Aaron was sitting at a table with some of the other Copper Years. Celia was there, along with Gwenda, Rafe, Laurel, and Jasper. The plates in front of them were clean.
Tamara was at another table with Kimiya and her friends. Call wondered if she was telling them all about Alastair and Call and what a hero she was, but at this point there was nothing Call could do about it. With a sigh, he started to put together a plate of stewed purple tubers that smelled a bit like porridge for himself and some bacony lichen for Havoc. He ate standing up, so he wouldn’t have to sit next to anyone. He wasn’t sure he’d be welcome anywhere.
When the second alarm sounded, Call headed toward where Master Rufus was sitting with the other Masters.
“Ah,” Master Rufus said, summoning Tamara and Aaron toward him with a wave of his hand. “Time to begin our lessons.”
“Hurrah,” said Call sarcastically. Master Rufus gave him a quelling look and rose to lead them out of the Refectory. Call, Aaron, and Tamara trailed after him like the tail of a reluctant and miserable comet.
“You okay?” Aaron asked, bumping shoulders with Call as Master Rufus led them down a set of stone stairs carved into the rock. The steps wound down and around in a spiral. Little glowing salamanders skittered across the ceiling. Call thought once again of Warren.
“That depends,” Call said. “Are you on my side or hers?”
He glanced over at Tamara, whose lips tightened. She looked as if she was thinking about pushing Call down the steps.
Aaron was visibly upset. “Does there have to be sides?”
“When she turns my father in, yeah, there has to be sides!” Call hissed. “Nobody who was really my friend would do that. She promised to keep a secret and she lied. She’s a liar.”
“And no one who was really Aaron’s friend would protect someone who was trying to kill him!” Tamara snapped.
“And again, liar, if you were really my friend, you’d believe me when I said that wasn’t what Alastair was trying to do!”
A look worse than anger crossed Tamara’s face. It was pity. “You’re not objective, Call.”
Neither are you! Call started to yell, but Master Rufus had whirled around and was looming over all of them menacingly.
“Not one more word about Alastair Hunt out of any of you,” he said. “Or you’ll be sorting sand instead of having dinner.”
Call had spent his first week at the Magisterium sorting sand and privately thought he’d rather take on a chaos elemental. He shut his mouth, and so did Aaron and Tamara. Tamara looked grim and Aaron looked despondent. He was biting at his fingernails, which was something he did only when he was really upset.
“Now,” said Master Rufus, turning around. Call realized that they’d made their way into a large grotto without his even noticing. The walls were covered in springy blue moss the color of the sky. Master Rufus began to pace, his hands behind his back. “We all know that in order to use an element, you require a counterweight, something that keeps you in balance so an element won’t take control of you. Right?”
“It keeps you from being Devoured. Like that fire guy,” Aaron said, referencing the monstrous, burning being they had met in the deep caverns below the Magisterium.
Master Rufus made a pained face. “Yes, the being that was once Master Marcus. Or, as you put it, ‘that fire guy.’ But there is more to it, no?”
“It’s an opposite,” Tamara said, tossing her braids. “So it pulls you in the other direction. Like the counterweight for fire is water.”
“And the counterweight for chaos is?” said Rufus, looking hard at Aaron.