CHAPTER 86 — MY FRIEND

“Grandpa?”

Percy's voice hung over the training ground.

The light gathering around Clara's fingers did not disperse. Wycliffe's raised hand stayed in the air. Everyone who had moved to the edge of the field for the match that had been about to begin turned toward Holar Jun.

Holar did not leap over the wall or suddenly step between Percy and Clara. He had simply stood up and was looking at them.

“You will not fight.”

Clara lowered her wand a few centimeters. “Why?”

Percy did not ask the same question. He studied his grandfather's face. Holar did not look as though he had intervened to protect them. He was not worried about Clara winning or Percy using the power he had been hiding. He did not seem worried at all.

He was about to remind them of something.

“Because you aren't here to beat each other today,” Holar said. “You've both done enough of that over the past two years.”

Arthur leaned toward William. “I remember three tournaments.”

William adjusted his glasses. “Clara won all three.”

Percy spoke without looking at them. “I didn't enter.”

Clara's face fell.

Percy noticed the moment he said it. He turned toward her.

“Why that face? I could have lost even if I'd entered. Actually fighting and talking big are two different things. You can beat me, but you've become too obsessed with doing it.”

Clara opened her mouth to speak.

Percy continued before she could.

“You're scarier than those monsters.”

Clara forgot what she had been about to say. She stared at Percy for several seconds, then closed her mouth.

“I've told you before,” Percy said. “I already lost to you last time.”

“You won last time,” Clara said.

“No, not that one. The real, official match. In our first year.”

Clara's expression changed. “That was years ago.”

“So you haven't improved at all since then?” Percy looked straight into her eyes. “Of course you have. Even if no one else saw it, I did. Clara, you can beat me. I can beat you too. Or maybe I'll never beat you as long as I live. Or you'll never beat me. I think we've been letting this get in the way of what we have for a while now.”

Clara stood perfectly still for several seconds.

Then she walked over and grabbed his ear.

“Is that right, Percy?”

The seriousness vanished from Percy's face.

“Hehe… she's back.”

He reached out and pulled Clara's hair.

“PERCY!”

Clara seized his collar. Percy lost his balance and pulled her down with him. They fell together and began wrestling as though, only seconds earlier, they had not been discussing something they had carried inside for years.

“Let go of my hair!”

“Let go of my ear first!”

“You started it!”

“You're back!”

“What's that supposed to mean?!”

“Exactly this!”

Nathaniel took another bite of his food. “I think they've sorted out their relationship.”

William adjusted his glasses. “No. They've just stopped talking.”

Arthur watched them trying to pull each other's hair on the ground. “For them, that might be the same thing.”

Holar caught them both by the scruff of the neck and pulled them apart. Percy's hands still reached through the air for Clara's hair, while her foot tried to reach his leg.

“If you're finished,” Holar said, “I'll explain why I stopped you today.”

Percy and Clara fell silent together.

Holar kept his eyes on Percy. “You've spent two years at the Academy of Monster Knowledge and Defense. In those two years, you've learned how monsters are classified, how they move, which limbs they use before attacking, and why a defensive line cannot be made up of strong people alone.”

Eleanor folded her arms. “Today is the first field assessment of your third year.”

Wycliffe finally lowered his hand.

Percy slowly looked at Clara. Her light went out, but her wand remained in her hand.

“Couldn't you have told us that a moment ago?” Percy asked.

Holar stroked his beard. “Then I wouldn't have seen that expression on your face.”

“What expression?”

“The ‘Grandpa ruined my plan’ expression.”

“I don't have an expression like that.”

“You do right now.”

Nathaniel whispered to Marcus, “I think he does too.”

Percy turned toward him.

Nathaniel immediately ducked behind Arthur. Arthur refused to accept this and stepped aside. Left exposed, Nathaniel tried to hide behind Marcus. Marcus's shadow stirred; he was already two steps away.

“I'm touched by your friendship,” Percy said.

“So are we,” William said. “From a distance.”

The tension eased for a moment. Clara smiled too, but Percy had seen the small mark his earlier remark had left on her. She had won all three tournaments. Every time, she had won without facing him. Percy had said it as a simple fact.

Clara had heard it as a judgment of her worth.

Holar clasped his hands behind his back. “Instead of wearing yourselves out on each other, you'll show us what you've learned in two years. The duel is canceled.”

“Postponed?” Arthur asked.

“Canceled.”

Clara kept looking at Percy. “For now.”

One corner of Percy's mouth lifted. “For now.”

This time, she looked a little less crestfallen.

The Academy of Monster Knowledge and Defense was unlike the Mage Academy.

The Mage Academy had taught them to sense, shape, and control Orin. There, they had learned how an ability was formed, where an attack began and ended, and why they should not compete with someone else's power before understanding their own.

The new academy ended every lesson with the same question.

What will you do when your opponent isn't human?

A frightened person might retreat. Pain might make them stop. A ruined plan might make them reconsider. They could not count on a monster to do the same. Some fled when wounded, others grew more aggressive, and some even made sacrificing parts of their bodies a part of their attack.

In their first year, they had learned the classifications. Advanced Monsters, Senior Monsters, Hell Monsters, King ranks, and Emperor ranks.

In the second year, they had learned that classifications alone were useless.

