Zane hadn’t stayed to watch the last fights of the afternoon. He had returned to the dormitory to rest after getting healed by Mrs Bousrani. He agreed to get out again to accompany the twins to the cafeteria when Galen and Artem sent him a message via his connected bracelet.

However, Zane’s mood was subdued. Seeing the boy like that, Lyra hesitated to explain the threat Nasir made. Zane should be safe in the dormitory and during weekends since the Jamra Family didn’t let their members stay in school. Warning him wasn’t urgent. Instead, she wanted the twins to cheer him up.

To do that, Lyra decided to tease the twins. Being the CSI of both of them meant that she knew things they wanted to keep from each other.

Soon, Zane was smiling with a nostalgic look on his face as Galen berated Artem for hiding Ayden’s new upgraded skill [chain of blast]. Artem wasn’t remorseful at all, and he ignored his brother’s rebukes to question Galen’s fake fight against Mahlon.

Zane couldn’t help laughing as the argument dissolved into bickering, and the twins used old facts from their childhood to go at each other. Galen and Artem weren’t stupid: they knew why Lyra goaded them. They didn’t mind putting up a show for Zane.

“Now, even you are laughing at us?” Galen asked Zane in a wry tone.

“No, I’m not laughing at you!” Zane exclaimed as he blushed in embarrassment.

“You sure aren’t laughing with us,” Artem commented.

“Ah, no, well, I mean…I’m sorry!” The brown-haired boy stuttered and didn’t know how to explain himself.

“We’re not mad, Zane. No need to apologize,” Galen reassured him.

“But we’d like to know what made you laugh,” Artem added.

“Oh. You reminded me of my siblings,” Zane answered, lowering his head.

“So, is that a compliment or an insult?” Galen asked curiously with a teasing tone.

“It’s not an insult!” Zane cried out. “They, all of them, they...”

“How many siblings do you have?” Artem asked to help Zane explain himself.

“I’ve got five younger siblings, and while they might be a handful, all of them are nice!”

“What a lively home!” Galen commented, thinking such a number of siblings explained why Zane was a scholarship student.

“Yes, I miss them,” Zane said softly.

“Well, that confirms that you weren’t laughing at us and that reminding you of your siblings is a good thing!” Galen replied to the shy boy. “We think of you as a friend, Zane, so we hope you won’t fear speaking your mind. You can talk to us about your siblings if you wish.”

Zane nodded and offered them a small smile. After a brief silence, Artem spoke sternly, “Putting that aside, don’t think I’ve forgotten that we haven’t finished our debrief!”

“You see what I have to put up with every day,” Galen complained to Zane in a dramatic tone.

“Maybe we could go on with the third fights?” Zane suggested to prevent another quarrel.

The debrief went on, but this time, Zane was actively participating. Nevertheless, he was still modest. As Artem talked about Yanna, Zane argued he couldn’t know much since she didn’t judge him worthy of her talent. However, Artem insisted his input was meaningful.

Artem was right to think so. As they were debating about Yanna’s talent rank – because even though Lyra’s talent [Divine Hearing] gave them an idea about it, Lyra insisted it was just a supposition – Zane intervened to say that Yanna’s CSI was of the rare rank. The boy had heard this during the first week of school while the twins were still at the Eos Family villa.

The three boys went on to compare Yanna and Naila. Zane had gained some confidence and spoke more freely. He confirmed that Naila’s CSI was of the notable rank and added her inner world feature was an [Obelisk].

“This feature can have different benefits,” Lyra explained as the twins were trying to remember if Mr Duval talked about it during his lessons. “But the most common one is to make gathering chi easier.”

“That might help her offsetting the heavy cost of her talent,” Artem said.

Then, as they continued the conversation, the twins discovered Zane wasn’t surprised by Julius’s strength. Zane’s roommate was Bruno Stein. Their neighbors – with whom they shared a bathroom – were Daniyal Sbai and the now-famous Julius. Daniyal was a loner from a military household, and his pet was a notable Light-Footed Monkey.

Despite being in the combat training class with Bruno and Daniyal, Artem didn’t know these two boys very well. Bruno’s results were low, but Julius and Moses had proven it was better to keep an eye on everyone.

