17. Midnight
Midnight
I t’s late by the time Lex, Bastien and I approach House Inferos.
Bastien’s leg was dealt with by the medical staff before they’d let us come to our new digs.
They bandaged him and gave him some anti-necrotic salve, which seemed to do the trick.
He’ll be sore for a couple of weeks, but the puncture wounds will heal.
Images of Lucy’s unconscious body in Professor Ironheart’s arms roll through my mind.
Even when I try and focus on the campus buildings and the map, I can’t seem to scrub the visions from my mind.
I’m not sure if it was the way her head hung limp in the crook of his elbow, or the revelation that she’s Ignatius’s daughter that’s thrown me.
As we traipse towards House Inferos, it’s all I can think about: Lucy is the soul I’m meant to reap. This deal with the campus was meant to be the easy way out, the soul I reap without breaking a sweat.
But now I feel…
I don’t know, something?
What’s worse is that I feel something about the fact I feel something.
And honestly, I can’t cope with any of that.
The three of us draw to a stop as we gain our first view of House Inferos. It stands, regal and Gothic, all black and stone and glass. Our home for as long as we survive.
Perhaps my last home—another thing I’ll try not to think too deeply about.
The main facade is narrow but juts high into the sky with spires piercing the clouds. The mansion extends out on either side and then cuts towards us, making a horseshoe-shaped building. The outer wings are for the students, no doubt.
Long, pupil-like windows stare down at us—a constant reminder that the campus is always watching. The same campus I made a deal with, and the itch along my spine tells me it’s not going to forget.
My parent’s images flash in the window. One minute smiling, the next, pale, gaunt and dead. I slam my hand over my face, trying to wipe the image away. When I glance back it’s gone. Nothing but glass and the reflection of the ground. Did I imagine it?
Yeah. It’s not going to forget.
The mansion is beautiful, though. Autumnal ivy clings to the exterior and crimson and copper leaves bleed down the stone walls. The door stands in a lavish archway with a gargoyle nestled against it, sleeping.
Wind hums and throbs around us, sounding eerily like the campus has a heartbeat.
Midnight, Midnight, Midnight.
That voice.
A whisper.
A scream.
I scan the area, searching for the source. But my name is nothing but a thread on the breeze, like I’m sewn into the fabric of the campus itself. I suppose, we all are after the Severance ceremony.
The sensation of being watched crawls under my skin and settles against my bones. It’s no longer just Ignatius I owe something to. It’s Finis too.
Lex and Bastien share a look.
“Everything okay?” Lex asks.
I nod, because I can’t seem to get a lie out of my mouth, and I’m not sure confessing I made a deal three minutes into being here is the smartest overshare.
She narrows her gaze at me. “If the answer is no, that’s okay, too. You don’t have to pretend with us.”
Her words make my teeth ache, guilt furring my tongue until the words skitter out. “I… No, not really.”
Bastien offers me his arm. “Come on, let’s get inside and find our rooms. Today was a lot, and I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
I slide my hand over his arm, and while his gesture is a comfort, with his limp, I end up supporting him more than he does me.
It reminds me of their offer to support me to break my contract. I’ve never had help. I’ve always been on my own. After Aurelia… It’s not like I have any family left.
Their offer is lovely, but is it a distraction? People generally are. How much time can I afford to invest in developing friendships when I have to stay focused on winning the Demonic Favour?
I need to study as hard as I can and not get sidetracked by anything else. Not when I’m seemingly starting a mile behind every other student.
“Are you going to tell us what’s up?” Lex asks, stepping up to the porch.
“Umm. Yeah,” I say, brushing her off.
“She’s lying,” a weed-like voice says.
The gargoyle is awake and scowling at me. I notice a plaque beneath his feet; it’s worn and crumbling but I think it says Vetch.
“Hello to you, too. I’m Midnight.”
I tickle under his right ear. It’s rounded and plump, a stony earring hanging from it. He has stubby feet and clawed toes nestled under his chin. He purrs like a cat, only grittier. The more I tickle, the more his toes kick against the door like a kangaroo. It’s adorable.
“Gerr off,” he grumbles.
“Was it that girl outside the severance? The one that got into our House, what was her name?” Bastien says.
Lex smiles the way only an honours student can. “Aurelia.”
“She has nothing to do with this,” I say, too sharp, too quick for it to be true.
“Liar,” Vetch smirks.
I fire a vicious glare at him.
Bastien tugs on his ear. “Quite the character we have as our door goyle.”
Vetch narrows his stony eyes to slits. “Vetch will guess your secrets too, boy. Vetch is good at secrets.”
