“--did you know it was a wyvern?” Kieran’s voice cut into Rowena’s sleep, which had happily been entirely dreamless.

She blinked a few times and sat up, relieved to hear Kieran’s voice. At some point, Mattie had slid out from under her and put a pack underneath her head instead. The copper-haired Healer was kneeling next to her own bag, quickly rummaging through it.

“Dragons have four legs,” Mattie explained. Rowena frowned– her voice sounded weak. As did Kieran’s, for that matter.

“Why do you know that?” Kieran sighed, and then his reddish-gold eyes caught Rowena’s. “Ro!”

Rowena looked up at the sky– the sun was already at least two hours past sunrise. She leapt up. “What– why didn’t you wake me sooner? We have to go!”

Kieran frowned and stood from the rock upon which he’d been eating his breakfast. “I tried, Ro. You were out.”

I did try to wake you after an hour, too, Cuth’s voice cut in.

What, you don’t sleep? Rowena thought irritably.

Nope!

“What?” she said, realizing that Kieran had come over and was talking to her.

“I said, you were totally passed out,” he lowered his voice. “Plus, Mattie is taking a lot of time to get up and get ready. I’m kinda worried about her. And you. Sorel said you stayed up all night.”

Rowena ignored this. “Why are you worried about her? Is she okay? Are you okay?”

Kieran shrugged, but it looked odd. “Just a flesh wound. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Rowena’s eyes narrowed and she held her right arm straight up. “Do this.”

With a guilty look in his eye, Kieran replied, “Don’t be silly, Ro.”

“Do it,” she insisted.

With a sigh, Kieran began to stretch his arm upward only to wince and stop about halfway up, a look of pain and light beads of sweat forming on his face. He dropped the arm back down.

“What’s wrong with you?” Rowena asked, though she had a pretty good idea– she’d seen the scar tissue forming as Mattie’s Regeneration spell had taken hold of Kieran’s wound and pushed it beyond healing. But in addition to that, his hands were wrapped with what looked like even more of Sorel’s cloak.

“Don’t say anything,” he whispered urgently, with a furtive look in Mattie’s direction.

“What’s with your hands?” Rowena whispered back.

Kieran suddenly looked sheepish. “I, uh… I burned them,” he said.

“You what?” Rowena shook her head incredulously.

“When I made that fireball. That really impressive fireball,” he added with an attempt at pride in his demeanor, but she could see how unsettled he was. “Turns out I probably didn’t need to manifest it right in my hands.”

Rowena stared for a moment. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of just how in over their heads they were. She’d seen traveling Troubadours juggling fire, and no doubt there were plenty of Arcane Warriors who could throw fire as an attack like Kieran had done. But it had never occurred to her that there might be precautions that needed to be taken, like exactly how and where to summon the fire to throw. She didn’t know what to say, or what she could say. Sorry that he’d taken such a stupid risk in touching the Heartstone despite its obvious deficiencies? Or sorry that she’d followed his lead, and brought Mattie and Sorel along with her?

It didn’t matter, not anymore. What was done, was done.

Mattie had hardly taken her eyes off of Kieran all morning, and she looked troubled. “I– I didn’t–”

They had obviously already spoken while Rowena was sleeping.

“No, Mattie. I don’t want to hear it. You did your best,” Kieran cradled his arm protectively by his side.

“She saved your life,” Sorel pointed out. The tall young woman was rapidly consolidating Kieran’s and Mattie’s packs into her own and Rowena’s.

“I know it,” Kieran said softly. Rowena had never heard this tone from him before– was that humility? Awe?

Mattie frowned, and given the paleness of her skin and generally weak demeanor, Rowena quickly went over to her in case she was going to throw up or faint again. Instead, the copper-haired girl waved her away. She was staring at Kieran, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Sorel, hand me Kieran’s extra shirt,” she said suddenly.

The other girl rummaged around and tugged it out before tossing it to Mattie.

Kieran protested, “No one needs to smell that shirt until it’s laundered again.”

“Too bad,” Mattie said, eyes lighting up as she began folding the soiled shirt.

