Wyatt pinched the crook of his nose again to try and relieve some of the pressure. “Okay, communication. To work together, we’ll need communication and—”

  “You keep saying that like it’s some foregone conclusion.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not convinced you have enough to bring to the table to be my partner.”

  “That’s a lie, and we both know as much,” he muttered, shaking his head as he tried to figure out how to progress the conversation along a little faster. Class started in only a couple minutes. “I have what you want. I can help you find all of Riacore’s secrets. I also know what you’re capable of. I know a lot of things about a lot of things, so that part’s not an act.”

  For several long seconds, she only stared at him. Then, as if a sudden realization struck her, she asked, “Why do you care? We’re friends and all, but the best I’d say is study buddies on a good day, maybe even conspiracy theorists too, but otherwise, I don’t think we’re going to be pals for life or anything.” She frowned, looking towards the front of the classroom. “Or at least, I couldn’t before today. Everything is all weird, and I can’t help but feel like I’ve somehow fallen prey to some elaborate plan and got stuck. This all makes me feel out of control, Wyatt, and I don’t like that.”

  “Purely coincidence,” he said, shrugging. “I know a lot of things about everyone.”

  “So that makes you someone who knows some things,” she said pointedly. “I have to admit, I’m not used to drawing the short stick, and given a situation I do, heads usually fly. Do you like your head, Wyatt?”

  “Some days. Others, not so much.” He thought about how to answer her question, trying his best to control all the information rattling around in his mind. After he went in circles two or three times, he gave up trying to make sense of anything. “Do you really want to know why I care?”

  Uncertainty and excitement. Her eyes searched around them for anybody looking out of place, for someone who might be watching for a little too long, and then she locked her full focus on him.

  “I’d love to,” she said with a short nod.

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “Try me.”

  “You won’t believe me,” he repeated, grinning.

  She stared back, matching the intensity of his no-nonsense gaze. “Tell me, Wyatt.”

  “No.”

  The door to the classroom slammed inward and smacked against the wall, drawing everyone’s attention and ending their conversation as, timely as always, Instructor Plight walked in.

  Annabeth glared towards him, mouthing, “We’re not done!”

  He grinned and nodded agreement, then turned towards the front of the classroom where Instructor Plight strutted up the stairs to the center of the raised platform and towards the podium where the day’s agenda waited for him.

  Flipping open a book, a gray glow manifested a bag of bluish rectangular cuboids. Snatching them from the air, he strutted to the edge of the platform and looked across the class, eyes lingering on the empty seat next to Wyatt for just a second too long.

  Does he remember Cameron? Wyatt wondered, heart skipping a beat. He, too, shot a look towards the empty seat, lamenting the sacrifice his friend had made to start this whole back-in-time journey.

  “Class time, everyone! I hope you’ve all studied. Today, we’ll be taking a mock test in preparation for the final exams. Remember, this is not a pass or fail grade but rather a test to see your comprehension of material.” The instructor walked up the stairs and handed out tests to each row, which got passed down to each. By the time he finished, the class was dead silent as they stared down at the test. “Okay, now in the final exam, all of you will have twice as much time to answer all of these questions. Today will be the last day we meet in class for the next two weeks. All other classes are hereby scheduled for independent study, and wherever you so choose to take that time is up to you.”

  The large NaviBoard behind him became two timers. One indicated the start of the test, while the other indicated the final submission times.

  “I will be walking around the room to supervise this mock exam just to make sure everyone is doing their due diligence and keeping their eyes to their own tests,” he said, glaring at several other students known for their deviant behavior. Then the first timer buzzed, beginning the exam. “Do your best!”

  Wyatt looked down at the NaviDisc in his hand, remembering his results the last time he’d taken the test. Even with two years of studying, he’d performed in the knowledge portion of the delver’s licensing exam with just enough points to pass.

  This time would be different. He already knew all the information he could ever learn from the probationary academy. All the information existed inside little storage containers in the back of his mind—a gift and curse from his future self. He just needed to ask a question, and then the relevant drawer would open and reveal all the knowledge he could ever need.

  He had another two weeks to go before he got his probationary license and could revel in the reality of his life's goal: becoming a dungeon diver. After he got licensed in his last life, he’d spent all his time exploring Riacore with Annabeth. When she'd disappeared, he threw himself into his work in Demiurge with Cameron.

  That gave him a lot more time to ponder existential crises and consider the plans of the future…

  At the moment, he needed to address several issues. As he took the test, filling in rudimentary information, he considered his course of action for the next two weeks. Once he got his license, things changed. As things were now, he couldn’t do much but survive the situation as things changed.

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  Best case scenario, no Devils existed on the campus, he’d get his probationary license without issue, and things would be just fine and dandy. He would start dungeon diving with Annabeth to collect shards so he could afford a private, portable Registry.

  Getting enough resources for a Registry would take time, time he didn’t feel like he had.

  Worst case scenario, the campus grounds were filled with Devils he couldn’t identify, everyone was an enemy, and he’d have to leave the academy before he got his license. He had no idea how he’d make things work if that were the case, but he wouldn’t stop trying. The license was the key to gaining power to be able to do the things he wanted to, and he’d stop at nothing to get his.

  No matter what he had to overcome to get his license, even if he got attacked daily, he’d find a way to make things work. The last thing he wanted to do was to reveal his Double Awakening to the academy, but the option had merits of its own.

  Though, as he told Annabeth, doing so would be the same as sending up a signal flare to summon all Devils already residing within Eyanora to the academy. Add to the fact that they might already know of his existence, he didn’t know what other options he had.

