The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

Minnelil was resting her chin on her palm, gazing out into the snow whipping in the wind.

“Sure. We can talk,” I said, sitting down next to her. “But how long will those people sleep? Should we go somewhere else?”

“I don’t think this will take that long.”

I leaned over to look at her face. Her eyes glistened and her lips were pressed together tightly. “Hey, look. Maybe I overreacted, but no one got hurt. Right? Frederik will handle it once he wakes up.”

“You don’t get it,” Minnelil said. “I depend on those people.”

I waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. My stomach wouldn’t stop dropping. “What do you mean?” I finally asked.

She sighed. “They would have paid me well and I need the money to pay for my tuition. Earning enough takes a lot of effort. So much that I can’t focus on my studies as much as I would like to. Have you never considered why I’m still here?”

“I didn’t know you were still here,” I muttered. I leaned my palms on my knees, pressing hard. “I mean, I don’t know how long you’ve been here.”

“You know nothing of me. And I know nothing of you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Minnelil, look, stop,” I said. My throat was still sore, ragged from coughing up the black stuff, but that wasn’t what caused my voice to catch. “I shouldn’t have, but I’ll fix it. One way or another.”

“Not another,” she said, scoffing. “Please.”

I grinned. “I wouldn’t have killed anyone.”

She glanced at me, sniffing and wiping her face with her sleeve. “I wonder.”

I blinked and turned to watch the swirling snow that she had looked at earlier. “Do you really?” I asked quietly.

Her hand moved and I wondered if she would touch me. “Maybe. I said I don’t know anything about you. That has to change.”

A month ago that would have sounded like a threat to me. Now my cheeks warmed and I pushed a hand into my hair to scratch at my scalp, which would start itching any moment. “I’ll tell you. I meant it when I said I’d fix it. This. You know?”

“I hope so. I actually do.”

She sounded lost. How old was a 128-year-old elf, anyway? The thought made no sense, so I stopped thinking about it. “You do?”

She turned to look at me and now she did reach for my hand. She held it lightly and her skin was warm and soft. “I just said I did.”

I smiled, but she shivered, rubbing my knuckles with her fingers.

“Ugh, your skin feels like parchment. You need to stop doing that.”

I put my other hand on top of hers. “I went too far. I’ll make it up to you. I owe you another one.”

“Stop keeping count. Want to go see if we can still catch lunch?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. Maybe one day I would stop keeping count, but only after I’d paid back what I owed so far. Maybe I didn’t need to say that part out loud.

She rose and let me pull myself up by her hand.

Standing made my lungs ache. I pressed a hand to my chest and glanced at the door. The three guys must still be sleeping inside, as no one had barged out shouting. They’d miss lunch, heh. “Wait!” I said. “What did you do in there? You did it once earlier as well!”

“You mean the vocal rune? I can explain it to you over lunch.”

“No way, someone’s going to interrupt us for sure. Tell me now.”

“You’re so demanding,” she said in a low voice, leaning her head against mine, her lips brushing my hair. Her breath was warm and smelled like her. “Runes don’t always have to be drawn. With the right technique, some can also be—”

I wrapped my arm around her head, hand landing on her neck. I pulled her ear down to my mouth. “We could also skip lunch,” I whispered.

“No! There’s potatoes from Böndelheim with butter!” she shouted, wriggling in my grasp. “Down, human!”

I chuckled, letting her go.

Her face was bright red and she blew a raspberry. Avoiding my gaze, she straightened her robe, swiping it with her hands. “We’re not even done talking.”

“We could be for just a mo—”

She pressed a finger on my lips. “Shh, I haven’t eaten anything in a day.”

I snapped at her finger and she yelped, turning around and running up the stairs. I chuckled and started after her. This wasn’t over, but watching her go up the stairs before me was distraction enough for now.

“Normally, I don’t,” Minnelil said. “But the ones coming from Böndelheim are special. You can taste someone loved them.”

“That has to be bogus. Right?” Fek asked, looking to me.

I shrugged. “How would I know? I have to hurry. I want to get this to Grit before all the taste is gone.”

“It’s nice you’re bringing her lunch,” Minnelil said. “You really should hurry.”

“Of course,” I said. She had brought me lunch back in the beginning. I wasn’t sure if I was paying her back or if it was just a decent thing to do, but maybe it could be both.

They waved at me as I started down the stairs, three steps at a time. I smelled the air, searching for any hint that the thing in the mountain was testing the wards. There was nothing. It didn’t make me feel any better.

The workshop would continue in an hour. I had some time for myself, which I should probably spend trying to make amends. How would I even start? Should I have grabbed lunch for Frederik and the two goons too? That would be taking it too far, and prying so much food off the skeletons would have been difficult.

Grit was still asleep when I got in. She twitched and murmured as the door opened and the pressure leaked in from outside. I kicked the door shut behind me and put down the food on the table.

The skeletons didn’t want to let go of the food, but once I’d gotten the plate, another skeleton brought me a tray and a dome to put on top of it. Maybe there was a protocol for getting lunch to go, but I hadn’t stopped to find out.

I lifted the dome and sniffed. It still smelled decent, earthy and thick. The stew itself was mostly cream, with chunks of potatoes and other vegetables mixed in. Beads of grease floated on top.

I sat on my bed, chin in my hands. What next? I had my own workshop to finish. The cat would hopefully be easier to reanimate than a real human skeleton. I wasn’t sure the skeletons actually were real, though. They were all so similar. It seemed impossible. Looking at them march past in the corridor had made me feel like I was going insane, stuck in a loop of some kind. I shook my head. Getting distracted before I’d even started figuring this out wouldn’t do.

I had an hour before the workshop continued. I could try to find Frederik and ask him what to do. That was a coward’s idea. Facing Fahn himself would be better. He was another bully, another entitled, lecherous asshole. I would apologize and lean on him, until he crumbled. The way he had looked at Minnelil, lifting an eyebrow at the way her robe clung to her waist, made my jaw tense.

Maybe I shouldn’t face him after all.

I had wrenched on the Null too hard, too soon after the last time. My lungs felt raw and my voice had cracked when I tried to raise it to speak over the noise in the Lunch Hall. I stifled a cough so as not to wake Grit. If Fahn got me angry again or tried something, I might kill him or myself.

Besides, Minnelil needed him. Maybe I could go to the Bursar instead? Could Minnelil work for her?

I sighed, rubbing my face. We had to talk, she had said. We had talked through lunch, about skeletons and the reanimation matrix, but I didn’t think that counted. At least we were both busy for now. The way her hair had smelled, pressed up against my mouth…

I would get nothing done like this. I would sit here, clenching and unclenching my fists until it was time to go to the workshop, and I would be even more confused and angry and worried than I had been when I sat down. This wasn’t me. I wanted to punch something, but what? Maybe I could find Jextor and punch him? He wouldn’t mind.

A knock came from the door. I twitched, startled, but thankful for the distraction.

“Wait,” I called quietly.

Grit rolled over in her bed.

The knock came again.