The academy looked different from the last time I'd seen it.
Not the buildings — those hadn't changed, still the same grey stone and high towers cutting into the sky. What had changed was the crowd gathered at the gates. Twice the size I remembered, twice as loud, carriages backed up along the road behind us like a parade nobody had asked for.
"It's bigger than I imagined," Vax said, pressed against the carriage window like she meant to climb through it.
"You've seen it before. From the road."
"That doesn't count." She turned to me, eyes bright in a way that made my chest ache a little. "Are you nervous?"
"No."
"Liar."
She wasn't wrong, but I wasn't about to admit it to a thirteen-year-old.
The carriage rolled to a stop, and before Argustin could even reach the door, Vax had it ope
