Ryan was on his last cooldown laps at school on Sunday. Some other kids were also on the field with him, with Gardener “supervising” their independent training. He’d been doing this pretty often lately and most of the other children had become familiar faces, even if he didn’t know their names.

He was about to run past his instructor when the man waved him over.

“What?” Ryan asked, somewhat out of breath. “I still have one lap left.”

“You have a visitor,” Gardener said, nodding up at the fence.

Ryan turned around and frowned. There was a boy standing there in the distance, in the gap between the fences. He was watching him.

Was that Micah?

“Can I ...?” he asked Gardener.

“Sure,” he said. “Good work today. Have a good one.”

“Thanks, you too.”

Ryan jogged off in the opposite direction. When he glanced back, though, Gardener was still watching him. He probably still didn’t like Micah. Ryan wondered if there was something he could do about that.

Then he got closer and closer and he had something else to frown about. For one thing, Micah’s hair.

It was short.

“Ryan,” Micah said with a smile when he walked up. “I’m glad I found you.” He sounded somewhat out of breath.

That was another thing. He looked sweaty, like he'd just run the whole way here from someplace—maybe Lisa’s?—but he also looked excited. Or not excited. Just … agitated?

“Your hair is different,” Ryan greeted him back.

“Oh yeah,” he said, running a hand through it. “It’s new. I hate it.”

“And your shirt?” Ryan asked. He was wearing a thick shirt that climbers liked to wear. Ryan had never seen it before, though.

“What?” Micah frowned down at himself. “Oh, shoot. I forgot to give it back. Ugh, that’s just great.”

“Give it back? Whose shirt is that?” Ryan asked.

“Mine. Nevermind.” Micah shook his head. “I have to tell you something important. I’ve, uhm, sort of been banned from the Guild.”

“What?” Ryan asked. “Why?”

“Because of the Salamander’s Den,” Micah said. “But Garen told me it’s only for six months? And only if I want to go on my own. He said it’s something teachers do all the time.”

Ryan breathed out in relief. It quickly turned into a smile.

“You got a strike?” he asked, a little incredulous.

Only delinquents and screw-ups at their school got them. Ryan had been worried about Gardener giving him one back when they’d had their “talk”. Now apparently, Micah had one. He could barely believe it. That was sort of awesome.

“Respect,” he said, and then thought of something else. “Oh, wait. Did he tell you during your lesson with Lisa? What was her reaction?”

Ryan could imagine her rolling on the floor, laughing at Micah. He couldn’t wait to ask about it tomorrow.

Micah scowled and shook his head.

“No, she wasn’t there”—that meant Ryan would get to tell her. Yes—”Garen just told me at the Guild. He showed up with a [Guard]. They even had a scroll and everything.”

Ryan frowned, backpedaling a little.

“Wait, the Guild? What were you doing there?”

“I wanted to go into the Tower at first, but it was too late anyway,” Micah said. “So I just got changed. See, I got a bunch of new—”

“You’ve been going into the Tower?” Ryan interrupted him. “On your own?”

Please say no. Please say no.

“Yeah”—Ryan almost flinched, but Micah must have seen something. He switched tunes—“but it was only the one time.”

“For, like, more Sewer moss?” Ryan asked.

If Micah had needed more of that, why hadn’t he just come to him? They could have gone together.

Micah shook his head.

“No, I didn’t go into the Sewers,” he said.

Oh, no.

“Where did you go?” Ryan asked, trying to stay calm. He could still fix this, depending on how bad it was. He just needed to remind Micah that the Tower was dangerous and then, uhm ... offer to go with him again soon? That would keep him from running off on his own, right?

What would Prisha say?

“I kind of, uh, found a way back into the Salamander’s Den?”

He quirked a smile at the end, as if he were proud of that, or as if he hoped Ryan would be proud of him.

Ryan didn’t know if he was proud, but he was certainly confused.

“How?” he asked. “The Salamanders’ Den is supposed to be closed. Or rather, why? Why would you go back there?”

“I— It’s just. The Sewers didn’t really help with my dreams—”

“What?”

“But this did,” Micah pushed on. “I just needed to go back, you know? I needed to face them again. I even bought some beeswax for healing salves today. And I didn’t dream at all this morning.”

He sounded so proud of himself just then.

Ryan wanted to be, too, but he still had questions. “That still doesn’t answer how you even got in.”

