She was starting to wish she’d stayed home.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply—” Libby’s cheeks flushed. “I just, I suppose I expected, um—”
“I didn’t study naturalism,” Reina supplied bluntly. “I specialized in ancient magics. Classics.”
“Oh,” said Libby, with faint confusion, and Parisa’s eyes narrowed.
“What, like a historian?”
“Like one,” Reina echoed. Precisely one.
Parisa didn’t seem to care for her tone. “So you didn’t cultivate your own craft at all?”
“What is everyone’s specialty?” Nico interrupted, jumping in as Reina’s discomfort heightened.
Probably best, as a silent request from her would have had Parisa locked in a chokehold by the very fern she unwisely suspected Reina of being unable to control.
Nico’s change in conversation seemed to be more in the interest of sparking conversation with Parisa than it had been defending Reina. “Yours, for example,” he suggested to Parisa, prompting her expression to stiffen.
“What’s yours?”
“Rhodes and I are both physicists. Well, physics of force, molecular structures, that sort of thing,” Nico said. “I’m better, of course—”
“Shut up,” muttered Libby.
“—and we have our respective preferred materials, but we can both manipulate physicalities. Motion, waves, elements,” he summarized, glancing expectantly at Parisa. “And you?”
“What about me?” Parisa retorted flippantly.
Nico faltered. “Well, I just thought—”
“I don’t see why it’s necessary that we share the details of our specialties,” Tristan cut in sourly. “We’re competing against each other, aren’t we?”
“But we still have to work together,” Libby argued, looking moderately aghast. “Do you really intend to keep your magic a secret for the next year?”
“Why not?” said Parisa, shrugging. “Anyone clever enough to figure it out probably deserves to, and as far as the intricacies—”
“But it’s not like we can perform as a group while knowing nothing about each other,” Nico attempted, looking as if his intent was to put the others at ease. Reina had a feeling he considered himself likeable enough to manage it, and it was possible he wasn’t wrong.
“Even if one of us is going to be eliminated eventually,” Nico said, “I don’t see how it helps to cripple all of us as a group.”
“You only say that because you already told us your specialty,” Callum murmured, half-smirking, which made Reina like him less.
“Well, I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” Nico said, flaring a little with irritation, which made her like him more. “So unless the rest of you have some sort of insecurity about whatever it is you can do—”
“Insecurity?” Tristan scoffed. “So you’re just assuming you’re the best in the room, then?”
“I didn’t say that,” Nico insisted. “I just—”
“He does think he’s the best in the room,” said Parisa, “but then again, who doesn’t? Except maybe you,” she determined, giving Reina an unfriendly glance.
She, Reina thought, was safely at the bottom of the list of people she intended to be friends with.
“I just think there’s some way we can compromise, at least,” said Nico. “Shouldn’t we have some idea who can do what?”
“I agree,” said Reina, mostly because she could see that Parisa and Tristan were resistant. It made no difference to her; everyone already knew her specialty, so she, like Nico and the thankfully now-silent Libby, had no reason not to bolster his argument and pressure the others into confessing. “Otherwise the physical specialties are going to take on the majority of the work, and if I have to waste all my energy on security—”
“Not everything has to be brute force,” said Tristan, irritably. “Just because you have physical specialties doesn’t mean you’ll be doing all the magic.”
“Well, you certainly aren’t giving me a reason t-”
“Stop,” said Nico, and because it was startling, conversation halted. “Who’s doing that?”
Reina detested the interruption, but better Nico than Tristan. “Doing what?”
“Rhodes should have spoken by now,” Nico said, sliding Libby a glance. She blinked, surprised, and then Nico turned his attention back to the others, peering suspiciously at Tristan, Parisa, and Callum. “Someone convinced her not to. Who was it?”