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"Only one leefully "I got two Although, I mean, you did help a little with the second"

"I could just let you go right now" Call tugged on her leg threateningly

"Okay, okay, you helped a lot!" Tahed, just as the roo, Call realized, at hilancing from his hands to the place where the wyvern had disappeared, as if he couldn’t believe he’d thrown a boulder Call kne he felt

"Whee!" said Ta her arms up and down as she bobbed A mo were slowly floating down, Call letting go of Tamara’s ankle so she could land on the floor feetfirst She handed Miri back to hi, sori the hubbub of voices People were cheering and clapping theined winning a basketball gah he’d never won one He’d never even played for a team

"Call," said a voice behind hirin on his face "I was rooting for you guys," he said

Call blinked "Why?" It wasn’t as if they’d talked much, or at all

"Because you’re like me I can tell"

"Yeah, right," Call said That was ridiculous Alex was the kind of guy who, back hoisterium was different, but it couldn’t be that different

"I didn’t really do much, anyway," Call went on "I just stood there until I remembered to run -- except then, I re through the crowd to approach his apprentices He wore a s and cartwheeling down the hallways

Alex grinned "You don’t need to run," he said "Here, they’ll teach you how to fight And trust ood at it"

Call, Ta that, for the first ti was falling into place They’d done better than all the other apprentice groups, and everyone knew it Best of all, Master Rufus had gotten them pizza Real pizza fros that weren’t lichen or bright purple round They ate it in the coot the ers were still a little greasy as he pushed open the door to his bedroo, he felt the best he had in a long ti on his bed, that all changed

It was a box -- a cardboard box taped up heavily, with his name scrawled in Call’s father’s spidery, un:

CALLUM HUNT

THE MAGISTERIUM

LURAY, VA

For a moment, Call stood and stared He ers along the duct-taped seams His father always used the same heavy tape to pack up boxes, like when he had to ship so that had been ordered from out of town They were practically impossible to open

Call took Miri out of his belt The knife’s sharp blade tore through the cardboard as if it were a sheet of paper Clothes spilled out onto the bed -- Call’s jeans, jackets, and T-shirts, packets of his favorite sour gummi candy, a windup alarm clock, and a copy of The Three Musketeers, which Call and his dad had been reading together