After that, Mina didn’t know how to tell her they hadn’t done it, at least not yet. Jyx was so happy to see her. I can’t disappoint her. She didn’t say anything.

Vira clapped her hands. “All right, listen up. Ferro, Zek, and your beasts, to my left.” She pointed to the boys. “Mina, Jyx, and your beasts, to my right. The game is lightning relay. It’s designed to hone both your flying skills and your electricity-handling skills. Drawing sparks out of your beast was just the first step—​to be an effective lightning guardian, you need to be able to pull electricity out of a thunderstorm, store it within your beast, and then deliver it to a lightning rod. The catching and throwing techniques used in lightning relay will help prepare you for that task.”

Mina began to wish they’d stayed on the ground.

“The goal of the game is to get your electricity to the lightning rods at the top of the school towers. Jyx and Mina, your team scores if the lightning touches the north rod; Zek and Ferro, the south rod. Don’t fall off your beasts.”

«Whoa, wait, what?»

Steeling herself to pretend to be loud, Mina opened her mouth to ask Pixit’s questions. But Ferro grinned, spread his fingers, and pulled bits of electricity from the air. He’s already mastered drawing it from the air, Mina thought, and I can’t even draw sparks from Pixit. Concentrating, he mashed the sparks into a ball, like Mother kneading bread.

On Chauda, Jyx zipped past her. “Come on, Mina, Pixit! You guard Ferro. I’ll take Zek. Don’t let them pass the bolt!”

Pixit wobbled in the air, and Mina clung to his neck. «Oh. Um. I guess we’re doing this. Mina, is this a thing we’re doing?»

Yes. She urged him toward Ferro.

«But you can’t catch a bolt! You can’t even hold sparks. Oh dear, oh no, this was a bad idea. I’m sorry, Mina.»

Maybe no one will throw it at me?

«What if they do?»

I duck? We’re finding our own way, remember? Different from how others do it. On the plus side, at least this was a test of her theory—​could she be different from the others and be a good lightning guardian? She’d already made friends with Jyx and Chauda. And she’d found a way to convince Professor Werrin and Professor Dano to let them out of the classroom, all without becoming someone she wasn’t.

«How do we play lightning relay if we can’t catch or toss lightning? You heard Vira! That’s half the point!»

But only half. She didn’t know, but she wasn’t about to just give up. They’d have to be alert, look for things that the others hadn’t seen, and try things that hadn’t been done.