The cavern walls ripped apart with a deafening crash, an explosion of rock and blazing-red magma. The air around me now was fire, black ash and suffocation. In the distance, I could see three mountain peaks, dripping with molten lava. Balls of flame tumbled from the sky.

“Gitrin!” I called, choking for breath. She was nowhere in sight.

The voices in my ear whisper-shrieked, “Ne’haoi ifaisteioi mesau elytherios.”

My eyes flew open, ears ringing from the sound of my own screams. I was alone again in the classroom. I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. My mouth felt dry, and loose strands of coarse white hair tickled at my face. I brushed them away in annoyance, breathing in deeply and slowly, willing my heart to slow down to its regular pace.

“Nadin?”

I jumped at the voice, but it was only Ceilos. He stood in the open doorway, peering at me across the darkened classroom, the phosphorescent stones casting reflections of purple and blue across his skin. He stepped into the room, pulling the sliding door shut quietly behind him.

“I thought I heard voices in here,” he said. “Are you alone?”

“Yes.” I wiped the crust from my eyes as he came to sit beside me, on my left. “I was dreaming.” A strange dream. I’d never had a dream like that before—the System usually kept our brainwaves docile and nondescript while we slept. That nightmare had been as unusual as…

Well, as the rest of this day had been.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“After nightfall,” Ceilos said. “I came looking for you when you didn’t come to the evening meal.”

“I came in here to think. I must have fallen asleep.”

“It’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot. You haven’t stopped going since you left the hospital. Your body is still weak after last night, you know. You should rest more.”

“How am I supposed to rest with everything that’s going on? When Gitrin…” I drew my knees to my chest, not knowing what else to say.

Ceilos put his hand on top of my foot. “Nadin, I know you’re upset about it still, but… do you want to tell me about what happened with Gitrin last week? On the day of the evaluation? You’ve been so tense ever since then.”

I said nothing, just staring at his dark fingers against the silver of my boot.

He sighed. “You and Gitrin were so close. Inseparable. She was my tutor, too, after I moved here, but I never had that bond with her. So when she passed me and failed you…”