"Gyps, you have to focus."

Who's words were they? My mind was swimming: trying to make sense of the sentence, trying to fit it into my head. 

"Focus!"

The blurry lines became sharp once more as I shook my head, trying to clear the brain fog. I closed my eyes, wiping them with the heel of my hand.

When I opened them again, the fog had cleared.
The sun poured in through the garage's small window, lighting up the room. Many a trinket lay discarded on the several tables and shelves decorating the separated room; some broken, others simply forgotten as they went unneeded.

Evelyn let out a sympathetic sigh, reaching over the table to pat my head. "It's okay, Gyps. Do you want to try again?"

Three days after my embarrassing breakdown, I was training in the garage with Evelyn, who was helping me practise my powers. We were lucky when Jess and Max piped up about the isolated, rugged room. Despite being surrounded by shelves, there was plenty of free space in the middle of the room to use. Apparently Jess and Max mostly spent their time in the garage fixing things, playing cards, and hitting each other with bags of frozen peas ("Don't ask," Jess had said, before shooting Max an amused look).

I placed my hands on the aforementioned low table, steadying myself. "Sorry, I'm just tired."

Lyn shook her head and smiled, shaking off the unneeded apology. She grabbed another paper airplane from the lineup on the table. "Again?" She repeated.

"Yeah," I smiled, drawing away from the table and holding up my hands in front of me, ready.

Lyn nodded once, then threw the paper airplane.

It glid through the air for a minute, then started to rapidly fall.

Fast as lightning, I picked it up with my wind powers and guided it around the garage, Lyn watching in awe. 

Her reassurance made me feel stronger, and the plane flew loop-the-loops in the air, not slowing down for a second.

It was flying towards the garage door, when...

"GUYS!" Skye and Grace burst the door open and jumped up the step. I yelped and yanked the airplane out of their way.

It zipped upwards, then lost interest, fell, and bonked me on the head.

I scowled, and the room burst into giggles, eventually coercing me to join in.

"Okay, funny," Lyn grinned. "But what's up?"

"Oh!" Grace exclaimed. "Right. Well, we –"

"LILY FOUND A WAY TO USE HER POWER AGAIN!" Skye shouted excitedly, unable to contain her enthusiasm.
Grace pouted. "I was going to tell them!"

Skye stuck her tongue out at her PowerTwin.

Lyn's eyes glinted in the light of the garage. "That's great!" She giggled at Skye's cheekiness. "But, uh, do you know for sure?"

Gracie flashed us a smile. "Follow us and we'll show you."

<⚙︎>

The residents of the Happy Home were gathered in the lounge room, the air electric with excitement. The nine-in-the-morning sunlight filtered in through the windows, making the inside lights unneeded. 

Lily was sitting nervously on the couch, bouncing her leg. Eric was to her left, beaming. Jess and Max were standing near the tv (the latter leaning against it), and Casey was grinning ear to ear next to Lily.

"What happened?" Lyn asked, dropping onto the other couch. Grace, Skye and I followed her.

"I accidentally tripped in front of Eric and I thought 'man I hope he didn't see that', and he doesn't remember it!" Lily explained excitedly.

I furrowed my brow. "What if he just... didn't see it?"

"Oh, it was right in front of him. Either he needs glasses or my powers are working again!"

I twisted my mouth to the side, doubtful. "We still have to make sure. I have an idea."
I shifted so I was facing Eric. "Yo, lover boy: Grace has a crush on you."

Grace raised a sound of hurt at the unexpected betrayal, going red. "What? Gypsy!" She exclaimed in an accusatory tone. "What was that for?!"

I held up my hands in surrender. "Don't get mad, don't get mad!" I repeated, seeing Eric getting red as well. "Just trust me. I'm sorry."

I turned to Lily. "Lily, erase that memory."

The girl in question nodded, readying herself.

"Hey now, I don't want you guys messing with my mi –" Eric stopped in the middle of the word, his face going blank. "Huh. What was I saying?"

"Casey?" I asked expectantly, and the friend next to Lily understood her part, her brows screwed in concentration. After a moment she said, "yep, completely gone. Your secret is safe once again, Grace."

Grace exhaled in relief, leaning against the couch. "That was still mean," she shot me a withering look.

I nodded. "Sorry. I should've given you warning first."

"That's such a small thing, though," Lyn observed. "Not to mention you're using it on one person. You're going to have to erase a big thing from a hellton of people, even more now that the news has covered us."

Our newfound excitement dissipated as we thought over the problem. 

"That's a good point," Max sighed. "And then, what if you only remove the memory from like half the people? That would definitely be weird."

