“I – uh,” Quinlan stammered.

Nolan’s eyes flicked over her, studying and assessing the intruder in seconds. His lips thinned slightly and a flicker of Ether traced down his arm. “I should have been more careful with where I spoke.”

Henry peeled away from Damien’s shadow, taking on his spherical tentacled form. Quinlan nearly jumped out of her shoes. Her cheeks went pale and her eyes wide. Beside her, Nolan’s eyes widened slightly.

“Is that your companion?” Nolan asked, staring at Henry.

“Oh, yeah. You haven’t met him yet,” Damien said. “This is Henry.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Nolan inclined his head, Quinlan temporarily forgotten. “I’m honored to finally know what you look like.”

“You should be,” Henry said, bobbing once. “I’m amazing.”

“Let’s stay on topic,” Damien suggested, indicating Quinlan.

“Don’t worry about her,” Henry said with a lazy yawn. “She won’t be saying anything about what she just heard. Quinlan unfortunately has a talent for poking her nose into business that it shouldn’t be in.”

“You’re sure?” Nolan asked, looking from Henry to Quinlan. “This information can’t get out. If my father figured out what I was doing…”

“Trust me,” Henry said. “It’ll go with her to her grave.”

Quinlan paled even further and nodded empathetically. Nolan chewed his lower lip and let out a sigh. “I guess that’s all I needed to talk about. Sorry for barging in so early in the morning, Damien, Sylph. I’ve got a lot of practice to get in, since there’s a good chance I’ll have to start earning my own way through the rest of college after all this. Please don’t hesitate to find me if I can do anything to pay you back. Henry, it was a pleasure to come face to face with you.”

He raised a hand and stalked out of the room, heading down the mountain and out of sight. Quinlan looked like she wished she could disappear into the wall, but Damien and Sylph were both studying her curiously.

“Henry told me you might be paying me a visit,” Damien said. “What exactly is it that you need?”

“You’re his partner?” Quinlan asked, looking from Henry to Damien in dismay. “But… you’re just a Year Two! How could you have such a powerful companion? And for it to be that strong outside your body… are you an agent for Blackmist or something? It’s impossible for someone your age to have so much power.”

“Aw, she’s buttering me up,” Henry said. “You should praise me more often.”

“No. Your ego is big enough,” Damien said. “And yes, Henry is my companion, even if he goes a bit… astray at times. I don’t think I’ll be telling you any more about him, though. You’re only here because he forced you into a contract, which I’m already not too thrilled about. The less you get involved in my business, the better.”

“I’ll stay out of your way,” Quinlan promised, not taking her eyes away from Henry.

“There’s a but coming,” Sylph said.

“But I need to learn Rune Crafting, and Henry said you could teach me.”

“I said he might teach you,” Henry corrected. “I didn’t make any promises. That’s his problem to deal with. You’re working for us no matter what you want, you’ve just got the chance to ask without getting fried. I think that’s pretty fair.”

“It isn’t,” Damien grumbled. “Not even slightly. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do about that. Henry, you’re certain that she can’t share anything she hears, right?”

“Nothing,” Henry confirmed. “Not what she hears, sees, or any sense. Any attempts to attempt to share information that we don’t want her to would result very, very badly. Think Sylph when her core was about to explode, but a hundred times faster and more painful.”

Quinlan and Damien both shuddered.

“I guess I should hear you out, at the very least,” Damien said with a sigh. “Why do you need to learn rune crafting from me? There are dozens of teachers at Blackmist that know it, and I’m certain there are similarly informed people at Mountain Hall.”

“I can’t let anybody know that I’m learning rune crafting,” Quinlan said, shifting nervously. “It would be very bad for me if Mountain Hall discovered it.”

“Why?” Sylph asked. “Wouldn’t you getting stronger be a good thing?”

Quinlan pressed her lips together. “I don’t want to answer that.”

“That’s a problem,” Damien said, holding a finger up. “How do we know you aren’t just going to use that against us? It’s giving an enemy to somebody that probably hates us. You not telling me the reason why you want to learn makes it even worse.”

