“Oh. Thanks.” She hadn’t asked him to clean it. She’d thought that was something she should do herself, since she’d been there for the birth. But no one had asked her how she felt about it. And I never said.

They assume they know me and what I want, but they don’t.

I want to be a lightning guardian. Even if I didn’t know it before I met Pixit.

“Just wait until you see how different everything will look when you get back from training,” Gaton said cheerfully. “Home will seem much smaller, after you’ve been out in the world.”

Mina glanced back down toward the kitchen. They hadn’t seen the letter. Yet.

«They will,» Pixit said. «Your little brother just vomited, though. I think he did it on purpose. He really doesn’t like applesauce.»

“Hey, Mina, don’t be scared, okay?” Gaton said, misreading her expression. “I know how it feels—​you’re not ready for everything to change. I felt the same way.”

That wasn’t how she felt. Still, it was nice of him to say. “Thanks, Gaton.” As he continued down, she ran up the final steps to her room.

Without the shell and its nest of quilts, her room looked oddly bare. Pixit’s egg had been there for so long that its absence felt like it altered the shape of the room. Gaton was right. It doesn’t even look like my room anymore. It’s changed.

Everything’s changed.

Except for me.

She felt the same, with only one major difference: she wasn’t waiting anymore. Pixit was here! And no matter what her parents thought, Mina knew they belonged together.

She found a bag in her closet and opened it. She didn’t know what to bring to Mytris Lightning School. She wished the letter had included more information, but it hadn’t, so she stuck to the basics: clothes, a hairbrush, a sketchbook with a bunch of blank pages. She also packed a handful of nice pencils.

Through the floorboards, she heard the moment that Mother and Papa discovered the letter. The yelling started almost immediately, which wasn’t a surprise. Mina wished she’d told Pixit to go outside. Certainly she wasn’t going back down there, though.

Pixit, are you all right?

«Are you all right, Mina? Your thoughts feel swirly again.»

I feel swirly. Like I’m in a mixing bowl. So much had happened so quickly. She didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous or happy or scared.

Glancing around the room, she tried to think of anything she’d forgotten. She’d pack her toothbrush in the morning, before she left to meet the ship. Maybe by then Mother and Papa will be used to the idea that I’m going to be a lightning guardian.