Page 59 of Malcroix Bones Academy

Worm Hall

We walked into Eustacia Morwormer Hall amid a steady stream of students.

I immediately decided the map hadn’t done it justice. The stone gods that lined the walls stood twenty to thirty feet tall. They gazed down at us with faces so detailed, so utterly lifelike, they were positively alarming. Expressions carved into the stone fluctuated between fierce, stern, protective, pensive, dreamy, angry, and downright dangerous.

A few looked vaguely familiar from books. I also suspected at least some were echoes of gods from Overworld, or vice versa.

Jolie knew a few of their names, but, being significantly more interested in magical medicine and science and farlessin ancient gods and history, she admitted she wasn’t the right person to ask.

“That’s Zarthus, I think,” she spoke up brightly at one point. “And I think that’s Kitesvara, with all the heads… and Ba’Tasia, with the head of a cat…”

“I think they call the cat one Bastet in Overworld,” I offered. We looked around at more of the stone giants. “That one there, with the head of an ibis, could be Thoth,” I added, pointing at the stone body of a muscular man in an Egyptian shendyt with a jeweled belt.

Jolie’s nose crinkled. “Never heard of him, sorry.”

I wasn’t surprised.

“Are those Kachinas?” I asked Jolie next, pointing to another two figures.

“I think they’re calledNorquikashere,” Jolie said, her brow furrowed. “I don’t know any of their names,” she added after a pause.

“Neither do I,” I admitted.

We studied a few more faces. One reminded me of Tláloc, the Aztec god. Others looked vaguely Japanese. A few reminded me of Indian gods from the Hindu pantheon.

“I guess I’ll need to read up on ancient deities,” I muttered.

I wondered how important any of that was to the study of magic.

No one mentioned gods or goddesses in the bridging course. Was it simply tradition to have statues of them in a ceremonial hall like this? Some eccentricity of the school or its founders? Or did most Magicals actually believe in this stuff?

It seemed like something I might need to know.

I looked up then, and gasped.

The ceiling was a giant, writhing block of carved marble.

A gold serpent took up a large part of the mural, along with bones and vines, roses in silver and gold, rippling banners of the school colors, and more mythological beasts than I knew the names for. A giant winged horse flew over a sphinx with a beautiful woman’s face. Wood and water nymphs, harpies, a griffin, what looked like a faun, and a herd of monoceri walked and lounged over the grass. A cat with the rear body of a snakehung from a tree covered in silver fruit, thick with blue-green leaves.

I stared as the gilded snake coiled and uncoiled sensually while something that might have been a phoenix lazily flapped its wings.

“Leda!”

The sound of my name made me jump, then panic when I realized how loud it had been, and how many people turned to look.

The voice itself was friendly though, and familiar, which was funny to think after not even twelve hours. Draken grinned from a few tables over, waving for us to join them, and that time, it was my turn to drag Jolie over to one of the dozen, long, wooden tables, where Draken, Miranda, Luc, and another mage I didn’t recognize sat.

Introductions were exchanged all around, and I learned the new face belonged to Luc’s roommate, a nineteen-year-old mage from York who came to study ancient magistory. His name was Darragh Torrick, and he was soft-spoken, wore glasses, had brown, curly, messy hair, tons of freckles, and eyes of such a light brown they were nearly amber.

I liked him instantly.

Draken, Darragh, and Luc began peppering Jolie with questions, who took it all good-naturedly and asked just as many questions back. While those four were distracted, I took the opportunity to check in with Miranda.

“Draken’s roommate?” I asked first, quirking an eyebrow.

“Sitting with other friends,” Miranda said, scowling and folding her arms.

“And yours?” I asked, even more cautiously.