"You should never, ever be in that position." Hughes's expression turned serious. "Never go anywhere by yourself, Alfons, I mean it. Going from room to room at the start of night is one thing, but anything else..." he shook his head.

Speaking of... they'd finished their knife lesson, Elena had come and gone, and still no Ed. What part of 'before you do anything else' hadn't he understood? Of course, he was a teenager and what teenager wanted to be lectured? He was going to have to track him down, wasn't he?

"Well, looks like Ed's blown me off again." He shrugged. Roy hadn't shown up, either. There were voices in the hall, of course.... "Or at least taking his sweet time."