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AFTER THE CEREMONY, Aaron ept quickly away by the Asse to have the day off Everyone seemed evena Makar The students i Call and Ta caverns lit by glowing crystals

Tamara chatted excitedly most of the way back, clearly relieved that her parents hadn’t gotten into a visible disagree to notice at first that Call was responding runts and nonco Aaron be the Makar was going to be a for all three of them She said they shouldn’t worry about politics, they should think of how they were going to get loads of special treath telling Call how she was going to get to fire-walk a volcano someday when she finally broke off and put her hands on her hips "Why are you being such a lu "Lump?"

"Anyone would think you weren’t happy for Aaron You’re not jealous, are you?"

She was so wrong that Call could do nothing for athere eyeballingby their door, looking miserable

Tamara drew herself up Call was always ied to make herself seem about six feet tall, when in reality she was shorter than him "What do you want, Jasper?"

She sounded frustrated at being stopped fro Call For the first ti

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked He looked so ot a bunch of extra lessons and … I could really use your help"

"Not ht in the Library

Jasper ignored Call "Please, Taain"

"You weren’t a jerk to me," she said "Tell Call you’re sorry and I’ll think about it"

"Sorry," Jasper said, looking down

"Whatever," said Call It wasn’t a real apology -- and Tamara didn’t even know about the time Jasper had screamed Call out of the Library -- so he didn’t think he had to accept it But he figured that if Tamara ith Jasper, it would buy him some time to deal with the wolf Time he desperately needed "You should help him, Tamara He needs lots, and lots, and lots of help" He locked eyes with Jasper

Tahed "Okay, fine, Jasper But you have to be civil to my friends, not just me No more little snide comments"