Disappointment gripped Alexandra’s chest at Gero’s words. Her hands tightened around the hilt of her sword until her knuckles turned white. “I can still fight.”

“You have demonstrated more than enough,” Gero said, crossing his arms behind his back. “Leave. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish.”

Alexandra opened her mouth to protest, then pause. “What?”

“You passed,” Gero said with a low chuckle. “There’s nothing more that I’m going to be able to pull from you without causing serious injury. You’ve more than demonstrated your abilities, and you’ll fit right in within the advanced program.”

Alexandra squinted at Gero, trying to figure out if the whole thing was some sort of joke. She hadn’t actually managed to do anything. It didn’t seem like Gero was joking, though. His face was dead serious.

“I – okay. Is that really it?”

Gero snorted. “Not everything in life is a trick. I told you what we were doing. We did it. You passed. End of story, girl. Now on with you. I have better things to be doing than sitting around and chatting with a child.”

A flicker of annoyance passed through Alexandra at the dismissal, but she just shrugged and, after carefully stepping around Gero just in case he attacked her again, continued on toward her rooms.

She threw a few glances over her shoulder as she left, but Gero just stood there with his back to her, any interest that he might have had at any point now long gone.

Huh. That was odd. I still have no idea how I passed, but I guess I’ll take it. Maybe he was impressed enough with my swordsmanship to decide I was worth keeping around? I’ll have to ask Vermil what he thinks the day after tomorrow when we have our next class.

***

Gero stared at his palm. Blood welled from a cut that he’d concealed, threatening to drip onto the ground. He glanced around, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped the wound. A droplet of blood rolled off his palm and fell to the street as he worked.

“Fascinating,” Gero murmured. “A mere Rank 3, both ascended and crippled by her Body Runes, was able to cut me through my domain. She certainly didn’t overpower my magic – that would be ludicrous. And yet, there’s no way a mere sword could have cut me. My Matter Runes would never have let such a thing happen. The only possible way she could have hurt me should have been by making space and getting out of my domain to use her magic from afar, but instead of adapting, she managed to brute force it.”

The wound stung, but not nearly as much as the interest piqued him. Gero couldn’t remember the last time someone had managed to cut him with a mundane weapon. It had to have been years – back when he was still a Year One at Arbitage.

“Who are you, Vermil Linwick?” Gero murmured. “How is it that every single one of your students is so unique?”

Gero’s body folded in on itself, transforming into a tiny sliver of energy and flitting away in a flash, leaving no trace of his passing behind but a single drop of blood on the ground.

***

“Moxie?” Lee asked.

“Yeah?” Moxie quickly pulled her attention away from the stuffed version of Mascot sitting on her bed, reddening slightly at having been caught staring at it.

“Someone’s at the door,” Lee said. “And I don’t recognize them. I was hoping it was Noah, but he’s still out getting dinner for us. This person smells different – and they smell kind of strong. Rank 4, I think.”

Moxie’s brow creased and the blush vanished from her cheeks. She rose to her feet, glancing out the window to make sure there weren’t any assassins waiting. Even though Jalen had supposedly made up with Noah, she wasn’t fully sold on it.

The window was empty, though. Of course, that didn’t mean nobody was there, but Lee had only pointed out the presence of one person. Moxie drew on her Runes, then approached the door and pulled it open.

A man stood before it, a hand raised to knock. He had dirty blonde hair and a black cloth bandage wrapped around his face that covered his eyes. The man let his hand lower and tilted his head to the side.

“Ah. I was just about to knock. Would this be Magus Moxie’s room?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” Moxie replied, resisting the urge to look at the metal nameplate right beside her head. The man had a bandage over his head, so it wasn’t like he could see.

“A faculty member,” the man said, tapping his jacket. A metal nametag above his right breast pocket identified him as Will. “I’m here to speak with Magus Moxie about her and her students’ invitation to the advanced track.”Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh. Well, yes. I’m Moxie. But shouldn’t you have confirmed that before you told me what you were doing?”

“I already knew,” Will said. He made no move to step past Moxie into her room, and she made no move to allow him room in. “Is now a good time?”

“Depends on what you want,” Moxie replied. “But we’re already talking, so if you’ve got something to say, you might as well do it now.”

“Very well. Emily has proven that she deserves to be in the program, but some of the professors have raised questions as to your own eligibility.” Will scratched the back of his head sheepishly, but his expression didn’t so much as shift. “Some of us have brought the incident at the Torrin Estate up.”

“What of it?” Moxie asked evenly. Something about Will rubbed her the wrong way – perhaps it was they way that he was acting as if nothing that was happening was actually his fault, and that he was just a messenger.

Sure, that might be true, but that doesn’t make me like him any more. I don’t know why, but something makes me feel like this guy isn’t even blind.

“There are rumors that your Runes were shattered,” Will said. “If that is true, we need to determine if your skill level is still high enough to permit you to join the advanced track. Emily’s path will not be hindered, but we will not spend resources on a mage that has no future.”

