Page 50 of A Dawn Of Blood

She tips her head back defiantly. “What?”

“Why is it that you’re taking all this —mymemories,myfeelings andmyviews — so goddamn personally? Maybe you should think long and hard about what that means.”

I think I see her clench her jaw a little. “It means absolutely nothing,” she replies coldly. “I may have seen something of myself in you when I first met you, that’s all. Now I see it was all a mistake on my part and nothing more than that.”

With that, she moves to infiltrate my mind again.

But this time, I don’t just stop her. Using what I learned in my sessions with Jaeger,Iattackher.

It comes as a shock, when I actually succeed. All of a sudden, I find myself inside her head, in a memory that seems to be the moment she decided to go into hibernation for me.

Because it’smethere, standing in front of her in that stupid nineteenth-century dress, in the brand new Entrance Hall with the shining Grimm Brothers statue in the background.

But what surprises me even more is the fact that the moment is accompanied by this feeling of great, acute hollowness, the likes of which I’ve only felt… in myself.

Then the image switches out for an image of Jaeger, and the next thing I know, I’m mercilessly flung out of her mind and back into the classroom.

To my surprise, I seem more shaken up thanshedoes. It’s only for a split second that she observes me before saying, “Alright, that’s enough.”

And with that, she turns on her heel and starts walking away.

I frown, flooded by this sudden need to get close to her, to connect. “There’s really no need for any awkwardness, you know?” I rush to say, referring to the image of Jaeger.

She stops and turns to me again, letting out an amused scoff. “To feel awkward, little Aurora, you first need to give a shit about what others think of you.”

I come to block her before she can move again. “I believe there’s at leastoneperson whose opinion youdogive a shit about,” I dare to challenge.

She narrows her cold eyes at me. “I assure you,” she drawls, “whatever it is that you think is going on, you’re wrong. Understood?”

I hesitate for a second, then nod and step back. “Understood. Until next time then.”

She shakes her head. “There won’t be a next time.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Really? How is that possible?”

She smirks at me, but it’s clear she’s more distant than she’s ever been. “I’ve been a brilliant teacher,that’show. You’re officially done with your training. I don’t want to see your bright-eyed, bushy-tailed self in this classroom ever again.”

The next thing I know, I’m all alone in the room.

Chapter 37

It’s at dusk that Nuala takes us to that secret Pull Chamber Dryden mentioned, which turns out to be none other than the Brothers Grimm statue. She has us all — Alaric, Dryden and myself — use it to travel to the Chamber closest to the Academy grounds, taking cover in a nearby grove.

Courtesy of Alaric’s inside info, the plan is to intercept the eight soldiers returning to the Academy from a regular supply run. It’s in fours that Cain’s troops operate, he tells us, so once we get to Graf Hill, our team will be able to separate and make swift work of finding the Aesir iron.

But the first thing we need to do is check whether the compass still works and whether we were right about where it will point.

I take it out of my uniform pocket and lift it for everyone to see. It does, but it makes my eyebrows shoot up when the dial doesn’t point at Graf Hill.

Goddamn it. I look up at the people gathered around me. “It’s not pointing at Graf Hill. It’s pointing at the Sobbing Lake,” I state the obvious.

Everyone seems taken aback. No one more than Alaric, though. “Thewater?”

Nuala frowns. “It does make sense. Metal can be sourced from lakes as well. If the man wanted to hide it where it couldn’t easily be found…”

There’s a moment of somber silence before Alaric demands, his whisper turning into a hiss, “Can anybody just tell me whether we’ll really have to go under the bloody water?”

Remembering his fear, I throw him a sympathetic look. “We will, yes.”

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