“We’re just asking you to take a break for the school year,” Mr. Rajavi said.

Call let out a breath. They weren’t talking about Aaron or Call or anything important. Just dating.

“And this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that my stepmother opposed your last Assembly proposal, right?” Alex sounded furious. Call decided that maybe it was important after all.

“Watch yourself,” Mr. Rajavi said. “Remember what I told you about respect?”

“What about respecting what your daughter wants?” Alex asked, his voice rising. “Kimiya? Tell him!”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Kimiya said. “I just want everyone to stop yelling at one another.” After many years of arguing with his own father, culminating in the terrible argument that he couldn’t even think about without feeling sick to his stomach, Call knew this wasn’t going anywhere good. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door to the room and looked at the four of them with the most confused expression he could muster.

“Oh, hey,” Call said. “I’m sorry. This house is so big that I keep getting turned around.”

“Callum,” Mrs. Rajavi said, forcing a smile.

Kimiya looked ready to cry. Alex looked ready to hit someone; Call recognized the expression.

“Oh, hey, Alex,” Call said, trying to think of a good reason to drag him out of there before he did something he regretted. “Can you come with me for a second? Aaron wanted to, uh, ask you something.”

Alex turned that furious expression on Call, and for a moment Call wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision. But then Alex nodded and said, “Sure.”

“I’m glad we had this talk,” Mr. Rajavi told him.

“Me, too,” Alex said between gritted teeth. Then he walked out, forcing Call to scramble to catch up.

Alex stalked out onto the lawn, heading toward the stone fountain. When he got to it, he kicked it hard and yelled something Alastair had forbidden Call to ever utter.

“I’m sorry,” Call said. In the distance, he could see Aaron and Tamara throwing sticks to Havoc on one of the far lawns. Fortunately, they were out of earshot.

“Aaron doesn’t really want to see me, does he?” said Alex.

“Nope,” said Call. “Sorry again.”

“So why’d you pull me out of there?” Alex didn’t look angry now, just curious.

“Nothing good was going to happen,” Call said firmly. “That wasn’t the kind of fight that anybody wins.”

“Maybe,” Alex said slowly. “They just — they make me so angry. They’re all about putting on a show. Like they’re perfect and everyone else is less.”

Call frowned. “What do you mean?”

Alex cut a glance toward Aaron and lowered his voice even further. “Nothing. I don’t mean anything at all.”

Alex clearly thought that Call couldn’t understand. It would be useless to explain that it might seem like Tamara’s parents liked him, but they wouldn’t if they knew the truth. They might not even like Aaron if he wasn’t the Makar. But Alex would never believe that a little kid like Call had big enough secrets to matter to anyone, even if he did.

It was only a few days later that Call had to pack up his new clothes and get ready to head back to school. He stuffed himself with sausages and eggs at breakfast, knowing it was going to be a while before he saw non-lichen-based food again. Aaron and Tamara were already wearing their green second-year Magisterium uniforms, while Alex and Kimiya were in fourth-year white and glowering at each other.