Her tone– confident and assertive, but not rude or overbearing– was also new to Rowena, who was used to the academic, meek girl Mattie had been in Tunehlan. She suddenly remembered Mattie’s Proficiencies: First Aid, and Gravitas. Rowena didn’t recall too much about Gravitas– it was one of those Proficiencies that individuals like Jacob, their town’s leader, often acquired. It surprised Rowena that Mattie should want something like that, but it seemed to be working well for her as Kieran sat meekly as the Healer wrapped his shirt– now a makeshift sling– around his arm.

“That should help,” she said with satisfaction, and then swallowed and went to sit again. Sorel moved over to her, gently tousling her hair with one hand, and handed her some dried fruit, which Mattie took a few grateful bites of.

The Shield then came over and handed pieces of jerky and fruit to both Kieran and Rowena, who protested. “We should eat this on the road.”

“We’ll be lucky to get Mattie walking at all,” Sorel said in a low voice. “Let’s just take a moment and get some energy back if we can.”

Rowena realized that Sorel was right– Mattie was obviously trying to hide how terribly she felt, and Kieran wasn’t much better. In fact, she herself was still feeling absolutely awful, though whether it was from the use of Inverted Calm Person, the lack of sleep, or the sudden jump in levels, she wasn’t sure.

That made something occur to her. “Can we check in again? About levels? Where is everyone?”

“I’m at Level Seven,” Kieran said, mouth full of a savory sweet combination of dried peach and jerky.

Rowena gasped. “How is that possible?”

He began to shrug, winced, and shrugged only his left shoulder instead. “I’ve been manipulating pretty steadily since we left Tunehlan,” he said, not an ounce of guilt or shame in his voice. “Making flowers bloom, playing with the light orbs, that kind of thing.”

That he’d managed to do that underneath her nose disturbed her.

You’ve got to start paying more attention! Cuth said in her head with a reprimanding tone. She didn’t respond, more out of shame than indignation. He was right.

Sorel finally sat down to eat her own breakfast, having packed everything they owned up into two heavier and three much lighter packs. “I’m at a Five after fighting the wyvern. But I haven’t chosen any new Abilities yet,” she added, since a person had the chance to choose two new Abilities every five levels.

“Good,” Rowena sighed. “Me neither. I’m– I’m at Level Six. I jumped two levels yesterday.”

“Me too,” Mattie said in a small voice. “But I hadn’t used my Subclass since Tunehlan. I was at Level Two, now I’m Level Four.”

“I think that must be why you and I are unwell,” Rowena said with a frown. “I’ve never even heard of a two level jump before.”

“Me neither,” Mattie agreed. “There was nothing like that in Martha’s books.”

Having finished her jerky and fruit, Rowena stood. “I think we should get going– if we really, really push ourselves, we can still make it to Arcania tonight.”

“Why the rush?” Kieran asked with a nervous glance at Mattie, who now sat with her face buried in her hands, her long copper hair hanging down on either side.

“I don’t want to risk another run in with a wyvern,” Rowena said, “and I think we desperately need to speak with someone at the University about our… condition.”

“I thought you wanted to keep our, ehm, situation a secret,” Kieran replied. “And anyway, how do we know the wyvern won’t just attack us again at any point?”

“They’re crepuscular,” Mattie said from behind her palms, and then lifted her face so that her reddish-orange eyes peeked out and saw the confused looks on her friends’ faces. “They hunt at dawn and dusk.”

Rowena’s stomach surged– they hadn’t even known they were in danger that very morning! Or at least, no one but Mattie had known. She shuddered.

“Still. I think we chance it another night and take a pace that Mattie can handle,” Kieran said, and Sorel looked tempted to agree. “We’re leaving this place behind– these things probably have hunting grounds, right?”

Mattie nodded slowly, but added, “They do have hunting grounds… but they’re also… well. Supposedly, they’re drawn to the magic energy that powers Subclasses.”

“And we are hemorrhaging that,” Kieran said with a tone that was half intrigued, half terrified, but entirely awed.

Rowena took a deep breath. “What if I could help?”

This is a bad idea, Cuth warned.

We don’t have a choice.

Her friends looked at her curiously.

“Howso?” Kieran asked suspiciously.

“I sort of… I figured out something last night. When I was trying to stay awake all night while you were healing,” Rowena said haltingly. “Turns out you can invert Abilities.”

