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Farrow glanced over at us and nodded, like there was nothing unusual about their being here.

Tiber rushed over to our side.

“What the hell is happening?” Kaden said.

“They showed up this afternoon. You’re not going to believe this, but another ten people who are transitioning showed up, all while you two were gone.” Tiber looked off to the side, where some men were clearing out an unused building on the outskirts. “No. Leave that there. They’ll be able to use it,” he yelled. He turned back to us. “I gotta go. I’m trying to find places to put them all, and it’s…” He sighed and shook his head before walking off.

“So you decided to stop by?” Kaden said as Farrow walked toward us, his ancient cape flowing. “Were you coming for a visit, or…”

“We’re coming to fight. Figured we're dead either way. Might as well go out in flames.”

“You realize Herrick probably knows where we are?” Kaden said.

“Everyone knows where you are.” Farrow looked from Kaden to me, eyeing me up and down. “You’ve made some progress.”

“I’m working on it.”

He looked around some more. “Where can we stay? We like that building,” he said, eyeing up our house.

“Oh no,” Kaden said. “Keep looking.”

Farrow shrugged and returned to his group, eyeing up some other buildings.

“I mean, I guess the numbers help, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” Kaden was still staring at them like they were a plate of lima beans on the dessert tray. “Plus, I’m not sure how to get rid of them without killing them.”

“You can’t kill them because they’re unlikeable.”

He hummed. He didn’t sound as sure as I was about that last part.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I tossed a stone up into the air and then tried to keep it there. I’d been at it for over an hour and had yet to succeed.

I wasn’t the only one. A lot of us were trying to lift a stone. It was such a small act but harder than felling the tree.

Kaden walked back over to me after doing the rounds. “You need to be able to feel the energy pulsing around you. You have to mold it, direct it. That’s what keeps the stone up. That’s what will block the action of another. You create an invisible wall. The stone isn’t floating. It’s sitting on that force.”

Instead of throwing the stone, I let it sit on my palm, imagining my energy growing up from there. The stone lifted slightly, just a few hairs, and I yelled, jumping up and down. It dropped, but I didn’t care. I’d done it.

Farrow sighed loudly and shook his head as he passed. I retrieved my stone, ignoring him, as I had been.

He and the other elders had been walking along the practice field all morning, stopping here and there to point out what they were doing wrong. It would’ve been more irritating if they didn’t seem to be helping. Anything that created progress was tolerable.

Tiber walked over. “We’re really starting to work well together. Look at them. Even the newcomers seem to be blending in seamlessly.”

As I glanced up, I could see some of them laughing with people who had settled this place with Tiber.

“I know,” Kaden said.

Tiber and I glanced at each other, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“The longer we wait, the worse it might be,” I said. “We’re just giving Herrick time to prepare.”

“I know,” Kaden said, his voice a little edgier.

Another minute or so passed.