared up at her with scared, bright eyes.

Lydia frowned sharply as she met his gaze. "Well?"

"….What?" Violet murmured in a small voice, his eyes darting around frantically as he looked for a way out of her iron grip.

"Well, what is it? You went to all the trouble to chase me down just now. What do you want?"

The prefect blinked and turned his head to stare fixatedly at her bandaged arm, as if it might turn into something horrible. Then his eyes locked onto the figure of the girl looming above him. "I….I…." His breathing became fast and shallow. " P-please….whatever you are….whatever you want, I'm begging you….please go away from here!"

Lydia stared down at him in silence, not having expected such a direct and impossible plea. Somewhere out in the night, the bell for curfew began to toll. "Do you think me a folk spirit, that I can be summoned and banished with simple exhortations?"

Violet shivered and squirmed helplessly upon the grass. "I don't know! I don't know what you are, but I know you've already found what you were seeking. You've found Derrick Arden. That's what you wanted, isn't it?! By all means, take him and his friends and go!"

Lydia furrowed her brow darkly. "I would do that, if I thought it would be of any good whatsoever. But the Derrick Arden I found two nights ago was not the boy I was seeking. You prefects have done something to him, and to the other students as well." Lydia tightened her grip on Violet's wrists. "So tell me, how is it those boys show no signs of being alive, yet still they move and even speak? Who is responsible for making them like that, and how was it done?"

Violet's eyes widened and he suddenly tried to twist himself out from under her. He only managed to elicit a shriek of pain as he wrenched his restrained arms at an odd angle. Lydia caught him before he could do more damage and gently eased him back into the grass. He looked so easy to break, and despite all the trouble he was causing her, she did not want to hurt him. Even so, she needed to know what dark things his tear-filled eyes had seen. She knew that he was haunted, perhaps by her, but even more so by the ghoul-shadow of Derrick Arden. Now she needed to know why. "Tell me," she insisted strongly. "What did you do?"

Violet's voice became ragged and dark. "I can't," he whispered, his hollow eyes seeming to sink to a depth she could not fathom. "You can't know. No one can know, never ever. If they find out, we'll be expelled from this school. Our lives will be over. We gave everything to this school!" A flicker of fire sparked in Violet's eyes, and he pushed suddenly against her hold. "And you- you've been pretending to be a student, deceiving everyone, when really you don't belong here at all! How could you know what has to be done to protect our traditions?! You don't understand anything!"

Lydia gritted her teeth and pushed him back down with greater force. "That may be true. I may not understand anything about your customs, many of which I think are unnecessarily outdated. And even if you were to tell me, I probably still could not comprehend what possessed you to allow your fellow students to fall to such a state when you were entrusted to watch over them. But that's not the point," Lydia growled, her blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. "The point is that at this very moment, there are six families caught up in the agony of uncertainty, not knowing why their sons and brothers have ceased speaking to them. Wondering if they did something wrong, if their loved ones have stopped loving them. When you cherish your family, to be apart like that is….terrible." The brunette grimaced and stared across the grounds toward the old administration building. "They need to have an answer. They need to see their boys again. Or if such a thing cannot be possible….if those creatures in that room can never again be human….then at least their families deserve to bury their bodies, so they can always know exactly where they are."

Violet shivered and closed his eyes, turning his face toward the grass as though wishing to hide in it. Lydia pressed on determinedly. "And you know that. Violet. Whatever you prefects did to those boys, you know it was wrong. I saw the painting in your room. I saw the drawing in your book. The Tell-Tale Heart. I understand why its plotline draws you. He's stuck in your head, isn't he? Derrick Arden. I see him in nightmares, but you see him all the time, don't you? Do you really think you can go through your life like that?"

"Stop it!" Violet screamed, writhing violently under her. "For God's sake, stop it! It's too late! I can't change it! I didn't know….I didn't know what would happen that night! I didn't mean to, I didn't want it…." The prefect's breathing devolved into sobs, tears running from the corners of his eyes as he gradually ceased struggling and lay limply in the grass. "Please….please stop….you're hurting me…."

Lydia did not know if he meant she was hurting him mentally or physically, but she loosened her grip on his wrists unconsciously. "It won't stop, Violet. Whatever he's become….the beating of his hideous heart….it will never stop as long as you keep hiding him. It will drive you mad. You need to tear up the floorboards and face it….whatever it was in you that caused you to turn on him. It was in you long before you met Derrick Arden."

Violet shook his head, his tears falling sideways onto the lawn. "I can't speak about that night. I can't, I can't, I can't. It's not just me who will lose everything. My….my friends…."

