I'd watched Boundary Breach that morning from the Mythos stand, between Seraphina and Clara, and I'd been very good.
I cheered when Arthur won. I cheered when Ceci made eighth and when Rose made seventh. I even cheered for the nice Starcrest boy with the nice manners. And when Elara Astoria walked across the grass afterwards and put her forehead against Arthur's for one whole second, in front of six academies, I smiled and clapped, and I didn't break anything.
Clara said I was holding the rail of the stand quite hard. I said I wasn't. She pointed at the dent.
Now it was the afternoon, and Elara was standing three places away from me at the start line of the Miasma Purification, retying the ribbon in her hair.
"Rachel," she said, and smiled at me. "Good luck."
"You too!" I said brightly.
'I'm going to bury you,' I thought, just as brightly.
