61 On Ships and Battle II

Moxie stepped past Noah, practically shoving him out of the way as she entered his room. Noah went to call on his Ash magic, then realized he didn't actually have any Ash to work with and summoned Vibration instead.

"What are you doing here?" Noah asked, closing the door with his foot. If Moxie was about to attack him, he preferred not to have any witnesses. It would make things a lot more difficult to explain.

Moxie leaned against Noah's bed and let her eyes roam over the room. Her scowl deepened.

"What magic is it that you've got readied, Vermil?"

"Why do you ask?" Noah countered. "It would be hypocritical of me to complain about you showing up at my room, but I don't recall quizzing you on what you were doing in your spare time."

Moxie grunted. "Sure. Just on everything else."

"If I recall correctly, we had a deal. Also, while you're here, how'd you know that Allen and Edward would show up at the transport cannon?"

"I keep tabs on Allen for my own reasons. When I found out he was going after you, I thought I'd have some fun and tag along. And we did have a deal," Moxie agreed. "Yet one of the many things I've never seen you do since before about a month ago. Before then, you would have just tried to demand what you wanted. Granted, even you weren't stupid enough to try and demand things from me after the first time you tried that shit, but this is something else."

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Noah said, giving her an awkward smile and rubbing the back of his head – taking absolute care to make sure not a speck of his actual thoughts came through the carefully crafted mask on his face.

"Cut the crap, Vermil. I'll list it out if you're going to make me. After years of stagnation, your magic grows strong enough for you to break a Rank 2 Shield. You're speaking to others with respect and some actual intelligence rather than being a greasy slimeball. You started showing up to your classes. Your students actually respect you – and you're putting your own comfort at risk to protect them."

"I told you that I had a head injury. Those can change a man, you know. Completely twist his personality."

"Change, sure. But you aren't changed," Moxie said, narrowing her eyes. "You aren't Vermil at all."

Noah burst into laughter. "Oh, man. If I'm not Vermil, then who am I?"

"You know what?" Moxie rose to her feet. Noah's laughter stopped and he readied himself to dive out of the way of a spell. Moxie caught the change in his posture and cocked an eyebrow. "I don't care."

"I'm sorry?" Noah asked. "You can't just accuse–"

Moxie blurred. She slammed into Noah, pinning him against the wall. He instantly released the Vibration magic into her, but a bright green sheen flared around her body and his magic dissipated into it.

"And so decisive. You actually tried to use that spell on me. Vermil never would have had the balls to do that. Vermil also would have remembered that I'm a Rank 3. I beat that into him."

"I–"

"Stop. I'm not an idiot. I'll be honest, I doubt many others would notice your change – Vermil did a great job of alienating just about everyone, but I had the misfortune to be the instructor that was charged with showing him the ropes around Arbitage."

Noah gave her a wide-eyed, dumb look. A blade of wind swirled around his hand and Moxie shifted her stance. Then he sent a violent pulse of Vibration magic into the floor beneath Moxie's feet and flicked the Wind magic, sending it over Moxie's shoulder. The ground bucked and her grip on Noah lessened for an instant while Moxie tried to catch her balance.

That was all he needed. Noah shifted his weight and drove his fist into Moxie's stomach. He thrust his shoulder into her collarbone and slammed her to the ground. The air burst from her lungs in a grunt and Noah pressed his knee against her chest.

A vine whipped past Noah, coiling around his neck in a split second and he froze. They stared at each other.

"Mutual loss," Noah grunted.

"Catching me by surprise doesn't break my Shield. You can't hurt me with your magic, but one squeeze and I have you begging for your life. That's your loss, not mine."

Noah cocked an eyebrow. Moxie's eyes flicked to the side, where his sword floated in the air pointed in her direction, held by the Wind he'd thrown past her.

"I didn't know if your vines wouldn't reflexively tighten if I killed you," Noah said through clenched teeth. "I don't think you were ready for the sword. I'd call that a tie."

"You were going to stab me?"

"Why do you all sound so surprised at that? How is that any worse than using magic?"

"It's so – oh, nevermind," Moxie snapped. To Noah's surprise, the vine uncoiled from around his neck and slithered back into her clothes. "I told you. I don't care what you did to Vermil."

"Attacking me is an odd way to make your point."

Moxie pressed her lips together and turned her hands palm up. "If I had seriously attacked you, we wouldn't be having this conversation. That was just to force your hand."

"Well, you forced it. Care to share why?"

Moxie shifted uncomfortably. "Get off me. Then we'll talk."

"No, I don't think so. Even if your Shield can block magic, I've seen them break. I don't trust you, but you can't dodge my sword and deal with my magic at the same time. If you're standing, that isn't the case. Thus, I'm not moving."

Moxie's eyes narrowed in anger. Then she sighed.

"Fine. I–"

Vines erupted from behind Moxie, launching her up and into Noah's chest. She grabbed onto him, locking her arms around his before he could react. The vines swarmed around them, opening behind her like a blooming flower before slithering away.

Moxie released Noah and took a step back, raising her hands.

"Happy? If I were trying to kill you, you would have been dead."

Noah rubbed his arms and studied her for a moment. Then he flicked his hand, allowing his flying sword to lower back to the ground.

I don't have any good way to fight her. She's right. Despite everything I told Todd and Isabel, that Shield is really annoying. Is there really that much of a difference between Rank 1 and 3?

"Happy isn't the right word, but I'll settle. What do you want?"

Moxie dropped her hands and sat back on Noah's bed as if nothing had happened and ran a hand through her hair. "Can you just confirm it? For my own sanity?"

"Confirm what?"

Moxie looked up at him. "Just… stop. We both know you're lying, and it's not going anywhere. You've all but said it already, and I've told you that I don't care about what happened to Vermil."

"Then why do you need me to confirm anything?"

"Just… please."

Noah drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He wasn't sure what Moxie's angle was, but he'd never seen her look that sincere – although he hadn't exactly known her for very long.

"How about you tell me why you came here," Noah said, crossing his arms and leaning against a wall.

Moxie grimaced. "Because I looked into your students yesterday, after you spoke with Edward and Allen. Maybe I'm just sappy, but you showed so much faith in them that I almost believed that you could actually win that bet."

"Almost, huh? How kind of you."

"Don't get caught on words," Moxie said irritably. "I was wondering what students would have been unlucky enough to get assigned to you – or Vermil, rather. So as I said, I looked into it."

"And?"

"Isabel has no last name."

Noah stared at Moxie. She'd said that as if it were supposed to mean something to him.

"…okay."

"You have no idea what that means."

"Let's pretend I don't."

"Her family was blacklisted by the noble houses. All of them. And, when I tried to find out why, there was absolutely no evidence. That means someone covered it up. Do you realize how serious that is? Only a very, very powerful person would have the pull to do that. Isabel was assigned to you because she's meant to fail."