The discussion went on for some time and satisfied them. Artem learned more about his opponents and felt that he did his job by forcing Galen and Zane to analyze their shortcomings and their opponents’ strengths.

Galen appeased his battle-maniac brother by listening seriously to his ranting, though he had to caution him when Artem talked about training with the Ruh boys. Galen admitted it was a good idea but didn’t think Mahlon and Anan would be up for it.

As for Zane, the light banter and the care shown by the twins had uplifted his mood.

***

The following morning, the twins got up early as usual. After their breakfast, Galen went to take care of Mrs Bousrani’s garden with Lucia while Artem went to train with Ayden.

Artem decided to still focus on Ayden’s speed. He was uncomfortable with the delay between when she used her skill and when it ignited. He had already trained her more to reduce this delay than to improve her power. Thanks to that, Ayden obtained the upgraded notable skill [chain of blast] instead of the skill [explosion] that Artem was aiming for.

While Artem didn’t regret it and even judged it was the right choice, he still wasn’t satisfied. If Ayden could cancel the delay, her opponents like the Green Dog or the Short-Tailed Cat couldn’t evade her [spark]. Moreover, his research indicated that [explosion] was a rare skill that didn’t suit Ayden. Indeed, the Fire Fairy wasn’t a powerful pet, so Ayden wouldn’t fully exploit this skill.

With his mind full of the data he had gathered the previous day, Artem modified Ayden’s training and gave her new goals to achieve.

***

As for Galen, as soon as he finished his gardening job, he went to the library. He was choosing books for Lucia about anatomy and science – more specifically about the light in physics – when Zane approached him. As they greeted each other, Galen noticed Zane was carrying a courier bag. Galen remembered that Saturday was the mail day.

Zane rummaged in his bag to take out two letters. With a smile, he gave them to Galen. Zane waved at Galen and went on his way. Galen gazed pensively at the letters. He didn’t think they were good news.

Lucia flew down in front of him to point at a book. Galen picked up two books and sat in a calm corner of the library. He opened the books for Lucia so she could study on her own. The Light Fairy had learned to turn the pages by herself and liked to go from book to book following her fancy.

Galen examined the letters. One was from Nicholas, the Third Elder of the Eos Family. Miles hadn’t wasted any time to complain to his grandfather. Galen turned the letter over in his hands, contemplating. The Third Elder was in charge of the inner workings of the Family and was nicknamed the Steward. The letter could simply be about an administrative problem for which the Third Elder needed the Head’s input or signature.

Galen opened the letter and read it. It was indeed about signing an official paper, but one that would give the Third Elder all authority to lead the Eos Family in Galen’s name. Galen read the letter two more times in disbelief.

“Don’t jump to conclusion,” Lyra advised Galen. “Yes, it is suspicious, but you don’t need to act on it. Just ignore this letter and wait to see how this Elder reacts.”

Galen sighed. He didn’t have any better idea. He folded the letter back into its envelope and took the other letter. This one had an official seal from the Army Criminal Investigation Division. It had to be about his father’s crime.

“Don’t be a coward!” Lyra chided him. “No use in waiting: rip it off and be done with it!”

“I should wait for Artem.” Galen didn’t deny acting like a coward. Reading this letter frightened him. He wanted his brother with him when he read it.

“No, you shouldn’t. You read it now, I’ll tell Artem what it’s about. Hurry up, knucklehead!” When she saw Galen still hesitating, she played dirty. “Artem’s fully immersed in his training.”

Galen knew Lyra was using his care for Artem to manipulate him, but he didn’t mind. He opened the letter. He read it several times to be sure of its content.

“It’s good news, right?”

The letter was informing Galen of delays in the investigation of Xander Eos because of irregularities. These irregularities needed to be checked, so the trial was postponed to a later date.

“Yes, it is.” Lyra paused, carefully considering her words. “Again, you can’t do anything about this letter for now. What you can do is work for your purpose: doing your research.”

However, Galen hesitated on what to look up first.

“Why are you hesitating?” Lyra asked him since she couldn’t understand his sense of priority. “Lucia’s and Ayden’s evolution should be the most important thing right now.”

