Cal was in his room folding clothes when he heard the front door open. That situation had the potential to go very bad very quickly, so he dropped the shirt in his hands and swiftly entered their living room.

  Alice had paused at the threshold, her crimson eyes locked onto the sofa. Sat on the velvet cushions was a plain brown-haired girl. She didn’t put down her book, reading as if oblivious to the arrival of the dorm’s other owner.

  “Heyyyyy Alice,” Cal opened with a smile, trying to prevent anything unfortunate from happening. “How is Lily?”

  She blinked slowly, her eyes traveling to him for a moment before going back to the normal girl.

  “She’s been released. The break on her shin was clean. After it was properly set, it was healed quickly.”

  That was a relief. It wouldn’t have delayed him, but he’d hate to leave while she was still stuck in bed.

  “That’s good. I wasn’t sure how long she would be.”

  He hoped Cassey would be up with similar speed, but it was difficult to tell. Recovery times could vary quite a bit depending on the person injured, the type of injury, and the healer. Mask was nearly as resilient as he was, while a more normal person like Kevin took months of recovery after nearly dying during their trips to the hells. Though to be fair to him, the wounds from a demon carried with them a level of corruption that complicated the healing process.

  “Yes, I’m glad as well,” Alice said with a sigh. “Keeping her in bed is often an exercise in futility.” Alice shook her head, raising a palm to her temple for a moment before her eyes went to their fellow student and then back to him. “Callum, are you forgetting something?”

  He wasn’t. This may have been his plan, but even he wasn’t in a rush to enact it. However, it seemed his time was up.

  “Right, sorry about that. Slipped my mind completely.” He slapped his forehead in a forgetful manner to sell it better. He walked over to the couch, standing by its side. “Alice, this is Mia. Mia, this is Alice.”

  Without looking up from her book, Mia uttered a soft hello. Alice didn’t move, staring at the quiet girl as if waiting for more. She clearly didn’t know Mia if she thought that was going to work.

  “Cool, now that you’re acquainted, there’s something I’d like to tell you.”

  Alice didn’t look to pay his words any mind. She approached their table and set her belongings down. She went to the chair opposite the sofa and smoothed her skirt before sitting down. Her eyes flickered all over Mia’s uniform, taking in what details were available. Cal idly noted that the girl had removed her blazer and folded it on the arm rest, leaving the embroidered house emblem hidden from view.

  “Pardon my brother for his rudeness. I am Alice Ardere, heir of House Ardere, and you are?”

  Hmm, he was hoping to avoid that. He would probably get an earful about noble etiquette later. It would be unneeded. By now, he knew the proper way nobles introduced each other. He also knew most of it didn’t apply in the Academy. Alice was just a stickler.

  “Mia,” the girl said simply.

  Alice’s brow tightened, the action missed by the girl reading. She crossed her legs, leaning back and raising her chin slightly.

  “I see,” Alice replied in an oddly frigid voice. “Well, as I said. Please allow my brother some allowances. His upbringing makes him ignorant of the rules that govern our actions. Unlike us born to it.”

  He had to read between the lines, but Alice was feeling offended by Mia’s dismissive demeanor. Cal could understand how it came off as rude, but it was her usual state. She was already doing him a favor, so he didn’t begrudge her for not going even further out of her way.

  Like before, Alice waited for a response. Like before, the only one she received was the turning of a page.

  “Callum, would you care to explain how you two are acquainted?”

  That was what he was trying to get at before. It was a good jumping-off point for what he wanted to talk about.

  “Mia is my club president.”

  He was planning to continue, but her response was quick.

  “Club president?” She asked with perplexity. “I wasn’t aware you-” She paused, catching herself in an inconsistency. “No, of course, you have one.”

  If something like that was enough to trip her up, then she was far more stressed than he thought. Being partially responsible, he felt a tinge of guilt over that. Staying out of trouble would have been the most considerate thing he could have done for her, but that ship looked to have sailed.

  “Callum,” Alice spoke cautiously, somehow finding a way to sit even straighter in her seat. “Would you care to speak to me outside for a moment?”

  No, he most definitely did not want to do that.

  “I think we’re good here.” He looked away before she could attempt to fratricide with her eyes. “Mia actually has something she wants to tell you.”

  He prompted the quiet girl. Putting her on the spot wasn’t his intention, but she could weather the storm far easier than he could.

  Mia looked up from her book. Her expression was unchanged, and she barely spared either of them a glance before replying.

  “Need him.”

  That was nowhere near what they had discussed. He knew she would abbreviate things, but wasn’t that too much? That type of statement might bring up the wrong ideas.

