Reianna stared at Loushee. It was the fourth time the beautiful topaz girl had come, and she still never said a word in the lessons. Reianna was beginning to wonder why the girl even came.

  She was distracting. Whenever Gerenet-Shr spoke or when Reianna tried something, the girl would perk up, stare intently, then slump back when the discussion didn’t meet whatever criteria the girl was looking for.

  The first lesson, Reianna had tried to involve Loushee, but the girl alternated between shrugs, looks of utter confusion, or glares of hostility. Reianna gave up speaking to her mid-way through the second lesson.

  Not even the Tinkerers could get the girl out of her shell. She ate dinner with them, but her responses there were just the same: shrugs, confusion, and glares. But she still came. She never missed and was never late.

  Loushee’s aura was another distraction. When Reianna wanted to use Identify, Loushee’s aura would become visible, and then it fluctuated. It went through a rainbow of changes, never staying the same color long.

  Even though people couldn’t tell that she was doing it, and it didn’t affect them in any way, Reianna didn’t like inspecting people like objects. Not only did it give her a weird sense, like she was treating them as objects, but she felt it was somehow violating their privacy.

  However, watching Loushee’s aura flicker, curiosity got the better of Reianna, and she identified Loushee:

  Subject is 120% integrated

  Reianna’s eyes went wide. All of Loushee’s numbers raised and lowered as her aura shifted. They flickered past in a blur, sometimes a single digit, other times two. So distracting were the shifting numbers that it took Reianna several seconds to notice the only non-changing number: Subject is 120% integrated.

  “120%?” Reianna asked.

  “What was that?” Basque followed up.

  Reianna looked at Loushee, unsure if she should say anything more or shake it off. The girl was sitting up, paying attention again. Her aura settled on blue, the Loushee Reianna liked most.

  “Louhsee is 120% integrated.”

  Gerenet-Shr tilted his head. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know. Everyone else I’ve looked at is only 100%. Except for Crystal. He’s only 3%.”

  “What percent are you?”

  Reianna shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t see myself.”

  For the first time, Loushee spoke. “Even if you use a mirror?”

  “I’ve got a bit of an aversion to mirrors at the moment.”

  Loushee flared red. “Answer the question.”

  “Go back to blue,” Reianna told her.

  “It’s not something voluntary, deary,” the orange-aura Loushee said.

  “Fine, whatever. No, even looking in a mirror, I can’t see myself. I only see the information for the mirror.”

  “How did you get rid of my listening devices?” Loushee’s voice was hard and cold. Her aura was one that Reianna immediately recognized: the deep purple of 'evil'.

  “How did you make the listening devices?”

  Loushee smashed her hand on the table. “Look here—”

  Gerenet-Shr stuck his arm out, blocking Loushee from Reianna. “Loushee, knock it off.”

  Loushee sat back in the chair, crossed her arms, and put one leg over the other, then bounced her top one. “I need those devices, girl. I don’t know what your class is planning.”

  “You don’t need to watch my class,” Gerenet-Shr said. His voice was icier than Loushee’s.

  She looked at him, then snorted.

  “I can happily kick you out. I agreed to let you come, but there was no stipulation on how long or how many times.”

  Loushee sat up straight, and her aura turned back to blue. “I’m sorry, Gerenet-Shr. I won’t let her speak like that again."

  Reianna put her hands on the table. “Can you make me something, like you did with that dress?”

  “What do you want me to make you?”

  “I don’t care. Anything.”

  Loushee looked around the room. There wasn’t much in it, just the table, chairs, and a dresser. Reianna couldn’t even figure out what the purpose of the room was.

  “Here,” Reianna said and gave Loushee the mirror from her storage.

  “You want me to make this a listening device again?”

  “No, I want you to change its form.”

  Just in case it was something she could copy, Reianna readied her inspect, but all she got was “mirror” to “book.” She couldn’t copy mage abilities.

  Loushee handed the book to her. “What are you going to do with that?”

  Concentrating on the book, Reianna flipped it back into the mirror.

  “How did you do that?!”

  “When you change something, you create a new state for it. The original state is still there. I can flip back to it. And then back to whatever else you made it be.” The mirror became a book again.

  “Let me see that.” Loushee held out her hand, and Reianna passed her the book.

  Loushee stared at it for half a second, then it became a dagger. Gerenet-Shr sat up straighter. Glancing at him, Loushee said, “I don’t mean her any harm.”

  Loushee’s hair and clothes flipped to purple, not just her aura. “But I do!”

  Dagger raised in the air, Loushee lunged at Reianna. Reianna and Gerenet-Shr reacted at the same time. Reianna kicked the table forward, shoving Loushee back, while Gerenet-Shr grabbed Loushee’s wrist and wrenched it.