Knowing a creature's rank did not save the person standing in front of it. They needed to know where an attack would begin, which part of its body was the real weapon, and what it would leave behind as it retreated. Sometimes that meant watching its tail rather than its claws, or noticing how its feet pressed against the ground before focusing on the energy gathering in its mouth.

That was why their first test of the third year was not a duel.

When they reached the academy's eastern grounds, a large viewing sphere stood in the center of the stone floor. Four smaller crystals around it were set to project a recorded battle across the entire area. Holar raised his hand. The sphere darkened, then the image inside expanded and took shape before them.

Misty terrain. A ruined outer wall. A dark body moving among the stones.

They could not see the whole monster at first. Its back was behind the wall, and one forelimb was buried in the rubble. As it lifted its head, the muscles around its mouth tightened.

Holar asked no questions.

William stepped forward.

“Advanced class,” he said.

Nathaniel looked at the image. “You can tell from that?”

William pointed to its front leg. “It's distributing its weight across three points. It isn't injured. It's keeping the fourth limb free to attack.”

The recording continued. The limb hidden in the rubble suddenly thrust forward. A hard projection at its tip pierced the stone wall ahead.

William continued. “The mouth is a distraction. There's no energy gathering there. When it opened its jaw, the veins in its neck didn't change color. The real attack comes from the lower limb. It's shifting its body left, but it'll strike from the right.”

Holar paused the image. “Defense?”

Arthur answered. “I wouldn't take it head-on.”

“You have a shield.”

“That's why I wouldn't take it head-on.” Arthur pointed to the broken wall. “Even if I stop the blow, the force will travel through to the people behind me. I'd deflect it upward. William freezes the ground. As soon as its foot slips, it loses two of its three points of support.”

“Then?”

Charlotte spoke. “We'd have a few seconds to get the wounded out.”

“Who's killing the monster?” Nathaniel asked.

Charlotte looked at him. “You don't have to kill something in every test.”

“The monsters disagree.”

“Then you can distract it.”

Nathaniel brightened. “Did you just pick me as bait?”

“You said you were good at running.”

“That started out sounding like a compliment.”

“It isn't finished yet.”

Marcus quietly pointed to the right side of the image. “Here.”

Everyone turned to him.

At the foot of the wall, the creature's dark shadow was barely visible through the mist.

“Its shadow stretches before it attacks,” Marcus said. “Its weight shifts before its body turns. If I watch the shadow instead of the image, I can give a warning before Arthur does.”

Holar resumed the recording. The monster attacked. As Arthur had said, the force traveled straight backward, while the shadow Marcus had indicated stretched sideways just before the strike.

William adjusted his glasses. “0.4 seconds before the attack becomes visible.”

Marcus nodded.

Nathaniel grew serious. “The change in oxygen might start even earlier. The limb opens a space as it moves through the rubble.”

Percy listened without speaking.

Two years earlier, William would have been satisfied with knowing the creature's name. Arthur would have put up a shield. Charlotte would have looked for the wounded first. Marcus would have searched for a dark corner, and Nathaniel for a change he could read before an attack was complete.

Now they were looking at the same image from six different angles.

Holar dismissed the image. “We didn't spend two years teaching you to memorize names. Arthur's shield will use what William sees. Nathaniel will confirm what Marcus notices. Charlotte will turn the time they buy into lives saved. A correct answer means nothing in the field if you give it in the wrong place.”

Percy finally spoke. “Is that what today's assessment is about?”

“Partly.”

Eleanor placed six small markers in the middle of the field. “The other part is making sure you stop hiding behind a single spell.”

Nathaniel looked around. “I'm not hiding.”

“You hide behind me,” Arthur said.

“You're a shield.”

“I'm a person.”

“Can't you be both?”

Charlotte cut in. “Stone Man can.”

Arthur turned to her. “What?”

Charlotte kept a straight face for one more second, then smiled. “Nothing.”

Arthur did not understand why. Not yet.

Eleanor stepped onto one of the markers. “Each of you will choose three basic abilities. Three abilities you can rely on in any situation, develop further, and use in ways your teammates understand. When you discover something new, you won't throw the old ones away. First, you'll strengthen your foundations.”

Percy raised his hand.

“No,” Eleanor said.

“I haven't asked yet.”

“Your unique abilities don't count toward the three.”

“Discrimination.”

“One of your Absolute abilities can be used once every seven years, another once every two years, and another once a month. Build a team plan around those, and you'll get your teammates killed.”

Percy lowered his hand. “Reasonable discrimination.”

Clara moved to the first marker. She raised her wand.

“Spear of Light.”

A thin white line shot from her wand's tip and stopped at the exact center of the target. It did not shatter it. Clara was simply showing where she could strike.

When she turned her wand again, a small sphere of light formed beside her palm. It did not fly straight. She moved two fingers, and it circled the target, rose, darted behind it, and hovered above her shoulder.

“Tracking Sphere of Light.”

Nathaniel looked up. “That's going to be annoying to dodge.”

“Going to be?” Clara asked.

The sphere turned toward Nathaniel at once.

Nathaniel jumped behind Arthur. This time, Arthur stayed put. The sphere curved around his shield and lightly tapped Nathaniel's forehead.

“Already is,” Nathaniel said.

For her third ability, Clara pointed her wand at the sky.

