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The knowledge was freeing. I felt exhilarated. Lawless.
I’d faced a monster, and the monster lost.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“So we navigate by the stars?” I stared up at the sky, mentally Spreparing myself for the long hike. I felt oddly serene. I preparing myself for the long hike. I felt oddly serene. I hoped it wasn’t shock.
The kill had intensified my purpose. I was focused, in the moment, and crystal clear about what needed to be done.
Emma was already walking ahead. “Not exact enough. We navigate by that. ” She pointed to one of the only lights visible in the overcast sky. “The North Star. ”
“Oh. Of course. ” I stared up at it for a moment, then ran to catch up.
I let her lead, and asked the occasional question about which path she was choosing and why. It seemed she might have as much to teach me as some of the vampires. I wondered if she also knew how to track game. Or people.
Without the blazing fire and scent of roasting meat, we didn’t attract any other creatures that night. I was relieved, but knew some strange flicker of disappointment, too. I felt amped, my muscles tensed and ready for action. I had to wonder what was wrong with me.
We made it back to the dorms much faster than I’d expected. It was still full dark, and with the blanket of fresh snow, silent as the grave.
Masha scowled as she opened the door for us. I wondered whether she was actually bummed we’d made it back alive, or if she looked that dour for every occasion. Had she hoped that, right about then, we’d be something’s midnight snack?
“The first to return,” she announced as we came to the second-floor hall. A cluster of Initiates were gathered on the couches, waiting.
The first to return. We were the only ones who’d made it back so far. I bit my cheeks to keep from smiling. I’d show these Initiates I could be as stoic as they were.
Redheaded Trinity glared at us. Unflinching, I met her eyes. Never before had I let my gaze linger on her for so long. Her eyebrows and lashes were the palest shade of orange, making her dark eyes pop from her face. They were chocolate brown, and full of menace and hate. “Nothing found you?” She sounded skeptical and annoyed.
I stood tall, my chin up, even though all I wanted to do was collapse into my bed. Emma was a quiet presence at my shoulder. I’d relied on her in the wilderness, and she was relying on me now.
“Something found us. We killed it. ” I was proud of the matter-of-fact tone I’d managed, when what I really wanted to do was squee and jump up and down, telling everyone in great, dramatic detail all that’d come to pass.
“Truly?” Masha feigned a patient smile. I wondered if she thought she’d caught us in a lie. “What did this . . . thing look like?”
I met her eyes and refused to let myself look away. “It was human-shaped. With black skin, like a rotted corpse. Its eyes seemed to glow red. ”
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I’d spent much time considering those eyes on our hike back. Vampires had the same basic body parts as the humans they’d once been, and our monster had struck me as a vampire that’d somehow gone wrong.
The Initiates still glared at us, and, feeling I had something to prove, I busted out the academic speak. “Though if the thing really had been a person once, I don’t know how glowing eyes would be possible, biologically speaking. They were luminous, reflecting ambient light in the darkness, like a cat’s might. ”
“It was a Draug,” Amanda said.
It was a relief to hear my Proctor, a relatively friendly voice. I hadn’t seen her leaning against the far wall.
My smile flickered at the sight of her, but I forced my face back to stone. “Whatever it was, it didn’t seem . . . rational. It was frenzied, seeming to operate without reason. ” I thought of the closest counterpart in my experience. “It acted like an angry gator. ”
Amanda nodded. “Draug are barely sentient. They are id. ”
I felt Emma shift. I doubted the concepts of ego and id were ones she and gramps had explored on the old homestead. I clarified for her benefit, but subtly. “So they act without thought,” I said, rephrasing. “On pure impulse. Instinct. ”
“That’s the way, dolly. They’re hungry; they eat. ” The other Initiates frowned at Amanda as she spoke. I suspected they’d rather we be kept in the dark. “You’re lucky it didn’t eat you. ”
“It wasn’t luck,” Emma said, her voice uncharacteristically bold. “I had my knife. We fought it. Drew killed it. ”
A faint ripple of movement washed across the room as Initiates parsed this information. Her delivery seemed like it might’ve been disrespectful. But she’d simply spoken factually and without emotion. If they wanted something to reprimand, they weren’t going to find it in Emma.
“Acari Drew took it down, eh?” Masha stared at me.
