Page 24 of Malcroix Bones Academy

“No.”

“No?”

“Absolutely not. Not without Archie. No.”

Ankha stared back at me, unmoved.

A faint, cynical smile lifted her thin lips. “It’s cute that you think you have any control over such a decision. You may be legally of age, but that won’t protect you from Magical law. Further, while you may come into some gold, assuming your bloodline is accepted, you still have no education, no training, no magical rank, no job, and no connections… and you won’t have any of those things, either, until you’ve completed at least a basic level of schooling. More to the point, if you’re declared Magical, you’re legallyrequiredto stay here, at least until the Magus Imperius and the Council of Ancients decrees otherwise… and I wouldn’t hold your breath as tothathappening anytime soon.”

Her voice grew hard as steel.

“In all likelihood, you’re not going anywhere,” she said, a faint satisfaction in her voice. “And you should be grateful to the divinities for it. If returning to that dying world and its wars and disease is what youreallywant, pray to the gods you failed that test.”

Ankha sniffed.

“The most likely scenario is they’ve discerned at leastsomemagic in you. Your mother was a powerful agent of the Praecuri,and a renowned witch in her own right, even apart from our family name. The chances of you not getting a least a spark of her talent is unlikely… despite who your father was.”

My hackles rose instantly, but my aunt wasn’t finished.

“They’ll send you to Kravenari Middle, or Dark Moon School of London, or perhaps the other one in Scotland, and train you in the basics.” She sniffed. “It’ll be challenging, I promise you, even if youarethe oldest Magical in your class.”

I opened my mouth, but Ankha raised a warning hand.

“Maybe you’ll even skip a year, if you’re half the Magical your mother was,” she added coldly. “But whether you do or not, once you experience what it’s like away from that dead-eyed, corpse-filled land that spawned you, you’ll be happier for it, believe me. You’ll be begging my pardon for your ingratitude, long before you grace the hallowed doors of Malcroix Bones.”

I blinked. “Malcroixwhat?”

“A higher-magic academy,” she snapped. “Arealschool, niece.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m going touniversitynext year. Oxford, most likely, or?”

Ankha scoffed.

“Maybe in a different life,” she retorted.

“I’m graduating in less than two months!” I protested.

“You’ll never darken the doors of that school again, or any other populated by Overworlder filth.” Ankha raised a warning finger, stepping deeper and more threateningly into my space. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Valuing those empty halls of half-learning over the wisdom of your ancestors? It’s appalling. I won’t listen to it! Why, I only put you in that ridiculous, Overworlder school to keep you out of trouble, and to keep you in my house, as I was legally required to have you there by the Council. I would never have let you go away to somehumanuniversity. You would have stayed in my house as long as I was legally responsible for you… whether you liked it or not!”

I opened my mouth, closed it.

Ankha continued to glare at me, her dark blue eyes an open threat.

“That’ll be the last of these childish tantrums, too,” she added coldly. “You’ll do as you’re told. At least until you’ve failed the test formally, or been accepted to a Magical school. After that, you’ll be someone else’s problem. You can do whatever you wantthen,”she sneered. Her expression closed. “Now come. They’ve assigned us a place for the night. We’ll want to be there when they deliver the results.”

My aunt’s fingers closed like iron bands around my arm, but that time, I wrenched free. I was done being led around like a dog, although I followed angrily when Ankha merely scoffed and marched towards the room’s door.

This conversation isn’t over,I told myself coldly.

The words weren’t convincing though, even to me.

Something about itdidfeel over.

Something about all of this felt final already.

I tried to shake the feeling, but it wouldn’t go away.

7