Mary reached the boys just outside the audience hall.

“Hey,” she said, “thanks for-”

“Not here,” Paolo whispered, nervously glancing behind.

“But-”

The Creep just shook his head.

“Not yet,” Paolo repeated. “Come,” he said, taking her by the arm. Was the boy always that pale...? Mary didn't resist any further.

They led her towards a nearby building, which looked just like a normal, brick-walled three-store apartment building. Nothing about it looked out of the ordinary. Well, nothing except two things.

First, here, in Brutus Saint's Academy, everything suspicious was the norm, and 'normal' was weird. Second, Mary walked through this very street not two hours ago, and she was reasonably sure that it wasn't present at the time. Sure, she was a bit distracted at the time, but still... she thought she'd have noticed something like that.

The door was open, and on the inside, it looked more like a small motel. It was of a bit higher standard than the one Bromman took her to, but it was far from luxurious. The reception desk was empty, and the boys led her to one of the rooms - it wasn't closed either. It had a large bed, with a nightstand on the right side, a tiny desk made of bright wood, and two simple yet functional chairs. There was one other door, unevenly painted with grey-ish white paint.

It wasn't nearly as white as the floating speck of light that waited for them to arrive just below the lamp.

“Okay, this should be safe enough,” the Creep said. “For now.” His voice was barely a whisper, and it had none of the previous strength. Most of his eyes vanished, leaving only three around his head and the one above them. He looked... vulnerable.

“We did it!” Paolo said, sitting on a chair, visibly relaxing despite exhaustion in his voice. “I can't believe it actually worked.”

“Yeah,” the Creep said, and grimaced. “Can you give me another minute or so?”

Paolo nodded, and the other boy headed for the other door. Mary glimpsed white-ish tiles and a toilet before the door shut.

“So... what's going on here?” Mary asked.

“Let's wait for Mortimer,” Paolo said, turning his eyes to the door.

A sickening retching sound came from the door. Mary winced and didn't press the issue. She could wait a minute longer for her explanation - they did probably save her, after all.

Soon, the boy came out of the bathroom, still almost floating. He walked to the bed and glanced at Mary. Well, he turned his head in her direction - his eyes were still closed.

“You may want to sit down,” Mortimer gestured towards the empty chair. Mary remained standing, and the boy sighed. “Be it your way.” He extended an arm towards Paolo. “Okay. You can take it back.”

“Are you sure?” he raised an eyebrow. “I can probably hold it a bit longer.”

“Do it.”

A crimson ribbon flowed from the Creep's sleeve, glinting in the midday sun. It flowed through the air and wrapped itself around Paolo's hand, then crept up his arm. Mortimer swayed, and with a groan, collapsed on the bed.

“Oh for... I told you I could hold it longer,” Paolo said. Some of his usual colours returned to his skin. Well, not much, but definitely more than a minute ago.

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“Doesn't matter. I'll need a full night of sleep now anyway.”

“Yeah, right... maybe a polar one.”

“Was that... blood?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, I use it as a supporting exoskeleton,” Paolo said. “I hope you're not overly sensitive to the sight of blood?” Arguably, it would be quite a problem here.

“Not really, no,” Mary said. “So... would you mind telling me what's going on, now?”

“I'm sorry, we weren't properly introduced to each other, were we?” the Creep said. “I'm Mortimer.”

“Mary here... as you clearly know.”

“That I do,” he sighed heavily. “Paolo, could you start? I'm... not at my best, right now.”

“Yeah, sure.” He turned towards the heroine. “So, we have to start somewhere, don't we? Muchmighty help us. Maybe... maybe let's go through the legal stuff first - you weren't exactly proclaimed innocent, but your case had been deemed too unimportant for anyone important to do anything about it, and that's the next best thing. However, you'd made a powerful enemy - usually, students aren't even put on trial for their first offence of this calibre. I suspect that you'd met Renate already...?”

“Yeah... we'd met.”

“Um... This would be the part that I'd advise you not to irritate her any further, but... honestly, I don't think anything you could do right now would make it any worse.”

Mary looked from Paolo to Mortimer. “Is this the part where I can thank you, by the way? I don't know what would happen to me if not for your help.”

“We know, or, well - Mortimer does, at least - and it's best you don't,” Paolo said, while the other boy silently gave her a thumbs-up without raising his head.

“What happened to... him?” Mary paused for a fraction of a second, trying not to blurt out anything stupid. Hopefully, they haven't noticed.

“My power is quite taxing, especially the parts that don't look so.” The Creep replied. She should stop thinking about him like that. It's just that... well, he was creepy. “I'm a Seer, and quite powerful at that.” He winced. “Unfortunately, my power lets me see way better than it helps my brain comprehend what it sees. And human brains aren't used to that sort of sights.”

“So those things are...?”

“My other eyes.” He gestured weakly, roughly pointing at those that hadn't vanished. “Also, portable shields if needed. Most importantly, windows through which I can glance and see some of the futures, or present.” The boy winced again. “Using too many too fast is taxing as heck on both ends, and setting up today required a lot of glimpsing.”

“On both ends?” Mary asked.

“My past and present selves. Or present and futures, if you so prefer.”

“I don't get how he does it exactly,” Paolo said, “and probably he doesn't know either, but it's a great excuse for being lazy.”

“I do understand how my own powers work, thank you very much. And no wonder I'm tired all the time when I have to explain it over and over again to no avail.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway,” Paolo turned back to Mary, “We're going to stay here at least until dinner. The outside isn't as safe as it looks. Not for us, and especially not after today. Have you ever seen the Academy hit squad in action? Well, pray not to. And we still have much to talk about, now that we're in the same party.”

Oh, right, there was also that.

“Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for what you did,” Mary said, “but what about Hans and Margaret? I don't want to just ditch them, you know?”

“I'll leave that one to Mortimer.”

“Thanks, Paolo. It's so reassuring that I can always count on you,” the boy sighed. “Listen, Mary. This wasn't the best solution we found. It was the only solution we found that let you live relatively unharmed. So, ok, maybe it was the best after all... whatever. For now, your friends are out of the picture anyway, coming back to life or filling the paperwork - I'm not sure which, and I don't have the strength to check which one is it. You wouldn't be of much help to them either way. Right now, you'll have to spend at least a month hanging around us, or someone might try to undermine today's ruling. After that, you'll be free to do whatever.”

“So... is that the only catch?” Mary asked. “No blood debt, no blackmail material after the month ends?”

“That's not...,” Paolo started, but stopped to let the Creep interrupt him with that same, weak voice.

“That's it. One month, then we can part ways.” He shrugged, which wasn't very practical when lying down. “If you'll still want to, of course. We could use a new carry.”

Oh, right. They'd just lost their team leader.

“And what about Nicolaus? Do you guys know-”

“I'm sorry, but I really have to rest now,” Mortimer said. “And you should probably use some rest too - we have Mixered Martial Arts tomorrow morning. Paolo, can you take over for now?”

Okay, got the message.

“Sure,” Paolo said, looking at Mary and shaking his head. “I'll show her around. Try not to kill yourself while I'm not around - I'd hate to miss it.”