"You should trust in Vel. And yes, that is how I heard it."

"I'm not asking about that," he let the throw fall off his shoulders as he stood gingerly. "I'm asking if you know what they... what your people are doing?"

I held my anger. "I don't know if the people who threatened Vel were my type of people. There's a lot of things I don't know about. Maybe... maybe there are people like us who are..." the next part hurt me to say it "violent, cruel in their ways. All I know and the only answer I can give you right now is that... me, my parents, the people I know who hold the Weapons of Iridescent would never... never hurt anyone the way these people hurt Vel."

Jaxton held my gaze; a distinct, hard stare. I challenged back with my own.

"Cass, I..."

"I know. You don't completely trust me and — believe it or not — I can understand." I turned away to hide my face. My voice was quiet. "You know more about me than I know about you. I don't know what you do or what you've found out about Robin. I want to know since this seems to be relevant to Iridescent and all." I stifled a weak laugh. "I might have been offended if you said that to the Cassandra who just began her studies at the Phoenix Academy, but... right now, even I don't know if I can trust my own kind."

Jaxton came closer, his glance softened and he was gazing at me tenderly, as though afraid it'll hurt me. "I shouldn't have phrased the question that way. There will be good and bad people, regardless of what kind."

'You know how dangerous they are?'

'If any of you see anyone like that, the first thing you gotta do is run like hell!'

'In memory of those who died in the Dark Times.'

"Newly wedded couple... 'I don't know how I can go on without him'"

"I used to think that too," I glanced over my shoulder, turning slightly to look at him with a bitter smile. "But maybe... maybe..."

"Maybe what I've been taught all my life is wrong," he grabbed my arms and held me, forcing my attention to grow alert. "Cass, ever since I've met you, you made me question everything I've ever believed in and... I can't say it's in a bad way."

I blinked. "I... can say the same. I'm not confident anymore. As I said, maybe people who hold Iridescent want to use violent ways to rebel. Maybe they think there is only one way to make things right. Maybe there is only one way..."

Gently, slowly, I pushed his hand off my arm. "Thanks for everything, Jaxton. You're exhausted, you should get some rest."

He shook his head. "We're not doing this again, Cass."

"Do what?"

"Last time, when we talked about this. You told me to leave and I just left without talking things through. I'm not leaving this time."

I swallowed. The Jaxton I'm seeing right now was not the Jaxton I first saw when he saved me from Lambert. The boy peeking through the cracks. The boy shielding the walls from me. No. This was Jaxton standing in the sun.

There was a comforting warmth in my chest but it wasn't enough to wash away the sudden sadness that flooded me.

"Alright," I said quietly, relenting. I shuffled to a nearby couch, sunk my body into it. Jaxton sat next to me, our arms were touching but we both didn't seem to mind. He draped the throw on my shoulder and I accepted his gesture with silence. All this was making me more overwhelmed than usual.

"It's a Comfort Blanket," he started, in his soothing voice. "Apparently, it makes you feel better."

I allowed a small smile to bloom on my face. I snuggled further into the couch and leaned my head back. "Will you see me differently? After today?"

"No," he said, without hesitation. "I see you as you, Cass."

"Thanks..." I whispered, feeling the aches and pains of my back. "Will you ever tell me about what you found on your 'expeditions'?"

He hesitated on that one and eventually settled with, "Maybe. Sometime in the future."

I slanted a grin. "At least you're honest with me."

"Anything else you want to know?"

"Will you stop talking to me about how you think about Iridescent?" I turned my head on the couch. "Am I being sensitive?"

"No and no," Jaxton smiled. "I need to be in your position to judge your feelings but... if all shadows users were considered evil beings then... maybe I would've felt the same. Next question."

I stifled a quiet laugh, my smile faltering when my gaze flicked down to my hands. They were clean, the tone of a girl who loved the sun. I rubbed them together, almost as if the warmth of a stranger's blood were still stuck between my fingers. "Have you ever killed someone?"

