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Sam, let’s go.”
    The naga took a deep breath, then appeared to shrink into himself. James didn’t wait for him to finish shifting, heading toward the exit. In the space of a few heartbeats, the dark-haired, dark-skinned man stood in the giant snake’s place. A muscle tic in his cheek jumped as he stared after James, jaw clenched.
    He inclined his head in a brief nod to Professor Reed, then a deeper one to Kimberly before following at James’s heels.
    The professor didn’t speak until she and Kimberly were alone.
    “Did you receive your blessing?”
    “Yes, professor.”
    Though her posture remained ramrod straight, some of the tension in the professor’s shoulders eased. “Good. Do you remember what the school symbol stands for?”
    Kimberly paused, her fingers involuntarily drifting to the bracelet she’d been wearing for the last four years. She had no clue what that had to do with what she’d just witnessed. “Um. Safe passage?”
    “That is part of it, yes.” The professor’s gaze slid upward, eyes going distant. “The triskelion represents personal growth, development of power, and spiritual expansion. You know your runes. I’m sure you know that those three stand for travel, protection, and social order. And, of course, the ouroboros, which represents both wholeness and infinity.”
    Kimberly nodded, her eyes wide. While she had known what the individual symbols meant, she had never put together the significance of their combined meaning before. She suspected the professor was trying to tell her something in a roundabout way, but whatever the lesson might be escaped her.
    With a sharp exhalation, the professor turned to face Kimberly, giving her a piercing stare over the rims of her glasses. “While things didn’t go as I expected today, I hope you learned something from the experience.”
    A test. All that mess, and the professor was still testing her knowledge.
    Setting her jaw and meeting Professor Reed’s gaze, Kimberly took a deep breath through her nose, let it out, then launched into the impromptu dissertation she thought her teacher wanted.
    “The naga was only here because Mr. Gardner made him come. He didn’t enjoy being on display, but I don’t think he was given a choice. He responded well to courtesy and I believe he was put at ease by ceremony.”
    Professor Reed’s lips drew back in a thin smile. “Yes, but not what I’m looking for. I need to get to the dean’s office, so I’m going to be frank. Work with Cormac to get yourself a familiar, but don’t be another James. Once you seal a bond with a familiar, never forget that the creature who consented is a living, thinking being.”
    Kimberly bit her lip, then nodded. “Mr. Gardner doesn’t respect his familiar.”
    “Correct. Some day, I expect it may be his downfall. However, that’s neither here nor there—and I need to get going. Go join the other students in the library. And think long and hard about what you’ve seen today.”
    Kimberly scooped up her bag and took off at a run, more than ready to escape the classroom—and to take some time to plan how to convince a dragon she would never treat it so cavalierly as James treated Sam.

CHAPTER NINE
     
     
    Kimberly arrived at the Wild Hunt right on time. Cormac’s wards didn’t stop her when she opened the door and reached a tentative hand out to check for a barrier, so she wended her way through the maze of furniture until she reached the main portion of the floor.
    As she made her way between the last pair of bookshelves that spat her out by the sales counter, her skin crawled with a strange sensation, like tiny insect feet marching in a steady wave all over her body. A brisk shiver dispelled the feeling.
    Cormac sat on a thickly cushioned footstool and watched her progress toward him with interest. He snapped the book in his lap shut and set it aside as he eyed her, head to toe, his gaze coming to rest on her shirt. He was a bit surprised to note that while