By the time Ritchie, Moreau and Colonel Hansen got back to the dormitory, the other cadets were already dispersed between the two schools. The breakfast room was still a wreck of crumb-laden plates and stacks of empty coffee cups, and there was no sound of voices anywhere inside the building or in the gardens outside. Birds were calling, and a few insects were beginning to whir and chitter, but it was otherwise sleepily quiet.
That, plus the warmth of the breeze as it blew through the common rooms, reminded Ritchie just how little she had slept the night before.
"You were both scheduled for classes at the guardian school today," Colonel Hansen said to them as they stood in the main hall, hovering between the corridor that led to the back patio and the stairs that led up to the rooms. "I
