"Does anyone else have any other questions?" Willow, the blond-haired senior asks from the front. "Alright, Gage, if this is about those sugar cookies, put your hand back down. You've already had four."

A salt-and-pepper blonde sophomore near the front draws his hand back down. I haven't heard him speak all meeting, but it was hard to miss him squirreling away the cookies like he was preparing for the apocalypse.

"What are the limits on what content we can bring in for group watching?" asks a spectacled freshman.

"If you wouldn't feel comfortable showing it at your average block party, then it doesn't belong here." Willow says, making a point of looking over at one of the girls in the front row. "Don't think I won't know it when I see it, either. There will be no repeats of the Tentacle Debacle in this classroom, even if our new sponsor is a little more lax on what we can and can't show in a school setting."

There's a chorus of good-natured laughter from the back. The girl in the front who blushes and tries to hide beneath her veil of thick red hair.

Rebekka says solemnly, "Tentacles."

"We weren't there, but we've heard the whole story- it's not as bad as you're thinking. I mean, it was bad, but it wasn't... that explicit." Sally continues.

"Thanks," I say, though I never asked for clarification.

I have other things on my mind besides the details of what awful niche anime that poor redhead in the front brought to Naval Brigade, or even the Naval Brigade meeting itself, as much as I was anticipating it. In the corner of my eye, I can see Amanda fidgeting in the corner. She rubs her hand seemingly over the table, over an arced surface only the two of us can see.

To anyone else, it would look like a weird nervous tic, but to me it's the last piece of a two-week mystery: beneath her finger is an amber stone.

"Alright, it's four thirty, and we're out of questions, so we'll call that a day." Willow says, "You're adjourned."

Suddenly, Amanda gets up from her chair and seizes my arm, which now lays defenseless against the table. We make eye contact for a second too long, her stare haunted, and I notice that there are faint dark circles around her eyes that weren't there before. "Walk with me." I look up, startled, and walk, seeing as I don't have much of a choice in the matter.

We leave the warm classroom and the faint smell of food behind for the company of the chilly, half-lit hallways. The lights flicker on around us, disturbed by our presence, but Amanda keeps walking. She doesn't say anything until we're completely out of earshot.

"So," Amanda pauses like she's trying to remember what words to use, "What did you think of Naval Brigade?"

Alright, I have no idea why you'd need to get me out here to ask that... I think, but internally I'm scrambling for something to say. I blurt out, "Is it usually so formal? Willow seemed really intense, but I mean... I guess I've never talked to seniors before."

Amanda waves me off. "She's like our collective mom. You'll grow to love her."

"Okay." I say, fully feeling my crippling inability to initiate small talk ignite into beautiful fireworks of awkward silence.

Shiloh's voice rings through my head: Today's the day. You're going to have to break it to her.

Today? I think back. Are you sure? I haven't found any others!

They're taken care of, Shiloh reassures me.

Meanwhile, in real life, Amanda has lapsed into silence. She presses open the door to the outside world, and a warm breeze rushes in. It's not that hot outside, the school is just freezing for no discernable reason, and Amanda's grip intensifies around my arm. I still have no idea what sport she did, but I think I hear my bones crunching. She jerks me outside, then whispers, "Sorry. I'm just-" she lets go of my arm.

"I need to talk to you," I say, "So, uh, this works."

"Me too." she responds.

"I'll go first." we both state at the same time, and Amanda's face twitches into a frown.

"Will." Amanda insists. "Whatever you need, I guarantee this is more important. Please just give me a second..." She throws her backpack onto the ground and pulls out the amber jewel from earlier. "I know you can see this."

I pull my moonstone out of my pocket. "Looks like we've got the same problems."

Shiloh calls in again, I've got the other two. You two get in a portal as soon as possible.

"Why is this happening to us?"

"Long story. I'm guessing nothing's off the table right now, so... what would your opinions on saving the world be?"

