When The Snow Falls

Daniel's head was still reeling from all the veiled comments about the dangers of Pudding Club's inner sect. He almost didn't register the sound of footsteps from inside the room approaching the door. Fortunately, he had enough time to sprint down the corridor and turn the corner before the door was opened.

He didn't slow down until he reached his room. The prefects were more suspicious of him than he'd expected and he still didn't know what the inner sect of the Pudding Club was for yet. The prefects had made it sound quite dark and threatening. He'd already guessed as much from what his father had told him.

At least he'd heard confirmation that Jack had been a member of the inner sect. This supported Felix's theory that they were behind his death. He still didn't know if Felix had been a member though.

There was also the matter of Felix taking something from the actual Pudding Club or the inner sect. The recipe book was clearly Felix's so they had to be referring to something else.

Admittedly the whole mystery would be solved if Felix woke up from his coma with his memory intact and just told the police who pushed him and who he suspected of killing Jack. The issue with that was that his own life was hanging in the balance in the meantime and it could take a while for Felix to wake up, if he ever woke up at all.

Did he want to join the inner sect of the Pudding Club just for the case?

The once you join, the only way out is death aspect did not sound appealing. The inner sect members must be unaware of that fact before they joined or perhaps the benefits of being in that secret society outweighed everything else.

His previous life had ended because of his overbearing curiosity. Did he want to go the same way in this life?

The safest avenue would be to find a member of the inner sect that wasn't a prefect and ask them what they did. Or he could wait to be invited to it and then turn it down. That was the method more fraught with danger because he probably wouldn't be able to turn it down.

He didn't know what to do and he was potentially putting his life on the line for a complete stranger.

Admittedly he'd been drawn into it anyway when the prefects had tried to drug him and they had an interest in him regardless. No matter what had happened on his first day, he would mostly be in the same position. It wasn't Felix's fault.

"You'd better wake up soon," he said to Felix's empty bed. "You owe me a lot."

His phone began to buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out to see that his female cousin had finally caved into curiosity and called him. If Felix hadn't fallen off the roof, he would have called her before.

"Are you friends with Christopher yet?" she demanded as soon as he picked up which was what he had been expecting her to ask.

"Sort of," he replied. "It's not clear yet."

Christopher had answered his questions the previous day and claimed to not trust the prefects, but Daniel preferred to remain cautious.

"It will be useful to be friends," she advised. "Everyone there might be friendly on the surface, but they might secretly want to tear your face off. It's good to have someone you can trust."

Daniel understood her completely. He had been thrown into a pack of wolves. For the moment people like Alvin seemed innocent, but he might be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"How much do you know about Kingston Royal Academy?" he asked.

She might know a few things that Christopher wouldn't tell him. Christopher adored his younger sister and would do anything for her. However, Christopher did not feel the same way about him.

"I've visited a few times for Sports Day and the one Open Day they hold every year. I'm glad I don't have to actually go there for school to be honest," she said plainly. "It has an atmosphere that I don't like."

Daniel was glad to have someone outside of the school that shared the same view.

"I know," he agreed. "Do you know about Jack's death?"

Much to his surprise she answered in the affirmative.

"He was so cute and kind, he reminded me of you in some ways. I hate that they treat scholarship students differently just because they aren't rich or titled like them. I did wonder if that helped lead him to his death."

Daniel hadn't expected her to know who he was or to know that much about Kingston Royal Academy. It might be worth asking her more.

"Have you ever met my roommate, Felix Albury?" He asked curiously.

"He won most of the events every Sports Day so I know who he is. I thought the way he looked out for Jack was adorable. I guess he wasn't able to protect him until the end."

Daniel filed that fact away for future reference. Christopher had mentioned something about Felix escaping the bullying and that must have extended slightly to Jack, but not enough to save him.

"There's two secret societies here. Do you know them?" he questioned her. It would be interesting to know if Christopher had actually told his sister about the Drama Club.

"The dating part of the Drama Club, right?" she guessed. "My father told me about that one. Christopher wouldn't dare tell me about that. I asked him about it and he went so red.

Daniel smiled in spite of everything at the image of Christopher being fl.u.s.tered by his sister asking about boys dating. He had forgotten that Annabelle's father had attended Kingston Royal Academy around the same time as his father. He might know about the inner sect in more detail than his father had.

"What about the other one?"

It took Annabelle longer to reply this time.

"I don't know if it's part of another society, but I heard from my father that it was illegal. Supposedly it's secret from the teachers and every time the prefects change, the new ones find out about it and have to keep it secret. It's another tradition there."

That sounded mostly accurate to Daniel. Tradition seemed to be very important at Kingston Royal Academy. If one of the prefects rejected the secret society, he would probably end up like Jack.

"Do you have any idea of the illegal activities?" he asked.

"...Have you stumbled onto something dodgy? It's probably dangerous there."

Annabelle now sounded very concerned about his welfare and he couldn't blame her. He explained the situation to her as briefly as possible and she was horrified to hear about Felix's 'fall' and the prefects drugging him.

"So, you're going to end up in this secret inner sect no matter what you do? Can't you tell your Dad and get him to bring you home?"

