I haven’t been in here in over a year because, hygiene. It’s still gross, except instead of posters of video games and celebrity mages, his walls are covered in runes and sigils and other symbols I don’t know. There’s barely a spare inch of blank space between all the printouts and drawings.

Above his desk are a dozen different World trees—a symbol often associated with the Sampo. The trees are surrounded by intricate runes—or maybe sigils—I’ve never seen before. They have to be related to chaos magic otherwise I’d definitely recognize them. Toivo always talks about how he’s going to become a tietäjä, how he’s destined for greatness. It makes no sense for him to dabble in chaos magic and yet all this seems to tell a very different story.

I shiver. Being in here is giving me a serious case of the creeps.

Still, I kick aside a pile of BO-soaked clothes before ducking down to peer under the bed. Dirty socks, an old tennis ball, a pair of hockey skates with rusting blades, and a homemade contraption that could be a Zeiger counter. I fish it out, careful not to get contaminated by the filthy clothes. Is this what he’s hiding?

Finding nothing more under the bed, I wheel his desk chair over to the bookshelf and wobble my way onto it to search the shelves. There, nestled between dust bunnies and several dog-eared paperbacks, lies the book I saw in Joakim’s classroom.

Carefully, I pick it up, half expecting to get vaporized by chaos magic but, once again, being magic resistant comes in handy. Toivo is pretty brave to bring this book home. If Mom or Dad find him with it—but the thought burns away as another sparks into being.

What if Mom and Dad already know? They’ve been hiding so much from me. I don’t want to believe they’d be encouraging my brother’s exploration of forbidden magic, but I honestly don’t know if I can trust any of them anymore. Not even Dad, considering how well he just managed to avoid answering any of my questions.

If I’m going to get the truth, I’ll have to find it myself. And the only people I’m willing to trust right now are definitely not in this house.

The middle stair creaks and I’m out of time. I scramble off the chair and duck out of Toivo’s room, only just making it into my own before Toivo stomps along the hallway and slams his door shut.

I shove the stolen book along with the remaining textbook into my backpack before rummaging in my cupboard for my old boots. It’s only a matter of time before Toivo figures out the book is missing, and I do not want to be around for that.