Chapter 15

Ren's spell shoved forward—bold and bright—separating the two boys. Like a sharp wind, the magic knocked them back several steps. Looks of surprise appeared on both of their faces.

"Pull it together," she snapped. "We're lost out here. Clyde is dead. We don't have time for chest-thumping. Put your wands away."

Theo's jaw tightened. "Fine. But I've got thirteen hundred ockleys. Keep that in mind the next time you aim a wand in my direction. If you lose me, you lose all of those spells, too."

He stalked on without another word. Timmons caught Ren's eye and mouthed the number. Ren could feel that anger building in her chest again. Thirteen hundred. She'd been expecting a large number, but the truth still stunned her. Everyone walked on in awkward silence. Ren ran a quick calculation. Theo was casually walking around with 200 spells on his person.

More than the rest of them combined.

It increased their odds of survival, but she hadn't missed the other implication in Theo's revelation. If you lose me, you lose all those spells, too. The balance of power swung in his direction now. They couldn't simply tie him up in the woods and leave him there. Nor could they afford to piss him off too much. Those vessels were attuned to him. The stored magic was not something they could thieve or borrow or coerce. They needed him to help willingly. Ren focused on the silver lining.

"That's a strong starting total. We'll want to conserve as much as we can for the mountains."

No one replied because what else was there to say? The sting of heels and muscles intensified as the sun finished its descent. Avy took it all in stride, but everyone else was clearly lagging. Timmons was wearing a particularly unreasonable pair of heeled boots.

"We could modify them," Ren suggested. The others were walking ahead of them. "There's no way you can make it through the mountain passes in those. I'm surprised you made it across campus in them."

Timmons shrugged. "I know a few spells that will cushion the heels."

"You do?"

"I'm always having to jam my feet into these for galas and all that. I learned a few cushioning spells just to make life more reasonable." There was a long pause before Timmons lowered her voice. "Can you believe it? That much magic every month?"

Ren nodded. "I read that the Brood family was granted the second-largest allotment of all the major houses. And, of course, they're given full oversight by the viceroy to dispense it amongst their family and hired hands. Never knew how much it really was…"

Timmons's expression darkened. "You know, Avy isn't going to forget about what happened just because we're lost out here. He'll keep poking at Theo until he finds a weak spot."

"I'll talk to him. We need Theo. We don't have enough magic to get home safely on our own. It will run out in the mountain passes."

Timmons shook her head. "Even out here we need to kiss the rings of that prat."

"Even out here."

They were all caught off guard by how quickly the temperature dropped. As the sun slipped below the shoulders of the distant mountains, Ren's plaid coat was no longer a proper defense against the chill. Theo sported a fashionable but thin cardigan. Avy's was no better-suited to the cold. Only Cora wore something with enough lining to be called warm. Her calf-length coat was the most functional piece of clothing in the entire group.

"It's cold down in the mortuary," she explained. "I wear all these layers so my hands won't shake."

The growing darkness forced their group to a halt. Avy found a spot where the trees grew tight and thick, forming a protective half-moon to set their backs against. He cleared the ground in a circle before asking the rest of them to look for firewood. As Ren paired up with Timmons, she noticed that silent tears were once again streaking her friend's face.

"I can't stop seeing him," Timmons said. "The way he looked. Burned like that."

Ren nodded. Clyde's death had been weighing on her, too. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a corpse. Several of her senior-level courses had required studies in decomposition and corporeal magic. But it had been easy to distance herself from those bodies—already guided on by the gentle hand of a mortician—with the idea that they were no more than test subjects. The mind sorted them into the same category as any other study material.

It was impossible to think of Clyde in that way. She'd been in class with him earlier that day. He'd been so very alive in the portal room. What a waste that he'd spent his final moments acting like a pompous brat. She'd only ever witnessed one other death, and even if Clyde didn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath, Ren knew Timmons needed some comfort, however imperfect.

"When my father died, it was an open-casket visitation. I remember standing there and looking down at him. The details were all wrong. His lips were too colorful. His body too thin. It took me the entire funeral to realize that it wasn't him. It was a body. My father was the one who told bedtime stories and took me on walks through the Lower Quarter. He was always pointing out the little details about everything. He never stopped moving. I wanted to remember him that way."

Ren set a firm hand on Timmons's shoulder.

"We keep them alive by remembering those things."

Her friend nodded. She wiped away the tears and collected more firewood before the two of them returned to camp. Theo and Cora were piling up their own stacks. Avy had traced a circle on the ground and was carefully turning the rocky soil with a sharp branch. Ren watched him work at the task for a few minutes, building the dirt up into a solid mound. When he finished, he turned to look at what they'd gathered.

