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"So the residue doesn't interfere with magic."

Nyra shakes her head. "It consumes access to it."

"Possibly." Neris corrects. But her face says she believes it.

Cassian looks pale. "Feeds." One word. Everyone hears it. My skin prickles.

Rhyven turns toward him. "What."

Cassian swallows. "If it's taking magic..." He looks toward the staff. "What if that's what this is?"

Professor Neris becomes very still. "Say it."

Cassian does. "What if it feeds." There. Not Hollowborn. Not yet. But something. A behavior. A purpose.

My father looks toward the residue again. "That would explain the ward reports."

Professor Neris nods slowly. "And the historical manifestation failures."

Nyra adds. "The botanical changes."

"Livestock." Cassian.

"Environmental depletion." Vayne.

One by one. Pieces moving. Not answering everything. But connecting.

Professor Neris turns toward the old copies Nyra brought. "Absence." Nyra looks at her. Neris says it again. "Your word." Nyra nods. "What if absence isn't the result?" Professor Neris asks. "What if it's the mechanism?" No one speaks.

My stomach twists. Jonas. Elara. Lysa. Mara. Aelindra. Not simply taken. Potentially...fed upon?

No. We don't know. Don't jump. Nyra would murder me. Still. The possibility sits there. Ugly.

Professor Vayne dismisses us twenty minutes later.

Not because the conversation is finished. Because the Council wants the room. Professor Neris stays. My father stays. Headmaster stays. The specialists begin building new tests. We leave with more answers than we've ever had. And more reasons to be afraid.

The corridor outside is silent. Cassian walks with Nyra several steps ahead. Caelen is called away almost immediately. That leaves me with Rhyven.

For several moments we walk. Nothing about last night. Nothing about the memory. Everything about both.

"You caught me." I say eventually.

He looks sideways. "You keep making a habit of falling."

I smile faintly. "You keep making a habit of catching me."

His gaze holds mine. There. The training field enters the corridor without either of us inviting it. Wall. Breathing. Heat. Almost. Rhyven looks forward again. "Rest."

I stop walking. He takes another step. Then notices.

Turns. "That's it?"

His brow lifts. "What else were you expecting?" Asshole. He knows. He absolutely knows.

"Nothing." I start walking past him. "Coward."

Silence. I make it three steps. Then—