Someone is approaching his door. Teum jumps up and goes to see if they are going to knock. He feels the potential energy of a knock radiating from his door and opens it.

Disappointed to see it’s the page Sanne, he’s already told her about his door knock machine.

Playing it bang-up, “Hey Sanne, what brings you here?”

Sanne looking upset, pushes her way into Teum’s room uninvited, “I don’t know what’s going on. I need to talk to someone.”

Teum, is uncomfortable having a girl in his room besides Luscin, “umm, why do you say that?”

“First Headmaster Gale leaves on a secret mission. Then Master Terius comes back with a secret guest. Then he leaves on a secret mission. Something big is going on and I don’t know what it is!”

Teum, tries to placate Sanne, “Why is that a problem? There are always things going on that we don’t know about.”

“Maybe you, but I always find out. I don’t know where either master Gale or Terius ran off too, oh and your wife and Master Adara are still gone. We never have this many masters out doing stuff. I don’t like it. I’m scared!”

Teum is bewildered, “What do you expect me to do about it?”

Sanne is truly panicked, “I don’t know!”

Teum learned what to do when Luscin is upset and put what he’s learned to practice. He first directs her to take a seat. This seemed to please Sanne because she stopped talking when she sat down. Next, he went to his dresser where he had both a pitcher of water and a pair of cups. He poured her and himself a cup of water. He wasn’t thirsty but found this step works better if he partakes of a drink too.

Sanne takes the cup, “thank you.”

Next is the most important step, he returns the pitcher to the dresser and opens the top drawer. From the back he plucks a wooden box. Inside are individually wrapped pieces of chocolate. He opens the box and presents it to her. Sanne takes one, then two before smiling in gratitude. Teum takes a seat and waits.

Chewing furiously, “Free’er I needed this. You are so thoughtful, Teum.” Sanne slumps in her chair sips her water, eats the second piece of chocolate.

Seeing her holding the two wrappers, Teum gets up and offers to take the wrappers while holding the box out in case she wants another.

Sanne takes two more but doesn’t eat them.

Teum feels a wave of relief knowing the chocolate protocol he developed works on more than just Luscin. He wonders how well it would work on a grown woman, or a boy, or man? He thinks he’d need to adjust it for males. He should keep some spiced dried cavi in his room just in case the opportunity presents itself.

Sanne now much calmer, comes to her senses and remembers why she came here, “I need your help.”

“I figured that. What is it you think I can do?”

“You can go see who Master Paras is hiding in the E-wing.”

“Why would I do that?”

“In case this has to do with Luscin’s mission!”

“She’s not on a mission, she is visiting her mother.”

“You’re a terrible liar, you have five, maybe more tells when you’re lying. Everybody knows it.”

Teum is a little alarmed to learn this information but tries not to show it, “Ok, maybe she has some unfinished business back home. Master Adara went with her to make sure it goes smoothly. Headmaster Gale explained it to me himself.”

Sanne didn’t know about that visit, she sits up a little straighter, “What exactly did he say?”

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“I don’t remember exactly. He didn’t tell me anything that Luscin didn’t say.”

“Which was,” Sanne asks rather impatiently?

“It was something about a mess she left behind and she needed to clean it up.”

Sanne sits there blankly staring at what she now thinks is the stupidest man in the world, “You mean to tell me your wife, YOUR WIFE, said she had to fix something, and you just let her go?”

Teum doesn’t like her tone, “Yes, that’s exactly what I did. I trust her more than anyone else in the world. It’s not my place to tell her what she can and can’t do. I believe in her and her judgement. You don’t get to judge us. You should go.”

Sanne backs off her attitude, “I’m sorry Teum. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” She eats another chocolate as if she knows it will calm her. “Did the headmaster tell you that he and Master Robles spent two days researching the last five hundred years of attacks, kidnappings, and murders in Thuma?”

“No, I told you what he said.”

“Do you know what kind of messes can date back 500 hundred years?”