The light first rose as a single column. It opened overhead, its fragments hanging in the air for a moment before raining across the field in hundreds of fine drops. Each drop left a small mark on the targets. There was no single direction in which to escape the rain. Clara could control where it fell and leave gaps around her teammates.

“Resonance of Light.”

Percy looked up. Not every fragment carried the same power. Some were attacks; others were there to reveal the terrain. Marcus's shadow could not hide beneath those drops, but Clara had left his position clear.

“Nice,” he said.

Clara simply looked at him. Yesterday, she would have heard that single word differently. After what he had said about the tournaments a few minutes earlier, she was trying to work out what it meant.

Arthur moved to the second marker and fitted his shield to his arm.

His first ability was not new. When he struck the ground with his shield, a thick wall of earth rose in front of him.

“Earth Bulwark.”

For the second move, he did not enlarge the wall. He compressed Orin around his shield, forming layers that dispersed incoming force toward the edges instead of holding it at the center.

“Unshakable Shield.”

“Ambitious name,” William said.

Arthur looked at him. “Come and test it.”

“After the assessment.”

“Now.”

“Show us the third one.”

Arthur grumbled. He drew his shield back and swung it forward, sending a short line of pressure along the ground. Rather than striking the target directly, it disrupted the footing beneath it.

“Ground Fracture.”

Charlotte clapped. “Well done, Stone Man.”

Arthur's shoulder twitched. “Why are you calling me that?”

“It suits you.”

“It doesn't.”

“All right, Stone Man.”

Arthur was about to object, but Charlotte had already moved to her marker.

Her first ability was Revitalizing Strike. The nature energy gathering around her fist did more than break what she hit. Used correctly on a living body, it could get numb muscles moving again. With her second ability, a thin green link extended from her palm, carrying the other person's pulse and energy flow back to her.

“Life Bond.”

With the third, the green energy did not harden into a shield. It became a flexible layer around the target. Rather than breaking under a blow, it gave inward and spread the force across a wider surface.

“Life Shroud.”

Arthur looked over at her from behind his shield. Charlotte noticed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Then stop staring.”

Arthur immediately looked ahead. Nathaniel laughed, then fell silent when Charlotte raised her hand as though she might send Life Shroud at him too.

William's three abilities were Ice Lance, Frozen Field, and Ice Orbit. Ice Lance concentrated force at a single point. Frozen Field altered the ground and people's footing. Ice Orbit moved small pieces of ice along paths he had established in advance. The three looked separate, but William linked them through the same calculations. A missed attack was not wasted; he used it to block the next route.

Nathaniel's Probability Field read changes in the oxygen, density, and pressure around him. His Direction-Shifting Magic Sphere could track a target, while Magic Slash delivered a short, swift, direct counterattack. Nathaniel did not mind that his ability lacked spectacle.

“It does enough to keep me fed,” he said.

“None of those creates food,” William said.

“If I stay alive, I can eat.”

This text was taken without permission from the author's published chapter. Their official page is the place to support their work.

“You didn't need to take such a roundabout route to that conclusion.”

Marcus gave no lengthy explanation when he reached the last marker. Shadow Sense let him feel movement within the dark area connected to him. Shadow Bind briefly pinned the shadow at a target's feet to the ground. Shadow Slash was a thin, short-range attack extending from a shadow's edge.

Nathaniel raised his hand. “It would've taken me longer just to say their names.”

Marcus nodded.

“Does that mean I'm right?”

Marcus nodded again.

Nathaniel looked pleased. William said, “He's agreeing with everything so you'll stop talking.”

Marcus nodded a third time.

Laughter filled the field.

Holar did not wait for it to die down. He raised his hand, and the viewing sphere activated again. This time, a shattered defensive line appeared before them instead of a single monster. Part of the image was dark. The right side of the wall had collapsed, and dust obscured the field. They could not tell how many creatures were inside.

“Having three abilities doesn't mean you must use all three in order,” he said. “An ability list isn't an answer to whatever battle throws at you. It only tells you what tools you have.”

He called six children into the center. When Percy remained outside, Nathaniel looked at him.

“No leader this time?”

“You have one,” Holar said. “But he isn't coming in.”

Percy understood what Holar was doing. Over the past two years, most of the group had grown used to his decisions. He did not always give orders. Sometimes he merely looked, and the others tried to notice what he had noticed. Even that could become something they leaned on.

Holar had left that support outside the field.

“Begin.”

The image expanded. At the first sound from behind the stones, Arthur raised his shield. William prepared to freeze the right side while Marcus's shadow stretched left.

“Left,” Marcus said.

Arthur hesitated. Rubble moved on the right side of the image. His eyes flicked toward it.

Nathaniel tilted his head as though listening to the air. “Left. The right's a feint.”

Arthur turned his shield. When the dark limb shot out of the rubble and struck Unshakable Shield, the force spread through its surrounding Orin layers rather than passing straight through him. Even so, his shoes slid half a meter backward over the stone.

William placed Frozen Field not beneath the monster, but behind Arthur's heels. The thin ice rose into a ridge to brace him.

Arthur did not look back. “Nice.”

William gave no answer. He sent the four small pieces in Ice Orbit past either side of the shield. As the monster withdrew its limb, they settled around the joint.

Clara prepared Spear of Light.

“Wait,” Charlotte said.

Clara held the attack ready without releasing it.

