I wake up to… something licking my face? It’s Wynn. I gently push the baby alicorn off me and go inside. I take a quick shower and put on my uniform. Sophie is waiting for me downstairs. I eat a quick piece of the porcaroot pie and we leap off to school together. We go to orientation, and Magnate Leto announces that midterms will be held in two weeks. Great. I hurry off to my first class, Elvin History. Lady Sanja is pretty nice, and even gives me a study guide for the things I’ll need to know for midterms. But I have a photographic memory, and I fill out the whole thing. She looks over it, and says I got most of it right, except the parts about humans.
“I don’t know who told you that we had to sink Atlantis because certain elves were experimenting on humans, but they were wrong.”
“No, I discovered this myself.”
“Maybe that’s how it happened where you come from, but-”
“Sophie found the same thing here. You can go ahead and put those questions on the midterm, but I won’t lie about it.” She doesn't seem to know how to respond to that. Good. I hate how nothing has been done about Nightfall, and the least I can do now that I know the truth is not pretend that I don’t know what really happened. For the rest of the session, she gives me a lecture on the sinking of Atlantis. I don’t talk because she threatened me with detention. I hope she doesn't put this on the midterm. Finally, the bell rings and I go to lunch. I’m still mad, and apparently, it shows.
“What did Lady Sanja do?” Sophie asks.
“She was stubborn when I tried to correct her on what really happened at the sinking of Atlantis. I hate that we can’t release the information to the public!”
“You know that the Neverseen would just take advantage of the unrest it would cause.” Biana points out.
“They were the ones who brought it back! They experimented on my human parents!”
“And they did here too. I want to bring them to justice just as much as you do but-” Sophie begins.
“I’m not going to make a big deal out of it, I’m just not going to lie about what happened.”
“Well, that aside, we have a sleepover to plan.” Biana says, changing the subject. We spend the rest of lunch finalizing plans, effectively making me forget about Nightfall. But all too soon, I have to go to my next class. Not that I don’t like having telepathy with Tiergan, but that puts me one step closer to having to go to Dex’s house. Stop worrying, I tell myself. He doesn’t know that you were dating. You just have to watch your words, remember not to snuggle into his arms, and not get lost in his eyes. His beautiful, clear, periwinkle eyes… oops. Those thoughts will not make him want to be my friend. Or maybe more one day… before I know it, I’m in Tiergan’s room, and sitting in a chair across from him.
“Ah, Lori! I must admit that when I heard about you, I was quite intrigued.”
“Well, I guess it’s not everyday you meet someone from another universe.”
“It most certainly is not. I assume you’ve heard the ethics lecture?”
“I have. More times than I care to admit.” Tiergan had given me the ethics lecture, which explains all the rules of telepathy, every time I broke them. I’ve heard it at least five times, but unfortunately, I’ve lost count. Which is how I know for sure that I’m done ‘bending’ the rules.
“Well then, let’s jump straight into testing your abilities. Try to read my mind.” I reach out my consciousness, and hear his thoughts in my brain.
“You seem very eager to report on me to the Black Swan.” He goes slightly pale.
“You weren't supposed to hear that,” he muttered.
“It’s ok. I already knew. You were Granite in my old universe too.”
“Well, I guess I should consider myself lucky then. How about we try projecting something?” He hands me a piece of paper. “Try projecting a picture of Sophie.” I do as he tells me, and he seems impressed. “Photographic memory?” He asks.
“Yup. And lots of practice projecting.” I normally make a point of projecting anything useful in my projecting journal, though lately, I’ve fallen out of the habit. We spend the rest of the session going through basic telepathy skills, and I do fairly well at all of them. But then it’s time for study hall. I try to read a book, but my eyes stray over to Dex. Does he even know how cute he looks? Then I’m equal parts nervous and excited when the chimes sound. Sophie comes over to me.
“Are you sure you want to go?’ She asks. I consider saying no.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll have to talk to him at some point.”
“Are you guys ready to go?” He asks after he walks over, basically dragging Rex and Bex, and carrying Lex on his back. His dad thought it was a good idea to give all his children matching names, and I agree. But Des does not see it that way.
“ARE THESE YOUR GIRLFRIENDS?” Bex shouts. Dex goes red, and I probably do too.
“NO WAY HE COULD GET THEM! I’M LEX! AND I’M THE COOLEST OUT OF ALL OF US!”
“NO YOU’RE NOT!” Rex adds.
“AM TOO!”
“ARE NOT!” They go on like this all the way to the Leapmaster. We make the leap, and are greeted with a winter wonderland. Dex’s mom, Juline, is a froster, so she can make ice or snow anytime  she wants. She’s also part of the Collective at the Black Swan, and calls herself Squall. She coats herself in a layer of ice to hide her identity. She also makes the best cinnacreme. Dex puts Lex down, and the triplets are gone to start a snowball fight in seconds. I was just admiring the house, which looked like a collection of upside down icicles, when a snowball hits me in the face! I turn around and see Dex already forming another snowball.
“It is so on.” I say to him and Sophie. I start rolling up a snowball and throw it at Sophie. It hits her right in the chest! After a few minutes, I end up far away from Dex and Sophie, when I get a brilliant idea on how to win. They seem to have momentarily forgotten about me, and I can use that to my advantage. I set to work making two huge snowballs. Then, I use my telekinesis to hurl them at my friends. The snowballs hit both of them! Hard enough to knock them down, but not enough to hurt them. They both look at me, and we all burst out into laughter. I help Sophie up, and she helps out Dex. Then we all go inside, freezing cold and soaked in snow.
