When The Snow Falls

Daniel hesitated to obey. He didn't want to be alone with Liam with no opportunity for escape. He didn't know what the prefect was in his room for, but based on his previous actions it wasn't exactly going to be concern for his health.

"Close it," Liam said shortly.

This time Daniel complied. Liam's stern face broke into a smile that appeared to be an attempt at a friendly smile. Instead it looked like the wolf smiling at little red riding hood.

"I wanted to have a private conversation about what has happened with Felix. I realised that you might be traumatised by the experience."

"...I'm fine," Daniel assured him. He still had no idea where Liam was going with this.

"Are you lonely at all?" the prefect continued on.

"I'm fine, thank you," Daniel repeated with added politeness.

"I'm glad to hear it."

Liam looked ill at ease and Daniel was sure that there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. As always, his room was very cold so it wasn't anything to do with the temperature. He had to be nervous for a different reason.

"You can tell me if you're having any trouble," Liam said and turned to go. "Did you hear a strange noise?"

There had been no strange noise and Daniel was sure of it. He was beginning to get an inkling of what Liam was trying to do.

"I didn't hear anything," he said honestly.

Liam approached Felix's wardrobe and put his ear against it. Now Daniel definitely knew what Liam had come to visit him for.

"I think I heard a cat in here," he announced and opened the door. "Oh no, there's cats in here."

If the situation had not been so fraught with tension Daniel would have found Liam's bad acting hilarious. The delivery on the last line had been very deadpan almost as if he was following a script. It was evident that Liam must have been the person that had taken the cats away and replaced them whilst he was in the canteen and waited so he could pretend to find them and connect it to Felix's fall.

"I need to tell Mr Collings," he said and rushed out of the room. "Make sure they don't escape."

Daniel didn't want to go anywhere near them but he wanted to check if they were the same cats that had been in there originally. There were three cats staring up at him, two had grey fur and the other had mottled brown and white fur. He recognised them, but there was one missing. He checked in the wardrobe and the rest of the room for any other cats and came up with nothing.

Why was one cat missing?

Liam returned with the housemaster a few minutes later.

"There's cats in Felix's wardrobe," he announced and showed Mr Collings.

"Why?" Mr Collings asked wonderingly before clearing his throat in an attempt to look more authoritative. "They must be removed at once."

The housemaster held out his arms and attempted to entice the nearest cat into his arms. The cat turned its head away and licked its paw. Mr Collings flushed in embarrassment.

"Could you two help me?" he requested.

Daniel stepped back. "I'm allergic to cats. I'll sneeze over you."

Liam sighed and picked up the cat with a hesitant and shaky grip. His face looked like he was disgusted at touching a cat. Daniel frowned at his reaction. The Scarlet Wren house prefect might not actually be the person responsible for removing the cats and then replacing them. He couldn't imagine Liam managing to remove the four cats discreetly and quickly. Either there had been an accomplice or he hadn't known anything about it.

It took a full twenty minutes to transport the cats from Felix's wardrobe to Mr Collings' office. It had been a two-person job which left Daniel wondering about the original disappearance of the cats.

Liam didn't reveal his true colours until the removal had been completed.

"I've been thinking about this ever since we found the cats... what if Felix was on the roof trying to rescue a cat and slipped off..." he suggested with the appropriate mournful expression. "He always liked rescuing cats- not that I knew he was keeping them there. He could have just lost his balance and fallen."

Despite everything Daniel had to admire the ruse. There was evidence to back up the suggestion and the lie had been worded well for emotional manipulation.

"I'll pass that onto the Police," Mr Collings answered with a note of caution. "It's possible of course. It's just odd that he would know there was one up there. It's off limits to all pupils."

Daniel wondered how Liam would respond to that criticism. Surely, he wasn't going to suggest that Felix had ESP for cats? He had to give Mr Collings credit for finding a hole in the explanation as well.

"The lock doesn't work," Liam said dismissively. "Everyone knows about that. It's a quiet place to go. Maybe he wanted some peace to think everything over so he went there and encountered a lost cat."

Daniel caught the implicated meaning. He'd heard about Felix being different after Jack's death, Liam was now using it to manipulate the investigation of Felix's fall.

"Perhaps," Mr Collings replied. "I'll tell that to the investigating officers and the headmaster."

"How is Felix by the way?" Liam asked. "I've been thinking about him ever since the ambulance took him away."

"Still comatose," Mr Collings answered tersely. "There's nothing to worry about for the moment."

"I hope he recovers," Liam said as passionately as he could manage.

***

"Are you settling in okay?" Mr Collings asked once Liam had left the office. "I'm sorry that nothing has gone right for you so far."

It would be an understatement to say that nothing had gone right for him. The worst part was that he'd only been at Kingston Royal Academy for two and a half days.

"I'm not sure about making friends..." Daniel said with false hesitation. "...Are there any clubs I could join?"

