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I sit beside Raith in the healer's room, studying him as he lays with his eyes closed and his body covered in thick bandages.

I lift my shirt to expose the burns on my back, wincing as the academy healer applies a salve and then wraps my torso in clean linens. “You’re lucky,” she says. “These aren’t too deep. I don’t think you’ll scar.”

“Thank you,” I say, smiling as she nods and drifts to join the other healers tending to dozens of wounded students who are being carried in every few minutes as more and more return from the rifts.

Beck, Ambrose, and Mireen all sit beside the bed with me.

There's an air of tense anticipation between all of us. For now, students are still fighting to tether elementals as the window to return to campus remains open. In a few hours, the rift will close, and anyone who hasn't returned will be assumed dead.

After that, we'll all be forced to participate in a celebratory ceremony, as if our victory isn't shadowed by the ghosts of hundreds and even thousands of dead going back to that first day when we arrived in our carriages. The thought makes my stomach turn.

Mireen's hair is still soaked and she has a gash on the side of her neck that the healer bandaged when we arrived. Her braid has come loose in several places, leaving her copper hair to stand up and catch the fading evening light that streams through the windows. "So…" she says softly. "Are you going to tell us what is going on with your mark, Nessa?"

I instinctively twitch to put my hand in my pocket, but force it to still. My pulse skyrockets. The silver threads running through the blue and the patterns are different than everyone else who tethered. Even the blue is a deeper shade than their marks, as if some of that unnatural color saturation from the elemental plane is showing straight through my skin.

Typhon already told me it would draw attention. He said it was because he's an ancient, and the depth of his tether is many times more powerful than the types my classmates will have. It explains the deep, vibrant blue, but not the threads of silver. I’ve managed to work on disguising them more, but not before my friends saw.

"Um," I say, scratching the back of my neck. “It’s complicated.” Gods, how do I even begin to explain this? The most obvious answer is to admit the truth about Typhon to my friends. Admit I tethered a fucking ancient and blame him on the strangely intense water mark on my hand. “I think it has something to do with the elemental I tethered, though. At least that’s what he says.”

For now, they can’t see him. Elementals can choose to remain hidden from all but their tethered human, and I haven’t seen any other elementals showing themselves as students return from the rifts.

I can see Typhon lurking in the corner of the room like a dragon twice the size of a horse. They can't. Not unless he chooses to let them.

"Caution will prevail when tethers are fresh," Typhon notes, casually reading my thoughts and responding, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. That's going to take some adjustment.

"Hey," Ambrose cuts in. "We've all known there was something different about you since the start. And if you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to."

Mireen nods quickly. "He's right. I just wasn't sure if the mark was connected, or if…"

"Did I tell you guys Uther is a fucking water bear?" Beck asks, eyebrows wiggling. I’m not sure if he’s interrupting because he’s just that excited, or if he’s trying to divert the conversation to save me from having to share.

Either way, I appreciate it.

"About fifty times," Ambrose says, though there's some amusement in his voice. "And Mireen's elemental is an adorably deadly otter thing, which… frankly I am having trouble imagining."

Mireen sits up straighter, glaring at Ambrose. "Ollie is deadly. He has these claws. He's cute, yes, but he does have claws. And he's fast."

We all grin.

"And," Ambrose continues a little smugly. "I completely understand you're all just a touch jealous of Akaron. Water hawks are, after all, quite rare."

"I'll take my cute but deadly otter."

"A bear, Ambrose." Beck says. "Uther is a fucking bear. Who wins in a fight, a bear, or a little flimsy hawk?"

Ambrose waves them both off, eyes fixing on me. "Do we get to hear what form your elemental takes?"

The healer on duty is fussing with bandages of a girl a few beds over, so I wait until she heads back to her office and leaves us in relative isolation. Raith still seems to be sleeping, but I guess there's no use hiding it from him. He saw Typhon with his own eyes.

I have to take a few deep breaths, building up the willpower to tell the truth.

"Well… you guys remember that story about the terrifying water monster in Mirror Lake? And the huge dragon thing I told you about that nearly killed me during the Water Trial?" My pulse skyrockets, dread about their reactions crashing on me like a wave.

Ambrose leans forward so slowly I almost don't see it. Mireen's eyes start to widen. Beck scratches his nose, still oblivious to where I'm going with this.

"Is it okay if I tell them?" I ask Typhon. I'm still getting used to the fact that he can hear my thoughts.

His answer comes into my mind. "I am Typhon, first of his name. Tamer of oceans. Tidefather. Do you think I fear being known by fragile creatures made of meat and bone? Hah!”

I grin as my friends watch me, waiting for my answer. "People are tougher than you think. Stick around and you'll get a chance to see that."

