Ferro leaned over to whisper, “Everything’s going great. Don’t even need to hand out more leaflets—​everyone’s sharing them. By now I think everyone in the school has seen one.”

Mina smiled at him and ate her roll.

As her friends chattered around her, Mina listened to them and to a smattering of other conversations. She heard a lot of whispering and not as much laughter as usual from the tables around them. Glancing up, she thought she saw a flash of paper in another student’s hand—​Saril, the girl whose father was a rain-guardian professor, was passing it to another student, Trina, who read it with her mouth in an O shape. I wonder if that’s my essay. Craning, she tried to get a peek at it.

But then Trina stuffed the paper under her seat as Professor Werrin strode through the dining hall. Mina watched the headmistress as she stepped onto a platform next to a fifteen-foot-tall sculpture of a lightning beast. She thumped her cane heavily for attention.

Announcements were rare during meals. Usually it was so loud in the hall that none of the professors bothered, but Professor Werrin caught everyone’s attention precisely because her actions were so unusual.

“Students, I have an exciting announcement to make!” Professor Werrin said. Her voice projected across the hall, even though it didn’t sound like she was shouting—​it was only that the students and their beasts were, for a rare moment, quiet. “Our participation in the festival has been confirmed: five days from now, on the morning of the festival, we will be conducting a lightning-relay tournament in the southeastern farmlands!”

Home, Mina thought.

Before visiting the outpost, she would have thought that was an honor: to serve as a lightning guardian in front of her family and all their neighbors.

Murmurs spread around the hall.

“Graduates, of course, will be having their showcase tournament in the city, and don’t worry, our tournament will be considered preliminary—​you’ll be finished in time to watch the finals. Indeed, the prime minister has promised to reserve seating for students participating in the festivities.”

The murmurs grew into a rumble. Mina tried to hear what people were saying. It was odd—​she’d expected cheers. Students always participated in the festival in some way, but this, an official lightning-relay match, should have been greeted with excitement.

Professor Werrin frowned. Clearly, she’d expected excitement as well. “This is an honor for all of us at Mytris Lightning School. In past years, students have been relegated to the background, but for this festival, the prime minister wants to highlight the promise of our youth.”

Students began to shift in their seats.

Jyx whispered, “I’m going to say something.”

“Don’t,” Ferro whispered back. “They’ll know it was us. You’ll get us caught.”