“Where do all the other trainees sleep?” I asked without preamble.
Dane looked at me in surprise as he joined me at breakfast. He slid onto the bench. He took a bite before answering me.
“Why do you ask?”
His answer, his manner, everything was nonchalant.
Too nonchalant. He was hiding something.
“I thought we all had our own chambers.”
Dane shrugged, but I could tell he was avoiding answering me. I stared at him, watching him eat. For once, my food sat in front of me, uneaten.
Starla and Rip joined us a few moments later.
“Starla, where do you sleep?”
She blinked at me, then looked at Dane.
“Why are you looking at Dane? Answer me,” I stared at her and belatedly added a “Please.”
She visibly gulped.
“I sleep in the barracks. With all the other Candidates.”
“Almost all the other Candidates,” Rip said under his breath.
“Triton! Why am I being singled out?”
“You know why, Tri,” Dane said without looking at me.
“No. I don’t.”
“Because you’re a target, okay? Because of me,” he said in a low, fierce voice.
My jaw dropped open at the look on his face. He was upset that I was upset. He pushed away from the table, swimming away without eating his food.
“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” I said miserably. “I thought everyone got their own room.”
“Dane’s right,” Rip said. I looked at him in surprise. “Not only are you the only viable Spark Candidate, but you need added protection because of” —he swished his hand around in the water between me and the seat the Prince had recently vacated— “whatever that is.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You, of all people, should not listen to gossip, Rip.”
“Oh, no?” He took a bite of his crabmeat and roe seaweed wrap. “Why’s that?”
“Because you’ve already been seen kissing at least four different Mers since training started.”
“Only four?” He gave me a meaningful look. “I’d give up all other Mers if the right one said yes.”
I tossed a piece of seaweed at him, not taking him seriously at all. Starla started giggling. I sighed and rubbed the space between my eyes as the horn sounded indicating it was time to get to class.
“I’d better bring all this,” I said, gesturing to Dane’s and my uneaten food. “I know Dane will get hungry before soon.”
“Dane will get hungry. Right . . .” Starla said with a wink as I put everything in my new net bag.
I sighed dramatically as we joined the throng leaving the dining chamber.
“I’m really going to miss my chamber.”
“You can’t really be thinking of moving into the barracks?” Starla asked, agog, as we swam down the hallway toward our first class. Today was Magic and Magical Transformation. Even if Dane avoided me, he couldn’t avoid me in the second class.
But Dane wasn’t there.
I watched from the sidelines as the professor put everyone through their paces. They were creating their spheres of magic with varying degrees of success, but then they were supposed to transform it into another shape and give it a purpose. To do this, harnessing emotion was key.
“Katriana. Step forward.” Grendor gestured to the rest of the class. “Everyone else, step back.”
I closed my eyes in embarrassment as she threw up a magical shield to protect them all. I could see it, opalescent and shimmering, like an oil slick or bubble on the surface of the water. I exhaled and thanked Annaruth mentally for the sleeping draught and strengthening spell she’d given me the day before.
I was still nervous about using magic. Never mind that having everyone watch me make the attempt was nerve-racking. Never mind that Thalia was watching this time, too.
I needed all the help I could get.
“All right, Katriana. Pool your magic. Slowly, now,” she instructed as I cupped my hands and glowing magic seeped out of them. I ground my teeth, closing my eyes and focusing all of my energy on keeping it contained and useful, not dangerous. “Now, think of something that makes you happy.”
“Do I need to give it a shape?”
“Not yet. Let’s see what your emotions can do by themselves. Happy thoughts, remember?”
I nodded, thinking of Beazil lazily swimming beside me in the summer sea. We had a net bag full of oysters and were on our way to the cave to fill our bellies.
The class was utterly silent.
“Open your eyes, Katriana,” I heard her say quietly.
In my palms was not a glowing sphere. It was something else. Something living.
A tiny, glowing seahorse blinked up at me.
“Command him. A simple task.”
I couldn’t think of anything to ask of the tiny seahorse. He was looking at me steadily, with something playful about his little face and posture.
“Command him to travel to the end of the room and back.”
Command? That didn’t sound very nice. I leaned down and asked him politely to swim across the room and return.
I smiled when he gave me a tiny bow. Then he was off like a flash, a darting light that somehow retained a sense of weight and form. There was a funny, joyful, zipping sound as he traveled.
In a moment, he was back in my hand.
Our teacher clapped delightedly, as did most of the students. I smiled a little, thinking maybe I wasn’t so terrible at magic after all.
“Another!”
I bent forward and asked him to take a spin around the room. The class gasped as he darted around the periphery of the room, grazing their heads and ruffling their hair. I blinked and he was back in my cupped palms, looking up at me.
“Can he . . . stay with me?”
“He’s a light being, so he will need to recharge. But he could for a time.”
I frowned, recalling the uncomfortable process of reabsorbing the giant ball of light the last time I had summoned magic.
“If I reabsorb him, will he die?”
“No. He is a part of you. You are lucky. This ability is very rare. He is your guide, and you are his caller.”
“He’s a familiar? Like Beaz, I mean?” I asked, forgetting I was in class and using Beazil’s nickname.
“It is similar but not the same. Beazil was born to a shark. His spirit was called to yours and enhanced by your magic. He was probably born with a bit of magic himself.”
She smiled at me.
“It’s not just Mers who have magic. All species have some, though less than us. I’ve even heard of two-leggers with some abilities.”
I nodded, staring in wonder at the small creature in my hand.
“Name him so you can call him again.”
I bit my lip, considering. Then I bent down and asked him if he liked the name ‘Lumi.’ I didn’t want anyone else to hear his name, feeling instinctively that it was powerful.
“It’s short for Luminous,” I said when he bobbed his little head and spun in a circle excitedly, throwing off sparks.
“You can tell him to go to sleep now. Or just to return home.”
“Will you come inside me now? To sleep?”
He nodded his elongated head once, and I watched as he lifted up and dove into the center of my palm. I stared at my hand, in awe of what had just happened. I could feel him with me.
I knew in my heart that I’d never be alone again. That I never truly had been. I smiled softly, deciding not to share his name with anyone just yet.
“Well done, Tri! I hope you can continue your private lessons with Annaruth. They are serving you well!”
I blushed a bit as the class applauded me. Even Juno clapped slowly, a sarcastic smirk on his mouth. I looked at my sister, but she was turned away, whispering something to Minka. Then the horn blew and it was time for Magical Transformation.