Teum knows; tales of monsters that eat children are as old as time itself. These monsters are real, and they learned about them here in Mammatus. Are you saying that the mess she left here to clean up is a Devastator?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Ok, let’s say you’re right. What could I do now, and what does that have to do with some mystery guest in E-wing?”

Sanne looks at him in exasperation, “That’s why I came to you, for answers! If you don’t know what Master Adara and Luscin are up to, maybe you could check on the person in E-wing and see what we can learn about Master Terius and Gale.”

“Alright, but why me? Why don’t you go?”

“I’m a page. I can’t go anywhere I want, whenever I want. I have to be available when I’m summoned.”

Teum thinks he’s about to make progress towards getting rid of Sanne, “Then how come you’re here and not sitting at your assigned station?”

“Obviously, I’m off duty, now.”

Making what should be his final statement, “If you’re off duty, you are free to go to E-wing on your own.”

If possible, Sanne looks more exasperated than before, “Are you kidding? I could lose my job! While you on the other hand are one of Master Terius’s favorites. You could walk in there and do whatever and Master Terius would just turn it into a lesson.”

She makes a good point about Master Terius turning everything into a lesson, but he isn’t here. Then again, the other masters seem to go easy on him and Luscin for some reason.

Teum can’t believe he’s considering this, “If I get caught what would I say, Sanne told me you were hiding something, and she had to know what it is?”

Knowing she has him, “No of course not Teum, say you’re missing Luscin and wanted to walk around undisturbed, so you chose E-wing. They won’t be mad; they’ll feel sorry for you.”

“You’re as sneaky as my sister, I respect that.” He takes a sip of water before continuing, “What exactly do you want me to do?”

Sanne smiles at reeling Teum into her plot, “Listen close, it’s better you don’t get caught at all. So, I want you to do it this way…”

They talk through a rough plan and Teum sees her to the door at the cost of another chocolate.

Once he’s alone he starts having doubts. What exactly is he to look for anyway. This mysterious guest could be in any of a dozen dorm rooms in that wing. He’d have to snoop through the walls and that is against etiquette and would get even him punished. That leaves knocking on the door and that would be super suspicious. He decides to stick to the plan which is to go for an innocent walk starting with W-wing, then S-wing, and continue through E-wing. Pay attention to what he sees and meet Sanne in the library in an hour.

The trip through W-wing was uneventful, that’s where he started and is expected to be seen. He caught a few askew glances from some of the girls in S-wing, since everyone knows Luscin is off study grounds for a family emergency. When he reached E-wing he didn’t have far to look. The first door on the right had a food tray with enough empty plates and bowls to feed three people.

Teum thinks to himself, it would be a shame to come back with nothing to report other than there might be two or more people and not one. What’s the worst that can happen, he asks himself?

Teum knocks on the door and waits. At first, he thinks there’s nobody there. Etiquette says he can’t look or listen with the gift, but he can use his normal senses. He definitely heard somebody walking around the room in a hurry. They must be hiding something or somebody.

He’s about to knock again when the door opens.

Teum is a little bit shocked by what he sees. A man, no, a boy, that’s the same height as him, which is tall. Except he has a lanky build like his body’s muscles haven’t caught up to his last growth spurt. He’s wearing an oversized hooded jacket and is trying to hide the left side of his face. The boy says nothing.

Teum realizes he’s the one calling on the stranger, needs to say something smart, “What happened to your face?”

The boy stares blankly for a moment before smiling, “My face was burned, what happened to your face?”

Teum hasn’t played this game since he left home, where his sister was relentless. “My pa dropped me on it when I was a baby. That also accounts for why I act stupid. What’s your excuse?”

“That’s an easy one, I’m a runt. I was born stupid.” Jutting out his hand, “I’m Malo, I don’t think you’re supposed to be here, are you?”

“I’m Teum, like I said, dropped as a baby then a girl talked me into it.”

Malo, steps back and sweeps his arm, indicating an invitation to enter.