Page 96 of Malcroix Bones Academy

I didn’t need to hear anymore.

Before his eyes had returned to mine, I wound up and punched him right in the jaw.

22

Night Out

“Fang of Sekmet, I’d have paid good money to see that…” Draken snorted a laugh, thumping his pint mug on the wooden bar. He turned to smile at me gleefully, his dark eyes glassy. “I thought it was a rumor until I saw him in the dining hall tonight. There was no mistaking the bruise. It was bright red, and already swelling. He’ll look like shit tomorrow, unless he has a few healing spells in his back pocket.”

“He probably does,” Miranda said. “He likes to fight, remember? But who cares? She got the lick in, that’s what matters.”

“Couldn’t care less what he looks like tomorrow,” I muttered in agreement.

“Do I even want to know what he said to you, to get you to hit him?” Draken asked, that glee still tingeing his words.

I took a long drink of lager, then exhaled. “He asked for it. In more ways than one.”

“I’m sure he did,” Miranda agreed sourly. “I can’t believe you even agreed to partner with him. It reallydoesseem like he spends hours thinking up vile things to say to you, just so he’ll be ready with the nastiest ones possible when the occasion arises.”

“He probably does,” I agreed. “But I doubt I’m the only beneficiary.”

I was only on my first pint, but already feeling a little buzzed.

Draken, Miranda, Jolie, Darragh, and Luc were all ahead of me in the drinks department, and definitely seemed to be tipping into drunk, Draken especially. I’d met them an hour after they got to the pub, sometime after nine. I’d stayed in the bathtub longer than necessary to finish reading another two chapters of my praecurology textbook.

I’d been warned the teacher in there would likely give us a quiz next week.

“You look smashing, by the way,” Draken said, still grinning and now looking me over. “And you’re not buying a single drink tonight. Not a one. No one pays for drinks after getting a solid punch in on that wanker.”

Miranda shoved at Draken’s shoulder.

“Speaking of smashing, don’t give our new school heroine alcohol poisoning.” She grinned at me, leaning on Draken’s shoulder. “He’ll get into the hard stuff soon. Don’t let him take you down into that knuckerhole with him. Trust me, you’ll regret it, if you do. I’ve seen him drink Warlocks under the table.”

I snorted a laugh.

Draken, seeming to hear Miranda’s words as a challenge, motioned the bartender over and leaned up to order something I couldn’t hear over the sounds of the crowded bar.

I watched, amused, as the bartender lined up six shot glasses and filled them with amber liquid. He dropped something small that flashed like gold into each one.

“Just one,” Draken said, a faint apology in his eyes as he met my gaze. “I won’t corrupt you further. Pinky swear.”

“What did they put in it?” I asked, curious.

“Magic,” Luc murmured, lifting an eyebrow at Draken before tossing his back.

“What kind of magic?” I pressed.

I clamped my hands over my ears when a speaker blared loudly behind me. I glanced over to see a live band setting up on the small stage across the room. I turned back to Draken and spoke louder still. “Is it a spell?”

“Just a little enhancer,” he said, raising his own voice as he handed over my shot. “It might make us all a little giggly, but nothing too crazy.”

I eyed the glass skeptically and glanced at Miranda, just in time to see her hold up her own shot in a toast. She gave me an eye-roll that seemed aimed at Draken, then tipped her head back and downed it in one go, just like Luc.

“I have a hangover cure,” Miranda said, as she wiped her lip with a finger, careful not to smudge her lipstick. “I wouldn’t do more than one of these, though. I can feel the magic from mine already.”

I stared at the gold nugget in my own glass, but curiosity won out.

I tossed back the shot, and plunked the glass down on the bar next to theirs.