Page 75 of Quiet Burn

I shake my head. They don’t need to hear my musings about my mother everytime my past rears its head. My pride won’t allow me to be that weak or vulnerable constantly and it's absolutely an inherited trait of our demon line. “Nothing. I got lost in thought as I so often do.”

Xerxes squints, his head rearing back a bit, then bobbing in that very cobra-esque manner that tells me they don’t believe me. Their thinking posture is directly linked to their animal and it's a tell anytime they‘re studying you if you know to look for it. “Annie, you’re a terrible poker player. Why do you always think you can fool me? That’s your ‘my family sucks ass’ face and I certainly know what it looks like.”

Damn it, that works both ways, I guess.

“Yes, I was thinking about Anastasia.” My expression sours and I wave my hand. “But I’d prefer not to. Aegon is no better, but at least he’s simply neglectful and distant. That is easier to handle.”

“It does more damage than you think.”

My eyes snap to Kit as he and Salem leave their room to join us. The kinkajou is perched on his shoulder, looking at me as if it can read my thoughts. Obviously, it can’t, nor can it talk to Kit Kat, so I’m probably safe to recognize that his hair is getting a little longer and flops adorably in his eyes. Blinking as I turn back to the elevator, I shrug. “I’m very accustomed to that particular facet of my childhood. It’s not a concern anymore. I expect him to fail and he never disappoints.”

“Yikes,” Kit mutters. “Talk about avoiding your issues, man. That shit will eat you alive; I know it for sure.”

“Demons have excellent compartmentalization skills,” I reply nonchalantly. “Ask X. They know what I mean. Hell, even Salem does.”

Salem groans, and I imagine his big frame wilting as I bring him into the crossfire. “Ugh, Anton, it’s fucking seven a.m. Could you not?”

Xerxes saves the panda by interjecting, “We do, KK. It’s part of the divide in our minds with the demons and shifters for us, I think. I suppose that seems weird to you because of all the head shrinking, but Annie is telling the truth.”

“Mostly,” Salem mutters. “Not thatseven a.m.is the time to start some bottom of the pits discussion about demon psychology. It’s a goddamn travesty to do this shit before we eat.”

“Salem, it’s always a little before you eat,” I shoot back. “When can I broach anything with that kind of schedule?”

Kit snorts, and I turn to see him covering his mouth with his hand. The look on his face is joyfully amused and I feel the preening bird inside of me react to causing his mirth. “He’s not wrong. You really do eat and sleep a lot.”

“I’m apanda, assholes. That’s like ninety percent of their life, minimum.”

“Guys.” We all look at Zavida as he walks down the hall with Slash and Jasper behind him. “We don’t want anyone overhearing this, even from the elevator. Unity, right?”

I roll my eyes at the kitsune. “Zav, we’re just bickering like friends. No one will think I actually have a problem with Salem’s natural behavior other than having to keep his ass awake in class.”

“Even so, be more cautious. Though, I approve of whatever you did to make the shrimp look happy to be tagging along with us. That will sell our deception if we can do it more often.”

We probably could if you’d quit pissing him off, you dickbag.

But I don’t say that, only nod, and the elevator doors open to take us down for breakfast.

Today’s goal is to repeat whatever I did to make Kit smile—mission accepted.

“Our gracious administrationhas assigned new tasks for you to work on for your Games trials. The curses, spells, and hexes on this sheet have been deemedessentialto your survival. Before you ask,no, I don’t have the slightest inkling why they are highlighting these incantations.”

Wormwood gives us all an imperious look as he shoves the printed copies at a demon in the first row. I don’t know the guy, but I absolutely get why he’s scuttling up the rows to get away from our professor. The mage/dhmapir’s temperament is notoriously unpredictable and he doesn’t look happy in the slightest. When the dude finally gets to the back row, the sheets make their way from guy to guy until they reach me.

I’m interested in knowing why this is printed rather than being sent electronically—as most things at Discordia are.

I take the remaining copies and pull one loose, passing the rest to Kit. My brows furrow as I look over the tiny print that covers both sides of the paper. “Motherfucker… this is?—”

“Insane,” Kit whispers as he gapes at it. “I can’t doanymagic, much less learn hundreds of these things before the random day they announce the start of this thing.”

The tension in his frame is palpable and I drop one hand from my copy, placing it on his arm. “We’ll be okay, Kit Kat. All things in time, right?”

“But we don’thavetime!” he hisses.

Since he didn’t pull away, my bird preens again and I have to focus my eyes on the lengthy list of magic. I don’t see anything particularly offensive on the front of the page, but that doesn’t mean anything. There has to be a reason why Wormwood did it this way, and I need to figure out why.

“Anton. The back. In the middle.”

As usual, Slash is a demon of few words, but they’re important. I flip the paper, scanning the list there until my eyes widen. Smack dab in the center, there are at least ten forbidden incantations. “Holy shit.”

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