THEY TROOPED OUT OF the room in silence, leaving Scipio to recover on his own. Prince Harold threw some wyrdlights over his shoulder on the way out, allowing Arcturus to catch a glimpse of Scipio embracing Kali with tightly closed eyes. He understood the feeling—if Sacharissa had almost been lost to the ether, he would likely be in tears.
It seemed incredible to Arcturus that the students would be exposed to such danger, especially in their first lesson. Would it be like this every day? He dreaded to think of a time when he would have to send Sacharissa into the ether.
Yet, even as the thought crossed his mind, he could hear the other students talking excitedly about their near miss. Perhaps this was not so normal after all.
“So, dog breath. Are you off to hide in your room, like you did yesterday?” Charles asked, stepping in front of Arcturus. Rook and Zacharias crowded close to him, but he ignored them and met Charles’s gaze with as much confidence as he could muster.
“I wasn’t hiding,” he replied, lifting his chin. “But you don’t seem to enjoy my company, so I chose to avoid yours. Maybe you’re scared of me.”
“We’re of different stock, you and I. A mongrel and a thoroughbred. Yokel and blue blood. Pig swill and upper crust. It wouldn’t do for us to mix,” Charles sneered.
Arcturus resisted the urge to punch the boy in his smug face, which was just as well, for Sacharissa’s chest was rumbling with a deep growl.
“Oh, leave the boy alone,” Prince Harold called out in a bored voice. “Zacharias, don’t you have better things to do? Edmund and I are going to Corcillum. Will you join us?”
Zacharias dug his elbow into Arcturus’s ribs before following the prince and Edmund through the atrium’s entrance doors. The others were already making their way up the stairs, except for Elaine, who was watching their exchange with open curiosity.
“Not invited?” Arcturus asked innocently, noting Charles’s disappointed look.
“Shut up,” Charles hissed, shoving a finger in Arcturus’s face. “The prince likes me well enough. Zach and Edmund are his childhood friends, just like my father and the king were. If I were a bit older and didn’t live so far north, things would be different.”
“Sounds like I hit a nerve,” Arcturus said, goading the boy. It wouldn’t help matters, but Charles already hated him and it felt so good.
“I’ll hit you in a minute,” Rook snarled, grasping Arcturus by the collar and raising his fist. A warning bark from Sacharissa was enough to stop him going any further.
“Don’t worry, Rook. This is my fight,” Charles grunted, laying a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Yeah, tell your lapdog to stand down,” Arcturus said, smiling at Rook. The boy’s face reddened with anger, but he obeyed Faversham without question, releasing the collar and stepping back.
“How about it, Arcturus? Just you and me. We can meet right there, in the summoning room. Nobody will hear us.”
Arcturus knew he was being baited, but he could feel Sacharissa’s eagerness to fight fueling his own. He remembered Charles’s new demon was the Faversham family’s second choice, an Arach … whatever that was. Surely Sacharissa was more powerful? And it was Charles’s first year at Vocans too. He had only just had his first lesson at performing battle spells, so it was unlikely he would be able to do one yet. They would be evenly matched.
“What time?” Arcturus asked, clenching his fists.
“When the second bell rings, open the summoning room door,” Charles said, banging him in the shoulder as he and Rook walked away. “Don’t be late. Again.”
*
Arcturus waited a few minutes before he followed them up the stairs. He would have liked to go sooner but Elaine took what felt like an age to leave, lounging around the atrium until he pretended to head to the washroom. He wondered if she had heard what they were discussing. Though … what difference would it make if she had?
As he trudged up the stairs, Arcturus wondered if he was doing the right thing. At the workhouse, he would never back down, or else the older boys would steal his food. He had to goad his bullies into a fight, and make sure he blacked their eyes, even if he lost. That way, his tormentors would think twice about attempting it again—he was not an easy target.
Arcturus didn’t need to keep Charles and Rook within sight, so he hung back when he made them out in the gloom ahead. After all, he already knew where Charles’s bedroom was. It didn’t take long for him to arrive outside the door. Sure enough, he could hear muffled voices behind it. Too muffled.
He tutted with frustration and pressed his ear against the wood, but still the voices were indistinct. He hadn’t anticipated that. There was always the possibility that Charles would cheat. That maybe Rook would come at him from behind as soon as he stepped into the room. Maybe they would simply attack him together. If that was the case, there was a good chance they would be discussing it at that very moment.
Sacharissa nosed under the door, as if she could smell the plush carpet she had enjoyed just two days ago.
“I wonder if you can hear what they’re saying,” Arcturus murmured. “You seem to understand me well enough.”
She licked his hand, then cocked her head to one side. Arcturus knew she didn’t really understand him, but simply sensed his intentions. Still, her snuffling had given him an idea.
“Look at me, Sacha,” Arcturus instructed, lifting her head with his hand. He stared deep into her eyes, trying to catch that brief moment they had shared in the corridor. In the dim torchlight of the corridor, her eyes shone like shards of blue ice, never wavering from his own.
The world started to shift, the blue becoming a cold gray, the flickering orange replaced by pale shadows. He could smell the oil in the lamps, suddenly bitter and pungent in his nostrils. Most importantly, the voices in the other room came through clear as day, as if he were standing right beside the boys.
“… he will find out soon enough. We need to get rid of the evidence, or all will be lost. My father has spent years currying favor with the king. Never has our future been so threatened.”
It was Charles, his voice low and rapid. Arcturus could even hear his panicked breathing.
“Are there others?” Rook asked.
“How should I know? There might be!” Charles snapped.
“What good will it do, then, if there are others?”
“They won’t know where to look for them … yet. My father has already taken care of the innkeeper and his wife—they were the only others who knew where the urchin came from, before he was a stable boy. Father sent word that Provost Forsyth will return tomorrow, to interrogate the boy. We cannot let that happen. A few words from him and all might be lost.”
Stable boy? They had to be talking about him. As he tried to make sense of it all, Arcturus’s concentration slipped and the world turned colorful again. He gritted his teeth and grasped Sacharissa’s head in his hands, forcing the connection. He had to know more.
“… tonight. I’ll tell dog breath what he is before we begin. I want to see the look on his face,” Charles snarled, followed by the sound of cracking knuckles.
“There’s a chance he might win, you know that, right?” Rook warned. “Your demon is the same level as his and neither of you can cast any spells.”
Charles laughed scornfully. “Don’t you worry about that. The battle we witnessed today has given me an ide—”
Sacharissa whimpered. Arcturus realized he was gripping her head, his fingers tightening like a vise as he concentrated on the connection. He could suddenly feel her pain, fierce pulses of agony that she had borne stoically.
“What was that?” Rook hissed. There was the sound of feet thudding to the ground.
Arcturus released Sacharissa and they sprinted away, dodging around the corner just in time. The door slammed open, the bang echoing down the corridor.
“Nobody here,” Rook grunted.
“Well, close the door, it’s freezing out there,” Charles called.
The door closed and Arcturus breathed easy once more. He let himself slide down the wall, until he was sitting on the cold paving of the floor.
“I’m so sorry, my darling,” Arcturus whispered, gently stroking Sacharissa’s back. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”