Time passed quickly – and enjoyably. At least, they were enjoyable for Noah’s team. The monsters that were unlucky enough to fall into their path probably would have considered the time far worse, had they still possessed bodies with which to think.

Over the last few weeks of the vacation, the group traveled around the areas surrounding Dawnforge, hunting for Runes and monster parts. They didn’t encounter anything particularly dangerous and everyone made good progress in filling their Runes with energy.

Noah managed secure all the Rank 1 Runes he’d need to put together a new set of Rank 2s that would eventually become a Rank 3 Sandstorm Rune. He also gathered enough Rank 1s to make all the Water, Earth, and Wind based Rank 2 Runes.

He steadily rotated through the new Runes, filling them up before depositing them back into his grimoire. Whenever he filled enough of them, he then combined them into their Rank 2 versions – up until the point where he was just about prepared to form their Rank 3 disaster variants.

Unfortunately, they didn’t find much in the way of Shadow, Lightning, or Ice related Runes. Even though they still had a few strong Runes left over from Dayton’s scroll that could be butchered, Noah and Lee both decided it would be better to hold off.

All the monsters they’d killed and sold had earned them a hefty profit, and they all had around ten thousand gold to spend by the end of their efforts. Noah couldn’t quite bring himself to spend the coin he’d earned, recalling exactly how expensive a replacement potion to heal Todd’s injury would be.

At the same time, he didn’t want to spend the money on a potion now, as he had no idea if Silvertide had already helped Todd fix the issue. If he had, buying a potion would have been a massive waste.

Moxie and Lee didn’t spend their money either. Moxie didn’t have anything she wanted to use it on yet, and Lee just couldn’t make up her mind on if she wanted to buy clothes, weapons, or Runes.

They also held off on trying to trying to sell the Master Rune. There was always the chance that Isabel could use it, and since they weren’t desperately wanting for coin, there was no need to rush anything.

Either way, they were all more than pleased with the results of their work through the vacation. Noah had continued to practice on both music and his Formations, and he was growing steadily more comfortable with the new form of magic. He’d only mistakenly blown himself up twice throughout the rest of the trip, which definitely deserved an award of some kind.

In the time that Noah practiced his music, Moxie and Lee had sat to the side of the camp – far enough away from Noah to avoid getting caught up in any errant explosions – and planned their lesson plans for the coming semester.

They were all quite looking forward to getting back to Arbitage. With the drama and difficulties of the vacation behind them, it felt like a new start.

And so, only a day of travel away from Arbitage, Noah found himself sitting next to Lee and Moxie beside their campfire. He leaned against his grimoire, which contained all the Runes he’d gathered over the past weeks.

“Now that the vacation is almost over, it feels too short,” Lee said. “I want to run around and explore things more. But I also want to see Todd and Isabel again. Emily too. Why can’t we just all leave and go travel around?”

Noah opened his mouth, then closed it again. Arbitage was really more of a tutoring program than a real school. He couldn’t actually think of any good reasons why they couldn’t just wander off and do what they wanted until it was time for the exams.

“We don’t know what’ll crop up during the school year,” Moxie said. “Besides, it’s not like we can’t travel. We can use the transport cannon.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s true.” Lee yawned, then shrugged. “As long as we don’t go back to the Scorched Acres. They’re boring now. We have to go somewhere more interesting.”

“I’m sure we’ll find somewhere,” Noah said. “I wonder how much the kids have grown since we last saw them. I’m going to need to fix their Runes, since I don’t think any of them had perfect Rank 2s.”The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Moxie said. Her gaze shifted away from Noah and she chewed her lower lip. “I wonder if Emily’s heard about what happened to Evergreen.”

“Do you think she’ll even care?” Lee asked.

“I’m not sure,” Moxie admitted. “Part of me is worried because Emily’s been raised to be the next head of the Torrin house, and that likely isn’t happening anymore. On the other hand, I don’t think she would have liked it in the first place. I won’t have any way to know for sure until we speak.”

“I don’t think she’ll hold anything against you, especially if she finds out just what was going on.”

Moxie’s gaze sharpened and she grabbed Noah by the shoulder. “No. Don’t tell her.”

