Within a week, Cassie was perfectly content with her surroundings. Heck, she'd even memorized her school schedule by the end of the first week. It was less time than that before Jazz showed Cassie how to best to talk with Joshua.

The Specialties Project was becoming the routine, a new reality for Cassie. Not that she minded. Jazz continued to do as she promised, hiding that she knew anything about Joshua. Em made sure that each of the new twelve-year-olds that funneled in met both Brie and Cassie.

Rose and Skye continued to hang out with the younger kids, and so did Eve. Cassie wasn't sure why the teens wanted to spend their time with a pair of sixth graders and a ten-year-old. Still, she appreciated the dry humor and sarcasm that Skye brought. It was going well.

Plus, Cassie felt like she was actually doing really well at something for a change. She had never been bad at schoolwork. That is to say, she got decent grades. Using her specialty, though, was a whole new level. Even though the girl didn't get much or really anything right on the first shot, learning this gave her a thrill that was a hundred times better than figuring out a new way to solve a math problem.

The steady beat of the project was why Cassie stopped thinking about leaving after a while. It also why Cassie was surprised at what Joshua said to her on the seventeenth night that they talked with one another. It was almost three weeks since Cassie had arrived at the Specialties Project.

Cassie. I'm going to leave tomorrow, Joshua told his sister. He broke into the middle of Cassie reteaching one of Jazz's lessons.

Cassie stopped explaining and paused. Leave what? Your counterpart's house? Why? Joshua hadn't voiced any complaints to Cassie about Philip. She wasn't sure why he would be leaving so soon. After all, most kids stayed with their counterpart for at least a month, and Joshua wasn't quite that far yet.

Yeah. The thing is that for one thing, I'm not all that like Philip anyway. The whole CP thing just isn't working for me. Joshua said, and Cassie tilted her head. So far, it was reasonable. Plus, I have to run. I'm still not too keen on getting dragged in to that Project place of yours, and-

Cassie cut him off. Josh, it's not that bad here. I like it. There are tons of really nice people and training is fun. But why are you worried about coming here? They don't even know about you.

There was a pause. Cassie frowned. It wasn't like Joshua to be uncertain of himself, but he seemed hesitant nonetheless.

I think that Philip might have dug a little deeper into who I am. I don't know why, but I know that a lot of older CPs try to get more info so they can help us better.

The thing is that he's getting way too deep. They're close to figuring out about me being your twin, Cass. I found a voicemail for him earlier today that said that they would 'double check all of Joshua's records'. They're going to find me out.

Cassie asked, Where will you go? She knew that her brother wouldn't be foolish enough to try for the Gilligan's house. That would be the very first place that someone would look if they were trying to find him.

Well, you're forever away so I'm thinking about Rachel's place. Not her family's house, her CP's. There's no chance that she's going to leave that animal trainer's place for at least a month and a half.

Cassie nodded, though she knew that Joshua couldn't see her. Be careful, Joshua. I think that you're just digging for trouble. Still, you can help me talk to Rachel. I haven't been able to talk to her over the link. Can't try out that step yet. Jazz won't let me.

That was a lie, partially. Cassie had tried to talk to Rachel over the psychic link. It was against Jazz's orders, but she had tried anyway. Cassie had failed to actually get a message to her friend, though, so the attempt had proved fruitless. Either way, if Joshua was planning on meeting up with Rachel, then he could explain what was going on to the other girl.

I just wanted to tell you, so that you would know what's going on. Cassie appreciated this sentiment from her twin. She certainly would be upset if Joshua hadn't told her about the trip. No one knows about my power anyway, so I'm pretty much safe.

Joshua was thoroughly convinced of his safety because of the fact that he was not part of the project. Even after Cassie had explained twice over about the Normal Initiative, he had just said "yeah, but they don't know about me".

A small part of Cassie wanted this to be wrong. Not to place her brother in danger, but so that he would have a reason to come to the project with her.

Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow. I might try to talk to you during the day, actually. Right before I leave, you know? I have an idea for how to jack one of the automatic cars, but... well, I might need a bit of encouragement. Cassie rolled her eyes at this. Great, now Joshua was relying on her to urge him through something almost certainly illegal.

Hold up, I'm not encouraging anything. I still think what you're doing is a bad idea. Just come here to the project! Cassie knew that Joshua would not be doing anything of the sort. He was stubborn, and genuinely thought he was better off outside of the project. Well, goodnight, I guess. Don't get yourself killed.

Gee, thanks. Goodnight, Cass.

Now trained so she did not have to speak out loud to communicate psychically, and Jazz knowing about the midnight chat sessions, Cassie could stay in her bunk to talk with Joshua. So, she rolled over and hugged her pillow when she disconnected the link. Cassie was still curious about one thing, but she decided to ask Jazz in the morning. Her mentor would be royally pissed if she woke her up in the middle of the night.

