Jyx jumped in. “She grew up on a farm. Lots of broken arms there. Dangerous places, farms are.”

Ferro nodded. “Yeah. All those cows.”

It’s a wheat-and-corn farm, Mina thought, but she still didn’t say anything out loud. The nurses seemed to buy that explanation. She felt as if a band around her chest had loosened and she could breathe a little more easily.

She wondered if Zek and Ferro had guessed the truth. If they had, she was doubly grateful to them. She wanted to put this whole mess behind her as quickly as possible.

“Luckily, it’s not broken,” one of the nurses said to Professor Dano. “Just a sprained wing for the lightning beast and a bone bruise for the girl.” Addressing Mina, she said, “It’ll ache for a while, but you’ll be able to use it. You, though, my friend”—​the nurse turned to Pixit and wagged his finger—​“are grounded until you’re fully healed. You’ll injure it worse if you try to fly too soon.”

Mina swallowed. She knew they’d gotten off lightly. No one seemed to suspect where they’d landed. But the thought of being grounded at all . . . She was already so behind the others. She still couldn’t draw electricity from Pixit, much less catch a lightning bolt in midair, and they’d clearly failed dismally within the storm itself. They needed more practice, not less. But if Pixit was hurt, there was nothing to be done. So she merely nodded.

“Think of the bright side,” Professor Dano said. His voice was as dour as always. “Now you’ll have time to finish that essay.”

Ferro wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think that’s a bright side.”

“You don’t have to write it,” Mina said, softly but clearly enough to be heard.

Jyx, Ferro, and Zek burst out laughing. Mina grinned at them.

“Well, that is a bright side for me,” Ferro said.

At her desk, Mina worked on her essay while everyone else practiced flying and summoning electricity. She wanted to do a brilliant job at it, to prove in at least some small way that she was worthy of being here with the other lightning guardians, but every few minutes, she sighed. She missed flying with Pixit, and she missed him being near her. He was stuck in the sick room, because he couldn’t fly up to their window. He was still able to hear her sighs, though, mind-to-mind.

«I’m sorry I got hurt.»

It’s not your fault.

She stared out the window at the mountains. She wished she could stop thinking about what had happened over there, and the things the outsiders had said. Had the guardians dragged the storm through their outpost? And what were the “ten-year storms”? She’d never heard of regularly scheduled storms outside Alorria, especially deadly ones.