For the next few weeks, I'm thrown into a lifestyle of a military-style routine. Get up, eat breakfast, train, eat lunch, train, eat dinner, train more, go to bed. At the end of the day I'm all tuckered out, since even in the night we have to do strengthening exercises.

The gossip—well, it can't exactly be called gossip as it involves all in Alium—about me being the sign has spread like wildfire. I'm not treated with hostility, as I had feared, but with awe and respect. Gurdy sometimes comes in the middle of the night and gives me tips on how to chill out. Jinx remains a source of lightness in such a regimental world. Candice, ever since I arrived here, has been my standing post. I share my dorm with her, eat at the same table as her, am in the same sessions as her. But my status as the sign has given me one thing—I'm not allowed as much free time as the others in my year.

Head Frost coaches me in magic-blocking; it mainly involves using your energy to divert Etherians' magic. Head Pyra continues to be my teacher in pyronetics, of course. A young woman who they call Head Lythe trains me in mentality and emotionality: the art of keeping a level head, not being squeamish and self-restraint. She's surprisingly tough for such a fragile person.

My favourite, unexpectedly, is combat training. It's taught by a man called Head Bruno, and it's full of how to combine physical moves into a flowing harmony. I excel in it, and Jinx is so shocked that once he took to his dorm and stayed in there for a solid hour.

At the end of a month, I feel like a different person. Not the one who cried because she was a lost cause. Not the one who was shunned aside for having no magic. One who can face the world. One who can go into meals like a goddess. One who can really take on anything.

One day, after a month and a half, Candice sidles up to my side. She's positively radiant. "Elara, do you know what?" she asks.

"What?" I say.

She lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Jinx says he likes you."

Jinx likes me.

Bam.

That's how it feels.

I'm dizzy, although that may simply be from the mental stress that Head Lythe had just given me.

"How—how do you know?" I ask weakly.

"He told me so." Candice suddenly turns sulky. "I'm his ex." Then she brightens up again. "But seriously, Jinx is the most popular boy in the whole school and he picks you to like!" she squeals.

Right then, there's the sound of a horn.

"Come on Candice," I say. "We've got to get to assembly."

Normally I don't like assembly. But this time, Head Frost announces something special.

"Today, General Lyson is coming to give a speech."

What? General Lyson? Ever since that day he brought me to Alium, I haven't seen him since.

General Lyson appears from behind the assembly platform. He's in an impeccable white suit, his royal blue hair neatly gelled. "Hello, students and Heads of the Aliumites' school," he begins. "Today, is a momentous day. We all know that the sign has arrived." Several people point at me. "We all know that the sign has been trained in our ways, and has been preparing for the day." The 'day'? Sounds ominous. "And today. . .is that day." What day?

He answers it for me.

"The day when we go back to Ether."