Matthew was having a great time on Lake Pavlopetri with all the partying merfolks. Delta mermen invited him there. He was just lying on a flamingo float while flirting with a mermaid when a man in dark blue uniform shouted his name through the megaphone. 

"Matthew Jones, I need you to report immediately." 

Matthew turned around, half shocked seeing the security standing by the shore. He couldn't paddle there using his hands, so he rolled over into the water and started swimming there. Both Hallmar and Noe saw him approaching the security, so they followed him. 

"Good evening, Sir," he got up from the lake with, didn't even bother to find himself a towel. His red muscle tank and indigo basketball shorts were soaked with lake water. "Matthew Jones reporting." 

"Gillian, I have him," said the security to his comms. "So Matthew, I need you to tell me where Luka Cunning is." 

Shit, I hope they haven't got to Finlay, he thought. 

Of course the two of them were involved in this escape. Castor had been tapped into their plan as well, but being a strait-laced student he was, he had refused. 

"It's against the rules!" he yelled.

"Did you see how their tech didn't help?" asked Matthew. "All you have to do is to teleport him to a place where it's already morning of the next day." 

"Where?" 

"Bububub... don't let me hear it!" Finlay closed his ears and sang made up songs out loud. 

Matthew whispered in the incubus' ears, "Kazakhstan." 

"Ha! I've never been there," replied Castor. "Sorry, I can't help you." 

Matthew groaned. "Fine. We have the portal station anyway." 

So that's how they got Luka transported to a different continent. To avoid the CCTV, Luka had gone into the portal station alone, after being enchanted with magic of untouchability. 

"Is he not in The Vaults?" Matthew squeezed his shorts to get the water out nonchalantly in front of the security guy. 

"No," answered the security guy.

"So where is he?"

"Is there any problem, Jeff?" Hallmar stepped in as soon as his fishtail turned into legs. Matthew tried to ignore the pink towel he randomly grabbed to cover his waist.

"Luka Cunning is not in The Vaults," answered the security guy named Jeff. "Have you and your friends got anything to do with this?" 

"What the hell?!" shouted Hallmar. "No, of course not. How can you say such thing? Why would me and my friends want him not to be in The Vaults?"

"Yeah, man, we wouldn't joke around about that," added Noe who already stood behind Matthew. "What are you gonna do now? Is there anything we can help? Should we shut this party down?" 

Jeff didn't answer. He was carefully listening to the command from Miss Jollimore. Matthew contacted his mind, but he didn't hear anything. And it's hard to find out what his orders were from his expressionless face. 

"No, that would be all," he finally said. "Enjoy your evening, boys." 

Then he turned around and hopped on his golf cart. As he drove away, Hallmar and Noe clamped Matthew. 

"What the hell was that?" asked Noe. "Luka escaped again?" 

"He doesn't show up at The Vaults in the first place," corrected Hallmar. "Are you sure you don't know anything about this, Matthew?" 

"Try to contact him," said Noe. "Use your mind talk." 

"Okay, okay," Matthew made a serious face. A few seconds later, he took a deep breath. "No, I can't find him. Maybe he's too far away." 

"Or he's transformed into a werewolf already," added Noe. 

Hallmar stared at the sky and the bright full moon. "Wherever he is, I just hope he's okay." 

Matthew stayed quiet. Meanwhile, his mind traveled through space to Kok Tobe Mountain, Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Luka was having a hike with fellow tourists on this beautiful morning. 

"They're on to me," he said. "But they let me go. Don't worry. I'll check on Finlay and Castor after this. See you in the morning." 

"Thanks, man," Luka replied as he viewed the city scenery from the top of the mountain. 

The party at Lake Pavlopetri officially ended at five in the morning. No more floats or open bar. The red cups were put away. The water was as calm as a mirror reflecting Nyx Hall’s aesthetic splendor. As the nocturnal students finished their classes, the diurnal students started their day. 

Matthew woke up hearing the babbles of girls. His eyes tried to focus on the girl sitting on the other bed. That's when he remembered where he was. He sat and startled the girl who curled at the end of his bed. 

"Okay, great, he's awake now," said the girl who sat on the other bed. "Hello? Dude? Yeah, I need you to get out of here." 

Matthew quickly reached for his shorts. "Oh, yeah, sorry," he put them on and got out of the bed. Bowing to the girl who was wrapped in a blanket, he said, "I'll see you around." 

