“Wait,” Audree said, blinking at Lief like the answer should have been obvious. “So what’s your keyword?”

  Lief stared back, then looked away toward the flower field. His fingers pressed into the grass.

  “I still don’t know,” he said.

  Audree’s face went blank. “Really.”

  Lief nodded, stiff with embarrassment. “Really.”

  “You talked to Haldo,” Audree said, voice rising. “You went to the library. You asked him for help.”

  “I did,” Lief said.

  “And he didn’t tell you.”

  “Nope.”

  Audree sat there for a full second in silence, then rubbed his face with both hands like he could wipe the frustration off his skin.

  “That old man is unbelievable.”

  Lief’s mouth twitched, almost amused. “He told me to meditate.”

  Audree dropped his hands and stared at him, offended on Lief’s behalf. “That’s not help. That’s a suggestion you get from a random person who doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  “It worked,” Lief said quietly.

  Audree exhaled hard through his nose. “Still. We’re going back.”

  Lief hesitated. “Right now?”

  “Yes,” Audree said, already standing. “Before I change my mind and decide I hate everyone again.”

  Lief stood too, brushing pollen off his cloak. “Fair.”

  They started walking.

  The library felt colder than the field, darker too. The air inside carried that faint, clean pressure that always made Lief’s skin prickle. To Audree, it felt like stepping into a place with real weight.

  The door was unlocked.

  Audree pushed it open.

  At first, it looked normal. Then Lief noticed the candles.

  They were floating, but not neatly like before. They drifted in a slow circle around Haldo, who stood near the central desk with his sleeves rolled up. Thin, translucent mana hands moved around him in careful patterns, holding ink vials and chalk sticks and a strip of fabric that shimmered faintly like it had been soaked in something magical.

  Haldo did not look up.

  “Sit,” he said, voice flat, like he had known they were coming the whole time.

  Audree stepped in anyway, then stopped when Haldo finally turned.

  The old man’s eyes went from Audree to Lief, then back again. Surprise flickered across his face for half a heartbeat before it vanished behind annoyance.

  “Well,” Haldo said. “Look at that. You found each other again. I was beginning to enjoy the quiet.”

  Lief shifted awkwardly. Audree ignored the comment and walked forward.

  “We’re here because Lief still doesn’t know his keyword,” Audree said.

  Haldo’s gaze moved to Lief. “I’m aware.”

  Lief blinked. “You are?”

  Haldo made a small sound that could have been a laugh if it had wanted to be one. “You are not subtle, boy.”

  Audree looked around, then pointed at the floating mess of tools. “What are you doing?”

  “Working,” Haldo replied.

  Audree’s eyes narrowed. “On what.”

  “Something unrelated to you,” Haldo said, then paused and finally studied Audree properly.

  His enchanted glasses were on today. He adjusted them, squinting at Audree the way a jeweler squints at a flawed gem.

  “Hm,” Haldo murmured. “Interesting.”

  Audree stiffened. “What.”

  “You are breathing mana,” Haldo said.

  Audree blinked. “I’m… what.”

  Haldo stepped closer and circled him once, eyes focused. “It is not clean, but it is real. Mana lingering in your body and moving in and out like a system. When you take too much, you bleed it off through a weak aura.”

  He clicked his tongue, impressed despite himself. “Weak, but very impressive, boy.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Audree stared, confused. “I didn’t know I was doing that.”

  “You are also not built like a broom handle anymore,” Haldo added, looking him up and down. “Even some muscle.”

  Audree’s face warmed. “That’s Ina.”

  “Hm,” Haldo said, like that explained everything and nothing at once. He looked back at Lief. “But you are not here for yourself.”

  “No,” Audree said quickly. “We’re here because the woods are… wrong. Lief can feel it. Like pain. Like something’s hurting the plants.”

  Lief nodded. “It’s getting louder.”

  Haldo’s expression didn’t change much, but something in his eyes sharpened. He set down the strip of shimmering fabric and waved the mana hands away from it. The floating candles drifted back to their normal positions, lighting the room more evenly.

  “Tell me everything,” Haldo said.

  So they did.

  By the time they finished, Haldo was silent for a moment, fingers steepled.

  Then he sighed.

  “First,” Haldo said, “Audree, you broke my orb and then returned for more help with keywords.”

  Audree opened his mouth.

  Haldo held up one finger. “Second, I suspected I would have to do this soon anyway. Since the last time Lief spoke to me.”

  Lief flinched. “So you did know.”

  “Yes,” Haldo said. “I simply did not feel like turning my day into a lesson.”

  Audree muttered something rude under his breath.

  Haldo ignored him and walked to a cabinet behind the desk. He opened it, then pulled out a small wooden box, plain but sealed with a neat ring of chalk runes and a thin thread of silver.