"And doesn't your power sap your energy?" Casey asked. "I mean, like all our powers do. But in order to remove something as big as this, from so many people, I guess you'd have to be very well rested."

Lily nodded reluctantly, snorting like a horse and blowing a strand of hair off her face. "You're all right," she admitted. "Darn. But how are we going to know when my power's recharged fully?"

"Don't discredit yourself," Casey placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I mean –" she lowered her voice slightly – "you erased a confession of admiration, a memory of someone saying they've thought of you as a romantic partner. That's a pretty big thing to just disappear."

Lily smiled at her best friend, letting her own hand rest on Casey's.

Evelyn shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she apologised.

Lily waved her hand, dismissing it. "Ah."
We knew it was water under the bridge.

Eric looked confused. "When did she do that?" He asked.

I blanched. Oops. 

Casey piped up before we could do something dumb to give it away. "A while ago. When we first discovered our powers."

Eric quirked an eyebrow upwards. "Alright. Why bring it up now?"

"To remind Lily how strong she is," Grace answered.

The boy nodded in understanding.

"This is really good," Max commented. "Hopefully, this means this whole ordeal will clear up soon."

I felt a smile forming. Maybe we wouldn't be trapped indoors for a month after all.

"You should save your power up," Jess suggested. "Make sure you'll have enough when we wipe the memory from everyone's minds."

Lily nodded. "How long should I wait?" She asked.

Casey nudged her. "You're the one with the power," she said. "Can't you feel it inside you, or something? Can you sense how full it is?"

Lily twisted her mouth to the side, pondering this. "Huh, that's an odd point of view... I don't think I can."

After a few more moments, she shrugged. "How long can you take us for?" She asked Jess.

"At least another two weeks. But I don't think it has to be that long, since your power's coming back already... maybe we should wait just one? Just to be safe."

"And you shouldn't do much during that time," Casey reminded. "Conserve as much energy as possible?"

Lily nodded at both of them. "I will," she said.

"Sounds like a plan," Max confirmed. 

Lily smiled. "Seven days." She looked to the rest of us. "I think we can handle that."

<⚙︎>

About three hours later, Max suggested we binge Community, which we all decided was a good idea.

We were multitasking: watching, cracking jokes, laughing at the funny parts of the comedy show. But after a few episodes, the chatter was interrupted by a sharp knock. 

Jess quickly snatched the remote from the arm of the couch and hit pause.

The silence hung heavy.

The knock had come from the front door.

"Are you guys expecting anyone?" Casey asked, turning to Max and Jess.

The two older girls shook their heads, their wide eyes glued to the door.

My eyes widened in shock, as did the others'.
"Hide!" I hissed, pointing to the direction of the guest bedroom.

They didn't need to be told twice.
We tread lightly as we rushed to the room in the hall that separates the dining and lounge room. 

Casey ran in last, making sure everyone else was inside before pulling the door shut. She left it slightly ajar, adding to the "horror game" feeling.
I surveyed everyone's positions: Evelyn and I were on the right side of the bed in the room, directly opposite the door. Lily, Eric and Grace were spread out at the foot of the bed. Skye stood a foot behind Grace, and Casey hung at the door, peeking through the crack she had left.

"What's happening?" Eric whispered.

Casey waved her hand behind her, shooing us further into the room without looking away. "Jess and Max are panicking. I think they're stalling for us," she whispered back.

Fear rippled through us when we heard another few knocks.

"Be with you in a minute!" We heard Max answer.

I glanced around, deciding we might as well go full horror game and get out of sight. "How many can fit in the wardrobe?" I asked, pointing to the object of dark mahogany next to Skye.

"Let's find out," the crazy girl in question suggested, reaching up to the old wardrobe door and pulling it open. We all winced when it creaked.
Skye hopped inside. "Come on!" She beckoned her best friend, who jumped in after her.

Eric trotted over to the two, following them inside the once-empty wardrobe.

"Hurry!" Casey urged in a stressed whisper. 

Eric stuck his head out the wardrobe. "Only one more," he stated worriedly.

"Lily, you go; I'll keep lookout, and you two get under the bed," Casey instructed, nodding at Lyn and I for the last part.

Lily cast an uneasy glance at her farm-hardened friend before reluctantly obliging, pulling the wooden wardrobe door shut behind her.

I ducked down and wriggled under the bed, Lyn doing the same. It was dusty down here, but there was just enough space to turn your head if you lay flat on your stomach. I could see Casey's shoes. I thought I felt something crawl on my sleeve, but I convinced myself it was nothing.

