When The Snow Falls

Daniel was somewhat disconcerted by the evilness of the smirk yet reassured at the same time. An amnesiac Felix was no use to him whereas normal Felix would be a wealth of information. The only danger was that Mr Collings might come back too soon or that Felix would withhold information because they didn't know each other.

"Your attitude is odd for someone that had no idea about his previous roommate's death, there's your phone as well," Daniel explained.

Felix disconnected his phone from the charger with difficulty due to the cast on his arm and unlocked it. He closed down the game smoothly and tapped something else.

"The truth is, I have no memories of the day I fell off the roof. I don't remember a thing," he confessed. "I'm technically telling the truth about having amnesia. I'm just lying about the timeframe."

Felix did have a nice smooth voice now that he wasn't pretending to be confused. Daniel gave himself a mental slap for thinking that and tried to focus on the matter at hand. It was disappointing to a degree that Felix didn't remember the most important part however, there was still a plethora of blanks Felix could fill in for him.

"I found a text on my phone from a hidden number when I unlocked it earlier," he said and turned it round so Daniel could see.

'Come to the roof at 6:00pm. I'll tell you everything.'

It did explain why Felix had been on the roof at the time. It was a shame it had been sent from a concealed number. Daniel didn't know much about tracing phones, that had been beyond his abilities in his previous life. It was only something only an expert or the Police could do.

"Why are you faking more severe amnesia than you really have?" Daniel asked next.

"So no one tries to kill me," Felix said like it was obvious answer. "If one of the prefects comes, I'm quite defenceless in this state. If they think I don't know anything, they should leave me alone for a while."

Daniel understood that sentiment well. The conversation he had overheard outside the prefects' sitting room had indicated that Felix was in danger if he survived the coma. Felix knew precisely what he was dealing with. He was smarter than Daniel had been expecting which was exactly what he needed. Dumb people wouldn't survive Kingston Royal Academy.

"You don't look surprised," Felix commented suddenly. "You must know a lot. Ah, Sunny told you about what I said."

"I know about the drugs," Daniel said. "I overheard them saying they want me to join. I don't know what I can do."

Felix levelled him with a cool glance.

"That is an issue for both of us. We should work together," he suggested calmly.

That suited Daniel. His opinion of Felix was getting better the more they talked. It would be nice to have a partner to help him, he'd never had one in his previous life.

He debated about showing Felix the photo of the mutilated cat and then decided that he wasn't really a fragile amnesiac cat lover so he could cope with it.

"I got sent this in the post," he said and pulled up the photo on his phone.

It was the first time that Daniel had witnessed Felix lose his cool. His mouth dropped open and he winced.

"How could someone do that to her?" he sighed deeply. "We're working together for certain now. You must solve this before any more cats get mauled. I'm giving you my number. You'd better reply to my texts."

It was odd to see such passion from Felix. He had been coming across as someone calm and collected. He took back his revaluation of Felix as a not being a soppy cat lover.

"Do you have any idea who sent it? Or if it's a warning or threat?" he probed after they had traded contact information.

Felix paused for thought and his smirk returned.

"I have an idea who it was. I can guess that it's revenge and a warning mixed together. Meow Meow very obviously refers to drugs, you were supposed to understand that. Someone in the secret society has a conscience."

Daniel was about to demand what he meant when he saw Mr Collings walk into the ward. Felix dropped his phone under the duvet and Daniel took his own back.

"Are you getting along well?" he asked cheerfully. "You two look like you are."

Daniel glanced at Felix who smiled at him.

"Can he visit me more?" he requested. "I'm going to be here for a while."

It was interesting to see that even Felix was an emotional manipulator. When everything was resolved, he would have to tell Mr Collings to stop falling for lies easily.

"I'll see what I can do," Mr Collings assured him. "Please don't be disappointed if he can't, pupils aren't supposed to leave the grounds."

The supposed amnesiac pouted mournfully and Daniel stifled a smile. A pout looked out of place on Felix's face.

"Is it okay if I tell the prefects about your amnesia?" the housemaster asked. "Liam especially been concerned about you. If you want to keep the amnesia quiet, I will not say anything."

The supposed amnesiac averted his eyes and looked sad before answering. Daniel sat back and kept quiet so he could enjoy the display of quality acting. Felix's manipulation was even better than his own.

"I don't really want everyone to know. Can you just tell Liam? He's the prefect I know the best."

The merits of that request were obvious to Daniel. Letting everyone know about his amnesia so easily would come off suspicious to the prefects and they might want to investigate. By only wanting to tell a specific one, it looked more genuine. Of course, Liam would tell the other prefects. He had to hand it to Felix, his acting was a lot better than the act Liam had put on the other day.

"Of course. Is there anything you want me to bring from your room?" Mr Collings enquired. "Your textbooks won't make any sense to you and you won't be able to do the mock exams anyway."

"I'll take a look at them regardless," the patient said. "I wouldn't mind my own pyjamas as well."

"I'll bring them as soon as I can. Daniel, we've got to go now," Mr Collings told him regretfully. "We weren't supposed to stay for too long. Hopefully you can see each other again soon."