“I’m not letting you stroll around in my head,” Moxie said. As tempted as she was to be snarky, it would have been a poor idea to get too snippy with the person from the organization she and Noah were trying to join. It would have been nice to have at least one group of people that were actually on their side. “I’d be more than happy to demonstrate that my Runes are up to par if need be, though.”

As Moxie spoke, she reached into a pocket and found a seed. She rolled it between her fingers, sending a tiny amount of magic into its shell. The magic wormed out and a vine writhed near her palm, brimming with energy.

“A demonstration will not be sufficient,” Will said. “We will fight until you are no longer able to continue fighting back.”

Cocky little shit. Isn’t this basically just threatening to beat the shit out of me?

This guy doesn’t even seem that strong, relatively speaking. If he’s a Rank 4, then his domain isn’t active right now. I’m pretty sure it’s fairly difficult to turn your domain off unless you’re a complete pushover, which means he’s probably Rank 3.

“That’s bold of you. Not even giving me a chance to surrender if I need to?” Moxie asked through a yawn. Her vine snaked up her arm and along her body, slithering down one of her pant legs. “Works for me, though.”

“Good. In that case–”

The vine snapped out, wrapping around Will’s right leg and yanking it out from under him. He let out a startled curse as Moxie surged forward, diving an open palm for his chest. Will yanked himself upward, narrowly avoiding Moxie’s attack.

He slashed a hand through the vine and dropped to the ground, spinning toward her as he rose to his feet. If he was blind, he had a fantastic sense of direction. Moxie wasn’t particularly interested in finding out just how good of a fighter he was, though.

“Cocky,” Will said, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “But there’s something to be said about being aggressive. It’s certainly a strategy. Just remember–”

Moxie’s vine shot out again, widening as she pumped more magic into it. Will ducked, narrowly avoiding the vine as it roared past his head – but he wasn’t ready for the floor beneath him to crack. Vines ripped up all along it, writhing like the grasping hands of an undead horde as they rose up to grab at him.

Will scrambled to avoid the plants, but there was a seemingly endless supply. They pushed their way through cracks in the walls and squirmed from the ceiling, filling the entire hallway with grasping, thorned vines in the span of just a few seconds.

Moxie grit her teeth as she ripped power from her Runes, but she didn’t have any desire to enter a long fight with Will. The faster it ended, the less time she’d have to waste on him.

Will let out a startled curse as thorned vines wrapped around his limbs, yanking them in every direction. Before he could so much as react, a set of blood-red vines rose up before him, their thorns glistening as they wound around his throat, threatening to squeeze shut at a moment’s notice.

“Is that demonstration sufficient?” Moxie asked, not letting on how much the demonstration had exhausted her.

Will swallowed heavily. “How did you do that? There’s no way you should have been able to summon that much magic so quickly. Aren’t you a Rank 3 that isn’t even close to reaching Rank 4?”

“I’m not sure. It sounded like you knew everything about me,” Moxie said dryly. The thorned vines tightened around Will’s throat. “What do you think? Am I too weak to join the advanced track?”

“You’ll fit right in,” Will squeaked.

The vines unraveled, dropping Will to the ground as they slithered back through cracks in the stone and receded out of view. Will didn’t even bother trying to look dignified – it was far too late for that.

He just beat a hasty retreat down the hallway. Moxie shook her head, glancing around the rubble that now littered the ground. Her brow furrowed as she used Sowed Earth to try and pull the stones back into their proper places.

It was difficult, as the Rune was far more targeted at dirt rather than stone, but stone was still a part of the earth. After about five minutes of work, she decided that she’d done more than enough and headed back into her room.

The vines within it still writhed, and Moxie shook her head. Only an idiot would come after a plant mage in their own domain and expect them not to be prepared to fight back. Granted, she’d learned a few lessons from Evergreen’s death and had taken a few extra measures in recent days in making sure that she’d be able to fight back quickly against anyone trying to attack her in her own home, but that was Will’s fault for not figuring out.

If they knew so much about me, then they should have been able to catch on. Can’t blame me for your incompetence, after all.

Moxie pulled the door shut, then looked down to Lee, whose eyes were wide with delight.

“That was awesome!” Lee exclaimed. “The whole room just came to life and started moving! I didn’t even have to do anything. I was going to stab him.”

Maybe I should have been a bit slower. That might have been fun – but I really shouldn’t encourage Lee. He was arrogant, not deserving of death.

Moxie grinned and ruffled Lee’s hair. “Thanks. I just figured there was no reason to not have everything serve an extra purpose. Vines can be comfortable when I want them to be, but it’s not hard to hide some thorns beneath the surface.”

Lee started to nod, then paused and glanced back at Moxie’s bed. Her eyes narrowed. “Is it spiky if I dig deep enough?”

“I don’t suggest finding out.”