“How can I ‘elp you, young master,” Matthew intones, bowing to Edward subserviently.

Ryo clears his throat while Edward stands stiffly in the hall with a constipated expression on his face. “Edward was wondering if you’d like to play with us.”

“Uhhh…” Matthew doesn’t lift his head. “I think that’s against the rules.”

“It is?” Ryo and Edward chime at the same time.

“Aren’t you supposed to know this, Edward?” Ryo asks, unimpressed.

“I-I mean, it is. It is.” Edward nods, hand to his chin in a thoughtful gesture.

Ryo clears his throat again. “Well, Edward wants to make an exception this time. And please raise your head so we can actually have a conversation.”

Matthew straightens to his full height and pushes his glasses up his nose. “Well, I’m done with my chores today because it’s my first day. If I’m going ta play, it’s now or nev’r. So, what’re we doing?”

“Board games?”

“Skull collection?”

Ryo and Edward turn to each other. Ryo, eyes wide, gives an imperceptible shake of his head. Edward looks almost smug with the tiniest of smiles upon his lips.

Matthew gapes at both of them and slowly turns to Edward. “You have a skull collection?”

Edward nods.

“Cool. I wanna see.”

Edward smirks at Ryo before dashing off. He calls behind his shoulder, “I’ll be right back! Wait in my room!”

Ryo turns to Matthew. “You don’t find that creepy?”

Matthew shrugs. “Not really. I’ve never seen a human skull before.”

“Oh, no. No, it’s a collection of animal skulls,” Ryo clarifies. They climb the stairs. “You really don’t find it weird?”

“Nah, mate. I seen all kinds o’ weird stuff on the streets. Where’d a little rich kid like him get a collection anyways?”

Oh dear. “Museum gave it to him as a gift,” Ryo lies.

“Huh. That’s a nice life. People falling over ‘emselves ta give you stuff.”

Ryo opens the door to Edward’s room. Not so long after they settle down on the floor, Edward’s thundering steps up the stairs and shrill voice calls out, “I’m back!”

The brunette bursts into the room carrying a wooden box in his arms. He settles down criss-crossed and opens the box, revealing a velvet purple cloth. Unwrapping that, they peer in together to see the pale white bones of various different small animal skulls lined up neatly in rows.

“Woah,” Matthew whispers. “The museum gave you a lot o’ stuff.”

Confused, Edward begins, “No, these are from when I k—”

“Edward! Is this the crow skull?” Ryo interrupts, quickly picking a random one with a slightly pointy…mouth?

“Close, but not quite. The crow skull is this one,” Edward says, picking up one with a very prominent and long beak. The sides of its head are dented, no doubt for the eyes.

“Huh, now that beak is mighty,” Matthew remarks, reaching out to touch it.

“Did you know crow’s beaks are slightly shorter than raven beaks?” Edward starts.

At least he’s not talking about how he killed them. Ryo clutches his stomach feeling the slightest bit nauseous. Just gotta keep things normal, yep.

“Maybe Matthew isn’t so bad after all,” Edward says, tucked into his bed. “He didn’t scream at my skull collection.”

Ryo turns around in his guest bed beside Edward. Gazing intently into the younger boy’s eyes, he slowly explains, “It’s because he doesn’t know that you killed small animals to get your collection. You have me to thank for that.”

“Huh, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Ryo.”

Ryo sighs. The sliver of moonlight seeping into the room casts its silvery ribbon across Edward’s stardust grey eyes.

“So, is your friend still sleeping?”

Edward nods. “They haven’t slept in a while. I think they’re just really tired.”

“How long are they usually away for?”

“Six hours at most. It’s been eight now.”

Ryo reaches out, patting Edward’s head. “You should sleep too now. Good night, Edward.”

“Good night, Ryo.”

Edward’s breathing slows gradually as the boy falls into a deep sleep. Ryo tries to fall asleep, but his heart thumps nervously for some reason. It’s similar to when he tries to ignore Satori’s cries at home when she gets punished. All those summer nights spent trying to focus on the stars and the sound of his own heart have made it uncomfortable for him to be awake with his thoughts.

