Page 42 of Shadebound
I shrugged, pretending they meant something casual. “They’re pretty.”
Another beat. Then, even quieter, he’d said: “They’re missing their heads.”
That made me smile. Just a small, crooked thing.
“Aren’t we all?” I’d replied.
And now he was just filling silence, and I was more in the mood for silence.
Or someone screaming. A little sprinkle of it just to darken my morning.
When we reached the foyer, Maya led us toward the cluster of heavy doors. She didn’t pause until the fifth one, and I finally paid attention to something other than my thoughts.
“This one also leads to the hospital ward,” she said, tapping the handle with a faint grimace. “Worse than the dorms, though. Try not to end up there unless you’re legit dying or injured enough to matter.”
“Sure.” I kept my expression neutral, but the idea of something worse than the dorms was unsettling. I couldn’t quite picture it, but my stomach didn’t enjoy trying.
What could have been worse than a room full of strange men breathing near me?
As we started walking again, something flickered at the edge of my vision. The statue of Death. I hadn’t meant to look. But there was something new nestled at its base.
Flowers.Ones I didn’t recognise.
Long-stemmed and black, their petals shimmered faintly—not with magic I could name, not with any light I could trace. They looked soft in a way that didn’t belong to this world. As if they’d grown from shadow and memory rather than soil.
I paused, eyes narrowing.
Shadeblooms,Death murmured, curling the word into my mind.Born from darkness. Watered with blood and fresh death.
A delightful chill traced down my spine, but I didn’t step back. I just stared at the flowers, lips pressed together.
So they’re something a shadebound can make?I thought back to him as Zayden stiffened beside me.
I turned to see what his issue was, but got distracted when Death replied,Yes. But only through death.
What kind of death?I wondered.
Death did not respond. But before I could get frustrated with the silence, something outside caught my eye.
The thing that had clearly made Zayden tense up.
Through the tall open doors at the front of the foyer, just beyond the wide stone steps that spilt down toward the iron gates, a small procession was making its way uphill. Three figures in black robes, the same ones that had taken my case and greeted my brother and I the day before. They didn’t hurry as they floated. They moved as if they had all the time in the world. Like nothing they carried could possibly be urgent anymore.
And what they carried was long. Heavy. Draped in thick black canvas. It sagged slightly in the middle, as if it had a weight that bothered their spectral grip.
I tilted my head, recognition flaring. “Is that a body bag?”
Beside me, Maya stiffened. Zayden didn’t move.
He took a beat too long to answer.
“Training accident,” he said at last, tone light enough to sound fake. “Or a bear in the woods. Happens sometimes. This isn’t exactly the top place for personal safety.”
The robed figures disappeared from view, vanishing deeper into the trees. Zayden tugged my hand, and I followed without another glance back. Not because I didn’t think he was full of shit, but because I didn’t really care that a student had died. Not when it wasn’t someone I knew, and not when we were in a place filled with monsters that probably deserved to be dead, anyway.
We stepped into the cafeteria instead of doing what I wanted, and running away.
It was massive—high vaulted ceilings that seemed to go on forever, crisscrossed with thick wooden beams and iron chandeliers that held floating lanterns. Each lantern pulsed with a slow, ghostly light that tinted the air a soft green-blue, like the glow beneath deep water. The scent was a strange mix: cinnamon from something baking, sharp burning herbs, and underneath it all, something metallic and sour that clung to the back of the throat. The sound in the space echoed in odd ways, making every cough bounce like a warning and every laugh feel just a little too loud.
