《Polarized: The Full Collection》


 Prologue

    It was a cool day in the spirit realm, and Noi was delivering a message to Blanche. A bout of rain in City Central held him back, but the downpour passed as quickly as it started, leaving pools of water behind on the sidewalk. The messenger stared at the pools, which displayed glimpses of the mortal realm on their surfaces.


    Noi had never been to the mortal realm before and he didn''t want to go there. There was an unwritten rule among spirits requiring them to distance themselves from humans, after all. But despite Noi''s reservations, the humans from Cloudgate fascinated him. That''s because he knew that the spirit realm would be nothing without them.


    The goddess of creation and power, also known as Blanche, gifted auras to several humans. The humans with auras possessed godlike abilities, but once an aura-haver died, their auras would get extracted by Blanche. Once Blanche received multiple auras of the same type, she could combine them together to create a core. These cores, or conglomerations of auras, were what gave the spirits their essences and eternal lives. Without humans, the auras could not be turned into cores, and spirits would cease to exist. And without Blanche, the spirit realm would fall into chaos because she was at the center of it all. Blanche has created all spirits for the sole purpose of serving her and only her, so if a single spirit failed to fulfill their duty, she could kill them if that''s what she wanted to do. Spirits couldn''t die of ordinary causes, but Blanche, being their only creator, was also their only destroyer. She was the only known being with the ability to assemble and dismantle a spirit''s core.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Noi was currently delivering a message to Blanche, which he heard in his dreams. His ability was foresight, so he had to record these kinds of things. Though the messenger was used to interpreting prophecies, this one in particular was rather disturbing. He suspected it of telling of Blanche''s downfall:


    Creator, know your end is nigh


    Because the North star of the sky


    Its shine much needed, come and quell


    The darkness from your rule, dispel


    You''ll wander down a twisted path


    Fighting to keep your reign intact


    Alas, your fate is marked by ice


    Long is the wait for your demise


    The North Star? What North Star? Would a literal star fall from the sky or does that mean something else? Noi pondered. Though he normally liked interpreting prophecies, the vagueness of this one frustrated him¡ª he had to know what the "North Star" referred to so he could stop it from killing Blanche! Couldn''t the senders of this message afford to be a bit more specific?! Noi thought. He knew this wasn''t a game. It was a matter of life and death, and had to be treated as such.


    But as confused as he was, Noi had to accept he was only a seer, and he would never have all the answers he wanted. All he could do was walk on.

 Book 1: A Star is (Re)Born

    Skye is down on her luck. Having been sheltered and homeschooled her entire life, her parents finally make the decision to send her to a public school¡ª only for her to end up in a freak accident involving her ice aura, a socially stigmatized form of magic. One event leads to another, and she''s now taken away to an island inhabited by a secret society of aura-mages. Also, she''s part of a prophecy to take down a tyrannical deity and can turn into a seal?!Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Cayto, meanwhile, is a young man who only wishes to do well in his studies, take over his father''s company and make his parents proud. He wants no part of the aura magic business and views the whole thing as wrong and degenerate. However, he ends up getting taken to the island of Avriya anyway, and is not happy about the recent turn of events. But who knows, there might be a silver lining to all this...

 1.1- Brain Freeze

    My name is Polaris, and I am an ice mage. I lead the Cloudgate Crusaders, a guild based in Skypoint, Cloudgate''s capital. We are a mage guild of all backgrounds and abilities, and every day is an adventure for us. Sometimes we fight monsters and evil spirits. Other times we settle disputes among the commoners. But either way, we''re all just trying to make Cloudgate a better place to live in¡ª


    "Skye!"


    Skye snapped from her daydream with a startled expression. She stared at her Algebra II notebook, blank in comparison to the jumble of numbers and symbols on the blackboard. As she gathered her surroundings, reality hit her in waves: her name''s not Polaris, she''s not Cloudgate¡¯s greatest-yet-unheard-of guild leader, and she''s not a heroic and brave ice mage. Though Skye may have shared the same straw-colored hair and light-blue eyes as her imaginary alter-ego, the similarities ended there. An underachieving, socially awkward girl of fifteen should have little in common with a legendary guild leader.


    Since Skye was young, her family had homeschooled her. It was her mom''s idea to send her to Springs High despite the risks of doing so. Since her mother sent her to high school, Skye had to be careful, because if she wasn''t, she could encase an entire room with ice. Not that it had happened before, but it definitely could.


    "Nuff'' staring off to space, your notebook''s blank."


    Skye recoiled upon hearing her teacher''s grating voice. She glanced up at his scowl and shifted back in her seat.


    "And solve the problem on the board," he added.


    Shit. Skye wasn''t good with numbers, so she zoned out the entire lesson. Because she kept quiet and sat in the back of class whenever possible, the teachers would always overlook her. Then, once Skye got home, her brother Ivan could explain her work for her. He would most likely ask Skye to do his chores in exchange, or for her money, but at least she would have assistance. But Ivan couldn''t help her now.


    Skye got up, and the next thing she knew, her right hand was full with freezing crystals. The crystals were soaking the sleeve of her sweater, which she tried to wipe on her scarf to dry off. To her dismay, all that did was make her scarf wet. Crap, am I that nervous? Skye thought. Now I have to hide my curse on top of solving some stupid math problem. But in the struggle to contain the ice forming on her hands, Skye hadn''t noticed a trail of it emerging beneath her boots. So the next thing she knew, she was slipping, and then she felt herself falling towards a tiled floor coated in a layer of frost¡ª


    "Sorry?" Skye mumbled. At this point, the stares of every single person in class drilled onto her while she sat sprawled on the floor. More than anything, Skye wanted to disappear, she wanted to forget this moment, she wanted everybody to ignore her and continue with their lives as if nothing happened. But the stares persisted, and in a doomed attempt to reassure her classmates, Skye vomited up words a million times faster than she could think:


    "Hey, yeah, well um¡ª I know you all hate me, and I get why you would, it''s because I''m cursed and well, curse-bearers are dangerous, but I swear I didn''t mean to cause any harm and I''m not a bloodthirsty killer and I do not enjoy causing mass destruction like the curse-bearers you see on the news, I''m completely harmless and I hate hurting people, so forgive me please and let''s pretend nothing happened¡ª"


    Silence. For what seemed like forever, the classroom stayed like that. Then the PA crackled, breaking the dreaded tension:


    "Skye Everson from class 10E, I repeat, Skye Everson from class 10E, please report to the principal''s office."


    Skye ran out as fast as she could.


    ***


    After tentatively opening the door to the principal¡¯s office, Skye was greeted by the sight of a tall and serious-looking man. His clothes were neatly ironed and not a single hair on his head lay out of place. While the girl braced for an angry lecture from him that never came, the man instead remained eerily calm. "Do you know why you''re here?" He asked.


    At that moment Skye felt like curling up in a hole and dissapearing. "Because I have an ice aura?"


    The man, whom Skye assumed to be Mr Avery because of the nameplate sitting atop his desk, shook his head. "No, it''s not because you have an ice aura. It''s because you failed to control it. Aura-havers are responsible for holding back their auras, because if they don''t, somebody can get hurt. You put your class in danger because you failed to restrain your curse, which is why you are here. Do you now understand what you did?"


    Skye nodded. "Yes, I understand."


    "Good," Mr Avery said flatly. "So can you tell me why none of the staff at Springs High School knew you had an ice curse beforehand?"


    Skye shrugged. "I don''t know why, but I forgot to bring it up. I''m sorry."


    Mr Avery gestured towards a chair. "Please take a seat while I call your parents. You''re not in trouble, I just need to inform them of what had happened so we could work out a solution together."


    The principal talked on the phone, but Skye couldn''t hear the other end of the conversation. She didn''t want to hear. What if Mom and Dad are mad at me? Skye worried. It''s not like I wanted to cause an accident. No, it was out of my control, and I wish I had never started it.


    But on the other hand, Skye thought, they have every right to be mad at me. I deserve it. I iced the classroom, I put people in danger, I broke Mom and Dad''s trust. They sent me here because they trusted me, and I betrayed them. I''m the worst, really.


    Mr Avery hung up the phone and announced the good news: that Skye wasn''t going to get expelled or face legal consequences. Skye didn''t care if she got expelled or not, in fact, she almost wished for it because Springs was that mind-numbingly painful. But she wouldn''t want to let her family down after all they had done for her, so every day, at that dreaded school, Skye sat through her lessons. Every day, she endured the gossip and the stares. Every day, she endured the rude teachers and her failing grades, pretending they didn''t bother her as much as they did, all because Skye would never forgive herself for being a dissapointment to her family. But here she was, at the principal''s office, the delinquent.


    But at least the damage Skye''s ice curse caused was light. At least nobody got hurt. At least she wasn''t a monster. Not yet.


    And then the next thing the principal said took any bit of hope Skye had left in her, crumpled it up, and burned it to smithereens: "Your appointment at Halifax Aura Correctional Facilities at Thunderport is scheduled for Wednesday at ten."


    Skye may have looked calm, but inside her mind she was screaming. While on call, Mr Avery had mentioned over and over how he didn''t want to punish Skye unfairly, how he cared for all of his students and one of them being cursed won''t change a thing, and how he''s looking for a practical way to prevent future incidents all while taking her well-being into account... only to send her to a literal torture center out of all things. What. The. Hell.


    ***


    Wednesday came a week after the incident. Skye took the bus with her family to Thunderport, one of two major cities in Cloudgate. At Thunderport, the Eversons checked into a large office building, and inside it was a vast room full of chairs facing a platform. Skye occupied a seat at the end of a row, with her mom, dad, and brother sitting on the chairs to the left. On Skye''s right-hand side was a door with a sign. The room was crowded and noisy, and Skye''s senses were overwhelmed, but she still had some important things which she wanted to say:


    "Mom?" Skye asked, turning to her left.


    "Yes sweetie?" Her mother replied.


    "I''m sorry for icing the classroom the other day. I don''t expect you to forgive me."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Her mother gave a sympathetic smile. "Oh, Skye, I should be the one apologizing, not you. I enrolled you in Springs High and put you in a situation you were unprepared for, and for that I''m sorry."


    "Huh?" Skye wasn''t preparing herself for that answer. "By the way, how come Ivan goes to school, yet I have studied at home until this year? We''re both mages¡ª wait, no, I take that back. We aren''t mages. Mages don''t exist anymore."


    "Mages?" Skye''s mother echoed. "That''s what you and your brother would have been called back when magic was legal, right?"


    "If we could train our auras." Skye said regretfully. "But nowadays, that''s not even a choice. I wish it was, though. Maybe if I became a mage and trained my aura to not destroy everything around me, I''d be more than some useless ice girl..."


    "But you''re not useless! Don''t say that about yourself!"


    "Then how come Ivan is able to pass for a non aura-haver, yet I can''t? What makes it easy for him, yet so hard for me?"


    "Good question." Maia replied as she gathered her thoughts. "You may both be aura-havers, but remember, you and your brother''s abilities are completely different from each other. He casts illusions, you''re a cryokinetic. Because Ivan''s aura manifests on a mental level instead of a physical one, and mind-manipulation auras only work through eye contact, it''s easier for him to hide his curse. All Ivan has to do is avoid eye contact, and there, no aura manifestation."


    "Yeah, you''re right," Skye agreed. "Almost forgot about that."


    "In addition," Maia added, "your brother claims that if he''s in class, and if he accidentally casts an illusion on the teacher, the teacher wouldn''t know who had casted it because multiple students would be staring at him or her at the same time. And Ivan also claims that if he accidentally casts an illusion on a single person, he can easily convince them it''s all in their head."


    Skye nodded.


    "But" Maia added, "I don''t think that''s the only reason you''re homeschooled and Ivan isn''t. I think personality differences also play a role. For instance, your brother''s a great actor. He can lie his way out of trouble, he can get people on his side, and he can adapt to whatever situation he''s in. No wonder he''s an illusion-caster¡ª nothing is what it seems with him. However, while Ivan may not look all that serious, he''s actually quite in control of himself. He''s able to put his feelings to the side whenever the situation requires, which helps him since strong emotions trigger auras. Because of that, your brother doesn''t need to avoid eye contact to suppress his aura. He can act like he''s aura-free just fine whenever he wants to."


    Skye crossed her arms. "And what am I? A hysterical mess?"


    "What?! Not at all!" Maia exclaimed. "Okay, you are a bit more sensitive. But that''s not necessarily a bad thing. You''re also more genuine, and I''m not so sure I can say the same about your brother. Though he''s great at many things, I''ve noticed he''s always putting on this mask of confidence, and he''s always escaping his problems and ignoring how he feels. Don''t get me wrong, he has his own strengths, but sometimes I wish your brother was more like you."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, really," Maia said. "And not gonna lie, you''re the more caring one of the two. Which reminds me, remember when I told you about the man on the moon?"


    "I think so?" Skye paused. "Yeah, now I do. When we were kids, you told us that whenever we felt scared or lonely, if you looked at the moon, its craters formed a smiley face. That was the man on the moon. He would watch over you and keep you safe whenever you felt fear."


    "Exactly, that was it. Ivan was eight at the time and you were six. The whole thing was supposed to be a feel-good story, but the response from your brother was hilarious. To this day I still laugh at the memory of him flipping off the sky and yelling, "stop spying on me, creepy old man!" I told him not to make that gesture, but it was kind of funny. Oh and," Skye''s mom continued, "your reaction was priceless. You were looking at me with the most heartbreaking expression and asking, "but what about the man on the moon? Surely he isn''t lonely up there?" I tried to tell you that he had the sun and the stars, and as long as you were happy he was happy, but it wasn''t enough. So I told you he was accepting mail, and every night, for two weeks straight, you would drop off letters and drawings and gifts on the porch. I never told you that the man on the moon was just a story, and it was your dad and I taking the gifts, not him, but eventually you caught on."


    "Oh." Skye giggled. For a moment she forgot that she was sitting in a stuffy office building. But then she glanced over Maia and saw her brother''s empty chair. "Speaking of Ivan, where did he go?"


    Maia briefly panicked. "Oh no! Ivan! Where are you?!" She called out, only for him to come bounding over three seconds later before squeezing his way between the row of people in the seats. Skye and her mother let out sighs of relief.


    "So there''s this cool grandma on the next aisle, her name is Juliana, she has thousands of grandchildren, and she bombs abandoned houses for fun¡ª" Ivan announced.


    An elderly woman shot a warning glare at Ivan. He stared at his lap in embarrassment, and the rest of the family exchanged confused glances.


    ***


    The chatter died down as the lights dimmed a few minutes later, leaving only a strip of platform illuminated. The distinct sound of the clacking of high heels could be heard as a woman with a bobbed haircut walked onto the platform, wearing a headpiece with a microphone attached. Then she spoke in the microphone, her voice echoing throughout the room:


    "Welcome to HACF. My name is Sierra Halifax and I am Martin Halifax''s wife. You may know me as the co-founder of Halifax Industries."


    The crowd fell silent, and a moment later, she continued speaking:


    "Our vision is a Cloudgate free of curses, one where magic-induced accidents are no longer an issue. But we aren''t just looking to protect non aura-havers from curses. We are also dedicated to leading those unfortunate enough to be born with them to as much of a normal life as possible."


    Normal? Unfortunate enough to be born with a curse? Skye thought. There''s no such thing as normal. Everybody''s different in their own ways. Also, not so long ago, being born with a "curse" was a good thing. People loved mages and looked up to them as heroes. Now these Halifax people are trying to hurt me only because I have an aura. It''s messed up, really.


    Sierra paused. From her coat pocket she produced a syringe containing a clear liquid, and she held it up to the audience. "Here, we utilize shock tags to deal with aura curses, and this is how we tag our clients. We inject our solution, engineered with cutting-edge technology specifically designed to help you suppress your aura while being as non-obtrusive as possible, into your left arm, or your right arm if you''re left-handed. The solution will release a shock whenever your aura manifests, so as long as you have self-control and avoid situations that trigger your curse, you have nothing to fear. Like any injection, our method of tagging only hurts for a moment, and it''s more efficient than surgically implanting the device as our competitors do. However, the effects of our tags wear off after five months, so by then you''ll have to return for a new dose."