Joshua had said that Cassie was far away from him. She could sense that about him as well, but hadn't brought it up to her twin. He wouldn't know anything more about it than her, anyway. Jazz, on the other hand, would likely be able to tell her something about the feeling. Was that another side effect to talking to someone psychically? That you could tell whether they were near or far? And were there levels to that, too?

Cassie hoped not, because the whole level deal was steadily irritating her every single day. Though Cassie understood the basis for the system, she still wanted to bash every one of the steps into a single, all-encompassing super level. Jazz wouldn't let that fly, though.

Though Cassie was anxiously wondering what Joshua's idea was for traveling, she still was able to doze off in record time. Experience had taught her that PE and specialties training took more energy here than school ever had before, back in the city. Being tired was annoying at best in those two periods. So, Cassie was glad to feel relatively rested when Jazz poked her from consciousness in the morning.

"I'm going to run downstairs for a while before class starts, 'kay?" Jazz didn't wait for an answer as she backed away from Cassie and paused at the door. "Don't fall back asleep and miss training, because I will not cover for you a second time to Miss Benn."

With that, the older girl left the room. Cassie blushed slightly. She had a feeling her mentor would never let her live down the fact that during the second week of school Cassie had failed to show up for specialties training. It also happened to be that she missed on the day that Miss Benn came to check on how Cassie was doing.

Jazz had covered for her, saying that she had sent the younger girl up to her room to get something. Then she had run up to where Cassie was still completely asleep and roused the other girl. It had taken them a record-short time of around two minutes to get Cassie back down to the classroom. Miss Benn had looked at the sleepy girl oddly, but Cassie didn't get in trouble for missing class.

It was silly, Cassie thought as she got ready for school, that the punishment for missing class was not being allowed to go to class. Still, it made sense in relation to the specialties courses. Cassie didn't know a single Specialty that would miss their training on purpose; even she had only ever missed because of oversleeping.

"Ah! Sorry, Cassie!" Brie ran straight into Cassie, colliding with her, when Cassie stepped out of her room into the hallway. "I'm going to go say hi to the new kids that showed up yesterday, you coming?"

Cassie nodded, then paused and nodded again. "Well, yeah, but I have to go brush my teeth first. I'll be down in just a minute." Then Cassie rushed off to the bathroom, not taking her backpack off as she brushed her teeth and got ready.

Cassie was glad that Brie had started to open up after spending more time around the others. Not that Brie had been avoiding the others before, but Cassie loved having people around her that were at least close to as impulsive as her brother. Cassie wasn't that impulsive, but she liked being surrounded by the energy. That's why she loved hanging out with Rachel and Joshua-they both were highly energetic. With them gone for the moment, Cassie had to find other people to talk with.

Narrowly avoiding knocking into more people, Cassie ran back to her room and threw her toothbrush and tooth paste onto her bed. Then she rocketed through the hallway and down to where Brie was waiting on the first floor.

"In a rush, Cassie?" Brie asked.

Cassie laughed and shrugged. "This is the last incoming group for this year, right? I think that's what Em said. She's usually right about that sort of thing," Cassie told her.

The incoming Specialties, a total of three, came down separately. It was easy to tell who they were because of their age and the looks on their faces. All of them were sixth graders, just like Cassie and Brie, and all of them looked more than slightly bewildered at the room surrounding them. At least they had their mentors guiding them.

A girl with dyed, vibrant blue hair was led down by a young woman who Cassie recognized as the leader of the suggestion Specialties. Immediately, Cassie looked around for Gene, the girl she had met during PE. She knew that it was custom to congratulate the members of whatever specialty got a new member on the addition. But Gene was already there, talking to the new girl and drawing a slight smile from her.

Most of the members of the suggestion group weren't incredible people-persons. This was because they were constantly (whether accidentally or purposefully) getting the person they were talking with to do something that they might not wish to. Cassie and Jazz, however, were an exception to that rule. A bonus of the psychic power was that they could learn to resist the suggestions from Gene's group, which Jazz had taught Cassie during her second week.

The little extra tricks that came with the psychic abilities were almost as fun as the actual power. Well, maybe not almost, but they were neat. Once again, Cassie wondered if there was something with the specialty that allowed them to sense where someone was. She would definitely ask Jazz about it, at the risk of looking like an idiot if there was no such thing.

The other new kids were two boys-one Vietnamese boy who was a flying Specialty, and the other a white brunette with a power that allowed him to pass through solid objects. At the moment, the second boy was just about as solid as anyone else, but the teen in charge of his room promised that the specialty would come with time.

Given that all of the newbies had plenty of people in their specialty groups, Cassie decided to let them get to know their bunkmates for a while. There would be plenty of time later to say hi. Brie must have thought similarly, for she followed after her friend when Cassie went to grab breakfast.

"Do you think that we get summer vacation here?" Brie asked, looking up at the silver ceiling, stories above them. "I know that Rose and Skye were talking about how they take us out to the grass above to play when it's not winter, but do you think we still have classes?"

