The Schism (The Broken Prism Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

and his neck ached from being slumped over awkwardly for so long. He cursed the nightmare that had woken him up, in which the Magistra came back to life and murdered Tess in front of him, though he supposed he should be thankful that he could finish his reading for the night. The last thing he needed was to get in trouble for not finishing his homework on his first day here.
    Thinking that a glass of water might be nice, he climbed out of bed without disturbing Bonk (who refused to sleep on any perch) and crept quietly from the room.
    The house looked strange with most of the lights out and the people gone, large and eerie. His footsteps sounded loud to him as he padded down the hallway, trying to remember the path to the kitchen or one of the bathrooms for a sink. He must have taken a wrong turn at some point, because he found himself back in the library without knowing how he got there.
    He was about to turn and leave, but then noticed a gas lamp that was on near a reading alcove, and he approached it curiously, wondering who else was awake at this hour.
    It was Magdalene Trout. He tried to back away before she could see him but didn’t move fast enough, and with a snap she shut her book and said, “Hayden, what are you doing out here at this hour?”
    Caught, he stepped into the light and said, “Sorry, I was going to get a glass of water but I got turned around, and then I saw a light on over here so I came to investigate.”
    To his surprise, she motioned for him to sit in a down-stuffed chair opposite her. He wondered if she was about to chew him out for being nosy.
    “Have you finished the reading I assigned you?”
    “Half of it, but then I fell asleep. I just woke up from a nightmare and was going to get a drink before I tackled the rest of it.” He frowned.
    “How do you find it so far?” she asked with polite interest.
    Hayden made a face and said, “Truthfully? It’s the most boring thing my eyes have ever attempted to scan, and I only understand half of what it’s telling me.”
    Magdalene chuckled, looking much more human than the crisp, stern appearance she kept up during the day.
    “Yes, it can be very boring. It will set the groundwork for our discussions tomorrow though, so it is important to wade through it as best you can.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Why are you having nightmares?”
    Surprised by the change of subject, Hayden said, “I only mentioned the one.”
    Mrs. Trout waved a dismissive hand at this. “You looked exhausted when I came to get you from your friend’s house, in a way that suggests you’ve lost more than a single night of rest.”
    Annoyed that it was so obvious, Hayden muttered something about the Forest of Illusions and having a lot on his mind.
    “Don’t tell me you’re upset because you fought in a war and won.” The stern look from earlier was on her face once more. “You’re being hailed as a hero; I’m told you received a Medal of Heroism from the High Mayor, even after all that trouble with the Fias at Mizzenwald.”
    “The medal is half the problem,” Hayden blurted out. “I don’t deserve such a high honor for taking down those Suppressors. I didn’t even know what I was doing at the time, or that there was a chance I’d be horribly killed by magical backlash for even trying it. If I had, I might not have been brave enough to even attempt it. I was just running around the Forest, making things up as I went, and I got lucky.”
    “I agree,” Mrs. Trout nodded. “You don’t deserve a medal for dumb luck. You could have been replaced by any magically-inclined idiot who happened to have three-inch Focus-correctors and we probably would have gotten the same result.”
    Stunned at having someone finally agree with him when everyone else insisted on telling him what a great mage he was, Hayden said, “Well, yeah. So every time I look at the stupid thing, I feel like a fraud.”
    “Unless you stole the medal, you aren’t a fraud.