"They're opening the door," Casey announced.

I'm pretty sure everyone in the room held their breath. Pure anxiety gripped us, raising our heartbeats and slicking our palms.

We waited for a few moments.

"I can't see who's there," Casey murmured. "But I think whoever it was said something weird. Jess is making an odd face, like she's shocked."

"That doesn't sound good," I observed from underneath the bed. I moved to rest my chin on my hand, and my elbow bumped Lyn's.

"Wait, they're coming in," Casey quietly exclaimed, surprise evident in her voice. "There's two of them, but I don't recognise either. Max closed the door."

There was the sound of muffled voices for a couple of minutes, and then Jess called, "it's safe! Come out!"

Evelyn and I looked at each other in surprise, then dragged ourselves out.

The wardrobe door swung open with a loud creak and out came Lily, Eric, Skye and Gracie like the Pevensies exiting Narnia. Except less gracefully.

Casey opened the bedroom door as me and Evelyn dusted ourselves off.

In a seemingly astounded silence, we all filed out into the lounge room.

Standing in the middle of the room were Jess and Max, speaking to two people I was pretty sure none of us had ever seen before. They were standing straight, looking serious.

Max turned to us as we came in. "What took you guys so long?"

"We had to hide," Skye responded, slumping on one of the couches (obviously, new arrivals were not considered a valid reason to act formal by the hyper girl). "So we did! In the wardrobe and under the bed, to be precise."

Max giggled and Jess sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Lyn sat next to the blonde, sitting up straight. Casey, after a moment's hesitation, shrugged and joined them on the couch, leaving the rest of us to stand. Grace went around the couch to stand behind Skye, Lily leant against the couch's arm closest to Casey, and Eric and I gave the others a little bit of space by spreading out in the large lounge room, now viewing slightly from the side.

"Why are you guys here?" Grace asked the newcomers, who had gone forgotten until now.

I turned my attention to them, taking in their features. One was a boy with short, light brown hair. It was sort of buzzcut at the back and sides, but spiky at the front. He was dressed in a grey roan shirt with an opened red and off-white flannel over top, black jeans and patchwork Vans. He looked laid back; the type that smiled so much it was a wonder his face hadn't cracked, and like he'd usually have his hands interlocked behind his head as he rested against them, elbows out. 

The girl standing next to him was most likely his sister. Her hair was the same faun brown, except she wore hers long, past her shoulders. She wore a loose white shirt with a red jacket tied on her waist. Like the boy, she had black jeans, and wore All-Star Converse. 

She had angry eyebrows, the kind that made her look like she was frowning or aggravated even when she wasn't. I've noticed that everyone who had this feature made it difficult to see any emotion on their faces. I was surprised when I felt slightly frustrated; usually I prided myself on my empathy (despite my selfish rage-fest that nearly burned down my whole backyard), and half the reason I could empathise with others was by reacting accordingly to their mood, which was obviously signalled by their facial expressions.
The mean eyebrows obstructed this ability, made her face look almost impossible to read.

"One would think the more appropriate question to be 'who are you'," the boy commented, jarring me back into reality. "But I digress. To answer your question, Grace Lakeholds, we know who you guys are. And because of that, we're here to help."

"Oh, good," Lily crossed her arms, unconvinced. "And we can trust you because...?"

"Yeah," Casey backed her friend up. "There isn't anyone in this district who don't know who we are. Saying you do means nothing."

The boy smiled at the two, obviously expecting some resistance. "What I mean is," he said, "we know what happened wasn't natural."

He jabbed a thumb at the PowerTwins. "We know they have telekinesis, for example."

The girls in question went wide-eyed.

"What are you talking about?" Jess parried, sounding incredulous. "Telekinesis? Do we look like the X-Men to you?"

The faun-haired girl smiled slightly. "I see your cousin gets her wit from you, Healer," she spoke for the first time.

Casey shook her head. "You guys are talking crazy," she said, playing dumb. It was smart, since we had no idea who these newcomers are, and there was every chance they weren't here to help despite what the boy insisted. "'Healer'? Clearly you just acquired Grace's name from somewhere and are trying to intimidate us."

"Also, that's creepy, by the way!" Lily interjected. "You do realise from our point of view it looks like two complete randos rocked up to where we're staying and somehow know not only Grace's full name, but that Jess is her cousin?"

The boy chuckled. "Believe it or not, we know how weird this looks," he assured. "But you can trust us, I promise. We really are here with only good intentions."

I twisted my mouth to the side, as sceptical as the rest of my friends.

