The next morning, Noah woke up to Lee slipping in through the window. He blinked, locking eyes with her as she froze with one foot into the room, as if not moving would keep anyone from noticing her.

“Lee?” Noah asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up. Moxie had somehow slipped out of bed without waking him up, and it didn’t look like she was in the room.

“I was trying to be sneaky,” Lee said, pulling the window open the rest of the way and dropping into the room. She shut it behind her and frowned back at it.

“You’re normally pretty good at that,” Noah said. “What happened?”

“I was distracted,” Lee said. “Something about the party yesterday felt a bit weird, so I went back to investigate. I haven’t seen anything out of place, though.”

“Weird?” Noah asked. “What part of it? I’d say there were half a dozen different weird things all happening at once.”

“Most of that was the normal weird.” Lee shook her head, clearly searching for the right words. “It was a smell. One that really didn’t fit, and it wasn’t the puppets – I don’t know why, but those didn’t smell different. They just smelled like people.”

“Concerning, but what was the other smell, then?” Noah asked, fully waking up. He slid out of bed and got dressed, snagging his belongings. “Something we should be worried about?”

“That’s what I was trying to find out. It seemed a little familiar… but at the same time, I couldn’t place it at all. And, when I went back today to try and see if I could smell what it was, there was nothing there.”

“I’m not even going to waste time asking if you’re sure it was there, then. Do you think it had anything to do with the puppets, even if it wasn’t them? Maybe Wizen?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve interacted enough with Wizen or the puppets to place the smell,” Lee admitted with a frown. She fell silent for a second, then shook her head. “Never mind. For now, just be careful, I guess. I don’t know what it was.”

“Noted,” Noah said. “Do you know where Moxie went?”

“Emily and Alexandra stopped by asking to do some extra training today, so she went to practice with them. I saw them leaving while I was headed out to see if I could smell the thing from yesterday.”

Noah nodded, adjusting his hair. He went for the door, then paused. Now that the meeting with the advanced track had passed, he wasn’t actually sure what he wanted to do today. Originally, dealing with Wizen’s puppets would have taken that spot up – but those were, courtesy of Silvertide, handled as well.

Well, shit. Normally this would be a great time to bother Moxie, but she’s doing teacher things. That’s honestly for the best, considering she’s been trying to find a way to help more in recent classes. Does leave me in a bit of a pickle, though.

Whelp, Formations it is then. There’s still a lot more I know I can get out of the violin, and I need to make sure I’m as strong as possible in the near future. Getting better with Formations and the violin will be a lot more beneficial in the short term than getting some new Tier 4 Runes, but I should keep that in mind as well.

That particular thought gave Noah pause. His first Rank 4 Rune had been pretty easy to figure out. It had just been an extension of his Rank 3 – but he didn’t have that privilege anymore. Even if he used a few Rank 4 Natural Disasters for his Rank 5 Rune, he still needed something else in the mix.

“What kind of magic would pair well with Natural Disaster?” Noah mused to himself, letting his hand rest on the doorknob.

“Unnatural Disaster?” Lee offered from behind him, snickering to herself.

Noah went to roll his eyes, then caught himself as the idea fully registered. Natural Disaster was all nature-based magic. If he continued down the disaster route, adding magic that originated from areas beyond just environmental ones seemed pretty logical.

That would be a great spot to work in some Space Runes or the like. I’m not sure what Rank I’d have to be to create a black hole, but I’m pretty sure that would count as a disaster at some point, especially if it was right on top of some poor bastard’s head.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Noah said with a grin. “Thanks, Lee.”

“It wasn’t?” Lee blinked, then cleared her throat. “I mean, of course it wasn’t. I’m a genius.”

“Got plans for today?” Noah asked as he headed into the hall. “I’ll probably focus on some practice. I don’t know how long we’ll have before Wizen is back, but we should have at least a few days of being left alone if not more. That’ll be welcome –It’s been far too long since I’ve gotten any proper free time. Are you close to hitting Rank 4 yet? It might be a good idea to try to push through the last bit and advance.”

Lee’s features clouded and she remained in the room, not following after him. “I’m almost there. Maybe I’ll get there this week. Today, I’ll probably just wander around. Maybe I’ll follow after Moxie and the others.”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Noah said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

Lee nodded absently, and Noah headed down the hall while Lee pulled the door shut behind her, likely planning to head out the window rather than take the stairs.

Once I can really get Formations under control, I can look more into my next Rank 4 Rune. With any luck, I’ll be strong enough to give Wizen a nasty surprise the next time he comes after Moxie. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I still wonder what it is from the Torrin family he wants, though.

***

Lee found Moxie, Emily, and Alexandra without much difficulty. It only took her a few minutes of slipping through the shadows and following her nose before she caught up with their scent at the Transport Cannon.

Tim was sitting behind the counter, fiddling with his thumbs when he spotted Lee arrive and grinned in greeting.

“Hello! You just missed Moxie and the others,” Tim said.

“Yeah. Could you send me after them? I went to say hi to Vermil, then realized I didn’t have anything to do today other than bother them.”

“I don’t normally do that, but I’ve seen you lot spending lots of time together, so I suppose it should be fine,” Tim said. He tapped the console of the cannon and grinned at her. “Besides, it’s still set for the same spot. Just hop in and you’ll be on your way.”

“Thanks!” Lee said, hopping into the cannon. A moment later, she was a beam of blue energy streaking across the sky.

