Page 54 of Bone Year

The raccoon tilts her head like she’s asking me the same question.

I crouch down slowly and hold out my hand. She sniffs it once then presses her small head against my palm.

Something clicks into place, a warmth I didn’t expect. A connection I can’t explain. Like a thread pulled taut between us, invisible but unbreakable. Suddenly I don’t care about the laughter or the whispers. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.

She’s mine, and I’m hers.

I scoop her up and hold her against my chest, wrapping my cloak around us both. Her tiny hands grip my sweater. Her heartbeat thrums against me, finding the rhythm of mine. I run my fingers along her soft fur, and she leans into the touch.

Her eyes meet mine again. Dark and knowing and full of something that feels like trust.

“Poppy.” The name comes to me instantly. “You will be my Poppy.”

I feel her pleasure at the name. A flutter of warmth in my chest that isn’t mine. This must be what the others feel when they talk about current. I can feel her emotions and thoughts, like an extension of myself I never knew was missing.

I don’t know how to describe it because I never knew such a thing was possible.

“Okay,” I murmur.

I turn and walk back through the crowd. A sudden urgency to protect her rises in my chest. The feeling spreads through me, and she vanishes, only she’s not gone. She’s a part of me now, like Lux tried to explain before. I couldn’t comprehend it then. Now I understand how she can appear and disappear at will but always be here.

I don’t look at the students snickering, Draven or Malric or anyone.

But I feel Headmaster Ashmoor’s eyes on me as I pass him. Heavy and watchful as I take my place on the other side of the room.

Lux and Jace are there in an instant. Jace wraps his arm around me, and I sink into his warmth without thinking. He looks down at me, and I can see it in his face. All the questions he wants to ask. All the things he wants to say.

But we have to wait. There’s still a handful of students left to finish the ceremony, and we’re supposed to remain silent.

I survived the mirror. I got my eidolon.

I have Poppy.

I never imagined wanting something like this, never knew there was a hole in me until she filled it. But she’s mine now, woven into every part of me, and I love her in a way I don’t have words for yet. I would destroy anything that tried to hurt her. And I know deep in my bones she would do the same for me.

The headmaster waits until the final student takes their place. Then he steps forward, hands clasped behind his back.

“Tonight you have all faced the mirror. Some of you found it easier than expected. Some of you did not.”

His eyes flick toward the door where they carried Nyra’s body.

“Not everyone survives the judgment. This is not cruelty. It is truth. Ashwell does not coddle. It reveals. Those of you standing here have been deemed worthy of continuing. Do not waste that. Return to your rooms. Tomorrow we begin again.”

He exchanges a few hushed words with Professor Nestor as they cover the mirror with a drape and then departs.

A hand clasps my shoulder.

“Maelis, I was having a panic attack when you were in the mirror for so long. What happened?” Lux exclaims, moving to my free side.

“How long was I in there?” I ask, looking from Jace to her as we start walking slowly among the crowd toward the stairwell.

“Longer than anyone else. At least ten minutes.” Lux shakes her head like she still can’t believe it.

Holy hell.

They all must have thought I died in that thing. No wonder everyone looked like they were in shock when I came out. It wasn’t only the sight of Poppy. It was probably the fact that I was alive at all and made it out.

“Miss Rose, may I have a word?”