Page 116 of The Bone Season

None of us had been ready for gunfire.

No emergency services, no warnings, no way out.

Later, it had been agreed that the first shots were fired on Grafton Street, right by the statue of Molly Malone.

I must have slipped back to sleep. When I stirred a second time, I tried to get my bearings, a tightness on my cheeks. The memory had been so vivid.

A sharp breeze gusted past. I blinked several times, blind. From what I could tell, I was lying in a tiny shelter, not unlike the one in the meadows behind Magdalen, where Nuala had been. A tarpaulin covered my body, leaving my face and one hand exposed.

‘Warden,’ I said hoarsely.

There was no reply.

The cold had sunk past the lining of my coat. Shivering with it, I shifted towards the doorway and reached for a weight in my left pocket, finding a torch. Its beam revealed a long clearing, encircled by old trees.

My breath caught. I rummaged in my other pocket and pulled out a small envelope. I recognised the handwriting and broke the wax seal.

Nashira has decreed that you must take your second test. I wanted you to have more time to recover from your first possession, but my cautious approach has tested her patience.

It had been nine days, but my head still ached from possessing the butterfly. I kept reading:

Gallows Wood surrounds our city, hiding many perils. Your task is to find your way out by sunrise. A marker awaits you on Cherwell Meadow.

The case to your left contains vital equipment. Use your gift. Trust your instincts. And do me this honour: survive the night. I am sure you would rather not be rescued.

Good luck, Paige.

I crumpled the note, trying to think. The last thing I remembered was coming down from my room, ready for training with Merope. Michael had been waiting with a cup of tea, of all things. Like a fool, I had drunk it.

‘You bastard,’ I breathed.

Warden had forced Michael to sedate me, then dumped me in the middle of nowhere. So much for treating me with respect. I should have expected no less of a Reph.

I took a calming breath. This had been inevitable. Nashira was aware that I was ready for my second test, and Liss had warned me it would be a surprise.

Gallows Wood creaked and rustled. I reached for the æther. There were no dreamscapes in the vicinity, which meant I was over a mile out. For now, my gift wouldn’t help as a compass. I wasn’t a rhabdomancer, capable of fashioning a dowsing rod to find a path. I wasn’t any kind of augur, which would help in a forest, where there were twigs and leaves, even flowers.

I soon found the reinforced case in the shelter. Inside was another envelope from Warden.

Be careful with the darts. The acid inside is highly corrosive. Use the flare only in an emergency. It will summon the red-jackets to your location, but you will fail your test.

Avoid the ice. Do not go south.

I shone my torch into the case. Warden had left me a flare gun, a flip lighter, a combat knife, a syringe of military-grade adrenalin, and three pressurised silver darts labelledFLUOROANTIMONIC ACID, with an air rifle to shoot them. No firearms.

Of course he hadn’t deigned to give me a flamethrower or a proper rifle. Clearly some robust protection was too much to ask.

Lastly, there was a wristwatch. Its hands glowed blue, showing me that it was almost half two in the morning. The sun would rise around five.

I had wanted to fail the first test, but I meant to pass this one. A red tunic would give me the authority to support the performers, including Liss.

My breath came in billowing clouds. Unless I wanted to freeze here, I had to get moving.

A small backpack was folded inside the case. I strapped the watch to my wrist. With my hood pulled up and my coat fastened to the chin, I carefully loaded one of the acid darts. The combat knife went into a sheath on my belt, the syringe into my pocket, and the rest into the backpack.

I got up. As I took my first step out of the shelter, something crunched. My torch revealed a line of tiny white crystals, which had been poured around my starting point. After a hesitation, I crouched to rub my fingers in it, then tasted it.

Warden had left me in a circle of salt.

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