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His expression doesn't change. "I'm always careful."

"Not like this." Silence. I watch him.

He reaches for another practice blade. "Evaluation tomorrow."

"That's not all."

His jaw tightens. Very slightly. Friday. Oh.

"Rhyven."

"What."

"Three points don't make a pattern."

"I know."

"Nyra says that constantly."

"She's right."

"You think someone's going missing tomorrow."

"I didn't say that."

"No." I stand. "You didn't." He finally looks at me. There is no magic required to read him. No strange thread beneath my ribs. No borrowed fear. I know that face now. Too still. Too controlled. He is worried.

"You can't watch everyone." I say softly.

"I know."

"You're acting like you can."

"No."

"Then why are you looking at me like I might vanish if you blink?" The words leave before I think about them. Silence. A long one. Rhyven doesn't move. Neither do I. Something shifts between us. Not magic. Something worse. Awareness.

"Because three people vanished." He finally says.

His voice is quiet. Different.

"And?"

"And we don't know how."

"That's true."

"Or why."

"Also true."

"No species. No age. No House." His jaw tightens. "No pattern." There it is. I understand. If there is no pattern no one is excluded.

"I'm not going to disappear." The moment I say it, I hate it. Because Jonas probably thought the same.

Elara. Lysa. Rhyven's expression says exactly that.

"I know." He doesn't. Not really. Neither do I.