Author's Note: And now the Octavinelle plot really gets going!

"Outta the way, outta the way!" Grim shouted as he, Ace, and Deuce bolted out of the classroom and into the hallway as soon as they were dismissed for the day. The fifty highest exam scores had been posted and all three of them were unusually eager to take a look. They rushed toward the growing crowd of students surrounding the post, shouldering their way through the crowd to get a better look.

"Okay guys, seriously. I get that you're excited about how well you did but don't you think this is a bit much?" Devon asked, following behind them at a normal pace. Zephyr let out an exasperated pulse from beside her. "Yeah. You're tellin' me, Zeph."

"C'mon, c'mon! Is my name in the top fifty or what?!" Grim mused aloud as he hopped onto Devon's shoulder for a better look.

"I've gotta be up there if I got an average above 90, right?!" Ace said, craning his neck.

Grim continued scanning the list. "Top ten, top twenty… I-I'm not there!" His expression dropped as he went further down the list without finding his name. By the end of the list, he looked like he was about to cry. "Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty… My name's not up there at all!"

"Neither is mine," Deuce muttered as a look of dread came over his face.

"Why does your rank matter, though? You guys still scored way higher than usual," Devon reminded them.

"Hang on a sec," Ace interjected as he scanned the list again. "They've written everyone's total scores next to their names…" His eyes widened. "The people in the top thirty spots all got perfect scores! 500 points each!"

"A p-perfect score?!" Deuce and Grim stammered.

"Wait, wait, wait. How is it even possible for thirty people to get perfect scores?" Devon asked. "I could see maybe a handful of people scoring that high, but something doesn't feel right about this."

"Nevermind that, Dev! If I don't make it into the top fifty, I'll be in breach of contract…," Grim exclaimed, trailing off when he realized what he'd said.

Devon stiffened as memories of their run-in with Azul during Halloween Week surfaced. She remembered Grim being very interested in the study guide he was offering them in exchange for…something. Slowly, almost robotically, she reached up to pluck Grim off her shoulder and bring him to her eye level, where he promptly began to wither under her glare. "Grim… What are you talking about?"

"Contract…," Ace repeated softly as a look of dawning realization appeared on his face. "Grim, don't tell me you…"

"Hang on, Ace," Deuce cut in with a similar expression. "That face you're making… You didn't…"

"Are you kidding me right now?" Devon asked, struggling to keep her voice from rising despite how angry she was.

"H-Hey, c'mon Dev, it's really not a big deal. I mean-" There was a quick flash of light and a loud swishing sound. One by one, a purplish-blue anemone began to sprout from Ace, Deuce, and Grim's heads along with several of the students around them. "Fgnya?! What just happened? Where'd this anemone come from?!"

"You made a contract with him too, Grim?! You rotten cheater!" Deuce exclaimed.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Deuce! Clearly you did too!" Ace shouted, gesturing to the anemone on Deuce's head. "It's not like you have a leg to stand on!"

Devon's glare only intensified as they continued speaking, causing Grim to squirm uncomfortably. "I keep tellin' ya, Dev, this isn't a big deal. Look, I bet I can pull this thing right off…" He reached up to grab the stalk of the anemone and tugged as hard as he could, only to wince in pain. "Owowowowowow!" He tugged a few more times despite the pain, but the anemone held fast. "I-I can't get it to come off!"

"I don't believe this," Devon said as she set Grim on the ground, a look of complete and utter disappointment on her face.

"C'mon, don't look at us like that," Deuce begged.

"I thought I heard a racket from over this way. Why am I not surprised it's you guys?"

Everyone turned to see Jack walking toward them, a confused look on his face as he took in the sight before him.

"Jack! Did you make a contract too?" Deuce asked. He looked eagerly toward the top of Jack's head. "But you don't have an anemone…"

Ace let out an impressed whistle. "Guess that means he's a serious student after all, despite all appearances."

"Which you would know if you bothered to make it to more than two study sessions," Devon clipped curtly.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jack asked, thoroughly confused. He gestured to Ace, Deuce, and Grim. "And what are those ridiculous things growing out of your heads all about?"

