Perhaps it was because Emily was already off her guard, but she took the news with remarkably little surprise. She accepted the existence of Sunder easily, and it only took a minute for Noah to explain the basics of what he and Moxie had figured out about Runes, their pressure, and how they should be combined to reach the optimal result.

Noah didn’t have much in his grimoire that would actually be of help to Emily as he was sorely lacking in ice-related Runes, but that turned out not to be an issue. The Rank 2 Runes she had – Frost Creation and Frozen Forest – were fairly powerful and didn’t seem to be far from their ideal versions. In fact, Frost Creation was almost there. When Emily tested drawing on its power, the difference in pressure was subtle. Unfortunately, it was there, nonetheless.

As for Frozen Forest, the Rune was a bit too general and its concept wasn’t simple enough to be a perfect Rune, but Noah was pretty sure Emily would be able to fix it just by tweaking her intent. It wasn’t like they had much time to think on it at the moment. With just minutes left in the Mind Meld potion, the time to act was now.

We can always just get another potion if need be, but I’d rather save the money.

“Ready?” Noah asked.

“Yeah. Do it.” Emily pulled Frost Creation close, which was the right move in Noah’s eyes. It was already close to being perfect, so it would be a good one to start with.

Cold rivers of energy rushed through Noah’s veins as Sunder pumped through him. He approached Frost Creation, holding his hand out and brushing his fingertips across the Rune’s glistening, silvery blue surface.

Magic poured out, and a line of black split the rune in twain. It shattered, blue mist erupting from within it and pouring out into Emily’s mindspace. Emily closed her eyes, concentration playing out across her features as seven Rank 1 Runes swirled out from the remains of Frost Creation.

She was remarkably calm, almost as if she’d done something similar before. In just thirty seconds, Emily gathered the Runes and pushed them back together, pouring the leaking energy straight back into them before much of it could dissipate.

Noah raised a hand just as a white flash lit up Emily’s mindspace. Wind buffeted Noah’s hair and a chill nipped at his skin. When the light faded and he lowered his hand, the exact same Rune floated before them.

Emily wasted no time in drawing power from the newly re-formed Rune, testing out the pressure. Whatever she’d done had worked – the Rune felt perfectly even. She grinned and lowered her hand.

“I did it.”

“So you did. Think you have another in you?” Noah asked, looking to Frozen Forest. “That one might be a bit more problematic, but if you just hone in your focus to plant or tree or the like rather than a whole forest, I think you should be able to get it perfected.”

“It’s worth a try,” Emily agreed with a nod, extending a hand to call the other Rune over to them. “Let’s do it.”

And, in the few minutes they had left, they did it.

It did take three uses of Sunder, but on her third attempt, Emily finally managed to reform the Frozen Forest Rune into a Frozen Tree, like Noah had suggested. After Emily spent a moment to test it, making sure the Rune’s pressure was even, she flopped down in a small pile of snow and let out a relieved breath.

“Damned Plains. I did it. That was so much harder than I thought it would be.”

There were only one or two minutes before the Mind Meld’s potion would run out – or at least, Noah was fairly sure how long was left. He still wasn’t the best at keeping time of things.

“Well done,” Noah said with an approving nod. “Especially considering we spent the first three quarters of our time talking about other things.”

“Other things. That feels like an understatement,” Emily said, looking up into the false sky of her mindspace. “By the way, you look really creepy when you use your power.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your veins go black,” Emily said, holding a hand out and making a face. “It looks like you’re rotting or something. It’s creepy.”

“Lovely to know. I’m glad to hear.”

A familiar tingle poked at the back of Noah’s head. Evidently, he’d screwed up his count – but at least it hadn’t been off by too much. The Mind Meld potion was about to wear off.

“We’re out of time,” Noah said. “Remember – not a word of anything we talked about here. Not about me, you, Evergreen, or what we did to your Runes. If you want to talk to Moxie, and you should, I’d suggest either getting a Mind Meld potion or asking Lee to keep an eye out while you speak.”The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Lee? Why?”

“She’s very observant. Great at making sure you aren’t disturbed.”

The tingling intensified.

“I won’t say anything,” Emily promised. She stood up, then brushed the snow from her pants and paused for a moment. “The black veins are creepy, but if you don’t think too hard about it, someone might think it was cool.”

Was that a compliment?

Emily grinned at the expression on Noah’s face. “Can’t speak about anything that happened in here. Don’t forget.”

Noah didn’t get a chance to respond. The Mind Meld potion sputtered out and he was yanked from Emily’s body. Darkness swallowed his vision and his eyes snapped back open in Isabel and Todd’s room a second later.

“Did it work?” Todd asked, eyeing Noah as he sat straighter. He looked slightly concerned, and Isabel was wearing the same expression.