Charlotte's Life Bond had reached Arthur's wrist. “The strain is building in his shield arm. He can't take that same blow twice.”

“I can,” Arthur said.

“You can't.”

“One more—”

“Your arm will break.”

Arthur fell silent.

Charlotte did not look to Percy for orders. “Nathaniel, draw the second attack left. Marcus, can you hold its foot?”

Marcus sent his shadow beneath the wall. “Briefly.”

“That's enough.”

Nathaniel's first sphere passed where the creature could see it. The second bounced over the rubble and reached the side of its head. Instead of gathering strength for another strike at the shield, the creature turned toward him. The instant it shifted its weight, Marcus's Shadow Bind pinned its rear foot to the ground.

“Now,” Charlotte said.

William's orbiting ice closed in. Clara's Spear of Light struck the center of the frozen joint. As Arthur felt the pressure ahead ease, he angled his shield sideways and threw the creature completely off balance.

Clara's Tracking Sphere of Light circled its body and entered the darkness beyond.

A second shadow moved.

“There's another one,” she said.

As the light sphere returned, the second creature's shape appeared behind it. Marcus was still holding the first and could not reach it. William's ice had closed in, and Arthur's arm was numb from the first blow.

For a moment, all six fell silent.

Outside the field, Percy said nothing.

Nathaniel expanded his Probability Field and slowly exhaled. “It'll use the same gap to come through. The dust is being pushed right.”

Clara raised her wand.

Resonance of Light rose above the darkness. As the light rained down, it revealed not only the second creature's position but the routes it could take. William did not spend his remaining Orin on one large attack. He stretched Frozen Field into a narrow strip along the path Clara had illuminated.

“Arthur,” he said.

Arthur moved his shield from his right arm to his left.

Charlotte came straight to his side. Life Shroud wrapped around his numb arm and shoulder. “One. Only one more.”

“That's enough.”

This time, Arthur was right.

The second creature emerged from the darkness and struck the shield's slanted edge rather than its center. The force slid upward. Nathaniel sent his sphere into its exposed body. Marcus released the first shadow and caught the second creature's foot. William's ice fragments settled into the openings revealed by Clara's rain of light.

Charlotte clenched her fist.

“Revitalizing Strike!”

Her fist struck not the monster, but the back of Arthur's shield. Nature energy briefly reactivated his numb muscles. Arthur swung the shield with his whole body.

The projected creature was driven outside the marked area.

Holar closed his hand.

Everything stopped.

All six children looked at Percy at once.

He was smiling.

“Why are you looking at me?” he asked.

Nathaniel answered despite being out of breath. “You're counting our mistakes.”

“Seven.”

Arthur lowered his shield. “Seven?”

“In the first ten seconds.”

“Why aren't you telling us the rest?”

“Charlotte fixed them.”

Surprise crossed Charlotte's face, followed by a little pride. Percy noticed but did not press the point.

Holar asked, “In your first year, what would you have done with Percy outside?”

No one answered immediately.

William looked at the melting pieces of ice in his hand. “Probably all done whatever we thought was right at the same time.”

“And?”

“Six correct answers would've ruined each other.”

“What did you do this time?”

Arthur looked at Charlotte. “We listened to someone.”

Nathaniel jumped in. “I always listen to women.”

Clara raised her eyebrows. “Do you?”

“Starting today.”

“Wise,” Marcus said.

Nathaniel turned toward him. “You can talk?”

Marcus closed his eyes.

This time, Percy was among those laughing the loudest.

Eleanor watched from outside the field. Two years earlier, each of these children would have been trying to prove their own strength. Now Arthur had accepted his shield arm's limit because Charlotte told him to. William had protected his friend's footing instead of launching his own attack. Clara had created an area everyone could see rather than making one powerful strike.

Their strength had grown in more than their levels.

It had also grown in the room they left for one another.

Holar brought up a second recording. This time, they would defend three inanimate targets in the center instead of a wall. No monster was visible. They did not know where it would come from.

“Percy,” Holar said.

Percy straightened his jacket sleeves. “Am I going in this time?”

“Yes. But you can't give orders.”

Percy raised an eyebrow.

“You can't speak,” Eleanor added.

Nathaniel clapped his hands. “This really is a wonderful day.”

Percy looked at him.

“Are you allowed to look?” Nathaniel asked, suddenly less certain.

“I'm allowed to look.”

“There's a hole in that rule.”

When the assessment began, Percy did not move to the center. Charlotte stayed beside the targets. Arthur took the front line. William laid strips of ice to divide the field while Marcus spread his shadow beneath them. Clara's tracking sphere rose overhead. Nathaniel closed his eyes and searched for the smallest change in the air.

When Percy used Master of Probability, the space around him filled with faint beginnings. There was no attack yet, only places where one might originate. Three lines around the stone on the right. Two brief fractures in the space behind William. One sudden beginning above, near Clara's sphere.

He could not tell them.

He simply moved.

He did not go to block the stone on the right. Instead, he stood opposite it where Arthur could see him. Arthur saw his face, then followed his gaze into the empty space. He turned his shield.

The first attack came from there.

William did not ask why Percy had moved behind him. He raised Ice Orbit. When the second attack appeared among the fragments, they were already in its path.

Clara raised her wand when she saw the light sphere overhead suddenly accelerate. Percy did not even look at her. Resonance of Light rose and covered the place where the third attack began in a rain of light.

