I woke up on the living room couch with a blanket over me, which raised questions in my mind instantly.

’Ugh...Headache.’

The memories of what happened hit me, then the fact that someone had not only carried me to the couch but tucked me in, and there were exactly two people home this morning and one of them was me.

I moved that thought away for later.

’System. Status.’

[ASH ROWAN]

[Rank: D]

[Note: The Host slept for nine hours.]

Rank D. I sat up and just breathed for a second.

It’s hard to explain the difference, but I felt many times stronger

I flexed my hand, feeling the new power running through my body.

"Worth it," I muttered under my breath.

"Worth what."

My head snapped in her direction, startled by her sudden appearance. Cecilia was standing in the kitchen doorway in her uniform, arms crossed, and I genuinely don’t know how long she’d been there.

S-ranks don’t make noise when they move.

"Morning, did you carry me to the couch?"

"You collapsed on the kitchen floor. You were in the way."

"The blanket was also in the way?"

She paused for a moment.

"Mother would have pestered me if you froze to death in the living room," she said, which is a sentence she appeared to believe was normal. "What happened to your core?"

So we were doing this now. I’d kind of hoped for coffee first.

"Re-awakening," I said. "It happens. There was a guy in Daxton two years ago, awakened F, re-tested A a few months later. It was in the news."

"I held your collar while it happened. I felt it."

"Did you? I don’t think you did."

She picked up her bag, no longer giving the matter attention. She knew that she wasn’t going to get any information out of me.

---

Northgate Academy was a prestigious academy for awakeners.

Made of glass and white stone, training towers, a front gate you could march an army through, and over it all was a massive floating crest.

Cecilia got mobbed the second we hit the gate. Upperclassmen, reporters at the fence, some kid with a homemade sign.

I wasn’t surprised, s-rankers got this kind of attention all the time. She walked through all of it without changing expression once.

Walking just a few steps behind, nobody bothered to look at me. The F-badge had that kind of magical effect to it. It’s basically camouflage.

Orientation was in the main arena, and they sorted us by rank, which at Northgate means the S and A kids get actual chairs down front and the rest of us fan out behind them in order of how much the academy regrets admitting us. The F section was four people. We stood in the back next to the equipment racks, and I’m pretty sure one of the racks had better positioning.

The orientation speech was what you’d expect.

The instructor told us that we were the pride of the nation, a forge of heroes, our rank being the beginning and not our end. Then the part everyone actually came for.

"Placement evaluations begin this afternoon," the instructor said. His name was Harrick, specialised in combat division, built like a door. He was a B-Rank awakener, with a class that strengthened his body considerably.

"Open format. Any student may issue a challenge to any other student. Results adjust your class placement. Refusing a challenge is permitted, you have the opportunity to refuse three times a month.

The strong get to farm the weak on day one, publicly, with staff supervision, and it goes on your record either way.

"Law of the jungle," said the girl next to me in the F-section, her eyes fixed ahead. "They thin us out the first week so they don’t waste instructor hours. My brother went here. There were nine F-ranks in his year by winter there were two."

"What happened to him?"

The girl did not answer the question, ignoring me.

’Must be a sour spot...’

That’s when the voice came from the rank rows ahead of us, loud on purpose.

"I’m just saying, someone should check the admission records." A guy in the B-section had turned around in his chair.

Tall, silver academy pin on his collar, meaning legacy family, meaning old money. "Because I heard the Frost prodigy has a stray dog living in her house. F-rank. Same last name as nobody, because they didn’t even bother giving him hers."

His eyes found me in the back and grinned. "There he is. Hey. Does she make you carry her bags, or do she not trust you with bags? Haha."

Other awakeners laughed alongside him. The girl next to me went very still, moving a step away to avoid association with me.

I sighed internally.

Ding!

[Roman Vale. Rank B. Legacy admission, third generation. Has never once been hit by someone who was allowed to hit back.]

[CHOICE A: Challenge him to a placement evaluation. Today. Reward: Skill Acquisition – {Afterimage Step}]

[CHOICE B: Laugh along. He’ll like you. Reward: +1 Stamina]

[CHOICE C: Say nothing. He gets bored. Reward: T-shirt with ’Loser’ written on it.]

[Risk assessment: Severe. He is two full ranks above your hidden core and four above your badge. Probability of public humiliation: 68%.]

{Afterimage Step}. I didn’t know what it did yet, but I already wanted it.

I raised my hand.

The instructor, Harrick, found me with his eyes. "Question?"

"Challenge, actually. Ash Rowan, Rank F. I’m challenging Roman Vale to a placement evaluation." I threw my badge in his direction, waiting for his response.

You could hear the silence land before the badge did. Hundreds of students running a simulation of our fight, and arriving at the same answer.

Roman laughed first, this big delighted bark, like his birthday came early. "Oh, you’re serious. Instructor, am I allowed to accept this? Is that legal? Is it not considered animal abuse?"

"Yes, you are allowed to accept." Harrick nodded.

Without hesitation, Roman threw his badge atop mine, grinning as if he had won the lottery. "Let’s do it."

Harrick looked at me for a long moment. "Open format means open format. Evaluation ring three, fourth slot this afternoon."

Roman turned back around, already performing for his row, and the girl next to me was staring like I’d grown a second head.

"You’re insane, why would you do that...he will break your legs before letting you go." she said.

"We will see about that..."

Way up in the S-section, Cecilia Frost had turned around in her chair, looking in his direction for a moment before turning away.