    Skye felt sick, but despite her silent protests, Sierra continued monologuing. Doesn''t this lady know what she''s saying?! Skye screamed, but silently. Doesn¡¯t she know what she''s advocating for?!


    "There are multiple studies backing up the effectiveness of tagging," Sierra continued. "According to a recent survey conducted by the Public Safety Department of Cloudgate, 81% of our clients reported a heightened sense of control over their curse since they received their injection, and 67% noted a significant decline of magic-induced outbursts from themselves. So if you think that we''re forcing some cruel and unusual punishment onto you, think again. Consider all the people you''ll protect by getting tagged."


    Suddenly Skye needed to go to the bathroom. Maybe she could hide on the toilet, as pathetic as that sounded. For a second, the temptation to push Sierra off the platform, scream about how cruel this whole system was, and make the crowd rebel overcame Skye, but then she remembered she didn''t have the guts to pull that off. Plus she genuinely needed to pee.


    "I''m going to the bathroom. It''s an emergency." Skye whispered to her mother. Though she wasn''t sure if leaving her seat was against the rules, she knew she could slip by unnoticed. The door was near, the room was dark, and everybody was focused on Sierra''s presentation.


    "Alright, but be quick," Maia whispered back. "We don''t want you to get in trouble for hiding."


    Skye tiptoed to the door on the right-hand side of her chair. The door had a sign displaying the symbols for lobby, elevator, drinking fountain, restroom, and workroom, with arrows pointing right or left next to each symbol. She turned the doorknob with a shaky hand, revealing a corridor that split off in two directions. Then she traveled down the corridor on the left. At the end of it was what she thought was the bathroom door. Skye gave it a shove.


    Shit. This isn''t the bathroom.


    Before her lay boxes and shelves with empty syringes and vials upon vials of clear liquid. The vials were being attended to by a dark-haired boy who looked to be around the same age as Ivan. But this boy wasn''t just handling vials; he was firing off electric sparks. An aura-haver, Skye thought. A wielder of electricity.


    As the boy turned his head away from the vial he was holding, he glared at Skye, his violet-colored eyes with tired dark circles under them turning into slits. "What are you doing here?" he asked, visibly annoyed.


    "I was looking for the bathroom and ended up here. Sorry," Skye said, embarrassed.


    But the boy remained hostile. "I don''t care that you''re sorry, just get out of here."


    "Wait," Skye piped up, "Is that a lightning aura?"


    "Just leave already, I don''t have time for this nonsense!" the boy shot back. "Don''t you see that I''m busy?!"


    "If you''re actually an aura-haver, I won''t tell any of the people here," Skye assured. "In fact, I have an ice aura. I don''t see why you''re hiding from me."


    "Doesn''t matter, you''re still cursed," The boy said coldly, spitting out the last word like a dead fly in his mouth. "You should be going over to the meeting room and getting yourself tagged."


    "Speak for yourself," Skye retorted. "You''re just as cursed as I am."


    At this point, the boy¡¯s jaw and fists were clenched in visible irritation. "How about you leave me alone and let me do my damn job?!" He snapped.


    Skye backed out of the workroom. "Fine, I''m leaving!" She announced, shutting the door behind her.

 1.2- The Boy with the Lightning Aura

    To hide or not to hide? That was the question Skye mulled over while she locked herself in the bathroom. She knew she could leave and return to the meeting room if she wanted to, but she also knew that if she did, she''d be letting the officials inject her with lightning juice. She shuddered at the thought.


    But could Skye get away with locking herself in a public restroom instead of coming out to get tagged? She didn''t know. If she had somehow managed to stay hidden, not only would she be protecting herself, but she''d also be doing something much larger: proving that maybe, just maybe, she wasn''t so powerless after all, and somebody as insignificant as her could win a victory against an institution as large as HACF. But what if somebody found her? What if nobody found her? When would Skye escape the bathroom? Would she escape? All of those questions flooded her mind, swirling around like clothes in a washing machine.


    What would happen to me if I stayed here? Skye thought. What would happen if somebody found me in here, a HACF worker, perhaps? Would they beat me up? Drag me out of the bathroom? Hold me down by my arms and legs so I can''t resist, and force their shock tags into me?


    Or would they tell my school? Skye wondered. Maybe I''ll end up getting expelled from Springs because I refused to go along with HACF''s procedures. That wouldn''t be so bad.


    And what if nobody finds me? How will I know when it''s safe to get out? What if there are security cameras outside the bathroom, and as soon as I leave, I get discovered? And if I get discovered, then what? Will the HACF people tell my parents about my transgression? Will my parents stop loving me?


    And what if they never loved me at all in the first place? Skye thought as she sat there, ruminating. I''m an aura-haver, after all. A ticking time bomb. I could impale somebody with an icicle at any given moment. Who in their right mind would love someone like that? It goes against all common sense. My parents are crazy for risking their lives, all so an idiot like me could gain a semblance of happiness.


    Maybe I''ll stay in here forever, rotting away in a bathroom stall. Good riddance, Ivan will say. Finally, I don''t have to deal with that problem child anymore, Dad will think. And Mom will finally get a break from me. If I disappear here, that would be better for everyone.


    Maybe I''ll become a toilet ghost and haunt the bathroom when I''m dead. People will pass me by and speak of a translucent girl in a red beanie and a striped scarf. And then they''ll open the stall door and find my rotting corpse...


    Minutes passed while Skye sat on the toilet, contemplating anything and everything. But as soon as she heard the bathroom door open and a knock on her stall, she jumped.


    "You''re a HACF worker, aren''t you?" Skye accused. "If you are, you better stay away from me!"


    "What''s taking you so long?" Maia asked from the other side of the door, her voice shaking with fear. "It''s been twenty minutes already. Are you okay?"


    ***


    Skye dragged her feet down the corridor after her mother, and Maia opened the door to the main meeting room. "Get on the platform," she ordered Skye. "All of the aura-havers who are getting tagged are up there. I''m sorry, I know how much you don''t like this, but you''ve got to go. Otherwise you can''t go back to Springs."


    "Oh, so now you want to send me back to that damn school?!" Skye snapped. "Though you said you were sorry for sending me there, you still want me to go back? Make up your mind, are you sorry or are you not? Did you know how miserable I was at that place, how many hours of pain I¡¯ve endured?"


    Maia breathed an exasperated sigh. "Skye, I don''t want to argue. It''s for your own good."


    "My own good?!" Skye fumed. "What the hell are you on? In what universe would you electrocute your child for their own good? Don''t you see how fucked up this is?!"


    The staring. There it was again. Skye felt everybody''s eyes boring into her, but this time, she was going to let them. She was going to let everybody at HACF see the truth, once and for all, about how wrong this all was. She was going to expose Sierra''s lies and deception, and knock some sense into these people. At that moment, Skye knew she wasn''t crazy, they were. The people who worked at HACF were the real monsters, not her, for believing that something as horrible as tagging could ever be justified.


    Suddenly a familiar-looking, dark-haired boy stepped up, grabbing Skye by the arm. As she tried to resist, he dragged her onto the platform, pulling her up beneath him. "Crazy girl," the boy muttered under his breath. Skye pulled against him, but she wasn''t as strong as him so she couldn''t hold her ground. Instead she shot daggers at the back of his head with her eyes. Come on, Skye thought, seething. You''re an aura-haver. We should be on the same side here, but no, you''re with HACF. Traitor.


    At this point, Skye was too drained, and too scared, to resist any longer. Her legs were jello, each of her steps shaking as she followed the group off the platform. By now she had already cooled off after her sudden outburst, and was starting to regret how she behaved. God, I wish I hadn''t thrown a tantrum like that, Skye thought. I thought I was doing something, but all I did was make a fool of myself.


    The young man with the dark hair rounded up the aura-havers and led them off the platform, not one of them resisting. He then walked them down the room and opened the door, the same door as the one next to Skye''s seat from earlier. After that, he led the group through the corridor which split in two, but this time, they took the right corridor and ended up in front of the elevators. The group leader did not acknowledge Skye at all.


    "Since it''s impossible to fit all of you into a single elevator, you will be entering in groups of seven. Go to the sixth floor and once you get there, wait outside for everyone," the group leader instructed while a boy with curly hair tried to get his attention.


    "Hey, can you come over here?" The boy asked. "We have a problem. Orion says that he doesn''t feel well. He''s on the floor right now."


    The group leader rushed over to Orion and crouched on the floor. "What can I do for you?"


    "Call... an... ambulance..." Orion responded, his voice weakening. Then he fell unconscious.


    For a long moment, the group leader stood frozen in place. But after a while, as if a switch turned on in his brain, he started moving again, and with a considerable effort was able to lift the body from the floor as he stood up.


    "Can somebody help me here?" The leader asked the group. The same curly-haired boy approached him, lifting the body along with him. The group leader then led the rest of the aura-havers away from the elevators and through the lobby, and at the lobby there was a woman behind a desk. She stopped the group.


    "Cayto, where do you think you''re going?" The woman asked. "The tagging room is on the sixth floor."


    "One of my clients fell unconscious, so I''m getting medical attention. We''re all waiting outside for the ambulance," the boy leading the group responded, speaking in an official-sounding, monotone voice.


    "An ambulance? I doubt that''s necessary." The woman remarked.


    "Orion told me to call an ambulance before he passed out, so I''m doing what he says is best." Cayto replied.


    "Go ahead. But once he gets some help, return immediately. Got it?" The woman behind the desk reminded him.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Cayto nodded, leading the group out of the building and onto the city block. But it wasn''t an ambulance that arrived, but a series of vans, and there wasn''t a medic in sight. Instead an old lady hopped out of a van.


    Wait, Skye thought. Isn''t that the old lady Ivan talked to earlier?


    "You''re getting rescued, do not resist!" The lady yelled. Before Skye could ask what was going on, the old lady tossed her into the van, and in no time, everybody got shoved into a vehicle. In the van, Skye got sandwiched between Cayto and somebody else wearing a multicolored hoodie. She stared at the person in the hoodie, who looked suspiciously like her brother. Wait, is that Ivan? Skye wondered. What is he doing here?


    "Skye!" Ivan greeted his sister and laughed. "We''re getting kidnapped! Isn''t that great?"


    Skye shook her head. "Ivan, what the hell?!"


    "I know this sounds weird, especially with how Juliana is going about this, but I know that following her is safer than staying behind at HACF," Ivan stated, unfazed by the turn of events.


    Skye shifted in her seat. "What? How do you know?"


    "Remember Luka Archer? That plant kid who moved to Redmount?"


    "Oh yeah, weed man." Skye chuckled, recalling Ivan''s nickname for his old friend. Luka''s chlorokinetic abilities earned him that name.


    "He didn''t actually move to Redmount. That was just a cover. Avriya is where he lives, and I know because we call each other. He says its a nice place," Ivan explained. "And now we''re all going to Avriya."


    "Avriya?" Skye asked, perking up. "Where is that?"


    "Off the coast of Winterbay," Ivan responded. "When I talked to Juliana at HACF, she said she knew my friend because he''s also from Avriya. Luka has mentioned Juliana in his calls before, and they''re familiar with each other."


    That explains why Ivan was talking to some random stranger, Skye thought.


    Just then Skye had another question. "What happened to Orion? Didn''t he pass out?"


    The voice came from the backseat. "No need to worry about me, I''m doing fine. My ability just happens to be mind control, and I had to pass out so my consciousness could move from my own body to Cayto''s¡ª"


    At that moment Cayto regained his senses, realizing where he was. "I GOT KIDNAPPED?!" He screamed. "THAT''S IT, I''M CALLING MARTIN HALIFAX. NONE OF YOU ARE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS."


    Orion paled. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I forgot I was supposed to stay behind while in your body and wait for my consciousness to return on its own instead of boarding the van as you. Now we have an extra person whom we don''t want in here."


    "Don''t worry, I took Cayto''s phone, so at least he can''t report us." Juliana reassured Orion from the driver''s seat. "But because of your mistake, we''ll now have to watch over this person once we get to Avriya. I know, I hate holding people hostage, but this is no ordinary worker you''ve taken. This is Cayto Halifax."


    For a moment there was silence. Then Juliana started to talk again.


    "His parents are Martin and Sierra. They own Halifax Industries, and Martin plans on handing ownership over to Cayto in the future. It would be foolish to let Cayto out of our sights when his entire family wants us dead," Juliana stated. "As much as I hate to separate Cayto from his family, we have no choice but to keep him at Avriya."


    Skye and Ivan remained on edge, and Cayto stared out the window for the rest of the ride, refusing to look at any of his captors.


    ***


    No. No. NO. This couldn''t be happening. If he really got kidnapped by these people, Cayto could lose everything. Thanks to some guy with a mind-control curse, he could lose his position at Halifax Industries. He could lose the opportunities that came from being born into a family as wealthy as his, and he could lose everything he owned and be forced to start life over from scratch.


    Cayto took a breath. I shouldn''t be panicking, he reminded himself. I have to stay calm and find a way out of here. And if I do, I''ll tell the authorities about these people. Make these curse-bearers pay for what they did. And maybe I could convince Mr Halifax to not get angry at me. I''ll show him that I still deserve to inherit the company, even if some lunatics took me away in a van and I failed to complete what he had asked me to do. If I work extra hard to make up for my mistake today, then everything will be alright.


    Now for escaping the van, Cayto thought. If I get out of here, I may be able to find directions home.


    Cayto tried to open the door, but Orion reached from the seat behind Cayto, yanking him backwards. "Don''t bother. The doors lock when driving." Orion reminded him.


    So much for jumping out of the van, Cayto thought.


    The van drove through a forest clearing and parked at a strip of sand by the sea. While everybody else exited the vehicle, Cayto ran for the woods in an attempt to escape, but he tripped on the old lady''s walking stick. While Cayto struggled to regain his footing, an aura-haver in a teal jacket waved his arms around, causing a sand-filled gust of wind to hit Cayto in the face. When he tried to run, the wind pushed against him, and the blowing sand stung his eyes.


    "Thank you for the wind barrier, Elliot," the old lady who tripped Cayto with her walking stick commented. Then she coughed. "Would be nice if you got rid of this sand."


    "No problem," the wind user responded. Then he produced another gust of wind and the sand got lifted away.


    Cayto let out a sigh of relief. At least there was no more sand blowing in his eyes. But still, the air was chilly, so he made his way towards the wind barrier''s center. To his annoyance, most of the group had already crowded in that area.


    "I''m doing a survey!" The old lady yelled over the blowing wind. "My name is Juliana Shaffer. If you don''t trust me, I understand why, because I practically just kidnapped you. But still, since you all were scheduled for tagging, I''d like to hear your opinion. Did any of you actually want to get tagged?"


    Most of the crowd ignored her. Only two people answered her question, and both answers were ambivalent.


    "Some of you are uncertain," Juliana shouted, "and I get why. You mean well. You believe that getting shock tagged is the only way to protect your community, but at the same time you''re afraid of pain. I''m here to tell you¡ª the pain is not worth it! Martin Halifax, Sierra Halifax, the Public Safety Department, the tagging industry, none of them care about your wellbeing. In fact, it''s quite the opposite. They''d kill you if they could."


    Cayto bristled at Juliana''s lies, but the woman continued to spout her propaganda. "The reason we came to HACF was not to kidnap you, though it may seem that way. We actually wanted to offer a chance to escape shock tagging and Cloudgate''s prejudice in general, but we didn''t want to reveal the location of our base. I''ll explain why confidentiality is important to us later, but for now, the point is if we left you behind, you would have gotten tagged. Have you gotten tagged, you would go through immense pain every time your aura manifested. We had firsthand experience of the effects of tagging, and they are horrible, trust me. Some of us have gotten shocked by them and are now scarred for life. It''s sad how normalized this is."


    Sad how normalized your face is, Cayto thought, but he didn''t say it out loud, because as much as he hated Juliana, he wasn''t an idiot. He knew that saying such a thing would only make his situation worse.


    Meanwhile, a girl with messy black pigtails that faded to pink stood further from the group, laughing to herself. Cayto recognized her as one of his clients: Alexis Bingham, a sixteen-year-old telepath. Got sent to HACF because of her tendency to spread highly specific and accurate pieces of gossip. She made momentary eye contact with Cayto and a voice popped into his head:


    I heard that.


