Bones of Salt

Matias

Matias had never really liked Minx Morris, but he'd never told anyone.

The reason was simple: if you happened to dislike your goofy, apparently well-intentioned but a little weird teacher, you couldn't say you disliked him without sounding prejudiced even to yourself.

However, he didn't feel like telling any of his friends 'I told you so', for not even he could have imagined the lengths Minx would go to. And he didn't have time to dwell on it -- he had to get Roman and Jonathan and tell them about the fire.

He knew what he was about to do defied all the rules of the Tasks, but he went to Jonathan's room, even though the latter was still sleeping.

Roman was standing loyally in front of the door. "I'm already waiting for Jonathan to wake up," he started saying, but Matias shushed him.

"There's no time," he said. "The school's on fire. I'll get Jonathan." Then, he decided to say something Roman would accept more gladly. "We've already told Atticus. You can go to regroup with him, and I promise Jonathan and I will join you in no time."

Matias noticed Roman seemed more interested in staying behind with Jonathan, but he didn't doubt the words of the other recruit. He went away, but painfully slowly and glanced behind his shoulder every few steps.

Matias couldn't afford to be distracted. He opened the door to Jonathan's room and went inside.

Jonathan was shaking in his bed, murmuring words about his mother and about avenging her. Matias found this a little weird – he was almost sure Jonathan's mother hadn't been killed. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized the other recruit had never shared the details of his mother's death.

Jonathan was also saying something about a tree. It didn't make a lot of sense. Something along the lines of 'I got to find the tree.'

Matias resolved to never mention it to Jonathan once he woke up, because he would most likely feel mortified.

That was when Matias noticed Jonathan slept with his sword on the bedside table. He grabbed the weapon, and used it to nudge Jonathan gently. He knew what Mira, or even Cypress, would say about that, but there was no time to waste.

Jonathan woke up. He opened his right eye, then his left. His eyes were bloodshot and the same color of his tie — a pale, blue-ish green.

He still looked weary and tired. There were circles around his eyes. Matias wondered whether the Tasks had driven him insane -- it could occasionally happen.

Jonathan looked at Matias slowly, and then he said, "Roman?"

Now Matias was definitely sure Jonathan had lost his mind. "I'm not Roman, I'm Matias."

Jonathan looked annoyed. "Without a shadow of a doubt. But where is Roman? Why do I smell smoke?"

Matias had trouble understanding whether Jonathan was acting regularly, since he'd always found him a little eccentric. However, he seemed lucid enough.

"I offer my congratulations," Matias said. "You're a Blood Drinker now. A soldier in the army against the Creatures."

Matias might have decided to embrace this lifestyle reluctantly, and he might be against monarchy, but that didn't mean he wasn't single-minded enough to decide to give his best to whatever he would pursue. Therefore, he believed those were words any soldier deserved to hear after the Mind Task.

"I know," Jonathan replied after a while. "Maybe the Blood impaired your brain. I will ask this one more time. Where — is — Roman? And is the school on fire?"

Matias found that very insulting coming from him. "I'll take you to your friend," he said. "No need to be rude. Nobody even knew if you would have survived the Blood until five minutes ago. And I'm still not sure your Mind took it well."