She whipped her eyes back down to Devon and found the rune puppet looming over the both of them. Its sword hurtled down toward her, about to cleave her in two. She had half a moment to make her decision. She placed her life in the hands of the Sha. Yenni raised her face to the sword, watching it fall, then watching it pass right through her without stirring so much as a breeze. Just like before, when the puppet in the clearing had seemed to move from one place to the next within moments, this puppet was merely another illusion.

“Oh hells!” cried Devon.

Enough. Yenni pulled back her arm and punched him hard in the temple, putting all her disgust into the swing. His head snapped to the side, and his eyes fluttered closed. Yenni jumped to her feet.

“Weh-sheh!” she called again.

“What in the world is that thing?”

“I heard someone shout. This way!”

Two of her fellow students came crashing through the trees toward her.

“Whoa!” one of them cried at the sight of her. The other one narrowed his blue eyes and drew his sword, pointing it at her. “Hands on your mouth.”

Yenni cocked her head to the side, confused. “What?”

“Is that—I think that’s a professor!” said his friend. He shot Yenni a look of alarm and drew his sword as well.

“Hands on your mouth!” the first one yelled again.

“But he is the one who attacked me!”

“That’s for the peacekeepers to decide. We’re taking you in.”

“Ah!” said Yenni. “This is lunacy! I am going to academy security.” While a panicked part of her wanted to run through the woods looking for Weysh, she knew she would have more luck with the help of the peacekeepers. They could more effectively interrogate Devon. She gestured to his unconscious body. “Pick him up and bring him. Mind my spear.”

The two students glanced at each other in uncertainty.

“Quickly!” snapped Yenni. They sheathed their swords and scurried over to Devon. Just then she heard a faint, familiar flapping. She gasped and looked up. A moment later a high dragon cry echoed through the wood. Yenni glared at Devon, but he was out cold.

“Weh-sheh!” she yelled up at the trees. Yenni took off for the clearing as the two students shouted after her. She spotted Weysh gliding above the canopy of the trees.

Oh thank all the Mothers and Fathers! “Weh-sheh!” she called again, waving her arms frantically. He dove into the clearing, changing a few feet in the air. He hit the ground running and swooped Yenni up into his arms.

“Kindly Watcher, thank you,” he breathed, squeezing her.

“I’pa! Weh-sheh . . . you’re . . . hugging me too . . . tightly.”

He let her down. “Sorry.”

Yenni slapped his arm. “Where did you go?!”