Page 99 of Spark of Sorcery

“Did it hurt?” Fly snorts.

“No.” Clare blinks, confused.

I give Fly a warning look. “What were you thinking?” I prompt.

“Did they ever tell you the names of the shadow weavers who were responsible for your sister’s death? It occurred to me that I never asked.”

“No, they didn’t.”

Fly places his book down. “They never gave you any hints? The kids who came back from the academy never told you who it was?”

“No one really talked to me after Amelia died. It was weird.” I peer down at my chewed fingernails. “Like my grief was an infectious disease nobody wanted to catch.”

“It can be difficult for people to know what to say,” Fly says softly.

“Maybe. But anyway, I don’t know if it just never got spoken about or whether they weren’t aware.”

“There must have been rumors,” Fly says. “Do the books say anything?”

“Not about that, but I’ve been making note of who I think may be the most likely suspects.” Clare pushes hernotepad towards me. Written in a neat list down the page are six names.

“Why them?” I ask.

“They seemed to be the most powerful shadow weavers at the academy at the time. The one with enough power to …”

“Kill?”

Clare nods. “Do you recognize any of those names? Did they ever come up at all?”

The six names hover in front of my eyes like six flickering flames and I stare at them so long, they crawl across the page, my vision blurring into a mass of ash. I rifle through my memory, straining for any half-overheard conversations, any whispered words. I find nothing.

Finally, I shake my head.

“Do you recognize any of the names?” I ask.

“No, but then I don’t know so much about shadow weavers,” Clare says.

“Give the names here,” Fly says, holding out his hand and shaking it at us. Clare passes it over and his eyes flick down the list.

“I recognize three or four of the family names. They’re well-known shadow weaver families. Powerful ones.”

“So if they killed someone,” I say, through gritted teeth, “it would be in their families’ and the academy’s best interests to cover it up.”

“I don’t know about that,” Fly says warily. “And these are powerful people to go around accusing of murder, Cupcake.”

“How can I find out more about them?” I ask them both.

Fly sniffs. “That’s pretty obvious isn’t it? The Princes.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Dray

I dive to the ground as a torrent of fire races above, hot, destructive and deadly. Then I’m on my feet, my shadows streaming from my hands and slamming into the demon that is sweeping my way. The thing squeals and hisses, its forked tongue slipping from its raw mouth, its crimson eyes luminous. It thrashes in my grip, and I grunt, straining to keep the freaky fucker contained.

Its claws rip through my shadows, tearing at them and the pain strikes right in my belly.

“Ahh no you don’t,” I spit. I squeeze all the harder and when it opens its mouth to scream, I let my shadows shoot down its throat and then the creature is exploding into a thousand million pieces, the blast sending me flying back down to the ground.