Cold air swirled by, the chill of First October having truly set in. From the warmth of the car an annoyed looking demon slurped away at a sucker, completely detracting from any bit of seriousness his expression might have granted him.

"These movers are taking forever."

Beside him a demoness put his very thoughts into words. She was large, not in height but in width, with elegant horns spearing the air above them. In her lap was a box of assorted chocolates and truffles, and she drank a large frappuccino greedily while looking out her own window. "Are you sure you want to go here? They already messed up your dorm room once and delayed things. Why don't you just stay home and work for Mummy? I know you've learned dishes that I haven't had a chance to try yet."

She pulled a bag of chocolate covered pretzels out and deftly unwound the fancy ribbon before tossing one in her mouth. Sacha reached over, snagging one out of the bag and nibbling at it himself. He was one of only three that could actually take a morsel of food from the demoness without asking and not risk bodily harm, but he didn't even think of that at this point. "You know that Kyler Florentine said I needed to work on my Fear control, and this is the best place to do it. After this I'll be able to use the most elite ingredients to make meals for you Mummy. Don't you want to try my best dishes?"

The Iratxoak demon knew he was being whiny, but whiny worked best when his Mummy was concerned. Despite all the self-centeredness that came with being a gluttony demon (which meant she mostly just cared about where her next meal was coming from) Mummy truly cared for him and Antoinette, so they could just about get away with murder. Her face softened and she offered him the bag of pretzels. "Of course Sacha. You're such a good boil to want to cook for your Mummy. And your Mother does think this is a good career step for you. Since you already know all your flavor profiles." She pinched his cheeks and he allowed it, even as he stuck several more pretzels on his fingers.

For a while they sat in the car, munching away on food and candy while workers moved boxes and crates into his room. Inside several people were unpacking his dorm room, and occasionally empty boxes and crates reappeared to be put back into the moving truck. Finally there was a knock at the door and a chupacabra shivered in the cold, waiting for them to crack the window. "'Cuz me ma'am but we're all done."

She rolled the window up in his face and turned to Sacha. "Well, shall we go see your new dorm together?"

The offer was there, but he knew if given the choice she would prefer to stay seated in the warm vehicle. He shook his head, leaning over to kiss her cheek while shoving a bag of jawbreakers in his pocket. "I've got it. Besides, if you don't leave soon you'll be late for dinner and you know how Mother gets if something gets cold."

She agreed easily enough, but pulled him in to kiss his forehead and then shoved a large tin of cookies into his hand. "I had made sure the factory put only the best in here. Oh and your mother wanted you to have this." She pulled out a takeout bag from his mother's restaurant, the familiar Emilie's in its green script adorning the bag. "So you'll have something to snack on while you get your kitchen in order. Now make sure you call often, and you know how Mother looks forward to the pictures of your food so don't shirk Instagram now that you have homework or whatever nonsense they give you here."

"I'll be fine," he muttered, resisting the urge to open the tin of cookies right there and then. "I'll let you know how things go." He opened the door and immediately shivered as he got out, the wind pressing against his wings and lifting up the corners of his apron. He scurried toward the door before turning and waving quickly, then disappeared inside the demon dormitory.

His room was up on the third floor, and while he nodded to people he saw in the halls he was on a mission to get there, so he avoided stopping to exchange pleasantries and nonsense like that. His room was easy enough to spot, on the door was a large name plate. Sacha's. The font was the same as that used for his Mother's restaurant, set on a background of crossed chef knives. This was it, this was home for the next few years and when he graduated? He was going to be the greatest Chef that Halloween had ever imagined.