Vivienne washed and changed quickly, hastening her steps as she joined her fellow Novices to follow Talent Justinian’s lead to the dining hall. An eerie silence fell over the group in the wake of Vera’s earlier outburst. Vivienne was at the tail of the group, the farthest she could get from her sister.

  As far as she was concerned, it wasn’t far enough.

  As they passed an intersection, she looked to the right and was startled to see a gray-robed figure at the far end of the corridor, hood drawn. Vivienne realized it must be a Talent. Despite the distance, her eyes met those of the female figure, and it felt as though a jolt of electricity had surged through her body. Something about the figure felt menacing, like an animal ready to pounce.

  The Talent looked away, continued walking, and was lost to view.

  “Novice Vivienne?"

  Talent Justinian’s voice snapped her back to reality. She blinked twice and turned to face him, realizing that she had come to a stop at the crossing.

  Justinian gave her a hard stare. "Please keep up."

  “Yes. Forgive me, Talent. It was just..."

  But he was already moving on.

  Vera allowed herself to fall back until she was side by side with her sister.

  “Already holding us back, I see,” she said with a smirk.

  Vivienne ignored her, following the procession the rest of the way to the dining hall. She pushed the Talent out of her mind. It stood to reason that not everyone would be friendly with the new Novices.

  As soon as they entered the cavernous dining hall, Vivienne could see that the massive chamber was set up to feed hundreds of mages at a time, with six long rows of tables lining its length. At mealtimes, Vivienne suspected this place would be alive with people and filled with talking and laughter, but at this hour, it was empty. She suspected the reason they had waited so long in the antechamber was for the Transcends to finish their own dinner, along with the rest of the Academy.

  “This way,” Talent Sebastian said.

  They followed him to a corner table, long enough to seat a hundred mages or more. The Talent nodded toward the table, and the new Novices took their seats. The table was simple but well-crafted from some dark hardwood that had to have been indigenous to the planet.

  The next moment, several trolleys were wheeled from a door that must have led to the kitchen, each manned by two brown-robed Novices. On the trolley were large pots of stew, along with wooden bowls and spoons. Vivienne felt her stomach growl at the sight. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast on board the Aurora, and that had been at least twelve hours ago or more.

  When it was her turn to be served, one Novice, a young man with pale features and light blue eyes, filled her bowl and placed it before her. It seemed to be filled with a basic vegetable soup, steam curling upward and tantalizing her senses. She began eating, seeing that those already served were already tucking in.

  The Novices nervously spoke to one another over their meals, introducing themselves and saying where they had come from. Like Vivienne, most seemed to be from Earth. A few were locals, while the rest were from various First Worlds, like Chiron, Nessus, or Oceanus. Only a few were from Border Systems, like Pontus, Eridu, the farthest being from Karendal.

  “And where are you from?” a male voice said from next to her.

  Vivienne glanced up and almost did a double take. The young man was probably around her age, with messy dark hair and striking green eyes that hinted at mischief. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she had failed to notice him before. He looked around her age, maybe a bit older. Meeting his curious green eyes, she couldn’t help but give a small, involuntary smile.

  “I'm from Earth,” she said. “You?”

  “Archea.”

  “I’ve never been there,” Vivienne said. Much to her consternation, she felt her cheeks flushing. “What’s it like? I’ve heard it can be pretty wild there.”

  The young man shrugged as he offered a smile. “You’re not missing much, I’m afraid. The chief danger is the dune drakes, but where I’m from, they’ve mostly been taken care of. I’m a lot more interested in where you’re from.”

  Vivienne laughed. “It’s not much, I promise. I’m from a little town in the middle of nowhere. More cows than people. The chief danger is boredom.”

  The young man laughed. “We’re not so different, then. My name’s Xander. You?”

  “Vivienne. My friends call me Viv, though.”

  “Well, I hope I can get to that point.”

  “You’re doing well," Vivienne said. “So far.”

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  Xander smiled playfully, dimples showing. “That’s good to hear. If you don’t mind my saying, it just seemed like something was bothering you earlier. Back in the hallway.”

  "You’re observant.”

  “They say Psionics have a gift for observation.”

  Vivienne supposed he had also been in the Psionics group. She had been so nervous that she had failed to notice.

  She tried to play it off. “I just thought I saw a Talent staring me down in the corridor earlier. It was nothing, really. I've already forgotten it."

  Several other Novices looked her way, including Vera, much to Vivienne’s chagrin. Her sister looked at Xander, then at her, and seemed to guess the situation.

  “A Talent in the Volsung Academy?” Vera chimed in. “That is odd.”

  Some Novices chuckled, trying to gauge Vivienne’s reaction.

  Resisting the urge to glare at her sister, Vivienne chose her words carefully. “Trust me, if you had seen her demeanor, you would be a bit frazzled, too.”

  “But out of all fifty Novices here and the one Talent at that crossing, only you noticed her?”

  "Are you saying I didn't?"

  Vera gave a slight shrug. "It's just a bit odd."

  Vivienne smiled. “Well, I never specified where I saw the Talent. But it was at the crossing, which you specifically mentioned. It would seem you spotted her there as well. You're just more interested in causing a scene.”

