Moxie pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows in a scowl. “You’re disgusting.”

“What? I just want to ask some questions about Runes. I’m the one that killed the Skinwalker, anyway. Isn’t there a reward or something for doing that? You’re going to make me give it up.”

Moxie fell silent for a moment. “What kind of questions?”

“Not sure, haven’t figured them out yet. I might have gotten hit on the head pretty hard a bit ago, and there are some gaps in my memory.”

Moxie’s eyes narrowed even further. “What?”

“Hey, I’m the one that gets to ask questions, not you. How about ten minutes of your time tomorrow? You come to my room and answer any question I ask, and I’ll pretend the Skinwalker thing never happened.”

“Absolutely not. I’m not just going to give you all my knowledge of Rune combinations.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “Fine. Nothing will be specifically about your Runes.”

“What? What’s the point of it, then?”

“None of your concern. Deal or no?”

Moxie pursed her lips. “Deal.”

“Lovely. See you tomorrow.” Noah stepped back inside his room and closed the door with a thud. He twisted the lock shut and pressed a hand to his chest, trying to still his thundering heart.

Holy shit. Why are there bloody Skinwalkers running around the school? Shouldn’t it be safe here? What’s going on?

Noah heard Moxie’s footsteps leaving the hall. He waited for a few more seconds before pushing away from the door. He stared at the handle.

Do all other teachers have keys to people’s doors? I need an extra lock. It didn’t look like Moxie recognized the gourd when we first met, so I don’t think she’s the one that tried to kill me, but she could always be a good actor.

Noah unhooked his gourd and walked into the bathroom. He knelt, opening a large cabinet below the sink, and slipped it inside. The cabinet would be just big enough for him to fit into if he curled up. That was better than just coming back to life in the middle of the room if someone stabbed him in his sleep.

He trudged back to his bed and flopped into it. The night was already well underway, but he was determined to get at least a little sleep on a comfy surface before something else interrupted him.

Within seconds, he was snoring.

***

Noah awoke to the sound of knocking. He blinked wearily, rolling over to bury his face in the soft pillow of his bed. Awareness followed a moment later and he pushed himself out of bed with a curse, grabbing the same coat he’d worn the previous day and throwing it over his shoulders as he stumbled over to the door, wiping his eyes.

As he extended a hand for the handle, Noah paused. His eyes narrowed and he knelt, squinting through the crack at the bottom of the door. The shoes on the other side were – well, women’s shoes.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to find, actually. Maybe Skinwalkers all really enjoy a particular type of sandal.

“Who is it?” Noah called, standing back up.

“Who do you think it is, imbecile?”

“Ah. Hello, Moxie,” Noah said, opening the door. He sent a pointed glance at the pile of papers at its base. “Avoid my expertly set up traps on the way in, if you would.”

Moxie gave him a flat stare as she entered the room. “You have ten minutes to ask questions. After that, there’s no debt between us.”

“Fantastic,” Noah said. He pushed the door shut behind Moxie and grabbed the chair from his desk, spinning it around and sitting to face the other teacher. He made no move to offer her a seat – he got the feeling the motion would only offend Moxie.

“Well?” Moxie asked. “Your time has started.”

“Question one: Why are there monsters in the school? Shouldn’t it be safe here?”

Moxie squinted at Noah, as if trying to tell if he were joking or not. When it became clear that he wasn’t making fun of her, she shook her head. “It’s safer here, not safe. The Skinwalkers are a new issue, but it’s not that uncommon for monsters to make their way on to campus grounds. They want our Runes just as much as we want theirs.”

“You mean the energy we get from killing them.”

Moxie rolled her eyes. “Yes. The power stored within Runes goes both ways. It wouldn’t really make sense otherwise, would it?”

“Well, the way you put it made it sound like we could actually take the Runes straight from monsters.”

“Not unless they’re Master Runes. How do you not know this, Vermil?” Moxie squinted at Noah. “How hard did you hit your head? The questions you’re asking are at the level I’d expect from a child and, as much as I’d like that to be an insult, it isn’t.”

“It’s just some old memories are fuzzy. Really fuzzy.” Noah said, waving his hand dismissively. He tapped his fingers against his leg.

“If I didn’t know better, I might have thought you were a Skinwalker.” Moxie crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. “But even Skinwalkers are smarter than this. Go ahead, then. I’m not sure what your angle is, but I’ll play along. What’s your question?”

