Noah and James stood at the top of the plateau.

“I was kind of hoping you’d forget about me.” James rubbed at the corners of his eyes and yawned. “Would it count for my pattern if I just sat down and fell asleep?”

Somehow, I feel like I should have seen this coming.

“Only if you’ve found a way to control magic while you’re asleep,” Noah said dryly. “And, if you have, please let me know how. I feel like that would be a revolutionary new technique.”

“Why would I want to find a way to do more work? The whole point of sleeping is to do less,” James said with a grimace.

Noah crossed his arms and studied James. It was one thing to be lazy, but James was something else. The boy had seemed pretty eager to join his class at first, but the moment Noah had accepted him, he’d gone from lazy to straight up slothful.

But despite doing his best to sleep through just about anything he could, he was keeping up with all the other students. Something about that felt off. It didn’t make sense to really want something, only to stop caring the moment you got it.

There was no way James would be able to keep up with the others if he was actually putting in the amount of effort he was pretending to. There was only so far that natural talent could carry anyone.

Not to mention I can’t see Revin ever letting natural talent carry anyone anywhere. That doesn’t strike me as his style. If he was training James, he almost certainly had a good reason for it.

“You ever planning to come clean?” Noah asked.

James blinked drowsily and tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“The whole lazy shtick,” Noah said. “I’m sure you’ve got a reason for it, but I’m not seeing what purpose it’s serving.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just don’t like doing extra work. Existing happily is more than enough for me.”

“Which I have no problem with, but the last time you showed me your pattern, it was almost as developed as Isabel and Alexandra’s – and they’ve been practicing nonstop.”

“It’s just doing something I’m good at.” James waved a hand dismissively. “It’s quite literally nothing in every meaning of the phrase. It’s logical that I’d be good at a pattern I’ve already spent so much time practicing.”

“See, that’s just not true.” Noah shook his head. “Because your pattern isn’t just sitting around and being lazy. It’s doing nothing. There’s a very distinct difference between those two things. One is just slacking off. The other takes intention.”

James’ lips pressed thin. His eyes narrowed and he let his head roll back to match Noah’s gaze. “You’re not going to let this drop?”

“Don’t you think I have a right to know when you’re the one asking to be in my class? You aren’t an official student, but I’ve let you stick around anyway. I’m not asking you to spill your life secrets with me. But, if you’re actively working to keep me from understanding what you’re doing, I don’t think I’ll be able to help you all that much.”

James’ nose scrunched and he let out an annoyed sigh. “I suppose that’s fair enough. You aren’t wrong. I’m not actually sleeping through class. I’m just a pretty good actor.”

“Then why? What’s the point?”

“People don’t pay attention to someone they don’t think is a threat. You get overlooked.”

“Do you really think the other students see you as a threat? Or are you referring to the competition for the Master Rune?”

James snorted and shook his head. “Nah. The last thing I’d want is a Master Rune like that. I’d be fine with one that was a bit less flashy – but definitely not the one you’re giving out. I’m sure it’s great and all, but it does the exact opposite of what I actually want to accomplish.”

“And that is?”

“I love learning things,” James said simply.

“That doesn’t seem exactly conducive to your actions in class.” Noah’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Not just class things,” James said. “Things about people. Secrets. Locations of stuff I’m not meant to know. I want to know everything about someone before I ever meet them. The best way to hide is to not be visible at all, and the second-best way is by being in plain sight but so worthless that nobody cares.”

“So… you just really like gossip,” Noah concluded.

James snickered. “I guess you could put it that way, sure. Don’t get me wrong, though. After dealing with Revin for so long, being able to actually sit around and do nothing is incredible. I love it.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“And that’s it? You just want to hear people gossiping and like relaxing, so you shape your entire life around it?”

“I want control,” James said. His gaze darkened as he locked eyes with Noah. “Do you know how it feels to be trained by a madman? Nothing is constant. Every single thing in your life can be there one day and vanish the next. The world doesn’t make sense – not until you learn the way it works.”

“So you learned all this specifically so you could try to pick up on what Revin was doing and try to adapt to it?”

“Well, that was the intention.” James’ cheeks reddened and he cleared his throat, averting his gaze. “It didn’t work that well on him. But I got so good at doing it around other people that I realized I could keep at it here. Also…”

He trailed off. Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t stop when you’re just getting to the most interesting part.”

“No, that’s it.”

“I don’t think it is.”

“It is.”

Noah walked over to the edge of the plateau and looked down at the class below. They were far, but he could just barely make out a flash of silver hair as Emily saw him watching and turned her head away. A small smile flickered across his face.

That long hair makes it pretty easy to tell when you’re trying to stare at something. I guess nobody ever told her that if you get spotted staring, the best thing you can do is either nothing or move very, very slowly.