  “What she means is she needs me for the weekend. Club stuff. It’s last minute, but we’re going on a short trip to visit some famous restaurants. I’ve never eaten at the fancy places, so it will broaden my horizons. And like I said, it’s just the weekend. I won’t be missing any classes.”

  It had taken a single text to get the ball rolling, and Rolland was fast at work securing the logistics for his trip. He was inordinately proud of the way he’d handled the negotiations, and part of Cal wished he could tell Alice all the details.

  Yes, he’d negotiated. He was going to the Waste either way, but his lessons from before weren’t completely lost on him.

  As a result, not only was he getting a free ride to blow off steam, but he was also getting unrestricted access to the stables. This was accompanied by a promise to grant him a hatchling or infant beast of his choice to raise. While he was interested in the process, his real purpose was to force proximity to the Beast Husbandry Club. With this arrangement, hanging out and asking questions wouldn’t look the least bit out of place.

  There was a chance the Academy would be a smoldering ruin by the time he returned, but with how little they’d turned up, he thought that possibility small. If they were close to their objective, whatever that may truly be, there should be some signs.

  In any case, the Spirit could hold the line.

  After securing the agreement, his next problem would be explaining his absence. Cal couldn’t just leave and not say anything. A vague letter had already been penned to Olivia, but Alice would have to be talked to in person.

  The truth was obviously a non-starter. Spinning a story about a club venture came off as convenient to him.

  “I may have to be uncouth,” Alice switched tones, going from scathing to cautious. “However, would you happen to know the last name of our honored guest here?”

  It was a pretty big pivot on her part. Cal had no idea what could have caused it.

  “Nope.”

  He took a page from Mia’s book, thinking less was more. Alice very clearly disagreed with him.

  “And may I ask who is funding this trip? And where exactly you’re planning ongoing?”

  Those were details he should have probably fleshed out. However, it wasn’t difficult to claim it was the club itself and rattle off the names of a few random cities.

  “Family,” Mia uttered. Her nose was back in her book and she appeared blissfully unaware of the way Alice had visibly recoiled at that statement. “Home.”

  With an aggrieved look, Cal examined the innocent looking girl. She had to know how that sounded, right?

  Alice did, if the way her face had turned red was any indication. Her hand rose, playing with a strand of hair in what he’d come to understand was a nervous tic.

  “Benny is coming as well, in case you're wondering.” Cal used the boy’s name to throw cold water on the budding misunderstanding. “Really, it’s just normal club activities.”

  Other clubs did do things like this, so it wasn’t an outlandish claim.

  “May I ask why now?” Alice gave an annoyingly reasonable question.

  The suddenness of it all did make it suspicious. But didn’t people take impulsive trips all the time? Hells, his trip here almost counted as that.

  To his detriment, Mia beat him to the punch.

  “Stress relief.”

  Cal narrowed his eyes at the traitorous girl. He was fairly certain she was screwing with him, just like she had done in the tunnels. Cal refused to give her a reaction, schooling his face and appearing unbothered by the ridiculous statements.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I can’t allow that,” Alice struggled to get the words out, her chin trembling at points. “You can’t afford to fall behind days of studying.”

  That wasn’t a bad defense. Had he been in her shoes, he might have floundered at that. Sadly for her, that wouldn’t work on him anymore.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Cal shook off any uncertainty, speaking with confidence. He forced a grin to his face, trying to will reality to bend to his words. “I’m actually a genius.”

  Any worry or apprehension she had melted away in the face of that statement, replaced by befuddlement, and…was that pity?

  “I’m not joking.” He certainly felt like the butt of one, but he kept reminding himself he’d soon be tearing through hordes of beasts, and that did much to calm him. “Bona fide genius over here. Go ahead and tell her, Mia.”

  He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. She was definitely going to say the wrong thing.

  Mia closed her book. She finally met Alice’s stare, and with complete conviction, delivered her verdict.

  “Genius.”

  “Are you pleased with yourself?”

  Not yet. It would depend on how this little conversation ended. He was in a hallway, leaning back against a wall. He’d come straight here after his little chat with Alice. She was still recovering from that and he wondered if she’d be back to normal by the time he got back.

  Across from him was a stern-looking Miss Justiciar. Cal didn’t think she appreciated the ambush he’d set for her, but they needed to talk.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Cal replied, deciding to leave her question unanswered. “How’s your day going?”

  Janice paced up to him, stopping an arm’s length away from him. From behind the mask, her dark eyes glared at him.

  “I fail to see how that is any of your concern,” she responded in a hoarse voice. It didn’t seem to be intentional, and her hand came up to massage her throat. “Step out of the way.”

