Cursing, Daziel scooped me up. The others followed, and we caught up with the students from the platform as they scrambled up the glossy stairs carved in the cliff, which the rain had turned dangerous.
“This way,” Yael said once we’d gone two-thirds of the way up. She led us out on a small but sturdy ledge and through a tall, slanted opening into a large cavern.
Fifty drenched students huddled inside, illuminated by glow lights. Puddles covered the ground. The cave was clearly often used—people had pulled out crates of supplies and were making tea—but it had the look of a disaster zone right now.
Daziel touched my shirt. It sizzled dry.
“Thanks,” I said, grateful to be dry, wanting to curl up into him for added warmth. Instead, I glanced at the group next to me, soaked through. I’d been about to ask if he’d dry them too, but Élodie spoke first.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “You didn’t write any charaktêres. You shouldn’t have been able to affect the water and air like that.”
He’d written something, though. On my shoulder. In blood.
“Natural magic is different than letterform,” he said shortly.
“True,” Yael said, her voice steady, her gaze piercing. “But wild shedim still don’t have that kind of power. Wild shedim can’t control the elements with such totality. I’ve never read of anything like this.”
I looked down so they couldn’t read the unease on my face. A wild shayd hadn’t cast the spell;Ihad, hidden from view.
Daziel didn’t reveal a hint of what I feared we’d done. “You think human texts contain all possibilities?” he tossed off.
Desperate to stop my classmates from pushing further, I changed the topic. “Daziel, can you dry everyone?” To the others, I said, “You’ll get sick if he doesn’t.”
Yael kept frowning, but she stepped forward, her fine blond hair plastered to her head.Do you trust him?she’d asked me two months ago. Now she knew Daziel, had spent hours with him in the Keep, had gone to the pub with him. I hoped she trusted him too, even if she knew something strange had happened.
Daziel touched Yael’s shoulder. Her clothes fluttered as water evaporated, sizzling into the air around her. The short strands of her hair fluffed up so she looked like a duckling in spring. She kept her gaze pinned on his face, like she was trying to read the truth there, but he looked behind her, bored, signaling someone else to come forward.
A few moments later, Stefan and Gidon hurried up. “You both all right?” Stefan asked, looking worried. Gidon, to my shock, hugged me tightly, then Yael, then Daziel.
I drew her aside as the boys grilled Daziel on events as he kept drying students. “Hi.”
“He’s more powerful than he should be,” she said with no preamble.
I tried to maintain a neutral expression. “He’s right, though. We don’t know everything about what shedim can do.”
“A wild shayd couldn’t perform that spell.” She sounded certain.
Part of me wanted to tell her what had happened, but I had no idea of the repercussions of a binding, even if both parties had agreed. I needed to talk to Daziel about this before anyone else. I hadn’t even known shedim could bind humans; I’d thought only humans did the binding. “Don’t worry,” I told Yael. “I trust him.”
Her gaze slid back from Daziel to me, and I wondered how much she guessed. “So you’ve said. But be careful.”
We stayed in the cave for an hour, until the rain slowed. Then, slipping and sliding, we made our way back across the rocks to the leatherworking neighborhood, then the tram. It was an hour more before we reached Testylier House, where Daziel and I said reserved good-nights to Élodie and Birra as we left them at their floor.
My door hadn’t even finished closing before I’d collapsed on the sofa. “What a night.”
“Don’teverdo that again,” Daziel hissed.
I lifted my head a smidgeon, shocked. “Excuse me? What?”
“You risked yourlife.”
“People could have died—”
“I don’t care about people,” he snapped. “I care about you.”
I stared, astonished. “Well,Icare about people.”
He took a deep breath and reined himself in. “I know. I know it’s not in your nature to leave people behind. But that was dangerous, Naomi.”