"Are they your friends?" Lydia questioned sharply. "I'm fairly sure Greenhill considered you acceptable collateral damage when he tried to crush me in the library the other day. He doesn't care who he has to go through to get me."

"I know," Violet whispered miserably. "I know that, but….he's scared too. We're all so frightened, we can barely think straight."

"What exactly are you frightened of, aside from me?" Lydia questioned. "Who is the one you were speaking of when you said that "He" would not help you a second time? Who is he, and what did he do for you the first time?"

The dark-haired prefect pressed his trembling lips together and desperately averted his eyes. Lydia sighed and glanced at the clock face, considering her options. She needed to get back to Sebastian's room soon, or the demon would come looking for her and Violet might see him. Sebastian and Ciel needed to stay in disguise until midnight tomorrow, and the Fourth of June tournament needed to proceed as planned so Ciel could earn his way into the midnight tea party. If that were to happen, she could not just leave Violet tied up someplace, as the absence of Purple House's prefect would surely throw the whole day off. However, she could not release him immediately either. If he were to rouse the school, they still had the whole night left to search for her. She needed to wait until the morning, when visitors would begin flooding in and no one would have time to do anything but play their parts in order to uphold the school's traditions. Then Violet would no longer be a threat. But where was she to keep him in the meantime? Her eyes turned back to the clock face, and she suddenly had an idea.

The brunette sighed in consternation. "All right then, don't tell me. Either way, I suppose we had better get off this lawn." Maintaining her grip on his wrists, Lydia promptly slid off him and flipped him onto his side. "You're not going to like this, but you'll have to endure it for now."

The prefect flailed and kicked and Lydia tugged off her blue tie and used it to bind his hands securely behind his back. Once this was accomplished, she unknotted the purple bow around his neck and used it to restrain his ankles. She was finally able to stand up as Violet twisted about in the grass, trembling uncontrollably. "W-what are you doing? Let me go!"

"It's all right," Lydia reassured, her voice dropping to a soothing tone. In spite of her intimidating strength and unfeminine character, she really did not enjoy scaring people. "I will not hurt you, but I cannot let you go just yet. You might rouse the school against me." She stood up and took a few steps toward the inner grounds, beginning to unravel the bandages upon her wrist. "Therefore, I have to-"

"No, stop! Don't leave me out here!" Violet's strained voice pleaded as he tried to roll himself onto his knees. "I can't be alone out here anymore! I know….I know he's watching me! I always feel him watching me! I can't stand it….I can't…." The prefect began to hyperventilate as Lydia dropped to her knees and helped him balance upright. It was probably no good trying to be harsh with him, she figured. Violet was such a troubled, fragile creature; it made her feel inexplicably obligated to protect him, even though he threatened the security of her position. She sighed again and gently touched his shoulder.

"I am not leaving you out here. I'll be gone for just a second, and then I'll take you indoors for the night. I promise there's no need to panic."

A second later, Lydia had opened the bandages upon her wrist and flashed through the world of light into Sebastian's bedroom. She appeared just as the demon was climbing out the window, an aggravated expression upon his face. He swung himself back in immediately. "Master-"

"Sebastian, I need you to go to the room at the top of the clock tower, immediately. I'll join you there momentarily. Do not say a word to me until I signal that it's safe. There's no time for questions now- oh, and let me have your tie."

Sebastian looked as though he wanted to tell her to lie down and return to her senses. However, he obediently removed his blue tie and handed it to Lydia. The brunette nodded and vanished once again, reappearing in the same spot on the lawn. Violet seemed to be in the middle of panicking as he pulled against his improvised restraints. Lydia considered trying to calm him down, but figured it would be nothing doing until she got him safely out of the night air. She bent down beside him and proceeded to knot Sebastian's tie over his wide eyes, muttering, "Sorry, sorry, sorry…." as the loss of his vision made him cry out in fear. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and reached for her bandages. The next moment they were standing in the shadowy interior of Edward's secret room.

It had not changed at all since the last time she had been inside, when she and Ciel had fought so bitterly. The furniture was cast in an eerie light as the glow of the moon filtered through the clock face. Lydia's body spasmed wildly as she spotted a tall black figure standing beside the chair. A second later, she realized it was just Sebastian waiting there for her. She pressed her finger against her lips and, not knowing what else to do with him, picked up Violet and deposited him onto the cushioned bed.

The prefect struggled madly and then slackened, turning his head blindly about the room. Tremulously, he whispered, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere safe," Lydia replied, sitting far away from him on the bedframe. "Somewhere far from the rest of the school. Screaming will not help you, so don't try it."

