Sarala wanted to pummel Zyn the next morning, as her wakeup call rang through the tower yet again. Why did that girl have to be so annoying? She groaned and got to her feet, throwing the soft blankets off her and stomping loudly to the door.

“Shut UP!” she growled fiercely.

“No!” Zyn replied.

Sarala crossed her arms over chest angrily. “Why do you even bother?” 

“I always greet the spirits and nature each day!”

Sarala snorted at that. “Spirits, really? Spirits don’t exist! And even if they did, I’m sure they’re not deaf, so stop your screaming!”

Zyn made no response, so Sarala clambered back into her bed. She had just pulled the blanket back over her and closed her eyes when the bell rang through the school. She sighed loudly and got to her feet, figuring there was no point in missing breakfast just to sleep in a bit.

“Why does breakfast have to be so early?” she complained as she entered the family room minutes later.

Zyn and Ren were already there. Zyn was dressed in a green robe with golden flowers, and Ren wore a simple blue robe and sweatpants.

“Because there are classes to be had,” Ren pointed out. “If we had breakfast later, we’d have to have lunch at 1. Who eats lunch at 1?”

“Yeah, I’d rather eat lunch at 11,” Zyn commented.

Ren rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s go eat!”

“So we’re doing that homework today, right?” Sarala asked as they made their way across the cool Courtyard, the sky cloudy above.

Ren nodded eagerly. “I can’t wait to plot out my birth chart! I mean, I’ve looked it up on the air-net plenty of times before—”

Sarala stared at her. “Wait—Mr. Jihan said we can use the air-net to help us, right? So can’t we just…find the whole chart and copy it down?”

Zyn shrugged, opening the door to the Eating Hall, the smell of burnt toast hitting their noses at once. “I don’t think he meant we could completely take it. That’d be plagiarism, after all. But we can definitely use it to help us out!”

Sarala frowned as they made their way over to a semi-long line. “I don’t have a mirror though. I don’t even know much about air-net…”

“You can just borrow our mirror,” Ren told her. “Zyn and I already share the family mirror.”

She huffed in annoyance at the thought of having to rely on others, then reached for a blueberry muffin as the line moved. The three soon had their trays loaded with food and went to a table. They ate with small talk, then finished and set their dirty trays on the trashcan by the door. They exited the Eating Hall as the bell sounded for the second-years to get to their first class. Ignoring this, Sarala and Zyn trailed the skipping Ren to the Library.

“I thought we were going to get our charts off the air-net?” Sarala asked.

“Shush!” Zyn hissed back.

The Library was vast, with red-painted walls that were mostly covered by bookshelves. There were aisles upon aisles of shelves, some squished together that there was little space to move between the hundreds of books. Right upon entering, there were a few tables and chairs, which allowed students to do their work; however, even the tables were so close together in the cramped space. Windows lined the back wall, allowing Sarala to see specks of dust floating in the light streaming through.

“What’re we in here for?” Sarala grumbled. “Let’s just get the charts off the air-net.”

“But then you’re not learning anything, silly!” Ren replied.

“I don’t want to learn it,” Sarala muttered.

Ren ignored her and went up to a large desk off to the side, which was practically pushed against a shelf. Leaning against this desk was a blonde man in a pink floral dress. He glanced over at them as they approached, his orange eyes lighting up.

“Ren! Zyn!” he greeted them, smiling.

Sarala huffed lightly in annoyance. It was as if she didn’t exist. But it’s not like I even know that guy, she reminded herself. Why would he bother greeting me?

“Hey, Aster!” Zyn said.

“That’s ‘Mr. Sundale’ to you kids,” Aster said in a pretend-stern voice. “What can I do for you?”

“We need to figure out our birth charts,” Ren told him. “Can you help us?”

Aster’s eyes seemed to light up even more. He clapped his hands together and nodded several times. “Of course, of course! I’d be delighted to help! I love doing birth charts—and astrology!”

Ren winked over her shoulder at Sarala. Sarala scowled in return. She had half-a-mind to turn and walk out from the Library; Ren seemed to sense this and asked, “Can we start with Sarala’s chart?” 

Aster nodded, grabbing several pieces of paper from inside the desk. He then rummaged in the drawers, making a lot of rattling noises until he pulled out several books on astrology and birth charts.

“What’s your birthday, place of birth, and time of birth?” Aster asked, glancing up at her as he crouched over a book.

Sarala stiffened. Is this a trick? Are they trying to find out more about my background? she wondered.

“April 6, 39,” she muttered.

Aster scrawled that across the top of one sheet of paper, then asked, “Place and time of birth?”

“I don’t know,” she said flatly.

Aster blinked up at her. “You have to know, otherwise we can’t do this birth chart for you. The place of birth determines how the planets were lined up according to your location on Sater, and—”

“I guess I’ll be failing this assignment, then,” Sarala uttered, crossing her arms over her chest. “But didn’t Mr. Jihan say we only needed to chart the sun and moon sign, anyway? And…what’s Sater?”

