Bones of Salt

Cypress

Cypress was satisfied with the way her Blood Tasks had gone, aside from her sprained ankle, which still hurt more than she cared to admit.

The Court had liked her essay, though they pointed out that they found snobbish her 'desire to make something useful of herself in the world', as the job of a Blood Drinker wasn't tied to any kind of personal vanity.

As she thought this, she was lying in bed. Everybody had been sure all the recruits needed a lot of rest, in order for the Mind Task to work. Cypress thought her mind was already well-adjusted, but she wasn't going to complain. If she was wrong, she'd never hear the end of it.

Jonathan troubled her. Ever since the young man fainted, it was debated whether he would even survive the Task or not. It was hard not to fret over it, but Cypress was trying not to. She was afraid it would compromise her own result.

As for Jason, just before he was told to get some sleep, he'd murmured he already knew he had to drink from the salamander and not from the bison, but had forgotten.

Cypress had found it quite humiliating to watch unfold.

Due to Jonathan's special circumstances, Atticus had been allowed to stay with him in the room, and monitor his conditions. Cypress had heard Roman plead with his brother for what seemed like an endless amount of time to be let in, too. She had no doubt the Speaker's wish had been granted at some point.

As for Cypress, she was in the room alone, so she was extremely surprised when she heard her door opening.

It was... but that was impossible. Unless she was hallucinating, which was a common side-effect of the Mind Task going sideways, but she had had no other reason to think it hadn't worked.

"I'm disappointed," her mother said. "In you, as always. But, for once, also with myself. I swore myself and the people I trusted I would get here earlier, before those monsters could turn you into one of them. I see now that I was too late."

Cypress had feared her mother and her cousins would storm the castle that day, but she had trusted, perhaps naively, that other people, such as the ever-worried Minx Morris, would take care of it.

"You couldn't have changed my mind even if you still had time to try," Cypress said. "Now tell me, what do you plan to do?"

"There were unexpected problems at the gates, the reason why our timing was delayed. Mira Abas must have heard about our plans from someone, and there were guards posted on every entry. Buttercup and his seven siblings are dealing with them right now."

Cypress' stomach clenched. She wasn't sure if it was just her typical reaction to her former fiance being mentioned, or if it also had something to do with what he was trying to do.

There were very few ways to deal with Blood Drinkers, and almost every one of them included killing them.

"They should be inside soon, and then it's time to spread the fire," her mother boasted. "Besides, not everything is lost, as long as we have a man on the inside."

"A man on the inside?" Cypress was perplexed. "But it makes no sense! We're all either Blood Drinkers, or recruits, here. Nobody would want to die, or burn the castle down!"

"You don't need to know all the details," her mother said. "The less you know, the better."

Cypress wouldn't have admitted out loud, but she was hurt. Of course, she would have never helped out her family in this murder-suicidal plan... but to think she hadn't even been asked to be the 'man on the inside'! For her family, giving someone a role was a big deal. Cypress would never be granted one among them.