Page 3 of Malcroix Bones Academy (Bones and Shadow #1)

“I tried to gain an exception for you,” she added. “It’s always been clear you’ve got more shine in you than that brother of yours…”

Again, I stiffened.

“…But they wouldn’t budge,” Ankha continued bitterly. “And frankly, I could only push them so far. You’ll just have to sink or swim, best you can.”

I opened my mouth, but again, Ankha’s harsh voice cut me off.

“?You’ve been suppressed,” she added, looking me over critically.

“Technically, the block should’ve been lifted already, since you’ve been of age since November.

But the day before you would’ve turned, it was determined…

again, against my strongly worded objections…

that they’d leave it in place until you arrived at the testing facility.

They wouldn’t give me even a week to prepare you.

Not even if I brought you in early to do it there. ”

I fought to make sense of any of this, but the longer my aunt spoke, the more nonsensical her words sounded. She didn’t seem to notice my reaction. Or care, perhaps.

Her thin lips tightened.

“You should hear them speak to their high-minded ideals,” Ankha finished viciously. “Oh, they wax on eloquently of ‘fairness’ now, of global and inter-dimensional security… but where was the fairness to our family, I ask you? Where was our security?”

Inter-dimensional? I thought, bewildered. What on earth is the old bat on about?

Was Ankha having some kind of schizophrenic break?

My aunt sniffed, and folded her wiry arms.

“It’s really as if they want me to fail,” she added bitterly.

“Or perhaps they simply think you’ll be a lost cause, regardless, so they might as well do it this way and be done with it.

They clearly want to keep me on here as your jailer for the rest of my life.

The more they can humiliate our family, the better… ”

Ankha glared out the kitchen window.

My mouth closed. My brow furrowed.

I was now more than half-convinced dear Aunt Ankha wasn’t of sound mind.

Maybe that was the real reason for the neglect and the disappearances and her shoddy building maintenance.

Maybe that was how she could dump two kids in this big house and think it was enough to leave them cash in envelopes and eventually, once she remembered, enroll them in a posh boarding school that meant a thirty-minute bus ride in either direction.

Oh, did I not mention that?

Because that was another thing dear, sweet, Aunt Ankha did. She completely forgot to put either of us in school until I was almost thirteen. Thanks to that little mental hiccup, I’d be the oldest student in my class to graduate in July.

That was another reason I’d been furious when she refused to let me skip years. I might’ve at least managed to catch up to my actual class, if she’d only signed off on the offers to skip me, but for some unimaginable reason, she’d flatly refused.

Ankha glanced at her odd clock, the one hanging over the kitchen table.

I’d long been fascinated by the workings of that clock. I used to stare at it for hours when I was little, trying to figure out what the hieroglyphic-type markings meant.

I still couldn’t read it.

Even after scanning books on cryptography and ancient languages to try and puzzle it out, I had no idea what time it told, or if it told any kind of time at all.

The few recognizable symbols I’d found had been printed backwards and upside down on the clock’s round face.

Moreover, there were five arms instead of two, and all five sometimes moved backwards instead of forward, often independently of one another, with some moving forward and some backwards at the same time.

The one time I thought to ask, Ankha pointedly refused to answer any of my questions about it.

“We must go,” Ankha huffed. She began bustling around the table, picking up Archie’s plate and my coffee mug and his glass full of juice and tossing them all in the sink. She didn’t so much as flinch when a few of those things shattered. “We cannot be late. We cannot.”

I scowled at the dishes, which I’d likely need to either glue together or replace.

“Arcturus?” I began coldly.

“Can get to school perfectly well on his own.” Ankha gave me a disdainful look. “You’ve been managing for yourself since you were younger than him. How do you expect him to grow up, with how you baby him?”

I opened my mouth, closed it.

There were so many absurdities in that one statement, I didn’t know where to begin.

“It’s his birthday,” I said finally, maybe out of desperation.

My aunt leveled another hard stare. “He’ll manage that without you, too.”

I frowned. “He won’t manage it without me. I’m all he has. And I’d really rather spend it with him, if it’s all the same. He’s been looking forward to it, and he’ll wonder if I?”

“Leda Rose Shadow-La Fey,” Ankha snapped. “Did you hear any of what I just said? Or are you really as daft as that brother of yours?”

My face swiftly grew hot. “He’s not?”

My aunt cut me off. “This is not a discussion. We are leaving. Now.”

I opened my mouth to argue. Then, realizing it was futile to ask, I got up from the table and simply began walking in the direction of the staircase.

I would say goodbye to him, and happy birthday, and remind him of the places to avoid on his way to the bus stop and on the school grounds, even if it did no good.

I’d barely made it two steps however, when Ankha caught hold of my arm.

The iron-like grip squeezed, startling me, and catching my breath.

I didn’t think, but turned, glaring at her. “Let go of me.”

“I will not,” Ankha bit out. “Do not disobey me, child. You will regret it.”

“I’m not a child,” I snapped. “And I only need one minute! I’ll go with you, if you’d just?”

“And I haven’t asked much of you, Leda,” Ankha warned. “I’ve required even less. But I’m requiring this.” Her eyes grew probing. “I’ve explained to the boy why you won’t be going with him. He understands.”

I gave her a skeptical look. Even so, I realized this was likely her attempting to be reasonable. It was also likely as much of an overture as I’d get.

My mind returned to my impending graduation.

Spending a few hours with her, even if it involved navigating her crazy, meant I’d get a chance to convince her my proposal was the best option for everyone.

I could explain how we might make the money a personal loan, if she wasn’t comfortable paying outright, one involving interest rates and payment plans.

Or I could kick and fight over these few minutes to speak with Archie, and basically ensure she wouldn’t give us anything at all.

Ankha could legally boot me out of her house now. She could stop paying for my school. She could separate my brother and I, and there wouldn’t be a damned thing I could do about it.

It was all too close to blow up everything now.

I relaxed the muscles in my arm.

When Ankha tugged on me next, I followed her to the front door. I didn’t protest as she walked me outside, or when she shut the door behind us. When Ankha finally released my now-bruised arm, I continued to follow her up the gravel driveway to the iron front gate.

Archie would just have to evade the roughs on his own that day.

We’d celebrate his birthday when I got back.

I’d make sure of it.