    Fuck off, Cayto thought.


    Meanwhile, Juliana spoke. "So I''ll be honest with you: as long as you''re on a tagging center''s database, you''re not safe on Cloudgate''s mainland. I know this because I know that HACF happens to be one of the largest tagging centers, and they are persistent when it comes to their so-called clients. That''s why we set up base on Avriya, an island hidden from the rest of Cloudgate. Avriya remains secluded because it''s wind-barriered and covered in mist. On top of that, the only way to get past a wind barrier is with supernatural abilities."


    So I may be able to escape Avriya, Cayto thought. But I don''t know if lightning will be of any use against a wind barrier.


    "All of us will check out Avriya very soon. After that, I''ll let you decide whether you want to stay or go home. You can change your mind later, and if you choose to stay at Avriya, we''ll let you tell your family and friends if it''s safe for you to do so. Though most of us are aura-havers, we allow non-havers here if they are family of aura-havers and/or support our cause, and if they promise not to tell outsiders of our existence. We have to be careful, because if we risk letting the wrong people know about Avriya, they could shut us down or worse. It is the last place where magic is not only legal, but actively taught, which would be considered problematic on the mainland. Any questions?"


    The crazy ice girl bounced on her toes, nowhere near as mad as she was before. No, this time there was an enthusiastic gleam in her eye, her expression akin to that of a child at a candy store. "So I can become a mage?¡±


    "Yeah, if you can get through the entire training program. But let me warn you, it is difficult." Juliana answered. "However, we recommend all aura-havers to at least go through the basics so they can defend themselves in case of an emergency."


    A boat resembling one of Thunderport''s ferries made its way to shore and docked. The wind mage named Elliot waved his arms to remove the barrier, and the wind surrounding the group of people on the beach died down. Cayto insisted on staying behind, but before he could go anywhere, Juliana grabbed his arm and dragged him onto the boat. Then she raised the anchor and the boat drove off.

 1.3- Welcome to Avriya

    !The deck swayed under Skye''s feet, so she grabbed the railing. In front of her, sunlight danced on the water, and beneath the boat, the waves crashed. A gust of wind brushed Skye''s skin and blew her hair onto her face, so she tossed it back and inhaled the fresh, salty, air. Then she watched the shore become smaller and smaller as the boat drifted further into the sea, and soon, all that was left of the sandy beach with the clearing of forest was a tiny strip of land on the horizon.


    After some time, the boat sailed into a cloud of mist, the fog thickening so much that Skye could barely make out the outline of the boat''s cabin through the haze. She shivered at the drop in temperature accompanying the fog before hearing some footsteps behind her. Then she jumped, but when turning around to see who it was, Skye let out a sigh of relief and annoyance. "Ivan?"


    "If I were you, I''d go indoors," he advised. "Everyone else is inside the cabin. You''re the only one on the dock."


    "Oh hell no," Skye shot back. "It smells like vomit in there."


    "But you don''t look like you''re handling the cold all that well," Ivan noted. "You''re even doing that thing where you rub your hands to keep them warm. Just go inside and ignore the vomit, I''m telling you."


    Skye shook her head. "Nope. Can''t do that. I''m going to stay outside."


    "Even if the fog monster comes out, wraps you up in seaweed, and eats you like a burrito?"


    Skye rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny."


    "Well actually¡­" Ivan paused. "Look behind you."


    Skye turned her head and saw a giant squid bobbing back and forth on the water''s surface. Its tentacles were stiff and it moved more like a pencil hanging from a string than an actual sea animal. It even levitated a few times. Anyone who didn''t know about Ivan''s illusion-casting may have been unsettled, but to Skye, the squid was nothing more than an unconvincing display.


    "Oh no! What a nightmare!" Skye said mockingly.


    Ivan laughed. "One of these days you''re going to run into a real fog monster and assume it''s fake."


    "And what will happen then?" Skye asked.


    "I''m not saving you, that''s for sure."


    ***


    A ramp extended from the boat as soon as it docked itself, and the group disembarked. Skye followed the group from pier to gravelly shore, kicking pebbles with her feet as she stared at the ground. The howls of a nearby wind barrier echoed around her, the barrier itself so large she couldn''t detect where it began or ended.


    Elliot the wind mage parted the barrier, guiding them through an open space in some swaying trees. While trudging through the forest, Skye made her way around some logs and mud puddles, almost falling over them a few times. Thankfully, she managed to avoid dirtying her clothes, though her shoes got muddy by the end of the walk.


    At the end of the forest stood a town''s market square, a cluster of buildings surrounding a brick path. The brick path encircled an open space. In the middle of the open space stood a statue of a robed woman, a familiar sight throughout Cloudgate. Skye recognized the statue as a shrine to Blanche, goddess of auras and mother of all spirits. Save for a few people strolling along the path and another leaving an offering at the foot of the statue, the square was nearly empty.


    "Wow." Skye exclaimed under her breath. "Avriya is beautiful."


    "Looks average to me," Ivan commented. "Every town on Cloudgate''s east coast looks like this."


    "Enough chattering, let''s get to business," said Juliana, tapping her cane to get the group''s attention. She picked up a brisk pace, leading her followers away from the square and through an alleyway, and after making a right, Juliana led them down Avriya''s Main Street, stopping by a five-foot gate. She opened the gate to a courtyard formed between three large buildings, a fountain rising from its center. There was no water in the fountain, as it got shut off for the fall.


    "Welcome to Silver Run Academy," Juliana said as she sat on the edge of the fountain. "It''s the only school in Avriya so we teach all grades here. Yes, I am the principal. Yes, we have dorms, though not everybody who attends this school will sleep in one. But even if you can''t get a dorm, there are plenty of houses nearby. That way, none of you will have to worry about not having a place to stay again."


    "Again." That word stuck with Skye because it reminded her of one of Cloudgate''s harsh realities: the one where too many aura-havers had no family and no home. Skye was one of the lucky ones who had both of those, but why was that luck wasted on her? She had nothing with which she could compensate, while the aura-havers on the street could''ve been infinitely more talented, more intelligent, more worthy of success than she was.


    So many people would disown their children had they found them to be cursed, but Maia and Cole weren''t those types of parents. Despite their misfortune of having not one, but two, children with curses, they stuck with Skye and Ivan all the way through. The Everson parents wanted their children to be safe and happy, so they did everything they could to give both siblings a "normal" life, if something like that existed. But still, despite her parent''s efforts, Skye felt anything but normal. She doubted that a regular life by aura-free standards was attainable for someone like her, because even if she could pass for an aura-free person like Ivan, Skye would still live in fear. But Skye''s greatest fear wouldn''t have been getting found out as an aura-haver, nor was it discrimination¡ª no, her greatest fear was losing herself to her ice. Hurting those around her. Becoming the type of curse-bearer feared by aura-havers and aura-free people alike. Nobody with a "normal" life by aura-free standards worried about that. No regular, happy person''s greatest fear was becoming a monster.


    I don''t want to be afraid of myself anymore, Skye thought. And I don''t want anyone to be afraid of me. I want to live at Avriya, attend Silver Run, and train under Juliana so I could protect people and use my aura for good. If the mages of decades ago could do it, then so can I¡ª


    "Hello! Earth to Skye!" Ivan called, bringing his sister to the present. Skye jumped.


    "How much of the speech did you miss?" Ivan asked.


    Skye shrugged. "I don''t know?"


    "Did you hear the part about calling your parents?"


    "No?"


    "Damnit, Skye," said Ivan. "You''re such an airhead. Anyway, we''re calling Mom and Dad. Then we''re visiting Luka."


    "Are you going to tell them where we are?" Skye asked. "I think I really want to live here..."


    "Bad idea," Ivan stated. "We can''t let them in on a secret as big as Avriya''s. Not over the phone and not when we are Blanche knows how many miles away from them."


    Skye gulped. She was so enthusiastic about leaving Maplesprings and Springs High behind, but now it may never happen. Maybe she deserved this. Maybe she deserved to have her dream life escape her before it even began. It''s what she got for being so naive.


    ***


    After waiting in the courtyard for a short while, a woman who looked to be in her mid twenties walked over to Skye and Ivan. ¡°Hello,¡± she greeted them. "My name is Hyacinth. Ivan, you said you wanted to call home, is that right?"


    "Yeah," Ivan replied. "So where''s my phone?"


    Hyacinth dropped Ivan''s phone into his hand without saying a word.


    "Thanks," said Ivan, about to dial. "And by the way, where''s Luka? You know, Luka Archer, seventeen years old, able to control plants¡­"


    "In the garden behind the second building, most likely. He spends a lot of time there," Hyacinth answered. "But he doesn''t talk that much. Sure it''s him you wanna see?"


    "Yeah, I''m sure. But I''m making this call first."


    "Alright. And remember, do not tell your parents about Avriya if you aren''t sure whether they''ll breach confidentiality. We trust your judgement, but I will be listening," Hyacinth reminded Ivan, who was dialing Cole Everson''s number. Ivan nodded and pressed call.


    "Hello?" Ivan greeted, holding the phone up to his ear. "It''s me and Skye. We''re safe, so don''t worry about us¡ª"


    "Where is Skye?!" Cole boomed from the other end of the line. "Skye, talk to us so we know you''re there."


    "Hey," Skye murmured into the phone. "It''s me."


    "Ohmygod¡­ ohmygod¡­ my babies¡­ my darlings¡­ I was so worried for you¡­ I thought I was going to have a heart attack¡­" Maia gurgled between rounds of sobbing. "What happened? It''s been five hours and not one call or text¡­ I''ve heard the news. Every single one of you¡­ gone. All we know is that Skye''s group was last seen exiting the building at 3:30 pm. According to reports, one of them had fainted, so they all had to leave to get medical help. None of them have been seen since then."


    "So I''ve heard," Ivan responded. "Many aura-havers have gone missing recently, especially during their tagging appointments. Worrying, isn''t it?"


    "I know," Maia said with a sigh. "I''m glad to hear that Skye is with you, but I hope everybody else is fine."


    "So do I," added Cole. "But Ivan, you''ve been away for too long, and for some reason we couldn''t track you on our phones. So don''t cause us to worry like that again, okay?"


    "Okay," Ivan muttered.


    "And by the way," Cole added, "how was your study session with Theo?"


    "Study session?" Skye asked, but Ivan put a hand over her mouth.


    "We kept getting sidetracked but at least it''s over," Ivan said nonchalantly.


    A puzzled expression crossed Skye''s face. What is he talking about?


    "Sidetracked?!" Maia yelled. "You abandoned us at HACF for what you said was an urgent study session with your friend, and it took you this long to call us back because you were fooling around instead of studying?! You scared us half to death, Ivan Everson."


    "But we got our work done even if it took longer than expected," Ivan replied. "Plus there''s no point in dwelling on how much time has passed. Right now, getting home with Skye is more important."


    "Do you even know how to get home from where you are?" Maia asked, a hint of accusation in her voice.


    "Well¡­"


    "How did you find Skye?" Asked Cole, interrupting Ivan before he could finish speaking. "And do you know where the others are?"Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "As I was leaving the building, I saw Skye''s group waiting outside. She ran up to me, so I told her I was going over to Theo''s house to help him study. She kept begging to come with me, even after I said no. But there was no refusing her. Skye was so scared of getting tagged that she had followed me to his house, and I had no choice but to let her," Ivan falsely reported. "So no, I do not know where the others are. Only Skye."


    Yeah, right. Lie about your sister being difficult while making yourself look good, Skye nearly blurted out, but she bit back the comment.


    "Thank goodness you let Skye follow you, or else she would''ve gone missing as well," Maia replied, her voice heavy with relief. "Anyway, I''ve decided to call off the tagging appointment. It all seems to be too much for her."


    For a moment everybody stopped talking, but then Cole broke the silence. "But what about the school''s orders?"


    "I know, Springs won''t let Skye back in until she has her papers proving she got tagged, but in this case, our daughter''s wellbeing comes first," Maia asserted. "Plus, I don''t think that sending her to school was a good choice in the first place. We''re pulling her out and homeschooling her again, whether you like it or not."


    Yesyesyesyesyesyes, Skye thought.


    "I guess you have a point," Cole admitted. "But we can''t keep sheltering her forever¡­"


    "So Skye isn''t getting tagged after all?" Ivan queried, his voice tinged with excitement. "Thank goodness. Also, I''m sorry if it takes us longer than usual to get home. Public transportation''s acting up."


    "That sucks," said Maia. "Anyway, stay safe, and if you need help, call us."


    "And take care out there. We know how far Theo''s house is, so use maps if you can," Cole advised.


    "Thanks," Ivan responded, "and see you later." Then he hung up the call.


    After the call, Skye stared at her brother like he had two heads. "Did you just¡ª"


    "Yeah, I bullshitted my way through that phone call," Ivan admitted. "What was I supposed to tell our parents? That I only told them I needed to help a friend study so they could let me out of HACF''s waiting area? That I actually followed some old lady with explosion powers to a secret island for aura-havers?"


    Hyacinth piped into the conversation. "Don''t call Juliana some old lady, that''s not nice."


    "Wait." Skye said. "So Juliana was an explosion mage this whole time?"


    "Of course, why else would she bomb abandoned houses for fun?" Ivan responded.


    "Oh. Yeah. That thing you said back at Thunderport." Suddenly, Skye recalled what Ivan had told her about Juliana. So there''s this cool grandma on the next aisle, her name is Juliana, she has thousands of grandchildren, and she bombs abandoned houses for fun¡­


    "Juliana doesn''t do it for fun as much as she does to practice using her aura," Hyacinth corrected. "She has to find places like abandoned houses, empty parking lots, and other areas where she can set off explosions without harming people."


    "And what about her having thousands of grandchildren?" Skye asked.


    Hyacinth laughed. "I don''t know where you hear these things, but all of the children at Silver Run call her Granny-Ana. So while I wouldn''t say she has thousands of grandchildren, maybe fifty or so is more accurate."


    "Wow. Just wow." Skye commented. "Ivan, how many lies had you told today?"


    "One hundred and counting," Ivan deadpanned.


    "That''s another one."


    ***


    "Would you like me to walk you to the garden?" Hyacinth offered.


    "Sure," said Ivan. "Then Skye and I can go home, right?"


    Hyacinth nodded. "That''s right."


    The trio started walking in the direction of Silver Run''s central building. "If you have any questions, go ahead and ask them," Hyacinth offered. "I''ll be happy to answer."


    "Are you a mage? Do you think I''d make a good mage? What''s your life like over here?" Skye asked. "Oh, and by the way, you''re really pretty. Just wanted to say that."


    "Why, thank you," said Hyacinth, beaming. "And yes, I''m a healer mage. I''m also Avriya''s personal counselor and an instructor in aura combat. The work is tough, but I wouldn''t ask for anything better," she replied. "Also, Skye, though I''d like to say you''d make a good mage, I don''t know a thing about your current skill level. So it''s hard to say."


    "What''s your last name? What are your honest opinions on the people here? Do you have a boyfriend? Are you married? " Ivan probed.


    Hyacinth smiled and shook her head. "That''s enough from you."


    ***


    Skye peeked through the gates of Silver Run''s garden, and her senses were bombarded by a hodgepodge of flora. If this garden resembled anything, Skye thought, it wasn''t an orderly collection of neatly-trimmed flower beds for sure. No, a much more accurate descriptor for it would''ve been something that''s half-jungle, half-swamp, and half-abandoned cottage where a witch used to live and grow ingredients for potions that turned children into frogs. Or something like that.


    "Luka!! If you''re in there, can you come out please?!" Hyacinth shouted from the garden''s entrance. No response. The healer mage faced Skye and Ivan, a deflated look on her face. "I don''t think he''s here," Hyacinth apologized. "I''m sorry."


    "Wait," said Ivan, leaning into the gateway. "Let me try something."


    Hyacinth stared quizzically. "Try what?"


    "Hey! Weed man!" Ivan yelled into the masses of foliage. "Come out or your ass is grass!"


