Word count: 4160

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Pogo—an advanced chimpanzee who could talk, much to Elizabeth's dismay, and Reginald's assistant—gathered all of the students after breakfast before they could scurry off towards their own room. 

"Now, we need someone to show Miss Elizabeth around the house," Pogo began as he looked around at the students. "Would anyone like to volunteer?"

"Would we get to miss training and class?" Klaus questioned hopefully.

"Well . . ." Pogo thought for a moment, his lips pursed before he gave a curt nod. "Perhaps we can have two guides. One will show her around during the time of training, and the other can explain how things work at the Academy during your first class. Then, Miss Elizabeth can join the rest of you during the second and third class. Now, who would like to help?"

All seven hands shot up in the air; everyone obviously wanted to miss out on their training and schooling.

"Hm," Pogo chuckled as his eyes roamed from face to face, inspecting them carefully. "Let me see . . . Master Diego, you can show her around, and . . . Master Five, you can introduce her to the Academy's schedule."

Grins grew onto the two boys' faces as the others pouted, clearly upset that they'd have to proceed with their day as normal.

"Follow me, uh . . ." Diego squinted his eyes. "What's your name, again?" 

Her fingers nervously fumbled with each other behind her back as she answered, "Elizabeth."

"Right. C'mon, Elizabeth" —he gestured for her to follow him as he walked out of the dining room— "let—let's start at the top and make our way down."

Elizabeth nodded as she followed him up the few sets of staircases until they reached the floor that her bedroom was on.

"R-right, so, that's Ben's room." Diego gestured to a white door that stood opposite to hers and then gestured to the door next to hers. "That's Five's room. And then, obviously, you know your own room. Th-there's really only one other room here, and that's the attic."

He then brought her down to the second floor, where he pointed to each door as they passed them. "That's mine. That's Klaus'. That's Vanya's. That's Luther's. That's Allison's."

Elizabeth noticed the small posters that were hung in a horizontal line across the wall opposite the doors. They had cartoon pictures of children doing various combat moves, with instructions on how to fight. She thought they were quite . . . interesting?

As they came around to the left side of the floor, Elizabeth admired the many paintings that decorated the wall. Many of them were scenery: parks, oceans, bright cities . . . A million adventures on just one wall. A few chairs sat in the middle of the narrow hall, circled by their backs.

Diego gestured towards the group of chairs as he told her, "This—this is where Mom recharges."

"Where she . . . what?" Elizabeth questioned, folding her arms as she looked down at the chairs.

"Recharges. She's a . . . robot," Diego answered as he looked down at the group of chairs, his eyes flitting from one to the next. "D-dad made her so that she could help around the house and ta-take care of us."

Elizabeth stared at him for a moment before shrugging. Somehow, this wasn't the craziest thing that she's discovered. "Oh. Okay."

The two walked down the staircase and reached the main floor, where they had been a mere fifteen minutes before. 

"Mom's kitchen is that way" —Diego pointed towards the left— "and Dad's office is there." He pointed towards the room that was hidden behind the dining room before turning to Elizabeth, a serious look on his face. "Don't ever go in there unless you're specif—specifically asked to."

"Why?" She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked towards the room, whose doors were shut.

"You'll get in trouble," he said darkly before setting off towards the staircase that led to the basement, gesturing for her to follow him.

The first room that they entered was the one that she had first seen the night before—a kitchen. A long, wooden dining table sat in the middle, accompanying the kitchenware that was pushed against the wall. At the end of the room were a foosball table and a couple of couches that rested next to a few glass fridges.

"Thi-this is the other kitchen." Diego then pointed towards a room to their left. "That's where Pogo's room is. Anyway, that's pretty much it. The rest of the rooms down here are uti—utility stuff, so you won't need to go in or anything."

"Cool." She nodded as she looked around before turning to him with a small grin. "I hope I don't get lost."

"You'll probably be fine," Diego reassured her as he waved a dismissive hand. "Anyway, that was the house. Five will probably show you the other half, I don't feel like going there."

"Other half?"

"Yeah, this is only half of the building com-complex. The other half is where we do our training and school stuff," Diego explained as the two of them headed back up the stairs.

