Extra long one because I'm literally so sorry. I've planned out the rest of the book so there's 29 chapters + an epilogue :)  also guess what? It's finally the next day!!! Nova made it!! lmao i was almost gonna just make the rest of the book last in that one day and see how long i could make those hours spread but honestly it was going for so long

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The next day at school was bizarre, we weren't supposed to talk about the events from the day before until everything was announced, and even then we were only permitted to say very limited details, but everyone was suspicious due to the fact one of the most recent Team Valiant members mentioned something about them moving on and fresh blood coming in. It shouldn't be surprising, as generally the teams switched over every five years and the youngest members Ivan and Celeste were set to graduate soon. The oldest members had been out of school for almost years at that point and were ready to be established as real regents as compared to youth members. 

"I just know Eamon was asked," Blythe told me, standing near my locker where I was grabbing books. I simply hummed in reply, not looking at her. "Hmm?" She mocked. "You know something, don't you?" 

I pulled away and looking at her, rolling my eyes in the hopes I could appear annoyed rather than guilty. I sucked at keeping secrets from her, it's a miracle I was able to hide my ability for so long. "If Eamon was asked to join, do you really think he'd risk losing his spot by telling someone ahead of time?" I was bad at lying, but I figured I could avoid lying by simply telling the truth in a different light. "He'd never risk that, especially not with me." 

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say." She snorted and moved slightly out of the way so I could close my locker. "Anyways, I talked with Arrowe last night for a few hours and I don't know, it felt weird. Like, he's your guy? Like, not like, your guy, but- Do you understand where I'm going with this?" 

I let out a laugh in reply. "Blythe, I don't care if you talk with Arrowe. I actually think it's great. With all the teasing you do about me and Eamon, you sure are getting close with Arrowe there. Something I should know about?" I nudged her side slightly, and both of us laughed as we made our way down the hallway towards Physical Education. "Ooh, okay so I'm not going to let you know exactly how, but I got a new breakthrough in my ability and it's super cool. I'll have to tell you later after I speak with my mentor about it." 

"You're being pretty loud about this," she looked at me with raised eyebrows, before looking at the people walking around us. 

"I talked with Eamon's sister yesterday and discussed the fact that I think I'm okay with letting people know about my ability. I'm getting more control, I'm getting more confidant, and I'm not so scared of accidentally summoning fire into my hands at all times like before." I grinned, feeling empowered after my previous day. "Also, as a side note, I really think you should continue talking with Arrowe." 

She blushed slightly. "You're completely okay with it, don't feel like I'm stealing him or something?" 

"What's there to steal? I'm sure he can have more than one friend." I winked, hoping she understood the message and made my way into the changing rooms, not excited for the PE day we had in store. At least I wasn't too bad at the class, but it definitely was not my strong suit. 

Once the class was over I told my friends to go ahead of me as I had left something in my locker I needed to grab before going to lunch. I was able to pass Eamon on the way, who informed me he got through the morning without receiving a lunch detention so he would be there that day. The way he explained it made me believe that he simply got away with some random prank that had not been yet discovered, and it was possible the next day would not have the same outcome. 

I rolled my eyes at the thought, knowing that it was better not to question exactly what he had going on. Most likely him and Mika conjured up some sort of scheme together. Since the dawn of time they went back and forth pranking random people in the school, but after we got close Eamon informed me that the two had decided to switch their tactics to either each other or Foxfire faculty only. Not only pranks, but I was aware he had a knack for ditching classes every so often as well. The only reason I knew that wasn't the case is the fact he was at Physical Education with everyone else. 

I eventually reached my locker and was able to grab what I left there, before turning and noticing a certain figure in the hallway. "Ashla!" I called, trying to gain her attention. She looked up in confusion, but grinned once she saw me. "Hey!" I greeted excitedly when I reached her. "Crazy day, huh?" 

"Yeah, it's been so hard keeping quiet," she responded, making sure no one was listening first. "I just want to shout it at the top of my lungs how cool we are." 

I laughed in response. "Where do you normally sit at lunch?" I then asked. "You can join my friends and I if you want."

"Are you sure?" Her eyes lit up. "I'm kind of a loner and sit wherever normally." 

