Chapter 29 Old Friends
Old Friends
Idon’t think I’d ever seen him smile so much.
He inhaled a breath of sticky, candy-smelling air, and practically grinned when he glanced back at me, right before he pulled a leather coin-purse out of the pocket of his coat and stepped into line at the hot spiced chocolate stand in the middle of Academy Square.
For the first time in a while, it struck me that he’d been locked inside Malcroix Bones Academy a lot longer than I had been, and had enjoyed very little freedom even apart from that.
It also hit me that he had money now, as in actual physical gold, something he’d told me he wasn’t allowed to carry prior to his father’s imprisonment.
Malefic had various accounts he kept, scattered across different businesses and in different areas of London and Bonescastle, which allowed Bones to order things he needed, like shoes, coats, books, and so forth.
That’s how Bones “purchased” a tea that morning in the Black Fox Teahouse, when I first set eyes on him.
He’d been playing that slight-of-hand since he’d first attended boarding school as a child.
Every shop owner where his father had an account knew Caelum’s face.
He’d also gotten good at conjuring fake coins to cover for that, in case anyone might be watching. I honestly couldn’t remember if I’d seen him pay the barista that day or not.
I did know every single purchase he made got reported to his father.
“You want one?” he asked me, still smiling.
It made him look younger somehow, or maybe just less hardened.
I smiled back, then held up my coffee, reminding him that Luc had just brought me one a few minutes earlier. He’d likely gotten it at the same Black Fox Teahouse I’d just been thinking about; they still made my favorite espresso drinks in Bonescastle.
Bones scoffed, letting me know he clearly thought his offer was better.
Nyx bounced up to us while we were still standing in line.
“Al––Loki’s got fireworks,” she blurted, correcting herself into using Alaric’s fake name.
“He’s also got other recreational fun for the rest of us to share later.
” She lifted her eyebrows suggestively, and I guessed she must mean alcohol, or, more likely, quasi-legal, mind-altering potions.
“Oh. And he ran into someone who recognized him,” Nyx added, quieter. “But it’s okay.”
Bones looked over.
His smile instantly faded, making me irrationally annoyed with Nyx.
Bones’s hand wrapped around my arm.
“What did you say?” he asked the other witch quietly.
“Someone knew him,” Nyx repeated. “But it’s fine. Really.”
Bones started to leave the line with me, and I could already feel his intention to take us both back to the Malcroix gate.
Nyx held up a hand and stepped into his path, stopping him.
“Hey, no. Calm down. It’s okay! I said it was okay!”
When Bones looked about to walk past her again, she stepped into his path a second time, and threw up a privacy bubble around the three of us.
“Listen to me,” she said, sounding frustrated.
She stared directly at Bones. “Our mutual friend Loki told me to tell you, specifically, to ‘absolutely not freak out.’” Nyx’s mouth twitched, but her eyes remained frustrated, and deathly serious.
“He says it’s an old friend of yours. And his.
Someone named Elsbeth Chelsea? He said she’s safe. ”
Bones froze.
“Elizabeth?” he asked. “Are you sure?”
Nyx nodded. “That’s the name they both gave me.
She recognized Loki’s magic, and helped him hide it better, so it would be less obvious to anyone who knew him.
” Nyx looked at me next. “She’s with Dervish Walker.
They seem to be a couple now. I really think it’s fine.
Honestly. They’re going to hang out with us for the rest of today, and, well, safety in numbers, right?
Having more of us not only makes it easier to protect one another, it’ll make us more likely to blend, not less. ”
I felt my shoulders slowly relax.
She was right.
When Bones looked at me, I saw his jaw clench.
Clearly, he thought I should be more alarmed about this.
Dervish is trustworthy, I thought at him, hoping he’d hear it and feel reassured.
I didn’t see a discernible difference in his face, nor feel any softening of his magic. I watched him think, watched his face grow more taut. When he looked down at me again, I could see that gold and green flame dancing visibly in his dark irises.
I nudged him with my arm. “Get the hot chocolate. We’ll head over there, then you can decide. It’s probably better if we don’t act like we’re in a hurry, whatever we end up doing. This is a holiday. We’re having fun. Remember?”