“Mom trusted me to find out their allies,” Galen answered in a tight voice, trying to keep his emotions in check. “I don’t want to disappoint her. And with the Third Elder...”

“Let’s say you achieve to learn more about the Claddagh ring,” Lyra said to humor him. “Then, what?”

Galen stayed silent a bit. The twins weren’t free to act as they wished since they were under surveillance. If they needed to leave the school to follow the clues, they would be required to fill out a school leave permit form, which would surely alert all their enemies.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“You’re right, damn it. Even if I discover more about the Claddagh ring or the coordinates from the message, we won’t be able to act on it before our winter break.”

So Galen first researched the feys. He didn’t read about them like last time, using the Old World archives. Instead, Galen used news reports and several theses from Beast Researchers. In their message, the twins’ parents mentioned a special ingredient they had to obtain from a fey of the rare rank. It was necessary for the secret evolution path. So Galen needed recent information.

Unfortunately, there were few mentions of the feys and none about the rare ones. Galen was feeling frustrated with his slow progress.

“That’s normal,” Lyra decided to explain. “Didn’t you listen to your social studies teacher when he talked about what happened when the spiritual power invaded the Old World?”

“Are you looking down on me? Of course, I listened to my teachers!” To prove his point, Galen recited his lesson to Lyra. “The spiritual power mutated animals and plants because they could adsorb it. The landscapes were irremediably changed beyond recognition. These mutations gave birth to the beasts who now roam the New World. The only reason humans were spared from all these mutations was because we couldn’t adsorb the spiritual power.”

“Oh, so you listened,” Lyra answered with some mockery. “And, do you remember this mysterious new spiritual power had more consequences, some still without any explanation?”

“Which one are you talking about?” Galen asked in frustration.

“This one: in some places, the spiritual power accumulated, forming some kind of ponds. New creatures were spontaneously born from these ponds of pure spiritual power.”

“I think the teacher briefly mentioned that,” Galen replied as he frowned, “but he didn’t tell us anything more about this.”

“The fairies and the elementals were among the first new species of creatures the humans identified from these ponds. Your history books should tell you that the people at the time first called them spirits. However, since they were mostly tangible and looked like creatures from folklore and fairy tales, they were finally named feys and considered low beasts since they could also be contracted. Look at your classmates’ pets. The common Fire Wisp, the common Water Elemental, the notable Green-Haired Nymph: they are like your fairies. They are closer to spirits than to beasts, even though nowadays they are all called beasts indifferently.”

Galen pondered what Lyra just told him. To get a better understanding of it, he still found some more books and reports to read. The feys’s low status came from their weak bodies and weak attack powers. However, another point against them was that only feys of the common or notable rank were found in the New World. The feys contracted by their classmates were good examples of that. Most people believed no fey of the rare rank existed as the twins did before reading their parents’ message.

.Nevertheless, by reading some obscure reports written by Beast Explorers – the beast tamers working for the Association and who specialized in exploring Pocket Worlds –, Galen discovered that higher-ranked feys existed. They could be found in a Pocket World named Avalon.

The Pocket Worlds were one of the mysteries created by the spiritual power. Spirit portals leading to strange enclosed places randomly appeared throughout the New World. These were extremely dangerous and unstable as they could open or close without explanations. Even now, they were unfathomable places. But humans still wanted to explore them. They wanted to learn more about the spiritual power present in high density in these Pocket Worlds, though for most, the main purpose was to loot these places rich in spirit resources.

The Beast Explorers explained in their reports about the feys inhabiting the Pocket World named Avalon. Most of them had never been seen in the New World and were of high ranks. From their observations, the Beast Explorers surmised these feys were living in a sort of organized society. These feys had some distinctive human features and lived in different territories. The Beast Explorer speculated that they were divided into several Courts, like in stories and fairy tales from the Old World. They based their hypotheses on the feys’s deferential behavior toward the strongest among them.

