“That’s a relief,” Godrick said, leaning back in his chair. He drummed his fingers on the table and tapped his foot on the ground. “It means everyone in the room right now is safe – but it doesn’t give us a good solution to the problem.”

“Which is for the best,” Silvertide said.

“What? How is that good?” Verrud asked, rising from his chair and crossing his arms behind his back. “Even if you have a way to detect the puppets, the rest of us don’t. We’re also clearly getting targeted for some reason.”

“Are you getting targeted, or is our opponent simply after stronger mages and you fit the bill?” Silvertide queried, raising a finger into the air to forestall any further questions. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. As I’m sure you all know, letting news about this out would cause panic and do nothing but make it harder to trace the roots of our target.”

“We can’t exactly sit around and do nothing,” Gero said. He picked up a piece of chicken and took a large bite out of it – bone and all – before Vermil could mow through all the food around them. He continued to speak through a full mouth. “Something has to be done.”

“Something will be done,” Silvertide said. “But this is a job for a surgeon, not a swarm of blundering fools.”

“Are you volunteering?” Godrick asked.

“I am. I have extensive experience dealing with threats such as this. I should be able to deal with this threat with the aid of a small team.”

“What do the rest of us do, then?” a female professor with pure white hair asked. “You can’t expect us to sit around and do nothing while there’s a murderer running lose on campus.”

“Do you really do anything that different normally?” Silvertide asked with a chuckle. “Just continue as you were and keep your guard up. These are puppets, not mages at your rank. They don’t have any information about the person beyond what they can study. If you’re aware of your surroundings and put a little thought into your actions, nobody should be caught by surprise.”

A few murmurs passed through the room, but nobody spoke up immediately. Silvertide was acting as if the situation was little more than an inconvenience that had drawn his annoyance.

I’m pretty sure he’s underplaying this a bit too much, and I still don’t understand why he doesn’t suspect Godrick. I’d almost wonder if Silvertide himself was a clone, but he still had a heartbeat and he definitely recognized me. For now, I suppose I should just play along and see what he’s aiming for.

“How long do you believe it would take you to handle this threat? If you’re asking us all to stand down, there’s only so long we can wait before it becomes unsustainable. Unless we’re up against an entire group of mages, I refuse to be terrorized by a single opponent,” Godrick said. “I’m willing to let you try things your way, but only if it solves the problem quickly.”

“I can have this handled in a week,” Silvertide said with a dismissive shrug. “And, so long as all of you actually use those heads you’re so proud of, there shouldn’t be any more deaths.”

“A week? You can root out the mage in just a week?” Godrick asked, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged, then gave Silvertide a sharp nod. “Very well. I speak for all of us when I say you’ve got your week. I assume you wish us to maintain our normal activities?”

“Yes. The less our opponent knows about what we’re doing, the better it will be,” Silvertide confirmed. “I can assure you that this threat will be completely dealt with within seven days.”

The other advanced track professors exchanged glances, but nobody spoke up. It looked like they were satisfied with going with whatever Godrick suggested – for the time being, at least. Even though nobody was speaking, the tension in the room was evident.

“In that case, for the time being, we will resume as we were,” Godrick said. He paused for a few moments to gather himself. “I can honestly say that this is not how I saw today going. It is tragic to hear of Peter’s passing, but we will continue on as we always have.”

“At least he didn’t have any students,” Gero said through a mouthful of food.

Godrick shot Gero a glance out of the corner of his eye. “That did not make him any less of a valuable member to our group.”

Gero shrugged in response, clearly unbothered by the loss of the other professor. Something told Noah that Gero wasn’t particularly well liked. The man’s abrasive personality was already grinding on his gears and he hadn’t even had a proper interaction with him yet.

I don’t care much for the advanced track professors one way or another, but if you’ve been a part of the group for a while, shouldn’t you at least pretend to care that one of your compatriots is dead?Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

I wonder who Peter was. Did he just end up in the wrong place at the wrong time like Ulya? Or was he targeted by Wizen intentionally?

It didn’t seem like the answers to that were going to come tonight. The rest of the people in the room slowly resumed their activities, though an air of unease surrounded them. The only people in the advanced track that seemed completely unbothered were Godrick, Silvertide, and Gero.

But, even though there was definitely a good amount of concern, there was less than Noah had thought there would be. It seemed more like the room had been informed that they had a particularly troublesome exam coming up that they’d have to find out how to study for, not that there was a powerful mage lurking in the darkness to kill them and steal their bodies.

