“So, how much of that do you think was Verrud trying to play us against someone else?” Moxie asked once several seconds had passed after the other professor’s departure.

Noah rubbed his chin. Ulya was still standing in the corner, but he was pretty sure she was at least temporarily on their side. She didn’t have any puppets beyond the one beside her and probably didn’t think too much of the other professors if they kept using her as an errand girl.

Probably relatively safe to speak honestly as long as I avoid giving anything too important away.

“He definitely wants something from us that he hasn’t said. That guy was trying way too hard to come off as magnanimous and considerate. I mean, it’s great that he’s told us that someone’s gunning for Emily, but I figure we would have figured that out soon. Really soon.”

“During the meeting tonight, probably,” Moxie said with a nod. “The Torrins aren’t discreet about their opinions. If someone’s looking to make a fool out of Emily, they’re going to try to act hard and fast. There’s no way they’ll wait all the way until the first exam.”

“I’m of the same mind,” Noah said. “Which means this guy probably called the meeting now just to make sure his kind advice actually felt useful when it’s actually completely worthless. Ulya, how do you feel about picking sides?”

“Are there sides to pick?” Ulya replied with a weary laugh. “It’s the advanced track. Everyone is on their own side. Verrud was right about one thing. We’re in this because we want to push ourselves to be better – and that generally comes at the cost of taking out the ones in our way.”

Noah pushed his chair back and rose from the table. “Right. I get that, but I’ve always been pretty bad at following instructions. Moxie and I are just two people, and we don’t know anything about the advanced track. You do.”

Ulya tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms. She leaned against the back wall, watching Noah through half-lidded eyes. “Where are you going with this? You want me to throw my lot in with you? Have you forgotten that you’ve destroyed a solid half of my puppets?”

“At least one of those was your fault,” Noah replied. “Blame the people that sent you to me, not me.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Ulya admitted. She stepped out of the shadows and into the light cast by candles on the table, meeting Noah’s gaze with steely eyes. “So what do you want, then? And why should I help you?”

“First, you owe me a favor.” Noah held a hand up and ticked off one of his fingers. “You came to me for help when Wizen showed up, and I helped. Second, I can help you rebuild your missing puppets. The only thing you need is Runes, right?”

“You say that like it’s easy to get Runes,” Ulya said with a short laugh. “Catchpaper is expensive and hunting is dangerous, especially for monsters that are strong enough to give worthwhile Runes – unless you plan to spend months getting Rank 1 Runes?”

“Forget how difficult it is for a moment. I didn’t ask you if it was hard to get Runes or not,” Noah said. “I said I needed someone in the advanced track on our side, and I’m partial to you because you aren’t a raging scumbag. That doesn’t mean I need you.”

Ulya’s brow furrowed as she studied Noah for a few seconds. He could see the thoughts churning in her head, likely recalling his so-called ‘teacher’ and Jalen’s presence at the last advanced track meeting.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Ulya asked. “You could just be trying to use me for information and then leave.”

Noah stared at Ulya. “I wasn’t lying about not needing you, Ulya. We’ve already worked together and you seem like an intelligent woman. That doesn’t mean I can’t find someone else to work with. Someone in the advanced track will take me up on my offer. Do you really think I climbed from Rank 1 to where I am now so quickly without any ability? Verrud clearly disagrees.”

Neither of them spoke for several seconds. Then Ulya’s lips pressed thin and she gave him a sharp nod.

“Fine. I’ll play, at least for now. What do you want?”

“Verrud. Who’s he in with?”

“He’s a Herron.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed as old memories churned. The Herrons were the 2nd strongest family in the kingdom, just behind the King family. And, more importantly, he knew the Herron name. It had been a while since he’d heard it, but he hadn’t forgotten that Silvertide had told him that he suspected a Mind Mage from the Herrons called Calo had been involved with the manipulation of the survival exam a short while ago.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Noah said. “The Herrons were the ones that screwed with the exam.”

“Hold on. Why would he warn you of the Torrins planning to mess with Emily if he’s working with them?” Ulya asked. “Are you sure the Herrons have something against Emily?”

It’s not Emily they were after. It’s Isabel’s Master Rune – but I don’t trust Ulya nearly enough to tell her that.

Noah didn’t respond for a few seconds. He sifted through the information he had, lining up the puzzle pieces. A grin crossed his lips and he let out a bark of laughter before speaking again. He made sure to keep his voice low enough that, just in case someone was listening from the stairs or anywhere else nearby, they wouldn’t be able to pick up on it.

