《Augmentum》 1 Cottontail ?? ¡°And she came to me from the sea.¡± ?? I was in my bedroom singing with my headphones on, as usual. I was also working on my history assignment. I usually did more than one thing at a time. It''s just the way my brain works. That¡¯s when I looked up and gasped. ¡°Don¡¯t touch that, Gemi!¡± I jumped up from the floor and grabbed my 13 month old niece as she was reaching for my mug. It was at the edge of my desk, and full of pens and pencils, sharp things. It would not be good if I let her get hurt again. ¡°Can you please watch Gemi while I run to the store?¡± Mom had asked. ¡°Mom! I¡¯m working on my homework,¡± I complained. ¡°I won¡¯t be gone long, should be back in an hour.¡± ¡°Alright, but can you bring me some of her toys?¡± ¡°Thank you! But really watch her this time. You are still on probation, young lady.¡± ¡°I will,¡± I promised. That¡¯s what I said last time. I really didn¡¯t mind watching Gemi. She was so cute. But she was a handful, very curious, always getting into everything. I had arranged her favorite toys around her. Last time I checked, she was playing with them. I guess she got bored. How long since mom left? My phone said 7:45. When did she leave? I had a hard time keeping track of time. I was nearly finished with my homework, so she should be back soon, I hope. I put her back with her toys and talked to her about how fun they were. She smiled, grabbed her plastic keyring and started chewing on it, with lots of drool on her chin. She was teething too. Sitting next to her, I went back to my homework. The next song was playing on my headphones. It didn¡¯t take me long to finish. So I put it in my backpack for tomorrow. When I looked up Gemini was gone again. Oh no! Where was she now? How did she get away so quickly? Oh, I found her in my closet, chewing on one of my shoes. Ew, germs! I yelled and grabbed it away from her. She started to cry and threw herself back on the floor, with a loud thud. Then the screaming started, what a set of lungs! At least I had finished my homework. I stopped my music, took my headphones off and picked her up with a big hug. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for yelling, sweety. I love you, but you can¡¯t chew on shoes. I don¡¯t want you to get sick.¡± She didn¡¯t stop crying but at least she wasn¡¯t screaming now. ¡°You smell ripe. Let¡¯s go find something good to eat, right after you get ready for bed.¡± Looking at the clock as we walked out of my room, it was 8:10, already past her bedtime. I took her to Hen¡¯s room, where her changing table was. Hen, really Henny, is my older sister, Gemini¡¯s mother. She would not tell me who the father was, but I knew anyway. Flinn Horn was the slime bag she had been hanging out with a while ago. She liked to party a lot. Actually, she still does, just not with him. Henny dropped out of school once it was obvious she was pregnant. Now she worked at the Greasy Pig, when she wasn¡¯t partying with her friends. I didn¡¯t see her much. Gemi had stopped crying while I changed her diaper and dressed her in her nightie. I took her to the kitchen, put her in her high chair and fed her some apple sauce, which she really likes. Once we finished and cleaned up, I took her to her crib in Hen¡¯s room. I read her favorite book to her. ¡°Time to go to sleep,¡± I said as I tucked her in. She started crying again, but it was a game she played every night. After I reassured her that everything was okay, I turned off the light as I left the room and closed the door. She was asleep soon after. Where was mom? Shouldn¡¯t she be home by now? I heard the front door open, so I went to check. Oh no, Dad¡¯s home. ¡°Keyva, where¡¯s Jen?¡±. He was too loud and drunk, again. You should know that my dad is a hard worker, but he is gone a lot. Being a logger, he has to stay near the job site much of the time. And when he is home he often volunteers as a firefighter. So we don''t see much of him either. ¡°Dad, please be quiet,¡± I hissed. ¡°I just put Gemi to bed. Mom is at the store. She should be home soon.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. He stared at me. ¡°Shopping again?¡± He was angry, but tried to lower his voice, sort of. ¡°That woman spends every cent I earn.¡± She works too! Now I was angry, but I couldn¡¯t say it out loud, especially in his condition. Dad was a very strong man and fiercely loyal to his family, but he also had a drinking problem. He frightened me when he was like this, but he had never hit me, or Mom, as far as I knew. ¡°Your brother and sister are no better,¡± he said, ¡°always broke, spending everything they get.¡± My brother, Jace, was a car mechanic, but moved out last year. Hen took over his room, which finally gave me a room of my own. After a long pause he said, ¡°You be smarter.¡± I could only nod. He growled and turned on the TV to the sports news. Thankfully, he lowered the volume. I went back to my room and got ready for bed. With my headphones on and my music playing, I picked up my guitar so I could sing and play along. I wasn¡¯t very good, but music helped me calm down. Not long after, I was sure I heard yelling from the living room. I think the baby was crying too, but it was best to stay away. I fell asleep with my headphones still on, but had to wake up later and take them off. At least it was quiet by then. The next morning, I woke up with my alarm and got ready for school. ¡°Thank you for taking care of Gemi and putting her to bed last night,¡± Mom said as I walked in the kitchen. She was making waffles and bacon, which smelled delicious. Mom is a great cook. Well, at least I love what she makes, even if it may not be restaurant quality. ¡°Smells great,¡± I said. I put a waffle on my plate, and added some butter and syrup. She brought me two slices of bacon and sat down with me to eat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I got back so late. I had to go to several stores, so it took me longer.¡± She didn¡¯t talk about the argument, but I was glad for that. After we finished with breakfast, we headed to school together. Since mom is the Physical Education (PE) teacher (and girls coach) at my school she takes me with her. She has to be there early, but I¡¯m okay with that. I just hang out in her office, reading or working on homework until I need to go to my first class. After school she usually brings me home, unless she has to stay late. I walked home when I needed to, but it took a while, since we lived several miles away. You may be wondering about Gemi. Hen takes care of her during the day. They usually sleep in since Hen gets home late. She takes Gemi to the neighbor, Mrs. White, if she needs to leave before one of us gets home from school. As I walked to my locker I stepped on only the colored tiles, often having to hop to reach them. It¡¯s something I have to do. I don¡¯t know why, but if I don¡¯t do things a certain way, it drives me crazy. I also have to hum as I walk. Those things used to bother my parents. They even took me to a shrink for a while, but that ended very badly. We don¡¯t talk about it any more. ¡°There goes cottontail, hoppin¡¯ down the bunny trail,¡± I heard as I got to my locker. I looked up to see Ashlie and her cronies giving me a smirk and giggling. I looked down and didn¡¯t engage. They turned to walk away but her friend Macie bumped me hard as she passed, knocking me into some lockers. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t let them pick on you.¡± I turned to see a tall boy looking at me from across the hall. I think his name is Elijah. The blood rushed from my head, and I quickly looked away. I went to my locker, praying he would leave. When I finished exchanging books, I turned to head to my first class. Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t there any more. As I got to my homeroom class, I had to touch each desk as I made my way to mine, near the back. ¡°Ew, she touched my desk!¡± a boy named Hank yelled as I passed him. Kids around the room laughed, but I ignored them, as I always did. After roll call and announcements, we had some time to work on what we wanted. I had finished my homework so I got out a library book to read. It was a mystery set in medieval Ireland. I felt someone grab the back of my shirt and pull. I felt my bra strap get yanked and then snapped back hard, stinging my back. ¡°Ouch! Hey!¡± I yelled. Turning around I saw Mitch with his head down in a book. Everyone in the class turned to look at us. I felt my face get hot with anger and humiliation. I looked for the teacher, but she must have stepped out, no help there. I turned back to my book, hoping everyone would just ignore me. But I heard some snickering. I just wanted to disappear. My next class was English. Why do we have to study our own language? I''d rather study Samoan, the language of my father''s ancestry, but that is not taught in school, at least not here in Green Lake, California. The teacher is Mr. Heyborn. He has a mustache and wears a toupee. He won''t admit it, but everyone knows. His toupee is sticking up strangely on the left side of his head. I don''t know why he doesn''t notice. It bothers me so much, like I have ants crawling all over me when I can''t do anything to brush them off. There is no way I can concentrate. ¡°Miss Leota?¡± I hear my name. ¡°Can you tell us why that is wrong?¡± What was wrong? What was the question? What was he talking about? ¡°Ah, sorry. I can''t.¡± ¡°That surprises me,¡± he said. ¡°You had no problem with gerunds on the quiz, if I remember right.¡± Gerunds? Were we talking about verbs or nouns? I didn''t dare ask, so I just looked down at my desk. Please ask someone else, please, please. I heard a snicker. After a long pause he finally asked another student. I was a good student. At least I tried hard, but my grades didn''t often match my expectations, nor my mom''s. Just don''t call on me in class. Don''t ask me what the rest of the class was about. At least I copied down the homework assignment from the board before I left. The rest of the day was pretty normal. I had a lot of fun in PE. My mom was a good teacher. And she was much harder on the boys than us girls, thankfully. I guess she just expected them to do better. Yes, our school is small so gym class was coed. We often did different activities than the boys, but not always. Today we played coed volleyball. My team won more games than we lost, so it was good. As I was leaving the gym, Mom stopped me to let me know she had to stay late for a staff meeting. I told her it was fine and that I would walk home. ¡°Don''t take too long,¡± she said with a smile and a hug. ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± I promised. 2 Kip鈥檌t Haln The California mountains around our town were beautiful, covered in lush green forests and abundant plant life, including large ferns and huge redwood trees. It was like another world, and the smell of nature was heavenly. Plus, we had a gorgeous lake only a short walk from the school. And there were trails everywhere, around the lake and throughout the forest, which attracted avid tourists. Just like them, I could never get enough. Now you know why it''s named Green Lake, both the town and the lake. After I left school, I wandered part way around the lake and up into the foothills on one of my favorite trails into the woods. The atmosphere was damp and musty, with many birds chirping high in the trees, but well hidden from view. I came to the giant willow near a bubbling stream. It had thousands of branches hanging nearly to the forest floor, with millions of small leaves. Where it was visible, the trunk was warped and twisted with some parts missing bark. That¡¯s when I heard quiet voices. ¡°You should come,¡± a girl said. ¡°The party¡¯s going to be so great. Everyone will be there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. We have early morning practice on Saturday,¡± a boy replied. ¡°Maybe I could just come for the first part.¡± ¡°Hey guys,¡± another girl¡¯s voice said. ¡°Whatcha doin¡¯?¡± ¡°We were just talking about Macie¡¯s party on Friday night,¡± the first girl said. ¡°You¡¯re coming aren¡¯t you?¡± I had moved to where I could see a little better, and saw some vague colors through tree branches. I started to recognize the voices. The first girl was Ava, and the boy was Jimmer. ¡°Of course I¡¯m coming.¡± That was Keisha, one of Ashlie¡¯s minions. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be spying.¡± A pair of strong hands grabbed me from behind, making me gasp. He pulled me around the tree to the rest of the group. ¡°Look what I just caught in my trap, a rabbit.¡± Struggling to look behind me, I saw Kip. No! He and Jimmer had been tormenting me for years. Everyone was now staring at me. ¡°Please let me go. I was just going for a walk. I wasn''t spying.¡± ¡°Why would we do that, when there is no one around to help you?¡± Keisha asked. ¡°Um, you should let her go,¡± Ava said. ¡°Her mom is the PE teacher, and my coach.¡± ¡°You know, I think we could let you go, on one condition,¡± Keisha said. ¡°What is that?¡± I was getting worried. ¡°You have to come to Macie¡¯s party on Friday. You already heard them talking about it. And you have to bring a date.¡± ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. No one would date me.¡± Besides, Macie would never allow me in her house. ¡°That¡¯s your choice. If you can¡¯t do it, we will just have to tie you up here. The rope is in my car. I¡¯ll even go get it.¡± ¡°Guys, come on,¡± Ava said. ¡°This is getting way out of hand.¡± ¡°Shut up, Ava!¡± Keisha snapped. ¡°Hey,¡± That got Jimmer¡¯s attention. ¡°I can¡¯t stand Keyva either, but¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s it going to be?¡± Keisha was looking at me. There is no way I was going to a stupid party where everyone hates me. And a date would be impossible. Could I ask someone? Absolutely not. I couldn¡¯t get tied up to a tree. Would someone find me? Maybe, but how long would that take? Mom is going to be late. I promised her I wouldn''t be, so I could pick up Gemi. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go to the party. But I can¡¯t promise I will find a date.¡± ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll make sure to provide you with someone. I can be very persuasive. You might have to provide some entertainment value, though.¡± The blood quickly drained from my head, and I nearly fainted as Kip finally let me go. My shoulders ached. ¡°This is your warning, cottontail. If you don¡¯t show up we¡¯re going to make your life truly miserable.