As he had predicted Mr Collings was spurred into action and produced a leaflet detailing the clubs at Kingston Royal Academy. Daniel located the Pudding Club immediately and then checked for the ones that his father had been a member of. The leader of the Chess Club was Liam as Sunny had told him and the Latin club was listed at the very end of the leaflet which seemed to be where the less popular clubs were listed.

"I like the sound of the Pudding Club," he observed and read the description. It matched his father's and Alvin's description. "It looks like fun."

"It's popular," Mr Collings replied eagerly. "There's no teacher in charge of it as the four prefects are members and can lead it."

That answered something Daniel had been curious about. He hadn't been sure if the prefects were able to be in other clubs if they each ran one of their own and if the Pudding Club really had a secretive inner circle behind Jack's death, he'd found four of its members.

"Who else is in the club?" he asked.

"As it's not monitored by a teacher, it's hard to say. Felix was a member alongside Jack Edwards..."

It appeared that Felix's suspicion of the secret society had been justified. He waited for Mr Collings to provide more names.

"Alvin- he has the room next door to yours, Hugo Barnes,Wilfred Anning, Clarey Holmes from this house. Those are the members I'm sure of. If you want to join, give your application form to Liam. I believe he handles new admissions."

Mr Collings dug out an application form for him to fill in. Daniel found it was a standard form at first and was then disconcerted to see mention of passing a test.

"Do I have to pass a test?"

"Some clubs require an audition like the drama club. Others do a test. The Pudding Club just gives you a test on pudding. I believe there's a blindfold involved and you have to guess different puddings. Are you comfortable with that?"

Daniel was reasonably confident in his pudding guessing abilities. He'd probably sampled most of the ones they would use anyway. The advantage to having a second life was more time to eat different food.

"That sounds doable."

"Wonderful," Mr Collings beamed. "Hand it in quickly or else you'll miss the first meeting of this term."

Daniel folded up the form neatly and realised he had no idea where to find Liam . It had always been Liam who found him. It would be useful to know where his room was in case he needed to pay him back for the night-time excursion.

"Which room is Liam's?"

Mr Collings didn't find anything wrong with the question.

"It's the red door at the very end of your corridor. If you want to find him when he's not there, the prefects have a pavilion in the garden which isn't used at the moment and in the colder months they have a sitting room. It's two doors down from here."

Daniel thanked him for the information and left his office with the application form. He paused when he passed the prefects' sitting room. It might be worth trying to listen in, but he also didn't want to get caught. His past experiences with them didn't suggest that they would just invite him in for tea and cake if they caught him listening in. He'd probably end up like Felix.

He looked around the hallway to see if the coast was clear. There was no one around so he cautiously inched closer to the door. If he got caught he could say he had come to ask about the Pudding Club.

It appeared that his luck had finally turned as the prefects were actually in the room and were talking loud enough for him to hear.

"Do you think Daniel bought your acting?" Fenston's loud voice asked.

"I wish David could have done it instead of me," Liam complained. "I had help Mr Collings move those cats out. David would have loved that."

That line indicated that Liam hadn't known anything about the cats disappearing and had assumed they had been there the whole time. That opened up even more questions about what really went on at Kingston Royal Academy.

"You had to be the one considering you're in the same house," Raven pointed out. "He would find it odd if the Golden Lion prefect came to visit him. Anyway, you've done your acting now, stop complaining."

"I hope he joins the Drama Club," David changed the subject adroitly.

Daniel's eyes widened. Did David think he was good for acting or wanted him for something else? He was even more thankful to Sunny for telling him about the other function of the drama club. He didn't know how he felt about the gay factor, he'd died in his previous life before he'd chance to decide his s.e.x.u.a.lity.

"Too bad. I want him for the Chess Club," Liam retorted. "His intelligence would be wasted in your club."

"Shouldn't you be worried that he's intelligent enough to work out what's going on here?" Raven asked.

"That is a hazard," Liam acknowledged.

Daniel looked around the hallway again. He really couldn't get caught listening in especially now he had heard that. At the same time, he needed to listen in because they were discussing him. It would help to know if they were booking him in for an 'accidental' fall in the future.

"I don't want another person to die," Raven answered. "The teachers are going to smell a rat if someone else dies."

"We have someone more powerful than them on our side," Fenston interjected. "It's not really a concern."

Daniel wondered who that person could be. Someone with a high nobility status? Or just well connected?

"Our biggest danger is Felix Albury," David reminded them. "If he wakes up... he will tell the police everything he knows. That will be the end of us then."

"He'd better not wake up," Raven said darkly. "It's better for everyone if he doesn't. We need to prepare something in case he does."

"Bribery or extortion?" David asked cheerfully. "I suppose you can control him if you take his cats hostage."

"Enough of that," Liam snapped. "Our first danger is that Daniel will find what Felix took from the club. He is not the type of person that will be bribed. That said, I have a solution for that."

Daniel waited for the reply with bated breath.

"What's that?" David asked.

"Recruit him for the Pudding Club then get him into the secret inner sect. You can't leave it once you're in it," Liam replied. "Well, Jack tried and failed. Daniel's smart enough to realise it."