Page 70 of The Prince of Demons

When Cordelia and I walked from Pills & Potions to Daggers & Dynamite, gossiping about the latest House scandal, a flash of white-blonde burst out of the shrubs.

Aubrey sprinted to me, eyes fixed on my wrists.

Where my shadows were spreading, thriving. In broad daylight. Not into beautiful, elegant bangles but into grotesque, ominous shackles.

Shackles, which are growing in visibility by the second. Shackles that would get me discovered. Shackles that lead straight home with nothing but my mother for company—

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

They faded.

Like downing a fire, they extinguished into nothing.

Aubrey glanced around, determined no other students saw, then beckoned me away.

We followed her into a meadow beyond the bushes, ignoring the chatter and laughter around me. I was numb. Emotionless. In control.

We passed deep into the edge of campus, where only truly bored students ever roamed.

She examined my wrists, turning them over in her delicate hands.

“I can explain,” I said anxiously.

“No need,” she said gently. “I have secrets too.”

“Like what?”

Her and Cordelia shared a look. A glance that conveyed this secret was among us three instead of whatever was going on between the two. I’d pry into that relationship later.

“Make sure you keep these under control,” Aubrey said. Her voice sounded wary. She assessed me—the clean outfit, the fake confidence, the pleasant smile.

“Sometimes, when you try to hide too much of who you are, it backfires.”

* * *

Waitingin the thicket of the Whispering Woods, I hoped my attempt at reconciliation would work.

Like a schoolgirl, I’d tossed a note into the very mirror I stumbled out of recently.

It did not toss a note back.

The flap of wings instead caught my attention.

“Samjoko.” I bowed, displaying deference to the sun god before me. “I am honored to be in your presence.”

When I rose, the three-legged crow only blinked.

I held out an offering. “Do you like red bean cakes? Gaksi does, so I thought I would provide them as a blessing to you.”

The crow swept forward, took the cake in one claw, and balanced on the other two to eat it in the branch above.

“Would you be so kind as to contact the Reaper for me? I wish to speak with him.”

“Always an ulterior motive with you,” Reaper said immediately. Like he’d been waiting all along. He stepped out of the tree to catch the crow on his arm. She nestled into his chest, munching away.

“What caused you to summon me, seraphim?”

“Gaksi says you can teach me how to control my shadows.”

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