When The Snow Falls

Daniel waited for the prefects to discover the cats in the wardrobe whilst making sure to keep his breathing even so they wouldn't realise he was awake. He was not disappointed by their reaction in the slightest.

"Bloody hell, he keeps cats in here!" the Green Oak house prefect swore.

"They're cute, can I take one?" David requested eagerly. Daniel was all too happy for him to take one away.

"Can we throw them outside?" Raven enquired in a low voice. "Felix might never come back here."

Daniel was disconcerted by that comment and it reminded him that there was still a possibility that Felix wouldn't make it. He was going to have to contact the hospital in the morning and ask about him. If Felix died overnight he was going to have a dark murder case to solve.

"Leave them in here for the time being," Liam instructed. "If it comes to it, we can claim that he was on the roof to rescue a cat and slipped off."

That sounded like Liam knew exactly how Felix had come to be on that roof in the dark. Or it could mean that he wanted to cover up someone else's actions. Currently Daniel didn't know enough to decide which possibility it was.

"Shit, one of the cats is out," Fenston said at the same moment that Daniel felt a familiar itchy feeling in his nose. "It's heading over to Daniel."

Daniel had never hated his cat allergy as much as he did right now. If the prefects found that he was awake what would happen to him? If they were murderers he was definitely going to be silenced. He heard the cat's light paws strolling over towards his bed and then a change in weight when the cat jumped onto his bed.

Bloody cat.

His heartbeat rapidly sped up when he felt the urge to sneeze. Then a set of heavy footsteps approached and he felt the cat get picked up off the bed. The urge to sneeze went away with it much to his relief. The urge to throw the cat out the window didn't.

"I've got it," Fenston announced. "Daniel might wake up if he got scratched."

The prefects spent another ten minutes searching unsuccessfully for something they kept referring to very mysteriously. Daniel spent the whole time wanting them to say what they were looking for and being worried about them noticing that he wasn't asleep.

The most dangerous point was when Liam, clearly the most intelligent out the four came up with the most likely to be correct idea.

"So, you think someone else found it before us?"

Daniel felt the pressure of four gazes on his face and began to get very worried. The odd notebook he had found in Felix's pillow was now under his mattress. If they started looking under his mattress, they might notice that he wasn't acting right for a sleeping person and they would find out he was faking and the notebook as well, not that he knew why a notebook full of recipes was significant.

"Shall I search Daniel's belongings?" David asked with a hopeful tone. "Or his bed?"

There was an annoyingly long silence before there was an answer. Daniel spent the whole time trying not to let his panic show on his face.

"No, we've spent too long here already," Liam decided. "We can search his belongings during inspections. Felix's belongings are a different story- if he dies they will be looked through by the Police within a few days."

That was when Daniel understood their need to make a search tonight. If Felix died, it would probably count as suspicious circ.u.mstances and the police would be obligated to perform some sort of investigation of the school and go through his possessions.

The four prefects took another ten minutes to leave mainly because they had to replace everything so it didn't look like a thorough search had been made. Replacing the suitcase in its defensive position by the door on their way out had given them some difficulties as well. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Daniel would have found it funny how much they struggled with it.

***

The night's activities caused Daniel to stay awake all night with his mind going into overdrive. He had died in his previous life from his detective work and keeping his head down and hiding his intelligence in this life had kept him alive for 5 years. Did he want to undo all of that effort to live a normal life?

He had to have been given a second life for a reason. He should appreciate that and keep his nose out of whatever was going on.

Then again, he had been drawn into it unwittingly. He hadn't asked the prefects to drug his coffee and search his room. Shouldn't he get to the bottom of it? It was natural to want to know what they were doing.

His mind kept going over that all night and he gave up trying to get to sleep at around nine in the morning. His craving for a cup of tea was enough to get him out of his semi warm bed and on the freezing cold walk outside to the canteen for breakfast. He made sure to hide the notebook in his coat in case the prefects used the time he was at breakfast to search the room again.

He hadn't quite made his mind up about investigating the school, but he was going to let evidence out his sight.

The canteen was mercifully warm and well stocked with a choice of tea. The cooked breakfasts were being served by the most unlikely looking chef Daniel had ever seen. He was broad shouldered with dirt blond hair, lots of stubble and the strangest thing of all was the extinguished cigarette clamped between his teeth that was leaking out ash. He watched nervously for any signs of the ash dropping in the baked beans.

He looked around for his cousin to no avail. He should have remembered how strict Christopher's mother was about getting up early. Twenty past nine was very late by her standards. Daniel now regretted never having Christopher's phone number. The two of them were not on texting terms to say the least.

However, he did have his other cousin Annabelle's number and she always replied to him within seconds unless she was in an exam. Once he had been served a hopefully ash free cooked breakfast, he texted her to request her brother's number.

He looked around the canteen whilst waiting for a reply. The prefects were absent, there were only a few pupils around so he sat down at an empty table at the back.

