Simon wasn't ordinarily the assertive type, but when he heard how shaky things were between the only friends he'd ever had, he decided that something had to be done. He secured Ivan's drunken (and quickly forgotten) permission to act as mediator, and promised to talk to the girls the next day. And so he did. He pretty easily laid a privacy-and-confidentiality guilt trip on Jasmine (which only got worse when Mel later confirmed that some of her and Ivan's problems did stem from Jasmine's injudicious release of Ivan's personal information). Then he went to find Mel, and "read her the riot act" (as she later described it). He also described Ivan's current state far more honestly and sincerely than Ivan himself probably could've managed. In the end, Mel agreed to talk to Ivan -- on "neutral territory" out by the lake -- the next day.

To prepare for the upcoming talk with his probably-ex-girlfriend, Ivan absolutely refused to prepare at all. He feared that going in with a plan, in his usual slick manner, would only backfire. Instead, he simply cleared his mind, and at the appointed time, walked out to the lake to meet Mel. After an exchange of "hi"s and a long silence, they traded apologies for their earlier outbursts. Ivan was particularly sorry for taking Mel's beliefs so lightly, and promised to show more respect in the future (even if he would never share her views). It soon became clear that Ivan's side of the blowup, at least, had been caused more by his fear of losing Mel to Tyler than by his dislike of Christianity. Mel gently explained that she would always have a special place in her heart for Tyler, and would continue to wear his gift -- but that that didn't make Ivan any less important to her. She wanted everyone she cared about in her life, and didn't particularly want them hating each other. However, she wasn't sure anymore if she wanted either guy as a boyfriend. She was still processing everything she'd learned about their lives in the past two days, and wanted to take some time before making any decision officially.

Ivan, for his part, confessed that he had been strongly tempted to just take off on the group's getaway bike, never to return. It would have hurt him to do it, and it would have been cowardice, he knew, but for a short time he hadn't seen any other way to resolve the situation. Then, of all the moral dictums that could have set him straight, it was his *father's* great rule that had popped into his head:

'Do what thou wilt' shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will."

 He knew running away wasn't what he wanted to do, and it certainly wasn't what love would have had him do. So he had stayed.Ivan concluded with an admission that he could be obnoxious and irreverent,yes, but he hoped that in the end his actions -- protecting Mel from Chadwick Bryce, telling her his deepest secret, and putting his heart in her hands -- would speak louder than his words.

 Thus reconciled (for the moment), the two headed off to lunch, Ivan stopping off at his room first to take his first shower in two days. At lunch, Mel proposed gathering the whole gang for a night of mindless television, to take their minds off their problems. And so Ivan, Mel, Jasmine, and Simon monopolized the TV room for the entire evening, munching on Cheetos and chocolate chip cookies. At one point, Mel quietly took Ivan's hand, causing Simon to grin hugely at his own "love doctor" prowess. Jasmine, who hadn't gotten an email from Tyler since the previous afternoon and was getting increasingly worried, found some relief in a news report on the sudden death (by heart attack -- shyeahh right) of prominent businessman Ryan Elliot Sr., following the total and amazingly rapid collapse of his business empire over the past couple of weeks.

The next day was Monday, and classes finally resumed after the long post-murder hiatus. Ivan and Jasmine had their usual morning chat over their laptops, with Jasmine apologizing for her "tattletale" ways and promising to trust Ivan to share his own secrets, at his own pace, in the future. Ivan then mentioned that he was going to have to kick Tyler's ass, both literally and figuratively, when the other boy returned, though he did promise to give Tyler some time to recover from his experiences before starting in on him. When asked why this ass-kicking was necessary, he explained that Tyler's treatment of Melanie -- both in initially trying to drive her away and in telling her of his true feelings at the last possible minute -- had smacked of a cowardice that Tyler really needed to have pounded out of him. At first, Jasmine bristled at such a harsh characterization of her friend, but was forced to agree that Tyler was always going out of his way not to hurt people, usually through a "path of least resistance" tactic that wound up hurting far more people than a more direct approach would've. Tyler had managed to sting *all* his friends that way at least once.

