My eyes shot open as I dug my fingernails into the grass, sucking in a deep breath of air. As my vision focussed, I realized that a great deal of people were hovering above me.

"Oh fates, I'm so sorry I hit you with a fireball!" The girl, Torch, was saying as others looked down at me.

"She didn't get hit." Raphael corrected as Cybele brushed a strand of hair from my face.

"But, there was impact. We all heard it."

"She isn't burned alive, is she?"

"Sit her up." Secta's voice boomed over the others as my eyes met his. "Clear out and give her space!"

All the unfamiliar faces began to move away, the constricting feeling in my chest alleviating as I let out a deep breath of relief. There were so many people hovering all around me that it had made my palms sweat, and I was trying to remember everything that had happened.

"Sit up, Kate." Finn's voice echoed and I looked up into his blue eyes, nodding my head before I pushed myself up off the ground. I grimaced at the sore tension in my arm muscles, my entire body aching now as I sat up straight. "How do you feel?"

"Everything's... stiff." I said, trying to stretch out my arm. I hissed at the pain that shot through it, my entire arm up into my shoulder crying out at my movements. I realized that I was still in the field from when I was sparring with Raphael. I wasn't unconscious for long it seemed.

"Well, you did deflect a fireball."

My memories came back to me just at the mention as I glanced up at Raphael. "Did anything hit you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Not even close. You handled that liability when you shoved me into the dirt with that glow stick out of your hand."

I blinked, "I used my meraki on you, and it didn't knock you out? That's what usually happens..."

"Well, for whatever reason, you didn't do the same to me." Raphael replied.

"Do you remember everything that happened?" Cybele asked me, staring into my eyes.

"I... I..." I glanced around to all of them. "I can't explain it..."

"You told me there was something wrong with Tiffany and her meraki." Raphael said, kneeling in front of me. "How did you know?"

"I saw it." I replied.

"You saw her hands start to shake?" Cybele tilted her head to the side.

"No, I saw inside." I swallowed. "I saw... her fire inside break down the walls she was building and that was before she launched the fireball."

"You saw inside?" Secta asked and I looked to him. "What exactly? A fire?"

I nodded, "I don't really know what it is. I just know it represents... meraki." I glanced around to everyone in the circle. "I think I remember seeing it before, when I attacked Cybele."

"You saw a fire inside of me? But I didn't use meraki."

"I don't know how it works, but you just had that fire inside and I could see it. All you have to do is snuff it out." I replied. "I didn't do that to Tiffany, but I just watched it grow. I guess I could have... put it out, but it was too late. Then, I just knew that I could stop the fireball, so I put out my hand and there was a shield there."

"It was a shield." Raphael confirmed. "I have no idea how you weren't able to move a fucking cup but you could produce a giant wall around the both of us."

I glanced around all of them, feeling an itch run through my veins. "Can I just please get up? I am covered in mud and you all are looking at me like I'm crazy."

Raphael extended his hand and I took it, grimacing at the pain in my arms as he yanked me to my feet. "You are pretty muddy."

"Because you shoved me in a puddle!"

"I want you to find the fire, Kate." Secta stepped forward, turning my attention to him. "You need to show me how you did it."

I bit my lip, "it just happened! She was losing control, and I don't know how I found it."

Secta extended his hand, a pulsing gold energy blazing from his palm like a star in the sky. His eyes burned an antique gold as he looked at me. "Find mine."

"Your's?" I raised an eyebrow, glancing from his hand back up to his eyes. "I'm not sure if I want to."

"Raphael," Secta looked to the guardian. "Stand there. This will hurt, but I can take it away just as quickly."

"Stratton!" He snarled at me, but Raphael took his place a few feet away from us. "You better catch this one!"

My head whipped to Secta, "you can't be serious!"

"If you saved him once, you can do it again." His hand glowed an even brighter gold until it looked pure white, his eyes crackling like lightning as Cybele took a step back.

"Secta," Finn was doubting, inching closer to me.

The ball of light built in his palm, growing larger and larger until it was a swollen, pulsing sphere of electric meraki. "Ready, Kate?"

"No!" I yelled but I knew nothing would stop him. My vision changed as I could see deep into his core, the largest fire I'd ever seen in a person before blazing and sparking like a wildfire.

'You can stop it.'

The meraki left his hand and I shot forward in front of it, putting out both hands to meet it. The wind whistled in my ears, adrenaline pumping through my veins as my meraki bled through my palms. The shield crackled from my fingers, projecting like a wide canvas in front of me as it strengthened for impact.

Except, there was no impact.

