Chapter 9 · Loop Eight

"Took you seven tries." Karl Murray's voice filled the doorway before Ivy's eyes even adjusted. "I was starting to think nobody in this whole academy was smart enough to find my room."

Ivy's fingers locked around the key. Useless now. Her legs wouldn't move, but her mouth still worked.

"Karl Murray." Leon's voice came out flat, no shake in it at all. "Expelled three years ago."

"Good memory." Karl stepped inside, slow, like he owned every second of it. He did, if he controlled the loop. "Surprised a Wald even remembers commoners. Your family usually forgets us the minute we stop being useful."

Leon flinched. Ivy caught it out the side of her eye and filed it away.

Karl drifted toward the shelves, trailing a finger along a box like it was something he loved. "Forty-three students erased in ten years. You know why? Not because we failed. Because we were too good at the wrong things."

"Using a barrier core isn't 'good at something.'" Ivy's voice came out steadier than she felt. "It's dangerous. You could've killed—"

"Could've." Karl laughed, and it wasn't a nice sound. "Didn't, though. I proved commoner magic beats anything the noble houses hoard.