¡± Wasn¡¯t I miserable enough already? ¡°Hey guys,¡± Ava said. ¡°What is that?¡± Everyone turned to look. She was pointing up the hill. I looked too and saw something flashing brightly among the trees in the distance. ¡°Weird,¡± Jimmer said. ¡°Let¡¯s go check it out.¡± They started walking up the hill. I needed to get home, so I turned to leave. I took a couple of steps, but stopped. Something told me this thing was important. Sometimes I knew something significant was going to happen, even before it happened. I knew we were going to win the first volleyball game today, before we even started. I knew Hen was pregnant the day after it happened, though I didn¡¯t want to believe it. She didn¡¯t tell us until months later. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. It¡¯s just a stupid flashy thing, probably a balloon, or maybe tinsel. Let the idiots deal with it. I have to get home. So, why couldn¡¯t I leave? They had wandered far enough so I couldn¡¯t see them any more. I guess I had better check it out. I¡¯ll just stay back, out of sight. I headed in the same direction, hurrying to catch up, but careful not to make noise. When I got near enough to see it, they were already surrounding it. It was like a geometric sphere, but it had many flat sides, made of triangles. It was about the size of a basketball, or maybe a little bigger. I don¡¯t know how many sides it had, more than 10 for sure. It was all mirrored, reflecting everything around it as it slowly rotated. But that was not the most startling thing. It was floating a few feet off the ground, but I didn¡¯t see any string. The others were just standing there, daring one of them to touch it. Finally, Kip tried to grab it. But it quickly moved away, making him stumble over a tree root. Jimmer laughed. It had stopped moving just out of reach, almost as if it was avoiding him. He tried again, but it moved away, a different direction this time. It was definitely avoiding him. Jimmer tried to run and grab it, but it easily dodged him. After that it became a free-for-all. Everyone was chasing it while yelling and trying to grab it. It easily dodged and swerved away, sometimes higher or lower, like when you try to grab a slippery fish. The faster they moved, the faster it dodged. I hadn¡¯t been paying much attention to hiding, but soon noticed the hard-sided balloon was heading in my general direction, with the whole group chasing after it. I moved sideways and hid behind a fallen tree with massive roots sticking up. Within seconds it came around the tree, directly toward me, and stopped about a foot away. What should I do? Is this thing dangerous? I felt¡­ something calling to me. It was alien yet familiar. I reached out my hand. Right when the whole group came around the tree, I touched it. Everything disappeared. I wasn¡¯t in the forest any more. Looking around I could see I was in an empty room. I was still wearing my school backpack. The walls were each painted differently, but each with a mural of some kind of outdoor scene. One was a forest like I had come from, but the trees were different. One was in the mountains, with many canyons and streams, with only a few lowlands. Another was full of hills, streams, and lakes. The last wall was covered in patchwork farmlands. Why didn¡¯t I scream? I felt pretty calm, actually. A door in the farmland wall opened up and a beautiful woman stepped into the room. She smiled and walked over to me. ¡°Welcome to Azure Academy, Keyva,¡± she said. ¡°My name is Ivy Jackson. I know you are wondering what is going on. I am here to answer your questions, at least the ones I can.¡± How did she know my name? ¡°Um, okay.¡± It was all I could do to say that much. ¡°First, you are still in California, but not near your home. We brought you here so we could talk and make you an offer. When we are finished talking we will send you back home. Is that alright?¡± ¡°Um¡­ sure, I guess. I¡¯m supposed to be home soon. How long will this take?¡± She smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about the time. We can send you back to the exact place and time that you left.¡± ¡°How is that possible? How is any of this possible?¡± ¡°Some people might call it magic. But we don¡¯t believe in magic here. Some might call it science. But the science you are taught in school is still in its infancy. How about we call it futuristic technology, for now?¡± ¡°Oh, I can accept that, I guess.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a seat, so we can get more comfortable?¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed, but there were now comfortable chairs behind each of us, which we then sat on. ¡°I know you still have many questions. How about I give you some background, tell you about us and give you our offer? If you still have questions after that, I will be happy to answer what I can.¡± ¡°Okay, that sounds great.¡± ¡°As you are aware, there are countless stars in our galaxy. And there are countless galaxies in our universe. Doesn¡¯t it make sense that there are people on more planets than just our earth?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t we just evolve from amoebas or something?¡± I asked. ¡°I guess it could happen elsewhere, too.¡± She smiled. ¡°That is a popular theory. But just because something is popular or even well known, does that make it true?¡± ¡°No, I guess not.¡± ¡°This building is part of a school, and academy of learning. We deal in truths here, not theories. Azure Academy was established to teach select individuals these truths, truths which endow our students with great power. This knowledge did not originate on this Earth. Let''s just leave it at that for now. We have a grave responsibility. What would happen if great power was given to corrupt and evil people?¡± ¡°It sounds like you are talking about tyrants, like Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, or Pol Pot. We learned about them in world history. Or are you talking about super villains from movies and books?¡± ¡°Have you heard the saying that ¡®Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?¡¯¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t believe this is absolutely true¡ªpun intended,¡± she smiled. ¡°There is a better saying which is popular from those movies and books, ¡®With great power comes great responsibility.¡¯ We believe in this and teach this to our students. There must be checks and balances in all forms of power. Many modern governments are founded on this principle, starting with the American Constitution in this country. But even with checks and balances, governments can still become corrupt over time. Evil is in a constant battle with good, inside every person. But we found that if we select carefully and start young we can help the good be much stronger than the evil. Now, do you understand why we chose you?¡± ¡°Not really. There is nothing special about me. I have many quirks. Everyone hates me. I¡¯m no one.¡± She held out both of her hands to me. ¡°Put your hands in mine.¡± Hesitantly, I placed my hands on hers. ¡°You are special. You are loved. You have great worth. There is much goodness in you, which is a great power in itself. We are here to offer you even more power. However, not power to control others, power to help those you love, those who need your help, to help the world, and even to help the universe.¡± She paused but didn¡¯t let go. ¡°This is our offer. We are inviting you to come to our academy to learn with us. There is no pressure. We hope you will choose to join us. But if you cannot accept our offer, we will withdraw it, even from your memory. This is not a threat. We must keep the knowledge of our academies secret from the world for now. When the world is ready to accept us freely, to accept our help without needing to control us, we will make ourselves known, but not before then.¡± She finally released my hands. 3 Trust ¡°How big is this school? Are there many students, classes and teachers?¡± ¡°We are actually not that big. We like to keep the classes small to give more personalized instruction. But we are not the only school like ours. There are six other academies around the world.¡± ¡°If I choose to go to school here, what about my current school? What about my family? Where would I live? My family is too poor to pay for something like this.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the cost. We are making an investment in our students. You have several options to come here. You may choose to live at home and continue going to your normal school. We would arrange to pick you up and drop you off at specific times and places, not on a bus, but like we brought you here today. When we drop you off, the time will be the next instant after you left, so no one should notice or miss you. It¡¯s called teleportation or porting for short. ¡°Or we can make arrangements for you to live on our campus full time. We would give you a full scholarship which includes boarding. We have both types of students here. ¡°Can you really go to any time and place? Couldn¡¯t you change history that way?¡± She smiled. ¡°Everyone asks that question. The simple answer is no. You see, when we brought you here, when you touched the Kip¡¯it Haln, (the floating icosahedron), it recorded the exact time and place. That way, we can send you back to the same place and time. We can¡¯t send you to a prior time, though technically, we could send you to a different place, if we needed to.¡± ¡°I think that would be better for me. There were a bunch of rude kids chasing the balloon, the um¡­ Kipit, when I touched it. I don¡¯t want to go right back to them.¡± ¡°I can understand that. Where would you like to be when you go back?¡± ¡°My house¡­ no, my bedroom would be best. There should be no one there.¡± ¡°Very well. We can do that. But you will need to help us find you room, since we have never been there before. Don¡¯t worry, it will be as simple as imagining yourself back in your room, when we send you.¡± ¡°Wait. What will those other kids think? We were there in the woods. They were all chasing it, but then I touched it and disappeared.¡± ¡°That would be interesting to watch,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m certain they will imagine the worst. What would you like us to do? If we do nothing they may report you missing. But when they eventually see you again, it might scare them. We can send in a small team to wipe the Kip¡¯it Haln and your actions from their memory. However, we don''t like doing that unless it is absolutely necessary.¡± ¡°You know what. I don¡¯t like the idea of messing with peoples¡¯ memories, either, even if they are jerks. Let¡¯s not do anything. I will deal with it on my own.¡± ¡°Very well. That is a very responsible choice. So, have you come to a decision about our offer yet? Or do you have more questions?¡± ¡°I have many questions, but most of them can wait. Um¡­ I¡¯m afraid to ask my most important question, though.¡± ¡°You have nothing to fear here. We only want the best for you. You always have your agency. We accept your choice, either way, no hurt feelings. If you turn us down we will go on to our next candidate. If you accept our offer we will still move on to them, when we have room. It only changes our timing a little.¡± She waited for my question. But how could I ask this? How could I know the truth? I was nervous and sweating now. Eventually, I got it out. ¡°How can I know if I can trust you?¡± She smiled at this. ¡°Actually, there is an easy answer. Let me turn your question around. Whom do you trust?¡± Thinking about this, there was only one person in the world that I could honestly trust. ¡°My mom.¡± ¡°How do you know you can trust her?¡± I didn¡¯t have to think about this at all. ¡°Because she has always been there for me, always. Even when she was mad at me, I still knew I could trust her. She may be disappointed in me, but I can trust that she only wants the best for me.¡± ¡°So would you say that she has earned your trust?¡± ¡°Yes, exactly.¡± ¡°Then there is your answer. You can¡¯t completely trust us until we earn your trust. So here is the hard question. Will you give us a chance to earn it?¡± I had to think about this one. If I don¡¯t trust her, or the people here, would they even send me home? She said they would, and I want to believe her. But how can I trust anything here? Maybe they really want to take me prisoner, or take advantage of me, somehow? That psycho doctor sure tried. I shuddered involuntarily. These people are powerful. That was obvious. I could believe that much. But could I believe everything? If she wasn¡¯t going to send me home, why even have this conversation? What would they gain from it, other than getting to know me a little? Did they want to know more about me or my family? It didn¡¯t feel like that was their plan. In fact, I have had a good feeling about being here this entire time. But could I even trust that feeling? What else could I trust? I made my decision. ¡°Yes, I will. I accept your offer.¡± She gave me a big smile, but then turned serious again. ¡°I know how I feel about your decision, but my opinion doesn''t matter. It''s your opinion that matters. How do you feel about that choice? Do you feel like you were coerced, in any way?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°No, I don''t feel like you forced me. In fact, I feel like you''ve been pretty open.¡± ¡°Good. Now I have more questions for you. Acceptance of our offer is only the first step in our contract.¡± ¡°Contract? Aren''t I too young to sign a contract?¡± ¡°Legally, you are too young. However, this is not a legal contract. It is a binding covenant, recorded on our souls, our very being. You make promises to us, and we make promises to you. Both parties must uphold their portion of the contract for it to be binding on the other. If one party fails their obligations, the covenant is no longer binding on the second, but then redresses come into effect. That means there are real, enforceable consequences. Does that answer your question?¡± ¡°That sounds serious.¡± ¡°Yes, because we are very serious. If you are not serious about keeping your promises, you should not agree to the contract. You will not like the consequences.¡± ¡°I can agree to keep my promises. I always try to be honest.¡± ¡°That''s one of the reasons you were selected,¡± she said with a grin. ¡°Are you ready to see the contract?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± This was getting ominous. I wanted to see what I was agreeing to, and what they were agreeing to also. ¡°Alright, that is the end of my portion of your interview. Once you have finished reading it over, Mr. Forrest will come in. He is the headmaster of Azure Academy and the only one authorized to agree on its behalf.