Page 4 of Malcroix Bones Academy

Even her black hair lacked the life I remembered in my mother’s. Whereas my mother’s always flowed down her back in a perfect, elegant wave, with just the slightest curl at the ends and around her face, Ankha’s hung lank and tired, cropped in a strangely-layered, unflattering bob that never grew past her jawline.

It was our mother’s warmth that I missed most, though.

“Frankly, it should have been done years ago,” Ankha complained sourly. “It’s a travesty that I’ve been kept in this…” She glanced sharply at me, as if remembering I was listening.“…situationfor as long as I have. One more thing I have to thank my darling sister for. This never-endingindignityto our family name…”

I stiffened.

Another part of me wanted to laugh, or maybe roll my eyes. As ifAnkhahad ever been here often enough to be able to complain about feeling trapped.

Now she had the audacity to simply show up with no notice, start barking orders and making shitty comments about our mother, like?

“Oh, do not get your hackles up, girl,” Ankha spat warningly. “She’s my sister. I’m entitled to my opinion. None of this has been right for years. Which you’d know if you weren’t so entirely ignorant of anything to do with the family.”

Again, I fought to remain silent. Any ignorance I had about my mother’s family certainly fell on her now, didn’t it? Not me? Or my dead mother?

Anka’s harder stare shifted inward.

“There are always those who revel in the fall of the great families,” she muttered. “I’m sure the Ethnarch himself is positivelygleefulto see our lineage sunk so low…”

Her voice held a sharp, bitter note by the end.

“…But no, I must pretend that this is somehowreasonable.That the Tribunal’s conclusion towaituntil you are nineteen, ‘to ensure the greatest chance any latent abilities might mature’ is meant to be somehow fair, evengenerous.Like I should be groveling on the ground they did not sendmeto the Pyramid, too?”

I opened my mouth, baffled, but Ankha wasn’t finished.

“?Butthatis the end ofthat.”The bitterness in her voice grew. “Unless you embarrass me utterly in front of those jackals today, and they decide I must maintain this charade at the same level of scrutiny until your brother is of age.” She glared at me as if this had already occurred. “Assuming they decide you’ve been properlycaredfor all these years, I should get my freedom of movement returned to me, at least. Once your brother is finally gone, perhapsthenthey’ll leave our family alone, and this ugly chapter will be at an end.”

As for me, I could only raise my eyebrows at this little speech.

Freedom of movement? The Pyramid? What was an Ethnarch?

And again, when hadAnkhaever had any restrictions placed upon where she went?

Her blue eyes grew briefly distant. Then, seeming to remember herself, she looked back at me, and her raptor-like gaze sharpened.

“I tried to gain an exception for you,” she added. “It’s always been clear you’ve got more shine in you than that brother of yours…”

Again, I stiffened.

“…But they wouldn’t budge,” Ankha continued bitterly. “And frankly, I could only push them so far. You’ll just have to sink or swim, best you can.”

I opened my mouth, but again, Ankha’s harsh voice cut me off.

“?You’ve been suppressed,” she added, looking me over critically. “Technically, the block should’ve been lifted already, since you’ve been of age since November. But the day before you would’ve turned, it was determined… again, against mystrongly wordedobjections… that they’d leave it in place until you arrived at the testing facility. They wouldn’t give me even aweekto prepare you. Not even if I brought you in early to do it there.”

I fought to make sense of any of this, but the longer my aunt spoke, the more nonsensical her words sounded. She didn’t seem to notice my reaction. Or care, perhaps.

Her thin lips tightened.

“You should hear them speak to their high-minded ideals,” Ankha finished viciously. “Oh, they wax on eloquently of ‘fairness’ now, ofglobal and inter-dimensional security…but where was the fairness toourfamily, I ask you? Where wasoursecurity?”

Inter-dimensional?I thought, bewildered.What on earth is the old bat on about?

Was Ankha having some kind of schizophrenic break?

My aunt sniffed, and folded her wiry arms.

“It’s really as if theywantme to fail,” she added bitterly. “Or perhaps they simply think you’ll be a lost cause, regardless, so they might as well do it this way and be done with it. They clearly want to keepmeon here as your jailer for the rest of my life. The more they can humiliate our family, the better…”