Correlations Thanatos has noticed the more he’s stared at these files in the dead of night:

First, the dates are purposeful. It’s been the last Friday of the past two months, and that further urges him towards the specifics of these murders being by no means a coincidence.

Second, both girls are honours students, and neither have had slipping grades for their duration of education at Waurelt’s.

Finally, if the perpetrator has a fetish for school girls in uniforms, it wouldn’t surprise him what-so-ever. It hasn’t before, and it wouldn’t now.

He finally forces himself to sleep as the sun is rising, but it’s not for very long. Sunday, he reminds himself. Picking up his phone, he calls Winnie from the comfort of his sheets.

“Meeting day,” he slurs drowsily.

“P-pardon?” she asks quietly. He can hear the tap of her shoes against tile. “Meeting… Oh! Yes, the student council meeting. What about it?”

“I want in on it.” And to do so, he’ll need to get dressed. “Uniforms?”

“Wait, no- I mean yes, we wear our uniforms! B-But you can’t just barge in on a student council meeting!” She panics, and he inhales deeply.

Thanatos tries his best voice of puppy-dog disappointment; his mother would be proud. “So… there’s no way? Truly?”

Winnie makes a whining noise in the back of her throat and stops walking. “Well, it’s not like we’re doing anything private , per say. If you sit in as my guest, then it might be okay.”

“Perfect. It’s sincerely appreciated, Ms. Matthews. What time’s the meeting?”

“Um… in half an hour.” Well, shit. Winnie giggles. “I’ll meet you at the boys’ dorm entrance and lead the way. See you in a bit!”

Thanatos tosses his phone aside to get dressed, but the uniform he was given is awfully complex in its assembly. Layers upon layers and snaps in weird places; how does Sibylla do any of this? For something so vintage in aesthetic and simple at first glance, it takes practice.

Jonny stirs from his own bed, and he rubs his eyes as he yawns. “Whatcha doin’?” he asks. Thanatos is struggling with the waistcoat and all of its buttons. Jonny snickers and climbs down. “Better question is where’re you going dressed like that? It’s Sunday.”

Thanatos huffs. “Student Council meeting. I need to get an eye of the staff; I can ask around about who may be the newest.” Looking down, he pulls away his hands as Jonny takes over buttoning him up. He frowns. “I can do it.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Newest teacher?”

“The murders just started this semester, so if anyone is relatively new to the staff, it might be a good place to start,” he explains. “Both victims were especially smart girls, so it’s hard to imagine they’d be fooled so easily unless it was someone they trusted.”

Jonny grimaces, finishes, and grabs the ascot next. “Yikes… that’s just… yikes .” He shakes his head. “That’s awful. How’d they, uh, die?”

Thanatos watches Jonny’s fingers the entire time. He swallows. “It’s not included in the files I was given, so I’m having Ms. Hawthorne follow up on it. All I was told is necromancy was involved, so a few…” He pauses to think. “…theories, yes, are in place.”

The shoes are next, and Jonny kneels to slip them on his feet and tie the laces. Thanatos holds his arms behind his back and looks away. “Like?”

Thanatos brings his boot up and presses it into Jonny’s face, pushing him away. He glares downward coldly. “Like it’s none of your business. Don’t get involved with necromancy.” The words are like venom, and Jonny’s eyes fall, and his mouth presses into a line.

“But… looking at Kelcey’s picture…” Jonny starts slowly, taking hold of Thanatos’ foot and lowering it gently. He keeps his hands on his knees then. “I dunno… I don’t think she knew what was happening to her.” Thanatos softens into something akin to concern.

Intuition is a vital component to survival let alone detective work, and it plays a massive part in magic. Sometimes it’s just a feeling, other times it’s the world trying to speak truth otherwise too quiet to hear. Will often calls it ‘following his gut’, and while Thanatos only believes that true after a trip to some burger joint, the sentiment is the same. Schools like Divination or Evocation rely heavily on intuition to guide them the right way.

