Chapter 4

"What did you saw,Ethan, yesterday night ?" Chubby Blaise asked, leaning dangerously towards me. 

I was tied on a chair without any memories of what happened for me to be here, in this dark room surrounded by the four prefects of the school. 

"Nothing, can I go now ?! " I questioned, worried of what they could do if ever they were the ones who pushed Archie off the roof. 

The four of them looked at each other in the eyes, seemingly having a conversation without words, which only increase my stress of what they could do to me. 

"We are going to let you stay here a little longer so you can recall everything you saw last night and then we will come back." Blaise informed me with a faint smile on the lips, like if he was enjoying seeing me so weak.  

And then, the four of them left the room, leaving me tied up in a chair, alone in the dark. Slowly,I started remembering how Maxine, the prefect of my house, knocked me out with a heavy object and him saying that it was the headmaster of the school who ordered them to do so. 

Even if I only arrived yesterday, which was difficult to believe even for me due to how much happened to me, I didn't trust his words. How on earth could the headmaster of such a prestigious school could ask to do such a thing ? 

"Kiddo." A voice called me and I lifted my head, surprised as I thought I was alone.

And there he was,  Sebastian, looking at me with this annoying smirk.

"I have a deal to make." He said slowly as if he was afraid I would refuse, his smile slowly fading away. 

"What ?" I asked, annoyed by whatever deal I had to make with this guy. Even if I only met him twice and talked to him once,  I hated how lazy and rude he seemed to be. 

" I want you to discover exactly what happened to Archie Devenson. The people who killed him, the reasons why…"  

I looked at him, shocked. He seemed so serious at this moment I could barely believe I was talking to the same person.  And yet, he still had his ghostly pale skin and these amazingly wild black hair. Suddenly, I noticed that the door was locked and that Sebastian had no way to come inside.

" How did you come in ?"  I asked. 

"I was there from the very start, actually. These prefects are stupid and they didn't even notice me." He said in a chuckle. 

I looked at him suspiciously. What if  he was a spy for this prefects to supervise me ? Could I truly trust him ? He didn't seem very sincere when he talked and he would always search for his words, as if he was looking for a lie to tell me. But what if I was imagining things ? What if he wanted me to help him ? 

"What happened to you Sebastian ?" I questioned, sure of his name. 

"Sebastian ?" He said, dumbfounded, as if I just said an enormous mistake. 

But if this black haired boy wasn't Sebastien and that it couldn't be Archie as he was dead and ghost didn't exist. But then, why did he sound so surprised ? 

"Ah yes !" He laughs, clearly nervous "Well, I just disappeared from the school and everyone thinks I'm dead !" He said, barely audible, and I immediately knew that he wasn't saying the whole truth.  

How could someone seem so unnatural at lying ? He seemed so strange at the way he was talking to me, as if he was hiding something very big, but I couldn't put my hand on what it was.

"Do you accept the deal ? You investigate the death of Archie and in exchange, I shall serve you as a bodyguard and protect you from every danger, especially from these stupid prefects. " He said in a serious voice and I knew that if he wanted to do such a deal and that he was ready risking his life, he was really close to Archie. 

"What was your relationship with him ?" I asked, not ready yet to accept this deal. 

" We were almost like brothers, we were doing everything together. We would never fight against idiot things , like a girl for example. And then, we stopped being friends. He never told me why…" If he seemed happy to talk about Archie, at the end of his explanation he was gloomy and sad. 

The death of Archie seemed to truly affect him.

But as I was about to say I had to think before doing this deal but the handle of the door was moving, saying that the prefects were back. 

I was going to say to Sebastian to hide but I saw him no where in the room, as if he was never there at the very start. 

When the door opens, there was only Blaise who came inside, alone and with a key at the hand. 

"The headmaster told me to let you go but if you ever say to anyone that you were in this room, you will pay for it very hard." He muttered in my ear with a dangerous voice before unlocking the chains who were forcing me to stay seated. 

Paying with my life, I thought.

And as I went out of the room, heading towards my room, tired as I passed my day in this room. Through the window, I could see the bright moon who was lighting my way to my tower.  

"Ethan !" A voice called out and I saw Clayden who was in front of the door of my room. "Ethan ! I haven't seen you all day, where were you ?" He whispered / yell at me.

"I was —" I couldn't say that the prefects locked me in a room but I couldn't lie either as I was a very bad liar. "What are you doing here Clayden ?" I preferred asking, knowing that the boy knew I was avoiding his question. 

"I was waiting for you… After Archie's death, I'm really scared you were the next victim." He said in a low voice, rubbing his fingers against them, nervous. 

" Wait, the next victim ?" I said more than asked. I was dumbfounded to learn that even Clayden wasn't thinking about an accident.  

"Don't you believe that the death of Archie was a little too perfect ? And also, it doesn't make sense as to why he was on the roof at this time. You maybe don't know that as you are new but  the door leading to the roof is always close." He explained in a shaky voice, surely nervous to say all this. 

I was also shocked to see how much he thought like me and how he realised how bizarre this death was.

Secretly, I was happy to share my burden with someone else. 

"Clayden, do you trust the prefects ?" I asked, curious as if I should or should not trust him. 

"No."