¡± She stood and walked out. Hmm, I wonder where the contract is? That''s when I saw a small side-table next to my seat, with a tablet on it. When I picked it up, I saw that it was open to the contract. I started reading it over. I was expecting a bunch of incomprehensible legal jargon, like a license agreement, but that was not the case. It was plain and to the point. Here are the highlights. Wow, heavy was an understatement. Was I ready to agree to all of this? At least it made sense and the agreements went both ways. I looked up when the door opened again and a nice looking man entered. He was a little older, with gray hair on the sides and brown on top. I started getting anxious for the first time since I arrived. He walked to me and held out his hand. ¡°I''m headmaster Forrest. It''s good to meet you, Keyva.¡± He waited for me to shake his hand, but I still hesitated. ¡°Please don''t be nervous. I promise you are safe here. I will do all I can to earn your trust. Yes, Ivy warned me before I came in. May I shake your hand?¡± His hand was still extended. So I quickly shook it. ¡°Thank you. May I have a seat?¡± I shrugged. Why did he make me so nervous? Some of my teachers did, except for Mom, of course. He smiled and sat down, but didn''t say anything at first, making me even more nervous. ¡°It seems you have been betrayed in the past. I''m so sorry you have had to deal with that. We all carry around emotional baggage from our past. But yours appear to be especially onerous. ¡°I see you have finished studying the contract. What questions do you have?¡± I still had many, but only a few on the contract. ¡°What is the Gaia system?¡± ¡°That is a very complicated subject, so I will give you a simple answer, in terms of what you already understand. If you choose to accept the contract, you will learn much more about Gaia over time. It is like a massive AI computer program. And by massive, I mean it makes global decisions and handles communication across the world.¡± ¡°Is it like the Internet?¡± ¡°That is one way to think about it. It is connected to our Internet. But it also communicates with other worlds. The contract also mentioned a personal agent. This is like your own personal computer, tablet or phone, which is then connected to Gaia.¡± ¡°That''s good. I don''t own a computer, though my mom has one. I only have my phone.¡± He smiled. ¡°When you learn to use your agent you won''t need any of those, except if you want to.¡± ¡°Oh, wow. Um, tell me about being summoned.¡± ¡°Once you have enough training, people can find you through the system and summon you to do certain jobs for them. They are required to pay you for your service. Don''t worry, the jobs will be things you can do, and the pay is very generous, much more than you could earn at an hourly job.¡± ¡°I guess my last question is about emergencies. That scares me. My dad works as a volunteer firefighter, but I always worry he won''t be coming home when I hear the fire sirens go off. His brother died in a fire before I was born. He doesn''t talk about it, but Mom told me when he wasn''t home.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about emergencies right now. No one will expect you to help with an emergency until you have a lot of training and experience.¡± ¡°Good. What is Augmentum?¡± ¡°All of us and our students are members of this global organization. Our purpose is to protect the people of the Earth from death and destruction. That includes protecting people from criminals, despots, and corrupt governments, and doing what we can to prevent war. But, like emergencies, you will not be asked to help until you are fully trained and capable.¡± ¡°Wow. I guess that''s the last of my questions for now.¡± ¡°So, it''s time for your next decision. Will you accept the contract, with all of its obligations, privileges and penalties, or decline, go back home and forget about us. Choose one or the other, but you must choose.¡± I was really sweating now, in spite of the coolness of the room. ¡°I choose to accept.¡± 4 Pawg A bunch of things happened after I made my decision to accept. Mr. Forrest excused himself and two more people came in. One was a tall woman with platinum blonde hair, done in a long braid. Her eyes seemed to be a little larger and wider apart than normal. She introduced herself as Azu¡¯ria, with a strange throaty pause in the middle. The other was a short, broad man with a dark, medium length beard but bald on top, who introduced himself as Ni¡¯tral. He had tall, pointed ears which curved outwards at the tips, something I¡¯d only seen before in movies or books. His head looked slightly larger than it should be, but his face was smaller. They both had interesting accents, kind of like a cross between Scottish and German. Ni¡¯tral was especially hard to understand. Somehow, another chair was there, so they could both be seated. They said they were there to witness the contract agreement but wanted to be certain that I knew what I was agreeing to and that I wasn¡¯t under any duress, undo pressure or other obligation. Answering all of their questions, I was able to reassure them. Next, we all stood when Mr. Forrest came back in. A new table appeared near us with what looked like a low pyramid on it. They called it the Attestor. We each placed a hand on a side of the pyramid, which lit up on the side that we each touched. I was on one side, Mr. Forrest on the opposite side and the two witnesses on either side of us. After they prompted me on what to say, I stated, ¡°As a student, I, Keyva Leota, agree to the Azure Academy student contract.¡± Then Mr. Forrest stated, ¡°I, Gailen Forrest, acting as a representative and provider, agree to the Azure Academy student contract.¡± ¡°I, Azu¡¯rea, witness this contract between Azure Academy and Keyva Leota.¡± ¡°I, Ni¡¯tral, witness this contract between Azure Academy and Keyva Leota.¡± I felt a warm feeling inside, almost like a glow, if it¡¯s possible to feel a light. Along with that there was a faint buzzing sound, then a click and the buzzing stopped. [Welcome, Keyva, to Azure Academy.] No one spoke this verbally. I was a little worried I was hearing things inside my head? They were all looking at me, but I wasn¡¯t sure what to do next? [I am your personal agent,] I heard. [You may give me a name, so you can address or invoke me in the future. Would you like to do this now?] ¡°Sure,¡± I said. Azu¡¯ria smiled and said, ¡°You do not need to speak to your personal agent verbally. Simply think of the words or concepts in your mind, and it will hear and understand. Also, we are finished with the Attestor, so you may remove your hand.¡± Everyone else had removed their hands. It disappeared from the room once I did also. [What name will you give me?] it asked. [Something unique is usually better, to avoid confusion.] I started quickly thinking about everything I had learned so far. Hmm, how about I call you ¡®Pawg¡¯? It is an acronym for Personal Agent with Gaia. [Very well. Just state my name, Pawg, to address me with your questions or commands.] Everyone was still waiting on me, so I said, ¡°I gave it a name. What do I do next?¡± ¡°Now that the contract has been completed, I officially welcome you as a new student to our academy,¡± Mr. Forrest said. ¡°With that, we are finished in this room. Please come with us.¡± We all walked out, exiting to a wide hallway. We passed several more doors along the hall. I saw Ivy Jackson waiting near a glass doorway. I could see a nicely groomed lawn outside, with some trees and walkways between more buildings. It looked like the sun was starting to go down as we all stepped outside. There were various students and adults walking around on the sidewalks between buildings. ¡°I will turn you over to Ms. Jackson again, who will take you on a tour of our campus.¡± Mr. Forrest shook my hand once more before he and the others left. ¡°Congratulations, Keyva,¡± Ivy said, giving me a one armed hub. ¡°I¡¯m so glad you decided to become one of us. I will show you around our campus. We just left the Christensen Building, where we have meeting rooms. That building where the others went is the Lemons Building, where the administrative offices are. You can find Mr. Forrest and myself there much of the time.¡± I had a question. ¡°Can I ask you about Azu¡¯ria and Ni¡¯tral?¡± She stopped and nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize those names at all, and their accents were really strange.¡± ¡°Do you remember when I talked to you about the number of stars in the galaxy, and how we deal with truths here, not theories?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, the truth is, they are not from this Earth. They are from other planets.¡± ¡°You mean they are aliens?¡± ¡°We don''t use that term. In fact, we find it a little rude. Extra terrestrial is better. But a more polite term for them is Visitors, with a capital V. Azu¡¯ria is from a planet called Fiel¡¯un, and Ni¡¯tral is from Norams¡¯ti. We have Visitors here from other worlds all of the time. In fact, some of our faculty are Visitors. I guess you could call them Resident Visitors.¡± She smiled and winked at that. ¡°There have been Visitors on Earth for many years, but only in the last 50 have they decided we are ready and started teaching us humans their advanced technology and helped us to create the Aether Academies.¡± ¡°Wow, why do they let the public think such incorrect things about aliens, then? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to come out in public, now that they are here teaching us?¡± ¡°They would like to, actually. Other worlds welcomed Visitors without much struggle, because of the great advancements and technology they shared. But we humans asked them to wait until we have prepared enough students around the world. Governments, and even some corporations, here on Earth are too aggressive and warlike, even though we are supposedly at peace in most countries. ¡°Augmentum needs to become much stronger, so we can protect them and ourselves from aggression, subterfuge and espionage. We can¡¯t allow one country or corporation to have an unfair advantage from our knowledge and technology, which would lead to war and destruction. That is also why we have to be so careful with our students. We can¡¯t allow sabotage from within our ranks, either.¡± She paused. ¡°Well, should we continue the tour?¡± ¡°Yes, please. Sorry for all of my questions.¡± ¡°Not a problem. We are here to teach you many things. Questions are the best way to show us what you are ready to learn. Okay, these two buildings on the left are the girls and boys dormitories. Only those who choose to stay here full time have assigned rooms. Have you decided for yourself?¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m going to live at home, and travel or, I guess, port here for my classes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. The building on the right is the Hansen cafeteria. You are free to eat with us at meal times, but since you are living at home you may not want to. You should consider it, though. The food here is excellent, much better than you would get in a normal cafeteria, and they serve some exotic foods from other planets.¡± I saw a few students leaving the building as a group, talking to each other. One of the girls waved at us, so I waved back. I could smell something delicious as we walked by. Wait, was she waving at me? Now I¡¯m embarrassed. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll think about it. I¡¯m not a big eater, and if I eat here I won¡¯t be hungry when I get home.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. The large building on the left is the Sorensen Gymnasium, and beyond that is the outdoor track. You will discover what we do here physically is much more advanced and unique than anything you have seen before. Speaking of which, I need to tell you about your starting augments.¡± ¡°Augments?¡± ¡°Yes, you will be learning to control the aether in various ways in your classes. That takes time and will require much study, experimentation and practice. But, besides that, Gaia can bestow augments, or enhancements, on all of our students. Some are physical, others mental, and some are skills based. Your augments will grow and improve over time as you exercise and use them. And you can receive more each school year and as you advance in experience. I will cover all of them when we finish the tour. ¡°Those two buildings beyond the gym are VanCamp and Morrison, classrooms and laboratories respectively. And this last building across from VanCamp is the Petersen Portal. That is where most of us port to and from campus. And that is the end of the tour. Let¡¯s head inside now.¡± We walked into the portal building. Several people followed us into the building, but went a different way than we did. She led me to a small room that contained a desk and some chairs. We each sat in one of the chairs, ignoring the desk. ¡°I¡¯m going to go over each of the augments available to you as a new student. Study these more at home. Just ask your personal agent for more details.¡± Below is the list that she went over with me. ¡°You have 3 points in each category of physical, mental and skills. You may choose to allocate your points however you wish. It''s not exact, but think of a point as a 20% improvement in the attribute. Points in skills give you more of a knack for it, but not instant knowledge. You must still learn and practice the skill. Also, within each skill are many specialties. There is no hurry to allocate your beginning points, but the sooner you do, the sooner you can experience the improvements. ¡°Since you will be living at home, and still going to your old school, I need to caution you. After you''ve received augments, you will have an advantage over other students there. You need to be careful and wise about how and when you use your new capabilities. For the first year, since the available augments are relatively minor, we allow you to interact normally with other students, and even compete, if you choose. ¡°However, for your second year and beyond, we strongly advise against it. What would happen if, without any training, you suddenly started setting state, national or world records? It would draw too much attention, and be impossible to explain without revealing us. If we find out this is happening, we will do whatever is necessary to put a stop to it. