Now that his promise to Todd had been handled for the day, Noah and Moxie broke the other students up into pairs to start sparing, rotating between each other once their matches were over.

“Remember not to use all your energy up,” Noah warned before they got started in true. “We’ve got a meeting with the advanced track later today and I want all of you to be able to absolutely crush anything that they throw at you, no matter what it takes.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be telling us to play above the board and that it’s more important that we make friends with them… or something like that?” Alexandra asked. “I’m pretty sure that’s what a teacher is meant to support.”

Noah looked down the bridge of his nose at Alexandra. “At what point have I ever said anything like that? Friends are great. You’ve got some all around you. If you can make more, please do. But the advanced track isn’t going to sit around and try to make friends. We pose a threat. Don’t forget it’s a competition.”

“Besides, from what I saw last time, they’re pretty much all a bunch of nobles.” Todd rubbed the side of his neck. “Present company excluded, I don’t have interest with associating with them unless they’re completely different from the rest of their ilk.”

“You never know,” Isabel said, but she didn’t sound even slightly convinced of her own words. “It’s possible that they’ll be better because they’ve actually been the ones working for their power.”

“Probably won’t do anything to lower their elitist attitude,” James said through a yawn. “Trust me. Been there, done that.”

“You have?” Emily asked.

“Revin’s had me do a lot of stuff. Much to my displeasure.” James’ nose scrunched in distaste and he sighed. “Professor Vermil is right. If someone there wants to make friends with us, then we can deal with it when the time comes. But until then it’s better to focus on preparing to completely crush anyone in our way. Come on. Let’s get to this already. We’re wasting time.”

“Whoa. You’re suddenly motivated. Haven’t seen that before,” Todd said. He squinted at James. “Did something happen?”

“Do you realize what the advanced track resources are?” James asked. “Runes and power. For free. All we have to do is beat up some other kids that don’t have anywhere near the advantages we do.”

“They’re nobles. They’ll have advantages,” Alexandra pointed out.

James bit back a laugh. “Sure. But we’re us. We have all the advantages we need to handle them as long as we take things seriously. You’re a Rank 3 with Body Runes that should put you at the peak of anyone in our age group. We’ve all got patterns, even if we can’t use them with magic during fights yet.”

“I agree, but is there a reason you’re excited for resources all of a sudden?” Isabel asked.

James made a noticeable effort to keep his eyes from moving, but Noah got the feeling that he’d been just moments from glancing at Emily.

“Yeah. Three reasons. First, the faster I get work over with, the sooner I can go back to doing nothing. Second, power means I can be lazy later. If they’re going to feed me runes and just about anything else, that saves a huge amount of time in the future. I’ll do work now to be lazy in the future.”

“That’s two reasons,” Todd said.

“Is it?” James sent him a blank stare. “I must have lost count.”

Careful there, bud. I think your actual goals are starting to come out. Not that I can complain. It’s going to be interesting to watch James actually trying at something for once. I get the feeling he’s going to be looking to show off a bit for Emily with the advanced track tonight.

I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but I really do hope there are at least a few pricks in there. If every advanced track student is suddenly super welcoming and polite and none try to pick a fight, this is going to be really awkward.

“Right then,” Noah said, clapping his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “We all know what we’re working for. Just remember to keep enough energy to fully regenerate by tonight. Now, get to it.”

Everyone nodded and turned back to their partners to begin preparing to spar. The stone arena that Isabel had made wasn’t exactly huge, but it was enough for them to fight if nobody moved around all too much. It would be a good way to practice fighting in relatively enclosed quarters.

Noah made his way over to Lee while the students got started. She’d taken a seat at the edge of the wall, leaning her chin on her knees. He sat down beside her.

“All good? Are you worried about the key?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I don’t know. Not on a personal level,” Lee replied with a shake of her head. “There have always been a lot of ways to get into and out of the Damned Plains. Not easy ones, though. Summoning is the most common, but there are pathways. Places where the energy separating the planes is thinner.”

Noah nodded along. “Right. But you’re still concerned? Or are you just a bit worn out?”

“Maybe some of both,” Lee admitted. “I’ve been thinking about my runes a lot.”

“Nothing’s changed, has it?” A flicker of worry passed through Noah and he sat straighter, but Lee quickly shook her head before he could say anything else.

“No. I’m fine.” She gave him a wide smile and bumped her shoulder into his. “Thank you. I feel like they’re under control for the time being. I’m just worried about what will happen if we get into a serious fight. The bindings might collapse if I start drawing on the runes a lot.”

“Just stay out of any major fights right now. We’ve got a lot of firepower on our side between me, Brayden, and Moxie. Maybe even Jalen as well, depending on the day. You can be our secret weapon – the one that we’re not going to use until your runes are safe.”

