I received a lengthy reprimand from my Non-Healer’s Guide to Healing professor for not finishing my herbal experimentation assignment. He calmed down just slightly when I explained my reason to him, but the entire situation was embarrassing. but the entire situation was embarrassing. However, that was nothing compared to the berating Marianne gave me in front of our entire group once my Mastering Group Combat class started.

“What do you mean you haven’t finished solving your clues?!”

I was not in the mood to get yelled at. “I told you,” I said through gritted teeth, “that I was in the infirmary all night. I couldn’t get to solving the clues.”

“Yeah, lay off him, Marianne.”

I flashed thankful eyes toward the boy who had just spoken up for me. He was one of the few in the entire class who was close to my height–just an inch or two taller than I.

“Besides, I haven’t completely solved my clues yet, either,” he said.

Marianne's face turned a bright red, the color matching her hair. “Are you serious?”

The rest of our team also grumbled aloud their failures to finish solving their clues.

Marianne groaned and planted her forehead into one of her palms. “Am I the only one who finished my assigned clues? You can’t be serious!”

I glanced around the classroom, noticing other dejected faces and whispered arguing from the other teams.

“I don’t think we’re the only team that hasn’t finished solving the clues, though,” I offered.

Marianne shot me a look that could catch and set me on fire. “You better hope so, new kid.”

“What if we show everyone our clues now and see if we can solve some of them as a team?” I suggested. “Professor Bilith did say that, to win, we’ll need to work together.”

I smiled as the entire group nodded in agreement, save for Marianne, but I wasn’t seeking her approval.

I pulled my clues out of my jumpsuit pocket, reminding myself again to buy a bag large enough to carry my school supplies as soon as I earned some credits. The rest of the team followed suit, displaying their own slips of paper for everyone to see.

“Oh! I know how old Headmaster Bohin is! He’s 68,” the tall and lanky girl named Mildred said to my left. “So, according to your clue, Sarah, the first and second numbers to the combination are six and eight.”

We spent the next five minutes solving one another’s clues while Marianne stood with arms crossed and lips drawn into a tight line. I didn’t contribute much to the solving, though. Without the help of Codex, I didn’t know many fun facts about the academy.

The more clues we solved, the more I realized how long this combination to the safe was. Professor Bilith really wanted us to sweat. I glanced over at the tall safe looming in the corner next to the professor as she lounged behind her desk.

What is in that safe? I really wanted to know. I wanted to win.

We solved every single clue, and Sarah, a small-statured girl with mousy-brown hair, wrote down the numbers for the combination as we went. The only clue we struggled with was mine about the hidden door.

“Read it aloud again,” Sarah insisted.

I cleared my throat, and in a voice just loud enough for our group to hear and no one else, I read, “The fifth and sixth numbers of the combination to my safe are carved into the wall behind the hidden door.”

We all remained quiet, lips pursed and toes tapping as we thought.

“Do you think there’s a door hidden behind some sort of spell? Or a secret passageway none of us know about?” the boy close to my height said. I’d learned his name was Maxwell during our team’s work together to solve the clues.

“That might be something we need to research,” Marianne finally chimed back in. “Maxwell, you go with Rayden to as many libraries as you can tonight and see if you can find anything on hidden passageways or secret doors in the academy.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Oh, uh,” I interrupted, “I have work tonight.”

Marianne scrunched up her nose and glared at me yet again. “How long is your shift?”

I glared right back at her. “I’m a scout support. I don’t know how long the excursions on the surface take.”

“When does your shift start?” Maxwell said.

“Eight.”

“And when’s your last class?” he asked.

“It ends at six.”

Maxwell nodded. “I’ll meet you outside of your last class, and we can research together until you need to leave. Once you do, I’ll keep working if needed.”

“Sarah, Mildred… You two join them in researching, as well. The more people we have working on this, the better,” Marianne said.

Mildred narrowed her already tiny eyes at Marianne. “And what about you? You just assigned the job to everyone but yourself.”

Marianne flicked a lock of red hair behind her ear and shrugged. “I’ll do my own research–don’t worry. I’ll ask around and see if anyone’s heard of a hidden door. Maybe I can even get it out of Professor Bilith.”

