Ollie, Jared, and Ginger told their siblings to go home without them. They'd been waiting patiently by the front door; lying almost too easily, Ollie, Jared, and Ginger told them they had work for class that they needed to do at school. The excuse was accepted without question. All three promised resolutely to walk home together—with Dexter Bradbury, of course—and to be home long before dark. As for Shannon and Dexter himself, Professor Nadig allowed them to use the school telephone to call home to provide the same excuse. It seemed perfectly reasonable.

The reality of what they were doing was much darker. And it was only the first step.

They gathered, oddly enough, in Allison's dorm room. They all agreed it was the safest place. Tuly was in the infirmary and Maggie and Francine most likely wouldn't return to the dormitory until after dinner. There would be no one to overhear. After months of separation, Allison Groves stood with Shannon, Caleb, Dexter, Ginger, Jared, and Ollie as if those months had never happened. To further cement the illusion, they were discussing the same thing they had been the last true time they'd been together.

Shannon Malone thought that maybe there were things in life that had to be dealt with and there was no designated person to deal with them. Maybe some things had to be faced by whoever got the chance. Perhaps the person with the chance in this case was her. She thought the others understood that; she thought they realized they couldn't change her mind.

None of them had to like it, though.

"This is a bad idea." Ollie had been repeating that phrase ever since the seven of them had gotten to Allison's dorm room. The others were mostly ignoring her; Shannon was, at least, and she figured Ollie was saying it more for her own benefit than anyone else's. Shannon didn't need it; she already knew.

"You really want to kill them, huh?" Allison said, talking over Ollie completely. "The vampires?"

"They got Toni, Allison," Shannon said. "Almost killed her."

Allison looked at her with pursed lips, eyebrows drawn together. Shannon looked back almost defiantly, waiting for the other girl to say something. Finally, Allison just nodded, her shoulders slumping.

"How are you gonna find them, Shannon?" Caleb asked. "I don't really think you should just wait around outside at night. That was stupid enough the first time."

Shannon sighed. "No, you're right. And I don't really know if I'll be able to find them. But...I have an idea."

"Oh no," Ollie moaned, her voice very small.

"Allison had an idea, too," Jared said. "It didn't go so well."

"You know, I can hear you, asshole," Allison snapped.

"Mine is better," Shannon said. Allison squawked indignantly.

"Oh, good. Better." Ollie sounded on the verge of some sort of breakdown. Frantically, she chewed on her nails.

"What is it?" Caleb asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well, think about it," Shannon said. "That night, outside, we were standing by the door into the kitchen. And Ollie found Diane Merriweather in the dining hall. And Signora Moretti said something went after her chickens—the coop's just outside the kitchen door. I think...I think maybe the vampires...I don't know, stay close to the kitchen and the dining hall? That's where everything seems to happen."

"But...where?" Dexter asked. "If there were vampires in the dining hall or kitchen, I think someone would have seen them by now."

"I don't know," Shannon admitted. "But maybe...what's underneath the dining hall? Do any of you know?"

There was a pause for a moment as Allison, Caleb, Ginger, Dexter, and Jared looked questioningly between each other and Ollie mumbled something nervously to herself. Ollie seemed determined not to be a part of the conversation.

"I'm not sure," Ginger finally said. "There's gotta be something, but no one uses that section of the basement. I don't think anyone does, anyway."

"More of Diefenbaker's storage rooms, maybe," Jared said lightly.

"You know, we found the skull in one of Diefenbaker's storage rooms," Shannon said pointedly. "Maybe something put it there."

"And the basement was roped off that one day," Ginger said quietly. "When we had class outside."

Shannon had almost forgotten about that, but she didn't think it was a coincidence now that Ginger mentioned it.

"Okay," Dexter said slowly, "but...do you think the teachers haven't searched the school? I still think if there are vampires here, someone would have found them by now."

"They can turn into bats," Shannon said with a half-shrug. "Maybe they can keep themselves hidden that way. I don't know, really. I just think they're somewhere nearby. They're getting around without being noticed somehow."

"And she's right," Allison said, sounding almost defeated. "It does seem to be the kitchen and dining hall most of the time. That's where Maggie, Francine, and I found Tuly the night she was sleepwalking. And if...and if she was in the process of turning..."

Allison didn't have to finish.

"You might be right," Caleb said thoughtfully. "But I'm not sure how you'll be able to find them if no one else has yet."

"I'm not sure either," Shannon said, which was only half-truthful. She had a strange feeling that was only partially formed; she sort of felt as if the vampires would come to her. They took the bait the night in March. "But I have to try."

The silence that overtook them was like a wall, blocking everything out. No one was looking at Shannon, but she looked around at each of them, trying to read their thoughts and feelings.