They both got up and said goodbye. Daniel looked back as he was following Mr Collings out of the ward and saw Felix wink and point at his phone. Daniel interpreted that as an invitation to call him.

He didn't know what he would do if that wink meant something else.

***

When Daniel returned to his room he saw something important on his desk and swore.

The events of the day had caused him to forget that Liam was supposed to be coming to get his club application form.

He still didn't know if he wanted to risk joining the Pudding Club. There was something he could do about that though. He would have to be quick about it, Liam could come at any time.

Felix had wanted him to give him a call and now he had a good reason to.

He went across the corridor to the bathroom and locked the door. This was the only place where Liam wouldn't be able to follow him. In fact, it was the only room with a lock on the inside.

He dialled Felix's number and waited for him to pick up. He finally picked up on the last ring.

"Sorry for the delay; I had to get rid of the nurse. I wasn't expecting a call so fast. You must like me a lot."

His voice went silky on the last line and Daniel rolled his eyes. He didn't have time to work out if Felix was flirting. His life was on the line.

"No, I need an answer from you fast before Liam comes to find me."

"I'm all ears."

Fortunately for Daniel's patience Felix now sounded like he was taking him seriously.

"I'm being forced to join the Pudding Club and I know they want me in the secret society because there's a chance that I might stumble on their secret which I already have. What should I do?"

There was a moment of silence before he got an answer.

"The club doesn't start having meetings until the term officially starts, you have to be initiated first and I'm not there to bake so that will delay it. I say you can join. They won't try to get you into the inner part until the second meeting at the very minimum," Felix told him. "By the time that comes, we should have resolved everything."

That sounded like a lot of assumptions to Daniel, but Felix had been attending Kingston Royal Academy for a lot longer than him and seemed to know the Pudding Club well. He would have to take his advice. It wasn't like he had any other choice.

"What should I do if you're wrong and I end up in the old canteen tonight?"

It was a very necessary question. There was a much longer pause before Felix answered.

"Get Sunny and George to help, they know the quick route off here. There's a bus stop nearby," he said. "Or hide out at Sunny's house and get your parents to pick you up."

Daniel couldn't imagine the Earl being happy about that. Then again, the Earl had advised him against the Pudding Club because of the inner sect that could be dangerous. He had forgotten that. The Earl might actually be willing to let him leave if he explained everything. That calmed him down a lot.

"Thank you for the advice," he said honestly. "...What happened to Jack?"

The silence that followed was so long that Daniel wasn't sure if he'd lost the signal.

"He was invited to an inner part of the Pudding Club that was very secretive and invitation only," Felix began simply. "I wasn't invited myself and he was excited about finally being accepted by the popular pupils like the prefects. He went to one of the meetings perfectly healthy and came back behaving strangely."

It was easy to work out what had happened at the meeting. Jack had encountered the most lethal tradition at Kingston Royal Academy. He'd gone expecting to be accepted by popular pupils and was led to his death instead.

"He wouldn't tell me anything about it, he said that it was a secret that he had to keep. I asked every time he came back from meetings and he still refused to tell me. As time went by he looked worse and came back even later every time. I wasn't able to intervene because I didn't know what was going on. Eventually I noticed needle marks on his arm and that's when I knew for certain that it was drugs. I only had a vague thought it was drugs before."

Daniel felt genuinely sad about what had happened to Jack and remembered that it could happen to him as well. Admittedly he wasn't an unpopular scholarship pupil and they were only interested in him because he might know too much, but it was still dangerous.

"When did this happen?"

"I worked it out in December last year, two months after he joined. I confronted him and he confessed everything. He was peer pressured into weed on the first meeting, then blackmailed with a video of him taking it and emotionally blackmailed by saying that he would rock the boat if he reported it or even told anyone else. They took advantage of his shyness and d.e.s.i.r.e to be accepted by other people," Felix paused to add more information. "There was quite a variety of drugs at those gatherings to say the least. He told me everyone who was in the secret society and made me swear not to do anything. Three days later, he was dead."

It was one thing to guess how Jack had been forced into drug taking, it was another thing to hear the full truth.

"Do you think it was murder?" Daniel asked plainly.

"He was dependent on those meetings to supply him with his fixes. Due to the school play, there wasn't a meeting on the night he died. Either he was pushed down those steps or his withdrawal symptoms led to an accident. Either way they murdered him."

Daniel wondered if the scheduling had been deliberate. It was definitely something to look into.

"What did you do to become their next target? It sounds like they weren't interested in you before."

"I did some investigating, looked around the old canteen and asked questions. I didn't get far with just that so I picked the lock on Liam's door and took something."

Daniel was about to ask what had been taken when he heard a set of footsteps stop nearby. It was most likely to be Liam coming to collect his application form. Hearing about Jack had made him even more unwilling to join the club, but he also wanted to solve the mystery. He held his breath as he listened to someone knock on his bedroom door and walk in and then walk out.

His blood ran cold when he heard a knock at the bathroom door.

"Daniel? Are you in there?"

It was Liam.

Daniel swallowed nervously and opened the door. The time to make his decision had come.