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I nodded. But that made me think. Mom is my gym teacher. I always try to do well in her class, though I''m pretty average. She would definitely get suspicious if I suddenly started doing better than everyone else. But a little improvement should not be a problem. I''ll just have to be careful. ¡°Now, let''s talk about you starting school here. Your first day is next Wednesday. Your agent has all of the details on your classes and classrooms. You will be one of a new group of students starting that day. You will come here in the morning, before the first class starts. Just arrange your port through your agent when you are ready to leave. After classes, we will return you to the same time and place that you left. Do you have more questions?¡± ¡°Yes, if I spend the day here and then go back and spend a full day at home, aren''t I going to get tired very early?¡± ¡°The port will automatically adjust your circadian rhythm when you return to the same time, but it still takes time for your body to get used to the longer days. You will need extra sleep, especially at first. So plan on it, by making arrangements to go to bed earlier than before. Most students living at home need about two extra hours of sleep.¡± ¡°Okay, I guess that could work. My niece goes to bed early. I''ll just have to do the same. My family might think I''m sick though.¡± ¡°I''m sure you can figure something out. If things don''t work out at home, we can make arrangements for you to live here full time. ¡°Before I send you home, I need to teach you a little more about your personal agent. You can think of it as a very advanced, intelligent computer. It can talk to you, show you things, even do limited information gathering work. It is connected to the Internet but also to Gaia, which is its main information source. ¡°It can also handle communication, like making and receiving voice or video calls and texting. The person on the other end may be on a cellphone or they may have their own personal agent. You won''t need your cellphone any more, except when you don''t want to confuse others.¡± ¡°How would I use it to browse the Internet or make a video call? There is no screen.¡± ¡°It is part of you, connected to both your hearing and vision. The display overlays what you see, as if there is a screen floating in front of you. You can even close your eyes and still see it.¡± ¡°Wouldn''t that make me not able to see beyond it?¡± ¡°Yes, but you can use hand gestures to move the display to a different position, so it doesn''t block what you want to see. Just direct your questions to your agent. It will do all it can to help you teach you about itself.¡± ¡°Amazing! This just keeps getting better and better.¡± ¡°There are downsides as well, but that''s a discussion for another day. Now, it''s time to send you home.¡± 5 Reject I was in the portal building, standing on one of several round plates in the main portal room, but concentrating on my bedroom. The next instant I was there, in my bedroom. The sun was still high in the sky. How cool was that!? I had to remember what I was supposed to be doing now. Oh yeah, Mom had to stay for a meeting so I needed to pick up Gemi from Mrs. White. I ran downstairs and out the side door to our carport. Then I walked next door and rang the doorbell. Listening, I could hear Gemi crying inside. After a minute Mrs. White came to the door carrying Gemi, who had stopped crying, but started up again as soon as she saw me. ¡°There you are, just in time,¡± she said over the crying. ¡°She just got into the pan cabinet, and pulled one out, right on her foot.¡± I reached out and took her into my arms and started rubbing her back. ¡°I understand,¡± I said. ¡°She gets into everything. And she''s fast.¡± ¡°Hang on. I''ll go get her things.¡± She left me on the stoop. ¡°You''re so much trouble,¡± I said to Gemi. ¡°But you''re too cute.¡± When Mrs. White came back, she handed me her diaper bag, which I draped over my shoulder. ¡°Thank you for watching her.¡± I took Gemi back to our house, who stopped crying on the way. I put her in her highchair, so I could get us both a snack. I was starving. It had been hours since I had eaten lunch. I''m not sure how many. I got out some baby food for Gemi and started feeding her while I made some toast for me. I slathered it with jam and got a drink from the fridge. After our snacks I took her to my bedroom and sat her down with some toys. I sat next to her and got out my homework. I tried to read, but she kept trying to turn the pages, tearing some of them. I ended up having to move it out of her reach. I was able to get some of it done, but she kept needing my attention. Eventually, mom came home and took her off my hands, so I could finish up my homework. Dad came home and had dinner with us. Thankfully, he was sober and in a much better mood. After dinner I went back to my room. I was getting tired but wanted to have time to explore my agent and learn about the augments that Ivy talked about. Pawg, can you show me the list of available augments? A list of them appeared in front of me. It looked like a piece of paper with the list, floating in the air. If I looked in different directions, the paper moved wherever I looked. How do I control what you show me? [I recognize multiple gestures by default. If you want, you can change them or teach me more. With your hand in the shape of the letter C, move it to control where the visual interface is placed in your vision. With that same hand shape, open your fingers to zoom closer to make the window larger or pinch them to zoom out and make it smaller. Use two fingers together to scroll the contents within the interface. To follow a link or press a button, point to it with one finger, or you can think or say the name. Use a full hand swipe to dismiss and hide the interface.] I played with the controls for a while, so I could get used to them. It felt very similar to using a phone or tablet. Nice! I started studying the augments list being shown. Looking at the physical ones, I tried to think which ones would really help me. Some of them were self explanatory, but I wasn¡¯t sure about the others. I discovered that each was a link which would take me to a detailed definition. I learned that Agility was quickness, Allure was physical attraction, Dexterity was hand manipulation, Might was strength, Stability was balance, Stamina was endurance, and Vitality was health and energy. Moving on to the Mental augments, I learned that Charm was likability, Confidence was self esteem, Creativity helps to generate better ideas, Imagination helps to conceptualize better, Persuasion was believability, Prescience helps you predict the future, Resilience helps you handle stress, Retention improves memory, Wisdom helps you apply knowledge better, and Wit was intelligence. There were many skills to choose from. But for choosing the best augments, I really needed to decide what I wanted to do in the future. Before things changed yesterday, I had thought that I would become a teacher, like my mother. However, physical activities weren¡¯t something I was very good at. And, I really didn¡¯t like being around a lot of people. So, maybe I should change my target career? Now that I had met the people at the Academy and the¡­ Visitors, I suddenly wanted to explore, and travel to other worlds, to see places and things that no one had ever seen, at least things that very few in our world knew about. Ivy talked about being summoned to do jobs or to handle emergencies. So, I should consider things that would help me do that, also. Considering the physical list again, I¡¯m thinking about picking Agility, Might and Stamina. Those would each help me do a lot of different things. For the mental augments, I definitely need confidence. Should I choose the other based on what I need, like charm, persuasion, or wisdom. Or should I choose things I already have some of and make them better, like creativity, prescience, or retention. I needed to think about these more. On the skills list, I was already musical, but I knew nothing about combat, defense, strategy or weapons. It seems like those would be better for boys to pick, but maybe I should get better, at least so I could defend myself. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I woke up very groggy the next morning. Looking around, I realized I had slept in my clothes, without getting ready for bed. I quickly made my way to the bathroom to take care of my full bladder. Then I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth, and started to feel fresher. After getting dressed and taking care of the rats nest on my head, I joined mom in the kitchen. She was making eggs on toast, with orange juice to drink. ¡°I didn¡¯t see you last night after dinner,¡± she said. ¡°When I checked, you were asleep in your clothes. Are you feeling okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m good now. I must have been really tired last night. I don¡¯t even remember falling asleep.¡± Changing the subject, I said, ¡°How did your meeting go yesterday?¡± She sighed. ¡°Some students were causing problems, and contacting their parents just made the situation worse. We are going to have to be much stricter with the rules and document every infraction, as if I wasn¡¯t busy enough already. I¡¯m glad you are a good student.¡± She smiled and winked at me. As we drove to school that morning, the sky was overcast and looked like it might rain later. While I waited for school to start I was reviewing my new classes at the academy. It looked like I only had four, with three before lunch and one after. I had discovered that the students boarding at the academy had more classes than those who were living at home. I supposed that was to cover the general education classes they would miss otherwise. When it was time to go to class, I left and went to my locker, stepping only on the colored tiles and touching each piller I passed in the hallway. I swapped out books in my locker and then turned to go to my first class. When a group of girls passed me in the hallway, I heard a gasp. ¡°Keyva! You¡¯re alive.¡± It was Ava Bennett. ¡°I was so worried. Where did you go yesterday? We saw you by that tree, or at least we thought we did. We were chasing that silver thing. Then you and it disappeared. We looked all over for you.¡± A bunch of girls she had been walking with were standing there, looking at us. Others had stopped too. What should I say? Can I lie? I hate lying. But I don¡¯t see any way around it here, especially with everyone watching. ¡°What? You guys ran off, and I went home.¡± It wasn¡¯t exactly a lie. ¡°I had to take care of my niece.¡± She looked at me strangely. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you are okay. Sorry about Keisha. I don¡¯t know what she was thinking.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to say to that, so there was an awkward pause. My face was getting hot. I hated to be the center of attention. Then she turned and walked away with her friends. During my classes that day, I got distracted looking things up with Pawg. It was thrilling that I could have full access to the internet when no one could tell. Using phones or tablets was forbidden in most classes. I noticed a couple of kids near me gave me strange looks, seeing me do random things with my hands in front of me. I just ignored them and tried to make my gestures smaller. But if they were too small, they didn¡¯t work. I needed to work with Pawg on more ways to control the interface when I couldn¡¯t easily use my hands. On the way to the lunchroom I had a question. Pawg, how do I use you to make a phone call? [I am not yet set up to connect to the cellular network. Would you like to do that?] Yes. [You will need to press the following keys on your phone keypad.] He gave me a series of keys which I had to press in order. [Done. I can now send and receive calls and texts using your same phone number. I can also record, playback and transcribe your calls and voicemail. When you receive a phone call you may choose to answer using my interface or your phone. If you don¡¯t want your phone to ring, leave it in silent mode.] Awesome, one more thing taken care of. I was eating my lunch at the social rejects table. That¡¯s what some of the popular kids called it. We weren¡¯t exactly friends, but we were at least friendly, if you know what I mean, usually choosing to eat our lunch in silence. That¡¯s when Keisha, Macie and a small group of their followers walked up to me, most of whom hated my presence. ¡°Ava said you weren¡¯t dead,¡± Keisha declared. ¡°Yup,¡± I said. Nothing to see here. Just go away. ¡°I told Macie that you were coming to her party with a date,¡± Keisha said. ¡°I expect to see you there, with your date, or one will be provided,¡± Macie said. ¡°Why do you want me to come to your party?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s your punishment, what you chose,¡± Keisha said. ¡°I¡¯d rather do your homework for a week, than go to a stupid party,¡± I said. ¡°Do both of our¡¯s for a month, and you have a deal.¡± I stared at them. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go to your party.¡± ¡°Remember your date,¡± Keisha said with a smirk. Then they all walked away. I was nearly finished with my lunch when a tall blonde boy walked up to me. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Brad. I heard you need a date for Macie¡¯s party. I¡¯d be happy to go with you.¡± I looked at him. ¡°Really, you want to take me? Do you even know who I am?¡± ¡°Sure, you¡¯re ah¡­ Kayla, right?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m Keyva.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, Keyva. Sure, I¡¯ll take you. Just text me your address and I¡¯ll pick you up.¡± ¡°You have a license, right?¡± He looked at me strangely. ¡°Of course.¡± We exchanged phone numbers and I sent him my address. I didn¡¯t have a good feeling about this, but I guess I was committed now. At least I didn¡¯t have to try to find a date myself. Let¡¯s just get this over with. 6 Firsts

6 Firsts