"Got it." She nodded as they reached the main landing. She clasped her hands behind her back, pressing her lips together as she looked around before asking, "So . . . what now?"

"Well, it's been like . . . forty minutes." He checked his watch, squinting his eyes at the minute hand as he leaned back against the railing. "But there's still, like, two hours until lunch, and I don't really feel like training. I guess I can show you my room if you want?"

She grinned. "Sure."

Both of them headed back onto the second floor and into Diego's room. It was a little smaller than Elizabeth's, and the sides of the room were stuffed with a bookshelf that was overflowing with books, a desk, and a dresser. 

The blue-and-white checkered pattern on his curtains matched the covers of the bed that sat right under the tall window. A dartboard rested on the wall, just above the bookshelf, the three darts all poking into the centre of the board.

"Whoa, I like your room," Elizabeth said as she spun on her heel, examining each object and piece of furniture that decorated the space. "It's nice."

"Thanks." Diego's cheeks were slightly pink as he sat down on the edge of his bed. "So . . . what are your powers?"

"Oh, uh . . . Mr. Har—uh, Dad said that it was psychic energy manipulation," she answered with a shrug.

"Like those fortune tellers?"

She giggled as she shook her head. "That's what I thought at first. No, psychic just meaning mental, so the energy comes from my mind, I guess?"

"Can you show me?" he questioned, folding his arms.

"Uh . . ." Elizabeth scrunched her face as she looked down at her hands that were clasped together. "Well, right now, I really only know how to blow stuff up."

"And that's a bad thing?" He nudged her, and he grinned as he got up. He walked over to his dresser and grabbed a yellow, plastic ball. "Here, I'll toss this in the air, and you blow it up."

"Are you sure?" she asked as she furrowed her eyebrows, eyeing the ball with worry. "It might be dangerous."

"It'll be fine, I wanna see." His grin only grew wider with excitement as he turned the ball over in his hands. "Okay. Three . . . two . . . one!"

He threw the ball up into the air, and with narrowed eyes, Elizabeth pushed her hand towards it. A jet of gold burst from her hand, soon reaching the ball, which then ruptured into pieces that floated to the ground.

Diego was staring at her, wide-eyed as he processed what had just happened. "Whoa, you—and your eyes—and—"

"Yeah, they do that." She shrugged.

"That's so cool," Diego breathed out. "Better than anyone else's powers here. Other than mine, of course." He gave her a cocky grin that was accompanied by a wink.

"Speaking of the others, what are they like? Give me the full run-down." She smiled as she sat down on Diego's bed, sinking into the comfortable mattress and patting the empty space next to her. "Are they all nice?"

"Yeah, I guess. Well, Luther can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, and Five is a little asshole, but other than that, yeah, I guess so." Diego shrugged as he sat down next to her. "But I'll start with Luther. The skinny stick of a guy somehow has super strength but no muscles. He's Number One, which means he's the leader of the group, which means he's extra full of himself."

Elizabeth nodded before furrowing her eyebrows. "By the way, what's up with the number thing?"

"When we were younger, Dad ranked us by how useful our powers were and how strong we were," Diego explained. "Number One is the best, Number Seven is the worst."

"Oh. That's" —she crinkled her nose— "stupid. Anyway, continue."

"Well, Number Two is me, and I'm the best, that's all you need to know." He gave her another sly smile and wink that made her giggle. "Then Allison is Number Three. She's all right, but she can be a little nar-narcis—narcissistic."

"She's narcissistic?" Elizabeth laughed as she raised her eyebrows. "Then what are you?"

He scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"You just told me that you were the best," she pointed out with a chuckle. "And you also told me that my powers were better than anyone's except yours."

"It's different when it's a fact." He winked once more. "Anyway, Number Four is Klaus. He's a little wonky, but he's funny. Definitely annoying. He'll come bother you whenever he wants to. Then, Number Five. His name's just Five."

"Why?"

"I don't know, when we got our actual names, Five didn't want to have one," he answered with a shrug. "But he thinks he's better than all of us, that little shit. He does that jum-jumping thing all the time, so get ready to be scared. Also, if he says anything mean to you, don't take it to heart, he's just joking." He paused. "Probably."

