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She shook her head Hadn’t she gone to the Heroes Portal by herself last night? But she hadn’t had that sense of trespass

She cli doorway of the second floor where Cade had done his weapons practice, honing his skills to becoly preserved his library of daed books She did not stop for her destination lay on the third floor

Once there, with the aid of her taper, she found the lever that illuhts She set the taper aside and quickly oriented herself, striking off to find that one particular aisle that contained her personal belongings She would not leave them behind--not her brooch, the moonstone, or the feather of the winter owl Nor would she leave behind her unifors were hers They allowed her to touch so real fro until they brought her to the table that held her belongings She iotten how it felt, that slight weight against her chest She slipped the moonstone into her trouser pocket Next she traded the professor’s bonewood for her own She had not appreciated the differences between the two before, for they were subtle The professor’s lacked the black shield ee on it Hers did not

She then hesitated, wondering whether or not to take all the mirror shards with her No, she would keep the one The rest would reotten with time, just like much of the rubbish in this room; rubbish the professor considered artifacts

She carefully rolled the feather of the winter owl in the sleeve of her greatcoat, then stuffed her uniform into her satchel She decided to leave her infantry boots behind Thethey’d received in Blackveil had turned the and smelled of mildew She had no oil or time hich to recondition thema for the professor

She turned to leave, and there he was standing in the aisle watching her--the professor She was so startled she squawked and dropped her satchel How had he crept up on her like that? She detected his smile beneath his ostentatious mustache and re around at odd hours of the night

"You--you followed me here?" she asked

"Yes, of course I wanted to see what you were up to"

Karigan gestured at her satchel "As you can see, I as"

"I do see, but you know it is safer for all of us if they rean replied

"Why ever not?"

She strongly suspected he knew the answer "Because I a I have to"

The professor stepped closer "You worry about your Eletian friend"