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Chapter Text

Standing in a room full of 15 year olds who are all staring at you can feel a bit like floating in a swimming pool surrounded by hungry sharks: terrifying, but ultimately your own fault for deciding to climb in in the first place. 

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The first time Mr Sims accidentally slipped up and said something truly bizarre was when the subject of gladiators came up. Someone had said that they would hate to get stabbed and Mr Sims had said "Being stabbed doesnt hurt as much as you'd think. Shock is a hell of a drug." and then promptly looked like he wanted to punch himself in the face.
The class had been silent for a beat, and then erupted into questions.
"Mr Sims, have you been stabbed?"
"How do you know that?"
"What?"
"Hey I have a quick question, what the fu-"
"Language, Colin. Now, does anyone know what a retiarius fought with?"
"Oh come on, Mr Sims." Megan whined. "You have to tell us about when you got stabbed."
Mr Sims glanced around the class. They were all eagerly leaning forward. He sighed deeply. "Get an A on the next test, and I will."
Chaos erupted again.

-

"He doesn't like circuses." Megan said through a mouthful of food. "Make sure you write that down."
Colin nodded and added it to the list.
Officially, the list was titled 'Things we know about the enigmatic Mr Sims'.
Most of the time it was just referred to as 'Wtf is wrong with this man'.
Megan, Anna, and Colin were huddled around the sticky plastic table in the corner of Colin's mum's cafe, a plate of chips in front of them.
"Or spiders."
The list had gradually grown over the course of several lessons. Every time Mr Sims said something about himself, it was added.
Debate was held over wether the fact he had once had, or at least lived in the same house as, a cat.
Anna had won. It had been added.
Colin stood and ducked behind the counter. He fished around in the fridge for some drinks cans and put them on a tray. "I still stand by the spy theory, his anecdotes are too weird be from a-"
The bell above the door rang as it swung open. Colin froze behind the counter.
Seeing his expression, Anna and Megan turned to see who had come in.
Mr Sims was stood motionless in the doorway. He was wearing a too baggy t-shirt that hung off his shoulders. The straight, even line of a scar traced along his neck.
"Uh, hi Mr Sims." Colin recovered first. "What can I get you?"
Mr Sims shook himself back into action. "Um, two teas to go, please."
Colin turned to make the teas, and Anna pulled a face at Megan. She stifled a giggle, and Mr Sims turned towards the noise with a small, tense smile.
"£3, please."
Colin held out the teas to Mr Sims, who pulled the change out of his pocket.
"Thank you. Uh, have a good day."
"You too, Mr Sims."
He nodded awkwardly at them, and left.
The door swung shut behind him.
The teens stared at each other for a beat before Anna leaned over and wrote 'throat scar???' on the list.

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"Where are you from?" Colin rolled his eyes at such a mundane question. Given the opportunity to ask their strange, cryptic teacher anything in the world, and Anna wanted to know where he was from.

"Bournemouth originally, but I lived in London for quite some time before coming here." Mr Sims answered with a small smile.

Colin stuck up his hand. Mr Sims glossed over him as he pointed to Olivia.

"Why did you move?"

Mr Sims considered it for a second before answering. "My boyfriend and I had just.. quit our jobs. Our boss was-" He trailed off. "Our boss wasn't the best. We needed to get out of the city. A friend said we could stay in her cabin that she had up here, and then we just.. never left, I suppose."

A whisper went through the class, but Colin ignored it. He'd met Martin, Mr Sims charming boyfriend who made quite excellent tea. That was old news now. Colin knew what he wanted to ask.

Eventually, Mr Sims turned towards him and nodded.

"How did you get your scars?"

The class froze. Everyone had been waiting for the question to come up since Mr Sims had announced that, as a reward for the class doing so well on the practice exam they had done the week before, he would answer whatever questions they had about him.

The silence was tangible as Mr Sims stared at him.

Colin braced himself for dismissal, for the end to the questioning.

Mr Sims sighed and pushed his scared hand through his hair.

"Which ones?"

Colin floundered. "Uhh..." He hadn't thought this far ahead. "The circle ones."

Mr Sims hesitated. He seemed to be searching for the right words. "Worms." He eventually said, ignoring the way the class gaped at him. "Well, they were officially an unclassified parasite."

"How? How does a worm do that?"

Mr Sims grimaced. "They burrow."

Noises of disgust came from several members of the class.

Someone put their hand up and Mr Sims pointed at them.

"What about your hand?"

He looked down at his gnarled, twisted palm. "I, uhh. Hot wax."

"What about the one on your throat?" Megan asked, not bothering to put her hand up.

"Oh that," He laughed. "That was a good friend of mine. She threatened me with a knife."

"So when you said you were stabbed you were telling the truth?"

He leaned back and crossed his arms. "Yes, but that was a different incident. Well, two different incidents, I suppose."

Colin jolted. "You were stabbed twice?"

Mr Sims nodded. "Once was partially my fault. I took Melanie by surprise, she was acting in self defence."

The class abandoned all pretence of putting up their hands and just started shouting questions out.

"When did you get stabbed?"

"Why did your friend threaten you with a knife?"

"Are you okay ?"

Mr Sims held up his hands to calm them. "Alright, alright. One at a time. I was stabbed the first time a few years ago, but it obviously didn't do any lasting damage. My friend threatened me with a knife because she hated me at the time. Shes since apologised in her own way, and we are actually quite close now. Am I okay?" He shrugged. "Probably."

"Why were you stabbed a second time?"

"That was another friend of mine. She was understandably quite upset with me at the time."

Colin shook his head in disbelief. "Mr Sims, why did all this happen?"

Mr Sims cocked his head to the side, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You could say that my last job was... unconventional."

Anna sat up straighter. "What was your last job?"

Mr Sims shrugged, and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I worked in the archives of a research institute."

Colin made a disbelieving noise. "Wh-what?"

Mr Sims response was cut off as the bell for lunch rang, the shrill noise.

"Right, that's it. Next lesson we will be going over-"

"Hang on, wait."

"Sorry Colin, the lesson is over." Mr Sims stared at him. "Don't forget your homework tomorrow. I'll see you all then" With that, Mr Sims slung his bag over his shoulder and marched from the classroom.

-

Martin laughed, and it set off something soft in Jon's heart.

"So you just answered the questions?"

"I had already promised them I would.

Martin handed him the trowel, shaking his head. "There's no way they believe you."

"I know." Jon said. "Some of them think I'm a spy."

"Are you?"

"If I were, I'd tell you."

"Hmm." Martin narrowed his eyes at him. "That would explain a lot."

It was Jon's turn to laugh. "Would it?"

"You're mysterious, you lied about your age, you attract trouble. You tick all the boxes"

"You lied about your qualifications. Maybe you're a spy."

Martin pushed himself up of the grass. "It's the perfect story. Star-crossed lovers. So poetic."

Jon lent up to put his chin on Martin' shoulder. "I'm sure Shakespeare is quaking in his boots."

Martin leant down and pressed a small kiss to his smile. "You're a nightmare. I can't believe you spent a whole lesson being cryptic."

"I wasn't being cryptic. And it wasn't the whole lesson, we went over the exam paper at the start."

"Still, that's evil. Those poor kids."

"They'll get over it."

-

"Told you there was something seriously wrong with him." Colin threw a wadded up napkin at Anna. She batted it out of the air and it hit Megan's shoulder.

"He had to have been lying, right?" Anna said. "There's no way all that happened to him."

Megan shrugged. "If he was lying, why make it so unbelievable? There's too many layers to what he said. It's way to elaborate."

"Megan, he said he was stabbed. Twice."

"I'll admit that does sound sort of unreasonable." She sat back. "But still, why make it up?"

Colin threw his hands up. "Because he's a spy, why do we have to keep going over this?"

Anna laughed. "He's not a spy! The point of being a spy is to throw people off the scent. If he was a spy, telling us all that stuff hasn't made him any less suspicious.

"That's exactly the idea. Now we think there's no way he's a spy, so now he can slip under the radar. It's genius."

Anna poked his shoulder. "You're reading way too much into our history teacher's messed up past."

"Messed up is one way of saying it. I'm telling you, he's definitely wanted for at least one crime."

"Uhh, you might be right about that." Megan said. She turned her phone towards them. Open on it was an article from an English news website. The headline read 'Man wanted for murder following attack at research institute.'

A picture of Mr Sims stared out from under the headline.

Colin smacked his head against Anna's shoulder. "We have to stop googling him."

Chapter Text

"Hey everyone! Welcome back to What The Stream." Georgie Baker's voice came out of the tinny speakers on Anna's laptop. "Melanie will be on in a second, she's just wrangling The Admiral. Tonight we will just be chatting, going over some of the upcoming videos and answering some questions."

Anna's phone buzzed, the screen illuminating to show a text from Megan about how nice Georgie's hair looked. Anna glanced up at the screen, and shot a quick text back agreeing.

She dropped down on her bed, pushing her homework to one side. She tucked her feet under her blanket and stared up at the ceiling, letting the sounds of Georgie answering chats questions fill her ears.

"Hey, Mel. Mind your chair, there you go."

The sounds of someone sitting down in a chair filtered out from the screen, followed by the sounds of Melanie King greeting the viewers.

A second later, Anna's phone erupted in buzzing. Groaning, she picked up her phone from where she'd dropped it by her head and held it up.

Seven messages from Megan. Four were just Anna's name in capital letters. One demanding she pay attention to the stream.

Anna rolled over and looked at her laptop. A beat passed before she understood what Megan was talking about, and her eyes widened.

-

The sound of Martin's laugh startled Jon. He looked up from his marking. "Everything alright?"

"Have you talked to Georgie in the last few days?" Martin's voice drifted from the living room.

Jon tapped his pen on the kitchen table. "Yes, we spoke a few days ago. She asked about work. Why?"

Martin appeared in the doorway holding his phone, a massive grin on his face.

"What's happened?"

Martin turned the phone screen towards him. It was playing Georgie's livestream. Georgie was stroking the Admiral in her lap. Next to her, Melanie was sat, wearing...

"Oh for goodness sake."

Melanie's t-shirt read 'I stabbed Jonathan Sims".

Jon dropped his head into his hands as Melanie turned to display the words on the back of the t-shirt.

"And I'd do it again!"

Chapter Text

In Megan's opinion, 4am was a terrible time to be at school. It was dark and cold and Megan wanted nothing more than to be asleep.

Mr Sims looked like he felt the exact same way.

He was bundled in an oversized coat zipped up to his chin, hands shoved deep in his pockets. His hair was up in a bun so messy it looked like a birds nest, and his glasses were perched on the end of his nose, dangerously close to falling off every time he looked down.

"I'm going to sleep on the bus. I don't care if I snore, I am too tired right now." Anna appeared next to her, pulling her suitcase alongside Megan's. "Is Colin here yet?"

Megan shook her head. "Not yet. He texted asking if we wanted coffee though, so I think he's on his way."

"I think I'll kill him if he brings decaf."

"I'll help you hide the body.

Megan rubbed her hands together, trying to get a trace of warmth. "Thoughts on what to do on the free day?"

The trip to London was five days long, with one day free for students to explore on their own.

"Shopping probably. I don't think I'll want to see any more museums." Anna pulled her coat tighter.

Megan nodded in agreement. "Same. If Colin doesn't get here soon, I think I might cry."

"Please don't, I'm bad when people cry." Colin's voice came from behind them.

Anna turned with a grin.

"I come bearing gifts of coffee." He held out the tray of drinks.

"Is it decaf?"

"No."

"Good, you can live." Anna took her cup and cradled it between her palms. "Oh, look out, Sims approaching."

Megan turned to see Mr Sims walking towards them, holding some slips of yellow paper.

"Here." He held them out. "This is the contact details for the teachers. Just in case something happens and need to reach us."

They took the slips, and Megan tucked hers into the back of her phone case.

"Are you excited to be back in London, Mr Sims?"

He sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. I suppose it will be nice to see the city again."

Colin took a sip of his drink. "Was it really different living in the city?"

"Very different. You get used to how big London is after a while, but it never stops being-" He trailed off and turned towards the end of the road, an expectant smile on his face. Megan turned to look in time to see a car turn the corner. It pulled up next to them and Martin climbed out,

"What are you doing here?" Mr Sims asked fondly.

"You forgot your scarf." Martin looped it around Mr Sims' neck, tucking it under his chin. "And I made you some tea."

He held out a thermos emblazoned with a cartoon cow. Mr Sims took it,

"Thank you, Martin. Did I wake you?"

"Not really. It was more you not being there. Hello again." He directed the last part to the teens, who all smiled and greeted him. "Are you excited for the trip?"

Megan nodded. "I can't wait. I've never been to London before."

Martin's response was cut off by the coach pulling around the corner. Students surged forward, shouting farewells to parents. Megan turned to fetch her bag, hugging her dad as she went.

"Stay safe, Jon. Please." Martin's voice was quiet behind her, but Megan still heard it under the lull of the conversation.

"I will, Martin."

"I mean it. If anything happens-"

"I know. Call Daisy, don't try and deal with it alone."

Martin sighed. "I just worry."

"I know you do." Mr Sims voice was painfully soft. "I'll call you tonight. I love you."

"I love you too, Jon."

Megan slipped away, hurrying after Anna and Colin, feeling like she had overheard something too personal. When she glanced back, Mr Sims had his arms around Martin's neck, holding him close. He let go, stepping back to hold Martin's face gently before letting go and following the students to the bus.

Anna was asleep almost as soon as they sat down on the coach. She hunched down, curling her legs under her, her blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Colin had to kick her awake when Mr Sims stood up at the front of the bus.

"Well, good morning everyone. Sorry for the early start, but we have a long drive ahead of us. You've all been given our contact details so if you get separated or something happens you can get in touch with us again. Remember to stay in groups of three at least. London is an extremely busy place, so make sure you stay close. We don't want anyone getting lost."

He sat, and Megan leaned across the aisle to Colin. "What's the betting something terrible is going to happen?"

Colin considered it. "65% for, 25% against."

"That's 90%"

"The rest is for something terrible happening only to Mr Sims."

"Fair enough. Is Anna asleep yet?"

Colin turned to look at Anna where she was slumped against the window. "Anna, if you're awake, I just wanted to let you know I'm about to steal the rest of your drink." When she didn't respond, Colin reached out and plucked the coffee from her hand. "She had her chance."

The coach rumbled to life. Anna stirred, sitting up blearily. She looked over at Colin, down at the drink in his hand, and took it back off him before turning to the window and waving farewell to her parents.

Soon, they were trundling out of the school car park and towards London.

-

London was loud. It was cramped and crowded, and the road was full of cars. Colin leaned over Anna to stare out the window, wide eyed.

Through the gaps in the old buildings he could see the faint silhouettes of landmarks. The city seemed so familiar, a strange mirror of a place he had seen so many times on screen. The winding streets hid secrets around each corner, and the streets hummed with forgotten stories.

Colin loved it.

When the teachers herded them out of the bus, muscles groaning from the lack of motion, and into the hostel, he looked around, desperately trying to capture every detail.

He split off from the girls as they vanished into their room with the promise of meeting him before everyone left for dinner.

From the window of his room, he could see down to the street, the cars and black taxi cabs rushing by. People hurried along the pavement, carrying out a complicated dance as they avoiding crashing into each other.

Directly opposite his window, a small clothes shop stood sandwiched between a cafe and a shop selling touristy merchandise plastered with the London's iconography.

In the window of the clothes shop stood a mannequin, it's blank plastic face turned upwards, facing the hostel. One hand was lifted as if waving, the sleeve of its flowery top billowing around it like a batwing.

As Colin stared at it, the hairs on the back of his stood, and he had the awful feeling it was staring back.

-

The corridor was dark, illuminated by the dim glow of the fluorescent lights overheard and the sickly yellow of the street lamps outside. The vending machine made an unhealthy noise as Anna punched in the number for a bottle of water. It whirred painfully before spitting out the bottle. It got caught halfway down. Anna swore under her breath

"I'm not smoking, I promise." The sounds of an other voice startled her. She leapt back, landing uncomfortably on her ankle. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. I love you too."

There was a beat where Anna assumed whoever was speaking hung up the phone. The sound of soft footfall drifted around the corner, and Anna had a moment to contemplate her untimely death when Mr Sims rounded the corner.

He froze when he saw her. He was wearing pyjama trousers and the same What the Ghost? t-shirt he had been wearing when they saw him at the cottage.

"Uh, hi Mr Sims."

"Hello, Anna." He quickly shook off his initial surprise at seeing her. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I slept on the coach for most of the drive here." She supplied in way of an explanation.

He nodded. "Thats understandable. It was an early start."

She hummed back, turning back towards the vending machine. Weakly, she thumped on the glass, trying to dislodge the water bottle. It didn't budge.

Outside, a siren rang out into the night sky. A series of car horns followed it as it sped through the streets.

"Is London always this loud?"

He laughed. "Unfortunately, yes. You learn to tune it out. Here."

He gently kicked the bottom of the vending machine. It shook it enough that the bottle dislodged and clattered down into the tray.

Triumphantly, Anna crouched and took it out. "Thanks. I didn't know how I was going to get that."

"Broken vending machines are all the same. All it takes is a little persuasion."

Anna stood, the cold plastic of her prize clutched between her fingers. "Have you had to compete with many broken vending machines?"

"A few. One in the break room at my old job would always get stuck. Eventually we worked out a system to-" He stopped, staring over her shoulder, expression suddenly serious. "Anna, I think it's best if you go back to bed. It's late and we have a big day tomorrow."

"What?"

"Go on. Sleep well." He stepped aside to let her pass him, not taking his eyes off the end of the corridor. Glancing over her shoulder, all Anna could see was a yellow door at the end of the corridor.

Shrugging, she made a mental note to tell Megan when she woke up.

As she shut the door to the bedroom behind her, she could almost swear she heard Mr Sims talking to someone he called Helen.

Chapter Text

London's Roman Amphitheatre was discovered under Guildhall Yard in 1988. The original wooden structure was built in 70AD and was expanded in the 2nd century so it was able to house  up to 6,000 people. After the Romans left Britain in the 4th century, the place had been dismantled and repurposed for building materials. The surviving structure stands 20 feet below ground in a climate controlled space.

Jon Knew all of this before the tour guide said it.

He also knew the tour guides birthday, her mother's maiden name, what she'd had for lunch, and a whole host of random, inane facts that were useless and tantalising at the same time.

He was frustrated, to say the least.

London was too loud. There were too many people, too many things to know and hear and See. Even in the grounding comfort provided by the sweater he had stolen from Martin, Jon still felt himself slipping. He was yearning to Know.

He'd been lucky in that he was the only male teacher on the trip, and thus did not have to share his room in the hostel with anyone. This gave him the freedom to record statements without having to sneak away under the guise of having a cigarette or needing some air.

He'd gone through two the night before, needing to eat to stop himself feeling the overwhelming crush of London.

Afterwards, he'd phoned Martin and listened to his tired mumbles, revelling in the sound of his voice down the tinny phone line.

Seeing one of Helen's doors in the hostel hadn't improved his mood. He'd shot a quick "Piss of, Helen." at the door before marching away. Her laugh had followed him all the way back to his room, and he'd checked several times that his door was actually his door.

He'd done another statement before breakfast and drank a cup of tea that was passable, but nowhere near the quality of Martin's.

The tour guide finished her spiel, and gestured for them to explore the room. The students filtered away, separating off into small groups. Jon watched them dissipate.

-

"Is he a good teacher?" Anna jumped at the sudden voice at her shoulder. She turned.

Next to her was a woman with dark, curly hair, and a wide smile. She was dressed somewhat professionally, with a sharp pencil skirt and a stark white blouse.

"Sorry, what?"

"The Archivist. Jon. I heard he became a teacher, but I didn't quite believe it."

"Oh, Mr Sims?"

"That's him." The woman's voice was strangely chipper.

"He is a good teacher, I guess. He sometimes goes off on tangents, but it's all interesting, so that's not too bad."

The woman laughed. "Oh yes, that sounds like our Jon."

"How do you know him?"

"Oh, you know," The woman waved a hand. "Old friends."

"Right."

Anna turned back to the display. The woman was staring at Mr Sims intently, and Anna didn't think she wanted to be involved in whatever they had going on.

"Stay safe, kid. London is dangerous."

Anna looked up at the woman's reflection in the glass of the display.

She nearly dropped the guidebook in her hands.

