“Isaac’s always been a drunk fool, but I didn’t realize he had become a mean drunk fool since the last time I was here.”

  Those words came from Miriam, sitting next to me on the front steps of the North Forest Codexium with her chin in her hands. She was staring into the distance and had been complaining about Isaac kicking us out of the Codexium for the past few minutes.

  I had barely been paying attention to my sister’s ramblings, however, because I was still distracted by that Codexed Quest I had received. It didn’t help that the strange countdown timer continued to hover in the corner of my vision. I wondered if there was a way to turn it off or at least hide it. It was pretty distracting.

  It was a warm summer morning outside, and we were the only people outside of the North Forest Codexium today, which was located north of the town itself. A twisting dirt road, cutting through the forest, was the only path connecting the Codexium to the rest of the town, which was surrounded by trees and ruins from who knew how long ago. The dirt road itself appeared barely used because few people came out to the Codexium. I was the first person from North Forest to even attempt to become a Codexer since Miriam left town four years ago, which explained why no one else was around.

  But when Miriam mentioned Isaac being drunk, I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her. “Isaac was drunk even back then?”

  Miriam nodded. “Oh, yeah. Cursed me out a couple of times during my trial and acted like I was making life harder for him for no reason. Honestly, if my master hadn’t already told me that he would mentor me if I became a Codexer, I wouldn’t have even bothered doing my trial here.”

  I frowned. “It honestly doesn’t sound like Isaac has changed much. Dad says he’s always been a lazy drunk, too.”

  Miriam sighed. “That’s one thing that Dad isn’t wrong about. And it’s even sadder because I’ve met Codex Keepers in other towns and kingdoms who are way more professional than Isaac. Even the ones that drink, don't drink on the job. Seriously, it’s depressing.”

  Miriam’s mention of other towns and kingdoms she had visited would normally have caught my interest, because I was also interested in travel and adventure. But between the weird things I encountered in my trial and then Isaac’s bizarre outburst, I had other things on my mind at the moment. “Well, I’m glad you made it, even if you did just miss my trial. Moses and Joshua were busy working, Mom’s been sick, and Dad, well, you know how Dad feels about Codexers.”

  Miriam punched my shoulder and smiled. “No need to tell me. Dad and I had that same argument when I left. I’m just surprised that Dad even let you try. What kind of sorcery did you have to pull off to convince the old man to let you try?”

  I fingered my portable around my neck, rubbing my thumb across its cracked surface. “I managed to get Dad’s old portable working again. So when I showed it to Dad, he agreed to let me come here and participate in a Codex trial to become a Codexer.”

  Miriam’s eyes darted to the portable hanging around my neck, and she nodded again. “I thought that portable looked familiar! How did you fix it? I didn’t take you to be a Node Maker in training.”

  I pursed my lips and shrugged. “I just tinkered with it until it started working again. Mostly behind Dad’s back.”

  That was the truth of it. Ever since Miriam successfully passed her trial and went on to become a Codexer herself, I had desperately wanted to become a Codexer next.

  But you couldn’t become a Codexer without a portable Node, or portable for short, to sync with the Arcane Codex and the wider Node Network. Portables were what allowed Codexers to track their progress, learn new spells, access Stationary Nodes like the North Forest Node, sync with Codex Beasts, and tons of other things that only Codexers could do. It was impossible to become a Codexer without a portable.

  Portables, however, were also rare and expensive, at least in Shinar, where I lived. I’d heard stories that portables were much more common in the other eight Kingdoms, but Shinar, despite its lofty title of being the First Codex Kingdom, was also one of the poorest. It was mostly luck that Dad happened to have a nonfunctional portable that he allowed me to use to attempt my Codex trial.

  Well, it had been nonfunctional when Miriam took her trial four years ago, which was why Miriam didn’t use it as her portable. Her master, a traveling scholar from the Second Kingdom, had given her an extra portable he had been carrying with him for exactly that purpose.

  But I’d been determined to become a Codexer and spent years trying to get Dad’s portable to work, mostly at night by candlelight after a full day of working on the family farm. And sometimes getting yelled at by Mom or Dad for staying up late trying to fix something broken.

  Though if I was going to be honest, I still wasn’t entirely convinced that I’d fixed the darn thing completely. Its surface was cracked, and I’d run into several oddities during my trial while using my portable that made me question if something was wrong with it. Of course, most of the glitches I’d encountered in the trial had been caused by that malformed Codex spell that I’d killed, but I couldn’t help but wonder if my barely functional portable was also partly responsible for the mess.

