Hierarchy of Need [t.r]

Chapter Twenty Two

"Delilah, she knows about... you know," He gestured to his back. Elio simply furrowed his brows in confusion, but frowned when he noticed Pyrrhus and Cain had paled, looking as if they've been petrified.

A chill suddenly shot through his body, an ache he was all too familiar with and he rubbed at his eyes so hard until spots appeared. "What happened?" He asked with a sigh, looking at his best friends expectantly.

When none of them would meet his gaze, their eyes focused on the stone floor, Elio suddenly felt sick.

"What the fuck did you do?"

It was obviously bad, and the fact that Delilah had found out about it? "Hello?" He waved his hands impatiently in front of their faces, even taking to slapping Abraxas on the cheek.

A thought suddenly sprang into his mind, making him want to punch someone. If whatever they did was this bad, and Delilah had found out, did she think he was involved?

The need to know what they were talking about grew exponentially, but just as he opened his mouth, someone came towards them.

Of course, Elio thought.

Tom scanned them over quickly, nearly rolling his eyes when he realized an argument was about to unfold. He didn't have time for such petty things.

"Meeting. Now."

Elio tensed his jaw as he watched Tom turn on his heel, he found the back of his head extremely appealing as a punchbag at the moment.

Pyrrhus let out a dry cough to break the silence, digging his hand in his blazers pocket and pulling out a flask. After taking a swig, he handed it to Abraxas before following after Tom.

The platinum blonde haired boy also took a drink before passing it to Cain, who drank a generous amount. He went to hand it to Elio but froze midway with the way he was glaring at him.

"Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Letting out a sigh, Cain patted Elio on the back before gesturing for them to start following the others. "Later, I promise."

Snatching the flask from him, Elio downed the rest and welcomed the burn from whatever foreign alcohol Pyrrhus had put in it.

They were the last to walk into the head boy and girl's common room, Tom already sitting in his make shift throne of an armchair. The longer Elio looked at him, the more he realized something was off.

Tom looked distracted for once.

His eyes kept trailing between the record player and the couch, back and forth, not really focusing on anything else. Elio was about to ask him what the boys were so freaked out over, but Pyrrhus quickly cut him off before a word could be uttered.

"We found out something at the Yule Ball."

Pale green eyes glared at him, but Pyrrhus ignored him pointedly, staring at the ashes in the fireplace.

There was a beat of silence before Tom gestured for him to continue. "There was a man, maybe only a few years older than us, he said there was something in the Ministry that might help us track Grindelwald's movements, as it's happening in real time."

Biting at his cheek, Tom tilted his head slightly as he looked at Pyrrhus through narrowed eyes. "And you're deciding to tell me this now?" It was nearing the last days of January, and he was annoyed they've been idiotic enough to put off telling him what might be useful information.

He simply sighed through his nose, tapping a finger on the armrest as he watched Pyrrhus' jugular move with a gulp. "What's this object called, then?"