  She commanded, and Cal pushed off the wall, letting her access the door to her office. She unlocked it and Cal followed after her, glancing across the hall one last time before shutting the door behind him. No one should have seen him, but it didn’t hurt to double-check.

  He found Miss Justiciar’s back to him. She leaned over the desk and grabbed a stack of files, consolidating them into piles. Cal watched her quizzically as she opened the drawers and began emptying them of their contents.

  “Cleaning up?” He asked, suspecting there was more to it than that.

  Janice paused, folder in her hand. She laid both hands flat on the desk. With her back still to him, he couldn’t see her expression. A muted sound of frustration came from the woman before she resumed her reorganization, moving slightly quicker than before.

  “I know it’s a common piece of advice, and I only just started trying it myself, but do you want to talk about it?”

  She dropped the stack in her hands. It fell to the desk, spilling out its contents. Janice turned to address him, the glare having deepened.

  “Do you have any idea how foolish it is to suggest to someone in my position to share their troubles?”

  As a spy, yes, he very much did. However, she had probably shared more than she should have last time and he was angling for a repeat.

  “That’s not a no,” Cal pointed out. He left it at that, not wanting to push too hard.

  Miss Justiciar reached under the desk, grabbed a box, and placed it on the table. She opened the lid and began packing up the various files.

  “I presume you’re informed of last night’s events? And the decisions reached?”

  Cal walked over to one of the stacked desks. He pulled one down, flipping it over, and then sitting on it.

  “Now I’m no genius,” Cal said with a self-deprecating smile on his face. “But it sounded way too neat.”

  He felt it was very blatant, but the Empire did have a thing about hierarchy. It might have been the norm to just accept the blatant lies of those above you spat out.

  “Yes,” Janice agreed readily, surprising him somewhat with how forthcoming she was. “However, my colleague deliberated over the matter and handed his verdict.”

  Her tone told him what she thought about that, but Cal didn’t jump in right away. He augmented his vision, spying on what he could of the documents she was packing up.

  “If the case is closed, then there’s no harm in talking about it.”

  That may have been a lie, but he was trying to convince her to give herself enough slack to divulge what she knew.

  “There is,” she replied, not taking the opportunity he had provided. “Why does it concern you? You’ve been cleared of suspicion now.”

  And he was very thankful for that.

  “Do I need a grand reason?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, kicking his feet back and forth. “I don’t care about the murderer, but I do care about the murderee. You said it yourself; Petro was a worm. I can’t sit here and pretend not to be worried that whatever shit he was into is still being run with a different face at the helm.”

  His admission caused her to pause again, and her eyes traced up to him. Behind the glare, he thought he might have seen some curiosity. Maybe that was a bit too smart for him, but he was done playing dumb. It wouldn’t hold up anyway after his supposed genius was announced.

  “Many find it better to keep to their own matters. Those who stray are often the ambitious sort, attempting to reach for more than they are given. However, that is not a mold you fit and so you must fall into another.”

  Cal thought it was bold of her to declare that with such certainty. Was he that easy to figure out? Maybe, maybe not. He wouldn’t let anything like that bother him.

  “Call it common human decency or being a fool. Whichever makes you feel better, but I would like an answer.”

  Her fingers ran through the spines of the folders held within the box, seeming to consider the validity of his words. He stared back, unconcerned. There may have been ulterior motives at play, but he was being true enough.

  “With the investigation concluded, all inquiries into Lucerna dealings have been frozen. Unless a new mandate is given, it’s unlikely my office will continue their pursuit.”

  “Then what are you going to do with all of that?” Cal gestured toward her packing. “Seems a shame to let it all go to waste.”

  Cal pondered the merits of stealing the box. Not now, of course, but tailing her shouldn’t be too difficult. A scoff got his eyes to move back to the woman.

  “They’ll be filed in our branch office. After that, any number of things could occur to them,” she said, the bitterness being barely hidden from her tone. “Ranging from quietly wasting away, being destroyed with prejudice, or slipping into the hands of certain parties.”

  He supposed it all depended on what House Lucerna meant to those in charge. Were things really that bad? She made it sound like her entire institution was fragmented, with everyone seeking out their personal interests. That wasn’t something you wanted for a justice department.

  “So that’s it then,” Cal replied with a sigh. “I can’t say I’m a fan of ending that on such a low note. Guess those broad powers of yours aren’t very broad at all.”

  Could he maybe put Lennard on it? The man couldn’t be that busy. All he did all day was listen to the ramblings of drunks and visit seedy hangouts.

