“Uh. Kayden?”

I got up, tried to stop crying, and failed. Oh man, this was embarrassing. I didn’t cry. I definitely didn’t cry in front of other people. And I didn’t dare contemplate crying in front of other boys. If this had been at my old school, my social life would be over, but Max just walked over, awkwardly patted my shoulder, and fished a tiny packet of tissues out of his pocket.

“Uh,” he said, “is everything, um… what’s…?”

I opened my hand to show him. He glanced at Kylie, who just shrugged.

“That’s, ah… nice?”

“It’s a tracker,” I explained between sobs. Come on, Kayden; what are you, four years old? Get a grip.

Max’s eyes widened. “Somebody’s tracking you?”

“No. It’s switched off.” I flipped it over and showed him the switch. “That must be how she got it in, even though electronics are banned… which means they didn’t search too hard for electronics. Wow, could I have gotten a phone in if I’d thought to switch it off? I guess there’d be nowhere to charge it…”

“How who got it in?” Kylie asked.

“Chelsea. My friend at home. We have this game. You can get this app, right, which reads the signal of the tracker, and we’d take turns hiding it and having the other person find it.”

“This is the game that put you on the roof that day,” Kylie said.

“Yeah. That game. It’s always easy to find, because of the app; the challenge is in retrieving it. You retrieve it, you hide it for the other person. Before I left, I hid it somewhere in the hospital that should’ve taken ages to break into, but I guess she got there on time and hid it for me.”

“And she put it somewhere you’d be able to find it, even here, and left you with a memento,” Max concluded. “That’s nice.”

I shook my head. “That’s not the message. At least, that’s not the whole message.” I turned the tracker over and over in my hand. “See, now it’s my turn to hide it. And we always bragged to each other that wherever the other person could go, so could we. That was the point of the game. She’s sent this with me to tell me that wherever I hide it, it doesn’t matter; she can find it. She’s telling me that she’s always with me, no matter what.” I clenched my fist around the bit of plastic. “I owe her the same. And I owe her – I owe all of them – respect for their wishes and their choices, even the choice to put up with me. Excuse me, I have things to do.” I slipped behind my bed to toss the tracker into a drawer.

“Where are you…?”

“Well, to have a shower, first thing. And then to the shop, because I have a great idea and I have to be the most endearingly sweet boyfriend ever so that Magistus will regret ever challenging me. And then I’m going to do some research on what kinds of things a kid might do to an accomplished mage to leave her feverish and comatose.”

“By research, do you mean asking me on the assumption that I’ve done the research?” Max asked.

“Yes, of course I do.”

“I’d better get to the library, then.”

“And at some point,” I said, “I’m going to finish my homework, and figure out where at least one of the external portals in this school is, and in a month go home to go on trial and hug my mother and tell her I love her. And neither of you saw me crying.”

“Of course not,” Kylie said.

“I’m only just returning now,” Max said, “and have no idea what happened before this point.”

“Good.”

I had plans to work out with Magistus in about an hour, so I had to work fast. I got what I needed, and tracked down Clara. By the time I arrived, she was in the library, having an intense debate with Max about something to do with how prophecies should be classified.

“Hey,” I said.

Max looked up. “I haven’t had a chance yet to – ”

“Actually, I need to talk to Clara. Clara, would you mind helping me out with something stupid?”

“Possibly. What’s in it for me?”

“I can convince Magista to cook something.”

“Ha. She doesn’t just drop everything and cook for anyone.”

“She’ll cook for me, if I ask her in the right way. Trust me.”

“Okay, I’m interested. What do you need?”

I set a large bag of cheap Valentine’s candy hearts on the table. “Can you take these and scatter a few through Magistus’ stuff whenever you get the chance? You know, drop them among his toiletries, in his books… whatever he leaves within your reach. Just a few at a time; this is a long-term gesture. And don’t let him see you do it. And don’t let Magista see you either, because she’ll tell her brother.”

“Hmm. I’ll do it for two cupcakes.”

“Deal.” We shook on it. “Enjoy your… whatever you two are doing.”

Time to meet Magistus.

I caught sight of him heading down the hall in front of me, toward the gym, and snuck up to hug him from behind. I’m no pickpocket, but it’s impossible to play the tracker game with Chelsea for so long without picking up a few sleight of hand tricks, so it was no trouble at all to slip a few candy hearts into his pocket without him noticing.

“Kayden!” He grinned. “Ready to be demolished by my prowess?”

“There’s more to life than being able to lift and drop the biggest weight,” I said. “Come back when you develop the intelligence and balance to climb a wall.” I fell into step beside him, slipping a few more hearts into his open gym bag.

“Please,” he said. “That’s not nearly as impressive as you think it is. Will your little climbs ever help you develop real muscle?” He flexed his arm. He was developing real muscle, too, where I wasn’t. A lot of that was testosterone, but I had to wonder if he’d upped his exercise routine and hadn’t told me. That’d be just the sort of thing he’d do, the jerk. Well, joke was on him, because I was going to yoga the hell out of myself with Max, and who’d be the weak one then? Magistus, who wasn’t able to stick his legs behind his head and balance his entire body weight on one arm, that was who.

“Thanks by the teddy, by the way,” I said while we headed to the changing rooms. “I’ll have to think of some way to thank you properly.” I snuck a couple of candy hearts into his other pocket.

“Ah now, that’s not necessary. What matters is that your happiness.”

“You being happy makes me happy, so I’d sleep lightly unless you want to wake up covered in roses.”

