Shadow and Bone

CHAPTER 9
IT WAS A COMPLETE DISASTER. When Baghra fastened
her bony hand around my wrist, I realized instantly that she
was an amplifier like the Darkling. I felt the same jolting
surety flood through me, and sunlight erupted through the
room, shimmering over the stone walls of Baghra’s hut. But
when she released me and told me to call the power on my
own, I was hopeless. She chided me, cajoled me, even hit me
once with her stick.
“What am I supposed to do with a girl who can’t call her
own power?” she growled at me. “Even children can do this.”
She slid her hand around my wrist again, and I felt that
thing inside me rising up, struggling to break the surface. I
reached for it, grasping, sure I could feel it. Then she let go,
and the power slipped away from me, sinking like a stone.
Finally, she shooed me away with a disgusted wave of her
hand.
The day did not improve. I spent the rest of the morning at
the library, where I was given a towering stack of books on
Grisha theory and Grisha history and informed that this was
just a fraction of my reading list. At lunch, I looked for Genya,
but she was nowhere to be found. I sat down at the
Summoners’ table and was quickly swarmed by Etherealki.
I picked at my plate as Marie and Nadia prodded me with
questions about my first lesson, where my room was, if I
wanted to go with them to the banya that night. When they
realized they weren’t going to get much out of me, they turned
to the other Summoners to chat about their classes. While I
suffered with Baghra, the other Grisha were studying
advanced theory, languages, military strategy. Apparently, this
was all to prepare for when they left the Little Palace next
summer. Most of them would travel to the Fold or to the
northern or southern front to assume command positions in the
Second Army. But the greatest honor was to be asked to travel
with the Darkling as Ivan did.