Lior didn’t usually dream of the city. It was a place that belonged only in the waking world, but this time, she was reliving a scene, one that was still far too fresh in her memory. And since it was a dream, she couldn’t escape.

In her dream, she saw the crowd and the flashing lights. She walked toward the commotion, unimpeded by the crowd, until she came to the front where the police had blocked off the street. Beyond the blockade, she saw a gaping hole that didn’t stop at the edges of the road. In fact, the buildings around it opened out onto the street, much like an open dollhouse, with no sign of debris. Lior couldn’t help wondering if there had been people in those buildings when the incident had occurred. Probably. They were clearly homes.

Lior didn’t want to look down into the pit, but she somehow couldn’t stop herself. It was like she was repeating the day exactly as it was, only her friend wasn’t here to help her. As she peered down, she caught glimpses of shadowy figures and when a police officer shone their flashlight into the hole, dozens of shining white eyes stared back up at them. The people were dressed like they were about to sleep, but they just stood there, staring up with their blank white eyes, a slight smile on each face.

Lior shuddered. She wanted to leave, but the dream wouldn’t let her. She shut her eyes, but the noises still bombarded her ears and she could see the flashing lights through her lids. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and hoped and hoped and hoped that the dream would soon end.

The next morning, Lior wasn’t entirely sure at what point the dream ended. The edges of it faded into the foggy oblivion of her subconscious, but the creeping unease remained with her throughout the morning.

Lior was glad she woke up when she did, and not just because of the dream. A few minutes later, a loud ringing sound clanged through the building, almost certainly waking anyone who was still asleep. Elsinore jolted upright and would have fallen out of bed if she’d been in one to begin with.

“Morning,” Lior yawned, trying to slow her heartbeat after the shock. “I think that means we’re supposed to get up.”

Elsinore rolled her eyes. “Duh. You think if we go to the dining hall someone will tell us where we’re supposed to be today?”

Lior shrugged. “Maybe Diana will drop another list on our table? Elena will probably track me down, so we can ask her.”

Sure enough, as soon as the two entered the dining hall, Elena tackled Lior from behind. “Good morning!” She shouted far too close to Lior’s ear. “First day of classes. Are you excited yet?”

“I guess,” Lior replied, trying to pry the girl off her back with limited success. “Do we get a schedule or something?”

“Oh yeah.” Elena finally let go of Lior and pointed. “The dorm heads are handing them out over there. I already got mine. I really wish I could just not take math. Anyway, you two will probably have about the same schedule.”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to take math here,” Elsinore groaned as they headed toward the crowd around a harried Mrs. Colby who was giving out schedules as fast as she could.

Elena shook her head. “Still have to learn math. Think about it like a normal school with some weird extra classes.”

When they finally got their schedules from Mrs. Colby, Elsinore groaned again. “Really? Who thought math first thing in the morning was a good idea.”

“Better not be late to that one,” Elena advised. “Ms. Blanchet is not nice about it.”

“I have math first, too.” Lior peeked over Elsinore’s shoulder to compare their schedules. “Actually, we have all the same classes.”

“Told you. You’ll get put into different classes as you learn more about your finniks.” Elena pointed to their last class of the day which was descriptively called ‘Experimentation.’

“What kind of name is that?” Elsinore wrinkled her nose.

“It’s terrible,” Elena agreed. “Diana calls it ominous. It’s fun, though. Trust me.”

Elsinore was hardly listening as she continued to study her schedule. “What does elective mean?”

“It’s like a fun class that you pick.”

Elsinore was not entirely convinced. “Like what?”

“Well, I’m taking art and theatre right now. There’s also, like, music, dance and some other stuff.” Elena shrugged. “I always take art and theatre, so I don’t remember the other ones.”

Another resounding clang sounded through the building, making Lior feel like her bones were shivering. “Does that mean it’s time for class?”

“Yup.” Elena started toward the entrance of the dining hall. “It means we have ten minutes. Usually. Rupert has a terrible sense of time, so sometimes it’s late. Come on, I’ll show you to your classroom.”

After a long hour of math, and another hour of language arts, Lior and the other new students were directed to a classroom where Ms. Essie was waiting for them. As usual, she greeted them with a wide smile.

“Welcome, students. Here at Galerose, we have a wide variety of electives that you can choose to take outside your required classes. If you look at your schedule, you will find that there are two different slots for electives, as well as an optional elective on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since this is your first year here, I have a list of all the electives currently offered. Eleanor, will you help me pass these out?” Eleanor rose and took the thin stack of paper as Ms. Essie continued speaking. “All you need to do is write down which electives you would like to take and hand it back to me. Then I’ll point you in the direction of your first elective.” Ms. Essie began to sit down, but turned back. “One more thing: Some of the electives are only for older students. If you would really like to take one of those, come talk to me, and of course, if you have any questions, I’m here to answer them.”

When Eleanor got to her, Lior took the paper and began perusing the extensive list. Some of the electives sounded fairly normal, like art and theatre. Lior had a feeling, however, that some of the others would not be found at an ordinary school. Her attention snagged on lockpicking, and she wondered how that had become a class. Another class called wild edibles sounded interesting, and she thought art might be fun.

At the bottom of the page was a list of sports marked after school. Lior didn’t think of herself as a particularly sporty person, but then she had never tried playing a sport before. Soccer sounded like too much running, and swimming was potentially deadly for her. She was just deciding between archery and self defense when the classroom door flew open.