The thought of running away had never crossed his mind despite his reservations about not getting deeply into the mystery. He did actually want to solve everything and leaving Kingston Royal Academy would count as giving up. He had come to realise that he couldn't walk away from it now after what he'd found out.

"He would never believe me. I have to get to the bottom of it. If I die, you know can tell my family what I've told you."

As he expected that did not calm her down at all.

"Daniel," she sighed. "Don't say that. Stay as safe as possible and work out what the secret society's purpose is. They'll only tell you when you're in too deep to get out."

"I know," he replied. "Christopher doesn't seem to know anything. It's that or he's keeping it from me."

"I'll worm everything he knows out of him," she promised.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "Bye."

He ended the call. It had been good to discuss everything fully with someone for once. He'd kept information back from everyone he'd talked to so it was a relief to not leave anything out for once.

Annabelle was right about it being important to deduce the inner sect's purpose before he was recruited. If it was something heavily illegal and he was forced to join, there wasn't going to be an escape.

Kingston Royal Academy was an all-boys boarding school which did leave the options for potential illegal activities more open than an average school because no one could leave the grounds and tradition was the most important thing.

The dating part was covered by the other secret society that everyone seemed to know about. That left other options like smoking, drugs, alcohol, murder and gambling.

It could be any of those five based on the complete lack of evidence.

There was the matter of what Felix had taken. The handwriting in the recipe book matched the writing shown in Felix's schoolwork that he had looked through so it appeared to belong to Felix. Therefore, Felix must have taken something different.

Could it be at the hospital in the pockets of what he'd been wearing? It was that or it was somewhere that he and the prefects hadn't thought of.

Due to the school term not starting until after the exams, he hadn't had a chance to explore the school properly. The tour Liam had given him on his first day had been his only experience of areas that weren't the canteen and the dorm.

He pulled out Felix's organiser from his desk drawer and located his timetable. If he'd hidden this mysterious item in a classroom it should be one that he visited regularly.

Due to them both being placed in the Scarlet Wren House for academic prowess, their core subjects were at the same level. The only difference in their timetables was that Felix had avoided Geography in favour of Art.

Daniel himself was average in that area and held no real interest in Art. If he didn't manage to find anything anywhere else, he would have to look in the Art room.

He checked the time to decide what to do next. A good student would revise right now. The mock exams were due to start the next week and he still hadn't looked at the material even just to have a rough idea what the exams were about. However, if he didn't make progress in the mystery, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on them.

With that in mind he texted Sunny to ask if she was free. She knew Kingston Royal Academy better than him and wouldn't bat too much of an eyelid if he asked for places to hide things. Christopher and Alvin were options but he didn't trust them not to pass on that he had been asking questions intentionally or accidentally.

Sunny didn't return his text until an hour later, much to his annoyance. The delay did at least mean that he'd looked through the practise test papers. She suggested meeting at her house. Daniel deeply hoped that no one would see him going in there because it would attract curiosity from more innocent Kingston Royal Academy pupils assuming that they were dating and then suspicion from the prefects.

***

Daniel kept his hood pulled over his head to hide his hair and most of his face as he followed the directions she had sent him. By now, the bright sunlight from earlier was gone and grey clouds had replaced it. When he finally found the small brick house at the back of the school building with the red door it was raining heavily and he was dripping water.

The door was opened by Ben with his customary cigarette hanging from his mouth. This time it was lit and he looked imposing for once.

"Sunny told me to expect you," he grumbled. "Try not to drip anywhere."

He stepped aside and Daniel entered the house. At least Ben hadn't warned him against hanky panky this time. As it turned out, he spoke to soon.

"I don't know if you have some ulterior motive in coming here, but I do not approve of short pretty school boys dating my sister. She likes Felix anyway."

Daniel raised an eyebrow and internally sighed. "I am fully aware that she likes him. I have no romantic interest in her anyway."

Ben shrank back. "Okay then. Her room's the first one you see at the top of the stairs."

He found Sunny's bedroom with no issues. He wasted a few seconds wondering what Annabelle's reaction would be if she heard about this. He knocked on the door and it was opened by someone that certainly wasn't Sunny. It was a young-looking boy with red hair and a wide smile.

"You're as cute as Sunny said you were, come in," he grinned and half dragged Daniel in. "I'm George in case you wondered. My father is the gardener."

Daniel remembered that Sunny had mentioned the gardener's son as being someone acquainted with Felix.

"What did you want to ask about?" Sunny asked once they were all sitting together on her bed.

Daniel hadn't wanted to sit on her pink bed, but George had turned out to be more persuasive and stronger than he looked. There was also a plate of fairy cakes resting on top of the duvet that had helped entice him to stay put.

"Is there anywhere here where something can be hidden without anyone finding it?" he asked and then remembered about the secret society. "Or is there anywhere that a group of people can meet and carry out illegal activities?"

Sunny was the first to answer. "There's some places, but they aren't accessible in the winter or it wouldn't be practical to hide things there for a long period of time."

Daniel turned to George. He had some doubts about his intelligence, however he needed all the help he could get.

"There's that society that uses the old canteen. I walked past once and got told to stay away if I valued my life," George told him. "All four of the prefects were there."

Daniel knew he'd found the headquarters of the Pudding Club inner sect. Now there was a chance that he might be able to solve the mystery before he was in too deep to escape.