"A Guide to Underfae?" Arya stared at the golden lettering, swallowing audibly as she stared at the creature drawn beneath. It wasn't human, or Fae, in the slightest. "So these are the so-called monsters from a curse that's just supposed to be a myth..."

"Yep."

Arya laughed, albeit a bit hysterically.

"You OK to continue, Arya?" Lydia asked, looking mildly concerned.

Her laughs died away, an oddly blank expression forming on her face as she nodded sharply. "I'm fine. Absolutely fine."

Jake stared sceptically at her, an amused smile on his face. "You sure sound like it."

"Just tell me." Arya sighed, ignoring the slight pounding in her head as she stared at the old book, trying not to cough on the dust. "I don't think I've had my daily dose of insanity yet..."

"Long ago-"

"In a land far far-"

"Arya!" She scowled. "I'm trying to teach you about our history." She said, kicking a sniggering Jake with one foot.

She bit her lip. "Sorry. I couldn't help it..."

"Long story short, the Fae rebelled against Vasilith... and him, being a vengeful God and all, turned the worst of the traitors into hideously twisted creatures, forcing his will on them... turning them against the rest of our kind and yours." She sighed, leaning back against the nearest bookshelf. "Those creatures, as you've no doubt guessed, were the Underfae."

"Those were the Dark Ages." Blu reappeared, coffee in hand. "Humans and Fae alike were slaughtered, and our numbers dwindled from millions to a couple of hundred thousand." He leant over her shoulder, flicking the book open. "We would've been annihilated, had it all continued."

"So what changed?" She tilted her head, staring back at him, noting the unusually serious expression on his face.

"Vasilith realised what he'd done... what was about to happen to one of his precious creations... so he sent down six of his warriors."

"The Immortals?" Arya guessed.

"Hmm..." Blu tilted his head. "Well, would ya look at that...? You aren't as dumb as you look..."

Lydia grabbed her by the arm, preventing her from tackling the Disciplinary Committee Commander to the ground. "Ignore him. Trust me, if you punch him, he'll be the one gloating in the end."

"Which is why a hell of a lot of Fae aren't too pleased with Vasilith..." Jake sat back, staring up at the ceiling, pulling their attention back to their conversation. "Hence the hatred of the silver cross... the sign of Vasilith's judgement..."

"Oh." Arya fiddled with her own cross, staring down at the hints of gold outlining the shape. "So that's what all the hints were about..."

"Yeah." A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. "About damn time you got the message."

"Flynn and... Velvet... always tried to get me to hide it..."

The mood darkened considerably at the mention of her name.

"Well." Jake clapped his hands, trying to clear the air. "We might as well get on with some work."

"That's right." Lydia said, shooing Blu into a corner with a devious smile. "Get the riddle out." She ordered, watching as Arya slipped out the folded piece of paper, setting it over the page of the book in front of them, covering up the drawing of some sort of wolf-like creature.

"What are you three muppets muttering about?" Blu scowled at them.

"Nothing, dearie, now go away and stop bothering us." She waved him off. "Now, Arya, you probably ought to go and look up anything lion-related. It was drawn on that piece of paper for a reason, and we need to find out why-"

"Lydia." Jake's face was serious for once. "I'm the lion-expert here..."

"You're too attached. That's why Arya's going to look that part of the whole shindig up."

"Jake is...?" Arya blinked. "Jake likes lions?"

"Yeah. Something like that." She smiled at the younger girl, pushing her towards another set of bookshelves. "This section probably has what you're looking for."

"Why don't you go and look it up?" One eyebrow rose. "Clearly you have a good idea what you're searching for, so why don't you just hurry up and say it out loud..."

"It'd... upset... Jake."

"And here I thought you liked annoying your boyfriend..."

Lydia gagged. "B-boy-boyfriend?!"

"You're always lowkey flirting with each other." Arya folded her arms, watching as the taller girl struggled to resist the urge to vomit.

"Arya, Jake's my cousin."

"Oh."

"Holy Vasilith... How did you not guess?" She shook her head. "We're both blonde..."

"Different shades."

"With green eyes. Those aren't all that common."