Master Runes? If that means bigger, then my Sunder Rune certainly sounds like one of those. Not sure if it’s worth pushing my luck asking, but I’ve already gotten this deep…

“Are there any monsters with Master Runes nearby?”

“I certainly hope not.” Moxie’s brows furrowed in worry. “The last thing I want to do is have to fight one of those creatures. It depends how strong it was, but some of them could level Arbitage. You can’t be thinking of trying to get one for yourself – the closest is the Hellreaver Ape, and that one would still pound you into paste. It’s a Rank 2, probably close to Rank 3, with a Master Rune. Not that the Linwick family would care much, but that’s unbelievably stupid.”

“No, nothing like that.” Noah stood and started to walk in circles, forcing Moxie to turn to keep her eye on him. Her eye twitched slightly in annoyance, but he didn’t even notice. “Okay. I know you won’t talk about your personal Runes, but the books I got didn’t actually talk about making a new Rune. How do I do that?”

Moxie stared at Noah, wordless. He stopped walking and tilted his head to the side.

“Come on. That’s a fair question, and you’re wasting my ten minutes.”

“You need to either find an existing Rune that’s been Imbued so you can learn it, or you find one that naturally forms in the world. Most of the research goes into the combinations of the basic Runes – though all of that ends up being top secret and owned only by the families that paid the researches. You know, the whole reason the academies were put together? I’m not sure how you can ask me that question when you’ve got all your research – as worthless as I’m sure it is – in the grimoire at your side?”

Noah held a finger up. “Couldn’t I just learn it by studying a drawn Rune?”

Moxie rubbed her forehead. She studied Noah’s face closely for several seconds, and something passed through her eyes that he couldn’t quite read. It was almost like understanding – or perhaps it was realization. “Okay. Let’s pretend you’ve got a drawing of a Rune. One without any power in it. It’s just a drawing. Runes are vessels, but the power is what they store. And, unfortunately, in order to actually store power, Runes need some power themselves.”

“Okay,” Noah said. “Like a startup boost. Can’t get things moving without a bit of energy.”

“Precisely. Thus, Imbuing. The mage takes a Rune they know and draw it on a special surface that can store power, spending their own energy in the process. Then, when someone tries to learn the Rune, they use some of that stored energy to activate the Rune for themselves. If they were to find the Rune in the wild, it would already have energy and not require any other assistance to learn.”

“Ah,” Noah said intelligently. “Well, one last question. Do you happen to know who wouldn’t like me?”

“It would be easier to give you a list of people that do like you, and that would probably be more like one or two names. I don’t know everyone you’ve pissed off over the years. You aren’t worth the trouble.”

“Well, that’s it. Thanks.”

Moxie crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Really? That’s what you used your favor on? After all this time, you can’t think of a better question than that?”

“Nope. That’s everything I needed to know right now.”

And I think I’ve already made my ignorance far too apparent. More questions aren’t relevant yet. Getting stronger is.

“And here I was thinking you’d ask me how to deal with the class exams next month,” Moxie said with a dry smile. “I guess I should have known better. Very well. The debt is paid.”

Noah resisted the urge to blurt out the obvious question. Instead, he just gave her a shrug. “I’ll be quite fine.”

“Is that why you came back from the testing ground severely injured and missing some memories?”

Aha. So that’s what Vermil was doing.

“An accident.” Noah shrugged. “I’m all better now. Just a few lagging pieces of memory to fill in. Thanks for your time.”

He opened the door and gave the hall a pointed glance. Moxie studied him with a bemused smile, then walked outside.

“Don’t forget – no mentioning that Skinwalker anywhere,” Moxie warned. “And if you don’t have the memory of what happens when you piss me off, I strongly suggest you work on getting it back.”

Noah closed the door without gracing her with a response. He let several minutes pass, then opened it again. Moxie was gone. Noah turned back, grabbing his gourd from the bathroom before heading out.

He sought the map pillar out once again, scanning through the buildings when he reached it. If he recalled correctly –

Ah, there it is. Transport Cannon. That sounds like the least safe way to possibly get anywhere, but I’m sure it’s better than it appears.

The building in question was a tall tower at the edge of the main ring of campus buildings. Noah set off in its direction, and he spotted it long before he reached it. The tower loomed over its surroundings, made of thick metal beams and a winding stairwell open to the elements that led up to a small, enclosed lift. The lift ran the rest of the way up its center to a huge, cubical room at the top. A turret made of bronzed metal emerged from the top of the cannon, pointed skyward. It scraped through the clouds, only occasionally making itself fully visible to anyone below.

