Anabella sighed as she put the Kala board away. “I will miss our games. You’ve been a good opponent.”

Orrin muttered under his breath.

The older woman smiled as she sat down across from him again. “Don’t be angry. Give it a few years and you’ll win a game or two.”

The two of them sat in the same room they always did. The door to the terrace was open despite the pouring rain outside. Orrin noticed no water reached past the doorframe. Magical fuckery, he thought as he turned a pen around in his hand. He steeled his nerve and put the pen on the table.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” he started. Anabella raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m not the most social person in the world. You want to send me into a place with the richest and strongest magic users around and hope I survive. Do you think any of these people are going to want to be friends with me?”

Anabella steepled her fingers together and rested her chin on her thumbs.

Orrin continued, “You said I had twenty-eight days before your son came back. That was yesterday. Assuming I do get to the school and assuming I do make friends with anyone, how am I going to do magic with this?” Orrin dragged a finger along the metal circle around his throat. “You aren’t going to give me my magic back because you know I’ll escape. The first time a teacher calls on me to perform some magic, I’ll be screwed.”

Anabella held up her hand, stopping Orrin’s rehearsed speech. “I have someone coming today to bring you there. You’ll start class tomorrow. I’ve picked your courses. You should have at least one class with each of your new friends.”

She plucked her wand off her hip and pointed it at Orrin. “I will be giving you access to your magic but with a few restrictions. You won’t have access to [Teleport] or [Camouflage] but I’ll leave your other spells free. Before you think about it, we found the collar you removed from your rescued friend. [Toxic Touch] shouldn’t have done that to a collar. Even so, I’ll be restricting that as well. You should also think about this before you escape.”

A twist of dark purple strands erupted from the end of her wand. Orrin tried to move but felt the collar tighten. The thin gossamer wrapped around his neck. He felt ice touch his skin before the heat burned him.

“Damn, that hurt. What was that?” Orrin rubbed his neck, the pain already fading.

“Insurance. The collar is keyed to me right now. You cannot be too far away from me. It will be reconfigured for the school grounds. I suggest you not wonder behind the walls. However, if you do manage to break out of a slave collar… a feat that is nearly impossible on your own… I will know. I will be able to find you and I will not give you a second chance.”

Anabella leaned forward and took Orrin’s hand off his neck. She laced her fingers into his. “I am taking a chance on you, friend of the [Hero]. You may think what you want about me but know that everything I do is for the good of all of us. You do not need to become a trusted advisor to these children. Just friendly enough that they may come when you call. You’ll receive more instructions when the time is right. Take this as an opportunity to learn. You have a keen mind and one of the most… diverse sets of spells I’ve come across in a long time. If this nonsense with my son wasn’t happening, I might steal you away for a few years to train you myself.”

Orrin blushed at the praise. Anabella didn’t appear to be one to sugarcoat words. He was worried about what further instructions she would send but knowing that he just had to be friendly with his targets made him breathe a little easier. He kicked himself over the lost opportunity of using [Toxic Touch] but there wasn’t much he could do about it anyway.

“I thought I was going to have a say in what courses I took?” Orrin asked absentmindedly. He didn’t particularly care which indoctrination class this terrible country was going to push on him but knowing was half the battle. He’d also hoped to avoid any class that would make his knowledge of the world obvious.

“Maeve is taking only two classes at the moment, and you haven’t taken the prerequisite for Rapid Acceleration Agriculture. Luckily, she appears to be trying to win over Professor Cade to back her thesis. Defensive Earth Magic is a first-year course. From what I’ve heard, Maeve has no need for the class but Cade won’t advance any student who doesn’t take the basics first.”

“Defensive Earth Magic?”

“You’ll be fine. If anything, I’m worried your ward magic might make Cade go into early retirement. I debated locking those spells as well but decided that letting you be unique might play well for you in befriending these three,” Anabella explained. She also handed Orrin a small book entitled “Earth and You.” “That is Professor Cade’s book. Study it before the class begins. He never asks questions that you cannot find the answer to in here.” She tapped the cover.

“Thank, I guess.”

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Anabella’s eyes flashed. “This class costs several hundred gold for most. Do try to be more appreciative.”

Orrin sat up a bit straighter. He was going to an Ivy League prep school for magic. Even if everything goes like I want, I’ll be there for a few weeks. Maybe I should take advantage of this. “I’ll read it tonight.”

“The Tonsa boy is just starting as well. You’ll be taking Magical History of Asmea and Surviving Spell Attacks with him. Both are obvious first-year classes that you should do well in. Be polite and don’t argue with the history professor, whoever it ends up being. The staff rotates it out as a punishment for internal conflicts and they all have their own… prejudices they bring with them to the class. It won’t be difficult and should give you the most time with Rhys.”

“Surviving Spell Attacks sounds… daunting,” Orrin said, trying to be diplomatic.

Anabella chuckled. “It is mostly theory and little actual practice. You’ll be fine. Finley is our biggest setback. He hasn’t signed up for any classes as of yesterday.”