“Well, I think I know who won.” Juline says when she sees how much wetter Sophie and Dex are. “Did you have fun?”
“Of course we did, mom.” Dex says.
“Well, I made cinnacreme if anyone wants it.” She says. Everyone perks up when they hear the name of the delicious treat.And Juline’s is world famous. She hands us each a mug, and we start drinking.
“Well, now I know to never underestimate you.” Dex says. “Seriously, how did you throw both of those giant snowballs at once?”
“Lots of practice. After Luminaria, I realized that I really shouldn’t underestimate skills, so I would train for an hour a day. The progress is slow, but it is worth it. They’ve saved my life a few times. And they help me win snowball fights.”
“Maybe you can help me. No matter how hard I tried at Exilium, I just couldn’t hold my levitation for that long.”
“I can try, but I don’t know exactly how to teach. I was taught by Timkin Heks.”
“Ugh. That must have been pleasant.” Sophie says.
“I never claimed to like it! But Tam and Linh were always busy, and he also went to Exilium. I knew I needed to learn, and when he found that out, he offered, so…” I am saved from having to answer by the triplets coming in.
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!! LEX HIT MEEEEE!!!!!!!” Bex screams when she gets inside.
“IT WAS A SNOWBALL FIGHT YOU BABY!” Lex shouts after her.
“AND I WON!” Rex brags.
“NO YOU DIDN’T! I DID!” Lex protests.
“I DID TOO! I HIT YOU AND BEX 12 TIMES!”
“I HIT YOU TWO 14 TIMES!” Bex says.
“I HIT YOU EACH A HUNDRED TIMES!” Lex screams.
“YOU DID NOT!”
“I DID, YOU JUST DIDN’T FEEL IT!”
“NO WAY!”
“How about we go to my room?” Dex suggests.
“Probably a good idea.” Sophie says. The triplets continue arguing as we slip out of the kitchen and head to Dex’s room. It looks the same as it did before in my universe. I can feel the flashbacks coming, but I have to push them back. I know I’ll dream about them tonight, no matter how hard Silveny tries to send me calming images. But that sounds like a future me problem, and future me won’t be in the same room as Dex. Sophie and I sit on the bed, and Dex takes a seat on his desk chair. It’s quiet for a minute, then Dex asks what we want to do. I’m not sure what to say, and neither does Sophie.
“What if we play a human game?” I suggest.
“That sounds good. Which one?” Dex replies.
“There’s one I’ve heard of, but I’ve never gotten to play it. You put colored pens in a cup, and draw one without looking. Each different color represents a question you have to answer.” Sophie says. “Like if you draw a red pen, you have to answer who your best friend is, or something like that.”
“That sounds good, I’ll go grab some pens.” Dex says. “You two can start writing down what each color’s question is.”
“Ok, so red is your best friend, blue could be your dream pet, black could be your favorite dessert, orange could be your favorite Foxfire subject, yellow could be your least favorite Foxfire subject, green could be your top five favorite things about the Black Swan, and purple is your top five least favorite.” I say.
“Ok, all that sounds good.There’ll be one left over.” Dex says as he comes back in the room with all the pens.
“I’ll go first.” Sophie volunteers. She looks at the ceiling and pulls out the yellow pen. “Oh, I hated alchemy.”
“Yeah, I remember that. No offense, but you were terrible at it.” Dex says.
“I was so bad.” Sophie says, laughing.
“Ugh, I’ll have to take it this year. I probably suck at it just as much as she did. Maybe worse.” I say.
“Well, I can always help tutor you.” Dex says. “I’m not too bad at alchemy.”
“Um, that’s the understatement of the year. How many of the Slurps and Burps elixirs did you make?” Sophie says. Dex goes red.
“Whatever. My turn.” he says. He covers his eyes, and pulls out the blue pen. “Oh, my dream pet? That’s easy. A tomple. They’re adorable little balls of fluff, and they eat dust, so they’d keep my gadgets clean.” Sophie scoffs.
“‘Adorable little balls of fluff’ with giant insect legs.”
“You know, when you consider how useful they are, that doesn't matter.”
“It’s still creepy.”
“How many giant bugs have you faced in the Lost Cities? And you can’t handle insect legs on a little fluff ball?” Now Sophie goes red.
“Whatever. Lori, it’s your turn.” please don’t get green or purple, please don’t get green or purple, please don’t get green or purple. I pray as I pull out my pen. Thankfully, I got the red one.
“My best friend is probably Biana.”
“That makes sense.” Sophie says. “I guess it’s my turn again.” She pulls the green pen. “Oh, my top five favorite things about the Black Swan? Probably that they made me, they rescued us when we got kidnapped, they let us swear fealty, they let us stay in their hideout while we were exiled, and that they’re fighting to make the world better.”
“Um, my favorite subject?” Dex says when he pulls out the orange pen. “Probably technopath training, or alchemy.” Now it’s my turn. And I don’t know if I want to list my top five least favorite things about the Black Swan, and I don’t think I can without reliving painful flashbacks. I close my eyes, look at the ceiling, and pick a pen. Black.
“I love all the desserts in the Lost Cities that I’ve tried before. But Mallowmelt has got to be my favorite.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the classics.” Dex says. I hope I’m not blushing. We sit around and talk for a while, then me and Sophie have to go home. I don’t know why I was so nervous. Now that I’m here I don’t want to leave. But getting upset when you have to leave is something children do, so I say goodbye and leap away.