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Laila strides away,and I have to jog to catch up, which makes me feel like a little dog she’s taking for a walk. I gaze up at Dracul Castle, watching the way the clouds hover above the great turrets of the towers. Somewhere high up in one of those towers is Morrigan Veil.Maybe she’s watching me now—the leader of the necromancers and, in a way, my queen.
Maybe Morrigan would help me with Cyrus. After all, she did talk about living a morally grey life. I just don’t know what that means. If it involves wiping out a circle of auras like Alaric, then I don’t want any part of that.
I turn back to the sea for a moment, to where my mother must be, somewhere. She mentioned the toll Alaric’s actions took on our family, eventually inspiring the Belvederes to leave the aura community. I don’t have that luxury. I have to be here, and I have to train as a Guardian.
Maybe one day, I will be forced to take my place on the council, and I’ll become a leader myself at some point during my long life. So when am I planning to tell my peers that I resurrected a vampire?
What a mess.
We follow the rest of the students into school, and Laila glances at me. “You look stressed,” she notes.
“That’s because I am. Because of the Care Bears, remember?”
“Shhh.” She holds up a finger. Her eyes dart around the hall. “Do you think I want everyone knowing about that?”
“Literally no one is listening,” I say, but I don’t mention the teddy bears again as we make our way back to our room.
I smile at my roomie. I’ve told her all about Cyrus, but meeting him is the next step. It takes me closer to actually dealing with the problem. I guess my gran was right when she said a problem shared is a problem halved.
“You know, once you’ve met Cyrus, you’re in on this too,” I tell her. “There’s no going back or denying it. You’re just as far up shit’s creek as I am.”
Laila holds the door open for me and heads straight over to her bed. She kneels down and pulls out a box of teddy bears.
“Aw, cute!” I say, picking one up. “I had one like this too. With the grapes on the tummy.”
Laila smiles slightly, and her eyes light up. “When I was a kid, I had a lot of anxiety problems. Imran used to tease me about it. He’d jump out from behind things and make creepy noises in the dark because he knew he’d get a big reaction. I know it’s lame, but the teddies always helped me be stronger.”
“I get it,” I say, passing the teddy back to Laila. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I get anxious too. It’s why I talk too much sometimes.”
“Yeah, you do that quite a lot.”
“Annoying, right? My stepsiblings say the same thing. When they actually hang out with me, that is.”
“Divorce must be hard. Especially when you and your mum fell out.”
“It’s pretty shitty. All that change and moving around. Then having to get used to these people coming into your life. Stepmothers and boyfriends who don’t last and new siblings. It’s weird, but there can be good moments too.”
Laila gathers up her bears and places them back under the bed. “What did you think I had under there?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Some sort of sacrifice to Satan or a spellbook that opens a portal to hell or something.”
Laila laughs so hard she chokes. “What’s with your hell preoccupation? When has anyone talked about hell here?”
“I dunno.” I shrug.
“You’re still thinking of things in terms of the Christian religion. Things are different here. Our magic isn’t like a religion. It’s a culture, and it’s not evil.”
“Okay, not evil. Got it. Just a few blood-magic rituals and whatnot.”
She shakes her head. “What makes you think blood is evil? It’s just a part of us. Like hair or skin. We use it because it’s connected to life. As a necromancer, you really should know that.”
“Well, I think we’ve established that I’m not the best necromancer.”
Laila raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know. You did awaken a long-dead vampire.”
We sneak out of our room after dark, when no one but the rats is out scuttling along the tunnel. Laila’s eyes are wide the entire time we walk along the candle-lit corridor. I haven’t seen her this excited since we attended the blood-magic class.
But her lips are tight and pulled thin. Her eyes dart around her. She’s scared, too, and I’m positive the implications of what I’ve done are hitting her as hard as they’ve hit me.
