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Eventually he sighs. "I don't like rooms when they get too quiet." I say nothing. "Not normal quiet." He continues. "Bad quiet. The kind where everyone is thinking the same terrible thing and nobody wants to be the first person to say it." I think of the dining hall. Jonas's empty chair. "I hate that."

"So you joke."

"Usually."

"Even when you're scared." I add softly.

"Especially when I'm scared." There. Finally. Something beneath Cassian.

"Does it help?"

"Hm?" He mutters.

"The jokes."

He thinks about it. "Sometimes." He says quietly.

"And when they don't?"

"I try again."

"That's a terrible system."

"I know." He nudges my shoulder with his. "It was working until you people made me emotionally self-aware."

"You're welcome." I smile.

"I hate all of you."

"No, you don't."

He sighs. "No."

The second ward marker is normal. Then the third. Nothing. And for once nothing feels good. We reach the halfway post. Sign the patrol ledger. Turn back.

On the return route, we pass another student patrol heading east. Two second-years from Dawn Wing. One vampire. One human. I recognize the human from somewhere. Classes, maybe. She smiles as we pass. "Anything?"

Cassian lifts his lantern. "Rain."

She looks toward the sky. "Terrifying."

"Be careful." I smile.

"We'll try."

We continue west. At twenty-one twelve... the rain stops. Not gradually. One moment it's falling. The next...nothing.

Cassian looks up. "Finally."

Water drips from branches around us. The ward hum continues. Normal. I almost take down my hood. Then—A bell rings from the Academy. Far away. One strike. We stop. Cassian's face changes. A second strike. Then a third. Not curfew. Not patrol change. Recall. "Shit." Cassian turns immediately. We run.

By the time we reach the eastern watch post, wardkeepers are already moving. Keeper Gideon takes our tokens. "Academy." He calls.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Go." He says.

"Gideon–" I start.