    A disembodied voice spoke up from the bushes a moment later. "Ivan?"


    "Mind if I stop by for a visit?" Ivan asked.


    "Sure."


    Skye took in the full view as she followed Ivan into the garden. Seedlings sprouted from cracks and crevices. Tendrils tangled themselves through the garden''s gates. Greenery grew, bushes bloomed, and weeds withered in the soil. A lone willow wept over the walkway.


    Suddenly Luka sprinted from the direction of some shrubberies. "Ivan," he said with a hint of irritation in his voice, "you should''ve told me you were bringing your sister."


    "Oh, guess I forgot to remind you," Ivan admitted. "Can she stay?"


    "Yeah," Luka replied. "But next time, don''t bring unexpected guests."


    ***


    Skye, Ivan, and Luka sat under the shade of the weeping willow, and Luka removed his hood, revealing a mess of sandy brown hair and forest-green eyes. "What brings you here?" He asked the Everson siblings.


    "Well, we were at HACF and Skye was about to get tagged," Ivan started. "And then I ran into Juliana, who I recognized from our video calls. Then she asked how my work was going."


    "Work?" Skye piped up. "What kind of work?"


    "Y''know, looking for aura-havers in need and spreading the word about Avriya to as many of them as possible¡­"


    "While keeping knowledge of it away from anybody that means us harm?" Luka asked.


    "Yeah. And from Skye," Ivan responded. "But only until today. When Juliana''s group infiltrated HACF and took Skye away in their van, I had to explain to her what was going on so she wouldn''t panic and ice the vehicle."


    "So you were working for Juliana this whole time?" Skye asked, her eyes wide.


    Ivan nodded. "Exactly."


    "For how long?"


    "Since summer."


    Skye crossed her arms. "And you didn''t tell me until now? Why?!"


    "You know why," Ivan said as he side-eyed his sister. "Because of your obsession with mages. If I told you about Avriya earlier, you''d be begging Mom and Dad to let you go here without thinking things through."


    "And why is that a bad thing?" Skye asked.


    "Our parents may not hate aura-havers, but I doubt they''ll let you go to an invisible island and train with mages just like that. Especially with Cloudgate''s ban on magic," Ivan responded. "Plus, how do we know that our parents won''t tell anybody about Avriya? Isn''t there a chance they''d find the part about keeping it a secret strange in the first place, and not take it seriously?"


    "We can explain to them that Avriya is hidden to protect the people who live here," Skye suggested. "And we can tell them that having me practice using my aura is actually a good thing, because if I learn how to control my ice, then I may be able to better suppress it¡­"


    "Our parents, unlike us, are model citizens, Skye," Ivan reminded her. "They''re average people, they stick to what''s familiar, they''re typical rule-followers who don''t want to stand out. Sure, they''ll question things here and there like any sane person, but they wouldn''t dare break the law. Because this island''s very existence goes against a lot of laws, I don''t know if letting our parents in on the secret will be good for Avriya as a whole. At best, they''ll be skeptical about letting you go, and at worst, they''ll report Avriya''s existence to the higher-ups. And if that happens, everybody who lives here is going to be in a lot of trouble."


    "So I should give up on becoming a mage?" Skye asked, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I get what you''re saying. It''s just disappointing, having everything I''ve wanted in front of me and losing it all. I hope you understand."


    Ivan sighed. "Skye, Avriya''s not the paradise you think it is. To most people living here, it''s all they have."


    "All they have?"


    "Most Avriyans didn''t ask their families for permission to go here because they didn''t have one!" Ivan snapped. "A lot of them are either orphans or they''re here because their families didn''t take good care of them. Luka''s in Avriya because he was scheduled for tagging and had nowhere else to go, but you? Unlike him, you have options! I know you could have gotten tagged as well, but Mom and Dad called off the appointment because they care about you. They want you to live a normal, happy, life because they care about your future. But here you are, willing to risk the security of hundreds of people, a lot of them less privileged than yourself, all so you can live out some stupid little fantasy. It''s not worth it, Skye."


    Skye exhaled. Wow Ivan, that hurt, she thought. But you''re right, I can be selfish sometimes¡­


    By now the sun had set and the first stars were out. Skye, Ivan, and Luka sat in silence for a while, and only the rustling of leaves and the chirping of crickets could be heard. Dusk¡ª it was Skye''s favorite time of day, when the air gets cooler and the world winds down and the stars and moon blink into the night sky. Maia may be a morning person, Cole may prefer afternoons, and Ivan may be the type to regularly stay up past 3 am, but to Skye, nothing could match the feeling of watching afternoon slip into evening as the last few traces of daylight lingered behind.


    "Hey, look. Fireflies." Skye pointed to three flickering points of light in the dark. But Ivan and Luka paid her no mind.


    "You never told me why you came here," Luka reminded Ivan. "Is there a reason or did you just want to see me?"


    "I came here because my sister was supposed to get tagged at HACF today," Ivan started, "but Juliana''s mages took Skye and some others away from the facility. We got driven off in a van, loaded onto a boat, and now we are here. I followed Juliana because I wanted to accompany Skye while she was getting rescued, though I''d say taken by force is more accurate. I didn''t want her to be alone without knowing what was going on."


    "These new rescue missions are getting out of hand," Luka remarked. "I remember when the mages simply handed out letters to aura-havers on the mainland. Then those people decided for themselves whether they wanted to go here or not. But now Avriya''s doing this instead, because according to their council, sending letters was too inefficient."


    "I know, right?" Ivan agreed. "Honestly, there were too many flaws with Juliana''s mission. So many things could have gone wrong, and we got lucky that the van didn''t explode because somebody''s aura went berserk or worse. Plus, you can''t force people to go to your island and say that you''re saving them, even if you give them the option to leave. And if they leave, now what? Now they have proof that Avriya exists, and can report it to the government or law enforcement if they want to. And why wouldn''t they report it after almost getting kidnapped? This plan is a mess if you ask me."


    Luka shook his head. "Don''t blame Juliana for this mess. Blame Mr Dalton."


    "Mr Dalton?" Skye asked.


    "Kai Dalton. He''s able to control metal," Ivan replied. "He''s the High Mage of Avriya''s council, so he makes most decisions involving this place. Of course, the other council members give him feedback in addition to carrying out his orders, but lately it feels like they''re becoming his puppets¡­"


    "Kai Dalton?" Skye asked. "Didn''t he lead the Cloudgate Crusaders?"


    "Yeah, he was a really famous guild leader before Cloudgate''s government passed the Boulderland Act, shutting down the mage guilds," Luka responded. "Rumor has it he''s still mad about losing his guild, so he introduced an intensive mage-training program to Avriya just to relive his glory days. And oddly enough, Mr Dalton seems to be weirdly obsessed with getting as many aura-havers onto this island as possible. It''s as if he''s trying to rebuild the Cloudgate Crusaders. No wonder he''s planning such high-risk, flawed, missions that involve invading tagging centers. If he keeps this up, all of Cloudgate''s gonna know that Avriya exists, and we''re gonna be known as the kidnappers who shove children into vans and "rescue" them without their permission."


    "I guess even famous guild leaders make mistakes," Skye noted. "Anyway, Ivan''s right about whatever happened today being poorly planned. The ride to Avriya was so chaotic, I don''t know how nobody found us."


    "Actually, somebody almost did," Ivan corrected. "Remember Cayto?"


    Skye nodded. "Yeah, I remember him. Didn''t Orion fall unconscious so he could take over his mind?"


    "And then Orion forgot he was still in the body of another person and entered the van as Cayto," Ivan recalled. "And when the spell wore off, Cayto saw where he was and got so mad. He was screaming at us about calling his dad like a kid on the playground threatening to tattle. It was hilarious."


    "I know," Skye said as she held back a chuckle. "Plus, I ran into him while looking for the bathroom at HACF. Turns out he''s an aura-haver."


    "He''s a what now?!" Ivan remarked. "Why is an aura-haver working for a business that traumatizes aura-havers for profit? Sounds dumb if you ask me."


    "No, he''s not just any aura-haver," Skye added. "He has a lightning aura. Fired off electric sparks from his hands right in front of me, at an aura correctional facility, out of all places. And then he had the audacity to tell me that I should be getting tagged. What a hypocrite."


    Ivan shook his head. "Wow. Just wow."


    "Oh, and let me tell you something," Skye added. "When I walked in on Cayto, I saw him using his aura. So I told him I was an aura-haver just like him, and then he rudely told me to get out. After that I called out his hypocrisy. And can you guess what he said next?"


    "What?" Ivan asked.


    "How about you mind your own business and let me do my damn job!" Skye mocked, laughing as she imitated Cayto''s voice. "He was trying so hard to sound tough it was hilarious." But I was actually really nervous at the time, Skye thought. I really hate it when people yell at me.


    "I''m not surprised that the son of Martin Halifax is such a jerk," Luka commented. "But the part about him having a lightning aura is news to me."


    "Wait," Ivan interrupted. "Skye, you said he could generate electricity?"


    Skye nodded. "Right."


    "And he worked at HACF?" Ivan asked.


    "Right."


    "And if tags use electricity to shock aura-havers into submission¡­"


    "You''re saying that his job could be producing shock tags?" Skye and Luka said in unison.


    "Yup," Ivan confirmed. Skye and Luka stared at him.


    The trio sat in silence again, and they stayed like that for a while. But this time, Ivan was the first one to break it.


    "It''s getting late," he noted, "we gotta go now."


    Skye sighed. "Sure we can''t stay longer?"


    "Nope." Ivan responded. "We have to leave."


    Luka looked up from the ground. "You should definitely get going," he said, glancing at the gateway. "So goodbye, I guess. See you soon. Or later. Or never again, I don''t know."


    "Goodbye!" Ivan yelled as he grabbed Skye''s arm and made his way down the cobblestone path with her. Skye waved to Luka with her other arm as she followed her brother to the gate, not wanting to go just yet but having no choice. Ivan then opened the gate with a creak, walking her out of the garden and into the cool autumn night.

 1.4- No Mercy for a Halifax

    Cayto trudged down Avriya''s Bay Street, shivering as the evening air bit his skin. For him it was one of those nights, another one of those nights where the stars and the moon felt colder and further away than they did before. It was one of those nights where the houses on the street, with their white wooden walls and their gray tiled roofs, judged him harshly through their glowing window eyes. It was one of those nights where the moon glared down at him and the stars laughed at him as they twinkled and even the wind whispered through the trees, throwing shade on Cayto as he walked on by:


    Did you see the boy with those weird-looking circles under his eyes? A birch tree muttered to a big old oak. That''s Cayto. He''s a traitor and a stain on his family''s name. Why would he throw away his high standing, his good prospects, and his only chance to take over Halifax Industries just so he could run away to Avriya? Dumb move if you ask me.


    I know, right? The oak tree agreed. He''s nothing more than a blundering, incompetent, useless idiot. Cayto should''ve jumped out of that van earlier and let himself get run over on the highway. The world would be a much better place without him.


    But it wasn''t the trees saying any of those things, it was Cayto¡¯s own predictions of what everyone thought of him. And so, he slapped himself in the face. What the hell are you thinking?! He scolded himself. Stop worrying so much, it''s making you look stupid! If either of your parents were here, they''d slap the shit out of you.


    And so, Cayto walked on, his face bruised and stinging, in search of a phone to contact the Halifax residence with. He had to call his parents right away, because if he couldn''t convince them that it was not his choice to suddenly dissapear, who knows what would happen to him? Because Cayto was away from everything, he could lose it all¡ª his position as the next owner of Halifax Industries, his scholarship offers from multiple private universities in Thunderport and Skypoint, and the respect of everyone around him, including his parents, all because they''d think that he chose to run away from them. But Cayto would never abandon everything he had like that! He wasn''t supposed to get abducted, nor was he supposed to be here. He had to escape Avriya as soon as possible, because his father had told him that in order to take over HI, Cayto had to electrify 50 vials a day for 7 years. There was no way he could do that at Avriya.


    Cayto walked up to one of the houses on the block, knocking the door three times. The door opened, and a barefoot girl in a loose white t-shirt stood before him. "Hey," she greeted him. "Anything you need?"


    "I need a phone," Cayto requested. "It''s urgent."


    "Here! Borrow mine," the girl responded, dropping a sturdy and heavy flip phone into Cayto''s hand. "Take as much time as you need."


    But just as Cayto was about to dial, he felt the phone fly out of his hands, knocking him back at full speed in the chest. He staggered a few steps backwards as the phone hit the porch with a loud clunk. ¡°Hey, what was that for?" Cayto yelled as an angry-looking young man came charging to the forefront of the house.


    The girl in the white t-shirt turned to face her housemate. ¡°Just so you know, it''s not nice to hit our visitors,¡± she reminded him. "And it''s especially rude to make objects fly into them."


    ¡°Get. Away. From. Him.¡± The telekinetic warned the girl, a fearful look in his eyes. His hand shaking, he pointed at Cayto. ¡°You should know who he is.¡±


    The girl, wide-eyed and afraid, quickly grabbed her phone off the ground and stared at the young man. ¡°But he needed to make that call.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. He''s still one of the Halifaxes. This is what he has done.¡± The young man rolled up his sleeve to reveal a web of scars, smaller marks branching off larger marks like limbs on a tree. The marks of electrical currents.


    "Sorry. I¡¯ll be more careful next time,¡± The girl apologized as she quickly shut the door. Cayto rolled his eyes. That dude needs to get over himself, he thought. If he got injured by a shock tag, that''s on him for failing to control his curse.


    And so, Cayto walked on, going from house to house only to receive more hostile looks and slammed doors in his face. But despite this pattern, he was not ashamed of his family''s work. No, these people should be ashamed of themselves, for failing to hold back their curses, for exiling themselves from Cloudgate, for choosing to live as deviants on some secluded island.


    Cayto knew that being cursed was a choice and having an aura was not. Despite whatever that crazy ice girl may claim, nothing could change the fact that she was wrong about him being as cursed as she was. Curses are threats. They cause chaos and ruin lives. Cayto''s lightning aura wasn''t a curse, because unlike most aura-havers, he always had his aura under control, using it only for shock tags and nothing more. It was fine for him to use magic for that purpose and only that purpose because shock tags were important¡ª they kept curses in check and generated revenue for Halifax Industries.


    By the time Cayto walked down the block, nobody handed him a phone, and he was getting impatient. However, he wasn''t going to give up just yet¡ª he''d find another way to contact his parents for sure. But how? He already tried breaking past the wind barrier but it was too strong. He tried asking others for help, but was coldly dismissed each time.


    Then Cayto remembered what Juliana said about Avriya earlier on the beach: "it is the last place where magic is not only legal, but actively taught." Actively taught. Did mages live here? Perhaps they were given some higher status and were allowed to leave Avriya? It wasn''t an unlikely conclusion. The people on the van all looked like trained mages, and if they were able to infiltrate HACF, they probably were also allowed to leave Avriya. So if Cayto trained alongside these mages, then he''d get to know their weaknesses. He''d be given certain allowances, such as permission to leave the island, and then, when the opportunity was given to him, he''d escape as soon as possible. And if the mages didn''t let him leave, at least Cayto would know how to fight back.


    Of course, this plan was unappealing. Cayto knew he wasn''t supposed to like doing this because he knew that using aura magic was wrong. However, it wasn¡¯t like he was actually on Avriya''s side. He was working against them, and once he got back to Cloudgate, everybody would know about Avriya thanks to him. No more hiding, no more secrets. If Cayto came back from Avriya with knowledge of its existence, and if he told the officials about it, his disappearance would be excused. The curses would be eliminated thanks to him, and he''d be proving that he wasn''t a stain on the Halifax name despite what his mother thought of him.


    After a few minutes of walking, Cayto found a bench to lie down on. It was cold and uncomfortable, and the armrests prevented him from stretching out. Cayto lay down on the bench and hugged his knees to his chest, willing himself to fall asleep. But he couldn''t sleep. Not outdoors on a street bench, and not when the air was this cold and he had no mattress or blanket. And he definitely couldn''t sleep with the overwhelming anxiety plaguing him.


    What if everybody forgets me once I get home? Cayto thought. What if all of the work I''ve put into being good at what I do, everything I''ve done to prove that I was actually worth something¡ª what if it was all for nothing?