It was Friday. The party was tonight, but I had put off telling my mom about the party until last night. She was so excited that I was going on my first date. She wanted me to go all out, to dress up, do my hair and wear makeup. I knew it wasn¡¯t that type of party. Oh, I could have dressed up. I¡¯m sure some girls there would be. But I didn¡¯t want to be associated with them. She had gone through my closet and pulled out everything she thought looked nice. I kept rejecting everything. I finally agreed to wear a loose dark gray A-line skirt, which was one of my favorites, though I didn¡¯t wear it very much. I usually dressed in pants. They were so much more comfortable. She chose a light blue flowered blouse to go with it. For jewelry, I wore my favorite gold earrings and a gold necklace with an aquamarine pendant, which is my birthstone. I had practiced with makeup only a few times, since I never wore any, so Mom had to help me. She put on a little eyeliner and mascara, a little blush on my cheeks and lip gloss for my lips. We finished off my look with a gold barrette to tie up one side of my hair. When the doorbell rang, Mom answered the door. Mom had said it was always best for the girl to make an entrance. I could hear her talking to him for a minute before I came down the stairs. They stopped talking when I came in. ¡°Whoa, you look ho¡­ ah, good,¡± he said. ¡°Thanks.¡± I smiled at him. I hadn''t really had a lot of hope for this date, knowing who would be there, but it was still my first date. My stomach was all tied in knots. Brad wasn''t dressed up much at all. Maybe he was wearing a different shirt, but I couldn''t tell for sure. Mom was beaming at me. She looked like she wanted to say something to me, but she didn''t. However, as we left she said to Brad, ¡°Make sure to have her home by 11.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± he replied. We went over to his car, which was in our driveway. It looked like it had been nice at one time, but that was a long time ago. The paint was splotchy, the doors were dinged up, and I could see rust holes along the bottom. I noticed that he didn''t open the door for me, but really I hadn''t expected that. Dad never opened the door for Mom, that I ever noticed. But I know it''s a thing in some romances. I could smell some exhaust coming in from somewhere, once he got the noisy engine going. Thankfully, we didn''t have to go too far. We were both quiet on the way to Macie¡¯s. So I finally decided to speak up. ¡°So, what do you like to do?¡± ¡°Oh, um¡­ I play basketball. I''m on the school team. Have you been to any of our games?¡± ¡°No, sorry. My dad watches a lot of basketball and football, but I just never got into it.¡± ¡°You should come to our next game. We''re playing Sunday night. It''s really exciting, especially when we are winning. You can cheer for me.¡± ¡°Um¡­ I''ll think about it.¡± It got quiet again. He didn''t ask about me at all. Thankfully, we soon arrived. The house was big, with lights on all over. There were many cars parked tightly, on both sides of the street. We had to park and walk from a block away. I could hear music playing loudly before we were halfway there. When we entered we found the house packed with kids, though some looked older than high school. Looking around, I didn''t see any adults. Everyone was yelling, because the music was so loud. In other words, you couldn''t hear yourself think. In the big living area some kids were dancing, but most of them were standing in groups, trying to talk over the music. Brad grabbed my hand and dragged me to the kitchen area. There were a bunch of kids there too, but we also found food and drinks. There were all kinds of chips, dips, cheeses and other finger foods. For drinks, there were many cans of beer and a punch bowl that people were refilling with juice, and what looked like a bottle of alcohol. I decided right then that I wouldn''t drink anything, except water. I knew what alcohol did to people, because I had seen what it did to my family, not just my father. My brother and sister both drank a lot, and I had even seen my mom drink sometimes. Brad started loading up a plate with food and grabbed a can of beer. I decided to get a few things on a plate, but there were too many people around the sink and fridge, so I couldn''t get anything to drink. I had watched Brad go back toward the living room with his food, so I headed that way and found him talking to some other boys. When I got there, they were talking about sports. I just decided to stand close by, assuming he would only be a minute, and started working on my plate of food. After I finished my plate, Brad was still ignoring me for his friends, so I found an unoccupied chair nearby and sat down. I had only sat for a minute when Macie, Ashlie and Keisha came up to me. ¡°So, where''s your date?¡± Keisha asked. ¡°Brad is over there, with his buddies.¡± ¡°Did you get anything to drink?¡± Keisha asked. When I shook my head, she handed me a cup of the punch. ¡°No, thank you.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Oh, you''ve got to try this. It''s so good.¡± She handed it to me again, more forcefully. I took it from her this time, mostly because I didn''t want her to spill it on me. I could see they were all a little wobbly. Macie walked over to Brad and pulled his arm. ¡°Brad, you are ignoring your date. Don''t be so rude.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. Sorry, guys. I have a date.¡± He chuckled and the others laughed, but then some whistled and began to cheer him on. What was that about? ¡°Sorry, Keyva,¡± he said to me. ¡°Let''s go find a quiet place to hang out.¡± He reached out, so I took his hand. We worked our way through the crowd to the grand staircase and went upstairs. As we passed a small tree in a large planter, I quickly poured my drink out, hoping no one noticed. He had to check a number of rooms, before he found an unoccupied one. It was a nice large bedroom, probably the master, because of the king size bed and attached bathroom. He sat on the bed and had me sit next to him. I was already worried before this point, but now I was getting ready to run. I just had to figure out the right moment, and decide which direction. ¡°So how do you like the party, so far?¡± he asked. Actually, I hated everything about it, but I knew this wasn''t what he wanted me to say. I decided to be a little honest. ¡°Not really my kind of party. We haven''t done anything fun yet.¡± Oops, that was the wrong thing to say. He smiled, but not in a good way. ¡°Let''s take care of that right now.¡± He looked at my eyes, then at my lips, and started to reach for me. ¡°You know what, I need to use the restroom.¡± I quickly stood up and went into the bathroom since it was much closer than the bedroom door. After closing the door, I locked it and stood with my back leaning against it. What do I do now? I may be a little dense and naive, but I now had a good idea of what he wanted. If I tried to run away from him, he would only catch me. I didn''t think I would make it out of the house by myself. Pawg, can I choose some of my augments now, and save some points for later? [Yes, you may. Would you like to see the list again?] Yes, please. The list appeared in front of me. Reviewing it, I tried to find things that would help me out of this situation. Pawg, for physical, I choose agility, flexibility, and might. [You have chosen to augment Agility, Flexibility and Might, for one point each. Is this correct?] Yes. There was a quick flash in my vision and I heard a short whooshing sound. I was certain something had happened, but I didn¡¯t feel much different yet. Looking at the mental list, I made a quick decision. For mental, I choose only one point for confidence, for now. [You have chosen to augment Confidence, for one point. Is this correct?] Yes. There was another flash and sound. Yes, I definitely felt more confident after that. There was a knock on the bathroom door. ¡°Are you okay in there?¡± Brad asked. He was right by the door! How long have I been in here? I needed to hurry. [You have been in this room for approximately six and a half minutes.] ¡°Yes, hang on. I¡¯ll be out in a couple minutes.¡± Thank you, Pawg. Quickly scanning the list of skills, I remembered that I wouldn¡¯t gain the skills immediately, but I hoped that even a knack could be helpful. I needed things that would help me get away, even if I was forced to fight my way out of the house. For skills, I choose only defense and strategy, for now. [You have chosen to augment Defense and Strategy, for one point each. Is this correct?] Yes. After the flash and sound this time, I didn¡¯t feel any different, but I was done choosing augments, so I swiped the interface to dismiss it. I tried to think of how I might get out of this situation. Surprise would give me the best chance of escape, but that didn''t seem likely. If I had to fight, I remembered we had a police officer visit our PE class last year. He had shown us a few different techniques we could use to get away from a stronger assailant. And he had us each practice them a few times. I clearly remembered what I was taught, but I also thought of a few more ideas. It was time to face him. I opened the door and saw him standing by the bed, using his phone. He turned to look when he heard the door open. ¡°Hey babe. I hope you are cool now. Why don¡¯t you come here so we can pick up where we left off?¡± ¡°You know what, Brad. I¡¯m not interested any more. In fact, why don¡¯t we go down and join the party?¡± He looked at me funny, with his head tilted to the side. ¡°Hold on.¡± He was raising his voice now, along with one of his hands. ¡°I only agreed to do this because she said you would be great entertainment.¡± She did, huh? I¡¯ll bet she did. He started moving toward me. I backed up until I was back in the bathroom, but he grabbed the door before I could close it again. ¡°This doesn¡¯t have to get ugly. I can be sweet when you are.¡± Time for action. I tried to dash past him out the bathroom door. But, when I did, he easily grabbed one of my arms. So, with my other hand I grabbed his hand and held it tight, then I swung my arms in a big circle. This caused his arm to twist around behind his back, where I now had control. He hissed. ¡°But you had to make it ugly, didn¡¯t you?¡± I said, turning us around so that he was facing the bathroom, but now I was closer to the bedroom door. He struggled hard, so I had to twist his arm further. ¡°Stop, you¡¯re breaking my arm!¡± he yelled. ¡°Listen up, Braaad!¡± I stressed his name, to get his attention. ¡°I¡¯m going to walk out of here. If you try to stop me, you¡¯ll only end up getting seriously hurt. It¡¯s your choice.¡± I shoved him hard into the bathroom, turned around and quickly headed to the bedroom door. I opened the door, but before I could exit he had run back and grabbed me from behind, with his arms around my upper chest. So, I grabbed his arms, held them tight and squatted lower, making him lean over me. Then I stepped to the side and back, placing my left knee behind his right. Leaning backwards, it was an easy matter of picking up his knees and throwing him to the ground. His head smacked the floor with a loud thump. I rammed my elbow into his stomach, for good measure. Then I stood up, walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs and out the front door. 7 Tears I started walking home, and then realized I could call my mom using my new interface. I had not brought my phone along, because I didn¡¯t have a purse with me and shouldn''t have needed my phone anyway. ¡°Keyva, what''s wrong?¡± How did she know? My eyes were full of tears, angry tears. ¡°Mom, I need you to come pick me up.¡± ¡°Okay, where are you?¡± I guess she knew not to ask about Brad. I told her where I was, and which road I was heading to. I also told her that when she gets near to call me if she doesn''t find me, because I was going to keep walking. ¡°It will take me a few minutes to get Gemini in the car, but then we''ll come and get you. Be sure you are somewhere safe. Don''t walk in the dark if you can help it, and don''t let any strangers stop to pick you up.¡± ¡°I know, Mom. I will stay safe.¡± I walked down the street, and turned in the direction that we had come from. I kept watching behind me, to see if Brad was coming after me. But I never saw him, thankfully. She had to call me again, but we eventually met up. My tears had stopped by then, but when I got in the car I started crying again. Mom reached over to rub my back, but she had to keep watching ahead to drive. She didn''t ask me how things went, it was pretty obvious. Plus, I wasn''t ready to talk about it yet. Gemi was making cooing sounds in the back seat. When we got home, I quickly got out and ran up to my room. I decided to get ready for bed, there was no use trying to do anything else. In the bathroom I could see that my mascara had run in ugly black streaks down my cheeks. I angrily cleaned all of the makeup off. Mom came in to talk to me after I was in bed and sat down on my desk chair. ¡°I''m so sorry, honey. I was a little concerned about Brad, after meeting him, but I was hoping that he was going to be a gentleman. Can you tell me what happened?¡± I didn''t want to, but she needed to know. ¡°Well, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. The house was too crowded, the music was way too loud, everyone was drinking, Brad basically ignored me the whole time, talking to his friends, until¡­¡± I stopped. How could I tell her this? I decided I would be honest, except about Pawg. ¡°He took me up to one of the bedrooms. I don''t know what he wanted to do exactly, but it wasn''t good. I locked myself in the bathroom for a while. Eventually, I had to come out. I told him I wanted to leave, but he tried to grab me, so I had to defend myself. Luckily, I was able to get away from him, and out of the house. He didn''t come after me, but I may have hurt him when I tried to get away.