"Great," Elizabeth mumbled, "I'm so excited for him to be my next guide."

"Ah, you'll be fine. Just threaten to blow him up." He grinned as he waved a dismissive hand. "Six is Ben. He's a little quiet, but absolutely ter-terif—terrifying with the ten-tentacle shit. I'm sure you'll get along. Then, Vanya is Number Seven, but she's completely worthless. She doesn't have any powers, so she's not really like us . . . ."

"I mean, even without powers, she's still a person," Elizabeth pointed out with a frown. "And a part of your family."

"Our family," Diego corrected with a small smile. "You're a part of us now, remember?"

"Right. Still need to get used to having a whole different family." Elizabeth nodded, sighing as she raked a hand through her hair.

The two of them spent the next hour and a half talking about a multitude of things: Elizabeth's life before coming to the Academy, Diego's life at the Academy, Diego trying to convince her to blow more things up . . .

When Diego's clock showed that it was half past eleven, he beckoned for Elizabeth to follow him back down to the dining room.

After lunch had finished, Diego gave a small wave of goodbye and Five gestured for her to go up the stairs with him. "We can just go to my room."

"Okay." She shrugged as the two began to ascend the staircase. She was a bit nervous; Diego hadn't exactly given a glowing review about this boy.

"Did Diego give you an intricate tour of the house?" Five raised an eyebrow as they headed down the third floor. "It seemed to take up the full three hours of training."

"Well" —she squinted her eyes— "he spent like an hour showing me the house."

"What did you do for the last two hours?" he questioned with tightly knit eyebrows, glancing back at her as they reached the landing of the third floor.

She shrugged. "We just went to his room and talked."

"Huh." Five narrowed his eyes as he opened the door to his room, letting her come in before stepping in himself and closing the door behind them.

His room was of comparable size to hers, with a single bed that was pushed against the furthest wall. His curtains and covers were a dark blue, and a sofa chair of similar colour sat at the side of the bed. 

A tall dresser rested on the left of the door, and he had much fewer books than Diego did, only having a tiny bookcase next to his bed. A desk was pushed against the wall to their left, covered in notebooks and textbooks.

"Here." Five motioned her over to his desk, where he ripped a paper out of one of his notebooks. He picked up a pencil with his left hand, scrawling down the schedule before handing it to her. "Those longer time gaps are so we have enough time to go over to the complex, change, and also grab our books."

7:30 - 8:00 = breakfast
8:10 - 11:10 = training together
11:30 - 12:00 = lunch
12:10 - 1:40 = 1st class
1:50 - 3:20 = 2nd class
3:30 - 3:40 = snack
3:40 - 5:10 = 3rd class
5:20 - 6:40 = individual training
6:50 - 7:20 = dinner
7:30 - 10:30 = individual study (homework and shit)
10:30 = get ready for bed
11:00 = lights out

"Your life is about to get real busy," Five sighed as she looked over it. "Now, rules: Don't talk during meals, the only time we're allowed free time for fun is on Saturdays between noon and half-past noon, always wear your uniform properly, listen to Mom and Dad and Pogo, and lastly, don't fuck shit up."

"Got it." Elizabeth nodded, a slightly amused smile on her face as she folded the paper and tucked it into the pocket of her blazer.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." He shrugged before glancing over at the clock, and a small grin grew on his face. "Damn, we did it faster than Diego did, this only took ten minutes. Suck it, Diego."

"Not really sure if that's a good thing."

"Eh." He waved a dismissive hand through the air. "So, anyway, did you figure your power out?"

"Yeah, it's ps—mental energy manipulation." She nodded, figuring it'd just be easier to start out with that rather than the misleading word.

"Show me."

She shrugged. "I can really only blow stuff up so far."

"Okay" —he climbed over his bed and grabbed an old-looking book from his small bookcase— "blow this up then."

"Why do you boys want me to blow things up?" she mumbled to herself as Five positioned himself a few steps away from her.

"I'm going to throw it in the air and you can blow it up. Ready?" he questioned, adjusting his grip on the book's spine.

