To Alec's mild surprise, instead of heading straight to the Headmistress's office, they took a detour on the other side of the school, walking up the corridor towards the block where the third-years usually had classes. It was a different kind of view up here, compared to where they had just been with the rest of the school. Darkness still flowed above and around them, but there were more lamps here, lined on either side of the narrow corridors, piercing the blackness with a soft white light. A slight chill rippled through the air as they walked, eventually coming up to a door inscribed with Professor Wyatt's own name in large, silver lettering. The same office Alec had been brought to after he had destroyed the play field.

Professor Wyatt inserted a key into the lock and pulled the door open, then gesured Alec inside with a smile as if a treat were waiting for him in there. But there was none.

The only difference between his last visit and now was that the heater was on, and the room was mercifully warm after the chill outside. The moment he stepped past the doorframe, he could feel a palpable change in temperature, as if he'd walked into a solid wall of heat. Dozens of old trophies, framed certificates, and pictures of past students lined the walls, all of them of varying sizes and shapes, but all still gleaming as if regularly polished, and arranged as neatly as the contents of Professor Wyatt's lightly sheened wooden desk.

They took their seats. There was silence for a few seconds as Professor Wyatt reorganized the items on the desk, quite unnecessarily. The thought occurred to Alec that Professor Wyatt was as nervous as he was, and was trying to distract himself. That or he was a hopeless OCD.

While he worked, Alec looked around the room. The light glanced off the glass frames, so it was difficult to see the words written on them, but by covertly tilting his head at various angles, he could make out the beaming faces of countless past students.

Finally the desk seemed clean enough. Professor Wyatt sat up straight and rested his elbows in a small space between the items on the table, regarding Alec with his light blue eyes.

They spoke at the same time.

"So, Alexander —"

"I thought you said you were bringing me to the Headmistress."

Immediately after he said it, he regretted it. Professor Wyatt stared at him some more.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

The Head of Hades let out a little chuckle. "Why are you apologizing? You're absolutely correct. I am supposed to be escorting you to the Principal's office. However, I felt the need to speak to you privately first. After all, you are my responsibility as well, being not just a student but a member of my Dorm.

"I wanted to speak to you now, because I highly doubt you'll be in the mood to talk after you hear what the Headmistress will have to say."

"But aren't you just going to say the same thing? You said it more than enough times before we left."

"No, actually," Wyatt sighed. "I'm less worried about that right now — though still concerned, of course — and more interested in what happened during your small break."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, Sir, but the most interesting thing that happened was my father's birthday party. And if I'm being honest, it was a little dull."

"You think you're the first student I've ever brought into this office?" The tiny note of amusement in his voice from earlier was gone now. Now he looked and sounded like an old stern teacher, but the look in his eyes was quite intense — frighteningly so. "I have had mischief-makers of all ages in here, giving me every sort of poppycock excuse and ridiculous lies they could muster, swearing up and down they were innocent even after being caught in the very act by me myself. I certainly haven't heard it all, but I've heard more than enough. Do not believe that you can lie to me."

Alec stared at him, stunned, though still trying to look innocent. Before he could speak again, however, Professor Wyatt pulled open a drawer with a resigned expression, then pulled something out of it and slid it onto the table in front of Alec. It was a sheaf of paper, marked with the official seal of the Hero League.

Alec took it hesitantly and, as he was obviously supposed to, looked it over. His heart skipped a beat.

It was a medical report, detailing the current condition of a man whose name was censored. Instead, the documents referred to him by the alias "Giga-Dwarf." His injuries were significant, though not life-threatening, and he would apparently go on to make a full recovery. The second page, however, was even worse. It was another report, bearing details of an encounter with a group of young superhumans, taken from one "Proxima Venus." Alec's hand went numb. He lowered the paper into his lap before it could slip from his fingers and onto the floor, flipping to the next page, though he had a strong suspicion of what would be on it.