 And what was the cause of that behavior? Ivan's amateur psychoanalysis had concluded that Tyler had trouble dealing with his feelings. Of course, that was also true of Ivan himself, and probably of every other thirteen-year-old boy on the planet -- but Ivan had been in Tyler's mind when he'd killed Chadwick Bryce, and had felt the rush of godlike power that had momentarily filled him. While he didn't feel free to share that information with Jasmine -- confidentiality, see? -- he did caution her that Tyler had much bigger and darker feelings to deal with than most kids his age, and that if someone didn't talk to him soon, Ivan was afraid Tyler would *become* another Chadwick Bryce. Getting a bright idea, he suggested that *Jasmine* talk to Tyler first, being his best friend and future spouse and all, and then he would come along and Administer the Beating if it appeared Tyler still needed it. Jasmine agreed, and Ivan privately chuckled to himself; apparently, exposing Jasmine to Tyler's darker side was to be the final and most direct component of his vengeance upon her for airing his dirty laundry to Melanie.

 So, after morning classes, everyone headed to lunch. Jasmine was stopped on the way, though, by the sight of a very familiar limousine pulling into the parking lot. Tyler stepped out of the back, hefting his duffel bag on his shoulder, and then just stood looking around through his sunglasses for a long time -- until Jasmine slammed into him in a half-Huge Hug, half-flying tackle. Tyler flinched in agony as copious amounts of blood began to seep through his shirt from a re-opened wound. Jasmine, who hadn't expected *that*, jumped back and began apologizing profusely. Tyler straightened up again, muttered something about nearly getting his arm ripped off the day before, and went off to change his dressing, saying he'd show up in the cafeteria shortly.

 So Jasmine skipped happily to lunch, where she told everyone the good news and then ate ravenously (barely having touched food the past few days). Tyler arrived sometime later, and sat in a silence that no one was particularly eager to break. Ivan and Mel barely looked at him, and even his oldest pal, Brandon, seemed downright scared of him. Finally, Tyler apparently decided he'd had enough companionship, stood up again, and walked off. Everyone else exchanged nervous glances and whispers, wondering if Tyler just wanted to be alone or if someone should go after him. Finally Ivan reminded Jasmine of their earlier discussion, and suggested that now was as good a time as any.

 Jasmine found Tyler in his room, sitting on his bed and staring at the wall. The sunglasses were off, but his feelings were still tightly hidden away. She sat down across from him, on Brandon's bed, and waited for him to say something. Unfortunately, where all the obvious subjects were concerned, Tyler either didn't want to talk about them or didn't think he could put them into words that someone who hadn't been there could understand. He did say that he never would have chosen to become Euthanatos if he'd truly understood what was involved. He'd been warned, of course, but that wasn't the same thing as experiencing it directly. He now understood his mother a lot better, at least. The scary thing was, he also understood his grandfather. That was when he explained the addictive rush of killing, and how he had felt so *powerful* every time he pulled his trigger and decided another person's fate. Ryan Sr. had spent his whole life chasing that feeling, and while intellectually Tyler still thought that was a horrible way to live, he now understood how attractive it could be. He also had realized, upon his return to school, just how pointless and antlike were the lives of most of his classmates, who would never understand the real horrors of life as he now did. He had felt tempted a few times already to go outside with his gun and "kick over the anthill" -- a confession he made while handing the gun in question to Jasmine and telling her not to give it back to him until he was better.

 Having said what he needed to say for the moment, Tyler went back to staring at the wall. They sat like that for a long time, and then suddenly Tyler broke down completely, bawling like a baby with his head in Jasmine's lap, while she did her best to soothe him. After a long, *long* time, Tyler stopped crying, sat up, and asked to be left alone for awhile. Jasmine complied. On her way out the door, Tyler started to say something else to her, but decided to save it for later.

 That afternoon, after classes had ended, Ivan and Simon were in their room, talking. Ivan had decided that he was tired of just sitting around doing nothing, and was trying to think of something exciting to do. He'd largely run out of alcohol and drugs, and had no local suppliers. None of the *good* strip clubs would ever let in a kid his age. What to do, what to do . . . ? Finally Simon suggested that they could throw a party. Ivan was immediately fired with enthusiasm. Yes, that was it! They wouldn't have to go anywhere or sneak into anyplace; they'd have the collective deviousness of the entire local population to acquire the necessary abusable substances; and the women would bring themselves! It was perfect!

 The only thing that stood in the way was Nate, the RA. But he was hardly an obstacle at all, really. In fact, there was something Ivan had been waiting to do since the day he'd first arrived at school. Knocking on Nate's door, he peremptorily announced that there was going to be a party in the dorm that evening, loud and raucous, with booze and chicks. Nate laughed in his face -- until Ivan produced the blackmail picture he'd taken of Nate and his girlfriend Debbie (the 7th-grade *girls'* RA) in bed together, and announced that he had multiple copies hidden elsewhere. Faced with the certainty of being expelled if *that* got around vs. only the extremely high probability of being expelled for being an accomplice to Ivan's party, Nate chose the lesser evil. He even agreed to canvass his friends on the high school side of the lake for the needed alcohol.