It was almost as if the professor had heard what Marianne just said. Professor Bilith’s twinkling gray eyes fell on me, and a small smile ticked up one corner of her lips. I didn’t think Marianne could learn much from the professor…. Not when we were playing Professor Bilith’s own game.

As class was dismissed, I told the other students where my final class of the day was so that they could meet me to start our research. I left the room by myself, but both Sarah and Maxwell quickly caught up to me, each standing at one of my sides.

“Sorry about Marianne,” Sarah said with a sympathetic yet pretty smile. “She’s always been a jerk.”

“Yeah.” Maxwell tapped a friendly hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about her. She knows people don’t like her, so she acts even worse because of it.”

You didn’t like me at first, either, I thought, remembering the unpleasant faces my entire team had made at me when they’d found out they had to work with the new kid. But I wouldn’t push away their politeness. It was nice, really.

“We’ll see you later!” Sarah hollered as she ran off in the opposite direction I headed, pulling Maxwell along with her. They both offered me friendly waves before disappearing around a bend in the hall.

Did I just make more friends?

***

Nic ignored all of the suspicious looks I gave him during the class. At least, I think he did. I never once saw his bulbous helmet turn in my direction. He even ignored the two times I shot my hand up to ask a question. Well, that was a little more fair. He knew just as well as I did that I hadn’t intended to ask any questions of note. I was more inclined to offer more snarky comments that would have disrupted the lecture.

But I couldn’t help it! The Study of Essence Class provided me no helpful advice–at least not yet. Today’s lecture consisted of only how to effectively picture your essence traveling to your core when cultivating during a meditation. I was good at that already. So, after my final failed attempt to garner Nic’s attention, I planted my chin in my palms and stared off into space as Nic prattled on for the remainder of class.

Deciding not to have a chat with Nic after all, I lined up to leave once class was dismissed, but Nic pulled my elbow back into the room before I could exit.

“How are you feeling?” he said, releasing my arm.

I shrugged. “My head hurts, and I’m still confused about what happened, but I’ll be fine.”

“Are you not taking your medicine? It’ll help the headache.”

“I’m not taking any more of that stuff,” I grumbled, still salty about last night. And the way I spat the words at Nic made it obvious that I wasn’t happy about how our conversation had gone.

Nic rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “No one’s trying to hurt you, Rayden. That medicine was given only to help you.”

I didn’t press the issue. I didn’t explain to him why his actions had made me feel… feel like he was manipulating me and the information he would allow me to have.

“I still expect to see you here tomorrow morning.”

And there it was. Not a suggestion, not a request–a demand. Nic had authority over me, and the problem was I knew he did. I didn’t see a situation where I shouldn’t take the opportunity to train with another Lord Solomon clone who obviously knew more than I did.

“Fine,” I said, turning to leave. Nic didn’t stop me this time.

However, as soon as I exited the classroom, I didn’t have a second to breathe before Maxwell and Sarah attacked me with waves and smiles.

“Hey, Rayden!” Sarah exclaimed, wrapping an arm into one of mine. She fluttered her long eyelashes at me and giggled. Girls acted so weirdly sometimes.

I held tightly to my tablet with my other hand, fearful that Maxwell would also try to grab me in some way and make me drop the device. He didn’t, but he sidled up right next to me. I found myself smiling. Maxwell and Sarah’s friendliness made me feel good and less… lonely. I hadn’t expected to make any friends, but first came Emmett, and now these two seemed inclined to associate with me.

“So, Marianne said something about multiple libraries where we can do our research. Should we split up?” I said as we walked toward the lifts.

“Sarah and I already talked about it,” Maxwell responded. “She suggested that Mildred and I take on a couple of the libraries together, and Sarah will go with you to show you where some others are since you’re new.”

Sarah gave my arm a subtle squeeze with her fingers and released another soft giggle. I’ve never had a girl act this way around me. But I kind of liked it.

“That is until you need to report to your work shift,” Sarah sang with a little skip in her step.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “Where’s Mildred?”

“I’m meeting her in one of the libraries on the first floor,” Maxwell said. “She wanted to get a head start on the research. I’ll catch up with her now.”

Maxwell said his goodbyes, then entered his own lift to travel down to the first floor. Sarah and I stepped into an adjacent one, her arm still attached to mine, even as she pressed the button for the 20th floor.