"Mhm." She nodded as she flexed her fingers, her eyes now set on the book in his hands.

"And . . . go!" He threw it into the air, his eyes fixed on it as he waited.

Doing the same as she had only a couple of hours before, she raised her right hand in the direction of the book, and gold shot towards it. The book shredded apart, burnt papers raining down on them.

Five looked at the blackened papers on the ground before looking back up to her. "Quick question: would you be able to do that to other people?"

"I guess so." She shrugged before crinkling her nose while looking at the remains of the book. "But I'm not going to."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Then how are you supposed to fight?"

A cunning smile came onto her face. "I could just do this."

She raised her hand towards him and shot another blast of energy, although making this intensity the lowest she could. 

The gold spread across his chest, forcing him to stumble back from the impact. He gave a slight yelp of shock, his eyes wide as he looked down at himself.

"Argh!" Five rubbed his chest, though a small grin still settled on his lips. "Yeah, I'd say that's a lot better than blowing up."

"Yeah, I'd think so," she giggled.

After about an hour of talking and blowing more things up, Five grabbed his books and led Elizabeth to the other side of the complex. 

The homey feel that the house had was not present in this part; it seemed more like a facility with its cool lighting and missing decor.

They entered a classroom, where the other kids already were sitting at their desks and Pogo was standing at the front. 

The room seemed like quite the normal classroom, with a few encouraging and educational posters on the wall, and a great, green chalkboard that was attached to the wall behind Pogo.

"Ah, hello, Miss Elizabeth," Pogo greeted warmly, clasping his hands behind his back. "You can take the empty seat beside Miss Vanya."

With a small nod, Elizabeth took the desk at the far right beside Vanya, who gave her a nervous smile that she swiftly returned.

"All right," Pogo started, "today, we will continue reading The Odyssey. Are you familiar with the story, Miss Elizabeth?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, I've read it before."

"Wonderful!" Pogo smiled as he picked up the thick book from an empty desk. "However, we've been learning Ancient Greek this year and this version is in Ancient Greek. Do you happen to know Ancient Greek?"

Elizabeth shook her head. She most definitely did not.

"That's all right, we'll get you caught up later on." Pogo smiled kindly before looking toward the others. "Now, children, open your books to page two hundred and eighty, and everyone will each read one paragraph. Who would like to go first?"

Luther raised his hand, to which Pogo nodded.

He cleared his throat before starting to read out the sentences that were in Ancient Greek, fumbling a little over some of the words, "'When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus bound on his sandals and took a strong spear that suited his hands, for he wanted to go into the city. 'Old friend,' said he to the swineherd, 'I will now go to the town and show myself to my mother, for she will never leave off grieving till she has seen me. As for this unfortunate stranger, take him to the town and let him beg there of anyone who will give him a drink and a piece of bread. I have trouble enough of my own, and cannot be burdened with other people. If this makes him angry so much the worse for him, but I like to say what I mean.'"

Elizabeth's eyes were wide as she stared at the sentences in front of her. How had she understood what Luther had said? And how was she able to read and understand what was written in the book? She knew for a fact she had never learned Ancient Greek, surely, she would know if she had.

She ruffled through the pages, her eyebrows furrowed as she understood each word she came across.

It didn't take long for Pogo to notice the skittish behaviour and he quickly called out, "Is everything all right, Miss Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth looked up at him, her eyebrows still closely knit together. "I—I don't—I can understand everything."

Some of the other students giggled at this, for some reason thinking that she was joking. The laughter soon died down as they realized that she wasn't, and they stared at her with furrowed eyebrows and tilted heads.

"For real?" Diego questioned, his eyes wide.

"For real," she confirmed with a nod.

"And you said you don't know Ancient Greek?" Pogo questioned, his expression growing baffled as he stepped closer to her.

"I only know English," Elizabeth insisted before pausing. "I think."

"Here, why don't you read the next paragraph for us?" Pogo gestured towards the paper, his eyes intrigued as they gazed at her. "Perhaps then that could help us understand what is happening a little better?"