Annabelle's reply was reassuringly quick and she didn't ask any questions which he was glad for. How should he word 'I want to ask your brother about a potentially dead student'?

He would make his decision based on the information Christopher gave him.

***

He walked despondently out the canteen half an hour later. Christopher hadn't replied so he didn't have much to do except revise or read a book in the detective collection he'd brought with him. His attention was diverted by looking up at the roof. It was the first time he had seen it in clear daylight.

It looked ominous and even more when he thought back to the night before. What had happened to Felix?

The sound of the snow crunching behind him alerted him to a nearby presence and he turned to see a blonde girl with pigtails approaching him. She couldn't be a student as Kingston Royal Academy only accepted male students and she was too young to be a teacher. He was also sure they didn't allow female teaching staff either.

"Are you the one that found Felix?" she demanded.

Had he discovered Felix's secret girlfriend? Well, Felix's photo had been attractive it would be odd if he didn't have a girlfriend.

"Who are you?" he asked in return.

"I'm Sunny," she answered. "I live here and go to a local school. My older brother is the chef."

Daniel's mind went back to the chain-smoking chef he had seen. The only resemblance between those two was their hair colour.

"Are you dating Felix?" he questioned curiously.

Her reaction provided him with an answer before she replied. A flaming red blush spread up her face and she waved her hands vigorously.

"Not yet- I mean no!" she replied. "I just want to know if he's okay. Ben- my brother overheard some gossip at breakfast."

The mention of gossip caused Daniel to perk up. He might actually be able to find out what was going on at Kingston Royal Academy. Sunny had a very obvious crush on Felix and should be willing to help him out.

"He was alive when the ambulance took him away. I assume that everyone would be informed if he had passed away. What did your brother hear?"

As she was about to answer his question they both heard a group of people coming out of the canteen. Sunny dragged him by the arm to behind a nearby tree. Whatever she had to tell him had to be s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e enough to not say in public. It was that or she wasn't supposed to socialise with pupils.

"Felix is one of the scholarship pupils ," she began. "Do you have a title or will inherit one?"

Daniel was beginning to see what point she was making and at the same time he realised, the tree branch above him dropped a lump of snow down the back of his shirt causing him to feel a very deep chill.

"Do scholarship pupils get treated differently?" he asked with a shiver.

Sunny nodded. "The school takes them just to boost their public image. The students themselves don't get treated differently by the staff. It's the students that treat them differently for not being titled or of noble birth."

Strangely enough Daniel didn't have much trouble believing her. He knew how snobby people with titles could be.

"Was Felix unpopular then?" He asked.

Sunny smiled wistfully. "No, it was the opposite. He didn't really suffer from the same outright disdain and discrimination as the other scholarship pupils. He was even invited to the clubs which didn't happen before. Then it all changed at the end of last term."

Daniel sensed that he was about to find out something significant and waited for her to continue. Then his phone buzzed with a reply from Christopher that provided his room number and demanded him to hurry up before he changed his mind. His snow covered shirt was also beginning to drip water down the back of his trousers which made up his mind for him.

"Will you be around later? I have to go," he said regretfully.

It was likely that Sunny and Christopher would provide him with two different perspectives on the situation due to their opposing positions at Kingston Royal Academy.

***

Christopher's room was in the designated Golden Lion area of the dormitory building which was thankfully mostly quiet. Daniel wasn't sure that someone with a red striped tie would be welcome in the Golden Lion dorm. He only encountered one student who glared at him, but let him pass.

"You're so slow," Christopher complained when he opened the door. "I could have changed my mind."

Daniel ignored him and stepped into his room. Both sides of the room showed signs of being inhabited. Christopher's side of the room was obsessively neat whilst the other looked to be more of an organised mess with folded up clothes and stacks of notes over the bedcover.

"My roommate hasn't come back yet," his cousin told him. "We won't get interrupted."

Daniel looked for a place to sit and Christopher awkwardly offered him his desk chair before sitting on his own bed.

"..Are you dripping water?" his cousin asked, a slight note of concern in his voice.

"I stood under a snow-covered tree."

Christopher nodded in understanding.

"This school is a health and safety hazard everywhere," his voice trailed off and his gaze averted to the window.

Daniel followed his gaze and noticed that his window looked directly down onto where Felix had landed and out onto the snow-covered fields.

"Something similar happened before didn't it?" he cut straight to the point.

Christopher didn't hesitate in answering.

"A pupil died here at the end of last term. It was treated as an accident...but..."

"You're not so sure now?"

His cousin looked down at the floor.

"Something isn't right at this school and I can't ignore it anymore," he stated with the most emotion Felix had ever witnessed from him. "Didn't you wonder about the sudden vacancy?"

Daniel realised that he really should have considered that point before. For five years running Kingston Royal Academy hadn't had any vacancies for a pupil his age. In retrospect, he should have wondered why one had suddenly popped up now and at such an odd time. He had filled in the slot left empty by the dead pupil.

"You're sleeping in his bed," Christopher told him. "He shared the room with Felix."