“Yes. I’m sure. Silvertide was the one that got me that information – but Verrod doesn’t know that. We never publicly made any moves. He has no reason to suspect we know the Herrons want us to fail.”

“They’re partnered with the Torrin family, then. Moxie’s eyes lit up with understanding. “That’s what this meeting was for. He was trying to get into our good graces so they’d have someone on the inside and focus our attention on the Torrins.”

“That’s a lot of work just to humiliate one disgraced heir,” Ulya said. She flicked her hand and her puppet clicked to life, striding across the room and heading up the stairs. Noah followed its path with a curious gaze, then raised his eyebrow in question.

“Making sure we aren’t being listened in on,” Ulya said. “If I’m throwing my lot in with you, I’m not getting screwed on the first move.”

Noah grinned. “Good. Now, who’s the Torrin we need to be aware of?”

“The professor’s name is Jakob. He’s got two students – Marley and Yulin. Marley is in Exal’s family branch, and he–”

“Is the current head of the Torrins,” Moxie finished with a nod. She tapped a finger on her chin. “So Marley is probably trying to make sure he secures his position by showing up Emily. What rank is he?”

“Two,” Ulya said.

Noah and Moxie exchanged a glance. The Advanced Track students were definitely ahead of the normal curve – but, at the same time, Noah was pretty confident Emily would be able to take out another Rank 2. Between her pattern and her flawless Runes, he was confident she’d win.

Winning wasn’t enough. If the Herrons were trying to kill Isabel or steal her Master Rune from her, then there was only a single option that Noah could see before him.

Completely and utterly crush them, just like the Torrins before them.

“Do you know if a mage called Calo is in the advanced track?” Noah asked.

Ulya shook her head. “No. The only members from the Herron family are Verrud and his students. I know of Calo – there’s no way a Rank 5 Mind Mage would be wasting time for something like this.”

You might change your mind if you realized this was a game for an incredibly powerful Master Rune, not a pissing contest between two prospective family heirs.

That said… Rank 5?

A grin stretched across Noah’s lips. Wizen was one thing, but he could handle a Rank 5 if he approached the battle on his terms. He just had to make sure he didn’t play his cards too early. From what he’d learned, Mind Magic was for utility – they couldn’t control people unless their guard was completely down or they had a long time to work.

Verrud’s warning likely meant that Jakob and his students would be trying to make some form of move during the advanced track meeting. He’d already expected there to be opposition from people that didn’t think he and his group belonged, but this changed things.

“Right. We’re playing good cop, bad cop,” Noah said.

“We’re doing what now?” Ulya asked.

He scrunched his nose. “Verrud is pretending to be nice. Jakob and his group are going to be the assholes. They’re going to pull out all the stops to crush Emily in the first round to prove that Verrud’s warning was ‘good’ and then we’ll trust him.”

“And when you trust him, they screw you over even harder later?” Ulya asked, catching on.

“Probably,” Noah said.

Likely by picking a moment during an exam when Isabel is trusting them to watch her back. Her guard would be down and it would be easy to make her disappear and claim she just couldn’t hold up in the advanced track.

“We should be careful,” Moxie said. “The fact they’re doing all this means they know we’re not pushover opponents.”

“That’s fine,” Noah said. “They think we took the bait, and that means we’ve got them exactly where we want them. Nothing suits our position better than pretending to be the mouse in the face of a cat.”

“You’ve got a plan, then?” Ulya raised an eyebrow. “The look on your face has me interested despite my better judgement. What is it?”

“We shift the game. This whole thing only works if they can make a joke out of Emily to prove we need Verrud’s help. They’ll keep trying to do that as long as they don’t think their cover is blown.”

“Logically,” Ulya said. “But how are you going to avoid it? If they’ve gone to these lengths, then Marley is going to be strong. He’s likely to win in the fight.”

“That’s certainly possible,” Noah agreed with a smile. “But we won’t be playing their game. We play things our way instead.”

“And what way is that?” Ulya asked doubtfully.

The look in Moxie’s eyes told Noah she knew what he was going to say a second before he said it, but that didn’t reduce the relish in his voice by even an ounce.

“If they never even get a chance to properly challenge Emily today, then they won’t be able to do shit.” Noah’s grin grew even wider. “We’re going to be causing a little chaos. This meeting is going to be fun.”