"Did anyone catch a wink of sleep last night? Because I didn't." Ace glanced over her shoulder at the rest of us, pausing to shake sand out of her boot."I slept just fine." Mazikeen passed her without slowing, continuing down the path."That doesn't surprise me at all." Ace called after her, then turned to me. "Is it just me, or have you been sulking without your robe?"I didn't answer that. I just closed the distance between us. "Do you trust this guy?""Ulf?""Yeah." I nodded."Do I trust a man with a giant familiar, living alone on a mountain, who claims he sees things? No. That doesn't mean he's lying, though." She pulled her boot back on."How can you tell?""I can't. But what does he gain from lying about this?" She held my gaze a moment longer before falling into step down the mountain.I stood there a beat before trailing after her.The sun came up hot that morning, and Ulf decided we should head out early to reach the village before dark. We came down the mountain, collected

My eyes were heavy and sagging by morning. Dark circles formed at the base of each one, my face looked rough when I stared at my reflection as I washed by the river bank. My head ached, a soft thump at the base of my skull. The dream I had last night was too vivid, too detailed. I could still see Mazikeen's severed head in my hands whenever I shut my eyes, I could feel the warmth of her blood. “Symon…” Baron called from the camp. He was done strapping his baggage to the horse. Today was the end of my guild mission, but I was dissatisfied with the outcome. Ulf met me half way back to camp. He held out a map. “What's this?” I asked as I grabbed the thick yellowed paper. “Your way to find me, should you ever need my help” He said “But I pray you don't.” A moment of silence passed before I inquired what he was going to do. “Try to solve this mystery, and warn the villages on the border to be on a lookout for creatures with glass eyes.” I averted my gaze with him. Then his next wo

I didn't sleep much that night either. Not for lack of trying — Vance had practically ordered all of us to rest — but every time I closed my eyes, I kept replaying the look on Zudrik's and Vance's faces when they'd called Lucifero back into that office. Pointed. Deliberate. Aimed somewhere past him, straight at Mazikeen, even while they were speaking to someone else entirely.Nobody had said anything about it since. Lucifero hadn't come down for breakfast. Mazikeen had barely spoken two words all morning, picking at her food as if it owed her an apology."You're staring," Baron said, nudging my shoulder as we crossed the courtyard."I'm thinking.""That's what staring looks like on you."I didn't answer that. Ahead of us, the whole academy seemed to be funneling toward the Great Hall — more people than I'd ever seen gathered in one place since the morning I'd nearly torn the building apart summoning the homunculus.Students in every color of robe the four guilds wore, teachers lining