The return journey was short, and spent in total silence. When they had reached the gap on the other side of the island, Charlie examined the vehicles for damage, gave them the okay, then Reya returned them to the Armoury. Cloaked once again, they made their way back to their Dorms, still not speaking. The night had given Alec much to think about, but his brain was too tired to process. It was a relief after the events of the night to finally be back in his warm bed, snuggled beneath his sheets. Zachariah had fallen asleep, but they assured Jonah that they would give them the rundown the next day. It was four o'clock, which meant that they had only two hours before school started, and Alec was going to use them well.

However, he woke soon after to the sound of the alarm and, cursing the device, the sunlight invading the room, and his own decision to leave the school once again before he could get enough rest, he rose. He revived a bit more under the warm shower, and was highly anticipating breakfast.

When he had filled his tray in the canteen, however, Maddison sidled up to him. "We're eating outside," she told him in a low voice. "We need to talk."

So he followed her back to the benches around the left side of the school away from the canteen. Javon and Ethan were already there. Javon looked perfectly well-rested, but Ethan's eyes drooped with tiredness, dark shadows colouring the skin beneath them, though he was wolfing down his meal regardless.

When they sat down, he looked up. A small silence ensued. Then Maddison said, "Last night was . . ." and trailed off.

"I think that's the most accurate description," Alec said, taking a bite of his sandwich. "I don't know what to make of it either."

"Really?" Maddison looked both surprised and a little disappointed. "I thought you would, seeing as you're neck-deep in supervillain lore."

"But that's the thing: no supervillain — or hero — that I've ever heard of can control ghosts. I mean some people, like Ivory Specter, can transform their bodies to make them appear ghost-like, but actual ghosts are not my wheelhouse. If anything, this looks more like . . . magic."

"You think so?" Madison's disappointment had faded, replaced by a curious, rather steely look in her dark eyes.

"It certainly could be," a new voice said.

It was Reya, walking towards them holding her own tray, Charlie in tow.

"Oh, right, I forgot about them," Javon said dispassionately.

"Isn't this a private issue?" Ethan asked.

Maddison's dark brows drew together as she looked them over. "No, I want to hear what she has to say," she decided. They shuffled over to make way for the newcomers; the whole space seemed to decrease drastically as Charlie sat down.

"You were saying?" Maddison prompted.

"When we got back in last night, I started doing some reading — some of my mother's old spellbooks. Necromancy is a real and heavily practiced art, which allows spellcasters to either reanimate dead corpses, transfer a spirit into a new vessel, or summon said spirit in its incorporeal form into the real world. But honestly, I wasn't too sure if that was what this was, because the ghosts were giving off a completely different feeling. Then there was the sheer number of them. That kind of wide-scale Necromancy would take power that most magic-users I know of could only dream of, even people like Aporia."

"Maybe one of them's a lot more powerful than you thought," Javon said, taking a sip of his pineapple juice. "Or maybe they used a pretty strong power source."

"But where would someone even get that many spirits to reanimate in the first place?" asked Charlie. "What, do they get their kicks out of raiding cemeteries?"

"It's possible," Alec said. "Some people are weird like that. But what were the spirits even doing in the city last night? And why did they just . . . disappear?"

"Search me," Ethan said. "I'm glad they did, though. Been overtaxing all night. My head is killing me."

"Well, I'm going to check the Lab once it opens, see if there were any reports about what happened last night online," Maddison said. "Maybe the League found something about who could have caused it."

"Speaking of last night," Alec said, "where are the twins?"

"Haven't seen them all morning," said Ethan. "Not that I was looking," he added with a smirk.

Alec rolled his eyes, but Charlie elaborated: "They're in the second year, so it'd make sense we don't see them too often. But even if you do find out what's going on," he said, speaking to Maddison now, "what are you planning to do about it? You can't report what we saw, because then we'd all get in trouble. And you can't go back out there to do anything yourself. I mean, look what happened last night, they almost took us down."

"Ah, I don't know, I think we were doing pretty good," Alec said, thinking back. "What was that thing with the light gloves anyway?" he added, making a vague gesture with his hands.

Charlie looked down at his own, stubby fingers curled into fists. "Oh, that." He clenched them tighter, and once again they lit up, coated in orange energy. "It's like uh . . . conditional superstrength? Meaning I can enhance my strength when it's active, but only at certain points of my body. And the energy around my hands is toxic. With every hit, some of it is absorbed by my target, and when it is, it works to mess up the nervous system of wherever it hits. Shuts it down, basically. Paralyzes you."

"And is that the only thing you can do?" Ethan asked, looking genuinely interested. "I mean, with a mom like Valkyria, I'd expect some great things."

"Sorry," Charlie said politely as he rose from his seat, his tray in his hands and the bell ringing in the background, though he wore a teasing smirk, "but I only discuss those things with actual friends of mine. Almost dying together doesn't necessarily constitute a bond between us, unfortunately. See you all later. Let us know how it goes?" he asked Maddison. She waved impatiently, though Charlie seemed to take this as a sign of affirmation and walked off with Reya for class.

Maddison too began gathering up her things.