The students looked a little more worried than their respective professors, but that made sense. From what Noah had learned, the advanced track had dealt with some fairly significant issues before. This probably wasn’t the most troublesome thing that happened to them – at least, not yet.

Silvertide made his way over to Noah, Tyler trailing his steps like a lost puppy. He looked so different from the last time that Noah had seen him that it felt like years had passed.

At least I didn’t punch him this time around.

Noah kept his posture relaxed, but he made sure to keep his Runes at the ready. He didn’t know what was going on with Silvertide, but on the very small offchance that he’d somehow been corrupted or controlled, he wasn’t about to be caught off guard.

“Quite the day, isn’t it?” Silvertide asked casually, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Vermil as he continued to stuff his face full of food. “Though it seems like some of us are largely unaffected.”

“That’s just because he’s crazy,” Tyler muttered under his breath, though not quietly enough to avoid Noah’s detection.

Moxie snickered beside Noah, and Tyler paled as he realized that he hadn’t been nearly as quiet as he thought he had been. He looked back to Vermil to make sure that he hadn’t been overheard, then shrunk even deeper into Silvertide’s shadow.

It wasn’t particularly effective, considering he was nearly three heads taller than Silvertide was, but the attempt was there.

“Do you know anything about what we’re up against?” Noah asked, choosing his words carefully to avoid giving too much away.

“I’ve fought my share of puppet users in my time,” Silvertide said with a shrug. “I’d reckon I know as much as most. Enough to get by, and more than enough to take out someone wantonly attacking other people. I typically did this with more than one person, though. When you’re fighting someone with a massive information network, having a few reliable backups is vital.”

“I take I’m being offered that position?”

“Indeed.” The corner of Silvertide’s mouth quirked up. “You, or whoever it is that you’re pretending to be right now.”

“Your disguise sucks,” Jalen informed Noah. “Mine is much better.”

“You don’t even have one. The only reason that hood does anything is because nobody knows what you look like in the first place.”

“Anonymity is the greatest disguise – and I’ll have you know that at least a few people do know what I look like. I used to get around.”

Noah suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn’t like anybody was going to be able to easily tell what he was doing with them while the mask was on. “I’m not opposed to helping, but why me?”

“Because you’re already wrapped up in it,” Silvertide replied. “It’s a powerful plant mage. Do you know when the last time a powerful plant mage showed up that wasn’t part of the Torrin family? I’ve got no better place to start working, and I imagine you’d be wherever Moxie ends up.”

“Fair enough,” Noah allowed. This was definitely Silvertide – which made it even more confusing as to what his goals were. He glanced around to make sure nobody was too close, then lowered his voice. “Why did you lie?”

“Lie?” Silvertide blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“About Godrick. You said there weren’t any other puppets in the room, but he doesn’t have a heartbeat. I’m pretty certain he’s a puppet.”

Silvertide let out a bark of suppressed laughter. “I can see how you’d come to that conclusion. You aren’t technically wrong – Godrick doesn’t have a heartbeat. That isn’t because he’s a puppet, though. It’s because he doesn’t have a heart.”

“Something tells me you’re not being metaphorical.”

“Godrick and I go back quite some time. His heart was destroyed out years ago in a really nasty fight, but he was fortunate enough to have a very talented Imbuer on his team. They managed to make an Imbued heart that keeps him kicking, and his body is so adapted to it that trying to heal the damage with a potion is pointless at this point.”

A flush of embarrassment reddened the back of Noah’s neck. Of course he’d run into the one person that somehow didn’t have a heart and wasn’t a puppet the moment he’d come up with his new puppet-sensing technique.

“Well, that’s awkward,” Noah muttered. “At least I didn’t do anything yet.”

“I would have come to the same conclusion if I was using heartbeats to sense puppets,” Silvertide said with a grin. He clapped Noah on the shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Fact of the matter is, you weren’t entirely wrong. Have you had a chance to scan the whole room yet?”

“No. I’ve been pretty focused on Godrick.”

“Ah. Then you’ll be thrilled to know that there is, in fact, a puppet that I didn’t mention. No point letting our opponent know that I’m onto him, is there?” Silvertide’s lips split apart into a cold grin.

Noah was grateful for his mask, as it stopped anybody from noticing his eyes widen. He still nearly turned to scan the room before he caught himself. It would have been ironic if he gave himself and Silvertide away by acting like an idiot.

“Who?”

“The woman with the white hair,” Silvertide replied, not breaking eye contact with Noah. “How do you feel about going on a little hunt tonight, after the party has worn down?”