    ***


    "We''re going to Avriya. Aren''t you happy?" Ivan asked Skye as they waited at the bus stop. She nodded.


    "Of course I am!" Skye declared. "Thank you so much, by the way. I don''t know what I''d do without you¡ª"


    "Not so fast," Ivan reminded his sister. "I''ve gotten you this far, and our parents don''t even know. You owe me."


    "Oh." Skye''s face fell. "What do I owe you exactly?"


    "Your notebook," Ivan replied. "You know which one."


    For a moment, a disconcerted expression crossed Skye''s face. "Sure you don''t just want me to do your laundry instead?"


    Ivan shook his head. "Nope. I won''t accept anything other than the notebook."


    Suddenly the bus pulled over. "Oh look," Skye commented, taking the opportunity to redirect the conversation. "It''s the bus. We should get on board."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The Everson siblings entered the bus, located a pair of seats, and sat themselves down, but that didn''t distract Ivan. "It''s only fair you give it to me, after all I''ve done," he pressed. "You''ve always wanted to be a mage, haven''t you? Now you are, but remember, this wouldn''t be happening if I wasn''t here to help you. So hand over the notebook, or else we''re not going to Avriya."


    Skye pulled her notebook out of her bag and threw it at Ivan''s head. "Here! Take it!" She blurted. "You asked for it, you got it!"


    Ivan winced, rubbing his head. "Ow. That was unnecessary."


    Skye crossed her arms. "Totally was!"


    Ivan flipped through the pages, an irritatingly self-satisfied look on his face. "Hmm, where should I stop?" He mused out loud before opening the book on a messy doodle of a creature with fins. "Oh, look. A fish man."


    "That''s a seal." Skye corrected.


    "Nope. Fish man."


    Skye slumped in her seat. "Why do you feel the need to do this?"


    ***


    "Yay! We''re here!" Skye announced as she and her brother stood at Silver Run''s gates. "I don''t know about you, but I''m super excited."


    A woman with olive skin and lavender-tinted hair approached the gates. Skye recognized the woman as Avriya''s main healer, Hyacinth. "Welcome back, Ivan!" Hyacinth greeted Skye''s brother. "Oh, and welcome back, Skye. I''ve heard you wanted to learn magic?"


    "Yeah, totally!" Skye exclaimed. "So where are these mage classes I''ve heard about?"


    "They''re starting really soon. For now you can wait by the fountain." Hyacinth gestured towards the fountain in Silver Run''s courtyard. "The other students are there, so why don''t you go talk to them? Maybe you''ll make some new friends."


    Skye laughed nervously. "Ivan, can you come with me? I don''t think I can do this alone..."


    Ivan nodded. "Will do."


    "Thanks!¡ª Oh, wait." Skye said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Won''t there be anything you''ll expect in return?"


    "Not this time," Ivan responded. "I''ll help you with whatever you need."


    The trio entered the courtyard, Skye and Ivan splitting off in one direction, Hyacinth in the other. Skye approached the fountain''s edge, occupying a space between her brother and a stranger. Just as Skye was about to ask her brother if she could talk to the stranger, the stranger turned to her and spoke.


    "Hey!" The stranger greeted, startling Skye. "My name''s Nova."


    Skye looked up at Nova and gave her a small smile. "Oh. Hey."


    "I assume you must be new here?" Nova asked Skye. "Haven''t seen you around before."


    Skye nodded.


    "That''s so cool!" Nova exclaimed. "Are you signed up for the aura level evaluation by any chance?"


    "Yeah she is," Ivan answered. He gave an exasperated half-smile towards Skye, one that could only remind her of the endless back-and-forth arguing between Ivan and herself. Skye remembered it all too well: she gave Ivan every reason why she should train at Silver Run Academy, and he gave Skye every reason why she shouldn''t, but in the end they settled on a compromise: Skye would go to Avriya without the knowledge of her parents, eliminating Ivan''s biggest concern, and Ivan would help her with the commute and cover up any knowledge of their location. But there was a catch¡ª in exchange for his help, Ivan could demand whatever he wanted from his sister. Mainly chores.


    Nova and Skye talked for a while, about Avriya, about auras and magic, about their own daily lives. Along the way Skye had picked up some new interesting tidbits of information about Nova: Nova had lived at Avriya for as long as she could remember, and has been training her aura, which gave her the ability to teleport, for at least three years. She frequently attended classes at Silver Run Academy to learn magic, and her instructor''s name was Felix, or Mr. Everett as she called him. Nova was currently sharing a house with Aaron, a telekinetic with a history of getting into fights. Fortunately, Aaron had never really fought with her. "He''s like my big brother," Nova stated. "He can be intense, and he doesn''t trust anyone who isn''t an aura-haver, but I don''t think he''s a bad person."


    Skye shrugged. "All this hate and division, it''s so frustrating. Why can''t we just get along and accept that an aura, or a lack of one, does not define us?"


    Soon enough, the clusters of people scattered across the courtyard began converging in one big group toward the exit. "I think the evaluation is about to start," Nova noted. "You should get going. I''m staying behind, so don''t worry about me."


    "Will do!" Skye assured Nova as she traveled to the courtyard''s exit, disappearing into the crowd as it poured through the gates.


    ***


    Skye looked around. She was standing in a field with a group of people, with Hyacinth at the front. "One, two, three¡­" she started, doing a headcount. She stopped at 19. "Good, I have everyone."


    "Anyway, I''d like to introduce myself." Hyacinth continued. "My name is Hyacinth and I''m an instructor in aura combat. I am 26 years old and a regeneration healer. Welcome to our evaluation. The purpose of it is to test your level of competence with magic, which will be used to place you in a class based on your abilities. Do any of you have experience with using your aura?"


    "I do," a certain dark-haired, purple-eyed boy responded. He looked abnormally sleep-deprived and all too familiar, more familiar than Skye would''ve liked him to be. The other students whispered:


    "Isn''t that Cayto?"


    "Yeah. I''ve heard he got taken to Avriya against his will and isn''t allowed to leave."


    "Oh my god, he got kidnapped?"


    "Not on purpose. But he definitely hates us. Bet he''s looking at us and planning his revenge at this very moment."


    "Y''all are that afraid of Cayto? I could easily take him in a fight."


    "Shut up Collin. You know you ain''t shit¡ª"


    "Enough!" Hyacinth yelled over the group. She turned to Cayto. "Cayto, right?" She asked him.


    Cayto nodded. "Yes."


    Hyacinth drew a check mark on her clipboard next to his name. "Good, I have you here. Follow me." She led the boy to a section of field further from the rest of the group as they and Skye watched attentively. "If you''re unfamiliar with a skill or if you find it too difficult to replicate, please let me know," Hyacinth instructed. Cayto nodded. And so, his evaluation began:


    "Straight line!" Hyacinth shouted.


    Cayto shot a line of electricity in front of him.


    "Crisscross!"


    Fingers pointed, Cayto stuck both of his arms up in front of him, slightly crossing them while sending two overlapping streaks of lightning through the air. Upon completing this task, Cayto was breathing heavily, but his relief only lasted for a moment before Hyacinth started calling out more skills that were rapidly increasing in difficulty. Cayto''s attempts to follow through were taking a visible toll on him.


    At first Cayto was able to keep up, albeit not without exerting himself, but eventually, the sparks he was releasing were singing his sleeves, and the lightning wielder was staggering as if he could fall over at any moment. Even Cayto''s own aura was failing to protect him from the constant stream of electricity he was forcing himself to release, making his hands and the rest of his body bleed. And yet, whenever Hyacinth asked him if he wanted to quit or decrease the evaluation''s difficulty level, he''d always refuse.


    "Cayto, your evaluation is over." Hyacinth reminded him, approaching the lightning-wielder.


    "But¡­ the static¡­ shield?" Cayto gasped between breaths. "You¡­ told¡­ me¡­ to make one."


    "Don''t bother with that. I need to get your injuries fixed first." Hyacinth said. "Wait here."


    "Did¡­ I¡­ do¡­ well?" Cayto asked, his voice weakening.


    "You have potential," Hyacinth replied. "But when I said "do your best" I didn''t mean "push yourself to the point of collapse." The healer placed her hands on Cayto''s wounds, and a soft pink glow enveloped the affected areas. A moment later, her patient started looking a little less battered, but was still gasping for air.


    "Boo!!" An aura-haver from the crowd yelled. "Why are you helping him?!" As if on cue, the rest of the crowd followed the aura-haver''s example.


    "Don''t you know who he is?!" Another person shouted. "Don''t waste your efforts on that piece of garbage!"


    Skye stood back as the group took part in degrading Cayto in one way or another. It was painful for her to watch, because in truth, Skye was angry. But she didn''t know if she was angrier at Cayto or the others on the field, because as much as she disliked him, here he was, already at his lowest, and everybody was kicking him down even further. One boy spat at Cayto, another kicked him in the face. There was a girl claiming that Cayto deserved to be bullied because of his previous contributions to Halifax Industries. Her sentiment was echoed by another person who said that Cayto should be left with his injuries so he would know how shock tags felt like. When Cayto stopped breathing, a few people cheered and laughed. The chants that followed and continued to grow in magnitude were so cruel and overwhelming, Skye felt like they were choking her: "Die!" "Die!" Die!"


    Skye couldn''t bring herself to join, as the mocking and taunting was much too merciless for her liking. But she didn''t try to stop the crowd either, because in truth, she also disliked Cayto. So she stayed on the sidelines, not getting herself involved but not taking a stand, simply because Skye did not think it was worth drawing attention to herself for the sake of someone whom she didn''t even like. But still, she thought it was strange that Cayto, producer of shock tags and next owner of Halifax Industries, would try to learn aura magic.


    Why would Cayto attend Hyacinth''s aura level evaluation in the first place? Skye wondered. And why would he push himself so hard? Did his views on magic change? Was he trying to prove something?


    Hyacinth attempted to silence the crowd after she chased them away from Cayto. At once, the crowd dispersed, but the energy of pure, unfiltered, hatred continued to flow through it. Meanwhile, the boy was carried into the backseat of a white car and driven off. "Cayto is not dead. I checked." Hyacinth stated. "He is going to the infirmary, so don''t you dare get disappointed if he turns out fine."


    After Hyacinth retrieved her clipboard, the energy of the crowd ebbed. "I''m really disappointed with all of you," the healer reproached the group. "This is not how we act towards our fellow mages." Almost at once, the crowd hushed. Hyacinth waited, her eyes fixed in a cold stare, her lips a thin line. The silence penetrated each and every person on the field.


    Then in an abrupt shift in mood, Hyacinth started smiling once again. "Anyway, we''re continuing our evaluation!" She announced. "Skye, you''re next."


    Her head swimming with nervous excitement, Skye stepped up to join Hyacinth.

 1.5- Handshakes, Hardship and Humiliation

    "Hyacinth, help me!" Skye called out. "My feet are stuck!"


    "Unstick your feet then!" Hyacinth yelled back.


    Skye groaned. Not so long ago, she thought that learning magic would be the best experience of her life. But here she was, humiliating herself in front of a crowd of eighteen people while trying to use her so-called gift. Somebody please shoot me, she thought, staring down at her frost-coated shoes so she wouldn''t have to stare at her audience. I can''t do this anymore¡ª


    If you want, I can shoot you! An obnoxious voice echoed inside Skye''s brain. Skye, not knowing whether she should be grateful or freaked out, would''ve jumped if her feet weren''t trapped in a mound of ice. She scanned her eyes over the crowd to see if she could locate the voice''s source, and moments later, encountered a disturbing sight:


    It was a pigtailed girl with pink and black hair and bright colored eyes. She was staring at Skye in a terrifying manner, a menacing grin on her face. At that moment, Skye could only think one thing: I''m fucked. I''m totally fucked.


    Again, that same voice popped into Skye''s head. Just kidding! Wanna be friends?


    I guess? Skye mentally replied, not turning the girl down out of fear for her own life and sanity. Though it would be nice if you stopped staring at me like that. You''re freaking me out.


    Fine by me! The voice responded. Then the girl looked away, and the voice inside Skye''s head silenced.


    "Sky-ye!" Hyacinth shouted, bringing Skye back into her surroundings. "Are you still there?!"


    "Yes, yes I am!" Skye quavered. "I''m sorry, what happened?"


    "You were standing completely still, with a blank stare on your face, not registering a single word I''ve said!" Hyacinth recounted. "Why won''t you try pulling your feet out of that ice mound so we can continue?"


    Skye nodded. One by one, she yanked her knees up violently, freeing her feet from their icy trap but leaving her boots behind. Her socks, now wet, had slid off her heels and scrunched up at the soles of her feet, so she pulled them up and started her next mission: regaining her footwear. After a while, she managed to break both of her boots free from the mound, going back and forth between pulling on her boots and stomping on the ice until it shattered. With a shudder, she pulled both of her soggy boots on, her feet wet and numb from the cold. "Does this happen to other cryokinetics, or is it just me?" Skye asked. "Whenever I use my aura, the ice always sticks to my hands or feet."


    "I haven''t seen something like this before, but I''m sure it can be fixed," Hyacinth reassured her. "And by the way, we''re running out of time. We can only do one more skill together, so I''m letting you choose it."


    "Okay!" Skye replied, suddenly remembering an aura-related ability that she had read about and learned when she was ten. To this day it was her best skill, the one she was most proud of, but she wasn''t able to show it to anyone because of Cloudgate''s rules against magic. Now after all these years, this was her chance to finally reveal it. "Hailstorm!"


    "Hailstorm?" Hyacinth remarked. Skye raised her arms, trying to make the shards of ice fall from the air, but nothing happened. She groaned.


    "Hello-o! I said hailstorm!" Skye repeated. One thing was clear: her magic was rusty. The last time Skye tried to intentionally create ice was when she was thirteen, attempting to cool herself off in the middle of a heat wave. For that, she got caught by her parents and given a stern talking-to, so she hadn''t attempted to use her aura since then.


    Skye was wondering where her ice storm went until a moment later it hit her. "Skye!" Hyacinth yelled worriedly. Instead of raining down in smaller pellets, the hailstorm Skye summoned fell as one large block, dropping from the air and landing on her head. Skye gasped and staggered forward, rubbing her head through her beanie. "Oh my gosh! Do you have a concussion?" Hyacinth asked in a panicked voice. Skye shook her head.


    "Good. Should I heal you?" Hyacinth asked again, still slightly panicked but less so.


    "Yeah," Skye mumbled. Hyacinth took off Skye''s beanie and placed a hand on her injury, releasing a warm sensation that radiated through her skull. Almost at once, the pain in Skye''s head ebbed from a sharp throb to a dull ache. "Thanks," she said weakly. "Is this the end?"


    "Yes. Your evaluation is over," Hyacinth confirmed. "You may go now."


    "Thank you," Skye mumbled. She trudged into the crowd with her head drooped and her shoulders slumped. Wow. I screwed up horribly, she thought. There go my chances of becoming a mage¡ª


    "Hey Skye!" The pigtailed telepath girl chirruped. She stuck her hand out as if expecting a handshake. "Name''s Alexis. Nice to meetcha!"


    "Hey." Skye hesitantly shook Alexis''s hand. "Did we just talk earlier, but without talking?"


    Alexis nodded and Skye''s eyes widened. "Wow. That was cool," Skye remarked, laughing nervously. "But next time, can you not stare into my soul like that? I was a bit freaked out, no offense."


    ***


    Cayto rolled over and opened his eyes, finding himself in a white-walled room with a closed window next to his bed. To the left of him were four more beds, all of them empty. Cayto stared at the floor, which was made out of plywood. He had a bit of an internal freakout after realizing that he didn''t know where he was. He didn''t get kidnapped again, did he?


    Cayto had no idea where he was or how he got here. All he knew was that he should probably leave. In an attempt to push himself out of bed, Cayto propped himself up with his elbow. A sharp pain jolted through his upper arm and side. He winced, breathing heavily. Ow.


