Family dinner that night was at his dad’s office. Gabriel would’ve been content to eat noodles out of a cup in the blissed out silence of his apartment, but his family had insisted that they “debrief” after his first day at Ifran Academy. 

Whatever the hell that meant.

So there they were, Gabriel sitting cross-legged on his father’s supple leather sofa, his mother carefully arranging styrofoam containers of various kinds across an expensive glass coffee table. Behind his father the city skyline was almost ethereal, lights from distant rooms bright and beautiful behind the floor to ceiling windows of the Tower's penthouse office.

Gabriel would never get tired of the view from the Tower.

Dex, as usual, broke the ice from his spot in an overstuffed leather chair. “Okay, if neither of you are going to ask, I will.” He pointed his fork at Gabe. “Who on Earth is your partner?”

Gabriel slurped his noodles. He’d ordered them in obstinent defiance of being forced to join family dinner. If he couldn't have cup noodles, he'd have takeout noodles. It felt stupid now. “They’re not asking because they already know.”

His father quirked a brow, but he didn’t deny it. “What gives you that impression?”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “Come on, dad. For one, that’s never something you and mom would leave up to chance. For another, there’s no way I was paired with the Dean’s son by accident.”

Dexter shoved a dumpling into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. As a recent graduate of Ifran, Dexter had more likely than not encountered August before he left.  “What was his name again? Austin?”

“August,” Gabe corrected. He shot his father a look. The kind that he hoped communicated: I know what you’re both doing. That you’re putting me on a leash. I know that August has the best chance of anyone at Ifran against someone like me. “A telekinetic.”

“Oooh, those are rare,” his brother said. 

Their father leveled Dex with a pinched expression.

“What?”

“Dexter, stop talking while you chew.”

Dexter sighed, setting down his fork. “You’re such a stick in the mud, dad. Fine.” He pointedly swallowed and opened his mouth so their parents could see. “Empty.”

Their mother frowned. “Dexter…”

“Now, back to the real conversation,” his brother said insistently. “What do you think of him, little bro? Does he pass muster?”

Gabriel would never admit it, but that was something he admired about Dexter. His total lack of concern for the minor, unimportant inanities of polite society. Chewing with his mouth open? What did that matter? He was pursuing important information.

Gabe shrugged, curling his knees up into his sweatshirt. “He’s fine, I guess. He mostly seems to keep to himself. He already gets cool points for not leaking my name to the press, and him and George seemed to get along well enough when we all went to lunch. Unless he really cramps my style during our first spar, I guess it could be worse.”

Their father cleared his throat, wiping the corners of his mouth with his napkin. “First spar? Are all partners required to do that now?”

Gabriel shook his head. “No. We’ve just got the same physical elective. The prof decided that any partner sets would start as sparring partners, but half the class is solo, so it’s sort of luck of the draw for them. We're training both with and without attributes.”

His mother chased a rogue shallot across her dish with her spoon. “That’s smart of him. To take a physical elective. The aphysical students could do with better self-defense training.”

Gabe shrugged. “I guess. It’s not like I’d let him get into any situation he couldn’t handle.

“There’s no ‘let’ out there, Gabriel,” his father said quietly. There was a haunted look in his hooded eyes. For the first time in a long time, he looked his age. “You can’t control the field of play 100% of the time. You’re strong, but you’re not…”

“Invincible?”

His father furrowed his brow. His expression left so much unsaid. Too much. 

“Infallible.”