None of the boys seemed willing to talk, knowing Jack would come down on them even harder than Devon.

"If y'all don't say something, I will," Devon warned them.

Finally, Grim spoke up. "See, the thing is…" A strange squelching sound echoed through the hallway before he could continue, causing him to straighten upright as if he'd been yanked by something. "Fgnya?! What the- The anemone's started pullin' me!"

Beside him, Ace and Deuce looked to be in a similar predicament. "Owowowow! It's gonna pull my head off!" Ace shouted.

"This must be what he meant by "absolute obedience"," Deuce said through gritted teeth.

The three of them lurched away, leaning forward slightly as they were dragged off and screaming in pain all the while. The other students with anemones were pulled in a similar direction, leaving those that remained looking in the direction they were walking with varying degrees of confusion on their faces.

"Okay seriously, what was all that about?" Jack asked Devon, still not taking his eyes off the flock of students lurching down the hallway. "Is a picture that stupid still worth a thousand words?"

Devon couldn't help but snort out a laugh. "So that's a saying in this world too, huh?" She stared after the group of students as they got further away before finally heaving a sigh. "Guess we'd better follow 'em and figure out what's up."

Jack quirked a brow and crossed his arms. "Hold up. Why do I have to go with you? This has nothing to do with me or you. Whatever mess those guys got themselves into, I say we leave 'em to it."

"As tempting as that is, I can't deny that my curiosity's getting the better of me," Devon said. Still, she didn't think it was a good idea for her and the Wisps to investigate alone, especially if Azul was involved somehow. She knew Jack wasn't one to give in to pleading; the easiest way to get him to do something was to attack his pride. "I get it if you're too scared to come with me, though."

Jack's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Who're you callin' a coward?"

"I said no such thing," Devon replied with a shrug before her lips curled up into a smirk. "But hey, if the shoe fits…"

Jack held his glare for a moment. He knew Devon was goading him but he also knew he couldn't hang back and prove her right; his pride as a Savanaclaw student wouldn't allow it. This little mission of hers sounded like a total pain, but that infuriating smirk on her lips left him with no other choice. Besides…if he was being honest with himself, he couldn't deny he was a little curious too. "Seems like you're startin' to fit in a little too well around here," he finally said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Guess it can't be helped then." He sighed. "Fine. I'll come with you. Let's get one thing straight, though: I'm only taggin' along because I wanna know what caused this. I'm not doing it for those three morons, understand? I just wanna make that clear."

Devon smiled and rolled her eyes. "Once again, I never accused you of that. I do find it interesting that you're so insistent on me knowing that you "don't care" about the guys, though. It almost sounds like you're trying to cover up your real feelings."

Jack sent Devon another quick glare before placing his hands on her shoulders and steering her in the direction the other students had walked off in. "Shut up and get movin'."

"Looks like the anemones pulled everyone toward the Hall of Mirrors," Jack observed as he and Devon stepped into the building. The place was packed with students to the point that it was almost suffocating and even more were filing in behind them.

"Good thing neither of us is claustrophobic," Devon quipped. As she and Jack looked around, trying to get a sense of what was happening, the disgruntled voices of many of the students nearest them floated over.

"I was so sure I'd make the top fifty," lamented a Heartslabyul student.

"Grrrr, that cheating octo-punk tricked me!" growled someone from Savanaclaw.

"There goes my school life!" moaned a Scarabia student.

"Looks like this is a much bigger operation than we thought. I see some sophomores and juniors here too," Jack commented as more students' complaints reached his sharp ears. "Looks like they're all headed through the mirror to Octavinelle."

"I think I heard one of 'em say somethin' about the top fifty," Devon replied. "Apparently, getting onto the top scorer list was a condition for whatever deals our idiot friends made too…"

"Let's go," Jack said, nodding toward the Octavinelle mirror. There were seashells and pieces of coral scattered along the steps in front of the mirror and the frame depicted what appeared to be octopus tentacles and an eel on either side. Jack and Devon shared a quick nod before stepping through the mirror, bracing for whatever they might find on the other side.

