“So, is your plan with the games to build ties with everyone or to tear our class apart?” Alistair asked from across the table, as he squinted at his cards. Liliana had included Earth card games in her requests for games and they were playing one together in the dorm.

She and Alistair had come back a day early to the Academy. It had been a much debated topic between the entire household. Silas had approved, as the Academy was a secure environment that would take an army to break into. Liliana had wanted to go.

She loved her family, but she had wanted time away from everyone. Their concern was heartening, but it was all overwhelming, and she wanted the time before everyone came back to ground herself.

The children had obviously been against Liliana returning to the Academy at all, and Jason, surprisingly, had taken their side. He seemed to be of the opinion that if Liliana was not in earshot; she was in danger. But with Silas and Alistair on her side, the argument had been decided eventually, and she had left with her brother a day early to the deserted campus. The goodbyes weren’t as painful this time, knowing she could visit any weekend she chose.

“Chaos.” Liliana responded, setting an attacking card down. Her brother hissed as he discarded one of his monster cards she attacked and shifted his dice to reflect his new health.

“The dorm is going to be on fire in three days,” Alistair grumbled. Liliana summoned a gold coin from her storage and grinned at her brother.

“I give it two days, and it won’t be fire. It’ll be someone getting so mad they throw a piece of furniture through the walls and it devolves into a huge brawl that brings the dorm down.” Liliana set the coin down. Alistair raised an eyebrow and pulled out his own coin.

“You’ve got yourself a bet. Three days, and it'll be Emyr setting it on fire himself.” Alistair said with a smile as Liliana took the coins to hold for whoever won.

“And you’ve got yourself a loss.” Liliana said as her turn rolled back around and she set down her secret weapon. Alistair threw his hands up, the cards flying from them, as he groaned.

“Be glad we banned betting on the games after the last time,” Liliana said as she used [Threads of Control] to grab the discarded cards and reshuffled her deck.

Liliana smirked as she remembered the chaos that had descended after Clover fleeced them all during a poker game when they’d made the mistake of using real money for the pot. Liliana was rather proud of the girl and had a feeling she had a future as a card shark if she ever felt inclined towards gambling. At least Liliana didn’t have to worry about the girl ever needing money with the way she could play all of them.

Alistair grumbled, but reshuffled his deck as they got ready to play again. It was nice, playing with her brother. Koth’talan, the only other class S student to stay back, had only stopped in for a moment to glance at them curiously before vanishing, presumably to go to the woods. Other than that, they were virtually alone. Vereign was likely in his own room, but they hadn’t seen the man, which was probably a good thing.

“The dorms are kind of weird without everyone crowding them,” Alistair commented as his face pinched, looking at his cards.

“It’s peaceful,” Liliana said with a grimace.

She wasn’t excited to have everyone back. She still felt raw, as if all her armor had been forcibly stripped from her, leaving her bare, vulnerable. She missed her friends fiercely, but she knew they’d pick up that something had changed. And she’d need to explain something to them.

Emyr at least knew about the amulet already, but she wasn’t sure what to tell the others. How much to tell them? Diana had seen the aftermath of the alley, and could be a target if the man who had attacked her had still been lurking around.

Marianne was likely in danger, too. She had no idea how much of her thoughts the amulet had access to. She had to assume all of them to be safe. So Marianne was a target, but she would be in the least danger. As a princess, she was always in danger, a new threat was nothing new to her and she was the most protected person on the planet.

There were likely hidden Knights lurking around the campus at all times, no matter what Marianne said. There was no way her overprotective helicopter mother would let her go anywhere without the Knights shadowing her. The queen might give Marianne the illusion of independence, but she would never actually let Marianne be in any real danger.

Anya was likely safe, as were any of her other Academy friends. The entity couldn’t spy here. No one who wasn’t a student could get onto the grounds. Family members had to give forewarning to the headmistress and wait for permission to be allowed in. Even the queen had to give a warning, and if she didn’t, she too could be denied admittance.

There was a whole thing in an old treaty about the Academy being neutral ground and not technically aligned to any country, despite its location. The treaty made far more sense if one assumed the founder was a beast. Who else could demand such stipulations be placed in a treaty but a sufficiently powerful beast?

What if one of the students has an amulet? The thought came on suddenly, freezing Liliana in place as her eyes widened and her heart pounded in her ears.

She had never considered it before, had never thought there was more than one amulet until her naivety had been violently ripped from her. Now she knew there could be more amulets, cursed artifacts, out in the world. Hundreds, thousands of them, maybe.

One of the students could have stumbled upon one before they came to the Academy, or even afterwards. She had found hers in a dungeon and the older students regularly visited dungeons.