The woman looked taller, her limbs more angular and jagged. Her fingers seemed stretched, like there were too many bones under not enough skin. She turned towards Anna and met her eyes in the reflection. Her grin widened, splitting her face open.

Anna spun round, but the woman was gone.

"You okay?" Megan came up next to her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Anna shook herself off, still searching the crowd for the woman. "I'm fine. I'm just tired I think."

"Me too. Come on, I'm going to go find the toilet."

"Okay." Anna followed after her, an uneasy feeling sitting deep in her stomach.

Colin met them by the door, backpack over one shoulder, guide book in hand. "There you are. Did you know this place is climate controlled?"

"I will confiscate that if you don't stop reading random facts." Megan huffed.

"No you won't. The Romans called London Londinium."

"That's the most fake sounding name ever." Anna held open the door for them to go through. They headed towards the signposted toilets.

"Yeah Romans, get better names." Colin laughed.

They passed through another door. It opened up to a hallway that looked like a service corridor. Anna stopped.

"Wrong turn? This doesn't seem right."

Colin leaned over her shoulder. "It definitely said this way. I didn't see any other doors."

Megan stepped around her. "It's not labelled employee only, so let's just see?"

Anna shrugged. "Museums sometimes have weird creepy corridors."

"If we die, I want you both to know that Londinium was established around 47AD."

"One more fact and I will kill you myself."

"Sorry."

"You will be."

They stepped into the hallway. It was strangely blank, with no doors leading away from it. A small sign labelled 'Toilets' with an arrow pointing down the corridor flickered next to them.

Colin shot them both a look. Anna shrugged again and set off down the corridor.

Colin and Megan followed her, staying close. The corridor turned sharply, a sudden right angle.

Anna rounded the corner and nearly crashed into a mannequin dressed as a Roman soldier. She tripped backwards, almost falling bodily into Colin.

"Watch out!" He caught her, pushing her back upright.

"Sorry."

Her apology seemed lost on him. He was staring up at the mannequin, eyes wide. "Woah."

Megan appeared next to them, out of breath. "I think this is a dead end. Come on, let's head back."

"Wait." Colin waved a hand in front of the mannequins face.

"What are you doing?"

"It feels like it's looking at me."

"It's a mannequin, Colin." Anna tugged his sleeve. "Come on."

"Seriously, you guys can't feel that?"

"It's paranoia, Colin, let's go." Anna turned to leave. At the same time the door they had come through opened at the end of the corridor. On the other side stood another mannequin, dressed the same as the one Colin was now poking.

Megan stepped backwards. "Uh, maybe not that way. Is there a door down there?"

Anna looked over her shoulder at the blank concrete hallway. "Doesn't look like it. Might be though, why have an empty corridor."

Anna looked back to the door at the end of the hallway. She blinked. The mannequin looked like it was halfway through, as if it had stepped forward while she was looking away.

"Colin." She took his arm. "Please."

He finally stepped back and let himself be pulled down the corridor.

Anna walked quickly, Megan and Colin in tow. Behind them came the sound of footsteps.

The walls narrowed, drawing in closer on either side. The corridor seemed to stretch, becoming longer than it had been before.

"Wait." Megan froze.

Anna stopped, turning to her.

She cocked her head to one side, listening intently. Anna did the same. The faint sound of footsteps drifted down the hallway.

"Shit." Colin said. "Staff?"

"Possibly. Let's just get out of here."

"Hang on. The solider." Megan pointed.

Anna followed the angle of her finger and gasped. The mannequin dressed in Roman armour had rotated. It was now facing the opposite direction, towards where they had gone.

"Okay, no. Definitely not. I have watched enough terrible sci fi to know that we are about to die."

"Seems like you kids need a door."

Anna wheeled around at the sound of a voice behind them.

The woman from the museum was leaning nonchalantly against a yellow wooden door that hadn't been there a second ago.

"Go on. I'll even let you back out again. As a favour to Jon."

"Who are you?" Megan's voice was forcefully steady.

"Helen." She said, amused.

Anna gripped Colin's sleeve. "She knows Mr Sims. We were talking earlier."

Megan looked at her, eyes slightly wild. "You're sure?"

"It's that or get eaten by mannequins. Colin, your call."

Colin looked down the corridor and back at Helen.

Helen laughed. It was a painful sound. "Don't worry, I'm much nicer than those things."

"Are you going to eat us too?"

She leaned her head to one side, considering. "Probably not. I imagine that would mean a lot of paperwork for Jon."

The footsteps were drawing closer, almost to the end of the hallway.

"Final chance."

Colin grabbed the girls hands. "Come on."

"Well done children. First door on your left. Don't wander off."

She opened the door and stepped aside.

They hurried through the open passageway.

Inside, the corridor was strange. The walls titled at odd angles like a carnival funhouse. Anna slowed, uncertain.

"Hurry up." Helen ushered them further into the corridor. "No promises what will happen if you linger." She shut the door behind them.

The sound of their breathing was too loud, even through the static in Anna's ears. The light in the corridor was at once too bright and too dim, and the floor rocked with motionlessness. The wallpaper was too bright, it's faded colours painful to Anna's eyes. As they walked, Anna kept her hand firmly in Colin's grip, feeling the solid realness of him next to her, even as the floor threatened to not exist.

Megan pulled them to a stop in front of a door. The first door on the left.

She reached out for the handle and paused. She shot them both a look. Colin's grip tightened in a faux reassuring squeeze, and Megan opened the door.

They stepped out into the museum proper.

Their class was huddled in the centre of the room around the tour guide.

Mr Sims was stood on the outskirts of the group. He turned towards them, an intense look in his eyes.

Anna glanced over her shoulder. Behind them was the blank wall of the museum.

-

Jon shut the door to his bedroom and threw his coat on the bed.

"I thought I told you to piss off."

Helen tutted. "Now, Jon. That's not nice, is it."

"Neither is trying to hurt my students."

"Hurt them? Never. I helped them. They needed a door."

Jon crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "You and I both know that it's not as simple as that."

"I'm just keeping an eye out, Archivist. I would've thought you would've known all about that." She leaned forward. "You weren't exactly watching closely."

Jon pushed himself off the wall and stalked closer to her. "Leave my class out of all this."

She laughed. "Archivist, you made them involved when you came back to London. You've caused ripples." She unfurled herself from where she had been sitting on the dresser and stood, looming over him. "People are starting to take notice."

"So what, my class is going to be tormented by avatars?"

She laughed again. "I don't know anyone else's plans, but I can say that I have no intention of tormenting anyone. I try to avoid children. They make unpleasant sounds."

Jon stared her down, seething.

"Oh don't look like that, Jon. I'm sure you and Martin will have lovely children one day." She brushed past him. "Send him my love, by the way. It's been too long."

Her door clicked shut behind her, and Jon was alone.

"Shit."

Chapter Text

"Mr Sims knows something."

Colin sighed. "Anna, he doesn't."

"Besides, what is there to know?"

Anna pushed her plate away angrily. "We got chased by mannequins, Megan. Can you please stop doing this?"

"Anna, being chased by mannequins is insane. All that happened was some underpaid museum staff wanted to pull a prank, and we were easy targets."

"And Helen?"

"In on it, probably."

Anna's next words got cut off by Mr Sims clearing his throat. He was stood at the front of the small breakfast room, hands fidgeting with the hem of his oversized jumper. He looked more tired than ever, the bags under his eyes deeper and more defined. He surveyed the room.

"Right. I- right." He stammered. Anna frowned. Mr Sims had always been a bit awkward, but he'd never shown any signs of discomfort when it came to public speaking. "Right. Today's your free day. Please remember, this is London. It's busy here, and there are- Just stay safe." He seemed to direct the last part to Anna's table.

Mr Sims stepped aside and let Ms Maxwell take over the explanations for check-in times and when they needed to be back at the hostel.

He kept glancing over at them. For a moment, Anna thought he looked almost scared.

-

"This is a terrible idea."

"You've already said that, Anna."

"Well I stand by it, Colin. We shouldn't have come back here."

Megan looped her arm around Anna's, hooking their elbows together. "I promise, nothing bad will happen."

Megan pulled her into Guildhall Art Gallery for the second time in as many days, and down towards the amphitheater, Colin a step behind them.

They slipped past a tour group, ducking into the museum and down the corridor towards the back rooms.

Megan paused in front of the door. Her hand hovered over the handle, and she looked back at the others.

Colin nodded at her, and she swung the door open.

Inside, the corridor was the same oppressive concrete, with the flickering fluorescent lights casting strange shadows on the wall.

Anna quickly pulled the door shut behind them. She didn't want any employees or nosey members of the public following them.

"No creepy mannequins this time. That's good." Colin's voice sounded loud in the confined space of the corridor.

Anna paled. "Please don't jinx it."

He put an encouraging arm around her shoulder. "We'll just check, and then we will go."

She hummed, doubtful.

They walked forward, following the

narrow wall of the corridor as it drove forward, delving deeper underground.

They reached the point where the tunnel turned and Anna slowed.

"Guys? I don't feel great."

Colin squeezed her shoulder. "You can wait here if you want. We won't be long."

Anna hesitated, before nodding. "I'll wait here. Shout if anything happens."

"We will." Megan pressed a hand to her arm.

Together, they set off around the corner, leaving Anna standing in the centre of the corridor. Slowly, she sank to the ground, leaning against the wall.

The minutes dragged on.

It was strangely quiet in the tunnel. The press of London had faded away, the constant sound of traffic and life stripped back to make room for nothing. 

A quiet tapping sound came from the end of the tunnel. 

Anna sat up.

"Guys? Is that you?"

There was no response. The tapping had stopped. She stood, creeping towards the corner.

"Guys? Is that you?"

Anna's blood froze. Her words were repeated back to her, a mocking impression of her voice.

"Who's there?"

"Who's there?"

A mannequin stepped around the corner. It's glossy plastic face stared down at her.

"Get away from me!"

"Get away from me!" It's mouth didn't move as it spoke, like the sound was coming from deep inside it.  "You shouldn't have come back."

Anna pressed back against the wall. Her knees buckled and she sank down.

A red flash flew past, knocking the mannequin down.

A hand grabbed Anna's and yanked her up, pulling her down the corridor. She scrambled after Megan as she ran, desperately trying to stay upright. They flew down the hallway, through the door, into the main body of the museum. Only then, surrounded by the crowd, did Megan slow, her hand still tightly in Anna's grip. Colin bumped into them, gripping their shoulders to balance them.

A few members of the public gave them strange looks, clearly not expecting three out of breath teenagers in the middle of the foyer.

They power-walked through the crowd, trying to ignore the stares, and out of the museum. They didn't stop walking.

A few streets later, they ducked into an alleyway

"You saved me."

Megan shook her head. "It wasn't me, it was Colin. He threw a fire extinguisher."

"You threw a fire extinguisher?" Anna gripped Colin's shirt.

He nodded, looking slightly sheepish. "Yeah, I-"

He was cut off as Anna threw her arms around his neck

Megan shuffled next to them. Anna held out a hand and pulled her into the embrace.

They huddled together, pressed in close, the silence between them louder than the press of London traffic outside.

After a long minute, they let go and stepped apart.

Megan hissed, looking down at her arm. A long scratch ran down the back of it. A thin trickle of blood seeped out of it.

"Shit."

"You okay?"

"Ehh, I'll live. I dropped my phone though. Have you got yours?"

Anna reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She held it out.

"Good. We should call someone."

Anna looked down at the phone in her hand. Who would believe them? Who wouldn't laugh them away as delusional? Mannequins speaking? Chasing them down hallways? Who could they call?

She decisively dialled a number.

It rang for only a moment before the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Mr Sims? It's Anna. Something...." She looked at the others. "Something happened."

Mr Sims was muffled for a moment. "Daisy, I have to go." He came back clearer. "Where are you?"

"By the Guildhall."

"I'm only around the corner. Don't move."

"Okay." Anna's voice came out unsteady, the edges of her words damp with tears.

"Are any of you hurt?"

Anna looked at Megan's arm. "Megan's been scratched."

"Anna, I'll be there in a minute. Dont-" He cut off, the line suddenly full of static. Anna held the phone away from her ear, grimacing.

"What does he say?"

"There's just static." She flipped the phone to speaker mode.

They both frowned. "That's weird." Megan said, picking at the scratch on her arm.

"Oh, that is strange." Helen's voice was loud in Anna's ear. She yelped, spinning round. As she moved, her phone slipped out of her grasp and tumbled to the floor.

Helen leant down and picked it up. She held it up near her face and said into the receiver "Hurry up, Jon."

She hung up.

"Helen? What are you doing here?" Megan sounded angry.

"Enjoying the show, mostly. I told Jon I was keeping an eye out. Who knows what sort of things might be lurking in the shadows."

"What does that mean?"

"Helen, get away from them." Mr Sims strode into the alleyway, a thunderous expression on his face.

"Ouch. You really don't trust me at all, do you?"

"I really don't." He planted himself between her and Anna. "Call it cynicism."

"Oh I think it's much more than just that. Then again, I suppose you already knew that."

"Don't." He turned to Anna. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. He scanned her face, eyes intense. Anna felt a pressure against the back of her neck, the feeling of being seen, of being known, like Mr Sims' stare was mapping out everything about her. Eventually, he nodded and looked away and the pressure lifted and Anna was left reeling. He glanced back, an apologetic look on his face, but his eyes didn't linger.

He moved to Megan and checked the scratch on her arm.

"Mr Sims, what's going on?" Colin sounded shockingly small, and Anna realised this was the first full thing he had said since leaving the museum. When she looked over at him, she saw the glisten of tears against his cheeks.

Mr Sims seemed to see it too, because he instantly softened, anger dissipating away. He crouched down in front of Colin.

"You're alright. Here." He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out a packet of tissues and handed it to Colin. Colin's fingers trembled as he took one out.

"Clear down that way, Sims." A stocky, aggressive woman marched into the alleyway, tucking something into the waistband at the back of her trousers. She fixed the teens with hard stares,

"This is Daisy." Mr Sims gestured to her. "She's an old friend."

She grunted.

"This is very fun. It's like a reunion."

"Leave." Mr Sims was stern as he stared up at Helen from where he stayed crouched by Colin.

She stared back, blinking slowly, before eventually sighing. "Fine. Be like that. This is why I like Martin more."

A door appeared in the wall behind her. She grasped the handle and turned back to them. "If you need me, you know where to find me, Archivist."
With that, she was gone, the door vanishing back into the blank wall.

Mr Sims didn't even tell Megan off for swearing as she viciously said "What the fuck?"

He hummed.

"Come on. I think I owe you all some answers."

Chapter Text

Mr Sims led them down the busy streets, turning into side roads and alleyways as shortcuts. He kept throwing glances over his shoulder, checking for something following them, examining the crowds around them carefully. The woman, Daisy, followed after him.

Eventually, Mr Sims slowed. They were in front of a small cafe, tucked down a side road, mostly free of pedestrians. The sign above the door was faded, the paint chipped away, leaving the name impossible to read. As Mr Sims pushed the door open a bell rang above the door, signalling their entry.

Inside, the cafe was quiet. Only a few people sat at the tables, most wearing headphones with their gazed fixed on laptops or books in front of them.  Mr Sims made a beeline for a table near the back, ignoring the other customers. The old yellow linoleum squeaked beneath their feet as they trailed after him. Daisy went around the side of the table and dragged a chair closer, dropping down into it. She stared at the door, a hard expression on her face.

Mr Sims sat and raked a hand through his hair. "Have you eaten?"

Megan blinked at him. "What?"

"It's lunchtime. You should eat. I'll pay."

"Wh- okay." Megan sat on one of the plastic chairs, carefully balancing on the edge.

The others sat and took the laminated menus that Mr Sims passed them. He held one out to Daisy, but she waved it away.

"You know what I like, Sims."

He nodded and put it back in the small metal holder.

"Mr Sims, what's going on?" Anna stared across the table at him. "Why have you bought us here?"

He sighed. "I promised you answers. I do intend to give them, but I think you should eat first. What I have to say is... a lot."

A waitress wondered over and took their orders. Megan ordered in a bit of a trance, feeling like she was having a very bizarre dream. One glance at Anna and Colin told her they were feeling the same way.

Megan hoped she would wake up soon.

Mr Sims gave them all a careful look. "So, I expect you've all figured out by now that what happened in the museum was not..." He paused. "normal."

"Which bit? The creepy hallways, being chased by mannequins, whatever the hell Helen had going on?" Megan's voice cracked with incredulity.

He winced. "Yes, well. I'm afraid that all of that may be, at least in part, my fault." He waited for them to challenge him, but they stayed silent. He took a deep breath. "I believe they were after me and thought they could reach me through you. The Stranger has never much cared for... collateral."

"The Stranger?" Colin piped up. "Whose that?"

"Not a who, a what. It's a, uh," Mr Sims look at Daisy but she just shrugged at him. "It's a... being." He said, carefully. "One with immense power that feeds on the fear of the unknown. It often manifests as mannequins or other similar things. Why it fixated on you three, I don't know."

Megan stared at him. Mr Sims had never been the funniest teacher, and the jokes he did attempt usually fell a little flat. The likelihood that this was one of those jokes was slim. Mr Sims looked deadly serious.

"Are there other... beings?" Colin asked, slowly.

"Yes. I don't want to tell you too much," Daisy scoffed. Mr Sims glanced at her for a second before continuing, "I don't want to make you too involved in all of this. It's not fair to you."

Megan sat up straighter in her chair. "What if we want to be involved? If there's crazy stuff happening, isn't it safer if we know about it?"

Their waitress had appeared next to them carrying a tray of food. She gave them an odd look as she passed the plates out to them.

Mr Sims didn't respond until she left. "None of this is safe. Most people live in blissful ignorance, and that's good. It's better than actually knowing what's out there."

Colin scoffed. "No offence, Mr Sims, but you're wrong. We didn't know about any of this and we still got attacked by murderous mannequins."

"And if we had known, we would have told you yesterday rather than go back today." Anna leant forward. "Ignorance didn't protect us."

Daisy barked out a laugh. "I like these kids."

Mr Sims glared at her. "Could you please not encourage this."

She sat forward. "They have a point, Jon. You really think that now they know that things are out there they're going to stop until they have those answers?"

They stared at each other, seemingly having a furious argument with their eyes. A long moment passed before Mr Sims sighed and threw up his hands.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

Megan glanced at the others. Anna's eyes were wide and she gestured for Megan to go ahead. Colin nodded.

"How many other beings are there?" She asked, swivelling back towards Mr Sims.

"We generally call them entities, not beings. There are fourteen overall. Well, fifteen technically."

"And they all feed on fear?"

"Yes. Different fears for each one. There is quite a bit of overlap between some of them, but cover most of humanities most common fears."

"Like the unknown?" Anna asked.

He nodded. "Exactly. The Stranger is the fear of the unknown, the uncanny, the feeling that something is wrong."

"And those mannequins were part of that?" Colin cocked his head to the side.

"Yes. They serve it, in a way."

"There's things that serve the entities?"

Mr Sims looked down at the table. "We call them avatars."

"Is Helen one?" The image of the tall, strange woman hadn't left Megan's mind.

Mr Sims grimaced. "She is. She's part of the Spiral. You're lucky, she usually doesn't try to make herself look human."

"That's the fucking creepiest thing anyone has ever said. What does she normally look like?" Colin had started smiling,

small but still present.

"Imagine Picasso if he was slightly more unhinged."

"Yikes."

"Exactly." Mr Sims leant back. "She's the embodiment of the fear of madness. Her hallways are, as I'm sure you noticed, somewhat contradictory."

Megan shuddered at the memory. She frowned. "So she can create them?"

He nodded.

"How do you know her?"

He glanced across at Daisy again, but she was stealing chips from his plate and didn't offer any input. He sighed. "The place I used to work, The Magnus Institute, was something of a museum to the entities. People would come to us and tell us their stories. Give us statements. You meet some... interesting people in that line of work."

"Did it serve one of them?" Anna took a sip of her drink. "The Institute, I mean."

"Yes. The Eye. The fear of knowledge. Specifically of being known, of being watched."

Megan turned to her food, mulling over everything Mr Sims had told them.  A few days ago, the existence of 'entities' would have been ridiculous, but in the span of a couple of days, she had been chased by mannequins and gone into some creepy hallways apparently owned by the walking embodiment of the fear of madness. And now, her short, awkward history teacher was explaining his past working for an organisation that catalogued fear.

