Turns out, finding Amisha Jeet was a harder task than Sierra had predicted. The next morning, Sierra had checked not just the library but the great hall, and every goddamn lounge room and still had made no progress on the whereabouts of Amisha.

Catching sight of a certain Italian boy, Sierra races to catch up with him in the hallway. "Alec!"

At the sound of his name being frantically called, he stops mid-step and turns around to see the redhead running up to him.

With furrowed eyebrows, Day leans over and says, "What does she want with you?"

"We're about to find out," Alec replies, as Sierra stops in front of him.

Her face is flushed with colour, and her hair falls around her face, framing it. Her eyes are alert as they fall on Day, before shifting back to Alec. And dare Day think, Sierra Kingsley looks like a stunner – even if she has a tendency to throw people against walls.

"Hey," she starts, her voice coming out a little breathy from her jog. "You're close with Amisha, right?"

Alec lifts his eyebrows, he's not sure anyone could be 'close' with Amisha Jeet. "I mean, we don't stay up and braid each other's hair but I suppose for your intents, yes."

"Uh, okay?" Sierra mutters quizzically, thrown aback by Alec's roundabout way of answering. "Do you know where she would be right now?"

"Not sure, have you checked the lounges?"

"Yeah, do you know what dorm she's in?"

Alec opens his mouth to reply but halts when he realizes that he indeed doesn't know. Amisha Jeet wasn't one to talk about herself. Alec knew that Amisha could probably write an entire book about him, he on the other hand could list on one hand every correct fact he knows about her.

"Uh no, but I know that she's in the same dorm as Claudia Bluebell."

Alec recalls the time when Amisha wouldn't stop going on about how much of a neat freak Claudia is. Apparently, Bluebell had to fight the urge to tidy Amisha's area in their dorm every morning.

"Thank you!" With a grateful smile in Alec's direction, and a hesitant and polite one aimed at Day, she's running off into the opposite direction.

Alec shrugs when he sees the quizzical look on Day's face and turns around to carry on his way to the Great Hall.

"We have training, tomorrow right?"

"Yeah," Day replies, with a groan.

"They're training us too hard, man. I am KOed." Alec pushes through the crowd in the hallway as they enter the Great Hall, which is mainly empty giving them lots of choices for seats. The perks of being half an hour early to dinner.

"Hmm, who do you think is going to get eliminated first?" Day asks, as they take a seat at an empty table for six.

"Probably Aarush. Have you seen the guy? If he would stop tripping over air, maybe he would stand a chance."

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Amisha! Hey!" Sierra greets the girl from the bottom of the stairs that leads to the dorm rooms.

Amisha looks up from her untied shoe laces to the red head in surprise. When she greets her, Amisha's not surprised that it comes out more as a question, "Hey?"

"I actually need a favour."

"Go on," Amisha narrows her eyes but replies, urging the girl to continue.

Sierra glances behind her to the crowded dorm room, and then steps up the stairs. Amisha getting the hint, meets her half way.

"Something is up with the courtyard, and I need your help figuring out, what."

"Uh huh." Amisha nods, crossing her arms. "Why me?"

"Something tells me that you wouldn't mind helping me on this," Sierra replies just as confidently.

For a moment, Amisha says nothing as she looks the Kingsley girl up and down. She's smart, Amisha will admit that but she's not sure if that's street smart too. But as she looks at the redhead standing before her, her stance radiating confidence and power, Amisha knows that there's more to the know-it-all than what meets the eye.

"Fine, I'll meet you at the courtyard after dinner."

"Great! I'll see you then."

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Evening," Principal Cashore greets, as she steps up to the podium. "I'm sure your first two months at Gemini Academy have treated you well. Before I let you all get on with dinner, I have an announcement to make, don't worry it will be short and sharp.

"As you all already know, our candidates for The Revealing have been training relentlessly the past month. Which is why the first task has been set to take place next Friday. There will be no classes next Friday due to this. But the professors advise that the students study during that time."

Lucas resists the urge to scoff at the Principal's last words. As if anyone would spend a day off studying. Well maybe, Sierra. But Sierra doesn't count, it's Sierra.

"The details of the task will be given to the candidates on Friday." Pause. "Now, you may begin your dinner."

Sierra looks down at her plate of food that she was so excited to eat before but has now lost its appeal. Never would she have thought that steak wouldn't excited her. But how could she even think about eating, when The Revealing was in a week? Anything can happen.

And she's not sure what's worse, if she gets eliminated or if she survives.

"I want to get eliminated," Lucas says, as his fork plays around with his mashed potato.

Minerva (who seems to be the only at the table that hasn't lost interest in her food) looks up in surprise.

"How come? Don't you want to be a heir?"

"Do you?" Noah interjects almost accusingly as he looks at Minerva in disbelief, unable to believe her naivety.

Taken aback, Minerva says nothing, her lips opening and closing like a fish.

"That reminds me," Lucas starts. "How come you weren't in the hall when Gwendolyn Highmore was here?"

"What?" Sierra whisper-yells, her eyes glaring into Minerva's.

"I got caught up, okay?" Minerva replied, looking around at nearby tables as if to make sure that no one had heard.

"What on Earth could be more important than the candidate selection?" Sierra asks, looking at Minerva with incredulity.

Minerva sighs with exasperation. "Just drop it, please."