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  She screamed, and the dagger fell from her hands. Gerenet-Shr pulled her arm behind her back and pinned her to the table. Reianna grabbed the dagger and flipped it into a book.

  The fight went out of Loushee, and her hair returned to its normal topaz. She laughed. “This is great! She’s so scared of you! Please, Miss Reianna! I know you can save me.”

  “I think we’re done for the night,” Gerenet-Shr said.

  “Fine by me! Finally, hope!”

  For good measure, Gerenet-Shr kept Loushee pinned. “Go on downstairs, Reianna. I’ll let Loushee out.”

  Reianna nodded and left the room. She jogged down the stairs. When she got into the dining room, Symantha was sitting in Tinkerer’s lap, playing with his hair and kissing his forehead.

  “Oh! Rei! Are you guys done for the day?” Symantha asked as she hopped off her husband’s lap.

  “Something like that. Loushee is heading home early tonight.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “Nothing serious, but she won’t have food waiting for her at the dorms. Can we give her some to go?”

  “Sure! She can just bring the plates back next time.” Symantha loaded up a tray with several plates on it. Reianna took it and headed to the main door, where Loushee always exited.

  Gerenet-Shr was seeing her off when Reianna got there.

  “Loushee, here,” she said and held out the tray.

  “What?”

  “Your dinner, since you have to leave early.”

  Loushee took the tray, and it vanished into her inventory. “Thanks.”

  “Sym said you can just bring the dishes back next time.”

  “Thanks.”

  “See you then.” Reianna smiled.

  “Sure.” Loushee looked at Gerenet-Shr, who glowered back. After a second, he nodded.

  “See you then,” Loushee said and left.

  Once she was gone, Gerenet-Shr closed the door and looked at Reianna. “She’s dangerous.”

  Reianna looked at him. “It’s not like she’s sleeping in my room for a night.”

  Gerenet-Shr flinched.

  Not waiting for him to recover, Reianna went back into the kitchen. She pulled the book out of her storage and flicked it between its three states. Technically, it had four, but Reianna wouldn’t turn on the listening device again.

  “Hey! Why does she get to play with her gadgets at the table but not me?!” Tinkerer protested.

  “‘Cause hers don’t leave grease all over!” Symantha said and sat down.

  “We are eating now, though,” Gerenet-Shr said.

  “Fine.” Reianna vanished the mirror, the last state her item was on.

  The adults talked as they ate, but Reianna ignored them. She had a new object to toy with, and it filled her mind. She wanted to experiment with it. She didn’t know why, but that dress Loushee gave her all those months ago felt like a treasure to her now. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to it.

  Reianna’s hand reached up and stroked her braid. Her hair was longer now than at the beginning of the year. She’d always wanted long hair, but life hadn’t been conducive to it, so she was taking advantage of it now. All the nobles had long hair, and she had to admit she was jealous.

  She found that as her hair grew, so did the braid; it knotted itself up. Like the cup-dress, Reianna had grown fond of the addition Loushee had given her. Even if Loushee removed it, Reianna believed she’d braid it on her own.

  Stabbing a piece of broccoli, Reianna put it in her mouth and hmmed. Thinking of Loushee’s “120% integrated,” Reianna once again broke her personal rule and scanned the others. She choked on her broccoli when she saw Gerenet-Shr’s level of 759.

  “You okay?” Gerenet-Shr asked and slapped Reianna on the back. She twisted away from him.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Gerenet-Shr’s unbelievably high level aside, all of them had an integration of 100%. She wanted to inspect another mage. Daymein was the closest, but she didn’t want to see that boy. She wondered about getting Billiam there. Natt could…

  “Where’s Natt?” Reianna asked.

  The three adults fell silent.

  Poking a piece of broccoli around on his plate, Gerenet-Shr kept his head down.

  “Oh,” Reianna said. “I know she adopted her. I’m not going to get angry at people if they talk with Banca or become her friends or mother.”

  Gerenet-Shr put his fork down. “Reianna, I—”

  Reianna waved him off. “It’s okay. I’m over it.” She went back to eating. His eyes rested on her for a heartbeat, then he, too, resumed his meal.

  Though she said she was over it, she really wasn’t. It just showed her that the infallible man was fallible. His heart still had the goodness in it that made her want to believe in him—no, made her believe in him, but that night when she’d gone back to find Banca in her bedroom with his permission showed Reianna that good intentions weren’t the same as good outcomes.

  As much as he might try, it didn’t mean he would succeed. Reianna glanced at him as he stuck that piece of broccoli into his mouth. It would have been fitting if he'd dropped the broccoli before it made its way into his mouth, but he didn't.

