I kicked the door shut behind me as Dominic carried me inside. The slam was deeply satisfying, as was the way Dominic was still kissing me, eager and present in a manner that very few of the men I’d kissed had been able to manage. I was about to pull back and propose we continue in this vein for a while when another sound intruded: cheering.

I pulled away from Dominic and twisted to see a cluster of mice standing on the room’s single low dresser, waving banners made from scrap paper and cheering their tiny hearts out.

“HAIL!” they cried. “HAIL THE RETURN OF THE ARBOREAL PRIESTESS!”

. . . and that, right there, was why his kisses were so passionate after being apart for only a few hours. We’d been sharing a tiny motel room with a splinter colony of Aeslin mice for weeks, and while it hadn’t managed to completely eliminate our sex life, twenty-three talking rodents had definitely been enough to put some limits on what we did.

(I’d complained to my mother, during one of my weekly calls home. Her response had been laughter, and the most chilling thing she’d ever said to me: “Well, at least this way, you’ll be ready when you have kids of your own.”)

“Hi, guys,” I said, unwinding my arms from Dominic’s neck and allowing my feet to drop back down to the floor. “Did you pick who’s going back to the studio with me?”

“We did, Priestess!” proclaimed a mouse, puffing out its tiny chest with pride. “Three Travelers in the Mysteries have been chosen, and will walk with you in Glory!”

“Cool,” I said, glancing back at Dominic. He was looking tired but amused. Somewhere between Manhattan and home, he’d learned to live with the mice. “So how about you guys go down and raid the kitchen trash one last time before I have to get going? Give us, say, an hour?”

“Are you invoking the Sacred Law of Food for Privacy?” asked the mouse.

“If I say yes, will you leave?” I asked.

“It is most irregular to send us away, rather than giving the food to us directly,” said the mouse. “But the Thoughtful Priestess did say, lo, Go Easy On Her, She Is Going To Be Under A Lot of Stress, and I believe that this is Going Easy.”

“Thank you, Mom,” I murmured, before saying more loudly, “Yes, it is. Thank you. Have fun in the kitchen.”

“HAIL!” cried the mice, and dispersed, vanishing behind the dresser.

I turned back to Dominic. “Now, where were we?” I asked.

“You were telling me about the show,” he said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

I blinked. “Actually, I was thinking make-outs, but okay. Um . . . I’m sharing an apartment with the other three dancers from my season. Anders, Pax, and Lyra. We started with same-sex rooming arrangements, but people were allowed to trade, so I figure most folks will have stayed with who they knew.”

“This is good?” asked Dominic.

“Means my roommate is already used to the idea that sometimes I’ll sneak out the window and go for a run in the middle of the night,” I said. “She isn’t going to get on my case about it, since I made it to the finale last time.”

He smiled. “Ah,” he said. “This is good. Are you enjoying the company of your peers?”

“Yes. No. Maybe. It’s weird being Valerie again, and it’s not like they’re planning to ease us into things. We already have our choreography assignments for week one. We’ll be heading to the theater tomorrow to get started.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow. “What will they have you doing?”

“For week one, a group number—jazz with other elements—and then they’ve broken us down by style. I’m going to be part of a three-way Argentine tango.”

His expression softened. “I remember dancing the tango with you. It was . . . bracing.”

“Bracing? That’s all you can say about dancing with me? That it was bracing? Oh, no.” I held out my hand. “Get up.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow. “Why? Where are we going?”

“The roof.”

“You know, there was a point in my training where I should have learned not to go to rooftops with Price girls.” He slid his hand into mine. I pulled him to his feet.

“I’m glad you were such a lousy student,” I said, grabbing my backpack from the floor before I tugged him over to the window. “I think it’s time you learn just how bracing I can be.”

Dominic came without resistance or complaint. His teachers would have been very disappointed in him. I, on the other hand, was thrilled.