 That accomplished, Ivan spread the word throughout the dorm, and sent runners over to the girls' dorm to alert the female population. Other appointees worked on music, lighting, and other decor. The party would encompass the entire junior high boys' dorm -- three floors of pure unadulterated fun. If this wasn't the best party the Huntington Academy had ever seen or would ever see, it certainly wouldn't be Ivan's fault.

That night, once all the necessary preparations had been made, the party got started. Ivan was already pretty drunk by the time people started to arrive in numbers, but that only made him a more jovial host. He found his co-host, Simon, standing off by himself and being shy as usual. Ivan decided that this situation was unacceptable, and insisted that Simon ask a girl to dance. Simon was too nervous, so Ivan handed him a drink. After sipping on it for awhile, Simon relaxed visibly and pointed out a girl from his science class that he kind of liked. Ivan led him over to her and proceeded to hand Simon pick-up lines by loudly proclaiming that he'd just lost their bet over which girl in the room had the most beautiful eyes. Upon close inspection, it was clear that Simon's choice -- the girl standing in front of them, naturally -- was the winner. The girl looked flattered, if still somewhat unsure about these two drunken bozos standing in front of her. Ivan handed Simon a ten-dollar bill -- his "winnings" -- and suggested that he use it to buy the lady dinner. The girl accepted Simon's offer graciously, and by the time Ivan left to patrol the rest of the party, the two were dancing.

 Ivan next ran into Melanie, and drunkenly bellowed a request to dance with her. Naturally, she couldn't turn down such an eloquent and romantic come-on (heh), and agreed. When Mel noticed *Simon* dancing with a girl, she was boggled. Ivan proudly took credit, and then boggled Mel further by explaining that all he'd had to do was get Simon drunk. Mel teased Ivan about being a corrupting influence, but admitted that Simon, at least, might be able to stand a little corruption.

  Meanwhile, on another floor of the party, Jasmine had arrived and sought out Tyler, finding him sitting against a wall and brooding with a drink in his hand. She sat next to him and made small talk for awhile, until she noticed the clear alcohol odor drifting from his beverage. Tyler's mom, Ryan, had been an alcoholic before her husband had "cured" her of the problem, and Tyler had long feared that he would fall into the same trap. He had recently confided to Jasmine that he had tried alcohol once -- to put a stop to his nightmares of the afterlife one particularly bad night -- and had been so scared by how much he had liked the effect that he had sworn off it forever. Now here he was, just as he'd feared, drinking away his problems again. When Jasmine confronted him about it, though, he responded only with irreverent comments, punctuating each one with another sip of his drink. The madder Jasmine got, the more of a wisecracking ass Tyler became. He even joked about his own well-intentioned screw-ups, relegating his vow never to drink to the same category as all the other times he'd tried to do good, only to hurt himself and everyone around him. Since everything he tried to do always backfired, why should he bother trying anymore? Finally, Jasmine demanded that he hand over the drink, just as he'd given her his gun during his earlier bout of destructive urges. He thought about that for a second, then very deliberately drained the glass and handed it to her -- empty -- with an evil smirk.

 Naturally it was then that Ivan came wandering by in his capacity as host. Noticing that Tyler had no drink, Ivan hastened to hand him one. That drew the unexpected wrath of Jasmine, who insisted that Ivan stop helping Tyler hurt himself or else she would have to hurt *Ivan*. Ivan, however, thought that Tyler could not possibly hurt himself more than he'd been hurting earlier that day. He agreed that turning to drink was not a good long-term fix, but insisted that this one time, drinking to forget for just awhile would probably do Tyler more help than harm. Ivan then invited Tyler upstairs, where Mel and Simon were. Tyler was game, and Jasmine followed, hoping to enlist Mel on her side of the conflict.

  Upstairs, Tyler expressed the usual amazement at seeing Simon dancing with a girl, and was further shocked to notice that Mel had Awakened. While he and Ivan discussed the relaxing benefits of sitting in a hot tub while dead drunk, Jasmine briefed Mel on the whole situation with Tyler and alcohol, and Mel agreed to try her luck at swaying Ivan over to their side on the issue. Ivan, however, remained stubbornly convinced that his party -- booze included -- could only be good for Tyler. And besides, with the quantity Tyler had been drinking, he was going to lose it all soon anyway. Indeed, shortly thereafter, Tyler ran for the restroom and puked his guts up. He later reported that while resting on the cool tile afterward, he had realized that he was drinking not for fun or to relax, but merely to numb himself -- just the way his mother had gotten started. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to take any valuable lesson from this, and started drinking again shortly thereafter.