¡± My tears were flowing freely again. She came over, knelt by my bed, and reached out to give me a big hug. That''s what I really needed right then¡­ someone to just love me, and hold me. She stayed with me for a while, and we talked. I don''t remember what we talked about, or how long, but I felt much better when we were done. She kissed my cheek before she left. The next week in school, Brad avoided me like the plague. Even Keisha and her friends ignored me for once. That was a nice change of pace. I also noticed that I was not so self-conscious in my classes, and even able to respond to questions, without much distraction. In gym class that week Mom tried to let me take it easy and sit out for some activities. But I told her I was fine, and I wanted to participate. I didn''t want to have any special treatment, or get her in trouble with the school because of nepotism. I actually found that I did much better in gym class. For instance, in volleyball I was quicker than I was before, so I was able to get to the ball and hit it much more often. My hits were harder, and more accurate than I used to be. I was also able to jump higher and spike the ball, which I had never been able to do before. I was beginning to think that volleyball was my new sport. But when we played soccer on Tuesday, I discovered that I was better at that also. I could run faster, and dribble with the ball down the field between my feet, which I hadn''t been able to do before. I even kicked one of the field goals for our team. I guess I will have to see how I do in other sports. With my new found abilities, I was more popular with other students. People came up to me and congratulated me after the activities, even some I had never talked to before. Mom even commented on it, and congratulated me after class on Tuesday. In the lunchroom, more people talked to me as well, and even asked me to sit at their table, which I did. Maybe I won''t have to sit at the rejects table anymore? On Wednesday morning my alarm startled me, making me gasp and fall out of bed. It took a minute to figure out where I was and turn it off. I hadn¡¯t slept well at all. I had stayed up late worrying about my first day at Azure Academy. Would the other students find out about my OCD quirks, and tease and make fun of me? Or would they be more mature? I know Ivy talked a lot about how they were careful with who they chose to invite to the school, but did that mean that the students were kinder? Or were they just better for the school? I wondered once again what they used for their actual criteria. What was it that prompted them to choose me? Even though Ivy had tried to reassure me, I still wasn¡¯t certain. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Since I was already up, it didn¡¯t take me long to get ready and join Mom downstairs. After I ate a little breakfast, I told Mom I needed to run to my room before we left. When I got there, I told Pawg I was ready to port. A few seconds later I was in one of the open pods near the wall in the portal building. I noticed several other kids arriving, just like I had. We all exited the building and walked across the way to the VanCamp classroom building. Ivy Jackson was out front, and welcomed me and a couple of the new kids to our first day of classes. Then she escorted us to our first classroom, inside the building. Since it was our first day of classes, Ivy had us take some time to introduce ourselves. There were only seven other kids in my class, four girls and three boys. Everyone took turns giving their name and telling a little bit about themself. I''ll just put the highlights here. We were told that we would be together for our first four classes of each day, and that lunch was between the 3rd and 4th. After that, Ivy left us with the class teacher. This first class was called World Histories, and the teacher''s name was Veya¡¯zi. She was another tall, elf-like woman. She reminded me of Azu¡¯ria, whom I had met when I was agreeing to the contract, but she was older and not quite as tall. She explained that in this class we would be learning about the various known worlds, including Earth, and important events in their histories leading up to today. We learned that Visitors had been here on Earth for about 1,200 years. Since this was during what we call the dark ages, Earth was far too primitive and warlike to begin teaching us. In 1975, at the end of the Vietnam war, the Visitors decided it was finally time to start teaching Earth humans about the aether and their advanced technologies. Their goal was to help us better take care of the Earth, and the people in it, to try to prevent needless destruction and war, and to have us start to help theirs and other worlds. Veya''zi was from a world called Fiel¡¯un. A year there is shorter than a year on Earth, by about 20%. The days are also a little shorter than our 24 hours, by about 30 minutes. Gravity was also about 15% less there than here, so the people tended to be taller than here on average. There''s less land and fewer continents than Earth has. And there are vast forests, with very tall trees, rivers and lakes, with only a few mountain ranges. Another major world was called Anax¡¯il. A year there is half again longer than a year on Earth. The days are about 27 hours, and gravity is 18% greater than here. People there tend to be a little shorter and stockier than on Earth. The continents there are very mountainous, and there are many caves and mines, with underground dwellings where people like to live. The last world she talked about was called Norams¡¯ti. A year there is about 20% longer than a solar year, the days are about 2 hours shorter, and gravity is about 40% greater than Earth. So the people from there are even shorter than those from Anax¡¯il. Carly raised her hand at this point and asked, ¡°So, are they all human?¡± ¡°I assume you are asking if all the Visitors have the same basic physiology that you do here on Earth. The answer is yes. We all have one head with two eyes and ears, two arms, 10 fingers, two legs, and 10 toes. Though, I''m certain you''ve noticed the ear shapes are a bit different. ¡°It''s important to know that diseases from one world could potentially cross to another, which could cause terrible plagues. That''s why when anyone ports between places or worlds, all harmful viruses and bacteria are eliminated.¡± That got me to thinking, so I asked, ¡°So, does that mean if someone was sick before porting, afterward they wouldn''t be?¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct. However, if someone is very ill, it is not advisable for them to try porting in order to be cured. The sudden dramatic change could cause undue stress on the body. In that case, they should be treated by a healer first.¡± Our next class was Introduction to Aether. This class was taught by Mr. Sutton Whitaker. Aether, by the way, is our word for the energy medium which is spread throughout the universe, not their word. Scientists actually theorized the aether during the 1800s. But other, more popular scientists, debunked the theory, supposedly proving via a flawed experiment that it didn''t exist. Actually, the experiment wasn''t flawed, but their reasoning and conclusions were. But without the aether, nothing could exist. Matter and energy are both different forms of, and originating in, the aether. Atoms, molecules, magnetism, electricity, light and gravity are all manifestations of the aether. All waves need a medium in which to propagate. Sound waves propagate through the atmosphere, but light and radio waves propagate through the aether. Our next class was Career Explorations, which was taught by Jemma Hughes, who was from Great Britain. She had a bubbly personality, and was really easy to talk to. We learned in her class that once we had received our augments, gained experience with them, and learned how to sense, control and manipulate the aether, we would have many more career opportunities available to us than we had previously. It might even be possible that we could work on another world, either by the job or full time, if we chose. Another possibility was that we could work at one of the academies around the world. In future classes, we would go into more detail on each type of career, and talk about advantages and disadvantages of each. She promised to cover how the augments and aether manipulation techniques would help with each job. After that, it was time for lunch. 8 Kek鈥檖in Pardo We made our way into the Hansen building which was basically a large cafeteria with an attached kitchen. Lots of people were coming in with us, including students and faculty. I had recently decided that eating lunch made sense for me, even though I would be returning to my room to the same time as when I left. Otherwise, I would be hungry before my other school served lunch, since my days when I¡¯m at the academy were going to be 5 hours longer. Gailen Forrest, the school Headmaster, and Ivy Jackon, his assistant were there, smiling at us when we entered the cafeteria. There were quite a number of people already there and coming in, but the noise level was quieter than I was expecting, probably because of their presence. We did have quite a few people watching us, though. Since we were the new class, they asked our group to sit at a table together, so they could sit and visit with us. Once we found a couple of empty tables together, we all sat down. After introducing himself again and welcoming us, Mr. Forrest invited Ivy to explain how the cafeteria worked. Rather than going through a lunch line to pick up already prepared dishes, it was set up more like a restaurant but with longer tables. Instead of waiters, we used our personal agent interfaces to view what food was available for the day and to make our orders. When each of our orders were ready, our agent would inform us and then it would be ported to the table in front of us. There was also a chilled salad bar and dessert bar at one end of the cafeteria. Ivy told us to feel free to choose items from either at any time, without needing to order. I took some time looking over the menu on my interface for a few minutes. The others were busy also. It looked like today was Brazilian day, other than some ubiquitous American items. Once people finished ordering, the conversations around the table started picking up. I was only half paying attention, though, because I was still trying to decide. Besides the native dishes from Earth, there were some from ¡°off-world¡±. For these, there was the name, description, and what the dish was similar to, if any. I decided to stick with something fairly normal for me, for my first lunch, so I got up and went to the salad bar. Even at the salad bar there were a few items I didn¡¯t recognize. What was Kek¡¯pin Pardo? It looked like moist, brownish-red tree leaves. The sign said it was from Norams¡¯ti. ¡°Hi.¡± A tall girl walked up next to me. ¡°Are you with the new class? I¡¯m Cass, Cassidy Peters.¡± She reached out her hand, so I shook it. ¡°Yes, today is our first day. I¡¯m Keyva Leota. Do you know what this is? Is it any good?¡± I was pointing at the Kek¡¯pin Pardo. ¡°Yes, you eat it like lettuce, but it comes from a bush. It¡¯s really tasty and supposed to be much better for you than our iceberg lettuce¡­ vitamins or minerals or something. Brown means it¡¯s ripe. They say the farmers have to protect their orchards with force fields, or the insects will completely strip the bushes once the leaves start turning.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I picked up one of the leaves with the tongs and tried it. ¡°You¡¯re right. It is good, thank you!¡± It tasted like it already had some kind of dressing, though it was a bit tougher than our lettuce. I decided to load up my plate with some, adding a few of my favorite toppings. She smiled and put some on her plate also. ¡°So, what do you think so far?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little overwhelmed, to be honest. There is so much to learn. I had no idea this place existed a week ago. And now here I am enrolled.¡± ¡°I guess that would be overwhelming if you are so new. This is my third year here. Not to brag, but I am actually a second generation Augmentum.¡± That kind of sounds like bragging to me, but maybe that¡¯s just the way she is. ¡°My dad went to Azure when he was younger, though the campus wasn¡¯t here then. It was in Texas, where we are from. They had to move when the surrounding town grew too big. I think people were getting too nosy. ¡°My dad works in security and gets to travel a lot. He protects important people, but he isn¡¯t allowed to tell me much. I¡¯m going to be a teacher here someday, so I''m tutoring this year.¡± I had been standing there for a while, and kids at my table were waving me over. ¡°That''s really interesting. Sorry, I guess I need to go. My class is calling me over. It was nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Let me know if you need any help,¡± she said, and waved as I left. Wow, she was¡­ talkative, but she seemed nice. When I got back and sat down, Ivy said, ¡°Keyva, I see you met Cassidy Peters. We were just asking everyone how their first day had been so far. We just want to make sure you are fitting in, and answer any questions you have.¡± ¡°Um¡­ fine, I guess.¡± Everyone was looking at me, so I got a little self conscious. I still needed to work on my hang-ups. So, after a pause, I got up a little more courage and said, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m really liking things so far, but there sure is a lot to learn.¡± ¡°That is true. But don¡¯t let yourself get too worried. There will be plenty of time to study and practice. So, do you have any other questions we can answer?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯m just glad to be here.¡± Everyone smiled at that. Soon afterward the conversations wound down, so I could finally eat my lunch. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Our next class was Physical Activities in the Sorensen building. It was mostly a big gymnasium, but with a lot more equipment and a bunch of what looked like props. There were two teachers: Raz¡¯k for the boys and Rin¡¯ya for the girls. Both of them were Anaxian, which was what we called the people from Anax¡¯il. They were shorter, stockier and more muscular than what I considered normal for an adult from Earth, sort of like mythological dwarves. Both had long hair done in a braided ponytail. Raz¡¯k¡¯s beard was quite impressive, though Rin¡¯ya definitely did not have any evidence of a beard, as some stories claimed female dwarves had. Rin¡¯ya said that many of the activities in later years were coed, and a few of them this year. But the physical differences between genders were significant enough that the classes were usually separated for the first year. Since this was our first class, they started by giving us a tour of the building, including the track and field outside. The building was much larger than a normal gymnasium, and the grounds outside were large as well. They said that we would use the equipment as needed, depending on the class activity. They said we should plan to have lots of fun, but to expect to work hard. Then we split up. Rin¡¯ya took us to the girls locker room, while the boys went the other direction. She told us about our need for gym clothes to work out in and get sweaty. We all smiled at that. She showed us the neat stacks of gym clothes in the locker room for everyone to use. There were also showers which we could use at the end of class. Next to the stack of clothes was a large laundry basket where we were to put our dirty gym clothes to be laundered. Then she asked us all to get changed into our gym clothes, and to meet back in the gym when we were ready. I saw that the lockers had combinations, or could be padlocked, so I set a combination on mine. After I got changed, I went back out with the other girls. For the rest of class, they wanted to see what we were each starting from. Before today, we each had the opportunity to select augments, though some had and some had not. They had each of us do various tests, exercises, and activities while they took notes. They also said that if we added any physical augments in the future, to let the teacher know at the beginning of the next class so we could be retested. We ended up running around the track a bunch of times, until we were too tired to run. Most of the boys were faster than the girls at first, but two of the girls, Binda and Carli, passed by all of them halfway around the track, and continued to dominate for the rest of the run. ¡°How did you two run so fast?