Vance was quickly whisked into the living room, where he and James sat down to talk. James wasted no time getting to the crux of the conversation.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Niall." James was speaking softer and more slowly than normal.

Vance, for some reason, had anticipated that he would be the one needing to apologise. So, eloquently, he floundered around in his head aimlessly looking for a good response. It took him a moment to settle on something.

"It's fine. You must've had your reasons. Besides, it's family business."

"Well, it's not strictly just family business. There's the whole bit about the demon. That's relevant to you, considering you're living in the house with the guy hunting it."

"True... Either way, I know now. No harm done." Vance caught on quickly that James wasn't his usual energetic self. He wasn't surprised, but it did cause him to measure his responses a little more than normal. Truthfully, Vance was a little upset that his friend hadn't confided in him. Even so, considering the subject matter, Vance opted to take a soft approach.

"Out of curiosity, why didn't you tell me, anyway?" Vance put on his best casual tone, trying to give James room to relax.

"Because if you'd have suggested that we go looking, and you probably would've, I'd almost certainly have agreed. I know I'm a sucker like that." James admitted.

Vance would've objected had it not been absolutely true that he had a slight tendency to put himself in dangerous situations. This was more or less what he'd expected to hear.

"Well, if it helps, I'm doing my best not to jump headlong into danger anymore. Don't worry, I'm not about to suggest some daring rescue mission. I wouldn't even know where to start." Vance shrugged.

"That's what's stopping you? You don't know where to start?" James said with a chuckle.

"That's not, no, well, I meant-" Vance stumbled over his words for a moment trying to find a retort. Sure enough, he failed, and it devolved into both of them having a good laugh. Afterwards, both boys were suddenly much more relaxed. Vance could tell from James' lightening tone that this conversation was sorely needed. Evidently, James had been holding onto this for a while.

"So dad already filled you in?" James asked after recovering from laughing at Vance.

"Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on. Your uncle is due here in a few days, right?"

"Tomorrow, actually. Turns out he's a day ahead of schedule." James perked up a little. Vance took this as a sign that he was actually quite looking forward to seeing his uncle.

"I doubt he'll be in a good mood."

"You're right about that. I think he'll be a wreck. Uncle Nick has a habit of overreacting at the best of times. This has probably sent him into overdrive. Speaking of overdrive, you look tired. Did you stay up late practising?" Clearly, James didn't want to linger on the subject of his grieving uncle. Vance was more than happy to move off of the subject into more favourable social terrain.

"No, just a bad night's sleep. Nightmares, I think. I'll make up for it tonight."

Vance had formulated a plan to go to bed early for this very reason. It wasn't too far into the afternoon at this point and he was already ready for bed. More than once today he'd allowed himself a brief break to daydream about going to bed.

Now, Vance slipped into one of those daydreams for a moment, catching only the last bit of James' next sentence.

"Class tomorrow?"

"What?" Vance replied, shaking himself free of his wonderful illusion. With a sigh, James repeated himself.

"Are you coming to class tomorrow? I Hear that Hodson is hosting a lesson. I think we've already been over most of the stuff he'll go over, but it could be interesting. He's a new master in the school, so I figure he'll try and make an impression. I think this might be his first solo class."

"Sure, are the other's coming?"

"You couldn't beat Thomas away from class with a stick. Mariah will definitely attend. I don't know about Brad. Considering it's a new teacher, I expect we'll even see some third-years there."

"Sounds fun. You're right though, I'm pretty wiped out. On top of last night, I thought it was a good idea to go and learn about mana integration. As it turns out, trying to memorize all of that while tired is a terrible plan."

"Get some sleep, then. Fill me in tomorrow?"

"Sure, good advice." Vance stood up, brushing his clothes down.

"Thanks for being cool about this. I know it's weird." James added.

"It's all good. Things have been weird since the day I got here. If you do decide you want my help for anything, just let me know, alright?"

"Yeah." James put out a fist, which Vance bumped with his own. Vance took a moment to relish in the fact that he could tell when people did things like that now, so long as he was paying attention to his mana sense. Then, he headed for the stairs.

Vance hadn't been particularly active today, he'd taken a walk and had a few conversations. Even so, he felt pretty wiped out. He spent the rest of the afternoon doing some light practice, trying to wear himself down to the point that he was confident that he'd sleep through the night regardless of minor interruptions. Once he reached that point, he got some food, let it settle for a while, then went to bed. He drifted off thinking pleasant thoughts and how wonderful it was to finally have the pillow under his head.

To his dismay, Vance woke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. This time, he was startled awake by a sudden bout of nausea and a slight headache. A moment later, his instincts nudged him to get out of bed and grab a container of some kind. He didn't quite make it all the way to the rooms waste receptacle bucket before he dropped to his knees and threw up. Vance had no time nor thought to be quiet about the whole affair and he heard movement in the house, heading towards his room.

"Vance? Are you alright dear?" Maddison's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just feeling a bit sick." Vance wiped his mouth, trying his best to sound normal. He gave himself two gentle slaps on the cheeks to wake himself up a little more.

"Alright, I'll get you some water."

"Thanks."

Vance felt much better. Just to be safe, he sat up against his bed with the now foul-smelling bucket within arms reach. A few moments later, Maddison came upstairs with a cup of water and brought it in.

"Are you sure you're okay? It sounded quite awful." Maddison was radiating motherly energy.

"Sorry about that. My dad told me before that I was a loud kid when I was sick. I guess I still am. I feel a lot better now, to be honest. Maybe I ate something..."