The lines of Professor Wyatt's face didn't change, though now he was looking as if he was waiting for a response. He didn't get one. Alec could see from the viewpoint of the League that this was still rather vague, but from someone who knew him — who had interviewed him personally to determine his placement at Helix — it looked like awfully incriminating evidence.

"Interesting, isn't it?" said Professor Wyatt. "These kinds of reports aren't usually accessible to anyone directly outside of the League, but based on recent developments, they thought it best the staff at Helix should know, especially given the convenient timing of the encounter. It is an intriguing story, though," he said, shuffling the papers on the desk, sounding as if he was only just getting started. "Quite funny, actually, considering there just so happens to be a very noticeable shortage of Earth-based Elementals in the world."

"Now, of course, it couldn't be you. Oh no." He gave another little laugh. "You were supposed to have been enjoying your break with your family in Bluebell City, along with Hartley Barrowman, who was supposed to be keeping you safe. I've known Hartley for quite some time now. Very capable fighter, personal assistant to the Headmistress, very loyal. He wouldn't dare disobey a direct order."

Still Alec didn't speak. He was trying to get him to confess, hold himself accountable so as to limit the damage.

"But then I thought," he continued, as if he had no intention of stopping, "considering what I saw in Madame Headmistress's office a few days ago, you do seem very persuasive. Dangerously so, I might say."

This time he paused, as if waiting for Alec to speak. Alec, realizing that he couldn't possibly stall for much longer without admitting his guilt, decided to break his silence, choosing his words carefully.

"I wouldn't say that," he said lightly. "You said it yourself, Professor. It couldn't have been me. I was at home, with my —"

"Can anyone confirm that?" Professor Wyatt cut across him.

"Quite a few people. My parents, the neighbours, friends who came over for my father's birthday party. I was at home the whole time. Besides, from the looks of that report, Giga-Dwarf and Proxima — Venice, was it? — seem to have run into people who were capable of putting them in the hospital. Being the head of Hades, I'm sure you get regular reports on the performances of your pupils from our squad leaders. And unless Wildfire has been lying to you, I don't think you'd find me a suitable match for whoever this description is of. He tells my squad almost daily that we're terrible."

Professor Wyatt had raised an eyebrow while he spoke and was staring at him almost appraisingly. He seemed to want to say something, but then changed his mind. Then, after a few moments, the corners of his mouth curled into a half smile. "Yes, I do believe you have the correct idea. Not that I should be discussing such matters with a student, but I do receive frequent updates from your squad leaders. And of course, I never actually believed it was you. But as an educational minister, it is my duty to ensure that my charges are kept safe and aware. I merely wanted to tell you that if you are indeed caught up in anything that a child of your age and stature shouldn't be, it is the perfect opportunity for you to tell me now.

"If you are worried about punishment, you've no need to be. I quite understand the allures of such situations, but the important thing is we separate ourselves as soon as possible from them."

Alec nodded in agreement. "I agree, sir. But, unfortunately, there's nothing interesting going on in my life."

Professor Wyatt smiled, though there was a strange look in his eyes. Then he stood up. "Then there's nothing more to be said. And with that out of the way, I will merely advise you to be more careful going on in future. Just in case. Now, we've kept the Headmistress waiting long enough."

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As Alec had expected, the Headmistress was not impressed. She was seated in her office, under the bright orange glow of her desk lamp, her fingers laced across the desktop.

Professor Wyatt ushered Alec inside, muttered a hasty apology for their tardiness, then bowed himself out of the room, leaving the two alone. The awkward silence that fell as the door closed behind him was deafening. Unlike the last time he had been here, there was no chair in front of her desk waiting for him. Alec stood in silence in front of her, waiting for her to speak.

"You have had quite the busy holiday, I hear," she said finally. Her voice was quiet but still firm, ringing with that disapproving tone that Alec was becoming increasingly familiar with.

"Unfortunately so, Ma'am," Alec said, with a slight shrug.