Micah smiled. “I used the Archer-method”—Archer method? Ryan wondered. Wasn’t that for—“and climbed down from the Wolves’ Den.”

There it was.

“You did what?” Ryan shouted. He couldn’t help himself. He lowered his voice but went on. “How? Do you even know how to use a bow?”

Micah frowned. “No, I used a slingshot.”

“A slingshot?” Ryan hissed, incredulous. He stared at Micah, but he looked perfectly earnest.

“You used a slingshot against the freaking wolves?”

Micah was frowning at him as if he didn’t see the problems with that.

“It worked,” he said. “They ran off when I pelted them.”

“Wait, it did?” Ryan asked, surprised. That was strangely … ingenious of Micah. “So you didn’t, like, you didn’t fight any of them?”

Maybe Micah really did think this through, Ryan told himself. Maybe he really did try to stay safe. But then Ryan saw a look on Micah’s face, the look when he was thinking about not saying something, and knew it wasn’t true.

“You fought them?”

“Just three,” Micah said, shrinking back.

“Why?”

“They were practically gushing light.”

“That’s not good enough. What if there had been more? What if they had ambushed you?”

“I checked,” he offered.

“Through the fog?”

“From the trees!”

“So what, you climbed from tree to tree and made your way where exactly? Did you find stairs leading down?”

“No, I—” Micah faltered. There was something else he wasn’t saying. Ryan had already started trying to figure it out for himself, but then Micah told him. “Lisa told me about how you can go back to places you recently visited, so I went back in. I even found my mother’s hunting knife again. And I— I climbed back down the way I came.”

The way he came?

“Through the rubble?” Ryan asked.

Micah nodded. “Yeah.”

Something twisted inside of Ryan.

“Are you insane?” he demanded. “Do you know how dangerous that is? I heard the stones falling down that day, Micah. What if the whole floor had collapsed on you?”

“It already had!” Micah shouted back. “I woke up underneath a boulder, Ryan! Of course, I knew how dangerous it was. But I had to go. And I knew the way.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say to that. He clenched his fists, then turned around, and pushed a hand through his hair, like he knew Micah liked to do. Not that the boy could do that now anymore. What the fuck was up with his hair?

He spun back on him, wanting to say something, but found the boy with his eyes closed and taking a deep breath. The sight stopped him.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Micah said. “I know it was a risk. I know I shouldn’t have fought the wolves again. But that’s not important. I just— I was just banned from the Tower, Ryan. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go climbing with Lisa and me on Sunday?”

Ryan shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I’m not bringing you into the Tower, Micah.”

“What?”

“You clearly don’t understand the dangers,” he said. “You’re not the only one who has dreams, Micah. I still remember seeing you in that cave, in that hospital bed. I never want to see you like that again. So, no. I’m not taking you.”

Micah stared at him and Ryan stared him down. This was his decision to make and he had made it.

It took a moment, but then Micah gulped and looked away. He nodded a little, shook his head a little, looked back at Ryan and punched him.

Ryan took the hit. He saw it coming, but he— He didn’t react. He didn’t know why. Aside from being obvious, it was a good punch, too. It hurt, but that wasn’t why Ryan’s head was reeling.

Micah had punched him.

Ryan turned and punched him back.

Micah tried to block it, but he was way too slow. Ryan cut his chin. The boy stumbled back a little, but he immediately shouted and tackled Ryan.

He tried to shove him off, but something tripped him up and they went sprawling.

Suddenly, they were rolling on the ground, pushing and grappling, shoving their hands into each other’s faces, and shouting at each other.

“Get off me!” Ryan shouted and heaved the boy away.

They scooted back a little and stared at each other, clothes rumpled and covered in dirt.

“I’m not him!” Micah shouted.

“Not who?”

“That boy in the cave. Stop remembering me like that. You don’t get to decide who I am.”

“You’re fucking irresponsible,” Ryan said. “That’s what you are. And suicidal. And an idiot. So what? I turn my back on you for one weekend and you run off to get yourself killed?”

“I was careful!” Micah shouted. “I can take care of myself. I had a plan. And you’re ruining it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry for wanting to keep you alive,” Ryan spat. He literally spat on the ground between them. “If that’s ruining your plans, because you clearly don’t.”

He gestured at Micah’s clothes then, the ones he’d probably worn into the freaking Wolves Den. But it was more than that. Micah was just so fucking irresponsible.

