Matthew opened his eyes to the harsh light burning through his eyelids, draping everything in bright red. The first thing he thought of as he opened them was blood. He drew away his blanket and sat on his bed, staring at the grey suit jacket dangling from a hanger at the end of his bedroom. The black trousers and still freshly ironed shirt were folded up on the Chester drawers nearby with a black bow tie placed neatly on top of the shirt. The suit jacket was pretty old and had belonged to his father. Matthew almost smiled as he thought about his grandmothers obsession with hoarding old clothes 'just in case' they were ever useful again. [I]Not just clothes...[/I] He began to think, but cut himself short as images flickered across his mind of her present state. He took a deep breath. Pushed the images to the side. Pushed the problem to the side and focused on what was important right now. 
This party was almost as important to his grandparents as his Emergence, he reminded himself. "And since that was such a royal fuck up," Matthew mumbled to himself, glancing at his reflection in his bedroom mirror. His eyes looked teary and bloodshot and sunken in shadows. His skin seemed paler than usual too, but he wasn't sure if he was just imagining it. He hesitantly moved his hands up towards his face and closed his eyes. He traced his hands over his face, feeling the magic like tingling waves against his skin. He opened his eyes to see the the shadows and puffiness around his eyes were gone,and his complexion almost seemed to glow. He pulled back his shoulders and puffed out his chest and smiled. "Tonight will go to plan." He reassured himself. 

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Matthew pulled at his bow tie unsuccessfully, trying to twist it and knot it in every which way he could only for it to fall apart in his hands each time. Irritated, he hit replay on another Youtube video. He tried not to acknowledge the fact that other different circumstances his grandfather would now be teaching him how to do this. 
He almost jumped at the sound of the ringing telephone in the foyer. Every sound seemed to be putting him on edge; he had taken the precaution of locking all of the doors and covering all of the windows but he couldn't help but think swat cars would roll into the driveway at any moment. 
He left his room and moved quickly down the stairs, his bowtie in hand. He stopped in the middle of the hallway which led into the foyer, his hand hovering over the door knob. He breathed deep. "It's fine." He whispered to himself. The telephone continued to ring. How was it so loud? 
He gave the door a weak push and it creaked ajar. He spotted his grandfathers crumpled up body surrounded in a dark red pool of blood. He took a step into the room, quickly revealing all three of the corpses in a room half soaked in blood. "No, they're not there." Matthew winced, glancing away and a half shutting his eyes. He moved pointed his palms outwards and moments later, the bodies were nowhere to be seen. Although the thick smell of iron still hung in the air. The ringing stopped. 

Matthew made his way across to the phone and hit the messages button. "One new message." The telephone announced, followed by a short pause. 
[I]"Hello Mr and Mrs Friel, Sebastian Jung from the university here. I hope you're enjoying your Emergence – and Matthew, of course. Clearly you're quite busy this evening! Anyway, hopefully everything has gone okay, and hopefully I'll see you at the ball later this evening. It'll be a great opportunity for all the families to get to know one another and really integrate Matthew and his peers into our community. On behalf of the Andersons, I'd like to remind you that we prefer guests not to use magic on our premises in order to preserve the house's neutrality. I'm sure I'll see you later but if there's anything I can do to help in meantime, please give me a call – and, of course, the Andersons would also appreciate it if you could delete this message once you've listened to it. Prying ears and all that. Thanks, and see you later."[/I]

Matthew hit the delete button. The knot in his stomach knotted tighter. [I]I forgot I'd have to explain why they're absent. Fantastic conversation starter.[/I] Matthew thought. At least Sebastian would be there. He was the only other witch that Matthew knew besides his grandparents. Maybe his only real ally left. He knew that if he was going to go to anyone for help, Sebastian would be his best bet. He turned quickly on his heels and leaving the room, not glancing to see if his illusion was still intact. 

He left the house and drove to the Anderson's mansion in his grandfather's truck, arriving suitably dressed besides his squinted bow tie. He didn't ponder on the massive fountain or the vast grounds. Simply parked his truck and made his way in, hoping that the radiance illusion covering his face hid how dead he really felt. He made his way immediately towards the booze, where a white-clothed table held dozens of pristine glasses of champagne.