No orders were given.

Yet everyone completed Percy's movement with their own knowledge.

Nothing reached the last target.

Eleanor stopped the timer. Nathaniel turned toward Percy.

“You're even more annoying when you don't talk.”

Now that the rule no longer applied, Percy answered. “It isn't my fault you understand me.”

“You've spent six years getting us used to it.”

“Then I taught you well.”

William joined them. “No. He didn't give us orders.”

“Then what did we just do?” Nathaniel asked.

“We read the places he was looking at using our own knowledge.” William turned toward Percy. “That isn't the same thing.”

Percy's smile faded a little. “No.”

Holar had heard. “That's what you'll learn in your third year. The difference between following someone and understanding what they see.”

Percy realized his grandfather was speaking to him too.

A leader did not have to say everything himself.

But neither could he always assume his silence would be understood.

As Percy watched them, he thought about his own three foundations. His fire. His close combat. His new perception, which let him see the space where possibilities could emerge. The Chaos Fire Dragon's flame could change all three, but it should replace none of them.

Holar did not ask what he was thinking.

He waited for Percy to find his own answer.

The assessment lasted until noon. Their combined defense collapsed three times. The first time, Nathaniel mistook the safe route Arthur had opened for his own attack path. The second time, Clara's rain of light revealed William's ice orbit, but William had not accounted for it and closed his own trap too early. The third time, Percy left the center thinking he could correct everyone's mistakes, leaving Charlotte's line exposed.

Holar did the same thing each time.

He stopped them. Pointed out the mistake. Started them again.

On the fourth attempt, Marcus spotted the sign of an attack. Nathaniel confirmed the change. William sealed off the ground. Arthur deflected the force sideways. Charlotte moved the two rear targets into the safe area. As Clara's Resonance of Light illuminated the field, Percy stepped into the only path left open.

No one had to run after him.

When Holar lowered his hand, the last target in the projection stopped.

“You passed,” he said.

Nathaniel sat on the ground. “The most beautiful words I've heard in two years.”

“It's the first day of our third year,” William said.

Nathaniel stood back up. “I take it back. Terrifying words.”

By the time they left the academy, the sun was slanting over the city.

Percy and Clara walked in front. Arthur, Charlotte, and William followed a few steps behind. Nathaniel and Marcus trailed farther back. Nathaniel was trying to finish the food he had bought after the assessment as they walked, and Marcus stayed beside him despite the way he slowed with every bite.

Clara's hand brushed Percy's as they walked.

It was an accident. Both had stepped slightly inward at the same time.

Percy looked down.

“It's okay.”

Clara's voice was gentle.

Percy flinched before he could stop himself.

“NO.”

The word escaped before he thought. He was neither angry with Clara nor upset that her hand had touched his. His expression changed when he heard his own reflexive response. He immediately pulled away, putting half a step between them.

Clara's fingers lingered in the empty space.

Percy had not held her hand since he was ten.

This was not the first time William had noticed. This time, he said it aloud.

“Percy didn't take her hand again.”

Arthur looked at the two ahead. “They can't be the way they used to, William. How could they? There's a big difference between what we felt at that age and what we feel now. Simple love doesn't have to disappear. It grows, but they need to learn how to live with it.”

William turned toward him.

Arthur continued. “They share a room. They see each other's underwear. You can't keep doing that as you grow up. Put it this way: if I had a sister my age, we'd have the same problem. How would I get changed in front of her?”

William's mouth hung open.

Charlotte stared at Arthur for several seconds too. “Wow. I never expected to hear you talk like that. You're making progress, Stone Man.”

Arthur caught his foot on a raised edge of the pavement. He recovered his balance at the last second and turned toward Charlotte.

“What's with Stone Man? What did I do this time?”

Charlotte moved closer, leaving a little less space between them than before.

“Nothing's wrong, Stone Man.”

Arthur's ears reddened. “Okay.”

Percy and Clara had heard everything behind them.

Both thought their friends were right.

It did not make walking any easier.

William quickened his pace and came alongside Percy. “Didn't you think of that?”

“No, William. If you ever find yourself in this situation, you can think about it. Oh, but wait.” Percy smiled again for the first time. “When you've been close to someone since you were three and end up like this, maybe you can't. Do you know why?”

Arthur frowned. “Why?”

“Because you don't have anyone.”

Percy burst out laughing and ran.

William stared blankly for several seconds. Then he understood.

“Percy, your fucking— Just you wait!”

He flung the ice forming around his hand after Percy. Percy veered right. The first piece passed him. He saw where the second could form and stepped left before William even threw it. As the third flew past the back of his jacket, his laughter echoed down the street.

“Try it without your ability, you bastard!” William shouted.

Running backward, Percy spread his hands. “Why should I? It's my ability. Learn it yourself.”

“PERRRRCYYYYYYYYYYY!”

Nathaniel tried to laugh before swallowing and started coughing. Marcus thumped his back twice. Charlotte's laughter eased the tension in Arthur's shoulders. Even Arthur forgot what he had said a few seconds earlier and laughed at William's inability to land a single hit.

Clara laughed too.

Percy eventually returned. William had not caught him, but once he stopped chasing, he tried to steady his breathing and look as though he had won.

The laughter faded.

The real question remained.

William stopped. His voice was calmer this time.