"What do we have now?" Alec asked.

"Criminal Justice," Javon replied, sounding strangely pleased.

"Why are you so excited? Dying of boredom doesn't sound that fun to me."

"No, but it's the perfect opportunity to catch a few z's," Javon said happily. "Let's go."

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Criminal Justice was, by popular opinion, the most boring subject taught at Helix. Their teacher, Professor Hawthorne, a short, round man with a head of balding hair and a wispy goatee trailed around their classroom, his head bobbing between the desks, while he rattled off notes. The purpose of this class was to learn where Superheroes stood within the law, and how they were expected to act in different situations, including dealing with repercussions like property damage. It was useful information, but it was presented in such a dull way that the only thing Alec ever thought about was how tedious the wait to the end of the school day was.

To occupy himself, he thought back to last night, trying to remember any clues his weary mind may have glossed over in his tiredness. It was indeed odd how the ghosts had simply disappeared without a trace midway through their fight, leaving no plausible explanation as to what had happened. But the question Alec was most interested in, was why they had appeared in the first place.

The streets had been empty except for the wandering group of students on their way to meet Maddison's reluctant informant, so had the ghosts appeared after sensing the arrival of fresh blood to torment, or had they already been there, and in that case, what had they been doing?

Something about the situation seemed off. Remote investigation from the Academy didn't seem as though it would yield much in terms of results, and they couldn't risk another midnight jaunt into the city, not with those things likely lying in wait for their return. But they couldn't do nothing either.

He supposed the only option was to wait for Maddison to conclude her own digging and see what she had found, but as much as he didn't want to admit it, Alec sided with Javon in the belief that it wouldn't be much, if she found anything at all. The worst part was, he was sure that the teachers would know precisely what was going on, but there were none that would tell him. And if he let slip the wrong bit of information in an attempt to somehow trick them into explaining, they would know in an instant that they had left the compound.

The bell rang at last, and the class packed up their things, not even bothering to hide their groans of relief as they made their way back to their Dorms. Javon, however, yawned contentedly, his hair ruffled, stretching. As Alec settled back into bed, leaving the others downstairs, he reflected that there was simply no one to ask. . . . Or was there?

An idea had suddenly clicked into place in his mind, spanning a brief moment of triumph, before it sunk into exasperation at what the idea would entail. But if he wanted to know what was going on, especially in the event that Dusty took another ill-advised stroll through the night and ran straight into a crowd of ghosts, he had no choice.

Fortunately, due to the lockdown, the afternoon squad meeting sessions had been canceled. He rose from his bed, cursing what he was about to do, and strode downstairs. There were his roommates, sitting around a table watching the enormous TV that had sprouted from the wall in the same way that random virtual biomes would rise from the ground in different parts of the school, which Professor Wyatt had brought out to appease the frustrated Hades students.

"Hey," he said, coming up to them. "I'll be right back, there's someone I need to talk to."

"Yeah, sure," Javon said vaguely, eyes glued to the screen. "This is my favourite part, it's when Elena finally breaks up with Stefan," he said eagerly to the other boys. Alec looked around. The entire Dorm seemed to be engrossed in the Vampire Diaries.

Alec shook his head, smiling slightly, and swept out of the building, passing the white poplar tree on the way, which shimmered ghostly white beneath the evening sun. He passed the Poseidon Dorm, with their great pine tree spearing the sky, laden with cones, and his mind flitted to Charlie and Reya, an odd but useful duo. Then he came up to the Zeus Dorm, and found who he had been looking for leaning against their huge oak tree, surrounded by his cronies.

Alec halted where he was, and all eyes swiveled onto him. He ignored the glares, looking instead at Damon, who stared back at him for a moment, then muttered something to his friends and walked out to meet him.

"Could it be? The great defeater of Shadow Shifter coming to visit little old me?" he said in mock awe, holding a hand to his chest. "To what do I owe this great honour?"

"I need to ask you something," Alec said, disregarding this. "And it can't be here. Sensitive information." He began to walk away. Damon turned after him, eyebrows drawing together.

"You know, this isn't how it works. See, I say we need to talk, then I walk off, and you follow."

Alec ignored him again. "It's about last night. Were you out again?"

"Depends on why you want to know," Damon said airily.

"I was out too," Alec said. He had decided on the truth earlier. It would be easier. "Something weird happened while I was there. An army of ghosts just randomly appeared."

"Wait, were they like the cartoony versions, with bug eyes and tails, or was it just a random vision of a dead person?"

"Really? That's your takeaway?" Alec sighed. "My point is, I spoke with someone a short while before that. They told me that the reason for this lockdown is because someone stole something powerful and dangerous, and they could use it to target the school. I'm thinking some magic may be involved with it, and I also think it ties in with what happened to me last night."

"Clever boy, props." Damon clapped.

"So you do know what's been going on?"

"Like I said, I hear stuff."

"Did you happen to hear what may have been stolen?"

"Actually, I didn't," Damon said. Alec was disappointed, though not really surprised. "But I did hear that whatever they took is pretty bad, and my sources are usually reliable. Which is ironic," he added to himself.

"Why's it ironic?" Alec asked curiously.

