Cursed to the Bone

27. Reckless Abandon

On the Friday before the dance, my friends went to town to pick up their orders while I was put to work at the lake. My professors, Sakura Ishida and Christine Waters, were both there intending to lay the dance floor. The lake wasn't iced over yet—in fact, there was no ice at all, which is why Christine was with us.

"Go ahead, Honey."

Holding my breath, I grabbed the sides of a bin filled with fist-sized sacs and crunched through the snow to the edge. They were Eggs. The natural odor was a rotten one, unfortunately, and the last thing I wanted to do was rush and spill down my front. The smell would never come out. They came from the arctic sea and belonged to a species of glowing eels that hatched in the cold and lived about a month. The purpose, I imagined, was to have them cast lights beneath the surface of the lake. I almost wished I'd be around to see it when it came together.

When the eggs finished splashing into the lake, I stepped back with the tub at arm's length and lowered it somewhere harmless.

Christine raised both hands. The water remained still even as the wind descended upon its surface. Then the temperature dropped. Drastically. A chill danced down my spine as the wind came faster and faster, spinning until fresh snow fell over the water to form layer after layer of ice. This continued for a short while until the ice grew thick from the center and up onto the shores to create a perfectly flat surface.

The wind and snow vanished as she dropped her hands to her waist like it was no big deal. "All yours."

Sakura turned her gaze to me and offered a piece of paper. "Draw these wards. I'll fill them when I'm sure they're correct."

"What about the water?" I asked, eyeing the edge on the other side of the lake. The ice went only as far as the initial area and left the waters that wound through the woods to freeze on their own. "I won't fall in, will I?"

Christine chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll add a rail in a moment."

"Oh."

I wasn't thrilled, exactly, to be responsible for the tedious work, but practice was practice. It took so long to draw the wards and do it correctly, that by the time she finished filling them in a dozen other professors had arrived to assist with the other parts of the dance's construction.

Tables and seating surrounded the lake and spread into the snowy banks, all of it covered in verandas with heating lanterns to fight off the cold. Glass orbs hung from the verandas and trees like ornaments swirling in a mix of blue, silver, and amber that lit beautifully once darkness descended. The brightest light of all, though, was the near-full moon reflected on the ice's shiny surface.

"Thank you for your help. Good work," Sakura said, a hint of a smile on her face.

If my toes weren't frozen, I might have been blown away by her praise. I bowed my head. "Thanks, Professor. I'll head inside."

"Good night."

I marched up the hill with eager steps and found myself in the company of Lucien Lacroix.

"Miss Tate. I wish to extend an offer for you to swing by my classroom tomorrow. Any time. If you wish to get some practice in, that is."

"Practice, sir?"

Lucien turned his face to me, his expression flat. "Relocation. Unless you intend to give up?"

"I'd be happy to. You won't be at the dance?"

Scornful laughter snuck its way out before he spoke, "No. I took the shift at the festival so I would not have to observe this sorry affair."

I couldn't blame him at all, and it did work out in my favor. "Then I'll see you tomorrow night, sir."