And then she saw them: the storm guardians riding their beasts, lit up by sparks of electricity, pulling streaks of lightning behind them, as if they were glorious comets. She gasped as they sparkled brighter than the stars.

“Really simple rules. Really hard to play,” Jyx said. “You have to get a bolt of lightning to your team’s goal. Each bolt is a point.” She pointed to a streak of lightning between two sparking beasts. “The other team has its own goal, and they can steal your bolt. There are three fifteen-minute rounds. Most points wins.”

«Fun!» Pixit cried.

“It’s awesome!” Jyx said, leaning forward, stretching both arms to hold on to the gutter and Chauda. “My parents were in the top team their year. Told me I’d better be too.”

Mina watched one of the beasts plummet and then right itself. She knew what her parents would say watching this: that it was a ridiculous waste to play games with storm beasts, that they should be doing something practical to help the farm, that it was too dangerous, that Mina of course wanted both her feet on the ground, safe and sound. “It looks dangerous.”

Jyx nodded. “Totally is.”

Mina sensed Pixit laughing in her head. What?

«You think it looks fun, too.»

Do not. It looks absurd.

«You want to do it.»

No.

«Mina.»

I don’t.

«I can read your mind.»

Oh.

He laid a paw on her arm. «Mina, you aren’t your family. And you aren’t who your family thinks you are. You’re you. And I love you exactly as you are.»

I love you too, Pixit.

Trying to quiet the imagined voices of her family, Mina watched the storm beasts and their guardians chase through the sky. Her heart began to thump faster. Her fingers tapped on the railing. She shifted from foot to foot, rising up on her tiptoes as the streak of lightning shot across the sky, illuminated a tower with a rod, and then sizzled down the rod.

“A point!” Jyx yelled.

«What do you think of that, Mina?»

Fine. You’re right. It looks fun. She knew her family would think it strange that she thought it looked exciting—​she was supposed to be quiet, calm, and dependable. She’d never been the daredevil type, and she still wasn’t. But . . . Maybe there’s a part of me that does belong here.

«Of course there is.»

He sounded so confident, but how could he know?

«Um . . . Mina?»

Oh, right. You can read my mind. She grinned at him. Maybe he did know.