Violet whimpered, and Lydia realized that had sounded much more threatening than she'd intended. "Er, not that I'm going to do anything to make you scream. You'll be fine. I'll let you go in the morning, once the bells toll for turn-out. I will not hurt you."

"You're not going to beat me if I won't tell you about Derrick Arden?"

"No, not at all." Lydia shook her head vociferously. "I would like you to tell me what you know. It would make things easier for both of us. However, I am capable of finding out on my own without your assistance. I do not want you setting off a school-wide manhunt for me tonight; that is why I've brought you here."

Violet angled his head toward the sound of her voice. "Please untie me."

"Sorry, but I can't have you finding out where we are. It's not yet time for all to be revealed." Lydia crossed her arms bluntly and nodded at Sebastian, who had drawn nearer and seemed to have grasped the gist of what was going on.

The prefect squirmed uncomfortably and shrank into the cushioned mattress. "Then at least….stay with me. Don't leave me locked in here alone."

"I will stay," Lydia promised softly. "So then, that creature is more fearsome to you than I am?"

"You're terrifying," Violet murmured shakily. "I know you're not a normal human being. I don't understand why you came here to ruin my life. But at the same time….you saved it. That day in the library…." He shivered and gritted his teeth. "I don't understand you at all."

Lydia did not know what to say in response, but she was spared the necessity when Sebastian's gloved hand gently pulled her around to face a piece of paper on which he had written the words, Are you well, master?

Lydia nodded and took the pen from his fingers, scribbling below his sentence, I am fine. This boy tried to catch me as I returned to Weston, so I had to capture him to ensure he would not ruin our scheme. Tomorrow morning I will let him go and hide myself, and we can proceed as planned.

Sebastian nodded and penned gracefully, What are your orders for tonight?

Stay here, Lydia wrote, eyeing the closed door. The last time I was in this room at night, I had to face that creature. But I do not believe it will come if you are here.

Sebastian wrote Yes, master, and bowed, settling onto the bed beside her without a sound. Violet seemed afraid of what was going on within the sudden silence. "W-where are you?" he whispered in a tiny voice.

"Right here," Lydia murmured, resting her tired head upon the demon's shoulder.

The bound prefect was quiet for a long time. Lydia wondered if he was also exhausted by their recent ordeals, still unable to sleep in peace. The moon rose higher on the glassine clock face, and Sebastian wrapped his cold fingers around her uncovered wrist. She hoped that Ciel was sleeping well, seeing as he had an extremely strenuous day ahead of him. As if reading her thoughts, Violet raised his head and intoned, "What….What's going to happen tomorrow? What are you going to do?"

"That is not for you to know," Lydia responded firmly. "You cannot stop me from revealing the truth about your conduct within this institution. You ought to know that by now."

"So then….tomorrow, you will….I don't know how you'll go about it, but tomorrow will be….our last day as welcomed students of this school."

"Assuming you have committed a crime which would cause that status to be revoked, then….yes. Although I don't think there's much room left for speculation at this point." Lydia leaned slightly toward Violet. "As of yet, I have no idea what dark powers you invoked to reanimate those boys into such ghastly creatures. But one way or another, you prefects are responsible for their deaths, aren't you?"

Violet flinched and moaned softly. "I didn't mean to! I didn't plan it….none of us did. It took just a second, faster than we could think….and then it was done, and we couldn't fix it, so we had to do something…."

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Lydia asked, her blue eyes catching in the lamplight. "If I can report that you confessed, your punishment may be more lenient than that of the others. The authorities reward those who provide information, even if they're criminals."

The dark-haired boy shuddered and twisted stressfully at the fabric binding his wrists. It gave him no freedom, only pain. Eventually, his brittle voice seeped out of the mattress. "I can't do it. I can't give them away."

"You cannot stop me from finding the truth about all of you," Lydia reminded as she hovered over him.

"I know…." Violet whimpered, relaxing his strained body. "I think….I've known that for a while, even before tonight. As soon as I found out what you were really after, I had a premonition that you'd find it. You're stronger than we are. But….but Bluewer, Redmond, and Greenhill are my friends. They were the first friends I had in my entire life. So I can't….even though I know we're going to lose, I can't be the one to betray them, not even to save myself. Don't ask me again."

Lydia stared at him thoughtfully, then shook her head in begrudging acceptance. "Well, I suppose that's that, then," she muttered, shifting her legs onto the bed. Violet tensed at the movement, and she stilled her body. "It's all right. I respect honorable intentions when I see them. I won't question you about Derrick Arden anymore." Noting that his shivering had not gone away, she awkwardly dragged the bed's quilt up to his shoulders and tucked it around him.