Cassie hummed. "Probably we still have specialties classes, I think those are all year round. I mean minus weekends, duh. But probably not the rest of the classes. They're teaching the same stuff that they would at any other school, so there's probably a break. Why?"

"Oh, just wondering," Brie mused. Cassie grinned in response, now hoping that they would get the summer break that they were used to. During the weekends, the Specialties were free to head outdoors during the daytime and play in the sun outside. They were told not to use their powers if they were noticeable. (They frowned on kids flying yards above the building, in the off-chance someone might see them.)

During the school week, however, they were only brought out to the fields of grass above for PE every once in a while. It made relative sense, Cassie had decided, that they were kept hidden. That didn't mean that she was keen on being cooped up inside all year round, no matter how expansive the facility was. Having several months off to just run around outside would be awesome. Mentally, Cassie added this to the list of things which she would need to ask Jazz about.

With a quick change of subject, Cassie asked, "So, can you go full invisible yet?"

Brie smiled excitedly. "Better!" she exclaimed. "Watch my hair." Then she closed her eyes.

Over the course of ten or so seconds, the girl's normally sleek black hair changed into a puff of lighter brown locks. Then it grew a few inches, only to shrink back down to its normal length. Brie opened her eyes and grinned. Cassie half-smiled.

"What's wrong, Cassie?"

Cassie shook her head, knowing that it was stupid to be sad about her friend's hair. Just because it looked similar to the style that Rachel wore was a dumb reason to not like it. Still, she couldn't stop herself from saying, "That's cool, Brie. I think I like your normal hair better, though. Or maybe try a pixie cut. It might suit you pretty well."

Brie giggled and closed her eyes again, and her hair returned to the smooth and dark cut that it had been in. Then it cropped up into a short hairdo, the bangs hanging just a fraction of an inch above her eyes. "Like this?"

Cassie nodded. Perfect.

As she always did when Cassie spoke psychically to her, Brie jumped slightly. "Why do you always do that? I mean, I know why you do that. I mean... never mind. I have to get used to it. Otherwise, we'll never be able to talk between classes or whatever once you can do long-distance."

Cassie had vented to her friend about the frustrations of not being able to move on to the next level of her training many times. Brie had just listened before smiling and telling her to be patient. When any of the teachers had told her that, Cassie wanted to go sulk in her room, but Brie made it work.

"Oh, class time." Brie jumped up from her seat and ran past Cassie, giving her a half-hug as she did so. "Talk to you after school!"

"Well, I'll talk to you at lunch! I don't know what you're talking about!" Cassie called after her, laughing.

After almost a month, Brie still was not accustomed to eating lunch was everyone. The public schools had all taken to keeping students in their classrooms to eat, as it allowed for a quicker lunchtime. No one had really complained because it meant getting home sooner, but it took a bit to get adjusted to a joint lunchtime.

Cassie grabbed her things and hurried off to her first class. She dropped her trash into a bin as she went, arriving in the room a few seconds before class would officially start. Jazz was messing on the computer at the front of the room, which she had been given use of for Cassie's class. It allowed her to talk with the psychics from the other facilities-almost every country had one. Some clusters of smaller countries had one to share, but for the most part, there was one for each nation.

"Ready to start?" Jazz asked, powering down the computer and hopping over the desk. Mr. Fink glared at her warningly as she did so, but didn't say anything. He did as he always did-grading papers and generally ignoring the girls unless there was some need to intervene.

Cassie said, "Sure. But I have a couple questions, first, if that's alright?"

Jazz nodded and shrugged. "Go ahead, shoot. But if they aren't relevant, Mr. Grumpy might get mad that I'm wasting class time."

Mr. Fink didn't even look up, just sighing and shaking his head at his papers. The teachers were used to Jazz's personality and rarely called her on snarky remarks. Cassie thought they might even be quite fond of her. She certainly made the day less boring.

"I mean, they have to do with the Specialties Project, so yeah... Anyway, I was wondering if we got a summer break here? Like, to go up to the grass above and play for a couple months?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, it starts in like three of four more weeks. Right after the older kids' final exams."

Okay, awesome. Cassie filed away the answer so she could deliver the good news to Brie during lunch. They could have asked one of the others, like Rose or Eve (probably not Skye, for she would likely give a sarcastic half-truth answer). Jazz was the most reliable source, though. Time for the second question.

"Also, I was wondering." Cassie clasped her hands and glanced to the corner of the room for a second. "You know how there's some things that we can do that aren't part of the main psychic stuff? Like how Gene and her friends' specialty don't work well on us?"

Jazz nodded slowly, with an expression that Cassie read as 'no, duh, I taught you that'. "Okay, so I was wondering if there was something that we could tell where someone was. Be able to know how far away and stuff, without them actually telling us? Like, sense it sorta."

"You can do that?" Jazz asked, with an eyebrow raised. She looked absolutely shocked. Cassie blanched, suddenly worried that this was something she was not supposed to be able to do.

But she nodded anyway.