Chapter 22: Fen in the Morning and the Cost of Refusal

Fen was already sitting down when Elliot came through the dining hall doors.

He almost missed it — the boy was at the far end of the first-year table, back to the room, shoulders curved inward in the posture of someone who had recently learned that taking up space was a liability. Elliot stopped walking. Behind him, Sable walked into his shoulder blade.

"What —" she started.