Covington leaped up.
“That’s it!” I shouted, clapping.
The sparks hopped across the stones and burned out. A few that had fallen into the jar whirled and then went out.
Covington bent to grab the jar.
“Wait!” I said. “It’ll be hot.”
Squatting, he balanced with one hand on the ground. “And here I thought you preferred when I was injured.” He glanced around the den, searching. Then he moved to scoop up his blazer. “Make him do it again.” He wrapped the jacket around his hand.
After the second shower of sparks, Covington darted forward and grabbed the jar.
But as soon as his hand touched the glass, he cursed and dropped it. It shattered. He ripped the blazer away from his hand and examined the skin. There was a burned hole in the fabric.
“Is your hand okay?” I asked, stepping over glass.
“Sorry to disappoint.” He held up his hand. It was pink but looked unharmed.
I frowned at him, annoyed that he considered me so shallow. “You made another mess.”
He stared at the shards of glass. “Back to the supply closet, then, I guess.”
When the mess was cleaned up, the tools returned, I was aching for sleep. “You need a…better way to hold the glass,” I said, words broken by a yawn.
“Oh, now you’re trying to help me?” He glanced at me as we strolled under the massive rotunda.
I lifted my arm back toward Myth’s den. “To keep you silent, remember?”
A small laugh escaped his lips. “I’ll think on it. Until next time.” He offered me a salute and walked out into the night, toward the school.
“Wait, when is next time? Please not tomorrow.”
Striding backward, his ruined blazer slung over one arm, he shook his head. “Not tomorrow. There’s a night race tomorrow.” At my look of surprise, he flashed a broad grin that practically glowed in the moonlight.
“Do you ever sleep?” I called out.
He opened his arms wide. “Sleep is for the dead.”
I watched him until he was inside the school, then I shoved my hands in my pockets and trudged back down the hill, wondering if I would ever get invited to a night race.
CHAPTER 16
The following afternoon, Vanya burst into our dorm room with a smile on her face. “I got one!”
“One what?” I said, glancing up from the open book in my lap.
“I got an invitation to the night race.” She rushed toward me and hopped on the edge of my bed, shoving a piece of paper toward me.
With lifted brows, I plucked it from her fingers. “This is an empty piece of paper,” I said, flipping it over in my hand. The paper was nice, thick, high quality, to be sure, but there were no words on it.
She sighed dramatically. “Look.” She pointed at an embossed circle in the center of the piece of paper. I squinted at it. I brought it close to my face, but I still couldn’t make out what it was.
“It’s the symbol for the secret society that hosts the races.”
My brows shot up. “Secret society?”
“Oh, come on. Have you not heard of it?”