  He’d only ever heard about the privileges received by those with higher clearance within the academy, but he couldn’t be certain what those privileges were, since he’d never experienced them himself. He could only make guesses, and none of the benefits outweighed the risk of a swarm of pissed-off Devils hunting him down.

  From the research they did, organizations were working in the background to both protect and hunt down people like him, so taking the gamble might be worth it if the organization that wanted to protect people like him moved first. However, the uncertainty of that gamble made him wary. This was his life he would be gambling with.

  If the organization that wanted to protect him found him first, then they might be able to take care of the lack of a Registry and maybe even expedite his licensing process. The possibilities were endless—but also unknown.

  He wouldn’t gamble his life away without more information, and that would take time. Again, something he didn’t feel like he had enough. His eyes were a dead giveaway of his newly Awakened status, so if enemies were around, they’d find out.

  Then again, the same went for those looking to protect him. And if Instructor Plight’s constant glances meant anything, he fell into one of those two categories.

  Once he finished his test, he closed the NaviDesk’s display and retrieved the stored NaviDisc with the results of his answers. He held up the chip, and Instructor Plight, who stood on the other side of the desk and watched Wyatt curiously, took the chip and slipped it into a pocket in his robes.

  Instructor Plight looked around briefly then leaned far too close to Wyatt, having crossed the classroom far too fast and not at all where he’d been only moments ago—presumably one of his Utility card effects.

  The instructor looked down at Wyatt with deep interest. Half a second later, his gaze turned to surprise when he screened Wyatt up and down, the instructor’s focus landing on Wyatt’s golden eyes.

  The man reached forward with a hand, and Wyatt shifted away. Like a snake, the instructor’s hand closed the distance in an instant and rested on Wyatt’s forehead.

  “Feverish yet lucid. Minor feature transformations, returning to baseline.” Instructor Plight pursed his lips and looked around the classroom.

  Only Annabeth paid them any attention.

  Most of the class took the opportunity of being out from under the teacher’s hawk-like gaze to whisper or shoot messages to their friends and surf the NaviWeb for answers to harder questions.

  Cheating gets them nowhere, Wyatt thought, though he noticed Instructor Plight’s careless attitude. He’s acting so strange, like none of the other students in the room matter.

  For the first time, Wyatt thought the instructor looked happy by their easily distracted behavior as a half-smile tugged his lips upward.

  Then Instructor Plight pulled out a pair of glasses, his eyes twinkling knowingly, and set them in front of Wyatt. “See me after class. Don’t go anywhere else.”

  He acted differently than he did fifteen years ago. The well-kept man had a general disdain for those who weren’t willing to put work into their studies. That, more than likely, was the reason he’d come back to check on Wyatt in the first place, seeing how he finished the mock exam far too quickly.

  But… the disdain was surface level. Instructor Plight, of so many teachers Wyatt learned from, was the only teacher who really cared in the probationary academy.

  "Don’t make me come find you, Mr. Calloway," Instructor Plight ominously threatened before he left, returning to the front of the classroom where he resumed his duties.

  He shifted through the space of the class over and over again, catching those who dared cheat in his classroom that thought he hadn’t been paying attention.

  Wyatt put the instructor out of his mind and looked at the glasses for a long second before slipping them on. The world around him shifted as the black lenses that blocked out the world around him integrated NaviSys. Once the glasses linked up with his academy identification, the system took over. The black lenses cleared, revealing the world. He could see everything clearly.

  He turned to Annabeth and lifted the glasses, whispering, “Can you see my eyes?”

  When he dropped the glasses back over his eyes, she shook her head. He let out a deep breath and nodded towards her, turning to watch Instructor Plight for the rest of class.

  Wyatt watched the man carefully, noting every time his gaze shifted up towards where Wyatt sat. His nerves screamed danger. One way or another, Instructor Plight had to know something about the Double Awakening. Otherwise, his actions didn’t make sense.

  The thought that the Devil infiltration might’ve already started set his brain on fire with alarm bells and panic. Instructor Plight might be one of the Devilish lackeys. To assume he wasn't would be bad practice. Wyatt’s skepticism of the people around him needed a bit of fine tuning, kind of like how Annabeth always distrusted people. He too needed a healthier dose of external awareness.

  The danger sense didn’t stop buzzing around in the back of his mind. The feeling he’d walked right into a trap and thrown his second life away made the entire class feel like eternal torture. Without knowing who the instructor’s allegiances fell in with, Wyatt assumed nothing good.

  All he knew for certainty, he definitely wasn’t sticking around after class to meet with the man one-on-one. That sounded like a recipe for disaster.

  The instructor continued to pace around after he confiscated and invalidated all the questions the students cheated on. His voice carried much more softly than Wyatt remembered, but everything seemed to also be less intense, more muted, but also far more clear.

  Ever since he came back from the future with Gabriel in tow, everything seemed to be changing. Whether it be himself or the people around him, things weren’t going like they had in his last life.

  At least, not on an individual level. Of course, he still had class today. He’d have to go retrieve his cards from his lockbox before his second class started—Basic Application of Fundamentals.

  So when the class finally came to an end, his nerves were frayed. He collected his things and avoided looking towards Instructor Plight as he left the classroom with Annabeth. Wyatt couldn’t stop from looking over before he turned the corner.

  The instructor’s disappointed glare locked onto him. Then, Annabeth pulled him away and out of sight of the Fundamentals teacher.