44
Fergus read the letter twice.
It was in code, of course. His family’s code. Used only when trading information important enough to require secrecy.
His mouth moved as he read each word, but he didn’t dare say anything out loud. Some of what his father had written was definitely not to be shared with anyone.
Not even Fulka.
As he thought about the girl, his eyes flicked up at her.
She was sitting next to Jin, facing him. Her hands in her lap.
She looked delicate, he thought. Like a small flower beginning to open. He wasn’t used to such poetic thoughts, so felt his ears redden a little with heat.
Beside her, Jin was picking some crumbs from his shirt. The big oaf had been eating cookies one after the other. Hardly pausing between them.
Fergus held up the letter, and kept his voice low.
“My father’s told me more about the wards,” he said. “He doesn’t believe I can do it. He thinks I should wait for my brother to arrive. He’ll be old enough next year. He wants him to take over.”
“But that’s stupid,” Fulka scowled. “You’ve done all the work! Is he trying to steal the credit? Are they really trying to swindle you?”
Fergus shrugged. “I don’t know. Since my mom died, I feel like he doesn’t trust me much anymore.”
“So, he wants some snot-nosed punk to come in and get the glory.” Fulka crossed her arms and huffed. “That ain’t right. Is it, Jin?”
Jin blinked, clearly a bit surprised to be included in the conversation. “Nope.”
“Did you tell him about the normie using it?” Fulka asked.
“Yeah.” Fergus nodded. His hands were trembling as he held the letter.
The anger Fulka was expressing was filling him, too.
But he didn’t want to let it out. Not in front of her.
He didn’t want her to think he was a petulant child.
“He said he’s concerned and is going to raise it. But he said that last time, too.”
Fulka rolled her eyes.
It made him want to smile.
She was always so supportive.
For the last few years, Fergus had begun to feel more and more at odds with his family. He was being pushed aside, and he knew it. The only time his father had seemed interested in him lately was when Fergus had been drafted into the Academy.
That’s when he’d told Fergus about the Primal Core.
A weapon from old times. A core so powerful it could grant limitless power to any mage who touched it.
He gave Fergus a task.
A simple task.
Just watch the Vault. Check the security. Try to discover if the core was still there. And, if it was, let him know.
Fergus wasn’t a complete fool. He knew his father wanted the core.
The Mage Court was a thorn in his father’s side. They were refusing to let him join. The Paddstone Family had proved themselves worthy of a seat, but the Court said there were no vacant seats.
They told his father to wait.
And he saw their refusal as an insult.
With the core, he might have leverage. He might have power.
Maybe, he told Fergus quietly, it was time to have a change. The world could be different. It could be better.
All Fergus had to do was observe.
And that’s what Fergus had been doing. Until Milo triggered something in him.
At first, he wasn’t sure. The first dungeon might have been a fluke. But it happened again and again. Milo continually tore through the dungeons without effort.
It would be one thing if he just ran through without killing anything. That sort of cowardice from a normie Fergus could understand. But Milo was drowning in dungeon stones and loot the dungeon let him bring out.
Even with Tania, whose ranking was ridiculously high, it should have been a challenge.
The only way they could go that fast was if they had a limitless supply of mana. And the only thing that could give them that was the Primal Core his father had told him about.
Fergus figured the teachers were giving it to him when he went in, and taking it again when he came out.
No one believed him, though. No one believed him when he said Milo was cheating. And every day, more and more of the other students slowly leaned towards Milo. They were even buying his strategies from Tania.
He’d heard Cerena praising them, saying it had made the last dungeon easier for her team.
But even with those strategies, Cerena’s team couldn’t match Milo’s speed and power. He’d destroyed his dungeon.
Fergus shuddered.
Why should a normie be given so much power?
It wasn’t right!
And only Fulka was on his side. Maybe Jin, though the big man seemed mostly disinterested these days. He nodded along, and was loyal for sure. But he wasn’t as invested.
Fulka, on the other hand, was right there with Fergus. She was his rock.
Without her, he was sure he would have crumpled in a corner of his room and cried like a baby. Like he’d always done when he was at home and enduring the bullying of his brothers.