“I promise it’s got nothing to do with Blackmist,” Quinlan said. Her hands clenched at her sides. “But I really need to learn. I told… Henry. Yesterday, when he was in my room. He believed me.”

“I couldn’t really be bothered to care, actually,” Henry corrected. “But so long as she remains beholden to my contract, she isn’t going to be betraying anyone. Just for her sake, I’ll say that you don’t have to worry about that.”

Damien clicked his tongue. “I guess I could probably show you a little in that case. If you’re a fourth year student, the runes should probably be pretty advanced already. Henry would do better, but something tells me he’s being an insufferable ass about it.”

“Hey! I’m busy helping Sylph,” Henry said, crossing his tentacles. “Of course, I could stop…”

“Alright, alright,” Damien said, rolling his eyes. “You’re busy. Can you describe what exactly it is you need to learn?”

“An array to keep an entity trapped in a location. It has to also be linked to a person and feed energy into them from the entity. If possible, I’d like to get healing and restoration runes involved as well.”

Damien blinked. “That’s… pretty complex, I think. I don’t know a pattern to do that off the top of my head. It would vary heavily depending on what you’re trapping and the strength of the person you’re powering. That’s also pretty nefarious. Isn’t that basically just enslaving something?”

“No. The entity is willing,” Quinlan said. “And how much variation would it have?”

“Again, I have no way to know without seeing it,” Damien said with a shrug. He walked over to his bed and sat down, pulling a few sheets of paper out from his travel pack and grabbing a piece of chalk. “You know how to make a summoning circle, right? We can start from there.”

Quinlan cleared her throat.

“She can’t even draw a basic rune,” Henry said cheerfully. “Utter rubbish. Nolan was better than her when he started.”

“Seriously? And you want to start with some sort of trap-energy leech?” Damien asked, cocking an eyebrow. “And you won’t let me see whatever or whoever it is you’re trying to work on?”

Quinlan shook her head firmly. “No. I cannot.”

“Then you’re making it very hard for me to help you.” Damien shrugged. “You’re asking for knowledge that I’m not even completely certain I have. At the very minimum, it would be hours of training. With the expedition to Forsad coming up, I’ve got a lot of practice to do. I can’t afford to spend that much effort training you. I’ll fall behind.”

A sharp knock on the door interrupted them.

“Seriously? Is this just the gathering place for all of Blackmist?” Damien asked, standing up and stepping past Quinlan to open it. Dredd stood on the other side, drumming his fingers on the hilt of his staff.

He ducked inside without waiting for an invitation. “Sylph. How is your progress going with the full manifestation?”

“I’ve got one, but there are some imbalances in my body from where… well, stuff happened,” Sylph said, sending a pointed glance at Quinlan. “I’m working on repairing it, and there are still some problems I’m having with getting full access to my companion’s strength.”

“With your unique situation, that doesn’t surprise me,” Dredd said, rubbing his chin. “I suspected you might have trouble with that, actually. I’ve dug through some old books and I believe the problem should eventually stabilize, but we don’t exactly have the time to waste. There’s a way to expedite the process.”

“What is it?” Sylph asked eagerly.

“Easier to show you,” Dredd said. “I’ve skipped a few too many classes with both of you recently, so we can count this as one of them. I trust you aren’t busy?”

Sylph glanced at Damien. He gave her a small nod.

“I’m free,” Sylph said.

“Good,” Dredd said, turning and heading out of the cave. He paused, holding the door open for Sylph before glancing back at Damien. “Don’t get too cozy. I’ll be back for you some other day.”

The door swung shut, leaving Damien with Henry and Quinlan.

“Was that Captain Dredd?” Quinlan asked, staring at the door in shock.

“Professor Dredd, as far as I’m aware,” Damien replied. “You know him?”

“He’s a legend. How do you not?” Quinlan exclaimed. She caught sight of Henry again and deflated. “Captain Dredd is one of the best strategists on the frontlines. Why is he at Blackmist?”