“So what are you now? You used to be two idiots who liked each other. Are you dating now?”

Percy and Clara almost looked at one another.

Both turned their heads away.

“Well…” Percy said.

Clara's fingers curled beside her skirt. “Well… my fr—”

Percy looked at her.

Once she saw his expression, Clara could not change the word.

“My friend.”

Arthur grimaced. “Ooh. She shouldn't have said that.”

Charlotte turned toward him. “Stone Man, shut up.”

Arthur opened his mouth. “Your fucking—”

One of Charlotte's eyebrows rose.

Arthur swallowed the rest.

Percy kept looking at Clara. There was no anger in his face. That did not make her feel any better.

“So we're friends,” Percy said.

Clara's face fell. She looked at him as though she did not know what she had said. She wanted to fix something, but she did not know which word was wrong or what she should put in its place.

Percy gave a slight nod.

“All right, then. My friend.”

He kept walking.

Clara stayed beside him.

This time, their hands did not touch.

They stopped together at the front door.

It stood open. Their room was visible at the end of the hallway.

What had once been two separate rooms had become one broad space after Holar's great idea. The dividing wall had come down, the bed had been replaced, and their belongings had become mixed together. Clara's pale clothes occupied one side of the wardrobe, Percy's dark jackets the other. Their desks were separate, but their books had long since forgotten which side they belonged on.

At seven, this room had been the most natural place in the world.

At thirteen, even standing in the doorway and looking inside made them think of something different.

Percy spoke first.

“You go ahead. I'll be back. I need to talk to Grandpa about something.”

Clara nodded. “I'll talk to Mom too.”

They did not say good night.

It was not night yet.

Still, the words had risen in both their throats.

Holar was in the back garden.

Percy found him beneath the tree they had planted together years earlier. It was taller than both of them now. Holar was examining the crooked tip of a small branch, considering whether to straighten it.

He lowered his hand as Percy approached.

“If you're angry because you didn't get to fight Clara—”

“I'm not.”

Holar turned toward him. “Then something worse has happened.”

Percy sat beside the tree. Holar settled on a stone opposite him.

“Grandpa, it isn't like before.”

Holar did not make a joke.

Percy looked at his hands. “She said we're friends.”

“I heard.”

“Of course you did.”

“I can hear half the world.”

“You could have learned how to use that to not listen to my conversations.”

“I haven't managed it in two thousand years.”

The corner of Percy's mouth twitched, but he did not smile.

“There's underwear in there,” he said at last. “Hers. Mine. I can't do it. Being in that room was hard enough already, and then she said we're friends.”

Holar's expression shifted slightly as Percy said that word a second time.

“Pulling her hair was easy when we were little,” Percy said. “She'd pinch my ears and cheeks. We'd climb into the same bed. When we got sleepy, we slept. Now I sleep right on the edge. If she turns over, I wake up. If I turn over, I wonder whether I've disturbed her. I want to knock before I go in, but it's my room too.”

He looked up.

“Growing up put distance between us, Grandpa. Maybe it needed to. I don't know.”

Holar did not stroke his beard. That was how Percy knew he was truly listening.

“Do you still like her?” he asked.

Percy did not take long to answer.

“Yes. But what that means has changed, Grandpa.”

“How?”

“I don't know.”

The answer bothered Percy. He liked knowing. If a question had no answer, he searched for one. If there was a possibility of movement, he found where it could originate. He could not see where the things he felt beside Clara came from.

“That's why I need time,” he said. “And space.”

Holar's gaze did not harden. It did something worse: it softened.

Percy continued. “I've grown up. I can't keep clinging to your skirts, Grandpa.”

Holar looked down. “I don't have a skirt.”

“It was a metaphor.”

“A bad one.”

“It's the best the kid you raised can manage.”

Holar had no reply to that.

Percy took a breath. “One of the rooms beside Galahad's is empty. In the dormitory at the Academy of Monster Knowledge and Defense. Twenty-five thousand AWE-Dollars a month.”

“Too expensive.”

“I have a million.”

“Saved up by making Nathaniel buy your breakfast?”

“My investment plan is working.”

Holar fell silent for several seconds.

Then he spoke in a much smaller voice.

“Percy, don't go.”

Percy's eyes filled.

Holar was no longer looking at him. He was looking at the tree before them.

“What about me?” he asked.

Percy stood and went to him. He wrapped his arms around Holar's shoulders. At thirteen, his arms were longer, but he still held his grandfather in the same place he had as a small child.

“I'll come every day,” he said. “I'll spend three hours with you. I'll tell you everything that happened. How many pieces of ice William threw. How many plates Nathaniel ate. How many times Arthur flinched when someone called him Stone Man. All of it.”

“Three hours isn't enough.”

“If I stay four, we won't have time to study.”

“Five.”

“We aren't bargaining.”

“I'm two thousand years old.”

“Then you should have learned by now that bargaining doesn't work.”

Holar exhaled through his nose. Percy did not let go.

“I don't want to either,” Percy said. “But don't forget, joining the rooms was your idea.”

Holar's expression slowly changed. “The fucking possibility that put that idea in my head can go shove it up its—”

Percy looked up at him.

Holar coughed. “Ahem. Ahem.”

“Go on, Grandpa.”

“My throat's dry.”

“Of course.”

Holar finally wrapped an arm around his back. “All right, Percy. But talk to Eleanor too. She's become like a mother to you.”

