"Oh, nothing at all," Jake said, putting up his hands as he shook his head.
"What?"
"It’s nothing. Everything’s fine. Anyway, the puzzle?"
"No, what? Are you looking down on me just because I—"
"Hm, this next part seems a bit tricky. See those two pathways? Yeah, they’re freaking moving." Jake kept smiling, appearing to focus entirely on the puzzle.
"Seriously?" she said, glaring at him.
"Yep, pretty weird to have moving mana pathways, eh? Two at the same time, even!"
By now, she had, of course, realized he was f*****g with her, and Jake had committed to the tomfoolery. The reason was that he found her entire manner of speech and behavior oddly uptight, but also defensive. From the start, he’d had a feeling she had an odd interpretation of who he was. It wasn’t Jake’s first time exp
