“Can I come out now?” Moxie asked through the door of the bathroom, nearly startling Ulya out of her chair. “Despite how it may appear, I don’t actually enjoy sitting in here.”

“Yeah,” Noah said without waiting for a response from Ulya. When she shot him a look, he just raised an eyebrow in response. “What? You can’t think Moxie is the one doing these attacks. If you did, it would have been pretty dumb coming here on your own.”

“I didn’t say that, but she’s a Torrin. The chances of the culprit being from her family are abnormally high.”

The door opened and Moxie stepped out of the bathroom. “I was functionally exiled from the Torrins. If they had some murder strolling around Arbitage messing with shit, I can assure you that they wouldn’t be very well disposed toward me.”

Ulya’s features paled. “You could overhear our conversation?”

“It’s a bathroom door, not a soundproof wall,” Moxie said dryly. “Though sometimes I certainly wish it was.”

“Relax, Ulya,” Noah said. “Moxie is who she claims to be, and we haven’t been apart for anywhere near long enough for her to go around killing people and replacing them with puppets. I know all of her Runes as well – none of them would allow them to do what you were describing to Will. On top of that, she’s still just Rank 3. There’s no way she has the ability to do what you’re claiming, even if she wanted to.”

That didn’t seem to completely sate Ulya, but her shoulders relaxed slightly. “I still want to test her.”

“No,” Noah said. “I don’t trust you enough to let you near Moxie’s neck with a dagger. If she’s willing, I can do it myself.”

Moxie tilted her head to the side. “Can’t say I’m a huge fan of it, but I’ll try everything once. Well, most things. Don’t use that against me.”

“I’m definitely using it against you.”

Moxie glared at Noah and pulled a dagger from her side. Noah took it and turned to Ulya. “Is this going to be enough? Because if you’re going to complain about it later, then I’m not even going to bother. We’re only doing this for your sake.”

“Just make sure I can see the blood,” Ulya said flatly. She rose to her feet, her fingers twitching at her sides. Noah wasn’t sure if she could actually do anything without a puppet present, but there was no point pressing the issue.

Moxie pulled her hair out of the way and Noah carefully pressed the dagger against the back of her neck, drawing a thin line across it with just enough pressure to draw a droplet of blood. He lowered the blade.

“Happy?”

“No,” Ulya said. “But I suppose that will work for now. At least for the duration of our current conversation, I’ll believe that neither of you have been taken over.”

Damn, she’s suspicious. I can hardly doubt her given the circumstances, though. This is a pretty serious issue, and even knowing that it’s Wizen doesn’t help me all that much. We never found out what he wanted, who he really was, or what he can do.

“You next,” Noah said. “Not that I actually think you’re a puppet, but at this point it’s just a matter of pride.”

Ulya huffed and pulled her hair back, turning around and running a dagger along the back of her neck – where there were already several other small cuts. It drew a line of blood. She turned back to them as she sheathed the dagger, expression flat.

“What’s the plan, then?” Moxie asked, taking her own dagger back from Noah and sliding it into a sheath at her waist. “Did you just come here to tell us that you need our… teacher’s help?”

“And yours,” Ulya said. “It seems like the person who killed Will has some degree of interest in you, Moxie. I don’t know why, but it’s basically the only lead we have to go off. When the Enforcers get involved, we’ll all need to work together.”

“I’ve never been opposed to killing assholes, so you can count on us,” Noah said with a shrug. He paused, then tilted his head to the side. “Well, at least as long as we don’t have to detract from our practice. I’ve got students to teach, and the show must go on.”

“Aren’t you a little unconcerned about this?” Ulya asked. “We don’t know what this man is capable of. There could be a Rank 6 mage after you – is there really nothing you can think of that drew his attention?”

“I don’t think I’d use unconcerned. More like I’m used to it,” Noah said with a shake of his head. “And there’s no point panicking. We don’t know what this guy wants, and I’m not a detective. The best thing I can do is be prepared and ensure all my students are prepared as well. Nothing else would change the situation.”

Ulya’s features scrunched. “Yeah, sure. He could be anyone, though. I can’t just go around cutting people to test them every time we speak. I mean, I could, but it wouldn’t work. And if I did try to cut someone that happened to be under his control, I could get killed before I react. The only people we know are safe are the ones in this room – and I don’t even know you!”Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“So why lose sleep worrying over it?” Noah asked. “It’s just putting you in a worse position. If there’s nothing you can do to improve a situation, the least you can do is try to avoid making it worse. And there are definitely things you can do to prepare. Where are your puppets?”

Ulya blinked, then shook her head. “Oh, right. I left it out.”

Her hand flicked, and a shadow passed over the window. Noah and Moxie both turned to see churning mandibles chittering against it, just beyond them a maze of jagged teeth. It had black, sleek flesh the color of the night and wore ratty gray clothes, but Noah couldn’t make out what its form was actually meant to be with how close it was.

“God, what is that?” Noah grimaced.

“Could you let it in?” Ulya asked. “It’s not very good at opening things without breaking them.”

