She dropped back down onto the ground. Her eyes flew open. “Did everyone have to complete this final?”

Zina smiled. “Why do you ask?”

“We were only hovering,” Kerrigan said. “The others were able to sit on the ceiling?”

She shrugged one of her shoulders. “This is the exam that you are getting. Whether the others had the same one is none of your concern.”

Right. She still had to pass. Even if this one for her was absurd.

The point of this wasn’t to fly. They weren’t going to suddenly be on Zina’s level. There must be another point to the teachings. This wasn’t hovering. It was changing her perspective. That was what Zina had said, and she wouldn’t have said anything unless it was important.

So, Kerrigan let herself go to that place within her magic that was reserved for worst-case scenarios—her spirit magic. She hadn’t been there since trying to take the barrier down. And blessedly, she hadn’t had another vision either. She didn’t have time to even think about finding a spiritcaster teacher. When would she train for that with everything else going on?

She pushed those thoughts aside and focused inside herself. Then, she drew her air magic to her and righted her perspective. She felt as if she were outside of her body when it flipped upside down. The last thing she needed was to think about it. She needed to let her instincts take over.

When she finally opened her eyes, she was on the ceiling, and the floor to the room was far below. Kerrigan gulped and closed her eyes again, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

“Breathe,” Zina said, something like a smile in her words. “You’re the right way up. The other way was wrong. You know this in your gut. You are sitting on the floor. Everything above you is the ceiling.”

Kerrigan heard her soothing words wash over her, and slowly, she peeled her eyes back open. And Zina was right. She was sitting on the floor. The ceiling was suspended above her.

“How am I doing this?” she gasped.

“A change of perspective.” Zina gestured at a teapot. “Now, pour us tea. And remember, we are on the floor.”

Kerrigan nodded blankly, staring at the teapot in front of them and the two little cups and saucers. If they were the other way around, the tea would be falling out of the pot. But this was the floor. She had to keep reminding herself of that fact. This was the floor.

She reached for the teapot and used her magic to leverage everything in place. With a slight hesitation, she poured tea into Zina’s glass. It didn’t move. Kerrigan gulped, straining to use her magic to keep everything, including herself, in place.