Page 43 of The Academy of Blood & Shadow

"You learn to irritate them." I add.

"I don't think that's the official lesson."

"It should be." Her laugh is soft. Real. Then we return to our work.

The evening before the Trial, first-years are ordered back to their residences before the final bell. Not curfew. Rest. The distinction somehow makes everyone more anxious. No one rests.

In our room, Rowan repacks her permitted items six times. One water flask. One outer layer. Nothing else. She attempts to hide dried meat inside the lining of her coat. The bracelet tightens before she reaches the door. She removes it.

"I was testing the rules."

Selena folds her cloak. "The rules passed."

Aricia sits at her desk examining the silver number glowing across her band. "What do you think identifies us?" She asks.

"The bracelets," Rowan says.

Aricia looks at her. "I meant what part of us."

Silence. The question is unsettling enough that Rowan stops packing.

Aricia continues. "Location?"

I consider it. "Probably."

"Vital signs?" Selena looks toward her own bracelet. "Possibly." Silence.

"Magic?" Nyra stands in the open doorway.

Her pale hair is loose around her shoulders, almost luminous beneath the corridor lamps. She has come to wish us goodnight. Or to avoid her own roommates. Perhaps both.

Aricia touches the bracelet lightly. "It reacted to tampering before the material was damaged."

Rowan sits on her bed. "So it reads intention?"

"That would be complicated magic." I answer.

"This is Varethia." Nyra says.