“Nope,” she said. “You get the bunk where they chuck your stuff.” I took a step back and noticed that my bag had indeed been chucked into one of the top bunks. Using the notches carved into the stone between each bunk, I climbed up and into what was apparently my new bed for the foreseeable future. To be honest, I was a little leery of the whole setup. For one thing, I’d never slept in a twin-sized bed before, and the thought of falling out and dropping the six feet to the stone floor didn’t seem all that appealing. Once I actually got in there, though, it was deeper than I’d expected. Carved into the back wall of the bunk was a set of shelves for books or personal items and even an antique-looking brass light that reminded me of something you’d see in a mine or a ship. I gave its knob a twist, and it came to life, bathing the cubby in a warm yellow glow.

“Not bad, right?” came a voice, and I jumped and cracked my head hard on the stone ceiling. I bit my tongue to keep from saying something I shouldn’t and turned to see Serina watching me, her arms propped lazily on the mattress as she stood on the bunk below mine.

“Not bad at all,” I said, grimacing as I rubbed at my throbbing head. “The low ceilings may take some getting used to, though.”

“Tall girl problem,” she said. “You’ll get used to it.”

She grabbed something from the end of the bed and tossed it to me, and I discovered that they were sheets. As she helped me tug them over the corners of the mattress, I shot her a look out of the corner of my eye. “I’m kind of surprised you sleep in here with us,” I said.

“It’s another quirk about the mountain,” she said as she adjusted the blanket on the end of the bed. “The Academy keeps everyone so divided they barely know one another, but we work more like a team here. That’s one of the reasons that Sam is a little intense about every new recruit. We’ve proven that partner Glitching can be successful, but one bad screwup and the entire program could be dissolved.”

“He’s more than a little intense,” I said.

She shrugged. “We have our entire careers invested in the Lewis and Clark program being a success. He’ll calm down once he gets used to you guys. He was the same way when Tess and Eliana got here a few months ago.”

“Well,” I said thinking of Elliot and Sam in the dorm across the hall, “I’m glad you are a tad more chill.”