Chapter Text
The first thing Ace does is descend the stairs two-three steps at a time. The burn in his legs from going up is long forgotten as he almost trips over his own feet to get back to his room.
“Nope, nope, nope, nope!”
He stubs his toe on the rail, forcing him to take a break to silently scream every curse word he knows for a moment and slowing him to a hobble, but picks up speed again quickly.
He busts the door down, this time slipping on a pillow that laid against the door. One of his roomates’, probably. Did he remember to shut off the lamp? He dislodges his entire charger from the outlet as he pulls his phone off the port, blindly dialing Yuu’s number. It takes until the third ring and half a heart attack that Yuu has also been spirited away for spooky bullshit for them to answer him. Their voice crackles, heavy with sleep.
“...Ace??”
Ace swallows, letting out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding. “Yuu. Riddle is gone and Juice just left.”
He steps out, anxiously pacing down the hall. So many of the first year doors are ajar, the rooms empty or only having one member left, running a hand past all of them. It’s totally chilling. Using Deuce’s dumb nickname eases the tension a little, at least, waiting for Yuu to become fully conscious.
“What do you mean Riddle is gone and Ju– Deuce just left?”
Rising the stairs again, he’s almost scared to knock on Trey’s door. He wasn't taken the last time, but Riddle has…
What if he was alone?
Grim indignantly yowls into the phone next;
“Ace, why’re you callin’ my henchman at four AM!? I need my beauty sleep here!”
Cater’s room is right across the hall from Trey’s, maybe he should knock on that door first? He slowly gravitates towards it. Tentatively, he raps his knuckles on the door, listening closely for some sort of shifting.
“Trey? I mean he’s gone, Yuu. Juice’s things are gone and– and so are Riddle’s–”
Trey’s door swings open, the knob hitting the wall behind it. His hair is all over the place, accentuating the almost crazed, concerned expression on his face, which is also accentuated by the deep shadows coming from the corridor.
Ace still feels relief. He’s not alone. He’s not alone.
Trey’s voice is husky from sleep, and he’s glaring so fiercely at Ace it could probably make Riddle crumble. “What do you mean Riddle and Deuce are missing, Ace?”
“I dunno! Deuce just left, and the housewarden’s not here either and there are so many doors left open–”
“Okay,” Trey firmly presses his hands against the younger teen’s shoulders. “It’s not normal for you to be this bent out of shape. Try to breathe. Are you sure they’re gone?”
“Like Halloween?”
“Yes!” He stumbles trying to get other words out, realizing Trey has a point. He’s not usually like this– but give him a break! This stunt has been pulled before! And it was not fun!
“Deuce left the room and took his clothes, but not his pen or phone. I went upstairs to look for you but then I saw that the housewarden’s room was the exact same. They’re gone.”
Trey’s hands leave Ace, the upperclassman retreating to his room. “Okay. Give me a minute to get my glasses and we can check together.”
Ace can’t help the way he whines. Check together?
Impatient, he leans back to check on the door belonging to Trey’s neighbor. It opens even when he pushes slightly against it, the same thing. The closet is undisturbed this time, though, as if the person the room belonged to just went to get a cup of water or run to the bathroom.
“Hey, Yuu. You sure this isn’t your buddy Hornton’s doing?”
“No! I don’t know what’s going on, I swear!”
Ace bites his lip. Maybe his tone was a little accusatory. “Sorry.”
Trey comes back with his glasses and heads straight for Cater’s room, knocking on it. “Cater?”
Ace pushes past his upperclassman and grabs the doorknob, opening the door without care for the other’s excuses. Empty. Turning on the light, Cater’s phone screen glints right beside his pillow, and his magepen on his desk. Weirdly enough, it looks like someone tried, and failed, to make the bed look proper. His striped robe lays on the bed too, a drawer open with spare pants.
Trey’s breath audibly hitches, and they move on. They silently check every door that’s been left open on the third year floor; some of the beds have been left messy, some have been tucked in and fixed, others, like Deuce’s, have been stripped of their fabrics and closets emptied.
Yuu stays on the call, though they’re silent. Maybe they fell asleep.
“Deuce sneaks out sometimes. Dunno where, but he always takes his pen and phone– and not all his clothes!” Ace rants hotly while they rise the stairs to Riddle’s room. “I mean, I cover for him sometimes when he comes back super late, but still–!”
Riddle’s room is as he left it. Door open, closet empty… but something Ace missed in his panic was that the bathroom lights were left on. Trey perks up with hope, calling out for the short redhead.