"Wait. You said you worked for the Institute, and the Institute worked for the... what did you call it, the Eye? Wouldn't that mean you technically worked for the Eye too?"

Mr Sims didn't meet her stare. Even Daisy stilled, hand hovering over his plate. He sat forward, crossing his arms.

"I do." He said, slowly. "It's- well, it's complicated."

"How?"

"That's something of a long story."

"Are you an avatar?"

He finally looked up, fixing Megan with a hard stare, his expression grave. After a long minute, he said "I am. I am not like Helen, or the mannequins, but I am still an avatar."

"Do you have powers too? Like Helen's hallways?"

He took a deep breath. "Yes. Please don't ask me to demonstrate, it's not pleasant."

Colin sat up, suddenly excited. "You have superpowers?"

Mr Sims' brow furrowed deeply as he frowned. "They aren't superpowers."

"What can you do?"

"I can... compel people to answer my questions. And I can know things."

"Cool." Colin grinned.

Anna leant forward. "What do you mean, know things?"

"Well, I can just.... know things." He spread his hands. "It's difficult to explain."

Megan blinked at him. "Are you saying you are basically psychic google?"

Daisy laughed. "That's exactly what he is. Creepy bastard can know anything, and he uses it for trivia."

Trivia. Megan jumped slightly. "Wait, you were at the fundraiser. Did you literally use all knowing magic powers to cheat at trivia night?"

He ducked his head, slightly sheepish. "To be fair, that was Martin's idea. I tried not to."

Colin dropped a hand to the table. "Hang on, do you know when we are lying about homework?"

"Yes, Colin. I do."

"Why do you let us get away with it?"

Mr Sims shrugged. "Most of the time, it's harmless. You made an honest mistake or you do intend to do it. I might be your teacher, but I still understand how it feels to be put on the spot."

A grin spread across Megan's face. "You didn't look on the system."

The others turned towards her. Mr Sims smiled, a warm, genuine grin with a hint of mischief.

"What?" Colin asked, confused.

"First day of class. He knew all of our names. But you didn't look on the system. You just knew."

"Perhaps." He sounded thoroughly pleased with himself, like his private joke had finally paid off.

"You're such a smug bastard."  Daisy muttered. "You can't help yourself, can you?"

"I try not to know anything personal about my students, but that did make learning your names quite a bit easier."

"That's cheating." Anna didn't sound annoyed by it, and if her smile was anything to go by, she agreed with Megan's assessment that it was actually pretty funny.

Mr Sims shrugged. "Maybe it is. I merely used the tools at my disposal."

Colin laughed at that.

"Mr Sims, you've always been weird, but this is insane."

He nodded. "It is indeed."

"So what's the plan?"

"Finish your lunch. It's almost time to meet back with the rest of the group."

Megan shoved a chip into her mouth. "What about the mannequins?"

"Leave that to us." Daisy sat up. She had an intense light in her eyes, and her hands clenched into fists on the table.

Megan finished eating in a bit of a trance, thinking that, perhaps, this was the strangest moment of her life.

-

"Ready to go?" Daisy leaned against the wall next to the hostel door. She had her coat zipped up against the late London night, hands shoved deep in her pockets. Jon wondered how many weapons she had hidden away on her.

Exactly seven, apparently.

"I am. Come on, let's go

"Wait!"

Jon turned as Daisy laughed. Colin barrelled out of the hostel door, the girls close behind him.

"You owe me a fiver, Sims."

"We never shook on it, Daisy." He turned to the teens. "You shouldn't be here. Go back to bed."

"No." Anna was uncharacteristically stubborn as she planted herself in front of him. "We are coming with you."

"Absolutely not."

"Tough." Megan crossed her arms over her chest. "Either we come with you, or we go on our own."

"It's not safe."

"You can use your Eyeball Senses to predict when danger is coming, right?" She cut of his quiet protest of 'Thats not how it works,' by continuing on, "And besides, if the Stranger does decide to attack us again, isn't it safer to be with you than here at the hostel?"

Jon stared down at her. She had a point. He wouldn't be any help if something happened while he was out, the students would be defenceless.

One the other hand, the possibility of an attack was only hypothetical, while they would certainly be in danger by accompanying him.

He looked at them, properly looked. They looked too familiar, like mirages of people he had known a long time ago. If he unfocused his eyes, he could almost see Sasha in the defiant tilt to Megan's head, or Tim's smile on Colin's face, or Martin's caring trust in the way Anna looked at her friends. The way they bounced off each other, sharing thoughts, feelings, ideas, it felt too much like the people he had let down by not trusting them. Of all the students he taught, these three had managed to uncover so many of his carefully constructed mysteries. In a different life, they would've made good archival assistants.

He sighed.

"Fine. But stay close to me or Daisy. Don't get left behind."

Chapter Text

Even this late at night, the streets of London were still busy. The flow of pedestrians didn't seem to let up as Jon led his little party deeper into the city. Behind him, he could hear the curious questions the teens were directing at Daisy.

"So how did you meet Mr Sims?" Anna asked.

"I was a detective. He was a suspect in a murder case."

"Oh, I think I read about that!" Colin said.

"I've been meaning to talk to you all about your penchant for googling me." Jon sighed. "I was innocent, by the way."

"That's so insane." Colin shook his head, grinning.

"Wait, Mr Sims, I've been meaning to ask." Anna glanced over at him. "Did Melanie King actually stab you?"

Jon sighed again. He was getting too old for this "I forgot about Georgie's little joke. Yes, Melanie did stab me."

Daisy chuckled. "Georgie offered to get me one of those shirts."

"You didn't stab me though."

"Yeah, but 'I held a knife to Jonathan Sims' throat' is a bit long for a t-shirt."

"That was you?" Megan gaped up at her.

Daisy gave her a toothy grin. "It was. Good memories, huh Jon?"

Jon shook his head, smiling. "I don't know that I'd describe it as 'good', but it is certainly memories."

"What changed?" Anna mused. "Between you pulling a knife on him and you helping him take down some manifestations of horror, something must have changed."

"He saved my life."

Anna blinked. "Wait, really?"

"I returned the favour." Daisy's phone pinged. She glanced down at it. "Basira says hi. And also that you're an idiot."

"Oh, I forgot to ask, how is she?"

"Annoyed that you're interrupting date night."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "You two finally figured that out, then?"

"Shut up, Sims."

They fell into an easy silence for another few streets, until Jon stopped in front of a large brick building. It was an old warehouse, built to house goods coming in from the nearby river. Eventually, trade had moved on from this part of the city, and it had fallen into disrepair, not yet saved by the housing developments turning old warehouses like it into high end flats.

"We're here."

"Here? Not the museum?"

"This is it's hiding space. It would be too obvious at the museum. It's easier to come and go this way."

They stared up at the unyielding facade.

"Let's get this over with."

-

Mr Sims led them around the side of the warehouse, to a set of old metal stairs. They led to the second floor of the warehouse. A heavy door was set into the wall, and Mr Sims pulled it open. It let out a quiet creak.

Inside, the doorway opened onto a metal walkway. They crept forward, the old metal beneath their feet threatening to give away their movements.

Eventually they paused, peering over the edge of the railing.

In the main room was mostly empty, save for a few scatterings of wooden boxes and single mannequin stood in the centre.

Colin frowned. "Where are the others?"

"That's the only one." Mr Sims said, surprised. Colin glanced over at him. He had a strange look on his face, like he was listening to someone speak. "That's the last survivor of the Circus of the Other. All the others were destroyed in the explosion."

Anna started. "Wait, explosion? The one at the wax museum?"

Daisy turned towards her, glowering. "How do you know about that?"

Mr Sims put a hand on her arm. "It's fine, Daisy. Like I said, they have a talent for finding me on the internet." He turned towards Anna. "Yes, the explosion at the wax museum was our attempt of stopping the Unknowing. It worked, in a way, but there was a cost."

"Your friend died." Megan's voice was quiet in the darkness.

Mr Sims nodded, a tired, mournful look on his face. "Tim. I... I let him down. I don't intend for that to happen again." He turned back towards the room, hands gripping the railing.

"Daisy, did you bring it?"

Daisy reached into her bag and pulled out a book. It was old, bound with dark brown leather. She handed it to Mr Sims.

"What's that?" Megan asked.

"The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Basira got it for me from the Archives."

"How is that going to help?"

He grinned at her, all teeth.  "You'll see."

They crept down the stairs.

At the bottom, they spread out, the dusty floor cushioning their footsteps.

Colin leant and picked up a spanner strewn on the floor. It was weighty, and offered a comfortable distraction from his pounding heart.

The mannequin turned its plastic head towards them.

"Hello, Archivist." It's plastic mouth didn't move.

Mr Sims glowered. "Why are you doing this?"

The buzz of static was loud, pressing down on Colin's ears.

"The Circus was all I had. It was all any of us had. You took it from me."

It lunged.

Colin threw the spanner. The projectile caught the mannequin on the cheek. It stumbled, staggering forward. Daisy grabbed its arm, twisting it back.

The creature cried out, trashing against Daisy.  She held tight, forcing it forward towards a gap in the brick walls. Mr Sims hung back, opening the book and starting to read. Anna gaped at him. "Mr Sims, how is that helpful?"

"Shh!" He waved a hand at her.

The mannequin worked it's arm loose from Daisy's grip and started flailing at her. Megan lunged, grabbing the arm and forcing it away from Daisy's hair. The arm bent and snapped off at the shoulder. It went stiff in her grip, returning to its original lifeless plastic.

The mannequin kicked out it legs. Anna grabbed one and yanked. It separated from its body.Daisy shoved it forwards into the thin gap between the walls. It fell to the ground. She tossed a small, thin parcel, wrapped in cloth down next to it.

It scrambled up as well as it could with only one leg, the squeak of plastic piercing Colin's ears.

"Now, Sims."

He squinted at the page, eyes flying over the words.

"Sims."

It lunged.

The wall moved, sliding into place, trapping the creature inside.

Mr Sims sank to his knees, letting out a shaky breath. The book slipped from his hands.

A long, heavy silence settled over them.

"What did you throw at it?" Megan stared at Daisy, wide eyed.

"A mirror. It's cursed so that when you look at it you see everything about yourself. Good, bad, the bits you didn't even realise."

A scream came from the other side of the wall, muffled through the brick. Daisy grinned. It lacked amusement. "Not good for a follower of the Stranger."

Colin looked at Anna. She was pale, her hands trembling as they clutched the leg, but she smiled tensely at him.

Daisy crossed over to where Mr Sims was crouched. "Sims."

He looked up at her. "I always forget how bad the Buried is."

She stared down at him, an unreadable expression on her face. A long minute passed before she held out a hand. He took it and let himself be pulled to his feet. He turned to the teens. "Are you alright?"

They nodded.

"What do we do about that?"

"Leave it."

"What? What if someone finds it?"

Mr Sims shook his head. "This building is owned by the Lukas family. They were feeding off its anguish at being the last of the Circus. No one will come here."

Colin didn't let himself wonder who- or what- the Lukas family was.

"And what about us? What do we do now?"

Mr Sims turned his tired stare towards him. "Now, we go back to the hostel and sleep, and hope this was enough."

Chapter Text

"What about when you're washing dishes and you put your hand in something gross?"

Mr Sims chuckled. "Uh, that's probably the Corruption."

Colin grinned. "Corruption?"

"Fear of filth, disease, things like that."

Colin shuddered. "Sounds about right."

"What about when you're at a family event and a relative you don't recognise tells you how much you've grown?" Anna leant across the aisle of the coach.

"Stranger, maybe?"

Megan nodded, thoughtfully. Someone at the back of the bus shouted something, and Mr Sims turned to look. He blinked at them, before shrugging and turning back.

"Was that the thing? The knowing?" Megan said excitedly.

He glanced over at her. "Yes. I try to not know things about my students, but it does come in handy occasionally."

"That's so cool." Megan shook her head, impressed.

Mr Sims shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I guess."

"What about when you're in a place you don't know and your phone died before you can phone anyone?"

"Hmm." He considered it. "I suppose that could be the Lonely. One of my least favourites."

"You can have a favourite fear?"

"Well, as an Avatar of the Eye, I do lean more towards that, but it was hardly a choice. The Lonely is particularly bad."

"What's it like?"

He shook his head. "Unpleasant. Severely so."

Megan fell silent, thoughtful. Mr Sims had agreed to answer their questions easily enough, but he had been careful to steer them away from anything properly... spooky. The quizzing had passed the time on the long coach ride back to Scotland fairly well, and the countryside was rolling by the windows steadily.

Anna tapped her foot against the floor. "What about kids tv show mascots?" They all looked at her. "Those things are terrifying."

"Spiral." Mr Sims nodded. "They're inexplicable."

Colin laughed. "Okay, but what about when you're climbing stairs and there's less steps than you think, so you stumble?"

"The Vast. Heights, falling, open spaces, that sort of thing."

"It blows my mind how easily you answered that."

Mr Sims shrugged. "I've had a lot of time to think about this sort of thing."

"Spiders has to be one, right?" Megan hummed.

"The Web." He sighed. "Another bad one. It also covers manipulation."

"That... works, I guess? Huh, weird. I never thought about it like that."

Mr Sims shrugged again. "You get used to seeing things from a different angle."

Anna looked at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"How does the knowing work? Does it just come to you, or do you have to think about it?"

He sighed. "There's no easy answer to that. Sometimes I just know, sometimes I have to go in search of the answers. Drawing the line is often the hard part. The Beholding always wants more, even when I don't want to know it."

"Does it hurt?"

He considered the question carefully. "Not in the conventional sense, but it does hurt. More my own guilt than anything else, to be honest."

Colin sat forward. "But what about the future? Can you see what's going to happen?"

Mr Sims shook his head. "The Eye can't see the future. I can make guesses based on evidence, but no one can know what's going to happen before it does unless someone's decided on doing it. For example, Ms Maxwell is about to stand up and tell us all that we are almost to the service station."

As if on cue, Ms Maxwell stood, and got the classes attention. "Hey everyone! We are about to stop at the service station. We'll be getting out to have lunch, stretch our legs, and get ready for the next leg of the trip. Make sure you eat and go to the toilet because we will not be stopping until we get back to the school." With that she sat back down.

Mr Sim held out a hand in a 'see' gesture. Megan grinned. "Awesome."

-

Martin was waiting by the car when Jon climbed off the bus. He smiled and held out a thermos that Jon Knew was full of the most perfect tea.

"You're the best. I love you." He took it, taking a deep, grateful sip.

Martin chuckled. "I thought I told you to stay safe."

"I called Daisy."

"Hmm. Still."

He placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "I know. I'm sorry, Martin."

He smiled down at him. "You'll make it up to me."

"I'll try my best."

Jon turned back towards the coach in time for Anna to step off the bus, Megan and Colin close behind her.

They glanced over at him, and he gestured for them to come over. They did, picking their way through the swarm of students.

"Hey." Martin waved a greeting at them. "Jon told me what happened. Are you all okay?"

They nodded.

"I know how crazy it all is. It's a lot to take in, very quickly." He looked at them, seriously. "If you need to talk about it at all, you know where we are. We are more than happy to answer any questions."

"Thanks." Anna said.

Martin smiled at her, a genuine, open smile that lit up his whole face. Jon loved that smile.

"Here. We got something for you all." He turned and reached through the open window of the car and pulled out three colourful boxes. He handed them to the teens, who stared down at them.

"Cameras?" Megan asked, confused.

"Polaroid cameras." Jon explained. "The Stranger, it can take people and replace them. Everything about them changes, except analog records. Hence, polaroids."

Colin stared at him. "These must have been expensive."

Martin waved it away. "I got them with the money we stole from Peter Lukas when we fled the Institute. They were basically free. Besides," He grinned. "He would've hated his money going towards something like this. Call it one final victory."

"Lukas?" Colin said. "Like the family that owned the warehouse?"

Jon nodded, grimacing. "Peter Lukas was our boss for a while."

"What happened to him?"

Jon gave a vicious grin. "He got cocky."

They stared at him, wide eyed. Megan seemed to figure it out first. "No. Really?"

Jon nodded again.

"Wicked. Did he at least deserve it?"

"Very much so."

"Peter was a singularly vile man. He was an avatar of the Lonely."

Colin blinked. "You said the Lonely was your least favourite. Is that why?"

Jon ignored the look Martin gave him. "It is part of it, yes."

Colin nodded in understanding, but didn't pry any more.

The sound of Anna's mum calling them over carried over the gradually fading hubbub of students. They all turned to see her standing on the pavement opposite them, waving.

"That's our cue. It was nice to see you again, Martin." Anna picked up her suitcase

"And you. And remember, if you need anything, anything at all, Jon and I are more than willing to help. Doesn't have to be related to the Entities. Sometimes it just helps to have someone there."

Megan smiled, a little sadly. "Thank you."

"We mean it." Jon said, earnestly. "Talking helps."

They all nodded, lifting their suitcases. Jon watched them head over to the car and load the boot. They turned back and waved before piling into the car.

Jon leant against Martin's shoulder as the car pulled away. Martin wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight embrace, his warmth seeping into Jon's bones, relaxing him from the inside out.

The Entities were still out there, their followers still active, still after the Archivist, but here, in this sleepy village in the middle-of-nowhere, Scotland, they were safe and happy, and he could protect the people around him.

Chapter Text

Hey everyone! Oak here!

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the support you've given throughout this fic, it's been honestly so wonderful to read all of your comments

Chapter 13 was the final chapter that I had planned, but I really want to keep writing this fic bc I love the characters and this au so much.

I still have plenty of head cannons about these characters, especially the kids, that I didn't get to work into previous chapters, either bc there wasn't a logical place to put them, or because they would've distracted from the main story

Because of this, I'm going to use this chapter as a bit of a prompts page

In the comments, write any prompts/requests for anything you want to see in this au

Some general guidelines:

• The prompt can be as small or as big as you like, so if you want to see the kids getting lunch with nothing spooky happening, that's just as relevant as if you want to see the kids fighting monsters and being badass
• It doesn't have to feature all of the characters, so if you want a chapter about just Jon or just the kids, or even a specific character, then thats great!
• There's no time limit! I'll keep writing this fic until people tell me to stop or I get bored, so even if you found this months after it was posted, I'll probably still want to write your prompt
• I'm not going to kill any characters off, simply for future writing/my own sanity
• I'm ace, and many of my characters are underage, so nothing nsfw
• Dont worry if you've never left a comment before!! If this is your first time commenting, you're just as welcome as the folks who comment on every chapter 

I can be reached more directly on my insta @statement_boo_gins, or at my tumblrs @oakleaf--bearer or @illbefunnylater, so if you want to chat, please just drop me a dm on any of them, I promise I don't bite!

Also!

There's fan art of the kids! @ccomilk drew an incredible piece of them all, it can be seen on their insta or on tumblr, and it's the pinned post on @oakleaf--bearer on tumblr 

If you want to draw the kids, I would absolutely love to see it

Thank you so much to everyone who has ever left kudos, a comment, or even just come back to read a new chapter, I've loved writing for you all and I would love to keep doing so

Thank you all so much!

Oak xx

Chapter Text

"Mr Sims!"

Jon stopped on his path down the corridor as Colin jogged up behind him. "Colin. What can I help you with?"

He slowed, coming level with Mr Sims. "What do you know about spooky books?"

Jon froze. "Is this question hypothetical, or-?"

"I was helping Anna clear her gran's loft." Colin pulled his phone out of his pocket. "There's stuff that's been in there for, like, a hundred years. Family heirlooms and stuff. We found this book." He held out his phone. On the screen was a picture of a damp copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. "It was wet and we thought something had spilt on it, but then we realised the water was coming from inside it. Soaking out from the pages. And, well, you told us to come to you if something happened, and this felt like a something."

Jon nodded, trying to ignore the part of his brain that was screaming at him to go, to run, to find this book and burn the whole village down. "You made the right call. Did either of you read it?"

Colin shook his head. "The pages are too wet. They just tear."

"What have you done with it?"

"We put it in a box. Plastic. The water shouldn't leak out that way."

Jon was impressed. "Good idea. What are you doing after school?"

Colin looked at his watch. "I have a shift at the cafe until 5 and then I was just going to hang out with Anna and Megan. Why?"

"How would you all feel about a spot of book burning?"