  Miriam let out a low whistle. “You should totally join the Node Makers Guild in Zeboiim now that you are an official Codexer! I’ll ask my master if he can make some introductions. Master knows everyone, including the Guild Captain of the Node Makers. Could easily get you an apprenticeship or maybe even a spot at the Node Makers Institute.”

  I blinked in surprise. The Node Makers of the Eighth Kingdom were the only guild in all of the Nine Kingdoms that were allowed to make and repair portable Codex Nodes. Even out here in Shinar, I’d heard about them, but they rarely came out this way, even though the North Forest Node was a good candidate for repair, in my opinion. “You’d do that for me?”

  Miriam slapped me on the shoulder. “Of course! What are big sisters for? Though you don’t sound too excited about it for some reason.”

  I rubbed my arm nervously. “I mean, it’s a nice offer, but I’m not sure I want to travel all the way to Zeboiim to join the Node Makers. That’s kind of far.”

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  Miriam rolled her eyes. “And totally worth it! But if you don’t want to become a Node Maker, then what do you want to do? Where do you want to go?”

  I bit my lower lip and glanced at the sky. “I was thinking about going to the Adventure Calls Academy in Hebron and training to become a Dungeon Diver. That way, I could get lots of gold for our family so we wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore.”

  The Adventure Calls Academy was the school run by Shinar’s biggest Codex Guild, Adventure Calls, which was headquartered in Hebron, the capital city of Shinar. I’d dreamed of going there ever since I met a couple of Adventure Calls members who showed up in North Forest a couple of years back on a Codex Quest. I’d been so impressed by their skills and abilities, especially when they used them to protect the village from some glitched Codex mobs that had attacked us.

  But Miriam frowned deeply. She pouted. “You managed to fix a malfunctioning portable, something no one outside of the Node Makers even knows how to do, and yet you want to limit yourself to the Academy? Seriously, Aaron, you could do so much more than that. And I think our family is doing just fine. They don’t need the gold.”

  I bit my lower lip. I noticed how Miriam referred to our family using ‘they’ rather than ‘us.’ “It’s … not that simple, Miri. We had really bad flooding last year and lost most of our crops. Dad’s been working us all to the bone just to make sure the farm breaks even this year.”

  Mentioning Dad was probably a mistake because Miriam just rolled her eyes again. “You do know it’s not your responsibility to run the family business, right? Moses was always going to get it, anyway, what with him being the oldest and all. And unless something’s changed, Moses doesn’t want to become a Codexer.”

  I grimaced and looked down at my hands. “I know, but I can’t just up and leave everyone like you did. I don’t have a traveling Codexer who saw potential in me and personally made sure I completed my trial like you. Travel is expensive.”

  Miriam cringed. “Well, when you put it that way, it does sound a bit lucky on my part.” She rested a hand on my shoulder. “But that’s why I’m offering to get you an in with the Node Makers. They’re the hardest Guild to get into for a reason, but I’m sure you could pass their high standards. Just the fact that you repaired Dad’s portable at all should be enough to make them at least consider your application. Besides, they have an outpost in Hebron, if I’m not mistaken, so if you want to stay in Shinar, you still could.”

  Miriam was probably right. Though most Guilds were based out of a specific Kingdom, many of the bigger Guilds had outposts in every Kingdom where they could recruit promising Codexers. That included the Node Makers, but they weren’t the only ones.

  I scratched the back of my neck and glanced at my portable again, letting it fall gently against my chest. “I guess you have a point there, but I’m still not sure—”

  “And money?” Miriam laughed. “Those Node Makers are loaded, Aaron. They use crowns as paperweights. One of the benefits of having a monopoly on making and repairing Nodes. If you got in with them, you probably would have enough money to support yourself, our family, and maybe even the entire village of North Forest. I’m telling you, it’s a good idea.”

  I bit my lower lip again. “I don’t know. Don’t you think we’re jumping ahead a little? I just completed my trial. I haven’t even told our parents yet. And I also haven’t gotten officially registered with the SNA or anything.”

  Miriam gave me a genuinely confused look. “You haven’t? What were you and Isaac doing if he wasn’t registering you with the SNA and helping you understand your Discipline and initial setup? He’s always been a drunk, but he at least helped me get officially registered back when I completed my trial.”

