In the morning, they joined Jyx and the boys outside, and the others flew while Mina and Pixit stayed earthbound, trying to make Mina spark. After a while, they sprawled on the dirt, Mina’s head on Pixit’s stomach and her hands with fingers still spread.

They failed. Again and again.

At last, Mina whispered in her head, Maybe we should admit it: I’m not meant to be a lightning guardian. And it’s not fair to you. You deserve a better guardian. One who can be a part of all of this. One who sparks. I don’t spark.

Pixit knocked her sideways as he suddenly stood up. «Oops, sorry!»

She got up and dusted the black dirt off her shirt. I’m fine.

«I stood because I had something important to say. I was being dramatic. I didn’t mean to knock you over.»

Despite herself, despite all her worries and doubts and everything, Mina laughed. “It’s fine, Pixit. What did you want to say?”

Sparks were dancing all over Pixit’s body. Mina watched the bits of electricity sizzle in the air. «You don’t spark. And that’s good. Sparks die. See?»

She watched as each spark fizzled.

«Ooh, ooh, maybe you’re the rubber!»

I’m the stuff that makes the lightning stop?

«You’re the stuff that makes the lightning safe!»

That didn’t seem quite right. That kind of says I’m not a lightning guardian. I’m supposed to be able to handle electricity.

He drooped. «Okay, then, not rubber. It sounded good, though, didn’t it?»

Mina scratched behind his ears. He leaned against her, and she had to brace herself to keep from falling over—​he’d grown a lot. She tried to think positively. I’m different from the other guardians. So maybe I just have to find another way to be a guardian. She remembered what the official letter had said, the one that had come with the river-ship tickets. A true heart is never a mistake.

«Different isn’t wrong,» Pixit said with such utter certainty that Mina couldn’t help but believe him. «You might not spark. But I am still a lightning beast, and you are still my lightning guardian.»

I just need to find a different way, a way that works for me.

«Us.»

Us. She climbed onto Pixit’s back. Let’s go find our way.

Flying over the blackened hills, they found Jyx and the boys with their teacher a mile away. Mina was going to tell them she hadn’t succeeded in holding a spark yet. She truly was. But Jyx didn’t give her a chance. “You did it! You finally did it! Oh, thank goodness! They wouldn’t let me play until you came—​lightning relay needs equal teams—​and it’s been so boring!”