“Are you sure? I’d think–”

“I don’t want Emily to find out that I was only mentoring her because I had to. That was true at first, but I wouldn’t be coming back if I didn’t actually enjoy teaching at least a little. I don’t want her to think that I’m only doing this because I’m obligated to.”

“If you’re sure,” Noah said. “It’s your relationship with her, so I won’t interfere. I don’t think I’m one to speak on keeping secrets.”

“Me neither,” Lee said. “But every time I’ve shared my secrets, I’ve felt better. It works.”

“That’s because you shared them with us,” Moxie pointed out. “Nobody forced Noah and I to spend time with you. It’s different. If Emily finds out that everything between us has been a lie, she’ll be crushed.”

“We won’t say anything,” Noah promised. “Don’t let it eat you up, though. I don’t think Emily would think any worse of you either way, but we can drop the topic if you’d prefer.”

“I think I would. Something happier, please. I don’t want to think about Evergreen and the lasting consequences of her fingers in my life.”

Noah’s violin materialized in his hands and he laid the bow against the strings. “How about a song?”

A small smile tugged at Moxie’s lips. “That sounds preferrable.”

***

They reached Arbitage the next day and headed straight to the T building. Noah actually had some semblance of a plan as well – before he met back up with his students, he wanted to make some of his new Rank 3 Runes – he certainly had enough materials to work with.

Since he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, Noah didn’t expect it to take long. He’d already spent a good amount of time thinking on what intent he’d need for each of the seven disaster Runes, so he was just missing the pieces for his Ice, Fire, and Lightning Runes.

He could have done the combination before he arrived, but he’d been more focused on actually gathering and filling the Runes than combining them. His Formations had also been at the front of his mind, but now that they were back at Arbitage, it was as good a time as any to finish putting everything together.

Noah, Moxie, and Lee arrived in front of his room. A frown shot across his lips as his tremorsense picked something up. There was motion on the other side of his door. Noah immediately held a hand up, his thoughts of Runes banished.

He nodded toward the door. Moxie and Lee both lowered their stances as Noah reached out and rested his hand on the doorknob. It was conveniently unlocked. He gathered Natural Disaster’s power in case someone had sent an assassin to wait for him. There wasn’t any shortage of possible candidates for that.

Father, Gentil’s master Wizen, someone from the Torrin family, or quite literally anyone they’d run into in recent travels – there was no shortage of people that would have been happy to see his head on a plate.

Noah pushed the door open, prepared to blast whoever was standing on the other side to kingdom come.

Sitting on his bed, frozen in shock, was Contessa. Beside her was Karina, and standing near the desk, her shoulders hunched in shame, was Alexandra, the girl that he’d freed from Gentil’s grasp.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Noah demanded. “What are you doing in my room?”

They all started speaking at once, consequently making everything they said completely indecipherable. Noah threw a glance back at Moxie and Lee to see if they were as confused as he was.

“You did say Contessa could stay in your room,” Lee said.

“That was before we went to visit Evergreen,” Noah exclaimed. “Why is she here now?”

Contessa started talking even louder, which made Karina and Alexandra both increase their volume to try and be heard over one another. Moxie started to snicker.

“Stop!” Noah threw his hands up and they all snapped their mouths closed. He thrust a finger at Contessa. “You. Go first. Why are you here?”

“You said I could stay in your room,” Contessa said meekly. “And I didn’t have anywhere else to go. My employer is dead, and the family didn’t have a use for one of Evergreen’s aides. You still… you know. My head.”

What is she – oh. I said I put some form of magical bomb in her brain or something, didn’t I?

Noah pursed his lips. “Right. What about you, Karina? I was under the impression that we’d both completed our ends of the bargain.”

“I need to bring you back to the Linwick Estate.”

“No.” Noah said. He turned to Alexandra. “And you?”

“Arbitage was the only academy close enough for me to reach that didn’t require a massive entrance fee, and they still ended up taking just about everything I had,” Alexandra said, not meeting Noah’s gaze. “They said I could choose from a few teachers, and I recognized your name. I was hoping you’d be willing to teach me.”