Free Bone Season 01: The Bone Season: A Novel by Samantha Shannon Page A

three decades of indoctrination and propaganda before it was named Scion in 1929. That was when the First Inquisitor was chosen, and London became the first Scion citadel. All this suggested to me that, somehow, the Rephaim’s arrival had triggered Scion. All that bullshit about unnaturalness, just to sate these creatures that had come from nowhere.
    I took a deep breath. There must be more to this, there must be. Somehow I would understand. My first priority was to get out of here. Until I could do that, I would search this place for answers. I couldn’t just walk away, not now I knew where voyants were being sent. I couldn’t forget all I’d heard and seen.
    First I would find Seb. His amaurosis made him ignorant and scared, but he was only a kid. He didn’t deserve this. Once I’d located him, I’d find Julian and the other detainees from Bone Season XX. I wanted to know more about the Emim, and until my keeper got back, they were my only source of information.
    A bell rang in the tower outside, echoed by another, louder chime in the distance. Wait for the bell . There must be a curfew.
    I placed the lamp on the edge of the bath. As I splashed my face with cold water, I considered my options. It was best to play along with the Rephaim for now. If I survived long enough I would try and contact Jax. Jax would come for me. He never left a voyant behind. Not a voyant he employed, anyway. I’d seen him leave buskers to die more than once.
    It was getting darker in the chamber. I pulled open the middle drawer of the writing table. Inside were three blister packs of pills. I didn’t want to take them, but I had a feeling he might count them to make sure I did. Unless I just threw them away.
    I popped out one from each packet. Red, white, and green. None of them were labeled.
    The city was full of nonhumans, full of things I didn’t yet understand. These pills might be there to protect me from something: toxins, radiation—the contamination Scion had warned us about. Maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe I should take them. I would have to in the end, when he came back.
    But he wasn’t here now. He couldn’t see me. I washed all three pills down the sink. He could take his medicine and choke.
    When I tried the door, I found it unlocked. I descended the stone steps, back into the cloisters. This residence was enormous. At the door to the street, a bony girl with a pink nose and dirty blond hair had replaced the boy in the red. She looked up from a counter when I approached.
    “Hello,” she said. “You must be new.”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, you’ve started your journey in a great place. Welcome to Magdalen, the best residence in Sheol I. I’m XIX-49-33, the night porter. How can I help you?”
    “You can let me go outside.”
    “Do you have permission?”
    “I don’t know.” I didn’t care, either.
    “Okay. I’ll check for you.” Her smile was getting tense. “Can I take your number?”
    “XX-59-40.”
    The girl consulted her ledger. When she found the right page, she looked up at me with wide eyes. “You’re the one the Warden took in.”
    Well, took in was one way of putting it.
    “He’s never taken a human tenant before,” she continued. “Not many of them do at Magdalen. Mostly it’s just Rephs with a few human assistants. You’re very lucky to be lodging with him, you know.”
    “So I’ve been told,” I said. “I have a few questions about this place, if you don’t mind.”
    “Go ahead.”
    “Where do I get food?”
    “The Warden left a note about that.” She poured a handful of blunted needles, cheap tin rings, and thimbles into my palm. “Here. They’re numa. The harlies always need them. You can exchange them for food in the stalls outside—there’s a sort of squatter settlement, you know—but it’s not very good. I’d wait for your keeper to feed you.”
    “Is he likely to do that?”
    “Maybe.”
    Well, now that was cleared up. “Where is the settlement?” I said.
    “On the