All the students looked up to see a teenage girl in an oversized, black and orange jacket and black, knee length cut-offs. Lior’s eyes were immediately drawn to her hair, which was tied up in pigtails and dyed half pink, half green.

“Delilah,” Ms. Essie greeted her. “I believe you should be in class right now.”

Delilah came fully into the room, letting the door slam behind her. “Chill, Ms. E. I’ll go in a sec, but I’m here as Attie and I have an announcement.”

Ms. Essie sighed and motioned her to the front of the room.

Delilah or Attie–Lior wasn’t entirely sure which–turned to face the room, hands propped on her hips. “Sup, freshies! I’m Cruising Attitude, captain of the wildly popular roller derby team here at Gripe.”

Lior remembered seeing roller derby on the list, but she wasn’t sure she understood anything of what this girl was saying. All her words seemed foreign, and it was almost enough to dissuade Lior from considering the unfamiliar sport. But Delilah or Attie, or whatever her name was, wasn’t finished speaking.

“Roller derby is a super cool sport where you get to hit people while wearing roller skates. We practice during the evening elective period. You should all join! See ya.” To Ms. Essie, she added, “Going to class now, promise.” The girl rushed out of the room before Ms. Essie could decide that she was in trouble, but the latter seemed more exasperated than upset.

In the silence that followed, Viola waved her hand in the air. “Can I join even if I don’t have roller skates?”

Ms. Essie sighed. “Yes, we have a loaner system in place. I’m sure Delilah and Alina would be delighted to have any of you, regardless of skill level, but don’t feel pressured to decide right now. The evening electives are less formal than those during the day.”

Lior was oddly intrigued by the idea of roller derby, but she certainly had reservations. Mainly, that she still had no idea what exactly it was. Still, the thought wouldn’t leave her, so she made her way to the front of the room to speak with Ms. Essie. “Um,” she began, not entirely sure what to ask. Finally she settled on, “What is roller derby?”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain without seeing it, and even then it looks like chaos. It’s played in teams, and I believe the goal is to get one person on your team around the track while trying to stop the other team from doing the same. If you want to know more, I’d suggest you go watch one of the open games they have. Or just try it out. There’s no penalty if you decide you don’t like it.”

“What if–” Lior hesitated. “What if my finnik, just like, happens…?” She knew the question wasn’t altogether clear, but she was still getting used to talking about this power of hers.

Ms. Essie understood, though. “As long as the others are aware of what might happen, you can work together to keep everyone safe. You’re surrounded by people with similar difficulties now.”

Lior stared down at the floor as she nodded. “I think, maybe, I want to try it.”

Ms. Essie smiled. “Then I cannot wait to see you play.”

Lior slowly returned to her seat, still sorting through uncertain thoughts. The intrigue was there, but so was a trepidation, the root of which she couldn’t quite identify. Still it was easy enough to write the words down on a piece of paper and hand it to Ms. Essie. As she followed Ms. Essie’s directions to the art studio, Lior found she was looking forward to her first practice, because beneath the nerves was a growing pool of excitement.

***

After popping her head into the wrong classroom a few times and several wrong turns, Lior finally stumbled into the art studio. The annex it sat in was made entirely of wood and riddled with wide windows, bringing to mind a cabin in the woods. It was impossible not to like, and Lior found herself relaxing without realizing she had been tense in the first place.

The art studio was filled with the smell of paint, a soft murmur of voices, and sunlight streaming through the windows in the far wall. Upon entering, Lior was quickly accosted by two people. The first tackled her and squealed in her ear while the other waited patiently for the former to finish.

“Lior! You’re taking art too!”

Lior nodded, struggling to extricate herself. “Hello, Elena.”

The woman who had accompanied Elena smiled and extended her hand. “Pleasure to have you, Lior. Welcome to art.” They shook hands. The woman was short and round with paint dotting her skin and violently red hair, which she seemed to have put no effort into taming. “I am Marta Muggins. Most of the kids around here call me Ms. M or just Marta. Here in art, you have the option to attend my art lesson or work on your own project. Once you enter this door, there are few limits to what you can create. All I ask is that you show up.” Here, she paused to appraise Elena, who was still clinging to Lior. “Normally, I would give you a tour, but it looks like your friend here would be delighted to do the honors.”

Elena bounced up and down on her toes. “Ooh, ooh, yes! Let me show you what I’m making!” Without waiting for a response, she dragged Lior away from the art teacher, and Lior only had time for a small wave in farewell.

Elena, as it turned out, was an aspiring sculptor. The project she proudly presented to Lior was a large conflation of glued together scrap metal. It brought to mind a rather precarious jungle gym rising out of a junkyard. 

“It’s… interesting,” Lior said. She really couldn’t think of any other words to describe it. “How big is it going to be?”

Elena shrugged. “Wherever it’s at when I get bored of it. Wanna try? We have plenty of metal since Luce turned all the desks into a giant puppet last year.”

Lior had no idea who Luce was, but she was more curious about the rest of that story. “What happened to it?”

“Well, Luce couldn’t hold that many things together for very long. They spent weeks moving broken desks off the lawn cause Ms. Essie would let them put the giant back together to get it inside.”

“So, this had something to do with their finnik?”

“Yeah, Luce, like, magnetizes things, or something. They say it’s more like gravity, but I don’t get it. Gravity just pulls things down.”

Lior didn’t think that was entirely accurate, but she didn’t know how to explain it either. Instead, she said, “I guess I’ll try what you’re doing, then.” Elena beamed.