“Riddle? You there?”
Water still clings to the sink basin, fresh, used makeup wipes on the side. Like an obscene amount– and barely any makeup on them, a red smudge here and there. It hasn’t been long since the bathroom was used.
Trey deflates, and he passively picks up Riddle’s abandoned magepen. His phone is charging on the desk on the other wall of the room, rose-red phone case up.
Ace misses that stupid tyrant more than ever.
“Whoa.”
“What?” Both Trey and Ace almost fall down the stairs as they stop.
“There’s something going on in the main building. There are people in there.”
“People?” Trey leans over Ace’s shoulder, both of them can hear the soft clicks and shutters of the ghost camera going off.
“Mhm.”
“Yuu. Are you sure your good-old-buddy-old-pal Malleus doesn’t have anything to do with this?”
“I… don’t know anymore. I’ll be over, sit tight.”
They hang up.
Ace sullenly follows Trey as he stops at every hallway and flicks the lights on and off, announcing an emergency dorm meeting. The first time Cater disappeared was when most realized how quiet it could get without his constant silly commentary, and now, it was really hitting home. Funny, how Ace has grown in this dorm.
While people file into the dim dorm lounge, Trey dials a number on his phone, the blue light almost giving him an otherworldly glow. A ghostly one.
Ace leans in, nosy. He recognizes Rook’s voicemail cheerily asking them to call again. Trey hangs up and looks like he’s going to dial someone else, but he puts it away. Instead, he counts the heads of the students filing into the room.
The number of people left is rather meager and much less than they expected, by Heartslabyul’s standards. Due to Riddle’s diligence it was at full capacity, and now they were less than half of what they were.
“So,” Trey begins, pinching the frames of his glasses. “The rest of us are missing– again– does anyone know where they could have gone?”
One white-haired heart soldier rubs the sleep out of his eyes. “My roommates left really early in the morning; I think. I don’t know where.”
“I thought Corwin just got up to get water. I didn’t know he never came back… maybe at two.” A rabbit beastman with dark hair chips in.
Trey sighs. “Queen’s Courts and below..”
And then his phone rings, Rook Hunt’s smiling, soot-covered face appearing in the contact photo.
“Oh, Queen’s Courts and above..!” For some reason, he glances at Ace and places a finger above his lips, as if he were a naughty child that needed to be quiet during a grown up’s call. He pouts and crosses his arms.
“Bonjour, Chevalier des Roses! Forgive me, truly, for missing your humble call! Pomefiore is in quite a predicament at the moment, you see–”
“Are there people missing from your dorm, too?”
“...Oh! Oh la la! Don’t tell me–?”
Trey looks around the sleepy masses of students in the lounge. “About two thirds of Heartslabyul are missing, including Riddle and– and Cater.”
“Two thirds, Monsieur Magicam and Roi des Roses!? My heart aches for you so, Chevalier des Roses. Pomefiore is missing only a fourth, including our dearest poison apple.”
Epel!? Epel, Deuce, Riddle, Cater, the rest of Heartslabyul and Pomefiore– where were they? In the main building?
Trey’s phone crackles on the other line, and Ace hears Vil.
“Trey. Why did you call Rook and not I?”
“Vil! Sorry, sorry, you– well, you disappeared last time, and Riddle’s missing too…”
“I see. That’s a shame. Have you called anyone else?”
“No..?”
“Get to it. I’ll do my part.”
“Uh– okay? Yeah, call you later.”
Trey stares at his phone until it turns off, sinking to the floor to sit and lean his back against a fainting couch. He gets to scrolling his contacts.
Most of what’s left of their dorm has fallen asleep on the seats or the floor. Ace’s stomach growls, attracting all the attention. Trey just laughs, eyes lighting up just for a bit.
“Go ahead and help yourself to the fridge. May as well.”
“...Anything?”
Trey shrugs, his phone droning. “I mean, I’d prefer it if you stuck to the bread and jam, but I’m not going to get on your case if you take a leftover pastry. Remember to drink something, too. Juice, tea, water, the six month old hot chocolate powder–”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it.”
While Ace is licking his fingers free of the crumbs from his early breakfast, Trey gets his attention, dressed in his dorm shoes and a jacket.
“I’m going to go out and meet with the rest of the housewardens,” He says, pointing a finger at a group of students. “The rest of the third years are in charge, okay?”
“Wait, wait, wait, you’re going alone!? What about me?”
He raises his eyebrow. “What about you, Ace?”