Their mothers had always hated his.
Hated her for what she was.
Squeezing his hands into fists, Fergus pushed his breath slowly from his lungs.
They weren’t wrong about her, he thought. But they were wrong about him!
“So, the question is, are we gonna let them take it from you?” Fulka asked, leaning towards him. Her eyes were wide and clear with determination. “Or are we gonna prove your father wrong? Because I know you can do it, Fergus. I believe in you.”
She reached out and put a hand on his knee and he felt a tight knot constrict his throat.
She really did have trust in him.
How could he think of betraying that trust by delaying until his brother arrived?
He shook his head and showed a grim smile. “I don’t know. Going against my father could be bad.”
“Or it could be good,” she said. “You wanna give it to him, right? Well, if we get it first, he won’t care that we didn’t wait. Will he?”
“Maybe.” Fergus glanced at Jin, who just sat like a wall. “What do you think?”
The big man shrugged. “You know me. I ain’t much of a thinker, Fergus. But I’ve always got your back, right? You want to go in, then I’ll go in with you. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. I think it’s a bad one, to be honest. But I’ll go if you want.”
Nodding, Fergus felt a spark of appreciation for the big man.
He’d always been there, too.
In his own way.
“If we do it,” Fergus said slowly. “There’s a chance we’ll get caught. Maybe even get killed.”
“I know,” Jin said.
“But we’re with you,” Fulka said firmly. “All the way.”
“I guess so,” Jin agreed.
Fergus turned to Fulka. “There’s still a lot of Tinkers around the Vault?”
“Seems like. I think the doors are breaking in there again.”
“Stupid doors,” Jin muttered. “One in the Mess broke this morning. Tinkers still haven’t fixed it.”
Fergus grinned at him. “That’s why you’re scoffing cookies?”
“Yeah.” The big man nodded. “Down to my last snacks.”
“You eat a lot,” Fulka giggled, slapping the big man’s belly.
Jin winced a bit and shrugged. “Hey, I’m a growing guy.”
“I don’t think you can grow any bigger.”
“Sure I can,” he said, prodding a bicep. “I wanna add about three more inches of girth right here.”
“You’ll get so big, your arms are going to explode one day,” Fergus warned, prompting another giggle from Fulka.
“They don’t do that,” Jin said. Then he squinted. “Do they?”
“That’s something you can ask Finklestern.”
“I’ll do that.”
Fergus tried not to laugh. Jin had taken it seriously.
But arms didn’t explode.
Did they?
Suddenly he wasn’t so sure himself.
The doubts then started to pile up. He was concerned about the security more than anything. Wouldn’t the Academy have the best? Not just wards. Mages.
They’d need some hefty firepower to overwhelm them.
Sure, once he had the Primal Core, he could do what he wanted. But getting to the core was tricky.
He glanced at Fulka, who’d proven to be what they’d needed to make it through the dungeons. She’d taken Vizzinbelle’s lessons on how to make explosions with geomancy and promised she would soon be able to do it, too.
He trusted her on that.
She couldn’t do walls, though.
That didn’t matter. He could handle their defense.
And her rifle skills were second to none. Milo never attended classes, so Fergus wasn’t sure how she held up to him, but he had no doubt in his mind she was the better shooter.
If she could hold off the mages with Jin, he could make it work.
The thought of what they were planning filled Fergus with excitement. If he could get his hands on the core, then his father would have no choice but to acknowledge him.
Still.
If he failed, everything would be over.
And that’s the part that held him back. Which made him pause. And had him second-guessing their plan. All it took was a guard in the right place and the whole thing would come down around their ears.
Reinforcements would arrive.
The Headmaster, too.
And then?
Death. Only death.
Because he didn’t want to know what they’d do to him if he survived. He’d be lucky if all they did was toss him into a cell in the Black Zone.
Shuddering, he licked his lips and felt a cold bead of sweat squeeze through the pores of his neck.
“We can do it,” Fulka said. Her gaze was firm. Her smile was hard. As though she could read his doubts and wanted to sweep them away. “You can do it, Fergus.”
Maybe, he thought.
With her at his side, maybe he could.