“Lili?” Alistair’s voice broke through her thoughts, and Liliana reminded herself to breathe.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the steps Healer Sybil had taught her to calm her mind, taking in deep breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth, accepting the fear, then letting it go.

No, the Academy had so many protections woven through every stone, a dark artifact couldn’t sneak through, surely. It would’ve set off one of the many wards. She was being paranoid again, and it wasn’t healthy to see dangers in every shadow.

She shook off the fear and suspicion. Products of her trauma, Healer Sybil had told her. Unhealthy coping mechanisms she’d developed as a way to protect herself that only made her mental state worse. Healer Sybil hadn’t called them coping mechanisms. Those were Liliana’s terms, but the sentiment was the same.

“Sorry, lost in thought.” Liliana said, giving her brother a wan smile as she set down an element card and a beast.

Alistair tilted his head slightly, eyes assessing her, before he nodded slowly and let it go. Liliana being lost in thought was becoming a common occurrence, as she got used to being comfortable with her own mind and applied the lessons and skills she’d leaned from Healer Sybil to handle her emotions and thoughts.

It meant sometimes she’d stop in the middle of a conversation, eyes going blank as she handled whatever had triggered a reaction she needed to adjust to and control. It was a change everyone had to make, allowing her the time she needed to accept her own thoughts. Liliana had been in a near constant survival state for years, all action and reaction. Stuck in fight-or-flight mode.

Now she was making a conscious effort to let herself think and get comfortable with herself and her mind. To actually figure out who she was, beneath the trauma and the defensive mechanisms she’d developed to protect herself. Alistair was patient with her, letting her have her time and helping her along when he could.

Liliana just hoped the rest of their friends would be similarly patient with her while she went through this time of change and development.

“Hah!” Alistair exclaimed when he managed to actually hit her health with a card.

Liliana’s smile was more energized as she shifted her dice to reflect the hit. Her worries faded away as she played with her brother. She was safe here, safer here than almost anywhere else in this world, and she let herself relax.

She and Alistair played several more rounds of the game before the door to the dorm opened, Koth’talan returning. He stared at them for a moment before taking one of the chairs in the common room, head tilted, as he watched them play a new game.

“What is this?” Koth’talan asked after close to thirty minutes of watching them play.

“It’s a card game,” Liliana responded softly as she set down a new ability card, Alistair hissing as it hit one of his beasts and killed it.

“Wow. I had no idea.” Koth’talan responded sarcastically. Alistair snorted as his turn came around, and he set down two new beast cards and a spell card.

“It’s called Monster Mastery.” Liliana said in a droll tone.

“Liliana invented it.” Alistair chimed in with a proud grin, wincing when Liliana kicked him under the table. “What? You did!” Alistair grumbled.

“And those?” Koth’talan asked, nodding at the piles of games against the wall.

“Games.” Liliana said with a shrug.

“Liliana invented all of those too,” Alistair elaborated before Koth’talan could respond with another snide remark.

Liliana’s eyes flicked to him for a moment. Normally, the dæmon wasn’t talkative. She had hoped he would remain that way, at least today. She did enjoy his friendship, but she had hoped for more time before she had to talk to people who weren’t her family. This interaction was already draining her quickly.

“Do you want to play with us?” Alistair asked, ignoring the glare she had sent his way.

“I don’t want him to play.” Liliana sent mentally to him and Alistair turned a stern look her way. He still didn’t have a Psyche affinity, but his eyes said enough.

Healer Sybil said interacting with your friends was good for you. So we’re doing this. His gaze told her and Liliana huffed, rolling her eyes and pouting but conceding his point.

“How do you play?” Koth’talan asked as he moved his chair closer.

Liliana handed him a pre-made deck. Koth’talan looked over it, eyes widening when he saw the moving pictures on the almost paper thin wooden cards. Liliana smiled smugly. She hadn’t suggested the moving pictures, but she had suggested the illusions that floated over them.

Whenever a beast attacked another, the illusions would clash, same with abilities, skills and spells. It was something she’d seen in the card game cartoons back on Earth and had always wished her world had, but in this world, those dreams were actually possible. The child in her had delighted over it when she had discovered the card game among the many Jason had given her. Magic was amazing, and as much as she missed technology, she could admit magic was better in some aspects.

If she could figure out how to make computers and cellphones in this world, she’d be set, and with magic she was certain it would take far less time to reach such innovations. She’d have to see if she could find an inventor in the Academy who could bring her ideas to life.

Liliana paused as she thought. Alistair was explaining the rules to Koth’talan, so it afforded her time to lose herself in her musings. Devoting herself to a project like that would be a good way to take her mind off the pendant and the threats. Healer Sybil had encouraged her to find things to distract her from worrying about things she couldn’t do anything about and would be best left to the adults.

