"Have you and your friends secured a fifth member for the Crucible? I assume my early warning allowed you first selection."

"We're... working on it." I shift my weight on the chair. "But there's something else I hoped to ask about. Something related to finding our fifth."

"Oh?" Voss lifts his chin slightly, eyes sharpening.

"I heard a rumor. About… siphons."

Voss's expression remains perfectly neutral, and I find myself rambling to fill the uncomfortable silence.

"Here at Confluence. Is that even possible? Could there be a siphon on campus? I know they are just supposed to be monsters from children's stories, but I thought if anyone would know it would be⁠—"

Voss rises and circles his desk to sink into his chair. He leans forward, fingers forming a steeple. "It is possible. Yes."

His straightforward admission knocks the air from my lungs.

"Where exactly did you hear this rumor?"

"I don't recall." The lie seems to hang in the air, bright and obvious as it waits for him to strike it away and demand the truth.

But his only reaction is the smallest tick at the corner of his mouth. "I see. Little is known about siphons. Even among the powerful. Though encountering a siphon and living to tell of it is virtually unheard of, we know they exist. Would you like to know how, Nessa?"

My throat works against a sudden dryness, but I nod.

"It's the condition of the victim afterward. If they had no affinity, the eyes become empty sockets of shadow. The veins blacken, and every drop of liquid in the body evaporates, leaving a shriveled, horrific corpse. For those with an affinity, the mark is completely blackened, as if burned away. The sight is... deeply disturbing."

I think back to the hushed conversation I overheard with Raith months ago on the castle walls. "Has a body like that been found here? On campus?"

A troubled shadow crosses his features, like storm clouds momentarily blotting out the sun. "That would be extremely concerning. It would mean our protections have failed and the siphons are far more powerful than we anticipated—that they can move freely among us even in a place where the average student possesses enough power to overwhelm several trained soldiers."

"So... it wouldn't be possible?"

Voss interlaces his fingers, eyes never leaving mine. "I didn't say that. I merely said it would be concerning."

"Does anyone know what they look like? Siphons, I mean."

"Just like you and me. Identical, if they wished it. We believe they can adopt the forms of those they observe. Or perhaps physical contact is required to steal another's appearance. We don't know. But it's the only explanation we've conceived for how they evade detection so thoroughly." Voss sighs. "Centuries of confronting them and our knowledge remains pitifully limited."

"So what do we know?"

"Good," he says with a half-smile. "You're asking the right questions. We know they can kill elementals. Truly kill them."