Davy'd had a blast at the Masque. Nothing surprising there, for the lad always managed to have fun no matter the circumstances. Even Cass's lack of enthusiasm over his costume hadn't dampened his spirits in the least. True, dancing and snogging had been a bit of a challenge, but what was life without the challenges? Fun challenges, mind, not the serious ones. He could very easily live without those.

Too bad he was about to face one of those serious ones.

He didn't know that as he'd been looking about the room for Noah. When Cass mentioned that she'd seen him leaving earlier, his eyes had brightened and he recalled something about Noah saying he was going for a smoke. If that had been ten minutes ago or an hour, he couldn't recall, but he gave Cass a kiss, popped his bowler had on top of her head and told her he'd be back in a bit.

That was a good fifteen minutes ago. In that time he'd run across Cody, who didn't know where Noah was either, and the two were now scouring the corridors. They'd be at it still had they not run into a kid who'd said he'd seen someone that matched Noah's costume walking across the lawn. Once they'd ascertained the direction, they'd been off.

"Probably down by that stump, you think?" he asked. "Bit of a bummer that the bloke missed the unmasking."


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