Devon let out an impressed whistle as they came out the other side of the mirror. Octavinelle's dorm was situated entirely underwater, a greyish-purple building that looked like a cross between a palace and a coliseum. The tentacle motif was present in the architecture as well, with several of them craved to look as though they were wrapping around some of the shell-shaped towers. As they followed the cobbled walkway leading to the dorm's front entrance, Devon was surprised to realize that not only could they breathe in this environment, but they didn't even seem to be getting wet-neither her uniform nor Jack's appeared to be clinging to their forms and Jack's hair was as spiky as ever while her curls kept their form as well.

"Dang… This is about as different from Savanaclaw as you can get, huh?" Devon asked Jack, turning in his direction when he didn't respond right away.

Jack looked like a kid in a candy store, his eyes lit up and his tail wagging with excitement as he took everything in. "Is this for real?! Night Raven College is amazing!" He immediately coughed into his fist and schooled his expression back to neutral when he noticed Devon looking at him. "Remember that we're walking into enemy territory, Dev. Keep your guard and stay alert."

Devon smirked, amused. "Somehow I don't think I'm the one who needs the reminder."

The pair followed the anemone'd students into the dorm and down a hallway with domed glass covering it, giving them another breathtaking view of the undersea dimension Octavinelle was located in. Soon enough, they came upon the entrance to another building that looked like it was made to resemble the remains of some giant sea creature. The entrance opened up into a large room that looked be painted a dark purple-the dim lighting made it hard to tell-with light fixtures resembling jellyfish hanging down over tables and leather couches. There was another large window with a view of a coral reef and a bar at the far end of the room that looked to have different types of coffee and tea behind it along with some juices Devon had never seen before.

"Looks like this is where the anemone gang ended up," Devon said as she looked around. "Pretty swanky place. Definitely givin' me some 'speakeasy during Prohibition' vibes."

Jack sent her a confused look. "What are you even talking about?"

Devon shook her head. "Something from my world. I'll explain later."

"What is this place anyway? Some sorta café?" Jack wondered aloud. He glanced down at a menu on the nearest table. "Mostro Lounge?" He looked around the room. "There's gotta be at least 100… no, 200 people in here. How are we supposed to find Ace and the others in this crowd?"

The lights dimmed even further until the entire room was almost completely dark save for a lone spotlight that clicked on at the front of the room. A moment later, Azul stepped into the spotlight to greet the crowd as the chatter in the room quieted.

'Ay, this guy's a diva,' Devon thought.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Azul began dramatically. "It seems you lot are the poor unfortunate souls who failed to make it into the top fifty exam scores. Welcome to Mostro Lounge. I'm sure everyone in here is well aware of who I am, but allow me to reintroduce myself." He cleared his throat. "My name is Azul Ashengrotto. I am the dorm leader of Octavinelle, the manager of Mostro Lounge, and starting today," His polite smile morphed into a slightly unhinged grin, "the person you all will obey unconditionally!"

"Say what?/Que?" Jack and Devon responded simultaneously.

"You all took a gamble and lost," Azul continued as the spotlight dimmed and the regular lights came up again. "As per the terms of your contracts, you will be devoting yourselves to my service until such time as you graduate."

"Not so fast!" shouted a familiar voice near the front of the crowd. All eyes turned to Ace as he stepped forward. "You're nothin' but a fraud!"

"And you are…Ace Trappola, yes? A freshman, if memory serves," Azul replied, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I'd like to know what you're basing that insulting accusation on. I upheld my end of our bargain and provided you with a flawless study guide for your exams. If you made proper use of it, you should have been able to score at least a 90."

"Yeah, I did. A 92, to be precise!" Ace said.

"My, how wonderful!" Azul replied, beaming, his tone sickeningly oversweet. "I'm simply thrilled that it proved to be of use to you!"

"Yeah, it was pretty great alright, but you never said anything about handing that same study guide out to this many people," Ace said, gesturing to the crowd behind him.

"Ace is right!" Deuce agreed. "There's no way we'd all be able to make it into the top fifty when you've stacked the deck like this."

"I may have scored an 85 thanks to that study guide of yours, but if everyone else is scorin' over 90, my spot in the rankings is no different from when I was failin'," Grim pointed out.

