Kenny could barely sit still in her seat as her pre-calculus professor reviewed how to solve logarithmic functions with her classmates. Her gaze flicked between the clock and her textbook. She had finished the work Mr. Roberto had assigned her and was more than halfway done with the equations she was given to complete for homework. She had only been able to get that far when she realized that, rather than P.E, she had Training as her fourth period course today.

It was Kenny's second day as a student and third day as a resident of AGC, and the young girl was already counting down the days until winter break. Earlier that morning, she had woken up late, for she had forgotten to set an alarm and none of her roommates had roused her. Then, disheveled, Kenny had to sprint to her Orchestra class before she was marked tardy, skipping breakfast in the process. Orchestra with Mr. Old as Time was a headache all in itself, especially because of Kenny's inability to read music notes and play her instrument correctly. After that, she'd had a physics exam which she had forgotten to study for and now, she was in pre-calculus.

Pre-calc seemed to be going well so far. Kenny's classmates were coming to an end of unit one in their textbooks as she started the first lesson of unit three. It wasn't because she was ahead of class (though that was part of the reason); it was because she simply had less time in this class than her fellow students. Not only was she only in pre-calculus for only a semester, but that semester was quickly coming to an end. Unless she mastered basic pre-calculus topics and passed a final exam in a month, she would have to continue to take the class next semester and wait until next year to be in calculus. Kenny knew that was the better option, but at the same time, she didn't want to have to wait to take a calculus course. Even though she was intelligent, Kenny still had the patience of a six-year-old.

The young girl was contemplating which option was best for her when the bell pinged from overhead. The students around her packed up their things and hurriedly shuffled to their upcoming classes. Kenny got up from her chair and walked to Mr. Roberto's desk. Her teacher was scanning through the files in his drawer, plucking a few seemingly at random. After a minute or so, he looked up at Kenny, almost shocked to find her standing at his desk.

"Oh! Do you need anything?" he asked, smiling.

Kenny stared at him in response. She had been too jumpy about having her first Training class to figure out how she was going to ask Mr. Roberto if she needed to change seats.

"Wait...are you in my Ability Training class? With Einstein?"

The young girl nodded.

"Splendid! You can sit wherever you'd like. Einstein usually sits in the far back, and I usually sit at my desk. Anywhere else is open." The man laughed even though he hadn't made much of a joke and went back to his file hunt.

Kenny returned to her seat as Einstein entered the classroom. He shouldered a cello that dwarfed the young girl's violin in size on his back, and his backpack dragged along the floor as he carried it beside him.

"Hello, Mr. Roberto," he greeted politely. He paused when he noticed Kenny, but soon smirked and not so politely added, "And you're here, Hawking."

Kenny didn't meet they boy's gaze as she dropped her pre-calculus textbook and papers into the backpack beside her. She waited for him to walk to his desk, but rather than sit in the back like the young girl had expected him to, Einstein seated himself in the chair right next to Kenny's.

The bell pinged a few moments after Mr. Roberto had stood up from his desk and begun walking towards Kenny and Einstein. He placed a file and a calculator on each of the students' desks and told them, "These are relatively simple problems. I'll give you until about twenty after to finish them, and then I'll show you the answers. You may help each other if you'd like, but you're both solving two different problems. Don't forget to show your work."

Einstein opened his file and began to read the first page inside the packet. Kenny looked down at her own file. The AGC crest was stamped on the front along with the words 196-Algorithm. She opened the small packet and began to read through the pages. Once she felt she understood the concept described, she turned to the last page in the file. Kenny breathed a sigh of relief when she realized there was only one question.

The question asked, Out of the numbers 295, 394, 493, and 196 which (if any) are lychrel numbers? It only took about fifteen minutes before Kenny managed to find an answer. Einstein had already finished by time she was done, and he muttered, "Finally, you're done. You took your time."

Kenny blushed as she collected her papers. Mr. Roberto, seeing that the two were finished with their problems, came forward.

"Alright then! I'll check your answers and then we'll move on."

Mr. Roberto looked over Einstein's problem first. From a quick glimpse at his papers, Kenny could tell he had been attempting to balance a chemistry equation. The young girl didn't know much about the subject, but she knew enough to see that Einstein had made a mistake somewhere inside of his work. His answer wasn't correct.

"I see where you messed up, and if you look it over, you'll see it too." Mr. Roberto turned to Kenny. " Let's see if you can do better, Hawking."

Kenny frowned at the usage of her recently developed nickname and looked down at her work. She had taken up several more pages than Einstein had to finish her problem and was afraid it would take Mr. Roberto quite a bit of time to check her proof for any mistakes. However, after a brief moment, the man stood up straight and took Kenny's file and papers from her desk.

Mr. Roberto reviewed the girl's papers silently. He seemed to be frozen in place as he looked over her work, nothing but his eyes moving over the file. Kenny, afraid she had done something wrong, began to tap her foot on the floor anxiously.

After a moment, the teacher's eyes snapped from the pages in his hand to Kenny's face. Then he closed the file, turned on one heel, and walked back towards his desk. "We'll review this on Thursday. In the meanwhile, let's solve some more problems."

***

After Kenny's first Training class, the young girl's day was reasonably brightened. She ate lunch with Fins and Clay, as Color was on Kitchen Duty. After that, Miss Lin only assigned another chapter for the class to read which gave Kenny more time to work on the stack of papers she had received the day before. During the young girl's therapy session, Miss Page hadn't asked the young girl any questions that she would be uncomfortable answering. Then, finally, she colored a picture of the president while listening to Clay talk about his previous classes in social studies.

