Page 38 of Malcroix Bones Academy (Bones and Shadow #1)

I could feel a sort of wall around him, confusing his presence and making the location of his mind unclear.

It operated almost like a dense, impenetrable fog.

I swam through that for a few seconds, looking for some way in, but found nothing.

Knowing this had to be some kind of shield he’d erected to keep people out, I felt my frustration grow when I couldn’t get past it.

Trust him to go out of his way to keep me from learning anything new.

Before my frustration had quite boiled over, a thought occurred to me.

I partitioned my mind carefully.

Separating my awareness into distinct, walled-off areas was one of the exercises I’d been practicing since summer, after I found it in one of my books and asked Alaric about it.

Impulsively, I used the new section I’d created to send Bones an image of himself, exactly as he’d appeared to me in that tube station in London that day, and in my dreams since.

I pushed it out carefully, just enough to possibly get him to react.

“Clumsy, Shadow,” he murmured.

I felt my face grow hot.

I was about to withdraw, to try something else, when I glimpsed the barest flicker of an emotional reaction in him, despite his comment.

Memory.

His own memory of that day.

I partitioned my mind again, and used the new section to follow the thread. I did my best to do it quietly, invisibly, without a single thought or emotion of my own, at least not inside the part of my mind following his.

Suddenly, I was there.

I was in that London Underground entrance, on Kensington Street.

Instead of looking at him, I was looking at my own, ten-year-old self. I felt a chest moving quickly that wasn’t mine, a panic that vibrated my muscles, closed my throat.

She can’t be human… she can’t be… Fear rippled through him so intensely, my own body stopped breathing. Ra’s knife, I have to go back. I have to get out of here, he’ll come looking for me any second… he said he’d only be gone a minute…

His fascination was stronger, though.

His feet felt frozen, his body on fire. He stared at me, at the clear, white-gold, solar orb burning over my head, invisible to everyone but him.

It was his. It was mine.

We were alike, both of us. We were both secrets.

He could see me looking up at him now, too.

I was staring over his head. He could feel me looking at him, just as he felt my sun when he looked at me. He followed my eyes up to his own light, the dark crystal wrapped in black fire that seemed to always writhe and flare and smoke, as if battered by a high wind.

No one had ever seen it before. No one, not even?

She can’t possibly see that… gods, she can’t see that… what is she? His fear worsened, that intense pull to run, to flee the spot, but he couldn’t make himself really want to. I couldn’t be like him. I couldn’t be. I’d be dead already.

Someone would have noticed.

I had no one protecting me. His father protected him. I had no one.

I was alone.

Why wasn’t I dead?

He felt paralyzed, lost in thick black curls and huge green eyes and wild, twisting, mathematical magic, multi-colored, out of control, teeming with strange structures, sparking with charges, gold and green lines, functionalities he couldn’t comprehend.

He was terrified.

Of me? I wondered.

No… not of me. He wasn’t afraid of me. He was afraid of getting caught, of me getting caught, of getting me killed, of both of us being?

Being found out. Being seen.

He couldn’t be seen. If anyone found out what he was, he was dead. If his father found out this odd, Overworlder girl could see him, his father would?

Fingers closed harshly, tightly around my wrist.

The pain jerked me out, all at once.

I opened my eyes, unaware I’d closed them until I did.

His face was close to mine again, closer than before. He was breathing harder, leaning towards me over the table.

“I think that’s enough,” he said, his voice thick.

Strangely, maybe stupidly, I still wasn’t afraid of him.

Anger shone in his gold eyes, but there was something strange about it.

More than anything, he looked tense to the point of?gods, was that fear?

Panic? What the hell was going on with him?

Was it the same thing that had scared him as a child?

I was still staring at those gold irises, shocked by the depth of feeling there, the vulnerability, when his expression abruptly flattened out.

Once it had, his gaze darted meaningfully to either side, right before he released my wrist and leaned back in his chair.

I let out a caught breath.

I managed to do it quietly, and to keep my expression still, to not visibly react. After a bare pause, I leaned back in my own chair and folded my arms.

For a few seconds, we only stared at one another.

“Can I try now?” he asked. “On you?”

His voice was deceptively blank.

I swallowed, and glanced at the clock. Only about eight minutes had passed. We still had a full twenty minutes left in the exercise.

“Sure,” I said, forcing my own voice light.

My nerves must have showed, because he let out a faint scoff.

If he’d noticed I was slightly afraid of what he might do, it didn’t bother him enough to not do it. He sat up straight, and stared at me, and I forced myself to hold his gaze.

His probe wasn’t subtle. He didn’t bother to hide it, or try to trick his way in with a lure, as I had done. He slid into my mind before I’d started to think about a defense, and all I could do was stop thinking altogether.

I silenced my thoughts. I receded through a tunnel I’d learned to envision, back when I was a kid tormented by nightmares that felt horribly real. I did what that first library book and other books taught me to do, and simply went away.

