It wasn't like Sebek Zigvolt despised their school's first female student, no. Grudge and hatred were too deep of words to describe what he felt but rather it was more of annoyance for every time he saw her or the interactions she had with their classmates, the sight of Mary lacking in so many aspects and no sense of direction was infuriating.

'You wouldn't survive here relying on Grim, Ace or Deuce.' was the first solid thought he had about this. While he didn't agree on their classmates picking on her and saying mean words, he couldn't blame them either.

Right now he just unwillingly partook on an example of saving her from an obviously disastrous situation when she could have fought back–it was very evident Sirius began acting sus.

"Are you alright? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?" Silver asked as they made it far from the office; they were now in an empty corridor.

Sebek stood a bit far from the two, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Thank you, I'm faring okay" Mary nodded, she willed her heartbeat to go at a normal pace again. "I have no idea why Mr. Oswald acted like that, I was only wanting to offer my help on the case given to my dormmates since I'm already feeling okay"

Exhaling, Silver glanced ahead as he spoke. "I never liked his vibes, even Lilia-sama stated he felt something off with that assistant but Headmaster trusted him for some reason" His gaze returned to Mary, "So you wanted to help knowing the person behind the accidents recently?"

Mary nodded with eagerness, "Yes! Whatever information I will get, I'm going to share it with my dormmates"

"Okay, we will accompany you but first let us drop by Diasomnia for a moment" Silver brought up some books without any cover or titles. "I need to bring this to Lilia-sama"

Sebek voiced out his protest, "Wait, who said I'm partaking in this ridiculous task? I will never engage myself with this backboneless human!" He pointed at the redhead.

The girl was visibly startled at his words but she showed no hurt, "I'm sorry Sebek–"

"Please don't even say sorry because it won't do a thing, you're only making me more irritated" The tall freshman interrupted her words.

But the sophomore among them narrowed his gem-like lilac eyes. "Sebek, be mindful and we are not going to leave Mary alone in this."

"Why? Do it yourself!" With that being said, Sebek stormed out on them, fuming.

He never despised the girl, no. It was really too deep of a word but at that moment, he became unsure and Sebek needed to get away before he did something awful.

–

"Fudge, I shouldn't have told Chrissy that we go on our separate ways" Ink was having trouble, she had been going around in circles at the unfamiliar dorm of Scarabia–she wasn't sure how many minutes or if an hour already passed but one thing for sure, she was lost.

Earlier the amber-eyed girl suggested Christine went ahead to drop by Savanaclaw so it'd be like hitting two birds with one stone. She was not hitting any bird right now. This dorm was warm and had tropical vibes in it compared to the air in Night Raven College but the heat wasn't too uncomfortable, since cold weather was no uncommon visitor in Moors, she was used to the cold and found this warmth soothing.

She peeked at a corner, hoping no boys were roaming to see her. "I just hope Fifi is not doing stuff to force the Princess against her will...she always does that to her" Sighed, okay good no one was around, at least she was being successful in not being seen–

"Do what now?"

–she spoke too soon.

Out of reflex and being startled, Ink went on random fighting movements getting herself and whoever person tangled, ending up with them on the floor.

"Why are you slithering in our dorm?" The person hovering above Ink asked, he had rich dark brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and charcoal eyes.

Ink opened her mouth but no words came out, "Uhhhh"

The boy finally pulled back, lending a hand for her to take which she did and straightened up.

"Apologies my tongue got tied for seconds there" Ink smiled sheepishly, her cheeks were subtly flustered. "I wasn't breaking in, just doing some inspection because the Headmaster's assistant told us to work on the case of students getting into accidents recently"

This made the boy's eyebrows raise curiously, "Is that so? You should have said so, instead of lurking here and being thought of as a spy. My name is Jamil Viper, Vice housewarden of Scarabia" He raised his hand.

Ink shook it, "Thanks, I'm Ink Stackhouse"

"I know who you are, saw it in the folder"

"Eh? How did you know who I am?"

Those narrowed gray eyes regarded Ink with interest. "I was the one who saw you having a tremendous headache last time, how is your head?"

'Whoa! This is the guy Chrissy described as tall, dark, and handsome?! She wasn't wrong there at all!' This only made Ink feel warmer on the face, she mentally pinched her cheeks for losing all the composure she used to have as a powerful fae. "T-thank you! I'm doing fantastic!" But she was also grateful to finally know who helped her.

"That's good to know, I made you a potion to help with your headache but it's not permanent." Jamil shared which made the smile on Ink's face slowly fade. "The potion created a barrier around your mind, I figured what you experienced might not be a common headache.

Ink sagged her shoulders, and then looked down on the floor. "You're not wrong about that..." Now that he mentioned it not being permanent, it would explain the soft minimal echoes she was hearing within her skull when she slept. So those weren't in a dream or ghosts being noisy, those were the intrusive voices from who-knows-where.

