The line on the blank page didn't leave Soren by morning.
Most things did. This one stayed.
'A closed circle is the easiest thing in the world to draw a circle around.'
He'd turned it over all night.
It wasn't a threat in the Author's style, with countdowns and quarantined letters and the weight of a thing that knew it held the pen.
This was quieter.
It had waited for him to gather everyone into one place then it had pointed out that he'd done its work for it.
Seven lines in one circle was seven lines someone else could draw a circle around.
He didn't unbuild the circle.
That want had a name and the name was fear, and he'd stopped letting fear pick his moves a long time ago.
◆◆◆◆
The summons came mid-morning, and it didn't come from the Council.
It came from the top of the academy itself.
He'd never met the director.
Most students never did.
