A tense moment passed. Three people with weapons raised waited for their opponents to make the first move. It became obvious that neither of the siblings had seen Maggie arrive. After a few seconds, Hansen and Gretchen shared a knowing look. Abel prepared himself to defend.

Then they burst into laughter.

With a clatter, the Witch's Brand fell to the ground, and its flame vanished with a pop. Stunned, Abel simple stared. Gretchen herself fell to her knees, giggling helplessly, almost to the point where tears were coming from her eyes. Hansen, meanwhile, was reduced to leaning on the Liar Bone for support, too full of mirth to properly stand. Suddenly, the situation didn't seem nearly as menacing as it had moments before. As his anger melted away into confusion, there was only one thing Abel could say.

“What?”

Hansen managed to regain control of himself as his sister wiped tears from the her face with a ruffled sleeve. “You...” he gasped, “were really going to do it! You were gonna brawl! Haha! Man, I'm sorry, but you got baited hard. We didn't think you'd take it so seriously!” The stylized halberd compressed itself to a manageable size once more, and Hansen replaced it on his belt. Gretchen's weapon found its way back into hers as well. Both seemed so gleeful whereas before they had only been nasty; it was hard not to believe that it all had been an elaborate prank. The siblings high-fived, and with that, the situation was defused.

"Hang on a second, you..."

"Nope! No time for questions, see you later, sunshine!" With that, the two were on their way, leaving the Guardian they had bullied alone once again. He couldn't decide whether they had been serious and were just covering their tracks or had genuinely only played a prank that he took too much to heart. After massaging his face with his free hand, he resolved to forget the incident ever occurred and resume his exploration of the campus.

-=-=-

Some time later, he had completed his trek and was in the process of pulling a fresh can of People Like Grape from a vending machine when Goodwitch's announcement resounded across the school grounds. Looking up, he noticed that the hour was indeed growing late, and joined the trickle of students heading to the ballroom. Once in, he noticed most of the others had already arrived with their things and were preparing for an early bedtime. His own drab brown hardcase was among the luggage that hadn't been claimed yet; after fetching it, popping it open, and briefly rummaging through his things, he noticed that he hadn't brought any sort of sleepwear. He did have some clothes that would do, but there was no point in soiling anything new when what he was wearing would suffice. Able pulled off his hoodie, boots, and tunic wrap, leaving him in his decidedly unexciting brown striped shirt and shorts.

As he reclined on a mattress, he noticed Hansen and Gretchen. Flippantly disregarding the unspoken rule about separating gender, the brother and sister had pulled their mattresses side-by-side in the middle of the gap that separated the two halves of the ballroom. Both were sitting up, propped on extra pillows that they could have only pilfered from other mattresses, and talked in low, excited tones. Abel frowned; he knew plotting when he saw it, and that was definitely plotting. Following their example, a few of the other students were mingling as well. He noticed Mary just arriving, and gave her a short, stiff wave.