But tonight, we’re going to be having a nice meal together as a team, and we’re going to be bonding.”

My lips curl in disgust. “You Light students are gross.”

But he simply laughs as he heads toward the door, throwing me a wry grin over his shoulder. “Don’t be late. And yes, it is compulsory.”

I wait for the door to close firmly behind him before shuffling toward the front desk. Pulling a seat from one of the benches, I plop myself down on it, watching Professor Ariella curiously as she arranges the tablets back into the box. I notice mine still sits on her desk.

She breaks the silence after a moment. “I must say, your scores are impressive, Serena. You have quite a talent for this kind of thing, it seems.”

I nod politely, but I’m not here for small talk. “So, what is one of your kind doing here, Ariella? I thought dryads hated being Earth-side with all of the different seasons and harsh climates?”

Ariella’s eyes widen for half a second before she conceals her surprise with a look of complacency. She takes her time moving the box back to its position under the bench, then turns to me. “I was assigned here. Much like your lynx there,” she says nodding to the loyal cat on the table by my side.

I look sideways at her, and she looks right back at me, her intelligent emerald eyes searching my own. “She’s a lynx? I just thought she was a regular cat… but with powers.”

“Technically, she is a shadow lynx… and also a kitten,” Ariella says pointedly.

“Well, does she come with a user manual, because she can turn into a staff. It would have been nice to have a little warning.”

“This lynx is special; she was molded from darkness and chaos to be the perfect companion to you. She is both your shield and your sword,” she says. “But she will not always be this size, Serena. She will grow to be a very large beast and will gain the ability to shift when it’s time. So make sure you’re ready for that, because in their true form, shadow lynxes are fearsome animals.”

“I told you we should have got rid of her,” Lore mutters.

I roll my eyes and move my attention back to the reason I came here. I eye the woman before me, noticing up close the slight haze around her body. “Did you really have to pick a middle-aged cat lady? You could have gone for anything.”

She laughs, her eyes twinkling. A bright emerald glow fills the space around her, distorting her body. My breath catches as the glow diminishes, her true form amazingly beautiful, like all of her kind. Her dark-brown skin has the look of bark but moves when she does like skin as soft as ours. Her hair is a stunning emerald green, with vines interweaving between each strand. But it’s the eyes of the dryads that always draw me in with their deep-amethyst color.

I nod appreciatively. “Now that we’ve got that sorted, what are you doing here?” I ask, watching as she braids the vines through her hair.

“Your goddess asked for me to watch over you,” she says. “And I agreed because, like many of us, I was curious about the only child She has ever gifted Her mark too.”

I nod as the scene from earlier finally makes sense. “That’s why you were feeling for my aura. You needed to be sure.”

She hums in agreement as her eyes land on Keaira. “She also wanted to make sure that the lynx made it here successfully.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek, looking back down at Keaira and the crescent moon on her forehead. Considering how absent Nyx has been throughout my life, the sudden presence of two protective companions sent by Her makes my stomach twist in a far from reassuring way. “God only knows what’s going to happen in the next few months…” I mutter out loud.

As if sensing my inner turmoil, Ariella’s brow lowers. She looks through the glass windows to the dying afternoon light as she says, “She requested I ask you to be wary of those you work for.”

I tense, shifting guiltily on my chair. “I don’t know what she means…” I say quietly, drawing Ariella’s eyes back to me. Of course, Nyx knows what I was sent here to do; She saw to it that I would be the one to do it. So why now tell me to be distrustful of Master Rostova? It doesn’t make sense, and I frown.

“She is a goddess, Serena,” Ariella says, reading my expression. “They aren’t meant to interfere with the affairs of humans. You know this.” She eyes me critically, and I push from my chair. Sure, they’re not meant to, but She did—once.

Faces draw from the shadows; familiar faces, but also not. They taunt me, threaten me. These aren’t the friends I know. Greed has transformed them. The prospect of power has led them astray.

A sharp pinch on my wrist draws me out of my mind, and I silently thank Lore who hops off my arm and back onto the table. Ariella seems not to have noticed my momentary absence as she pats my hand, the bark of her skin both hard and smooth.

“She wishes She could be here instead of me, Serena. But you know that She can’t be. It would draw too much attention to you, and that’s the last thing your goddess wants,” she reassures me, then pauses for a moment before adding, “Sometime, I would like to hear your story… if you’re willing to tell it.” Curiosity fills her eyes, but a mask falls over my mind, shutting down any memories that might leak out in my moment of vulnerability.

Instead, I pick up my backpack. “Thanks for the talk. I should be getting back,” I say and wait for Lore to perch on my shoulder before heading out of the building. My mind remains a blank haze as the lynx

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