Page 10

“Myla can come with me,” I said, my voice tight. She nodded, casting a quick look at Bridger, waiting for his approval.

“Sure,” he hissed. “You’ll need the protection, I suppose.”

The first step into the water was brutal, a shock of ice that numbed my legs instantly. The second step felt like walking through daggers. By the sixth, the cold bit at my hips, and I waded deeper until the water was up to my ribs.

Panic surged. My mind screamed at me to turn back.

Deep breath in. Release through your nose. Fight the burn. Fight the numbness.

Myla shivered, now chin-deep in cold water. “Do you often swim in ice back home? Is this… normal?”

“No,” I said. “Bridger is trying to kill us.”

The water level sloped to a drop, and my head fell under the black seawater. Exasperated, I gasped to the surface as I cut through the ice crystals with my fist.

Myla huffed, a sign that she was okay. My boots weighed me down like two boulders tied to my soles. I swam toward the mountain, below it a jagged entrance, sucking the water in and spitting it back out.

“I always thought I’d ride a dragon. What are griffins like?”

Gripping the cave walls, a wave slammed me forward and up. “They’ll peck your eyes out if you touch a feather wrong,” I said, hoisting myself atop the frosted algae of slime and into the tight cave .

“I see why we bond with eggs,” she said.

Rock pressed against my ribs, forcing my breath into shallow inhales. We crawled on our hands and knees, our noses skimming the water as it choked and dripped into our lungs. The passage seemed to grow tighter with every movement.

“I can hardly breathe,” I gasped, ribs flattened against the crushing rock. Even she was barely visible once I took a narrow turn and eased my limbs to drag on.

Salt burned my stinging hand, where a rock sliced my thumb on another squirm through. This seemed to be the last moment where only my mind could scream.

“Keep going. I—I see the light,” she cried. “Keep going, we’ll make it.”

I would die here.

I believed the cave would squeeze me until I was pulp. I willed the desire to lay here, to suffice my body to melt to the rock as my elbow jammed against my knee on that final drag.

Light cracked, and Myla eased her feet into a groan beside me as the stone widened into a hollow core. We had no time to admire the jutted crystals prodding through the rock. In another moment, I might have called it beautiful.

Through the darkness, her finger pointed toward a ledge. “I see them,” Myla yelled. “There’s four eggs.”

Grey-wired fur protruded and twined to create a makeshift nest. I wondered what beast’s fur had been plucked and if a creature worse than Bridger waited beyond the cave.

“Grab one, and let’s get out of here,” I said as the water sloshed near our boots, rising higher every second.

Dimmed sun rays broke through the cavern walls, stretching on for miles. I had no intention of finding the end.

Myla reached, skimming the golden and blue eggs with her nails. “I can’t reach them. ”

I leaned against a rock in screaming pain. Fighting every desire to faint, to leave. To give up. “Can you—climb up?”

Myla raised her boot, sliding down the ledge with a thud. “It’s too slippery.” Her voice echoed back. “Get on my shoulders, and you can grab them.”

“Fine,” I said as Myla lowered her neck.

I climbed her shoulders, wobbling as I skimmed the jutted rock ledge.

Myla tipped back, and I clung, using my last bit of energy.

I reached toward the eggs, sliding my hand over the gritted surface.

The blue one was the size of a griffin egg, and the golden one, I couldn’t tell from this far away what it was.

It was smaller than the rest, with a glossy film covering the slicked shell.

A low hiss sounded close to my fingers. Then, two slivered red eyes blinked with scales.

I screamed, “Snake, snake… snake!” Myla stumbled back, nearly taking me down with her. It snapped forward, curling its tail around the eggs in a protective stance.

“Grab the eggs before the snake eats my enigma!”

“Myla, I don’t think I can.” Another snap of its fangs, this time inches from my hand.

“Myla, can you try to freeze the snake from where you’re standing?”

“I can try—I can’t see past my fingertips. You’ll have to tell me where to aim.”

Lifting four shaking fingers, her breath fell into a different rhythm as a swirl of snow pushed from each tip.

It wasn’t strong enough. She needed to get closer.

“Higher, it’s on the left!” I yelled as another hiss and snap came from the beast. Iced flurries shot forward, twirling faster around her index finger. I grabbed her elbow as frost coated the air, forming a labyrinth of cracked ice along the walls .