Percy wiped his eyes and nodded. “I will, Grandpa. Don't worry.”

Holar ruffled his hair. “Good boy, you little monkey.”

“Well, my grandpa raised me.”

Holar's hand stopped on his hair.

He watched Percy pull away and head toward the house.

“By that argument, he called me a monkey,” he muttered. “He didn't say it out loud, but he also said things I couldn't argue with. Little bastard.”

This time, Percy laughed.

Clara had found Eleanor in her room.

Until she began, she had thought she knew what to say. Sitting before her mother, none of the sentences came in the right order.

“Mom, we can't be like we used to.”

Eleanor set down the tie she had been using for her hair. “You and Percy?”

Clara nodded. “He hasn't held my hand since we were ten. Today I brushed against him. He pulled away like it hurt. There's this distance between us. Like he doesn't want to.”

“Of course he wants to, my little witch.” Eleanor sat opposite her. “But you've grown up.”

Clara's eyes filled. “Why does growing up do this?”

“Because now you're thinking about things you never had to think about when you were little.”

“Like what?”

Eleanor did not hesitate. “Can you look at his underwear?”

Clara's mouth opened. “What under—”

She could not finish the word.

Eleanor simply looked at her.

Clara covered her face. “Mom!”

“See? You couldn't even say it.”

“Did you have to bring that up?”

“Otherwise, you'd spend months talking around it.”

Clara lowered her hands. “We used to fall asleep hugging each other. Since we were ten, he's slept so close to the edge that he looks like he'll fall if I touch him. Once, I reached out in my sleep and he woke up. He pretended he was asleep, but he woke up.”

There was sadness and understanding in Eleanor's face.

“Someone asked what we are now,” Clara said. “I said he was my friend.”

“Did Percy hear?”

Clara nodded.

Eleanor closed her eyes. “That's serious.”

“I know.” Clara's voice broke. “What will he do?”

“If I know Percy, he'll do something.”

“What kind of something?”

“Wait. We'll see. We'll work it out.” Eleanor took her hand. “Percy's bound to come and talk.”

Clara squeezed her mother's hand. “Okay, Mom.”

She left the room and went upstairs.

Eleanor waited for the door to close. Then she looked toward the hallway.

“Finished, Auntie?”

Percy was standing beside the door.

Eleanor narrowed her eyes. “Did you hear?”

Percy raised two fingers. “Spell cancellation. Silence.”

It was not an Absolute ability. Only a small veil of Orin that briefly cut off sound around the hallway. Percy did not feel the need to explain.

Eleanor glared at him. “You little rascal.”

Percy chuckled, but it did not last.

“Do you remember our conversation, Auntie? The one from years ago?”

The irritation left Eleanor's face.

She did not ask which one.

“Years ago, I asked your permission to keep liking Clara.”

Eleanor nodded. “I remember.”

Percy remembered his seven-year-old self too. He had sat before her and openly admitted that he did not know what being a couple meant. He had thought that was something for the distant future. All he had wanted was to ask her mother's permission to like Clara.

“You said we'd have another one of these conversations someday.”

“I did.”

“Maybe some space would be good until that day comes.” Percy took a breath. “Because it hasn't come yet, Auntie. I still don't know what I'd be asking you for permission to do.”

Eleanor said nothing.

“I still like Clara,” Percy said. “But when I was seven, I thought I knew what that meant. Now I don't. Neither does she. She said we're friends. Maybe we are. Maybe we'll be something else someday. Maybe we won't. I don't know.”

His voice thinned as he spoke that last possibility.

He said it anyway.

“I can't come to you until we're sure of our feelings and can give them a name. Staying in that room isn't fair to you either. If I come back to this house someday, I want to do it without hurting your dignity or disrespecting you. However much you love me, I can't damage your reputation by sharing a room with your daughter when we don't even know what we are.”

Eleanor's eyes filled.

Percy lowered his head. “If you'll let me, I'll move into the room beside Galahad's.”

Eleanor stood and took him in her arms.

“My lovely, thoughtful boy.”

Percy hid his face against her shoulder as he hugged her. “You make it harder to leave when you say that.”

“I don't want you to go.”

“Neither does Grandpa.”

“But you think it's right.”

“Yes.”

Eleanor stroked his hair. “I won't interfere with what's between you. But don't do it without explaining it to Clara, all right?”

Percy nodded at once. “Of course.”

“If you disappear in the morning, I'll find you.”

“I know.”

“Wherever you are in the world.”

“I know that too.”

“And I'll drag you back by your ear.”

Percy stepped back. “You got to the threats quickly.”

Eleanor smiled through her tears. “I'm a mother.”

Percy's expression softened.

“Yes,” he said. “You are.”

Clara was sitting in their doorway.

She looked up as Percy climbed the stairs. Her pale pillow lay beside her. She seemed unsure why she had brought it out into the hallway.

Percy stopped on the last step.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

Clara did not stand. “Are you leaving?”

Percy's expression changed.

“Mom was right,” Clara said. “You were going to do something.”

Percy came over and sat on the other side of the doorway. There was enough space between them for another person. They both looked at it.

“I'm not running away from you,” Percy said.

“It looks like you are.”

“I'm making room for us.”

“I didn't ask for room.”

“I need it.”