For instance, the Beast Explorers called the Spring Court a place in Avalon filled with light green woodlands, calm indigo mountains with sparse groves, and vast serene lakes. The feys living there had strange-colored skins going from blue to yellow with a lot of green or white in between. The Beast Explorers guessed this was linked to their elemental powers from the plant, the waters, and the light categories. They described these as almost as tall as humans. The Beast Explorers also noted the feys looked sort of like dryads, treants, naiads, or wild folks with body parts made of leaves, grasses, barks, flowers, water, or light. The feys all had some animal characteristics. The Beast Explorers also wrote about animals with fairy features like butterfly wings, strange horns or antlers, or glittering and colorful fur. Among them, they especially noted a small fairy dragon looking like a purplish lizard with huge swallowtail wings and big, cute, pink eyes.

But the Beast Explorers didn’t have as many details about the other places and so-called Courts because as the humans began to plunder Avalon, the feys stopped being welcoming and considered them to be invaders. So the feys hunted them down, and the humans discovered they weren’t weak. While fighting and retreating, the Beast Explorers still sent out some scouts. They established there were six distinctive territories with specific inhabitants. The Beast Explorers identified them with the traditional names: the Spring, the Summer, the Autumn and the Winter Courts, the Day and the Night Courts.

The creatures they saw didn’t look like the small common fairies they knew about, so nobody thought they could belong to the same evolution path. Galen pondered for a time as his thoughts drifted to his parents. He couldn’t help but think that this information about their fairies wasn’t only to help them evolve their pets.

A vague idea taking form in his mind, Galen asked Lyra to read him what the encyclopedia said about the epic Mystic Oak Squirrel. This beast was from the North, more exactly from the North of the City-State of Nidaros belonging to the Baltic Cities-States region. Coincidentally or not, the portal to Avalon was also North of Nidaros. His parents knew about Avalon. His mother chose to communicate with a Mystic Oak Squirrel, which was almost unknown like the feys from Avalon. All this could be linked to what his parents were doing before their death. Galen knew his speculations sounded far-stretched, so he needed more information.

Before he could decide where to look next, Galen was interrupted by the vibration coming from his connected bracelet. Looking at it, he discovered a message sent by Mrs Bousrani, asking him to see her.

Galen was displeased but didn’t have a choice. He sent a message to Artem to tell him where he went. His brother should be done with his training and on his way to join Galen at the library. The answer sent back by Artem made Galen frown: “No worries, I got held back on my end.”. But Galen didn’t insist as he knew if Artem wanted to say more, he would have written it in his message.

“Is he alright?” Galen still asked Lyra.

“Yes,” Lyra answered with a sigh. “He just doesn’t want you to worry. He’ll explain later.”

Powerless to change his brother’s mind, Galen went to Mrs Bousrani’s office, Lucia following after him.

Once the teenager reached Mrs Bousrani’s office, the teacher asked him to sit on a chair in front of her desk. She began by asking how things were going with her garden.

As Galen was answering her, Lyra concentrated her senses around Mrs Bousrani as she felt something strange.

“By the way, congratulations on your results,” the nurse said with an unnatural smile. “You did a good job with your Light Fairy.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“I wonder what methods you used. I wouldn’t want you to mess up your pet’s health with strange pills.”

Galen frowned as he heard her inquiries. But before he could answer his teacher, Lyra exclaimed, “There is a beast on her!”

“Of course, she -”

“No, you idiot!” Lyra rudely interrupted him. “I’m not speaking about her Light Praying Mantis! Why would I mention to you such a noticeable pet? I’m talking about a suspicious beast. I’m sure it’s the same as the one I felt on your cousin!”

Galen worked hard to control his reactions. Nevertheless, Mrs Bousrani still noticed his strange behavior.

“Did you really do something wrong? You… Do you have no respect for your pet?”

“That’s not it, Ma’am. I was simply hurt that you would think so low of me.” His mind worked on overdrive to find a way to lure her attention away. “I love my pet, not only because she is the last gift from my parents, but also because she filled the void they left in my heart with their death.”

“She?” Mrs Bousrani was startled, but she soon commented with disapproval. “I don’t think your feelings for your fairy are healthy, Galen.”

“You want to know how she grew so well?” the teenager added, ignoring her rebuttal. “I treat her like a person, I gave her a name. I’m sure I’m not wrong because my CSI recognized the name. She is Lucia.”