"Once again, you forget I was among your kind for centuries. I know and understand humans, perhaps better than you do, angry human."

"Sure you do." I mentally roll my eyes.

I take a breath, trying to decide the best, most gentle way to explain this to my friends. How exactly do you tell someone your elemental is essentially a giant, ancient dragon?

Mireen grins slightly. "It's okay, Nessa. You don't have to be embarrassed if it's like… a goldfish or something. Ollie told me he'll get bigger and more fierce as we train. So even a goldfish would eventually be something to reckon with if you train right."

I bite my lip. "Typhon isn't a goldfish... He's kind of like... a water dragon?"

Beck narrows his eyes, his attention finally locked in. "When you say dragon… do you mean like a bat? Because wings are cool, but I'd hardly call a bat a dragon."

"Young elementals can't take a form like a dragon, Nessa.” Ambrose says softly, as if explaining something gently so he doesn’t hurt my feelings. “They have to tether several humans and gather strength over centuries to…" he trails off, gaze falling to the floor. Maybe he's recalling my mention of the lake monster.

Mireen's mouth hangs open. "A dragon?" she whispers. "Can we see it?"

"Typhon, are you willing to show them?" My stomach flutters with nervous energy.

I sense a world-weary sigh from my elemental, but the widened eyes and audible gasp from Mireen tell me he has revealed himself.

"Holy. Shit." Beck whispers. "You tethered a fucking dragon? Malakai is never going to mess with you again."

"Impossible…" Ambrose breathes.

"He's so cute!" Mireen says, standing and taking a step toward him.

"Tell her if she calls me cute again, I'll eat her and her damned otter."

"Um," I say, taking Mireen's arm. "It might be best to give him some space. He hasn't been around humans in a long time."

"This is untrue. I have been eating them for the past few centuries.”

I'm suddenly thankful my friends can't hear him. His manners need a lot of work.

After a barrage of questions, most of which I answer truthfully, I've caught them up to speed on the "what the hells" and the "how the hells." The only part I haven't mentioned is about my unbound affinity. It was easy enough to claim the silver threads in my mark were just a side-effect of Typhon's ancient power.

Part of me does want to tell them, but I also know even more than I did before. I know what I am is dangerous, even if I don’t fully understand why I’m dangerous yet. Bringing them in will put them at risk, and we've all got more than enough threats against our life as it is. The guilt of keeping secrets from them weighs on me like heavy stones, but I can't risk their lives. This unbound burden is mine to carry, and I won't put it on their shoulders unless I absolutely have to.

Beck's elemental shows itself first. It's a bear that is about half as tall as Beck when on its four legs, and probably taller if it stood on its hind legs.

"Meet Uther," he says, patting the bear on the head. Uther snaps at him, and Beck pulls his hand back with a sheepish smile. "He's grouchy, but we're already becoming fast friends."

His bear looks like he's made of living water of the deepest blue. In most ways, it looks like a bear, except for the peculiar long eyebrows and dangling beard of water on its face.

I don't dare say as much aloud, but I honestly think it's kind of cute.

Mireen's "Ollie" shows himself next. He's the size of a dog and swims through the air with a sleek body that seems made the same way of most water elementals—as if he's a living formation of water. Though the eyes and a few parts, such as its teeth and claws, do seem somewhat more solid. Ollie's "claws" that Mireen bragged about look about as deadly as a cat's.

"You know," Ambrose says. "I have heard that the smaller elementals are often a sign that the primal commands more powerful channeling skills. Maybe Ollie is a little less of a front-line fighter, but he'll bolster your magic as you guys train together."

Mireen scratches his head as Ollie continues to swirl around her. She talks to him in a baby voice. "You could fight on the front lines if you wanted, couldn't you?"

Instead of snapping at her or seeming annoyed, Ollie just curls tighter into her, making me smile. They say elementals are drawn to people who match their own nature. I think it’s true for my friends, but I don’t know if Typhon was exactly a natural pairing for me. At least I hope not, based on his personality.

I feel him growling inside my mind and grin.

Ambrose shows his water hawk, Akaron. The water hawk is perched on Ambrose's shoulders. Despite being smaller than the bear, his claws look substantial enough to do some serious damage, and there's no playfulness in the hawk's deep blue eyes. He actually gives me the slightest nod as I take him in.

I nod back, because I don't want to be rude.

We take a while swapping questions and stories from our time in the elemental plane. I learn that Mireen and Ambrose were able to stick together for the most part, and they didn't face any trouble from fellow students. Both felt called to their elementals, and they had to dive into some deep waters to find them. In a way, it sounds like their experiences were almost identical to what we faced during the water trials as we searched for echoes.

