The rest of their time from the Mind Meld potion ran its time out and Noah woke back in Isabel and Todd’s room. He sat up, pushing his grimoire to the side and blinking to adjust to the new environment.

“So? What did Vermil do?” Emily asked before Isabel had even finished sitting up herself.

Isabel didn’t even reply. She just shook her head, still in partial disbelief about everything that had happened. Her reaction was enough for Todd to grab the next Mind Meld potion without a second of hesitation.

“Let’s do it. Can we do it now?” Todd asked eagerly. “I almost never see Isabel that speechless.”

“Hey! I wanted to go next!”

Todd shot Emily a smug look, then glanced at Noah. “So?”

“Go ahead,” Noah said with a chuckle. He tapped his hand on the top of his grimoire. If he recalled correctly, Todd’s Rank 2 Rune was a little more complex than just a true Stone Rune, so there would probably be some Rune-replacement involved in repairing it. Fortunately it was just a Rank 2, and he’d gotten more than a few assorted Runes over the vacation that would hopefully be of use.

Todd tipped half the potion back into his mouth and handed it over. Noah drank the other half, keeping his hand on the grimoire as he leaned back against the wall and let himself fall into the familiar buzz of the Mind Meld potion’s effects.

He didn’t have to wait long. Magic enveloped him and the world vanished in a swirl of darkness. When vision returned to Noah, he was standing on a craggy, barren landscape. Wisps of steam curled up around his body and heat bore down on him, just hot enough to be a step beyond uncomfortable.

Todd stood directly before Noah, his fingers tapping his thigh in impatience. “I just want to let you know I’ve got really high hopes, so I’m gonna be disappointed if you don’t basically shatter my worldview.”

“Lucky me,” Noah said dryly. He turned in a circle. Todd had been busy – he had several Runes in his mindspace.

There was a filled Heat Rune, two Water Runes, an Ice Rune, and a Fire Rune – all at Rank 1. Noah also spotted Todd’s Shattering Blows Rune floating away from the others. Its center was made up of small, short strokes, all surrounded by longer and smoother ones at the edges. “Bring that Rune over.”

Todd blinked but did as in structed, calling the Rune to hover beside them. The pressure coming off it was definitely weaker than a perfect Rune, but Todd had mentioned that it hadn’t been perfect before.

“I know it’s not the best Rune, but I did what I could with what I had to work with,” Todd said, looking to the Rune with a small frown. “I think it turned out decent.”

“You did a good job,” Noah said. “This doesn’t look like it was an easy Rune to make. Your intent would have had to be really good, and that’s not accounting for the proper combinations either. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Yeah. Thanks. What did we come here to talk about, though? I’m going to die of impatience if you don’t tell me.”

“That.” Noah nodded to the Rune. “We’re going to be fixing it.”

“What?”

“You know, I’m pretty sure Isabel said the exact same thing.” Noah grinned and shook his head. “Maybe I’m a narcissist, but I’m never going to get tired of that reaction. Here’s the deal – I can cut your Rune apart back into its Rank 1 components, and I’ve got a grimoire with a bunch of Runes for you to use if you need them at your side. We have thirty minutes to fix your Rune until it’s perfect.”

“You’re screwing with me.” Todd took a step back and he lost some of his concentration, allowing the Shattering Blows Rune to move back to its normal resting spot.

“Nope. Moxie and I also discovered that perfect Runes aren’t always actually perfect. A Rune needs to exert equal amounts of pressure no matter how you use it. From what I can tell, the general public doesn’t know that, and I don’t think noble families do either.”

Todd’s eyes bored into Noah. For one of the first times since Noah had met Todd, the boy was speechless.

“Damned Plains,” Todd breathed. “You’re not screwing with me at all. No wonder Isabel looked like that.”

“Thirty minutes,” Noah reminded Todd. “We can talk more after your Rune is fixed. I know this is sudden, but I think you can understand how important it is that all of this remains secret. It’s at the same level of threat as Isabel’s Master Rune.”

Todd’s features hardened and he gave Noah a firm nod. “Right. Okay. I’m with you. You – ah, won’t tell anyone about–”A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Of course not. Her secret is safe with me, just as I hope mine is with you.”

“Completely safe,” Todd promised. He called his Rune back over to him, placing his hand onto its shimmering surface. Energy crackled at his fingertips and he let out a slow breath to steady himself. “How do we do this?”

“First, think about what kept the Rune from being as strong as you wanted it to be. Do you know if it was intent or Rune choice?”

“A mixture of both, I think. I didn’t fully understand what I was making, but the concept was trapping steam in an enclosed space to make an explosion. It’s got Stone, Water, and Fire in it.”

“Interesting. You might want to consider pulling the Rune’s focus back a bit,” Noah suggested. “I’ve done a lot of testing with Moxie, and we found that the best way to make a powerful Rune is to make sure you don’t rush things too much. Shattering Blows is a little specific, so it might be best as your Rank 3 Rune.”

Todd shook his head. “When you say testing, do you mean you’ve just been putting together and chopping Runes apart? Can you do it indefinitely?”

