Page 32 of Malcroix Bones Academy (Bones and Shadow #1)

Teacher

“Miss Shadow!” A delighted voice rang out from behind the lecture table. “How wonderful to see you in here… I had so hoped to have you in my classes this year!”

I blushed at the mage’s genuine warmth, even as my mouth tilted in a crooked smile. I tried to ignore all the eyes that swiveled to stare at me.

Professor Forsooth grinned back from behind his pointed beard and wild head of brown hair. He leaned over the lectern and motioned to the chairs right in front of him.

“Sit anywhere you like, my dear! Anywhere at all!”

“Thank you, Professor,” I said.

I made the mistake of glancing to my right, only to find Caelum Bones sprawled in a red velvet seat near me, miming a blowjob with his hand and a tongue stuck in his cheek.

When I glowered at him, he grinned and winked back.

I swore his damned bone dragon smirked at me from where it perched on his shoulder, making a chuffing, clicking sound that sounded a lot like laughter.

Stifling the urge to rip off my shoe and throw it at both of them, I gritted my teeth instead, and looked determinedly away from his side of the lecture hall. I resumed walking down the steep stairs and found a seat near the front where I’d have no reason to look at Caelum Bones at all.

I managed to forget about him entirely once class began.

I took copious notes the whole ninety minutes, transfixed as Forsooth outlined the basic principles of Advanced Theurgy and talked about its relationship to theosophy as the branch of study relating to theurgy’s philosophical underpinnings.

He managed to talk the entire session without repeating any of what I’d read in his book already.

He wrote in the air with magical light, drawing, re-drawing, and illuminating the threads and structures connecting Magicals to the non-physical primals that made their magic functional.

He rotated those structures in the air, changed colors and brightness to show the different layers.

He outlined every part of the intricate, quasi-mathematical structure that tied him to his own primal, the friendly bear I remembered from test day.

I sketched and wrote it all down, practically word-for-word, and at the end, Forsooth asked if anyone had questions. I had so many, I didn’t know which one to ask before the time ran out and he’d dismissed us all until Friday.

I was packing up my textbook and my pile of notes, when something fluttered into my line of vision and landed gracefully on the back of my hand.

It looked like a bird. I felt the magic pulsing from it as soon as it alighted. It ruffled its wings, glowing faintly with a familiar-feeling, smoky light.

I captured it carefully with my free hand, somehow knowing there was more to it than a pretty trick. Only once I held it, the bird stopped moving, and quickly transformed into a folded piece of parchment.

I opened it on my desk.

LIbrARY. FIFTH FLOOR.

MAGICAL ARCHITECTURE.

NEAR THE CLOCK.

NINE O’CLOCK.

DON’T BE LATE… LOVE.

I stared at the perfect, disturbingly precise handwriting, and felt my jaw harden. I wished I hadn’t known, with annoying, unquestioning certainty, exactly who had sent it.

I particularly couldn’t help staring at the last word he’d written, like he simply could not restrain himself from making a crack about the endearment Darragh used that morning, or refrain from letting me know he’d heard it.

He couldn’t stop himself being an obnoxious idiot even in a private note no one would see but me.

That Darragh had so obviously used the word in a way meant to be friendly and nothing more, clearly didn’t matter.

What an absolute prat he was.

The real mystery was how no one had yet managed to murder Caelum Bones.

I considered blowing him off.

I considered letting nine o’clock come and go, maybe taking a bath, or reading in bed, or possibly having a tea by the fire in that lovely common room in Malcroix Mansion.

Anywhere but where he’d ordered me to be.

I particularly wasn’t keen on letting him dictate my movements on the very first day of our new “arrangement.” Caelum Bones very much struck me as the sort of person who would abuse any opening I gave him.

Any sign of compromise, consideration, weakness, however slight, and he’d exploit it to the absolute limit he could get away with.

I shouldn’t come when he snapped his fingers.

I definitely shouldn’t make an effort to be on time.

But everything in me balked at the different push-backs I considered.

I hated being late.

And I genuinely wanted his help, far more than he likely had any interest in giving it.

Since he’d already gotten what he wanted out of me that day, meeting up that night had to be about him doing for me what he’d agreed to do. Which also meant, if I ignored his summons, or even made him wait, he might not offer it again, not until he needed me.

