My feet suddenly stuck to the steps and I couldn't move.

Until the next person reminds me, "Why don't you leave? Monsieur is waiting for you inside."

turned my head to see the guard's face, the same face that had appeared to me three hours earlier as one of Xavier's confidants. Now, he said he worked for Hansel.

I looked up again. Hansel was still smiling at me, the late afternoon sun streaming through the window, hitting his already red hair like thick, dark blood.

I ...