[Noah shares what happened and part of Sorey honestly hurts at the description. It was trying to go after my friend. I tried to stop it. He sounds so helpless in that moment. It can't be easy for Noah to admit something like that.

As they wait in the silence for the little drive-through window to open, Sorey finally says something.]

Thank you for telling me. I know it's not easy to... to tell people about things like this. There's always a chance that people will think you're crazy or worse. And it's hard to distance yourself from something that's literally a part of you.

But, [he continues, gray eyes soft and warm,] that's when it helps to have someone else's perspective.

So your hand turned into a claw and started doing something on its own. I think the trigger is pretty obvious. You've had no trouble up until now, right? And you probably touch people occasionally if you work around them. That means your friend was the trigger.

I don't know what that could be or why. Maybe they have a weapon on them, or maybe they have their own equally difficult limb, but the reaction is pretty telling. If you think about your arm as something... not totally like an arm, like maybe an element, it makes more sense. Oil and water can't mix, and neither can water and fire.

[He thinks of Mikleo and his water magic. But that also brings to mind the enemies of seraphim: hellions, and that force called malevolence.]

I think that reaction might not be something you can control right now, but maybe you could control your arm so it doesn't go after people again. It's a part of you. That means there's some back and forth going on.