♪ R e c a p ♫

His words are true. This isn't just a matter of reality. His words make sense, a hundred percent. My instincts believe him. Tugged at the credence of his words, testing their promise. Could they hold? Could they become a reality? Is this what it feels like to be confident in myself? I never thought of myself as equal to everyone else. I always degraded my worth; denying what everybody said about me was my specialty.

And that's when I saw it: a flash of light from somewhere. I think - initially - that someone is playing with the lighting system in Ella's house. But then I realize that the flash - the shimmer - was, in fact, radiating from my wrist.

I look in horror as the light traced the core of my wrist, traveling up my forearm and resting on my shoulder.

From afar, it would seem like my left arm is wrapped in fairy lights, but up close, it is fantasy awakened into reality.

And Matt saw it too.

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M A T T  t a k e s  m e home straight away. On the way, the silence was ominous, leaving plenty of time to think.

I look back to the trail where my palm and arm were glowing ten minutes ago, now permeated to their normal dim complexion. Apparently, the ointment the doctor has applied when I first touched the searing-hot surface of the Techno-Seer didn't work. And since he assured me that my contact with the luminescent surface won't do me any harm, I wouldn't trust him or any other doctor affiliated with the Analytic Building to fix this... problem.

I can't even ask Matt for help. I steal a sidelong glance at him and find him deeply trapped inside his own head. His thick eyebrows are furrowed, but I'm not sure whether it was in concentration or disappointment. But what would he be disappointed for?

He drops me off in front of my house and drives off without even a goodbye, and that makes my heart ache bad enough to numb me to sleep.

I wake up a little early, feeling surprisingly awake despite my restless sleep. I hop out of bed, brush my teeth, grab a pack of chocolate marshmallow, and head outside. Typically, Kyle, along with his sister Ella, drive me to school. Knowing they'd be late like usual, I braced myself to sit watchfully on my house's steps.

What I find, however, is far from what's expected: Matt's car, parked on the side. I walk towards him silently, throwing him a questioning look.

He doesn't honk because it's too early, but he acknowledges me by rolling down the window. Silently, I cross the lawn and hop inside.

"Hey. What brought you here?" I ask, turning to look at him.

He doesn't meet my eyes. And I notice, for the first time, the dark halos burdening his eyes and the sick look blemishing his face.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," He starts driving and I strap the safety belt. His eyes blankly focus on the way ahead, not saying anything anymore.

"Matt. I get it. I..I didn't see that coming either." I relax back in my seat, turning my attention toward the trees zooming past us.

"No, Moira. I should've made sure you were okay. Are you? Does it hurt? We should go back to the Analytic Building and ask the doc-"

"No."

"But-"

"No, Matt." I say firmly. "Trust me, they can't fix it. The doctor already tried. Or so he thought. He told me not to worry and he gave me an ointment." I draw swirly patterns on my palm absentmindedly. My stomach churns in anticipation. I can't think of anything that might loosen my anxiety.

Matt sighs in resolution. He parks the car in one of the parking spaces. Before getting out of the car, Matt quickly grabs my arm.

"Moira. If you ever needed anything, if you... if you find someone who can help you, please let me know, okay? I need to be there with you." His touch is firm, urgent. I look him in the eye and nod. He then slowly brushes a hair lock away from my face, his fingers lingering close to my ear. His jade green eyes are getting closer, and I close my eyes slowly, awaiting the unknown because I can't speculate yet on how this would go...

"HEEEEEEY MATTIE BOY!"

And, of course, my life does not let any special moments linger for over 2 seconds.

"Hey, mates," Matt waves awkwardly after jumping away from me. He quickly gets out of the car and walks toward his friends, who were glancing at me like they were cast for the hyenas in Lion King.

I hop out myself and walk toward the school gate, taking a long sip of water from my canteen in hopes of cooling down my burning face.

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I'm sitting with Ella and Mia in lunchtime, distraitly watching the pair chatter endlessly about, well, the unpublished personal memoirs of students in Waters Academy. I nibble on my chocolate marshmallow while averting my eyes off the distance, watching people file in and out of the lunch hall.

"Earth to Moya!" Mia waves her hand in front of me while Ella giggles at my zoning out.

I swat her hand away. "I'm here. I didn't really sleep yesterday."

"You left the party early yesterday," Ella says. "Did something happen?"

"Ah, no. I just... you guys abandoned me like a sack of rotten tomatoes! So the better part of the party was pretty much eventless." I defend myself. I don't want to burden them with my problems. And, some part of me didn't trust them with keeping major secrets. After Lara, my true anchor, I decided to depend on myself at all costs.

Mia opens her mouth to bite back, but she was silenced momentarily, looking at something behind me. I turn around to find Matt approaching. He waves cheerfully before sliding next to me.

"Hey ladies," he grins. "Oh, Ella, sorry for the late notice regarding my sudden act of charity of picking Moira up."

"Hey!" I groan. "I'm not some baby you guys are taking turns watching over."

"Not sure 'bout dat." Matt and Ella drone in unison, and they both burst out laughing.

"Yep," Ella says, when she recovers from her laughing fit. "I'm deeply thankful, Matt. I was kinda worn out from all the cleaning up work I had to do alongside Kyle after the party."