He paused and said quietly, "Yes."

I resisted the urge to flinch. "Did they deserve it?"

"Absolutely," I felt Jaxton's glance on me. "It was your first? Today?"

I nodded, eyes still on my hands.

"Need a drink?"

"Not alcohol," I grabbed my cooled tea from the table in front of me and gulped down the remaining water in one go. The porcelain clinked softy on the table as I leaned back with a sigh.

"Better..." I said, shifting my eyes to him. "Is something stressing you out?"

He let out a wee smile and held his fist against his forehead, eyes closed. "Yeah... I failed my exam today. An assessment of my shadow powers."

"Can you redo it?"

"Not redo. The assessment is three sets of trials. The margin of error is one. I need to pass the next two," Jaxton lowered his hand. "I'm hella nervous about it."

Wow, guess it wasn't only me who worries about something weeks and weeks before it actually happens.

"What do you have to do?"

Jaxton sniffed, his emerald eyes locked on the ceiling, "I can do the basics of Shadow Shifting. I can make a Shadow Shield, control a small Shadow Wind, but when it comes to summoning them..." He sighed heavily. "The more I try to use my shadow powers, the more the shadows get angry with me. They're like timer bombs.

"Summoning shadows means the shadows are willing to listen to me and obey me. If I ask them to attack, they'll attack for me. Right now, my shadow powers are limited to defence."

Reflecta's bond with me came so easily that I almost didn't believe it at first, so hearing Jaxton tell me his difficulties made me realise I had it lucky. Reflecta bonded with me, chose me without hesitation. I had known people who had trouble with their Iridescent weapons but me... was it because of nan?

"Do other shadowsmen and shadowswomen face the same problem?"

"They do, but the shadows seem to hate me more," he said. "People like us, we give shadows a voice. We give them life. Everywhere we walk, we can hear them. Everywhere I am, they're alive. I can hear their heartbeats. And when I'm gone, they're hollow beings. Lifeless. But I think they prefer it that way."

I stared at the shadows in the room. Jaxton must hear them now.

"They're faint," Jaxton knew what I was thinking, "because of the lights."

I nodded and stayed quiet. I kept a subtle eye on him, making sure he was okay. His previous distraught state seems to have dissipated.

"When I was... around 12? I was asleep. No lights on. Didn't think I'd need it. But the shadows started to strangle me."

What?! I wanted to exclaim but I held my tongue and resisted the urge to shiver; the very thought that the dark spots outlining the shapes of our items, hiding in corners of the room were deadly weapons that would kill made me want to twitch.

"They like me dead so they won't be under my control anymore," he rubbed his arm in slow motions. "I tried practicing to get my Shadow Summoning right, but... I can't. First few times were... fine. But, it's been too much... everytime I even attempt a try I would just..."

His voice trailed off and I didn't push him to explain further. I touched him by the arm and leaned close to him. "Does it happen everytime you have an exam? Or when you try to practice for an exam?"

"I haven't attempted to practice for these exams since it started happening. I just went to exams."

"And you were nervous... right?"

"Not only nervous. Terrified." He blinked. "My Professor has high hopes in me. He gave me nice comments on all my other assessments and he personally knew about my Shadow Summoning problem."

He put both palms on his face and made a muffled sound of distress. "I don't want to let him down but I'm just so terrified of my own shadows."

"So that's why you were attacked today, right? You went to your exams. Failed, and — unfortunate as it can be — angered the shadows."

"Exactly."

"Man..." I breathed, shaking my head and I stretched my arms until I thought I would be reaching for the stars tonight. "I have no idea how to help you. All I can say right now is avoiding it is no long-term plan."

He laughed, but it wasn't a laugh that rattled his chest or make his shoulders shake. "Don't worry. I'll... figure something out myself."

I said it so casually, Man... I have no idea how to help you, except I wanted to help him. I wanted to help him like how thunder helped make lightening's presence known, and how the wind announced the arrival of rain.

