CHAPTER 4 — “Learning Curve”

Night settled differently after being watched.

It wasn’t fear.

The Phantomthornhearts didn’t do fear.

It was… irritation.

Diego

Diego stood in the training room, staring at his own reflection.

The space was dim, lined with old weapons, newer tech, and things that didn’t belong to either category.

His hands flexed.

Magic flickered—unstable.

Unrefined.

“Again.”

Stephanie’s voice cut through the room.

He exhaled, focusing.

Darkness gathered in his palm—shifting, resisting him before finally stabilizing into something usable.

Barely.

Stephanie watched.

Silent.

Unimpressed.

“You’re forcing it,” she said.

“I’m trying.”

“That’s the problem.”

Diego frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does,” came another voice.

Irene

Irene leaned casually against the doorway, arms crossed, like she’d been there the whole time.

Which she probably had.

“You don’t try control,” she said. “You assume it.”

Diego looked at her. “That sounds like something you’d say in class.”

“And yet you never listen in class.”

“…I listen.”

“You stare,” she corrected.

Stephanie stepped back slightly, observing now.

Letting it happen.

“Show me,” Irene said.

Diego hesitated.

Then tried again.

The magic formed—

—and collapsed.

He swore under his breath.

Irene didn’t react.

“Again.”

Pattern

Attempts blurred together.

Failure.

Correction.

Failure.

Adjustment.

“Stop thinking about what it should look like,” Irene said.

“I’m not—”

“You are.”

Stephanie added, “You’re copying.”

Diego paused.

“…Copying who?”

A beat.

Stephanie’s gaze didn’t shift.

“…All of you.”

Silence.

Breakthrough (Small, But Real)

“Then stop,” Irene said simply.

“Do it your way.”

Diego inhaled slowly.

Closed his eyes.

No structure.

No imitation.

Just instinct.

The magic came differently this time.

Less controlled.

But more… his.

It flickered like a pulse instead of a blade.

Unstable.

Alive.

Stephanie noticed immediately.

“So that’s what you are,” she murmured.

Diego opened his eyes. “What does that mean?”

Stephanie didn’t answer.

But Irene smiled faintly.

“It means,” she said,

“you’re not behind anymore.”