“He was a bad man anyway, right?” Prin prompted.

  “Right, umm, we didn’t really know –” Elwin stood over the shredded flesh and bones mess that had once been the nameless blond boy, lying skeleton-stick legs akimbo on a pile of his own bloody clothes. All he had been was rude? Okay, maybe a jerk, or even as far as an asshole to Kit, who seemed perfectly nice. But it’s not like they knew him or anything. He gulped and turned back to Prin’s sweet face. “Right.” He said firmly, mustering up a watery smile.

  “We can work our way up to this part.” Prin swung the stall door closed on the corpse. Although, you could still see it in shadowy form under the gap.

  Elwin tried not to look, squinting his eyes with the effort. Maybe he was a bad man. How would they know? It didn’t matter anymore now anyway.

  Prin went to the cart and pulled it into the room, the wheels made a painful to the ears metal on metal complaint as he did so. He closed the hidden door behind it.

  Prin was still naked, his pale limbs strong and beautiful, as well as everything else about him. Elwin felt like he should be embarrassed but really he was just in awe. It still took him by surprised that this was the same Prin who had been basically bedridden, twisted and frail as an old man. He looked as healthy as a typical teenager now, if not more beautiful than a typical one.

  His diet must be agreeing with him.

  Elwin shuddered, pushing away the pitch black thought from his head. One thing at a time, one step in front of the other. Now was a time for cleaning. He held out Prin’s clothes. “Why don’t you get dressed first? It’s too distracting.”

  Prin looked at him with his head tilted for a moment, baffled, until the realization hit that maybe he should be the one embarrassed, and he blushed, a perfect rose circle in each cheek like a book illustration. He took the clothes from Elwin and put them on, holding onto Elwin’s shoulder for balance. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t even realize they were off. Forgot I guess.”

  Once he was dressed, and Elwin had helped him lace up his boots, the two of them raided the cleaning cart. Elwin filled the mop bucket and began there, while Prin took to the walls with soapy rags.

  They set about their work in silence, both exhausted but trying their best to push through. Elwin knew he for one was riding on the fumes of adrenaline.

  After a while, a half hour, or an hour, Prin went back to the sink once more to rinse his rag. He sighed. “I’m sorry about all this. I guess it just sprays everywhere. He waved his arms in demonstration of the wild, wide spreading sprays of the blood coming from the veins of a human in its death throes. As he did so, there was a clink in the marble sink basin as something fell from the rag.

  Probably a tooth, Elwin thought immediately. He was pretty sure those would count as indigestible.

  Prin picked it up and looked at it. He turned on the water in the sink and gave the object a rinse. “Oh, Elwin, look at this.”

  Elwin automatically stepped closer to Prin, putting his mop to rest in its bucket first. He grimaced before reluctantly looking at what was resting in Prin’s cupped hand.

  It was a ring. Because of course it was. The butter yellow gold wrapped around a deep red stone in the center of the ring. “Huh.” Elwin said, feeling a wave of déjà vu.

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  Prin picked it up between two fingers and held it up to the light. “It must have been his.” He started to slip it onto his middle finger but stopped abruptly and jerked it away from his hand. “No, no, I feel like I want to put this on, just to see what it looks like. I’m wearing too many rings already.” He waggled his bloody stained fingers, four other rings throwing out sparkles.

  “I hadn’t realized there were that many.” Elwin said. “Well, that’s okay, nothing says you can’t try it on anyway. Just for the heck of it.” It seemed like Prin was having a strange reaction to the piece of jewelry and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  “I’m afraid . . . if I put it on I won’t be able to take it off again.” Prin said. He idly wiggled one of the other rings, the little rose gold ring with the curlicues of shiny pink that wrapped around his pinky above the knuckle. The one they had thought might be Aster’s but Elwin’s wasn’t sure if they ever remembered to ask her.

  Elwin scoffed at him. “That’s ridiculous. Of course you can take it off again.”

  “You put it on.” Prin held it out to Elwin.

  Elwin took the ring from him. It had a nice feel in his hand, smooth and sort of heavy, a substantial ring. He slid it onto Prin’s middle finger. “It’s a nice ring.”

  “I meant put it on yourself!” Prin yelled. He stared at his hand for a minute, then immediately tried to pull the ring back off again.

  “Sorry, I misunderstood.” Elwin said.

  Prin pulled on the ring letting out a little grunting sound. “It’s stuck!” He grabbed some soap from the sink dispenser and lathered up his finger. The ring still wouldn’t move. “It won’t come off!” He tried to take the little ring off, then each other ring in turn. None of them would come off.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. Does it hurt your finger?” Elwin asked. He was too tired for this, and they still had cleaning up to do, not to mention getting rid of the body somehow. Elwin hoped Prin had a plan for that part too.

  “El, this isn’t right.” Prin was getting red in the face, and his hands were getting red too and probably swollen.

  “You’re making it worse.” Elwin said. “Stop that.” He took Prin’s hands in his. “Maybe it’s some kind of weird allergic reaction? As long as it doesn’t hurt, let’s not worry about it.” He kissed the back of Prin’s hand.

  Prin frowned deeply. “We don’t have time.”

  “That’s right. What if the staff try to come in?” Elwin said. He kissed the back of the other one.

  Prin took his hands back and continued cleaning.

  Elwin went back to his own cleaning. If only they could just get this done. Every once in a while he heard Prin muttering something to himself and glaring pointedly at his hands.

  “What are you saying?” Elwin finally asked, unable to hold it in anymore.

  “I said, five rings, five kills.” Prin said, louder this time. “Five suppers. Has to mean something. That stupid witch, she would know.”

  “Which witch?” Elwin asked.

  “Any of them. I wish I could get in touch with Lissabet,” Prin said. He got some garbage bags from the cart.

  “Who?” Elwin asked. Somewhere in him a bell rang but he couldn’t connect it with anything.

  “Never mind.” Prin said crankily. “You don’t remember her half the time anyway.” He took his garbage bags to the forbidden stall. “It’s time to take out the trash.”

  Elwin almost laughed. “That was kind of bad ass.”

  Prin’s eyebrows raised and his innocent blue eyes widened. “It was?”

  Elwin couldn’t hold it in anymore and let loose a bout of hysterical laughter. “Come here.” He pulled Prin close, not giving him a choice to escape the hug this time.

  Prin relaxed against him, gradually returning the hug, wrapping his arms around Elwin. He sighed, like a ghost escaping his body. “I’m just anxious and very tired, pay no attention to me.”

  “You and me both.” Elwin agreed. He pulled away reluctantly and the two of them turned back to the matter at hand. There was nothing left but the main event.

  It was awkward, folding the man’s body up to fit into the garbage bags, especially without making a mess of their clothes. Prin wrapped extra bags around Elwin and himself to act as aprons, and somehow they managed it. In the end they were both out of breath and sweating.

  “Damn.” Prin swore sharply.

  “Hmm?” Elwin looked toward where Prin was looking. A sharp elbow, knee, something, was poking through a hole in the bag. “Oh, heh.” He let out a small laugh, not sure at all why this should be funny.

  Prin gave him a little crooked smile. “It’s not funny.”

  “I know.”

  They wrestled the bagged body into a second bag, then they thoroughly cleaned that final stall and put their aprons, and all bloody rags, towels, and mop head, into another garbage bag.

  All that was left was getting rid of their trash bags where they wouldn’t be found.

  Elwin continued to hope Prin had a plan for that too.