Liana stared, her mouth agape. "You want me to... hit you?"

The Bluebloods chuckled, as if deciding she already wasn't worthy of joining their ranks. Like they were laughing at her. Oh, she would show them.

Xina nodded, a smirk playing on her lips. It made Liana want to slap her, but if she moved without thinking, Xina would probably drop her before she got the chance to even touch her.

So she closed her eyes and felt for the tug in her gut. After so many years of keeping her power hidden, the rush of warmth was slightly strange at first. She had built up a dam to stop the energy from flowing over the years, and by now, it was dying to be let out.

She shattered the dam. The power flooded into her fingertips, warming her from head to toe. She took a deep breath, refreshed, and held out a hand in Xina's direction. 

And Liana let go.

Her psychokinesis extended from her hand and wrapped itself around Xina's twining tightly around each finger. Xina's eyes widened as she felt the power wrap around her hand. Liana lifted it, slowly, carefully, ignoring the now silent crowd, and curled her fingers one by one into a fist. Xina's hand hovered by her face, and with a tug of Liana's power, rapped sharply against her jaw.

Xina's eyes were wide, her mouth in a half- smile, half- gape. She paled ever so slightly before regaining her demeanor, and Liana took that as a cue to release her hold. Xina cleared her throat before stumbling across a sentence with a tone that was strangely out of charechter. "We haven't had a Psychokinetic in the past hundred years."

Liana wasn't sure if she wanted to grin or shrink into her shirt as she heard the crowd tittering, and she caught a few words.

"Psychokinetic..."

"We're getting lucky!"

"This could turn the tide!"

"She's creepy. I don't like the looks of hers."

That one caught her off guard, and she turned in a slow circle, taking in the hundreds of faces. They were curious, scared, and excited all at the same time. But one face stood out from all the rest.

He looked older, about forty, with salt- and pepper hair and a powerful aura that mimicked Xina's. From what she could gather, he was most likely second- in command. The more she stared at his face, the more extreme his expression grew. His brows were furrowed, his eyes blazing with distrust. 

~'*'~

"How many types of abilities are there?" Liana asked as a boy named Travis led her to her tent, which was small and pale blue with a black handprint marking the entrance. It reminded Liana of a smaller version of a circus tent.

"Only six. The largest category being Light Shifters."

"Light Shifters?"

Travis pointed to the biggest tent, which was half black and half white. "They can alter shadows and moonlight to disguise themselves or confuse their opponents."

"What's that tent over there?" Liana asked, pointing to a deep red tent marked with black crescents. There were so many things she didn't know- so many things the government kept her from.

"Those are the creeps," Travis shuddered, and Liana glanced up at him curiously. "Second- rarest ability. They can see the future. Call themselves Forseers."

"They can't be that bad," Liana scoffed, remembering how her peers back on the Blessed Land called her a creep, or a witch, or a freak. She decided that the Forseers were probably just misunderstood. "How many of them live there?" 

"Twenty- nine, at the moment. But with blue moons coming more frequently, we'll probably get more soon," Travis ducked inside the tent without another word.

The space was small and bare- four cots on the floor, with cold, rusty trunks at the end. The ground was covered in a sort of cheaply made, waterproof plastic material. Hanging from the ceiling was a single lantern. 

Not even an excuse for 'building materials', as Slick had put it.

"This is it?" Liana asked, plopping her bag onto her trunk.

"What did you expect? We don't have the luxury of the Blessed Lands." Travis replied with a slightly mocking tone. "You'll find clothes in your trunk."

"Why did Queen Xina take my tracker out?" Liana asked, rubbing her bruised wrist absentmindedly. She peered closer at the injection sight, wishing the Queen had been a little more careful.

"The mainlanders assume there are less of us that way, meaning we have more time before the next flush happens."

"Next flush?" that didn't sound promising. Liana pictured soldiers being swept off a battlefield in one fell swoop, toppling over like dominoes.

"That's when they exterminate half the population to make sure we don't have the numbers to rise up and take them out. Otherwise, we would totally have done it by now."