52 Poisoned II

"He was accosting one of my students. I told him to stop, and he told me to make him. I made him. Pretty simple, really."

Moxie waited for a moment for Noah to add something, but he didn't. Her smirk slowly fell away.

"You can't tell me that's it. Nothing else?"

"Nope. He went to kick one of my students. I interfered. He challenged me and told me I couldn't hurt him when he had his Shield up."

"You're a Rank 1. Logically, you can't. Edward is part of the Linwick's main branch, and he's considered somewhat competent. He's got a Rank 2 Shield. You should know this, considering he's your cousin. But how did you manage to hurt Edward if he had his shield?"

"It's that pesky memory loss," Noah said, tapping his head. "Whoopsie. And I punched him."

"You what?"

"You know. Punch." Noah mimed punching the air in front of him. "Like that."

"I know what a punch is, idiot," Moxie snapped. "But how did you punch him?"

Noah stared at Moxie. "Do you want a demonstration or something?"

Moxie rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You know what? Go ahead. Try to punch me. I won't fight back."

Noah stood up and walked around the chair. Moxie watched him, her expression unreadable but her body motionless. It didn't take a genius to realize she was trying to make a point, but Noah obliged her.

He jabbed at Moxie's face. A vine whipped out from one of her pockets, smacking his wrist to the side with just enough force to smart. Noah shook his hand off.

"Ouch. I thought you said you weren't fighting back?"

"I wasn't. That's not even intentional," Moxie said. "My Shield protects against mundane attacks too. All of them do, to varying degrees. Edward has a Rank 2 Shield, so his should have blocked a mere punch without any problem. It does take a little attention to activate the defensive functions, but unless you sucker punched him, there's no way you would have landed the blow."

Noah rubbed his chin. "Well, I told him I was coming. I can demonstrate exactly what I did, if you think that would help."

"Go ahead." Moxie cocked an eyebrow.

Noah summoned his Wind magic, forming a swirling blade above his palm. He reared back and launched his hand forward, releasing the magic an instant before tucking his hand in and transitioning his motion to his other fist.

Moxie's eyes widened in shock. Her vine shifted an instant too late to block the blow and she leaned back, narrowly avoiding the strike. She straightened back out, staring at Noah in disbelief. "What did you just do?"

"It's a feint. Not really that groundbreaking. Why do you look so impressed?"

Moxie shook her head. "No. That's not just a feint. I can't describe it, but… gah, I can't describe it. It was like every single part of you was focused on that spell, and I was too. Your fist just came out of nowhere. You didn't change your stance at all."

"You mean I would have hit you if you weren't ready for it?"

Moxie ground her teeth together and inclined her head slightly. She stepped away from the bed and walked into her bathroom, coming back with a white ceramic pitcher of water and a matching cup. She poured herself a drink and drained it in one go.

"Yes, you would have. What's up with you, Vermil? I know what you can do. I sparred you after–" Moxie's face wrinkled in distaste. "You know. I crushed you, and you didn't show a single sign of any skill. Now you're getting into fights in your students' sake."

"A blow to the head can do wonderful things to a person. You should try it sometime."

"Did you just come here to make wisecrack remarks, or did you want my help?"

"Sorry," Noah said. "I swear it's not normally this bad. Something about you makes me want to be a smartass. And I'm more hoping you could tell me if I need to start preparing for a bunch of angry idiots to attack me for disciplining their child."

Moxie let out a snort of laughter. "You're not going to get murdered by your own family. You haven't betrayed them. They're definitely going to try to make you pay, though. If I were Edward's teacher, I'd challenge you to something and try to humiliate you. Nobody saw Edward get beat up other than your student, so it probably won't be too bad."

Ah. It's a good thing I haven't betrayed them. Heh. Better make sure they never find out about me sharing those Runes. Greedy pricks.

"Ah, that's good to hear," Noah said, letting out a relieved sigh. "I can handle that. You made it sound like the situation was way worse than it was."

"I was hoping to be able to participate. It would have been the highlight of my week."

"What's stopping you?"

Moxie's features hardened. "You were helping your student. Like a real teacher, not the pathetic worm I thought I knew. I can't side against you in this situation, no matter how much I'd love to."

Noah blinked. Moxie was regarding him with something close to respect. It wasn't quite there, but it was the least annoyed expression he'd ever seen her direct at him.

"Thanks, I guess. Does this mean we're friends now?"

"Maybe that hit to the head really did do you a favor," Moxie said. "But don't get any ideas. We aren't friends, Vermil. I don't like you, even if you made one slightly respectable decision out of a thousand disgusting ones."

"Fair enough." Noah shrugged. His hand brushed against the gourd at his side and he paused for a moment. She raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"I was just trying to remember something." Noah patted the gourd. "You… didn't happen to give this to me, did you? I've been carrying it around as my good luck charm, but I can't remember where I got it."

"If you think for an instant that I would ever give you any sort of gift, especially a healing potion, you are sorely mistaken. Trust me, if I was going to give you a potion, it would be poisoned."

Noah stared at Moxie for an instant, then laughed. She just shook her head.

"Now get out of my room. I've told you what you wanted to hear, and I might actually die of shame if anyone found out I'm speaking to you without putting your head through a wall first."

"Thanks for the help, then. Be seeing you."

That just about confirms it. I don't think Moxie was the one that tried to poison me. So… who was?