Beneath her, Pixit shifted and flew out of the cloud. She emerged into the sunlight with the bolt in her hands. A little ways away, Jyx, Ferro, and Zek erupted in cheers as Pixit pivoted in the air.

Rising up in her seat, Mina threw the lightning bolt back into the cloud. Just like a lightning guardian was supposed to.

If I do this, what else can I do? she wondered.

Pixit answered her as if it weren’t a rhetorical question. «You can do what you always dreamed. You can change the world.»

Chapter
Nineteen

Standing on the threshold of the dining hall, Mina debated whether she should go in. We can just talk to Jyx later. In the nice, peaceful quiet of their dorm room, rather than here. In the hour before lights out, the dining hall was the opposite of peaceful. As Mina peeked inside, a student on her beast swooped through the maze of metal rods that dangled from the ceiling, while another pair scrambled up the climbing wall and yet another played on the metal ladders. Others cheered them on from below. But as Mina turned to go, Jyx spotted her and waved.

«Remember: you’re the spark.»

Steeling herself, Mina crossed the hall and halted in front of the table with Jyx, Ferro, and Zek. This was unusual enough that all of them stopped chattering and stared at her, and she remembered suddenly how her family had stopped and listened to her when she’d had something to say. When did they become like family? she wondered.

Out loud, she said, “I need to talk to you all.”

Ferro blinked at her. “That’s new.”

In her head, Mina heard Pixit talking to the other storm beasts—​Chauda, Ragit, and Brindle—​telling them this was important and to please come and listen to Mina. Chauda snorted, a this better be good kind of snort. She then herded her guardian and the boys out of the dining hall.

All of them trooped up to Mina and Jyx’s dorm room. The beasts flew in through the window and filled the available floor space, while Mina, Jyx, Ferro, and Zek sat cross-legged on the beds.

“It’s like we’re having a secret meeting,” Ferro said.

“We are having a secret meeting,” Zek said. “Wait—​why do we need to have a secret meeting? I was next up on the maze.”

“Because,” Mina said, studying each of them: Jyx with her heart-shaped scar on her chin and her eager bounce that said she was ready for any adventure; Ferro with his woolly caterpillar eyebrows above eyes that were constantly looking around as if searching out his next joke; and Zek, who liked to act as if he knew more than Ferro at all times, as if his height automatically made him more mature and knowledgeable. My friends. “Because I have a secret to tell you.”

«Make them promise not to turn you in.»