They had a quick wet kiss before Matthew sprinted out of the room while putting on his muscle tank. He was startled seeing a different view of the hallway, but it didn't stop him from getting to the elevator. Only when he arrived in the reception room did he realize that he was in fact in Shambhala Hall. 

While keeping his eyes from the glaring sun, he ran to Olympus Hall. Seeing someone coming toward him, he stopped her, "Hey, hey, sorry. Do you have the time?" 

"It's 9:21." 

"Shit!" he picked up his pace without even saying thank you. While on his way, he tapped into Luka's mind. "Hey, man," he said. "Where are you? Ready to go home? Sorry I was..." 

"Where have you been?!" Luka yelled. Matthew shivered. He had never heard Luka yelled like that before. "I've been waiting for hours for you to call me. Now what's the password?" 

"Wait, wait." 

Matthew jolted into Olympus Hall, impatiently waited for his elevator to take him to his room where he left his phone. He screened the call from Finlay. It prompted a notification on the status bar, showing that the fairy had called him thirteen times this morning. Matthew ignored everything else and focused on the Erebus app where he accessed the page of the portal station.

"Circle a pine tree three times," Matthew read the instruction.

"What? Where am I gonna find myself a pine tree?" 

"I don't know, just find it!" 

Suddenly a loud bang came from his door. Matthew's heart lurched. There's no way another student knocked on his door like that. It must be one of security guys again. 

The door was banged once more. 

Matthew gulped and shouted, "What?" 

"Matthew Jones." 

Fuck. 

"We are ordered to take you to Dean Winnick's office on the case of Luka Cunning's disappearance." 

He had no choice but to open the door and followed them to the elevator. When it opened, Finlay was there with two other security guys. 

Meanwhile, Luka managed to find a pine tree and circled it three times. On his third time, he came out one of the doors in the portal station. He said good morning to the attendant, left the room casually, before running down the hallway. When he took a right turn, he was blocked by a batch of security team. 

Ten minutes later, the three of them met in front of a secretary’s desk. Once she said he’s ready, the security opened the door and shoved them in. 

The room spelled traditional with its wooden interior. There were only brown cabinets and a desk with gold accents, alongside with two leather chairs. One additional office chair were already prepared for the incoming students. The desk itself was neatly arranged, only supported a computer, some books, a cup of coffee, a gold desk lamp and a name plate that said Dr. Delroy Winnick, Dean of Student Affairs.  

The man himself already sat behind the desk. He was dressed in a three-piece burgundy suit with a black tie. He had a bald head and a pencil mustache lining up above his thick lips. 

"Sit down," he said with his rumbling voice. No smile, no gesture, nothing. 

The three of them sat quietly on the chairs in front of him. Once they're all settled, the dean read a piece of paper in his hands, "According to the security team, a freshman werewolf failed to arrive at the designated vault for full moon precaution last night. This werewolf is known to have escaped the vault the month before. Am I correct?" 

"Yes, Sir," answered the three of them. 

"The werewolf use the portal station to travel to another place that has a different time zone in order to avoid the full moon transformation. Is that true?" 

"Yes." 

"He was also protected by a simple but potent magic of untouchability that rendered all kinds of tracing magic useless. Ah, is that right?" 

"Yes." 

"All the while being constantly contacted through telepathy so he would not need to bring his phone hence eliminated the possibility of being tracked down by the security." 

"It's not exactly telepathy," answered Matthew. "And it didn't happen constantly, but yeah. That's pretty much it." 

"Sounds fascinating," Dean Winnick turned over the paper and put it on the desk. "Whose idea is this?" 

"Me, mostly," answered Matthew. 

"It's not his fault," Luka quickly added. "It was my decision to do it. They had no choice but to follow my request. So if there's anyone you should..." 

"You must have thought you're the cleverest student in Erebus for having that idea," the dean surprisingly sounded condescending. "I hate to break it to you that we have done that exact research nearly eighty years ago."

They gasped. Of course. It's not like Erebus was built in a day. Whatever these boys could think of, they must have anticipated about it first. 

"No one has ever told us that before," chirped Matthew. 

"Did you ask?" blasted the dean. 

"No."

"Why didn't you ask? This is a university. A place where your questions are more than welcome."

Their hearts pounded faster.

"Did you actually think this was a good idea?" 

"Nonetheless, it was a success," answered Luka firmly. "Nobody got hurt. Everyone was safe." 

