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With a rustle of his cloak as he crossed his arms, Athora said, “Sometimes I will tell you why I do things. Other times, I will not.”

When he said no more, Alex decided to press her luck. “Any chance I get to pick and choose which time is which?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so,” she mumbled, toeing the steadily growing puddle around her shoes.

“But in this case, I will allow you to hear my reasoning.”

Alex glanced back up with curious eyes.

“I told you that your task was to reach the doorway,” he said. “That if you didn’t manage to do so, if you fell, you would no longer be my student.”

Alex nodded, fully aware of his words.

“I lied. On both counts.” His monotonous voice was without the faintest trace of shame. “Your true task was to learn the hard lesson of failure.”

“Wha—”

“You needed to fail, Alexandra,” he interrupted, “because you needed to understand that sometimes failure is unavoidable. Success is never a guarantee, in any area of life. You needed to accept that. You needed to embrace that. And you needed to take a step forward while knowing your actions were unlikely to result in victory.”

As Alex processed his words, Athora continued, “On the path ahead of you, with the challenges you are yet to face, you will see your share of failure. It is inevitable. And when it comes, you need to have the strength of character to continue on, to rise again after you fall. Because youwillfall, Alexandra. Of that much, you can be sure.”

“Are you saying—” Alex swallowed. “Is this some kind of warning that I’m doomed to fail? That I won’t be able to stop Aven?”

Athora’s cloaked head tilted to the side and he took a long moment to study her. Just when she thought he wasn’t going to respond, he quietly said, “I would not waste my time on a lost cause.”

A spark of hope reignited in Alex.

“However,” he added, “whether my confidence in you is misplaced or not, only time will tell.”

And just like that, her spark was snuffed out again. But the memory of it remained with Alex as she left the Library, sent a quick mental call to let Niyx know she had survived, and returned to her dormitory for the night.

She was not fighting for a lost cause. If the sombre Athora could believe that, then Alex could, too.

A strange kind of routine settled upon Alex’s life over the next few days, but so too did a growing sense of urgency to start putting her plans into action—a feeling that had only increased since her meeting in Darrius’s office.

While part of her questioned whether she should skip her schooling and leave the academy to begin warning the other races of Medora immediately, she couldn’t forget Lady Mystique’s insistence that she remain on campus and continue her studies.

‘I can’t stress the importance of this enough, Alexandra,’ is what the ancient Tia Auran had said.

So, despite Alex’s better judgement—and with the assurances of her teachers that the world most likely wouldn’t end if she waited until the weekend before venturing from the academy—Alex reluctantly kept attending her classes.

It was surreal for her to wander through her days like a regular student, acting as if her biggest concerns were finishing her homework on time or helping Jordan and Bear avoid detention. Her instructors, at least, were treating her like a normal student regardless of her purported role in the upcoming war.

But shewasn’ta normal student. No longer did she have fears of getting beaten up in Combat, prodded by Finn’s Taserstick in PE, or being trapped by a snare in SAS. Her Meyarin abilities made her Gamma-level Archery targets almost too easy, while Equestrian Skills left her suppressing tears from the acute realisation that riding a horse wasnothinglike flying the skies on the back of Xira.

Somehow, though, she managed to play her role perfectly. Like her peers, Alex scrunched up her nose when she learned the health benefits of Korsobear droppings in Species Distinction; she ingested different toxic berries in Medical Science and then concocted their corresponding antidotes; and she hid her laughter along with everyone else when Fitzy failed to notice that he’d set his moustache on fire during Chemistry. In Core Skills, Alex encouraged her classmates when they struggled to control their gifts, while in History and SOSAC, she spent her time trying not to not show how mind-numbingly restless she was.

The drain of acting like a normal student was taking its toll on her. But that was mostly because, with every passing day, Alex was growing more and more concerned about what Aven was doing—or rather, what hewasn’tdoing.

Although Niyx assured her daily that the new ruler of Meya was too busy reacquainting himself with his city to make his next move, Alex wasn’t convinced. Aven had spent millennia planning his overthrow of the Meyarin throne. It didn’t make sense that now, when he was exactly where he’d always wanted to be, he was willing to take his time settling in rather than utilising the formidable forces he had at his disposal.

To avoid lingering on her fears, Alex kept her mind on the upcoming weekend. At Hunter’s suggestion, on Saturday she would be visiting the Undersea Islands—the territory of the Flips—and afterwards, Maroo—the treetop city of the Jarnocks. Presuming things went well enough that she and her friends returned in one piece, they would tackle the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders the following day.

Until then, Alex had to figure out how to balance everything else in her life—something that was much more challenging than she would have liked.

There were only three reasons why she was able to get through the week with her sanity intact. The first was her friends, who offered their silent support when she went on—andon—about how concerned, frustrated and powerless she felt while she waited for the time to come when she could act. Jordan, Bear and D.C. must have heard the same ravings from her every day, and yet they didn’t snap at her, they didn’t avoid her and they didn’t rebuke her impatience. Instead, they listened. They offered moral support in the form of hugs and comfort food. And they reminded her that no matter what happened, they would be with her through it all.