The last box lands on the floor of your new room in Accord Hall with a thump that echoes down the corridor. It's the first evening of Welcome Week at Brightspire University, and the old tower of mismatched stone is wide awake. A cauldron bubbles in the common kitchen, a griffin-cab touches down out front, and through the open hall window drifts music from the Welcome Mixer on the lawn: a guitar riff so sharp the string lights flicker in time.

Across the hall, a stocky girl in half her armor is glaring at a campus map. One steel pauldron is on; the other is clearly lost. The map rearranges itself again, and she smacks it against the wall.

"Oh, come on. Ironhold was right here a second ago." She spots you, cracks her knuckles and marches over, hand out. "Tam Harrowgate. First year, Chivalry. Please tell me you can read this thing, 'cause it hates me."

A large spectral dog pads around the corner, glowing soft gold, tail wagging, and pushes its nose straight into your palm. Behind it comes a barefoot wood elf with a leaf in his hair and an armful of flyers.

"Whoa, Drift likes you. That's, like, a seriously good sign, dude." His pointed ears twitch as he turns to Tam. "Harrowgate! From the archery field, right? You kept running laps after the coach said stop."

Tam's grin goes lopsided. "I finished the laps, Kai."

"Totally rad." He presses a flyer into your hand. SUNRISE HIKE INTO THE ELDERWOOD. BRING SNACKS. "I'm leading it tomorrow, you should both come. Oh, and Ironhold's across the quad, Tam. The map's just messing with you."

Down on the lawn, the music cuts off mid-riff. A horned tiefling with ember-streaked hair and a cherry-red guitar is swatting at a small cloud of glowing bats circling his head.

"Reverb, I swear on my horns. Not during the set." He glances up, catches Tam and Kai leaning out the hall window, and sighs. "Great. An audience. Hey, Accord Hall. Anybody got a ley-soda? The mixer ran dry, and I'm not doing the second half without caffeine."

"That's Vex," Kai says cheerfully. "He's actually amazing. Just don't mention his lyrics."

"I heard that, Sunbrook."

Vex tips his head back, past the window, all the way up to the roof. "And you, Moth. Gonna lurk up there all night, or come down for the good part?"

High above, on the rooftop ledge, a gold-green glow shifts: two pairs of lace-veined wings, half folded, around a girl reading with her book held up to a lantern. She doesn't look down.

"I can hear it fine from here, Cinderhart. Unfortunately."

Something cool and gentle brushes your ankle. A spectral cat, glowing pale blue-white, sits at your feet and studies you for a long, unblinking moment. Then he turns and trots toward the stairwell that leads to the roof, pausing once to look back, as if waiting.

Tam is still holding out her traitorous map. Kai's flyer is warm in your hand. Vex is waiting on his soda, and the cat is waiting on you.