Term Finals Arc

Spanning chapters 90 through 96 plus Short Mission 12 in volumes 13 and 14, the Term Finals Arc follows the Wheeler Arc and precedes the Love and War Arc. The end-of-term exams will sort Eden Academy's students into new classes, and with past quizzes having proven that mind reading cannot carry a test, Anya must pass on her own merits or watch Plan B collapse.

Help arrives from next door. While walking Bond, Yor and Anya guide a lost old man around Berlint only to end up back at their own building, where his wife Barbara greets him: the Authens, the Forgers' new neighbors. Sigmund Authen owns shelves of language texts, and upon learning Anya's favorite book is Spy Wars, he produces a first edition and teaches Classical Language straight from it, praising her stated goal of world peace. Between study sessions, Yor's city hall crew works a veterans' charity bazaar where Millie, whose father died in the war, clashes with the Lady Patriots Society until Melinda Desmond personally apologizes; Matthew McMahon corrects the record that Donovan was not yet prime minister when the fighting began.

The results reward the effort unevenly. Anya places second in Classical Language for her first academic Stella Star, but a failed Math exam adds a third Tonitrus Bolt, while Damian tops History for another Stella. At the awards, Damian's older brother Demetrius collects six Stellas at once, and Anya's attempt to probe his mind uncovers only a boy who considers understanding people a waste of time. A celebratory ski trip strands the Forgers at a mountain lodge during a blizzard, where a guest stabbed with a frozen carrot appears to fulfill the local Red Snowman legend until Anya's telepathy and Bond's foresight steer Loid into catching the lodge owner mid-act.

The term closes with a gala. Becky drags Anya dress shopping, Loid winces at the nonrefundable bill and drills her in dancing, then infiltrates the event as a waiter after learning Damian rejected her invitation. When rival suitors swarm both children, Ewen and Emile improvise a dance partner selection tournament, which Anya wins through telepathy and Loid's covert assistance. Mid-dance, Damian demands to know how she answered personal questions about him, and Anya truthfully tells him she reads minds. He writes it off as a wild fantasy.

The finals leave Anya with three Stellas total, tying her with Damian, plus a bolt count that keeps expulsion uncomfortably plausible. The arc introduces the Authens, gives Demetrius his first physical appearance, and reveals that Chairman Chapman of the National Unity Party led Ostania when the war began before Donovan succeeded him as prime minister. Most consequentially, Anya has now confessed her power to Damian, protected only by his disbelief, and the pair have shared their first dance.