"It's good that you are keeping it quiet. Your secret is safe with me. I'll be honest… I thought you were… something else. When you drew my power in, I was almost sure of it. But it makes more sense now. Unbound,” he says it again, as if testing how it feels on his tongue.

"What did you think I was?"

"Not important. But what you are… does anyone else know?"

I think about Bastian, and even if I don't know why he's helping me yet or even if what he's doing is helping, I feel like I shouldn't admit he knows.

I shake my head.

"What about them?" Raith gives a slight jerk of his head toward my friends at the corner of the room.

The three of them huddled there with their new water elementals are honestly kind of adorable. They look like they're expecting to have to come in and wrestle a half-dead Raith off me at a moment's notice. I feel another swell of gratitude for them. My throat tightens with emotion I refuse to show.

Even in a place like this. Even when trust feels like it might be a deadly mistake, I know all three of them are ready to lay their lives down for me. For all of Confluence Academy's faults, I have to admit the daily threat of death here does help us form tethers not just with elementals, but with some of the other students.

"No," I say. "I didn't want to put them in danger."

"Good. That's good."

There's a short pause, so I decide to ask the question that has been on my mind. "Why were Serena and Malakai trying to kill you?

Raith's eyes flash with secrets. "You haven't told your friends what you are because it puts them in danger. That's why I won't answer your question."

I let out a breath, annoyed at his secrecy but also unable to argue. Frustration may twist at my insides to admit it, but he is right. It’s like he said. I'm doing the exact same thing with the others.

"You should go. They'll be having the tethering ceremony soon. You should ask your elemental if he can take any less conspicuous forms. He's an ancient, right? It's the only way he could take such a powerful form."

"I am Typhon. Known and feared among my kind as ancient, wise, and powerful."

"Something like that," I say in answer to Raith's question.

"Can you take other forms?"

"My dignity would prevent me from diminishing myself. Let them see my power. Let them tremble in fear. Why should I hide?"

"He… wants to know why he should hide. He's got a bit of an ego." I resist adding that his ego may be larger than the entire elemental plane.