"Shannon," Allison said, just when Shannon thought she would have to continue, "I know how you feel. My whole life, people have been not talking about this kinda stuff. Barely acting like it's real. Hell, we go to a magic school that's so normal it was months before you knew it was a magic school." She gave Shannon a crooked smile. "But...it's not true. It's not right. No matter how much anyone tries to cover this stuff up, it comes out." Allison looked off towards one wall as if she could see something no one else could. "You know, my brother Stephen was attacked his final year here at Briargate. Has the scar to prove it."

"What happened?" Shannon asked.

"That's just it," Allison said with a humorless smile. "No one would tell us. Not really, anyway. Stephen did, of course, but he wasn't supposed to. They wanted him to keep quiet about it. Not even tell his own family."

"They?" Shannon prompted.

"The Administration, of course," Allison said. "They handled the whole thing, made sure no one normal found out about it. They kept it all quiet. Except Stephen, because Stephen knew what had happened. He was attacked by some kind of monster. The Administration wanted to act like nothing happened. They wanted to make the whole thing disappear. They said back then that monsters didn't exist anymore, too. That Stephen must have been mistaken. The Administration is always just covering things up, never actually doing anything about it. They did it with Dougie Wein, too. They did it with my best friend."

Allison looked like the words caused her actual pain to say. Shannon looked at her closely and asked, "What are you saying, Allison?"

Allison looked her in the eye. "I'm saying I'm in."

And part of Shannon figured she'd always have Allison on her side when it came to this. Not for her, but for Mabel Starkowski.

"Okay," Shannon said quietly. "Okay."

"What are you two gonna do?" Caleb asked. He was looking at them curiously, his head tilted to the side. He spoke casually, like this was no big undertaking. He seemed to have lost interest in trying to discourage them.

Allison shrugged. "Look around. What do you think, Shannon?"

Shannon thought about it. "Yeah, I guess so. Look in the dining hall. Maybe in the basement, if we can get down there without being noticed. I...just want to see."

Caleb nodded thoughtfully. "When?"

"As soon as possible," Shannon said.

"Tomorrow," Allison said. Shannon's gaze flashed to the other girl. She lifted an eyebrow. Allison shrugged. "As good a time as any. After school." She looked around the group. "How about you guys?"

There was a long, pregnant pause before Caleb sighed. "Sure, why not? It'd be a good way to cap off a real shitty year."

Jared snorted. "That's a good one, Caleb. I think you're right about that."

"You can say that again," Dexter said, scrubbing a hand against his face. He looked between Allison and Shannon. "Well, say we all went. What's your plan?"

"Go and look around," Allison said. Shannon let her speak; Allison seemed to have all the ideas. "We'd want to get into the dining hall before dinner, obviously, but that's not until six-thirty anyway. We'd have three hours if went in right after classes ended. No one's in the dining hall then."

"I think you're forgetting something," Dexter pointed out. "Tomorrow's Thursday. All the gifted students have to meet with their professors for training."

"I'm not forgetting," Allison said. "It's better that way, actually. Most of the students and teachers would be in classrooms. Lowers the chances of getting caught. We just wouldn't go. We'd say we aren't feeling well or something."

"They'd catch on," Dexter said. "The teachers. They'd notice us all not coming to work with them."

"No, they wouldn't," Allison replied, sounding quite certain. "We each go to a different professor, and they've each got a bunch of students to account for. They'd never put the pieces together. Not until it's too late, anyway."

Dexter looked at her doubtfully. "Okay. Then what?"

"Just go and look around," Allison said, repeating herself. "We'd have a whole hour with most of the students and teachers locked up in the classrooms."

"What about Signora Moretti? She'll be around if you wanna go look in the dining hall," Dexter said.

"She'll be in the kitchen," Allison said. "She won't see or hear a thing. She didn't hear Diane Merriweather."

Ollie looked up at her sharply and suddenly. There was a specific emotion whirling in her eyes, but Shannon wasn't sure what it was.

"Seems you've been thinking a lot about this, Allison," Caleb said.

"Naw," Allison said. "After all, Shannon was the one with the idea about the dining hall. I just think it makes sense."

Caleb nodded, but he looked at her carefully all the same.

"Well, we'd just be looking around, anyway," Jared said carefully. "Like she says. Most we'd really get in trouble for would be skipping our session with our teacher to snoop around. That's not so bad, I guess."

Shannon didn't really think any of them were concerned about getting in trouble with the teachers. There were far worse things to get in trouble with.

"What do you think, Dex?" Jared asked. "I'm kinda with Caleb."

Dexter shrugged and nodded, and Shannon took that as his consent. Ginger looked around at all of them before saying in defeat, "You guys have the worst ideas. I'm in."

"Just leaves you, O'Brien," Allison said. Ollie's eyes got as wide as saucers.

"You guys are nuts," she said miserably. "I'm not—if you guys really want to keep chasing monsters, you can count me out. We'll just get ourselves killed."

