I was half paying attention to Mana Studies the next day when Theo approached me.

  He had a grin on his face and looked at me with a certain admiration that made me immediately suspicious.

  "So it's official! You really serve Aurora now?" He said it loud enough that several nearby students turned to look. "Man, that's crazy. I wish I could be that lucky!"

  "What?"

  "Aurora!" He leaned in conspiratorially. "She actually talks to you. Multiple times. In public. Tell me, what's your secret? Do I need to get a gray uniform? Provoke the Prince? I'll do whatever it takes!"

  There were no bridges Theo wouldn't cross to be ordered around by a strong girl.

  "It's not anything like that..." I tried to explain, knowing it was probably futile. "We're just friends, I guess."

  "Yeah, yeah, that's what you tell normal people." He nodded knowingly. "But I understand how these things work. Sometimes all they need is a reliable pawn who can follow orders properly."

  I felt a spike of annoyance at that. Not at the idea of helping Aurora, but at being called a pawn. Before I could respond, Silvani swept into the classroom.

  Her black hair was pulled into a high ponytail today instead of her usual messy bun, and she wore a dark vest over her white shirt. She noticed Theo and me talking immediately.

  "Now then!" Her voice cut through the classroom chatter. "Emberheart's little prodigy. After all your private training sessions, have you finally learned how to use mana properly?"

  The entire class went quiet.

  "I... I guess?" I wasn't sure what she meant by properly.

  "Hmm. I heard you were vital during the expedition. Even Aurora seems to find you interesting now." She walked closer, her eyes sharp. "But what exactly could you do against the corruption?"

  If she was fishing for information, I needed to give her as little as possible. "I'm not too sure. You'd probably need to ask Emberheart."

  She smiled at that, like I'd just accepted a challenge.

  "Of course. Then let me ask you something simpler." She leaned against her desk casually. "How do you know when corruption is getting close to you without being able to see it?"

  "I don't know." The corruption hadn't felt like much of anything by itself.

  "So if corruption were to say, be right behind you at this very moment, you'd never know?" She tilted her head. "Seems dangerous to let someone so unaware go on expeditions."

  "We had good protection. Everyone was looking out for me."

  "Naturally." Her smile widened. "Then tell me, do you notice the shadows following you around campus? Did Emberheart mention them to you?"

  I froze.

  I hadn't noticed anything. No one had told me anything about people following me. Were there actually people tailing me? Maybe they were like Nico, able to go completely undetected.

  Silvani's smile grew as she noticed her small victory.

  "Then I'll help you. And in exchange, you'll consider helping me with something later. What do you say?"

  I opened my mouth to respond, but she held up a hand.

  "No need to answer right now. We don't want everyone knowing about our secret deals, do we?" She looked around the classroom pointedly. Everyone was completely focused on our conversation, not even pretending to look away.

  She clapped her hands together. "Right! Today I'm teaching all of you something actually useful: how to detect things with your mana. It's a simple concept that far too many mages fail to grasp."

  She moved to the board and wrote three words in quick succession: Perception, Emission, Control.

  "In previous classes, you learned to identify things by their mana signature and control your own mana. These are the foundations of mana study." She tapped each word. "And they're all tools for what I like to call 'poking around where you shouldn't.'"

  She wrote the word "Detection" in the middle of the three.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "Let's use our dear Kai as an example." She gestured at me theatrically. I was impressed she actually said my name. "In our first class, he was trying to hide his mana. Adorably, might I add. Now, how would you tell if he was sneaking up on you? Say, if he decided to murder a professor he found too annoying?"

  She smiled at me sweetly. I tried very hard not to show any killing intent. Not that I had any.

  "That's where emission comes in." She created a small sphere of mana in her hand, letting it float above her palm. "Everyone here emits mana passively. It's like body heat, but magical. Emberheart's comfortable and familiar warmth, the Prince's oppressive authority, my own charming presence."

  A few students chuckled nervously.

  "If we can feel someone's mana, logically, they can feel ours." She let the sphere dissipate. "Imagine yourself as a dot." She drew a small dot on the board, then a circle around it. "This circle represents your mana's natural range. The area where you influence your environment without even trying. If you have a natural affinity—say, for fire—you could make anything in this area combust without drawing a single spell circle."

