Page 61 of Serpent and Shadow

Luc, Nyx, and Jolie usually came together, usually right around seven, and we’d all eat supper and talk about which rituals or spells we wanted to try that night. Then we’d collect ritual ingredients from Bones’s supplies, sometimes sending a drakai to Bonescastle if we were missing or didn’t have enough of something, Nyx and Luc would draw the ritual circle, Alaric and I would draw the runes, Jolie would cast the protection spells, and we’d begin.

We generally got through four or five full attempts per night.

All of which meant, I had only about an hour to myself.

I knew I should probably try to sleep for twenty minutes of that, but I wanted to look over Alaric’s revised version of the map.

I wasn’t looking forward to the start of the new term.

My Summer coursework looked to be significantly more difficult than Spring. I’d do my best not to get sent down, since I’d promised Forsooth, but I’d barely carved out two nights a week to finish assignments and cram for in-class tests last term, and I really needed to shave that time down even more.

The thought of giving up all that research time made me feel sick.

I walked quickly up the winding path from the Experimental Magic Sheds, making my way around that corner of the lake as fast as I could. I considered stopping by Blackstone’s tower on my way back. He’d been in and out of Malcroix Bones all week, and I wanted him to do another vision-walk with me, to try and get a current read on Bones.

I left the path that looped around the lake and stepped out onto the Great Lawn, still walking fast, now in the direction of the gardens and the front entrance to Malcroix Mansion.

The grass was lushly green, and longer after the last week of spring rains.

Flowers were starting to bloom, both wild and cultivated.

Unlike a lot of students, I didn’t avoid the gardens anymore, although I tended to walk through them with my head down, which meant I focused mostly on what grew around my feet and legs. Everything had returned mostly to normal since the fight on New Year’s Day. Statues, signs, decorative stones, and benches had been repaired and put back where they belonged. Bushes, lawn, flowers, and moss had grown over the burn marks from the magical fight.

Some of the trees had to be replaced, but a lot of the originals remained.

The Fountain of the Furies had been completely restored, and when the water thawed sometime in March, groundskeepers cleaned it out and started it up not long after.

The place still had a presence that lingered.

I imagined that’s why a lot of students avoided it still.

I didn’t think that feeling was all in my head.

Dark magic, the familiar voice murmured. It leaves something… a smell. Like something rotting just beneath the surface. I grew up smelling that, and only noticed after I’d gone away to school and then came back.

I felt him closer again, wrapped deep in my magic.

There was a tactile pressure and warmth to the feeling, but not an unpleasant one.

Truthfully, I found it comforting.

He had to be asleep, I told myself. So much of the time he pushed me away.

You miss me, I thought at him quietly.

Of course I fucking miss you, he thought back bitterly. All the time. Every day. Every gods-damned minute. You’re like a sickness. A compulsion I can’t break.

Are you awake right now? I asked. Or asleep?

He didn’t answer.

Bones–– I began.

What does it matter? Fuck, I’m sorry, Leda. I’m so sorry.

It’s not your fault.

It’s absolutely my fault. Pain rippled through his magic. I should stay away. I should bloody well stay away from you, but I never seem to. I never do the right thing.