Shadow and Bone

“I’ll pass.”
We descended a set of steps to a gravel path and made our
way to the lake. As we approached it, another building became
visible on the far shore. To my surprise, I saw groups of
children running and shouting around it. Children in red, blue,
and purple. A bell rang, and they left off their playing and
streamed inside.
“A school?” I asked.
Genya nodded. “When a Grisha’s talent is discovered, the
child is brought here for training. It’s where nearly all of us
learned the Small Science.”
Again I thought of those three figures looming over me in
the sitting room at Keramzin. Why hadn’t the Grisha
Examiners discovered my abilities all those years ago? It was
hard to imagine what my life might have been like if they had.
I would have been catered to by servants instead of working
side by side with them at chores. I never would have become a
cartographer or even learned to draw a map. And what might it
have meant for Ravka? If I’d learned to use my power, the
Shadow Fold might already be a thing of the past. Mal and I
would never have had to fight the volcra. In fact, Mal and I
would probably have long forgotten each other.
I looked back across the water to the school. “What happens
when they finish?”
“They become members of the Second Army. Many are sent
to the great houses to serve with noble families, or they’re sent
to serve with the First Army on the northern or southern front,
or near the Fold. The best are chosen to remain at the Little
Palace, to finish their education and join the Darkling’s
service.”
“What about their families?” I asked.
“They’re compensated handsomely. A Grisha’s family never
wants.”
“That’s not what I meant. Don’t you ever go home to visit?”
Genya shrugged. “I haven’t seen my parents since I was
five. This is my home.”