Rising above the black hills were the mountains, closer than they’d ever been in the farmlands. Mina thought the mountains looked wild, with jagged peaks, razor-sharp rocks, and sheer cliffs of exposed gray. From the safe distance of her family’s farm, they had seemed picturesque—​the gentle haze of distance had smoothed the slopes and softened the peaks, making them into a faraway backdrop of her world. Here they were in your face, as if proclaiming, We are mountains, and you will tremble before us.

Oddly, it was the sight of the mountains that calmed her. They looked so amazing, so unapologetically and defiantly what they were, that she forgot, briefly, to be nervous.

She remembered again the second she noticed the crowd.

Spread across the circular practice field were all the students at Mytris, about two hundred total, with their beasts, loosely clumped by class. So many people! And creatures! They don’t expect us to train all together, do they? The idea of practicing in front of so many, when she knew nothing and most had been training for months—​

“Hey, Mina!” Jyx trotted over toward her with Chauda close behind her. “Isn’t this the awesomest?”

«Yeah, Mina, isn’t it?» Pixit looked at her pointedly.

His exasperation tasted peppery in the back of her throat, and she couldn’t help smiling. She laid her hand on his neck. I promise I’ll try my best. You know I want us to fit here.

She felt Pixit’s mood shift to a kind of sunny orange.

Side by side, Mina and Jyx and their beasts watched a procession of mostly older girls and boys, plus a few grownups, march onto the field to join the students. The storm-beast school had two kinds of teachers: older professors, who were former storm guardians whose beasts had lost their power, and young teachers, who were still paired with active beasts. Both professors and teachers wore robes like Professor Werrin’s, but only the professors carried the special electricity-cage canes. As they filed in, Mina saw the guardians and beasts flock to them—​a few headed back into the towers with textbooks tucked under their arms, but most ditched their textbooks in shelves by the practice field and then flew out in groups of four into the barren lands. She eyed the textbooks, wondering when she’d get one.

It was organized chaos: everyone seemed to know whom to go with, and they went, crisscrossing one another, converging, then dispersing, until the only ones left on the field were Mina, Pixit, Jyx, Chauda, Professor Werrin, and the small man who had opened the school door for them the night before. Professor Werrin introduced him as Professor Dano.

“Seriously?” Jyx huffed. “He’s Professor Dino?”