Page 81 of Malcroix Bones Academy

Now it felt like something completely foreign.

“Notcompletelyforeign,” he corrected. “With magic, like attracts like. You want to workwiththat resonance, not against it. There’s a strong resonance between you and this presence, or it wouldn’t have connected with you in the first place.”

“You mean when my magic opened? For the test?” I clarified.

I wondered if he’d tell the truth.

I barely had time to think it before he shook his head.

“No,” he said. “You had this before. I saw it with you that day in London. Your mother obviously didn’t block your magic entirely.”

I swallowed, feeling my throat close unexpectedly.

I fought it back, focusing on the intense gold-white ball hovering over me. It was difficult. Although I’d known it was him, that he’d been there in London that day, suddenly it felt crushingly real. He’d really been there.

He’d watched them kill my parents, just like I had.

“Does it have a name?” I whispered.

“Ask it,” Caelum suggested.

I gritted my teeth, again feeling foolish. Then, taking a breath, I thought at the small sun, a touch louder:Do you have a name?

There was the barest pause.

Then feeling and presence washed over me, densely enough, it constricted my breath. I struggled under the weight of it, feeling some part of me fighting not to close down in fear. At the same time, the pressure and heat felt good, even familiar. It felt like being enveloped in something strong enough to hold me, even if I lost control.

Even if I didn’t hold back, even a little.

“Did you get that?” Caelum asked.

I shook my head, but not really in a no. “Sort of? I didn’t get a name… exactly. But I definitely got the sense that the answerwas yes. I can feel it more now. The presence.” I hesitated, then added, “It’s familiar.”

“Did it agree to supply you with a lower primal?”

I frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you open your eyes and look?” he suggested.

My eyes flickered open, and I stared down at something standing on the library’s stone floor. It looked back at me, its eyes white-gold, the exact same color as the fiery sun. It stomped its foot and tossed its head, jabbing the air with its long, black horn, flicking its snake-like tail around muscular haunches. It was coal black, but its whole body glowed with the gold of its eyes, interspersed with blue and green flashes of light.

It looked fierce, and not particularly friendly.

“It’s a monocerus,” I said, dumbfounded.

“You approve?” The amusement was back in his voice.

I nodded. It rubbed its horn against a foreleg, and shook its long mane, which was black and nearly touched the floor.

“But it’s still… it’s the other thing, too?” I asked.

I looked up at Caelum, and he nodded.

“It is,” he affirmed. “It’s just a projection. Your real primal hasn’t changed, but if you work on spells in class, or do any magical work, especially in front of other Magicals, it will operate as if itwasyour primal. I mean, essentially, itisyour primal. It just looks a bit more like everyone else’s. Which makes you less… obvious.”

I placed my hands on my hips, still watching the monocerus. “Why, though? Why is it so important no one knows?”

“Does it matter?” he asked.