    Cayto looked down at himself from underneath the blanket. His clothes from before were gone, replaced by a thin blue gown and a bandage wrapped around his chest and right shoulder. He tried again to leave his bed, but he could barely sit, let alone stand. His head felt cloudy, like he had just woken up from a fever dream. What the hell happened to me?


    A few moments later, a young man about Cayto''s age entered the room. "Hey!" The visitor greeted him. He had a tall frame, blonde hair, and teal eyes. Cayto thought he might''ve seen this person before, but he couldn''t recall when or where since his mind was still quite foggy. "Is there anything you need?"


    "Not from you, that''s for sure," Cayto mumbled. "I just need to get out of here."


    The visitor cocked his head. "When you say "here," do you mean right here in the infirmary room, or do you mean Avriya as a whole?"


    "I mean both. Both are shit."


    "Not holding back, are you?" The visitor quipped. "Honestly, I can''t blame you. When you''ve spent all your life with parents as rich as yours, everything that''s not fine dining and servants and private jets is suddenly beneath yourself. Is that how you feel? Do you look on the entirety of Avriya and all of its people with disdain? Are you that mad about losing your wealth and needing to face reality like the rest of us peasants?"


    Cayto shook his head. "My dad was actually quite frugal, mind you." he uttered. "I still hate Avriya though."


    The visitor leaned forward, startling Cayto. "Why?"


    Cayto paused. Why do I hate Avriya? He thought. To state the obvious, it''s where I''m being held prisoner. "Because of the curses and aura manifestations," he finally said after thinking for a while. "Auras are an unstable source of magic and we shouldn''t be using them. They''re dangerous and illegal."


    The visitor stared at Cayto with a blank look of disapproval. "Come on. You''re literally here because you used your aura too much."


    "Wait what?" Cayto thought his brain might have short-circuited. There was no way he could have used his aura for anything other than shock tagging. Him? Practice that kind of magic? He wasn''t stupid. "I never did that!"


    "You totally did!" The guest shot back. "If you aren''t acting innocent and you really don''t know what I''m talking about, I''m guessing that the accident you went through might''ve given you brain damage. In that case, I''ll have to explain everything that has happened to you up until this point."


    Cayto sighed. "Talking to you gives me brain damage."


    "So¡­" the guest started, "five days ago, you signed up for Hyacinth''s aura level evaluation. Then for the following days leading up to it, you were practicing your magic. I''ve heard from Elliot that you''ve checked out three books from the library, all of them on the topic of lightning auras, and Juliana told me about your "practice" sessions. According to her, you would take your books and go out on the field multiple times a day so you could attempt your latest skill or whatever. I even passed you once or twice. You were putting on quite a show."


    Suddenly Cayto remembered that vague outline of an escape plan which he had, the one where he was going to train his aura at Silver Run Academy and fight back against the aura-havers. True, Cayto hated curses. But this plan could be his only chance to ever go home. "Was my practice good at least?"


    "What do you think?" The guest asked. "If you''ve messed up your trial so badly that you''ve shocked yourself and can''t remember a thing, do you really think your practice was any better? You should have seen yourself." The guest pulled out his phone and played a video of the lightning user on the field, and Cayto looked on in horror. He sat, petrified as he watched himself butcher every single move, becoming a living, breathing, lightning hazard for a grand total of two minutes and eighteen seconds. And to think that was only what was caught of himself on camera! "For a moment I thought you got possessed by the lightning demons, so at 0:45 I moved away and took the rest of the video from a safe distance," the guest added. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Cayto stared at the wall so hard he might as well have drilled a hole into it. "If you were so concerned for your safety, why didn''t you just stop the video?"


    The guest laughed. "I couldn''t. Watching you was like watching a car crash. Horrifying, yet oddly intriguing¡ª"


    Cayto''s eyes narrowed. "You like watching car crashes?"


    "Not really, I guess it has more to do with morbid curiosity than actually enjoying what I''m seeing. It''s human nature to be fascinated by vehicular accidents, y''know. Why do you think the expression "it was like watching a train wreck: I couldn''t look away" exists? Why do so many movies have vehicles exploding or crashing or falling off the roads and rails in them? Why are bumper cars so popular at fairs and amusement parks? There''s your answer: people have a strange fixation on vehicles ramming into things. I hope my explanation was sufficient."


    Cayto gave the guest a blank stare. "You''re weird."


    The guest stared back. "No, you are."


    "Wait¡­" Cayto stared at the young man again, this time more intently. "Have I seen you before? All this talk of spiritual possession and vehicles reminded me of something. Over a week ago, I was at HACF. Then I saw a fainting man, and my memory blanked out afterwards. An unspecified amount of time later, I found myself in a van after I supposedly got controlled by said fainting man. Weren''t you one of the others in that van? I remember seeing someone who looked exactly like you."


    The young man smiled. "Yeah, I was there. I remember seeing you as well. You were throwing a tantrum and screaming about calling your dad¡ª"


    Cayto''s fists clenched. "Don''t remind me."


    "Oh, I will," the guest said in a way that sounded both irritating and reassuring at the same time. "Anyway, I''m assuming now that you want to know my name. Right, Cayto?"


    Cayto nodded. "Right."


    The guest stuck out his hand. "I''m Ivan, nice to meet you," he finally said. "I''ll be back next time I have infirmary duty."


    Cayto shook Ivan''s hand. "Thanks for checking in on me.¡±


    ***


    That night, Cayto fought back tears and wrapped his arms around his pillow, burying his face in it. "Die! Die! Die!" The voices from the field shouted, reverberating through Cayto''s mind, forcing him awake when all he wanted to do was sleep. As much as he willed the voices to stop, the taunts of the aura-bearers wouldn''t leave him alone. Instead they dragged on, intermingling with other voices. One of them was the stern voice of his father, which normally would have brought Cayto back to his senses, but this time stung him all the more:


    "Quit crying like a baby, you''re embarrassing yourself." Cayto could hear Martin say, his booming voice echoing in his ears. "You''re the next leader of Halifax Industries, not some stupid little girl. If you''re going to act all gross like that, nobody will take you seriously."


    Cayto knew Mr Halifax was right. He desperately wished he could stop crying like his father would have told him to, but it was no use. Instead he shoved his face further into his pillow, squeezing it tightly. Maybe if he got lucky, he''d suffocate himself to death. He''d be more valuable dead than alive, right? The Avriyans, his mother, didn''t they all wish him to disappear off the face of the earth?


    9 years ago:


    Martin lurched forward and gasped in pain. Both his shirt and his skin were burnt, and Cayto stared at him with huge violet eyes. "D-did I do that?" The child stuttered. "I''m sorry daddy, I''m sorry!"


    "I¡­ expected¡­. better from you¡­" Mr Halifax sputtered between breaths. He put up a hand as if to say "give me a moment," and Cayto stood still. "Don''t let mommy know¡­"


    Suddenly Sierra burst into the room, her eyes aflame. "Martin!" She screamed. "I knew it was only a matter of time!"


    Martin looked up at his wife, his face calm and unaffected. "Sierra, there''s no need to work yourself up. I can handle this, I swear¡ª"


    But Sierra was having none of it. "That demon!" She screeched, pointing at Cayto with a trembling hand. "You knew you should have listened to me when I told you to get rid of him, but no, you just had to ignore my warnings! Now look at yourself!"


    Martin''s face contorted for a moment after he brushed against his burn. But his expression returned to neutral, though he remained hunched over from the impact of the shock. "Sierra," he said earnestly, "Cayto may be an aura-haver, but he''s still a good kid. That doesn''t change because he accidentally struck me once."


    Sierra crossed her arms. "Cayto?! Good?! How?!"


    "Have you seen our son?" Martin shot back. "You know better than anyone how he is! He''s honest, hardworking, and always doing his best to make us proud. But maybe he''s a bit too honest¡­" Martin laughed weakly, and Cayto glanced at his parents in confusion. "Though I''m aware of the damage that auras have done, I know we should keep Cayto around because his electricity is the curse to end all curses. Shock tags wouldn''t exist if it weren''t for his lightning aura, and look at how great we''re doing thanks to them! Halifax Industry''s profits have increased twofold, the rate of aura manifestation is down by 65% in Skypoint, and we''re getting more investors than ever before. Is that not what you want?"


    Sierra''s eyes narrowed. "Numbers!" She shrieked, her voice piercing the air. "Numbers! Is that all you care about?! What about our safety?! Our integrity?! Don''t you see how hypocritical we look when we speak of the evils of curses, only to use them ourselves as a means to an end?!" As Sierra was ranting, Martin stared at her blankly and Cayto shrunk into a corner. "Martin, Cayto, both of you! You''re unbelievable!"


    Cayto stepped in to confront his mother, his legs shaking. "I''m sorry for hurting daddy," he confessed, "I only wanted to hug him, but then the sparks shot out of my hands and did this¡­"


    "Sorry? Sorry?! THE HELL YOU MEAN, SORRY?!" Sierra fumed. "This may not be the first time you pulled off this shit, but I''ll make SURE it''s your last! Now stand right there and don''t say a word so I can beat every last bit of that lightning curse out of you!" Sierra screeched at Cayto. "And don''t you DARE fight back!"


    The first blow came to Cayto''s face. He flinched, and blood trickled down from his nose. The boy felt his electricity crackle inside him again, so he held his breath to prevent it from getting out and shocking his mother. He couldn''t make her hate him more than she already did, or else his father would be disappointed in him too, and he''d be forced to stay in his room or skip dinner. But just as Cayto was about to lose control of himself, Martin stepped in:


    "Stop. If you beat him any longer, he''s going to hurt you," Martin warned Sierra. Sierra begrudgingly drew her hand away from Cayto but kept her glare fixated on the child. After she finally put enough distance between him and herself, the boy exhaled and unclenched his right fist. In horror, he stared at the sparks flying out of his palm.


    ***


    Cayto drifted back to the present. He no longer was trying to choke himself with a pillow, but instead was lying on his back. It was pitch dark outside, and the digital clock on the windowsill displayed the time next to him: 2:47 am. Cayto hadn''t gotten a good night''s sleep since he first arrived at Avriya, and his injuries from the trial, the harassment from other aura-havers, and his fear of falling behind once he got home weren''t helping him either. For all he knew, his parents would''ve thought he was being irresponsible or lazy by running away from them when that was far from reality. True, they were tough on him, but Cayto wasn''t a wimp. He was still determined to prove himself, just like his father would have wanted of him. "If anybody disrespects you," Martin had told him, "you must prove them wrong. Don''t cry or scream or let your emotions get the best of you. Simply do what you have to do to change their mind."


    Cayto was not going to become one of those degenerate curse-bearers Sierra thought he was. That''s why he was working so hard to find a way out of Avriya. Then once he escaped Avriya, he would expose its secrets for all to see, and the unregulated curse-bearers who infested this place would face justice. If Cayto went through with that, he''d be proving himself as someone good and his mother would have one less reason to disrespect him. Additionally, he knew that no matter what happened, he''d never become one of them. Cayto was a Halifax first and a curse-bearer last.


    But at the back of his mind was a single voice, a soft yet persistent whisper which he ever-so-desperately tried to ignore. But you already are one of them, it nagged. The moment you decided to teach yourself aura magic, you became a criminal. There''s no returning from that.


    ***


    "Hey, have you heard?" Skye''s father asked as he walked in his daughter''s room. "Your mom and I enrolled you in a new school. Newham High, I think it''s called. Ivan told us about it, and supposedly their policies on aura-havers are more relaxed than Springs."


    "Cool!" Skye responded as she rocked in her chair. The afternoon light poured in from her window, and a lilac-colored blanket draped her bed. On her bookshelf stood a single lamp, switched off for the afternoon. Though Skye''s face remained more or less neutral, inwardly she was smiling. A lot. Enrolling in Newham High was all part of the larger plan Ivan had set for her so she could become a mage at Silver Run Academy.


    As it turned out, Avriya wasn''t the only gathering spot of the last mages, though it was their main base. They actually ran a (not literally) underground network spanning the entirety of Cloudgate which included a few sister schools of Silver Run Academy. One of those sister schools was Newham, which was open to the public but secretly tied with SRA. If a student enrolled at SRA, they could also enroll in Newham or any other sister school, so a diploma from Silver Run Academy would directly translate to a diploma from one of those sister schools. Under this system, Skye could receive her education at SRA, learn magic, and not be questioned by her parents or Cloudgate''s authorities. She''d simply be registered as a Newham student, avoiding suspicion.


    Suddenly Skye''s phone pinged, and she reached for it on her nightstand. The lock screen had one new notification, which was a text from Ivan. Trial results are in, it read.


    What are mine? Skye texted back.


    Skye received another text from Ivan. I have bad news, the text read, followed by a sad face. Skye''s heart dropped, but then a new message appeared on her screen: You''re in the beginners group.


    Skye held back a chuckle. Beginner''s group? That wasn''t bad at all! She already set her expectations so low after her failed performance that simply getting into any class was a pleasant surprise for her. That''s not bad news! Skye responded. Just being in a group is enough for me.


    Beginner. Beginner 1. Ivan replied. If words on a screen could appear ominous, Ivan''s text most certainly did.


    Skye laughed. What, were you expecting me to make Advanced 3 on the first try? I may not be a pro right away, but Beginner 1 is a good start! She replied.


    While Skye was looking down at her phone, her mother barged into her room. "Smiling at your phone, I see?" She asked. "Do you have a boyfriend?"


    Skye shook her head. "Do I look like I''m able to get one?"


    "Don''t say that about yourself! You''re a lot cuter than you think you are," Maia reassured. Skye shrugged. "What was it you were smiling at?"


    Oh shit. She''s gonna find out, Skye thought to herself. For a moment Skye panicked, but then she quickly switched her screen to some random pun about bread she had saved on her phone and showed it to her mom. "Here it is."


    Maia laughed. "Haha. Funny. Cliche but funny," she said. Then Maia left, and Skye let out a breath she didn''t know she was holding. Whew. Crisis averted. Skye thought. Then she received another text from Ivan:


    Thought you knew everything when it came to magic, but I was wrong, the text read, followed by a sad face. Guess you''re not as big of a mage nerd as I thought you were.


    "Mage nerd" lol, Skye texted back. It would be cool if I qualified as an actual mage, but alas, I am but a lowly mage nerd.

 1.6- The Rebirth of Polaris

    A young-looking robed man with wavy white hair and golden eyes walked into the library. He wore a feathered white cloak over his shoulders, and two more feathers stuck out of his hair. "Is anybody here?" He asked. The man then turned his gaze towards the couch in the center of the room, startling at the sight before him. "Lucian?"


    "Yes Noi?" Lucian asked between mouthfuls of potato chips. The other spirit lay on his stomach, propping himself with his elbows while his feet swung in the air, sprawled over a book, some tissues, and a storm of snack wrappers. He had a head full of flame-colored hair, a freckled face, a pair of forest-green eyes, and a red cloth tied around his neck, but his most striking aspects were not any of these things, but rather his dragon-like features which distinguished him from normal human beings. In addition to his two scarred wings too big for his body, Lucian had a spiny tail and a pair of horns protruding out of his head. One of his horns had a crack through it.


    Noi sighed. "Please clean up after yourself. I don''t think the humans would want you trashing their library."


    Lucian rolled over onto his back, his left wing drooping on the floor. He placed his feet on the armrests. "Do I look like I care what some humans think?"


    Noi chuckled. "Classic Lucian," he remarked. "Anyway, pick up your garbage. I have something to tell you."


    Lucian gathered his stray wrappers along with his empty chip bag and disposed of them after closing his book. He then brushed his crumbs off the sofa and plopped himself on the couch, landing in a somewhat more sightly position than the one he was in before. "What?"


    "It''s about the last child," Noi replied. "According to my visions, she should be arriving at Avriya today."


    Lucian tilted his head. "She?"


    "Yes, she." Noi confirmed. "The last living reincarnation of Polaris is a girl."


    ***


    Skye walked into Silver Run''s courtyard wearing Newham''s school uniform, consisting of a blazer, a tie, and a skirt with leggings. Ivan wore a similar outfit, but the skirt and leggings were replaced by a pair of pants. "What did you do today?" Ivan asked Skye. "Learned anything cool with your aura?"


