The wind at the top of the hill around the back of the nursery had once been strong enough to push her off of her feet, but that hadn't happened in a long while. She was bigger now and she knew how to approach the peak, bundled up and crouched low, her wings tight against her back. She enjoyed coming up here to think these days, alone save for the howling of the breeze.

She had a lot to think about lately.

It had taken her close to forever to feel she was ready to be a Junior, and just when she finally had, she had suffered a minor setback in the form of a boy named Thian. They had barely known each other for a month and already she felt closer to him than she had anyone else in her life. She was afraid at first that she was leaning too hard on him, that he would leave if she stuck too close, but her worry had since faded away, just last night in fact. Ellis had returned to Howard's complaining that Thian had cornered him in the hall just to grill him about her. Howard had asked her to talk to the demon, had threatened to inform Thian's teachers if he did it again, but Amory hadn't mentioned it. Thian wouldn't do it again. He had only been testing Ellis to get at the truth of her, and now he knew she hadn't hid from him. She wasn't the only one doing the leaning. He needed her just as much.

Amory couldn't have said why that made her feel more confident about her schooling, only that it did. It boosted her confidence about everything—growing up, holding onto Howard's love in the face of her brother's arrival, even... flying. For the first time in her life, Amory yearned to stretch her wings, to feel the chilly wind tickle their membranes as she glided back to the ground from someplace high, maybe even this hill. She stood, brushed off the back of her pants, and inched forward, swallowing as she peered out over the land below. She could do this.

She could do this.

She could...

Amory lurched forward, running for a few steps before she leaped out into open air. For a second she panicked as her stomach dropped, certain that this was the biggest mistake of her life, but then she forcibly recalled her flight lesson with Professor Amihan and spread her wings wide, frantically slicing at the air until she was out of death's grasp. Her grin was manic, and as she flew off toward Howard's she grew more certain of her future with every strong flap.