The next day was the first ‘real’ day of school, and somewhat to Pandy’s surprise, it was a lot like school back on Earth, other than the boarding school bits. At seven, the raucous bell rang again, and the children cycled through the restrooms, got dressed, and made their way to the dining hall by eight. There were different teachers at the head table, so Pandy guessed they must have some kind of rotation set up, but she was just gd not to be beneath the disapproving gaze of Ms. Wellington.

  The chancellor spoke briefly at the end of the meal, reminding everyone to have fun and learn a lot, and then the students trooped off to their homerooms. The first-year teacher was a man named Mr. Rowe, who was a very average sort of person except for his voice, which was startlingly deep. That voice and Mr. Rowe’s tendency to have the children jump up and stretch with no warning whatsoever kept css from being too boring, though Pandy paid very little attention since there was nothing new to her.

  The gentle chime of the lunch bell rang promptly at twelve-fifty, giving the children ten minutes to get to the dining hall. Once again, a different set of teachers was at the head table, and for the first time, the chancellor was absent. Thaniel had cheerfully invited Isidor to join him for breakfast, and though the other boy had declined at first, now he came to sit with his roommate and the girls without hesitation. Geraldine seemed as oblivious to his differences as Thaniel, and though Eleanor certainly wasn’t, she didn’t say anything, just gave him a slightly wary smile.

  After lunch, the children went their separate ways, with Isidor going to a css in the library rather than Combat Training with most of the rest of the boys. Much to Thaniel’s disappointment, ‘Combat Training’ was mostly ‘Combat Avoidance’, at least that first day. The teacher, a surprisingly young woman called Sir Harriet, helped them all find protective gear and wooden weapons that suited their size, then told them all that the most important thing about fighting was not to do it unless absolutely necessary.

  Like Combat Training, Horseback Riding was mainly finding suitable mounts for all of the students, except those with their own steeds. Eleanor and the others like her were put through their paces to establish their skill levels, while Thaniel, Geraldine, Isidor, and about half of the other students learned how to clean the horses’ hooves, rub the horses down, and clean the animals’ tack. They only got to sit on their horses or ponies for a few minutes, while stablehands held the reins.

  Thaniel went alone to Governance and Leadership, which was a bit more interesting, because rather than having the students sit around and learn about history and old kings, the teacher randomly assigned roles to each student. There was one ‘king’ – a boy named Micah, who Pandy immediately disliked – two ‘dukes’, three ‘guards’, and the rest of the students were merchants and workers.

  The teacher was a blonde woman named Mrs. Lovett, who then spent the rest of the css discussing what each group of students was supposed to do. King Micah, of course, was responsible for issuing ‘ws’. The Dukes were his advisors, and the guards were there to both enforce ws and protect the css, because Mrs. Lovett said she would periodically present the whole ‘country’ with challenges they had to face together. She made it very clear that actual violence was not acceptable, but that the king, dukes, and guards could use other methods to enforce the ws.

  Thaniel was a merchant, responsible for trade between two outlying ‘towns’ made up of three students each. One town was allowed to elect a mayor, while Mrs. Lovett selected the mayor of the other town. The children spent the st of their time chattering eagerly to one another about their new roles, while Mrs. Lovett and Pandy watched. Pandy wondered if Mrs. Lovett was seeing the cliques already forming, and the way King Micah, his dukes, and his ‘army’ were eyeing the other students.

  As the bell rang to let them know it was time to go back to their homeroom to find out who would be in their small groups, Mrs. Lovett spoke up one st time. “Oh, students. I did forget one rule. Consider this the Word of the Gods.” She smiled as if she was joking, but her eyes held no humor. “All of the older students have had this css before, and they are not allowed to help you. What happens in Governance is a secret, so you can’t tell anyone, all right?” She held her finger over her lips in a pyful manner, and several children chorused cheerful agreement.

  Pandy didn’t like that at all, and somewhere in the back of her mind a little light went off. Wasn’t this awfully familiar? She’d heard of something like this situation before, and she was almost certain it hadn’t ended well. She would definitely have to make sure she paid close attention in this particur css.

  For most of the day, the students in the halls had all travelled in the same general direction. The homeroom csses were next to each other, then everyone went back to the dining hall for lunch. After lunch, things became a bit more chaotic, but while some people went outside and others made their way to cssrooms, it all happened in an orderly fashion, at least for the most part. Now, however, students were going in every direction. They bumped into one another, ducked around each other, and there was a sort of subdued excitement as they all tried to get to wherever their Small Group was supposed to meet.

  All, of course, except for the first-years. Their small shapes were all going in the same direction, like fish attempting to swim upstream, and Thaniel nearly dropped Pandy twice when much rger students bumped into him, barely even seeming to notice before they took off again. In spite of his seemingly endless supply of energy, even Thaniel was beginning to fg, and when he finally made it to the room and settled in at a table with his friends, it was obvious that the girls were struggling as well, though Isidor looked as calm as ever.

  Mr. Rowe’s booming voice drew their attention to the front of the room, and they all turned to look. None of the children were wiggling or talking now, and there was a sort of slow blink that went around the room, followed by yawns that were carefully covered by little hands.

  “I know the first day is difficult,” Mr. Rowe said, a kind smile creasing his pin face. “You’ll get used to it soon enough, though I recommend you all get plenty of sleep tonight. Just because you can stay up until nine-thirty doesn’t mean you have to.”

  Some of the children stared at him in bnk astonishment. The idea of going to bed before they were forced to had obviously never occurred to them. Thaniel was one of these, but an enormous yawn quickly wiped the look from his face, and Pandy thought he would give in before the lights went out.

