Clapping. I turned around to see Nike, Leander, and couple of other instructors I’d seen around the Society standing behind me. A few other Astrals knelt next to Nilo and Poppy, checking them for wounds. 

“Well done,” Nike praised.

“What?” I said looking around. 

Leander kneeled down next to me and helped me to my feet. “This was a test,” he said. “Congrats. Looks like you passed, kid.”

I stumbled as my legs almost gave out. Leander caught me and guided me to a chair.

“This was a test?” I said. I noticed the Phantom slime had started to harden. Absentmindedly, I scraped it off my skin as best I could. 

This was a test. The words echoed in my head.

“Why?” I asked. 

Leander motioned and someone brought him a couple of towels. He wrapped one around my shoulders.

“Hold on to that thought,” he said to me. He headed to Castor, who I saw insisted on wrapping the towel around his shoulders himself. It was truly astonishing how he didn’t even seem phased. I guessed that when you grew up in this sort of world, these were the sorts of things you expected.

“I knew you could do it,” a voice said behind me. I didn’t turn. Nike walked into my line of sight.

“Why would you do this?” I asked quietly.

“What, test you?” she asked, smirking. I snapped.

“People could have died,” I said. “I thought you were dying."

“Yeah, you did. And look how you reacted!” Nike said, gesturing around. “Your first thought was to save everyone. To get people to safety. To destroy the Phantom. We couldn’t have asked for a better Astral.”

“So that makes it worth it? That makes people dying worth it?” I said, outraged.

Nike sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“You were never in any danger of dying. I was here and so were a bunch of other Astrals,” she said.

“People still got injured. Like that boy—the one whose hand was smashed,” I said.

“He’ll have to go to the hospital, sure. But he’s alive and he’ll make a full recovery,” Nike said to me slowly.

I shook my head.

“Why like this? Why risk it?” I asked.

Nike put her hands in her pockets and pulled out a flower. She held a petal between her fingers, studying it for a long moment.

“I’ve lost people, Aris. And if you become an Astral, so will you,” Nike said, putting the flower back in her pocket.

“Being an Astral is a nonstop risk. You freeze up, you miss something, and you can die in an instant. This right here, this is the real world for an Astral. And if you cannot handle it while we’re all here with you, how can we trust you out there alone?” 

Nike sighed. “It’s a tough lesson, but I’d rather you learn it here.”

I noticed my hands were shaking. I gripped them tightly together, stilling them. I wasn’t angry anymore, but I could still feel the adrenaline, the fear, from before.

For a moment, I thought of the boy who’d left his book on the floor. The one who left this all behind. Perhaps that would have been the better way to go.

But then I thought of the Phantom. And I remembered that there were Phantoms everywhere. Among people who don’t have powers. And I couldn’t just leave those people out there alone.

**

A few days later, in the lobby of the Sidereus Society, I stood on a stage next to Poppy, Castor, and Nilo, not long after dinner. A small crowd of Astrals gathered around us. They were silent. I could see Leander in the front and when he noticed me looking, he gave me a wink. So corny. But it made me smile anyway.

We wore formal uniforms—which I’d had to sit through a fitting for, but now laid perfectly across my shoulders and hips. It was somewhere between a school uniform and a military uniform—and just as uncomfortable as you’d imagine.

I watched as Nike helped Poppy into a dark blue sash before doing the same to me. The Society had its own customs and this was as close to a graduation as Astrals received. A ranking ceremony. Leander had told me that traditionally, they were held in the middle of the night, under the moonlight. But as the modern era had progressed, everyone’s desire to be up that late had diminished. So the evenings would have to do.

Nike bowed as a tall woman holding a scepter strode past her. The Astrals in the crowd bowed and we on the stage did as well. The woman’s name was Leda Mitri and she was the head of the Council. She was the leader of the Twelve—and for all intents and purposes, the leader of the Sidereus Society.

Leda stopped in front of me. She had piercing eyes and a sort of naturally frowning mouth. She pinned the gray symbol of the Society to my jacket—it looked like a swirling galaxy.

“Aris Gray,” she said. My name echoed in the dead silent room. “I promote you to the rank of Ceres. Welcome, Astral.”

She moved down the line, doing the same thing to all of us. After Nilo, the last of us, she raised her scepter and slammed it into the ground. The boom echoed across the room.

“It is done,” Leda proclaimed, and the room broke out in applause.

Poppy slammed into my back, arms wrapping around me in a tight hug, and grinned ear to ear.

“Let’s take a picture!” she said and she held up her cell phone. Her joy was infectious. Pretty soon, we were taking all sorts of selfies on her phone. It felt good to feel so normal. I grinned up at Poppy’s phone, my smile free and natural. Two bunny fingers I snuck behind her head at the last second. She shoved me, laughing. It was good. It was how things should be. 

But I couldn’t help but remember what Nike had said. About the real world for an Astral. Remembering what we would one day face, what we’d already faced, I hugged Poppy just a little bit tighter. I didn’t think she noticed.