It was probably best to be able to heal. Alistair knew that leveling up Touch of Grace would come in handy in the future, even if a part of him preferred the dynamics of being able to conjure fiery lightning. That could always wait until his next level up, which he assumed would come soon if he kept up the training.

Hopefully, before they journeyed to the Dracolich Empire…

After a dinner that night in town at a place called Tao Boom—which served fancy meat pies that continued to throw Alistair off guard because they resembled the meat pies he used to eat at the orphanage, only a thousand times fancier—Alistair, Juno, and Zola returned to campus.

“So I probably should have told you this over meaty ass meat pies, but I figured you wanted to enjoy your food.” Juno turned to Zola and offered her a big toothy grin.

“Tell me what? And stop looking at me like that.”

“Alistair and I got the bottom of the team-up against you from Justin and Laertes. They planned it. Laertes offered Justin something, but he wouldn’t tell us what.”

She stopped walking. “And how did you get that information?”

Juno rubbed his hands together, his eyes tracing up the foliage that extended over the path back to the Academy. An occasional leaf fell, providing more moonlight to illuminate their way.

“Well?” Zola asked him.

“Don’t worry about that part. It’s all good.”

“Is it, though?”

“It is. And besides, we need to focus on tomorrow’s matches, Resonant Conductor. Talk strategy.”

“We had all night to talk strategy, Juno.”

“We were stuffing meat pies in our mouths. Isn’t that right, Alistair?”

“It’s right,” Alistair said, who had become distracted by something he’d seen in the woods beyond.

Alistair: There’s someone out there.

Ghost: There is. Tell the others to go ahead. And good work. Even I didn’t see the person. They’re good. Senka level good. Oh, fuck.

Alistair: Fuck?

Ghost: Let’s just hope it’s not her.

Alistair: Who? Senka?

Ghost: Send the others away, now.

“You guys can go ahead,” Alistair said.

“I thought we’re going to explore the Underhall tonight,” Juno said.

“That’s what I mean. I left my, um, I left something back at the restaurant. My notebook.”

Juno squinted at him. “You had a notebook with you?”

“Of course, you wouldn’t notice something like that,” Zola told Juno.

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“What? Come on, I notice things—”

“Just go ahead,” Alistair told them. “Let me handle things. I mean, let me head back there. Trust me. I’ll meet you at the Wraithen Archives in…”

Ghost: Thirty minutes, give or take.

“Thirty minutes, give or take.”

After a bit more back and forth, Juno and Zola continued on, leaving Alistair alone on the road that led back to the Academy. He immediately used his Thick Skin skill, which created a layer of armor. He nearly followed this up with Mistmeld, but thought otherwise as the path around him was already obscured.

Ghost: Nothing with Gem Gaze?

Alistair: No. But someone is there. I know it.

Ghost: Shit. Call Lionel. I’ll need my sword. Draw your wand and be ready to switch back and forth between them.

Alistair did as instructed. He summoned Lionel and whispered to the summon that he may need his sword.

“Which sword?” Lionel whispered.

Ghost took over from there. “My blade.” Still scanning the horizon, Ghost ducked and slowly lowered, his hand going into the puddle of shadow and returning with his sword. “Ziggy and Noctarii.”

Alistair summoned the pair as well. “We have company,” was all he managed to say before Ghost took over again.

“Ziggy, protect us. Noctarii, you know what to do.”

Squish!

“I’ll find them,” Noctarii said, who had yet to reveal himself.

“The fae certainly has range, but if this person attempts anything, you will be protected,” Lionel said as they waited.

Ghost kept his sword at ready, wand in his other hand.

Alistair: Who are we dealing with exactly?

Ghost: We’re likely dealing with Caidan.

Alistair: Caidan?

Ghost: A female assassin, not part of the guild. Remember how Senka could seemingly disappear? She learned that technique from this woman.

Alistair: So she’s like a Dracolich assassin, or something?

Ghost: Worse. She’s a witch. Now, let me focus.

Noctarii spoke from the shadows. “Someone is there, but they are like me. I can’t locate them fully. Every time I do, it’s like they drift somewhere else.”

“Then say something to them,” Lionel suggested, who now floated out of one of the puddles of darkness. “Invite them to join us.” He moved closer to Ghost, just inches away from his ear. Ghost didn’t flinch as Lionel spoke again: “If they come closer to us, I will trap them. But doing so will kill this person. Do you want them dead?”

Ghost hesitated.

Alistair: Don’t tell me you were banging another assassin.

Ghost: It’s complicated.

Alistair: Wait, really? I didn’t actually think—

Ghost: Silence.

“Is she still here?” Ghost asked Noctarii and Lionel.

Squish?

“I think she’s gone,” the fae finally said. “That’s weird. But hey, at least it’s good to know that someone is watching over you. Kidding, obviously. That was probably terrifying for Alistair.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Alistair told Noctarii.

“Sure, you weren’t.”

Squish… Ziggy growled at Noctarii.

“Easy there, Slime Time, I was just busting the kid’s balls. But to answer your question, or someone’s question. It’s confusing as hell when the two of you speak out of the same mouth. Anyway. Whoever was just out there is gone now. I mean, they’re still in the area somewhere, but not directly here. That’s what I’m trying to say. We’re in the clear. But we don’t have to be. We could hunt them.”

Ghost sent his sword back into one of the shadowy puddles. “In that case, let’s get back to the Academy and meet your friends.”

“No hunting?” Noctarii asked.

“Not this time. If Caidan had wanted us dead, she would have made a move. Something else is at play here and I don’t think we’ll get to the bottom of it tonight. One more thing. No questions about Caidan. Not now. I need to be able to focus. I don’t know why she’s here, I don’t know why she’s watching us, and I don’t know why she didn’t strike. But we need to be ready for things to change at any moment. Ziggy.”

Squish?

“Stay on Alistair’s shoulder. Noctarii, keep to the shadows.”

“I’m a lurker at heart,” and with that, the fae disappeared again.