When The Snow Falls

"Please may I come with you?" Daniel requested politely. "I've been worrying about Felix a lot."

Mr Collings looked down at him and Daniel stuck out his lower lip so he looked openly worried. It was probably going to take a lot to persuade Mr Collings to take him considering that he had never properly met Felix. It took a mere five seconds of manipulation for Mr Collings to relent. One of Daniel's talents as a detective had been the ability to manipulate.

"You can come with me, but if the doctor says that he wants to speak in private, you have to stay outside. Be careful about talking to Felix as well, he's technically never met you," he warned.

Daniel understood the caution. He knew a few things about head injuries and Felix would certainly be disconcerted by being asked questions about the secret society from someone he'd never formally met. He would have to be careful how he asked his questions.

On the car ride to the hospital Mr Collings started asking about his application to the Pudding Club. Daniel answered evasively before remembering that he did have a few questions that Mr Collings could answer.

"Mr Collings, drug taking is a problem at all schools, how does Kingston Royal Academy deal with it?" he enquired formally like he was part of a debate team.

Mr Collings took his gaze off the road to give him a confused look and then had to brake suddenly at the roundabout behind a queue of cars. If Daniel had gauged it right, he was even in the wrong lane for getting to the hospital.

"That's an odd question to ask. I wasn't aware that Kingston Royal Academy had any drug problems amongst students," he answered after they'd gone around the roundabout again in the correct lane. "I've only been working there for just over a year though."

Talking to Mr Collings was just as bad as asking Alvin about the prefects in some ways. Mr Collings thought all pupils were well behaved and had faith in anyone whereas Alvin was more in denial and thought everything was all right. Daniel decided it was best to move onto another topic of conversation.

"How do you discipline pupils? It doesn't say in the handbook."

Mr Collings nodded approvingly.

"That's a good question. I have an interesting fact for you: there has never actually been a student expelled in the history of Kingston Royal Academy."

Daniel was momentarily surprised by that fact until he remembered the types of pupils attending. Most people's parents were rich or influential enough to ensure their children wouldn't get kicked out.

"No one gets caned either. Punishments are left up to the prefects and the appropriate housemaster. I haven't had to punish anyone yet," Mr Collings admitted with a weak smile. "I threatened a student with cleaning the toilets using a toothbrush once last year though."

That probably hadn't gone down well with whoever it was. His mind flashed back to something Liam had said about the old canteen. 'Anyone caught gets worse than a detention'. It likely meant anyone they caught would end up like Felix which was interesting because Felix hadn't been pushed off the roof at the time.

"What happened after that?"

His housemaster smiled ruefully. "He complained to his parents who in turn complained to the headmaster who told me off and docked my pay for a month. Fortunately, no one seems to break the rules so I haven't had to make another decision like that."

Strangely enough Daniel could think of a lot of rule breaking that was going on at Kingston Royal Academy under his nose. Even he had broken the rules by leaving the dorm building outside of the curfew and entering a restricted area. If that had escaped Mr Collings' notice, it had to have been easy for the secret society to sneak out and take drugs.

Mr Collings pulled into the hospital and the next ten minutes were occupied by trying to find a parking space. After that he followed Mr Collings into the main building and to the Critical Care ward.

His housemaster announced who he was and who he came to see and was buzzed in. Daniel appreciated the security measure as it meant that Felix was safe from the secret society. Then he realised that if it had been easy for him to pressure Mr Collings to let him come with him, someone like Liam would have an even easier time.

The doctor in charge of Felix came to meet them and was puzzled by the sight of Daniel.

"This is Felix's roommate and the one that found him," Mr Collings explained. "Is there anything you can't discuss in front of him?"

"There's just some medical details and one important issue about the patient," the doctor paused. "He didn't wake up unaffected: he has amnesia."

When he heard that Daniel felt that his salvation had slipped from his grasp. He needed Felix to tell him what he'd found out. Without him, he might as well join the Pudding Club and tell anyone recruiting him for the inner sect to go away and hope he would survive until the end of the school year. The Earl would never believe him if he told him with the very little evidence he had at the moment. He was going to be stuck at Kingston Royal Academy until he finished.

"How bad is it?" Mr Collings asked with a heavy frown.

"He's missing the last year from what we can gauge. You might get more hints from him and I want to see if he recognises you and his roommate."

Daniel swallowed awkwardly. Felix was going to be confused because if he was missing a year of memories, he would think that Jack was still alive and sharing a room with him. He didn't want to be the one to tell him that Jack was dead.

"Is he doing okay aside from the amnesia?" Mr Collings moved the focus of the conversation.

"His appetite is off, other than that and the broken limbs, he's fine to have short visits. Please do not distress him," the doctor requested. "He seems to be taking it in his stride, but be careful. Call the nurse if he starts showing signs of being frustrated or distressed."

Daniel followed Mr Collings into the ward and immediately locked gazes with a familiar pair of eyes. Ones that he'd last seen on that night in the snow. Felix was sitting up in bed staring right at him and then his eyes moved to Mr Collings. Daniel looked at him curiously. He hadn't been paying attention to Felix's appearance when he'd been bleeding out and had only seen a photo of him since.