  “You don’t understand the intricacies of my position,” Janice shot back. “When I had a mandate, I had the latitude to proceed as I wished; without it, even if I were to continue, nothing would come from it.”

  She resumed her packing. It was orderly, but he could sense the slightest bit of aggression in her actions. One of the documents caught his eye, and he glanced back at the box. That wasn’t the first that had jumped out to him, and he was beginning to see a pattern.

  “Any reason you made so many copies?” He asked innocently. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice that. Does your partner know about that?”

  Cal was hoping for a bigger reaction to that, but she merely slowly moved those eyes of her back to him.

  He gave her a wave.

  “It’s light reading. Nothing to bother him over,” she replied in a humorless tone.

  She could have given him any number of excuses there, but she didn’t. Cal grinned, feeling like things were tilting in the direction he wanted.

  “Riveting stuff,” Cal commented, a smile still on his face. It was all the confirmation he needed, and he circled back to the bigger issue in the room. “I’m an outsider, so it might just be that I don’t know how things work, but do you think there’s more at play here than petty politics? From what I know, your lot would have been jumping at the chance to drag this out and maintain a foothold on campus. Yet your partner is now saying it’s a job well done and wants to head home.”

  Janice brought a hand up to her broach, the mark of her authority. She traced it in a manner with which Cal felt familiar. It was the same way he handled the star.

  “There could be any number of reasons for Vincent’s decision,” Cal noted the lack of proper address. “What exactly are you suggesting?”

  Honestly, Cal wasn’t sure of that himself. All he knew was something stank.

  “Do you really think a guy who could nearly kill a Finger would succumb to his wounds? Why let him off so easily?”

  The most logical reason he could think of was that they were attempting to downplay the whole event. It was a black mark on the Empire’s record, and the quicker they could close the door, the better. If he wasn’t aware of the threat the Academy was under, he would have left it at that.

  “I think you know what I’m getting at.”

  Cal couldn’t investigate a Justiciar. Well, he could, but seeing how much luck he was having with regular students, he wouldn’t get far. On the other hand, Janice was well positioned for that exact purpose.

  “That’s a bold assertion,” she replied in a distracted manner. She went back to her box and began searching its contents. Extracting a file, she kept it angled away while she read it. “It is also not one to be carelessly thrown about.”

  “Do I look careless to you?” He hadn’t realized how that sounded before he heard the words come out of his mouth. “Comment on that at your own peril.” Wait, no. Cal shook his head and reminded himself not to threaten the person he was trying to solicit help from. “I’m not saying he’s up to anything heinous, but there’s a little voice in my head saying there might be more to this than petty politics.”

  She continued reading the file, flipping through the pages slowly. Cal felt he was losing her and took a softer approach.

  “I get it. He’s a partner and sort of boss, but you can’t-”

  The folder slammed on the table, cutting him off. Despite the act, her face was sculpted to appear perfectly neutral.

  “My oath was not taken lightly.” She nearly whispered before raising her volume again. “Partner or not, I would see him brought to justice if that is what the Emperor wishes. However, I lack a mandate, and investigating one of our own is seldom done.”

  Seldom meant that there was precedent.

  “Then do it quietly. If it’s nothing, it’s nothing. But if it’s something, then I have the ear of a few Royals. I can probably get their daddy dearest to sign a slip of paper.”

  He was vastly overstating the amount of influence he had, but he was pretty certain claiming he was sent here by order of the Emperor in the first place would be met with laughter and then cuffs.

  “That may be—” she paused. “No, that is the most impertinent statement I’ve ever heard.”

  “Stick around then. You’re bound to hear more.” Cal rapidly continued before she could respond to that. “Let’s say I’m lying. Don’t you want to look into him, anyway? I won’t believe you if you say no.”

  She opted to not respond, and they fell into another tiresome staring contest. Cal rolled his own, not feeling like playing today. He slid off the desk and walked up to her. Taking a pen from his pocket, for the second time, he jotted down an address for her.

  “Do what you think is right,” Cal encouraged, pretending the outcome of that was unimportant to him. “But for the leftover Petro stuff, there’s a fellow at that address called Lennard that can help you. Tell him I sent you. We’re old friends.”

  He’d send him a warning letter, but the man was a professional. He’d figure something out.

  Miss Justiciar maintained her hard look towards him, probably in an attempt to unnerve him. Done with what he wanted he made for the door.

  “Hold,” Janice called to him, tapping on her mask. “Yours is slipping.”

  Cal brought his hand to his face before realizing what she meant. He laughed, leaving her without another glance.

  He wasn’t even sure which mask he was supposed to be wearing at this point.