“Yes,” Noah replied. “You better not be getting any more specific with that line of questioning, though.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Todd said, raising his hands defensively. “It’s just…”

He glanced over to Emily, who had sat up as well. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained with tears. She glanced from Noah to the others.

“What?” Emily asked.

I think she might have cried in the real world as well as in her soul. Oops.

Isabel tapped her cheek. “You’ve got something here.”

Emily raised a hand to her face. She blinked, then reddened in embarrassment. “My – uh, my eyes were just a little dry. I was trying to moisten them.”

That was possibly the worst excuse that Noah had ever heard, but all three of them didn’t mention it any further.

Noah stood, grimacing as tingles ran through his legs and his head swam slightly. He’d been sitting in an awkward position for much too long. He snagged his grimoire and slung it over his back.

Glad it played along this time. I guess I’ll need to get some more Runes to feed it so it doesn’t get snippy with me.

“What now?” Isabel asked.

“You tell me. Class is over. You’ve all got what I came here to give. I’d suggest practicing to get used to the changes. Our next class hasn’t been cancelled or anything, and we won’t be going easy on you.”

“What about Alexandra?” Isabel asked. “Did you already…”

“No. I don’t distrust Alexandra, but I don’t trust her yet either. She’s in a different situation than all of you. Please try to treat her kindly, though. I don’t think she’s had the opportunity to have many friends before.”

“We will.” It was Emily who spoke first. Isabel and Todd both glanced at her, and Emily blushed. “What?”

“Nothing,” Todd said. “If we want to get along with her, maybe we should go swing by and hang out outside of class? She seemed like she takes competition really seriously, so I don’t think she’ll get along with us while we’re fighting each other.”

“That’s a good idea,” Isabel said with a nod. “Anything we should be aware of? She knew you from before, Professor. Was it in a good way or a bad way?”

“You probably shouldn’t tell her I told you this, but she was wrapped up with some pretty bad people.” Noah rubbed his chin. He didn’t love sharing people’s secrets without their consent, but it was a matter of safety, and his students deserved to know the basics.

“Bad people? Like nobles?” Todd asked.

Noah expected Emily to glare at him, but instead a flash of pain flickered across her face and she looked to the side.

Ah, shit. Probably struck a nerve with what she just learned about Evergreen.

“Not all nobles are bad,” Noah said. “Look at Moxie. And Emily.”

Todd opened his mouth, then slowly closed it. “Yeah. You’re right. Sorry, Emily. I was speaking without thinking.”

“It’s fine.”

“Either way, they weren’t nobles. And, either way, they’re dead.”

“We’ll try to reach out to her,” Isabel said. “Maybe we can do a little sparring. She seems really competent, and having someone difficult to hurt is pretty beneficial when you’re just practicing. It would be nice to have someone I can fight without holding back so much against.”

“Hey!” Todd exclaimed. “I’ve got armor!”

“Armor that’s more meant to protect you from your own magic than anything else.”

“Okay, fair point.”

“Don’t even look at me,” Emily said. “I take one hit and I’m down for the count.”

“Maybe something to work on,” Noah said. “Then again, if you don’t get hit, it doesn’t matter. I prefer the low defense, high offense strategy as well.”

Isabel and Todd both sent a very pointed look at Noah, clearly thinking back to the time they’d seen him get killed and come back to life. Not being able to stay dead was a pretty good motivator to not putting much attention to staying alive.

“You should probably look into ways to make sure you don’t get hit, though,” Noah amended with a sheepish chuckle.

Emily’s eyebrows tightened as she looked from Todd and Isabel to Noah. “What did I miss?”

“More secrets,” Noah said honestly. “Ones that weren’t very relevant to the other things we spoke about. If you really want to know, you’re welcome to buy a Mind Meld potion and ask. I’m not promising I’ll answer, though.”

“I can just… ask?”

“Welcome to the fold.” Noah shrugged. “Don’t abuse your privileges. And remember, no talking about anything out loud.”

“Man, now I really want to talk about it,” Todd muttered. “I wanna know what he told you, Emily.”

“Get a Mind Meld potion. I’ll see you all next class,” Noah said with a chuckle. With that, he turned and headed out of their room. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Lee slipped out of a shadow and fell in step beside him.

“How’d it go?” Lee asked.

“Pretty well, all things considered. Any trouble?”

Lee shook her head. “Just a few inquisitive squirrels. They were taken care of. What are we doing now?”

“I’m going to go report that I’ve hit Rank 3, and then I think I’d like to get some food. What do you think?”

“I’m starving. Sounds like a great idea. How long will reporting your Rank up take?”

Noah grimaced as he recalled his other experiences at the Office. “I suppose we’ll find out.”