Page 164 of Malcroix Bones Academy

It was over in seconds.

I was still gritting my teeth painfully, eyes too wide, tensed into myself against the fireplace wall, when the ripple of black and silver fire finally ran itself out.

I stood there, panting, for a few seconds of silence.

Then, slowly, I looked at him.

Caelum stood unmoving, both arms still held out, still shielding me from a danger that had already passed. He was panting, trembling, sweating, and I could practically feel the adrenaline flowing through every part of him, causing his body to twitch and vibrate as it no longer had any place to go. The gold glow still rose from his chest, and I could see some of it now, as I stepped forward to look at his face.

There were runes, glowing across the top of his chest.

His shirt was open. I could see them clearly on his bare skin.

I stepped even closer.

No, they weren’t runes, or not only runes. Hieroglyphs stood there, Ancient Egyptian language cut into his flesh by golden light. I could only make out a few of the symbols: the Eye of Ra, a twisted snake, an ankh, what looked like a half-animal male form with a staff.

Caelum’s eyes glowed gold. That gold writhed eerily with dancing flames.

My emotions around him even being there briefly overwhelmed me.

They were almost too much for me to handle. They were too chaotic, too confused, too filled with contradictions and irrational intensities I wasn’t ready to deal with. Not now. Not tonight. Not after everything that happened, or what he’d just done.

I focused my gaze on the rest of the room.

The pentagram, the candles, the bloody skull, the painting, the ashes, the blue crystals, all of it was gone. The only thing left was a massive burn-mark that covered most of the threadbare rug.

My aunt was gone.

Somehow, it took longer to acknowledge that. The reality of her complete absence, the memory of the last look on her face when her neck viciously snapped, took longer to reach past the shock of the past several minutes. My eyes lowered then, to the black scorch-marks on the wood where Ankha had stood.

In the very center, something glinted green.

Pushing past Caelum’s arm, I walked up to it.

I bent down, and carefully plucked the La Fey Stone from the blackened wood.

Then, still without looking at him, with my back mostly to him, I pulled the chain around my head and neck, settling it back on my chest, where it belonged.

I cleared my throat, stared down at the scorch marks on the wood, the tiny shards of broken glass left over from the gold mirror.

Only then did I notice my hands and arms.

I stared down at the specks of red that completely covered my skin.

I’d smeared some of it, picking up the La Fey Stone and putting it around my neck. I felt my chest above the bodice, then my face, and felt dampness in those places, too. Specks of red covered the gold band around my upper arm, my gold sandals, my feet. They likely covered my skirt, but it was black; I didn’t touch it to feel if it was damp.

“I’m going upstairs.” My voice sounded numb, even to me. “I’m going upstairs to see if my brother’s all right?”

“No.” His voice came out cold, forceful, but I heard it shake. “No. We have to go. Now.”

I pushed past him without looking at his face, and, for some reason, he didn’t stop me.

His voice twisted into a growl.

“Leda!”

I flinched, shocked somehow, to hear my first name on his lips.