"Hello, Greyson," Elaine greeted him as he entered her living room.

He walked over to the couch and sat down, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and crossing his ankles, staring at her.

"What animal do you have for me to heal today?"

"I wasn't able to acquire any injured ones today," she told him. "Instead of canceling the lesson like we usually do in that case, would you like to attempt a different spell?"

"I'm not into blood magics other than healing."

"I know," she smiled at him. "I'm referring to a different school. You're talented enough with your own roots and school that you might be able to learn this one in decent time. Blood magics and water magics are linked, after all."

Greyson nodded. Blood's linked schools were water, scourge, and nature. Everything in the linked schools linked with nature, but it was one of the most difficult schools to use. He knew that learning other schools would help him refine his control and increase his power, too. It was something Elaine hammered into him every session.

"Okay," he said. "What's the spell you want me to learn?"

Elaine went to the kitchen, and when she returned, she carried a ceramic plate and a pitcher of water. She set the plate on the table, then poured a little water onto the plate, just enough to coat half of the surface. She set the pitcher down as the water pooled in the center of the plate.

"This spell," she held a hand over the water, then drew her hand up. "Draws the water with your movements."

The water pulled up into a sort of slender cone. She lowered her hand, and the water receded back onto the plate. She performed this a few times, then taught Greyson how to do the spell.

"This is one of the most basic water spells," she told him. "Little practical use, but it does serve to help you grasp the basics and some control over water."

Greyson nodded, then practiced the spell. As he expected, the spell was exhausting to use. While he considered himself talented with healing others, learning new spells always left him drained. Part of that was because it was a new magic, which meant it took a lot of energy. As he grew used to the spell and the school, it would become easier and easier to use.

For two hours, Greyson and Elaine worked on the new spell, then Greyson paid her the three hundred dollars for his lesson and began to leave, then paused as he left.

"I found Cameron."

"You did?" Elaine asked in surprise.

"He hates you so absolutely," Greyson turned his gaze to her. "That he never wants to see you again. And he told me to tell you that using the serum made all of the voices in his head start talking, and that there's more than forty of them."

His message delivered, Greyson left, making his way back to the hotel. When he reached his room, he found Cameron sitting with his back against the door, knees pulled up to his chest, arms crossed on his knees, head resting on his arms, eyes closed.

"Cameron?" Greyson whispered.

"Yes?"

Greyson jumped at the sound of Cameron's voice directly in his head, then he slowly broke out into a grin.

"You finally did it," he said. "Let's go in and talk!"

Cameron stood up and stretched, and Greyson let him into the room.

"So how'd you figure it out?" Greyson asked once they were inside.

"The voices told me."

"They what?" Greyson asked. "Didn't they normally just guide your sense of direction or annoy you?"

"It was a different voice," Cameron said. "I'd only heard him once before, and he stopped once I got things down. I practiced on dogs at the dog park, not on people."

Greyson snorted.

"So what'd he say that helped you?"

"To not use my empathy," Cameron answered. "And to do it more like my ram. To push my thoughts into someone else's mind."

Cameron's right ear cocked a little, and Greyson knew he was listening to a voice even before the frustrated glare formed on his friend's face. That sent Greyson into giggles, and Cameron scoffed and climbed up onto the bed, curling up and resting until Blake returned from wherever he'd been.

Greyson didn't ask, and he didn't want to know.

Though he did like the burgers that Blake came in with and was practically drooling before the three of them had gathered around for dinner. After dinner, they chatted, played games, and helped Cameron practice his telepathy, now that he managed to figure out the spell.

After Cameron went to bed, Greyson started practicing the water spell he'd learned for a bit, just until he was too tired to continue.

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The next day passed by quickly for the three of them, and when it was time to head to the fights, they left and made their way to the warehouse.

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Cameron bounced on his feet, nervous about the fight to come.

It was one thing to just challenge someone who was there, but another to have a schedule set up for it. And what was more, the place was packed with spectators, more than he'd ever seen before. Even with his empathy reined in as much as possible, he was still overwhelmed.

Though once people realized who they were standing beside, they quickly cleared a path for him to watch from the edge of the ring itself, and he sensed joy, greed, and awe in the minds of those around him.

A few minds, he knew would challenge him after he beat Eden. If he beat Eden that time. He knew Eden had silkspeech, which meant Eden might also have started to learn to create a mental shield. Since he already had the branch, that made it easier for him to learn something like that.

As the brawling matches went on, Cameron slowly let his mind expand out, reading into the thoughts of those he sensed with his empathy, mixing the two magics together. At one point, he noticed people reacting to another presence similarly to his, and that told him why everyone was there.

"Eden's finally shown up! The big match is going to happen for sure, it's not just a rumor."

"Does Eden really think they can beat Cam this time?"

"Eden must have a way to defend against Cam's blasts."