Healer Sybil had also had a lot of opinions about what was and wasn’t her responsibility that clashed greatly with what Liliana believed. Pretty much everything in Healer Sybil’s opinion was an adult’s responsibility if it wasn’t related to her schoolwork.

Which was frankly ridiculous, because adults seemed pretty inept in Liliana’s opinion, and quite unperceptive no matter what their skill list might say. So she’d stay disagreeing with her healer on that, with the exception of Silas. Liliana trusted him to be competent and trustworthy. Other adults? Not so much.

The adults at the manor either had been too blind, or simply too uncaring, to notice what Liliana had gone through. Her father had the power to stop Imogen long before it escalated as far as it had, but he hadn’t cared.

The guards and servants had looked the other way or took part, with a few exceptions. Other nobles knew what was happening and hadn’t cared, or worse, had capitalized on the events. Even in the Academy, the teachers had seen her breaking apart and had done nothing about it. Rauk had showed some care, as had Vereign, but it was the bare minimum. The bar was in hell, and yet most adults in Liliana’s life had still managed to play limbo with it.

Was Liliana supposed to trust these adults with her problems when they had never given her the impression of caring about them? When she knew people like her father would gladly use it against her? When trusting the wrong person could’ve gotten her killed before?

I’m being paranoid again. Liliana refocused her thoughts. There was no point in rehashing her same grievances again when it would just make her upset and angry.

She trusted Silas and Jason. That would have to be enough adults to satisfy Healer Sybil, for there would likely be no more until Liliana and her friends reached the age of adulthood. Two was better than zero, after all. And she’d tell Healer Sybil that verbatim if the woman raised an issue with it.

She focused back on her thoughts of a pet project to fill her time with, trying to decide what technology would be the easiest to start with, and where to find someone to do it. She had wanted something to record lecturers and classes, and unlike computers and phones, which would require a network to connect to a recording device wouldn’t need so much. It would probably need someone with Runeic and Illusion affinities to make it work. Her best bet would probably be the Enchanters Club.

“Ready to play, Lili?” Alistair’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she blinked as she came back to reality, realizing the boys must have finished their conversation. Koth’talan had his deck ready and a hand of cards. Liliana nodded and shuffled her cards before focusing back on the game.

“A unicorn should not be able to beat a river dragon!” Koth’talan announced as he glared at his defeated card in betrayal.

“It does when you stack abilities on it.” Liliana said with a smirk, shrugging a shoulder. It had been her unicorn that defeated Koth’talan’s water dragon.

“Wait until she kills your Hellhound with a Rockrat.” Alistair grumbled as he set his own cards down.

“That’s fucking insane. This game makes no sense.” Koth’talan muttered as he looked over his cards and the booklet Alistair had handed him that explained the game.

“You have to stack cards. And it makes as much sense as a human killing these things. Magic.” Liliana said softly, but it was the most words she’d said to Koth’talan today, and he paused, looking over at her and sighing before nodding.

Despite her reservations about interacting with people, even her friends, she was relaxing. Perhaps Alistair was right. Interacting with Koth’talan gave her hope that seeing her friends tomorrow wouldn't be a disaster. And interacting with one person who wasn’t Alistair let her get acclimated to the experience before needing to do it with several people the next day.

“So, if I put this, and this, and this on my Kelpie, it should be able to kill your Unicorn, by your logic. Right?” Koth’talan asked, all faux innocence as he turned to her. Liliana paused as she stared at his boosted Kelpie and sighed. The illusions duked it out and her poor Unicorn died a valiant death before she took a hit to her health.

“And if I do this, it should finish off the rest of your health, right Lili?” Alistair asked, with a sickeningly sweet tone as his turn came. Liliana blinked at her brother, head swinging between the boys.

“You two planned this, didn’t you?” She hissed at them as she set her cards down with a huff. Alistair grinned victoriously at her as Koth’talan smirked. Liliana could feel the corners of her lips tugging up into a smile before she gave up and let herself smile.

“Just a bit of fun between friends, right?” Koth’talan asked, voice teasing. Liliana gaped at him before a grin broke out and she pointed at him in delight.

“You admit it!” She said. Her voice, while not a shout, was full of excitement.

“I believe you’re the one who made that decision, on your own, might I add.” Koth’talan evaded.

“Yeah, but you admitted it.” Liliana said triumphantly, looking towards Alistair for support, and ever the agent of chaos, her brother switched sides eagerly.

“You did admit it, man.” Alistair agreed with a sage nod.

“Gods dammit.” Koth’talan groaned, but he was smiling.