"Elemental summoning with Morrigan in ten minutes," Kai said one late October morning, consulting a small journal bound in green leather.

  The Eastern Grove stretched before them, a place where the Academy's cultivated order yielded to wilder magic. Ancient oaks and rowans stood sentinel around a vast clearing, their branches forming a canopy that filtered the afternoon light into dappled patterns. Mist clung to the forest floor, curling around tree trunks and stone outcroppings despite the day's warm autumn sun.

  Finn followed Sophie and Kai across the clearing, his new boots sinking slightly into the soft moss-covered ground. The Heart-seed, as Myrddin had called it, rested in his pocket. Finn had decided to take it with him wherever he went, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by Kai, who, with a dry smile on his face, had taken to occasionally calling him Follum, when he caught Finn reaching for the seed (the name alluding to a certain ring-obsessed creature from Middle-earth).

  "Morrigan's elemental lessons are legendary," Sophie said, turning towards him. "Last week, she summoned a storm elemental that took the form of a thunderbird. We got drenched, but it was brilliant!"

  "I still have nightmares about it," Kai muttered, pushing his glasses higher. "My spirit-speaking is useless with storm entities. They're all roar and no conversation."

  Other weavers converged on the clearing, forming a loose circle at its center. Finn spotted Bran among them, holding court with his usual admirers, boys and girls Finn had never exchanged a word with, and who hung on Bran's every word. As Finn approached, Bran's gaze sharpened, his lips curving in a smirk.

  "Look who it is," Bran called, his voice carrying across the clearing. "The Weaver who can't control his threads." He mimicked an explosion with his hands. "Boom! Nearly took down áine's chamber again yesterday, didn't you, Madden?" Several students laughed.

  What the -? Finn felt heat rising up from his guts, but Sophie stepped forward before he could respond.

  "Don't be jealous, Bran," she smiled. "At least his threads have power. Yours are all show and no substance. Pretty patterns with nothing behind them."

  Bran's pale face turned a light shade of rose. He stepped forward, his fingers curling at his sides. "Watch yourself, Kerr. My family's been Weaving since before yours knew what the Aether is. My great-grandfather served on the Druid Council when yours was still digging potatoes in Kerry!"

  "That's quite enough," a sharp voice cut through the tension. Morrigan materialized from between two massive oaks, her raven-dark hair braided with silver. Her staff tapped the earth, leaving brief impressions of glowing ogham that faded as quickly as they appeared.

  "Elemental summoning requires focus and discipline," she continued, her gaze resting briefly on Bran and Finn. "Petty squabbles fracture both."

  Bran's face had immediately turned a deep pinkish hue. He stepped back, bowing his head in feigned submission. "Apologies, Warden," he murmured, though the look he slid toward Finn suggested that his apology did not carry any meaning.

  Morrigan slowly walked to the clearing's center and planted her staff firmly before her.

  "Samhain approaches," she began, echoing Myrddin. "The veil between worlds grows thin, allowing greater communion with the elemental forces that surround us. Today, we practice basic summoning, calling forth the minor nature spirits that dwell within this grove."

  She gestured to a nearby pile of objects, small clay bowls, pouches of herbs, vials of colored liquid, rounded stones etched with simple spirals, chimes, and other things.

  "Elemental summoning requires two components. A proper offering to entice the spirit, and the correct verbal invitation. Choose wisely. Each elemental responds to specific combinations."

  She picked up a feather, a leather pouch, and a stone and held them up for everyone to see. "Water spirits favor silver and salt. Earth spirits respond to seeds and soil. Air spirits are drawn to feathers and chimes. Fire spirits answer to spark stones and dried herbs."

  The students moved forward, selecting items for their summonings. Sophie grabbed a smooth river stone and a vial of what looked like plain water, while Kai chose a bundle of pitch-black feathers and a small silver bell, the size of a thimble.

  Finn hesitated, not sure if he could just combine anything or if certain objects went together. What if I pick a spark stone and salt? Is that going to do anything?

