The next morning, I met Leander in the gym. Castor was also there, but as far from us as humanly possible. In the gym, at least, we’d reached an uneasy truce: he stayed on his side and I stayed on mine.

Leander grabbed two staffs from the wall of weapons. He tossed me one and I grabbed it out of the air. We circled each other.

“Let’s see what you’ve learned, kid,” he said. I raised my staff to a defensive position.

Leander was quick. His staff swung down towards me in an instant and I blocked, then pushed back. He stumbled backwards and I moved with him, attacking swiftly with my own staff. He blocked each hit. He swung his staff at me again—and while I was distracted blocking that hit, he kicked me in the chest. 

But this wasn’t the first time he’d tried that trick on me, and I was ready for it now. I took the blow and bounced back, but stayed on my feet. Leander grinned. He swung the staff again. As I moved to block, putting everything I had into the movement, he pivoted and swept my feet out from under me. I went down hard on my back.

That was the thing about Leander. His fighting was all about misdirection. While you were looking left, he was hitting you from the right. In a real fight, he’d probably throw sand in your face and smile at you while he did it.

“So you fought your first Phantom,” Leander started.

I laid on the floor looking up at him. He held out one hand.

“Is it always like that? Fighting Phantoms?” I asked. 

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. I yanked on his arm, using my momentum to try and throw him off balance. But he was prepared for that. He swung me around and let go. I skidded across the floor mats.

“Yes and no. If you don’t know a Phantom’s background, it’s hard to find the heart. We send Finders out to investigate, but there’s a limit to what history remembers. And inevitably, you’ll have to fight a Phantom when you’re not sure where the heart is,” Leader said. “So what do you do then?”

I jumped to my feet. I grabbed the staff to my left.

“Attack everything?” I said. I swung my staff to punctuate each word. 

With a backwards jump, Leander dodged my first strike, then he blocked the second with one arm. With his opposite hand, he held up one finger.

“Look for what stands out.” His blocking hand twisted and he grabbed my staff. “Think about the last Phantom—how did the heart look?”

It was a battle of wills over the staff. My arms started to shake, but Leander looked unaffected. Tsk.

“It looked almost normal,” I said. I could hear the strain in my voice.

“Exactly. It stood out, didn’t it? Look for things like that,” Leander said. 

I couldn’t hold this position for much longer. I let go of the staff. A surprised look came over Leander’s face as I twisted and swept his feet out from under him with one kick.

He landed on his back, but turned the motion into a roll that ended with him back on his feet. I had to learn that one.

“Very well done,” Leander praised. Behind him, in the mirrors, I could see Castor’s surprised expression. He noticed me watching and pointedly turned away.

I crashed to the floor, breathing heavily. Leander walked to the edge of the room to collect something and then came back. He held out a bottle of water. When I reached for it, he pulled it back and grabbed my head in a hard noogie. I struggled to escape, complaining as he grinded his knuckles on my head, but he just cackled.

He let me loose and the first thing I did was look in the mirror. My hair was a complete bird’s nest. I could kill him. I tried to pat my hair back into something cute, but it seemed to have permanently taken the noogie shape.

“Oh, get off!” a disgruntled voice yelled from across the room.

I turned around to see Castor getting a noogie of his own. Castor broke free, shoving a laughing Leander away from him.

“Not going to fix your hair?” I asked.

“And encourage him further? He’d only do it again,” Castor’s resigned voice said. Then he stiffened, as if realizing a beat too late who he was talking to. Leander draped himself across Castor’s shoulders.

“It’s totally true. I would,” Leander said, not the least bit ashamed.

“I heard something the other day,” Castor began quietly. “In the Commissary. About a group of Finders.”

Leander stilled. He pulled himself off of Castor, loosely. He looked like he was going for casual, but he held tension everywhere: his hand, the corner of his mouth, his stance.

“What about it?” Leander replied just as softly.

“Is it true?” I butted in. “That they were after a Dark Star? And all disappeared?”

Castor didn’t even glare at my interruption. He must have wanted to know just as much as I did. 

Leander ran his hands through his hair. He looked away from us. He was deciding what to say, I guessed. 

“It’s true that a team of Finders went missing, yes,” Leander said slowly. “But not enough time has gone by to say they’ve disappeared.”

“But they were after a Dark Star?” Castor insisted.

“Yes,” Leander said, looking as if the word had been torn from his mouth. “And I expect the two of you not to spread this around.” He gave us a strong look. We both nodded.

“The truth is, we don’t know if a Dark Star was involved. The Finders were sent to investigate and report back. And until they do—or we find something else—we won’t know for sure.” Leander paused. “But in general, Dark Stars are either unawakened and calm or raging, rampaging Supernova. A team disappearing doesn’t really follow the usual MO.”

I didn’t know what he meant by Supernova, but I didn’t like the sound of any of this. I met Leander’s eyes and I could see his concern, too. I’d never seen that look on him before.