At last, Warren stopped in front of a massive door made from the five metals of the Magisterium — iron, copper, bronze, silver, and gold.

  “Here, mage students. Here is the locked door in the way of the way. The guardian is here. You must face her to go farther.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Answer her riddles,” Warren said, and, flicking out his tongue to nab a cave bug that Call hadn’t seen until the lizard scooped it up, raced off along the ceiling. “Riddle her answers!” he called back before he disappeared.

  “Crap,” Aaron said. “This always happens. I hate riddles.”

  Tamara looked as though she was forcibly swallowing the words I knew it and not much liking their taste.

  “Do we just knock?” Call lifted his fist and then hesitated.

  “I’ll do it.” Tamara pounded on the door. “Hello? We’re students and we’ve come to do a project —”

  The door opened. Standing inside, in a white suit entirely untouched by her surroundings, was Anastasia Tarquin. Her cloud of silver hair had been pulled back tightly and silver earrings sparkled in her ears as though they’d been enchanted to do so. Her manicured eyebrows shot up at the sight of them and her mouth compressed into a thin line.

  “You’re the guardian?” Aaron asked incredulously.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, opening the door more widely. Behind it, they could see a long corridor that sloped downward. Two Collegium-aged boys in uniforms stood against the walls. Guards, Call thought. “What I do know is that you’re not supposed to be down here.”

  “Master Rufus wanted us to start a project,” Call began. “Like Tamara said. It’s our Bronze Year and we’re supposed to be figuring out our futures and our personal responsibilities, so we wanted to specialize in elementals. And, uh, we wanted to meet some.”

  “All three of you?” Tarquin asked. “Including two chaos magicians? You all want to specialize in elementals?”

  “We’re thinking about it,” Aaron said quickly. “We don’t want to rush into anything, but it’s interesting. And we figure if we got to see some of the most amazing elementals around, we’ll be sure one way or another.”

  Anastasia Tarquin didn’t look like she believed them for a minute. “I’m afraid that while students might have — infrequently — been given access to the elementals bound here before, that privilege has been suspended for the moment for reasons that I believe you already know.”

  Automotones. Call remembered the massive metal monster rearing above them, tearing at the air with fire and claws.

  “Now,” said Anastasia, “unless you want me to discuss this with Master Rufus, I suggest you go back the way you came and we will all pretend we didn’t see one another.”

  Call looked from Tamara to Aaron.

  “So much for riddles,” Aaron said under his breath. Then, unfailingly polite, he turned to Anastasia Tarquin. “We’re sorry to have disturbed you.”

  She, however, didn’t seem particularly charmed by him. Her eyes didn’t lose their flinty look.

  “Just one moment,” she said, but she wasn’t looking at Aaron. “Callum Hunt. Come inside. I would like to speak with you. Alone.”

  “Me?” Call asked, his voice going a little squeaky. He hadn’t expected that, and with all the spy business, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be alone with any member of the Assembly. But she was Alex’s stepmother, and the Assembly had sent her to protect him. “Okay.”

  Tamara and Aaron looked at him mutely. Call was pretty sure they didn’t want to change places right then.

  He walked through the door and she closed it behind him with a heavy clang.

  Anastasia put one hand on his shoulder. “You must be very worried, to come down here, looking for answers,” she said, her voice softening in a way that made him nervous. He thought of the way snakes he’d seen on television did a little dance before they struck. “And I know how close you are to Aaron. You two look out for each other, don’t you?”

  “Yeah?” Call said. “I mean, yes. Aaron and Tamara and I. We all do.”

  “It’s so good to have close friends,” she agreed, nodding. “Especially when you have a parent who doesn’t approve of magic.”

  “Alastair’s coming around,” Call said, trying to guess what this was about.

  “When I married Alex’s father, I swore I would never try to replace his mother. I had my own children from my first marriage and I knew how important it was not to try and impose myself where I wasn’t wanted. I tried to be a friend, a guide, and a mentor. Someone who could answer his questions straightforwardly, as so many adults don’t. I would be happy to do that for you as well, if you ever need someone to talk to.”

