Page 42 of A Dusk Of Stars

Don’t think about it, I tell myself. Just believe you can do it.

The more I move in line, the more I hype myself up, using the fact that, if I fail today, I’m increasing my chances of having to do this all over again next year.

I ignore the fact that Professor Ahearn has given everyone a nod so far — meaning they’ve passed — and I especially ignore the sniggers coming from the other students when it’s finally my turn to give it a go.

As soon as I walk past Bane, doing my best not to pay him any attention, my animal disappears, and with it, all my sharpened senses.

“Hey,” I try to talk to her, “heis not what we should be focusing on.”

Of course, there’s no reply.

I walk up to the first obstacle — the wall with spikes shooting out. I guess I’ll have to try to pull this off withoutanybenefits of being a shifter. I take a deep breath and I start climbing.

It sends me crashing to the ground, when the first spike shoots out.

I hear laughter coming from all around me.

I grit my teeth, I get up and I try again.

I find no other way not to get hurt besides getting down as soon as the wall attacks.

Fuck. The more I try, the more riotous the laughter around me grows.

Until I get this urge to look to my right, only to see this shifter casting magic to make the wall slippery.

I fall on my ass, closing my eyes shut and swallowing a cry as my pelvis explodes in pain.

No no no.

I sense everyone stop what they’re doing even before I fling my eyes open to see them all staring to my right.

I crane my neck to find Bane towering over the guy who cast magic at me.

It makes me forget all about my own aching pelvis, when I hear the strangled “I, um, I was only playing” coming from the guy’s mouth.

The next thing I know, Bane is lifting him off the floor by the collar of his shirt, making his legs flail and his hands dart to the single arm keeping him in the air.

The sight makes my breath catch. Somehow I manage to get myself off the floor without glancing away for a second, completely absorbed by how unfazed Bane looks, neither his face nor his body showing any signs of strain except the flexing muscles in his arm.

For one long moment, Bane just keeps staring at the guy, angling his head so as not to let him look away.

It makes me frown, when I notice the growing stain on the guy’s crotch. He’s wet his pants.

It’s only then that Bane drops him to the ground, lowers himself into a crouch and leans in a little to say, “We don’t prey on the weak.”

With that, he gets up, turns on his heel and walks back to his seat.

My frown only grows deeper when I see the ease with which he goes back to flirting with this confident smile on his face.

Now there are countless eyes on me. Including Professor Ahearn’s.

Bracing myself, I turn to look at her and see her give me a shake of her head, signaling that I’ve failed the exam.

It’s not the exam that is making me so angry. It’s the way everyone keeps looking at me as I walk out of the gym. ‘The weak’ echoes in my mind, making me pissed at Bane for intervening in the first place. If he didn’t, this would be so much easier to bear.

I’m so embarrassed, but at the same time, so determined not to let this happen to me ever again.

It’s before I reach my room that I decide. It’s rituals I’ll be trying out next. It’s with good reason that shifters normally don’t try them before they’ve shifted for the first time — the reason being the fact that it can be dangerous trying to channel the power of the constellations without having a stable bond with your animal.

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