"Energy. Life force. The same power that flows through your veins. Healing yourself is like moving water from one part of a lake to another. Healing others is like transferring water from your lake to theirs. It can be replenished, but not instantly."

"I'm not sure," I admit to Mireen. “He healed Raith, but it cost him. He was even larger before that, and he’s still not back to his original size.”

Ambrose's eyes haven't left my arm. "You should document this. Keep records of whenever it happens. Note the circumstances, the sensations, everything."

"Why does everything have to be a research project with you?" Beck asks, rolling his eyes. "Is this why Noraveen broke up with you? Did you try to document the circumstances and situations when you blew your load too early?”

"She broke up with me because her ex got killed in a training accident and she realized she loved him," Ambrose says flatly.

Beck rubs the back of his neck, wincing. "Sheesh. Way to make it awkward.”

"And I document and study because knowledge is power," Ambrose snaps. "And power is survival."

Beck claps his hands together, his earlier distress evaporating. "Well, bummers aside... We're going to crush the Crucible now. Nessa already has a fucking water dragon that can eat our enemies. And now we know it can heal our wounds in a pinch. We're going to be unstoppable."

"Speaking of our team," Ambrose interjects, "we still need to decide on our fifth. The Crucible is only a week away now. Is Brunhild really our only option?”

"Is your arm okay?" Mireen asks quietly as the boys begin to debate, her concern cutting through her usual veneer of toughness. The rat in her pocket scurries up her uniform to perch on her shoulder. This time, she doesn’t seem to even notice.

I flex my fingers, rotate my wrist. "It feels fine. Better than fine, actually." And it does—there's a strange vitality flowing through me, as if the healing had not just fixed the wound but somehow improved me. Despite that, I also feel a kind of small part of me is hollowed out. I wonder if it's the life force Typhon talked about that needs to recover.

"Is this normal? I feel... different."

"Your power grows, angry human. With each use, each manifestation, you become more of what you truly are."

"And what is that, exactly?"

"Something this world has not seen in a very long time. Something both wondrous and terrifying."

His cryptic answer does nothing to calm my nerves.

Beck points at Mireen. “Gods, Mireen. You told me you were done keeping the fucking rats.”

“That’s not what I said. You just chose not to listen properly, Beck.”

“So what did you say?” Ambrose asks slowly, eyes distrustful as he studies the rat, whose whiskers twitch from Mireen’s shoulder.