The Latuus birds sing and I quickly flip to my stomach just as a pegasus nose crashes down on the pillow I just vacated.

"I'm up," I groan into the pillow. Warm pegasus breath tickles my ear. I bury myself deeper into the blankets to avoid the slimy tongue sliding across my neck.

I push at the nose and lift my head. "I'm up," I repeat. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and scratch Lenox's itchy ears. "Seriously, your method is effective, but there's got to be a better way." He walks out the door without another word.

I go into the bathroom to start my morning and wash my neck. When I come out breakfast is on the table.

"Good morning," Albína sings.

I plop down in the chair next to her and pop a biscuit in my mouth. "One morning I'm going to sing back and freak you out."

She laughs into her teacup. "If you did, I'd just assume you were up all night studying again."

"Your point is not valid because when I do that I'm even less charming than I am most mornings," I say through a mouth full of food.

She smiles. "Remember, you're getting measured this morning."

I know I've been in Cromsmead for a long time when she has me measured for clothing again. Most of the clothes that were made for me originally are worn out. A lot were thrown away just because of the damage I'd done to them. She always restocks my closet with new clothes, but now those no longer fit. In the time I've been here, I've grown about two and a half inches. I think that makes me over five and a half feet tall. Trelix might think it's a silly human thing to be proud of my height, but I'm taller than all the elves by several inches.

"Can you use your wand and get the claphoutis ointment off the top shelf? I appreciate you putting it there, but I can't get it down."

I grab my wand off the dresser and head to my office. Kyrbast is still trying to give me some magic skills, but I think it's hopeless. I can do a mean shield, though, and I can move a few things around, like the claphoutis ointment. I had to put the skin cream on top of my bookshelf in my office because it's fruit-based and smells good, and Lenox insists on eating it—even though he never eats fruit, which is weird. I think it also might have raw eggs, but I'm not sure. I know he likes it, though, because, he destroyed the cabinet in my bathroom to get at it.

I wish Albína would have come in here to witness the retrieval because I flick my wand and the jar floats down from the high shelf into my waiting hand like a trained bird. Usually, when I use my wand to pick something up, I drop whatever it is and slide it across the floor to myself. Maybe Kyrbast is right. If I practice more I might actually get good at this. I doubt it, though.

I hand Albína the ointment just as three seamstresses enter my room. I stand with my arms out to the side and let them poke and measure to their hearts' content. They're gabbing away with each other in Naga-Nuru so I can't join in whatever hilarious story they keep laughing at. I do smile and nod every time they look up at me, even though I'm not feeling particularly jovial.

I was thinking back to the last time we did this and it made me kind of sad. Time is becoming increasingly difficult to track, but if I had to guess I'd say I've been here for over a year and a half, maybe two. I know it's been at least eight months since the gryphon incident.

I wish I could get a firm number, but even if I were on Earth I would have a difficult time tracking my days because they have been shocking in their sameness. Lenox wakes me—even though I constantly beg him not to. I eat breakfast with a very chipper Albína. I don't train with Levise anymore; it's just me and Stryder now, and we drill together with Trelix. I also started training with the elves...I don't know how long ago that was, but it's been a long time. They're first, then Trelix, and then Kyrbast or Sarpedon.

I dread the Sarpedon lectures. He's trying to help me get the Orb to do something. The only thing it seems capable of doing is collecting dust in my closet. Albína keeps my room immaculate except for the area around the candlestick that holds the little glass marble. She won't go anywhere near it. One time she accidentally bumped the dresser and the Orb hit the floor. She screamed so loud Lenox bolted out the door and took half the curtains with him.

"All done!" Albína shouts, snapping me from my thoughts.

I thank the women and leave all of them in my room as I head to the Mounted Guard Ground Training Facility—they call it the GILM. I'm told that makes sense in Naga-Nuru.

Joaer meets me at the gate. She was assigned to me because I couldn't figure out when and where I was supposed to be. The Guards don't keep a schedule, or at least not one that I can understand, and they never start at the same place. Solara, who I think is in charge of either me or this garrison, finally had to assign an assistant to make sure I was in the right place doing the right thing.

Joaer is the smallest of the Mounted Guard. I thought she had gotten this lame job because Solara pitied her; I was wrong. Joaer is a vicious beast on the battleground and therefore is the only one with the free time to walk me through the training.

Her English is about as bad as my Naga-Nuru, but we manage to communicate well enough. When I reach her, she wordlessly turns into the woods and I follow her dark green, bouncy hair down the trail. I know this path leads to the ropes course. Even though the Mounted Guard mainly ride unicorns, they train every day for several hours on the ground. Although "ground" is misleading because they spend a majority of the training climbing trees and jumping off stuff...probably because they've been warring with a flying species.