“Pretty much. There are some drawbacks in energy loss, but yes.”

“Damned Plains,” Todd said again. “I’ll take your suggestion, then. Do you think I should aim for Steam and Stone Runes now, then combine them into Shattering Blows at Rank 3?”

“That’s probably how I’d approach it, but I can’t say what the right move is for sure. The only way to find out is to test. Just keep in mind – every time I cut your Rune up, you’ll lose a little bit of the energy as it dissipates. The faster you work to put it back together, the less energy you lose. Just don’t work too fast. Better to do it right once than wrong fifty times.”

“Yeah, I’m with you. Fast but not stupid.” Todd chewed his lower lip. “Okay. There’s a bit of a problem.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t think I’ve got enough Fire Runes to make a good Steam Rune. I feel like Steam would be four Fire and three Water, but I only have three if I count the two that are in Shattering Blows.”

“I’ve got a Fire Rune in my grimoire. It might not be full, but your Shattering Blows Rune has a lot of energy in it, so you can use that to fill up the Fire Rune.”

Assuming the grimoire actually gives it to me. Fifty-fifty chance on that.

“Are you just made of Runes or something?” Todd asked. “Do you hate money?”

“So you don’t want the Rune?”

Todd raised his hands into the air with a laugh. “Didn’t say that. I’ll take whatever you give me, Teacherman.”

“Then just focus on actually making the Rune,” Noah said. “When you’re ready, I’ll pull a Fire Rune in for you to save in your soul. Then we’ll get started.”

“We can do the Fire Rune now. I’ll keep thinking on the intent for the Steam Rune while we do that.”

Noah extended his senses to his grimoire back in Todd’s room, sending a mental request for a Fire Rune. For several seconds, there was nothing. Then, almost reluctantly, he felt energy prickle against his skin.

Drawing upon it, Noah dragged the Rank 1 Rune from the pages of his grimoire into Todd’s soul. His finger traced through the air in a practiced motion as he formed the Rune. Todd watched it with a hungry look in his eyes, his fingers twitching at his sides.

As soon as the Rune had been drawn out, Todd jumped into action. He traced the pattern, drawing the power into himself permanently. It snapped into place, a small wave of pressure emanating out from it.

To Noah’s surprise, the Rune was fuller than he’d expected it to be. It should have been fairly empty, but for some reason, it was well over halfway full.

I never filled that Rune. Why does it have energy?

Todd didn’t notice Noah’s confusion. He stared intently at Shattering Blows, his brow furrowed and lips pressed thin.

Did the grimoire somehow fill this? Where would the energy come – oh, shit. It put in some of the power that it took from the Runes it ate, didn’t it? Maybe as a peace offering? Either way, that’s actually incredibly handy. I can have it chew up useless Runes and distribute their energy for me without even lifting a finger.

“I’m ready,” Todd said, breaking Noah’s thoughts. “So you just chop this up and I take the energy, fill up the Fire Rune, and then re-combine everything? And we keep doing that until it works?”

“Exactly.”

“Let’s do it.”

Noah’s veins turned jet black. He stepped forward and pressed his hand against Shattering Blows, letting Sunder’s power surge forth.

Then Todd got to work.

***

Things did not go anywhere near as smooth as they had for Isabel, but that was to be expected. There were a lot more moving pieces that went into Todd’s Steam Rune, and that made it a lot easier to mess up.

Fortunately for Todd, he had quite a few tries to get things right. It took six separate re-combining attempts and more than a little cursing as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his intent, but in the end – and just a few minutes before the Mind Meld potion’s effects wore off, Todd finally had a Steam Rune whose pressure remained perfectly constant.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Todd flopped to the ground and released his Runes. Energy still crackled throughout his mindspace, but the job was done.

“How are we supposed to be able to figure this out on the first try? Your magic is completely unfair,” Todd said as he let out an exhausted sigh. “Thanks, Teacherman. We need to make sure nobody ever finds out you can do this, or I don’t think we’ll see you again.”

Noah snorted. “That would be nice, yes. Make sure not to talk about this once we leave your mindspace, but if you ever combine a Rune and need to modify it, let me know. I told Isabel the same thing, but my plan is for all of you to have exclusively perfect Runes.”

“And you don’t want payment for this?”

Noah glared at Todd. “Your payment is to absolutely destroy any exams you take this year.”

“I think I can do that,” Todd said with a weary grin. It fell away as his features turned serious and he sat up, locking eyes with Noah. “And thank you. Not just for this. Isabel and I never had a teacher that actually cared this much about us. I won’t let you down.”

“You don’t have to worry about letting me down,” Noah said. “Just put in your all and don’t do anything too stupid.”

“How stupid we talking?”

“If you have to ask, then it’s probably too stupid.”

They both laughed, and a familiar tingle prickled Noah’s spine. Todd noticed it too and gave him a short nod.

“Times up, huh?”

Noah barely had time to nod before his soul was wrenched from Todd’s mind and sent flying back into his own body in the room outside.