Ferne stood straight, pushing herself away from the door. “Listen, everyone!” she shouted. “No need to worry. The wind has breached the protective wards, but it happens occasionally. They are being reinforced as we speak.”
I wanted out. The choker squeezed my throat. Outside would be better.
I took a step toward the door, but she put an arm across my path. “You really don’t want to go out there right now. Sit tight.”
None of the students seemed too put off by the announcement. Someone started to bang the table with a mug and shout for a second course. Others joined in. The skeletons clacked their teeth and fought over the trays with students. The noise made my teeth rattle.
“I don’t want to sit tight,” I muttered.
“Persevere,” Ferne said, setting a hand on my arm. “The janitor will come get us when it’s safe to go. The wind will blow you right off the walkways.”
The door opened again, cutting off the shouting and the clamor. Jextor stepped in, cheeks rosy. He slammed the door shut with one hand. “Early for the winds to pick up like this! Refreshing!” he shouted, shaking his head like a dog and sprinkling half-melted snow from his beard. His eyes landed on me. “Ah! Just the student I was looking for!”
I shook Ferne’s hand off my arm. “I’ll take my chances with the wind.” I lunged toward the door, but Jextor grabbed at me. My legs kicked up into the air as I tried to run, his hold wrenching my arm almost out of its socket.
“Whoopsie,” he said. “Did you eat already? It’s a bit ornery out there, and I wanted to talk to you about what happened. So come tell me everything while I have my lunch.”
My heels scraped against the floor as he dragged me to the small faculty table. I looked around for an escape, but the grip around my arm was like a steel manacle. Grit stood with both hands before her face, eyes wide in shock as she watched me being dragged around. Minnelil frowned disapprovingly, mouth pursed and twisted to the side.
Jextor released his grip and patted one of the chairs. “Sit, sit! I’ve been dying to hear what you experienced. The demonstration turned much more interesting than I had planned.”
I groaned, lowering my face into my palms.
“A presence, you say?” Jextor said, fingers steepled before his bearded face.
The choker pressed down on my throat, but there was no escaping him. On top of that, there was an audience. An actual audience. Fek had been the first to wander in to listen, and other students had gathered after, surrounding the table from all sides. I had already explained what I remembered, even if none of it made much sense to me.
“Do you mind if I write all this down?” Jextor said. “This is all very fascinating.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the people hovering nearby. We had been stuck in the hall for a while already. “Knock yourself out. As long as I get some credits,” I added hastily.
“Of course! Very fascinating, as I said. Do you know why?” he asked.
“I don’t—“
“I think you didn’t reach all the way to the nothingness, you see! There by definition can’t be anything there. Nothing waiting or having a presence. The colors you described were much too vivid.”
“I literally said black or maybe very dark blue.”
“As I said! Much too vivid. Most students fumble for minutes trying to describe the utter lack of color and sensation.”
“It’s true,” Ferne said, around a mouthful of potatoes. “When I try to think about it, I can’t put anything to words.”
“He killed you too?” I asked.
“Accidentally!” Jextor said, shaking a finger in the air. “But all in the service of science and learning.”
Ferne shrugged at me, face neutral.
“Anyway! I wonder if it’s because of your existing connection?” Jextor rubbed his beard, sinking his massive hand in it. “The tether created by the Conspice should have broken long ago, though.”
Warmth fell off my face, leaving it tingling and cold. The words felt like a slap. “What did you say?”
My tone made even him pause. “The Conspice? You remember. The trinket that you nicked from Falar? Hah!”
“No! The tether? What do you mean it should have broken?”
“Well, it should. I wouldn’t have picked you for the demonstration otherwise! I can check to make sure?” He reached a hand toward me, fingers closing in on my face.
I kicked at the floor, making the chair scrape backward. The chair stayed teetering on two legs as I stood. “That goddamn bastard,” I growled as the chair settled back with a clonk.
