Leaving Wing in his room, Lupos and Fenrir slowly made their way back to the dorm. However, just before they could reach it Fenrir heard a voice in one of the nearby corridors coming towards them. "Lupos," he growled in mindspeak "It's Lucio." Nodding silently, Lupos pressed himself against the wall, concealing himself and Fenrir with darkness magic and listened silently as Lucio came closer.

"It's me they're after!" rung out Lucio's voice, as he finally came round the corner into view. "It's not just Mervyn! They targeted my fiance, my spirit summoning ritual and now my teacher." Lucio stopped in front of Lupos and faced the figure Lupos now recognised as Three.

Looking at Lucio in an uninterested manner, Three responded, in a calm manner with an bored tone. "Interesting you should say so, your fellow apprentice Gale theorised the same."

That drew Lucio up short. "He did?" He said with surprise. Noting the surprise in Lucio's voice, Three turned to look at Lupos. "Is there something surprising about that?" Lucio gave a short nod while Lupos looked at Lucio slightly worried.

"It's nothing much, it's just that I wouldn't expect him to be smart enough to put it together." Lupos smiled, finally somewhere Lucio's annoying habit of looking down on people could work in his favour. "In truth," continued Lucio unaware of Lupos's joy "even in fighting he's forced to rely on a lot of petty tricks and traps to do well, the only reason he's even Mervyn's apprentice is because of the headmaster's promise."

Lupos stopped smiling, while number three gained an interested air around him. "Do you remember what type of magic Gale has and what his summoned spirits affinities were?" Lucio nodded pompously. "Of course, he had a higher earth affinity and his spirit was a large silver wolf with an earth and darkness ability."

Lupos silently cursed Lucio in his mind, but couldn't do anything more than watch as Three casually asked in a sly voice. "Do you know the spirits name and also his second spirit? I heard he recently managed to summon a second spirit."

Lucio looked a little put out by all the attention placed on Lupos but answered nonetheless. "The first one, the wolf that is, was Fenrir I think. The second spirit was a small Shetland pony," Lucio paused momentarily, to snicker at what he believed to be Lupos' misfortune. Unfortunately, it was due to this snicker that Lupos missed the words Three said under his breath. "So the old man was right....it was Fenrir."

"I don't know it's affinity though, we were meant to keep it secret for our battle with Mervyn so we'd have a slight advantage." Three nodded, "thanks for your help." Walking off without another word, Three started to make his way towards Lupos' room.

"Shit." swore Lupos under his breath. Once he was sure Lucio had left using mindspeak he quickly contacted Sleipnir. "Sleipnir I need you over here NOW!" Not waiting for a response, Lupos quickly ran outside and sat on the grass, Fenrir, shortly sitting down beside him.

It was only several seconds later that Lupos was joined by Sleipnir albeit in his Shetland pony form. "What is it Lupos?" Lupos grimaced "Lucio's given Three a hint about my spirits and your affinities. However, it seems like Three was curious about you and your affinity as well as my apparent talent for traps. So tell me quickly, do you have any affinities other than magic absorption?"

Sleipnir nodded. "I can use the magic I've absorbed. Seeing as the last magic absorbed was Mervyn's, I can use earth, fire, water, air or light." Lupos hesitated a minute. "Ok, later I'm going to ask you to use magic without specifying what type so I need you to perform water magic when the time comes."

Sleipnir nodded accepting Lupos's strange request. He was about to question it when Lupos turned to face Fenrir. "When I scream, I want you to run towards the forest as if chasing something, before running back later with some scratches and blood on you. Tonight, I also want you to give the message of the plan to free Wing's family to Akari via Ratatoskr. Understood?"

Fenrir nodded and Lupos grinned while quickly withdrawing one of the small daggers Darius had given him. Wasting no time, he tightened his grip on the handle and slammed it into his own shoulder. Screaming out in pain Lupos hid the dagger and watched as Fenrir ran towards the forest and Three appeared nearby.

Pretending not to notice, Three Lupos yelled at Sleipnir. "Use barrier magic!!!" Watching as Sleipnir erected a transparent water barrier Lupos allowed himself to collapse onto the ground.

The dagger he used, was of course, coated with poison. Lupos was, of course, immune to most poisons, but by using one his body was unfamiliar with and by relaxing his guard, he allowed the milder of the physical affects to take place without the harmful symptoms appearing.

Lupos awoke the next morning his shoulder bandaged up, while Three sat opposite the bed staring at him. "What happened?" asked Lupos pretending to be disoriented. Three sighed. "You were attacked last night, it seems Mervyn's killers are somewhat interested in his apprentices as well. For the safety of the students, all of you are to be sent home."

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Author's note

I'm really REALLY sorry for the wait on the chapter I've been caught up in homework and my job, I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)