Sora gasped at the wooden sword slamming into her ribs. She fell to her knees, and Alannah yelped, reaching for her like she could keep the shorter girl on her feet.

"Sorry! Sorry. I thought you were going to guard that but then you feigned left and I didn't have time to stop the blow, I promise I wasn't trying to hurt you," she rambled while she rubbed her arm.

Sora waited a few seconds to get her breath back and then stood up, "It's ok. You just knocked the breath out of me."

"Luca!" Mrs. Sword called, "Make sure her rib isn't broken."

Luca nodded and jogged over. "Move your arm," he said gently, tapping the arm pressed against her side. 

She did, hissing, and he ran a finger down her side and grabbed her hand. Where his finger touched, the pain disappeared. Still, a shiver went down her spine. And not a good one. 

Luca gave her an apologetic look, "Just bruised. Really easy to heal because it wasn't too bad. I think I got all the bruise. Just tell me if it keeps bothering you," the strawberry blonde turned to Alannah, "Are you good?"

She let go of her arm and looked at the bruise already forming, "Yeah. I should be fine. It would only be a problem if I got hit there again." 

"Why did you grab my hand and also touch my ribs?" Sora asked the healer.

He turned back to her, "I have to have contact with who I'm healing. I could just use that but it's easier if I direct it with a touch to the spot. For your ribs it was through the shirt so the healing magic went into your body from my hand to yours and was directed to the spot when I attracted it."

"What?"

Luca sighed, "Imagine I am a sponge. My healing magic is water. By touching your hand, I was like squeezing water onto a surface. Then, touching your ribs was like tilting the surface back toward the sponge. Your injury was another sponge and the remainder of the magic went back to me."

"Ohhh," Sora nodded, "That makes sense. I've never heard healing magic described like that before. Or at all, for that matter. It just seemed simple."

"Healing magic is as complex as any," Alannah cut in.

"As complex as yours?" Luca asked.

Alannah paused, "Well, probably not. I don't think there's any magic someone can possess as complicated as that. Now, spells preformed, yes. There are definitely spells that complicated. Just complicated in a different way."

Hoku, who had been waiting for his sparring partner, laughed, "I think a simple 'Probably not,' would have been good."

Alannah looked at Hoku and blinked, "There is no close future where I have good social skills."

Sora smiled while Hoku snorted a laugh and even Luca bit back a grin.

"Are you four just going to stand there? We're supposed to be sparring," Zaria snapped.

She was panting. While incredibly skilled, Callum's sheer strength and force behind blows kept the Tella twin on her toes. And irritable. Maybe she was always like that.

"We've stopped for like two minutes. You'll probably take that long of a break pretty soon," Hoku shot back.

Zaria rolled her eyes and stalked to where her water canister was waiting in the shade of a large rock. Callum looked to the group and shrugged as if to say, "Don't look at me." The four simultaneously looked back to those within their group. Then, without a word, they picked their sticks up and paired off.

—/—/—

"Danique," Sora said as they got ready for bed that night, "Are you going to let Hoku heal your scars?"

Danique didn't respond at first, and Sora looked over her shoulder to make sure the raven haired girl was indeed where Sora had last seen her. Danique was in her bed, staring at her covers. Something made Sora think she was looking straight through the blankets to her legs.

"I... don't know. I think it might be because I want proof."

Sora frowned and asked, "Proof of what?"

"Proof that my power, my main power of fire, is too destructive to use full force," she said.

Her stomach sank, "Di-did you do that to yourself?"

"No!" Danique exclaimed, her gaze shooting to her roommate, "Great Spirits, no. I just don't really like talking about it," a pause, "Zaria would bite my head off if she heard me telling you this."

"Your relationship with her seems complicated," Sora said, trying to get the image of Danique giving herself such horrendous burns out of her head.

"Not really. We love each other unconditionally. We just don't understand each other or see eye to eye on a lot of things."

"Your personalities are really different. You're both quiet, but you're quiet for different reasons. Zaria uses hers as power, yours is honestly the opposite. Not weakness, but submission. She's an alpha and you're not."

Danique forced out a laugh, "Are you sure you're just an animal empath? You seem to be pretty good at figuring people out."

"Humans are a type of animal. They're just... so different than most animals. That's why most empaths can't understand animals and why most animal empaths - though there aren't many - can't understand people. Maybe part of my ability to stems from my power, but some people are just good at figuring others out."

The roommates were silent for a bit, then the scarred girl spoke again, "I know. There's logic behind some of it, instincts behind more. Then of course there is magic. Sometimes it seems like all the powers I have are nothing compared to those with Psych abilities."

A scoff, then, "Trust me. Us Psychs would love to have powers like yours. Except maybe Alannah."

"Alannah," Danique scoffed in response, "I don't think she's an average magic weilder in any way."

"And you are?"

"Fair point."

Then, as if just realizing she was still sitting up, Danique scooted until she was lying on her back. Sora followed more slowly, then turned on her side to face her roommate across the room.