“Yeah. I’ll do my best.” Lee didn’t sound all that convinced, but it was clear she appreciated the effort. “Really, I just don’t understand why Wizen would want a key to the Damned Plains.”

“So you are worried.”

Lee gave him a sheepish look. “A little. Who would want to go there?”

“Someone trying to deal with a demon that’s far too strong to safely summon, maybe?”

“Maybe,” Lee allowed. She’d gone back to sounding completely unconvinced. “But any archdemon that powerful is just going to crush you if you can’t summon them. What’s the point? Wizen is either strong enough to handle them or not. The key doesn’t sound like it changes anything, so I don’t know if he’s just trying to summon something.”

“So you think he’s trying to actually get something else from the Damned Plains?”

Lee shrugged. “I have no idea. I just don’t like the thought of the place at all. I never want to think about it again. That probably isn’t possible, but it would be nice. Even the idea of a passageway back to the Damned Plains stresses me out.”

“After Wizen is dealt with, you won’t have to,” Noah said. “You’re not going back there, Lee.”

“Thanks.” Lee’s smile strengthened. “By the way, you’ve been missing a lot of stretching lessons. Are you keeping up on your own?”

Alarm bells started going off in Noah’s head and he glanced at Lee out of the corners of his eyes. “Er… enough.”

“How much is enough?”

“I am a very flexible man. Some would say I am the most flexible.”

“Show me,” Lee said.

“We should be watching the students right now,” Noah said quickly. “The role of the teachers is to ensure they pass him, even when it means passing up on time for himself. I am willing to accept the sacrifice of falling behind if it means they advance.”

“You can stretch while they practice,” Lee said. She blurred, and then she was standing behind Noah. She poked at his back. “Lean forward. Touch your toes.”

Ah, fuck.

***

Noah wasn’t sure how class went after that. All he knew that was, after it finished, Lee had re-stretched all the parts of his body that he’d been slacking off on. She’d decided to catch up on everything he’d missed at once rather than working him back up to it.

He was pretty sure more than a few limbs would never work properly again, but he’d also never felt more limber in his life. For not the first – or the last – time, he mused that her stretches were actually quite effective.

Just… not nearly effective enough to ever do voluntarily.

He held up an arm. Even his bones felt like they’d gotten a thorough stretching. He was pretty sure they weren’t meant to feel droopy.

“Stop looking like that,” Lee said. “Now you can touch your elbows to your toes.”

“I don't think that's natural,” Noah informed Lee. “It does feel better, though.”

“Good.” Lee beamed at him, and Noah spotted Todd grinning from the corner of the class. The little brat wasn’t even trying to hide his smug expression. It was probably pretty fun watching Lee stretch anyone other than yourself out like a wash rag.

“Hey, I think Todd is looking a little stiff,” Noah said idly.

Todd’s eyes widened. “I’ve got to go. I left the fire in our kitchen on. See you guys tonight for the advanced track.”

He grabbed Isabel by the wrist and darted off, using his Stone Rune to push the wall surrounding them apart like putty. Noah bit back a laugh as the two of them beat a hasty retreat.

“Maybe we should all break so we can get some rest before the meeting,” Moxie said. Noah couldn’t help but notice she was very pointedly avoiding eye contact with Lee. She hadn’t been stretching any more than he had, but someone had needed to supervise the class while they sparred.

“I think that is a splendid idea,” Alexandra said. “I believe I had dinner plans.”

“I don’t know,” James murmured, rubbing his eyes with the back of a hand and yawing. “I–”

“As did we,” Emily said, tugging James to his feet before he could try to start sleeping on the ground. “See you tonight!”

She herded him out of the arena and Alexandra followed after them, leaving just Noah and Moxie with Lee.

“We can go make sure we’re all stretched out for the meeting,” Lee offered.

“I think I’d rather get food,” Moxie said. “I’ll pay.”

“Okay! That’s a good idea too. You can’t fight if you aren’t on a full stomach.” Lee nodded happily. “Let’s go.”

Diversion strategy. Nice. I should keep that in mind for the future.

Noah walked over to the walls that Isabel had erected, ignoring the twinges that ran through his legs with every movement, and pressed his palm against them. A brief thought sent a flicker of energy from Natural Disaster ripping through them and sending them crumbling back into the sand.

“Food sounds good, and it’ll give us a chance to come up with a plan.”

“A plan?” Lee asked. “For what?”

“The kids aren’t going to be the only ones being evaluated. Ulya mentioned a good portion of the professors in the advanced track think we don’t belong there,” Noah said. He grinned. “And I want to see just how much we can scam them for before they realize that we do.”