“I was the one who basically woke everyone up here. Even if Rook or Leona or whoever called you, it would have been wayyy later!”
Trey runs a hand through his hair, looking exhausted. It was only five AM– just about when the housewarden would get up and ready for the day. Ace speaks again before Trey can get a word in. “If you don’t let me, then I’ll go as Yuu’s guest!”
Trey relents. And so Ace follows the older boy out the dorm, the first hints of dawn reaching the rose maze, fresh dew clinging to his shoes as he walks and the cold air biting through his old T-shirt and shorts combo he started wearing to bed instead of the dorm issued pajamas.
Stepping through the mirror at the entrance to the maze, the magic washes over him, just as cold. He’s left rubbing the goosebumps on his arms, wishing he’d brought a coat like Trey.
And immediately, he bumps into Malleus Draconia’s back, engrossed in a conversation with Yuu. He murmurs a quick greeting and peeks beyond the tall fae and the three students beside him– the only one he really knows is Sebek– spotting the housewardens and their vices. No teachers.
One ‘corner’ of the mirror hall is lit dimly by Idia and Ortho Shroud’s hair, wearing the same thing he swears seeing the upperclassman wear in class; a striped, long sleeve shirt, a pair of sweatpants with some sort of print along their sides and crocs. Jamil is beside them, chatting with Otho.
Nothing good, by the looks of the worried pinch of the upperclassman’s eyebrows. His hair is in a single braid, a blanket draped over his black tank top and shorts.
Azul and Kalim peer out of the opening of the mirror hall, the slimy octo-mer wearing an incredibly exquisite bathrobe that he can’t help but feel jealous of, and Kalim’s silky pajamas are no less expensive-looking.
Vil, on the other side of the mirror hall, is wearing something of the same quality. How does that guy look so stunning, even in his pajamas!?
He chooses to join Azul and Kalim in looking at whatever it is they’re looking at. From here, he can’t really see anything in the main building. Was that a speck of dust, or was that a silhouette running past the windows? Was that glow normal?
“This is unbelievable! Un-be-lie-vable!!”
Ace and his upperclassmen jump and shriek, backing up on each other as the Headmage appears all of the sudden, tears in his… not-eyes. Piss-yellow pinpricks.
Professor Trein enters the mirror hall behind the Headmage in a long nightgown, a grave, guilty face and his cat headbutting his chin in his arms.
“Master Crewel! Gone! Gone with whatever spirits have whisked my students away~!”
“WHAT!?”
Students were one thing, but a whole teacher, one as scary as Professor Crewel at that, missing as well?
“What does that mean for everyone!?”
“Professor…”
“Oh… someone of Professor Crewel’s caliber, sequestered? This is more than a mere kidnapper, then…”
“Oh no! Do you think they have food and water?”
“Never liked that guy anyways tbh… he knows my attack patterns too well.”
“Big brother!!”
“You better have a good explanation for this, you complete and utter birdbrain.”
“SIIILENCEEE!!!”
It’s not as effective as Professor Crewel would have been, but the dark, silky ribbon– the famous Lash of Love– that whips against the tile floor of the room brings everyone down to grumbles.
The Headmage inhales, physically making a ‘calm down’ motion with his hands. This is probably the most commanding he’s ever been, besides the beginning of the year when Ace scorched the Queen of Hearts. “Now, I have done some investigating… and it appears that the paranormal activity in our main building has risen exponentially. Our missing friends are most likely possessed, you see?”
“Possesed?” Jade Leech murmurs, tilting his head inquisitively. “Then are we permitted to… handle this the same way we did Halloween night?”
Professor Trein sighs, petting his cat. “Unfortunately, not. These ghosts are not tethered to the world by the usual means; they were using the treasure as their anchor. This is also not the Spirit Realm, and the rules are different here.”
“I thought they were in stunningly good condition.” Azul murmurs.
Yuu pushes past the throng of Diasomnians while brushing their long bangs out of their eyes. “What happened to the people who took the treasures?”
“Ghost possession isn’t something that has been well-documented. However, we can assume that through their physical medium, the ghost will replace the original body’s soul.”
“The fate of the soul, we do not know!” The Headmage crows a little too theatrically. “They could take the place of the ghost in the bauble, or they could be sent straight to the Spirit Realm, or cursed to wander the–”
“Headmage!” Professor Trein snaps. Trey looks like he’s going to be sick, and Rook beside him pats both his and Vil’s backs.
“Well! Diasomnia is missing only one student! These matters are not our own, nor worthy of Malleus Draconia’s attention!”
