"Something like that," he says, thinking of so many pieces that he hadn't quite put together yet: Scroll & Key's waning power; the fact that this year had been a funding year, and doubly important because of it; the few entries he'd made in the Albemarle Book as he chased a theory he still wasn't sure was a valid one. Things were in flux, in a way that even Darlington hadn't understood with all his knowledge and all his devotion, and then came Alex--a girl with more power than, perhaps, even she knew.

He hears the shudder in Caleb's breath, an edge to it that's more than just exertion, and he glances over. "Hey," he says, nodding towards a cutaway in the path a few paces ahead, in case he wants to pull aside. "Are you...? You don't need to tell me, if you don't want to, but we can stop a moment."