"It's no problem," I responded, and she fell into step with me in the direction of the cafeteria. Before we reached there, Eamon spotted us. 

He was walking in our direction, and it took a few moments for him to catch up so we paused our steps until he reached us. "I was just checking to see how much longer until you joined everyone, I got Blythe to save our seats," he explained to me before turning to Ashla and greeting her quickly. "Are you joining us?" 

"Yeah, I invited her," I told him. 

"We'll pretend I invited you, less questions from Blythe where we'll have to expose our new secret." He winked. "I say this with all love in my heart when I tell you Blythe will never believe that Nova picked up some random new friend in a day, ironically on the day after new Team Valiant members were sent invitations." 

I thought over his words and agreed with them. Blythe always encouraged me to make new friends, but today of all the days would be a bit shady. She wouldn't question Eamon on Ashla joining us like she did me, especially because she already assumed he was asked to join Team Valiant anyways. 

We made our way to the table after grabbing some food and Blythe immediately narrowed her eyes in Ashla's direction. Ashla took an empty seat between Lyra and Eamon, while I sat on his other side which was also next to Blythe. "This is my friend Ashla," Eamon introduced her to everyone. "We banged into each other in the hallway while I was seeing Nova and I thought I'd invite her to join us since she was just standing around." 

"Ran into each other in the hallway, huh?" Lyra immediately pressed, although her voice held humor when she then added, "I thought you only did that with Nova?"

"I run into all sorts of people in hallways, Nova's special because she's the one I reserve triggering abilities for." He grinned at me and I rolled my eyes before taking a bite out of my lunch. 

"Well, in that case, it's nice to meet you Ashla," Blythe said, grinning at her. "What level are you?" 

"I'm a level three," she replied. "I was one of the youngest conjurers to ever manifest, it's my only personality trait." 

"Isn't your grandmother a conjurer?" Blythe questioned Eamon. "Grandma Eda?" 

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Ashla questioned immediately, turning her attention to Eamon. "That's so cool that your grandma has my ability!" 

"Yeah, she adopted my mom when my mom was twelve. Or, I guess, thirteen. My Grandpa Grady is a mesmer. I thought everyone knew about them," he replied, looking at her in confusion. 

"I mean, you already know I'm super big into Multispeciesial Studies. What you don't know is I literally only pay attention to that class if I'm being honest. Well, that and agriculture. Elvin history is not a strong suit, which sounds weird since the two classes should go hand in hand. But I don't know, I just don't really care about learning about elves because I already am one. So, sorry to your family since I know they're super important and take up a big chunk of that class." 

"Honestly, it's kind of boring learning about my family. Like, my poor instructor was trying to go over facts about my mom and was trying their best but like, she's my mom. What is my mentor going to tell me that I don't already know, or can't learn from literally powering up my imparter and asking her?" 

"It was the same for me," Blythe chimed in. "Like when they're talking about the whole Atlantis situation and how Aunt Linh saved everyone or whatever by controlling the water. It's like, yeah I know. The woman used to tuck me in to bed a lot of nights since she was my childhood babysitter. They do like to breeze over the fact that she literally went to Exillium for flooding the place though." 

"Wait, what?" I chimed in, looking at her. "I didn't know that! I knew she went to Exillium and that's where her and your dad met Eamon's mom, but I didn't know it was because she flooded Atlantis. That's actually pretty wicked cool." 

"Yeah, I find it funny that at the time everyone used to treat our parents like they were scum and avoided them like the plague. Now they put them in history books and act as if they never did any wrong." Eamon shrugged before turning to Ashla. "What do your parents do, again?" 

"Oh, I don't know. My dad works in the interspeciesial services in Atlantis, which is probably why I am the way I am. I love what he does and find it super cool. My mom is an emissary for the council, she's also a conjurer. Which I guess is also cool, but honestly I find what my dad does more fun." She shrugged before looking to Lyra and asking for clarification on her name. "Are you in level five with everyone else?" 

"Oh, no I'm a level four," Lyra replied. "I got paired together with Nova during a splotching match last year and we kind of became friends so I started to sit with her and Blythe at lunch. We didn't really become super close until these past few months though."