"Don't mention it," he smiles. Then he glances at me. "So, would you guys mind if I took Moira away for a second?" He flashes them a stealthy grin, and the action made me look at him in confusion. The girls don't notice though, and they wave us off and turn back to whatever they were talking about.

We walk out of the lunch hall, moving in the direction of the school gates.

"Where are we headed?" I ask, slowing down as the school gates come into view.

"Not so far from the school that you'd miss your next lesson," Matt winks, taking a turn behind the school grounds.

"That's not why I was asking," I mumble, though that relaxed me a little. I mean, Ms. Dale doesn't spare an ounce of mercy to late students.

We approach Matt's blue car. The sun is high in the azure sky above us, pressuring our skin into forming little beads of sweat all over. Summer is pushing its way through the bipolarity of spring. The sun isn't about jokes these days.

Matt straps his seat belt in. "Alright, buckle up. I thought we could walk up to the destined place, but this way we'd spare a few minutes."

"Well- where exactly are we going? Seriously?" I put a hand on Matt's urgently, which is grasping the steering wheel in preparation to drive.

"It's.. hard to explain. Just trust me, okay?" He squeezes my hand in assurance, and with that, I gulp down my worry, and we rush through the almost empty streets of Brooklyn.

A few minutes later, Matt leads me to an unfamiliar flat, a few streets away from the Brooklyn Public Library.

Matt opens the door, lights up the cramped flat, and my mouth drops in awe.

The place is a lair of intertwined electronics, like a massive machine with its essential but troublesome parts. Like a labyrinth, the floor is a nest made of vines with all the mess of wires and rubber. The walls are aligned with boards, which are brimming with a haze of photographs, scribbles, and red tape. A room Stiles Stilinski would approve of.

"Watch your steps, 'cuz I wouldn't want to disturb anything if I were you." Matt's guiding voice whispers in the lead. He walks me to a room with something like a dozen laptops running.

"What is all that?" My voice comes out strange from the confusion. Why would Matt be associated with so many pieces of machinery? And why would he bring me here?

"So this belongs to my father. Let's say he's a bit of an IT nerd." He chuckles, gently moving a few gadgets out of the way for us to pass and sit down.

"Anyway," he continues, "when your skin... glowed the other day, I decided to borrow this flat for research purposes. Surrounding myself with complex machinery helps me think."

"Wow," I say, overwhelmed by this act of kindness. "Matt, I seriously can't find the words-"

"Don't thank me yet, Moya. Unfortunately, nothing was mentioned online. The fact that New York is the only site of the Techno-Seer Project doesn't help. Not a lot of info made progress. But," he raises a finger in emphasis, "I found someone with connections. Someone who could indirectly connect us with someone who can be of some help."

On cue, I hear a creek, coming from nothing other than the front door. I glance at Matt in horror, but I find his expression serene.

"Sorry, I'm late," someone says, her meticulous steps audible despite the discordant noises of the whirring laptops. "Had a hard time making excuses."

She appears in the doorway, her red hair stark against the navy blue walls. I gasp when my brain finally processes the girl in front of me.

"What the Hades are you doing here, Mia?"

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"I don't get any of this." I raise both hands, awaiting either of them to speak. "How- Why are you both- What are you two up to?"

My eyes stray from Mia to Matt and back again. Both of them share a distressed glance before Mia sighs. "Look. Matt was desperate to find a solution to what happened to you. I get now why you both left so early yesterday. But, I can't believe you didn't come to me earlier. But, I digress."

She walks toward us. Since Matt and I occupy the whole couch space, She bends down to my eye level, looking at me with concern and a hint of pity.

"Moira, I know you need help. This is no joke. And from the little information I was able to hoard all night, I found out you aren't the only one whose skin glowed after contacting the surface of the machine. I heard its energy is a condensed derivative of the sun?"

I nod, my anxiety nearing a breaking point. There are others who, despite the warning of the doctor that operates the machine, touched the lethal surface of the machine?

Well, okay, that's obvious. Of course, I'm not the only one with clumsiness issues in the state. But what if that surface had chemicals that could slowly take away our lives?

What if I'm dying?

I try to calm my accelerating breath. I close my eyes briefly. Steeling myself, I speak. "So, what? A bunch of high school teenagers can fix a problem as critical as this? You guys, what could you possibly do?"

Matt smiles sadly at me. "C'mon. Every mystery is solved by a bunch of kids. Since when did adults fix anything? We are the future, remember? Isn't that what we're supposed to be? The embodiment of a veteran world, "a bunch of teens" who know their fates?"

I sigh. He's partially right. That's the point of the whole Techno Seer Project: for us to suck up our spoiled bums and to fix our problems. But why should the burden be on all of us? If I were born on an isolated island, or somewhere far away from here, would I have been living like a normal 16-years old would live? Content and free of worry?

But then again, with my pointless, meaningless Fate result, I have nothing to lose. I've got to save myself, and the only hope I've got is in the few people who are willing to stand by my side.

So I stand up, albeit reluctantly, trying not to let the fear of the unknown, ironical as it may seem, seep through my voice. "What do you need me to do?"

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Heya people! I'm sincerely apologizing for not updating for long. That being said, a huge weight of responsibilities has been lifted off my shoulders in the past few months, and this summer will hopefully be full of published chapters! Woohoooo

- Freude and Luna ♪