A burst of snowy air wraps around me. The ice fractals twinkle before my eyes, and I blink, sitting back from the window and jerking my gaze to my roommates, who’re all perched in the sitting room, schoolbooks open before them.
“Hello? Are you listening?” Alina asks.
“Uh, yeah.” I blink and wave her frost magic away, making it disperse into the warm air. “Sorry. Just a bit... distracted today.”
We’ve been studying since returning to our dorm after breakfast. Yuki and Juniper are asleep on the rug in front of the fire, snoring pleasantly; Isis is curled around Maeve’s neck; and my mind is anywhere but on semiotics.
Alina takes a deep breath, then sighs, her shoulders rising and falling with the movement. “I think we could all use a break,” she says.
“What kind of break?” Poppy asks without looking up from her textbook—looks like something about divination, one of Poppy’s strong suits.
Alina, Maeve, and I exchange looks, and a smile starts to curl across my lips.
At the same time, the three of us say, “Runeball!”
THIS HAS BECOME SOMEWHAT OF a tradition for us. When classwork becomes too overwhelming or we’vebeen cooped up in the castle for too long, we like to come out here onto the runeball field and fool around, tossing the arcane sphere to one another, running and laughing and letting out all the stress that so easily builds up in this academy.
And this time, Poppy joins us.
“Poppy!” I call. “This one’s yours!”
My hands tingle with warmth, and I send a burst of flame from my fingertips. The energetic blast lights the arcane sphere on fire and shoots it into the air, flying in Poppy’s direction.
“You’ve got it!” Alina calls.
“Run for it!” Maeve adds.
But the ground is slick, and I watch as if in slow motion as Poppy’s boots slip out from under her and she goes plunging right into the snow with athump.
“Poppy!” the three of us all call at once, our cloaks snapping around our ankles as we run for her.
But someone else makes it there first, stopping us in our tracks.
“You okay?” the orc asks, kneeling next to where Poppy is now sitting in the wet slush, righting her glasses and wiping snow from the frames.
She tips her head in his direction, and if not for her cheeks already being pink from the cold, I’m pretty sure they’d be flushing like crazy right now.
“F-fine,” she squeaks up at him.
The student holds out his hand, and Poppy hesitantly takes it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
“Thanks,” she whispers, then hurriedly pulls her hand away and starts trying to wipe the slushy snow from her cloak, looking anywhere but at him.
I share a conspiratorial glance with Alina.
Hmm.
“Aric,” Maeve says, striding forward.
The orc looks up, and his smile makes his protruding tusks that much more prevalent. “Hey, sis. What’re you girls up to?”
“Blowing off steam.” She bends over to pick up the arcane sphere from where it fell into the snow. Tossing it in her hands, she tips her head at him. “You wanna play?”
“Ha!” Aric crosses his huge arms across his chest. “I’m not sure you could keep up.”
Even from over here, I can see the challenge flicker in Maeve’s stormy eyes.
We’ve been to all the runeball games over the past two years, and I know what a proficient player Aric is. But that doesn’t stop Maeve.