"They haven't done a splotching match in a while," Eamon responded, a frown on his face. "I miss those, they're usually so much fun." 

"Yeah, because you win," Blythe responded with a snort. "But I'd rather not have another one so soon, it still hurts to think about the fact Nova beat me in the last one." 

"Wow, you're working your way up. Thinking you'll beat me soon?" Eamon turned to me in question. 

It was my turn to snort. "Please, Mira Collier took me down the next round almost embarrassingly quick." 

"Not Mira of all the people!" Eamon started to cackle. "She's so bad at splotching matches though!" He started to laugh even more, I imagined he was picturing the scene. 

"It was on the second round, though. There was someone she beat on the first that's even more of a sucker," I attempted to defend myself. But in all honesty, he was right. It was embarrassing to lose to her. I didn't know much about her, other than the fact that she was like me and had two talentless parents. Well, I guess considering what I'd learned she wasn't really like me. She was known for being really bad at telekinesis, but her parents had decided to spend extra time with her on the skills so I guess in the past year she was getting at least slightly stronger. 

Strong enough to beat me, although that isn't that much of a feat when you really think about it. 

Everyone continued to hold a conversation as I focused mostly on finishing my meal. At one point I joined the conversation where I brought up the fact I was a pyrokinetic and took it as an opportunity to tell my friends I decided I was no longer hiding my ability. Ashla tried to play it off like she wasn't already aware, and even went as far to mention a lot of people thought there was a new pyrokinetic considering Marella Redek had come to the school most likely to mentor someone. Which turns out was completely true, and I wondered how much longer I could have hid my ability before people found out on their own anyways from that alone. 

Once I finished eating I noticed Eamon had finished his as well. Both of us had our ability training sessions in the same hallway, so we left everyone and started to make our ways to our next sessions together. We walked kind of slow, since there were still a few minutes until it was actually time to get there, and didn't really talk since. I didn't know why he was quiet, but I knew for me it was because we were still slightly surrounded by people and what I wanted to talk about isn't something others could really hear. 

On the way there I noticed Serena standing by her locker, Genesis by her side having a conversation. I waved in their direction and suddenly remembered the deal I had made with Serena the day before. It had been such a long day, and so much had happened since, that I almost forgot about what I told her I'd do. 

"Hey, remember how I went to Serena's yesterday?" I prompted to Eamon. 

"Yeah, how'd that go? I should've asked but so much was going on I didn't even think to." He looked at me curiously. 

"She apologized for everything. She does genuinely feel bad, and I really do believe she needs a friend right now. We agreed the friend she needed is not me. I don't know if we'll ever be able to be friends after the way she treated me. Not only since me and you became friends, but honestly before that. She's not really had the nicest streak to me." I sighed. "But, honestly, we agreed to be acquaintances and she's going to try to be better. You should talk to her and work through things. Even if you don't see her as anything more, at the very least she's still your cousin. That should mean something." 

He looked off into space as we continued to walk, not really responding. "I just don't want her to think everything's going to be immediately okay. I do love her, family-wise. We've grown up together and I've always had her back at family meetups and during school. But with the way she acts it's so hard to get close to her without feeling guilty about all the people she treats so horribly." 

"Well, as one of those people, I think you should maybe take a shot." With that I made my peace, and was happy to change the conversation. All I promised to her was that I would tell him she apologized and try to convince him to possibly work things out. I didn't tell her I'd summon fire in my hands and threaten to burn his house down if he didn't agree. It was up to the both of them alone now to work through their issues. 

It was silent, and we reached the hallway where our sessions were. Not yet ready to actually walk into our classes, we took a seat on a bench and I think both of us realized no one else was around since he turned and asked, "What did your parents say after you got home last night?" 

I thought about the conversation I had with them. Apparently, I should've realized the council wouldn't ask me to join and become a regent without asking my parents for permission first because when I got home to explain what was going on they already knew. "They think it's a really great opportunity for our family. I personally think my mom's hoping that if I get enough of a foot in the door, I can convince something to happen for the talentless. Some sort of representation in our government." 

