“You’re in the Portal Defense Force?” I asked when I recognized the white and gray uniform as the same style Fezal had worn. “I didn’t know they allowed students to sign up for that duty.”
“You made things very interesting when you discovered the emissary from the Locust Court,” Abi said. “And the anti-Flame protests have everyone on edge. The school staff and the Empyreal Council decided it was best to have a junior force here on campus until we’re sure there are no other hungry spirits lurking about.”
My Eclipse nature stirred at his words, and I faked a cough to hide the darkness I knew had flickered across my eyes. I’d defeated the Locust Court spirit by pulling a part of it into my core. A part I still battled every day.
I was very close to being one of the hungry spirits they were all worried about.
“Let’s eat,” I said with a forced smile.
“Finally.” Eric let out a long, melodramatic sigh. He spun on his heel and headed for the stairs.
Clem snorted with laughter and followed after the Resplendent Sun, while Abi and I took up the rear of our little group.
The Titan eyed me as we headed back to the dining hall. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Something bothering you?” I asked, more sharply than intended.
“My friend is unhappy,” he said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “And that bothers me.”
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been,” I said. “Honestly, Abi, I’m doing great.”
My friend’s dark eyes probed mine as we walked, and I felt the weight of his attention fall across my aura like a damp towel. For a moment, I wondered if his senses had penetrated the veil wrapped around my core.
“Ah, Jace,” Abi said. He squeezed my shoulder firmly, offering his support. “No man can be truly happy until he is at peace with himself.”
We’d reached the main hall and were suddenly surrounded by other upperclassmen who’d arrived ahead of the new batch of initiates.
“I’m good, man,” I said to Abi. “Honest.”
“You are good,” Abi said, a strange emphasis on the middle word. He tapped his finger against my chest. “You are not, however, at peace. Those two things may be related. Tell the others I had to check in with my squad. I’ll catch you at lunch.”
He winked and backed away from me, swallowed by the crowd.
I was glad that Abi seemed to have forgiven me for what had happened last year. But something about his words chilled me, and I wasn’t sure what he meant.
I shook my head and headed to breakfast, glad to be back at the School and unsure of what the year would bring.
The Headmaster
FOOD HELPED KEEP MY Eclipse core’s urges at bay. It was as if a full belly tricked my core into thinking it was full, too. It was a close call between Eric and me to see who loaded up on the most bacon, sausage, eggs, and fluffy waffles.
“You two won’t be able to walk if you eat all that,” Clem said with a wrinkled nose. “There’s a table over there.”
We followed her pink hair through the crowd of other upperclassmen. I spotted Rafael at across the room and couldn’t help but smile when he ducked his head and looked away from me. He’d clearly watched my fights and knew that the next time we crossed swords, there’d be a very different ending from what had happened last time.
“Where’d Abi go?” Eric asked. “I thought he was right behind you.”
“Portal Defense Force stuff,” I said around a mouthful of bacon. “He’ll catch us at lunch.”
Several of the other upperclassmen gave me uncertain waves when they passed by. It was hard to get used to all these people who’d shunned me last year being suddenly friendly. On the one hand, I knew they weren’t sincere, they were just sucking up to the School’s champion. On the other hand, the attention really was nice.
“The trial’s not even going to happen until the end of the school year,” Clem said as she took her seat. Her plate was mostly fresh fruits and berries, with a sprinkling of crispy-skinned fried donut holes covered in a sugar glaze. “Grayson’s convinced the judiciary he needs more time to prepare his case because he’s had so much trouble getting a lawyer to take him on as a client. What with the assassins and the anti-Flame stuff.”
Clem rolled her eyes at that last, like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.
After he’d been arrested and hauled off to a holding cell awaiting trial, Grayson Bishop had insisted his life was in danger. He blamed me for upsetting the pact he’d made with the Locust Court and insisted the hungry spirits would kill him before they’d let him testify. That had severely limited the number of lawyers willing and able to defend him in court. If there really were spirit assassins coming for the former headmaster, anyone close to him would be in danger.
“The hungry spirits won’t kill him,” I said. “Though they’d kill me if they got the chance.”
My friends looked at me like I’d sprouted a pair of horns.
“Don’t talk like that!” Clem said. “You’re safe here. They’ve got all the portals on lockdown. No one can come in or out of the school without security knowing about it.”
I shoveled in a forkful of syrup-drenched waffles and chased it with half a sausage patty. I hid my disagreement with Clem’s thoughts behind an unnecessarily long drink of orange juice.
Everyone insisted the emissary I’d killed last year was the only member of the Locust Court who’d made it past the Far Horizon portals. Of course, before I’d ripped the core out of that hungry spirit, everyone had insisted there were no members of the Court on this side of the portals at all.
If the headmaster of the most prestigious Empyreal martial arts school had been in contact with renegade spirits, anything was