"We need sleep, don't we?"

"Oh, definitely."

Silence. 

"Goodnight, Danique. Good luck with training tomorrow."

There was a hiss of hair moving against fabric before a response came, "Same goes to you."

—/—/—

Crack!

Aurora flinched as Alannah smacked her head down on the table, "Oh, come on, you're going to leave a bruise on your forehead."

"I'm trying to beat some sense into me," Alannah drawled, sarcasm and annoyance dripping from her.

"It takes time to learn to read. You-"

"Aurora. I can see every possible future. Do you know how frustrating it is that I can't read?"

"Yes, Alannah, I'm an empath. I know how frustrated you are. You're making me frustrated."

"You say that," Alannah sighs, "But you seem so calm."

Aurora smiled tightly, "You get used to it."

Alannah nodded, and looked back down at the paper. The letters were just gibberish to her. She sighed, and her shoulders slumped, "I can't find a future where I ever learn to read. And I don't know if it's because I haven't started to learn or if I just never will. And if I learn to read, how much could that change things?"

Aurora walked from her place leaning against the wall to the chair next to Alannah and sat, resting a hand on her new friend's shoulder, "Stop worrying about the future so much."

"The world could end."

"That's not your burden."

"But it is. That's why I have this power," the taller girl looked to Aurora, tears lining her eyes, "I have to save this world. You know that. You saw that."

"What about Sora, Callum, and Hoku? And what about you?"

Pain flashed in those red eyes and she looked away, "I- I can't tell you."

"I could just look." It wasn't a threat. Just a simple statement. 

Alannah nodded, "I know. You could. You could and you'd hate me most likely. But I don't know what else to do about it. I can't tell you everything. Not especially right now."

"Fine. Then work on learning to read."

Alannah groaned and Aurora deftly caught her head before it could hit the table again. The tall girl looked up and glared. 

Aurora shrugged, "That's my ultimatum."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Wait," Alannah looked back at Aurora, "Your power. How does it work? Do you have to look for change?"

"Usually. But if something happens that changes a lot—like knocking out a lot of futures or adding many more—I'd know without having to look."

"Huh."

"Huh."

"Homework," she tapped the paper.

"You're distracting me."

Aurora gave an amused smile, "My bad. Homework."

Alannah did go back to the paper. Doodling, glaring when Aurora told her to stop, then going right back to doodling. 

"Just memorize the alphabet. You have photographic memory."

"It's selective," the taller girl grumbled, then her head snapped up, eyes wide, "Speaking of  which. Aurora. How many names did the teacher call to go to our direction?"

The girl with piercing eyes looked down, thinking. Counting. Then, she looked to Alannah slowly, "Nine. She called nine names."

"Yeah. Us eight, and one more. What was their name."

A pause.

"I... can't remember."

"Neither can I. And my visions have never said anything about there being nine of us."

"There's a lot at play here," Aurora started, "But what could block a Psych's powers? One of the Sp-"

"Shh! Don't talk about that," Alannah whisper-hissed, "The others can't know about that yet. Not until the lake."

"The lake... right... Ah, well. I suppose it's getting late. We can work on this again tomorrow.

—/—/—

"Hey, Luca, how come you don't have the 'immortal beauty' everyone talks about?" Hoku asked, wiping his face off with a wet rag.

"Are you gay?"

Hoku choked, "Uh, no. But you don't have to be gay to notice whether or not another guy is attractive."

"I don't think tritones are particularly attractive. Aren't they half fish?" Callum cut in.

"Well, yeah, but nymphs are attractive, and they aren't even immortal. You'd think he'd get some of it. He looks average."

"Good," was all Luca said.

"Do you not trust us?" Hoku asked, winding up to hit Callum, who now had his back turned, with his towel.

"I've known you for, what, three days? Why would I trust you?"

"You seem to trust the twins."

Callum yelped as the wet towel lashed his back, and spun to face Hoku, fist raised. He hit the smaller boy with a miniature lightning bolt instead.

This time it was Hoku's turn to yelp.

"Maybe if you acted a bit more mature than five year olds I would trust you a bit more. But, alas, human males are quite underwhelming."

"Females aren't?" Callum asked, trying to rub the red welt on his back.

"Some are. Though, I grew up around females-even if they weren't human-so that may make a difference."

Callum nodded and grabbed a shirt to put on. Which he had been doing until Hoku so rudely attacked him. He glanced at the once shirt, now ripped fabric on the floor, shrugged, and kicked it under the bed. Hoku scoffed. Luca climbed the ladder to his bunk and plopped.

"Bed time then," Hoku muttered, and sat on his bed.

—/—/—

"Hello, Rune. Tomorrow's the big day. You'll be reinstated into society. Are you ready?"

The girl was silent, her clouded eyes fixed on nothing.

"Yes. You're ready. You've been created perfectly. Your group will love you. Don't you worry." He stroked the girl's hair, smiling slightly when she still didn't move.

Little do you know.