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Leaf’s jaw hangs agape.

I take a breath. “There are more important matters to discuss than how… charming Atlys is.”

Esther looks like she is about to say something, but Ramona chops her hand across her chest, stopping her mid word and sending her straight into a coughing fit.

“After finals, we will need to discuss our plan,” I start.

“Don’t forget about the Stone Ceremony!” Ramona interjects.

Leaf groans and drops his head back once more, this time not bothering to keep his eyes open. “Assuming we pass our finals.”

I look to the wooden rafters above for two measures of whole rests. “Yes, assuming we pass finals and complete the Stone Ceremony, our mission starts immediately. I… I have some bad news to share with you all.”

Leaf sits up immediately. “What is it?”

Ramona freezes.

I shut my eyes for a moment too long. “Elder Superior Markus took the sun stone.” Dread, cold and steady, weighs heavily on my limbs. I hate that he took it from me. The sense of utter emptiness, like a piece of me is missing, grows every day the stone is gone. Not to mention our entire mission is at risk.

“What?” Leaf stands. “That’s terrible!” his voice resonates so loudly that other cadets start to look. Ramona pulls on the side of his pants, yanking him back down into the chair.

“Shh,” she says. “You’re making people look.”

“If you want, I can come up with a distraction,” Esther says.

“No,” I say quickly before she gets any ideas. “We just need to keep our voices down.”

Leaf swipes a hand through his hair and sighs. “This is awful. The last thing we needed after failing to get the moon stone is to lose another one.”

Isn’t that the truth.

“That doesn’t help us,” Ramona whisper-shouts. “We can still make a new plan. Focus on what we know.”

My mind slows as it’s spinning, finally landing on a thought, like a compass pointing north. A plan starts to form. “The moment the Stone Ceremony is complete, our quest for the star stone begins. I don’t think I can do it alone.”

Esther leans forward, alert. She has been the one following me into the library for countless hours, researching the purposes of the sun, moon, and star stones. Helping me put together the pieces. Literally.

The three pieces, when put together, form some sort of all-powerful channeling stone, one so powerful that all of the pieces were split off and hid long ago. Or at least that’s what we have gathered from the ancient texts we’ve recovered.

“You can count on us, Kem,” Ramona says through a yawn.

You’d think the world wasn’t ending by the way the Watchers around the common room are slumped over chairs and tables, chatting as if the moon isn’t about to detach from orbit.

The only people who seem even remotely as concerned as I am, are some of the third-stone Moon’chers like Gryphon, noticing less control over his casting. Even Selene as a second-stone is starting to notice discrepancies when I asked her about it in Elementation the other day.

A bell rings throughout the castle, signaling the transition period for cadets to get to their next final.

The room shifts immediately as first, second, and third-stone Watchers prepare themselves for their next final. Across the room, Gryphon slaps himself. Then Selene slaps him. Then he goes to slap her, but two whips of white myst wrap around his wrist.

“Don’t even think about it,” she says.

“Fine,” Gryphon relents.

The moment the myst releases, Gryphons slaps her butt.

“OH NO YOU DIDN’T!” Selene yells, but Gryphon is already a blur in the doorway.

I chuckle and stand from my seat, gesturing a hand to Esther to help her stand. She looks up gratefully, then grabs my hand, and…