Cas hasn't looked inside Ash's head since the first time he's done it. Although he probably deserves it, Cas doesn't want to unintentionally hurt anybody like that.

Cas can almost hear his dad telling him to drop the niceties. The ironic thing, Cas is too nice to listen.

The loudspeaker dings and a second later Headmaster Holme's voice is clearing his throat. His voice sounds tense, almost as if this was a spur-of-the-moment situation."Good morning, students of Crowlland Academy. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but as of this moment until further notice, all students must stay at the Academy for Thanksgiving break. Thank you for your cooperation."

Wait, what?

"Wait, does that mean..."

Ash doesn't wait for Cas to find his words; he runs out of the dorm room and runs down the hall.

"Hey!" Cas exclaims. "Wait for me, ya nitwit!"

And there they go, two boys, running through the corridors. Bystanders opening their dorm rooms to see what's going on, looks of confusion and rage about the fact that they can't go and see their families today.

"My mom already started making my favorite dinner!"

"My dad bought me a new PlayStation! You telling me I can't play on it, yet?!"

Cries and shouts and all Cas can think of is catching up to Sebastian. He's fast, with his long legs and elegant balance. Cas looks like the perfect mix of a one-legged ostrich hopping around and a drunk cheetah, clumsily hitting corners during turns and bumping into pedestrians. Somehow, even with him stumbling over his feet the entire way, Cas catches up to Ash at the headmaster's door.

Sebastian stands straight, taking a second to fix his hair, even though his hair is always agonizingly perfect. Ash looks as put together as always, wearing a button-down and some expensive jeans, whereas Cas is bent over, hands on knees, panting like a dog. His hair is truly a mess and he's wearing an old sweatshirt that's ratted at the cuff and the jeans that he wore yesterday and picked up from the floor this morning.

"What are...we..doing...here?" Cas asks between breaths. Sebastian ignores him, and instead of knocking, like what you're supposed to do, he walks in with the confidence of someone that owns the world.

The office hasn't changed since the first day Cas was in there. Holme is sitting at his desk, rapidly going through papers like he's running out of time. Time for what? That's the mystery, isn't it? Aaron is pacing in front of the desk until he catches Cas in the corner of his eye.

Aaron stocks over to Cas with an anger Cas never saw coming. "You, you slimy red-necked lollygagging piece of barbaric foolishness! This is all your fault! I told Jared to never bring you here, but he didn't listen, and now we're in this catastrophic predicament and it's your fault!"

Aaron is only inches from Cas' terrified eyes, his finger pressed accusingly on Cas' chest. Cas has never seen such hatred directed toward him in a long time, and the familiarity of it leaves a bitter feeling in Cas' stomach.

Spit lands on Cas' face as he curses Cas out in creative ways, and all he does is flinch. Cas thought that Aaron liked him, or at least tolerated him. What could Cas have done to demolish a relationship so thoroughly?

Sebastian takes a step between them, and with a hand on Aaron's shoulder, he firmly pushes him a few steps away from confused Cas.

With deadly calm, Ash says, "That's quite enough. Now would you two bother to tell us what bloody things are going on here?"

"It was him!" Aaron says, pointing viciously at our poor protagonist while Ash holds him far away. The last thing Ash needs right now is to witness a murder.

"Aaron," Holme speaks for the first time, and everyone's attention turns to him. The headmaster looks drained, worried, maybe. Wild in his eyes sets Cas on edge even more than usual. Holme sighs and looks at the two students, " The Gate was open, and a few Vices got out. We've received word that they're picking off students from Crowlland that aren't on school grounds. Having said that, no one is to leave Crowlland until the threat is extinguished.

"Wait...Vices are real?" Cas asks. As far as he's ever known, Vices were shadow monsters parents told stories about to scare kids into behaving. The stories where shadows come out and supposedly making your worst fears come to life. Cas' father always told Cas that Vices would eat Cas' soul and make him never feel joy again.

Everyone in the room looks at Cas like he grew a second head.

"Weren't you paying attention in class?" Ash asks, "We just had a test on them in Biology."

Cas shrinks back. That's what the test was on? No wonder the teacher looked at him weirdly when he was given it back. Leave it to Cas to be the sole reason the class average drops 8%.

"We have a feeling the Gate was open by Caspian," Holme continues.

"Me?" Cas asks, "How could I have opened it? I can't even make my bed in the morning."

"He can't," Ash confirms, "He's a terrible roommate."

"Hey!"

"We think it might have something to do with your ability," Holme interjects. "The Gate is not a physical place you can go, rather, a mental realm where the Vices feast off the mind. That's what you do right?"

Sebastian looks at him with a mixture of confusion and intrigue. Cas has made sure that his ability went on the downplay since he got here. He's spent every single day since he got here with Salem, and he's never seen Cas' ability. That's why everyone teases him for being a "Little Hollow." Having Sebastian confused in this conversation is understandable, to say the least

"What? No! That's not what I do! I -It's- well, I can't- I mean," Cas stumbles for words. Is what Holme saying true? I mean, Cas knows his Ability is bad but is he as bad as a Vice? Vices are what nightmares are made out of, could he really be put on the same playing field as them? I guess You can't really say how terrible you are because deep down, we're all a little biased.

"I don't feast off of minds," Cas states finally. Even if he doesn't know that for certain, the look that Aaron is giving him right now makes Cas feel like saying anything discriminating would end his life.

"Then what do you do?" Holme asks, curiously.

"Yeah," Sebastian adds, accusingly, "What do you do?"

Cas feels like a deer in headlights under Sebastian's stare, and poor Cas doesn't know what to do under such attention.

"I, uh," Cas gulps. Everyone is staring at him. How is he supposed to deal with that kind of pressure? He's explained it to Davenpore with little difficulty, what's different about now?