  Mr. Rowe chuckled, but moved on. “Now, I know you’ve heard a lot about Small Groups, and I want to tell you that, yes, almost everything you’ve heard is true. What happens in a Small Group is entirely up to your advisor, and some of them – us – have some very interesting ideas! I even heard of one advisor who took their Small Group to explore a dungeon, though I believe the chancellor did have words with them about that.”

  A quiet murmur swept through the room, and several students straightened from their slumped postures. In Gacha Love – and presumably here as well – a dungeon was simply an area that had rarely or never been explored before. There were always beasts or monsters there, but what kind of creatures they were depended on the location. There were even a few dungeons that were almost entirely harmless. All of the love interests mentioned exploring dungeons before, but Pandy didn’t remember any of them saying they’d done so while at Falconet, and certainly not when they were only six years old.

  The teacher held up a piece of paper. “When I call your name, you will come forward, and I’ll send you to meet your advisor. Are you ready?” There was a chorus of enthusiastic agreement, and Mr. Rowe began to read.

  There were twenty-five first-years, and of those, only seven were going to live at Falconet. As the groups formed, Pandy noticed that all of the day-students went first, while the fourth group had two of the live-in students. That left Thaniel, Geraldine, Eleanor, Isidor, and a boy with dark blonde hair and unusually bright blue eyes hidden behind thick gsses as the st students in the room.

  Thaniel and the girls looked at each other in realization, with Thaniel and Geraldine grinning broadly, while Eleanor looked quietly pleased. Isidor, too, seemed happy, though it could be difficult to tell on his rather stoic face. The strange boy remained in pce, staring at the table in front of him, until his name was called.

  “Abbington, would you please come join the others?” Mr. Rowe asked, smiling at the lone boy. Without a word, Abbington did so, while Pandy cringed internally. Pandora was an unfortunate name, especially for a girl who brought bad luck with her everywhere she went, but what kind of name was Abbington?

  The boy sat as far from the others as he could, which wasn’t far, given that there were only six pces at each table. Still, he managed to put a chair between himself and Geraldine, who was sitting at the end of their group, and maintained his silence.

  “You five will make up the final Small Group this year, but your advisor is running just a bit te. I hope you can take this time to get to know each other, and she’ll be here as soon as she can.” With that, Mr. Rowe gave them a nod and went back to his desk, where he sat down, picked up a stack of papers, and began to read with deliberate focus.

  Thaniel’s grin widened, and he looked toward Abbington, lifting Pandy from his p. “I’m Nathaniel, but you can call me Thaniel. This is Bunny.”

  Eleanor, Geraldine, and Isidor all introduced themselves as well, probably not realizing that they were presenting a united front to the strange boy. Abbington, for his part, shrank down in his chair further and further, as it became more and more obvious that everyone was waiting for him to speak. Finally, he muttered something that could have been his name, and Thaniel leaned forward, obviously unable to hear. Abbington tried again, and this time they could all hear him.

  “Oh,” Eleanor said, “you’re from the Valley! I didn’t think-” She stopped, biting her lip, then visibly slipped back into princess mode. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  Abbington’s cheeks had flushed red, revealing small freckles scattered across his face. He said something that sounded like “Noicetmetchoo.” Then he swallowed hard and tried again, carefully enunciating each word. “Nice. To. Meet. You.”

  Judging from Isidor’s expression, he understood at least some of what Eleanor had already figured out, but Thaniel and Geraldine both just smiled, which made Abbington look almost as confused as Isidor had when confronted with Thaniel’s utter indifference to his background. Introductions over, Abbington sank back into silence, though he watched the others with curious eyes as Thaniel, Geraldine, and Eleanor quickly took over the conversation.

  Several minutes passed, during which the five children slowly began to rex, with Isidor even bringing Tempest out of his pocket so she could meet the others. Geraldine was nearly bitten, which led to Miss Cupcakes leaping onto the table, back arched as she hissed at the tortoise, who gred back. Eleanor managed to broker peace by offering the turtle a piece of bruised apple from the handkerchief she had stashed in her sleeve for Misty, and Thaniel distracted them all by dumping Pandy into the middle of everything, a move which she didn’t appreciate at all.

  At this point, with three of the pets on the table and the fourth lying on his mistress’ feet, apparently attempting to remain unnoticed, Thaniel seemed to realize something, and turned to Abbington. “D’you have a pet, too?” he asked, and everyone turned expectant gazes toward the new boy.

  His cheeks immediately darkened again, and he opened his mouth, closed it, then nodded. Geraldine practically squealed, jumping to her feet so she could examine the boy, obviously looking for a stashed snake or hidden hamster. Nothing immediately presented itself, so she said, “What is it?” at the same time Thaniel said, “Where is it?”

  Again, Abbington seemed to be struggling for words, and a look of enormous relief crossed his face as the door to the hall opened behind him. That relief sted for only a moment, because the figure that passed through the door was one with which all of the students were familiar by now, and with the unerring instinct of those who were at the bottom of the power dder, they already knew she was Not To Be Trifled With.

  Click. Click. Click. The high heels stopped beside the table, and Ms. Wellington stared down at the children with something that might have been a smile on someone else’s face. It might even have been a smile on her face if it didn’t look so much like an invisible prankster had stuck their fingers in the corners of her mouth and pulled them up, entirely against her will.

  “Hello, friends,” she said. “My name is Ms. Wellington, and I will be your Small Group advisor this year.”