  He noticed her looking at him and smiled. She returned the smile, then looked back at her plate.

  Her absolute faith in him was shaken, but not lost. She still knew that he would do everything for them, for her, but she couldn’t just depend on him. She had to be active as well.

  Not having absolute faith was a good thing. Yes, this was a good development in their relationship.

  Reianna put her fork down and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Thank you for the meal, Symantha. It’s so much better than the cafeteria food.”

  “You’re always so sweet, Rei. It’s my pleasure to be cooking for you.”

  Standing, Reianna picked her plate up and carried it to the sink. “Gerenet-Shr, I’m going to go back now.”

  “I’m almost done.” He started eating faster.

  “No. Take your time. I’ll be fine.”

  “Just wait,” he said around a mouthful of food.

  “It’s okay, you can trust me.”

  “It’s not you that I don’t trust.”

  “Gerenet-Shr, please.”

  He paused his eating and looked at her.

  “I…just want a second by myself.”

  “Okay.”

  Reianna thanked the Tinkerers again and headed out into the cloudless night. The moon was full and bright and drowned out many of the stars. The trees in the distance were black shadows rising out of the grass, lit dimly by the moon.

  One of the shadows stepped forward. A purple aura whipped around it like smoke in the wind.

  “Did you enjoy your meal?” Reianna asked

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Is this your true personality?”

  “Ha! Why can’t all her personalities be true?”

  “I like the blue and orange ones.”

  “Aww, you don’t like me?”

  Reianna didn’t answer.

  Loushee closed the distance between them and gripped Reianna’s chin. She lifted Reianna’s head and stared into her eyes. “What do you see when you look at me?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “Oh? Are you not afraid of me?”

  Reianna jerked her head to the left, pulling herself free from Loushee’s grip, then stared at Loushee’s eyes with her own volition.

  Dropping her hand to her side, Loushee smiled. “Don’t think you can take me, girl. I could leave your broken and bruised body in the bushes over there before you could even move.”

  “You can try.”

  “Such confidence! You’re so much more fun than that filth, Daymein.”

  Reianna shuddered at the mention of the third-year mage and the abilities he had. She could still remember the pull that he’d had on her. It made her skin crawl, even though Gerenet-Shr assured her that her INT was now high enough to protect her.

  “Yes, most rational people have that response to that boy.”

  “What do you want, Purple?”

  Loushee covered her mouth with her hand and chortled. “Purple is such a beautiful color.”

  “It’s the color of all things vile.”

  “Vile? How cruel. Is that what you see when you look at me?”

  “No, because you aren’t Loushee.”

  “But I am. We all are. Well, until I get rid of all the others, that is.”

  Reianna balled her fist. “I’ll have to get rid of you first.”

  Reianna saw the strike coming. She tried to dodge, but the distance was too close. Loushee’s fist landed in Reianna’s stomach, forcing some of its contents back out.

  Loushee shook her hand. “Eww. Now that’s vile.”

  Falling to a knee, Reianna held herself up with one hand and wrapped the other around her stomach. She grit her teeth and launched herself up at Loushee.

  The purple mage slid out of the way and smashed Reianna down as she went past.

  “I told you, you are not a match for me.”

  Lying in the grass, Reianna didn’t even look up at Loushee as she asked, “So, are you going to kill me?”

  “No. She won’t let me. I’m not strong enough yet.” Loushee put her foot on Reianna’s back. “I will tell you this, graduation is in one month. If I’m the one who graduates, you die when I leave.”

  The foot lifted from Reianna’s back, and Reianna looked up to see Loushee walk off, her purple aura still whipping around her.

  She inspected the girl, and her eyes went wide. The flickering numbers were still. And they were large, large enough to rival Natt’s. Reianna didn’t know what the numbers meant, but she did know that it meant Loushee was almost as strong as Natt.

  When Loushee got too far away for Reianna to make out among the other shadows, the inspection box vanished on its own.

  Standing up, Reianna brushed herself off. She had a month to figure something out. But figure out what, she didn’t know. She knew it wasn’t fighting; the gap between them was too large.

  The Loushees that Reianna liked had their hopes pinned on Reianna and her powers. There was a hint in the interaction between Loushee’s powers and Reianna’s; she knew it was there, but just didn’t know what. And she only had a month to figure out what it was.

  As she limped back into the academy building, she played back the pain reliever recording so she could walk normally. Reianna wasn’t worried about Loushee’s threats. She would tell Gerenet-Shr, and she trusted that he would protect her. What she was worried about was that the Loushees she liked would vanish within that horrible monster.