"Have any of you heard of the concept of client confidentiality?" Azul asked, crossing his arms. ""I want an easy way to get a high score," "I don't want to flunk out," "I want to goof off until the night before exams." All of you fools-I mean, gentlemen-had your own reasons for asking for my assistance. Details such as who made a contract, what sort of contract it was, and why it was made… Well, that's all privileged data, now isn't it? And who am I to divulge someone's personal information to a third party? I'll have you know that I'm a businessman of integrity. In fact, you'll find that this exact topic is covered rather extensively in the non-disclosure agreement on page 127 of your contracts. I was simply abiding by the terms as stipulated."

"What's with all the business jargon?" Jack whispered to Devon. "He has to know most of the guys here wouldn't be able to follow all that."

"Oh, I'm sure he does," Devon whispered back. "I think it's partly because he wants to throw 'em off balance, but it's also clear that Azul likes to hear himself talk."

"O-Okay, so what happens to the fire magic I handed over as collateral for the study guide?" Grim asked nervously.

"Yeah! What about my water magic?" a Pomefiore student asked.

"Give back my Unique Magic!" a Scarabia student demanded.

"Oh, come now. Don't tell me you've all forgotten the terms of the contract already," Azul chided. "It seems a recap is in order: "I will provide you with a final exam study guide in exchange for one 'personal specialty' that will be left in my possession. Should you earn a spot among the school's fifty highest achievers, your ability will be returned to you and I will continue to provide you with study guides until such time as you graduate. However, in the event that you do not rank among the fifty highest achievers," Azul smirked, "you will act with absolute obedience to me until such time as you graduate."" That cocky used car salesman smile was back. "As has been clearly outlined in the contracts you all signed, every aspect of your being down to the hairs on your head are mine to control. In other words, your powers are mine to do with as I please, including deciding whether or not to return them!"

"But that ain't fair!" Ace protested amidst shouts of agreement from the crowd.

"Hmm… I guess that explains why Ace and Grim stopped short of actually using magic when they were fighting the other day," Devon realized. "Is it possible to actually leave a power with someone else, though? Something tells me that shouldn't be a thing. What do you think, Jack?"

Once again, Jack didn't answer her right away. Devon looked over at him and saw that his fists were clenched and there was an angry look on his face. The last time she'd seen him look so angry was when he was railing against Leona for orchestrating the attacks before the Spelldrive tournament. Before she could try to talk him down, Jack stepped out of the crowd.

"Y'know, I've just been standin' here listenin'," Jack growled, drawing all eyes in the room toward him, "and all I can say is that all of you disgust me!"

"J-Jack?! What are you doing here?" Deuce asked, looking both appalled and embarrassed.

"You are…," Azul looked Jack over. "I don't see an anemone on your head. We're in the middle of a staff meeting at the moment. As this does not pertain to you, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

"Doesn't pertain to me, huh? The whole reason I studied so hard for these exams was so I could outscore these guys fair and square," Jack growled. "You've gone and ruined that. I'd say this does pertain to me now!"

Devon sighed. 'So much for just coming along to figure out what was happening.' She stepped out of the crowd as well. "Great job, y'all. You've lit a fire under Jack's principles."

Grim perked up immediately. "Devon? Jack? Are you guys here to save us?!"

"Don't misunderstand me. I think each and every one of you are scum," Jack replied. "I'm not sure who's worse: the slimeball offering these shady backroom deals to begin with or the lazy morons who are content to sit back and let someone else do the work for them."

"So then…why are you here?" Ace asked.

"No, Jack's right. He's opened my eyes and given me the wake-up call I needed," Grim said. "If you want a true victory, you gotta snatch it with your own two paws! So that means…," He turned toward Azul with a smirk, "if I can grab my contract back from Azul and destroy it, it'll be null and void!"

Murmurs of agreement began to echo through the crowd.

"When you put it that way…," said the Pomefiore student.

The Scarabia student smirked. "We might not be able to use our strongest magic, but we've still got numbers on our side. Get 'em, boys!"

"Speaking of principles, it sounds like these guys could use some," Devon remarked dryly as she and Jack stepped back to avoid getting caught in the line of fire.