"My sister is trying the best she can, but she says it's really hard. Obviously Bronte, Velia, and Darek had stepped down to create space for more modern voices to be heard on the council, but majority of the council is still the same old voices we've been hearing for centuries. The fact that Hugh and Faustina are the youngest next to her, and they're still decades and centuries older than her doesn't help. Not a lot of people are that interested in fixing something they don't even recognize as broken." 

"I think what makes my mom angriest and she's grown up to think she's so powerless she can't even try to storm the council and give them a piece of her mind. She's so fiery I feel like she'd do it if she felt she could." 

"Your mom? If she had been a kid in school with my parents I feel like they could've avoided the whole fighting and just had your mom go to the Neverseen and scream at them until they caved." He laughed at his own joke. "She's so scary." 

I laughed along with him. "Yeah, she can be pretty scary when she wants. I know I can complain about her from time to time, but I really do love her. I just feel so bad about how cheated she's been during her life. I just know that if she had an ability, she would be so powerful. I sometimes, growing up, imagined what ability she would even have though. Like, it's hard to imagine her with any but also hard to imagine her not being the best with every single one." 

"I just know your mother would be such a powerful charger if she had manifested as one." Eamon grinned at me after, and I couldn't help but agree. "She'd zap everyone in her path." 

A warning bell went off for everyone to start heading towards their classes, interrupting my next words. "I'll see you later, then," I told him. "Maybe call me on your imparter after school and we can see if we could meet up. I think Blythe is making plans with Arrowe so I'll probably be free." 

"I think we might have some team stuff going on, so I'll let you know." His eyes shifted towards some of the students entering the area before going back to me. "I'll see ya," he said, nodding before walking off and I opened the door to see Marella sitting in a chair, an open one empty across from her. 

"Ahh! I heard a little rumor about you," Marella stated the second I walked through the door, her eyes narrowed teasingly. "My little prodigy stepping out the waters?" 

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I decided I would actually say I was a pyrokinetic," I told her. "It shouldn't be too surprising for the general public. My friend Ashla told me that people found out you were a mentor here and figured there was a new pyrokinetic." 

"Well, I wasn't exactly talking about that, although I am extremely happy you're going to be embracing this part of you. Trust me, nothing will make you happier than embracing your true self." She grinned and motioned for me to take the seat from across from her. When I sat down she continued to speak. "What I was talking about is how a little birdie informed me you were going to be one of the newest members of team valiant! That's extremely exciting!" 

I blushed in response. "Yeah, it's really exciting. Did Eamon's mom tell you?" 

"Nope, the council did. Team Valiant prep is through your mentors, and for you that's through me. Inductions are tonight and I'm supposed to go through all the rules and such. For you there's also the added fact that Master Leto is going to announce all the members during announcements tomorrow, so you need to confirm you are one hundred percent certain about your decision to let the public know about your ability. Because it's about to completely well-known and broadcasted to not only your family and friends, but the majority of elves. It's a very respected program." 

"I understand. I am a bit worried about it, but overall the only opinions that matter to me in the long run are my parents. Now that I know they accept me and my abilities and still love me, the world knowing is less scary," I responded to her. "Sure it's still a little scary, but going through life without fear means going through a life without growing." 

She smiled at my words. "So, Leulla informed me you had a new breakthrough with your ability last night that you might want to talk about. This was more off the record." 

I nodded and let out a breath of air. "Yeah, it's weird. I was so focused on my ability and feeling the heat around me I realized I was feeling out the body heat around me. So I could sense how many people were around and I could almost place where they were." 

She already had a notebook out and was copying down what I was explaining to her, and whenever she looked up it was with complete concentration on my words. "Well, that doesn't seem that out of the ordinary when you truly think about it. I told you on your first day, and I would hope you remembered, that pyrokineticy is closely related to hydrokineticy. You've heard about how they're able to feel the moisture around them the same way you can feel heat. Maybe you're just a little special and can focus completely on heat. I have noticed the control you have over your flames, and while you can still create them you haven't had some massive breakthrough when it comes to using them."

"Do you know why I was chosen for team valiant then? It's confusing, they were talking about potential, but there's already so many established students who aren't working with potential only at the moment." I was still confused at my new role. 