 Eventually, the party wound down and everyone stumbled off to bed. The next morning, "hangover" was the word of the day. Having over the years refined certain techniques, both mundane and magical, for minimizing morning-after agony, Ivan was least affected. He helped poor Simon out with some aspirin, and shared his roommate's pleasant surprise when Simon found a phone number written on his hand. At breakfast, Ivan took pleasure in torturing his classmates with loud and boisterous declamations. Mel, who hadn't had any alcohol the night before and was feeling just fine, was (as usual) half embarrassed and half amused at Ivan's antics. Tyler suffered quietly behind his shades, and Jasmine took a self-satisfied pleasure in his pain. Brandon bemoaned the existence of soccer practice that afternoon, and wished he had a doctor's note to get out of it as Tyler did. Kelli whimpered next to him, cute even in agony.

 After breakfast, everyone shambled off to class. Ivan's acting class was its usual pit of torment. He might have enjoyed it, except that no one else in the class even came close to being talented, and the teacher was too much of a wimp to actually hand out criticism. So in between his few chances to Show Them How It Was Done, he had to sit through an interminable sequence of Bad Actors Who Don't Know They're Bad.

 Today, however, things were to be different. The instructor announced that a new student would be joining the class -- and as if on cue, the new girl walked in. Well, actually, she didn't so much walk as sashay, drawing every eye as she passed. The new girl couldn't have been younger than seventeen. She had long, dark red hair and a face to die for. Her uniform skirt was hemmed to be just slightly shorter than regulation, and her jacket was unbuttoned to supply cleavage. The regulation necktie she wore as if it were a choker -- thus staying within the letter of the new rules, inspired by Ivan himself, which mandated that the necktie be worn *on the neck*. Complementing the whole outfit was a pair of knee-high boots that immediately brought thoughts of Nancy Sinatra to mind.

 The drama teacher, after recovering from her momentarily stunned state, introduced the new girl as Corinna Marks. Asked what her future goals were, Corinna replied "I firmly intend to misspend my youth, and I'm going to be a star. Not necessarily in that order." Ivan immediately recognized a certain kinship with Corinna. Inevitably, he was assigned to be her acting partner. Given a scene to perform in front of the class, the two pulled it off so flawlessly that the mixed amazement and jealousy flowing from the other students was palpable.

 Afterward, Ivan introduced himself and invited Corinna to lunch. On the way, she asked if there were anything exciting to do at Huntington. Ivan sadly confessed that life there was largely boring, though occasionally things like horrible murders or RAGING parties happened to break the monotony. Meanwhile, in the privacy of his own mind, Ivan was running a quick cost-benefit analysis. Corinna was a smart, subversive slut, with whom he could probably have Great Sex at least a couple of times, and maybe even plan a couple of truly huge schemes, before they got sick of each other. On the other hand, doing that would pretty much destroy the fragile hope he now had for getting back together with Melanie. Of course, *she* had made it clear that, virgin or no, she wasn't interested in repeating her "mistake" by having sex again anytime soon. So . . . slim chance of happiness with Mel, sans sex, or brief and passionate fling with Corinna? For the time being, he decided to stick with the status quo.

 Arriving at lunch, Ivan got a surprise when Corinna caught sight of Tyler and began comfortably trading insults with him, ending with a familial hug. It came out that the two were cousins -- practically siblings, really, as Tyler had been brought up by his Aunt Nancy (Corinna's mom) from birth 'til he was six years old. While Ivan was still digesting that bit of information, Corinna's attention was momentarily distracted by the approach of an older student, a pimply-faced geek with an armful of D&D books who needed to borrow five bucks. Corinna disgustedly introduced her brother Devon, a 9th-grader who obviously hadn't inherited the looks and charm that typically ran in their family. Pulling a wad of bills from her cleavage, Corinna handed Devon a lot more than $5, making it clear that the extra money was a bribe to stay the hell away from her. With a nod to his cousin, Devon departed.

 That bit of busines concluded, Ivan introduced Corinna around. She'd met Jasmine a time or two, and remembered Mel's name from her Aunt Ryan's descriptions of Parents' Weekend. Corinna was supposed to teach Mel the ropes of the modeling business before Ryan's personnel department got a look at her. Her first suggestion (delivered without malice, though without much tact either) was that Mel acquire some more flattering clothes. She proposed a trip to the mall the following Saturday, and invited Jasmine along as well. Somewhat stunned by Corinna's overbearing approach, Mel agreed.