Jextor leaned toward Ferne. “I think she probably means Falar,” he whispered.
Ferne nodded with pouted lips, like she knew exactly what he was talking about.
I stormed off, elbowing some students standing in my way to get through the circle of onlookers.
“I’ll send the credit slip by a skeleton!” Jextor shouted from behind me.
Some students were sitting around the door, waiting to be let out, but they scrambled out of my way as I stomped at them. I grabbed the door handle and turned it. The wind grabbed the door instantly, dragging me outside as it slammed open.
The wind shrieked and the students behind me yelped, shouting for me to close the door. I had enough trouble just staying on my feet, pushed around and slipping on the ice that had laced the walkways.
Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea after all. I held on to the handle, latching my other hand onto the outside handle. The metal was so cold it burned. My skin stuck on it, freezing in an instant. I pulled and stopped as I heard the ripping, skin beginning to tear.
Jextor jumped up, starting to rush toward the door.
No. No! He would grab me, shredding all the skin off my hand while wrenching me around. Behind the wind, the pressure rose, pushing on me.
I grasped it, letting it in, finding and pulling more directly from the air. The power flowed through my veins like ice water, numbing me from the cold. The metal of the handle was frosted over, my skin stuck to it.
I made my hand colder than the metal and slammed the door shut.
The handle snapped with a sharp crack. I looked at the frosted rod of metal in my hand. My skin was blue, almost white. My fingers creaked as I moved them.
I threw the handle over the edge of the walkway. It spun and disappeared somewhere into the darkness, cutting and whirling through the wind, swishing as it went.
Hair whipped in my eyes. I gathered it in my fist, holding it down against my head. The wind caressed my eyes. I blinked the snow and the ice fragments away. My robe flapped, but I made myself heavy, stuck my feet to the walkway.
Falar.
I’d find him and kill him.
He burned like a beacon. I tasted the power. The currents led up to the large platform near the ceiling, the one on which I had spent my first night here and fished for the badge in the pile of bones. Falar stood in the middle of the platform, hands in his pockets, ponytail and the collar of his robe frosted over. His breath steamed and the steam was carried away by the wind. “Why do I have to do everything around here?” he said, deep voice barely audible.
The zombies milled about the platform. Their flesh was blue from the cold.
“Falar!” I shouted. My voice cut through the wind, startling him.
“You? Why are you here? Get inside.”
“You lied to me!” I stomped toward him. Ice cracked under my boots. A zombie stumbled into my way and I grabbed it, throwing it aside. It skidded on the platform, scraping on the ice and falling over the edge with a resigned groan.
Falar watched the zombie fall, brow furrowed.
I was nearly upon him. “The tether is already broken! You slaver!” I grabbed his collar, bunching the robe in my fist. He rose onto the tips of his slippers as I pushed him back.
“Oh, please,” he said, looking down at me. “Who confused you? I bet it was Jextor, wasn’t he?”
I let go of the robe and snapped my hand up, grabbing him by the throat instead. He gagged as my fingers wrapped around his neck. I wrenched my arm forward, throwing him at the black wall. He spun, hitting the wall back-first. The impact blasted the snow away from him, throwing it to billow into the air. “You’re dead!” I yelled as he fell from the wall, landing on all fours.
I rushed forward, driving my leg into his side with a running kick.
The kick lifted him back into the air, sent him crashing into the wall again. I followed and picked him up, lifting him like a cat by the scruff of his neck. I pulled my other fist back, readying a punch.
“Oh, please,” he said, voice low.
A wave of force hit me, rippling out from his hand. My grip on him broke and I slid back along the frozen platform, boots scraping and digging into the ice.
Falar straightened, one hand extended toward me and the other adjusting his Adam’s apple. “You damn fool don’t know what you are doing,” he croaked, grimacing.
“I’m killing you,” I hissed.
Some bonus chapters for you! Normally still three chaps per week. Patreon has extra, if you want to read ahead 😇