Page 94 of Centaur Bolt

The male Satyr’s dark gaze fastened on her. “Am I boring you,jeune fille?”

Kiko straightened as the surrounding whispers died. “No, sir.”

“Excellent. Can you tell me who the current president of Uthul is?”

“No, sir.” Kiko’s face went beet red. I hadn’t realized it could do that. She’d been unembarassible up until now.

“Perhaps you need to be listening rather than speaking,mademoiselle.”

“Yes, sir.”

The lecture continued, and I tried. I really did. But while Vali sat there with glowing eyes, drinking in every word, and Kiko did her best impression of an attentive student, my eyelids grew heavy.

Kiko’s sharp elbow in my ribs jerked me to a bleary state of awareness. The class was breaking up. At this rate, I would absorb precisely nothing of the valuable information I needed to become a Shade.

“What did I miss?” I asked.

“He’s pretty astute, actually,” Vali said. “He acknowledged the spreading influence of the underworld.” Her mouth straightened. “The truth is, the council needs this school and what it can provide.”

I contemplated that as we left the coliseum.

“Are you doing the afternoon run?” Kiko inquired.

“I think Cara pulled me from both.” I wasn’t wobbling anymore—but I was, remarkably, hungry again.

The Satyr sighed. “Why can’t my talent leave me a shaking wreck?”

My mind was on other things. “Are you guys game to have supper at the market? I’d like to get to the Centaur’s place as soon as possible.”

Kiko’s face lit right up. “Supper to go sounds like fun!”

Then I thought of something. “Um—all I have is human realm money.”

“We can exchange it for Basic currency at the market,” Vali said.

They headed down the stairs, while I hesitated—and then went up to the vending machines on the fourth floor. Chose a small meatroll and a chocolate bar, before climbing to the fifth. Should be enough to tide me over until supper at the market.

The sill of the window at the end of the dorm’s level main hall was wide enough to sit on, and from it, I could see the students heading out on their run. I felt only slightly guilty as they spread out around the track.

My thoughts were on Marcus. Was he okay? Could he and Havoc find a Watcher? Could they avoid Isobel?

I watched until the students started staggering across the finish line, and then I rose.

Time to visit the Centaurs.

* * *

I examined the gate as we drew closer. The wildflowers at its base seemed to be larger and denser than the others in the meadow. Did the gate energy affect them?

Kind of made me wonder if it would give me a boost, too. I glanced to Kiko, who dangled Cara’s crystal from her fingers.

“I can take us through,” Vali offered. “I’ve been to Richin before.”

I eyed her. “So it’s true that the dust in your blood lets you use gates without a crystal? How does it work?”

“Dragons just visualize where they are going,” Vali said. “Then the gate takes us there, but we have to know the place first.”

“The rest of us need a directional or homing crystal to go through and end up where we want to go,” Kiko said. “A regular crystal will get you through, but only to where the gate last went.” She took my arm. “And holding onto each other is a good idea—time might jump slightly when you go through.”

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