He breathes in. And he breathes out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In… Out… In…… Out……

A soft thump rouses Ryo from his light sleep. Bleary eyes blinking open, he sees a hooded figure in the room standing over Edward’s bed in the window’s reflection.

Panic strikes him and he’s instantly awake. The figure hasn’t noticed him awake yet and it is too small to be Lucifer. Unsure of what to do, he lays there, watching with wide eyes. He keeps his breathing steady, deep, and even, years of practice pretending to sleep in his tumultuous home life kicking in.

The hooded person reaches for something and it glints silver in the moonlight.

A knife…!

Terrified, Ryo slowly and quietly slips his leg underneath Edward’s covers, thanking whatever deity looking upon them with grace for their beds being close enough that he can scratch Edward with his toenail. The boy doesn’t stir so Ryo scratches harder, watching the reflection carefully.

The hooded figure is taking deep breaths. Shaky, young hands grasp the hilt of the knife and slowly bring it up, aimed at Edward’s neck.

I really should’ve taken those classes Dad signed me up for. Ryo bites his lip. What do I do?

The figure brings the blade down. Ryo yells, “Wake up Edward!”

Edward jolts awake and the figure hesitates for just long enough.

The brunette kicks the figure in the stomach reflexively. The figure falls backwards, dropping the knife. Ryo gets up. He turns around and clutches the edge of his bed tightly.

Edward growls, kicking the knife away. “I owe you one, Ryo.”

Snapping out of his daze, Ryo rushes towards the door.

No sooner does he arrive than the figure tries to escape, pulling at his nightshirt. He screams, arms flailing and kicking wildly to try and thwart his attacker off.

Edward tackles the taller figure to the ground in an impressive show of strength. He pins them down, sitting firmly atop them and holding their wrists in place.

Ryo scrambles to help, just as the figure almost escapes again. “I didn’t know you could do that, Edward.”

“Father makes me practice.”

Oh, so your classes include this too.

Together, they hold the mysterious individual in place.

Panting harshly, Edward demands, “Who are you? Why were you trying to kill me?”

The figure doesn’t speak.

“Ryo, keep them down.”

Ryo tightens his grip as Edward loosens his to pull the hood back. A familiar freckled face with round spectacles and orange hair stares back up at them resigned.

“M-Matthew?” Ryo exclaims.

Edward’s eyes darken. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“I-I don’t understand. Why were you trying to kill Edward?”

“Who sent you?” Edward asks, voice full of ice and face eerily blank. Ryo shudders, having had that gaze on him a couple times before.

When Matthew stays quiet, Edward reaches for the boy’s fingers. He takes Matthew’s left index finger and bends it back.

“Agh!” Matthew cries.

“Edward, I don’t thin—”

“Shut up, Ryo.” Edward’s eyes glow gold.

Ryo’s instincts are never wrong. He’d always known something was off with Edward. It just never occurred to him that his friend is a…psychopath. That’s the only explanation that makes sense.

Matthew resists talking, but the older boy’s eyes are clearly filled with fear.

“You’re not going to talk if I play nice, right?” Edward asks softly.

Silence. Ryo closes his eyes.

CRACK!

“Arghh!” Matthew screams.

“Edward, stop this,” Ryo pleads. The cries sound far too much like Satori’s when she can’t hold them in any longer.

“Don’t worry, Ryo. I already silenced this room. Nobody will hear.” Leaning down into Matthew’s face, eyes wild and gold, Edward grins. “Nobody will hear you scream.”

What comes next is brutal and Ryo squeezes his eyes shut as Edward breaks two more of Matthew’s fingers.

“I-I’ll talk!” Matthew resigns. “Please, stop! I’ll talk!”

“You missed your chance,” Edward singsongs.

Ryo focuses on the sound of his heartbeat and his breaths. In. Out. In. Out.

