Page 45 of Bone Year

I keep replaying it in my head as we walk. The way Draven looked at me with nothing in his face. The way he whispered about hesitation before we started like he was setting me up to fail. The way he announced to everyone that I wouldn’t last a week.

I didn’t think we were friends, but after we talked on our way to class earlier, I thought maybe he wasn’t so bad. I thought there was something underneath the cold exterior.

Now I know I was wrong.

He wanted to hurt me. He wanted everyone to see me fail.

And the worst part is some small, ridiculous part of me still doesn’t understand why.

“I’ll talk to my father tonight,” Lux says as we walk. Her voice has an edge to it. “That was bullshit. He shouldn’t have let it go that far.”

I shake my head. “Don’t.”

“Mae—”

“I mean it. I’m already a target for being human. I don’t need people saying I ran to a professor the second things got hard.” I run my hands through my hair, tucking wild strands behind my ears. “I can handle it.”

“No one could hate you, Mae. You’re not a target,” Jace says as he peels off toward the men’s changing room. I want to roll my eyes. Clearly he hasn’t been paying attention.

The door swings shut behind him, and Ellavee snorts. “He’s sweet, wrong but sweet.” She tilts her head, examining me. “Here’s the thing. The other bloodlines might hate you because you’re different, and they think it’s unfair that someone weak and fragile got into Ashwell when so many of their kind didn’t. But the guys don’t hate you.”

Lux makes a strangled sound. “Ellavee.”

“What? I’m being honest.” She shrugs. “Half the males in our year would trip over themselves to get your attention, some of the chicks too. The ones who hate you are jealous. The rest just want to sleep with you.”

My face goes hot. “That’s not⁠—”

“Oh please, you’re either naive or in denial. You’re human. You’re new. You’re pretty. To these bloodlines that barely interact with humans, you’re exotic like forbidden fruit.” She smirks. “You don’t have to be strong for them to want you. You just have to be interesting.”

“I’m really not.”

“Your angel thinks otherwise.” She glances toward the door Jace disappeared through. “That boy looks at you like you hung the moon and he’s grateful to be standing in the light. He’d walk through fire if you asked him to and probably wouldn’t even ask why.”

I don’t want to think about the way Jace looks at me, not when everything else is already too much.

Lux loops her arm through mine as we push into the changing room. “Ignore her. She’s trying to get a reaction.”

“I’m trying to prepare her,” Ellavee corrects. “This place is going to eat her alive if she doesn’t figure out how things work.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I mutter.

“Anytime.” She winks. “That’s what friends are for.”

Chapter Twelve

“Those who enter the mirror whole do not always emerge that way.”

— Unsigned note found in a former student’s room

I pull on my black sweater and try to tame my mess of red waves in the mirror, but it’s pointless. They do what they want.

After dinner, I told everyone I’d meet them at the Mirror Ceremony. I didn’t feel like going back to Ellavee’s room with her and Lux. I don’t care to hear about Ellavee’s latest conquest or be probed about my relationship with Jace.

Because there’s nothing to tell. At least that’s what I keep saying.

I never wanted to cross that line with him before. I was afraid it would ruin our friendship, and I was protecting myself because I knew one day he’d leave our small village and go on to do bigger things. He was always meant for more than Ironfen. I wasn’t going to be the girl who held him back or who got left behind.

But now we’re both here at Ashwell. Both at the start of something new.