When the bell rang at the end of the young girl's seventh period class, she'd headed straight for the library to finish her homework. She managed to get her pre-calc and physics homework done and was getting closer to completing Miss Lin's stack. Rather than going to dinner, Kenny bought herself something to eat from the vending machine down the hallway then came back to the library to continue her work. When she came back into the room, she noticed that Miss Gavin had left the library, most likely to visit the Dining Hall for a meal. However, as minutes ticked past and dinner ended, Kenny realized that Miss Gavin wasn't coming back to the room.

That's odd, the young girl thought, frowning. As she looked around the room, she noticed that everyone else had gone. Kenny was the only one there. She uneasily finished a few more questions on the assignment she was currently working on before deciding to head to her dorm room.

Kenny packed up her things and made her way to the Girls' Dormitories. She quickly hurried to her room, setting her backpack down by her bed, and ran to the restroom for a short shower before her 9:00 curfew. She was almost at the bathroom door, towel, soap, and pajamas in hand, when she unexpectedly bumped into Tellie.

"Oh, hi, Kenny!" Tellie greeted. "Or would you prefer if I called you Hawking?"

Hawking in public, please, Kenny thought repeatedly.

Tellie got the message after several silent moments. "Oh! Alright. It's just that you call yourself Kenny in your head, so I wasn't sure."

To what extent can you read my mind, Tellie? Kenny asked, hoping the girl before her knew what "extent" meant. Just in case she did not, Kenny thought of the definition of the word while Tellie examined her thoughts.

"I can only read what you're thinking now. I can't look at any of your memories unless you're thinking about them. But you already know that, and that's why you don't like to bring up yesterday's Orchestra class around me." Tellie giggled, and Kenny flushed in embarrassment.

The young girl had forgotten how insensitive children her own age were.

Tellie, Kenny thought, attempting to change the subject to something other than herself, what kind of Gifts do the people here have?

"Well, a lot of people are telepaths, like me," the six-year-old started, slowly continuing to walk to the bathroom as she did so. "One of my friends can change into animals. There are two twins named Fast and Quick, and they both have Gifts that allow them to move faster than other people. But the really cool Gifts belong to the A groupers. Electra can do whatever she wants with electricity, Blaze can create fire from nothing, Rain change the weather, and Metal can bend little metal things without touching them!"

Then Tellie leaned in close to Kenny and whispered, "And Gene, he can change people."

What do you mean by that? Kenny demanded.

"I mean he changes that little thing in your body--what's it called? I can't remember-- but it's smaller than a cell and it makes someone the way they are. He can change it so that if someone has brown eyes that they don't want, they can have blue eyes."

He changes their DNA? Kenny's heart seemed to flip inside her chest.

"Yeah! You got it!"

By now, the two girls had made their way into the bathroom. The room was filled mostly with girls from the ages of four to eleven, as the younger children's curfews were coming soon. A few personal aides stood around the room, helping children who were too young to care for their own hygiene. However, many had already taken showers, so Kenny had no trouble finding an empty stall to use.

Kenny stepped into the shower, closed the curtain, and undressed. She pulled the faucet and cold water spurted from the shower head. She jumped, quickly turning the handle of the faucet so the water would be able to begin to heat to a more comfortable temperature. Once Kenny found the water to be bearable, she stepped under the shower head and let it run over her.

Kenny scrubbed herself clean of any dirt. Emily had shown the young girl how to wash and dry her hair before she left for school, and she followed the steps precisely. After she had turned the pipe off and dried herself, she put her pajamas on. Tellie was waiting for Kenny when she stepped out of the shower compartment.

"There you are! We have to hurry to bed soon."

The two girls ran down the hallway, Kenny falling behind Tellie the majority of the time, and entered their room at exactly eight fifty-eight. Kenny dropped her uniform into the laundry hamper and placed her toiletries into her closet. She hurried to her bed and laid down just as Metal turned the lights off. The bell pinged for a moment before quieting.

"Goodnight everyone!" Tellie whispered.

Kenny closed her eyes for a moment, and suddenly, she was asleep and dreaming about the Darkness. The dream had come too quick for the young girl to realize what was happening until it was too late. It was starting.

Kenny was standing in front of a painting. On one side of the canvas, black and purple swirls enveloped each other in an inky black. On the other side, yellow and white came together to create an almost blinding light. Whispers seemed to come from all around the girl, some telling her to touch the white side of the canvas while others ordered her to touch the black swirls. The longer Kenny took to think, the louder the whispers became until she could hear nothing but the angry voices crescendoing in a violent song, and she was suddenly pitched headfirst into the black swirls. A loud thump sounded, and the whispers ceased as the Darkness engulfed the young girl. This Darkness wasn't as suffocating as the one that regularly took over her when she was awake, so Kenny had time to think as she was surrounded by the black.

The young girl wondered what had made that thumping noise she had heard before. Had something fallen in the dream? But what would make that kind of thump? A chair, perhaps? Maybe the painting she had seen earlier?

However, before she could infer what had fallen, Kenny was awakened. The dream had finally lost its grip on the young girl. She sat up and squinted at the clock on Metal's desk. The screen read 2:14 a.m.

Kenny yawned and was about to lay back down when she realized something was wrong. Her brows furrowed as she looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dark. Metal was snoring softly in her bed...that was one person. Jump's arm hung down from the bed over Kenny's head...two. Kenny was three. There were only three people in the room.

Which meant Tellie was gone.