  I hesitated. Should I tell Miriam about my Codexed Quest? My initial reaction was to tell her everything. She was my sister and one of the people I trusted more than anyone else in the world. Out of everyone in my family, Miriam was also the only one who had been consistently supportive of my dream to become a Codexer. If I couldn’t trust her with that information, then who could I trust?

  But the warning in the quest notification, about being careful about who I entrusted knowledge of this quest with, echoed in my mind like a warning. Clearly, the Arcane Codex didn’t want this quest to become common knowledge or leak to the public accidentally.

  Yet Isaac already knew about the quest, and he was, in my opinion, infinitely less trustworthy than Miriam. And Miriam was good at keeping secrets. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d asked her to keep a secret from our parents.

  So I took a deep breath and said, “Well, about the trial—”

  The door to the North Forest Codexium slammed open behind us. If Miriam hadn’t grabbed me and forced me to jump off the steps with her, that door would have crashed into the back of my head and seriously injured us.

  But we landed on the dusty ground at the bottom of the steps. Miriam landed on her feet gracefully while I stumbled, landing on my hands and knees.

  “Aaron, you okay?” said Miriam, looking down at me with concern.

  I coughed slightly and, rubbing dirt off my forehead, said, “Yeah, thanks to you. But what was—”

  “Aaron Thorn.”

  Isaac’s voice, sharper than the Fangblade knife he had given me to use during my trial, was colder than a North Forest winter. I froze, but looked over my shoulder.

  Isaac stood in the open doorway of the North Forest Codexium, a deep scowl etched across his old features. He reminded me of a vulture getting ready to feast on a dead animal on the road, which didn’t help my nerves one bit.

  “Isaac?” said Miriam, also looking at Isaac. She folded her arms in front of her chest. “You could have warned us before opening the door. You nearly brained poor Aaron.”

  Isaac turned his harsh gaze toward Miriam. “I didn’t ask your opinion, girl. I wish to speak with Aaron in the Codexium. Alone.”

  I didn’t like the way Isaac said ‘alone,’ and neither did Miriam because she stepped in between us and said, “Whatever you need to talk with Aaron about, I’m sure you can talk about it with me, too.”

  “It’s far too sensitive a matter for a traveler of your caliber to be allowed to know,” said Isaac without missing a beat. He pointed over Miriam’s head at the road. “In other words, it’s none of your business.”

  Uh-oh. Miriam had gone still, and I could see her portable starting to glow around her neck. That wasn’t a good sign. Miriam didn’t like being told what to do by anyone, even a Codex Keeper.

  But I couldn’t let Miriam fight Isaac. Even if Miriam somehow won, assaulting a Codex Keeper was a great way to get the Shinar Node Authority down your neck. I needed to step in before things got ugly.

  Rising to my feet, I put a calming hand on Miriam’s shoulder. “Miri, it’s okay. It’s like I told you. Isaac and I haven’t finished filling out all of the paperwork with the SNA yet. I’m sure that’s just what Isaac wants to talk to me about. Right, Keeper Isaac?”

  Isaac’s eyes darted from Miriam to me. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

  Miriam didn’t look at me. “If you lay even one finger on my baby brother—”

  “Of course I won’t,” Isaac said. “Truth be told, I’d rather not see either of you brats ever again. But your brother completed his trial and needs to fill out his paperwork. Otherwise, the Authority will be on my butt, and that is the last thing I want.”

  I relaxed slightly. It sounded like I had been right. All Isaac wanted to do was make sure I completed my paperwork so I could be a legal Codexer. Not sure why he was being so intense about it, but maybe like Miriam said, he was just a mean old drunk.

  Miriam still didn’t look happy about leaving me with Isaac, but then her shoulders relaxed a hair and she looked at me. “I’ll meet you back at the family farm later. We can catch up then.”

  Then she leaned toward my ear and whispered, “And be careful. I don’t trust Isaac.”

  Before I could respond to that, Miriam turned and walked down the dirt road back to town. I watched her go, feeling relieved I’d managed to prevent a fight between her and Isaac, but also feeling a lot less safe without her around.

  “Stop standing around looking like an idiot,” said Isaac. He stepped aside. “Inside.”

  I walked back into the Codexium. As soon as I passed the threshold, Isaac slammed the door shut and turned to face me. “What do you know about the Codex Wars?”

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