Page 18 of Bone Year

Lux slows then turns her head toward me, studying me. “No. I mean Ashwell.”

I frown. “The building?”

“This place is alive,” she says quietly. “The walls, the floors, the towers. They’re threaded with current from the core.”

“Current,” I repeat. My brow lifts.

She reaches out and gently tugs my sleeve, stopping us near one of the arched windows. “Yes, magic and current are basically the same thing. People use them interchangeably, but professors always say current.”

“Why?”

“Because magic makes it sound…mystical, like a trick.” Her mouth quirks. “Current sounds more honest.”

I tilt my head. “How?”

She blows out a breath. “Do you know the three types of current?”

I shake my head.

“Okay,” she says, leaning against the window, her blue eyes focused on mine. “First is bloodline current. Think instinct. It’s tied to species and expressed naturally. I’m fae, so I have fae abilities. Demons have theirs. Vampires, angels, shifters, mages etcetera. Every bloodline has its own way of interacting with the current.”

That tracks. I picture Elizabeth’s bat dissolving into mist, Jace’s wings, the demon’s slit pupils. “So it’s something you’re born able to do.”

“Exactly.”

“And the second type?”

“Structured current. Learned magic includes alchemy, runes, sigils, and spoken spells. It’s built, not instinctive.”

“So Ashwell teaches medicine and structured magic on top of whatever someone already has.”

Lux nods. “That’s the idea.”

We start walking again, the sounds of voices echoing in the distance.

“And the third?” I ask.

“Core-driven current.”

The way she says it is different, quieter like it’s something to fear.

“What does that mean?”

“It means the magic doesn’t come from the world,” she says. “It comes from the caster, from the soul itself.”

I try to wrap my head around that. “How is that different from bloodline magic?”

She presses her lips together, thinking. “Okay, imagine current is a massive underground river running beneath everything. Bloodline users open channels to that river and let it flow through them. Core-driven casters are the spring, the source. They generate it.”

A chill moves through me that has nothing to do with the temperature. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It is,” she says then shrugs. “But it’s also powerful.”

She snickers, “We’ll get the official version in class. Professors explain it better than I ever could.”

“No, I appreciate you telling me,” I say. “I grew up in a tiny village. Most of what I know about magic comes from stories and rumors.”

Her expression softens. “Yeah, you’re starting on hard mode.”