With a sigh, Call picked up his boots and padded barefoot back to his chambers. There, he flung himself down on one of the couches and stared into the fireplace, concentrating on not thinking about anything awful, until Tamara and Aaron returned, Havoc trotting after them. Aaron was carrying a big plate of lichen.
Despite himself, Call’s stomach growled at the fried-chicken smell coming off the mass of green stuff.
“You didn’t go to dinner,” Tamara said. “Rafe and Kai say hello.”
“Is everything okay?” Aaron asked.
“Yup,” Call said, taking a big forkful of lichen and adding another lie to his growing Evil Overlord list.
Classes started the next morning. For the first time, they had a dedicated classroom. Or class-cave, he guessed. It was a big room with uneven rocky walls, and a circular depression in the center. The circle was a sunken bench, around which they could sit for lessons. There was also a pool for practicing water magic and providing a counterweight for fire. Additionally, there was a pit of churned-up dirt. And — probably just for Aaron — there was a metal plinth on which rested a gleaming black stone, symbol of the void.
Aaron, Tamara, and Call flopped onto the bench while Master Rufus smoothed out a space of wall. As he gestured, sparks flew from his fingers, tracing letters over the stone. “Last year, you walked through the Gate of Control. You mastered your magic. That is the first step toward being a true mage. This year, we will begin to work on your mastery of the elements themselves.”
He began to pace. Rufus often paced when he was thinking.
“Some Masters, if they had a chaos mage in their group, would separate out that student from the others. They would teach him or her on their own, believing that a chaos mage might otherwise disrupt the balance of their apprentice group.”
“What?” Aaron looked horrified.
“I won’t do that,” Rufus said, frowning at them. Call wondered what it was like for him, being the Master who’d turned out to have a Makar in his group. Most Masters would kill for the chance, but most Masters weren’t Rufus. He’d taught Constantine Madden, and that had gone horribly wrong. Maybe he didn’t want to take any more chances. “Aaron will stay with the group. I understand that Call will be your counterweight?”
Aaron looked over at Call as though he was expecting Call to take back the offer.
“Yeah,” Call said. “I mean, if he still wants.”
That made Aaron give him a lopsided grin. “I want.”
“Good.” Master Rufus nodded. “So we’ll work on counterweight exercises, all of us. Earth, air, water, and fire. Aaron, I want you to be proficient in those before you attempt to use Call as your counterweight.”
“Because I could hurt him,” Aaron said.
“You could kill him,” Master Rufus cautioned.
“You won’t, though,” Tamara told Aaron. Call frowned, wondering how close the two of them had gotten over the summer, and if that was another reason Aaron hadn’t mentioned staying at Tamara’s house.
Tamara looked over at Call, her expression oddly intense. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“I am sure no one thinks you would hurt a friend on purpose,” Master Rufus said, glancing toward Call. “And we’re going to make sure that none of you hurts anyone by accident, either.”
Call let out a breath. That was exactly what he wanted to learn. How not to hurt anyone, even by accident.
Aaron looked horrified. “Can I just not have a counterweight, if the counterweight might die?”
Master Rufus looked at him with something that might have been pity. “Chaos magic takes a terrible toll on a Makar, and it’s not always easy to see when you’re using too much of it. You need a counterweight for your own safety, but it would be better if you never used one.”