Beck, on the other hand, supposedly had to wrestle Uther because they were both fighting over the same fish. Beck claims he was hungry, and the two reached a stalemate and agreed to share the fish in the end. I’m highly skeptical of the story, but that's not a shock when it comes to Beck. He has a new story about his conquests with girls across campus almost daily, and all of them are "older students we wouldn't know."

After a while, Mireen's smile fades and she seems to remember Raith who lays between all of us, still motionless and radiating heat.

"So…" Mireen says. "You saved the terrifying guy who basically runs the first-year fire offerings… because?"

"Malakai and Serena were trying to kill him. It was five on one when I got there, and Raith had already downed a few of them." I resist the urge to get defensive—Raith's life was worth saving, period.

Beck kicks a foot up on the bed, leaning back so the wooden chair beneath him groans like it might snap in two. "Okay. Sure. But if I walked into a forest and saw a bunch of wolves trying to kill each other, I don't know if I'd pick one and try to save it. You know?"

"He has… helped me a few times." The words sound pathetic even to my own ears.

That earns raised brows from everyone.

"Helped you how?" Mireen asks. "I seem to recall him nearly choking you to death your first day here. And other than that, he's always glaring at you like he wants to eat you for dinner."

"Yeah, well, I don't think trust comes easy for him. And I won't pretend I know why, but he has been helping me. He kind of… looks out for me. In his own way." Even I can hear how weak that sounds.

Ambrose gives Mireen a sideways look.

Beck nods knowingly, snapping his fingers. "So you two are fucking? That's all you had to say. It does make sense. I mean, no offense, obviously, but you're gorgeous, Nessa. I never made a pass at you because I assumed you were taken. It was the only explanation for you not hooking up with anyone. But you’ve got it all going on. Face? Check. Body? Double check. And your ass is?—"

"Beck," Mireen says, turning his name into a sigh and a curse at the same time.

"What?" Beck says. "Look at her." He gestures. "Of course I wouldn't sleep with you. I mean, I would. But I won't because I respect you. And you guys brought me in, probably saving me from Malakai. Even if being your friend now sort of makes me more of a target…"

When nobody says anything for a few seconds, Beck's eyes narrow to slits. "Or… I will sleep with you? If that's what I'm supposed to say? Fuck, guys. I'm lost here. Uther is no help, either. He's just saying how hungry he is."

"Keep your fucking hands to yourself," Raith groans, surprising all of us. He coughs and sits up slightly, wincing as he probably aggravates his dozens of wounds.

"Hey, easy," I say, thinking twice before I reach out to touch his bare skin. The blanket has fallen down to reveal his ripped and muscular torso. My breath catches despite my best efforts.

And his scars.

There's a collective intake of breath as everyone else sees, too.

The entire left side of his body from his belly button to his pec and all around the side is twisted with more burn scars.

"Hands off," Beck says, holding both palms up toward Raith, who is glaring at him. "You got it, big guy."

Raith might be the only first-year Beck could actually call “big guy,” considering Beck already towers over most students with his size.

"How do you feel?" I ask Raith.

"Fine. Where is Serena? Where's Malakai?"

"I'm not sure. Last I saw them was in the elemental plane on our way out. But I assume they'll be back on campus by now. Unless… maybe Bastian could have killed them. But that doesn’t seem like something he’d do if he could avoid it."

He nods, pulling the blanket back over his body as if he's ashamed of the scars. It's a simple gesture, but it breaks my heart. A tightness seizes my chest that has nothing to do with my own injuries. Scarred or not, there's an unnatural beauty to Raith. And by now, all of us at Confluence bear our own scar tissue on the inside. The fact that he has to wear his for everyone to see isn't fair, and I hate it for him.

"You are soft for him," Typhon notes. "Perhaps you should mate with him. It would relieve some of the emotion I sense clouding your mind."

"Typhon… do me a favor and shut up." I feel heat rush to my face.

"Such a small, angry, insolent human. You are worse than Korthan. He at least respected my power and authority. He knew how highly esteemed I was among the elementals, and he would never dare speak to me so. Unless, of course, I interrupted his meals. Korthan was passionate about meal times."

I bite back a smile. For all Typhon's talk, I can feel something of his real emotions through the tether connecting us. I feel the bottomless well of his gratitude for saving him from the madness that trapped him for so long. Even if both of us are too stubborn to admit it aloud, I know he can feel my gratitude, too. Typhon is the reason Raith is alive. He's the reason I'm alive.

At my thoughts, I feel a slight warm glow through the tether, and it widens my smile.