Micah was saying something, but Ryan interrupted him.

“A slingshot?” he still thought. “Really? A fucking slingshot?”

“Shut up,” Micah said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t know?” Ryan asked. “I don’t know?”

“In comparison to Lisa, definitely. You know what she said when I told her I found a way into the Salamander’s Den? ‘Cool, good for you.’ Why couldn’t you have said that?”

That— Ryan couldn’t believe Lisa had said that. That hurt. How much of this was her fault?

No. No this was all Micah.

“Oh, don’t you dare go crawling to Lisa with this,” he said.

“I don’t crawl.”

“I’m going to talk to her, too. She is not going to bring you in either.”

“You’re not my fucking mom!” Micah shouted.

“As if she knows anything about you,” Ryan countered.

“Asshole!”

“Idiot!”

“Coward!”

Ryan took a deep breath and tackled him. They flew for a good yard before they landed on something that crunched and Micah cried out.

“Not on my fucking bag. There are books in there!” Micah shouted and punched him again, trying to shove him off.

Ryan was about to punch him back when someone yanked his arm back.

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” someone said.

Ryan immediately lashed out, trying to punch whoever was stopping him, but Gardener just took his other hand, too, and dragged him off. He looped them around his neck and suddenly had him in a chokehold.

“Easy there, Rye,” he said. “Easy. Calm down.”

Ryan was still struggling to get free, but Gardener had him in a hold and wouldn’t let go. He twisted his head to look at Micah again and saw he was huddled over his bag, holding a book in his hands.

The first of its pages were crumpled and torn. They seemed to be littered with crystal chunks.

Micah turned on him with venom in his eyes.

“Fuck you, Ryan!” he spat.

Ryan tried to shout something back, anything, but Gardener’s arm was under his jaw and his tongue felt twice as large. He couldn’t form the words.

“I think it’s best if you leave,” his teacher told Micah.

“Don’t worry. I was going anyway.”

He gathered up his things and stormed off. When Gardener finally did let him go, Ryan cursed and lashed out. He didn’t care that the other students were watching him. Gardener let him, too.

His father was just walking down the stairs when Ryan got home.

“Oh, hey, Rye,” he said at first. Then he looked down and frowned. “Are you bleeding? Did you get into a fight?”

He tried to grip Ryan’s chin to get a look at him, Ryan slapped his hand away and pushed past. He stormed up into his room.

“Ryan?” his parents called.

“I don’t want to fucking talk about it,” he called as he slammed his door.

He threw himself on his bed and lay there until he calmed down enough to fall asleep.

[Fighter level 7!]

When he woke up and heard that the next morning, all of his rage was right there where he’d left it. It had never gone away.

When Micah got home that evening, his parents spotted him from the sitting room. His mother immediately jumped up.

“Micah?” she called as he stormed up the stairs. “What happened to your hair? What happened to your face?”

“I don’t want to fucking talk about it!” he yelled down.

She gasped.

“Young man, come down here right now!”

“Elissa, calm down,” his father’s voice sounded. “Let the boy get into a fight.”

“But his hair? And his siblings never—”

“Exactly.”

Micah listened up until that point and slammed his door. He threw himself into his bed and closed his eyes.

Where had it all gone so wrong? He’d just … He’d thought showing that he could fight might be the solution. But it all went so wrong. And now his book was torn and he got into a fight with Ryan ...

He tossed and turned but couldn’t fall asleep.

Eventually, he groaned and threw himself out of bed. He got some things out his bag and picked out Mr. Faraday’s recipe on a healing salve. Then he stormed back downstairs.

“Micah?” his mother asked much more softly. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes,” he said. “I just got into a fight with a classmate. It’s no big deal.”

“What are you doing?” she asked from the doorway.

Micah put the pot on the stove and got the oven mittens from the hook on the wall.

“Making a healing salve.”

“See?” his father said from the sitting room, sounding unconcerned.

“Oh,” she said. “Do you want some help?”

Micah clenched his teeth and pulled out a cutting board, a knife, a bundle of herbs.

He pulled on the oven mittens.

“No.”

[Alchemist level 8!]

[Skill - Knife Proficiency I obtained!]

[Fighter Class obtained!]

[Fighter level 1!]

[Skill - Lesser Agility obtained!]

When he woke up to that, he felt strangely empty.

Really, that was just great.