She bit her lip and shifted so she was crossing her right leg over her left. "Each time they select members, they have a specific image in mind for what initiative they want the group to do. What tasks they think they want for that specific group to complete. I imagine before they did their final narrowing down, they must have recognized a pyrokinetic would do them good, and as you're currently the youngest registered pyrokinetic to work with them, you would be the obvious choice." 

"So, default?" I let out a snort. 

"I think you're selling yourself way too short. I think it shows a lot of trust from the council in you, and shows they genuinely believe you have lots of potential." My mind traveled to my reading I had with Councilor Terik as she spoke. "Anyways, as I was saying before. I think you show great control over your abilities, because maybe heat itself might be essentially a specialty for you. I think a lot of people have certain parts of their abilities that they tend to go to the most. Think Eamon, he's crazy powerful like his mother, but did you know he's mostly been training to become a washer? He has a great affinity for it, and has been proven to be just as powerful on his own compared to your average washer when they're being enhanced." 

"I didn't know that," I responded, thinking over conversations I had with Eamon about his ability, or even conversations where I've heard about his ability before we were friends. Everyone knew he was crazy powerful, but not a lot of people knew to what extent. "Is his mom able to do the same thing?" And I also wondered, when had he gone through the process of actually washing a person's mind? What would they send him to do that for?

"I'm not sure, she hasn't really tried," Marella replied with a shrug. "Sophie's completely talented, and I imagine if she tried it's possible. But truly she has more of an affinity for probing and being a keeper. My mentor, who was a very bad man don't get me wrong, loved everblaze. But he also created balefire, from what I'm aware. When he trained me we mostly focused on flames as well. Although there were control lessons, don't get me wrong, and Linh used to come along to my sessions so she could drown any flames I accidentally created. I think with having me train you for complete self-control, it's led to you being able to enhance your control in other ways as well."

"Like how I'm able to control heat?" 

"Exactly!" She grinned. "If my mentor were able to be out in the open I'd ask him about it, but as I said, bad man, locked away." She sighed. "Maybe I could reach out to another ancient pyrokinetic, but there aren't that many. Especially since that one group of them died." 

I thought about my dad, and figured I could probably ask him. But I was afraid to tell her that, although she did host a group of undiscovered pyrokinetics. Maybe I'd ask him about it first, see if I can set him up with everyone else. If it was something he was interested in. Although I couldn't see that happening, he liked keeping to himself. 

We continued to discuss, and I explained what happened when I was controlling body heat. "It was kind of like the skill we have to regulate body temperature, but instead of doing it to myself I'm doing it to those around me?" My words were more like a question. 

"I'll definitely look into it," she told me, "but it's almost time for you to go to study hall. Are you all set for tonight? They'll be coming to grab you a little bit after school, so no running off to your restaurant or anything." After this she went into more detail about rules I needed to follow and what was going to happen when we actually got there.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be, I guess." I shuffled nervously once she finished speaking. 

"Nova, remember what I said earlier about your potential. No one else has spent as much time with you and watching your abilities grow as me. The closest I'd say is probably Eamon since I know he's who you studied with, but the difference between I and him is that I'm an expert and actually know what I'm talking about when I say you're powerful, and capable. It's more than just potential for me, although that might be what the council is focusing on. I've seen you actually utilize your abilities. You're gifted, kid. I don't want you selling yourself short."

"Thank you," I responded, my voice filled with emotion. "And thank you for training me and never pushing me to do anything completely out of my limits." 

"My job is to help you, not control you," she responded simply. "And I want you to always know that if help is something you genuinely need, I'm just a call away." 

I left my session that day feeling a hundred pounds lighter, and ready to take on the world. I was suddenly excited for the future, and looking forward to joining team valiant that night. Suddenly, it's as if things were looking up. 

***

y'all i'm so sorry for how late this is. as y'all are aware, my life is always crazy and there's always things going on. My dad got covid and we've been in quarantine for so long i've gone crazy. and i'm flying out to school on friday (taking an airplane on new years day is basically a death sentence ngl). 

but, i promised i'd at least update once before the year ended and then i promised last night i'd update today. i also promised it'd be long, and it is. over 4,500 words. my fingers hurt.