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“ I still can’t believe it. You’re a frucking Boost. The first of its kind,” Caterina said, shaking her head.

Ten days later, I was still getting used to the fact myself.

Who would’ve thought that I, Harlow Daygon, who, up until very recently, couldn’t throw a proper rune to save my life, would be able to take my magic, let it build until it almost split me in two, and then release it into an incredibly powerful super-rune, boosting my magic tenfold.

On the flip side?

Ten days later and I was still the only one with a new Quirk, despite Liam having a chance to meet privately with the others.

He’d advised me to keep it from Tarquinius for now.

If he knew the strength of my Quirk, Liam feared I would be sent to the front lines with the Runecoats immediately.

We both knew I wasn’t ready. I was barely able to wield the power even now.

Me and the others agreed that no matter what or when our Quirks developed, we’d keep it quiet.

None of us trusted this place, or those who ran it.

“I think it’s just too much pressure,” Ross grumbled.

He was curled up on a bean-bag chair in the corner of the common room, tossing miniature pretzels into his downturned mouth.

“And we only had like an hour,” Fable added. She sat on the floor with her back to Marina, who was perched on the couch braiding Fable’s hair.

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but it really would’ve been nice to have had access to Liam this whole time,” Marina said with a sniff.

“I get it. I’m pissed too. If Tarquinius wasn’t such a frucking tool, we’d have all had a chance to work with Liam by now.”

“And at least you got yours, Harlow. As our leader –”

“Stop with that.”

“And as our leader,” Fable said again, more forcefully this time, “I’m really glad if only one of us could get our Quirk that it was you. It puts us in a way better position going into the games tomorrow.”

The others murmured their agreement.

“I have a really sick feeling that mine is going to be like Doyenne Parunah’s damp Quirk. Watch, I bet I’ll be like an Amplifier or something and be able to make quiet noises slightly louder,” Gary said with a snort.

The others chuckled and began teasing one another with their possible potential Quirks.

“What if you can control the temperature, but you can only make things lukewarm?” Ellie said to Marina.

Marina howled with laughter and tugged Fable’s head back. “And yours is going to be that you have this uncanny knack of going to a store and picking out the fruit that’s perfectly ripe.”

“Whoa,” I chimed in, laughing along with them now. “That is an amazing Quirk, actually. Perfect fruit, every time!”

We continued bantering back and forth until the mood that had been weighing on us lifted. This was what I had been missing my first time around here in Neverthorn. The friendship. The camaraderie. Feeling like I belonged ...

“Guys, I just want to say –”

“If you’re listening to this, it’s because you need to hear it,” a disembodied voice boomed, cutting me short.

“What the fruck?” Ross murmured as we all sat up and looked around in confusion.

The air at the center of the room crackled, and then an image the size of a movie theater screen came to life. At the center of it was Nocta himself standing at a dais, dressed in black, looming.

He spoke again, and I was glued to my seat, unable to look away.

“If you’re listening to this ... if you can see me, it’s because you need to hear what I have to say.

” His teeth clenched and the fury in his eyes bordered on madness.

“I am the Lord of the Night. And we’re going to blow the weave to bits, destroy anyone who tries to stop us, and let magic do what magic does.

We will be free again. Archaic, barbaric rules meant to chain us be damned. ”

As much as his words terrified me, they also struck a tiny chord.

And that scared me. But that’s what master manipulators did, wasn’t it?

That was how dictators came into their own.

The power of passion and charisma, a cheerily painted view of a terrible idea.

If the people were ready for change, they became easily swayed.

“So, I call on you now, to stop fighting me and join me. Time is almost up. The people you put your trust in –”

The picture suddenly flickered and Nocta went in and out of focus before disappearing altogether.

“Students,” Tarquinius’s voice interrupted as his own face flickered into place.

“Please do not be alarmed. Nocta and his men are far away, and the school is a fortress of safety. This was a breach of airwaves only. We’ve now regained control.

Please head to your dorm rooms. You’ll need a good night’s sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s games. ”

The image grew wavy and then disappeared altogether, leaving us staring at nothing, shocked into silence.

Hard to get into Solstice Games mode when a magical killer had just declared that he planned to tear open the weave that protected us from dark magic users and murder anyone who tried to stop him.

But after we’d all gone to bed a short while later, I couldn’t help but recall that strange feeling in my chest when Nocta had been talking about freedom. Control.

Part of me wanted to rail along with him at that. Enough to murder a bunch of people? Definitely not. But enough to ... I don’t know, understand where the germ of his madness had started.

Yes, I could understand that much.

And the realization terrified me.