A small line stood in line at the base of the cannon when Noah arrived. One by one, a worker directed them up the stairwell. Noah fell in line behind the others. The line moved quickly, and he was at the front within a few minutes.

“Head on up,” the worker said, pushing a strand of black hair out of her face and yawning with boredom. “The operator is ready for you.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, starting up the stairwell. He slowed slightly as he ascended, getting his second view of the campus from above – and his first view of it when he wasn’t half dead. Arbitage was beautiful.

Massive trees, dozens of times thicker than anything he’d ever seen on Earth, reached into the sky and dotted the campus. Their huge branches stretched over and through buildings, casting shade with multicolored leaves.

Winding paths ran throughout the campus, almost in an artistic pattern. As Noah stared at it, he realized the paths strongly resembled the flowing lines of Runes.

“Keep it moving, please!” the worker called up at him from below.

Noah cleared his throat and tore his gaze away, hurrying up the rest of the stairs. He entered the lift, which was really just a metal grate cube, and the chains suspending it rattled to life.

It clunked up, quickly accelerating in speed, before finally rattling to a stop within the top of the tower. There was a large hole in the wall where the turret of the cannon connected to the room, and Noah could see the sky through it in the distance. Papers and maps hung from every wall, and a flickering lantern hanging from the ceiling illuminated a wizened man sat behind a wooden desk and hunched over a book the thickness of Noah’s forearm.

Noah stepped out of the lift and it rattled down behind him. A trapdoor fell shut on the section of the floor it had come through with a loud bang, jerking the old man away from his book.

“Ah, professor,” he said, brushing out his white beard to reveal a nametag that read Tim. “Where can I send you today?”

It only took one look at the man and the surroundings to tell that the man probably loved his job. The corner of Noah’s lips quirked slightly.

Perfect.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used anything like this,” Noah said conversationally. “How exactly does it work? I’m fascinated.”

As he’d guessed, Tim’s eyes lit up. “Ah, you must be new to Arbitage. This is the Travel Anywhere In No Time tower. It’s the fastest way to get yourself transported to anywhere in the area surrounding Arbitage.”

“I see,” Noah said, glancing at the turret barrel. “Forgive my asking, but is it safe?”

“Far safer than any other option,” Tim said, jutting his chest out and thrusting a thumb into it. “I’ve traveled with it hundreds of times, and haven’t had a single issue once. Don’t know anyone that has, actually. Really, it’s marked on the map as a cannon, but it’s much more of a slingshot.”

“Oh?” Noah asked. “How so?”

Tim stepped out from behind the desk and walked over to the entrance of the turret, patting the wall bedside it like one would a pet. “This baby marks down your signature before it blasts your body into the astral plane and sends you to wherever you’re going. Then, after exactly twenty four hours have passed, it yanks you back. No chance of getting lost or anything.”

“That… sounds very safe,” Noah lied. “But only twenty four hours?”

Tim nodded. “Yeah, it’s a bit of a drawback for if you’re trying to do anything long term. I wouldn’t recommend it for excursions or long hunts, but it’s great if you’re just checking an area out for a class or simply looking for one specific thing. Much faster than flying out and back.”

“That’s a fair point.”

“As much as I’d love to talk, we do have a bit of a line below,” Tim said. “Where are you headed?”

Noah scanned the maps on the walls, coming to a stop on a section of burnt looking trees several blocks away from Arbitage. He swallowed. Nothing was going to get accomplished sitting around, though.

He pointed at the map. “Could you send me here?”

“The Scorched Acres? Sure thing,” Tim replied. He raised a hand and energy poured from his palm and into the tower. The turret rumbled, then rotated to point several degrees lower and a bit to the right. “Just slide yourself into the tube and I’ll get you going.”

“Anything else I should know?” Noah asked, approaching the turret and examining it suspiciously.

“Nope. Get in there! You’ll love it.”

Noah wasn’t quite so sure, but he needed to do something. If he just sat around reading books and trying to figure out everything that was going on, he’d be locked up for years – and he was getting the feeling that he didn’t have that much time to lose. Noah climbed into the turret and laid flat on his back against the cold metal.

“What now?”

“You squeeze,” Tim said with a wry chuckle.

There was loud whirr.

The world exploded.