  He decided to go with a handful of acorns and a small pouch of dark, rich soil. If the Heart-seed in his pocket was as significant as Myrddin had told him, perhaps earth elementals would respond to regular acorns.

  "Now," Morrigan continued, once everyone had made their selections, "spread out along the clearing's edge. Each of you will create a small offering circle. Place your items within it and speak the invitation. Repeat after me: 'By offering freely given, I call you forth. By name unknown but nature recognized, I welcome you to this circle.'

  'By offering freely given, I call you forth. By name unknown but nature recognized, I welcome you to this circle.' A chorus of first-year voices echoed back at her.

  The students dispersed across the clearing's perimeter, each staking out a section of ground for their summoning. Finn found a spot between two ancient rowans, their trunks twisted together as if embracing another. The mist was thicker here, curling around his ankles like curious cats.

  He knelt, arranged the acorns in a small circle, and sprinkled the soil over them. The Heart-seed in his pocket pulsed with warmth, and on impulse, he took it out and added it to the circle, placing it at the center of the acorn ring.

  "Sure about that?" Kai asked from a few feet away, where he had stuck the feathers shaft-first into the ground, arranged in a spiral pattern. "Using your Heart-seed in a summoning might attract... attention."

  Finn hesitated. "What do you mean?"

  "Spirits recognize pieces of greater beings. Your Heart-seed might draw something more powerful than the Warden intended for this lesson."

  Before Finn could reconsider, Morrigan's voice rang out across the clearing. "Begin your invitations! Feel the Aether's flow and direct it toward your circle. Intent matters here. Visualize the elements you wish to summon."

  All around the clearing, students began their invocations. Finn took a deep breath and focused on the circle in front of him. The Heart-seed's spiral marking caught the dappled light, seeming to glow faintly against the dark soil. He closed his eyes, reaching for the now-familiar warmth in his chest, slowly drawing it outward as he'd done in áine's chamber, the greenhouses, and the library.

  "My offering is freely given, and I call you forth," he began, the words resonating strangely in the space between the rowan trees. "By name unknown but nature recognized, I welcome you to this circle."

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  Nothing.

  He tried again, recalling áine's words about opening the eye of his mind.

  "By offering freely given, I call you forth, by name unknown but recognized by nature, I welcome you to this circle."

  The warmth started flowing from his chest, down his arms, pooling in his hands, which hovered over the offering circle. Suddenly, the air around him grew still, the ambient sounds of the forest-bird calls, rustling leaves all fading to silence. Even the ever-present mist seemed to retreat, leaving a perfectly clear circle around him.

  For a long moment, nothing happened. A few snickers echoed across the clearing, Bran's voice cutting through: "Maybe he's summoning a worm. A soggy little Duncliffe worm."

  Then, as if something were moving beneath it, the soil in his circle began to stir. The acorns trembled, rolling inward toward the Heart-seed, which now glowed unmistakably with a soft jade-green light. Finn felt a strange tightness in his gut. The soil mounded upward, taking shape. First, a small dome, then a more defined form of something with what appeared to be a head and limbs. And from one moment to another, a tiny figure stood in the circle, formed entirely of soil and root tendrils, no taller than Finn's middle finger. Its features were crude but recognizable: a round head with pinprick eyes that glowed green like the Heart-seed, spindly arms and legs, and a body that seemed constantly in motion, particles of soil shifting and reforming with each tiny movement. Finn gawped, mesmerized. He'd expected something impressive after all the build-up, but this creature was... adorable. A miniature earth elemental, regarding him with evident curiosity, its head tilting from one side to the other, as it studied him just like he was studying it.

  "Hi," Finn whispered, leaning closer. "Can you understand me?"

  The elemental tilted its head. Then, much quicker than Finn would have thought possible, it reached down and touched the Heart-seed. The moment its tiny fingers made contact, the seed's glow intensified, and the elemental's body rippled, growing slightly, while its features became more defined, its contours sharpening.