Magistus laughed. “Despite Simon’s panic about evil curses, I know perfectly well that you can’t break the force fields on the beds, Kayden.”

“You think I couldn’t get something on your bed?”

“I know you couldn’t.”

Should I tell him about the gap under the beds? Nah.

After lifting, in which I managed to covertly slip hearts into every pocket, pouch or bag on Magistus that I could find, I had some free time. I stuffed my rock climbing gear into a backpack and was so distracted riding my wave of motivation that I was in the valley before I realised that trying to climb a cliff with arms tired from a weightlifting session probably wasn’t the best idea ever.

Well, fine. There was other stuff I could do. I laid down in the long feathery grass, closed my eyes against the gentle sun, and breathed.

The uneven burble of the little waterfall and stream danced on the edge of my consciousness as I breathed in, out. I acknowledged the uncomfortable stone under my right hip, but there was no need to feel motivated to do anything about it. It was simply there. I let myself be aware of my breath, of my blood, of my muscles, as I searched my heart for the spell.

The sound of the stream had changed to a rhythmic splashing. Footsteps.

I opened my eyes. People hardly ever came to the valley; it must be Kylie or Max, looking for some peace. Or perhaps looking for me. I started to sit up and opened my mouth to greet them.

It was Simon. He had an umbrella, and the furtive look of someone who’s somewhere they’re not supposed to be. He hadn’t seen me.

I stayed still, watching him dash up the stream to the waterfall at the head. He raised the umbrella to duck under the waterfall and behind an outcrop of rock behind it, vanishing.

Hmm.

I shouldered my bag and followed as quietly as I could, staying as far back as I could without losing him. The tunnels were dark, but Simon didn’t light his way. I had to follow him by sound. I’d better not get lost.

“You have it?”

“Of course I have it, Madja.” The other speaker was man, older, and spoke in brusque, clipped syllables. I didn’t recognise the voice. “I am a professional.”

“And it’ll hold up to scrutiny?”

“Not to anybody who has examined the original. They would detect the differences if they had reason to look.”

“Well, nobody should have any reason to look. And if they do, they’ll at least assume I couldn’t tell the difference, so…”

“You have the payment?”

“Of course, of course.” There was some rustling as things were exchanged.

“Good. We have never met.” Footsteps rushed off down the tunnel.

My eyes were adapting to the darkness. I could faintly make out Simon standing next to a little stream, holding a small bag. He tipped something out into his hand, inspected it, and dropped it back in. Then he headed for the valley again.

Straight past me.

Without really thinking about it, I seized my opportunity. I reached out and snatched the bag from his hands. “What’s this?”

Simon yelped at my sudden existence in his vicinity, but recovered quickly. As I tipped the object into my hand and recognised the shape of a signet ring, he leapt on me, trying to snatch it back. I closed my hand, but not soon enough; as Simon jarred my arm, the ring flew off into the darkness, landing with a splash.

I caught one look of Simon’s furious snarl before his fist collided with my nose, dropping me to the ground. Head ringing and tasting blood, I lifted my arms to protect from the next attack, but it didn’t come – Simon had followed the stream further into the cave, looking for the ring. The source of the meager light was the water, I noticed; it was very faintly luminous.

I hadn’t gotten to see too many natural waterways in my life, but when I did, I always sort of scanned them automatically for holed stones. A stone with a hole in it bored naturally by water is an excellent luck charm and especially valuable against curses, so of course as a child I was always looking for them. Which is probably why my eye caught the shape of the ring under the water before Simon’s did.

I lurched to my feet, trying to ignore the way the world spun around me, and darted for the ring. I scooped it up just in time; Simon was barrelling right for me and I leapt backwards over the stream, but he leapt after me, grabbing at me and knocking me to the ground…

No, to the air.

The pair of us fell over a steep drop we hadn’t seen. While Simon sank his teeth into my wrist and pried my hand open I, with reflex born of a hundred falls, planted both feet against the wall rushing past us and pushed us away from it, so we wouldn’t be banged up on the cliff face before the safety enchantment caught us.

Except that there was no safety enchantment to catch us here. Soon, we’d slam into the stone ground, and probably be killed. I braced for impact…

Only to plunge into icy water.

I gasped in shock, taking in a lungful of water. This just caused me to choke and splutter and, of course, panic, lashing about. Simon held me above water and yelled something I didn’t hear before dragging the bag of heavy iron pegs and other climbing equipment off my back, letting it sink.

Free of that weight, I managed to keep up and get enough air to think. I became instantly aware of two things – first, Simon had gotten my hand open, and was jamming the ring on his finger. And second, some kind of tendril was closing around my leg.

I kicked at it, but all it did was tighten and start to drag me under the water. It had Simon, too; I watched him struggle briefly, and then he was free. He grabbed me and kicked at my legs; I felt a numbing static, like a lesser version of trying to hit someone wearing the Guardian Ring. Whatever it was, the tendrils let go. While I concentrated on trying to get enough breath and trying to move my staticky legs, Simon wrapped an arm around my waist and started swimming for a faint blue light in the distance.

“Not that way,” I managed to gasp. “It’s too high up and too far. There’s a shore that way.” I pointed.

“How do you – ?”

“Trust me!”

He clearly didn’t, but he did as I said anyway, and a minute later we were laying and gasping on a horribly familiar half-moon beach. Simon set up his tablet as a torch; mine was at the bottom of the lake.

“Well,” he said. “This is just a fantastic situation, isn’t it. What now?”