The circle shifted immediately. Drew and I caught each other's eye across the circle and both took a step inward—but Malcolm was faster. He materialized at my left elbow as if he had been standing there the whole time.
"We'll be together today," he said.
I looked at him. "You know there are stronger apprentices than me."
"You're powerful," he said, the smile unchanging. "You just don't know how to use it yet. I can help with that."
He doesn't want to help, I thought. He wants to be close to whatever I turn out to be capable of.
Before I could respond, Chancellor Archer spoke again. "In this evening's exercise, you will enter the forest to the east of the temple grounds and locate a golden rock. There is only one. You may use any method available to you." He paused. "You will be disqualified if you cause injury to another apprentice. You may begin."
The circle dissolved instantly into motion.
I stood still for a moment, thinking. A golden rock in a forest. I pictured the woods I'd glimpsed earlier—old-growth trees, dense undergrowth.
"Come on," Malcolm said. Before I could respond, he stepped toward the nearest tree, pressed both palms against the bark, and sent a visible pulse of green energy traveling up through the trunk. Within seconds, thick vines extended from the canopy, hanging down like ropes. He grabbed one, looking back at me. "We search from above. Better sightlines."
I stared at the vines. "You're going to swing through the trees looking for a rock?"
"Faster than walking."
"You won't see anything from the canopy that you can't see from the ground," I countered. "The undergrowth will block the view either way. And if the rock is buried, you definitely won't spot it from up there."
He blinked. "Then what do you suggest?"
"I suggest walking. And paying attention." I turned toward the tree line.
He didn't follow immediately—I heard the vines snap back into the canopy behind me—and then his footsteps were beside me. He'd decided that whatever I was doing was worth watching.
The light changed as we entered, filtered green-gold through the canopy. Something in my chest responded to it like a tuning fork. I could feel the trees—not in a mystical way, but as a low, constant awareness, like hearing music from another room.
I walked without urgency, keeping my hands loose. Around us, the forest was loud with other apprentices: crashing undergrowth, raised voices, the sharp crack of elements being deployed too forcefully. Someone's fire element had apparently scorched something; I could smell it faintly.
Malcolm was quiet beside me for longer than I expected. Maybe he's more observant than I gave him credit for, I thought. Or maybe he's just waiting.
I kept walking, letting the green awareness in my chest expand gently outward. The trees were old here. Their roots surfaced in long, arching ridges. A small clearing opened ahead, where the light came through more directly. On an impulse I couldn't entirely explain, I sat down.
"What are you doing?" Malcolm asked.
"Sitting."
"The golden rock isn't going to—"
"Malcolm," I said pleasantly, "go look somewhere else."
A beat of silence. Then, to his moderate credit, he went.