"?‘Start small, sticks and all,'?" he recited. "We need more tinder. Dry leaves, needles, smaller twigs. Easier to get the fire going that way."

Everyone turned and started a second round of gathering. Ren watched closely as Avy stacked the largest logs at the base. He set out the next logs in a crosshatch pattern and went on like that until the firewood was about four or five solid rows high. Then he took their gathered kindling and tinder to place on top of the makeshift pyramid he'd built.

"Now we need fire," Avy said. "Theo?"

"Can't you start it without magic?"

Ren couldn't believe how petulant he made everything sound. Avy shook his head.

"Without a piece of flint? I could sit here for an hour trying to get this to light. Or you could open up your precious bankroll of magic and get the fire started. Up to you. We'll just sit here in the cold until you make up your mind."

Theo seemed ready to object, but as he looked around, Ren knew how pitiful they appeared. She and Timmons stood there hunched and shivering. He offered a begrudging nod before crossing over to the stacked pile. In spite of everything—the malfunctioning spell and Clyde's death and their chances of survival—Ren hadn't forgotten that this was a chance to impress a high-ranking member of House Brood. If she could help them survive, it was possible he'd recruit her. The coming week was like one long interview, and Ren could do more out here than she'd ever been able to display in a classroom with her nose in a textbook.

She cleared her throat. "You can use Aria's spell—"

Theo scowled. "I know the spell."

His feet shifted slightly. She watched him invert his hand, bringing his fingers into a clawlike grip that resembled a torch. Magic whispered through the air. A flickering flame appeared in his palm. He held it out to the tinder long enough to let it catch. Smoke curled to life. He turned a satisfied look back at Ren. She was used to this kind of challenge from other students. They liked showing up the smart girl in class. Usually her best move was to let them think that they'd won.

Not this time. Not today.

"I was going to say you could use Aria's spell for temperature change. It's the more basic version. Your spell costs three ockleys. That costs one. I know you don't normally have to think about how much something costs, but out here it might end up mattering."

Theo shook his head in annoyance. Ren was ready to dig into him even more, but Timmons waved a tired hand to cut her off. "It's too late to fight. We need to sleep. What kind of spells do we need to cast around the camp? Please tell me there's a snake-repellent charm."

Begrudgingly, Ren turned her attention to the new subject. The crew walked through all the potential wards that might be useful. A tripwire spell to alert them to movement. A warding line that would discourage the interest of larger creatures. Lastly, a weather spell that would keep out rain without trapping the smoke of their fire, thereby torturing all their lungs in the process.

She quietly counted the cost: seventeen ockleys. The spells would need to be cast three times a night, which added up to fifty-one. And that was assuming no fizzled spells or wasted magic. Her best guess was that they'd be out here for at least seven nights, which multiplied the number up over four hundred. About one fifth of their supply would be used on evening wards alone.

Theo agreed to cast the barricades tonight, but what happened if he cracked his skull in the mountains? Ren knew they'd never survive without him. She was thinking through all the possible options when Theo approached her with a look of mild embarrassment on his face.

"The weather spell's not working."

He gestured. Ren's eyes trailed upward. The smoke was gathering in dark swirls along the invisible barrier he'd summoned. She drank in this brief taste of humility, letting it roll around on her tongue like honey, before nodding.

"It's how you've layered them. You've got the ventilation spell above the weather ward. The smoke is hitting the weather barrier first. It's obeying that magic before it can reach the second layer of the spell. Just reverse them."

He chewed his lip for a second and nodded. "Thanks."

She resisted telling him how much magic he'd just wasted. At least he'd muttered a thank-you this time. Ren felt like that was a step in the right direction. He'd come to her for information. Trusted her to have the answer. It was a starting point.

Everyone took a few minutes to settle in. Cora was already snoring. Avy had his head cradled in those massive hands, lying with his back to the ground, eyes tracing the stars above.

Theo eventually returned to the fire, choosing a spot that was carefully separated from the rest of them. He sat leaned back, legs stretched, his arms behind him to prop up his upper body. She was finally able to look at him closely for the first time.

A tapered jaw, sharp cheekbones. He had the body of a runner, tight with corded muscle. He was more handsome when he wasn't smashed drunk, his golden hair falling imperfectly down a pale forehead. But when he looked her way, she saw that he had his father's pitted eyes. They looked out on the rest of the world as if it were already in his possession. Ren tucked back beneath her jacket, nestling in next to Timmons. Her friend curled a little closer before whispering good night. Exhaustion tugged at Ren's tired limbs. It didn't take long for her to drift off to sleep.