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“But that doesn’t mean I’m a total noob,” she asserts. “My parents are Assembly members, and they prepared me well for their world. Even as teenagers, you Tempes still have so much to learn. We Noctu are trained from a young age, waiting for the day when we get tested to see if we meet the high standards to become a warrior. If we are, we’re officially accepted into their ranks, and we get to fight and play our part. And Noah was rooting for me and Arthos.”
I hear him sigh quietly, and he shakes his head in resignation.
“We’re really close. He even gave me tips to help me pass the test. He didn’t want me to fail. But I only realized thatafterward.”
“I didn’t want you to die. I wouldn’t want that for anyone,” Noah confesses with a glance at me.
“She... she could have died in this Noctu test thing?” I ask.
“Sure,” says Frances. “You Tempes are tested too, right? Don’t tell me you don’t have to prove yourselves?” She rolls her eyes and sighs. “Yeah, I should have guessed. You people are handled with kid gloves. And it’s obvious where that leads.” She gives me a dirty look before addressing Noah again. “Please tell me this is not what it looks like. Please tell me you’re just spying on her and messing with her. You’re doing it for the Noctu. That’s what this is, right?”
She stares at him in hopeful desperation, clenching her fists furiously.
Suddenly, an animal appears from behind a house. I catch my breath as I see a big brown bear lumber up to Frances and growl. It’s surrounded by thin wisps of dark smoke, and I can tell it’s just waiting for a command from its key carrier. So this is Arthos, I realize, and he’s supposed to kill me. Because I can see in Frances’ eyes that this is exactly what she’s thinking.
Noah’s jaw tenses. He knows that everything depends on him now. His gaze wanders to me again. It feels tender and intimate, as if he wants to take all my fears away, although he knows as well as I do that we’re doomed.
“I won’t lie to you,” he begins. I hold my breath because I know what’s coming. “Frances, you’re a nice girl, and I want to help you. That’s why I’m letting you stay at my parents’ house in the Odyss while your family’s away. I’m happy to support you, and I’m not about to spin you some story. Teresa’s a good friend. She means a lot to me, and it makes no difference to me whether she’s a Tempes or a Noctu or an ordinary person. I’m just glad to have her in my life. I know you won’t keep this a secret because you would never do anything against the interests of the Noctu.You should do what you think is right, but I’ll never let you or anyone else hurt Teresa.”
The determination in his voice sends a shiver up my spine. I see the fire in his eyes, the steadfastness. I’ll always be able to count on him.
I can see Frances struggling internally with this. Her fists are clenched and shaking. It looks as if every muscle in her body is tensed to its breaking point. And this is transferred to her key spirit, whose growl becomes more and more menacing. He seems barely able to contain himself.
Frances closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, she says, “Do you really think I could do anything to hurt you or put you at risk?”
I finally breathe out.
“It’s a mystery to me why you would do something so stupid, and I can’t condone this. But if I told the Noctu about her... They’d punish you, maybe even kill you.” She shakes her head. “No, I can’t do that, and I could never bring myself to fight you.”
I can see that it’s hard for her to say this. But I also sense that she’s sincere.
“You can’t hide your betrayal forever. Someday, someone will find out that you’re meeting with the enemy. If you’re smart, you’ll cut off all contact with her. I can’t force you to, I know that, but I strongly advise it. Even if only to protect her.” She looks at me with utter contempt and takes out her key. “I’ll wait for you in the Odyss and hopefully see you there soon.”
Arthos turns toward her as she opens a door, and then they both disappear through it. The tension in my body ebbs, but I sense that the danger is still far from over.
Noah and I stand facing one another, but we’re more distant than ever. Neither of us knows what to say or do. Something just happened that has changed everything between us.
“I’m sorry about that,” he mutters. “The test wasn’t easy forher. It’s not easy for any of us. I was tasked with going to her school, getting to know her, and finding out what her strengths and weaknesses were in order to decide whether it was even appropriate to put her through this test.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing, because it sounds so similar to what I went through with Ayden. Did she fall for his games and develop feelings for him?
“We got on well, and she quickly learned to trust me. She’s really nice, and obviously I didn’t want anything to happen to her. So I gave her plenty of tips to help her survive the test.”
“What kind of test is this where a person can die trying to pass it?” I ask.
Noah hesitates. “Her task was to escape a fire. A fire spirit was sent to her house in the middle of the night. I tried to prepare her in advance by dropping a few hints, but I wasn’t allowed to spell anything out too plainly. It was hard for me too, having to stand by and watch everything go up in flames. I was so relieved when she came out of the building with her key spirit.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “That’s horrible,” I say eventually, looking Noah in the eye.
“Unfortunately, that’s just how it is for us Noctu. I couldn’t do anything else for her.”
I see the pain in his expression, the inner torment that this assignment caused him. And I understand that he wasn’t supposed to help Frances at all. He took a personal risk for her. Yeah, that’s the Noah I know.
But I can’t approve of any of this. It just makes it clear to me once again how different our worlds are.
I look at Noah and ask, “And you go along with something like that? Could you have done anything if she didn’t make it in the end?”
“Teresa,” he says slowly, “my opinion is irrelevant. There are certain duties I have to fulfill. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
