Usually, I hang out and wait for Jacobi, but I’m still feeling the effects of my conversation with Elite Cain. Something about the appointment as Roth’s guard doesn’t feel right. Maybe I’m just worried about Council being called. Still, any Valryn can guess one thing they’ll discuss: the growing number of lost souls on earth feeding darklings, creating new ones every day. It has been impossible to keep up. There are Valryn in the field, discovering, cataloging, and capturing them to test their skills and figure out how they die.

I spread my arms wide, step off the edge of the roof, and fall until the wind is blocked by the trees and I’m able to shift into my raven form, moving easily between the thick trees surrounding the Compound.

I fly until I find my Jeep in the clearing where I left it after school. As I land, I change into my human form. I peel off my sweat-soaked shirt, toss it into the back of my Jeep, and retrieve a fresh one from my bag. Before I’m clothed, feet thud on the ground behind me. I don’t have to turn to know who’s there—I sensed her following me the moment I left the Compound.

“I’m not sure why you bother driving. It’s not like you need to.”

Unlike me, Natalie prefers to fly everywhere she goes, and she tends to forget that she uses my Jeep as a way to explain how she gets from place to place.

I sigh. “What do you want, Natalie?”

Natalie ignores me. “Unless you think it makes you more human.”

I clench my jaw. She’s trying to pick a fight with me.

“Not in the mood, Nat.” I meet her gaze, and we glare at each other until she relents.

“Jacobi’s been put on probation.”

“What?” Probation means Jacobi is banned from participating in patrol, raids, and stings—basically everything he needs credit for if he’s going to graduate and be placed among ranks as a knight.

“Tonight was the third training he failed this month against you. You knew this was coming. Would it kill you to let him win just one?” For all that she follows the rules, she’s different when it comes to Jacobi.

“Jacobi wouldn’t want that,” I snap. “Besides, how would that help him?”

“He wouldn’t be on probation! Do you want him to rank as a knight?”

“I’m not even going to answer that.” I climb into the driver’s side of my Jeep. “You’re not the only one who cares.”