She looked into the eyes of her lover. Obsidian mingled with soft brown, in a hard face. He smiled at her, running a cold finger over the scars on her face. ‘I’m sorry I had to kill you,’ she said.

‘I know.’ His eyes were sad but still kind. There was no bitterness in his voice. ‘I would have brought magic back to the world, you know. But I understand. You did what you had to.’

Masha pulled her body back from his. His entrails had spilled from a hundred gashes and rested on the moss between them. Worms slithered out from him, and began to crawl up Masha’s thighs towards her insides. She tried to scream but could not. She struggled to push him away, but he just kept looking at her.

‘Masha!’

She woke with a shiver and sat up in her bunk, brushing her thighs. She was breathing hard. A wraith stood over her. She gave a yelp before she recognized Matron Limp. ‘You were screaming in your sleep,’ she said icily.

‘Apologies,’ Masha whimpered. ‘I had a nightmare.’

The skeletal face of Matron Limp did not look amused. Her eyes were gleaming stones in dark holes. ‘You think you are the only one who has nightmares?’ She pointed to the sleeping figures around the dormitory. Someone shuddered. Another yelped like a puppy. Someone was muttering pleas while another was making choking sounds, as if she was being strangled. Limp was right. No one really slept well in the House of Oracles.

‘Now what is this?’ Matron Limp pointed to the books lying on Masha’s bed, half hidden under the blanket. ‘You are not allowed to bring back books from the Library.’

Still half-trapped in her nightmare, Masha murmured, ‘Matron, I...I was trying to...’

‘Be the first to uncover the future? Yes, we are all doing that, but not by bringing books back to the dorm.’ She smiled like a cat-killer. ‘I was searching for someone to pass on this duty to, and now I have found you. Despite Sister Mercy’s best efforts, some young brute from Meru has signed up for a month’s internship with our House. You will be assigned to him; teach him our ways.’

‘Ugh…’

Matron Limp raised her eyebrows. Masha tried staring. She too, was a Matron now, albeit unnamed. But who was she kidding? Matron Limp could outstare a statue and make it cry.

‘Certainly, Matron.’

‘Very good. I trust the books will find their way back to the shelves by dawn.’

‘Yes, Matron.’