“Since Odette?”
He nods. “It’s brought up so many painful memories. So much grief. Drinking is the only thing that helps, but at the same time, it makes it all worse. I can’t figure out the spell to make it stop.”
Carefully, Claudia reaches forward and slides the grimoire before her. Thumbing through, she waits for inspiration to strike, but the answer isn’t in here. It’s not a spell that already exists. She’s going to have to get creative. Reaching down to her bag, she pulls out her book on avian constellations. Flipping fast through the pages, she smiles, her heart thundering when she knows she’s found something good.
“I think I can help.” She leaps up from the desk and over to the board where she picks up the eraser. “May I?”
He nods. She erases Crater. “I think your approach with Crater is too literal. Besides, you’re not simply trying to stop drinking. You’re trying to grieve properly. Get out your grief, and the urge to numb it will go away.” She draws Cygnus, Phoenix, Ara.
“Cygnus for laying to rest the souls you lost here. Phoenix for rising from your pain. And I’ve added Ara, the altar, for enduring spiritual growth and positivity. What do you think?”
He stands and walks over to her side, eyes narrowing on her proposed spell. He turns, picking up the book on avian constellations. For a whole minute, his gaze flits back and forth from the book to the board, and he mumbles to himself.
Then, he grins.
“Claudia, I think you’ve just written your first spell worthy of adding to the grimoire.”
Her heart leaps. “Really?”
“Really. That means you must name it.”
Tapping the chalk against her chin, she ponders for a bit. “To Heal the Soul.” She turns to Lamour. “Thoughts?”
“Perfect.”
As their lesson ends, Claudia feels like she’s floating back to her room. She’s doing so well. She’s on Lamour’s good side, as a pupil and as a person. She’s going to get everything she wants—power for herself, protection from the killer, and freedom from her bargain. All she has to do is keep pushing forward, keep solving spells, keep untangling the mystery of the stars until Dorian can slip out from the ones that hold him in place.
KISS OF NIGHT
Distinguish between desire and desperation: The former honors the true self, the latter flees from it. One is power, and the other is fear.
The Book of Cygnus: Desire 2:11–12
Claudia has been reading for—she checks her timepiece—six hours straight. Her eyes are dry, her body stiff. Exhaustion pulls her to bed, but behind her eyes, her mind races.
She has to beat Cassius.
She has to earn the valedictorian’s blessing.
She has to speak to her mother one last time.
At the same time, she has to learn the stars. She has to free Dorian. She has to fulfill the bargain that brought her here.
Pressure builds in her head. She rubs her temples. There is too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it.
But if she’s brave enough, she knows where more time waits.
It’s been nearly a month since the last time she tried to enter the Realm of Nightmares. Maybe this time will be different. Better. Or, at least, maybe now she’s strong enough to withstand the cost.
With a deep breath, she focuses on conjuring the Doorway in her mind. It starts with smell—mint and ice and ash. Then, she imagines a rush of crisp wind tangling in her hair. Then, the hollow, reverberant sound of the night endlessly echoing itself. The sound of pure nothingness. The Doorway forms from the top—a Gothic peak slowly growing toward the ground, like drips of black paint taking shape upon a blank canvas. Haloed by green and white light, the Doorway opens for her.
Claudia walks through, her shoulders pulled back, her spine taut.
She braces herself for imminent horrors, but this time, there is no scream. No blood. No fear at all.
This time, the realm welcomes her home.
Shedidit. She can hardly believe it.