Colin blinked, once, twice, then his eyes widened with gleeful surprise. "Seriously?"

Jon nodded again. "Come to the cottage after your shift. Bring the book."

"Mr Sims, you are so fucking cool."

"Language. And put your phone away at school."

-

Mr Sims opened the door to the cottage just as they rounded the corner. Anna grinned. "Did you See us coming?"

"Yes." He said. "Sorry about that."

Megan waved it away. "It's still cool enough that it's not creepy yet."

"Give it time." He held the door open for them to enter the cottage. "Martin's already in the garden."

They tracked through the small house, into the kitchen and out the back door. The garden was fairly small, a grassy lawn with a small planter along one side of the house. A fire pit stood in the centre, a small pile of logs next to it. Martin waved as they came out of the cottage.

"Hey. So, spooky books, huh?"

Mr Sims scoffed quietly behind them. Anna heard him mutter "I still hate that word." He stepped around them and crossed over to where Martin was stood by the fire pit.

"Well, have you got it?"

Anna pulled her bag off her shoulders and reached into it, pulling out the small parcel. She peeled off the plastic bag they had used to catch any leaks and handed the box to Mr Sims. He held it up, inspecting the inch or so of water that had seeped out of the pages.

Martin leant over his shoulder to study it. "How did it end up with your gran?"

"It belonged to her uncle." Anna explained. "He was in the navy in the war. He bought this when he was on shore leave once. His ship went down shortly afterward. Apparently, this was recovered from the wreckage and ended up in a private collection for a while before it made its way back to my gran. She doesn't want it anymore, so she told me to throw it away."

"Private collection?" Martin looked down at Mr Sims.

"Yes, unfortunately this is a Leitner."

"What's a Leitner?"

Mr Sims opened the box and carefully fished the book out. "Not a what, a who. Jurgen Leitner. He was a book collector. Had something of a library of them."

"Were they all this... leaky?" Colin asked.

Martin laughed. "Not all of them. Some were just a bit weird, some were downright horrific."

"This one toes the line. If you read it, the experience would be severely unpleasant. But, given the condition of the pages, it's almost impossible to read."

Anna watched as Mr Sims placed it in the centre of the pile of logs. "Is it going to burn? It's soaking wet."

"Things are rarely logical when it comes to Leitners."

"That's not an answer, love."

Mr Sims looked up at Martin. "Sorry, I suppose it wasn't. It should burn, but we did bring a bit of incentive, just in case."

Martin vanished back inside the cottage, The sound of cupboards opening was clear to hear from inside.

Colin moved to help Mr Sims load more of the logs onto the fire. "Is this connected to the Fears?"

Mr Sims nodded. "The Vast. Drowning at sea comes under the fear of the deep."

Martin reappeared holding a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches. "I put the kettle on if anyone wants a cup of tea."

Anna gaped at him as he unscrewed the top of the can and tipped out some of the liquid, splashing it onto the offending book.

"Are you being serious?"

Mr Sims smiled at her. "Martin has a bit of an arsonist streak."

"I do not." Martin said, indignant. He screwed the cap back onto the lighter fluid and placed it on the ground. "I burned things one time. And it was to help you!"

"You enjoyed it far too much."

"As part of the plan."

"There were other ways of dealing with Elias."

"Were there?"

They seemed to have a bit of a standoff for a moment, before Mr Sims smiled. "You're right, it was a good plan. I'm sorry."

"Thank you. Now, who wants to do the honours?" He held up the box of matches.

Anna brightened. "Can I? It feels like a bit of a family heirloom."

Martin handed her the matches. She struck one and dropped it on the pile of logs. It flickered for a moment before the fluid caught, spreading flames over the logs surrounding the still leaking book. Some of the fluid on the book caught. The damp pages hissed as the water in the evaporated.

"Thanks for this." Anna said. "I wouldn't have known what to do with it otherwise."

"It's no trouble, really." Mr Sims smiled at her. "To be honest, I'm quite impressed. You handled all of this far better than I would have expected."

"What would have happened if we had read it?" Colin asked.

"20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. It takes on quite a literal meaning."

"We would've drowned?"

"All while fully on land. Like I said, severely unpleasant."

Megan shuddered. "Who would want to collect a book like that?"

Mr Sims frowned at the fire. "A man that can't see past his own hubris. Leitner was an idiot. No one can control these books. He knew the risks and he tried it anyway. And he never saw the wrong in what he had done."

Anna stared at the fire. The book was properly burning now, it's old pages curling under the heat. "How many more are there?"

Martin shrugged. "No one really knows. Even Leitner didn't know how many he had in the end."

"So we could end up finding another one?"

"I sincerely hope you don't, but yes." Mr Sims gave them all a stern look. "I hope you're not all going to go looking for danger."

Megan grinned at him. "Oh don't worry, Mr Sims. We won't."

He didn't look convinced. "Alright. If you do end up in more trouble, you know where to find us."

Chapter Text

"So, you'll be working in the main shop, helping stock shelves and manning the cash machine, things like that." Mrs McHale explained. Megan nodded politely. So far, the job seemed simple enough. Not that she'd expected her Saturday job in a farm shop to be particularly difficult. "Feel free to ask for help whenever you need it. We don't expect you to be in charge or to know everything immediately."

Mrs McHale lead her back towards the front desk. "If you just wait here a second, I'll go grab your apron and we can start your training, okay?"

She disappeared into the back room, leaving Megan standing by the desk, awkwardly hoping a customer didn't come in.

As if on cue, the door to the shop opened. Megan considered the pros and cons of quitting without even technically starting her job.

The figure who stepped through the door was unexpectedly familiar.

"Oh! Hi." Martin waved awkwardly. "What brings you here?"

Megan pointed at the door Mrs McHale has just vanished through. "I'm starting work here. It's my first day."

Martin blinked at her. "Oh! Oh, I see. Mrs McHale said we had a new person starting today. Sorry, I didn't realise it was you."

"You work here too?"

He pointed at the apron in his hand. "Yep. Is that a problem?" From anyone else, the question would've seemed standoffish or rude, but from Martin it sounded genuine.

"No. To be honest, I'm kind of glad I know someone."

"Right, here's your apron. Oh, Martin, fantastic." Mrs McHale reappeared from the back room carrying a green apron. Behind her the phone started ringing. "Would you mind showing Megan the ropes? I need to get that." She left without waiting for an answer.

Megan watched her go, and turned back to Martin, who was shaking his head fondly. "That woman never slows down. She reminds me a bit of Jon to be honest. He's never been good at taking a break. Right, the ropes. Welcome to the wild world of working in a farm shop."

-

Megan's brother threw a pillow at her. "I'm going out."

She shoved it off herself and pushed off the sofa. "Where?"

"I've got a date." He grinned. "Remember that girl from the library?"

Megan did. She was pretty and brunette and annoying.

"She agreed to go see a movie with me."

"Have fun."

-

"You'll meet someone someday." Her mother said. "Everyone does."

Megan was doubtful, but she stayed silent.

-

Martin showed her a picture on his phone over their lunch break. Mr Sims had sent it to him. It was of a cow with its tongue sticking out of its mouth lopsidedly. Mr Sims stood next to it, pulling the same face. Martin smiled so wide it looked like it hurt.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Oh, about a year or so. It's hard to keep track. I've liked him for almost as long as I've known him."

"When did you realise you liked him?"

He smiled and tapped his fork against his plate of food. "I was trapped in my flat for two weeks while being stalked by a worm creature. I realised that all I wanted to do was talk to Jon. Then he offered to let me stay in the archives, and I realised that my little crush on my boss was something more."

Megan smiled politely.

-

"So, any boys I should know about?" Her grandmother asked over dinner.

"No, Nana. No boys."

"Any girls?"

"No, Nana. No girls either."

-

Colin reached over Megan to steal one of Anna's chips. She giggled and swatted at his hand, but didn't stop him. The conversation carried on, and Megan pretended she didn't see the way they glanced at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.

-

It was a slow day at the shop. A heavy downpour of rain fell outside, slowing foot-traffic to almost nothing. Even the number of cars pulling into the small gravel car park was limited. Megan had done the rounds stocking shelves while Martin moved boxes in the store room, but by midday it was evident that there weren't enough customers to justify resorting the fresh produce section again, so Martin had pulled some chairs out of the back room and settled down with a bundle of wool and some knitting needles. He'd passed her the cable to plug into the speakers and let her play her music, mostly guitar-heavy indie rock bands, through the shops speakers.

Megan curled up in the spare chair, book in hand and started reading.

It was some ya novel Anna had recommended. The plot line was good enough, but by the third instance of the protagonist moping about how she would have to chose between the two, equally bland love interests, Megan had had enough.

She snapped the book shut and dropped it on the counter.

"You alright?" Martin asked, gently.

"I'm fine." Megan snapped.

Martin raised an eyebrow at her.

She sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. What's on your mind?"

"The book. Why does she have to pick one of the guys to date? Why can't she just be herself and be happy? It doesn't make any sense. And, if she does have to date someone, why make her pick out of the two dullest people ever?"

Martin chuckled. "You're quite passionate about this book, aren't you?"

"Sorry."

"Oh no, don't apologise. Although, if I can, it feels like you're not angry at the book per se, but that you're angry at something else entirely. So what's this really about?"

She sighed. "I don't know. Dating just seems to come easily to everyone else, but I don't get it. Everyone is ending up in relationships and expecting me to do the same but I can never work out how to-" She cut off, frustrated. "Everyone says I'll meet someone, but I just can't picture the someone I want to meet. What if I end up like the girl in the book, being forced to pick between two people I don't actually like just because it fits some narrative?"

Martin looked at her steadily. "Have you ever heard the term aromantic?"

Megan looked over at him. She shook her head.

He bundled up his wool and kitting needles and placed them on the counter next to the book. "Aromanticism is lack of romantic attraction. I don't know much about it, Jon knows more than I do, but in my understanding, aromantics don't feel romantic attraction towards anyone. Or, in some cases, only specific people." He turned towards her. "Maybe you're feeling frustrated by all the focus on romance because you don't feel that level of attraction."

"So, what, I'm going to die alone?"

"Not dating someone doesn't mean you'll be alone forever. You can still meet people you care about deeply even if that attraction is purely platonic. Look at it this way, you love your friends, right?"

Megan nodded.

"That's platonic love. You love them without it needing to be romantic. Is that any less valid than if you dated someone?"

She shook her head.

"There you go then."

She thought about it. It made sense, in a way. Even as a kid, she'd never seen what all the fuss with the idea of falling in love. Movies that ended with a couple getting married or falling in love had never really caught her attention, and, as far as she could remember, she'd never had a crush on anyone.

"Aromantic." She said slowly, tracing the word on the counter.

"I recommend doing your own research into it. My knowledge is very limited, but I'm more than happy to talk about it if you want to."

-

"So, like, no one?" Anna asked.

"No one yet. Maybe no one ever." Megan shrugged. "It's all a spectrum."

"Fair enough. Do you want me to not talk about dating around you?"

"No, it's fine, you can still talk about your crush on Colin."

Anna buried her face in the pillow, muffling her indignant protests.

-

A few weeks later, Megan slipped the loop of her apron over her head, the shiny glint of a badge catching the light where it sat pinned to the front pocket. She traced a finger over the green and grey lines and smiled.

Chapter Text

mystery gang

mmmm:

 [image id: the spiderverse meme where miles is mimicking peter b parker, with the text 'mr sims explaining the fears' over peter, and the text 'colin taking notes' over miles]

jonny d’ville jr:

i thought it might come in handy!! you never know, we might need to know these things

bannanna:

i can see your notes, it just says 'yikes' under the corruption

jonny d’ville jr:

are you saying the corruption isn't yikes?

mmmm:

no no, he's right, the corruption is yikes

jonny d’ville jr:

the fear of yikes

bannanna:

is that the technical term?

Jonny d’ville jr:

i think so yeah

mmmm:

i think yikes is the more common term, but the technical term is actually oof

bannanna:

i think oof is the vast

jonny d’ville jr:

this is lonely erasure

and when we all get eaten or attacked again and we actually know which entity is after us, youll thank me

mr sims would be impressed with my thorough documentation

(bannanna changed jonny d’ville jr’s name to mr sims jr)

mr sims jr:

i hate you

bannanna:

:)

mystery gang

mr sims jr:

pls tell me i wasn't the only one who heard that

bannanna:

no i did it was incredible

mmmm:

heard what?

wait what happened?

mr sims jr:

olivia just went 'road work ahead?' and mr sims went 'uh, yeah, i sure hope it does' in the exact right tone

i do not know how to feel rn

bannanna:

it was like watching a celebrity try to be relatable

or the twitter of any corporation

p a i n f u l

mmmm:

this happened and i missed it?!?!?

me and beholding are going to have words, they need to tell me when interesting things are going to happen

bannanna:

it was

bad

mr sims jr:

the question is, did he know the quote or did he Know the quote

did the beholding think that that reference was an important thing for him to know in that moment, or did he already know it and quoted it freely

mmmm:

The beholding deciding that he needs to know memes is hysterical to me

its like a checklist

unimaginable amounts of torment? check

the ability to read minds? check

memes? check

hes got it all

mystery gang

(2:37)

mmmm:

mr sims looked at peoples traumatic experiences and went 'is anyone gonna eat that' and then didn't wait for an answer

bannanna:

megan, it is 2:30 in the morning

go to sleep

mmmm:

you're awake too

bannanna:

...

touché

(8:21)

mr sims jr:

[image id: 'delicious, finally some good fucking food' with the text edited to say 'some good fucking trauma']

(8:46)

bannanna:

did you wake up and make that

mr sims jr:

i had it ready to go but the topic had never come up naturally before

I have a bit of a stash ready for whenever something happens

mmmm:

that’s a terrifying concept i wish to see all of them

mr sims jr:

all in good time

mystery gang

mr sims jr:

i'm about to become an avatar of the slaughter if this old lady doesn't stop

mmmm:

what's happening

mr sims jr:

homophobic and loud

bannanna:

the worst combination

remember, violence is not the answer

sometimes the answer is passive aggressive actions

mr sims jr:

you might be right there

she just ordered chips, im gonna put too much salt on them

bannanna:

youre a villain

mmmm:

morally, i cannot condone this

however, as your friend, pls put some vinegar in her drink

mr sims jr:

mr sims to the rescue

mmmm:

oh?

mr sims jr:

he just came in to the café, looked at her, frowned and went to sit down

like, a second later she stood up really suddenly and bolted out the café

i went to take him his drink and he apologised and said that he hates doing that but also that that woman was vile and had tried to lecture him and martin when they were shopping the other day

idk what he didn’t but hes my hero

bannanna:

mr sims coming in clutch

what a guy

(mmmm renamed the chat to mr sims fanclub)

mr sims jr:

new favourite person

mr sims fanclub

(11:34)

mmmm:

guys, did mr sims seemed more meh than usual today?

bannanna:

i noticed that

mr sims jr:

yeah, he seemed rough

mmmm:

can we do anything?

bannanna:

think happy thoughts

mr sims jr:

?

bannanna:

he can read minds, so if we think happy thoughts loudly enough he might pick up on it

mmmm:

that's honestly adorable

mr sims jr:

anna my heart that's too cute

bannanna:

:)

(12:24)

mr sims jr:

just walked past mr sims and i tried to project the image of kittens to him and he smiled, so i think it's working

mmmm:

yay we helped!

bannanna:

go team!

mr sims fanclub

(14:07)

mmmm:

ABORT ABORT RED ALERT

(14:09)

GUYS I SWEAR TO GOD SOMEONE ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW

bannanna:

what's up?

you okay?

mmmm:

i'm hyperventilating

i just called martin dad on accident

bannanna:

you whAT?

mmmm:

he showed me how to do something and told me i did a good job and i said 'thanks dad'

i don't think he heard me

bannanna:

i cannot believe this

you've been adopted, martins your dad now, i'm sorry

look forward to the weirdest fathers days ever

mmmm:

you don't understand, i'm hiding in the bathroom at work, i cannot face him again, ive been in here for too long

(bannanna changed mmmm’s name to bby blackwood)

bannanna:

you should get him a mug that says worlds best dad

do you reckon martin or mr sims is the strict parent

nvm it's definitely mr sims

mr sims jr:

wait what happened what did i miss

bannanna:

megan called martin dad

mr sims jr:

rude, i want to be adopted by martin!

do you think he'll adopt all of us?

bby blackwood:

i hate you both

this is the worst

i have to quit my job

i'm going to change my name and leave the country

forget i ever met martin

mr sims jr:

hey, don't speak about your father like that!

anna, you're wrong mr sims is definitely the pushover parent, martins the one who imposes actual rules

bannanna:

hmm you might be right

bby blackwood:

can you pls not

mr sims fanclub

(00:03)

mr sims jr:

ben and jerry's: buried or hunt

it's a simple question guys, come on

bby blackwood:

i do not know how to answer

bannanna:

i'm trying to work out how it's possibly either of them

mr sims jr:

bc you dig

dig for chunks

don't tell me that doesn't activate some part of your caveman brain

the pursuit of m u n c h

bannanna:

why am i friends with you

mr sims jr:

my winning personality

bannanna:

no that can't be it

bby blackwood:

why are you thinking about this at midnight

mr sims jr:

bc i'm craving ben and jerry's and i want to know which cosmic fear that craving is feeding

bby blackwood:

i hate that i relate to that

mr sims jr:

so which is it: buried or hunt?

bannanna:

buried

mr sims fanclub

bannanna:

 [image id: 'ive had enough of this dude' with the text 'mr sims' boss' over it]

bby blackwood:

s a m e

we get it, you're evil, chill tf out

mr sims jr:

didn't he have two shitty bosses

bannanna:

oh yeah, hang on

[image id: the same image with the text edited to read 'ive had enough of these dudes' and 'mr sims bosses'

bby blackwood:

update on the shitty bosses front

just asked martin

apparently they were married????

mr sims jr:

the bosses??

to each other???

bby blackwood:

ya

bannanna:

that's disturbing

mr sims fanclub

bannanna:

i think there's a desolation avatar on my bus

he smells so strongly of smoke

not like cigarette smoke, actual smoke

bby blackwood

oh damn

bannanna:

he's holding a lighter too

mr sims jr:

damn you okay?

bannanna:

yeah i just might be moments away from death, nothing new

bby blackwood:

let us know if he sets the bus on fire

anna, you good, buddy?

bannanna:

yeah he just got off

his seat was singed

mr sims jr:

omg

you okay?

bannanna:

we didn't speak and he didn't come near me so i'm okay

remind me to tell mr sims tho

mr sims jr:

ill come get you from the bus stop, ill be there in a min

bannanna:

ty

mr sims fanclub

mr sims jr:

i've decided to drop out of school and become an avatar

bannanna:

of which fear?

mr sims jr:

undecided

i need to see my options, ya know?

we've met an eye guy, a stranger thing, and whatever the hell helen was

i think i need to see a bit more of the range

bannanna:

pretty fly for an eye guy

bby blackwood:

martin was nearly a lonely avatar

bannanna:

wait, really?

bby blackwood:

yeah apparently he had powers and everything

mr sims jr:

martin has powers???

are they like mr sims?

bby blackwood:

he hasn't told me much but i think he could turn invisible? or at least not be noticed

mr sims jr:

that's so cool

can he still do it?

bby blackwood:

i don't think so

i asked and he said no bc he's not lonely anymore

bannanna:

that's kinda cute

bby blackwood:

martin says that vast avatars seem to have the most fun

mr sims jr:

ehh idk i don't really like heights

bannanna:

dark could be cool

or the end, go back to your emo phase

mr sims jr:

i'll have you know, i never left my emo phase

bby blackwood:

martin has asked me to remind you all that becoming an avatar is not something we should aspire to, and that we should avoid things related to the entities as much as possible

mr sims jr:

sorry dad

bby blackwood:

don't you dare make that a thing

mr sims fanclub

bannanna:

the web is after me tonight

just found two spiders in my room

bby blackwood:

that's two spiders to many

mr sims jr:

that's 16 legs

bby blackwood:

many

mr sims jr:

numerous

bannanna:

THERE WAS A THIRD

bby blackwood:

24 LEGS

mr sims jr:

SIR THATS TOO MANY LEGS

bannanna to mr sims jr

bannanna:

hey, are you okay to call?

im still a bit freaked out from the spider thing and idk if i can sleep

mr sims jr:

absolutely

Chapter Text

martin:

jon, are you busy?