Sierra opens her lips to protest but when her eyes meet Noah's, who shakes his head from across the table, she stops. Noah – almost surprised that she had actually listened to him – lets his lips tip up at the corners.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"How are you planning on doing this?" Amisha asks, as she stands besides Sierra staring up at the statue.

"Not sure, I was hoping you would know."

Sierra smiles sheepishly at the girl next to her.

"Aren't you supposed to be like the smartest witch in our year?"

Sierra turns to look at Amisha in surprise. "Didn't realise I was, actually."

"Well that's pretty dumb, especially for a smart person," Amisha remarks, with a mischievous smile on her face.

Even though Sierra would usually be offended at those words, there's something about Amisha that puts Sierra to ease. So rather than being offended, her eyebrows simply rise in surprise, but a smile still tips up at her lips.

And for some odd reason, the fact that Sierra is able to take her words as a joke, Amisha decides that maybe – just maybe – Sierra Kingsley isn't as uptight as she seems.

"Actually," Amisha says, looking at Sierra from the corner of her eyes. "I have an idea."

Sierra turns to face the Summoner witch in pleasant surprise. However, once she sees Amisha's hands in the back pockets of her ripped black jeans and her bouncing on the heels of her converse shoes, Sierra's eagerness dims and changes to wariness.

"What is it?" Sierra asks, even though she's not quite sure if she's going to like it.

"You're a controller witch. Why don't you go through my memories and see what's being hidden away from me? It could tell us everything we need to know."

"No," Sierra says. Once Amisha raises her eyebrows, looking unconvinced, Sierra adds, "Don't look at me like that, I mean it. No."

"Oh, come on. This could solve everything. All you have to do is move your hand, say a few Latin words and just peer into my brain."

Sierra steps back, shaking her head. "No-no-no, no!"

"Why not? You're a brilliant witch!" Amisha says, trying to reason with the stubborn girl.

"Uhmm, hello? A brilliant witch that isn't exactly in control of her powers!"

"That was a month ago, Sierra. I've seen you the past trainings. You've been doing hella good. What could go wrong?" Amisha replies, her voice growing louder.

"What could go wrong?" Sierra asks, her voice laced in disbelief. "What could go wrong? Well for starters, I could throw you against a wall. Oh, and let's not forget the possibility that I might fuck up and I don't know erase all your memories!"

Amisha's eyes widen seeing the enraged and panicked look on Sierra's face. "But I trust you not to do that."

"I'm honestly flattered that you're trusting me with this, but I can't. I won't be able to live with myself if I fucked up. I'm not in control of my powers, and I can't risk it. Not right now."

Sierra's not sure what she's expecting as a response, but Amisha staring at her blankly without saying a word is not it.

"I'm sorry," Sierra adds, before she turns around and walks away, the sound of her flats hitting the floor following her behind.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Time!" Lucas yells, and instantly Sierra freezes and steps back, her body relaxing. Lucas bends his knees, placing his palm on them and pants heavily.

He looks around the courtyard. Orion looks like he's barely holding up against Noah as the Korean boy fires attack spells one after the other. On the other side, it's almost like Day doesn't need to try as he defends himself against Raylene. And as Lucas watches the two train, he knows that it's not just because Raylene isn't a powerful witch – if anyone said that, they're either delusional or lying – it's just Day's reflexes are fast, and his movements smooth. And Lucas can't help but respect the guy for it.

As his eyes bounce from one training pair to another, it's not the intense duel between Alec and Elijah Grimm that catches his attention nor the determined one between Zoe and Claudia, but instead his eyes stop on Amisha and Aarush. They aren't dueling, in fact Amisha looks like she's helping Aarush. By the looks of it, it's actually having an effect.

It shouldn't have surprised him as much as he did. He knows that Amisha's a chill person, but he also knows she's a force to reckon with. She's the kind of person that can kill you with her stare, which is why it catches him off guard when he sees her be so nice to Aarush.

In the past month that Lucas has been training with the candidates, one thing has become clear, they're all very skilled. Regardless of whether they were practicing with magic or hand-to-hand combat. Lucas remembers their first day practicing without magic, Sierra had taken an entire session to learn how to fall correctly so she could get back up without getting hurt.

"You know, you've improved a lot since our first training session. I'm guessing all those after classes with Bane are paying off," Sierra says, as she gulps down water from her blue water bottle.

"Thanks. He's pretty cool, you know," Lucas replies, straightening up and wiping the sweat off his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"You look up to him, don't you?" Sierra asks, knowingly.

"Yeah," Lucas says, turning to look in the direction of the said Professor as he chatted away with Professor Morlen. He doesn't know if he's really predictable and easy to read or if Sierra's just too observant for her own good. "He's really good at what he does."

Sierra nods in understanding. As she sneaks a glance at Lucas, she wonders if it's time that she should stop avoiding him.

"I'm sorry, by the way."

"For?" Lucas says, shifting his eyes back to her.

"For throwing you against the wall, I really didn't mean to. I'm not sure what happened to me," Sierra replies, her eyes glued onto her one and only pair of high tops.

"I know, it wasn't your fault, Sierra."

Sierra finally peels her eyes away from her shoes and looks up at Lucas to find that he's already looking at her. Slowly, a grateful smile sneaks its way onto her face.

"Does this mean that you'll stop avoiding me like the plague now?" Lucas asks, his voice conveying his amusement but with sincerity obvious in his eyes.

Sierra laughs, her hand instinctively rising to hide her lips as she does so.

"Yeah, it does."

"Good, 'cause I need your help in Magical Arts."