“Come on,” Edwyn told the apprentices, his voice shaking slightly. “I’m sure we all have somewhere else we could be. I, for one, spotted a pub this morning with plumberry mead that—”

“Why should I leave?” Cyril shouted. At that, one of the boards sprang out from the floor and launched across the room. Then a second. Then a third—that one came close to whacking Tadg in the head. “You act as though I came here to make you angry! I came here for an assignment—”

The apprentices and their Beasts scrambled out the door, which Edwyn slammed behind them. Barclay was stunned into silence. He’d known that Runa and Cyril hated each other, but he hadn’t realized that they really hated each other. He half expected one of them to murder the other before sunset.

The others must’ve felt the same way, because none of them spoke.

It was Edwyn who broke the silence with an eerie laugh. “Funny, the way that fate brings people together.” Then, without bothering to tell any of the apprentices where they should go, he stalked off. Probably to that pub.

“Who was that guy?” Cecily asked.

“That’s my—” Yasha started.

“Never mind him, did you see the scar on Runa’s face? And her Haddisss?” Hasu shuddered. “She’s way scarier in person than I thought she’d be!”

“Runa isn’t scary. And she’s a very good teacher,” Viola shot back. She might’ve sounded more persuasive if Mitzi wasn’t latched onto her arm poking at the pins on her coat.

“Oh, is that why you decided to be her student?” Shazi demanded. She was still clutching her sabers. “Is that why you left me and Hasu behind?”

Hasu shushed her. “You don’t have to—”

“If anyone was left behind it was me,” Viola hissed. “And Runa is just as respected as Cyril—”

Shazi snorted. “Is that what your father said when you told him?”

Viola flinched. “I… I… Mitzi, stop!” She pried the baby dragon from her forearm, then she glared back at Shazi. “Yes. That’s exactly what he said.”

“Ha! I knew it! You haven’t told him.”

At this, Viola gave a loud hmph, seized Barclay and Tadg by their wrists, and dragged them with her down the street. Yasha, looking torn, set off on his own into town.

“Your friends seem great,” Tadg said flatly.

Viola’s nostrils flared. “They’re not my friends. Well, not anymore, at least. And I don’t even know Cecily. When did Cyril have time to find a new apprentice since we spoke in the Woods? There hasn’t been another Exhibition—”

“Just stop, okay?” Tadg wrenched his arm out of Viola’s grip. “So Cyril thought you were a useless apprentice. Get over it!”

With that, he stormed away—in the direction of Ansley MacGannon’s shop.