When we enter the clearing, there’s a large flat section with separate lanes, which Hypatia tells me is called a magna-mat. The rest of the area looks like an elaborate skate park built in and around the forest foliage with slopes and bridges and all kinds of obstacles.

I admire the hoverboard in my hands, eager to get my feet on it.

Georgie says, “It’s a great model. My mom got it for me as consolation for my difficulty in adjusting to moving here. It made me feel better for about a minute until I realized I couldn’t ride the thing without—careful! You’re gonna—”

But I’m already on the hoverboard and shooting up one of the ramps. There’s a subtle tension of magnetism that reverberates all around me with a soft but audible hum.

“Whenever I get on that thing, I end up spraining a part of my body and usually someone else’s body too. How are you so good at that?” Georgie calls.

“I’m used to snowboarding,” I reply as I subtly tilt the board to give it the lift it needs to whoosh through a tunnel, and then I easily shift pressure from one hip to the other to swerve through a hedge maze, Georgie, Hypatia, and everyone else now out of sight.

The board is incredibly intuitive. I play around, seeing what it can do and testing its limits. It can’t go more than a few feet off the magnetic surface, but it’s so smooth.

For the first time in a while, my head is clear. I’m not thinking about my obligations to the Families, or how disappointed Michael will be when I can’t get into a guild, or the fear and humiliation of being stopped and searched by soldiers because a handsome jerk wants to bully me. I’m simply enjoying being. I exit the maze and glide over a bridge. My hair comes loose from its tie and whips in my face, obscuring my vision and getting caught in my mouth. My lungs burn from the sting of the crisp air. As I do an alley-oop off the halfpipe, I hear cheers.

“By the Conductor! Look at her go!”

“She must have done this before—no novice is that good on a hover.”

When I finally slow to a stop in front of Georgie and Hypatia, quite a crowd has gathered. Drawing attention to myself certainly hadn’t been my intention, and it’s the last thing I need. But I don’t have time to worry about it with Georgie and Hypatia fussing over me.

“That was amazing!” Georgie gushes. “You need to teach me some of those tricks. Well, first you need to teach me how to balance and move in a straight line.”

We all laugh.