"So you clearly have no idea about what you just did?" Dean Winnick's tone raised. He glared at Luka, "Do you even know what a full moon means to you?" 

It's a calling. Luka was almost able to say it. Almost. 

"Scientifically speaking, a full moon is the period where the wolf who lives inside you takes over your body and does his job," said Dean Winnick. "Whatever it is that happened in the past that caused your inheritance requires the wolf to appear every full moon. And if your wolf fails to appear, that doesn't mean one full moon passed, but one full moon incomplete. You are bound to complete all the full moons you have to meet in your lifetime, otherwise you will never finish your business on this God's green Earth." 

"You mean he can't..." Finlay stammered. "He won't be able to die?" 

"I mean, if he misses a hundred full moons in his lifetime, he must pay for another hundred full moons to be able to die," explained Dean Winnick. "All while his body deteriorates and his wolf grows more restless, more ferocious, more lethal. How do I know this? We have done the research." 

The three boys stared blankly, as if their souls just left their bodies. Their big masterplan didn't only fail but also caused Luka a much bigger problem. What was the wolf going to do once he finally met his full moon next time? 

"So as you can see, I didn't call you here to preach about the rules," said Dean Winnick. "Sometimes it is even imperative to break some rules if it's for the good of many. But this?" 

They could only hang their heads in shame and fear. 

"Now what am I going to do with you?" the dean leaned back on his chair. 

A few minutes later, they were released from the dean's office. The three of them limped on the hallway with such heavy hearts. But after their stupidity, deep inside they knew they all deserved to be punished. 

Once they were in the elevator, Finlay turned to Matthew. "So where the fuck were you?" 

"Finlay," Luka tried to pacify him. 

"No, no, I wanna know. Where were you this morning? Did you actually party all night with the merfolks? Didn't I tell you this would happen if you do?" 

"Look, I was going to..." 

"That was fucking irresponsible, Jones," Finlay didn't let Matthew defend himself. 

"Yeah, okay, it's my fault I was being late. I'm sorry. But would that make any difference? If I woke up at the right time, would we actually get away with it? They were ready to ambush us, Finlay!" 

"Guys, guys, it's not Matthew's fault," Luka separated the two. "If I didn't agree with this..." 

"Oh, shut the fuck up," barked Finlay. He turned his back on him. "We all knew this would happen. I'm not mad because we got caught. I just thought that... fuck. Never mind. Let's not talk about this ever again." 

"Let's not do this ever again," corrected Luka. Both of them glanced up to see his face. He was serious. "I was wrong to drag you in this. I'm sorry." 

"Hey, it was my idea," said Matthew, still proud of the thoughtless plan he concocted. 

"It was my conviction," added Finlay. "My stupid, arrogant confidence. So I believe it's on all of us. Now can we move on, please?" 

Luka and Matthew grinned. Finlay must be frustrated if he had to use the word 'please' and lost half of his Irish accent.

If only they were allowed to sit this day out, they would have done that. They didn't get suspension of any kind, so they had to go to their classes that day. 

When Castor found out about what happened, he wanted to say I told you so, but seeing their faces, he stopped himself from doing it. He might not have human emotions, but his days in Erebus had made him learned about empathy. Some things are best left unsaid.

The three of them tried to avoid Ariane throughout the day. They couldn't imagine what she would say or do when she found out what happened.

Unfortunately, Luka and Matthew received an order to come to Delta house after class. Remembering what happened with Hallmar and Noe, Matthew was not excited at all to meet them after he lied to their faces. After a long contemplation, they went there anyway. 

The house was in its cheery mood when they arrived. Some actives were screaming at the other pledges, some others were laughing at them. There was no sign of the mermen, so they could come in peace. 

But upon seeing them, Khazin suddenly sat up and gasped, "Luka! You're back!" 

They all stopped what they were doing and stared at them. 

"Where were you last night?" asked Khazin again. "They're all looking for you." 

"Fuck, the werewolves are still looking for you right now," said Kiowa.

"Is it true you went to a different time zone to avoid full moon?" asked Trefrey. "Proper stupid, innit?" 

Before either of them could explain, Hallmar's voice boomed from the door. "There they are!"

They both was just turning around when someone grabbed Luka by the collar and slammed him to the floor. 

"You dumb fuck!" 

Luka looked up and found Brayden stood over him. His smug smile, underestimating look, all his usual expressions had gone from his face. There was only this murderous glare and gritted teeth, waiting to devour him like a wolf he was.