Page 130 of Malcroix Bones Academy

Ankha had never allowed any animals in her house.

She threw an absolute fit the one time Archie and I tried to bring home a stray dog. She’d shown up within hours, even though we hadn’t seen her in months. She yelled about shedding, and dander, and urine on her antique rugs, and disease, and then she’d dragged the thing outside by the scruff of its neck, and shut it in her car and driven it away, despite our crying and begging.

I never saw that dog again. I’d been afraid to ask what had become of it.

No way would I let that happen to this cat, for any reason. No matter who gave it to me, or what sick joke he was playing, I wouldn’t punish the small, painfully soft kitten that meowed plaintively as it stared up at me with its enormous green eyes.

“If I was a worse person, I’d name you arsehole,” I murmured to the cat after Jolie left, rubbing its nose and kissing it. “Or wanker, maybe. Or prat. But I think I’ll name you Wraith. Is that all right? I know it’s not very girly.”

The kitten didn’t seem to have any objections.

It pushed its head against my fingers and purred louder.

29

Arrows

Thankfully, I didn’t have to get decked out in sports gear for the Skyhunt tournament.

After talking to Miranda (and enduring over an hour of grilling on Graham Strangemore and what made me change my mind about him), I settled on a scarf in the Malcroix Bones school colors of violet and green, printed with a series of Malcroix Crosses wrapped in gold ribbon, glinting with a charm that made them throw off gold sparkles.

The skull in the center had gold eyes that erupted with a flame effect.

I decided that was more than enough to show some school spirit.

I eventually told Jolie and Mir I’d asked Graham to the Myst?ria dance, as well.

Miranda was delighted.

Jolie raised an eyebrow, and didn’t comment.

Later, when we were alone, I asked Jolie if she knew Graham Strangemore, but she insisted she didn’t. She would only say that Strangemore “doesn’t seem like your type,” and “He’s a bitof a jock, isn’t he?” without really elaborating on why that was a problem.

Jolie did ask if Graham had given me the cat, which nearly made me spit out my tea. I assured my roommate that, while I couldn’t be sure exactlywhogifted me Wraith, it definitely hadnotbeen Graham Strangemore.

Jolie seemed to accept that, and hadn’t brought up Strangemore again.

Still, I wondered about him.

The extent of his Skyhunt celebrity came as somewhat of a shock.

I’d known he played, of course. I’d known he was popular partly because he was good. It was one of those things around school that couldn’t be avoided, no matter how oblivious I was. I hadn’t fully realized what a big deal that was, however.

When we arrived at the stadium on the south side of the river, I discovered Strangemore arranged in advance for me and my friends to sit in a booth at a higher elevation, which meant we’d have better seats than the vast majority of students and family who’d come to watch. We also each got gifted a “peering glass” as part of the box seating.

All I had to do is hold the peering glass up, and I had a clear, highly-magnified view of any part of the grounds. We also had a private screen floating over us, which showed off the field where the most action seemed to be occurring, and our own food vendors. Silk banners whipped in the breeze overhead. We had our own box speakers, rather than the echoing acoustics on poles that happened over the crowded stands below.

Honestly, I would’ve rather been down with everyone else.

“There’s a rain and weather shield, too,” Draken told us, speaking loudly over the announcer, who was currently listing off names for the Bavarian team. “We’re lucky. Weather’s absolutely perfect. It often rains for the second tournament.”

“This is thesecondtournament this year?” I said wonderingly. “When was the first?”

Draken and Miranda exchanged looks, and laughed.

“Don’t you remember me asking you? It was weeks ago now,” Draken teased, resting his arms on his thighs. “We played against Russia in October. Mir and I begged and begged you to go, but you were wandering around with that leather book you carry with you everywhere, muttering to yourself.”

I remembered vaguely, now that they mentioned it.