"Holy crap. This is magical destiny shit?"
"I... I think so? You've been seeing portals everywhere, right? If you follow them, you enter this other world... and we get superpowers. Superpowers and great weapons." I say, which is terribly vague, but Amanda nods anyways.

"This is insane... and you were in on it the whole time? I sat next to you in art class every other day and had you in gym and I only now found out- I mean, it's actually only been three weeks. Felt like a lot longer." Amanda says, leaning on the brick wall of the school, trembling like she just ran all the way here from home. "Wow, this is awesome. This is incredible." She grabs my shoulders, a manic grin spreading across her face, and says, "Think about all the cool stuff we're going to be able to do! Man, I can't wait to see what my powers are... fifty bucks says I get a paintbrush as my weapon. Paintbrush or I'm suing the universe."

"What are you going to do with a paintbrush?"

"A big paintbrush, obviously! I've got this planned already. I can draw it up for you."

"I don't know it that's how it works. I didn't ask for anything, I guess, but I got a shield. I don't actually know why or what to do with it, so..."

"There's your problem. Should've asked." Amanda says, "Okay. Portal."

There's a gateway two blocks from here.

"I know where to go." I tell Amanda, who's shoving her backpack on. She flashes me a thumbs up, smiling with conviction, and we run off together. I'm surprised by how fast I am, and when we round the last corner, she slows to a walk, puffing. "Are you alright?" I ask.

"Out of shape." she says. "I also have four sketchbooks and the rest of the chips from the Naval Brigade in my bag, so that might be it. Are we here?"

There's a wall up ahead, separating us from the freeway behind it, and a large chunk of it has been overtaken by a disturbing nothingness. I've seen a few over the last few weeks, but they generally have a more geometric shape. This one is fuzzy around the edges, and there are jagged slices that run up the wall and into the air above it. While I've learned to get around how jarring the missing parts of reality can be, this one is especially ominous.

Rushed job, Shiloh tells me.

"You've done this before, right?" Amanda says.

"Mhm. Why?"

"You're hesitating."

"Fine." I close my eyes and step right through. Amanda follows, and the jagged scar in the innards of the Veins heals itself behind us, leaving us in the dark together. Shiloh is nowhere to be seen, but Amanda has donned a new outfit- a paint-speckled apron and mask, a green beret, and sure enough, in her left hand is a paintbrush the size of a staff.

Amanda waves it around with surprising ease, twirling it like a baton between her arms."I told you! Score one for Amanda. Cough up the fifty bucks." The brush end of the paintbrush hits me in the face and I fall over, more alarmed than actually hurt. I have to fall out of the way of my shield, which has reappeared around my waist, and dive just in time.

"I never agreed to that bet." I tell her, sprawled across the floor.

I'm coming your way. The others are nearby- find them.

"I'm on it."

"On what?"

"Okay. Have you been hearing voices since you found your stone?" I ask.

"No. You?"

"Yes. There's this uh... he looks sort of like a goat ferret? Anyways, his name is Shiloh, and our stones are a mineral known as Diosite which connects us to him. He's also the one who summoned us down here. He's a little pushy, but he's nice."

"So we get an animal companion too? This is super rad."

"I wouldn't say 'companion'. It's more like he's our boss? I think we have to steal some Diosite back from someone, which is why we need these powers."

"We're part of the Magical Mafia, lead by our leader, Boss Goat Ferret."

"Hopefully we don't have to kill anyone. Please don't call him Goat Ferret to his face."

"Okay. How do you know all this, anyways?"

"I've been here before. A few times." I say.

"That's pretty rad." Amanda says. She puts a hand on the wall. "Weird."

"Hello? Are there other humans down there?" Someone asks, their voice amplified instead of muffled by the bizarre acoustics of the Veins.

"Yeah," I call back, "We're out here."