Ropes course is also misleading. We warm up with a forty-foot vertical rope climb followed by a five-mile loop around the treetops that are attached with any number of precariously-placed lines and rickety boards. Even though a deep canal runs beneath the course, I know from experience that falling from this height hurts.

A tree takes a swipe at me as I run past. "Hey!" I shout as I try to grab the branch that just missed my face.

"You need to be more careful!" the tree shouts back. "You almost dented my bark!"

I turn to say something back but the tree's neighbor smacks me on the head and almost knocks me off the rickety rope bridge. It's humiliating enough to fall, but the trees laughing and trash-talking me on the way down just adds to the shame. Although it's funny when it happens to someone else.

Joaer is like a spider monkey...I'm only assuming spider monkeys are good at swinging from trees; it's getting difficult to remember some of Earth's animals. She might be better. She's so light and dainty she barely touches the nets. I'm the biggest, but I'm not the slowest.

Not only am I good at high-wire obstacle courses, I'm not afraid of heights. I credit living in New York for that. I like high places. I also like having training that I look forward to. It helps that I'm gifted with the sword. Trelix was right, I should have trusted him.

My sword is an extension of my arm. Initially I thought that it was easy for everyone, but when I started fighting with the Guard, that's when I knew I was good. I'm also gifted with my fists, which is something I wish I had known when I was in school. I'd love to see Joe Thompson now. I want to hear the other kids laughing at him after a girl knocks him on his butt.

Right now, I'm facing down Dufh. He's one of the tallest elves, so we're often paired together. I'm taller, but he weighs more. He's solid, like a block. And these skirmishes hurt, and I lose, often.

We're on opposing platforms with a single row of eleven dangling vertical ropes between us. This is one of the hardest obstacles because the ropes vary dramatically in length and the distance between each one. It's made all the worse because it's strung fifty feet in the air over a deep canal in a stand of mouthy fir trees.

The only thing that keeps my nerves in check is that Dufh is sweating so hard his shirt is already soaked and we haven't even started yet. I wipe my wet palms on my pants one last time as the horn sounds. This is gonna hurt is my last thought as we both leap to the first rope.

I have to shimmy up a good fifteen feet to reach the stubby second rope. Speed is essential. The first one to the other's platform wins. The more ropes I travel across the better my chances of being on the offense and the less time he has to be on the attack.

"Oh, Girl-la, you shoulda put a lifejacket on first," one of the firs says. They call me Girl-la, like gorilla, because I'm the biggest one here. I don't like the name. Part of me likes being the biggest, but there's the girly part of me that would like to be considered delicate and dainty; no girl wants to be compared to a dirty old gorilla.

I ignore the trees as I stretch to my limit and barely tickle the second rope to me. I'm able to get it to swing just enough so I can wrap my fingers around it. My shoulders scream like they're being torn apart when I'm suspended between the two ropes. I ignore the pain because I have to get my body swaying or I won't have enough momentum to make the jump to the third rope.

When the arch is as high as my shoulders can stand I let go and fling myself feet first toward the third rope. I wrap it around my shin and then grab it with both hands. I'm able to stop my slide but not before burning off a significant amount of skin from my hands and leg.

"Tippy? More like Sweaty. You're going to slide right off that rope." Tippy is the fir trees' nickname for Dufh. It's faerie slang for short.

I spare only a second of attention toward Dufh. He just jumped to the third rope, too, but he slid down farther than me. If I hurry I may beat him to the next rope.

I only have to climb back up a few feet to reach the fourth rope. I'm already tired but I want to get the sixth one because it's directly in the middle and has the most swing. I think I'm moving faster than Dufh. At least, that's what the few elves who are cheering me on are saying.

When I reach my preferred rope, I have time to catch my breath, shake my burning muscles out, and draw my sword. It has a protective sheath over it to keep it from being deadly, but it's still painful when it makes contact.

Dufh pauses with a rope in between us. This is a mistake. He's going to have to grab his last rope with his sword already in his hand.

"Uh oh, Tippy, the Girl-la's going to get you now," the tree says.

I lock my legs into position and swing toward him. He pulls his sword and strikes me across the knuckles. My air stops with a sharp inhale and it takes everything I have to not let go of the rope. My middle finger is already swelling up to twice its normal size and soon it's going to be a different color. I try to inhale but I can't, so I force the air out. A small whistle escapes, followed by a loud breath with a few choice words mixed in.