Thanatos sees the way Jonny’s hands are shaking, and his eyes are staring at the leather of his shoe like the answer is there. Thanatos squints.

“How certain are you of this?” He grabs the photo from his desk and hands it to Jonny. “Look her in the eye and tell me.”

Tears come to Jonny’s eyes, and he nods. “Certain. She would’ve said something, done something! Kel was one of the smartest people I knew.” Jonny laughs and wipes at his eyes with the hem of his t-shirt. “Sorry, ‘m tired.”

“I pay it no mind. Go back to sleep; I can finish from here.” He kneels and hands Jonny a tissue from his desk in exchange for the photograph. Jonny blows his nose into it. “My apologies for waking you. That’s enough.”

Thanatos buckles the other boot, pins the jewel to the top of the ascot, and wraps the two extra belts around his waist. From there, it’s only the overcoat and its many chains and buttons. He hasn’t worn this much white and silver in quite a long time.

He grabs his essentials: his notebook and pen, his phone, etc. There’s not much he’ll need for this, but he makes certain to tuck Rebecca’s planner neatly into his messenger bag. Packed, he moves past a still-kneeling Jonny, and in a moment of pause, he hesitantly pats Jonny’s shoulder.

“You should meet with my sister,” he says softly, no ice. “I’d like both you and Hawthorne to do so today.” And before Jonny can get a word in, he exits their deathly silent dorm.

Winnie did lead him as promised, and the air of pretentiousness only increases with the presence of fully uniformed rich children and equally nice looking, church-ready teachers lounging in the decorated student council room. They sip their expensive waters and bite their tea cakes. The brief thought of convincing Sibylla to run crosses his mind, but self-disgust kicks it out quickly.

When Winnie makes a curtsey and announcement of her presence to everyone else, the occupants shift their eyes onto Thanatos. Rebecca’s own narrows into a hard, territorial glare.

“Mr. Briar, what a surprise!” she exclaims, turning her frown upside down faster than one could blink. “You’re even in uniform.”

“I was interested in the process the student council follows,” he says, smiling back. “My sister is interested in running, and considering the reputation of this year’s council, I wanted to take notes for her.”

“She was free to come herself.”

Thanatos shakes her head. “She has quite a hard time getting around, so it’s easiest this way.”

Winnie raises a hand. “I talked with Ato- er, Mr. Briar about it, and he’ll be here as my guest, so I promise to take responsibility for him.”

Rebecca softens at Winnie’s shy voice, and her smile almost becomes genuine. She sighs and nods, taking a seat at her desk. “Very well, it’s fine for now, but please refrain from speaking, Mr. Briar.” Well, this’ll truly be heaven for her. “I can answer all your questions personally when we’re through.”

“Hold on one moment, Ms. Hawthorne,” says a teacher. He’s a young man with short, dark hair and the kindest green eyes. “Briar as in Thanatos Briar?”

Thanatos nods and bows. “The one and only,” he says. The other teachers begin to whisper amongst each other, but this one moves forward to shake his hand. Thanatos obliges.

“Ecker Thompson. It’s truly an honour; your recent solve was quite fantastic to read about.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I heard the police had almost given up on finding those children before you showed up.”

Ah, right, the kidnapping case.

“I appreciate the awe, Mr. Thompson, but the media exaggerates. We had such little information, and…” Thanatos covers his mouth with his hand and bows his head. “We didn’t make it in time for all of them, but without the help of Detective Grant, the other two would have followed suit. Truly, they deserve more credit than I.”

Ecker places a hand on Thanatos’ shoulder. “You did what you could.”

“Indeed,” speaks up a female instructor. “Remarkable.”

“Now, now,” Rebecca laughs softly. “Overwhelming him with praise will only make his head swell, don’t you think? It’s about time we start, anyway. Everyone take a seat.”