I had vivid nightmares that night. Images I never wanted to see again. Biana in a pool of her own blood, Fitz impaled by the arthropleura, Ro knocked unconscious by the sporodine, Sandor and Grizel also unconscious from my sloppy inflicting, Keefe lying on the bed at Havenfield from his mom doing his creepy “Legacy” stuff, Tam being forced to do Lady Gisela’s bidding because of the light cuffs on his wrists, Linh collapsing when I let go of her hand after saving Atalntis, a hooded member of the Neverseen standing over an already unconcious Dex, with a meddler dangerously close to his forehead. I wake up in a cold sweat. I miss Silveny’s transmissions of us flying, or running across fields. They used to keep away my nightmares, but now, since I haven’t reached out to her, I’m stuck rewatching all of my friends get hurt or almost die, and remember that it was all my fault for not being strong enough.
I’m sitting in my bed and trying not to cry, and the alarm goes off. I sigh, and get up. At some point, somebody had put my Foxfire uniforms in my closet, so I put one on. I add a little green eyeshadow to accent the green on the uniform. Sophie is ready about the same time as me, so we go downstairs together. Edaline had made Porcaroot Pie for breakfast. My nerves from last night come back as we go to the Leapmaster. Sophie looks at me and whispers that it will be ok before we make the leap.
She walks with me to orientation, and on the way, we spot Tam and Linh.
“Hey Sophie!” Linh calls.
“Hi!”
“You must be Lori.” Tam says.
“I am.”
“It’s nice to meet you!” Linh says.
“Nice to meet you too.” I say, feeling weird saying it to one of my friends. But I don’t want to hurt her feelings, and if I did, I think Tam would throw me out a window. The four of us go on and arrive at orientation.  Magnate Leto’s face pops up, and rolls off the announcements. I honestly try to listen, but it’s hard for me to focus. I keep scanning the crowd for familiar faces, one in particular. But he’s probably not even a part of this universe. And there are so many prodigies here, the chances of finding anyone specific is very small. Magnate Leto dismisses us, and Sophie pulls me aside before I head to my class.
“Will you be ok here?” she asks.
“Yeah. Don’t worry about me.” I say, hoping I sounded more convincing than I felt. It’s Tuesday, so the whole school has P.E.. We walk to the changing rooms together, then she shows me to my own. Part of me wants to remind her that I know how to get around the school, but the rest of me is glad to have her by my side. After human locker rooms, I always enjoy the spacious, individual changing rooms at Foxfire. I quickly change into my P.E. clothes, and head back out.
“Alright prodigies!” Lady Alexine, the P.E. coach says, drawing us to attention. “Today we’re having a levitating contest! Whoever stays in the air the longest wins a detention pass!”
“Any body part touches the ground, and you’re disqualified.” Sir Harding adds. Huh. Levitating. I’m pretty good at that, but not as good as a bunch of others, like Fitz. But Tam or Linh will probably win because of the experience they got in Exilium. But I might as well try.
“Ready… GO!” Lady Alexine shouts, and on go, all the prodigies lift off the ground. I start out strong, and pretty soon, I start seeing prodigies drop. There are maybe twenty of us left in the air when I start to wobble. Soon, I lose my hold for a second, but catch myself right before I hit the ground. I slowly float back up.
“HEY! SHE FELL! YOU CAN’T GO BACK UP!” one of the disqualified prodigies shouts. I avoid eye contact when I realize that it’s Stina.
“No, she caught herself. She never touched the ground. You’re still in!” Sir Harding calls to me when I start to lower myself. Lady Alexine announces that we’re in the top ten. Then another minute goes by, and I lose my grip completely.  I fall to the ground and let out a little squeak. I’m sure I hear Stina laughing as I dust myself off and go to join the other prodigies on the ground. Soon there are only 5 left.
“TOP 5 EVERYBODY!” Lady Alexine shouts. Just then, a very red-faced prodigy drops to the floor. The four remaining are Sophie, Fitz, Tam, and Linh. My bets are on Linh, but surprisingly, several minutes later, Tam is the only one left in the air.
“Congratulations to our winner Mr. Son-” Sir Harding starts.
“It’s just Tam.”
“Right. To Mr. Tam!” Tam took the detention pass and everyone went to change back into their Foxfire uniforms. I find Biana and we talk for the rest of the session.