Jon:

No, why?

Are you okay?

Did something happen?

martin:

i'm okay!

megan just called me dad

Jon:

Oh?

martin:

idk why it hit me so hard

it just slipped out and she seemed super embarrassed

she ran away to the bathroom and hasn't come out since

can you check if she's okay?

Jon:

She's fine, just a little flustered

She thinks you didn't hear her

martin:

do i tell her that i did?

Jon:

She's quite embarrassed, so I don't think she would appreciate it right now

For what it's worth, she does see you as an influential figure in her life

martin:

she does?

Jon:

She does

You've helped her with a lot, she appreciates that

martin:

i didn't realise, i thought i was just being helpful

Jon:

She hasn't had many people be helpful in that way

martin:

oh jon

Jon:

You would make a very good father, Martin

martin:

......

jon, should we have kids?

Jon:

Perhaps a cat first, love

Chapter Text

The school was dark this late at night, with no daylight sleeping through the windows and several of the classrooms already closed up for the night.

Their study session had dragged on, and the trio was cutting through the main school as a shortcut to the gate out of school.

"It feels so weird without people here." Anna said.

"It's like a liminal space. There should be loads of people here, but there isn't." Megan hummed. "That leaves it feeling...." She waved her hands.

Colin nodded, sagely. "Spooky."

The girls giggled.

They passed rows of empty rooms. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a vacuum cleaner started up as the cleaners began their nightly rounds. Outside, a car started up, retreating into the distance.

Colin paused as they passed Mr Sims classroom. The light was still on inside, illuminating the corridor with a dim wash of light. He opened the door and leant in.

"Evening, Mr Sims! Are you working late?"

Mr Sims was slumped on his desk, head in his hands. His hair was limp around his shoulders and he was swaying gently, like there was an invisible force trying to push him off his chair.

"Mr Sims?"

He raised his head. His face was ashen, drawn tight over his skull.

"Woah, you okay?"

Slowly, Mr Sims tried to push himself up from his desk. His arms gave way, crumpling under him. He slipped, tumbling to the ground.

"Mr Sims!" Colin rushed over to his side. His shoulder felt clammy through his shirt as he gripped it. "What's wrong?"

"Statement-" Mr Sims croaked out.

He pressed a palm against his mouth. The knuckles went white as he dug his fingers into the flesh of his cheeks.

"I'm calling Martin." Megan fished out her phone and dialled the number.

Colin held the back of his hand to Mr Sims forehead. It was slick with sweat. "Can you hear me?"

Their teacher nodded, hand still across his mouth. He was trembling, hunched over himself. Colin distantly heard Megan talking to Martin, but the words were lost behind the sound of Mr Sims ragged breathing.

Anna crouched down next to him. "Mr Sims, look at me." Slowly, he turned. "You need to breathe. Can you do that?"

He stared at her, blinking slowly. After a long minute, he nodded.

"Good. Come on, deep breath."

She inhaled deeply. After a moments pause, he followed suit, taking a shaky breath in through his nose. As Anna exhaled, he followed suit, keeping the hand against his mouth.

This pattern went on for a few minutes as Mr Sims slowly calmed down. His shaking lessened, but his shoulder still felt feverish under Colin's hand.

The door to the classroom burst open, and in marched Martin, bag clutched in his hand. He moved swiflty, coming to kneel beside Mr Sims.

"Jon, can you hear me?"

He nodded stiffly, hands grasping at Martin's bag. Martin batted his hands away, tugging the zip open. He pulled out a piece of paper with writing scrawled across it.

Mr Sims snatched it out his hands.

"Statement of George Taylor, given March-"

"Come on. You probably don't want to hear this." Martin stood and lead the way to the door, leaving Mr Sims hunkered over, reading.

The hallway was eerily still after the rush of adrenaline.

"What was that?" Anna stared up at Martin.

"Withdrawal. He needs the statements to survive." He sighed. "I thought he read one this morning."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Probably? I've never seen him this bad before." He slumped back against the wall.

"Does this happen often?" Megan asked.

"Not really. He mostly stays on top of it."

They lapsed into a tense silence for a few minutes until the door opened and out stepped Mr Sims, still looking haggard and pained. 

Martin pushed off the wall and stepped in front of him.

"Are you okay?"

Mr Sims nodded. He seemed exhausted. His shoulders slumped and he swayed as he stood.

Martin reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from his sweaty forehead. He turned back to the teens.

"I'll give you all a lift home, if you want. The cars outside."

Colin considered declining. The evening had gotten weird fast, and he didn't know how much longer he wanted to be around Mr Sims, but it was also late and dark, and Martin was a comforting presence. A glance at the girls said that they agreed. "If that's okay."

"It's no trouble at all." Martin turned back to where Mr Sims was leaning heavily against the door. "What do you need from the classroom?"

Mr Sims blinked at him, then slowly held out the statement and an old fashioned tape recorder. Martin took both and tucked them into his bag.

"Let's go." He wrapped one arm around his shoulder and pulled him down the corridor.

The trio followed them as they made their way out of the school and onto the car park.

Martin bundled Mr Sims into the passenger seat of their car. Instantly, he curled up against the window and shut his eyes.

Colin climbed into the backseat, in between Anna and Megan.

Absently, he heard Anna tell Martin their addresses. His eyes were fixed on the back of Mr Sims head.

The way he had slumped over was playing on repeat in the back of his mind. He had simply collapsed, not from illness or from fatigue, but from the need to read about a strangers fear. For all the jokes any of them had made about the Entities, he'd never considered that serving one would come with its own set of consequences if the fear wasn't fed properly.

Mr Sims had always been so ready to answer questions, provide explanations for unexplainable things, but to see him reduced to a shivering, starving.... thing had rattled Colin more than he would've ever expected. The thought to call an ambulance hadn't occurred to any of them, because that's what you did when a human was hurt, and Mr Sims had been clear about the fact that that didn't really include him anymore.

When Martin dropped Anna and Megan off to their houses, he gave their hands a quick squeeze, hoping he was being reassuring.

Then, it was only him left, sat in a car with his inhuman teacher and his boyfriend.

Martin met his eyes in the rear view mirror. "Are you okay?"

Colin sighed. "Yeah, I just- I didn't realise it was so bad."

Martin nodded, thoughtfully. "It's worse than most think."

As Colin watched him pull away into the night from his front porch, he thought that, perhaps, Martin was talking about more than just Mr Sims.

Chapter Text

"Anyone seen Jon today?"

Dana shook her head. "No, why?"

"He's being extra..." Myra widened her eyes and wiggled her fingers like she was casting a spell. "You know?"

"What did he do?" Philip sat down at the staffroom table.

"My car was making weird noises this morning. It had stopped by the time I got to school, but then I ran into Jon and he told me I needed to get a specific part checked. There's no way he could've known it was making noises."

"Oh that's weird." Dana hummed. "I'm telling you, that man is psychic."

Phillip laughed. "I thought that, and then he told me he wasn't psychic. I didn't say it out loud."

"Did he pull that face? You know the one, where he says something weird and then looks like he regrets everything."

They all laughed. Jon quirkinesses had been the subject of many staffroom discussions. His past was such a mystery, and his reluctance to clarify any of it had led to some bizarre theories over Friday night drinks.

"Some of my students said he was a spy." Dana had announced one night.

"Think they're right?"

Phillip had laughed. "Who knows. I doubt he'd give a straight answer. He's so damn vague."

"It's the Englishness. English people can't give straight answers." Myra added.

The staffroom seemed to run on gossip about Jon. Every time one of them learned something new about him, it was filed away and shared as soon as the staffroom was empty. The gossip was never malicious, and it was difficult to get anything too dark out of Jon anyway. What small nuggets they did manage to get usually focused on inane and meaningless stories that didn't seem at all connected. Apparently, whatever Jon had been through to give him all those scars wasn't something he liked to dwell on.

The door swung open and in stepped the source of their amusement.

"Oh hi Jon. How was your class?" Dana gestured to the free chair for him to sit.

"Uneventful." He smiled at them. "They all got on with the work quite well."

"Really? That class has been really chatty for me for the past few lessons."

He shrugged. "I never have any problems with them. They're a good group."

"What did you do in the lesson?

"I marked those practice essay questions they did, so we spent some of the class going over them. And the homework."

Dana frowned. "The practice questions they did yesterday?"

He nodded.

"Jon, did you mark thirty practice questions over night, as well as the homeworks?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't too much. Besides, Martin was busy so I was staying out of the way."

"How do you do it? I swear, Jon, sometimes it seems like you're inhuman."

He spluttered quietly.

"It was a joke, don't worry." Myra laughed We don't actually think you're somehow built to feed off paperwork."

This earned more mumbled excuses. Phillip thought he caught a grumbled 'not like I had much say in it'.

"So, doing much this weekend, Jon?"

"Martin wants to take a walk to the lake, so we are packing a picnic. I found a place that apparently has nice views."

"Oh bless." Myra smiled." Have fun."

"I imagine we will. Martin's quite excited. He's actually baking some lemon bars for us to take right now."

"Oh?"

"Uh, he texted me. Before I came in. We were talking." Jon stuttered, suddenly defensive.

"You know we all break the rules about checking our phones in classrooms, right? None of us follow them." Dana held up a calming hand. "We aren't going to turn you in for doing that."

"Right. Of course." He shrank back a bit, then frowned and pulled out his phone. He typed out a quick text. Phillip managed to catch a glimpse of it over his shoulder.

'That's too much flour. It'll go dry'

The reply came a few seconds later.

'Stop watching me cook'

Phillip shook his head. Everything they learned about Jon only raised more questions. Being psychic would explain a lot.

-

A few days later, Myra poked her head into the staffroom on her way to class.

"Can't stop, but I'm just dropping by to tell you all that Jon was either in a band or knew someone who was in a band. Either way, he used to go back stage at gigs a lot."

Dana laughed. "Never would've pegged him for a rockstar."

"Even better. It was a themed band."

Chapter Text

"So, this is your form group." Ms Maxwell waved around the room. "We meet here every morning to go over some things before you go to class."

Harrison nodded. His old school had had a similar thing, so this wasn't anything new.

"Also, I'll be assigning one of the students to help show you around."

His stomach sank. "Oh."

Maybe his intended guide wouldn't care if he tried to escape. It was likely that they wouldn't even want to be dragging around the new kid all day. No one wanted a burden.

"Don't worry, Colin's lovely. His timetable is very similar to yours, that's why I'm asking him to do it."

Quietly ducking away wouldn't be an option then. If this Colin shared enough of his lessons, it would be hard to avoid him.

Students started filing into the classroom. Harrison had to think of something fast. Any excuse to avoid having to deal with someone's pity and forced friendship.

"Colin! Can I see you for a sec?"

Harrison fidgeted. The boy that was coming over looked like the kind that wouldn't usually give Harrison the time of day. His uniform was a bit scruffy, and mismatched. His sleeves were slightly too short for his arms, and his hair was unkempt, but he made it all work in a rugged, nonchalant way.

"Hey. What can I do for you?"

"This is Harrison, he's just joined our school. I was wondering if you would be willing to show him around."

Colin broke out into a massive grin, all open mouth and giddy. "Absolutely! It's nice to meet you, Harrison."

He held out a fist, clearly expecting Harrison to bump it. He did, a little stiffly. Colin grinned again. "Come on, let's find you a seat." He waved for Harrison to follow, before setting off down the rows of benches. Harrison shot one last look at Ms Maxwell and followed him.

Colin led to the back of the classroom, where a small cluster of tables were pushed together. Two girls were sat, leaning over the aisle between the tables, chatting.

"Guys, this is Harrison. He's new."

Harrison thought the clarification of his status as the 'new kid' was unnecessary, but the girls both smiled at him, warm and genuine.

"Welcome! I'm Anna." She waved at him. She was pretty, all straight brown hair and hazel eyes and a small spattering of freckles. Not the kind of person who hung out with Harrison.

"Hi."

Colin sat in one of the free chairs and gestured for Harrison to take the other.

"This is Megan." He waved a hand at the other girl, a black girl with a bright, happy smile that showed teeth lined with braces.

"Nice to meet you!"

They all seemed genuine in their enthusiasm, but Harrison had never been the best at reading others. This could all be a lie, a facade. People didn't make sense most of the time, why should these three be the exception.

And yet, they fell into an easy conversation, occasionally asking Harrison for his opinions or thoughts on something, but never demanding he be the centre of attention for long. When he had nothing to say, they carried the conversation well enough without him, but when he felt a sentence bubble up inside him, they all listened and let him speak. It was strange. Throughout all of it, Harrison searched their faces for signs of deceit or annoyance about being handed a new person to keep an eye on, but there was none.

When the bell rang, Colin got up and told Harrison to follow him. They were sharing their first class, maths, and Colin walked with him to the room. He introduced him to the teacher and offered to go over the course with him.

After maths, Colin took him to the science block. He pointed out the right room and told him he would meet him in the corridor after class. Without him there, Harrison struggled through introducing himself to the teacher and finding his own seat.

At the end of class, Harrison goes outside. Colin isn't where he said he'd meet him, and Harrison isn't surprised. The idea that he would've waited was ridiculous.

Harrison was halfway down the corridor before he heard someone shouting his name.

He turned in time to see Colin jog up alongside him.

"Hey, you weren't where we agreed to meet. You alright?"

"Yeah. I thought you might not want to be showing me around all day."

Colin waved a hand dismissively. "It's no trouble. You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, but you seem cool, so I'd like to hang out with you more."

Harrison blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I forgot to say earlier, but I really like your badge." He pointed at the shiny trans pride flag Harrison had pinned to his backpack.

Oh.

"Thanks."

Colin grinned again. "No problem! Come on, let's get to English."

After english, Megan took Harrison over to the art block since Colin had geography on the other side of the school. She walked quickly, pointing out strange little quirks in the displays, like a poster that had been upside down for four months and still hadn't been fixed, and a slab that wobbled on the stairs by the playground.

Megan left him at the door to the art room and left to go to her music lesson.

Throughout art, Harrison kept to the back table, only standing to fetch more paint on his small palette. Still life of cake wasn't his favourite thing to paint, but it passed the time. His fingers itched to get out his own sketchbook and get to work, draw something he actually liked.

When it got to lunch, Anna appeared outside his classroom to walk him down to the canteen.

She asked him about his art class as they walked, and nodded when he said he hadn't wanted to paint the fruit.

"That fruit is the bane of my existence. I had to paint it for my entire last project, I hated it."

She promised to show him her paintings as they caught up with Colin and Megan outside the entrance to the dining hall.

The canteen was loud and full of students, all crowded around wobbly tables covered in food. It was hot and uncomfortable, and the smells from the kitchen made Harrison blink.

Harrison fidgeted. The quiet voice in the back of his head whispered that everyone was looking at him, watching him, talking about the 'new kid'.

Colin frowned. "There's no room. Do you need to get one of the hot lunches or do you have a packed lunch?"

Harrison gripped the strap of his bag. His lunchbox was buried in the bottom. "Lunchbox."

"Right, lets go. We aren't going to get a table in here anyway."

Harrison frowned. There were a few tables that would be plenty big enough for the four of them, but Colin knew more about the actual quality of the tables than him, so he didn't argue.

The group wandered out of the main canteen and back towards the classrooms.

"Mr Sims sometimes lets us eat in his classroom." Anna explained. "Have you met Mr Sims yet?"

Harrison shook his head. "No, what does he teach?"

"History. Roman Britain to be exact. He's a bit weird, and he's also psychic."

They stopped walking and opened a door to one of the classrooms.

At the desk sat a disheveled, hunched man. His face was covered with small, round scars, and his eyes were a startling green against his dark skin. His long hair was laced with shiny grey streaks. Harrison thought he looked like a small, scruffy wizard like something out of one of the old fantasy books he liked to read.

"I'm not psychic." He said, as if he'd heard the entire conversation they had been having before they walked in.

"But you don't deny that you're weird?" Colin grinned at him. It seemed to be his default expression.

Mr Sims raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond.

Harrison followed the others to the front of the classroom, where they spread out and pulled out lunchboxes.

"Hello Harrison. I'm Mr Sims."

Harrison blinked at him, a little confused. He didn't remember telling him his name. "Oh, I looked on the system."

Megan snorted. "Mr Sims learns everyone's names insanely fast. He just knows everything."

"Not quite everything. Martin says hi, by the way."

She waved, mouth full of sandwich.

Harrison pulled out his own lunchbox. His dad had packed him some ham sandwiches, and a small tub of mini sausages. He carefully unwrapped them and started eating, listening to the chatter of the others. Mr Sims got out his own lunch and joined them, propping one leg up on his chair.

When his lunch was finished, Harrison packed away his rubbish into his lunchbox and put it back into his bag. He pulled out his sketchbook and pencils and sat back.

He flipped the sketchbook open to a new page and started to doodle. Slowly, the shape of a wizard formed on the page. He was majestic, brandishing a staff in one hand and an orb in the other.

"Have any of you played Dungeons and Dragons?"

Harrison's head snapped up. Mr Sims was munching away on a mouthful of rice, looking at the others.

"Once." Megan answered. "It was fun, I liked it. Why?"

"Ms Maxwell has asked if I would help run a club. I used to play in uni, so I thought Dungeons and Dragons would be fun." Mr Sims explained. "Martin says I have something of a voice for storytelling."

"That sounds cool." Anna said.

"Harrison?" Mr Sims turned to him. "What do you think?"

Harrison wrung his hands together. "I really like dnd."

Colin sipped his water. "I don't know much about it, could you tell me what it's like?"

"It's a tabletop roleplaying game. There's a dungeon master, they guide the players through the story, and the players decide what actions they want to do. You roll dice to see how well those actions go." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his packet of mini dice. "These are some of mine. I have loads of dice, this is just one of the sets."

Carefully, he tipped the tube out onto the table. The dice made a satisfying clacking sound as they rolled out.

He pulled one of them towards him. "This is the d20, it's the most common dice. You use it for pretty much all the non combat rolls, and then some in combat too." He rolled it between his fingers. "When you make a roll there's something called modifiers. You add them to your dice roll."

He glanced up at them. The whole group was looking at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go on."

Colin grinned at him again. "It's fine! It's really interesting. Can you tell me more about the modifiers?"

Harrison glanced at Mr Sims, who gestured for him to continue. He smiled and launched into an explanation about character sheets and skills. They all listened intently, nodding along with what he was saying and asking questions when they didn't understand something, letting him clarify the points carefully.

For a brief moment, Harrison found he didn't mind the attention.

Chapter Text

Jon was curled up on the sofa, notebook in hand, when Martin got home.

"Evening. How was work?"

Martin leant over the back of the sofa and kissed the top of his head. "Tiring. What are you doing?"

"Planning a dnd campaign."

Martin laughed and looped an arm around Jon's shoulders. "What?"

"What? You've never heard of dnd?"

"Of course I've heard of it, I just didn't think you would've."

Jon leant back, looking up at Martin. "Why not? I did go to uni, you know."

"Don't rub it in. Why are you planning a campaign?"

"You remember I told you we have a new boy joining us?" Martin nodded. "He plays. I thought he might need something to help ground him, make him feel at home. Make him feel less... lonely."

Martin buried his soft smile in the top of Jon's hair. "We need to talk about your hero complex one day."

"Never."

"Hmm. What's the new student like?"

"Harrison. Good kid. Megan and the others have somewhat taken him under their wing."

"Bless." Martin let go of him and came around the sofa. "So, dnd. What's the campaign like?"

Jon held out the notebook and started to explain.

-

(colin created a new group)

colin:

hey guys!

megan:

yo

anna:

hey!

harrison:

hello!

thank you for adding me

colin:

np dude

(colin renamed the group 'dnd babey')

harrison:

XD

anna:

love the rhyme, this is good

megan:

i'm about to start my shift, martin says hi

colin:

martin!!!!

anna:

hi martin!!!!

harrison:

who's martin?

colin:

mr sims boyf

they're adorable

megan works with him

harrison:

oh, nice!

hi martin!

megan:

he says hi harrison

anna:

harrison, if i send you a picture of my character sheet can you check it for me?

harrison:

sure! what class did you pick?

colin:

i picked bard!

anna:

cleric

harrison:

nice! i'm a wizard

does anyone know what megan went with?

anna:

fighter i think

harrison:

oh good, we have a good range!

that means we cover pretty much everything we will need to cover

anna, your character sheet just came through, it looks good

anna:

nice! i did cheat a little and use an online guide, but still

wanted to check

harrison:

it looks good! i don't usually play as a cleric, so idk much about it, but it still looks good

anna:

thank you!