Someone leaked out that the match was happening, and judging by Blake's thoughts, he knew exactly who it was. The warehouse became packed because they knew Eden and Cam were going for Round 3.

"Hello, Eden," Cameron pushed his thoughts into Eden's mind as Eden was let to the front of the crowd opposite him.

Eden turned his gaze to Cameron.

"I can hear your thoughts, Eden."

"Hello, Cam."

"Blake told people about our match."

"So that explains why it's so packed."

"There are six agents here."

"I've only known about the one."

"From what I can tell, they weren't here before," Cameron hesitated. "I'm not so good at this telepathy thing yet, so it's a bit jumbled, but I think they came to watch our fight and trail us home."

"I can teleport, they won't be able to follow me."

Cameron hesitated for a moment. He didn't know Eden could teleport. It meant that he'd have to hit Eden before Eden could teleport.

"Will you guys be okay?"

"Two of them have mental shields," Cameron admitted. "So I'm not sure. I was able to deter the usual agent last time, but… I dunno. Not with them."

"Can you point the two out to me?"

Cameron did his best to describe the two, and could tell that Eden was looking around for them, trying to spot them without giving himself away.

"I have to stop now," Cameron told him. "Or I'm going to exhaust myself."

"Okay. I'll see what I can do about the shielded agents."

Cameron pulled his thoughts back, though left his empathy extended, filling the warehouse. So many minds threatened to overwhelm him, but he pushed through.

As the fights began, Cameron noticed one of the people who ran the thing approaching Eden. The man leaned down and spoke to Eden, and Cameron briefly considered extending his mind out, but refrained. Hopefully, it was nothing bad.

Eden gave a little nod, and the man left. Cameron tracked him, the man seeming to be pleased with something as he went to the back of the crowd and walked around everyone, eventually coming up to Cameron.

"Cam," he leaned down, speaking directly beside where he thought the smaller mage's ear would be. "Word went out about you two planning on fighting today. Rather than one of you challenging people until no one else would fight, then the other fighting, we were wondering if you'd rather do a separate match against each other after the mage block ended.

"Eden has already agreed to this," the man informed him. "If you agree to it, then we'll go through with it. You'll each be paid five hundred for the fight, as we'll consider it an exhibition match. The winner will also receive their usual share of winnings. Does this sound satisfactory?"

Cameron wasn't sure why they'd pay him just for the fight, but decided it sounded good. He was guaranteed five hundred dollars just for the fight, even if Eden did have a way to defend against his assault.

So he nodded, and the man told him that they'll announce the fight when it's time, then left. When he returned his gaze to Eden, Cameron saw him bouncing on his feet, and the sense he got from the other boy's mind told him that he wanted to talk.

"What?" He projected, tapping into the spatial mage's mind.

"You agreed to it!"

"We were going to fight anyway."

"Well, maybe," Eden admitted. "But this is more fun, I think. I'm not going to go down as easily this time."

"So you figured out how to shield yourself against me and managed to get it past my capabilities to breach in two days?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I'm going back to waiting."

Cameron pulled out of Eden's mind, then resumed watching the brawlers. Blake fought a few rounds before being taken out, then joined Greyson and Cameron on the sides. Cameron noticed Greyson telling Blake something, but didn't catch what. Probably about the man coming over and talking to Cameron.

The mage section began, and for four hours, magicians battled each other, until no one wanted to challenge a woman who used a form of air cannon as her primary spell. Cameron could tell the crowd and spectators were starting to wonder if the rumored match was a myth, especially since neither of them stepped in to fight.

"It looks like that's all for tonight!" The ref announced after no one challenged her. "And so! Without further ado! The fight you have all wanted to see tonight! Eden and Cam will be going for Round 3!"

Eden teleported into the ring, startling the ref, and Cam walked into the ring. The crowd went silent, and Cam could tell part of it was because of Eden's blatant display of spatial magic. He wouldn't have done that unless he was confident no one would be able to track him down.

People who wielded lone schools of magic were rare enough, and it meant that he'd be hunted.

"You better know what to do if someone comes after you," Cameron told Eden.

"I've had to deal with fae before," Eden smiled under his mask, though Cameron didn't know what that meant. "I promise, Cam – I can handle myself."

"Alright, people!" The ref recovered from the shock of the sudden teleportation. "Cam and Eden will be fighting to see if Eden can best Cam yet! Betting ends in three minutes! Will Eden and their speed and teleportation be able to take down Cam, or will Cam's blasts and pressure prove too much for the once-unbeaten champ?"

People began betting with the bookkeepers as Cameron and Eden watched each other from under their hoods and masks. Cameron was impressed with how much the ref could talk about nothing in general while still making it sound like he was giving real information about the two fighters.

When betting closed, the ref stepped out of the ring and called for the match to start.