The snake’s tail whipped the blue egg forward. Myla caught it before it smashed into the ground. “I got it!” she cried and began to lower.

I quickly snatched the cold and waxy golden egg as the snake rose for another attack. It was a griffin egg, probably identical to Setrephia’s golden feathers from the color of its shell.

I knew next to nothing about bonding. But I knew it would call to you before.

I knew that time would stop, and I’d feel what those folktales spoke about when one finds their creature.

I placed the egg in the nape of my velvet-lined hood before Myla could see.

We returned to the cave’s mouth and those gurgled waves of ice.

My feet touched the water again. I stared breathlessly at Myla, skimming over that baby-blue egg in her clutched arms. “Looks like a hippogriff, maybe even a roc egg,” I said.

“I’ll name it Haziel, after my father’s last name.” She ran a hand down the egg, her eyes wide and dancing over every speckle. “Did you grab one? Did it call? I swore I heard it whisper my name.”

“None of them called to me,” I said.

We retraced our steps, back through the tight, rib-crushing cave.

I kept my head high, hoping my hood wouldn’t graze the cold waters.

Myla swam one-handed, the other proudly holding the blue egg flush against her palm.

A few students cheered. Bridger patted her back, his hand lingering at her waist.

He looked at me, his eyes cold. “Perhaps you’re not cut out for the Serpent Academy. All but two eggs have been claimed.” He started to turn but sighed, adding, “The boat will pick you up tomorrow. We don’t have time for failures.”

Myla quickly corrected him. “There are three eggs left in the cave.”

I didn’t know what compelled me to speak, but I regretted it immediately. “No, one was eaten. The snake got to it.” I kept my back to the waters, careful Bridger wouldn’t see the lump in my hood.

Bridger stiffened his shoulders. “I see.”

Two others held eggs. One was a pale white, shimmering like an opal stone.

Robi had found a hatchling, a meaty, featherless bird, shrieking by his feet.

Two rocs perched on the branches above, their eyes fixed on three students below.

Slices marred the branches where their claws had torn, their seven-foot tawny feathers flaring.

The branches cracked as they took flight into the grey sky.

None of them called to me—or to anyone else.

I walked over to Robi, chuckling at the barbed bird below him. Being friendly was my best shot at surviving another night. “Congratulations on fatherhood,” I said.

He eyed the shrieking bird. “You think the ladies will enjoy this new look?” He flashed a grin, his lanky arms bending to graze the bird’s bony spine.

I was about to laugh, but Hunter diving into the water caught my attention.

The sea barely hit his calves as his fist slashed through the ice. He gripped the cave walls and hurled himself forward. Moments passed in pure silence. Even the thrashing waves dulled.

“Snake,” he yelled. “Help me! I’m stuck!”

I jerked toward the water, but Bridger pulled me back hard. “You can’t interrupt. This is part of the bonding process.”

“Like hell. He needs help.” I ripped my arm away, and Bridger whistled.

Two wolves lunged at my chest, pinning me down with one paw on either side of my waist. Jaws snapped, dripping hot drool onto my forehead. One sniffed close to my hood, whimpering.

He released me, staring at the sun dipping past the horizon. “Nothing beats a bond like Lucy and Niagra. Elmira got a taste of blood two years back. I couldn’t have her on campus anymore after that, but all three are so connected it’s almost as if they can smell whose blood she tasted.”

“Your mut attacked my brother?” Of course, Bridger was a third-year. He knew Klaus.

His eyes hardened. “Perhaps.” He called the wolves off, and they darted back into the woods with a howl.

“Did you kill him?” I asked. “Tell me… how he died?”

“Wouldn’t you love to know? I find poison and honesty taste the same.”

And a voice, so slight and tender, whistled a melancholy tune through the forest , “Severyn. Find him. You must.” I glanced at where I thought the voice came from. Scattered sounds rustled the bushes, but it was just Bridger’s wolves.

“Find who?” I asked Bridger.

He clicked his tongue. “You have lost your mind.”

I glanced through the misted veil before lowering my eyes to my drenched boots. “Nothing. I—I heard a voice.”

“We don’t need another mad heir or Serpent. Thank the Gods your title is out of your hands.”

No Serpent would choose me at the Rite. Not if they knew I’d lose my mind before the night ended.

“ Find him ,” it called once more. “He waits in slumber.”