“That’s rather callous!”
“Sebek, one student still matters as much if it were you or I. Not to mention it would reflect poorly on Malleus to abandon one student.”
Vil huffs, lifting up his chin and looking more determined than ever.
“Well, I didn’t put all that effort into Epel just for him to wander the Spirit Realm early.”
“So what do you want us to do about it?”
…
Ace raises an eyebrow, a bad habit he’s been picking up from Trey. Was there supposed to be–
“IN STOCK!”
Almost as sudden as the Headmage, Sam appears from the shadows, fully dressed. He tips his hat and bows almost at a 90-degree angle, then dips his hand into his apron pocket to pull something wrapped in silky royal blue fabric.
A hammer made of crystal, something the length of his middle finger to his wrist. It’s dinky, ridiculous and would fit right in with the rest of the tools in Heartslabyul.
“Youuu see, I have some exclusive information! Not ALL of these students can possibly be possessed by the treasures we speak of; think of it as a web and a spider– but not the story of the spider and the pig, no! There’s one malignant spirit at the heart of this.”
Sam holds the hammer up, the crystal catching the sun and, admittedly, glistening rather beautifully.
“Find that spirit and smash their medium with this blessed hammer here before the switch is complete, and they and their friends will be sent to rest in the Spirit Realm, once and for all. (Do be careful with it though, single use it may not be, but it's not the strongest tool.)”
Alright, seems reasonable enough! Except…
Idia tosses his head back. “So this is a Ghost Bride rerun, is that it? Uuuuuugh… let me guess, you’re going to volunteer us again.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes!” Ortho ‘jumps’ and raises his hand. “I’ve only been a student for nine weeks and two days! I want to return to school as fast as possible!”
“Ortho wants to keep going to school as fast as possible. Hurry up and volunteer or I’ll put all of your stats into a randomizer and let RN-Judge decide your fate.” Idia deadpans.
“It’s like he flipped a switch…” Azul grunts, pushing his glasses up his nose with a couple of fingers. Ace can’t help but agree– hanging out more with Ortho since he became a peer has exposed him to his, admittedly creepy, upperclassman, but he’ll never get used to that unwavering support they had for each other. He was pretty good at video games, at least.
“You’ll never guess what I, the bright, magnanimous, kind and esteemed Headmage, had the bright idea of–”
CRUNCH!
The sound of foliage being torn apart very close by makes them all rush outside, heavy footfalls like rain, searching for the source of the sound.
“Ashton!!”
Not far from them, hidden behind a cluster of trees, is their P.E teacher, wrestling something away from pale hands. He has the time to throw his head back and laugh and even flex his muscles as another figure lunges for him, and then another. Flexing his biceps actually causes a shockwave, making them stumble back.
Yuu gasps and grabs Ace’s wrist.
The third figure still has his signature spade painted on his face and Heartslabyul pajamas, his normally dark blue hair black as midnight even with the sun up, electric blue eyes narrowed and hostile. They don’t recognize Vargas, and he doubts they would recognize him or Yuu or Trey.
The other two– a Scarabia student in his gym uniform and a Pomefiore student in their luxurious pajamas chatter something indecipherable, and Deuce, of all people, is the one to pull them back and away, his voice raspy and accented, like someone layered something over Deuce’s voice.
“Go!”
They all take off, the Headmage having to tie down Coach Vargas to prevent him from taking chase.
Ace reaches out on instinct, heart swelling when he sees Deuce stop and turn around.
“Do not– do not approach the building. Ordered by his highness a– and his attendant!”
Ah.
“Well! I think we know who the head ghost is… any volunteers?”
Ace frowns when Malleus Draconia hovers over him and Yuu, almost close enough to separate them. He squeezes Yuu’s hand.
“Your friends have a considerably old aura to them, Yuu. These spirits are centuries old, of salt and sea… worn old stone, perhaps?”
What was this guy talking about!?
Trey steps closer to the Headmage, nervously pinching the frames of his glasses. “I would like to volunteer.”
“Chevalier des Roses! Do not offer yourself so lightly.” Rook raises his hands into the air, his hat– did he sleep with the hat on?– nearly tipping over, and Vil squeezes the Heartslabyul vice’s shoulder.
“I’m afraid Rook’s right; we don’t know anything about these ghosts. They’re old, they have royalty and his attendant. We cannot go ‘guns blazing’ with the hammer against a large number of possessed students.”