“I don’t suppose part of the reason you’ve taken to acting lazier is to get extra tutelage?” Noah asked, tilting his head to the side as he turned his head back toward James.

“When have I ever come to you for extra teaching?”

“Not me,” Noah said with a chuckle. He nodded down at the class. “Emily. Is she filling you in on all the stuff you supposedly miss in class?”

James hesitated for a second, which was just about all the confirmation that Noah needed. He let out a laugh.

“I didn’t say anything!” James said defensively. “I don’t have ulterior motives! I’m just practicing blending in!”

“Sure,” Noah said. “Just out of curiosity, if I were to ask Emily how she felt you were doing in class, do you think she’d say she was worried that you weren’t keeping up and that she’d been tutoring you after class?”

“I, uh, think that line of question would probably be best left unspoken,” James said, shifting his stance. “Please.”

Noah laughed again. “I’m not going to spoil your fun, but I feel like there are probably better ways you could go about trying to flirt with Emily. Have you considered just spending time with her normally instead of going back over classwork that you already know?”

“I can’t do that!” James protested. “She’s the heir to the Torrin family! There’s no way she’d be willing to do anything other than work.” He cut himself off, realizing that he’d basically confirmed everything that Noah had just said, then grimaced. “I barely even qualify as a noble.”

“Bah. That didn’t stop me and Moxie. If she didn’t like you at least a little bit, I don’t think she’d be spending that much time even bothering to teach you anything. Stop stressing the poor girl. She’s got enough shit to worry about.”

James looked down at the grass in shame. “I don’t think–”

“Look, the love life of my students really isn’t something I want to press too deeply into, but you morons literally spent an entire summer together. From what I’ve seen, Emily barely tolerates anyone other than Moxie. The fact that she’s still hanging out with you when you’re putting on this front is probably a good thing. I’m not saying you have to change what you like doing, but you’re not an idiot. I’m sure you can figure out a way to spend time together that doesn’t involve wasting her time.”

“I – yeah. I suppose you’re right,” James said. His cheeks were bright red in embarrassment.

“Now show me your damn pattern and stick some magic into it,” Noah said. “Just not too much. It’s going to be really awkward if we had this whole conversation only for you to pop yourself like a grape. You remember what to do?”

“There isn’t much I don’t remember,” James replied. He crossed his legs and sat down on the grass in front of Noah. “You’re not going to tell her anything, are you?”

“It’s none of my business what you do. Just don’t hold her back. You’re both capable students. I’ll be honest, there’s a non-zero chance she’s already figured out that you’re only faking being an idiot to keep her around. She’s not stupid.”

James paled. “Wait. Really?”

Noah shrugged. “Find out yourself. I don’t know. Now get your head screwed back on. I really don’t want to explain to Emily that you blew yourself up because you were too busy thinking about her.”

James groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Can we forget this conversation ever happened?”

“Only if you put up a competent showing.”

“Isn’t that blackmail?”

“I’ve done worse and I’ll do it again. Get to it.”

James grimaced. He closed his eyes and adjusted his posture. His chest rose as he drew in a breath, then relaxed as he let it out. Noah’s domain tingled. Shimmers of faint light swirled around the boy as he started to channel magic through himself.

He used less power than any of the other students had, but something about him shifted. It wasn’t that James was any different, but Noah’s eyes were drawn to look right past him. He wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t moving. It almost felt like he wasn’t even there.

Noah blinked. For a sliver of an instant, he’d completely lost track of James – but there the boy was, sitting in front of him once more.

A few more seconds passed, and Noah’s eyes tried to drift on their own volition again. Noah’s eyes and mind were in disagreement. The eyes were convinced that there was nothing before him, whilst the mind knew there was.

If it hadn’t been for his domain, Noah might have completely lost track of James. He let a few more seconds pass, then let his power snuff James’ magic out. The boy’s opened a second later.

“Well?” James asked. “Good enough?”

“More than, I’d say,” Noah said with a shake of his head. “That is officially the farthest along anyone is with putting magic into their pattern. What was that, light magic?”

James nodded and rose to his feet. “Yeah.”

“And I note you’re not too surprised about my domain.”

“Already knew you were Rank 4. Todd looked really smug when people were getting pulled up, like he knew something they didn’t. Also, I figured you had some way to protect us from pattern magic if you were insisting we only used it near you. That meant you either had a weird Shield or a domain – and I’ve never seen you use a shield.”

“Good deductions.” Noah gave James an approving nod. “You’ve got a lot to be proud of. Seriously though, you should be the one helping Emily here, not other way around. Stop being an idiot, okay?”

James bit his inner cheeks and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Noah said. “Then let’s get going. I need to announce the results for who gets today’s points for the Master Rune contest.”