  She made it sound casual, but that was actually terrifying.

  "Now, when someone enters your mana's range, you can feel them. Their mana pushes against yours. But what if they're hiding their mana signature like our friend Kai tried to do?" She looked around the class. "Then you feel nothing. They could be standing right behind you, and you'd never know."

  She held up a finger. "Unless you use perception properly."

  "If you can perceive your own mana—really feel its shape and flow—then you know what it should feel like normally. Which means you can notice when something disrupts it."

  She recreated the mana sphere in her hand. "If one of you walked up and broke this sphere, I'd feel it immediately, right? Same principle. If someone walks through your mana, they create a disruption. A void where your mana should be but isn't."

  So if Nico was invisible nearby, I could theoretically feel a blank spot in my mana and realize someone was there.

  "However!" Silvani's voice rose dramatically. "None of you will manage this passively. That takes years of practice and an awesome mage like myself." She gestured to herself with exaggerated pride. "Which brings us to the third component: control."

  She drew a second, larger circle over the first one.

  "You can force your mana to expand. Cover a bigger area with higher density. At that point, detecting intrusions becomes much easier. Like the difference between trying to notice a pebble dropped in an ocean versus a pebble dropped in a bucket." She paused. "Of course, pushing your mana out like that is also noticeable to anyone paying attention. But it beats being assassinated while you learn subtlety."

  She stepped away from the board with a flourish.

  "Now then! Same as always. Find a partner and practice. One person hides their mana, the other tries to detect them anyway. Switch roles every few minutes."

  The class immediately dissolved into motion as students paired up.

  I looked to the side where Theo was staring at me with awe.

  "Man, why are you so lucky?" He complained. "She didn't even glance at me during that whole thing! It was all about you!"

  I had a feeling this was going to be a long exercise.

  After class ended, I was gathering my things when Silvani appeared beside my desk.

  "So! How are you liking the orb?" She leaned against the desk casually. "It took a lot of effort to acquire, you know. I had to call in so many favors that people now think I'm some kind of orb enthusiast. Very embarrassing for my reputation."

  I paused, caught off guard by her suddenly honest attitude.

  "Ah, it's nice..."

  "You haven't practiced with it at all yet, have you?" She read right through me with ease, her eyes sharp despite her casual tone.

  I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

  "Well, I'll forgive you this time." She waved her hand dismissively. "But you have to tell me about the expedition in exchange. Fair trade, don't you think?"

  There it was.

  "I don't—"

  "Don't refuse me so easily!" She interrupted, putting a hand over her heart dramatically. "Come on, at least pretend to think about it for a moment."

  She looked overly sad for effect, her lower lip actually jutting out slightly.

  "Emberheart is loyal to the director, yes, but you have no such obligation to anyone." Her tone shifted, becoming more persuasive. "If you tell me what really happened out there, I promise I'll tell Aurora you're the best Mana Studies student I've ever taught."

  She put her hands together in a pleading gesture and actually bowed her head.

  "Uh... what?" I was too confused by her method of trying to bribe me to form a proper response.

  "Hmm." She straightened up, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I should have thought of a better offer. Money? Access to restricted books? Private tutoring sessions?" She snapped her fingers. "Oh! I could teach you some of Emberheart's embarrassing stories from when we were students!"

  Despite myself, I almost smiled at that.

  "Look, I get it. You want to be loyal." She sighed theatrically. "But at least think about it, okay? My curiosity is killing me, and I'm running out of dignified ways to beg."

  "Okay," I said, because at the moment that was the best I could give her.

  She smiled, seemingly satisfied with that small concession. "Good enough for now."

  I started heading toward the door, relieved to escape before she came up with more creative bribes.

  "Oh, and Kai?"

  I stopped and turned back.

  She was still smiling, but there was something different in her expression now. Something more serious underneath the theatrical facade.

  "What they don't want you knowing about?" She tilted her head slightly. "Corruption mages are behind all of this."

  My blood went cold.

  "What?"

  But she just waved cheerfully, as if she hadn't just dropped something massive. "See you next class! Don't forget to practice with your orb!"

  I stood there frozen for a moment, trying to process what she'd just said.

  Corruption mages. Did such a thing even exist?