“I can solve that, Trey Clover, Vil Schoenheit. My brother has reconnaissance drone prototypes he started in his first year.”
Idia squawks, shuffling behind the mirror hall entrance “I– it’s audio only..!”
Multiple eyes bore into the older teen, causing him to shrink, and shrink, and shrink…
“B– besides, w– w– we can just guess who’s who… like, Riddle’s the only housewarden missing, right? Obviously, with his giant magic pool and all. C– classic pompous prince archetype, lolol–”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Azul hums coyly. “Use your tablet.”
“WHUT.”
“It floats and projects audio and video, and these ghosts could never fathom the level of technomancy we have. It’s the perfect thing to send into the school.”
If Idia could get any paler, he would. His hands grab a bunch of his glowing hair as he hunches to avoid eye contact, voice soft and rushed. “...C– c’mon Azul… you’re messing with me, right? You’re not– being fr??”
Ace groans, wishing he’d never come here. “Come on, man.”
More people jump to pressuring Idia into using his tablet, and he eventually disappears into Ignihyde’s mirror with his brother.
Trey sighs, taking off his glasses to rub his face. Jamil inches closer to Kalim and offers the blanket on his shoulders, saying it was no good if he got a cold. Kalim shakes his head, looking uncharacteristically sad.
Lilia is there to pat the teen on the back, ‘Cater’s a fine young man, Kalim. We should have faith in our clubmate!’ He says.
It feels a little crazy, if you ask Ace. But no one would ask him, just like Halloween.
Idia bustles back in with his tablet and something that looks like a CD player in his arms, setting it in the center of the mirror chamber. A peppy feminine voice confirms the connection to his tablet, both sparking to blue life. It turns out the CD player is a projector, expanding the view of the tablet’s camera enough to fill the whole room and spawn a control pad.
Malleus huffs in amazement behind Ace, eyes wide. “The advancements of man…”
Idia sits criss-cross on the floor, flexing his hands and cracking his knuckles, mumbling something or other under his breath.
“...Are you seriously just going to sit on the dirty ground like that? With that posture?” Vil asks, aghast.
“PLEASEjustletmedomythingok”
Idia flicks his wrist against the projected control panel a couple of times, adjusting the buttons and switching between something that looks like a keyboard touchpad and a game joystick. He settles for the touchpad, the camera powering on.
Everyone appears in the tablet’s camera, tinted blue, in all their glory: bedheads, wrinkled shirts and shoes with crushed heels. Only now does he notice Yuu’s daisy-print hoodie and fuzzy slippers, and that Jade Leech is wearing something like a one-piece swimsuit. Silver is in his uniform still, his buttons undone… he doesn’t look very different from the glimpses he’s seen, really.
They all slowly watch as the tablet maneuvers itself down the path to the building, Ortho providing commentary. An open window to slip through into the corridor, almost immediately being bumped into by a shoeless foot.
The camera quickly swivels to get a view of the retreating figure, a stack of uniforms in their arms. Another pair quickly followed, only one carrying another stack of uniform t-shirts, tone annoyed. It could almost be confused for a normal night class, one of those extra Classes the Headmage promoted, if not for the foreign language coming off their tongues, the way they moved.
The one with empty hands carries himself like Sebek– rigid, military-like. Not a good thing, considering they’re wearing the uniform pants and a blue P.E shirt, signifying they were in Ignihyde.
Something glows faintly in their back pocket.
The tablet slowly trails after them, silent as a dormouse. They enter a classroom and leave swiftly, arms empty. Idia prays under his breath for the tablet not to get caught in the door, scraping past the heavy, ancient wood.
The rows of desks have growing stacks of cloth, two figures sitting on the teacher’s desk and another on the floor. Idia zooms in on them.
“Oh.” He recognizes those figures. Even with their eyes downcast, engaged in a task.
Cater sits on the desk with his knees to his chest, a black-and-white striped fur coat swallowing him whole as he watches Riddle with a mildly interested expression. Riddle, in his pajamas, meticulously pulls the string from a uniform– his dorm uniform– and undoes the stitching so the blazer is separated from the skirt-like attachment it had. The patches and pins were already gone.
Epel is the one on the floor, Pomefiore’s dorm uniform in one hand and over his lap, his fingers tangled in a mess of deep-colored string. He’s wearing his P.E uniform while hunched over, wrinkling the fabric in a way that would– and does– make Vil Schoenheit cry in outrage.
Riddle says something, a snarky quip that enrages Epel, who tugs on his string stubbornly.
