Cal stared grimly at the compass. What were the odds that using it again would somehow put him in an even worse situation?Whatever they were, he wasn't eager to find out.Granted, he'd done this to himself. The cabin was absolutely safe for him. It was decidedly less so for everyone else.Lily, Rolland, and the mercenary were on the ground, fingers clenched in the dirt as they tried to process the large influx of magic. Basem and Ferguson's faces were tight, but they looked more startled than distressed.Benny was the biggest problem. His face was twitching, and his hands gripped his blades with eagerness. Eyes darted around, as if searching for something to test himself with.That reaction was almost expected. Similar to sound magic's relation to wind, death was merely a more advanced counterpart to dark magic, and Benny had just imbued the most potent form of it.He wasn't the one to help the boy; no, that would be the former Finger. Ferguson didn't physically move; instead, Cal felt the flow of the ambient magic shift. It was pulled toward Ferguson, circling the man like water around a drain before being directly absorbed.Cal would have written it off as a foolhardy attempt if the magic hadn't been expelled promptly after. It was notably near the same amount that had been absorbed, but with a gravelly taste now.The shift was immediate, and Benny took an unsteady step back, placing a palm on his forehead."You brats have twenty seconds to pick yourselves up," Ferguson said through gritted teeth. "I can't do this forever."Cal might have been able to pick up the slack, but he was not about to volunteer. His lack of reaction was already a mistake, but the shift had caught him off guard, and correcting it now would be suspicious."Does anyone know where in the hells we are?" Lily half-said, half-groaned from the ground. Her head remained pressed against the dirt, showing no sign of rising."As (...)