“He’s our professor,” Damien replied. “And honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the entirety of Blackmist somehow happened to be some bigshot on the frontlines. It’s looking like they’ll take anyone.”

“What do you mean?” Quinlan asked.

“Never mind.” Damien shook his head. “Is there really nothing you can tell me about what you’re trying to fix? With the information you’ve given me, it would take years to get you to a point where you could do anything.”

“It’s an old artifact,” Quinlan finally said, forcing the words through her lips like bile. “And it’s inside somebody. The artifact is falling apart and releasing something trapped inside it, but we don’t have the original runes used on it. I need to repair it. It’s the entire reason I volunteered to go to Forsad. I was hoping something there could help me. Please, I swear I won’t betray you or Blackmist. I just need to–”

She bit her words off and stared at Damien with a mixture of desperation and fear. He pressed his lips together. “If I’m giving up time to get stronger, you’re going to have to fill in for what power I could have had. I’m going to expect you to be completely working on our side.”

“Your companion’s contract already makes me do that.”

“It keeps you from betraying us,” Damien corrected. “It doesn’t mean you’ll actively be trying to help us. I don’t want your forced assistance. I want it to be your own choice. Throw your lot in with me with the intention to do everything you can to help me and Sylph. In return, I’ll set aside some time every day to teach you rune carving.”

To her credit, Quinlan seriously considered Damien’s words for several moments before giving him a small nod. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Damien said. “Come back in the evening. The later, the better. I’ve got to get back to training for today, and I’ll need to think on where to start you. I’m hesitant to believe Henry’s criticism since he’s a bit apt to exaggeration, so maybe this won’t be as hard as I fear it will.”

“I will. Thank you,” Quinlan said. She reached up to push the door open, then paused. “How long will it take to teach me?”

“Depends on how hard you work and how good you are at it,” Damien replied. “But I’ll do my best to try to get you the knowledge you need before we go to Forsad. If I can’t, I’ll continue helping you for as long as you stay at Blackmist and I still have time.”

She gave him one more nod and then slipped out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind her. Damien sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Don’t worry too much about what to do with Quinlan,” Henry said. “Her real mission was to figure out what happened to Bartholomew and Drew. We can observe her during Forsad and then try to set her loose with a much more forgiving contract later.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Damien said with a nod. “Is there any way that Mountain Hall can actually figure out what happened?”

“There’s always a way, but I wouldn’t be too optimistic about their chances,” Henry replied. “Just train for now.”

Damien sighed again.

“That’s not training,” Henry observed. “That looks more like pouting.”

“Oh, don’t you get started on me,” Damien said, a laugh slipping out of his lips. “This is all your fault.”

“Hey, she’s a Fourth Year. Her magic actually stings a little too, so she should be a useful addition for this expedition thing. Certainly more effective than anything you’ll be able to learn in the few hours you spend teaching her.”

“That’s probably true,” Damien admitted. He headed into the training room and started to gather Ether in his core. “Is she really as bad at rune crafting as you’re saying she is?”

Henry’s only response was fading laughter as he returned to Damien’s shadow. Damien shook his head. He started practicing, but his movements were largely mechanical while he pondered what to do about Quinlan.

There was no doubt in his mind that he’d have to find a way to get rid of the contract Henry had made with her. It wasn’t slavery, but it was too damn close for his taste. Even if it hadn’t been for Sylph, the thought filled him with revulsion. At the same time, now that she’d seen Henry, there really wasn’t a good alternative other than killing her. Not yet, at least.

Magic twirled from his hands, forming into miniscule purple blades that flickered through the air around him. Damien came to a decision. He’d do his best to avoid actually triggering the contract as much as possible and let Quinlan do her own thing, training her when he had time. If a better solution came up, he’d take it. There was no point worrying about it now.

He threw himself back into his practice, working with renewed vigor now that he’d lost a portion of his day. Time flew by as magic flashed around Damien. He took a few breaks to douse his head in the healing waters of the shower, but didn’t stop aside from that.

When the door swung open and a disheveled looking Sylph walked in that evening, he was still working.