-

"Woah, that's a lot of dice." Colin looked impressed.

"I thought you might not have any, so you can borrow some if you want." Harrison pushed the bag towards him. It made a satisfying clinking sound.

Colin grinned and rifled through it, carefully picking out a matching set of red and gold dice. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"They're so cool!" Anna leant over the table. "How many sets do you have?"

"8, but I bought these ones in a big set." He pointed to one of the bags. "They all came together."

"Which ones are your favourites?" Megan asked.

Harrison held up one of his slightly translucent pink and blue ones. "These. My dad bought me them after I started transitioning."

Megan made a small 'aww' sound.

The classroom door swung open and Mr Sims marched in, bag over his shoulder. "Sorry I'm late, I had to get from the other side of the school."

"It's okay! Harrison was showing us his dice." Megan gestured at the table.

"Oh, nice." Mr Sims examined the pile. "I have ones just like them." He pointed to a cluster of purple and blue ones. "Anyway, dnd club. Technically, I have to do a register, but I know you're all here."

He gave a small, pleased smile.

"Now, do you all have the character sheets?"

They all nodded.

"Excellent. Shall we begin?"

He took a notebook out of his bag. Several stickers were stuck to the front, and two in one of the corners caught Harrison's eye. A small bi pride flag sat next to an ace flag. Mr Sims caught Harrison looking at them and smiled.

"Right. A local minor noble has hired you all to investigate the disappearance of their son." Mr Sims explained. "He's offering a lot of money, since this is his only heir. His son was last seen at the tavern in a nearby village, but no one has seen him for days, so wants you to go and bring his son home. You've just walked into the tavern. Some of the patrons are giving you looks, but this town is on a common trade route, so their used to strangers. What do you want to do?"

"I think we should talk to the barkeep or tavern owner. They might have some information that could come in handy." Colin said.

They went over to the barkeep.

Harrison almost laughed when Mr Sims started talking in the barkeeps voice. It was so sudden, and so different from his usual accent, which toed the line of posh. This was gruff and a bit northern.

"Yeah I know him. Haven't seen him in a few days though. Why, did something happen?"

They explained the disappearance to the barkeep, and he pointed them towards a man sat in the corner who would often get drinks with the nobles son.

"Before he vanished he was telling me about a cave system nearby. Apparently there's a treasure buried deep underground. My guess, he went after that."

By the time they were in the middle of their first fight against the bandits that had set up camp in the caves, Harrison wished they had asked around for more information first.

The fight went surprisingly well, all things considered. Colin's bard took a substantial amount of damage, but Anna's cleric was ready with Healing Word.

Harrison loved it. Mr Sims storytelling was on the right side of weird. Whenever he delivered exposition, Harrison found himself hanging off every word. Something inside him wanted to hear every single piece of world building Mr Sims had created.

The others could feel it too. Harrison could see it in their matching expressions of quiet awe.

Clearly, Mr Sims also knew how to create a cliffhanger. Right after he revealed that the noble's son had actually hired the bandits to fake his kidnapping, he shut his notebook and announced "That's our time I'm afraid."

"Mr Sims!" Anna protested.

"I'm sorry, the hour is up. We have to clear out of the classrooms now for the cleaners. We'll finish the second half next week."

Harrison put his dice back into his bag. "That was really fun, Mr Sims. Thank you."

He waved the compliment away. "It's no trouble. It was nice to do it again. Georgie and I used to play a lot, and I forgot how much I liked it."

Anna gaped at him. "You used to play dnd with Georgie Barker?"

Mr Sims blinked at her. "How did you know it was that Georgie?"

"You know Melanie, it makes sense that you know Georgie too."

"Hang on. You know Georgie and Melanie from What the Ghost?"

Mr Sims groaned. "Not you too. Everywhere I go, everyone knows them." He straightened up. "Yes, Georgie and Melanie are good friends of mine. Well, actually, they both sort of hate me, but we are getting there. More or less."

"How do you know them?" Harrison asked, shoving his character sheet and notes into his backpack.

"Georgie and I went to uni together and Melanie worked with me for a while."

"Hang on, wait, wait. Hang on." Megan held up her hands. "Mr Sims. Are you Georgie's uni boyfriend?"

He fixed her with a tired look. "Yes."

"Amazing. Amazing." Anna shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe this."

"Don't tell anyone. I don't want everyone to start asking me about her. Like I said, she's not too happy with me at the moment."

Harrison gaped at him slightly.

"Come on. Let's leave before the cleaners get even more upset at me."

Mr Sims walked them out, stopping at the front gate. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Stay safe."

Anna waved at a car parked across the road. "Anyone need a lift home?"

Colin shook his head. "Megan's taking me. Thanks though."

"Harrison?"

"I only live around the corner, I'll be okay."

"If you're sure." Anna said slowly. "Text us when you get home okay."

Harrison nodded and set off down the road. As he went to turn down the alleyway that lead to his usual route home, he glanced back at the school.

Mr Sims was stood, tension in every line of his body, glaring across the road.

Harrison looked at where he was staring.

On the other side of the road, half concealed under a bus stop, stood a terrifying asian woman. She smirked cruelly at Mr Sims, shot a finger gun at him once, then turned to walk away.

Across her back, partially concealed by her tank top, was a tattoo of a man, flames licking their way across his body.

She disappeared around a corner. Mr Sims' gaze swivelled towards Harrison.

From this distance it should've been impossible to see, but Harrison could've sworn that Mr Sims eyes were glowing an unnatural green.

Harrison set off at a sprint down the alleyway. He didn't slow until he was inside his room, door firmly shut behind him, the smell of smoke lingering in the air.

Chapter Text

The school was dark this late at night, with no daylight sleeping through the windows and several of the classrooms already closed up for the night.

Their study session had dragged on, and the trio was cutting through the main school as a shortcut to the gate out of school.

"It feels so weird without people here." Anna said.

"It's like a liminal space. There should be loads of people here, but there isn't." Megan hummed. "That leaves it feeling...." She waved her hands.

Colin nodded, sagely. "Spooky."

The girls giggled.

They passed rows of empty rooms. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a vacuum cleaner started up as the cleaners began their nightly rounds. Somewhere outside, a car started up, retreating into the distance.

Colin paused as they passed Mr Sims classroom. The light was still on inside, illuminating the corridor with a dim wash of light. He opened the door and leant in.

"Evening, Mr Sims! Are you working late?"

Mr Sims was slumped on his desk, head in his hands. His hair was limp around his shoulders and he was swaying gently, like there was an invisible force trying to push him off his chair.

"Mr Sims?"

He raised his head. His face was ashen, drawn tight over his skull.

"Woah, you okay?"

Slowly, Mr Sims tried to push himself up from his desk. His arms gave way, crumpling under him. He slipped, tumbling to the ground.

"Mr Sims!" Colin rushed over to his side. His shoulder felt clammy through his shirt as he gripped it. "What's wrong?"

"Statement-" Mr Sims croaked out.

He pressed a palm against his mouth. The knuckles went white as he dug his fingernails into his cheeks. His jaw worked as he tried to form words past his hand, the sentences coming out muffled and desperate.

"I'm calling Martin." Megan fished out her phone and dialled the number.

Mr Sims shuddered, his free hand coming up to his eyes, trembling fingers erratically fluttering over them. His eyes rolled in their sockets, whites showing as he frantically looked around the room.

Colin held the back of his hand to Mr Sims forehead. It was slick with sweat. "Can you hear me?"

Mr Sims pressed his thumb down on one of his own eyes.

Colin grabbed his hand and pulled it away. "What are you doing? You'll hurt yourself!"

Mr Sims dropped the hand covering his mouth. Small red crescents littered the skin around his mouth from where his fingernails had pierced his cheeks.

"State-"

Mr Sims bit down, hard.  Colin saw a thin film of blood cover his teeth from the fresh cut in his tongue.

"Mr Sims, what's going on?" Colin felt panic bubble up inside him.

Mr Sims rolled over and retched. Colin grabbed the bin and put it in front of him just in time for Mr Sims to spit out a mouthful of blood and bile into He reached up and clawed at his eyes again. His nails caught the soft skin under his eyes, leaving small gashes down his cheeks as the flesh tore.

Anna dropped down next to them and grabbed his hand.

He trashed, one leg kicking out. It caught the edge of the table and jolted it, knocking an old fashioned tape recorder off, landing on the floor with a sharp crack.

Mr Sims yanked his hand out of Anna's grip. She yelped and toppled back. He scrambled to his knees and reached for the tape recorder, hands clawing along the carpet.

Colin reached for it with his free hand and carefully passed it to him. Mr Sims snatched it out of his hands and held it to his chest.

His eyes swivelled to Colin. A bright, toxic green gaze bored into his, the stare seeing past his eyes and deep into his mind, his heart, his soul .

Colin felt him See.

"Statement of Colin Wardell, regarding his-"

Mr Sims pulled his hand out of Colin's grasp and pressed it against his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. He curled in on himself, shrinking away from Colin, wrapping his burned hand around his own throat and squeezing.

Colin felt the weight of his Gaze lift off him, leaving him dizzy and gasping. He felt Megan's hands grip his shoulders and pull him away from Mr Sims hunched form.

The door to the classroom burst open, and in marched Martin, bag clutched in his hand. He moved swiflty, coming to kneel beside Mr Sims, hands cupping Mr Sims bloody cheeks, pulling his hand away from his throat.

"Jon, can you hear me?"

Mr Sims thrashed in his grip, hands clutching the strap of Martin's bag.

"Jon?"

"Statement of-" He pressed his fist into his mouth, teeth cutting gashes in the knuckles. With his free hand, he grabbed at Martin's bag.

Martin batted his hands away, tugging the zip open. He pulled out a piece of paper with writing scrawled across it.

Mr Sims snatched it out his hands. It tore at the corner.

"Statement of George Taylor, given March-" He started to choke the words past the blood in his mouth. The cuts on his hands left small red smears across the page.

"Come on. You probably don't want to hear this." Martin stood and lead the way to the door, leaving Mr Sims hunkered over, reading.

The hallway was eerily still after the rush of adrenaline.

"What was that?" Anna stared up at Martin.

"Withdrawal. He needs the statements to survive." He sighed. "I thought he read one this morning."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Probably? I've never seen him this bad before." He slumped back against the wall.

"Does this happen often?" Megan asked.

"Not really. He mostly stays on top of it." Martin's eyes widened. "Oh god. I made him stay in bed this morning, he was late. This is my fault."

Colin shifted. He didn't really know Martin well enough to make a judgement on fault, but he didn't think that the large, charming man was capable of causing- whatever had happened to Mr Sims.

The door opened and out stepped Mr Sims. The desperate, ravenous hunger had faded from his face, leaving behind a weary exhaustion. The gashes around his eyes had already begun to scab, and his cheeks had a contented flush, like he'd just eaten a hearty meal. A small ring of bruises littered his throat.

Martin pushed off the wall and stepped in front of him.

"Are you okay?"

Mr Sims nodded. His shoulders slumped and he swayed as he stood.

Martin reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from his sweaty forehead. He pulled a tissue out of his pocket and wiped the blood and vomit that had leaked from Mr Sims mouth onto his chin. He turned back to the teens.

"I'll give you all a lift home, if you want. The cars outside."

Colin considered declining. The evening had gotten weird fast, and he didn't know how much longer he wanted to be around Mr Sims, no matter how weak he looked, but it was also late and dark enough that the dense shadows creeping out of the corners made Colin's stomach turn, and Martin was a comforting presence. A glance at Anna's tear stained cheeks and Megan's shaking hands said that they agreed. "If that's okay."

"It's no trouble at all." Martin turned back to where Mr Sims was leaning heavily against the door. "What do you need from the classroom?"

Mr Sims blinked at him through tired eyes, then slowly held out the bloodstained statement and tape recorder. His fingertips and under his nails were caked with drying blood. Martin took both and tucked them into his bag.

"Let's go." He wrapped one arm around his shoulder and pulled him down the corridor.

The trio followed them as they made their way out of the school and onto the car park.

Martin bundled Mr Sims into the passenger seat of their car. Instantly, he curled up against the window and shut his eyes.

Colin climbed into the backseat, in between Anna and Megan.

Absently, he heard Anna tell Martin their addresses. His eyes were fixed on the back of Mr Sims head.

The way he had slumped over was playing on repeat in the back of his mind. He had simply collapsed, not from illness or from fatigue, but from malnutrition caused by the need to read about a strangers fear. For all the jokes any of them had made about the Entities, he'd never considered that serving one would come with its own set of consequences if the fear wasn't fed properly.

Mr Sims had always been so ready to answer questions, provide explanations for unexplainable things, but to see him reduced to a shivering, starving.... thing had rattled Colin more than he would've ever expected. The thought to call an ambulance hadn't occurred to any of them, because that's what you did when a human was hurt, and Mr Sims had been clear about the fact that that didn't really include him anymore.

He stared down at his hands, at the thin line of blood drying on his cuff from where he had pulled Mr Sims hand away from his face, away from his eyes, to stop him from-

"Martin?" Mr Sims voice was so quiet that Colin almost missed it.

"I'm here." Martin reached across the console and squeezed his arm. "How are you feeling?"

He mumbled something under his breath.

"I know, Jon. It's okay, you didn't."

"But what if I do?"

Martin sighed. "We'll deal with that when it happens. If it happens."

Mr Sims nodded and went back to staring out the window. Through the rear view mirror, Colin saw the green slowly fade from his eyes.

When Martin dropped Anna and Megan off to their houses, Colin gave their hands a quick squeeze, hoping he was being reassuring.

Then, it was only him left, sat in a car with his inhuman teacher and his boyfriend.

Martin met his eyes in the rear view mirror. "Are you okay?"

Colin sighed. "Yeah, I just- I didn't realise it was so bad."

Martin nodded, thoughtfully. "It's worse than most think."

As Colin watched him pull away into the night from his front porch, he thought that, perhaps, Martin was talking about more than just Mr Sims.

Chapter Text

' Be polite .' Martin had said.

Jon was polite. He was a grown man, he could handle one might talking to a room full of strangers about their children. He'd survived unscathed when Elias had made him go to the donors dinner after he had been promoted, and that had been full of avatars who wanted him dead.

This would be easy.

Jon smoothed down his shirt for the fifth time in the past few minutes.

"Mr Sims?" Anna poked her head into the classroom. A tall woman stood behind her, a few of the pamphlets and info sheets handed out to visitors clutched in her hands. Jon remembered meeting her when the trio had gotten stranded in the storm. Mrs Mitchell hadn't changed since then.

"Hello, Anna. Come have a seat." Jon stood and held out his hand to her mother. She shook it, smiling slightly.

"My husband is on his way, he's just taking our youngest to the bathroom."

"That's no trouble at all. Shall we start or would you like to wait for him?"

"We can start, he won't mind."

Jon nodded and glanced down at the page in front of him. "Anna's a hard worker. Since I joined the school, her work has been pretty consistent. She gets things handed in on time, all her work is up to date, her essays are well thought out and coherent. I'm impressed."

Anna beamed. Mrs Mitchell smiled, the same warm happy expression that Anna often had. It must've been genetic.

"That's good to hear. Anna's always saying that your lessons are her favourite."

"Mum." Anna blushed furiously.

Jon smiled. "Thank you. I try my best."

At that moment, a small boy ran into the room and clambered onto Anna's lap, followed by a tall, smiling man.

Anna's little brother, Toby, was a tiny ball of round red cheeks and big hazel eyes. He curled up on Anna's lap, staring at Jon.   

The boy held out a small, chubby hand, reaching across the table to Jon.

Jon smiled, and took the hand in a small handshake. "Hello, Toby."

Jon felt Mrs Mitchell's confusion before he realised what he had said. ' Idiot .' He thought. ' You've never met this child, why would you know it's name? '

From the look on Anna's face, she was thinking it too.

"Ah, um, Anna's mentioned him before. In class."

Anna nodded quickly. "Yeah, loads of times."

"Right." Jon cleared his throat. "Mr Mitchell, it's nice to meet you. I'm Mr Sims, Anna's history teacher."

"Oh, right, yeah, she's talked about you."

Anna buried her face in Toby's hair.

"She's a very good student. If I had a classroom full of Anna's I think my job would be much easier."

"Thanks." Anna mumbled.

"So what sort of things do you teach?" Mr Mitchell said, sitting down in the free chair.

Jon looked at him. "History. Roman Britain. At the moment we are looking at cultural shifts following the Roman's arrival in Britain."

"Oh wow, big stuff."

"Quite. Anna's handling it very well, though."

"Yeah, but what else can she be doing?"

Jon frowned. "How do you mean?"

"How can she be getting better grades?"

Jon glanced at Anna. Her eyes were fixed on the table.

"Anna's working to a more than acceptable standard. Her work is consistently good. If she keeps up the level she's at now, she'll finish the year with a very respectable grade."

"Yeah, but you can always do better, you know? If you stay at 'acceptable' then how will you be outstanding? I just want her to do as well as I know she can."

Jon furrowed his brow slightly. "I wouldn't be concerned about Anna's grades at all. I'm very proud of the work she's done this year."

Anna glanced up at him and gave a small smile.

"Right, we just want to keep her work good. We don't want her slipping at all."

"I'm happy to talk through some revision plans with Anna in class, but I don't have any prepared at the moment." Jon did, they were in the top drawer of his desk, but Mr Mitchell didn't need to know that.

"If you could, that would be great."

Jon nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly.

' Be polite , Jon .'

'I'm always polite.'

'Sure you are.'

"Well, do either of you have any questions?"

The Mitchell's shared a glance, seemingly deciding that no, they didn't want to ask any questions.

Mrs Mitchell shook her head and gathered up her papers again. "Thank you so much."

"Not at all." Jon stood.

Mr Mitchell held out his hand.

'Be polite.'

Jon shook his hand.

The Mitchell's left the room in a huddle, Anna hauling Toby behind her. Toby shot Jon a final wide eyed stare. Jon smiled and waved at him.

Jon slumped forward, head in his hands. Only one student down and he'd already Known something. Jon was starting to suspect that this was going to be a long night.

He hated being proved right.

An evening of sweaty handshakes would've been bad enough, but by the third parent telling him he was wrong a little too loudly, that their child was working towards much higher marks and that they had never been late for a homework ever, Jon was seriously considering quitting his job.

Naturally, just as Jon was mentally drafting his resignation letter, Colin bounded into the room, grinning. His mother, Miss Cecily Wardell, aspiring writer and owner of the cafe Wardell's Corner, trailed behind him. The familial similarities were immediately obvious. They shared the same brassy curls and mischievous glint to their eyes, and neither stood fully upright despite both being on the shorter side. She was about the same age as Jon, thought the years had been far kinder to her than they had been to him.

Jon felt the familiar tug of knowledge as he shook her hand and gestured for her to sit in the chair. He pushed it down and forced himself to smile at her.

"Miss Wardell," He began. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Colin is a very curious boy. He likes to ask questions, even when he doesn't fully stay on topic with them."

Miss Wardell smiled at Colin. "That sounds like him."

"It's a welcome change. Usually students don't want to ask questions."

Colin grinned at him. "You know literally everything, so it's nice to get actual answers."

Jon fidgeted, smiling slightly. It wasn't like he could help knowing everything. The Beholding had made him a walking trivia sheet. If he could use that gift as a way of satisfying the innocent curiosity of a kid, then that was a much nicer option than the alternative.

"Right, yes. Questions aside, Colin sometimes forgets to hand homework in on time. He could do with paying a little more attention, he often gets sidetracked, but overall his work is quite good. If he makes sure he catches up on work that he misses and buts just a little more effort into staying on task, then I believe he could do quite well. I'm very impressed with the progress he's made so far."

Miss Wardell beamed. "That's good to hear. Do you have any advice on how he should do the catch up work?"

"Don't do it all at once. You'll go mad if you sit down with the intention of doing everything, so space it out over a few days, do a task or two each day. It'll feel like less of a mammoth task that way."

Collin nodded.

"Also, set yourself goals for what you want to do each day." Jon added. "Say you'll spend an hour or so doing one task and then see how much more time you need to finish. Spacing it out like that can really help."

