Henry hadn't been looking forward to being a student again. Senior year at Aglionby was enough to get through, with so many other things on his mind. Then he took a gap year, road tripping across North and South America with Gansey and Blue. If it was up to Henry, he would still be in the back seat of their car. Or running away to any of the five continents they haven't explored yet.

But this was always the plan, one year together and then college. Back to reality. Like waking up after a long dream. And anyway, it's this university specifically because he has a job to do. His father didn't approve, of course. If he was going to school in Massachusetts it should have been MIT, or Harvard at the very least, but he was no stranger to not choosing what his father wanted. Henry feels like he owes Seondeok one successful mission at least.

The conversations went like this.

"How 'Hermetic' can this Order be if we already know this much about them?"

Seondeok tsked. "Take this seriously, Henry."

"...yes, mother. And what does Boudicca have to say about the coven?"

"Signs of demonic activity. Accusations of human sacrifice."

All right then. Henry is officially taking this seriously, even as the chill of fear crawls into the edges of his mind every time he remembers their last encounters with demons. He always thought Belgrave University sounded like something out of a knock-off Castlevania.

It's been almost two months since Freshman orientation. He got to skip some of it because his credits from Aglionby made up for a semester. Most of that time has been spent doing what Henry does best. Getting to know his classmates; making himself seem fun, interesting, a little mysterious; staying focused on his goal.

And he's been keeping an eye on his RA. Randall comes and goes at weird hours, even for an overworked college student. And even if he didn't, it's still obvious that he knows something. Maybe not to everyone else, but this is what Henry does after all. It's too soon to have RoboBee tailing him, not without knowing its chances of being discovered.

Had he Gansey's extraordinary talent for research, Henry would be spending a lot more time reading. If there's one thing he knows about magical secret societies, it's that they love writing shit down. Instead he takes a more quintessentially Henry approach. Time for a party.

Finding Randall at the campus bar, completely by chance of course, he slides into the seat across from him and smiles cheerfully.

"Ah, hello Resident Advisor. I am in need of some residential advice."