"Thank you," the prefect whispered. Lydia said nothing and leaned tiredly against Sebastian, letting the demon wrap his coat around her body. His red eyes glowed like dying embers in the dim light of the tower. Violet was silent for a long, long time; long enough that Lydia was momentarily unsure whether she was dreaming when she heard him murmur softly, "You're not quite….the villain I imagined."

"Nor are you," Lydia breathed languidly, her senses detecting nothing of alarm in the surrounding night. "Overall, it probably doesn't mean much, but….I'd like you to know that none of my actions against you or your friends have been malicious in intent. I derive no pleasure or vindication from seeing others frightened and suffering. I seek the truth because I am convicted that it is the right thing to do. Even though it hurts, even though it's dangerous. That is all."

A tiny breath of laughter fluttered past Violet's dark lips. "You're more of a prefect than I am. Relentlessly pursuing the truth…." He pressed his head suddenly into the mattress, and though Lydia could not see his eyes, she could hear tears in his voice. "You're going to hate me once you find it, though."

"Will I?" Lydia murmured, glancing up at Sebastian as if to ask him whether she still had hatred in her. The demon's face was inscrutable, and Lydia figured he probably did not understand the emotions behind their words.

"You will. Everyone will. That's why….all this time, I've tried so hard to hide it….it was pure self-interest in the end. I just….didn't want to go back to being all alone, the way I was before I came to Weston. I'm not….really a good person. If I was, I would be different….I'd have done something else that night…."

Lydia was silent as Violet wept in anguish, his broken sobs seeming to fill the room to the ceiling. What ought she to do, if anything? She could not change what the prefects had done; neither could she absolve them of responsibility for their crimes. But even so, this boy was helpless and in tears before her, and to do nothing went against her nature. Lydia's roving eyes latched onto the edge of her bandages, and she suddenly had an idea. Lowering her legs to the floor, she waved for Sebastian to step back before she stood and gently touched the face of the miserable prefect. His cheeks were lined with tear trails, and his lips trembled in grief. He turned his face up at her touch, then softly burrowed into her hand. "Violet…." Lydia whispered, slightly touched by this display of trust. She turned her wrist to open the bandages. A second later, they were in the midst of a world made up of golden clouds, sonorous and reverberating. This time, Lydia did not begin to glide through them. They stayed where they were, bodies of stardust, listening to the lutes of distant voices carried by the light. They listened for so long that it became like a lullaby, like everything in the universe held inside those high, clear notes.

This time Lydia did not so much fall as slowly drift out of the light. When she found that she could blink her eyes, she knew she had returned to the natural world. She was sitting in the same spot she had left, and Violet lay fast asleep under her hand. His face was relaxed into a peaceful expression. The brunette gave a tragic smile and brushed his hair behind his ears. "Sleep, Violet," she told him softly. "Be separated from your torment for the rest of the night. This is the only mercy I can give you now."

Sebastian glided softly toward her and handed her a note. You ought to sleep as well, master. Tomorrow's events shall be extremely trying. I will stay awake and guard the tower against any intrusions, so please do not fear to rest.

Lydia nodded and let the demon sit beside her and cradle her in his arms. Her mind was still, finally having run out of energy to race ahead of itself. Her heart hurt. She could feel it twisting inside her chest, vexed and perplexed by the finality of humans' actions, the forever-ness of it all. What had been done could not be changed. And deep inside herself, she knew that whatever the prefects had been trying to do with the bodies of their schoolmates had been terribly futile. The dead could never truly reawaken, not in this world, anyway. She fell into a melancholy slumber upon the demon's shoulder.

/

The next morning, Sebastian woke her twenty minutes before the bell for turn-out tolled, and gracefully took his leave to report for his final day as housemaster of Sapphire Owl. Violet lay deep in slumber as Lydia carefully unbound him and focused on the familiar interior of Blue House's great room. It was dark and deserted when they arrived. Lydia hurriedly laid Violet upon one of the couches and removed his blindfold, turning to peer out the window at the unusual bustle and noise from the grounds. Even at this early hour, pedestrians and carriages were lined up outside the gates of Weston, waiting for the morning bell to grant them entrance to the prestigious college's most storied tradition. The Fourth of June tournament was about to commence, and the prefects were out of time. They had already lost.

Turning to take a last look at the thin creature on the couch, Lydia decided to let Violet sleep in peace for as long as he had left. Bluewer would find him soon, and then there would be no going back. Pressing her lips together sadly, Lydia left him and stepped into the hallway, taking one final walk around Blue House before turning into thin air and vanishing as the clamoring of bells began to sound.