    "I learned how to breathe!" Skye announced, laughing awkwardly while Ivan gave her a blank stare. "I know, I know, it doesn''t sound like much, but according to Hyacinth, controlling your breathing is necessary for controlling your aura."


    Ivan facepalmed. "See, this is why the beginner''s group sucks. They don''t actually teach you anything. It''s just breathing exercises, facts, and memorization. All theory and no practice, and the theory part isn''t even that interesting."


    "Oh." Skye''s face fell. "Just as I thought I was being productive."


    Ivan sat on the fountain''s edge and checked his smartphone. "We have another hour until the ferry leaves for Winterbay. Wanna walk down Main Street?"


    "Sure," Skye agreed. "Also, I''m hungry. Can we stop somewhere?"


    ***


    Skye and Ivan sat at their table in Cafe Sepia, a cozy place with reddish-brown floors and potted plants by the shop window. Skye was doodling away in her notebook with her earphones plugged in, and Ivan sat with his elbow on the table, his chin resting on his hand. Skye''s turkey sandwich, which just got served to her, lay untouched on her plate beside her notebook.


    Suddenly a robed stranger approached Skye and Ivan''s table, and Skye removed her earphones. The stranger had golden eyes and wavy shoulder-length hair with two feathers sticking out of it. "Excuse me miss," he said to Skye, "may I have your sandwich?"


    Skye turned to Ivan. "So there''s this pretty lady asking for my sandwich and I don''t know if I should say yes or no because I am hungry but at the same time I don''t want to hurt her feelings. What should I do?!" She whisper-shouted at her brother.


    The stranger laughed. "I''m actually a guy," he corrected. "But anyway, may I have your sandwich?"


    Before Skye or Ivan could respond, a redheaded boy with two horns and the wings of a dragon jumped out of his chair. He joined the robed stranger at Skye''s table. "You can''t just ask for food like that from the Last Child of Polaris!" He shouted at the robed man.


    At the name Polaris, Skye''s attention piqued. Hey, wasn''t that the name of my imaginary "friend?" Or my ideal self, or whatever it''s called?


    The robed man gave the boy a smug grin. "You said you didn''t care what humans thought about us, but now you seem to have changed your mind," he remarked before bowing his head at Skye. "I''m sorry, I forgot to say please while asking for your sandwich. I apologize for my bad manners."


    "It''s fine," Skye reassured the man while Ivan stared at the two strangers dumbfoundedly.


    "You don''t realize that it''s weird to go up to random people and ask for their food, right?" Ivan asked them. "Maybe where you''re from it isn''t, but it is here."


    The robed man looked taken aback at Ivan''s comment. "Oh. I didn''t know. I''m sorry."


    Skye smiled. "Don''t worry about it!" she reassured him. "If you want, you can still have a piece of my sandwich. Also," she added, turning to the dragon-winged boy, "what was that you said about Polaris?"


    "I know it''s a really long story and you''re not gonna believe me when I tell you this, but¡ª" the boy started, but the man cut him off.


    "Not now, Lucian. It''s too early for her to know."


    "What do you mean it''s too early?! We''ve got to tell Skye that she''s the last child of Polaris so she can fulfill the North Star Prophecy!" Lucian protested.


    Noi shook his head. "Bad idea. The last child is only fifteen. There''s no way she can go up against an all-powerful goddess at her current age¡ª"


    "Are you talking about me?" Skye interrupted, a startled look on her face. "How did you know my name, my age, and the name of my imaginary alter-ego? Also, what''s this "last child" and "North Star Prophecy" business?"


    Before Lucian could answer, the androgynous cloaked man grabbed onto the boy''s arm and ran out of the cafe with him. "You''ll find out later!" Noi shouted across the room while Lucian struggled against him. Skye took a glance at the strangers, ever the more unnerved. How did these weirdos know my personal information?


    After the strangers left, Ivan and Skye stared at each other with bewildered expressions. "That was something," Ivan commented. "I wish I could say it was a harmless prank, but I really don''t like how they know your name and age."


    Skye sat up straight, eyes wide with apprehension. "They could be stalking us."


    ***


    Outside the cafe, Noi and Lucian walked down the street together. It was a cloudy day and the sky was overcast. Shops with canopies lined up on one side of the street, and on the other side stood a row of apartment complexes. Birch trees grew from evenly-spaced soil plots on the pavement, and every so often a car would zip by on the road. "Nice job, Noi," Lucian jabbed at him. "You made us look bad in front of the Last Child of Polaris. At this rate Blanche¡¯s never gonna get blasted to bits by the North Star or whatever the hell is supposed to happen in the prophecy."


    "I don''t think anyone should be trying to blast the Mother of All Spirits to bits, let alone Skye," Noi responded. "Eliminating Blanche would have disastrous effects on the spirit realm. Also, Skye is fifteen for Blanche¡¯s sake."


    "Isn''t that the age of every "chosen one" protagonist?" Lucian countered. Noi gave the dragon-spirit a strange look.


    "I know, I know, you''re upset at Blanche because of what she''s done to you, and now you want revenge as soon as possible. But this is real life, not some YA fiction. We have to be reasonable here," Noi told Lucian. "Expecting the Last Child to fulfill the prophecy when she has her own life to attend to is unrealistic. Also, we probably shouldn''t be trying to fulfill the North Star prophecy in the first place."


    Lucian huffed. "So you''re just gonna let Blanche get away with everything she''s done?!"


    Noi shook his head. "It''s not like that. I simply believe there''s a better way to end the problems she''s caused than making a human kill her, that''s all."


    Lucian kicked a rock down the pavement, which landed on the side of the road. "How do you know that Skye can''t or doesn''t want to kill Blanche?" He asked. "Once she learns what the Mother of Spirits has done, she''ll be on my side for sure."


    Noi shrugged. "Whatever you say, Lucian."


    ***


    Later that day, after she arrived at home, Skye stood in the shower, shutting her eyes as she rubbed a blob of shampoo into her hair. Like many people who have showered at some point in their lives, she had a recurring yet relatively minor fear of not being alone while washing herself. Even if she was sometimes afraid of reopening her eyes to find a ghost or a monster or some other undesirable being staring her down, she was still able to shampoo her hair without much issue. An incident like that has never happened to her before, so her fear of shower cryptids wasn''t too great.


    But this time around, Skye could feel a presence. It was a strong presence, much too strong to ignore or write off as a product of her overactive imagination. No, this time it was most certainly real, so real she was almost too afraid to open her eyes to check what was behind it. But she opened her eyes anyway.


    Nothing.


    Maybe it''s outside the shower? Skye pondered. Yeah, it must be. She turned off the shower, opened the stall''s curtains, and checked the bathroom, catching sight of a ghostly figure staring at her from the window with its wide yellow eyes. It was white and gray and appeared to be floating above the ground. A familiar shiver crawled down Skye''s spine as she felt her ice aura return to her limbs, ready to shoot out again. Ugh, not the ice¡­


    A layer of ice slid from under Skye''s left foot, knocking her off balance. She screamed. Then she put her hand on the wall to stabilize herself, only to cover it with another layer of ice. Her hand slid, and she fell to the floor at what felt like a hundred miles per hour. Breathless and dizzy, she sat on the floor of her now ice-covered shower.


    For a long moment, Skye struggled to get up before stepping onto the bathroom floor. She grabbed a towel from the rack, wrapped it around herself, and walked towards the window to take a closer look at the ghostly figure. She heaved a sigh of relief. Upon closer inspection, the "ghost" was revealed to actually have feathers, a beak, and a round pale face. The bird hooted, and Skye laughed. Oh, so it was a snowy owl, she thought. I''m an idiot. Wait¡­ do snowy owls live around here?


    The owl grabbed a familiar-looking spiral notebook with its beak and dropped it at Skye''s feet, which she picked up. Skye gasped. Oh. My. God. She thought. Did an owl just return my notebook? I could''ve sworn I left it at the cafe by accident...


    Skye thanked the friendly owl and placed her notebook on the sink countertop before taking a tentative step back into her ice-covered shower. She reached for the handle, and the water failed to turn on because the handle was frozen in place. "Ugh!" She shouted. "How long do I have to wait for the shower to unfreeze? I''m cold just standing in here!"


    Suddenly a fluffy blanket flew through the window and landed on the bathroom floor. Skye left the shower again to pick up the blanket and examined it. The blanket was revealed to be completely clean upon closer examination, so it didn''t look like something that could harm her. I wonder who this belongs to, Skye thought. Did Mom, or Dad, or perhaps Ivan buy it for me before throwing it through the window? It''s a strange coincidence that as soon as I said I was cold, this thing dropped in here.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Skye touched the blanket. It was pale gray with dark spots, warm and soft and luxurious. Then she hugged it and wrapped it around herself like a caterpillar in a cocoon. "So¡­ fluffy¡­" she murmured before falling asleep on the icy cold shower floor. She closed her eyes, and the world faded to black.


    ***


    Skye woke up. She didn''t know where she was, let alone how much time had passed. All she knew was that she fell asleep inside her shower stall and woke up on the shore of a beach. The waves lapped at her feet, which for some reason were stuck together. She felt heavier as well, so moving was difficult for her. Skye lifted each of her arms to inspect them, only to realize they were missing. In place of her arms were two almost-white flippers with gray spots.


    "Where am I? What am I?" Skye yelled to nobody in particular, but her voice came out as a series of barks. Great, now I can''t speak normally, she thought.


    Skye rolled over and flopped on her back. She looked at the sky above her, which was colored in various shades of blues and pinks and purples. It didn''t resemble anything she had seen before¡ª no, this sky looked like galaxies and cotton candy and etherealness, like it was plucked from another world. It was the most beautiful sky she had ever seen.


    Am I dead? Skye wondered. Before I woke up I was inside a shower. Then I found a blanket and fell asleep in it. Maybe I died during my nap and went to heaven. Or maybe I went to the underworld, I don''t know. That could explain why I''m here, and in the body of a beached seal out of all things¡­ Although, she thought, falling asleep inside a shower is a really embarrassing way to end it all. And of course it had to happen as soon as I started learning magic!


    A long and mournful wail came out of the seal''s mouth. I guess this is what I get for not appreciating my time on Earth while it lasted, she lamented. All those times I''ve wished for death, and now that I''m here, I wish for nothing more than another chance. I wish I had a chance to accomplish more in my short and pathetic life. I wish I could have seen more and done more. I know I''m being selfish for wanting this, especially if I consider how much oxygen and space I''ve wasted over the years, but please, I''m desperate¡­ I know that I don''t deserve it, but couldn''t I have had somewhat of a more dignified death at the very least?! Anything but freezing in the shower?!


    Some time later Skye felt a claw touch her right flipper. She rolled to her left to avoid crushing whoever had approached her, and now that she could lift her head, Skye took a glance at the stranger. He looked exactly like one of the people¡ª or creatures¡ª who was in the cafe with her the other day. Oddly enough, he seemed to resemble the owl on her windowsill. The man smiled. He had silvery-white hair that fell below his shoulders, skin a shade of tawny-brown, and eyes the color of marigold petals. He wore two feathers in his hair and a feathered cape over his shirt, and when one of his sleeves rolled up his arm, Skye caught sight of the man''s hand, or what would have been his hand if there weren''t talons in place of his fingers.


    The taloned man sat himself on the sand, meeting the seal at eye level. "There''s no need to worry," he assured Skye. "This is all temporary. I guarantee you''ll get your human form back and return to the mortal realm in no time. But for now, while you''re here, let me tell you the truth about your existence. You''re the Last Child of Polaris. No other Polaris reincarnations will appear after you."


    Skye stared at the man with a stupefied expression. "The last¡ª what? How can I be the child or the reincarnation or the whatever of a person who lives only in my mind?"


    The man laughed. "I see you already have some buried memories from your past life. That''s a start," he observed. "You just don''t know they''re from your past life yet. And for your information, your past life''s name was Polaris. You were a selkie and a spirit of ice."


    Skye curiously looked at the man with her black beady eyes. "Tell me more," she requested. "What was Polaris like?"


    The man sighed. "Polaris was a spirit of exceptional character," he answered, running his claws through the sand. "Loyal, brave, kind¡ª everything you''d want in a person, or a spirit that is. It''s a shame his life ended through no fault of his own."


    Skye tilted her head. "What happened?"


    "The North Star happened." A somber expression crossed the man''s face. "And then Blanche¡ª you see, Polaris never wanted to harm Blanche, but much of the language in the prophecy pointed to him killing her. We all thought our Creator was immortal, but everything comes to an end, I assume. Blanche was so terrified of the prospect of her own death that she ripped Polaris''s core out of his body, dismantled it, and dismembered the ice-spirit to protect herself. Or perhaps it was a conscious form of revenge, something to warn us spirits about what happens when we oppose her, I don''t know. I may not know her true motives, but after Blanche did that to Polaris, she announced to the rest of the spirit realm that he deserved it because he was a traitor, unfit for life or servitude."


    "Blanche did that?" Skye asked incredulously. The robed spirit nodded his head.


    "I was shocked too," the spirit admitted. "I''ve always looked up to Blanche, so seeing her act in such a brutal way towards one of her own creations was horrifying. However, there was one thing that happened after Polaris''s death which our Creator did not predict. Polaris came back, but not as himself. The dismantling of his core made him respawn in your world as multiple aura-bearing humans with ice powers. Each of these reincarnations, or the Children of Polaris as we call them, had a piece of the spirit within them, including yourself. Now they''re long gone, but you, Skye? You''re the last one alive, and according to prophecy, you are destined to end Blanche because you are technically Polaris. So while the North Star exists, let me warn you, stay away from Blanche. Do not play the hero and try to slay her because some prophecy said you would. She is extremely strong, and I would hate it if a fate worse than death came upon you. The Creator has the power to do that, so please, protect yourself."


    Skye nodded, the bizarreness of the message hitting her like a load of bricks. "What makes you think I''d try to kill a goddess in the first place?" She asked. "First of all, that sounds dangerous, second of all, I''m too lazy for that, and third of all, I hate violence."


    "Good. Keep it that way," The spirit replied. "Enjoy life while you can, but stay cautious, because Blanche may not take it well once she finds that Polaris lives on in you."


    Skye and the spirit sat for a while, staring through each other in silence. While the breeze and the ocean spray combined to send chills down Skye''s fur, the tide ebbed in and out, repeatedly swallowing her tail and back-end only to pull away before it could swallow her whole. The tide was gentle yet persistent, soothing yet steady, forming a sort of constant rhythm. In the distance sprang up mountains, black and purple mountains, that jutted out of the horizon and poked through the clouds.


    When Skye saw the beach around her fade, she panicked. "Wait! Don''t go yet! You never told me your name!" She begged the spirit. "Who are you?"


    The spirit gave the seal a sympathetic look. "My name is Noi," he said to Skye as everything faded to black. "If you need anything, I''ll be waiting for you at Avriya. Also, do some research on selkies once you wake up. Polaris was and still is part seal, so reading about the seal-people will help you learn more about yourself¡­"


    "Will do!" Skye assured Noi, whom she could no longer see as he was now enshrouded in darkness.


    ***


    Skye opened her eyes, removing the blanket wrapped around her body while painstakingly forcing herself to her feet. That was a weird dream, she thought. Yet it was oddly realistic. She quickly left the shower stall, hung her blanket on the bathroom rack, and reentered the stall again, wincing at its ice cold temperature. In addition, her newly formed aches and pains that she earned from taking a nap on the shower floor weren''t making things easier. Skye rotated the shower''s handle, and now that some of the ice had melted, she was able to turn the water back on. She turned up the temperature much more than she would have on a normal day, washing herself off in steaming hot water to counteract her chills. I''m definitely catching a cold from this, Skye thought.


    Once Skye left the shower, she reached for the furry blanket on the rack, which now doubled as a towel, and began drying herself with it. But as soon as the blanket touched her, she felt an odd sensation. It began at her arms and legs and gradually spread to the rest of her body, making her lose control of her limbs, flop to the ground, and become much bigger and heavier than she was before. The bathroom became smaller and smaller, and soon it was struggling to contain her¡­


    Skye looked in the mirror and screamed, but the scream came out a squeal. She yelled, but it escaped her as a bark. Her reflection did not show herself, but a pale gray seal with dark gray spots, whiskers and flippers and all.


