Page 139 of Malcroix Bones Academy

He rose abruptly to his feet.

His chair squeaked, loud enough for heads to turn.

I watched him, my jaw suddenly loose as he stalked rapidly across the rows of desks to the classroom door. He was leaving.

Gods, I thought in horror. He was really leaving.

I should have asked Alaric. I shouldn’t have tried to talk to Bones until I’d asked Alaric what I could say without making it worse.

Bones didn’t say a word to the professor, despite her questioning eyebrow. He didn’t so much as look at me, or anyone else in the room. The male mage he’d sat with,presumably for the Sight exercises we’d be doing in a handful of minutes, gaped after him.

“Bones!” Eggers hissed. “Hey. What gives?”

He didn’t look back.

He pushed his way through the classroom door.

And he was gone.

31

Masquerade

Iwalked into Worm Hall, head held high.

Well, sort of high.

I actually had to hold my chin more level than usual, because the headdress on top of my precise, black braids was fairly heavy. It also felt slightly unstable, although we’d attached it using magic, so it should be fine.

It had taken a few hours earlier that week, wandering around Bonescastle with Jolie and Miranda, to find a costume I actually liked. I’d thought maybe Draken would come with us, too, but he was “pouting,” Miranda informed me with a roll of her eyes.

I hadn’t asked her what that meant.

We left Wraith alone in the room, which no longer worried me.

We’d been doing that, off and on, for the last five days, and Wraith hadn’t had any big accidents, not even while we’d been in class. Despite the kitten’s occasional naughtiness, and sharp claws and teeth, she seemed to understand how to use her magical litter box just fine. One of the other students in the hall, Valerie, who also had a cat, advised me on everything I needed to buy, and I took every one of the witch’s recommendations.

Now, when I went back to the room to check on her, Wraith was usually either curled up on my bed, buried in my laundry basket, chasing bugs under my desk and bureau, or pouncing on bands of sunlight that decorated the floor.

Wraith also managed to shred several pairs of my lacier knickers, eat holes in four socks, and gnaw on the leather bindings of several library books. The day we went costume shopping, Wraith also emptied an entire box of tissues, and was working on her second box by Jolie’s bed before we found her and wrestled the box away. Jolie only laughed, and we started hiding things we thought Wraith might destroy.

As it turned out, two other witches on our floor had cats, and a number of students on other floors had cats, too, so I planned to start letting Wraith out of the room under supervision soon, to see how she did with the rest of the Grathrock felines. For now, Jolie and I decided to keep her isolated, at least until she’d adjusted.

“You look hot as fuck,” Graham murmured, leaning close to my ear.

I scoffed a little, but my face warmed.

“That can’t possibly be true.” I glanced up at where he grinned down at me. “I look like an old lady compared to most of these costumes.”

His eyebrows rose, and he snorted a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

I bit my lip, about to argue, then folded my arms.

I hadn’t actually been kidding.

I was tempted to look for a reflective surface, but I’d spent too much time in front of the mirror with Miranda and Jolie already, both at the costume shop we’d eventually settled on, and back in the dorms. I found myself second-guessing my choice of costume yet again, but I’d been doing that the whole time, and even I was getting tired of it.

The costume was fine.