The Copper Gauntlet

“You could have told us the truth about what Master Joseph said to you, and you didn’t.”

“I didn’t want you to hate me,” Call said. “You’re my best friend.”

Tamara made a dubious noise. “Aaron’s your best friend, liar.”

“You’re my best girl friend,” said Call. “I didn’t want either of you to hate me. I need you both.”

When Tamara spoke again, she sounded less angry. “So I guess what I wanted to tell you is that I don’t want us ever to lie to each other again.”

“But we can still lie to other people?” Call looked at Havoc, who wiggled his ears.

“If it’s important,” Tamara said. “But not to each other and not to Aaron. We only tell each other the truth. Okay?”

“Okay,” Call said, and Havoc barked.

“Call,” said Tamara. “Is there someone in the bathtub with you?”

Call sighed. He hadn’t expected his truth telling to bite him back so quickly. “Havoc,” he admitted.

“Call!” Tamara said. “That is so disgusting.”

Then she started to laugh. After a second, Call was laughing, too.

Once Tamara left and Call finished up his bath, he headed back to his room in his robe and pulled on a uniform. When he reemerged, Aaron was already there, clean, dressed, and eating what looked like a very pale pear.

“What is that?” Call asked him.

Aaron shrugged. “Magic cave fruit. One of the Silver Year apprentice groups grew it. Tastes a little like cheese, but also like an apple. Want one?”

Call made a face. Behind Aaron, he saw that their table had a big pile of the weird fruit, some drinks and candy from the Gallery, and what looked like a few homemade cards. A single eyeless fish floated in a glass bowl.

Aaron followed his gaze. “Yeah, some people were worried about us. Those are ‘get well’ presents, I guess.”

“ ‘Get back here’ presents,” Call said.

Aaron grinned. A few minutes later, Tamara came out of her room. Her hair wasn’t frizzed at all: It was in smooth dark braids, and she’d put them up around her head like a crown. Gold earrings hung from her ears, swinging when she moved. She smiled at Call and when she did, he felt his gut twist. He looked away quickly, without quite knowing why.

“Ready to go to the Refectory?” she asked them.

Aaron took a last bite of the magic cave fruit, folding the core in half and eating it. He glanced down at Havoc, fluffy from the bath. He smelled a little bit like green-tea soap and looked unhappy about it.

“Hey, puffball,” he said.

The Chaos-ridden wolf, striker of terror into the hearts of Iron Year students, looked up with swirling, chagrined eyes. Call reached down to pat his head.

“We’ll get you some sausages in the Refectory,” he promised. “You deserve to celebrate, too.”

They headed out into the hallway, only to find Jasper there waiting for them.

“Uh, hi,” Jasper said. “I was just about to knock on your door. Everyone in my apprentice group is being super weird and staring at me. I mean,” he added, “I am a hero, so I can see how that would be awkward for them.”

“You’re definitely something,” said Aaron.

Jasper shrugged. “Anyway, I didn’t want to go to the Refectory by myself.”

He fell into step with them as they made their way down the hall, chatting to Tamara. It had actually started to feel like Jasper just belonged with them, which seemed like a bad sign to Call. On the other hand, he couldn’t be mean to Jasper when Jasper was, against all odds, keeping his secret.