His head was covered in white bandages with a hint of black hair poking out. His skin was a unhealthily translucent white, but his green eyes were focused and analytical.

"Hello," he greeted and Daniel found himself being subjected to a piercing gaze again. He stared straight back and Felix looked away.

"I'm glad you've woken up. Is it okay for us to sit down and talk?" Mr Collings questioned cautiously.

"You may," Felix said. "You can sit down."

Daniel dragged out the chair that was by Felix's headboard and as he did so, he noticed that there was a phone on top of the cabinet that was showing a paused game. It had to be Felix's phone.

That was odd. Felix had only just woken up from a coma and was already interested in charging his phone and playing games. Then again he could be wanting to find out what had happened in the year he was missing memories and knew the passcode. He glanced at the phone again and recognised it as a recent release meaning that it should all be new to Felix.

"I take it that you've heard about my amnesia," Felix asked, distracting him from his observations.

Mr Collings itched the back of his neck nervously. "Yes. It's very unfortunate."

Felix nodded and his eyes moved to Daniel again.

"Who is with you?"

Mr Collings faltered. "...He found you and called the ambulance. If he hadn't, you might not be alive."

Felix smiled dazzlingly at Daniel causing him to blink in surprise. That smile was lethal.

"Thank you," he said. "I haven't seen you at school before, do we know each other?"

Daniel didn't know how to answer that. The truth was that he was a replacement for his probably murdered roommate. That wasn't a suitable thing to say to an amnesiac patient who had only recently woken up.

"He's fairly new," Mr Collings explained.

"I see. It's nice to meet you, Daniel," Felix smiled again.

Daniel was confused about Felix's knowledge of his name and then realised that his name badge was visible.

"...is Jack going to visit me anytime?" Felix asked hesitantly.

There was an odd look in his eyes that disappeared as quickly as it came. Daniel narrowed his eyes. There was something not quite right about Felix besides the head injury.

Mr Collings became even more visibly nervous and ill at ease.

"Jack isn't your roommate anymore, Daniel is."

Felix nodded and Daniel guessed he was thinking of how scholarship pupils were treated. He probably assumed that Jack had given up and left Kingston Royal Academy.

"I guess I'll have to speak to him at another time," he said with a shrug. "How long have we been roommates for?"

Now it was Daniel's turn to feel guilty for telling the truth.

"I arrived on the day you fell off the roof, we never even met."

Felix stared at him oddly. "Is that so?"

"It sounds odd, but this is the first time I've properly met you," Daniel admitted. "I've heard about you from other people though."

The amnesiac smiled coldly and Daniel blinked. Now it was a normal smile. There was definitely something odd about Felix.

"What did they say about me?"

"Sunny and George like you. My cousin told me you always win everything on Sports Day and Alvin told me you cook well."

"I do," Felix replied with no attempt at modesty. "How did you get to know Sunny and George?"

Daniel was about to explain that she had been concerned about him and asked after him when he remembered that Mr Collings was sitting next to him. It was obvious that those two weren't supposed to fraternise with Kingston Royal Academy pupils.

His housemaster caught his cautious glance and waved his hand.

"I won't say anything."

Daniel nodded gratefully and explained how they met. Naturally it was an abridged version that didn't mention the secret society or Jack.

"It's nice to know that some people are concerned about my wellbeing," Felix commented mysteriously.

It was an odd comment to make so Daniel looked at him curiously and Felix stared back. It was possible that he was referring to being out of place as a scholarship student, but he had been told by several people that Felix had been popular. Mr Collings interpreted it differently.

"I'm sorry about not being able to get in contact with your parents," he said. "The contact number they left doesn't seem to be right."

Felix caught Daniel's questioning glance.

"My parents work abroad, but insisted on me going to a British school so I ended up at Kingston Royal Academy because it's a boarding school."

That explained a few things Daniel had been curious about. The fact that Mr Collings was visiting him in the hospital and was getting updates from the doctor had made him wonder about Felix's parents.

Mr Collings' phone began to vibrate in his pocket and his eyes went wide when he checked the caller ID.

"It's the headmaster," he told them. "I'm going outside to take this call."

His departure left Daniel alone with Felix. Daniel felt highly uncomfortable in the amnesiac's presence and that was saying something considering some of the situations he'd encountered in his past life. The uneasiness was mainly from the knowledge that he couldn't demand answers from an amnesiac who had recently woken up from a coma. Some of it was also because Felix was a lot more intimidating than he'd imagined. He didn't come across as a soppy cat lover like Daniel had been expecting.

Instead he was quiet and analytical and his answers to questions had displayed hint of annoyance. His manner when he had asked about Jack had been strange as well. Daniel's eyes fell on Felix's phone again. If he put everything together there was one solution. It was an outlandish solution, but as Sherlock Holmes had said 'when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'.

"Felix," he said.

Felix looked towards him with a blank face. Daniel pushed forward with his theory. It had to be right.

"Mr Collings has gone so you can stop pretending to have amnesia," he informed him and watched for the reaction.

Felix's blank expression became a wide smirk and he raised his eyebrows.

"How did you work it out?"