“Oh, do go on, this should be fun,” Bastien says, leaning against the porch pillar.
Vetch sticks his tongue out, slobbering over his lips, dusty stone drool floating to the ground.
“Boy is gay,” Vetch says.
Bastien snorts. “Bisexual, actually. So, no points for you.”
Vetch huffs, and both Lex and I glance at him.
“What?” He sticks a hip out in the most camp display I’ve ever seen. “Because I look like a jock, I can’t find men attractive? Shame on you pair of judgy bitches.”
That makes all three of us laugh.
Vetch grinds on his teeth. “Well, boy is holding a secret. Vetch can smell it.”
Bastien’s throat bobs. “Maybe that secret isn’t for you.”
He boinks him on the nose and shoves open the door, promptly shutting the goyle up, and together the three of us enter House Inferos.
The warmth of open fires and winter blankets and hot chocolate envelops us as we step through the doorway.
But that fucking voice ceaselessly calls my name.
Midnight. Midnight. Midnight.
I freeze. I swear the letters of my name skitter across the walls, but when I blink, it’s gone.
Will it plague me until I reap Lucy? Will I get no respite?
“You okay?” Lex says, touching my arm and making me jump.
“Umm, yeah.” I pull a hand through my hair and wipe my palm over my face.
“Convincing,” she says.
They stride further into the house, and I rest my fingers against the wall. Maybe I’m losing it, but I don’t know any other way to communicate with the campus.
I lower my voice to a whisper. “We made our deal. I told you I’ll reap Ignatius’s daughter. You don’t need to remind me. I’m not even in my room yet, for demon’s sake. It’s not like I’ve forgotten.”
The wall pulses under my touch. Or maybe it was the vibration from Bastien closing the door.
I need to get a grip. I’m imagining the fucking campus talking to me? I’ve been here a day, I can’t lose it yet.
Our foyer walls are a deep red, the colour of aged blood. A silvery filigree pattern of lace and spears and abstract moths adorn both the fabricked walls and the tasselled black velvet curtains framing tall windows.
Large lanterns perch in sconces, their flames flickering and sending ember glows and that homely winter warmth around the foyer. A grand staircase sits at the heart of the space, split to allow passage to those dormitory wings.
“Close your eyes,” Bastien says. “Can you feel that?”
My eyelids fall shut and I breathe slow and steady, letting my senses stretch and sing.
There’s a heartbeat here, a thick drumbeat that reverberates around me, inside me.
It sounds like sugar and waterfalls. It smells like bonfires and coffee, and it tingles over my skin like a femme’s freshly manicured nails.
Fuck. It’s addictive. It’s power. And now it’s home.
“That’s our magic,” Lex says, then abruptly jumps into a stride across the foyer. “Our rooms.”
“How do you know where to go?” I ask.
“I don’t know, I just do. Don’t you feel it?”
“Actually, yeah,” Bastien answers and strides after her. Then I feel the tugging too. I follow after them up onto the first floor and down the corridor to an apartment door.
I’m the last one in. Lex and Bastien have halted in the hallway.
It’s not until I shove my way past that my blood runs cold.
“No. Absolutely not,” I say.
“I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t even know you were applying to the Academy,” Aurelia answers.
“I don’t give a fuck. TAKE A DIFFERENT FLOOR,” I shout and shove forward.
Bastien’s enormous arms are around me, yanking me back away from her.
“Get off me, Bastien. She’s not staying on the same floor as us.”
Aurelia rolls her eyes at me, as if I’m the dramatic one.
“I didn’t choose this, Midnight. Do you really think I’d have asked to be on your floor? Or even in the same House? I am here to study.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you’re here for. As long as you’re doing it as far the fuck away from me as possible.”
She shakes her head. “You’re not the only one with dreams, you know.”
I guffaw. “You gave up your dreams, don’t fucking forget that. The only reason you have a dream now is because I sold my soul for you.”
Bastien’s arms go slack. “What?” he says, releasing me.
“Yeah. She’s the fucking reason I’m here.”
That hangs in the air, pungent and acrid like the festering rot of a decomposing carcass.
Bastien steps in front of me and points to the floor below. “Go speak to security, Aurelia.”
Her shoulders slump but thankfully, she disappears downstairs leaving Bastien, Lex and I alone.
The pair of them stand there, expectant.
“You don’t get to make a statement like that without telling us what happened,” Lex says.
She opens one of the room doors and pulls Bastien and I inside. Her suitcase is already in there. I’m not sure I’m even surprised. The magic seems to run thick through the walls and halls of the campus.