Chapter 3

A long, awkward silence followed the Claymores' entry into the house, and was eventually broken by Tim as he asked, "You guys heard that too?"

"Heard it?" snorted Lucien. "We did more than that, unfortunately." He held out his cell phone, on which he was showing a picture of a wall next to a staircase, looking just like the one right next to the five kids. Except the Nemos' living room wall did not have a message scrawled on it in black ink and ugly, raggedy writing. The message read, "Light and Dark shall coalesce."

"This was in your house?" Rocky asked.

"Uh, yeah," Lucien said pointedly. "Why do you think we came down here?"

Axel cocked his head as he looked at the photo again. "Whoa. Who would do this in your house? You guys get broken into or something?"

Xion shook her head. "I wish," she said. "You wouldn't believe who it was who did this. When the Nemo brothers merely responded with blank looks, Xion whispered, "It was Dad."

"No!" exclaimed Tim. "No way. Your dad's one of the most mellow people around. What the hell does this stuff mean, anyway? I mean, since when does Saix Claymore start writing on the walls like this?"

Lucien snorted again. "Apparently, since tonight. We think he might have gotten infected by something he had to clean up at the school. Either way, he's never gone completely off the rails before. Totally unlike him."

"The writing was nothing compared to the other stuff," said Xion.

"What other stuff?" Rocky asked.

Xion sighed heavily. "He, uh, just went really crazy. Ranting about something called Luna Divine."

"Maybe some prostitute he's been sleeping with on the side," Axel joked. "God knows how cold your mom is to him."

"Hey, go screw yourself, man!" cried Lucien, pushing Axel across the room in his anger. Tim and Rocky stepped in and separated the two before they could really come to blows, and Tim said, "Guys, this is no time for 'yo-mama' jokes. Or fighting. Xion, keep going. What else happened?"

Xion took a breath, then went on, "Then he started breaking the bathroom mirror, for some reason. Man, the way he threw the pieces through the wall...I didn't even know that was possible."

Tim and Axel looked at each other as they remembered the shard of glass still stuck in the bedroom wall. Then Tim turned back to the Claymores and said, "So, I'm guessing you guys aren't going back to your place tonight?"

"Hell, no," said Lucien. "We're hoping it's okay with you guys if we stayed here for now."

"Duh," said Rocky. "Of course you guys can stay here. Xion, you take my room." When Xion opened her mouth to protest, Rocky cut her off and said, "Better if you had a bed to sleep in, and I can at least guarantee mine's clean. Can't speak for these two, though." He gestured to his big brothers, then added, "Especially not Axel."

Lucien then spoke up. "I think we get it, little dude. Okay, I'm sleeping on the couch here. Don't wanna put up with some possibly filthy Axel-bed."

"Well, where're you gonna sleep, Rocky?" Tim asked.

Rocky shrugged. "Doesn't matter, really. I got a sleeping bag. I can go anywhere."

Tim sighed. "Okay. But not in your own room if Xion's staying there. 'Cause in addition to 'yo-mama' jokes and fighting, the last thing we need is a sex scandal." Rocky rolled his eyes, and Tim went on, "Can't speak for how trustworthy you are, can I?"

"You sure your parents won't mind?" Xion asked. "I mean, we don't exactly have permission to be here."

"Trust us, they're not gonna notice or care," said Axel. "Not even if we have a, um, sex scandal, as my geeky blond brother so eloquently puts it."