A few seconds after he disappeared through the door, the shell lifted.
I’d sat there, gasping, probably looking like I was having a heart attack, but no one stopped to ask. I got a few strange looks as I got myself back under control, but the room emptied out too quickly for me to spend much time thinking about it. I rose to my feet around the same time Professor Wragnus did, scooping up my own books and stuffing them in my leather satchel before I headed for the door.
My face had been burning. I’d been angry, mostly, but also on the verge of tears. I couldn’t really catalogue everything I felt, but powerless, frustrated, enraged, and humiliated figured in there somewhere, too.
I nearly ran him down right then.
I wanted to scream at him, to ask him why he thought I had no right to know what happened to the one of my dearest friends.
I tried instead to take a step back, to think about it the way Alaric would.
Alaric could be spookily strategic.
He understood psychology in a way that came harder for me, and he rarely didn’t get what he wanted from people as a result. I suspected that was true even for Bones. While I didn’t know exactly what Alaricwoulddo to convince Bones, I knew he likelywouldn’trun at him head-on, and demand the information or help he wanted. He wouldn’t come at him from the front at all, but would look for some way around, through a back door.
I tried to decide whether I had any leverage over him at all.
Offering Bones another deal with his magic seemed too obvious. If he wanted that from me, he would have found some excuse to approach me already.
If I could figure out why he’d looked so awful lately, that might be a way in. Alaric affirmed the story I’d heard about Bones the previous year, that he’d been sick as a child and started school late as a result. Was he sick again? Was that why he looked so terrible? Whatever it was, it hadn’t kept him from school, or the Skyhunt team, which had their first match the coming Sunday. I’d seen his name on the starting roster, next to Graham’s.
I also considered going the opposite direction and making myself a problem.
Bones obviously wanted me to keep quiet about Alaric.
What if Ididn’tkeep quiet about Alaric? What if I refused to, unless he gave me real information? He couldn’t follow me around the school throwing stasis shields over me (I figured out the spell he’d used against me in the library, later that night). Not without getting in trouble with teachers and the administration, at least. What if I just started asking inconvenient questions about Dark Cathedral, the Priest, and Alaric? Loudly?
Say, in the Valarian dining hall during meals?
Did my discretion matter enough to him that he’d actually tell me something?
In the end, I didn’t do that. Not right away, at least.
I told myself I’d wait a few days first, see if Alaric came back on his own.
Risking a big scene, even if I warned Bones beforehand, would be a last resort. I could possibly offer him a better deal first. My magic, if he wanted it, or possibly something more open-ended, if it turned out he was open to negotiating. If that didn’t work, then yes, I’d find a pain point he wouldn’t ignore.
One week. If Alaric wasn’t back by Monday, I’d give Bones a choice.
In the meantime, the Second Year’s Gathering was Friday, and I’d have a better chance of learning something there than just about anywhere, especially if most of my class got drunk, which I had every reason to believe they would.
Which was another big reason I didn’t particularly want Graham Strangemore hanging around. Honestly, though, bringing Graham along as an addition to our overall friend group shouldn’t have been a problem. It shouldn’t have been any kind of issue at all.
Itseemedfine at first.
I wore the dress the designer we hired in Bonescastle designed for me, with only minimal input on my part. Mir insisted that’s how it was done for big events in Magique. You didn’t pick out an outfit. You hired a good Magical clothing designer, and let them use their magic and their artistic vision to come up with something for you.
The dress Michel made for me clung to my curves more than the styles I usually wore, with a low-backed, corset-style bodice, long sleeves of black lace, and a silk, black and forest-green pattern on the corset itself. The skirts below flared out in a near-ballgown style, although I wasn’t sure if they’d call it that here.
Miranda called it a “vampire dress” and laughed in delight when she saw it.
She also made it clear she very much approved of Michel’s taste, and insisted on helping his staff pick out every one of my accessories: a black lace choker, black, high-heeled shoes with enchanted green stones across the buckles, black sheer stockings decorated with tiny green and silver stones, silver earrings with magicked, glowing, full moons dangling at the ends, a silver dragon bracelet that matched the earrings.
I hemmed and hawed about wearing my mother’s green crystal.
I was still reluctant to take it off, given what happened the previous year, when my aunt ransacked Jolie’s and my room to get to it. But my protection skills had gotten considerably better, including my illusion chimaeras. I’d already built false trails in my room, and several hidden compartments with other trinkets to confuse anyone looking.
In the end, I decided to leave the necklace behind.
