Just before lights out, after an exhausting day of extra-hard training, Mina met with Jyx, Ferro, and Zek and their beasts in her and Jyx’s room. She repeated for them everything that Professor Dano had told her, and they dissected everything Professor Werrin had said, with the beasts chiming in through their guardians. They talked about what they should do next: finish training and graduate as quickly as they could, so they could help the outsiders as much as possible.

It’s a good plan, Mina thought. She hoped they’d be assigned somewhere near one another after they graduated. She was going to request that.

«And if we aren’t together, we can fly, remember?»

She laughed and then, at Jyx’s demand, repeated what she and Pixit had said.

They all smiled at one another.

“Hey, speaking of flying, did you see that double loop to the goal the guardian in the red shirt did during the festival tournament?” Ferro asked.

“Yes!” Jyx pounced on it. “And did you see the fake-out throw to the second rod? Brilliant, especially if you’re playing with multiple rods.”

Zek nodded. “Yeah, makes it trickier to guard.”

Mina leaned back against the wall and listened as her friends babbled about new relay tricks to try and strategies to win. Absently, she spread her fingers. She remembered how it had felt, catching all that energy in her hands. There had to be ways to use all their power to help people beyond Alorria.

«We’ll find ways.»

Yes, we will. And then Mina leaned forward and said, “Since we already saved the world this week, how about we beat you at lightning relay tomorrow?” She knew how her friends would react to that—​their faces lit up in smiles.

“Oh yeah!” Jyx said. She pointed at Ferro and Zek. “Prepare to lose.”

“You prepare to lose!” Ferro cried.

Zek shook his head. “That was a terrible comeback. I’m embarrassed for you.”

“You have a better one?” Ferro demanded.

“Yeah,” Zek said. “Or I will. In a few hours, when I think of it.”

And they kept talking and laughing, until lights out forced them to bed.

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

Mytris Lightning School
Graduation Day . . .

Mina brushed Pixit’s feathered scales. Sparks showered around them, and Mina felt strands of her hair rise. She laughed. He was stuffed full of lightning from the last storm and was so excited that he was shimmering. “You ready?”

«Been ready since the day I hatched! Well, almost.»

He sprang up, shook himself, and sprayed more sparks around the dorm room. She laughed again as he romped to the window and launched himself outside. She followed, climbing onto the sill and then jumping out onto his back.