Jacob and Blake strolled across campus to the training rooms in silence. Possible scenarios whirled through Jacob's head, but each one felt a little too goofy to be real.

Maybe Victor just wanted to train with him. What would Jacob say to that?

He didn't know.

They reached the Equilibrium Building. Blake settled down on a comfy sofa in the lobby. Jacob told the attendant his name, who nodded him through the turnstile even though he didn't have a booking.

He marched down the hall, slowly at first, listening to the muffled thuds and blasts coming from each room. He'd already trained this morning. He'd wanted to spend the evening resting, stretching a bit, maybe, just mentally prepping himself for the match.

He reached training room four, hesitated, then knocked on the door.

A moment later Maria Levesque opened it.

"Welcome," she said. "Come in."

Jacob entered, warily keeping an eye on Maria. Victor sat on one of the big stone blocks in the centre of the training room. His grey undershirt was soaked in sweat. He wiped his face with a towel. Jacob was reminded how shockingly muscular Victor was. He looked like an Olympic gymnast.

"Jacob!" Victor grinned at him from beneath the mop of his sweaty dark hair. "Glad you came. Maria, darling, you'll give us the room? It won't be long."

"Of course," Maria said. She wisped out of the training room, shutting the door behind her.

Jacob turned to face Victor. "What's up? Why'd you invite me here?" If all this was an intimidation tactic, it wasn't working. Jacob leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

"Just wanted to chat before our match tomorrow. Man to man," Victor said.

It sounded like something Archie would say with complete and utter sincerity, but with Victor it was harder to tell. The boy had a jocular veneer about him, but Jacob didn't think it ran that deep.

He was acutely aware that he could be prepping for the match instead of here dancing around some nebulous reasoning for this meeting with his enemy, so he decided to press the issue. "I have stuff I could be doing."

"Don't worry," Victor grinned. "I didn't invite you here to waste your time."

"Okay."

"I want to know," Victor said. "What drives you?"

Jacob blinked. What? What was this, some goofy anime showdown where the characters traded motivations? He looked harder at Victor, and for the first time since meeting the boy several months before, Jacob could tell he was dead serious. The glint had gone out of his eyes. They were calculating, cold, direct. All the casual movement, the hair flicking, grinning, shrugging, had stopped. His focus was a laser boring down on Jacob.

"What do you mean?" Jacob deflected.

"What drives you?" Victor repeated. "Why do you want to win, tomorrow? What made you put in all that work against Archie? What-"

"What do you know about the work I put in against Archie?"

"Nothing. I just know that you worked your ass off. No one goes from where you were against Wilkins, to where you were against Archie in a few weeks unless they're dogging it. And no one dogs it unless they've got a fire under their ass."

"How do you know I wasn't holding back against Layla?"

"Don't insult me," Victor said. Judging by the flash of emotion on his face, he genuinely perceived that as an insult. "I can tell when someone's holding back."

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"Well, if you're so observant, why don't you tell me what drives me?"

"That's just it. I don't know. Most people are pretty easy to read. Your friend Camilla D'Angelo wants the power to live up to her name and the pressure that comes with it. Yoshihiro Tanaka lives beneath an invisible stick that's always ready to strike him if he messes up; and so he can't. Diego Marquez wants to succeed because institutional success means financial and life success for him and the other members of his family. Sophia is worried that if she doesn't do as well as her power suggests, her parents will be disappointed in her. The others don't matter. But you, I don't know. And I don't like that. I think you have good intentions, but sometimes I'm not so sure."

Jacob blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know if you're a good person or not."

"So?"

Victor half-rolled his eyes. "I like to know the people I'm fighting."

"Why should I tell you? You're my enemy."

"I'll make it worth your while."

Jacob chuckled at this. "Fine, but before I tell you mine, you tell me yours."

"Fair," Victor said. Her leaned forward. "The Order is weak."

Jacob blinked. What? Was this guy serious?

"Infested with weak people. In brief, Maria and I are from St Louis. My parents are Rangers, but her's are in operations management. Last year, one of the local Rangers lost an eye during a crossover. He blamed Maria's father, who was handling reinforcements and deployments at the time. He came to her house, enraged, and attacked her family. Luckily, Maria and I were in her bedroom when he came. He killed her father and maimed her mother. In the end I had to kill him with my bare hands.

"What happened to us is just a microcosm of the larger problem: The weakness within the Order. I will eradicate this weakness completely, but that eradication must start at even the smallest, earliest levels, here at Tisdale. This is what drives me."

Jacob blinked at the sudden divulging of such a traumatic moment. What was with people and just telling him terrible shit that had happened to them. He never would have told Victor about the rogue mage straight up like that. But then again, Victor was a weird cat.

Jacob would have apologized to Victor, but he didn't think the boy wanted his pity. The weakness of the Order seemed an unfit motivation to Jacob, but Victor looked deadly serious.

"Okay," Jacob said. "I wanted to beat Archie because I wanted to win. I'm going to beat you and win this tournament because I want to."

Victor eyed him for what seemed like an eternity. Then he sat up and took a deep breath in. "Very well. Sometimes simplicity is powerful. I can see the conviction in your eyes. I was right about you: You're interesting. I promised to make this worth your while, and now I'll deliver."

Victor picked up his towel and wiped his hands on it. The boy's laser like focus had evaporated, replaced by his casual arrogance.

"If you face me in a straight fight tomorrow, you will lose," Victor said. "The committee has taken away the trick that vaulted you above Archie, and even if you were twice the mage you were last week, you will still lose."

Jacob barked a laugh, then realized Victor was serious. "You're serious?"

Victor nodded. "You can delude yourself. That doesn't change anything. However, I'm willing to throw you a bone. Archie told me you only discovered magic a week before coming to Tisdale. The fact you're as good as you are is baffling. You show genuine, rare talent. I don't say that lightly. I also don't want you to be penalized for being a latecomer, so, I'm willing to strike a deal: I will only use strength and perception in the fight tomorrow if you agree to do likewise."

Jacob scoffed. "How does that help me? You're a way stronger Consumer than I am."

"I'm also a much stronger Producer and Decomposer than you are. I also know more Consumption spells than you. But, like I said, you show promise, especially in Consumption. I'm the best Consumer in this class. You, relative to the time you've had with magic, and your natural power, are the next best."

"Was that a compliment?" Jacob asked sarcastically.

"It was. Genuinely," Victor grinned. "So, how about it?"

Jacob wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He was limiting himself, but he was limiting Victor more. Evening the playing field, to an extent.

On an impulse, he answered. "Fine. Okay. I agree."

Victor nodded once, curtly.

"How do I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain?" Jacob asked.

"I'm a man of my word," Victor said. "Let's shake on it.

They shook. Victor's grip was strong.

"That's all I wanted," Victor said. "No hard feelings."

"No hard feelings," Jacob said automatically.

He nodded farewell to Victor, then strode out of the training room. Maria was in the hallway outside.

"Bye," he said to Maria.

She made a small noise, then scurried into the training room. Well, at least now he knew why she was so timid.

He made his way back down to the lobby to meet back up with Blake, the conversation whirling in his head. A part of him was screaming that he never should have struck a deal, but another part of him, a small, silent one that had already accepted defeat this weekend—without his ace, against someone decently stronger than Archie, how did he stand a chance?—rejoiced.

He had a chance now. He'd just have to play the cards he'd left himself with very, very well.

Blake looked up as Jacob approached.

Jacob sighed. "You are not going to believe the conversation I just had."