When The Snow Falls

Daniel stared at the note in confusion. It was clearly a warning or threat of some sort. The problem was that he had no idea what it was referring to. What did 'meow meow' mean? Did it mean the cat? It certainly didn't have whiskers now.

He didn't have any cases from his previous life for reference. This was outside his area.

However he did recognise the mutilated cat from Felix's wardrobe so the sender had to be the person that had taken the cats away and replaced three of them. Daniel had never thought that the missing cat would be returned to him like this.

At least this eliminated Liam who had known nothing about the cats being moved. Technically anyone at Kingston Royal Academy could be the sender. Felix's love of cats appeared to be a well-known thing. The bedroom doors didn't have locks so anyone could have walked in and checked the wardrobe for cats.

Daniel focused on the prefects. They had definitely known about the cats in the wardrobe. Had one of them sent him this as a warning behind the others' backs? Or was it a threat to keep him off their tail?

For the moment he couldn't tell. He closed the box again so he didn't have to see the blood smeared cat's head again. What should he do with it?

Whilst he was averse to cats due to his allergy, he wasn't happy seeing a mutilated one. He should probably bury it somewhere once he'd recovered from the sight. He'd have to ask Sunny and George or perhaps Christoper for a suitable place.

Should he tell other people about the cat? He could take it to Mr Collings. Then again Mr Collings might start asking everyone if they'd sent it to him. For the moment he wanted to keep it quiet.

He braced himself and opened up the parcel again to take a photo on his phone. Daniel needed a photo as evidence before it decomposed too much. He hesitated about sending a photo to Annabelle. She was the only person that knew everything, but at the same time he didn't want to send her a gruesome image.

Daniel kicked the box under Felix's bed so it was out of sight until he was ready to dispose of it. If it had been sent on behalf of the secret society, he was going to have to start investigating the old canteen as soon as possible.

It would be best to investigate at night. The main risk with that was getting caught being outside of curfew by a teacher. That was actually the lowest risk to his life. The other risk was that if someone dangerous caught him, there really would be no witnesses around.

The thought of going alone was not appealing. He wanted to go with someone he trusted implicitly because it would be an ideal chance for someone involved in the secret society to attack him.

Sunny and George came to mind. Alvin was not an option for the most obvious reason- he idolised the prefects too much and would probably turn him in for trespassing. Christoper was a last resort because whilst Annabelle could make him do it, he would w.h.i.n.e and complain the whole time.

It had to be Sunny and George. Their motives for helping him out were obvious. Sunny had a crush on Felix and was willing to go quite far to find out what happened to it. George was her best friend and was also friendly with Felix.

They were the only two people that he was sure had Felix's interests at heart rather than Kingston Royal Academy's.

He texted Sunny to ask if she and George were willing to investigate the old canteen after hours. She texted back after ten minutes to ask for more details and agreed once they had a time and a meeting place.

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief once she confirmed. He hadn't wanted to end up going alone. If they did end up in trouble, George could get them out of it with his strength that seemed to be above average.

He put his phone to the side and picked up the revision guides Kingsley Royal Academy had provided. Whilst he might have done lots of exams before, it would be best to check that he really did know everything he needed. His plans for a peaceful morning of reading were interrupted five minutes later by a knock at the door.

His heart thudded in his c.h.e.s.t when he heard it. The mutilated cat parcel had made him on edge and the planned night-time excursion was making him even more nervous. The knock on the door could be friendly: Alvin, Mr Collings or Christoper. It was more likely to be the opposite; a prefect wanting to get him into a certain club.

His gut feeling turned out to be correct. Liam walked into his room without waiting for an answer. In his hand was the Kingston Royal Academy societies leaflet and an application form. Daniel knew exactly what was coming.

Liam faltered when he saw all the revision guides and notes strewn over his desk.

"Are you busy?" he asked. "I know you have a lot to catch up on."

Daniel really wanted to say he was busy and that Liam should come back later, but he knew he couldn't delay it forever.

"No, I can take a break," he answered and stood up. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Liam gave him a small smile.

"As the Scarlet Wren house prefect, it's my duty to tell you about the clubs you can join."

Daniel nodded. That was clearly a lie as Mr Collings hadn't mentioned anything about that. He had only mentioned that Liam handled applications to the Pudding Club.