  “Uh, okay,” said Call, puzzled by the whole conversation. He tried to glance past Anastasia a little, see what was hidden behind her. The two Collegium guards were completely silent, ranged along the wall of the room like suits of armor. There was a sofa with a newspaper on it, probably where she’d been sitting, and a corridor that stretched away behind. A deep red glow illuminated its walls. “So, you’re definitely not going to let us in?”

  Anastasia looked amused rather than angry. “You want me to say I would if I could, I imagine. But you have no idea how dangerous the great elementals are. It would be like tossing you into the mouth of a volcano. A friend would never put you in danger, Callum, do you understand?”

  “Because I’m a Makar,” Call said. “I get it, but —”

  “No buts.” Anastasia shook her head. “You and Aaron should go back to sleep. You are far too important to risk yourselves. Try to remember that.”

  With that, she opened the door. When Call stepped out to where Aaron and Tamara were waiting, he heard the door slam behind him.

  YOU WENT WITHOUT me?” Jasper demanded, fork stabbing into the gray pudding on his plate.

  It was afternoon. Call, Tamara, and Aaron had all slept through breakfast after their adventure in the tunnels the night before. Call had felt achy and fuzzy-headed through their lesson, nearly dropping a ball of fire on Tamara’s head and singeing his own fingers. He’d forgotten to walk Havoc until halfway through class and had to clean up the resultant mess. Being back at school wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped it would be.

  “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Call said in a conciliatory manner. Then remembered to whom he was talking. “I mean, not that I would ever choose to bring you anywhere, but in this case, leaving you out of it was just a side benefit.”

  “Hey,” Jasper said. “I am trying to save your life!”

  “Don’t mind him,” Aaron interrupted. “He gets snappish when he’s tired.”

  “So what did Anastasia do to you?” Jasper said. “My father always told me that she was some kind of stone-cold ice queen.”

  “She was really nice to Call,” Tamara said. “It was weird. She had no time for me and barely looked at Aaron. It was all Call, Call, Call.”

  “I guess I’m the new-news Makar, you’re the old-news Makar,” Call said to Aaron. “I make this blue uniform look good.”

  Tamara laughed. Aaron sighed with deep resignation.

  “Wow,” Jasper said, looking at Call with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell me he got delusional when he was tired.”

  Call took a deep drink of the brown tea-like substance in his wooden cup. He hoped desperately that it had caffeine in it. All summer he’d been able to indulge in as many espressos as he wanted — Alastair had repaired an old deco-style Gaggia machine that chugged like a train — but now that he really needed it, there was no coffee in sight.

  He was tired. Tired of being watched by his friends, even if it was because they were trying to keep him safe. Tired of having a horrible thing about himself — a thing he had no control over — hanging over his head. He wanted to go to school like a normal person, and right then he was willing to do anything to make that happen.

  “Okay,” he said. “I will do your stupid plan.”

  “What?” asked Jasper, frowning at him. “Which stupid plan?”

  With a slight wince, Call climbed up onto his chair, then from his chair onto the top of their table. He stood with his foot narrowly avoiding landing in Jasper’s gray pudding, and surveyed the room.

  “Oh no,” Aaron said. “I think you were right about him getting delusional with tiredness.”

  Students were laughing and chattering with one another. Mages were munching on lichen. Then Rafe caught sight of Call standing on the table. He yelped and poked Gwenda, who was next to him. A murmur ran around the room and soon everyone was staring at Call, pointing and whispering.

  “Call!” Tamara hissed in a stage whisper. “Get down!”

  Call was having none of it. “GUESS WHAT,” he yelled, making his voice loud enough to carry over the whole Refectory. “I AM GOING TO BE AT THE LIBRARY TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT. ALONE.”

  He sat down again. His friends stared at him. Across the whole room, he could see other apprentices looking over at his table. Gwenda whispered something in Celia’s ear and they both started giggling. Alex Strike wore an odd, concerned expression on his face. Master Milagros was staring at Call as if he’d been dropped on his head as a child.