  "Fascinating," Kai murmured from nearby, where a small air spirit, a translucent wisp barely visible except when it moved, danced around his feather circle.

  "Seems like it's responding to the Heart-seed's energy. I've never seen one of these. Reminds me of a Kodama."

  Pride swelled in Finn's chest. His first elemental summoning, and it had worked perfectly!

  Look at this. It's awesome! He glanced around the clearing to see if anyone had noticed his accomplishment, checking how others were faring. Sophie was standing a few feet away, eyes closed, but no elemental visible around her offering circle yet. Other students had varying degrees of success, some with visible elementals, others still reciting their invocations with growing frustration. Bran, Finn noted with satisfaction, was scowling at his circle, where his spark stone glowed, but no fire elemental had appeared. As if sensing Finn's gaze, Bran looked up, his scowl deepening when he spotted the earth elemental now happily dancing around Finn's Heart-seed.

  "Well done, Mr. Madden." Morrigan's voice came from directly behind him, making Finn jump. The Warden had a talent for silent movement that rivaled Myrddin's.

  "A bog sprite. Uncommon for a first summoning. They typically prefer deeper, older connections." She knelt beside him, studying the elemental.

  "I see. The Heart-seed is a powerful lure," her gaze flicked to Finn.

  "Though I don't recall including one in the utensils for today's class, Finn. Using a lure like this is not without risk. Bog sprites are minor elementals, but they're connected to older, deeper forces, the primordial aspects of earth and decay."

  The elemental had stopped its dance, turning to face Morrigan with something like wariness. It backed closer to the Heart-seed, one tiny hand resting possessively on its glowing surface.

  "What do I do when we're done?" Finn asked, eyeing the bog sprite's hand on his Heart–seed.

  "Thank it for coming, then close the circle by sweeping away the boundary," Morrigan replied, rising to her feet. "But be firm. Bog sprites grow attached quickly, and it may not obey readily. Call me if it doesn't follow your request."

  She moved on to the other students, leaving Finn to contemplate his creation. The elemental had resumed its dance, circling the Heart-seed with increasing speed, leaving a faint trail of glowing green with each circuit. The soil of its body was changing subtly, darkening and becoming more cohesive here, crumbling and rebuilding itself there, all the while very slowly taking on more mass.

  "It's evolving," Kai said. He had walked over to Finn after dismissing his air-spirit. "I'm not sure if that's normal for a first contact. Mine maintained a consistent form."

  The elemental completed another circuit, then paused and looked at Finn. Its green pinprick eyes had grown to the size of small buttons. With hectic movements, it began rearranging the acorns in the circle, bringing them into a new pattern.

  "Total no show today," Sophie complained, joining them. She hadn't been successful in summoning the water elemental, and Morrigan had allowed her to take a break and observe other students. "Nothing, not even a—" Her eyes grew wide when she spotted the Bog sprite. "What is it doing?"

  "It's making something... looks like some kind of symbol," Finn replied, watching as the pattern took shape. The acorns now formed a spiral surprisingly similar to the marking on the Heart-seed, but with an added element: the sprite had picked up a few twigs and arranged them into a triangle at the spiral's center.

  "That looks like a protection sigil," Kai said, re-tracing the sigil's lines in the air.

  "Actually, not too different from the one we used in the library. Though I haven't seen this specific one before."

  The elemental finished its work, then looked up at Finn again. It pointed at the pattern with one hand, then at Finn, with its other hand. After holding its position for a few moments, it started to repeat the cycle of pointing at the pattern, then at Finn, but this time its movements seemed more urgent.

  "It's definitely trying to tell you something," Sophie murmured. "Maybe call Morrigan..."

  Before Finn could respond, a loud scream came from across the clearing, then another one. One of Bran's friends, a stocky boy named Ronan Fitzgerald, was backing away from his summoning circle, his face drained of all color. What had begun as a simple air elemental, a dancing mote of light and mist, was expanding rapidly, drawing the surrounding fog into itself and darkening from pearly white to an ominous grey.