Which likely meant at least a week.

I went to the library’s fifth floor.

I arrived at the exact spot he’d described at five minutes to nine.

At five minutes after nine, I felt my anger begin to simmer. I was just trying to decide how long to wait, when he stepped out of the shadows at the end of the shelving unit nearest to the clock, and all my anger swirled through my gut, unsure where to go.

“You came.” He lifted an eyebrow.

I folded my arms. “Why so surprised? Was this some sort of test?”

“Not a test.” He walked further into the light, and now he looked at me thoughtfully, then at the thing hovering over my head.

“I arrived at nine,” he explained, still staring up.

“I’ve set a temporary chimera up here. It should push away anyone who might’ve wanted to access this part of the floor, at least for the next few hours.

” His gold eyes met mine. “But we should use the experimental sheds for any magical work after this.”

“Magical work?” I frowned. “I thought we were going to look into who killed my parents? And who tried to kill me?”

“We’ll need to deal with your primal first.” His eyes slid out of focus when he went back to staring over my head.

“And a few other things. You need to learn better shielding spells. I blocked at least six attempts to get into your magic today.” He continued to stare up, his voice unchanging.

“We’ll need the library sometimes. For the other thing.

But I mostly just plan to come here to grab books. ”

I barely heard the last part.

“Did you say people were trying to get into my magic?” When he didn’t answer, or even meet my gaze, I spoke louder. “Someone tried to get into my magic? Today?”

“Of course. Didn’t anyone tell you that might happen?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

They had, actually. Alaric warned me about that, and more than once.

He’d thought I might be a target because of my half-human blood.

Moreover, he’d spent a fair bit of time teaching me how to defend myself from those types of attacks.

I’d thought I was getting better at it, but apparently not.

As the implication of Bones’ words sank in, I felt even more of my blood pool in my gut.

“What were they trying to do?” I asked.

“Sexual shit, mostly.” Caelum grunted, a faint annoyance skating across his expression.

“Over half were just fishing attempts, trying to see if they could get in, but it was mostly mages. A witch tried to charm you so that when you looked in the mirror, you’d look ugly to yourself.

It’s a mild distortion of reality… I’ve seen those types of things before.

The idea is to be sneaky enough that the victim doesn’t notice the distortion, but it still affects them. ”

“Why would someone do that?” I asked, affronted.

He refocused on me with a shrug.

“Jealousy? Pettiness? Racism? Who knows? People do shitty things.” He continued to stare at the space around me, clearly focused on something I couldn’t see.

“I wasn’t that interested in the why. I was mostly looking for anything serious…

another attempt after last night. Someone who actually knew what they were doing. ”

I bit my lip, refolding my arms. “And?”

“And, what?”

I swallowed my impatience with an effort. “Did you find anything like that? Anything serious?”

His eyes clicked back into focus, and shifted to mine.

“No,” he said. He frowned, then waved a hand vaguely in my direction. “Close your eyes. I want to try something.”

I frowned, immediately wary.

He wanted to try something? Another something? I considered saying no, then, realizing we wouldn’t get anywhere if I didn’t make an effort to at least sort of trust him, I did as he said.

“All right.” He took a breath. “Now… look straight above your head.”

I started to open my eyes, but he stopped me.

“Eyes closed, Shadow. The whole point of telling you to close your eyes is so you don’t use your eyes, for fuck’s sake.”

Feeling foolish, and now annoyed, I closed my eyes.

I made an effort to reach above my head, using only my magic that time.

“I said look. I didn’t tell you to go up there yet.” His voice sounded amused. “Although it’s good to know you can. That was going to be next. Can you even see it, though?”

I took a deep breath. I let it out slowly.

I focused my attention above my head.

Out of nowhere, a bright, flaming, glowing orb grew sharply visible behind my eyes.

“Yes,” I said, bewildered. “Is that really there?”

He sounded even more amused. “Depends. What do you see?”

“A big, white and gold, flaming ball,” I said, that wonder still in my voice. “I see sky blue kind of… streaks… or lightning, maybe, coming off it…”

“I see green, but sure. I don’t think the exact color matters all that much.”

“Or maybe you’re colorblind,” I suggested.

He snorted, strangely unaffected.

“Sure. Whatever.”