¡± Kevlin asked, after he had caught his breath. He had been the fastest of the boys. ¡°What do you mean? We were just jogging,¡± Binda said with a smirk. ¡°Why were you guys so slow?¡± ¡°Come on,¡± Kevlin said. ¡°Did you put all of your physical points into agility? I didn''t know we could do that.¡± ¡°Actually, only two,¡± Carli said, and laughed. ¡°I was already the fastest of the girls at my school in 1000 meters. One point for stamina helps also.¡± ¡°Are you planning to be a runner in the future?¡± Aislin asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Carli said. ¡°I just love running. It helps in many physical careers.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be either an athletic or personal trainer,¡± Binda said. ¡°My mother works at a gym, so my brother and I hang out there a lot.¡± ¡°All right,¡± Rin¡¯ya said. ¡°Time for our next activity.¡± They spent the remainder of class testing our arm and leg strength and flexibility. By the end, we were all gasping for air on the grass field. I was so sweaty and sore, and never wanted to move again. I groaned when I remembered that I still had a full school day back at Green Lake. When I got to the shower, I decided to take my time and use extra hot water, since time wasn¡¯t an issue for my last class of the day at Azure Academy. Maybe I should ask about taking a nap somewhere, before I return home, especially on days when I''m so tired, like today? They had told us to port to and from the school only using the portals in the Peterson building, unless there was a serious emergency. Walking there from the gym, I thought about my first day. I had been worried at the beginning, but it seemed like this was going to be a lot of fun. The kids and teachers here didn¡¯t bother me like they had back home. Maybe they just didn¡¯t know me yet? I determined to try harder to try to fit in better. In fact, I hadn¡¯t noticed much of my OCD quirks here, but that could just be because it was so new. After porting back to my bedroom, I had to reorient myself. The sun had moved back to its morning position in the sky. I looked at my cell phone, and noticed that the time still said 1:37 pm. But it soon changed to 6:49 am as I was watching. I guess it didn¡¯t take very long for it to notice that the time was wrong and correct it. I still had my backpack so I ran downstairs and got in the car with mom, for our morning drive to school. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have decided to continue school at Green Lake? When we arrived, Mom was ahead of me going in, because I was taking my time walking from the school parking lot. When I opened the door, I thought I heard a noise so I glanced behind me. I didn¡¯t see anything, but I stopped and looked around. That¡¯s when I noticed the motorcycle across the street. I knew that bike and the person sitting on it. It was my brother, Jace. Jace had moved out of the house last year and gotten his own apartment. He worked at Big Jim¡¯s Auto as a mechanic. Henny needed his room when she had the baby. He was just sitting there on his motorcycle, looking down at his phone. It was far enough away that I wasn¡¯t sure, but I thought I could hear his engine still running. What was he doing here, this early in the morning? He was never an early riser, at least I had never noticed. Oh well, not my problem. Just before I turned around to enter the school, I saw two boys coming down the street on skateboards. They were both kids that went to my school, but a year ahead of me. Instead of riding into the school parking lot, however, they stopped next to Jace. After a few words were exchanged, the boys handed something to Jace, a small bag. Jace looked inside for a second, then reached into his leather jacket. ¡°Good morning, Keyva.¡± It was my geometry teacher, Mrs. Lambert. ¡°Oh, good morning,¡± I replied and held the door open for her. When I looked back, Jace was gone, and the boys were riding their boards across the parking lot. 9 Kip鈥檌t Doon鈥檌 When I walked into Mr. Whitaker¡¯s Intro to Aether class, there was something on my desk. Actually, everyone had one on their desk, though a couple of the kids had picked their¡¯s up and were examining it closely. It was fairly small, about the size of a baseball. It had a bunch of sides, similar to the thing I touched that brought me here the first time. Each side formed a triangle. What was it called, kip- something? But this one was much smaller and looked like it was made from polished light gray stone. I picked up the one on my desk, but it felt much lighter than it appeared. Maybe it was hollow? Some of the sides were glowing slightly, and a few of them were blinking randomly. Looking closer, I could see a different symbol on each side. I hope we don¡¯t have to memorize a new language. I¡¯m horrible with languages. I learned that when I took Spanish class last year. ¡°Welcome students,¡± the teacher said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have all noticed the device on your desk. It is called a Kip¡¯it Doon¡¯i. This is yours to keep while you are a student here. Please take good care of it. Don¡¯t lose it, or show it to anyone who shouldn¡¯t see it. It is NOT a toy, and you do not use it for role playing games.¡± I wonder what he means by that? The teacher was looking pointedly at Kevlin, who was grinning. Maybe I¡¯ll ask Kevlin later? ¡°It has several uses, but the first one is that it detects local changes in the aether. Who can tell me why this might be useful to you?¡± ¡°Can it tell us if we are being attacked, or something?¡± ¡°Good guess, Leif, but no. It is probably too crude to be used for that. Anyone else?¡± I raised my hand. ¡°Will it help us to practice?¡± ¡°Yes, exactly, Keyva. In this class we are going to learn the basics of working with and manipulating the aether. On your own, especially at first, it is going to be very difficult to know if you are making any progress or not. Using the Kip¡¯it Doon¡¯i you will be able to see your progress visually. ¡°There are 20 sides, one for each aspect of aether. When it detects a nearby perturbation of a specific type, the corresponding side will light up. And the brightness will increase according to the strength of the change. So, why do you think some of the sides are already lit up?¡± ¡°Are we making changes in the aether now?¡± ¡°Good, Binda. Yes, you are. Just by living, breathing, thinking, feeling and moving around, you make small changes in the aether constantly.¡± ¡°Then, how can we tell the difference between living and doing something else with the aether?¡± ¡°Very good question, Olivia. Let¡¯s talk about that. The Kip¡¯it Doon¡¯i is designed to be extremely sensitive at close range, in order to help students learn. Each of you is unique, so you are going to affect it in slightly different ways. What we need to do today is to attune it. That way, it will remain dark until you actually make big enough changes to the aether beyond the normal for them to be detected.¡± He picked up a marker and started drawing some symbols on the white board. ¡°Everyone pick up your Doon¡¯i, and look around it for these three symbols.¡± He indicated the symbols on the board. ¡°I will walk around and help those of you who may be struggling.¡± After he had helped everyone find them, he walked back to the front of the room. ¡°Now, place a finger or thumb on each of them but only these three. Once you have done that, hold still for 30 seconds. Once you are successful, you should see the Doon¡¯i flash 3 times and then go dark.¡± I watched mine closely until it started flashing. I yelped and almost dropped it. It was much brighter than I was expecting. He had to help two of the others, who had their fingers placed incorrectly. Eventually, we all got our¡¯s attuned. ¡°Now that you have attuned your Doon¡¯i, it will no longer work for anyone else. Even though we instruct students to be very careful with them, they do occasionally get misplaced or even stolen. If that happens we have ways we can find and recover them, as long as it hasn¡¯t been destroyed. But for anyone but you, it will just be a big 20 sided gray stone with symbols. ¡°As I said at the beginning, each of the symbols on the Doon¡¯i correspond to a different aspect of aether manipulation. They all have names, though I will use their English names for now. Eventually, you¡¯ll need to learn them all. ¡°But first, let¡¯s test them and see how they work.¡± He came around the desk and stood just in front of our desks, holding the marker which he had used to write on the board. ¡°Please watch your Doon¡¯i while I do this.¡± He held out his right hand flat in front of him, palm up, with the marker on it. As we all stared, the marker rose up, a few inches above his hand. My eyes went wide, and I heard a few gasps. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°While you were looking at your Doon¡¯i, what did you see? Or, did you forget to look?¡± ¡°I saw four, no three sides, light up,¡± Jett said. ¡°I think another one was on at first, but then went off.¡± ¡°Correct. Why do you think that one apparent action would affect more than one side of the Doon¡¯i?¡± ¡°It must take more than one type of change to do that,¡± I said. ¡°Very good, Keyva. I am (1) lowering its effective mass, (2) reversing the pull of gravity, and (3) operating on an object at a distance. As I lifted it, I also (4) added a small force, but I don¡¯t need to maintain that now that it¡¯s not moving.¡± He held up a finger as he said each of them. ¡°Now watch what happens as I move away.¡± He walked back to the other side of the table at the front of the room, leaving the marker floating in the middle of the room. ¡°One side got brighter!¡± Jett shouted. ¡°Thank you, Jett. Which aspect do you think I had to increase in order to walk away and not drop it?¡± ¡°Is it harder to cancel gravity when you are further away?¡± Aislin asked. ¡°Slightly, but that is not the answer I¡¯m looking for.¡± ¡°Action at a distance.¡± ¡°Yes, Olivia. As I move further away from the object I¡¯m affecting, everything gets a little more difficult, but action at a distance is the most affected.¡± He held up his hand as the marker was quickly pulled into it, while everyone¡¯s Doon¡¯i flashed and then went dark. ¡°So extra!¡± Jett exclaimed. ¡°How do we do that?¡± ¡°Before you will be able to do that, you have a lot to learn and practice. But how quickly you learn is up to each of you. ¡°That is the end of my demonstration today. You may put your Doon¡¯i away in your bag or backpack. I don¡¯t want you to be distracted for the rest of our discussion. Though, please bring it with you each time you come to class, because you will use it often.¡± ¡°Now let¡¯s discuss each aspect of aether manipulation.¡± He covered the basics of each of them for the rest of the class. The 20 aspects are arranged into 3 main groups: Life, Physical, and Meta. Life group includes body, senses, mind, emotion, knowledge and spirit. Physical includes nature, electricity, magnetism, heat, light, sound, and matter. And Meta includes: distance, leverage, inertia, ward, time, rule, and process. He talked a little about each, but the meta ones were ones I really didn¡¯t understand. Just before the end of class that day, he asked, ¡°Now, can someone explain what an aura is?¡± No one raised their hand at first, so I decided to. ¡°Isn¡¯t it a kind of glow around people, one that only a few people can see, supposedly?¡± ¡°Yes, Keyva. Every living thing has an aura which surrounds it. For humans, it''s by a foot or more. We¡¯ll call it a spiritual glow, since cameras can¡¯t pick them up, most people don¡¯t either. You can learn to see them, however, but it takes practice. The reason I mention auras is because when someone manipulates something with the aether, their aura reforms to attach to and surround the thing. And the color will change based on what aspects of the aether they are affecting. ¡°Once you learn to see auras you will start to see these manipulations, whether you are doing it or someone else is. If you get proficient at seeing auras, you should eventually no longer need your Doon¡¯i, because seeing aura changes will tell you more than the Doon¡¯i could. For the rest of this week you will be practicing seeing auras. Feel free to practice at home also. If you want to start tonight, seeing auras is something you can easily look up on the internet.¡± My head hurt as I left the academy that day. When Mom and I got home from school, I went up to my room to work on homework before dinner. I honestly tried, but I couldn¡¯t concentrate, thinking of everything I had seen and learned. Eventually, I used my phone to look up auras and how to see them. Then I started practicing, but I didn''t succeed in seeing them on my own body. Maybe the lighting was wrong or the background? I guess I will be learning more in class tomorrow. I pulled out my Doon¡¯i and looked at it for a while. I didn¡¯t see any of the sides glowing or light up, but the symbols looked pretty interesting. I decided to take some time to see if I could copy them into my notebook. While doing that, I had an idea, so I asked Pawg if it could tell me what each symbol was. It was happy to answer my questions, so I wrote the actual and English names next to each symbol, as I carefully copied them. Just before I was going to put it away in my bag I saw one of the sides flash. As I wondered what caused that, I realized that I knew mom was coming and would soon open my door. So I quickly put the Doon¡¯i in my backpack, right as Mom knocked on my door and opened it. ¡°Honey, could you please watch Gemi while I finish dinner? She keeps getting into the pan cabinet and hurting herself.