Riddle hops off the desk all of a sudden, looking more kid-like than he’d ever had. He grabs Epel’s hand and pulls on the string, causing Epel to shout, offended.
The string snaps in between Riddle’s teeth, and he pulls apart the Pomefiore uniform with another hard tug; Epel is left stupefied and Cater giggles, that same foreign layer to his voice as Deuce.
“Cater, as royalty… hmph. Not what I expected.” Jamil murmurs. “Riddle being in a position of servitude as well.”
Trey has visibly relaxed. “At least they’re together for now.”
Azul sits down beside Idia, robe pooling around him. He yawns nonchalantly and stretches, pulling the silk to conceal his legs and contaging Idia with it, causing the upperclassman to tear up and flash his unnatural teeth with less elegance.
“Looks like you were wrong about Riddle, pompous prince archetype.”
“Shaddap. He’s wearing a ring, anyway, look at his right hand.”
“And Cater is wearing brand new earrings that are glowing.”
“Pshhh– whatever– surprised you aren’t recording Riddle Rosehearts taking apart his own dorm uniform for blackmail. Hearsay against the rules and stuff.”
“Ohh~ Good ide—”
They all shriek when the camera is taken over by a shoe (with some exceptions from the creepier folk) and Ortho has to gain control before the tablet spins out of control.
They zoom out and see the one and only Professor Crewel in his regular suit instead of pajamas, stepping towards Cater. He pats Riddle on the head before smoothing out the older teens ginger hair, then taking one part of Riddle’s dorm uniform, the cape without the sash or rose pin, to gently pull it over his shoulders on top of the fur coat.
The professor stands entirely differently, in a way that almost reminds Ace of Jamil. That almost relaxed, still weirdly alert stance, and the careful, patient way he speaks to Cater.
Riddle quickly raises the rose from his dorm uniform and waves it in Crewel’s face, provoking Epel into jumping to his feet and also vie for his attention. Crewel dismisses the flower with a shake of his head, the three’s voices… not so foreign. Now that Ace hears it clearly, it sounds familiar, like something he’s heard at home or school.
Idia turns around to look at everyone, sulfuric yellow eyes pathetic.
“S– soo… we can save and quit now, right? We found the big bosses—”
“We are BACK– oh!” The Headmage appears– or reappears, when did he disappear? With Sam and Professor Trein. “Wonderful, it seems like my highly intelligent and talented eggs have already done some work! Wonderful, Wonderful!”
Yuu yawns. Ace yawns.
Leona speaks up, yawning as well. “Hardly. I bet no one here has even guessed that these ghosts are all the way from the Kingdom of Ashes.”
“I thought it was Cinders?”
Leona glares at Malleus, lip curling and ears flattening. “Same difference, lizard.”
Malleus finally steps away from Yuu and Ace to lean closer to Leona, face to face. “If you want to respect the spirits, then you must use the correct term.”
“The Shaftlands– which absorbed most of the land belonging to the Kingdom of Ashes, uses a generalized term for it all. Embers, Ashes, Cinders. And Common Tongue derives from–”
“‘Old’ Shaftland.” Malleus cuts him, an upwards curl to his lips and a crinkle to his eyes, leaning closer until he’s practically butting heads with the lion beastman. “Which is hardly old. Only a handful of centuries.”
“Were you even in the sack yet, when the Kingdom still existed?”
“I was… not! Thank you for taking so much interest in me—”
“I wasn’t interested, should-be omelet!”
“Wait, go back!” Jamil says. “What do you mean they’re ghosts from the Kingdom of Ashes?”
“The treasure is from that era, isn’t it? Heartslabyul and Pomefiore missing the most students, who mostly come from the Queendom of Roses and the Shaftlands? And Crewel, who reeks of the same flowers everyone from the Queendom does?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve always been rather envious of Master Crewel’s natural scent.” Vil sighs, hand on his hip.
“You’re not suggesting they’re possessing their own descendants, are you?”
“If they had descendants, they wouldn’t be clinging to the world like this.”
The Headmage hops around to hover among his students, twirling on his heel and holding his key-shaped cane to the sun, glossy feathers swishing. “I know that Buchhi has taken a number of artifacts from the classroom, and he remains unharmed… we still have a couple Queendom and Shaftian natives, including world-renowned actor Vil Schoenheit and volunteer Trey Clover…”
“...However, I am afraid I must… check on the rest of the buildings! Yes, that’s what I must do.”
Ace watches the single long, black feather that drifts down, all that's left of Dire Crowley.