"We're not chasing monsters," Allison said, sounding just a touch smug. "We're just looking around."

"Oh, knock it off," Ollie said. She was wringing her hands so forcefully Shannon was afraid they might start to bleed. "You think if you don't say it, it won't be true. You all do. But you want to go looking for the vampires after they nearly killed us the first time. So, no. No thanks. You don't need me anyway."

"Sure we do," Shannon said, her mouth working without permission. "You can do magic, can't you?"

Panic flashed across Ollie's face. All five of the others looked at Shannon in shock and surprise.

"I—I—" Ollie's mouth worked but she couldn't form a sentence.

"Oh, come on," Shannon said, as much to the others as to Ollie. "She's been fixing Charlie Mouser's glasses all year, making them good as new. Even when they were snapped in half. That's gotta be magic, right?"

Ollie looked as if she'd been caught committing some heinous crime.

"And you've got the book," Shannon continued. "The magic book. I saw it in your bag earlier this year."

"Oh, cripes, you have a magic book?" Jared asked incredulously, looking at Ollie as if he had never seen her before.

"I found it one day at the beginning of the year," Ollie said, slightly desperately. "It's my parents', probably my mom's. They usually keep that stuff locked up, but they must have forgotten. I just...Dean Procter's a jerk! I just wanted to help Charlie out and I thought maybe...I could learn how to fix his glasses. Anyone can do it, you know. Even normal people, like me. I just thought...I could help. I know I'm not supposed to, but..."

Ollie looked absolutely dejected. She stared at the ground as if she wanted it to open up and swallow her whole.

"You can do magic? Like spell magic?" Ginger asked gently.

Ollie nodded sadly, saying, "Not much, though. Just some little stuff."

"More importantly," Jared interjected, "you can do magic and you didn't tell me? Come on, Ollie! I'm your pal!"

Ollie looked at him and gave one pathetic giggle.

"That's pretty cool, O'Brien," Allison said. "I wouldn't have thought you had it in you. Stealing from your parents and all."

"I didn't..." Ollie began, and then she sighed, shoulders slumping.

"But see?" Shannon said. "You have to come with us just in case something happens and we need your help."

"Like if Allison's glasses break?" Ollie asked dryly.

"Maybe," Shannon said easily, shrugging. Ollie crossed her arms and looked moodily off to the side. Shannon sighed. "Well, either way, I'm going. Tomorrow."

"Me too," Allison said resolutely, and she held her arm out, the palm of her hand facing downward. Shannon placed her own hand on top. One by one, Caleb, Ginger, Jared, and Dexter put their own hands in.

"Well, Ollie?" Ginger asked.

For one long moment it seemed certain Ollie would burst into tears. She didn't. Instead, she thrust her hand into the circle and refused to look anyone in the eye.

It was only many, many years later that Shannon was able to ask herself the terrible question: What kind of children chase after a vampire in an escapade that will almost certainly get them killed?

"Guess that settles it," Caleb said, looking around.

"Yeah," Shannon agreed.

They dispersed shortly after, the gravity of what they were going to do hanging heavy over all of their heads. Shannon stuck around a little longer after everyone but Allison had left, waiting to get Allison alone.

"Hey, Allison?" Shannon said.

"Yeah?" Allison replied.

"Um, I was just wondering...how does Ollie know Dr. Kenfield?"

Allison looked at her strangely, half-frowning. "Oh, that's right. You don't know. Ollie's aunt went to school with him."

"Oh?" Shannon quirked an eyebrow.

Allison nodded. "Ollie's dad has a sister that's something like twenty-five years younger than he is. She came to live with Ollie's family when Ollie's grandparents died. She was more like a sister than an aunt. That's what Ollie says. She was actually in the same class as my brother Stephen. Dr. Kenfield was a few years older than them, but he and Ollie's aunt were pretty close."

"Did you know Dr. Kenfield would tell us about Tuly if Ollie asked?"

Allison shrugged. "No. But I thought I'd try."

Shannon considered that. "Where's Ollie's aunt now?"

"Ireland, I think," Allison replied. "Doing something or other. I don't know, it's hard to keep track of Ollie's family."

"Oh, I see." Shannon walked to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Shannon," Allison said.

"Yeah," Shannon agreed. She paused with hand on the doorknob, looking back. "Oh, Allison? It's good to see you."

Allison gave her a wry smile. "Yeah, you too."

As Shannon walked home that night, her thoughts were conflicted and clashed, running a mile a minute. But when she woke up the next morning, any lingering hesitation about what she was going to do was banished. Sometime over the night, Lance Benadine, the late, great Sarah Benadine's father, had been murdered.

Lance Benadine was number three.

***It's all coming to a head now. Thanks to everyone who has voted and commented, makes me feel appreciated :)***