Tears began running down Clara's face. “Away from me?”

Before answering, Percy turned onto his knees and moved in front of her.

“No. For us.”

Clara pressed her lips together.

“I called you my friend today,” she whispered.

“You did.”

“I didn't know what to say.”

“Neither did I.”

“You said, ‘All right.’”

“Because I don't know what else we are.”

Clara lowered her head. “Don't you love me anymore?”

Percy's eyes filled. He knew the easy answer to that question. The hard part was knowing what his answer meant.

“I love you,” he said. “But saying that when I was seven meant something different. I'd laugh when you pulled my hair. When you slept beside me, I knew I wasn't alone. I didn't need to think before holding your hand.”

Clara sniffed.

“Now you do.”

“Yes.”

“So do I.”

For the first time, both admitted it was not only the other's problem.

Percy settled onto the floor. Clara knelt opposite him.

“Then why do you have to go?” she asked.

“Because if I stay, I'll make jokes so I don't have to think about it. When you come closer, I'll move away. You'll think it means I don't want you. I'll sleep on the edge of the bed because I don't want to bother you. One day, I'll actually fall off, and you'll laugh at me.”

Clara laughed despite her tears. “I won't.”

Percy looked at her.

“A little,” she admitted.

A tear slipped from Percy's eye. “I know.”

Clara clenched her hands on her knees. “Is being your friend a bad thing?”

“No.”

“Then why did you make it sound so awful?”

“Because it sounded like you were saying it to push me away.”

“I wasn't.”

“I know. I know that now.”

“Then what are we?”

Percy looked at her for a long time.

Master of Probability could show him where movements might begin. He could see Clara's next step, the space into which her hand might rise, the emptiness her light would fill.

It could not show him the answer to this question.

“I don't know,” Percy said. “But I don't want to give something we don't understand the wrong name and ruin it.”

Clara's shoulders trembled.

“Neither do I.”

Percy reached out, then stopped halfway.

This time, Clara did not take his hand. She leaned forward and threw her arms around his neck.

Percy wrapped his arms around her too.

They cried together, kneeling on the floor outside their room. Neither tried to soothe the other. Neither promised everything would be all right. They did not know if it would.

They simply did not let go.

After a long time, Clara spoke against Percy's shoulder.

“Don't go tonight.”

Percy closed his eyes.

“I won't.”

They went into the room together.

For the first time, they truly saw their wardrobes. Clara did not look toward Percy's private belongings. Percy did not look toward hers. When they reached the bed, neither went to the opposite edge as they had for years.

They met in the middle.

Clara rested her head against his chest. Percy put his arm around her. At seven, they had never asked what that meant. At thirteen, both could hear the question.

Neither answered.

Percy looked at her hair.

“One last time,” he said.

Clara caught her breath.

“Last…”

The rest of the word disappeared into her crying. Percy held her a little tighter.

“In the same room,” he said. “In the same bed. One last time. I'm not leaving you.”

Without lifting her head, Clara hit him. It was a weak blow.

“Say that in the first place.”

“I'm bad at sentences.”

“Liar.”

“I am right now.”

Clara cried again. Then her breathing slowed. Her finger stayed caught in the fabric of Percy's jacket.

“Will you come tomorrow?” she asked.

“Every day.”

“Will you hold my hand?”

Percy did not answer.

As Clara's eyes filled again, her hand moved between them. This time, Percy did not pull away. He threaded his fingers through hers.

“I'll learn,” he said. “Again.”

Clara nodded.

After a while, she fell asleep.

Percy stayed awake longer. He looked at the two different pillows on the pink bed, the faint line where the wall had once stood, and the belongings that had accumulated between their desks over the years.

Leaving a room was not the same as leaving a person.

He told himself that several times throughout the night.

In the morning, he carefully sat up. He gently released Clara's hand. He gathered the clothes from his wardrobe, his books, Blaze, and the cloak Galahad had given him. He could not take everything. He deliberately left some books on the desk. He would come back every day.

Before going through the door, he turned.

Clara was asleep. Her pale hair spread across her own pillow and Percy's now-empty black one.

Percy did not go back to touch her forehead. He did not pull her hair. He knew he would not be able to leave if she woke up.

He quietly closed the door.

When Clara woke, the first thing she did was reach out.

The other side of the bed was empty.

Percy's black pillow was gone.

Half the wardrobe was empty, and Blaze was no longer on the desk. But one book remained open. In its margin was a small note in Percy's handwriting.

I'll be back this evening. I promised Grandpa. I'm promising you too.

Clara held the note in both hands.

Then she sat in the middle of the bed and began to cry.

This time, the person who would have heard her was not in the next room.

The sun had not fully risen when Percy reached the dormitory at the Academy of Monster Knowledge and Defense.

The hallways were quiet. The room beside Galahad's was empty. Before opening his own door, Percy set down his bag.

Then he walked to Galahad's door.

He raised his hand.

Knocked once.

Footsteps came from inside. When the door opened, Galahad's hair was tousled. His sleepy expression changed as he took in Percy, the bag on the floor, and the empty room next door.

Percy's throat tightened.

“Big brother…” he said.

Galahad woke completely.

For a moment, Percy wanted to turn and run as he had when he was little. Home, to his grandfather, to the room where Clara might still be crying.

He did not go.

“Can I come in?”

Galahad opened the door all the way.