"Thank goodness." A girl charges in, holding a pasty-looking boy by the wrist like she doesn't want to touch his hand. She's built like a mountain and wears a leather jacket with a huge ruff of fur around it, which crackles with electric energy. Her hair, tightly curled, seems undisturbed by the static. The guy is wearing a hoodie and large, pointed shades that extend past the edge of his face. He wrests free of her grip, eyes squinted, and rubs his wrist. The girl points over her shoulder at him. "This is Garrett, I'm Karen. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"I told you, it's not that simple." Garrett says, his voice cracking on every other word. He's got a bad case of acne, localized to his hairline, and his diskempt, slightly greasy hair is nearly as messy as mine. With an air of authority, he continues, "There's no way we weren't brought down here for a reason."

"You were, trust me." I say. When they both turn to face me, I feel anxiety creep up into my throat, but manage to respond, "Sorry, I might have a better grip on what's going on... I'm Will, Will Rosenbloom." I hold my hand out, then jerk it back, not sure if it's too formal for the situation. "We've been summoned by Shiloh, he's uh, an alien I think? He needs us to retrieve this unlimited power source from someone?"

"Why?" asks Karen.

Any confidence I had shatters like a glass window hit by a baseball bat. "Good question. Uh... wow, what's that over there?" I say, catching Shiloh out of the corner of my eye.

"Do not be afraid." Shiloh announces to the group as he approaches.

"Of you, pipsqueak? Done." Karen says, lips pursed.

"You've been chosen," Shiloh tells the group. "I know this may be jarring to you, as a human being, but I ask your cooperation."

"Don't worry, your lackey was explaining it to us." Karen says, jabbing a finger my way. "Sort of."

"I am not his lackey," I insist.

"Riiiiight."

"So you know you've been given these gifts and abilities in return for your assistance." Shiloh explains. "I know it seems less than pressing, but a human with Diosite-"

"The rocks?" asks Garrett.

"Yes," Shiloh says, sounding as confident as I do. "'The rocks'. A human with a Diosite crystal is capable of wreaking havok on the mortal world-"

"Which is why you gave a bunch of human teenagers some?" Karen says.

"Don't worry, we're the good guys!" Amanda flashes her a confident smile.

"Jesus," Karen says, kneading her forehead with her index finger and thumb.

"While we have the powers, though... aaaare we allowed to use them to fight lawbreakers?" Amanda asks. "You know. The human kind."

"We could use some goddamn vigilanteism in my area." Karen slams a fist against her other hand."

"Absolutely not." Shiloh starts.

"Think of all the things I could do with electrokinesis." Karen says, firing a few sparks from her fingers. "I could fry the school's power grid in a heartbeat, get us out for weeks."

"Awesome!" Amanda says. "Can you hit our school up too?"

"Definitely not that." Shiloh says, his fur spiking. I can practically see the cherub trembling.

"Relax, I was joking." Karen smirks. "Totally joking."

"This isn't a joke." Shiloh says. His pupils dilate sideways, contracting from friendly circles to the rectangular ones of a goat. "If you're not going to take this seriously, there will be consequences."
Pain contracts my insides, but it's more akin to the nervous cringing severe stage fright gives you than a physical burning sensation. The fear spikes my adrenaline, and I shiver. The others, too, have paused, but no one says anything. Shiloh meets my gaze, his cold stare a warning- you keep them under control, or I will.

As if the conversation before had never happened, Garrett starts, "You know what? We're going to need a team name."

"Oh. Ha, right." Karen says, her brown eyes glancing over towards a far less hostile Shiloh. "I guess we'll likely need aliases too, since we're... saving the world, or something. If someone found out who we really are, it could be dangerous." She spikes upwards on the word 'dangerous', and I get the sensation she's not refering to the villains at all. "Team name first."

"Team Starburst...?" I suggest uneasily, immediately regretting having spoken at all.

"Team Omega." Amanda suggests, fists clenched. "Sounds badass!"

"Wow, that's pretentious." Karen says.
"I think it's okay."

"S'alright." Garrett crosses his arms, leaning against the wall.

"No objections?" Amanda asks.

"I don't care what you guys call us." I say with a smile, pushing aside the butterflies in my stomach. "What matters is that I found you. I've finally got my team."