  “That — that — What was that?” Tamara sputtered. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “He was making himself bait,” Aaron said. He looked at Call with a serious expression. “I hope that was a good idea,” he said. “The downside of letting everyone know you’re going to be all alone so they can attack you is that everyone knows you’ll be all alone so they can attack you.”

  “Pfft,” said Tamara. “Nobody’s going to be dumb enough to come after him because of that public announcement. They’d get caught right away.”

  Call shrugged and took a big bite of lichen. He felt oddly better. Things were back in their proper place — his friends all thought he was nuts and he was about to do something foolish. A grin started at the corner of his mouth.

  “Someone sedate him quickly,” Jasper said. “Who knows what he might do next.”

  But either the brown liquid Call had been drinking had caffeine in it after all or having something to do helped, because energy was zipping through his veins. He didn’t feel tired anymore. He felt ready.

  Call half expected there to be a group of avid onlookers when he arrived at the library that night, but it was empty. Tamara, Aaron, and Jasper did a sweep, looking behind bookcases, while Havoc nosed around under tables. The room was definitely deserted.

  Call sat down at one of the tables, lit by a huge stalactite that had been driven through the center of the wood, pinning the table to the floor. Light swirled and glowed inside the stalactite.

  “Okay,” said Tamara, returning from the top floor of the spiral library. “You’re on your own.”

  Aaron put his hand on Call’s shoulder. “Remember,” he said. “If you need to do any chaos magic, don’t try to do it all on your own. I’m your counterweight. I’ll be just outside with the others. Draw on me, on my chaos energy, like you’d draw on air if you were underwater.”

  Call nodded as Aaron let go of him and grabbed Havoc’s ruff. His dark green eyes were worried.

  “Try not to do anything stupid,” Jasper said. As parting supportive remarks went, it wasn’t one of Jasper’s worst. “Here, try to pretend like you’re reading something instead of sitting here by yourself like a creeper.” He dumped a bunch of books on the table in front of Call and turned to go.

  Call watched as his friends trailed out of the room. A moment later, he was alone in the library. Draw on me, Aaron had said. But the truth was, Call was still afraid of using Aaron as a counterweight. It was what had turned Constantine Madden into the Enemy of Death. All chaos mages had to have a counterweight who was a human being, a living soul that would anchor them to the real world and keep them from sliding into chaos. Constantine’s had been his twin brother, Jericho. Then one day his magic had gotten out of control. It had overwhelmed him and he’d reached for his brother’s magic to anchor himself. But he’d succeeded only in destroying his brother.

  Call couldn’t imagine what that would be like, to kill someone you loved by accident. I should know what it feels like, he thought. After all, it was something that had happened to his soul — and surely that sort of thing ought to leave a mark. But Call didn’t feel anything when he thought about it except worry that he might make the same mistake.

  Maybe that was proof of what was wrong with him. He ought to be feeling pity for Jericho, who had died. But all his pity was for Constantine.

  “Call?”

  He nearly jumped out of his skin. Whirling around, he saw that someone had come into the library — a blond someone in jeans and a T-shirt, her hair in two ponytails. She had her hands awkwardly in the back pockets of her jeans.

  “Call?” said Celia again. She stepped forward, closer to him. She was blushing, which immediately made Call also blush, as if blushing were something that was catching, like chicken pox. “You said you were going to be all alone in here, so I thought …”

  “Um?” he said. What had Celia thought? Maybe that he’d lost his mind and needed to be taken to the Infirmary?

  “I thought maybe you wanted to talk to me,” she said, perching on a table across from his. “It’s hard to talk alone anywhere…. The Refectory’s always so crowded, and so is the Gallery, and I haven’t seen you walking Havoc lately….”

  It was true. For a while the previous year, Call and Celia had walked Havoc every night together. But now he wasn’t allowed out alone with Havoc. Tamara and Jasper were taking turns walking him.

  “Yeah, I’ve been …” Call’s voice trailed off. He wondered if it was possible to have a conversation entirely in sentences that trailed off. If so, he and Celia were definitely on their way to an epic example.