The Transport Cannon deposited Lee in the Windscorned Plateau, and her nose led her straight over to Moxie and the students. It wasn’t hard to find them, as none of them had any wind magic.

All three had gathered at the edge of the plateau they’d arrived on, just beneath the sheer wall of a plateau above them. Lee ran over, arriving in just moments and nearly scaring the life out of Emily. The girl, who had been focused on a swirling ball of ice hovering in her palms, lost control of her magic and doubled over coughing.

“Lee! Where’d you come from?” Moxie asked with a laugh. “And are you okay, Emily?”

“I’m fine,” Emily muttered. “I just didn’t expect someone to come at us so fast.”

Alexandra seemed to be the only one that hadn’t been caught even slightly by surprise, and that was probably because she’d been looking in the direction of where Lee had arrived, meaning she’d likely seen Lee coming for an instant.

“I just used the transport cannon to come over because I was bored,” Lee said with a shrug. “What’s everyone doing?”

“Emily is practicing with her magic and trying to get a better feel for it that she can translate into Formations,” Alexandra said. “I’m just warming up so I can spar with Moxie.”

“I thought Vermil said not to use magic with our practice,” Lee said, narrowing her eyes.

“I’m not doing Formations or patterns right now,” Emily explained, forming another swirling ball of ice above her palm. “I’m studying how ice looks and feels. How it interacts with things, you know? So I can get better at my pattern. You can’t embody something if you don’t understand it perfectly, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lee said with a sage nod. “That makes sense. It means I should probably eat more. To understand it.”

Moxie rolled her eyes. “I’d say that you understand food more than possibly anyone else in the entire world, but I do have some jerky you can have if you promise not to eat all of it.”

“Why would I promise that when I can just slowly take pieces of it away until it’s all gone?”

Emily snickered, but Lee didn’t miss her attempt to carefully shift her small travel pack to her other hip. It was pointless, of course. Lee could smell the jerky in it no matter where Emily moved the bag.

“Just make sure not to distract anyone too much,” Moxie said. “You’re welcome to join us, though. Having someone else to spar with will be a lot of use.”

Lee nodded and sat down cross-legged beside Emily, content to bide her time and wait for the opportune moment to claim some of the girl’s jerky for herself. Figuring out how to defend food was a core element of training.

Part of her was still concerned with the smell from yesterday, but it had been so faint and unreadable that it was almost certainly something to do with Wizen’s puppets. Silvertide had handled that, so there was nothing else to worry about for now. There would be time to worry about getting stronger later. Right now, she was content to sit with her friends.

***

A footstep echoed through the room, pulling Tim’s gaze away from his favorite window. He hadn’t even heard the elevator activate, but a man stood on the lift, his features concealed by a hood.

For a moment, Tim wondered if Jalen had returned, but he quickly dismissed the thought. This man didn’t have the same build – his shoulders were broader and he was almost a foot shorter.

“I didn’t hear you coming,” Tim said with a smile, pushing back from the table and rising to his feet. “Are you new to the transport cannon?”

“Yes,” the man replied in a gravelly tone. “This is my first time. I don’t often take use of Space magic imbuements. They’re finnicky.”

“They are,” Tim agreed, his smile growing even larger. “That’s why the transport cannon is so impressive. It’s state of the art, and has some of the biggest improvements in travel efficiency that the world has seen. Care for a demonstration?”

“No,” the man barked as Tim reached for the controls. Tim froze, blinking in surprise.

“You don’t?”

“Not at the moment. Please step back,” the man said. Something in his tone sent a frown crawling across Tim’s face.

“I’m sorry? Why? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” the man said, his cloak flowing across the floor as he approached Tim. “Just step away from the controls.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed. He considered himself a pretty good judge of character, and in nine times out of ten, when people showed up with their hoods on and murmured vague threats, they didn’t tend to be anyone good.

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” Tim said. “If you have any complaints, feel free to take them to the Office.”

He reached for the reset lever – and froze.

Tim’s eyes couldn’t even widen. His body wouldn’t budge. It was as if every single part of it had completely rebelled against him. He couldn’t so much as blink. The man stepped forward, studying the levers beside Tim.

“This one activates the cannon, yes?”

Tim didn’t respond. It wasn’t like he had a choice. He struggled as furiously as he could, trying to so much as wiggle a pinky toe, but his entire body was locked down.

“There’s no point trying to resist,” the man said. “It’s blood magic, and you’re in my domain. Without one of your own, it’s fruitless.”

He held a hand up, running his thumb over a bone rosary. A moment later, the man lowered it. “You have nothing to fear from me. All you’re going to do is pull that lever once I’m on the transport cannon. It’s still set to the same location, isn’t it?”

Tim could do nothing but stare as the man walked across the room and laid back on the cannon. He felt his hand rise up of its own volition and wrap around the lever. It wasn’t mind control – Tim could literally feel the blood shifting in his body, forcing him to move his arm.

That did nothing to change what happened. His hand pulled down. There was a flash, and the man disappeared, leaving Tim standing in an empty office. Control snapped back into his body and his face went pale as his blood started flowing properly again.

The cannon isn’t set up for any custom controls right now. I can’t pull anyone back early. I need to find someone.

Tim sprinted out from behind the counter, nearly tripping over his own feet as he ran into the lift and it started to lower, the rattle of the chains rising up all around him in a mocking cacophony.

All he could do was pray he’d be able to get help before it was too late.