If this was what she had to do to be a lightning guardian . . .

I’m doomed.

Only when they reached the other side did Mina feel like she could breathe again. She ventured a question. “Is it always like this?” She immediately wished she hadn’t asked—​she hadn’t meant to draw attention to the fact that she wasn’t like the others.

Professor Werrin looked at her curiously. “Of course not. There’s order and discipline here as well. You will see in the morning. Breakfast is typically much more sedate.”

Good, Mina thought. She’d considered her farmhouse loud, especially with the twins, but this was extreme. She glanced at Jyx. The other girl didn’t seem at all intimidated. In fact, she was grinning broadly.

Pixit pranced beside Mina. «Come on, be excited! Maybe they’ll all be new friends!»

Or maybe they’ll see I don’t belong.

He made a puffing sound. «Or maybe they’ll all be really great new friends! I don’t remember you being this negative before I was born.»

Yeah, well, it’s easy to be brave when you’re talking to an egg.

“Balloons will be sent to both your families, informing them of your safe arrival,” Professor Werrin said, waving at a room stuffed with red message balloons.

At least she hadn’t said a message would be sent saying Mina was unsuitable. Mina allowed herself a kernel of hope. She followed Professor Werrin and the others.

“And this is the library,” Professor Werrin said, gesturing toward another room as they passed.

Inside, through the window in the door, Mina could see a tunnel-like room full of long rows of bookshelves, all wrapped in chains. So many books! Mina lingered by the window.

At one table, she saw the squat man with the bulbous nose who had opened the door for them. He was poring over a thick book with yellowed pages. Rising up onto her tiptoes, she tried to see what kind of book it was—​she’d never seen such a fat one. It had to hold hundreds of stories!

As if he felt her gaze, he looked up and met her eyes. He shut his book, hiding the title.

“Mina!” Jyx called. “Keep up!”

Mina scurried on, with one more glance back at the beautifully quiet library.

«See, told you you’d find something you liked here.»

You never said that.

«I could have said it, if I’d thought to. It’s totally the kind of thing I’d say.»

She grinned despite herself.

As soon as she and Pixit caught up with the others, Professor Werrin nodded briskly at her and then, hitching her robe up to her knees, climbed a set of stairs. “Dorm rooms are this way. Storm-guardian bathrooms on the left, beasts’ on the right.”