For now, though, I was going to settle with that answer.

***

The next morning, I had to wake for an early tutorial. It was a usual morning, with a little distribution of sleep. I am a sleepyhead and for someone like me to not mind the lack of sleep was a surprising sight. It must've been convincing, whatever this was. Well... what convinced me that waking up from a dreadful nightmare wasn't too bad was the sky.

I woke around 6 am in the morning, groggy and back aching. I pulled open the curtains trying to remember what happened last night.

Vel happened. Jaxton happened. And now, they were both gone like the fog against the sun.

The morning was set alight with lines of fuschia pink, drawn in a way that made me believe that the Heavens had used the sky as it's canvas. I stared at it for a while, pulling open the balcony door as the chilly air wrapped itself around my shoulders in an instant.

I closed the balcony door shut.

I did my routine check on my parent's messages and realised they haven't texted back.

Follow-up text?

Call them?

I let out a strained breath and my fingers flew on the screen of my phone. I sent the text and didn't look at it again.

There was one café in the entire school ground that was open this early, and I planned to go have my breakfast there. I was going to treat myself after experiencing such overwhelming events. But before I did, I went to the school library to grab three books I needed. A textbook that helped me understand Elemental Chemistry better, and two books by the name of "Principles of Shadow Magic" and "The Summoning of Shadows and Other Strategies".

The café was small, situated within jacaranda trees. I was sniffing my way through the trees; as much as I loved to see the flowers and be close to nature, my hay fever wasn't going to make it easy for me. I entered the café at the ring of a bell. It was scarce of people. Good. I liked it that way.

I ordered an avocado sandwich, mushed and mixed with olive oil until the avocado spread across the toast like soft butter. My cup of coffee was a nice, foamy flat white.

I flipped open the first page of "Principles of Shadow Magic", a scent of old pages wafting between my hot coffee steam. The spoon took three circular turns around the foam.

... shadows are lifeless and amoral but a shadow user's main power is interference with the way of the light.

I took a careful sip of the coffee, flipped the page as my eyes gave a quick but careful scan, picking out any important information.

... summoning shadows require the Master to be with one with the shadow. A shadow's obedience is temporary. There is nothing called true loyalty...

The pages were worn and old, old enough that the whole book was able to be laid flat on the table. With my other clean hand, I picked up my sandwich and took a nice crunchy bite.

... Shadow Summoning is the only shadow variant that can overcome blood control...

The next book was "The Summoning of Shadows".

I clapped my fingers clean of crumbs, flipping through, my eyes dancing across words and diagrams and pictures. There was a picture of two shadow users, handdrawn by some artist with ink pen, that had their hands raised and pointed at the shadows as the shadows began to take on different forms and shape.

... consistent concentration. A shadow user must regulate their breathing in one with the shadows, to be able to be a shadow themselves. During this time, the shadow user depends and trusts the shadow to protect, defend and attack... recommended shadow user to be alert of their surroundings for ambush... vulnerable to attack due to high level of concentration required...

... once the attacks are over, the shadow user must tame the shadow and revert them back to place before they change their target and bring harm to the shadow user themselves...

... a summoning will allow the shadow to take a certain form or shape. The shadows must not be deformed or the summoning will be considered flawed and incomplete.

I closed the book, sighing. Jaxton probably already knew all of this... how am I supposed to help him? The person in the best place to help him would be his Professor, which I wasn't sure how he was going to do that.

I pushed the books aside, settled with drinking my cup of coffee, watching the blue skies and jacaranda trees outside. I sneezed into my elbow, watching with envy as a group of friends walked outside to sit under the purple flowers, looking almost like they entered a painting, without the pain of ever sneezing.

I drank the last bit of coffee and checked my phone — I almost spat out my coffee.

Two texts from two important people.

My dad and Professor Allistar.

***

A/N

Any guesses, my friends? Thank you for coming so far! Cassandra and I appreciate the companionship :)

L