Colin considered it. "Huh. I've never thought of that."

Miss Wardell. "I've been telling you for years that you need to pace yourself."

"I know, but that's Mum talk, you know?"

Miss Wardell nodded like she understood what he was saying. Jon didn't.

"Well, unless you have any more questions..." He held out a hand.

"Thank you." Miss Wardell stood and shook his hand. "This has been very helpful. Thank you, Mr Sims."

"No trouble at all."

She looped her arm around Colin's shoulder and led him out of the room.

Jon sat back in his chair. His next appointment was running late, so he had some time to diffuse and take a breather. Absently, he Looked around the school, a the parents and students making their way to appointments, chattering to other teachers, going about their lives. His attention was caught as he heard his own name.

"Your history teacher, Mr Sims. He's... interesting, isn't he?" Mr Mitchell said to Anna as they sat waiting for their next meeting.

"What's that supposed to mean, Dad?" Anna looked at him a little sharply.

"No, not like that, I just... He's very intense, isn't he?"

"He's a good teacher, Dad. I like his lessons."

Her dad held up his hands. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing, honey, I'm just saying that he seems like a lot."

"Is this about his scars?" Anna asked. "He's not dangerous."

Jon sighed. Her blind faith was nice, if misplaced. He was, technically, extremely dangerous.

"I'm not saying he's dangerous sweetheart, I'm just saying you don't get scars like that working as a teacher."

"He used to work in an archive." She mumbled, gripping Toby's hand a little tighter.

"Don't mumble, honey. You know it's better to speak clearly."

Anna closed her eyes. Jon could feel her thoughts, a repeated apology projected his way. 'I'm sorry, he doesn't mean it, I'm sorry,'

Jon Looked away, in time to catch sight of Harrison heading towards his classroom.

"He runs the dnd club. The campaign is so cool."

Harrison's dad made an intrigued sound. "Oh?"

"There's a kidnapping, we have to go save the guy, but he arranged the whole thing as a way of getting to this cave full of magical artefacts, but then there's this ghost-"

"Ooh!!"

"Yeah! The ghost is protecting the artefacts, and it's super weird..."

Jon chuckled and looked up in time for Harrison to come into the room.

"Hello Harrison."

Harrison waved and ducked behind his dad slightly.

Their meeting went well. Harrison stayed mostly quiet, fidgeting in his seat and occasionally adding comments when Jon referenced specific lessons or moments from class. He smiled when Jon mentioned that he was making friends and doing well in the lessons. Harrison's father asked questions, clearly prepared beforehand and memorised, and took down the answers in a little notebook.

As they stood to leave, Jon remembered the thing he had been meaning to say. "Oh, Harrison, before you go." Jon opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out the notebook Georgie had sent him last week. "This was my campaign notebook from uni. I will want it back, but if you want to you can borrow it."

Harrison stared at it, eyes wide, wringing his hands together. "Really?"

"Really. It's quite old so the rules need updating, but it's got all of my favourite campaigns in it. Feel free to take it and play some. I'm sure you'll do a better job than I did."

Harrison's dad nudged him. "Go on."

Harrison took it, handling it very carefully, stroking along the cover.

"Thank you." Harrison carefully opened the cover and shuffled some of the papers Jon had tucked into the front years ago.

"That was really kind of you, thank you." His dad nodded at Jon.

Jon waved it away. "It's no trouble. A friend found it when she was clearing some of her stuff. I haven't touched it in years."

Harrison bounced slightly on the balls of his feet and showed his dad one of the pages. Jon knew it was one with a quick sketch he had done once of one of his characters, a small rushed scribble more than an actual piece of art. He'd been proud at the time, but he'd never had a chance to finish it.

He exchanged quick goodbyes with Harrison's dad and the pair left, with Harrison showing his dad more of the pages.

Jon sighed and checked the clock. Only another hour to go.

The rest of the evening went in a bit of a blur. Jon accidentally Knew things about several of the people he met, but did his best to bury the urge to learn more. Even Megan's parents, Ms Ainsley and Mr Connor, seemed confused when he congratulated them on their brand new kittens. Apparently neither of them had been aware their cat was pregnant.

After his final meeting had finished, Jon considered curling up and falling asleep at his desk, but Martin had promised to have dinner ready by the time he got home.

He sighed and stood, shooting Martin a quick text to let him know he was on his way back. As he walked to the car, he passed by a few people. Jon's concentration slipped slightly at one point, and he heard someone think 'poor man, he looks so tired' as he passed them.

By the time he reached the car park, Jon felt exhausted. He managed to keep his stumbling to a minimum as he walked, but as soon as he was sat in the drivers seat he crumpled against the steering wheel, desperately trying not to Listen as people said their goodbyes to friends or discussed the evenings events. Each time he heard his name he felt the tug in his stomach to know what they thought about him.

'A bit odd, isn't he?'

'His lessons are my favourites, he's so weird'

'His boyfriend is nice, we've met him a couple of times'

'His eyes are so creepy'

'I swear, he knows everything'

Jon shook himself. "Come on, Jon. Be polite. Eavesdropping isn't polite."

He turned the key and started the car, pulling out of the car park.

The Beholding didn't stop until he pulled into the narrow lane that lead to the cottage, and then the only thought that he could hear was 'I love him. God I hope I don't mess this up'.

Jon smiled. He liked hearing that thought.

Chapter Text

Colin pushed his bike until he was level with Harrison. "Are you going to the Halloween party?"

Harrison glanced at him and raised his eyebrows.

"There's a big one in the village hall. It's really fun, there's apple bobbing and fireworks and stuff. My mum always takes food for the buffet, and she sets up a table where kids can decorate cookies. It's a whole thing."

"Do people dress up?"

"There's a costume contest every year." Megan called. "Anna won last year."

Anna laughed. "I was a fairy. I spent hours glueing sequins onto these awful wings I made, only for Colin to break them as soon as I won."

"How did I know they weren't hug proof?"

"You should've guessed when I went 'careful, they're fragile'. Besides, I'm not putting in that much effort this year."

Harrison hummed, considering it. A halloween party could be fun. Usually, his dad would find a movie for them to watch, something boring and terrible that they wouldn't mind being interrupted by trick or treaters. "Is it loud?"

"There's music, but we often end up sitting outside anyway." Colin said. "We like to go out early enough that we get good seats for the fireworks."

"I hate the sounds of fireworks so I always wear headphones and listen to music while they're going, so if you want you can join me in that."

Harrison nodded, giving Megan a small smile.

They finally reached the top of the hill. Colin led them through the gap in the hedge and down an alley so narrow they had to walk single file. Eventually it opened out into a wide park, with benches and trees with yellowing leaves. A colourful play area sat a short way back down the hill, with a small cluster of parents watching their children swarm all over the climbing frame.

An ice cream truck was parked on the small car park, clearly attempting to cash in on the last good weather of year.

Megan led them over to one of the benches with a good view down the hill. She dumped her bike on the ground next to the, with Anna and Colin following suit. Harrison placed his bike a little more gently, careful to not damage it.

Anna and Colin claimed one side of the bench, so Harrison sat next to Megan.

They quickly fell into a conversation about halloween costumes, which Harrison found easy enough to tune out. He took out his sketchbook and started to draw a fairy, all loopy lines and pastel colours. The fairy was easy enough, but the wings proved a challenge. Harrison couldn't decide if they should be classic fairy wings or more insect-like. Frustrated, he closed his sketchbook and looked around the park.

Families were milling about the place, with parents wandering along the leaf covered paths, small children with bright wellington boots in tow. A few other teenagers were scattered about, chattering loudly to each other.

Under one of the trees stood a woman. She had dark, curly hair and she was dressed shockingly formally for a trip to the park, with a pencil skirt and an bright white blouse.

When she saw Harrison looking at her, she grinned and started to walk towards them.

Harrison nudged Megan. She glanced at him, then looked where he pointed.

"Oh shit."

"What?" Colin looked up. "Ohh, oh no."

"Hey kids!" The woman dropped down onto the bench next to Megan.

"Helen." Megan leant in front of Harrison slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Enjoying the sights." She waved around them. "This really is a lovely time of year."

"You know what I meant." Megan crossed her arms.

"Oh I'm not the one who knows everything, sweetie. But if you're asking what I'm doing in Scotland, then let's just say Jon asked me to keep my ears open." She winked. "And my eyes, of course."

Anna frowned. "What for?"

"He said he'd spotted an old friend in town and he was wondering if they were going to be dropping by to say hello."

"Who?" Colin leant forward. "Did he say who it was?"

"Would anyone like some ice cream?" Helen propped her chin on her hand. "I'm craving some ice cream."

Megan pulled a face. "It's October."

"So? There's still an ice cream truck. What about you?" She looked at Harrison, pointing one slender finger at him. "Would you like some ice cream?"

Harrison blinked at her and shrugged, feeling very much like this woman meant trouble. Colin sighed. "If we say yes to the ice cream will you tell us about the person you're looking for?"

"I'm surprised Jon hasn't told you himself to be honest." She stood from the table, detangling her too long limbs from the bench, then set off in the direction of the ice cream truck.

The group all shared a look.

"Who is that?" Harrison looked at Colin.

"Her name is Helen. She knows Mr Sims, that's the Jon that she's talking about. Last time we saw her..." He trailed off, glancing at the girls.

"It got weird." Anna said. "Mr Sims had to do a lot of damage control."

Harrison frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means avoid her if you can." Colin shook his head. "She's friendly as far as we can tell, but I don't think Mr Sims agrees."

"Guys." Megan scratched a line along the grain of the wooden table with her nail. "If Mr Sims has asked Helen to keep an eye out for someone..." She trailed off.

Harrison fidgeted with his hands. "Is that person dangerous?"

Megan gave him a serious look. "Being honest, probably."

Colin leant over the table. "There's a lot of stuff going on that we don't fully understand, but just know that if Mr Sims ever tells you to avoid a certain place or person, it's usually for a good reason."

"Is he in a gang?"

Colin laughed. "Not a gang. To be honest, I don't think he has enough friends to start a gang. And he couldn't hurt a fly."

Anna put a hand on Colin's arm. "And if you're curious, he probably would tell you about the scars. He told us easily enough."

"I wouldn't say his answers were crystal clear," Megan smiled. "but they were answers."

"Jon? Answering questions vaguely? Never." Helen appeared back beside the bench. "Here. Ice cream."

She was somehow balancing five ice cream cones in her hands. Thin rivulets of melting ice cream ran down the edges of each of them. "Go on, take them!" She gestured with the cones. The swirls tilted a little alarmingly with the motion.

Anna reached out and took two of the cones, passing one to Colin. Megan passed Harrison one and took one for herself. Free from her cargo, Helen perched next to Megan again.

"So," She took a lick from her cone. "How is school?"

"Seriously?" Megan asked, a little incredulous. "You're asking about school?"

"What, do you not go to school? Are you too old? Too young?" Helen cocked her head. "Age is a very confusing thing. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that anymore."

Something about Helen's voice, either the amusement in her tone or the fact that it seemed far more echoey than an outdoor conversation should permit, made Harrison's skin crawl. He shrank back a little, leaning away from her end of the table.

"Besides, asking about Jon is getting boring. He doesn't change as quickly as he used to. He's gotten dull."

Colin frowned and liked melted ice cream off his finger. "What does that mean?"

"Oh you should've seen him back in the day. Never sat still, always chasing after danger. Far more entertaining. Now he wears cardigans and goes on calming walks. Well, he's always worn cardigans, but now they look less like he's playing dress up and more like he's actually an old man. And he's not even that old!" She scoffed and took another link of her ice cream. "To be honest, I'm almost glad Jude has decided to stir up trouble, it might make him interesting again."

Anna perked up. "Jude? Is that who he's asked you to look for?"

Helen put a hand over her mouth. The movement was exaggerated and it took far too long for her fingers to reach her face. "Whoopsie! How terribly clumsy of me, spilling that little factoid for you."

Harrison shifted. He wanted to rub his hands together, try to get off some of the feeling of syrupy amusement that Helen seemed ooze, but he couldn't, not holding the ice cream.

Helen was still talking, but Harrison couldn't pay attention. He tried to focus on something, just one thing instead of everything at once, but there was just so much. The sounds of the ice cream van, the cold and slightly damp surface of the bench, the crowds, Helen still talking, the gentle smell of smoke.

There was a gentle pressure against his hand, gradually easing. Harrison glanced up to see Colin carefully taking his cone out of his hand. A small puddle of melted ice cream sat on top of the table, and Harrison realised he'd been holding it at a sharp angle. He stared at it as Anna took out a tissue and wiped it up, saying something to Helen.

"And this Jude person, is she one of, you know?"

"The gang? The band? Our little family? In a way, yes, but I don't usually engage with her neck of the woods. Those Desolation types are so fussy." Helen laughed. "Oh dear, there I go again. Saying things I wasn't meant to. Silly old me." She clapped her hands. She had finished her ice cream. "I really should be off. Jon will be ever so upset with me if I keep up my blabber-mouthing. Toodleoo all." She stood and went to walk away.

"Wait." The word was out before Harrison realised it had formed. He stared up at her. With the light of the sky behind her, her hair looked almost technicolour at the edges.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Jude. Is she-" He tried to think back to the woman he had seen outside the school. "Does she have a tattoo?"

Her face split into a grin that was far too wide for her face, showing rows of perfect white teeth, too many for her mouth. "Someone's been paying attention. Gold star for you!"

With that, Helen swivelled and set off across the park. Harrison blinked trying to clear the image of her smile from his mind.

Colin held out his half melted ice cream. "Come on. I don't really feel like being here now, let's go back to the cafe."

Anna stood, holding out another tissue for Harrison to clean his sticky fingers on. Megan turned on the bench and gave Harrison a long look. "How did you know? About the tattoo?"

Harrison fidgeted. "I, uh. I saw her. Outside the school."

"Did she do anything?"

Harrison shook his head. "Mr Sims was there. He seemed angry."

Colin made a small, incomplete noise. "Yeah. I imagine he did. You're sure there was nothing weird? Anything at all."

"I mean..." Harrison felt the familiar doubt in the back of his mind that Colin wouldn't believe him, that he would hear what Harrison had to say and shrug it off as delusions or imagination. But this was Colin, he reminded himself, and Anna and Megan. His friends. "I could smell smoke."

"Smoke." Anna looked at him, a little sharply. "You're certain?"

There it was, the dismissal. No, Anna was just checking, just making sure.

"Yeah, smoke."

Megan cursed quietly.

"What, what's so bad about smelling smoke?" Plenty of things, Harrison knew that. Sometimes you could be burning your toast, sometimes you could've left your hair straighteners on, sometimes your whole house could be on fire and it could burn away everything inside until all that was left was-

The smell of smoke.

"If what Helen said is true, Jude could be part of something really bad." Megan said, messing with the cuff of her jacket.

"What can we do?"

Colin shook his head. "Until Mr Sims says differently, nothing. But," He leant forward, narrowing the gap between them. "if you see her again, you need to tell Mr Sims as soon as possible. Understand?"

Harrison nodded.

"Good. Now come on, let's go back to the cafe and see if this afternoon is salvageable in any way."

Chapter Text

"How do I look?" 

Martin glanced up at Jon and burst into laughter. 

"What?" Jon asked, indignant. "Is it really that bad?"

"No, you look great." Martin stood up from the coffee table and crossed to where Jon was standing. "Very handsome."

"Then why did you laugh?" Jon put his hands on Martin's chest but didn't push him away as Martin's hands found his waist and tugged him close. 

"It's just very cute." He smiled. "You look adorable." 

Jon huffed slightly, trying to look put upon and failing miserably. He shook his head, and the pipe cleaner antennas on his head wobbled, sending Martin into another fit of giggles. 

"Stop!" Jon swatted at his arm. "I'm not laughing at you!"

Martin gasped in mock offence. "Is there something wrong with my outfit?" 

"You look like a charity shop had a child with an Ikea lighting section." He laughed. "But in the best way. Like if that child grew up and became a very attractive lamp."

Martin ducked his head, burying it in the crook of Jon's neck. "Why do I ever let you speak to Georgie?"

"Because she has good costume ideas?"

"I hate you. You're a demon." Martin planted a kiss just under his ear, making Jon giggle. 

"No, I'm a moth." 

Martin's hand found the antenna on Jon's head and gave one a gentle tug. "My moth. My handsome moth."

"You haven't even been drinking and you're already like this. I'm in for a long night aren't I?" 

"I promise I won't have too much." He detangled himself from Jon, keeping his hands on his waist. "Now come on, let's go and be a gross, domestic couple who wears matching costumes and goes to parties with our work colleagues."

Jon smiled up at him and straightened Martin's jacket. "I can't think of anything I would like more." 

-

Megan knew she was going to get too warm in the jumper, but it was worth it. Anna had leant it to her with the promise that it would look better on her anyway, and between that and scrounging a red skirt off her cousin, Megan had put together a fairly passable Velma costume. 

She separated off from her parents, heading through the crowd killing about outside in pursuit of her friends. She quickly spotted them. 

Colin was sat sideways on a bench with Anna tracing lines onto his face with an eyeliner pencil. 

"Hey Megan!" Colin waved at her. 

"Sit still or you'll smudge it!" Anna batted his hand down. "I don't want to deal with you complaining all night." 

He stuck his tongue out at her. She swiped at it with the eyeliner, causing him to duck backwards and almost fall off the bench. Anna caught him and cackled. He grinned down at her. 

"I like Scooby Doo." Harrison's voice pulled her attention away from the others antics. 

"Thanks!" She gestured to his costume, a long purple robe with yellow stars all over it. "I like wizards." 

He gave her a shy smile and ducked his head. "Thank you. My dad helped me make it." 

"It's very good. Love the hat." 

Anna had finally calmed down enough to finish Colin's makeup, so they packed up and headed inside. Megan knew that they looked like a bizarre collection, with her own thrown together costume, Harrison's well thought out, but still obviously homemade wizard robes, Anna's carefully crafted Mary Poppins, and whatever the hell Colin was wearing. Megan was almost scared to count the number of belts he had on. 

The village hall was decked out in orange and black streamers, with paper ghosts hanging from the ceiling. A temporary dj station took up one corner of the hall, and it's technicolour lights sent patters across the floor. 

"Hey, look, there's Mr Sims!" Anna pointed to wear Mr Sims and Martin were stood, awkwardly leaning against the wall. Mr Sims was wearing a large green jumper, probably Martin's, and a thick skirt. On his head sat a pair of pipe cleaner antennae. Over his shoulders he had a cape with a painted-on pattern. As he turned, Megan realised the pattern was like the markings on the wings of a moth, which explained the lampshade Martin was wearing on his head, along with the suit jacket in the same faded yellow floral fabric as the lampshade. It was both hideous and slightly genius. They were matching in a slightly awful, washed out way. It was endearing. 

"Should we go say hi?" Colin asked. 

"I don't see why not." Megan started wandering towards them.  "Harrison, have you met Martin yet?" He shook his head. "Don't worry, he's lovely. I work with him and the others have met him a few times." 

As they drew closer, Harrison trailed behind Anna slightly, but stayed with them. 

Martin glanced up at their approach, but Mr Sims was facing the other way, messing with something on his phone. 

"Is that a Jonny d'Ville costume?" Martin asked excitedly. 

Mr Sims flinched so hard he nearly knocked off his antennae. He span around and stared at Colin, wide eyed. 

"Wait, is this that band you like?" Anna asked. "What are they called? The Mechanics?" 

"The Mechanisms." Colin a told her. "And yeah!" He bounced on his toes and shot finger guns at Martin. 

"Amazing!" Martin looked over the moon. "I never thought I'd meet another Mechs fan all the way out here!"

"Me neither! I've tried to get these guys into them but they just don't get it, you know?" 

"Oh trust me, I've been there." 

Mr Sims turned his stare to Martin. "You're a Mechs fan?" 

"Yeah, I thought you knew."

Mr Sims floundered for a moment. "Well, I- I thought it would've come up before now, you know, with the whole-" He waved his hand a little helplessly. "You know." 

Martin frowned. "I really don't." He said slowly. "Besides, how have you heard of the Mechs?" 

Mr Sims blinked at him, once, twice, them seemed to get both more relaxed and way, way more tense. "Uh, Georgie was a fan." 

"Really? Why have you never told me that before?"

"How was I supposed to know you liked them?" 