Moxie sent Ulya a doubtful look, then extended a vine tendril to pull the door open. The creature on the other side of the window chittered and shifted, several limbs working their way into the room with a series of clicks and pops.

The puppet vaguely resembled a preying mantis that had been clothed in the robes of a human. It stood a foot taller than Noah, and he could feel the magic radiating off it from where he stood.

As they watched, the puppet seemed to fold in on itself. Pieces shrank in and limbs snapped together until it was only a little over five feet tall. What appeared to be a child in an oversized cloak sat on Moxie’s bed, the hood pulled far over its face to obscure its features.

The puppet hopped to its feet and walked over to stand beside Ulya. If Noah hadn’t been watching its motions, he likely wouldn’t have even realized that it was anything other than a small child.

“That might be the creepiest thing I’ve seen in a while, and that’s saying a lot,” Noah said. “Is that your main puppet?”

“Yes,” Ulya replied, putting a hand on the puppet’s shoulder. “And before you ask, I didn’t murder a child to make it. It’s just that a smaller form is easier to move around and hide.”

“Do you get that question a lot?” Moxie asked.

Ulya pursed her lips. “Yes.”

“Well, I hope I don’t have to see it in action,” Noah said, but he did have to admit that he was more curious than he would have admitted as to what Ulya was capable of when she went all out.

She had to have been accepted to the advanced track for some reason, and nothing she’d shown thus far had seemed like she was any stronger than the other people he’d come up against. It was possible that their standards weren’t nearly as good as what they wanted people to think, but from how Alexandra had described Gero’s abilities, he suspected that it would be unwise to underestimate the advanced track professors.

But, if that’s the case…

“Why was Will in the advanced track in the first place?” Noah asked. “Was it because he had really competent students?”

“No. He wasn’t actually a professor,” Ulya said, looking slightly surprised at the change of topic. “He was a researcher. A good one. We invited him because of how much he’d deduced about Rune theory on his own.”

“Do you think it was possible he was targeted?” Moxie asked. “Was he working on anything special?”

“I’m not sure. I think he was studying artifacts recently, but nothing that should have made him a target,” Ulya admitted. “We were friendly, but Will was pretty secretive with his work. I can speak with Gero and the other advanced track professors, but I’m not sure how much information we’ll get from any of them. Oh, speaking of which – you’re all in, if that wasn’t already obvious. None of you failed the tests, and you pretty much all outperformed them.”

“Thrilling,” Noah said. “Do we get anything upon entry?”

“There’s a meeting tomorrow,” Ulya replied. “You can ask then. Normally, it would be a little more exciting than this. I don’t suppose you’d be able to get your teacher to show up?”

“I was under the impression we were trying to keep things on the down low,” Noah said, stretching his arms over his head. He’d been standing around for too long. He wanted to do something. This wasn’t at all how he’d pictured the morning going.

“The advanced track is not a cohesive unit,” Ulya admitted reluctantly. “A lot of us are… how would you put it? At odds.”

“Reassuring,” Noah said.

“It’s just how things are when you put a bunch of competent people in one room,” Ulya said as she raised her hands in a defensive wave. “Half of them think you’re worthless and cheated your way up somehow, and I don’t even want to get into what the others think. I was one of them, if I’m being honest – but you can’t cheat your way through crushing one of my puppets like that. Right now, the only ones I can properly trust to not be the murderer are you two and Gero.”

Moxie’s eyes narrowed. “Wait. Are you saying you think the person that killed Will might be another part of the advanced track?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible,” Ulya said. “That’s why any support we could get is vital. If your teacher could show up and just attend, I’ll cover for it. The sooner we can all meet, the better,” Ulya said.

“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises,” Noah said. “As I’ve said, it can be difficult to get in contact with him.”

Ulya nodded, then let out a sigh. “This is not how I pictured any of this going. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you’ve all gotten wrapped up in this. Getting into the advanced track should be something to celebrate.”

“We’ve dealt with worse,” Moxie said with a dry laugh. “Vermil can be a bit heartless, but he does have a point. There’s no point getting distracted by what you can’t change. Just focus on what you can.”

“Thanks,” Ulya said, but she didn’t seem too convinced. “Sorry again about how rough the introduction to the program has been. With any luck, we’ll be able to handle this easily and things can continue as normal. I’m going to go get back to fixing my other puppets. They took quite the beating.”

She didn’t wait for a response before slipping out the door. Her small puppet pulled it shut behind her with a gentle click, and Noah listened her footsteps fade down the hall before he spoke again.

“Well, that was something.”

“I don’t suppose you planned it?” Moxie asked.

“Unfortunately not. I think our friend from the survival exam might be back,” Noah said, starting to dig through his bag. “I don’t like it, but I think I know what the next steps are.”

“Jalen?” Moxie guessed.

“Probably worth trying, but I can’t speak with Jalen until he shows up, and that’s not for a bit longer. There’s another source of information that could be useful for this,” Noah said. He pulled a folded slip of paper over, uncreasing it to reveal a Rune on its surface. “I’m going to speak with Father.”