Page 50 of Bone Year

— Unsigned Entry, Ashwell Archives

Jace places his hand on the mirror.

His arm pushes right through like it’s made of water. Liquid silver ripples around his wrist, swallowing him to the elbow, and several bone years gasp. I hold my breath.

His hand is only in there for a few seconds. His face stays calm and focused. I don’t see any visible signs of pain.

When he pulls it back out, there’s a little brown furry bat nestled in his palm. It blinks up at him with wide, dark eyes then crawls up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

That’s it?

That was easier than I thought it would be.

He crosses the room to where the other years are gathered. His eyes find mine through the crowd, and he gives me a soft smile. A nod. He’s trying to tell me it’s going to be okay. I want to believe him. But the next girl that gets called doesn’t simply touch the mirror. She steps forward, and the liquid surface parts for her like a curtain. She walks straight through and disappears.

“What is happening?” I whisper.

Lux stares straight ahead, her jaw tight. She’s getting nervous too. I can see it in the way her fingers twist together.

“The school decides what it wants from you before you get your eidolon.” Ellavee leans in from Lux’s other side. “It’s different for everyone.”

We wait.

The cavern is silent except for the faint drip of water somewhere in the dark. I count the seconds. Ten. Twenty. Thirty.

The mirror ripples, and the girl stumbles back out, gasping, a serpent clutched tight in her trembling hands.

Everyone lets out a breath. A few nervous laughs scatter through the crowd.

The professors don’t look worried. They’ve been watching this for years.

I shouldn’t be worried either but I can’t help it.

The ceremony picks up speed after that. Names called one after another. Some people step fully into the mirror and vanish for seconds or minutes. Some press their palm to the surface and pull back their eidolon like reaching into a bag. I want to know what they feel when they touch it or what happens to the ones who enter the mirror, but I’m not able to talk to anyone on the other side of the room.

Lux gets called. She walks up with her chin high, but I can see her hands shaking at her sides. She stops in front of the mirror and waits.

The liquid surface reaches out to her. A silvery translucent hand emerges from the glass and presses against her chest, right over her heart. Lux’s eyes go wide. Her breath catches.

A solid white wolf steps out of the mirror. It sits at her feet and looks up at her like it’s been waiting for her all along.

A huge smile breaks across her face. She looks back at me and gapes before crossing to the other side with her wolf padding beside her.

Ellavee goes next and gets a serpent. The thing coils around her wrist like a bracelet, and she smirks like she expected nothing less.

I watch the eidolons emerge one by one. All the wolves are white or gray, thick-furred and watchful. All except Draven’s, which is solid black and noticeably larger than the rest.

The serpents come in every shade. Yellow, green, brown, and black. Some small enough to curl in your palm. Others thick as my arm, long enough to loop around your body twice.

The bats are shades of black and brown, leathery wings folded against soft fur. When I first saw Elizabeth’s, I thought it was creepy, but the more I watch them emerge, the more I realize they’re sort of cute. Big dark eyes. Tiny clawed feet.

None of this eases my anxiety.

“Nyra Fenwick.”

I watch the girl from my autopsy team walk toward the mirror. Violet eyes and black wings. The one who shoved the scalpel in my hand because she didn’t want to touch the crawler.

There’s only a handful of us left now, and I don’t know how I haven’t let my anxiety get the better of me yet.