It was a terrible morning to leave, precisely because it was so beautiful. Standing on the pier, under painted clouds on a perfect blue sky as the sun came over horizon—it was the kind of morning best spent on the beach, or sipping coffee on the back porch overlooking the lilacs.

Solene sat atop her trunk and brought her hand to shield her eyes from the rays of the rising sun. Her mother lingered by her on the pier, and of course Horus was by her side.

Soleil and Helena had left late the previous night, not long before midnight. Solene wasn't sure why Luna didn't insist on them staying overnight, like she might have with Horus or any of her other friends, like Miranda Barringer. Well, she wasn't certain as to the reason. But what she was certain of was that something had happened between Soleil and her mother.

It hadn't started last night, of course.

But reflecting on it, on being sent out, and how distant Soleil seemed by the time Solene and Helena returned with the pizza, it had clicked together in her mind.

She wasn't sure when the rift between the sisters had begun. Maybe it had always been there, and there was a time when Solene was too young to see what was right in front of her very eyes. But the twins were on thin ice with one another—and that wasn't any good.

After all, that was how the family curse always began.

"Look, there it is!"

Punctuated by a horn, her mother's cry drew Solene's eyes over to the growing dark shape in distance, coming under the red gates of the Dragonsgate Bridge. Solene hastily stood up.

Luna turned to her. "You've got everything you need, right?"

"Yes, and if I don't, I'll write to you with a list." 

"Good." Luna tucked a tendril behind Solene's ear. "Write at least once every week, alright?"

"I will, Mom."

"And have some fun, alright?" Luna tilted her head. "You're so serious. I'm afraid I gave that to you. Although your father could be so solemn too. . ."

She trailed off, then shook her head. "Never mind that. Know that you can write to me or to Horus at any time if you need anything, alright?"

"Don't worry so much." Solene ducked away. "I'm almost eighteen, I can handle myself."

Something that sounded somewhere between an exhale meant in humor and a sigh emanated from her mother. "I know you are. I love you, Solene."

"I love you too, Mom." Solene took another step back. "I'll be back for the

Harvest Festival."

Luna nodded, pressing her lips together in a thin line that then twisted into a smile. "Good, good."

Her frown returned quickly, and she was toying with the gleaming golden moon pendant hanging from a slender chain around her neck. In doing so, Solene became acutely more aware of her own necklace, the golden sunburst caught between the ends of the crescent moon. It was a combination of her mother's and her aunt's pendants. A reminder of the family legacy.

...

The ferry ride was fairly standard, as far as Solene was concerned. It was a quick ride, about twenty or thirty or so minutes across the calmer morning waters of Ventura Sound's harbor. They passed under the Dragonsgate Bridge as the pastel cars went zooming by, which of course impressed the new students starting their education at Anouir. They also passed by some of the selkie rocks, where the seals shed their skins to become human and wave before returning to the ocean.

Solene supposed she should be taking it all in, appreciating that this would be one of the last times she rode up to the Anouir Institute.

But she couldn't. It wasn't like it would be the last after all—there would be holidays like the Harvest Festival or the Solstice Remembrance that would cause them to send all the students home. By her count, she'd be coming back via the ferry at least two more times.

Still, a sense of melancholy washed over her as they pulled up to the docks. It was the beginning of the end, and that still meant something. Even if she was eager to graduate and get out of this place.

Solene stepped off the ferry, where already so many students were disembarking —and others were waiting for their friends. She craned her neck, looking around for the carts she could use to push her luggage. Before she could make her way to them, however, she was nearly tackled to the ground in a hug.

"You're finally here!" Roxana Beltane cried.

"I was on one of the first boats here!" Solene protested as she gently pried herself free.

"Willa still got here before you." Roxana folded her arms, stuck out her lip in a play-put.

Solene tilted her head as she took in the quiet pink-haired girl beside her, decked up in garnet and navy and ivory lace. "How?"

Willa shrugged. "My father dropped me off early. I think he needed an excuse to escape Stargazer Valley early."

"That's right, you were up in Stargazer all summer!" Roxana pointed her thumb at Willa. "Spirits, I feel like I haven't seen either of you in forever!"

She then sighed, tossing her dark-red twin-tails over her bronze shoulders. Roxana was tall and lithe, with the same bronze skin and golden eyes that Horus had, as yet another scion of a family as old and arcane as the Beltanes. But she had the build and red hair of her mother's family. The Lavenzas were renown duelists, with a resume of extraordinary feats dating back to the Long Winter.

If it weren't for the more modern style of dressing that Roxana adopted, with her lilac bell-bottoms and lime green t-shirt with purple flowers on them and golden hoop earrings, that she might just be the spitting image of her mother. Also known as the current Chancellor of the Anouir Institute.

"They've had me up at the old mansion doing lessons and spirits-knows-what all summer," Roxana continued as they headed towards the luggage carts. "And then there was the business with my uncle last night, where they had every recalled to the mansion but us kids were locked out!"

"At least you had air-conditioning." Willa adjusted her beret. "It was hot in

Stargazer Valley. My dad and I were practically dying by the end of the summer." 

"But not your mom?' Solene couldn't help but raise a bemused eyebrow.

"Oh no, she and my grandparents and our cousins were all super happy and wanted to be outside all the time."

Solene decided to keep to herself her observation about how Willa's dark and frilly layers were likely not conducive to a summer out in the hot, dry desert. "It can't have all been bad—the research they're doing down there is interesting isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know." Willa grabbed her own cart and they started back towards where the luggage had been dumped. "The elves are bankrolling that whole venture, so you know what it's like—all secrecy."

"I suppose that's for the better," Roxana mused aloud. "After all, the deep dark secrets of arcane magic are honestly so much more boring than mortals think!"

"Is that what they were doing with you all summer?" Solene scanned the luggage area before spotting her trunk, with the little sun and moon pendant made of more hardly silver gleaming in the morning sunlight. "Teaching you family secrets?" 

Roxana rolled her eyes. "That and the usual tutoring. Duel practices and Divination lessons and all the usual talents for a Beltane or a Lavenza."

She then picked up a trunk with a brightly-colored scarf tied to one of the handles off the ground with ease—a show of her amazing strength.

There was nothing usual about Roxana. For all she might have inherited the typical talents of both her witching lineages, Solene had never known her to be the kind to follow paths that another had prescribed to her.

Otherwise, they never would have become friends.

"By the way, I got some strings pulled." Roxana's tone was deceptively conversational.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willa huffed as she and Solene finished lifting her well-used trunk onto a luggage cart. The initials carved into the leather at the top revealed it to have belonged to her mom before it had gone to Willa.

"Well, I may or may not have persuaded Mother to let us room together this year at the Coven House—just the three of us." Roxana's smile was dazzling.

"No way." Solene looked to Willa. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"Oh, year, don't worry about it." Roxana waved her hand dismissively. "Besides, it's our senior year—time to have fun!"

"And study," Willa reminded her. Her face then turned as pink as her hair.

"Thank you, though. I'm glad we get to be roommates one last time."

Roxana snorted. "Don't you two go getting sappy on me. That's for the spring at least!" She threw her arms around her friends. "This year is going to be our year, I can just feel it!"

With the way they all laughed, even though nothing funny was actually said, Solene could believe that it would be.