A spark lit in Mattie’s eyes. “I’ve read about this, but never seen it done,” she said excitedly. “Supposedly it’s not uncommon in Arcania, but–”

“Sounds dangerous,” Sorel crossed her arms, but looked intrigued.

“--no one does it who doesn’t have proper training and supervision,” Mattie finished. “Sorel’s right. It’s dangerous.”

Kieran held a fist to his mouth in a gesture of barely concealed excitement. “Ro! I’m so proud. That is… amazing!”

“But what are you inverting?” Mattie asked. Though she seemed to disapprove of the danger, her curiosity seemed to be getting the better of her.

“Calm Person. It gave me a massive amount of energy. I could use it on Mattie,” Rowena explained, then added hastily, “if you’re up for it, Mattie.”

Mattie hesitated, then began braiding back her long copper hair. “I think we should do it.”

Sorel looked shocked. “I think this is a bad idea.”

Mattie looked up at her tenderly. “I appreciate your concern. I do. But as bad as I feel now, I just don’t think we’ll make another night out here if we’re attacked again. And hey– Kieran needs a real bed, not to mention the care of a real Healer.”

“You are a real Healer,” Kieran protested. “I won’t have anyone touch this arm without you there.”

“Yeah, they’ll need to know how I managed to screw it up so badly,” Mattie muttered in defeated tones as she tied the end of her braid.

Kieran shook his head and stood, slapping a knee with his left hand. “Alright. I guess we have a plan.”

Sorel looked unhappy about the new development, but she shrugged. “Fine.”

Rowena swallowed and made her way over to Mattie.

Did I mention this is a terrible idea? Cuth repeated.

You should be thrilled. I’m finally using this Ability as intended– on another person!

I’m more worried about the inversion than you using it on yourself. But go ahead. At least it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I officially wash my hands of responsibility, though.

Gritting her teeth, Rowena put her hands gently on Mattie’s temples the way she’d seen Kieran do back when he’d masked her and Sorel’s eyes to make them hazel rather than the disconcerting red-orange. Remembering that incident made her recall how unwilling Mattie had been to either perform or receive any Abilities– how time and desperation had shifted their perspectives.

“I’ll go slow,” she whispered, and Mattie nodded, closing her eyes tightly.

She focused on achieving the calm, meditative space of her Subclass– it was easier and faster to do this every time she tried. She saw Calm Person and Detect Secret clearly, with the shadowy-seeming Influence person hovering nearby. This time, she also felt two… gaps. Empty spots she felt a pull to fill. Rowena realized that these must be the spaces that would eventually be occupied by the two additional Abilities she needed to choose– the longing and urgency to select them probably intensified by the fact that she was no longer a level Five, the level at which one was allowed two more Abilities, but was already at a Six. Options to choose from began to appear in her mind– Track Person, Send Message, Enhanced Sight…

Rowena shook her head. She would resist the urge to choose new Abilities and focus on the problem at hand. She gently activated Calm Person, once more pushing the flow of energy through it in the opposite direction, and directed it at Mattie. It was much easier– though still challenging– to use the Ability on Mattie, presumably because it was intended to be used on other people to begin with.

Mattie gasped and her eyes shot open with a start. Her pale face began to regain some color, and she blinked. “That feels… I don’t know how to describe how that feels!”

Rowena let her hands fall to the side and focused on directing some of the inverted energy into herself– Just a little hit, she thought, ignoring Cuth’s clear disapproval.

She felt herself becoming more energized, but not in the way one does after a good meal or revitalizing nap– more like in an artificial sense, like when she’d had too much of Thea’s coffee. It didn’t feel quite right, but she did feel ready to get moving.

Just one thing to do first.

With a lurch, Rowena stumbled away from Mattie and just managed to make it around the large stone pillar before the jerky and dried fruit made a rather violent reappearance.

When she looked up, Kieran, Sorel, and Mattie were all looking at her with concern.

Rowena wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. “Let’s go,” she said simply, and, tapping into the artificial strength she’d lent herself, walked past her friends, grabbed her bag, and set off in the general direction of Arcania.

Behind her, she heard Mattie whisper, “What’s happening to us?”