"I have green eyes too." She tilted her head, staring into the pair which couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted to be green or blue. "Are we related?"

Lydia's shoulders sunk. "Dammit. You're too good at this!"

"Arguing?"

"Yeah." She gritted her teeth, debating on whether to hit her or mess up her hair. "I suppose we should've told you a bit sooner, but I thought you were smart." She continued, settling for ruffling the younger girl's hair.

Arya's eye twitched. Somehow Lydia had still managed to fire an insult her way, though thankfully not a food-related one.

"Me and Jakey-boi have been raised together since we were kids... and now our relationship has divulged into this mess." A soft laugh broke through. "At one point my parents were worried he was gonna develop some sort of cousin-complex, but he turned out OK in the end... just a bit dumber than I hoped."

"Oy! I can hear you!"

"Love you too, my lovely little cousin!"

"Creep." He muttered. "I'm older than you!"

"I'm smarter than you!"

Jake had no reply for that, and neither did Arya, so she simply let herself be dragged even deeper into the maze of a library.

"Anyway, just go and grab a few books if you can... if not, we can come back and work on that bit of the riddle after we've ditched Jakey-boi."

"Sure thing..." She nodded dimly, her brain overloaded with information as she started trawling through the rows of books, looking for anything even mildly resembling the inked symbol she'd seen on the little piece of paper.

"Try two shelves to your left."

The voice made her jump, spinning around to find a man leaning against back against the row of sturdy wooden shelves closest to the wall.

"You're looking for information on lions, right?"

"Um... yeah, but how do you know?" She stared at him warily. Anyone who could sneak up on her wasn't to be taken lightly. She'd always been hyperaware of who was around her ever since her childhood.

Silvery eyes met her green ones. "I have ears, and you weren't exactly being quiet."

"What are you even doing here? Are you stuck in detention too?"

"Pfft. Me, in detention?" He laughed, running a hand through his silvery hair. "Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but I'm the librarian."

"Oh." She looked him up and down, staring at the silvery coat he wore, noting the fact he wasn't wearing the school uniform. He wore black slacks similar to that of the boy's uniform, but the similarities ended there. His formal black shirt was untucked, buttons at the top opened, revealing the grey vest underneath. That wasn't what Arya's eyes were drawn to, though. No. It was the silvery cross dangling from his necklace which had her attention, even as he reached past her, plucking a book from the shelf beside her. "Nice cross..." She mumbled. "I didn't think many people wore them here."

"A few still do." He shrugged. "Besides... this little one is nothing compared to the first one I had..." He ran his thumb over the smooth silver bars, passing her the large leather-bound book he'd picked.

"What happened to it?" She tilted her head, absentmindedly touching the large silvery cross she wore around her own neck. It was safely concealed underneath her shirt, but it still gave her comfort as she talked to the odd man.

"I dropped it."

"Didn't you realise?" She asked, remembering the various cross-shaped necklaces she'd been given over the years. "I'd never lose mine. It's too important to me."

"Accidents happen." He shrugged.

Arya paused, silence falling between them as she tried to think of how to answer that, but the words eluded her.

"But anyway, I thought I'd give you a helping hand, little First Year." A hand patted her hair, but Arya didn't even bother to glare, and she had no idea why. All she could do was stare dumbly at him, blindly accepting the second book he placed in her hands. "You need all the information you can get your hands on."

"Um... Thanks?"

"No problem." He smiled, tucking his hands back into his pockets as he wandered back the way Arya guessed he must've come from.

Shaking her head to clear the odd haze that'd overcome her, she wandered back towards Lydia and Jake were, glancing down at the books in her hands. "Tales of Legends?" She stared sceptically at the second book. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You found it?" Lydia rounded on her as she came back into sight, taking the book Arya held out to her.

"The librarian did." She said, staring down at the second book still in her hands, wondering why he'd given it to her.

"Librarian?" Blu spoke up, wandering closer, puzzlement written across his face. "What did he look like?"

"Why?"

Lydia grabbed her shoulder, concern marring her expression as Blu raced towards the shelves Arya had been perusing only minutes before, her voice ringing in the silence that'd fallen. "Because we don't have a librarian, Arya."