“I’ve heard. See you later, okay?”
“Fiiiiine.” She gives me one last pout, then vanishes into the floor. I turn back to the table and find everyone looking at me with awe.
“You…you verbally control that spirit?” one of the guys asks.
I shake my head. “No, we’re just friends.”
“But you told her what to do,” he goes on. “You commanded her and she listened, and you didn’t need a spell.” He looks around the table, eyes landing on Maxon.
“I didn’t,” I insist. Cass wouldn’t listen to me unless she wanted to. She’s stubborn, which is a bit of her old personality paired with a trait that seems common with spirits. If she didn’t want to go off and wait to hang out until later, she wouldn’t. But she’s practical, and since she’s as intelligent as any other person, she knows when to draw the line.
“But,” I go on, almost afraid to ask, “what’s the big deal about commanding spirits?”
Everyone looks at Maxon, whose brows are pinched, and his beautiful eyes have darkened. A beat passes before he looks up, his azure gaze meeting mine.
“Only the Angel of Death has the power to command spirits without spells, the way you just did.”
8
Isit in the back of the Signs and Sigils class, taking the only empty seat. Maxon is up front, but already warned me this class would be way too advanced for me. He didn’t think I’d be able to follow along at all, as opening portals is one of the most complicated and powerful spells reapers perform. They have to be done just right, he told me, or you won’t be teleported to where you want to go.
I have one of his notebooks, a quill, and a jar of fresh ink, and am eager to jot down all the notes I’m able to. Most of the terminology is a bit over my head, but I try to pay attention to what Professor Adria is saying.
There are certain sigils to draw, based upon something calledsacred geometry. I was never very good at regular geometry, but there’s something about this that must make sense. I stare at the sigil Professor Adria is drawing. It’s nothing more than straight lines and circles put together to form a symbol, and the longer I stare at it, the more it starts to make sense, though I don’t know why.
It’s almost as if someone is whispering the answers to me, but the voice I hear is coming from inside my head. The white lines start to appear as if they are glowing, and move off the chalkboard, rearranging themselves until they all click into place.
Then the entire sigil erupts in neon-green flames.
I blink and everything is back to how it was before.
“Would anyone like to try correcting this sigil?” Professor Adria asks. A second passes, and no hands have gone up. Celeste, who’s up front sharing a desk with Max, shoots her hand in the air.
Professor Adria waits another beat, seeing if anyone else is going to volunteer. I blink and see the correct sigil on the board again, glowing green and calling me to come and draw it. Slowly, I raise my hand into the air.
“Miss Blake.” Professor Adria blinks in surprise. “You’d like to give this a try?”
Celeste lets out a snort of laughter. My heart starts to thump in my ears, and a sense of déjà vu comes over me. “Please. She’ll end up accidentally summoning something.” Celeste turns in her chair and looks at me. She’s pretty, with platinum-blonde hair, high cheekbones, and amber eyes. It’s the only thing she has going for her, though the more I get to know about her, the more her beauty fades. “Well, that’s assuming she can muster up any magic in the first place.”
Two girls at the desk next to hers snicker, and Professor Adria gives them a pointed look. They shut up right away.
“Yes,” I say, answering the professor’s question. “I’d like to try.”
“Well then, come up to the board.”
I swallow hard, aware all eyes are on me. My boots click on the hardwood floor of the classroom, seeming far louder than they ought to be, and I fight the urge to hunch my shoulders. I’ve always hated drawing attention to myself…and yet I feel compelled to do this. Professor Adria hands me the chalk and I press it to the board. It squeaks at first, and I wince, rolling the chalk in my fingers to find a smoother angle.
I close my eyes again, and the image of the sigil burns in my memory. Why am I so certain about this? I imagine this was the symbol Professor Dal used to open the portal, but I don’t have a photographic memory so I can’t be sure. And yet I’m confident I know how to draw this. It’s like the memory is embedded into my fingers.
Dust falls from the chalk as I draw, and a hush settles over the class. The sigil starts as four circles set up along the points of a diamond. Lines come off each of them, swirling and crossing. I make my last mark and let my hand fall, getting a streak of chalk on my plaid skirt.
“Well?” Celeste blurts, only a second after the sigil is complete. “Did she do it?”
“There’s only one way to test it,” Professor Adria starts, and before she can finish, I know the next step. I splay my fingers and place my hand over the sigil. Green flames start to flicker beneath my fingers and I jerk my hand back as power surges through me, my mouth falling open.
A flurry of noise breaks out in the classroom, but Celeste’s voice cuts through them. “You cheated!” she cries, her eyes flashing as she jabs an accusatory finger in my direction.
“Seriously, Celeste?” Kaia rolls her eyes, coming to my defense before I have time to formulate a response. “She doesn’t even have a book to look at.”