Elizabeth nodded and began to read it out loud, speaking in perfect Greek, "'Then Ulysses said, 'Sir, I do not want to stay here; a beggar can always do better in town than country, for anyone who likes can give him something. I am too old to care about remaining here at the beck and call of a master. Therefore let this man do as you have just told him, and take me to the town as soon as I have had a warm by the fire, and the day has got a little heat in it. My clothes are wretchedly thin, and this frosty morning I shall be perished with cold, for you say the city is some way off.'"

As soon as she had finished reading the paragraph, she looked up to be met with eight stares of confusion.

"Miss Elizabeth, why don't you come with me?" Pogo motioned for her to follow him with one hand as he rested his book on Vanya's desk before looking toward the rest of the students. "Children, finish the chapter while we're gone."

Pogo led Elizabeth back to the house part of the building, and they soon arrived just outside of Reginald's office, whose closed doors told them not to disturb.

Pogo glanced nervously at the doors before telling the girl, "Wait here for a moment, I'm going to speak with your father."

Elizabeth patiently waited as Pogo disappeared inside Reginald's office. A few minutes later, both he and Reginald appeared, the tall man holding the same handsome black journal as before in his hand. 

Reginald inspected her for a moment through his monocle, his eyes narrowed.

He first spoke in Ancient Greek, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Instinctively, she responded back in the same language, "Yes."

His eyebrow quirked as he continued in Russian, "Which number are you?"

"I am Number Eight."

Then, French. "What class were you just in, and what were you doing?"

"I was in languages class, and we were reading The Odyssey."

Finally, Latin. "Have you learned these languages on your own?"

"No, I never learned any language other than English."

Elizabeth had no idea how she was understanding and speaking all these different languages. It seemed as though Reginald's interest was piqued, however, as he curiously stroked the hair on his chin.

"Interesting," he mused. "Very interesting. . . ."

"What's interesting?" Elizabeth questioned, now nervous as her eyes flitted between him and Pogo.

"I believe that perhaps your powers are not limited to energy manipulation," Reginald considered, his eyes narrowed at her as he thought aloud to himself.

"Oh." She nodded, though she still remained in the dark about his thoughts. "Like what?"

"That is precisely what we must examine, Number Eight." Reginald straightened up, clasping his hands behind his back as he began to walk. "Follow me."

As Pogo headed back towards the classroom, Reginald brought Elizabeth to a fairly large, empty room near the basement of the training complex.

There, he began to test his theories out, going through each one of them carefully. After hours of exhausting work, Reginald had come to his conclusion on what her powers consisted of.

"Well, Number Eight, I believe I know what your mind contains, or, at least, to an extent," Reginald sighed as he straightened his monocle. He glanced down at the journal that he had scribbled into before turning his gaze back to her and elaborating, "Enhanced intelligence. With that, you would have omnilingualism, perfect memory, enhanced calculation, and accelerated probability. And that is not the end of it, there is much more to explore."

"Can you . . . can you explain all of those to me?" she questioned nervously, her fingers fumbling with the hem of her blazer.

He gave her an unamused smile and quirked an eyebrow. "You would think that you would know with that intelligence. Nonetheless, I shall heighten your knowledge. Omnilingulism is the ability to speak, read, write and understand all languages, as we saw today."

She nodded. That made much more sense as to how she knew Ancient Greek.

He continued, "With perfect memory, you can remember copious amounts of information, in incredible detail and for much longer than the average person. For example, how you read that passage from your book during the testing and were able to recite it without hesitation. In addition, it takes less effort to remember the information you need, and you can remember it for longer without having to strain."

Elizabeth nodded once more.

"With enhanced calculation, you will be able to perform any mathematical calculation within an instant, in your mind," Reginald explained. "And with the accelerated probability, you can comprehend the information of any circumstance and use the variables of that information to predict the paths that lead to certain outcomes. Understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

"I assume with your intelligence and everything that accompanies it, you will be learning things at a much, much faster rate than your peers," Reginald sighed as he gave a curt nod. "However, you must remain at the same level as them."

"I understand." She nodded with a small smile. It's not like she wanted to separate from them, anyway.

"All right, Number Eight. That is all for today," Reginald said. "Until tomorrow."