The ball of meraki dissolved before rushing back into Secta's palm, his eyes back to the normal color as I saw his fire start to weaken back to a normal state. He stepped closer to me, examining my shield.

"Interesting, isn't it?" He tapped it with his finger as Cybele and Finn also came about to look at it. "It's strong."

I took a breath of air and my meraki shot back into my hands, all the energy rushing back into my core as I stumbled backwards. Raphael's hand caught my shoulder to steady me before walking past me. "The same thing happened with Tiffany."

Their eyes all looked into mine as I took a deep breath. "I can't control it."

"But, you have a protector's instinct." Secta said, staring at me. "You will intervene to protect the people you care about from danger. That's both good and bad, but at least we've found a motivation."

Protector's instinct? My mind wandered. That's from all my years watching over Matilda...

"You have to let me go home." I blurted out, making them all look at me with concern. "Just for one visit, a really short one even. Please, I need to see my sister."

"We can't take you out of Gabrian and ensure your safety, especially now that you can access your meraki. Noxia and the other demons will find you through that link even if you aren't using it."

I bit my lip, looking at Secta. "I saw... her. When I was unconscious, I think I was there, in present time, seeing my sister. I need to make sure what I saw was true, and if it is, then I promise I won't ask to go back again. I just need to make sure she's ok, and then I can focus more on... my meraki and all of this." I looked down to my hands before back up to them. "You have to let me see her just once."

"I'm sending you to Karmen immediately." Secta looked to Cybele. "Give her a call and tell her that I have something she needs to take a look at." His eyes flashed back to me. "If she says that we can let you out for just a small window of time, I'll allow it."

I narrowed my eyes, "who is Karmen?"

"A sea mare who should be able to take a walk inside your mind without a threat from Noxia or any other dark influence." He replied. "She will be able to tell me more about your meraki as well as these little visions and journeys you've been taking recently."

"A mare? Like a horse?"

"More like an oracle by the sea." Cybele said. "She's excellent! I'm sure you'll like her immensely."

"Finn, Raphael, and Cybele will escort you." Secta said, a tone that led me to believe that this discussion had come to a close. "If she approves, then you can go see your sister."

I clenched my hands into fists. "I don't want anymore people digging around in my head! And what if she doesn't approve?"

Secta put his hands in his pockets, "she's much better at looking around than I am, and you may just get a taste of the future as well. " His eyes dug harshly into mine. "If she says no, you might just have more problems than if you get to see your sister or not."

He turned, walking back up the hill without another word as I stared at his back. That man knew so many ways to get underneath my skin! I dug my fingers into my hair, taking a deep breath as Raphael came around to face me.

"Get excited, kiddo. You get to leave the bubble."

"Do not call me kiddo."

"I will if you stop calling me by all those nicknames."

"Deal." We shook on it as Raphael turned his back to me, walking back towards the edge of the training field where he'd left his huge, black duffel of equipment.

"Karmen is really a nice lady." Cybele said as she came around to look at me with those big, green eyes. "I know her very well, and using the Pearl is a breeze with her beside you."

"The Pearl?"

"It's her tool as an oracle." Finn answered as he came to stand beside Cybele, "it's what allows her to see the future and all other sorts of things she does. Lots of people come to her if they're qualified."

I tilted my head, "what do you mean by qualified?"

"You can only enter into her house if you have good intent at heart. It protects her from Noxia and the night children so that even by meraki no one can enter into her abode. That's what Secta means when he says that you'll be safe from dark influence when she looks into your memories. Nothing bad will happen to you." Cybele smiled. "Her home is also one of a kind! A huge sea cave that is much more beautiful and far warmer than it sounds."

I nodded my head, staring at my feet as my stomach twisted into a knot. This sea woman would decide whether or not I saw my sister, and what if she said no? I needed to find out if what I saw was a dream or if it was real, to make sure Matilda was ok and that nothing bad had happened to her. 

What if Malaki was actually dead? The idea made me feel nauseous; what if all the other brothers were too? 

"She'll let you go home, Kate." Finn's voice brought me back to the present, his kind eyes and genuine smile making me feel more at ease. "If you need home, Karmen will make sure that you get it to feel fulfilled, especially if it will give you more focus."

Cybele nodded, "she will do what is best for you, and if seeing Matilda is necessary, then she will make it happen. Secta will listen to her as he always does because he isn't idiotic. We'll be with you every step of the way." She smiled, "now, I have to go make a call to our dear friend and then we should be cleared for take off!"

I bit my lip as we started to walk back up the hill, my fingers instinctively playing with my hair. What was she going to do inside my head?