Vance sensed the tiny flame of the candle that Maddison brought closer to his face.

"You look a little pale, but if you're feeling better you should probably get back to bed."

"Yeah. Thanks again for the water. And for checking in."

"No problem. Goodnight, Vance."

"Goodnight."

Vance heard the sound of the door closing and leant his head back onto the top of the bed, still sat on the floor. He didn't really feel like moving at the moment in case he incited another protest from his stomach. He hadn't been lying, he actually felt much better now. After a few minutes of steady breathing and letting his stomach settle, Vance felt as good as new. He sipped at his water, making sure he could keep it down. Now convinced that he probably hadn't come down with some deadly infection, Vance made his way back to his feet. Before he got back into bed, he placed his bucket on the far side of the room, as far away from the bed as he could. He couldn't smell what was in there at the moment, but he was sure whatever he'd thrown up was going to be unpleasant to sleep near.

Vance was next awakened by the sound of knocking at his door.

"Vance? Are you awake? You need to get ready, class starts soon. Are you still coming? Mum says you're sick?" James' voice came from the other side of the door with a barrage of questions. Vance gave himself a brief once over. No pain, no aches, no nausea.

"All good in here, James. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Alright, see you downstairs."

"Yep."

The sound of James' footsteps on the nearby staircase signalled the end of Vance's wake-up call. True to his word, Vance got ready and presented himself downstairs a handful of minutes later. He spent the majority of that time washing out his mouth, which he'd foolishly neglected to do before going back to sleep. When he arrived downstairs, he could smell a mixture of delightful foods being prepared elsewhere in the house. After a wonderful breakfast, the two boys headed out.

"So, what's up? Eat something nasty?" James asked as the two walked down the street. They'd opted to go by foot today rather than use the carriage and were taking it pretty slow.

"Probably. I woke up in the middle of the night and really let the bucket have it. Oh, crap, I forgot to clean it out."

"Oh well, you can do it when you get back."

"Yeah. How was your night?"

"Not as interesting. Slept sound as a log. Huh, I always figured you'd be the one to sleep like a log, tree-hugger."

"Oh, we're still on that, are we?"

"I'm never letting it go." James stuck his arms out to the sides, trying to mimic branches and walked a few paces in front of Vance. He faced him, walked backwards and started yelling loosely tree-related demands. Honourable mentions include 'I'm a tree, please don't pee on me' and chanting the word 'Sunlight'. Vance did his best to remain stoic, only really faltering when he had to intervene and warn James that he was about to walk straight into another pedestrian. After this daring rescue, the rest of the journey was largely James laughing at his own jokes and Vance trying his best not to join in. It occurred to Vance that James was trying a little too hard to seem upbeat today. He didn't have to think very hard to figure out why.

Shortly thereafter, the two arrived at the college grounds where they met up with their friends. Brad hadn't shown up today. His absence caused the average height of the group to drop by nearly a full foot. They'd taken their time getting here, so they rushed inside to make it to class on time, barely having enough time to finish saying hello. Vance noticed that Mariah felt a little different to normal to his mana sense. He wasn't sure what it was, but he'd have plenty of time to figure it out later.

Unlike last time, the classroom was packed. The group had to find themselves a little corner at the back of the room where they could lean up against the wall. Hodson had yet to arrive, but all manner of students were present. At the moment, Mariah's sister Naomi was organising the students, trying to fit everyone into the room and ensuring they were gathered in non-vital areas of the room. It was a little chaotic in the classroom amongst all of the conversation and speculation about the upcoming class, but Vance picked up on something.

Coming down the hallway, towards the classroom, was a large concentration of wind mana. Vance was put on edge for just a moment before Master Hodson made himself known.

"Make way." He said as he stepped into the room. Vance could tell that the wind mana was following Hodson and there was a large metal object hovering in the air behind him, carried by the wind. Its layout made it seem like a cage of some kind. Inside, Vance could sense a mana membrane that had a strange shape.

The students parted, letting Master Hodson take his place at the centre of the classroom. He got straight to it.

"Alright. Thank you all for coming. Today I'm going to introduce you to an area of magical study which is, typically, not taught in much detail at this college. In my opinion, this is a mistake. I believe that the study of magical creatures and their influence on the world is of the utmost importance. In this cage here, I have with me a Levifore. Does anyone know what a Levifore is?" Hodson sounded confident and a little irritated.

Vance heard very little movement in the room. He was confident that maybe only a handful of people raised their hands. He was certain none of his friends had.

"I'm not surprised. Most people never have cause to learn of a Levifore, but once you know about them, you'll be glad you know. Levifores are a kind of omnivorous magical creature that exists in the periphery of other living creatures. They're rare and you won't find many around here, they're native to the more northern regions of the world. They're mostly harmless and rarely have to eat. When they do, they make a meal out of literally anything. They have a preference for soft foods and so will often eat things like clothes, bread, vegetables and other often unattended things. They're not particularly strong, but they're lightning fast. The thing that makes them dangerous is their fear response. They despise being spotted, and if you manage to catch one in the act of stealing your favourite socks, it'll try and rip out your throat. It's worth understanding that this isn't out of malice, but an act of self-preservation. We believe that these creatures have simple instincts, and act solely upon them. There is a decent chance that at least some of you have been in the presence of one of these creatures before, and never known it. Here, take a look."

Master Hodson reached down and grabbed the cloth that was draped over the cage and pulled it away, revealing the creature within.