"There's the four biggest ones that each prefect runs. I run the Chess Club which I think you would be a good match for."

There had been no mention of the Pudding Club so far. Daniel wondered for a moment if he was letting his personal opinions get in the way of the other prefects' wishes.

"I am good at chess," Daniel replied modestly.

He'd been a champion in his previous life and this one wasn't any different. The Earl was very proud of his prowess that seemed to have come from nowhere.

"That's good to hear," Liam beamed. "I've also heard that you like pudding. I also run another club called the Pudding Club with the other prefects. We eat lots of pudding and don't do much else to be honest. Are you more interested in that one?"

Daniel considered what he was about to say very carefully. It was odd that Liam was pushing both the Chess Club and the Pudding Club. It sounded like he wanted to give him a choice. He was unwilling to join the Pudding Club until he had found the true reason for its existence and their involvement in recent events. If all went to plan, he would find out tonight.

That meant he would have to delay making a decision in the meantime.

"Can I think about it?" he requested.

"Of course," Liam said. "But the Pudding Club is probably the better option for you to be honest. You won't have good opponents in the Chess Club. I'll leave an application form for the Pudding Club with you. I'll come by tomorrow to see what you've decided."

Liam left the room after recommending a few revision tips and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been waiting for that conversation all weekend and it felt relieving to get it over with. Of course the harder part was coming. Was he really going to join the club?

Daniel was surprised that Liam hadn't pushed it as hard as he'd been predicting. Although the last part and the form did suggest that he was forcing it on him. In all fairness he didn't have to. On the surface the Pudding Club sounded fun and most people liked sweet things.

Making the decision was going to be even harder if he didn't manage to find anything from investigating their meeting place.

If he didn't find anything he did have some leeway as he was likely to be invited to the secret society after he'd joined the actual club first. Hopefully Felix would wake up from his coma before then and tell him what he knew. That would solve the whole mystery. If Felix didn't wake up, he might as well run away.

His musings were interrupted by another knock at the door. He stilled and relaxed when Christoper walked in and sat on his bed without waiting for permission.

"My roommate's a slob and Annabelle won't stop bossing me around. She wants me to tell you everything," he griped. "So, I'm here to give you answers."

Daniel made a mental note to thank Annabelle later on. It would have taken a lot of persuading to get Christoper to speak of his own accord. Whilst Christoper had given him his early hints, there were probably things he was keeping back.

"What do you know about the Pudding Club?" he asked.

Christoper hadn't been mentioned as being a member and he couldn't remember it ever being mentioned in conversation since Christoper had started Kingston Royal Academy. He was definitely a member of the Sports Club and the Fencing Club though, Daniel had heard enough about it from his aunt at family gatherings.

"Not that much, I'm not a member. They eat pudding every meeting and appreciate it. Felix and Jack were members."

Daniel scowled irritably. If Christoper had known this, he should have told him before. He had found out a day later from Alvin instead.

"You didn't tell me this before."

Christoper flushed. "I forgot, I'm not in the same house as them and I'm not a member. I don't know anything about the club besides what I just told you."

Daniel stared at him analytically. Christoper did seem quite argumentative. Either he was in a bad mood from being pestered to talk to him by his sister or he was holding back.

"You're protesting a lot," he said. "You know something else."

"...I've heard that there are some dodgy activities going on with the Pudding Club," Christoper replied. "I didn't want to mention it because I have no evidence. It's probably right though, Jack was odd before his accident."

That was the second time he'd heard about that. Alvin had mentioned it as well. There was potentially a clue there.

"In what way?"

"He looked paranoid in class, he was twitchy as well," Christoper explained. "I also heard him throwing up in the toilets."

Daniel knew it had to be something to do with the inner sect. His paranoia was justified considering he had ended up dead. He debated showing Christoper the cat. His cousin would understand the stakes more when he saw the mutilation and might tell him more.

He retrieved the box from under Felix's bed and put it on Christoper's l.a.p.

"I was sent this today. If you throw up, you're cleaning it up," he instructed.

Christoper looked confused, but opened the box nonetheless and his face drained of colour when he saw the cat's head.

"...W-Why?" he eventually stammered after Daniel took the box away.

"I don't know," Daniel replied. "The note doesn't exactly say 'stop investigating or this is how you'll end up' like it would in a murder mystery. It's oddly cryptic."