  “This is safer,” Haldo said, setting it down. “No imp. No orb. No theatrics.”

  Audree leaned forward. “Then how does it work?”

  Haldo tapped the lid. “Keyword resonance is easiest to read when the mind is quiet and the mana is steady. So we will not rip it out of you.”

  He opened the box.

  Inside was a shallow dish filled with a clear liquid that looked like water, but it held light strangely. A small crystal rested at the center, pale green and leaf-veined.

  Haldo looked at Lief. “Put your hand over the dish. Do not touch the liquid. Breathe like I told you. Slowly.”

  Lief swallowed and did as instructed.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then the clear liquid trembled.

  Not like it was being shaken. Like it was responding.

  Soft green light spread outward in thin branching lines, like roots searching for soil. The crystal at the center brightened and the air in the room felt warmer, fuller, alive.

  Lief’s breath hitched.

  Haldo watched closely. “There.”

  The light gathered, then formed a single word in the liquid, written in delicate strokes that looked like vines:

  VERDANCY

  Lief froze.

  Audree leaned closer, eyes wide. “Verdancy.”

  Haldo nodded once. “Life-aligned. Growth, plants, living systems. It explains your sensitivity to nature and why the woods are loud to you.”

  Lief’s voice came out small. “So I’m not just imagining it.”

  “No,” Haldo said. “Verdancy does not tolerate being ignored. If you suppress it, it becomes louder and sharper until it forces itself into your awareness.”

  Lief swallowed hard. “That… makes sense.”

  Audree watched Lief’s face, then frowned. “So if the woods are loud, that means something is wrong out there.”

  “It means something is affecting living systems,” Haldo corrected. “Pain does not come from nothing.”

  Audree’s jaw tightened. “We’re going in.”

  Haldo’s eyes flicked to Audree. “Yes. I assumed you would.”

  Audree blinked. “You’re not going to stop us?”

  Haldo scoffed. “Stop you? I would have to chain you to a wall. Besides, Miss Runeswell already mentioned the amulet components are likely there.”

  He rubbed his temples like Audree was giving him a headache across time. “I would like this to get done so I can make plans unrelated to you.”

  Audree’s mouth twitched. “Glad to know we’re an inconvenience.”

  “You are,” Haldo said calmly. “But you are also interesting.”

  Audree’s expression shifted, frustration rising like heat.

  “I hate being clueless,” Audree snapped. “Forces right in front of me. Knights lying. The woods screaming. People disappearing. Everyone else knows something I don’t.”

  His eyes began to swirl with color, subtle at first. Purple at the edges. Green flickering beneath. A thin gold sheen like metal catching firelight.

  Audree’s breathing sped up.

  “It’s like knowledge and power are always just out of reach,” he went on, voice tight. “Like I’m scraping at a door and everyone else has the key.”

  Haldo’s gaze sharpened behind the enchanted glasses. He stepped closer, studying the shift in Audree’s eyes and the tension in his posture.

  “So that is how Greed manifests,” Haldo murmured. Not amused. Not approving. Just observant.

  Audree’s jaw clenched. “Don’t psychoanalyze me.”

  “I am not,” Haldo said. “I am warning you.”

  Audree’s shoulders rose and fell. The colors in his eyes intensified for a moment, then faltered.

  Haldo’s voice lowered. “Greed is actively influencing you, Audree. That mindset feels justified because it feeds your keyword. It will always offer you reasons.”

  Audree’s fingers curled into a fist.

  Haldo continued, steady and sharp. “Do not linger there. Greed is a tool and a danger. It is your power. You cannot fear it or avoid it, but you also cannot let it steer you.”

  Audree’s eyes flickered again, then slowly began to calm.

  Haldo tilted his head. “You have gotten better with control. I can see it. But I still see cracks.”

  Audree swallowed.

  Haldo’s tone turned coldly direct. “That hunger. That belief that you should have it all. That everything should belong to you because you work for it.”

  Audree’s breath shook once, then steadied as he forced it back into rhythm.

  Lief watched him closely, quiet, but present.

  Haldo stepped back and waved a hand as if dismissing the emotion itself. “Now. If you are going into the woods, you will do it prepared. You will not run in chasing answers like an addict chasing a high. It would be very inconvenient having to tell your mother’s about you going missing in the woods.”

  Audree’s voice came out rough. “I am not going alone.”

  Lief’s shoulders squared. “We go together.”

  Haldo looked at Lief. “Good.”

  Haldo nodded once, satisfied. “Then we begin properly. Verdancy is not a curse, Lief. It is a responsibility.”

  His gaze returned to Audree. “And Greed is not an excuse.”

  The room fell quiet again, candle flames steady, the dish of liquid still faintly glowing with the word that had been hidden for too long.

  Outside, Embershade’s smog pressed against the windows.

  And somewhere beyond it, the woods waited.