“Another fail, Lyra.” a teacher ordered, hitting her over the head twice with a stick as a few students flinched. “Your brothers could have already passed my class twice. Why are you the lowest on the board?”

“I don’t know!” she yelled, hitting her ears in pain, mimicking the hits she had received.

An old hand slapped a failed page in front of her. “Meet me in the basement tonight. You will pay for these marks.”

After that, Planet remembered being in the sleeping quarters, seeing Moon in the hallway outside of her and Sol’s room.

“Where have you been, Planet?” Moon asked, two bags over his shoulder for night school.

“Nowhere.” she mumbled, hiding her face. “Tell the teacher I won’t be there again. I’m tired.”

“You’re going to fail if you skip it again. And my notes won’t keep you up to date.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” she said, trying to push him away from the door.

“I already packed your bag.” he said, shoving it into her arms. “Let’s go.”

“Planet, what is wrong with you?” she asked, rubbing her eyes and face, trying to clear the memories from her head.

She heard a collection of voices speaking in Modern, and she kept her eyes shut to focus on them, trying to ignore the voices from the past.

“Have you heard the news?”

Planet knew how important this could be and removed her ear, plugging the hole with dirt, and used a vine inside of the dirt to push her ear into the wall. She hid the vine into her hair and watched Sol stand, forcing himself to not say any swears.

The voices were clearer now. “No, what happened?”

“A group of Witches attacked a Wizardly town.” a female voice whispered. “I think it was called Purest?”

“What happened to them?”

“They’re alright, but I think they’re trying to fight back against them. It’s a whole war now.”

“That’s horrifying. What if it reaches us?”

“Oh, it won’t. The towns are barely near us. They’ll probably contain it there before it spreads.”

“That’s dreadful for them.”

Planet covered her hand over her mouth as she willed the vine to place her ear back into her head. The Wizards were under war? Had their feud finally escalated like the Elves had said they would?

“Krea.” the mentor snapped. “It’s your turn.”

“Yes, sir.” she whispered, stepping forward to attempt her “niceties”.