He notices the tears pooling in my eyes and immediately his smile falters. ‘Hey,’ he pulls me against him. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ My head shakes and because I want to place that smile back on his face, I say, ‘I’m just scared if I letthatthing near me, it’ll rip me in half.’
Sebastian’s head tips back and he lets out the most outrageous laugh. It’s loud and deep, echoing off the bathroom walls and I think it’s the most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard.
Xavier sits across from me in a dimly lit corner of the library, where we’ve found a quiet spot in one of the little alcoves to set up our books and study together. Tilly’s got a shift on in the infirmary. She’s been busting her ass off lately, taking on extra shifts even though she doesn’t need to, especially not as a first year.
I felt terrible after ditching our elemental class yesterday as I never got to properly congratulate him on wielding for the first time.
‘I thought you were mad at me,’ he admits now with a worried glint in his eyes that I spot when I pull back and look up at him from my book.
‘No, Xav.Youwere brilliant. It’s me who I was angry with, but that has nothing to do with you. That’s my mess. I just needed some time to work through a few things.’
‘Did it help? Are you all right now?’ he asks, shifting on the faded brown library chair to look at me.
‘I’m okay. Really. It’syouwho we should be talking about though. You blew a damn branch off a tree!’ I didn’t tell him what Professor Fern said. That the crystals were fake. Even though I desperately want to. I want to shout from the rooftops that my friend is a freakingnatural at wielding. But I know Professor Fern will tell him when the time is right.
‘It wasn’t that big a branch,’ he replies a little sheepishly, his cheekbones deepening to the colour of a rose.
‘Please. Three years of training at ValAc and you’ll be one of the best here.’
‘Speaking of, I was pulled into the headmaster’s office this morning. He heard about what happened and he’s offered to mentor me for a few weeks.’
‘Oh … wow, Xav. That’s huge.’And terrifying.‘Did you accept his offer?’
‘I did. It’d be nice to use my element again without breaking anything.’
There’s a light in his eyes that I haven’t seen before when talking about his magic. I don’t want to tarnish his excitement by overshadowing it with my concerns, so I keep my lips sealed and say I’m happy for him. At leastoneof us is improving.
My eyes drop to the next passage of the book I’m reading, but since Xavier brought up Headmaster Zain, all I can think about is Agate’s library on the other side of this one.
Xavier is nose-deep in his own book opposite me, all quiet and studious while I struggle to focus. It isn’t until he drops the pencil that he’s been tapping against his book rhythmically that I look up at him. It rolls off the table with a clink and hits the floor. Then proceeds to roll beneath a dusty looking shelf.
We both turn to the shadowy grove it slid beneath.
‘Well, it’s the spider’s pencil now,’ he says.
‘It could be,oryou could just get it out.’
‘I’m not sticking my hand under there. I might not get it back!’
‘You’re so dramatic,’ I laugh, handing over my pencil for him to tap instead. We study for another ten or so minutes until I can’t force myself to stare at the pages any longer.
‘All right, what’s eating at you?’ Xavier asks, popping my pencil behind his ear. ‘I can practically hear your teeth grinding together.’
I sigh and close my book, using it to lean my forearms on. ‘I keep thinking about the Imber Stellarum celebration.’
He nods. ‘What about it?’
‘We need to make a better plan. I don’t think the three of us going down there is a good idea,’ I say. In fact, the more I think about it the more I don’t wanteitherof them going down there with me, in fear of landing them in the crossfire if we get caught.
‘Okay, so, what do you propose?’
‘I think you and Tilly need to stay up top and keep a look out. If you give me directions I should be able to get down there myself. That way if anyone were to come into Agate, you can distract them while Tilly runs down to warn me to get out of there.’
His lips purse. ‘I don’t like the idea of you being down there alone. Plus, I thought we agreed that if we were all down there, we could sift through the shelves quicker and then get out.’
‘I know. But it’s easier to hideoneperson than it is to hide three. Especially when one of them is agiant!’ I make a point to lean sideways and look at his long legs that are stretched over onto my side beneath the table.