The others stared at her. Then, Aster said, “Sater is our planet.”

Sarala blushed. How was I supposed to know that? 

“Yeah, I think that’s what Khurshid said—about what we needed to chart,” Zyn replied after a small moment of silence. “Charting a full birth chart on your own…that’d take weeks or months…”

Ren flicked her sister. “It would not!”

“Yeah, it would!”

“Girls, calm down,” Aster said with a sigh. He looked over at Sarala. “Well, we know your sun sign is in alignment with fire. Is that your elemental magic?”

Sarala shook her head. “I have earth.”

“So you were born at night, with a moon in the earth sign,” Aster said simply. “There are only three signs that represent earth, so we just need to figure out what that would be…”

He opened one of his books and handed it to her. “This book tells you the combination of your astrological sun and moon signs. See here? That’s your sun sign. This page is one of the moon signs in earth combined with that fire sun sign. Read all of the moon signs in earth, and choose whichever one fits your personality best.”

Sarala read the first description of a fire sun sign with an earth moon sign. She frowned and went to the next passage.

“That’s an air sign next,” Ren told her, pointing at the title of the section. “And the next one is water, and the one after that is fire. There’s the second earth sign!”

Sarala read the next passage, feeling confused over these different signs. All she knew was that there were twelve astrological signs that were associated with a particular element. She had no idea what they were called or why she’d need to know anything about them. This second passage sounded a bit like her personality though, so she told Aster, who wrote it down.

“We still can’t figure out the exact placement, and finding when the moon was in this earth sign during that particular year will be a bit tricky,” Aster told her. “But I’ll figure out something worthy enough for your birth chart!”

Sarala didn’t care.

They spent the whole day in the Library, taking a break for lunch and returning soon after. Aster only had to leave once to help a student find a book, but otherwise remained with them. As it was only the second day of school, most of the students didn’t need the Library just yet. 

Sarala’s birth chart took the longest, as they had to figure out the moon’s position. Zyn, who had a fire sun sign and an air moon sign, also didn’t know her exact birthplace, but was able to get her chart made sooner due to knowing the exact signs and her time of birth.

Ren, who also knew her information, only took a long time to get through because she wanted to know the placement for all of the other planets. At this point, Sarala decided to leave, getting a headache from being cooped up in a dusty room, and having a hard time reading.

She went to the Courtyard for a breath of fresh air. It was almost dinnertime, and the bell would be ringing soon. She would head to the Eating Hall in a bit, so she wouldn’t be stuck at the end of a long line.

That’s when something caught her eye. Frowning, her body tensed. She tiptoed towards the northern garden, where she had seen the small movement. Though she hadn’t seen it fully, the movement did not seem to be human. 

It’s probably just a bird, she thought to herself. She had seen plenty of bird movements during her time in the wild, which would always frighten her. She often mistook the birds as some sort of monster lurking in the bushes, stalking her. Most times, it had just been birds, or perhaps a squirrel. It’s definitely just a bird.

But Sarala relied a lot on instinct, and even though she knew it was just a bird and that she was safe at the school, she still had to check it out. Therefore, she crept forward until reaching the garden, her heartbeat louder in her ears as she approached the undergrowth where she’d seen the movement.

There was nothing there. Sarala scanned the bushes and trees for several long moments, her ears pricked and her whole body on alert. Yet she couldn’t sense anything; she couldn’t even detect any danger. She allowed her body to relax.

Just a bird. I knew it, she thought irritably.

However, as she turned her back on the garden, she felt that she had missed something. She frowned and looked over her shoulder, as if expecting the bird to suddenly appear. The garden was still empty.

Calm down, she scolded herself. You’re too jumpy.

She shook herself and headed for the Eating Hall. Uncertain why she sensed something was wrong, she just knew she’d feel much better inside. She had hardly taken two steps when she felt like she was being watched. 

Sarala swiveled swiftly on the spot, staring at the trees once more. There! She saw the bushes move, though there was no wind to stir them, the cloud-scudded sky as still as the buildings below it.

Rushing to the plants, she did not care if her footsteps were loud on the stone. She was out in the open, after all, and whatever had been watching her would surely know that she’d seen it. The bell rang, and, as students started streaming into the Courtyard from all around the school, Sarala vanished into the prickly bushes.

She shifted leaves aside, her gold eyes scanning the darkest areas of the garden. As it was only August, the sun still stayed out in the evening, providing her with enough light to see by. But she still saw nothing.

After searching the entire garden for the next ten minutes, totally forgetting about dinner, she decided to give up. She sensed that whatever had been watching her before was now gone. Sighing and stumbling out of the garden, she suddenly saw a small object on the ground, catching the rays of soft sunlight managing to poke through the clouds.

Sarala bent down to pick it up. It was a mirror shard. She frowned as she inspected it, but there was nothing sinister about it. It was literally just a broken piece of glass. 

Not knowing what to do with it, she put it in her robe pocket and remembered about dinner. She hurried to the Eating Hall, and sighed in annoyance as she saw the long line upon entering the loud space.