Jamil stared at her for a second, "Do you want to come with me for a moment? Perhaps I can also share with you some info related to the case you're working on"

–

Fenrir saw one of the new Ramshackle Dorm members come into their dorm and as expected, she wasn't welcomed nicely–in fact, his mates who were busy practicing and doing exercises began throwing nasty threats and derogatory remarks her way. Who was this girl again? Right, he heard her introduce herself as Christine–a rather pretty and smart cookie-looking girl, she looked out of place in their dorm.

"She is just wasting her time," Fenrir exhaled whilst lazing around near a boulder, not seen by the others but close enough to witness and hear the exchange. "It's not like she will manage to convince our leader to stop or make these rowdy animals behave..." His lips curved into an almost sinister grin. "And I am not going to let her be a hindrance either, we are just this close to getting Alice"

Sounds of steps approaching, Ruggie came. "Yo Fen, what are you doing having a monologue here for? What 'cha saying?"

"Nothing much, just saying that girl should be careful around here, vice head" Fenrir lied smoothly.

Ruggie saw the scene–their dormmates towering over Christine. "Sheesh,"

"Get lost, girlie unless you want to become our meal"

"Do you want us to beat you huh?"

"You think 'cause you're a girl we will hold back?"

"You have the nerve to accuse us!"

Christine remained composed amidst their threats, "I am not accusing anyone...yet, my coming here is only to check on you and ensure you wouldn't get hurt because per what I was told, the accidents were not accidental"

Before any of the beasts could step further, a tall white-haired boy with a pair of wolf ears came and stood in front of Christine. "Stop, knock it off you lot, Don't cause a scene Leona won't like"

"Tch, don't act so tough, freshie"

"Act like your age, senpai, I won't hesitate to take you on if I have to" The wolf-eared boy turned to face Christine, the girl was staring up at him in awe. "What?"

Christine was astonished, her eyes were sparkling. "Wow, you're so tall and your build...you're a main player in your team, aren't you?"

Her honest words got the wolf boy somewhat embarrassed but quickly hid it, "Well yeah, I'd be playing for my dorm first time this year. Back to what you were doing, you should leave now, Christine, I understand you want to check on us but as you can see we can't be targeted."

The dark-haired girl tilted her head, "Hmm, you have a point, it might be the other way around, no?"

-

Dalim Tweedle smiled triumphantly, the sight before him was making thrill and excitement flow in his veins like adrenaline. He never felt this alive!

"Look at you all, the ones who are supposedly in charge of taking care of the students and acting guardians at Night Raven College" He spoke with a taunting tone, his eyes flashing Ruby-red as his magic was being used. "But who will save you when you are in danger?"

There was a chorus of anger, words thrown here and there but Dalim was unfazed. He only widened his smile at the trouble they were in. He walked forward, crushing the elegant half-black mask on the ground.

Dire Crowley's face was etched with anger, "You traitor!" He was down on the ground, drained of his magic and heaving along with the other faculty members. "You caused this madness! You're the culprit!"

Some teachers were knocked unconscious too by the huge trolls surrounding them–these creatures armed with dangerous weapons were actually under the blonde's control, and black ink was oozing out of the trolls' ears and noses.

"Don't accuse me quickly, my friend" Dalim stated smugly, "I didn't cause the overblot, that was never on me but seeing I was never from this world, I found the whole thing advantageous so why not take the opportunity?" He smirked. "Thanks to this problem, we will get what we want soon"

–

"If we are done here, I am heading to the infirmary to fetch Mary" Phoenix declared coldly without even a glance back at the pale-haired girl, with an unbending composure she left and went in the direction of the infirmary.

Vernie was about to say something but seeing Phoenix turned to the corner, she only sighed softly. "She is such a lone wolf...we should be helping each other..." Since they were done with their task, she decided to head back to Ramshackle and wait for the others to return. "Or maybe I should check on Red too..." I do miss talking to her...

There was a sound of flickering fingers in the air, "What is in your mind, little dolphin?"

"Eh?" Vernie looked up and blinked in confusion upon seeing a smiling Jade. "Why are you here?"

Jade didn't lose the smile on his face. "You seemed in distress, will you want some assistance with your problem?"

"Not at all," Vernie stated, dismissing him. "My dormmates and I are more than enough to handle this case, besides, I don't know what you are up to, it's quite strange for you to easily offer help"

"Believe it or not, my intention is genuine...kind of," Jade said.

The pale-haired girl was about to give another reply to decline him when they heard someone coughing and sounding sick. Warning bells rang in Vernie's head. Is it another overblot?! Without saying a word to Jade, she went past him to check where the sound came from, and at the very back of the school she saw Sebek leaning a hand against a wall and throwing out thick black liquid.