“Hmmm.” His voice held a trace of amusement. He made it lulling, too low for anyone but me to hear. “Interesting, Shadow. You have some actual skills. And here I was, thinking all you do all day is think as loudly as fucking possible just to irritate me…”

I flinched, and began to scowl.

Before I could say anything, his next words rose directly inside my mind.

Wouldn’t it be easier if you could learn this part? he asked silkily. So we could talk this way all the time?

I froze.

I stared at him, half-incredulous.

Come on. Impatience mixed with a strange eagerness in his mental words. Don’t tell me it never occurred to you that the process could go both ways? Think at me. I get tired of most of our damned conversations being one-way.

If they’re one-way, they aren’t conversations, I thought back.

He shrugged, but a faint smile tugged at the edge of his lips. Says you.

I frowned, hesitated, considered pursuing that, then figured, what the hell. Why haven’t you been at the practical sessions for Offensive and Defensive Magic? I thought at him. You’ve skipped out for four weeks now.

He let out a half-laugh, and leaned back, balancing on two legs of his chair.

When I refocused on his face, he smirked.

So? I prompted. You’re listed as being in the same class as me. Why haven’t you been there?

I have been there. Because I’m licensed, I fight in a different area.

I frowned. Why?

So I don’t have to hold back, he thought. He measured me with his gold eyes. Does that scare you, Shadow?

I snorted. In your deluded daydreams.

You should be scared of me, you know. His gold eyes flashed. I’ll start thinking you’re a bit dim-witted if you continue to act like you aren’t?

Do you actually have something you wanted to talk to me about? I thought abruptly. Or is this just going to be another way I have to listen to your absolute nonsense, even when I’m minding my own business in class?

He snorted another laugh. Then, shaking his head, he gestured in a way I interpreted as him conceding my point.

Do you have time this weekend? he asked. To meet up. I’ve got an idea we could pursue.

An idea?

About your parents, he clarified.

My heart started beating harder in my chest. Thinking about the question, I nodded, my thoughts growing less wary. I have time. I have our practical Saturday afternoon. And studying, of course. But otherwise, I’m free.

What are you doing tonight? he thought at me.

Did you want to meet up tonight? I asked, surprised.

No. He shook his head. Not tonight. I can’t tonight. I just wondered what you were doing.

I frowned. What do you mean, what am I doing? It’s Friday.

He rolled his eyes. I’m aware it’s Friday, Shadow.

I asked what you’re doing. You going to get pissed and carouse in Bonescastle with your pack of idiot friends?

Do you have a secret gambling habit I don’t know about, that takes you to the dragon racing observatories every Friday?

Will you sit in your room and read something light, like The Complete History of Magical Warfare in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs while you daintily sip white wine?

His jaw tightened. Do you have a date? What?

I stared at him, unsure if he was being serious. I couldn’t help but look for the trap.

I also didn’t really want to answer for some reason.

My reasons for not answering weren’t exactly logical.

Maybe I just didn’t want to admit to him that I didn’t have a date, or explain that I could have a date if I’d wanted, but few mages asked for the right reasons and the one mage who had, I’d already turned down.

What are you doing tonight? I asked finally.

He gave me an exasperated look. Nothing.

What do you mean, nothing? I thought back, frowning. That doesn’t mean anything. Not unless you plan to cease to exist for the next twelve hours. Besides, you just said you can’t work tonight, which implies you actually do have plans?

I can’t go anywhere, Shadow, he cut in, his thoughts annoyed.

Can’t? I scoffed. Why? Does Elysia have you on that tight of a leash?

I’m not with Elysia.

That surprised me, I admit, but I managed to keep it off my face.

I rolled my eyes. Whatever. I didn’t ask. Thinking again, I frowned. What did you mean you can’t go anywhere? You can’t go to Bonescastle? Why not?

Never mind.

I stared at him warily. Never mind? You brought it up. You said it. The least you can do is explain it. What does that mean?

Forget it. He started to get up from the table.

I guess we’re done here. I’ll contact you about getting together this weekend…

maybe Saturday, if you’re not too hung over.

And if you need to talk to me and we’re not in a place for it, try this.

It seems your mongrel blood allows you to pick up telepathic communication as easily as every other form of magic.

He straightened over me. I noticed he avoided my eyes.

It should be a lot easier than flinging one another into closets, he added. And stop staring at me in class, by the way. I’ve already gotten questions about it. Unless you want half the nobility set to think you’re panting under my cock every night…

When I opened my mouth, caught somewhere between confusion and cold, furious outrage, he leaned over the table, a lip-curled smirk on his face.

I’m going to need you to slap me now, he thought at me through the flat-eyed smile. His eyes continued to avoid direct contact with mine. Make it convincing, Shadow. There are people watching, and neither of us can afford?

I didn’t need to hear anymore.

Before his eyes had returned to mine, I wound up and punched him right in the jaw.