Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to get help. You look like you’re about to pass out.” He put Fort’s arm over his shoulder and slowly led him to the theater stage, helping him sit down.

“Fitzgerald, are you kidding me?” Dr. Ambrose said, looking up as she packed her papers. “Did you already give yourself a disease? Class barely started!”

“It was that one,” Gabriel said, pointing at Sebastian, who waved back at them with a smile. “He did it.”

“Oh,” Dr. Ambrose said, then shrugged. “Sounds like it’s part of the lesson, then. Carry on.”

“You can’t just leave him like this!” Gabriel said. “Is there something I can do to help him?”

“Have you mastered Heal Minor Wounds yet?” Dr. Ambrose asked.

“I’ve got literally no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then no, you’re useless for now,” she said. “You won’t learn Cure Disease until your second spell. Sounds like you need an older student.”

“Jia,” Fort croaked, his mouth weirdly dry as all the moisture in his body sweated out his skin. “She’ll help. She… did last time.”

“Forget that,” Gabriel said, and helped Fort lie back on the stage, then turned away. As Fort stared in wonder at how the ceiling was breathing in and out, he heard shouting a little ways away. Dr. Ambrose said something, then someone yelped in pain, and Fort began to wonder if this was all the ceiling’s fault.

And then Sebastian appeared above him, looking even more annoyed than before, if that was possible. “You’re so lucky he’s got special treatment,” he whispered to Fort as he laid a glowing hand on his forehead, then pulled it away, disgusted. “Ugh, you’re so sweaty!”

Instantly his fever disappeared, and Fort sat up with a clear head, though Sebastian was right, he was covered in sweat. He found Gabriel standing behind Sebastian with a firm grip on Sebastian’s arm, in what looked like an uncomfortable position behind his back. “You fixed him?” Gabriel asked.

“Do you know who my mother is?” Sebastian said, looking over his shoulder. “She runs this place, and— OW!”

“I do know her, actually,” Gabriel said, so quietly that Fort almost couldn’t hear. “I also know she wasn’t going to let you come back here, not after the attack at the last school. That when she finally gave in, she told you that if there’s even the slightest hint of trouble, she’s going to yank you back home quicker than you can say ‘please stop hurting me.’ So I’m guessing this is the last I’ll be hearing about this. Am I right?”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You’re still lucky that you’re— OW FINE OKAY, you’re right!”

Gabriel released Sebastian’s arm, then patted him on the shoulder. “Glad we understand each other,” he said to the other boy.