¡± ¡°Sure Mom.¡± She set her on the floor in my room. Gemi¡¯s face was red, and I could tell she had been crying. ¡°Gemi! My favorite niece.¡± I clapped my hands, got down on the floor to give her a big hug. Mom turned to leave and closed the door. ¡°How about we read a book?¡± After reading a book to her, I realized that I still hadn¡¯t finished my homework. So I got some toys from Henny¡¯s room and placed them by her. Then I started on my homework, for real this time. Luckily, it wasn¡¯t hard so I finished before Mom called us down for dinner. I brought her down with me and placed her in her high chair, then sat down to eat dinner with Mom. Dad was on duty at the fire station, and Henny was at work, so it was just us three. Mom had cooked spaghetti, which was delicious. For Gemi, Mom chopped the noodles finely and added only a little sauce, without any meat. Gemi was to the stage where she was trying to learn to feed herself, but mostly it just went all over her face and down in her lap. She was going to need a bath after dinner, but that was pretty normal. While Mom was bathing Gemi, I fell asleep. At least I had taken a little time to get ready for bed, but it¡¯s going to take a while to get used to my extended school day schedule. 10 Aura It was so odd¡ª eight students sitting around the classroom, apparently just staring at each other. It looked like we were all in detention. Actually though, this was our second day of practicing seeing auras. At least we weren''t giggling. The first day there was a lot of that going on, because come on, who can stare at somebody for 20 minutes without giggling? The teacher had to stop us after that long, because no one was making any progress. Today, he asked us to each stare at a different person, so nobody was staring at a person who was looking back at them. It was so much better. For me, I kept confusing auras with after-images, which is the negative color image you see when you look away, after staring at something for a long time. For a dark-haired person, the after-image of the hair was white, and the opposite for a blonde. However, I started noticing the color of the after-image was different than I was expecting. I had been staring at Jett, actually looking past him, with unfocused eyes. He has dark brown hair, so the after-image was a light green. But now I was seeing some red. Maybe I''m going crazy, after two days of doing this? But then I remembered that Mr. Whitaker had explained that auras can have many different colors. After-images move with the direction of your eyes, but auras should stay around the person you are looking at. That''s what I was seeing. He had a red aura! I wonder what red means? I know the internet said something about different colors meaning different things, but I hadn''t memorized it. I decided to look at somebody else for a minute, and picked Binda. She has blonde hair, done up in a braid. After staring at her for a while, I could see that her after-image was kind of dark blue. I was nearly there but then I blinked. The teacher, and the web sites I had looked at, warned us to try not to blink, because the aura will usually disappear if you do. So, I kept at it. Eventually, I started to see a slight pink haze around her head. Her aura was pink! What does pink mean? About that time, Leif groaned. ¡°I¡¯m never going to get this!¡± He put his head down. ¡°My eyes are hurting.¡± ¡°Ok, class,¡± Mr. Whitaker said, as he stood up from the chair where he had been sitting on the corner. He walked to the front of the class. ¡°That¡¯s probably enough for our aura exercise today. I can see most of you are ready for something new. But before we get into that, did anyone have success in seeing an aura?¡± Everyone looked around the room, but no one raised their hand. My face and ears were flushed with heat. I hated to stand out or be ridiculed, but slowly raised my hand. ¡°Keyva, care to share with us what you saw?¡± ¡°Well, I was really struggling with seeing after-images and blinking. But eventually I started seeing a red glow around Jett¡¯s head. Then I tried it again with Binda, just to be sure. It took a while again, but I started seeing a pink glow around her. I really don¡¯t know if I was seeing their auras, or if I was just imagining them.¡± ¡°So, class, how can you tell if you see an aura or not? What did I tell you?¡± Olivia spoke up. ¡°It is an after-image if it moves with the direction of your eyes. If it stays around the person, then it is an aura.¡± ¡°That is correct. Keyva, I can verify you were seeing Jett¡¯s and Binda¡¯s auras, because I also saw them as red and pink. There are some interesting theories as to what each of the colors mean. You can look them up if you want, but I haven¡¯t found them to be always accurate. ¡°We¡¯ll keep practicing seeing auras in class, but we will spend less and less time on the exercise. So I want each of you to practice this on your own. Try it with different lighting and varying backgrounds. Some people learn to see them, but not everyone. It is not a requirement, but if you can learn to see them, it will really help you in the future. ¡°Now we will discuss the various steps you need to take to manipulate the aether. You may want to take notes.¡± Then he wrote the following on the board: Faith Focus Emotion Authority Target Intent Command Effect ¡°The first three are for preparation. Let¡¯s start with ¡®faith¡¯. Who knows what this means? And, no, I¡¯m not talking about religion.¡± ¡°Does it mean belief?¡± ¡°Yes, Kevlin. But faith is a much stronger word than belief. How about a quick demonstration? But I need a volunteer.¡± Kevlin stood up as the teacher walked around to the front of his table. ¡°Stand here next to me, but facing the window.¡± Kevlin moved to the spot he indicated. ¡°Don¡¯t do it yet, but I¡¯m going to ask you to close your eyes and let yourself fall backwards. But first, do I have your permission to catch you?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Do you trust that I am able to catch you?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Then the teacher walked to his chair in the corner of the room, far away from Kevlin, and sat down. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Do you trust that I am able to catch you?¡± he asked again. ¡°Um¡­ not now. You¡¯re too far away.¡± ¡°Even if I assure you that I am still able to catch you?¡± ¡°Well, maybe?¡± He didn¡¯t seem very sure, though. ¡°I understand. Please go back to your desk. Is there anyone else who actually believes I am able to catch them, even from over here?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Binda jumped up and went to where Kevlin was. ¡°Do I have your permission to catch you?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Alright. Please close your eyes and fall backwards.¡± She did, but started slowly. Just before she hit the floor, though, she screamed and broke form, bending at the waist and trying to catch herself with her hands. Carli screamed too, and Jett jumped up. She wasn¡¯t on the floor though. She was hovering a foot above it, her eyes huge, but she had a big smile! I looked down at my Doon¡¯i, which was sitting on my desk. Some of the sides were glowing, as I expected. ¡°You said you believed I could catch you. Yet you still mistrusted, right at the end.¡± He paused. ¡°Having faith means you have complete trust. You would have had no doubt. In order for you to manipulate the aether, you must have faith, not just belief.¡± Slowly she descended to the ground, where she stood up. ¡°Thank you, Binda. Please take your seat. ¡°Step 2 is to ¡®focus¡¯. By this we mean you must have total concentration on what you''re about to do. If you are distracted at all, you will fail. ¡°Step 3 is ¡®emotion¡¯. What we mean is, you have to be in the right frame of mind while still remaining focused. The stronger the emotion you are experiencing, the stronger the effect you can have. ¡°But let me ask you a question. Which emotion is stronger, hate or love?¡± ¡°Hate?¡± ¡°Why do you say that, Aislin?¡± ¡°Because hate is such a strong emotion. When you feel hate, there''s also anger and rage. I know, I''ve seen it destroy my family. Besides, love isn''t all that it''s cracked up to be.¡± ¡°I''m truly saddened that you''ve had to deal with that in your life. ¡°The word love in English has many different meanings, so let me clarify. Greek and other languages break these out into different words.¡± On a new section of the board, he wrote the following words: Ag¨¢p¨¥, ¨¦r¨­s, Philia, Ludus, Pragma, Philaut¨ªa, Storg¨¥. He explained how each was a little different, but that mainly ag¨¢p¨¥, but also pragma, and storg¨¥ were the strongest of the types of love. ¡°But my main point is that, even though hate can be a very strong emotion, true, unconditional love, ag¨¢p¨¥, is so much stronger. The sad truth, however, is some people have never experienced that kind of love. ¡°So for these first three, there is another way to think of and remember them. For ¡®focus¡¯, think of engaging your whole mind. For ¡®emotion¡¯, you can think of applying your whole heart. And for ¡®faith¡¯, think of committing your whole soul. By ¡®soul¡¯ we mean your inner being or living spirit combined with your physical body. ¡°Okay, let''s move to the next step, ¡®authority¡¯. You each have authority over your own body. Even though your parents or guardians may have legal authority over you, you are the ultimate ruler of yourself. Does everyone follow me so far?¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°Did you notice, however, before I caught Binda, I asked for her permission to catch her?¡± We all nodded at that too. ¡°By giving her permission, she was giving me temporary, conditional authority which I used to catch her. The lesson is you must have authority over the thing you''re going to affect with the aether. This means yourself, or something you own. Indirect or assumed authority also works, but it can be more difficult. What do you think I mean by indirect or assumed?¡± ¡°Do you mean, like, your family owns something, or your friend?¡± ¡°Yes, very good. Okay, what if your school owns something, or the city or the government?¡± ¡°I guess you could look at it in different ways,¡± Olivia said. ¡°You don''t own your school. But you go to that school, and you pay for the school through tuition or your family''s taxes, so indirectly maybe you do?¡± ¡°But even the teachers and principal of the school don''t own the school,¡± Kevlin said. ¡°Very good, Kevlin. I levitated the pen yesterday, but I don''t own it. The school does. I work here at the school, and the school, via the headmaster and my employment contract, has given me permission to teach. Which gives me indirect authority over the things that I am using in the school. ¡°As enrolled students, you have permission to learn, which gives you permission indirectly to use things that the school owns, as long as you are not abusing that permission. Does that make sense to everyone?¡± We nodded, but Kevlin held his thumb up and grinned. ¡°Having authority does not require ownership if you have permission. But if you have ownership, or can indirectly claim some form of ownership, then you have sufficient authority, and do not need permission. ¡°You can also think of ¡®authority¡¯ as answering the question of why. In other words, why should the universe or the aether even obey you?¡± He wrote ¡®Why¡¯ on the board next to ¡®Authority¡¯. ¡°Let¡¯s move on to ¡®target¡¯. This is what or whom you are targeting for the action. For instance, this marker or Binda, as she was my target earlier. The closer the target is to yourself, the easier it is to target. So, if I wanted to target a person on the other side of the world whom I had no connection to, other than seeing their picture, it would be practically impossible. If, however, I had an active view of the person, somehow, then the impossible becomes slightly more possible, but still very difficult. If the person was in the same building as me, but I couldn¡¯t see them, it becomes a little easier. And if I could see the person, even easier, and so on. The more experience you have, the more likely you will be able to target difficult things. ¡°So ¡®target¡¯ answers the question of where, which, or whom will be affected.¡± He wrote those on the board next to ¡®Target¡¯. ¡°The next step to using the aether is ¡®intent¡¯. By intent, we mean we are applying our will to produce the effect you want, along with applying the various aspects of the aether. This is where you decide exactly how you want the effect to happen. For instance, when I lifted the marker yesterday, I could have only used a vertical force to do it. But that would have been very unstable and would have made a very poor demonstration. So, instead I lowered its effective mass, reversed gravity, which was easier because of the lowered mass, and then applied a tiny force to levitate it. ¡°So ¡®intent¡¯ answers the question of what change to apply and how to effect the change.¡± He wrote ¡®What¡¯ next to ¡®Intent¡¯. ¡°The last step is ¡®command''. This is the trigger to launch the effect. When I levitated the pen or caught Binda, you may have noticed I didn''t say anything out loud. That''s because the command step does not need to be audible, it can just be in your mind. While you''re in this class, however, I want you to always state the command out loud. Also, the language you use doesn''t really matter, as long as the meaning is clear to you. ¡°As with the others, command answers the question of when, as in right now.¡± Again, he wrote ¡®When¡¯ next to ¡®Command¡¯. Kevlin raised his hand and asked. ¡°So, is there any way to have something happen later, instead of right now?¡± ¡°Good question. Yes there is, but we won¡¯t be covering that in this class. You can expect to learn about several ways to do that in years 2 and 3.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s end our discussion today with ¡®effect¡¯. By this, we mean that you watch, sustain, adjust and control the action as it is happening. This still requires focus. Once you have finished, you release your focus and the effect stops. ¡°Is it possible to create effects which last beyond your focus?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, your augments are examples of this. But that is another advanced topic, which we won¡¯t cover in this class.¡±