Hearing her name, Lucia came down on his shoulder and looked at him with inquiring eyes. Galen interacted with her to give himself some time to think. By giving up the information about his fairy’s name and playing the pitiful and traumatized card, Galen was hoping to give the people using his teacher and his cousin to spy on them enough to get them off their back. But he knew that even if his idea worked, it wouldn’t last long.

“Galen, cease your nonsense!” Mrs Bousrani soon admonished him.

“What nonsense?” Galen asked in an emotional voice. “Lucia got her well-developed mind because I talk to her, I give her books to look at, I teach her simple gestures to communicate with me. How is any of that nonsense? Didn’t her exam results prove I’m right to do that?”

“Is Artem acting like you with his Fire Fairy?”

“Of course, though Ayden doesn’t seem to like studying as much as Lucia.”

“Ayden?”

“That’s the name Artem gave to his fairy.”

Mrs Bousrani shook her head with worry and incredulity. She opened her mouth to retort but closed it without saying anything.

“I’m perceiving some strange sound waves. The insect or its beast master might be communicating with her.”

“Why are you so stunned?” Galen continued to give more time to Lyra. He hoped she could identify the sound waves. “The Peaceful Treaty is asking us to raise the intelligence of our pet. The CSI is there to ensure we treat it well. You even were worried that I was disrespecting my fairy. How could treating her like a person be strange and unhealthy? The beasts have a mind, they are intelligent, so of course they have feelings. Giving them names is a matter of course.”

“Galen, I didn’t ask you here to hold a debate about the beast’s status as an individual or the ethics behind giving it a name. I want to know how you trained your pet.”

“Her handler surely asked her to bring back the conversation on what they want to know,” Lyra commented. “But I couldn’t hear what they said, which is strange.”

“That was quite blunt of her,” Galen answered. “I suspect she isn’t their spy of her own volition or she has never acted as one before.”

“Didn’t I just answer you? What more do you want to know?” Galen asked in a bewildered tone to justify his pause when he answered Lyra.

“I asked you if you used any special pills,” Mrs Bousrani repeated in an impatient voice.

“Of course not. I’m training Lucia normally,” the teenager retorted, trying to look innocent.

“I doubt treating your pet like a person is normal,” the teacher muttered before asking her next question. “How did you raise its spiritual quality so fast?”

“She is quite dedicated and often cultivates, but I didn’t do anything special.” Galen shared his doubt with Lyra while he waited for Mrs Bousrani’s answer. “I wonder if I should throw them another bone to satisfy them or if I should stay adamant that we haven’t done anything more, not yet anyway.”

“Your pet was born a week later than the ones in your class, and it caught up to or overtook the others. How do you explain that?” Mrs Bousrani insisted.

“Talk about your research about the feys,” Lyra suggested.

“That’s dangerous,” Galen objected. “I don’t like giving them so much.”

“Don’t talk about Avalon, only about the differences between the feys and beasts and point that out as the reason for her high spiritual quality,” Lyra advised him as she knew this was the main reason for the fairies’ fast development. Moreover, the twins shouldn’t attract too much attention since there were other feys in the beast tamer class.

“I was wondering the same, so I looked for some answers in the library,” Galen explained to Mrs Bousrani as he had no better idea. “Do you know the fairies aren’t really beasts but feys?”

“Yes, of course. What about it?”

“Well. Since the feys were born from pure spiritual power and not created through mutation, I think we can hypothesize that the feys are more sensible to spiritual power. But I still haven’t found any theses or books to confirm my idea. I’m as puzzled as you.”

Mrs Bousrani asked him a few more questions, but as Galen didn’t reveal any more information, she let him leave her office. Lyra had tried to pinpoint the beast on the teacher without any success, so she believed that like Artem suggested, it had an invisibility spell, though it could also be a talent from its beast tamer.

Galen went to look for Artem on the running track, intending to eat lunch with him as it was already late in the morning. On the way, he thought about Mrs Bousrani and her strange behavior toward him. If she was acting as a spy against her will, that might explain a few things. For instance, it might be why she refused to let him work in the infirmary but still found him a job

.As for Miles, Galen wasn’t so prompt as to excuse him. His mother’s warning against the Family and the Third Elder’s letter made Galen suspicious. Moreover, Miles’s behavior had changed since their first year in high school.