Florian walked past the tent city, moving as quietly as possible so as not to wake the hundreds of people in his immediate vicinity. The sun had not yet risen for the day, granting him the perfect cover as he slipped from tent to tent, staying in the shadows where the torches would not illuminate.

He’d noticed it the previous day, when he’d tried to go to Anna and Hornbeck at his usual time. Jones had sent someone to follow him. It was Florian’s fortune that he’d turned around to greet the speeding train that was Jake just in time to catch a glimpse of an armored man at a respectable distance.

Continuing his way to the practice field, he’d glanced behind himself every now and again, noticing the green cape each and every time he did so. He’d been forced to change plans, unwilling to reveal anything to the lord of Leeds. So he led his pursuer to the marketplace, striking up a quick conversation with Joel – which was in many ways more difficult than learning magic. Still, it had granted him the cover he’d needed. From there, he just went back to his class.

Today, Florian had decided that he’d leave significantly earlier, hoping to pull the wool over the guards’ eyes. For what it was worth, he didn’t notice that he was being pursued. But for good measure, Florian began to infuse himself with the mana around him, imagining that he saw everything around him as if it were day.

As an illusion, the spell took remarkably little out of him except for the focus needed to maintain the spell. It was just as well, because Florian immediately noticed a robed figure following him, peering out from behind a tent two tents over. So Theo wanted to make sure he wasn’t coordinating with Jones, too.

He came up with an idea. Letting his spell go, the mana left his body and returned to the world around him. Pretty sure that the other disciple could see mana the same way he did, Florian realized that casting the spell was essentially like walking around with a beacon on him. He’d cast an illusion, but the robed figure would surely notice. That left him with trying something he’d never tried before.

Drawing the cerulean motes into himself again, Florian willed his pursuer to fall asleep. As he focused on the spell, it spent more and more of his mental energy, but he continued to fuel it. Still, he felt nothing happen. When a headache started building in a couple of minutes, Florian was forced to stop trying to cast the spell. Wondering whether it was a success, Florian stepped out from behind his cover and watched for his pursuer. Casting the night-vision spell, Florian watched as they stepped out from their own cover as they followed him.

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Dismissing the magic once again, Florian relied on old, non-magical means of evading a stalker. He weaved in between tents, navigating the impromptu alleyways they had formed. The sound of snores and restless sleepers covered his movement, but his key concern was in finding a way to mask his tracks; the deep indents his wooden peg left in the dirt were noticeable by even the most novice of trackers.

Eventually, he stumbled out into the main thoroughfare, where the street became a thing of pressed dirt. Here, Florian picked up speed and hurried back to the annex, knowing that he couldn’t lead Theo’s creature back to Anna and Hornbeck with him. Though he wasn’t totally sure what the wizard’s reaction would be to seeing Florian teaching others, he could guess.

He collapsed into bed with a thud, causing a few of the disciples around him to stir. As he tried to fall asleep, he couldn’t shake a sinking feeling that he had messed up. Not only had he alerted Theo to the fact that he was aware he was being followed, he had tried to evade them – a clear sign that he was trying to hide something.

Fortunately, nothing happened that morning. He wasn’t summoned to Theo’s office, nor did anything seem amiss during the class itself. For what Florian could tell, it was a perfectly normal day, with the exception being that Mack had managed to successfully meditate for twenty minutes straight, reaching close to the point where he’d be able to manifest a fireball that could do more than just light a campfire.

Florian watched Mack pump his fists in the air, his excitement shared by a dozen other students who gathered around him and whooped as loudly as they dared. The rest of the room watched on with a combination of emotions. He saw jealousy, anger, and irritation among the faces of those Theo had not chosen.

Only Wesley alone did not react, quietly pushing himself to reach new heights. Florian wasn’t quite sure when the man had begun meditating, but it couldn’t have been too long after Mack. A bead of sweat ran down Florian’s forehead as Wesley finally gave up and laid down on the floor. The gap between Wesley and the advanced disciples was narrowing, and it was narrowing fast. Florian just hoped that his student would have the good sense to not advertise that fact.

Wesley shot Florian a glance that positively beamed with pride, and while Florian was proud of his efforts, it presented a new vector of danger. He smiled back as happily as he could, noting that Mack had watched this entire exchange, despite the cheering surrounding him.

His time was limited. Sooner or later, either Wesley would give up on trying to keep their secret a secret or Mack would notice that something was amiss, and Theo would extract that information from the poor man. Florian needed a way to slip out at night so that he could talk to Wesley. The sun rose and fell as the class continued taking turns meditating and resting, while Florian sat in silence, alternating between meditation and scheming. With the final rays of light receding beyond the horizon, Florian had found his decidedly non-magical solution: he’d just take a page from Anna’s book and knock his poor stalker unconscious.