“Maybe he’s down in the stacks,” I muttered to myself. I’d spent weeks locked up there with dusty books and rats, with only Hahen to keep me company. I focused my thoughts on that destination and willed the shifting architecture to guide me there.
It took me less time than I’d expected to reach the older part of the school and the barred door that I’d once been trapped behind. My control over the path the school chose for me was growing stronger.
Unfortunately, my control over the dark urge within me was still tenuous at best.
It reacted to the sight of the prison door with a flurry of furious activity. It lashed connections to the rats beyond the door, then used their beast aspects to rip the bar from its brackets. It smashed the old wood to splinters against the stone before I regained control.
The outburst left me so shaken I had to lean against the heavy door to catch my breath. My hand shook, and beads of oily sweat oozed from my forehead and back. Old fears and dark memories clawed their way up from the dark spaces at the back of my thoughts, and it took me long minutes before I was able to steel myself enough to open that door.
The barrier opened easily despite its size to reveal—
Nothing.
The stacks of books that I’d dutifully organized into neat categories were gone, as if they’d never been there at all. The black spots I’d used to open the subterranean chamber where I’d found the Manual of the New Moon were gone, too. Even the strange hole in the floor was nowhere to be seen.
I summoned an orb of jinsei to serve as a lantern as I entered the chamber for a closer look. My feet stirred up clouds of dust from the thick layer that covered the floor, filling the air with shimmering particles that made me sneeze and cough. It was as if someone had replaced the stacks I’d spent so many weeks in with an identical, but very empty, chamber that had not been disturbed for decades.
Finally, after minutes of searching and wheezing on dust, I found something. Small footprints near the part of the room where my cot had once been. No, not footprints.
Pawprints. Two of them with a small round spot cleared next to them, as if a stick or a cane had rested there.
Hahen had been here.
“Hey!” I called out. “Anyone here?”
The only answer was the echo of my voice. There was no one here and no way to tell how long ago my former mentor had been around.
The last time I’d seen the rat spirit, he’d seemed distant and worried about the choices that lay ahead of me. Then he hadn’t brought me my meals on the last day of school.
I’d spent the entire summer worrying that something happened to him, or that he’d gotten disgusted by the fact that I’d embraced the Eclipse core and abandoned our friendship. The idea that I might never see him again stung, and I quickly pushed it aside and headed for my room.
Other upperclassmen waved and nodded in my direction, and I did my best to be polite in return. I’d spent my whole first year at the School with my head down, trying to avoid fights and stay out of the way of the people who hated me. Now that everyone was friendly, I was having a rough time adjusting.
Rather than risk an awkward conversation, I nodded to everyone who waved at me, and hustled back to my room.
Where Hagar was waiting.
“I’ve never been in the champion’s quarters before,” she said. “Want to give me a tour?”
Hagar had literally tried to kill me last year. Now, she acted like we’d been lifelong friends. That was a rough adjustment for me to make.
“Sure,” I said cautiously. She was, after all, a warden and one of my clan’s respected students. The least I could do was be polite, despite the growing urge from my Eclipse nature to make her pay for the pain she’d caused me last year. “Let me get the door, honored warden.”
The engraved barriers slid out of the way at a touch from my hand. Hagar gave out an appreciative little gasp.
“You first,” she said. “I don’t want to get zapped.”
“Good point,” I said with a chuckle. I still had no idea what kind of defenses protected this place, but I was willing to bet they were impressive.
The warden followed me into my private territory, and I led the way to the cottage. Our conversation was light and breezy, like we’d never fought before. It was jarring, and I had to keep checking myself because I really wanted to blurt out questions like, “You do remember trying to kill me?”
“This place is great,” she said. “I knew the champion got something special, but I never imagined it was so awesome. I wonder if it’s the same for all of you.”
“No idea,” I said. “Hank never said anything about this to me.”
After a quick tour of the cottage, I busied myself with the coffee set in the kitchen while Hagar leaned against the doorway and watched.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” she asked.
“I made coffee for my mom, all the time,” I said. “Back in the camp.”
“That’s right,” she said. “It’s easy to forget where you came from, champ. Things are sure a lot different for you now, aren’t they?”
“In so many ways.” I dumped beans into the grinder and pressed the power button. The clatter of the conical burrs drowned out any hopes of conversation for the next few seconds. Finally, the last of the coffee grounds emptied into the receptacle in the grinder’s base, and I gave it a quick tap to make sure none of the vines would cling to its lip when I removed it. That would be a hell of a mess.
“About our fight.” Hagar finally decided to poke the elephant in the room while I dumped the grounds
