Daughter of the Bone Forest by Jasmine Skye

Author:Jasmine Skye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

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AUGUST BLED INTO SEPTEMBER, BRINGING cool breezes to counteract the summer sun. Friday afternoon was so pleasant I wished I could take a nap along the riverbank instead of attending my workshops.

In Advanced Shapeshifting, Madam Xu had us working so hard that the flower familiar named Kwaddis Tenas eventually complained aloud, “What’s the point of finding another shift now? Once we all bond, won’t it be easier?”

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled as Madam Xu turned from where she’d been giving Charles advice and stared at Kwaddis. “And why would a bond make it easier to find another shift, Mister Kwaddis?”

Kwaddis looked like he knew he’d put his foot in his mouth, but he continued anyway. “Everyone knows bonding makes you stronger. Witches and familiars.”

“Everyone knows that, do they?” Madam Xu stepped to the front of the clearing and gestured for all of us to sit down on the usual log benches. “Let me tell you a story,” she said. “It is the story of my early years, when I still lived in Daming, the great nation across the ocean.”

I sat, interested. Oluk joined me, looking just as entranced. I guessed that Madam Xu didn’t tell this story often.

“I discovered my first shift as a young girl,” Madam Xu began. “It was a massive white python, and I was chased out of my own village because they saw me as a demon. I spent years learning how to defend myself. I practiced all forms of martial arts, begging anyone who’d be willing to teach me. I learned other shifts too. Mostly constrictor snakes, at first, then venomous species. I was lonely for many years, until at eighteen I rescued a small green snake from decapitation by a farmer. The green snake turned out to be another shifter cast out from her home, and Xiaoqing and I became sisters. You see, in Daming, many rural villages believe all shapeshifters to be embodiments of evil. To the upper class it was different, as it is here in the Cursed Kingdom, but we had no status then.”

I shivered, imagining my family kicking me out. Imagining my entire village turning against me. What Madam Xu went through was terrifying to even consider.

“Xiaoqing and I traveled together. We were never able to stay in one place long. I had learned to control my shifts, but Xiaoqing was younger than me and still struggled not to shift when consumed by emotions. One day, our training was interrupted by a young man. He’d seen us and wanted to know how we were able to shift into animal forms. This man was Xu Xian. Xian Xu, you would say here. He had a gift for creating protective charms and amulets, but there was no formal school for magic in Daming then.”

Madam Xu explained how she shared what she knew with Mister Xu, but unbeknownst to them, another familiar eavesdropped on their conversation. A tortoise shifter by the name of Fahai, who knew that if he bound himself to a witch, his own powers would increase.

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