She flipped to the last page and reread the final line: It seems the more we try to fix the world, the more we break it. She’d start her essay with that and then talk about how the guardians, working together, had succeeded in finding a way to fix the world.

Or at least, she thought, a way to fix Alorria.

She looked at the shelves around her and all the precious books. Are any of them about the rest of the world? she wondered.

But before she could continue that thought, the lights-out warning bell rang.

Mina hurried out of Professor Dano’s special library, careful to close the door behind her, and down the spiral stairs, through the halls, and into the tower with their dorm room. She was panting by the time she reached the bathroom, brushed her teeth faster than she ever had, and ran to her door. She burst in, thinking she had at least a minute to spare to get to bed—​

And the lights flicked out.

“Good night, Mina,” Jyx said from her own bed, somewhere in the darkness. Chauda huffed at her, a snort that either meant You’re late or Don’t bother me.

Over the weeks at school, as they’d continued to grow, both beasts had learned to control their sparking, which was good for preventing random fire accidents but made their dorm room very, very dark. Pixit? A little light?

A spark arced in the corner, and Mina picked her way over Jyx’s unwashed clothes and strewn-about schoolwork to her bed. She couldn’t see to find her nightclothes, so she simply crawled under the covers.

«Missed you.»

Missed you too, Pixit.

«Did you learn lots?»

Yes. She hesitated, thinking of the mountains. They’d been so very tempting and so very wild, unlike the rest of Alorria. What lay beyond them?

«Probably a lot of fast-asleep people. It’s nighttime there, too.» His thoughts felt sleepy in her head, and full—​she wondered if he’d been eating the entire time she’d been in Professor Dano’s library. She felt his thoughts become fluttery and heard a soft, whistling snore from beyond the foot of her bed.

She lay awake, thinking of storms and mountains.

The next morning, after snagging her usual breakfast roll from the dining hall, Mina raced outside with the morning bell. We’re going to learn to fly today! And how to collect sparks! Or whatever Professor Dano wants us to call it . . . Oh, Pixit, we’re going to be lightning guardians!

He chirped in answer, and she felt his joy like bubbles in her throat.

Ahead, she saw Jyx and Chauda with two friends and their beasts, as well as an older girl in a teacher’s robe, near the outdoor shelves of textbooks. Catching Mina’s eye, Jyx waved her over.