"Sorry, but we're kind of on edge already," Grace said. "The last thing we need is to have our hideout exposed."

The girl sighed. "Look, will this convince you?" 
She held up her hand, palm to the sky. A block of ice appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, suspended in air above her palm.

My eyebrows lifted in surprise.

The block of ice was small, about the size of a tennis ball, and was whitish-blue in colour, giving off a cold aura. The girl's smile grew wider at the shocked expression on our faces.

"Want an encore?" She joked as she ice disappeared, readying her other hand in the same position as her first. And then, floating in the air materialised a small, moving mass of an unnaturally black rock. Hot red and orange broke up the black like a shattered eggshell, and the whole thing swirled around like a hypnotic display, slightly resembling a lava-lamp. Contrasting the block of ice, this new conjuration warmed up the air around it.

"Wait, is that magma?" I asked, impressed.

The girl nodded, grinning now. 

"She's not going to burn down my living room, is she?" Max asked the new boy, who laughed.

"That's awesome!" I complimented as the magma evaporated.

"Thank you," the girl smiled, letting her hands fall back to her sides.

"My name is Hero," the boy – who I guess is Hero – introduced, holding his hand out to Jess. 

Skye giggled. "Really?"

"It's a name!" Hero protested, smiling to let us know he didn't take offence as Jess shook his hand.

"My brother's a big joker," the new girl enlightened us. "Plus, his power's less... flashier than mine." She held her hand out to me. "I'm Ariadne."

I shook it. "Nice to meet you, fellow element-controller!" I smiled.

"Ugh, Hero and Ariadne?" Lyn groaned. "Are those not the two most epic names known to mankind? Meanwhile, we're stuck with 'Grace' and 'Eric'."

Both members of the group whose names had been offered up as lame seemed to take offence.
"Hey!" Eric gasped over-dramatically, a hand to his chest like Lyn had run him through with a knife.

"Thanks a lot," Grace chuckled, unable to hide her grin. 

"You guys probably already know all of them," Max said to the newcomers, "but luckily we're not in the news, so: I'm Max, and this is Jess." 

When Hero held out his hand, Max shook her head, waving her hand in a dismissing motion. "Formal greetings are gross," she stated. "Have you guys been living in a posh part of New York?"

"If such a thing is even possible," Casey remarked. "Almost everyone in this dang state thinks they're gangsters."

"We call those 'eshays' where I'm from," I informed.

"So, we have another couch," Jess interjected, eager to get down to business, "but I don't think that'll be enough for all of us. I suggest we take this to the dining room, and then we can sort a couple of things out."

Hero nodded. "Sure. Thank you for hearing us out."

"Not so fast, pony-boy," Grace said. "We're half-hearing you out, half-interrogating you two. Just because Ariadne has Walmart-elemental powers doesn't mean we trust you yet."

Ariadne dipped her head in respect. "We understand how shady this appears. But I promise we'll try to explain all we know to you."

We moved to the dining room (an entire trek of about six paces at most) and got settled around the table, which could seat eight. Jess, Max, and Grace sat on the side of the table closest to the kitchen, directly across from Ariadne, Hero, and Lily respectively. At the head of the table in between the two groups were Skye (sitting closest to her PowerTwin of course). At the opposing head, Eric was seated.

Casey, Lyn and I borrowed three of the bar stools from the kitchen counter; I took the space in between Lily's and Skye's chairs, Lyn pulled her stool up in between Skye and Grace, and Casey dragged hers around so she resided in between Jess and Eric.

Jess placed her hands folded on the table in front of her, like a diplomat. "Now, Ariadne, you said something about Hero having a power too. Could you tell us more about that?"

The girl in question nodded. "One of the only reasons I know about my powers is because of Hero. He does have one, yes, but... he can't show it off."

I tilted my head slightly.

"Why's that?" Lily asked, regarding the newcomers curiously and respectfully. 

Ariadne paused. "He can kind of... measure powers. As in, he can see who has them... how overused they are." She shrugged. "I don't really know how to explain it."

Most of our eyes were on the new boy now, even those of the most easily-bored among our members (myself included). 

"That's actually really convenient," Max raised her eyebrows. "We need to know how long we gotta wait until Lily can blast, like, everybody in a four-mile radius with a forget-me-knot. Could you please tell us?"

Hero nodded. "Sure. Lily, can I take your hands?"

"Wait a minute," Jess held out her hand to bar Lily from making a move. "Max is right. It is convenient – too convenient. How come you guys showed up here right when we needed you?"