Azul sighed, looking more exasperated than intimidated by the crowd readying their magical pens. "I'd prefer to not have to get rough with you lot, but if you insist. Jade. Floyd." He snapped his fingers and the Leech brothers appeared at his side immediately; they must have been lurking somewhere in the room in case things went sour. "Play with this lot for a bit."

Jade nodded. "As you wish."

Floyd's lips twisted into a sadistically eager smile. "I can squeeze all of 'em, right? Lucky me~"

The battle was over in a matter of moments and Devon and Jack could only stare in stunned disbelief. They knew Azul wasn't a dorm leader for nothing and he had to have been very powerful to make it to the position as a sophomore, but they hadn't counted on the sheer number of spells he had in his arsenal. Most of their classmates and upperclassmen had certain spells or types of magic that they specialized in, but Azul was able to use multiple difficult spells without any difficulty. Not only that, but any spell that managed to make it near him and the contracts were deflected without leaving so much as a scuff on either one. Jade and Floyd were no slouches either, decimating the crowd with spells of their own.

"Maaaan," Floyd whined after taking down another student. "These guys are just a buncha weaklings. There ain't a single one worth squeezin'."

"Indeed," Azul agreed. "It's like fighting a powerless school of fry."

"How many different types of magic can Azul use?!" Ace demanded, panting from the battle. "There's no way that's for real."

"And those contracts he has…it looks like they're deflecting your spells," Jack commented.

"Crap," Deuce groaned, wincing as he tried to stay on his feet. "I didn't realize until now just how much I relied on my specialty magic…"

"You're tellin' me," Ace agreed before jerking a thumb toward Grim. "Without his fire magic, Grim's just a run-of-the-mill raccoon."

"Fnnaa…," Grim wheezed as he forced his shaking legs to hold him upright. "I ain't…no raccoon… Guh…" He promptly fell onto his face and remained motionless.

Azul held up one of his golden contract scrolls. "All of you anemones signed one of these golden contracts when you made your deal with me. It is an official document, completely and legally binding, and cannot be broken no matter how many bodies you throw at it. Try as you might, no magic can harm these contracts." He let out a sinister chuckle. "As long as those anemones remain on your heads, you'll have no choice but to obey my orders." He smiled brightly and gestured to the dining area behind him. "I think I'll have you start by cleaning up the lounge. You can handle food prep after that." Azul's blue eyes narrowed into a stern glare. "Well? Get on your feet and get to work! We don't have much time before we open."

"You can't be serious…," Ace whined, shaking his head.

"Jade. Floyd," Azul called, turning to the twins. "I'll leave instructing the new staff to the two of you."

"Yes, sir/Yessir!" the twins chorused.

Azul then turned his attention to Devon and Jack. "You are…Jack Howl from Savanaclaw, yes? And of course Devon Lopez of Ramshackle. Always a pleasure, but I'm afraid I really must ask you both to take your leave now." He offered them a charming smile. "We'd be more than happy to see you both again as customers. You're welcome anytime." With that, he turned and walked away.

"Grrr…," Jack growled at Azul's retreating form. "Let's go, Dev. I hate to admit it, but we need to fall back for now and regroup."

"But…what about Grim and the others?" Devon asked, looking worriedly at their friends as they were tugged upright by the anemones on their heads.

"You saw what happened in that fight," Jack reminded her as he gently nudged her toward the door. "We won't be able to do anything about this without coming up with a plan."

Devon spared one last look back before sighing. "Fine. Let's head over to Ramshackle. We should be able to think in peace there."

Ending Notes: *nature documentary voiceover* And here we see a wild Devon Lopez, usually a spontaneous and rather silly creature, don her more serious persona. It should be noted that this usually only happens when her family is under threat and, as such, never ends well for whomever or whatever is doing the threatening.

Up next, we have Crowley oh-so-graciously extorting a minor and not so subtly threatening to leave her and her monster cat to starve…and apparently forgetting yet again that Ramshackle's walls do in fact have ears and don't take kindly to threats against their occupants, followed by Jack and Devon's buddy cop show episode where they tail the suspect and try to figure out his weaknesses.

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Geekinthepink, out!