Bones let out a low snort.
I could almost read his thoughts behind it, despite the lack of words. I felt him go back and forth for a few seconds before he nodded slowly.
“Fine.” He looked directly at Nyx, and that coiling flame stood out sharply in his dark blue irises, alarming me a little.
“The instant anything looks off, I’m taking Leda out of here.
Alone, if I have to. That might end up meaning you and Luc have to figure out how to get Alaric back to Malcroix on your own. ”
Nyx only nodded, her eyes serious. “We know.”
Bonescastle, at least the part of it we’d seen since we’d walked to Academy Square from the school’s main gate, had completely transformed for the holiday.
Kiosks and booths lined the cobblestone streets.
Lights had been strung over all the trees, and all over the signs hanging in front of shops and restaurants.
The air above the park was filled with fluttering beings obviously made of magic that looked like butterflies and faeries.
The enormous monoceri fountain had been thawed by magic, the water altered to look like molten gold.
Red fire coiled around the monoceri statues, contributing to the overall color scheme, which seemed to be primarily gold and red everywhere, with occasional other colors, mostly blues and greens, thrown in for accents.
The snow had been melted from the grass, trees, flowers, and bushes of the park, as well. Kids ran around inside a bubble of warm air, some of them followed by pets as well as their glowing primals, which often winked in and out due to their age.
I didn’t see any pet dragons, like Alaric described, but I saw fluffy creatures that bounced or pranced or trotted alongside their owners.
Not all of them were dogs or cats, or anything I recognized.
I also saw colorful birds, lizards with long tails, jackrabbits with enormous, glowing ears, otters, squirrels, ravens, wolves, and a handful of goats.
The kiosks didn’t only sell food.
When Luc went to find coffee for me and him, Alaric mumbled something about “boom-booms for later,” and Nyx went to go look at the magical toys, and to look for a friend’s booth, since she knew someone selling potions.
Somewhere in that, Alaric ran into Dervish and this Elsbeth Chelsea witch.
Nyx opted to wait with us, partly so she could lead us back to where the others were, and partly because she decided she wanted a chocolate, too.
Ten or so minutes later, the three of us left the chocolate booth (which I realized only afterwards not only spiced but spiked their chocolate, specifically with whiskey, which explained some of Bones’s enthusiasm).
Nyx walked in front of me and Bones, leading us south through the square, in the opposite direction of Malcroix’s main gate.
I watched a group of kids tear across the lawn, gripping the strings of kites. The kites snapped and chased one another through the air, trying to bite off one another’s wings, and to chew through the strings attached to the children’s hands and wrists.
We passed another group who looked even younger; if they’d been human, I would have guessed seven or eight.
They played a game that looked something like hopscotch, only the squares came in different sizes, and changed every few seconds.
From what I could tell, they had to hop through, one-footed, and if they touched any of the morphing lines, the ground would sizzle, right before the line wrapped around the child’s ankle and dragged them to the grass.
“Vinebox,” Bones explained, following my eyes. “We all played it.”
I saw a young witch fall just then, and immediately, a herd of furry things bounced over to where the vine had her trapped.
The furry things licked her face with long, purple tongues, and the girl screeched and kicked her feet, trying to push them away.
Roughly the size of a football, the creatures only bounced back and licked her more vigorously.
I didn’t see any feet, only doll-like, blank eyes, and those creepy tongues.
“Snooks,” Bones said, following my eyes. “They’re very slobbery. They also have notoriously bad breath, so it’s a worse punishment than you think.”
I snort-laughed, clamping a hand over my mouth.
Bones rolled his eyes. “You’re awfully happy, given we may have to fight for our lives here in a few seconds,” he said.
I saw him smile as he looked at me, though, right before his fingers grazed my arm.
I felt a compulsion there, in the light touch, and it wasn’t all fear, or some need to have me close in case we had to phase out of there.
Nyx glanced back at us. “We’re almost there.” She nodded towards a large iron gazebo filled with pillows and covered in blinking, decorative lights. “They’re in there. Luc put a chimaera over it, so we could talk.”
I felt a flicker of irritation off Bones.
I didn’t have to ask what it meant.