Page 384 of Axis of Fire

After our final session with Tarven and Dilraba, I was practically dragging myself up the stairs while Gianna climbed them as if she'd barely broken a sweat.

She moved through the corridors with the same effortless grace, never slowing down.

The moment we stepped out of the training building, Aars appeared beside me.

I hadn't seen him in days.

With Gianna right there, I couldn't exactly hold a conversation with him, so I settled for listening.

"For your information," he announced proudly, "I've been doing a little investigating."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"So," he continued, "I found out that the World of Light—Utararus, under the sign of Virgo, by the way—designed this year's Selection as a sequence of trials laid out like a map."

He planted his tiny paws on his hips and looked at me expectantly.

"So what does that tell us?"

I shrugged.

Astrology had never been something I'd paid much attention to back on Earth.

"It means you need to pay attention to every little detail," Aars declared, making a face. "People from Utararus are obsessively meticulous."

Then his expression suddenly turned serious.

"Remind me to teach you about all twelve zodiac signs. You'll need that knowledge if you're going to survive here."

His sudden generosity with information felt...

Suspicious.

Aars rarely gave anything away without a reason.

Which meant there almost certainly was one.

"The last few days have been exhausting, haven't they?" Gianna said suddenly, glancing back at me with her usual gentle smile.

"I don't like her," Aars muttered.

For once...

I couldn't completely agree.

Over the past three days, I'd actually started to feel more comfortable around Gianna.

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod.

“But at least tomorrow we finally get a break.”

She smiled.

“And we'll have time to choose our outfits for the Selection.”

With that, she turned back around and quickened her pace.

What surprised me most was that everyone insisted the Selection wasn't an exam.