  Vera was briefly lost for words as several of the Novices laughed nervously, but she quickly countered, “That’s the only place you could have seen her.”

  Vivienne rolled her eyes. “Look, it’s probably nothing. Just peculiar—that's all.”

  A Novice with long black hair piped up. “Maybe it was a ghost. Rumor has it this place is haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Xander said, laughing. “By what, ghosts of Talents past? The Volsung Academy is only fifty years old. Hardly enough time to develop a spiritual infestation. Besides, everyone knows there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

  “Don’t you know?” the young woman asked. “This Academy isn't fifty years old, like you say. It was excavated by the Masters, but it was created by the Gate Builders. That’s why the proportions are a bit off. Too tall and wide for human scale. Used to be no one thought magic was real, either, but look where we are.”

  A few heads nodded down the table, though others were smiling at what they saw as naiveté. Vivienne wasn’t sure what to believe, but she hardly cared anymore. She’d already made an impression, and she wasn’t sure that it was a good thing.

  "Alien ghosts," Xander scoffed. "Even better!"

  The conversation soon ebbed when Justinian announced the end of dinner. After they had bused their trays, he led them back to the dorms. The stone corridors were now completely empty. Many Novices turned their heads as they passed each intersection, looking for "ghosts," but of course, there was nothing.

  Justinian drew up short when they all reached the Novices’ Wing. He took out an electronic slate, adjusting its size to fit in both hands.

  “Right. At most Academies, you would bunk with ten or more roommates; however, at the Volsung Academy, we recognize each Novice’s need for privacy, self-reflection, and study. Therefore, you will only have one roommate, someone the Transcends have deemed to be most beneficial for your success in the Academy. They will be someone within your Aspect, and in the rare case there aren’t enough pairs, we might place three in a room. The rules are simple; after curfew, there are no visits to each other’s rooms. This will be strictly enforced. The bathhouse and restroom are a short walk down the corridor. Tomorrow is night hours, and breakfast will be at 31:00. Questions?”

  Vivienne frowned at the strange time, until she remembered that because of Volsung’s fifty-four-hour days, it was split into two twenty-seven-hour cycles. One cycle was daylight, and the other night, while the seasons made things even more complicated. 31:00, she figured, would correspond roughly to five or six in the morning using standard Earth hours.

  “Here are the room assignments...” Talent Justinian continued.

  Vivienne waited expectantly and then got a sick feeling in her stomach as the Novices were paired off one by one. She kept glancing at Vera anxiously, hoping she would be paired with someone else. Anyone else.

  And yet, deep down, she knew it would be her sister.

  Sure enough, every Novice was matched up, leaving Vera and Vivienne alone together. From Vera's terse expression, even she was feeling the same way. Vivienne wanted to protest, but she had already earned cleaning detail for the toilets, so she remained silent.

  “Both of you,” Talent Justinian said. “Come with me.”

  The light of the hallway followed them into the bathroom, illuminating a spacious area: a long row of sinks and mirrors along the right wall. Toilet stalls lined the left wall, about twelve of them. There were no bathing facilities, and Vivienne remembered Justinian saying there was a separate bathhouse, though she had yet to see it. Like the rest of the Academy, there was no electricity in here, only magical light spheres branded to the walls, providing a steady glow. Beneath the hint of pine disinfectant, Vivienne could smell the reek of human bodily functions. Vivienne wrinkled her nose. So much for the mystique of mages—when it came to the necessities of life, they were as unremarkable as anyone else.

  “Cleaning supplies are in the cabinet,” Justinian said. “When you’re done, head to your room. It’ll be the one down the hall, on the left, right before the first intersection you come to. I’ll check your handiwork in the morning. Trust me, you won't want it found wanting.”

  He turned to go, but Vera held out a deterring hand, her demeanor confident that she would get what she wanted.

  “Talent Justinian, you can’t tell me the two of us must clean this entire mess. Don’t you have servants here? In our estate on Earth, we had droids take care of this sort of thing.”

  Justinian gave an incredulous smile, as if not believing Vera’s gall. “Yes, we have servants here. We call them Novices. You’d better hurry. Sleep is important at the Volsung Academy, and missing breakfast on your first day would be a bad look.”

  Justinian left them there in silence.

  Vivienne headed for the cabinet and retrieved a bucket, mop, and various cleaning supplies. Vera watched in dismay.

  “Come on, do something,” Vivienne said, thrusting a mop toward her sister. “I hope your relentless teasing was worth it."

  Vera sighed, choosing to fill the water pail instead of responding. She grimaced as she accidentally splashed some of the water onto her brown robes, causing Vivienne to chuckle.

  For a moment, Vera’s gaze became stormy, but then her expression shifted into a reluctant smile. “Okay, I’ll admit it. You're right.” For once.

  Under different circumstances, Vivienne would have savored the admission, but now, frustration bubbled inside her. This was not how she had envisioned her first night.

  For the next hour, the sisters cleaned in heavy silence, spurred on by Justinian’s earlier warning.

  Once finished, they stored the cleaning equipment and began walking down the hallway to their room. As Vivienne reached out to grasp the door handle, a cold premonition caused her to turn her head.

  Standing down the corridor, just beyond the bathroom door, was the Talent she had spied earlier. Her lips were pulled into an unsettling grin.