“Aughh!” Matthew cries. “I was sent by Adelle!”

Edward halts. Ryo opens an eye, trembling hands still holding the older boy tightly down to the ground.

“Adelle hired me ta kill you,” Matthew confesses, panting. “I’ve told you the truth. I promise I won’t both’r you again. I only did this because I was paid. Please, can you let me go?”

Edward’s eyes glow an angry gold. “No way. See, Ryo? I told you Adelle can’t be trusted.”

Ryo sees that now. He is a fool, isn’t he? He’s always been a little slower, a little kinder, a little dumber than Satori. Other kids like Edward seem to get what he doesn’t in an instant. He just thought Adelle was a nice lady. Somebody nicer than his own mother. Than his own father.

“We should tell your dad,” Ryo suggests.

“No.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because Father doesn’t need to know about what I can do.” Edward stands and raises a hand, eyes blazing gold. “But I’ll definitely be telling my friend about this when they return. You can let go now.”

Ryo gulps. He releases his hold on Matthew.

“What are you going to do to me?” Matthew asks, voice cracking.

Edward smiles his iconic cherubic smile. “I’m going to make you disappear now.” He snaps his fingers.

And Matthew disappears.

“Where did he go?” Ryo asks.

Edward blinks at him, eyes returning to his usual grey color. “He’s gone.”

“D-Dead?”

“Yes, but technically gone. I made him vanish.”

“H-How is that possible…?”

Edward bends down to pick up the knife he kicked away earlier. “I told you already. I use Aeon. It’s not difficult if you can read all the squiggles. I just changed thirteen of them.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t hold it in any longer.” Ryo retches.

Edward’s nose crinkles. “You’re disgusting.”

“Thanks for hosting us,” Ryo’s father says, bowing to Richard. Ryo bows, following his father’s example.

“Always a pleasure,” Richard says, shaking hands with Ryo’s father.

Edward smiles and waves. “Bye-bye Ryo!”

“B-Bye, Edward.” Ryo waves back.

Sure enough, they’d kept the whole incident with Matthew a secret and the disappearance of the boy bothered the adults a lot less than they thought it would. Adelle didn’t seem to care that one of the children she used to visit weekly suddenly disappeared. Richard figured it was a case of a runaway, which apparently isn’t all that uncommon there.

And Edward went straight back to babbling about apple tarts, his imaginary friend, and playing with Ryo. If anything, the brunette seemed to cling to him after the incident, making them near inseparable— much to the adults’ fawning. He’d noticed the younger boy trying to copy him in how he walked, what he liked to eat, and even changing the way he spoke to mirror Ryo’s own. It was partially flattering and partially creepy.

But after the incident, it seemed like an invisible wall, that they hadn’t noticed was up, came tumbling down. Trust, he supposes. Because while Edward is very open, he is normally also very distant. The boy says a lot without saying a lot, never truly letting on anything tangible about his thoughts, and yet every conversation consists of mostly Edward talking and Ryo listening.

Did I help him kill someone? Ryo ponders, waving to Edward from inside the carriage the Blackwoods called for them.

The brunette excitedly waves back. “See you next time, Ryo!”

“Sounds like you had a great time,” Ryo’s father comments. “I’m glad you’re getting along with each other.”

The first snowflakes begin to fall as the carriage whisks them away. “Yeah,” Ryo mutters.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to spend much time with you,” his father continues. “Work calls.”

Ryo nods. “It’s okay, Dad. I hope your work went well.”

His dad smiles. “It did.”

They settle into a comfortable silence. His dad shuts his eyes to get some more sleep for the long journey ahead of them. It would take them a month to reach the Liu family, especially in these winter conditions.

Ryo couldn’t find an opportunity to bring up the list of otherworldly ingredients to Edward, especially not after that incident. Edward’s friend never left his side after that and Ryo wasn’t about to risk Lucifer finding out that he knows what’s going on.

In his other pocket, Mingyue’s mirror weighs heavily, reminding him of the task ahead.