  It seemed likely that Corinna would continue to dominate affairs at the table for the entire period, and possibly every day thereafter. However, the group soon discovered the young starlet's one weakness when Kelli excitedly engaged the new girl in conversation. Though Corinna strained her considerable social skills to the utmost making small talk with the resident airhead, the sheer boredom of the situation finally got to her and she "remembered" some unpacking she'd better get done. After she left, everyone quietly took down that bit of information for future use as a Corinna escape hatch. Ivan was particularly interested in Mel's reaction: was she jealous of his new acquaintance? Unfortunately, she wasn't biting at that particular bait. While she had noticed Ivan looking lustfully upon Corinna, she figured that he would have to be gay not to. Then, of course, she had to restrain Ivan physically to keep him from loudly announcing his heterosexuality to the entire cafeteria.

  Catching Tyler's attention, Ivan engaged him in a mental conversation about his cousin. Was Corinna a mage? Surprisingly not, was Tyler's response, though Corinna was aware of the weirdness that permeated the Elliot side of her family. In fact, she'd been present a day or so earlier, when Tyler had had to kill her oldest brother Wilson, a pawn of Ryan Sr.'s who'd been sent to kill his own mother. Ivan thought he understood Corinna, then: the exuberance was some kind of defense mechanism. But no, Tyler said, she'd been like that before. In fact, she had a much more charitable attitude toward Tyler's role in her brother's death than Tyler himself did. She was also, he warned Ivan, an incorrigible flirt. Ivan had noticed, and confessed that he had briefly considered bedding Corinna, but wasn't sure if even his monstrous ego was up to the task of having sex with himself. Tyler actually laughed at that, having noticed the resemblance upon seeing the two together.

 Later, following afternoon classes, Ivan was chatting with Simon in their room when a knock at the door signalled Hurricane Corinna's return. Turned out she was looking for drugs, and figured Ivan might be able to set her up with some. Simon quickly excused himself -- he had to meet his new lady friend Mary at the library soon anyway. Though Ivan's stash was unusually depleted, he did have several sheets of blotter acid on hand, and offered her one for free. He also advised that the high school kids seemed able to get their hands on alcohol, whereupon Corinna decided that she had better work on acquiring a boyfriend on the other side of the lake. Grateful for the free assistance, Corinna offered to share a joint with Ivan, but apparently pot was too commonplace for his refined tastes. After mentioning that she'd gotten the late Courtney Jacobs' old room -- a fact she considered "cool" -- Corinna took her leave.

  Meanwhile, Tyler visited Jasmine's room. After making sure Mel wasn't in, he reminded her that he'd left something unsaid the day before. Unfortunately, that also reminded her that she was supposed to be mad at him for dissing her in his drunken state the night before. Once he had apologized profusely enough to secure her reluctant forgiveness, he quietly told Jasmine that he loved her -- the first time he'd ever laid *that* phrase on his friend-and-future-spouse out loud. (He was even kind enough *not* to voice the implied "but not *that* way.") Unfortunately, that was the only positive thing Tyler said the entire evening. After that, the conversation turned back to Tyler's ongoing fight against his personal demons. He explained about having had to kill his cousin Wilson, and went even further this time: when he'd thought about it afterward, he realized that he would have done the same thing to Ivan . . . or Melanie . . . or Jasmine herself, a revelation which didn't exactly make him feel good about himself. At least, for the moment, he was feeling relatively lucid about his problems, and could articulate them a bit better. He felt as if he were walking a tightrope over a dark abyss, terrified that he would fall at any moment and desperately searching for a ledge that had not yet made itself apparent. Unfortunately, he still didn't know how to make what he was going through truly understandable to anyone who hadn't experienced the horrors that he had . . . and since he didn't ever intend to *let* Jasmine go through anything like that, he wasn't sure she would ever be able to understand him. She insisted that she was going to *have* to understand him someday, if she was truly going to sign on for life. He, however, felt that there were some parts of his life she might never be able to share, and would probably be better off *not* sharing. Shortly thereafter, with the issue still unresolved, Tyler took his leave to go back to brooding alone, while Jasmine set about trying to think of a solution. Sadly, none sprang immediately to mind.

 That's it for this time. Fewer changes overall than I expected after last time. Next time, I believe we've been promised the beginning of a new plot thread. Join us next week. . . .