Ava had collected thirty-seven useful observations about Choosing Tide.

None of them helped when the water touched her feet.

She knew the average time students spent in the basin.

She knew the current usually strengthened gradually.

She knew the emergency stop procedure.

She knew family Order history was not predictive.

She knew exactly how many students had already reached each platform.

Her body remained unimpressed by the data.

Ava walked to the centre marker.

The gallery blurred into faces she did not want to count.

The current began to move.

For a moment, it pulled toward Nocten.

Of course, Ava thought.

Notebook. Questions. Archives. Rules.

Everybody had been predicting Nocten for months.

Then the current changed.

Calyx.

Ava's mind immediately began building explanations.

Angle of entry.

Rear-channel pressure.

Possible cross-current.

Then the water shifted again.

Brannor.

Ava nearly laughed from nerves.

Thirty-seven observations.

Months of study.

No prediction.

The only useful lesson was the one she had spent the year learning everywhere else.

Unknown was allowed.

Ava stopped trying to solve the basin before it finished moving her.

That did not make her mind go quiet.

It simply meant she stopped obeying every thought that appeared.

The current circled once, then settled.

Brannor's channel brightened.

Ava stared.

She had imagined Nocten.

She had considered Calyx.

Brannor had lived in the part of her mind labelled HARPER.

Why would a cautious person belong to the Order everyone stereotyped as brave?

Then Ava remembered the things Brannor had actually taught.

Courage could mean saying the plan was bad.

It could mean reporting something before you had every answer.

It could mean admitting you had crossed a line with somebody else's privacy.

It could mean asking an adult for help.

Protection did not require charging forward.

The water carried her toward Brannor.

Ava did not resist.

Harper reached for her hand the moment she stepped onto the platform.

Ava took it.

"You didn't know," Harper whispered.

"I hated it."

"And?"

Ava looked down at the gold-lit water around the platform.

"I survived."

Harper grinned.

The Order representative pinned gold edging to Ava's grey scarf.

Ava looked at it.

She had been wrong.

Completely.

Nothing terrible had happened because of that.

She almost laughed again.

Then she remembered Jasper.

Across the basin, he still waited in grey.

Room Fourteen had become two on one side and one on the other.

Ava wanted Jasper here.

The feeling was immediate and enormous.

She also knew wanting it did not make it hers to decide.

That was his Choosing.

Not Harper's.

Not Ava's.

Not even the Water Titan's, if the ritual worked the way Crowe believed.

More students crossed the basin.

A boy reached Nocten.

A girl went Velmor.

Another student went Calyx.

The line shortened.

Harper's hand found Ava's.

Ava let her hold it.

Finally only two students remained.

Nessa was called first.

Calyx.

The gallery applauded.

Then one grey scarf remained.

Jasper Holloway.

No one needed to check the list.

Ava's heart began hammering.

Harper squeezed her hand.

Across the basin, Jasper stepped into the water.