"Mr. Barrowman has already informed me of the details of the attack on your home. Your parents, along with your neighbours, are still safe in League custody, though admittedly confused. Though that is to be expected. I must confess that I am rather confused myself." She leaned back in her chair, so that her large amber eyes looked directly up at him, glinting eerily in the lamplight. "I warned you of the very real possibility that the criminal known as 'Shadow Shifter' could seek to launch an attack on you while at your place of residence, did I not? I told you that you would be much safer on the island, under the protection of our highly capable staff and the technological resources available to us, did I not? Yet you refused, assuring me that you would be perfectly safe with Hartley alone at your side."

"I know, I --"

She silenced him with a sharp jerk of her hands. "As we are both aware, that did not go as planned. You were attacked, not only by Shadow Shifter, but also by at least two additional members of the union that is reportedly being struck up among the Villain community. As I'm sure you are aware by now, this will undoubtedly affect your position in regards to future periods of absense from the school. But there is no need to discuss that at this very moment. What I wanted to ask you now, about the attack . . . is why?"

"Why?" Alec repeated. It was such a simple question, yet Alec was immensely perplexed.

"Why," she said simply. "If Shadow Shifter was interested in attacking you solely for the sake of vengeance, then he would have come for you himself. Which he apparently did, but only after you were confronted by another Villain. Then you were confronted again, while you were fleeing the city with your classmates. Why? What possible reason could they have to be so interested in you particularly?"

Normally Alec would have taken a second to consider the question. It was indeed odd. Like she said, revenge was one plausible motive that Shadow Shifter would have to seek him out. But the others. . . . Still, he had spent most of their jet ride, and the time in his room, considering this very question. Nothing whatsoever had occurred to him.

"I don't know," he said truthfully.

But Mrs. Lewis did not appear to believe him. She stood up, so suddenly that Alec started a little. Now as she towered over him, it struck Alec how very tall she was. She swept over to the window, hands behind her back, peering out at the schoolyard beyond, cloaked in darknes and dotted with tiny pinpricks of light that were the lanterns around the school.

"Are you entirely sure?" she said, talking to the window. "It is my responsibility, as the Headmistress of this school, to ensure that the children in my care are kept safe. This position is currently being challenged by a group of the most dangerous, superpowered criminals currently known to the League.

"As you might understand, it will be quite difficult to do this job if I don't have all the necessary information. You can't think of anything at all that might have attracted the attention of those Villains?"

Alec said nothing. He frowned at her. Was she implying that. . . . ?

"No, I can't think of any --"

"Something related to your grandfather, perhaps?" she cut across him again, turning around to face him.

"What would my grandfather have to do with this?" Alec said slowly. "He's dead, has been for years."

"And you're quite right, of course. But Harold Farwell was a very significant figure in modern history," she said. "He accomplished much, associated with similarly great people." She paused here, as if her words were a gentle nudge towards a point she wanted him to reach, but didn't want to mention explicitly. "I've heard too that he, like countless others, had many significant relics from his past," she went on.

They were getting closer to the subject, whatever it was.

"Our Armoury, for example, is full of many technological wonders that were recovered from defeated foes, or passed down from Legends of our own world. Objects that could fell entire nations, if used incorrectly. Perhaps . . . someone believed your grandfather might have had some such objects in his possession. . . ."

And there it was. He could tell, by how insistent her voice had become, how intensely she was surveying him, that there was something that she wanted, something she believed he had, or at least knew where to find it. He let the question hang in the air, an expression of polite confusion on his face as he pretended to ponder the possibility. Then he said, as innocently as possible, "No. There's nothing I can think of."

There was another slight pause. If she was disappointed, or angry, or suspected that he was lying, Alec couldn't tell. There wasn't the slightest change in her expression. Then, unnerving him far more than anything else he had seen or heard that night, she suddenly smiled.

"Well all right then. I'm glad to see you're all right." She walked past him and opened her door, still beaming. "You may return to your Dormitory. I'm sure you have plenty to do tomorrow, and you'll need your rest."