A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)

by V.E. Schwab

Walking away had been easy. Not looking back was harder.

What am I? One of a kind.

Magic is tangled, so you must be smooth. Magic is wild, so you must be tame. Magic is chaos, so you must be calm. Are you calm, Kell?

How many coats do you suppose there are inside that one? The memory caught him like a blow. Lila.

“Kell,” someone whispered in his ear. Only it wasn’t Asana, but Delilah Bard. She did that, crept into his thoughts and robbed him of focus, like a thief.

“Strength and weakness are tangled things,” the Aven Essen had said. “They look so much alike, we often confuse them, the way we confuse magic and power.”

But belonging meant caring, and caring was a dangerous thing.

“I’m sorry.” He sounded so … earnest, which made Lila instantly suspicious. Alucard was many things, but genuine wasn’t usually one of them. “For growing on me?” she asked. He shook his head. “For whatever happened to you. For whoever hurt you so deeply that you see things like friends and fondness as weapons instead of shields.”

But life is pointless without pleasure.”

“What are you running from?”

What are you running from? he’d asked. Nothing. Everything. Us. This.

People could only hurt you if you cared enough to let them.

The Castans think that when someone aven appears, it’s for a reason. It’s because the magic is trying to tell us something.…”

“So you think I’m here for a reason?” she asked. Lenos rocked from heel to toe. “We’re all here for a reason, Bard. Some reasons are just bigger than others.

But a week later, he came back, and made the same offer. He comes every week.” “Bastard,” mumbled Lila, but the merchant shook her head. “Don’t you see?” said Calla. “He wasn’t coming to pay your debt. He was coming to see if you’d returned to pay it yourself.” Lila felt her face go hot. “I do not know why you two are circling each other like stars. It is not my cosmic dance. But I do know that you come asking after one another, when only a few strides and a handful of stairs divide you.”

So many people, he thought. Lila would pick every pocket here. Just as he thought it, he caught sight of a shadow amid the color and light.

A thin figure. A black coat. A sharp smile.

“You do me too much honor,” she said, smile widening. “And if you were coming to see about that debt,” she went on, eyes bright, “you should know that it has recently been paid.” Kell’s chest tightened. “What? When?”

“Indeed,” continued Calla. “Only a few minutes ago.” Kell didn’t even say good-bye.