Lecture hour

As silence stretched, I waited for the bird to announce something else.

And, of course—

Here we go.

A pause.

…What?

"A feast?" Julien blinked. "After all that? What's next? A spa day?"

"Maybe they'll give us back massages," Mira muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Or poison," I added flatly.

"A feast sounds… nice," Felix mumbled, his eyes practically sparkling.

I stared at him. "Felix."

"Yeah, Professor?"

"Do I look like an idiot?"

He blinked. "Um…"

"Don't answer that."

"Right."

The bird's voice echoed one last time before vanishing in a puff of mist.

"Well," Garrick stretched, his muscles cracking. "I'm not complaining. I could eat a whole damn bear."