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writing. The only other first year professor is Quintus Rochester. But he’s a Maegester and only teaches Maegester classes.”
    I hoped my cheeks weren’t burning. It was so much easier playing Hyrke at Gaillard where no one talked about stuff like this. Was I imagining the hush in the room? Mercifully, Fitz was called up and Ivy, naturally, went with him. I knew they were cousins but they acted like siblings. I watched as they poked and prodded each other, trading little barbs back and forth while Lady Lozenge pulled up their info. A few seconds later, all three of them turned toward me.
    Oh no.
    “Are you Noon
Onyx
?” Lozenge asked.
    “Yes,” I said. Now I knew I was not imagining the hush. The room had gone deadly silent.
    “You’re not signed up for Manipulation,” Lozenge said.
    “Manipulation—?” My voice squeaked and I refused to look around at anyone else. What was she talking about? How stupid was I for not even reading the Maegester part of the course catalog. I’ll bet even the Hyrkes who were training to become Barristers did that.
    “I need to know where to put you.” Lozenge said, exasperated. “Are you here to train as a Barrister or a Maegester?”
    Up until this moment, I’d managed to avoid situations that put me in awkward positions such as this. Positions where I’d have to lie outright about who and what I was. Oh, I’d omitted the truth a countless number of times. But I had never stood in front of an administrator at a demon law school and denied being something the demons valued. The demons might view it as stealing. That’s why Maegesters had to declare themselves by Bryde’s Day of their twenty-first year. A Maegester’s adult life was either spent serving the Council or it was spent… not at all. I cleared my throat.
    Would Peter be able to find the Reversal Spell? If so, when?
    “I’m…”
    “Apparently, you’re my new roommate,” Ivy said, staring at me. She gestured behind her with her thumb. “She said you’re in Megiddo. Room one twelve, same as me. You did know that the Hyrkes here have roommates, right?”
    Oh.
Right. Of course. Only a handful of students would have the necessary magic to become Maegesters, but hundreds of Hyrkes were here to become Barristers. The school would have to assign roommates or they’d never be able to house them all.
    I nodded and Ivy smiled.
    She turned away and walked over to the exit with Fitz. I stepped up to the student affairs desk wondering what other info Lozenge and I had to exchange. I still wanted a warm shower and dry boots but I would gladly have traded those for some new friends. Lozenge and I wrapped pretty quickly—my bill was paid, my room assigned, and my status no longer in question. I was free to go. I squished over to the door.
    Fitz and Ivy were still standing there.
    “We’re headed to Marduk’s for lunch. Want to come?”
    M arduk’s was as warm and cozy as you’d expect an underground pub in Halja to be. The windows were at street level so the light wasn’t natural. Little spots of yellow glow hung suspended over each heavily scarred wooden table. Bench backs were high, tablecloths were nonexistent, and the walls were exposed brick. But for all its age and roughness, Marduk’s felt like an old pair of canvas trousers, comfortable and well-worn. We chose a table near the back, by a huge fieldstone fireplace that was blazing with heat and orange light.
    I ordered a large bowl of potato soup and a small meat pie with mushroom sauce and both Fitz and Ivy ordered some sort of salad and a blueberry crisp. I had to be careful around salads and fresh fruit. It wasn’t that someone with waning magic couldn’t eat fresh produce, but you wouldn’t want to hold it in your hand for too long before eating it either. Cautious as I was, well cooked, heavily smothered in sauce food was a habit I’d had since I’d cut my first tooth. When the food came we hungrily tucked in until there was nothing left butthe