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her head to the other side. “But I’m only able to alter a person’s mood or thoughts if what I’m trying to alter is rational to them.”
    “What about memories?” Cleve asked. It was the only question he really cared about at the time.
    Reela’s smile became wry as she shook her head. “I don’t have access to your mind.”
    It might have been stupid to assume my memories were at risk, Cleve thought. He felt a calm crawling over him until another thought brought back the feeling of danger. Or is that just what she wants me to think? Could she be using psyche right now to make me more at ease?
    “I understand the bow is important to you,” Reela said. “You don’t need to explain, but you have to realize I’m now at risk by it being here. The other roommates can pretend they didn’t know, but I’m a psychic who convinced guards to stop searching. If the King’s men figure that out, it can’t be good for me.”
    “It won’t be a problem. I’m not sure what the process is for switching houses, but if you or the other roommates want me gone, I would go through whatever steps are necessary to live somewhere else.” I never wanted to live here anyway.
    Reela shook her head urgently. “That’s not necessary. You seem conscientious for a warrior.” Her eyes wandered down to his exposed stomach again. “And you’re ready to stand up for what you believe in, which may include us one day. I like that, but we’re going to have to figure out something with the bow.”
    “I was going to create a storage space beneath the floorboards in my room, completely concealed. I just need to retrieve some tools from Terren’s.” It was Cleve’s plan all along. He was going to keep the bow in his bag, learn his roommates’ schedules, and dig up the floor when they weren’t around, but there was no need to keep it from them now.
    “Steffen told me the headmaster was your uncle,” she said curiously. “You were living with him, and he knew about the bow?”
    Can I trust her? Better yet, can I even lie to her? “Yes. My father, Dex Polken, was Terren’s brother. Terren knows how important this bow was to my father and is to me, so he never made me get rid of it.”
    “Dex Polken? I’ve heard of him. He was your father?”
    “Yes.”
    “Interesting. I never knew he was brothers with the headmaster of the Academy. I’m sorry for your loss. He was a great bowman.”
    Cleve felt raw emotions beginning to surface and his barriers breaking down. “One more rule,” he said sternly. “Don’t talk to me about my father, and don’t let me hear you talk to anyone else about him.”
    Reela nodded with apparent understanding. But her eyes didn’t register the subordination he’d expected to see after delivering his warning. Instead, they looked as if they held pity, the last thing he wanted. Fearful his emotions would escalate, he told Reela he would be back later with the tools to install the storage space and quickly left.

 
     
     
    Chapter 7: Guess
    CLEVE
     
    While everyone else spent the day unpacking, Cleve worked tirelessly on a new hidden home for his bow under the floorboards beneath his bed. Ripping up the wooden floor was a loud task, but he took pains to keep as quiet as possible so as not to arouse suspicion from nearby houses. When the dusty air and his aching back eventually made the idea of a break sound too good to pass up, he found himself stepping out of his room but unsure of where to go.
    Unwilling to attempt a conversation with his roommates, he stood at his doorway and peered down the short hall, wondering if he’d ever think of this place as home. He listened to the bumping and shifting of his roommates arranging their belongings. It was pleasant noise, for it meant they were occupied. It was in the brief moments of silence when he became skittish, for only once the busy sounds stopped was there a chance of someone walking into the hall. He learned that these were the moments when