Pixit! She took a step forward—​and saw, across the dining hall, Professor Dano. He was backed against the massive sculpture of a lightning beast. Looking at him, she thought the metal umbrella-cane that the professors carried didn’t seem like enough protection. If lightning bolts began to fly, he’d be in danger. He needs to get out of here!

But he wasn’t trying to run. Instead he beckoned her over.

Keeping to the edges of the hall, Mina hurried to him.

“You and I are both too quiet to catch this mob’s attention,” Professor Dano said, “but if you could ask your beast to fly to the top of the statue and roar as loudly as he can, that might do the trick. There’s a speaking tube within the statue’s head, installed by the school’s last headmistress. It should amplify him sufficiently.”

Pixit? Mina called with her mind.

«Mina, they’re throwing potatoes!» He sounded both pleased and outraged. She tasted his excitement, sweet and tangy. He’d never been in a fight before. Neither of them had.

She repeated Professor Dano’s request and added, Can you roar loud enough?

«Let’s find out!»

She watched Pixit flap up to the top of the lightning-beast statue and perch on its head, just above its golden eyes. Rearing back, he opened his mouth and let out a roar. The speaking tube magnified it, louder than any of the shouting, shrieking, and howling.

For a brief instant, there was shocked silence.

Into the silence, Professor Dano said, “Now that I have your attention, you will all return to your rooms. We are the protectors of Alorria. We do not fight among ourselves. Go!”

Everyone scattered. Some ran. Some skulked. But all of them left, until it was only Mina, Pixit, and Professor Dano remaining in the dining hall.

That was amazing, she told Pixit.

He purred.

“You don’t need to be loud,” Professor Dano said, a bit of smugness in his voice. “But sometimes it’s good to have loud friends.”

Chapter
Twenty-Three

“Come to my library,” Professor Dano said. “We need to talk.”

Check on Jyx, please? Mina asked Pixit silently. You can’t fit up the stairs anyway.

«I’ll make sure she’s okay,» Pixit promised. «And the others, too.» He flew off the statue, while Mina followed the professor out of the dining hall and up the narrow winding stairs to his library.

With each step, she grew more nervous. He knew what she’d done. How much trouble was she in?

She waited while he unlocked the door, and then he switched on a single electric bulb. He held the door open for her while she entered, and closed it after they were both inside. It made her think of a jail-cell door swinging shut. Inside, the tiny library was full of shadows.