A lion who was chatting easily with a few of those flamingos, chuckling and sharing gum.

Hmm.

“All right, you brilliant people!” Principal Grim stood up, her dyed black hair almost maroon under the fluorescent lights. “It’s time. You know what time. Get those hands up.”

Via looked around in confusion and saw that almost the entire staff already had their hands in the air.

“Let’s get those spirit fingers working and give it up for another fantastic school year!” All the teachers shook and waved their fingers furiously. Smiling to herself at the absurdity, Via did the same.

A KNOCK ON the frame of her office door had Via glancing up. “Sebastian!”

“Hi.” He practically filled the doorway shoulder to shoulder. “How was the big first day?”

She took a deep breath and finished slipping some files into her shoulder bag for the walk home. “Hungry. I didn’t bring enough snacks.”

He chuckled. “Well, you can always come down to the cafeteria at lunchtime. I’ve got the hookup on all the extra carrot sticks and tahini dip you could ever want.”

She laughed. “That’s really what they’re serving in the cafeteria?”

He nodded, scraping a wide paw over his beard. The scratching sound carried across her small office. “Oh yeah. Principal Grim got us onto this healthy eating pilot program through the city. We’re getting Whole Foods’s day-old goods or something like that.”

“You’re kidding.”

He shrugged, a little half smile on his face, and Via couldn’t tell if he was kidding.

“So, what’d you think of the first staff meeting?”

Via blinked at him. She made a point to always tell the truth. But it was her first day here and she had no idea who might be passing by in the hallway. She went with the most evasive version of the truth her conscience would allow her to tell. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting quite that much dancing.”

Sebastian outright laughed. At one point, Principal Grim had had the entire staff in a circle with their hands waving and their hips circling. “Yeah, she has sort of a freewheeling leadership style. And she believes wholeheartedly in the body’s expression of the inner mind.” He looked down, apparently saw his sleeves were different lengths and started peeling one of them back to even them. “It didn’t scare you off, did it?”

Via shook her head, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “No way. My best friend is basically a psychic, so the more mystic juju there is, the more comfortable I am.”

“Like, a crystal ball type of psychic?” He looked intrigued, finishing his sleeve.

Via shook her head. “She’s never practiced with a crystal ball before. At least not with her clients. But she does use other kinds of crystal.” She pointed to the ones dancing lightly in the breeze at the window.

“And that, too?” He nodded toward the pendant at her chest.

“Oh. Yup. She gave this to me this morning. For luck.” She automatically started playing with it.