“He doesn’t want me to be here,” said Call. “He wants me to stay away from the Magisterium.”

“As you know,” said Rufus gently, “such a thing is not possible for a mage who has passed the First Gate. You must complete your training.”

“I want to,” said Call. “I don’t want to go back with him. I don’t have to, do I?”

“No,” said Master Rufus, but the way he said the word, the answer didn’t seem quite as definite. “But as I said, it’s not our intention to steal children away from their parents. I thought he’d gotten more used to the idea of you being my apprentice.”

“Not really,” Call said.

“I’ll go with you, if you like,” said Master Rufus. “When you talk to him.”

“I don’t want to talk to him,” Call blurted out. Part of him wanted desperately to see his father — wanted to make sure he was okay after the horror of seeing him slam against a wall. But he knew he couldn’t. It would be impossible for them to have a conversation that didn’t involve the words Constantine or murder me or Alkahest. There were just too many secrets that people might overhear.

“I want you to tell him to leave,” Call told his teacher.

Master Rufus looked for a long time at Call. Then he sighed. “All right,” he said. “I’ll do as you ask.”

“You don’t look like you want to,” Call said.

“Alastair was my student once,” said Rufus. “I hold him in regard still. I had hoped that your attendance here would begin to soften his hatred for mages and the Magisterium.”

Call couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Not without telling Master Rufus things he couldn’t possibly tell him. He just shook his head. “Please make him go away,” he whispered.

Master Rufus nodded and turned to leave the library. Call glanced back over at Aaron and Tamara. They were both leaning on the table, their faces tinted green by the lamps. They were staring at him worriedly. He thought about going back over to them, but he didn’t feel like facing their questions. Instead, he turned and raced out of the library as fast as his leg would let him.

CALL WANDERED THROUGH the halls of the Magisterium, heading down toward the cool lakes and rivers that ran through the caves. Eventually, he stopped by the side of one, took off his boots, and stuck his feet into the silty water.

He wondered again about whether he was a good person. He’d always figured he was okay, like most people. Not terrible, but not great, either. Normal.

Definitely not a murderer.

But Constantine Madden was a murderer. He was an evil madman who’d created monsters and tried to cheat death. And Call was Constantine. So didn’t that mean he was responsible for everything Constantine had ever done, even if he didn’t remember it?

And now Call was letting Aaron worry and plan to face a threat that didn’t even exist, because he was selfish.

Call kicked the water, sending droplets flying against the wall and scattering the pale, eyeless fish that had gathered around his toes.

Just then, a lizard dropped down from the ceiling onto the stone beside Call.

“Augh!” Call yelled, jumping to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

“Live here,” said Warren, tongue flicking out to lick an eyeball. “Watch you.”

Because that wasn’t creepy at all.

Call sighed. The last time he’d seen the lizard, Warren had led Call, Tamara, and Aaron into the room of one of the Devoured, a mage who’d used so much fire magic that he’d become a fire elemental. The warning of the Devoured rang in Call’s ears: One of you will fail. One of you will die. And one of you is already dead.

Now Call knew which one of those he was. Callum Hunt was already dead.

“Go away,” he warned the lizard. “Go away or I’ll drown you in the river.”

Warren gave him a goggle-eyed look before scuttling halfway up the wall. “Not the only thing that’s watching,” he said before disappearing into the darkness.

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.”