I don’t think I’d ever heard Ryan admit to being bad at something in his entire life. I wasn’t sure he actually had been bad at anything in his entire life, now that I thought about it. Things had always come pretty easily to Ryan. It was one of the few things we’d had in common, and now, as I remembered how awful and confused I’d felt when I’d first learned I was a Paladin, I couldn’t help but sympathize.

“Hey.” My hand hovered over his shoulder as he slumped forward, elbows on his knees. Was I allowed to hug him? Even in a totally platonic, comforting way? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, so I did what seemed safest and patted his back a few times before clasping my hands in my lap. “You don’t suck. You just don’t know all the ropes yet.”

Ryan dropped his hands from his face, swiveling his head to look at me. “Is this something where you can know the ropes, Harper? Because I’m pretty sure magic and potions and—and Oracles are always gonna be pretty effing confusing to me.”

Considering the fact that I still had no idea when the Peirasmos was starting, that wasn’t exactly something I could answer. Instead, I gave him another pat and said, “We’ll all figure it out together.”

Ryan seemed to sigh with his whole body, his hair ruffling with the long breath he blew out. “You say that all the time. ‘We’ll work it out.’ ‘Everything will be okay.’”

Stung, I dropped my hand from his back again. “We will. And it will be.”

Ryan straightened, watching me over steepled fingers. “You’ve never been able to admit that you were in over your head.”

I opened my mouth, but Ryan raised one hand. “No, I know you’re going to say it isn’t true, but it is, Harper. You know it. Only this time, it’s not school dances and leadership committees and student government issues you’re trying to balance. It’s huge, life-or-death stuff, and you’re still pretending it’s another project. People are going to get hurt.”

His gaze drifted to Mary Beth, slumped next to him. “People have already gotten hurt.”