  “Where did you get those?” Celia asked, suddenly laughing. Call glanced down and realized that she was pointing at the books on his table.

  Fire Elements and Love Spells, a Primer.

  The Alchemy of Love.

  Water Magic and Commitment Spells: How to Get Her to Say Yes.

  He was going to murder Jasper.

  “I — well, I was just — it’s for an assignment,” Call said.

  Celia put her elbows on her knees and looked at him meditatively. “If you want to ask me out, Call, just ask me out,” she said. “We’re third years now, and I’ve liked you since Iron Year.”

  “Really?” Call was amazed.

  She gave him a tentative smile. “You couldn’t tell? All those times walking Havoc together. And the kiss. I figured you knew, but then Gwenda said I should just tell you, so here I am.”

  “She said you should tell me?” Call felt very stupid, echoing her, but his mind had gone almost completely blank. Was he supposed to thank her, as though liking him was a compliment? That didn’t seem right. Probably he should tell her he liked her, too — and he did like her — but what would telling her that mean? Would they be going out? Would they have to kiss? Would it mean they couldn’t walk Havoc together and joke around anymore?

  As Call opened his mouth to say something — although he still wasn’t sure what — Tamara and Jasper raced up the stairs to the landing. Aaron and Havoc dropped from above. The Chaos-ridden wolf began to bark. Aaron looked ready for a fight.

  “Stop right there!” Jasper shouted. Fire ignited in Tamara’s palm.

  Celia spun around, eyes wide.

  The flame guttered out abruptly. Tamara clasped both her hands behind her back. “Oh, hi,” she said with an awkward and slightly hysterical laugh. “We were just —”

  “What are you doing here?” Aaron demanded. Some of the light of battle was still in his eyes and he didn’t sound as kind as he usually did. They must have been really surprised when they saw that Call wasn’t alone — surprised and scared.

  “Call was about to ask me out,” Celia said, confused and clearly upset. “Or at least I think he was. What are you all doing here? Why was everyone yelling?”

  For a long moment, they were all quiet. Call had no idea how to explain any of this to her. Maybe I should just be honest, he thought. Sort of honest anyway. He didn’t have to tell her about the whole Captain Fishface angle. But, then, he realized, none of it made any sense without mentioning Captain Fishface. Still, he had to say something. She was his friend.

  “The thing is that someone is trying —” Call started, his whole body flushing hot with embarrassment. He was sure that he was going to say something stupid and that Tamara was going to see him do it and make fun of him. He was sure Celia wasn’t going to understand.

  “I came to ask you out,” Jasper said suddenly, loudly, breaking in on Call’s explanation. “That’s why I said ‘Stop right there.’ Because, uh, I wanted him to stop asking you out before I got a chance. Don’t go out with him! Go out with me.”

  Aaron’s eyebrows shot up. Tamara made a choking sound. Call couldn’t believe his ears.

  Celia looked at Jasper in surprise. “You like me?”

  “Yes!” he said, a little wild-eyed. “I definitely do like you.”

  Call remembered that when Jasper had asked Call if he liked Celia, he’d also said that maybe he wanted to ask her out. Did he? Or was he just trying to throw her off figuring out what was going on? Or was he trying to annoy Call? The last one seemed the most likely.

  Celia cut her gaze to Call expectantly, as though he was supposed to say something or do something. He gazed back at her in total bafflement.

  Finally, she sighed and turned to Jasper. “I’d love to go out with you,” she said.

  “Well, I think we can all agree that that was a total bust,” Aaron said as they trudged back toward their rooms.

  “Not for Jasper,” said Tamara, who, to Call’s annoyance, seemed to think the whole thing was a little funny. Actually a lot funny. She’d nearly exploded trying to keep herself from laughing after Celia had agreed to go out with Jasper. Call wasn’t sure who’d looked more nonplussed, him or Jasper, but Jasper recovered quickly and began telling Celia what a great time they were going to have at the Gallery.