"Is your elemental okay?" I ask suddenly. "Pyrin, right? Last I saw, he was wounded."

Raith nods, eyes closing as if the exhaustion of his wounds is making it hard for him to stay awake. "He is healing. He'll be fine. Tell your elemental thank you. He saved us. Pyrin is grateful, too."

"He is welcome," Typhon says. "I approve if you wish to mount him, angry human. He is a strong mate, and he shows an acceptable level of respect toward me."

I don't dignify that with a response, but I sense a flicker of amusement through the tether. Maybe Typhon isn't as thick as he lets on.

"Leave us," Raith says suddenly.

"Uh," Ambrose says. "No offense meant, Raith, but the four of us watch each other's backs. We're not about to leave her alone with a fire."

"Even if you're more cut up than a holiday ham," Beck adds with a severe nod.

"Unless you want privacy to… you know," Mireen asks, brows raised as she looks at me.

"You can trust him. I trust him ," I add, realizing that I really do. "Malakai and Serena were trying to kill him. Raith could have let Serena challenge me the first day here and had me out of his hair. If he wanted me dead, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead already." Though the fact that my friends had the guts to stand up to him makes something warm and fierce surge in my chest.

Raith says nothing, which feels slightly unhelpful, but I give him a pass since he just nearly died.

My friends exchange wary looks, but after a little more convincing, they finally agree to wait out of earshot. They won't leave the room, but they'll at least give us the privacy to talk alone.

Once they're huddled at the edge of the room watching us with distrustful eyes, Raith speaks again. "You healed me."

"Technically, Typhon did it through me. I don't think I can take credit."

Raith nods. “Typhon. The beast from Mirror Lake. Before Confluence Day, he was a rogue elemental. Pyrin can confirm that much. Mad for centuries, exiled by his kind and feared.” he lets the words hang, the implied question clear.

"Well…" I say slowly. "People change." I try to sound more confident than I feel.

That earns the faintest smile from Raith. "Rogue elementals don't. You're unbound, aren't you?" His voice is so low I know none of the nearby patients a few beds over can hear. I'm grateful for that much, at least, but his accusation makes my breath catch all the same.

Instinctively, I shake my head. "I don't know what that means." My heart thuds so loudly I'm shocked he can't hear it.

"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.

"Does he care about keeping you alive?" Raith asks. "Because rogue elementals don’t return from madness. That’s not supposed to be possible. Even for an unbound. But finding out he’s yours will draw attention. Even if it’s just because people will know tethering an ancient means you’re going to be the most powerful primal in both kingdoms by the time you graduate. If you graduate. There are people… things… that would do anything to stop you from gaining that kind of power."

"Is he right?" I mentally ask Typhon.

"On some counts… on the others, I have been blinded by madness for too long to know. Perhaps the fire touched is right. I will suffer the indignity of diminishing myself only because your death would… be unfortunate."

I turn and smile at him as he looms in the corner, looking somewhat ridiculous in the small room with his head hunched to fit. "Did you just admit you don't want me to die, Typhon? Does that mean you like me?"

He lets out a low growl as steam hisses from his snout. "I find you acceptable. And my gratitude runs deep, angry human. In time, I suspect we will come to find our pairing was a fortunate one. Perhaps."

"He says he'll do it," I say, turning back to Raith.

"Good. Now go. And keep them close," he says. "Serena, Malakai, and the others saw your elemental. Keep that in mind. But Serena knows she can't admit she tried to kill me without turning all the fires on her. Most of the earths are loyal to me, too."

"They are?" I ask. "Why?"

"It's not important. But Malakai knows how powerful you'll become. If he's smart, he's probably going to try to come after you sooner, rather than later. So keep your friends by your side at all times. We can’t know if they’ll try to get the truth about Typhon out or not. But we should be ready for anything."

"Okay."

Raith surprises me by reaching out and touching my hand. I feel some of his fire flowing into me, swirling in my lower belly in a way that's not entirely unpleasant. "You saved me back there. I don't take a debt like that lightly, Saltcrest."

I shake my head. "You don't owe me. It's fine."

"I do. So don't get yourself killed while I'm healing."

"Got it. Once you’re done healing, I’m free to die?" I can't stop the playfulness that slips into my voice.

"Once I'm done healing, I'll see to it myself that nobody lays a fucking hand on you."

I want to laugh, but the sudden intensity and severity of his words makes electricity prickle across my skin instead. The fierce determination on his face steals my breath. He means it. Gods, he means it.

"They will have to get through me, too," Typhon says

I don't just have an ancient water dragon swearing to protect me from danger. Now Raith Hollow, the most terrifying and deadly student at Confluence Academy, just said he's going to become my glorified bodyguard.