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The residue sample is next. I am not allowed to touch it. Good. Rhyven would've physically thrown me out of the room anyway. Instead, Cassian takes the lead.

Siren work. He stands near the barrier. Eyes closed.

Listening. Not to sound. Presence. The gap. He's become better at this. I can tell because it takes him less time now. Thirty seconds. Then his expression changes."Same." He says.

"As Theryn?" Nyra asks.

"No." His eyes stay closed. "Smaller."

"Because Oren wasn't taken?" Professor Neris asks.

Cassian opens his eyes. "Maybe." He steps closer. Stops at the barrier. "The absence isn't shaped like a person." Interesting.

"What does it feel like?" I ask.

Cassian thinks. "Like someone started cutting something out and stopped halfway." Nobody likes that.

Rhyven leans against the table. "So resistance changed the trace."

Nyra looks toward him. "Possibly."

He glances at her. "Thank you." She nods. Apparently they're both training each other now.

The soil sample shows depletion. The residue shows active suppression. Oren's blood shows magical disruption. Three effects. Related. Not identical. That is important. Maybe more important than any answer we've gotten so far. Because it means the Hollowborn aren't doing one thing. They're interacting with magic differently depending on what they touch. Taking. Suppressing. Disturbing. Testing. That last word enters my mind. I don't say it. Not yet. Professor Neris does. "Adaptive behavior." Silence.

Caelen looks up. "What?"

She points toward the samples. "Different outcomes. Different contact. Different magical systems. Different resistance."

Nyra's expression hardens. "You think they're learning."

"I think we need to consider it." There. Not confirmation. Enough.

Rhyven goes very still. That particular kind of stillness. Thinking. Not good. "What did Oren do differently?" He asks.

Neris answers. "Physical contact."

"That's all?"

"We don't know."

"Did he use magic?"

"No. His manifestation had already failed."

"Weapon?"

"No."

"Anything enchanted?"

"Gauntlet." Everyone looks toward the third case. There is another item inside. I hadn't noticed. Part of Oren's armor. Right-hand gauntlet. Its enchantment is gone. Completely.

Professor Vayne lifts the meter. "No recoverable output."

"So the gauntlet was drained." Nyra says.

"While Oren was disrupted." I add. Three effects. Same second. Gods.