"You're right," his cousin agreed. "Does the wrapping have any postage marks on?"

Daniel retrieved the plastic covering and checked it over for postage marks. There was only a stamp which meant that it hadn't gone through the postal service at all. The stamp had probably only been put there so the secretary didn't think it was suspicious.

"It must have been delivered by hand," he said.

"Whoever sent it probably slipped it in the postal van when the postman comes. He always hangs around to gossip with the secretary and leaves the door open so it would have been easy," Christoper answered. "That means that the wrapping and box must have already been in the possession of the sender. What do they smell of?"

"Besides dead cat?"

Daniel sniffed the wrapping and the outside of the box dubiously. His nose itched a little, but he could smell something faint that wasn't cat. It smelt like the inside of his and Felix's wardrobes.

"It smells kind of mouldy," he said. "The sender must have used an old box and wrapping."

Christoper gave it a sniff after him and contributed something else.

"There's something else. It smells like someone's deodorant or aftershave?" he theorised. "I've smelt it before. What do you think?"

"I'm going to have a sneezing fit if I sniff it anymore," Daniel said dryly.

***

As the bell in the clock tower rang twelve times, Daniel tiptoed out of the dorm building. Once he had assessed the temperature, he put on the extra scarf he had been carrying. It had snowed a few hours before and the wind speed had increased. He stepped onto the snow-covered grass so he wouldn't have to walk under the streetlights and be visible to anyone looking out the window.

Once he was out of view of the windows, he switched his torch on and walked quickly towards the theatre where Sunny had said to meet. He spotted Sunny and George waiting outside wrapped up in scarves.

"Daniel's here!" George announced excitedly.

Daniel looked around worriedly. He hadn't seen or heard anyone behind him, but the wind was making it hard to hear small noises. If there was anyone outside, they could have heard George's shout.

"Keep it down," he ordered.

George pouted, but kept silent and led the way to the old canteen. The route George chose kept them out of plain view, but involved a lot of stepping on the grass which made Daniel worry about leaving footprints.

Soon they arrived at a small building with brickwork that matched the dorm building which suggested they had been built at the same time. The main difference was that the canteen brickwork was smoke damaged and the roof was gone. The door had a red and white saying 'No Admittance. Authorised personnel' only' and a padlock sealing it. Daniel ignored the sign and shook the padlock experimentally. The padlock sprung open immediately and he pushed the door open. The old canteen had definitely been used since it had been sealed off.

"Ben's so going to get fired if we get caught," Sunny g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

"So will my Dad," George g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

Daniel was not in the mood to be sympathetic.

"Don't do anything to get caught then."

Sunny took out a torch from her backpack and George produced one from his pocket. They stared expectantly at him and he walked into the old canteen ahead of them.

His first impression was of darkness. He shone his torch around and began to make out more details. The walls were dark due to the smoke damage, the ceiling was still present and there were sofas everywhere.

"The toilets are on the right and there shouldn't be anything once you go out the doorway straight ahead," Sunny explained from behind him.

"I'll go out there and look around," George offered. "I think we should split up so we can get out of here faster."

George was sharper than he had been expecting. Daniel was all too keen to get the search over with.

"Daniel can go to the toilets because he's a boy," Sunny said and pushed him in that direction. "In case it's not obvious, there's only boys toilets."

Daniel followed the suggestion and wandered off to the toilets. They weren't big so it shouldn't take too long. The tiling and the pull chains on the toilets gave the impression that they hadn't been updated for at least 30 years.

He turned on a tap to see if the water was still connected and nothing came out. He checked the cubicles and the urinals and nothing turned up. It appeared that if the secret society were using the building, they weren't using the toilets regularly. The sinks looked a little cleaner than the toilets though. Daniel played his torch along the walls and stopped when he reached a poster high up on the wall by the door.

All he saw at first was green teeth and white lettering. He approached it to get a closer look. He jumped up with his hand outstretched and managed to pull it from the wall. A closer look revealed that the poster was of a cartoon cat with green teeth. The white lettering spelled out a very familiar phrase.

'Does meow meow have whiskers?"

He read the bottom of the poster that informed him that it was from the UK drugs helpline. Then it all clicked.

The Pudding Club was a front for drug taking.