I'm furious that he took such a cheap shot. Without thinking, I let my rage fuel a high swing that allows me to kick him in the throat. I laugh when I hear his satisfying grunt. That's going to leave an ugly bruise.

"Careful, Girl-la, he looks like a bleeder."

My kick knocks him loose and he slides a few feet; more importantly, it rattles him. I can see the panic in his eyes as he frantically claws at the rope so he can climb back up before I can get him.

I swing wildly but I can't get enough speed before he jumps to the rope behind him. He loses a point for retreating.

"He's runnin'!"

"You're goin' the wrong way, Tippy!"

"Turn around, Tippy! Turn around!"

I use my momentum to leap to the rope Dufh just left. The force of my swing sends me careening into him. I dip my shoulder to connect with his ribs. The hit sends a flash of pain up my spine, but the wheezing yell he lets out makes it worthwhile. Before he can recover I jump on his back. This is what he deserves for whacking my knuckles; he's much easier to hold on to than the rope.

I squeeze him with my legs and punch him in the jaw with the hilt of my sword. The horn doesn't sound.

"Oh, good thing it was his head. Can't hurt anything there."

Dufh hits me in the outer thigh with his sheathed dagger. That's going to be a nasty bruise, but it's only a minor hit so we keep fighting.

I wrap my arm around his neck until his windpipe is locked in the crook of my elbow and then I pull back. I'm allowed to choke him because he can let go of the rope to free himself. That would mean he forfeits, so instead he punches me in the side of the head. He hits me in the temple with so much force the world goes black for a second.

I can't focus through the stars in my vision but I can hear his strangled breathing. I bring my sword arm around and stab him in the stomach. The horn sounds. I win.

"Aww, don't feel bad, Tippy, a lot of elves have no skills."

I'm barely able to grab the rope when Dufh let's go. It takes all of my remaining energy to climb high enough to get enough rope to wrap my legs around and take a breath. My head is pounding, my finger might be broken and I hurt my shoulder when I crashed into him. Not to mention I'm exhausted. And since I unseated him I get the honor of going back to my platform. It's a terrible prize. My arms are fried and I have to travel back eight ropes Tarzan-style, but I would take a sword to my gut before I'd allow myself the humiliation of a fall.

When my feet hit the platform I want to collapse to my knees but I won't because I'm getting claps on the back and a few shoulder squeezes from the other Guards. I won! I finally beat him. That's something very few of these elves can say.

I don't get to recover for long because Joaer heads to the bridge for more fighting. This is just a swordfight on a bridge, but she wins because she usually wins, although this time it takes her longer and she has to work for it. When I eventually lose I have to jump into the lake where the water is thin and get soaked. Fighting in soggy boots is the worst.

Correct that: raking the battling fields in soggy boots is the worst, especially when the trees make squishing sounds every time I take a step. When the Guard is done for the morning, they head off to do whatever it is they do and I stay behind and rake the flat land they train on. It's about as big as my training grounds and it takes about an hour to rake it every day. This is my punishment for telling Elaeria to go to Manahata. She's been there over a year, though, so it looks like I might've been right.

When I'm done, I cheerfully walk down to the stables. I say hello to many of the elves I've gotten to know. Korpa is sweeping the walkway to his shop like he does every day. And as he does every day, he stops and bows to me as I walk by.

I eat a bag lunch and exchange pleasantries with the grooms. My Naga-Nuru is still pathetic, but their English has gotten rather good. Stryder meets me in the grooming stall and I brush and tack him. I only use the saddle as an aid in battle, rather than for riding. If we're just going for a ride, I hop on his back and go with no tack at all.

After he's ready, I leap onto his saddle and walk down to the training field because I train primarily with Trelix now. First we practice with various weapons on Stryder, and after dinner, we train on the ground—the actual ground.

On our way, we stop at Wimbly's shop so Stryder can get a nobolt, which is a small fruit that both unicorns and elves enjoy. I don't like them because they're too sweet, like a candy apple wrapped in cotton candy. Wimbly is waiting at the door and Stryder greets him with a whinny.

We round the corner to enter the training ground and find Trelix already mounted on his dark blue unicorn named Mouse. She got her name because the first of Earth's creatures that Trelix learned about was the mouse. He'd been so intrigued that when he received his unicorn, he named it after the magical creatures of Earth.

He raises his sword high and takes off at a full gallop straight toward us. His war cry makes Stryder jump, but I get him under control as we race toward Trelix. This is going to hurt.