"So I can't tell you what it is," Damon went on, as if he had not heard Alec's question. "And I don't know anything about any ghosts last night, cartoonish or otherwise. What I do know — and, this is a big one, because it may just concern you — is that there was an escape last night."

"Escape? From what?"

"From the Stormvault Penitentiary," Damon said, the beginnings of a grin forming on his lips.

"The Supervillain prison?" Alec asked, aghast.

Damon nodded, his grin widening to almost comical proportions. "Uh huh. Several inmates got away, and there's one name among them that might mean something to you. Can you guess who it is?"

Alec felt a cold shiver of dread. The news that a number of criminals had somehow escaped a high-security penitentiary equipped with mechanisms designed specifically to incapacitate superhumans was frightening, the thought that one of these people was somehow connected to Alec himself even more so, especially when he could tell exactly who it was, because there was no one else it could be.

"Shadow Shifter," he said quietly.

"Bingo!" Damon said cheerfully.

"Wait — why didn't anyone tell me?" Alec demanded. It seemed like the sort of thing he ought to know, given that he was directly responsible for Shadow Shifter's incarceration, and Villains were known for holding grudges.

Damon shrugged. "My guess is no one wanted to scare you. An appropriate decision, given you seem pretty scared."

"I'm not scared!" Alec snapped.

"Of course you're not." Damon winked. "Or maybe it's because the Academy hasn't received information on who the escaped convicts were yet. Or maybe they just didn't tell you because you're here." He gestured around at the splendid silver-walled structure. "Helix is one of the most heavily protected places in the entire country."

"You walked through their barrier in seconds!" Alec spoke slowly and loudly, disbelieving.

"Well, yeah. But I'm awesome," Damon said, shrugging again. "But it also took a few nights of practice and several 'false alarms'" — he sketched air quotes over the words — "which resulted in me almost getting caught before I figured it out. And that was trying to breach the barrier from inside, with both knowledge of how it worked and abilities that could specifically counter it. Not to mention there are lots more defense protocols that can be activated if they detect something from outside, like Lockdown Mode.

"I mean, kids have been sneaking out of school since the dawn of Helix, but it's never been easy, and nothing that doesn't belong here has ever managed to sneak in. I'm sure you'll be fine."

Alec had to admit that there was some truth to what he was saying, even if he couldn't suppress the feeling of apprehension. But if anything serious was going to happen with Shadow Shifter, he reasoned with himself, he was sure he would be notified, if only to be better prepared.

All the same, he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to sneak out again, at least not for the time being.

"Now, is that all?" Damon said, turning to leave. "Because I'm pretty sure Friday the 13th will be on soon and the Zeus Dorm is setting up a kind of cinema inside our common room to make the experience more —"

"Wait!" Alec reached out, a purely reflexive movement, and grasped Damon's arm. The brown-haired boy let out a hiss of pain and wrenched his arm away, wincing.

"Sorry, I —"

"No, it's fine," Damon said. He let go of his bicep as though angry with himself. "What is it?"

"One more thing. I need to talk to two more people from your Dorm. Katrina and Anthony Olsen."

Damon raised an eyebrow again. "Those two? Between them and Baby Kong from Poseidon, you're making some interesting friends here."

"Are you keeping tabs on me?"

"I thought all rivals did that," Damon said dryly. "Isn't that how it works in anime?"

"I don't watch anime."

Damon let out a fake gasp of shock, then shook his head. "I knew we were destined to hate each other," he said, before turning back down the path.

Alec called after him. "I mean, we don't have to. With all this stuff going on both here and outside the school, I don't have time for grudges. Maybe we could actually start over."

Damon stopped and turned, looking mildly surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Of course not," Alec said.

But before he turned away, Alec caught a flash of a grin on his face.

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Katrina and Anthony came striding briskly up the path within minutes.

"Since when were you and Pretty Boy on speaking terms?" were Anthony's first words when they halted.

"It's a long story," Alec said. "And he's not that pretty."

"I respect your opinion, even though it's wrong," Katrina said. "So, what did you want to talk to us about?"

Alec took a deep breath. "Why did you really come to meet us last night?" he said without preamble.

The twins were silent for a moment, looking blank, then Anthony said, "I guess we were just intrigued."

"In our plan to meet Maddison's contact?"

"In you, pea brain," Katrina said, rolling her eyes. "And your friends. Most of your group is awfully inept at social interaction, to the point where you all look like you'd skin someone alive for just talking to you. So to see all of you deciding to sneak out together for a night in the real world — well, that we couldn't miss."

"Well, I'm actually glad you didn't. After everything that happened last night, I'm happy we had the extra help. Which is why I wanted to talk to you now. Did you guys want this to be a one-time thing, or would you be interested in a few more possible adventures?"

"Seriously?" The twins spoke in unison, faces arranged in an identical look of gleeful incredulity.

Alec nodded. "Why not? All my old friends are back home. May as well try to make some new ones while I'm here."

The twins exchanged another look, then both said, "Sure!"

"Good," Alec said. "Because the first thing I want to do is find out what those ghosts could possibly have been doing in Bluebell City."