"You know everything." Martin said matter-of-factly. "And I haven't exactly been subtle, I used to have a Mechs pin on my bag. I listened to them in the office all the time." 

"You did?" Mr Sims frowned. Realisation seemed to hit him a moment later. "Oh, you did."

Martin frowned at him for a moment before turning his attention back to Colin. "How did you get into them?" 

"My mum! She was a fan when she was younger. She met my dad at one of their shows." 

Mr Sims gave him an incredulous look. "Really?" 

"Yeah! She went to Oxford for a year at the same time the band was together. She went to one of the shows and met my dad." Colin shrugged. "She stayed a fan after she had me, so she used to play me the songs when I was little." 

Mr Sims was looking around the room. He seemed to spot what he was looking for and smiled. Megan turned to see Cecily, Colin's mum, wave at them, a slightly awkward smile on her face. 

Mr Sims shot her a similar smile, then took Martin's glass out of his hand. "I'm going to get some more drinks." 

"Oh, okay." Martin looked at him. "Want company?" 

"No, no, I'll be okay. You keep talking about music, I'll be back soon." 

"O-okay." Martin looked confused as Mr Sims took off towards Cecily. "Huh. Anyway," He shook it off and turned back to Colin. "favourite album?" 

-

"So," Jon came to stand next to wear Miss Wardell was leaning against the wall. "The Mechs, huh?" 

She winced. "Sorry."

"It's okay." He shook his head. "It was only a matter of time." 

"I suppose so." She smiled. "The band was actually good."

"So I've heard." He gave her a wry smile. "Miss Wardell, I'm sorry if my position as your sons teacher makes you uncomfortable." 

"Call me Cecily. And why would it?" 

"I don't think most people view 'I was in a space pirate cabaret in uni' as the merit of a sane person who should be teaching children, regardless of whether they were fans of the band." 

Cecily laughed. "Look, I'm still listening to the same space pirate cabaret I listened to in uni, so I can hardly judge." She grinned at him. "I guess it just reminds me of the good old days." 

"God that makes me feel old." She laughed again as Jon sighed. "Did you really meet Colin's father at one of the shows?"

"Yep." Cecily looked over at where Colin was standing holding his phone out to Harrison and pointing to the screen. "He reminds me of him a lot." She went quiet for a moment, clearly contemplating something before her eyes widened and she pushed off the wall to stand in front of Jon, hands out. "Oh god, he wasn't one of the band members-"

"Oh no, I didn't think-"

"I'm not one of those fans-"

"We weren't that sort of band."

She grimaced. "I promise I'm not about to spring on you that Colin is your son, that would be super weird. I'm so sorry."

Jon laughed. "I wasn't worried about that. Although, he is a good kid and anyone should be proud to call him their son." 

Cecily blushed with pride. "I am proud. Don't know about his dad, but I couldn't be more happy about Colin." 

Jon hummed and glanced over at where Martin was stood, laughing about something one of the kids had said. 

"We met once, you know?"

"Really?" Jon looked back at Cecily. "I'm sorry, I don't remember."

"I don't think you would. It was after one of the shows. You'd just come off stage and you were heading towards the bar. I stopped you and said hey, told you I liked the show. I think I caught you off guard. You were quite awkward, it was actually super sweet." 

Jon chuckled. "Well, thank you. I'm sorry, I wish I could say I remember-"

"Oh no, don't worry, it's completely fine. It was one passing hello one night fifteen years ago, it wasn't exactly memorable." 

"Right." Fifteen years. Jon felt quite tired thinking about that fact. 

"And hey," Cecily bumped his shoulder. "I promise I won't tell Colin who you are."

"Oh, he's a smart kid," Jon shook his head. "I give it ten minutes until he's worked it out for himself." 

She made a small, happy sound. Jon looked back up to see Martin looking at him, an inscrutable look on his face. Jon gave him a quick thumbs up. Martin apparently took that as a signal to come over, because he split away from where the kids were huddled around Colin's phone and set off across the hall towards them. 

"Uh, Martin also doesn't know." 

Cecily glanced at him, then looked over at Martin. "Your secrets safe with me, d'Ville." 

Jon just managed to muffle his snort in time for Martin to sidle up next to them and wrap an arm around his waist. "Hey you."

"Hey." Martin kissed his cheek. "What are you up to?" 

"Getting drinks." 

"Really? You were gone a while, I was getting worried."

"I ran into Cecily. Martin, this is Colin's mum." He gestured at Cecily who waved. 

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Hi." Martin relaxed against Jon and held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Martin." 

"Yeah, Jonny said." 

Jon flinched. "It's, ah, it's just Jon."

"Oh sorry!" She raised her hands. "Sorry, I just- Ah, my bad." 

"No trouble." 

"Maybe you should go by Jonny? It suits you." Martin's arm tightened around him slightly, giving him a quick squeeze. "I like it."

Oh, if only you knew, Jon thought. "Once upon a time, perhaps. But I like Jon more now."

"If you say so." 

"Red alert." Cecily muttered. Jon glanced over at where the kids were huddled to see them all gaping at him. 

"Ah. There goes that then." 

"There goes what?" Martin looked around the room. "What happened?"

"Martin, you know how you think Jonny suits me? Yeah, about that."

-

"The Mechs is a band, they're so good. They did a bunch of concept albums, they all have stories with them. But all the stories are based off actual legends. Like, The Bifrost Incident is norse mythology on a train in space." Harrison blinked, raising his eyebrows. Colin pressed on. "But the band members are all characters, so they all have back stories and they sometimes show up in songs as themselves. I'm dressed as Jonny d'Ville, he's essentially the narrator." Colin pulled out his phone and went to Youtube. 

"There's a whole bunch of members, they all sort of come and go a lot." Martin added. "The backstories are all super interesting as well, they're all fully fleshed out characters."

"You have to sort of give it a moment with their music. Don't dismiss it straight away." Colin held out his phone and let the clip play. 

Anna leant over his shoulder to get a better view of the screen. "The amount of times I've seen this video-"

"Shush." 

Martin slipped away, heading towards Mr Sims. 

On screen, the band was doing the sound checks, bantering a bit to and fro with the audience. 

Harrison pointed at one of them. "Is that him?" 

"Yeah." Colin pointed to his costume. "I did a pretty good job, didn't I?" 

Harrison nodded. The brown waistcoat was slightly the wrong shade, but it was hardly noticeable. Anna had done a good job in getting the eyeliner right, and the goggles pushing Colin's curls back were almost identical. Harrison turned his attention back to the screen.

"He looks like Mr Sims." 

Colin laughed. "Yeah I guess he-" He froze, staring at the screen. "Wait. Wait, what?" 

"Him." Harrison pointed to where Jonny d'Ville was stood chatting to another band member. 

"Wait." Colin said again. "No way." 

"What?" 

"No fucking way." Colin skipped forward in the video, finding a point where d'Ville was stood narrating something. "Oh my god." 

The voice coming out of the speakers was Mr Sims'.

Megan gasped. "Get out. It can't be, right? Right? I mean, what are the odds?" 

"Pretty slim. Holy fuck." Anna leant back off Colin's shoulder. "This is incredible." 

"Are you okay?" Harrison poked Colin's arm gently. He was stood motionless, staring down at the screen. Slowly, he raised his head and met Harrison's eyes. 

"Jonny d'Ville has marked my history papers." 

Anna snorted. "Jonny d'Ville saved your life."

Harrison looked at her a little sharply, but his question was cut off by Colin letting out a verbal keysmash. 

"Jonny d'Ville knows my darkest secrets. Oh god, Jonny d'Ville knows everything." 

"What?" Harrison felt a bit lost. 

"Mr Sims knows everything, you get used to it." 

"Jonny d'Ville is Mr Sims." Colin looked like he wanted to cry and laugh. "I hate my life. How have I not noticed until now?" 

"If you payed more attention in class maybe you would've." 

"Would it be Jonny d'Ville is Mr Sims or Mr Sims is Jonny d'Ville?" Megan mused. 

"Either way, our history teacher used to be in a themed band." 

Harrison looked over to where Mr Sims was leaning against Martin, laughing as Martin gaped at him. Colin's mother stood next to them, smothering her laughter behind her hands. 

"My mum." Colin said. "My mum met Mr Sims when he was in uni. My mum went to uni with Mr Sims." 

"This is truly a night of revelations." Anna wrapped her arm around Colin's shoulders. "You should go sit down, you look like you're about to pass out."

"I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. Or maybe hell. Somewhere that isn't here." 

Harrison looked around for a free table. As he looked past the door to the garden at the back of the village hall, his eyes caught on a familiar figure ducking out of the door. She was wearing a jacket, but Harrison knew that if she took it off, he would see the edges of a tattoo peaking out from under her tank top. 

"Guys."

"I just can't believe it. Do we ask him about it?" Megan was laughing. 

"Guys." 

"I mean, yeah?" Anna cut back. "This is nowhere near the weirdest thing on the list. He's Mr Sims, if anything this is the most boring thing we've ever learned about him."

"Guys!" 

Harrison finally cut through their chatter. They all turned to look at him. 

"Jude is here."  

-

"I cannot believe that you never told me. I'm heart broken right now. Who even are you?" Martin dropped his forehead into Jon's shoulder, his makeshift hat abandoned on the table next to him. "I don't think I know you anymore." 

Jon laughed and pushed at his hair. "I'm sorry! I didn't realise you liked the band and it wasn't exactly something I was willing to talk about back in the archives. It was hard enough after Tim found out when we worked in research together." 

"You're killing me. Tim knew?" 

"It was entirely accidental that he found out. I swore him to secrecy." 

"I'm dead. Rest in peace, here lies Martin K Blackwood." 

"There's no K!"

"Yeah well, you were in a space pirate cabaret, so maybe I can have a middle name. Have you thought about that?" Martin's words had no bite behind them, and Jon could feel him smiling into Jon's shoulder. 

"Okay, you can have a middle name."

"Thank you." 

Jon chuckled and opened his mouth to say something. 

Danger. 

Jon froze. The air suddenly felt too warm, the hair on his arms standing up. His stomach lurched. 

"Jon? You alright?" Martin pulled away slightly, turning Jon towards him. "What's going on?" 

"Somethings happening. The Eye, it-" He caught sight of the teens hurrying towards them. 

"Mr Sims!" Anna called, panting.  "Mr Sims, Jude's here." 

Martin tensed, his arms going stiff around Jon. "What's the likelihood she's just here for the apple bobbing?" 

"We are never that lucky. I-" Outside, the Eye whispered. "Outside. Somethings happening- The fireworks." Jon detangled himself from Martin's arms. "Martin, we have to get to the fireworks." 

Martin stepped back. "What is she doing?" 

"I don't know, there's too much going on for me to See." 

"Okay," Martin nodded, steeling himself. "Okay, let's go." 

Jon went to set off towards the garden when he realised the kids were all standing there expectantly. "Go home. We'll deal with this, just go home." 

"Absolutely not!" Megan said. "We are coming with you." 

"You can't stop us." Anna looked determined. 

Jon sighed, frustrated. "You don't understand, it's not safe."

"Neither was London." Anna was almost shouting. "I'm sorry Mr Sims, but we want to help." 

He looked between them. Even Harrison looked like he wouldn't back down, and he knew practically nothing about the situation. 

Martin tugged at his sleeve. "Jon, we have to go."

"Fine. Fine!" He threw up his hands. "Just don't get hurt. If I tell you to run, then run. Jude is dangerous. Don't go near her, don't trust her, and definitely don't touch her." He held up his burned hand to prove his point. "This is what she can do. Don't be idiots about this." 

Harrison's eyes widened at the sight of Jon's. 

"I thought you said that was hot wax?" Colin frowned. 

Jon grimaced. "Like I said, don't touch her. Now, we need to go and stop her. And then I need to have a few words with Helen about what she thinks an emergency is." 

Chapter Text

"Jon, I don't mean to jinx things, but this is seeming very quiet." 

Jon hated to agree, but Martin was right. The Eye was being frustratingly unhelpful. Nothing in the garden seemed amiss. Harrison said he had seen Jude, but Jon wasn't Seeing her anywhere nearby. There were too many people, too much noise and commotion for him to focus. Jude was doing a very good job of going unnoticed and it was driving Jon mad. 

"She's here, I know she is, it's just- I can't see her." 

"Okay, we'll keep looking." Martin nodded. "We should check the field, right? Where the fireworks are?" 

Jon took a deep breath. It wasn't a bad idea. "Right." 

Anna knew a shortcut round to the back of the field, so she led them away from the crowd and down a side road. It put them behind the field that the fireworks had been set up in, and it was simply work to climb over a broken part of the fence. The fireworks were set up in the middle of the field, and even from this distance, Jon could make out the bright colours of the boxes. He set off across the grass, his little party in tow. 

As they drew closer, the feeling of unease steadily grew. This wasn't going to end well. The Eye didn't need to tell Jon that. 

-

Harrison wasn't certain what was happening, but he knew it wasn't great. 

Mr Sims seemed extremely tense, and he kept shooting worried glances at the kids. Even Colin's usual enthusiasm had mellowed out significantly. He hadn't cracked a joke since they had found Mr Sims, not even to grill him about his past as a musician. It was disconcerting to see from Colin. Harrison hadn't known him for long, but he respected him a lot, even down to the way he seemed to get excited about everything. Compared to previous friends, all of the teens were good people. They were good people even without the comparison. 

Mr Sims was more confusing. Recent revelations aside, Harrison had never been able to work him out. People had roles that they filled, that was easy to understand, easy to categorise. But Mr Sims didn't seem to fit into any specific role. He was their teacher, sure, but he seemed to be more than that. He reminded Harrison a bit of Gandalf. Cryptic, strange, and balanced on the line between friend and mentor. 

Who, apparently, fought bad guys. 

They approached the stack of fireworks. Harrison wasn't the most savvy when it came to fireworks, but he knew abandoning them in the middle of a field wasn't the typical protocol. 

 He was starting to wonder why there was no one out here when a shadow moved. 

Harrison felt sick. He had really hoped he had mistaken someone else for her, but there she was, hunched over the fireworks, messing with something. 

Suddenly, he caught a familiar smell on the breeze. 

Smoke. 

Harrison hated the smell of smoke. 

Mr Sims approached the woman, carefully keeping his distance.

"Hello Jude." 

She span around to face him. Her eyes roamed over them, taking in their halloween costumes with a vicious smirk. "Archivist. It's been a while. How's the hand?"

"What are you doing here?" 

She laughed. "Oh, you can do better than that. Or can you? Have you lost your touch, Archivist?"

Martin scoffed. "Shut up. Why are you here?" 

"Don't you start. Honestly, you're both so boring, I don't know why I bother." 

"Answer the question." Mr Sims took a step towards her. 

"Or what?"

He glared at her. 

"Oh this is too good, Archivist. You don't know, do you?" 

"Enough. Tell us what you're doing." It wasn't a question anymore. 

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to burn down your precious little village. You took so much from us. You ruined everything. You destroyed our perfect world and now we are going to destroy yours. You're an idiot for thinking you could keep any of them safe from danger. You are danger, Archivist. Death and destruction sticks to you. Wherever you go, you take so much suffering with you. You could almost serve The Desolation if you only appreciated your own talents for pain." She gasped, trying to stop the flow of words. "I'm here to take away this life that you've built and show you the beauty of the flames. Before this is over, you are going to beg the Lightless Flame for forgiveness." 

She went quiet, staggering backwards away from him. 

Harrison almost felt sorry for her. 

"Why hurt all these people?" Martin sounded broken. "If it's us you're angry at, why take it out on us?" 

"She knows I would survive. She knows that nothing she can do will hurt me physically, but I can still feel everyone else's pain." Mr Sims sighed. Martin's hand found his. "That's enough. The pain of loss." 

Mr Sims looked up at her. The way Jude was staring at him, the look in her eyes... she was afraid. This woman who had just threatened to burn the entire village just for revenge was afraid of their bumbling, awkward history teacher. 

One glance at Mr Sims and Harrison understood why. 

In the dim light spilling across the field, Harrison thought he looked almost ethereal. Something about his demeanour had shifted. He wasn't Mr Sims anymore. The line of his shoulders was stronger, the way he held himself more upright and serious making Harrison think of the statues he had seen in museums of ancient heroes. Mr Sims wasn't like those heroes. He didn't stand eight feet tall and he want wielding a great legendary weapon. Instead, Mr Sims was burning with rage or pain or something.

This was the Archivist. Harrison didn't know what that meant, but the way Jude had spat the word at Mr Sims was enough to understand that it meant something. Something bad. 

"Leave. Go back to wherever you came from. Don't come back to this village and don't bother me again." 

She laughed. It was empty of amusement. "You really think that would work? You're even more of an idiot than you seem." 

"It was an offer." Mr Sims sounded almost pitying. "I'm giving you an easy way out." 

"I came here to do a job. I won't fail." 

"Who asked you to come here? You made it clear last time we spoke that you never wanted to see me again, and I honoured that. Why seek me out? What changed?" 

"I guess the stakes changed. Didn't you hear? The world ended." 

"Ah. So this is about what I did to Magnus." 

"We had it good, Archivist. We were happy. Everyone was living the high life and then you came along and ruined it." 

Martin made a small noise. "He saved people." 

"He made it boring. Your fault for not predicting that people would want compensation, I guess." 

"So you're here to, what, turn this place into our own personal hell?" Martin was a little incredulous. 

"Isn't that what you did to everyone else?" 

A glance at the others told Harrison they didn't know what was happening either. He felt like he was missing a vital piece of information that would make this conversation make sense. 

"I had no choice." Mr Sims said. "You do. Tell me who else is after us."

"No." 

"Tell me." 

Static filled Harrison's ears. He flinched back, jerking away from Mr Sims, away from The Archivist.

"No! You won't do that to me."

"Lukas tried to resist." Martin said. "I don't recommend it." 

"I am not that Forsaken idiot." Jude spat. "You cannot make me."

"Tell me who you work for." 

She trashed, seemingly frozen in place, her limbs twisting as she tried to keep the information inside herself. The static built, a sizzling crescendo filling Harrison's entire being, stifling the air until he felt like he was drowning with the need to Know. He squeezed his eyes shut. It didn't help. The image of Jude fighting with the urge to speak still found his mind. 

Smoke filled his lungs, clawing it's way down his throat, dancing across his tongue as he tried to take a breath. Jude roared with a deep, primal fury.

Silence. 

The static faded. The sounds of the party drifted out across the field. Far away, someone was laughing. 

Harrison forced his eyes to open. 

Mr Sims was stood, staring at a scorched patch of grass. Martin was next to him, doubled over, heaving deep breaths. On the ground lay Megan, one hand clutching Anna's. Colin was curled up next to them, hands over his ears. 

Mr Sims turned. He looked so strangely human. 

"I'm so sorry." His voice was rough, as if he hadn't used it for a long time. "I'm so sorry."

His knees buckled. Martin caught him before he hit the ground. 

Colin slowly pushed himself up off the floor. He held out a hand to Harrison to help him up. 

"Mr Sims?" His voice was so quiet Harrison almost thought he imagined it. 

Mr Sims looked up at him. 

"Is she gone? Is it- is it safe?" 

He nodded. "I didn't want to do that. I didn't want- It shouldn't have ended like this." 

"Is it over?" Martin rubbed his shoulders. 

"I don't think so. She wasn't working alone, if she'd just told me-"

"Jon, stop. Dwelling won't do us any good." 

Mr Sims looked up at Martin, a heartbroken look on his face. 

Harrison brushed the dirt off himself. "She was magic, right?" 

Mr Sims swivelled his gaze onto him. "Not quite. I- it's a lot to explain. I think we best find somewhere to sit."

"Are you sure?" Martin frowned. "We could just go home, we don't have to do this now." 

"Harrison deserves the truth." Mr Sims addressed him. "I'll tell you everything you want to know. It's up to you, we can forget this ever happened or I can fill you in. It's not pleasant, but you deserve to know what happened tonight."

Harrison looked at the others. "Do you already know?"

Anna nodded. "We found out a while ago." 

Harrison nodded. He looked back at Mr Sims. "Okay. I want to know."

Mr Sims nodded and stood up straight. "I thought you would."

"I have one question first." 

He raised an eyebrow. 

"Are you a wizard?"

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"Champagne?" Martin leant around the door, bottle in hand. 

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"Colin, would you mind moving your worksheet for a moment."