There was a slight pause as the question lingered over our heads, an unsaid accusation lying cunningly underneath the words.

"Do you believe in God?" Ariadne asked, quietly.

I blinked. "What?"

The new girl looked up, meeting my eyes. "I don't think it was coincidence that brought us here," she replied. "I followed the wind trail you used to transport your friends. It led my brother and I to this house."

Grace screwed her eyebrows together in confusion. "But Skye and I took over at the end," she pointed out.

Ariadne shrugged. "I could still see a stream of it – albeit smaller, less noticeable." She furrowed her brow, making her appear more angry than usual. "I remember, right above the house, it just ended. Quite abruptly."

I nodded my head slowly, realising what had happened. "Riiight, I had still been using my power," I glanced at Skye. "And it shut off right before I blacked out. We basically left a magic paper trail, then."

Jess's face turned concerned. "Who else could follow it?" She asked, worry clear in her otherwise no-nonsense voice.

Hero shook his head. "As far as I know, Ari and I are the only ones who can sense other powers," he assured.

Jess leaned back a bit, the answer seeming to have calmed her nerves.

"'As far as you know'?" Lily parroted. "Wait, do you guys know anyone else with powers?"

"That's –" Hero shared a glance with his sister – "kind of a long story," the boy shrugged apologetically.

"We'll have time for it later," Max urged. "Could you please measure Lily's forget-me-knots now?"

With a nod of consent from the flower-blessed girl, Hero turned on his side and took Lily's hands in his own.

Both closed their eyes – focusing, I guess. Harnessing the magic inside.

After a couple moments, Hero opened his eyes again, Lily right behind him.
"You said four-mile radius, right?" The boy asked, turning back to Max.

The fellow ginger nodded uneasily.

Hero whistled. "Something like that would take an accumulated power surge of eighteen days, with no uses in-between."

The gravity of the news pulled my jaw downward, making my lips part in shock. "Eighteen days?!"

"Starting from today," Hero sighed, "unless Lily's zapped someone with a forget-me-knot anytime in the past few hours. Then nineteen days."

My head fell against the bar stool's backpost. "There's no way we're all going to survive here for eighteen more days," I groaned.

That's when the corners of Hero's mouth quirked up. "We know," he said, nudging his twin with his elbow. "And you won't be."

Ariadne slowly smiled. "We have a place. It's bigger than this, and it can accomodate all of you."

Skye cheered. "I was starting to get cabin fever!" She whooped.

Casey sighed wistfully. "I've been longing to go back outside!" She said.

Eric grinned. "Finally!" The boy fist-bumped Casey.

Lily looked relieved. "Oh, good," she said.

I turned to Lyn, who had been relatively quiet until now.
Thankfully, the girl was beaming. She directed her smile my way, and I wished I was closer so I could hug her.

"Where is your 'place' located?" Jess asked. "How do you two even have access to a house big enough for more than six people?" 

Ariadne turned her head to her brother, who sighed.
"We, uh..." Hero awkwardly began. "We come from a well-off family. Really well off." 
His smile faded for a moment. "Our parents aren't really around to take care of us. Just family business to attend to."

I saw Lily looking sympathetically at him, and no doubt she was thinking, what's the story there?

"Family business?" Max prompted. "How close am I if I bet the family business in question is to do with the world of the supernatural?"

Hero's face returned to normal. "You'd be right on the money," he nodded. "Our house is in the Upper East Side. We'd be happy for you guys to use it for as long as you need."

Casey "hmm"ed. "How are the nine of us gonna migrate there without people seeing us?"

"I think we can figure that out later," Max cut in. "We've interrogated the newcomers enough."

Jess smiled at her girlfriend. "Right. Plus, I'm sure you two are hungry," she said to Hero and Ariadne.

Grace nodded. "We have lots of food, help yourselves."

Max lifted her hand to the side of her mouth to create a sidebar with the newcomers. "The Lakeholds aren't as tough as they seem," she whispered, earning her an elbow in the ribs from her girlfriend.

Like good friends, we giggled at the fellow redhead's misery.

"Time to go deplete all the pizza we bought!" Skye chirped, stretching to the sky.

"More tv, anyone?" Eric suggested.

Even though the circumstances were dour, even though we were on the run from the police, and even though we were about to leave the comfort of the Happy Home into a big swanky new place with two new arrivals who seemed to know more than they let on...

I couldn't help the feeling of momentary happiness rising up inside of me, collecting to form a smile on my face.

I was with my closest friends in the world. As long as we stayed together, something told me we'd navigate our way out of this mess. We'll get through it. We'll be okay.