“How do you know?”

Anabella pointed at herself. “It’s my school remember? Even here, I keep my finger on the pulse of my school. Final signups are due by tomorrow… when you’ll show up. I’ve narrowed it down to a few that Finley is likely to take. He’s already taken Magical Combat and might try an advanced version of that class but you wouldn’t have the prerequisites.”

“Or any inclination to take a class called Magical Combat,” Orrin muttered.

Her teeth flashed as lightning struck outside. “Yes, I’m sure the boy who fought off the leader of Odrana twice would be terrible at magical combat. You don’t need that class. Instead, I’ve signed you up for Battle Class.”

Orrin felt a pit form in his stomach. “What is Battle Class?”

“It is only a class in the loosest sense of the world. Students sign up to fight each other and then analyze how they could do better. There are teachers but mostly it is student-led hands-on practice.”

“That sounds… dangerous.”

“Finley won every match last semester and only lost two the semester before that.”

Orrin distinctly did not appreciate the smile on Anabella’s face. “Why did he take it twice?”

“Finley has taken Battle Class four times. Most students take it at least twice if they have a combat magic class. It’s the best chance at connecting the two of you.”

“I don’t have a say in this do I?”

Anabella didn’t answer and instead spread out a few papers. “The problem is what to take for the last class. He’s taken a few classes on fire magic in the past but the attacks he has use a sword. I’m not sure what kind of other class he would take at this point but…”

Orrin tuned her out as he caught the name of another class on the list. “What about this one?”

Anabella went silent. “Dungeoneering is not a first-year class.”

“So I can’t take it?” Orrin glanced up and made sure to look Lord Sanneris’s mom in the eyes. “I thought you said this would benefit me as well?”

“Why would you want to enter dungeons?”

Orrin shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? They’re a blight on the world and need to be destroyed. It’s not like you send these students into real dungeons, right?”

She didn’t respond.

“Are you kidding me?”

“The final test is surviving at least two floors of a dungeon in a group.”

“OK, never mind. I’m sure we can find something safer.”

Orrin and Anabella went over the list for another hour, weighing the pros and cons of Fire Magic Basics and Learning to Fly with Air Magic. It wasn’t real flight, Anabella explained. Just falling from a high altitude without dying… most of the time.

He sighed and rubbed his fingers across his eyes. “This isn’t going anywhere. When do you find out what other class Finley takes?”

“By the time I find out, you’ll be in Mistlight.” Anabella was stirring a cup of tea that one of the maids had brought in. Orrin had been offered nothing.

“I could wait to see what he picks and copy a class, I guess.”

Anabella tapped her spoon on the porcelain and placed it on a napkin. “You could try but it would be risky. If he caught you spying on his classes and then you showed up in that class, he’d be suspicious from the start.”

Orrin was tempted to pull a coffee press and beans from his [Dimension Hole] just to see how she’d react but resisted. “I can be sneaky if I need to be.”

“You want me to leave you a spell that allows you to bypass security systems and potentially escape for the chance to get one extra class with the younger Madvarr?”

Orrin shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “You already said I had no chance to escape. It might be helpful to be able to go places no one else can.”

Anabella sipped her tea and peered at him over the rim. She placed the cup on its matching saucer and gestured to Orrin. “Come here.”

When Orrin was close, she turned him and again fiddled with the collar around his neck. Orrin could feel his access to the System being restored. A quick check left him sure that his spells were available again.

Except [Teleport] and [Toxic Touch].

As he smiled, Anabella’s hand gripped his chin and held him tight. The room’s temperature dropped and Orrin could swear he heard the rain hitting the balcony turn to hail. The pinging of ice on the tile backdropped her voice as she spoke.

“I am giving you a modicum of trust. Don’t betray it.”

“Lady, I just want to get out of your country. If helping you does that, I won’t rattle the cage.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment more before releasing him. “The [Locationist] I’ve hired will be here in a few hours. Take the four classes that we’ve discussed and whatever class you can find Finley is interested in.”

Anabella reached into a pocket of her dress and took two notebooks the size of her palm out. She held one out to Orrin. “Do not lose this. Do not let others see it. Every night before you sleep, you are to write a succinct report of your daily activities in it. Every morning, check for a reply. I have the twin.”

Orrin was fascinated as he watched her demonstrate. Each book had a stylus that clipped into the spine. As she wrote in one book, the words appeared with a slight delay in the other. She taught him how to clear the page by tapping the pen three times against the page.

“They have been cleaned from their last use. It is imperative that you clear the pages after reading or sending a message. If anyone sees you using this, I need their name. You are not to speak of these books to anyone, including my son. Do you understand?”

Orrin agreed and put the book in his pocket. Anabella wished him good luck and dismissed him. It wasn’t until he made it back to his room that he pulled the book out again. On a hunch, he tried using [Identify]. It took him two tries to get a response.

Twin Book of Sending. Relic.