    Shortly after looking in the mirror, Skye heard a knocking on the bathroom door, and she panicked. "You''ve been in there for like, an hour already!" Ivan yelled from the other side of the door. "What happened?"


    "Please wait for me, I''ll come out soon!" Skye yelled, only for her voice to exit her mouth as unintelligible seal noises.


    "Skye, are you in there? I could''ve sworn I heard a seal," Ivan answered.


    Skye grunted. You know what, forget hiding the seal from Ivan, she thought. Maybe he''ll be able to help me turn back to normal. And so, Skye clumsily waddled to the door, found its handle, and pawed it open with her flipper. Once she opened the door, she caught sight of Ivan standing in the doorway, his jaw hanging open at the sight of the pinniped standing in front of him, on the floor of the family bathroom.


    "Pardon my French," he remarked, "but what the PHOQUE is going on?!"


    ***


    "Let me get this straight: a blanket flew at you from out of nowhere?" Ivan queried after Skye returned to her human form around five or so minutes later.


    "Yes." Skye replied, straight-faced.


    "And then you fell asleep in the shower, met your spirit guide, learned you were the "chosen one" or some crap, woke up, turned into a seal, and now you want to conduct research on selkies?"


    Skye nodded. "Yes."


    "Sounds ridiculous, I''m in!" Ivan remarked. He fished his phone out of his pocket and began typing "selkies" into his browser¡¯s search bar. A moment later he turned up with a Wikipedia article. "In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies or selkie folk meaning ''seal folk'' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found in folktales and mythology originating from the Northern Isles of Scotland," he read. "So that''s you, I guess. Sounds cool. Don''t know how you managed to fall asleep in the shower though."


    "Neither do I," Skye agreed. "That blanket must have some powerful stuff in it¡ª wait, did you say that selkies can change from seal to human by shedding their skin?"


    "If that''s what the article says¡­"


    Skye curiously eyed the furry gray blanket on the towel rack.


    ***


    Meanwhile, on a rooftop in Avriya, a snowy owl perched next to a dragon-spirit. In the west, the remaining sun bled its colors over the horizon, staining the blue sky with hues of pinks and yellows and oranges and violets, casting its lights over buildings and balconies and patios. A few townhouse windows emitted a soft yellow glow from them, and a few more darkened ones slowly blinked on. "Did you deliver the book and the sealskin?" Lucian asked the owl as it started to morph, feathers turning into cloak and cape and hair.


    "Sure did," Noi confirmed once he finished his transformation. "But Skye appeared to be quite frightened once I arrived. In fact, she freaked out so much you would''ve thought she saw a ghost. I should apologize for scaring her next time she comes around."


    Lucian laughed. "Can''t blame her. Your species does look rather ghost-like."


    Noi sat on the floor of the roof, mulling over his decisions while taking in the view of the sunset and the sidewalks and the cars and the pedestrians traveling along the streets of Cragmire County. Earlier, he had cast a sleeping-spell on Skye so he could speak to her, that way if Lucian tried to sway her to his side, she would know the consequences of going along with him. It''s not that Noi was willing to defend Blanche, nor did he want to sabotage Lucian, but he figured it was better to move past this whole Polaris crisis in a civilized manner with as little damage as possible. And Lucian, who got all too easily carried away by his unreasonable plans of revenge against Blanche, much which were fueled by raw emotion and pure impulse, was obstructing the path to that outcome.


    ***


    Two days after the shower incident, Skye reported symptoms of a cold, and was made to spend the following days at home until she recovered. So she stayed in bed, alternating between reading and drawing and playing video games and browsing the internet and taking sporadic naps throughout the day while her parents or Ivan would bring her food and medicine and sometimes talk to her. "Did your spirit guide appear again?" Ivan inquired Skye at every given opportunity. "Tell me if he did."


    "No spirit guide yet," Skye would respond. "I did get some weird fever dreams though. Like, there was this one where I was battling to the death over¡­ something? I forgot. Except the battleground was a run-down amusement park and my only weapon was a toaster."


    "Did you win?"


    "Nah. Even in the dream I couldn''t kill anybody."


    "Because you were unable to or because you didn''t want to?"


    Skye paused. "Both. I was scared." She admitted.


    Ivan laughed. "Damn. I was gonna give you a bowl of chicken soup but now I realized that would be cannibalism."


    Skye rolled in her bed and faced the wall. "Why can''t you just give me the soup without reminding me that I''m a coward?" She mumbled.


    Ivan disappeared from Skye''s bedroom and moments later reappeared with a bowl of soup. He placed it on the miniature table next to Skye''s bed. "You know you''re the second sick person I had to care for this week, right?"


    Skye pushed herself up and sat upright in her bed. "Who was the other one?"


    "Cayto," Ivan responded. "Well, he wasn''t sick so much as he was injured, but close enough, right?"


    "I guess so."


    Skye inched over to her armchair, which was behind her miniature table, and flopped onto it. While Ivan seated himself on her bed, Skye began eating her soup. Skye''s room, with its periwinkle-blue walls and its off-white drywall ceiling, was quite warm and evoked a sense of lived-in familiarity. Posters and pictures were plastered on the walls, interrupting its blue shade with splashes of color. Skye''s table and armchair sat at the foot of her bed, and her bookshelf and nightstand stood in the bottom-left corner. On the left wall opposite the bed were where her dresser-drawers sat, piles upon piles of folded clothing stacked atop the counter.


    "You don''t think I''m crazy, do you?" Skye asked Ivan hesitantly. "Y''know, with this whole selkie and spirit-guide stuff¡­"


    "Of course I think you''re crazy!" Ivan shot back. "Who would say no to a chance to fight God herself and claim all that glory, especially after hearing of your capability to defeat her? If I were you, I wouldn''t care what my spirit-guide advises me, as soon as he tells me I''m destined to battle Blanche I would''ve jumped at the opportunity. Obviously I''d plan beforehand because I''m not going into a fight unprepared, but I think if I was part of some ancient prophecy, and if I also did enough strategizing, I could probably complete the task. But you''ve chosen to give up before you started because some owl-man told you to¡ª"


    "His name''s Noi," Skye interrupted.


    "This Noi guy sounds terribly boring."


    Skye laughed. "Insult me all you want, but don''t you dare say anything about my spirit guide."

 1.7- Golden Silver Child Syndrome

    Drip. Drip.


    The sink was leaking. Even after Cayto made sure to turn the tap water off completely, droplets continued to trickle out of the faucet and into the sink''s basin, hovering above the drain for moments at a time before disappearing into the dark abyss. Three days had passed and the sink inside Silver Run''s infirmary bathroom still hadn''t been repaired, so Cayto couldn''t help but eyeball each and every droplet as they formed at the tip of the faucet, swelling like miniscule water balloons and plopping into the black hole at the bottom of the basin.


    Ugh, how annoying, Cayto silently remarked. If I was home, this leak would''ve been fixed by now. But as soon as he began comparing his home to Avriya, the words Ivan said to him four days ago sprang to his mind:


    "When you''ve spent all your life with parents as rich as yours, everything that''s not fine dining and servants and private jets is suddenly beneath yourself. Is that how you feel? Do you look on the entirety of Avriya and all of its people with disdain? Are you that mad about losing your wealth and needing to face reality like the rest of us peasants?"


    Wow Ivan, Cayto thought. Way to remind me. In the two weeks he was held at Avriya, Cayto had gained a reputation among its residents as a self-absorbed scion who never knew a struggle, a spoiled brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and an arrogant jerk in desperate need of being humbled. If only they knew, Cayto thought. If only they knew¡­


    Drip. Drip.


    Most spoons in the Halifax household were actually made of stainless steel, not silver, so it was technically incorrect to say that Cayto was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But still, his childhood had given him something else made of silver: a wire, specifically a silver wire because silver has the highest conductivity out of all metals. Much of Cayto''s early years were spent sitting on a bench inside the dimly-lit, staticky room of one of Halifax Industries'' power plants, with silver wiring attached to his arms, legs, and other parts of his body. The other ends of those wires were plugged into a tank full of fluid with a piece of metal submerged in it.


    The process of electrical harvesting was only slightly painful, but to six-year-old Cayto who didn''t know better, it was a degrading experience. "Why do I have to do this?" He would complain whenever his father told him to get back in the power plant room. "I don''t wanna sit there with those wires again! It''s cold and cramped and if normal kids don''t have to do it, why me?"


    Most of the time Mr Halifax would respond with a dismissive "because I said so," and leave it at that. But one Tuesday he sat Cayto down to explain why he took him to the power plant room for thirty minutes daily to charge the apparatus. "First of all, you already are normal, and second of all, your contribution to electrical harvesting doesn''t change that," Mr Halifax had told him. Cayto looked at his father, a puzzled expression on his face.


    "B-but the other kids at school say I''m a freak!" Cayto blubbered. "If they saw me in this room, plugged into that giant¡­ thing¡ª"


    "Shut your trap!" Martin boomed, slapping Cayto across the face. "Don''t you see how pathetic you look, sniffling and blubbering like that?! Knock it off, and get your ass on that bench!"


    The child wiped his tears, stood up straight, and stared Martin dead in the eye. "Will do, father," he said. Cayto then sat on the bench, gripping its sides while Martin plugged him in. Finally, once Martin finished setting everything up, he took a step back.


    "Thank you, Cayto." Mr Halifax said curtly. The child, suppressing his squirms to avoid another outburst from his father, stared at him with a blank expression.


    Time passed, slowly and painfully. Cayto remained seated, frozen and dead-eyed while he mustered up the courage to speak to his father again. "You never told me why I''m here," he finally uttered after fifteen or so minutes. "May you please explain?"


    "Oh." Mr. Halifax acknowledged. He paused for a moment to think of what to say. "You like having a heater when it''s cold and an air conditioner when it''s hot, right?"


    "Yes," Cayto answered.


    "And you like having a refrigerator so your food doesn''t go bad, is that right?"


    Cayto nodded. "Yes."


    "And you like watching TV and playing games on your computer, is that right?"


    Cayto''s violet-colored eyes lit up at the mention of TV and games. "Yes!" He exclaimed.


    Mr Halifax laughed. "And what do all of those things have in common?" He quizzed Cayto.


    "They use electric-city?"


    "It''s pronounced electricity, but yes, you''re right," Mr Halifax confirmed. "And that''s exactly what your aura produces. Those wires and that metal block? They''re all for the purpose of harvesting your aura so more heaters and refrigerators and computer games can receive power. You''re doing a great thing, Cayto. A very important thing, too."


    Cayto stared at his father in confusion. "But I thought my aura was bad?"


    Mr Halifax shook his head. "It''s only bad if it comes out in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if others see you with it. But in this case, your aura is being used for a good thing. So as long as you have it under tight control, you shouldn''t wish to get rid of it. Got that, kiddo?"


    Cayto nodded.


    From that moment on, Cayto no longer protested going to the power plant room, as weird and uncomfortable as it felt. He figured it was better that he simply did the right thing and obeyed his father, because as strict, impatient, and stubborn Mr Halifax might have been, at least he was understanding. While Sierra and the others looked at Cayto and saw a rotten curse-bearer with no future, Mr Halifax believed in him and his successes. He even promised to hand ownership of HI down to Cayto when he was of age, but only if he proved he was good for the role. So it was important that Cayto proved himself to his father, and that''s what he did. He made shock tags and administered them to his father''s clients. He avoided protesting against his parents'' harsh treatment and took part in assisting with the upkeep of Halifax Industries and its image. He pushed down his feelings and pushed through whatever task he was given, no matter how difficult it was. So while other rich kids supposedly received silver spoons and silver platters, Cayto received a silver wire in his arm.


    ***


    Almost three weeks had passed since Cayto''s abduction, and now that Cayto was finally away from his duties at Halifax Industries, he had some extra time to catch up on sleep, even if it was only for a few nights. So one Tuesday afternoon he inspected himself in the bathroom mirror in the hopes of catching himself without eye bags. To his dismay, they were still there. Cayto had always hated his eye bags¡ª they made him look ugly and unkempt, and if he could get rid of them in any way possible, then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn''t feel the urge to smash the mirror into pieces whenever he caught his reflection in it. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Fortunately, Cayto was able to grab onto the sides of the bathroom sink before he could do any real damage. Breathe, Cayto, he reminded himself. In, out. In, out. But his breath escaped him in a series of short wheezes. What the hell is wrong with me?!


    Suddenly Cayto heard a knocking on his room''s door, causing him to jump. "Who is it?!" He yelled from the bathroom.


    "It''s me, Ivan!" The voice yelled back.


    Ugh, not that weirdo assistant again, Cayto would''ve thought in his early days of recovery. And it was true, at first Ivan''s presence irritated Cayto. He''d always enter the infirmary room twice a week to check in on his patient and bring him meals and daily treatments, and it wasn''t that Cayto was ungrateful, as he knew it would stupid to turn down help, but what he found particularly annoying about Ivan was that he couldn''t just do his business and leave, and always had to take some extra time to discuss some obscure topic with his patient, whether that was little-known spirit realm mythology or Cloudgate''s unsolved murder cases or weird and wonderful plants, from bush-like trees that crawled like spiders with their roots above the ground to mysterious flowers grown from the tears of an angel, able to illuminate the depths of the human psyche.


    And worse yet, Cayto found himself hanging on to every word Ivan said despite not being one to approve of idle, time-wasting conversations like the ones he would start. Before Ivan came along, Cayto had one goal and one goal only, which was to complete his recovery and leave Avriya, so he couldn''t afford any distractions. But for some absurd reason, Cayto found himself looking forward to Ivan''s visits, and he would always be left with an indescribable emptiness whenever he left. And what was even more ridiculous was the fact that Cayto would feel like he was floating on air whenever the healer''s assistant smiled at him, and in those moments he would wish for that feeling to last forever¡ª focus, Cayto! You''re better than that! The lightning-wielder reminded himself. Ivan''s an Avriyan and a curse-bearer after all, and nothing can change that.


    "Cayto, are you in there?!" Ivan shouted from outside the infirmary. "I have some announcements! I also have a favor to ask of you, so you''re gonna have to open up."


    Oh shit. I''m a mess. I can''t let him see me like this, Cayto thought. In a rush, he ran a comb through his hair, changed into a shirt that wasn''t wrinkled, stained, or sprayed with water, sprinted to his room''s door, and twisted the doorknob open. "What do you want?!"


    Ivan entered the infirmary and sat on a bed with blue cotton sheets. A ray of sunlight poured in from the window, giving a white shimmer to his golden-blonde hair and the plywood floor below his feet. Cayto felt his face heat up. What makes you think you can just sit on my bed like that?! He thought. Well, it''s not actually my bed, but still! I''ve slept in it! Learn to respect personal space! Yet Cayto couldn''t stop himself from sitting on the opposite side of the bed, much to his own dismay. So he crossed his arms and turned away from Ivan, maintaining as much of a distance from him as he could. I''m keeping my eye on you, curse-bearer, Cayto thought in spite of the butterflies welling up in his stomach.


    Ivan, meanwhile, pulled out a black smartphone from his hoodie pocket. "First off, can you charge my phone?" He asked.


    Of course, I''d do anything for you! Was Cayto''s initial thought, and he almost beamed and responded with an enthusiastic yes, only to catch himself before he could go through with it. Instead he shot a glare at Ivan in response to his request.


    Yet Ivan remained unperturbed, shifting closer to Cayto as the latter backed away in embarrassment. "Oh. Wow. You looked like you were going to bash my head in. All I asked was if you could charge my phone.¡±


    At that moment an idea popped into Cayto''s head. I could use this as an opportunity¡­ "Give me five goldstones and it''s a deal," he bartered, as he figured he''d need the money down the line. It was always good to have extra money, and Cayto assumed that if he had enough of it, he could even use it to pay for a car ride home once he broke out of Avriya.


    But Ivan shook his head, declining the offer. "Come on, that high of a price for charging a phone? How unreasonable. Your father was a businessman for Blanche''s sake¡ª you should know how to set prices that wouldn''t drive customers away!"


    "Fine. I''ll change it to three goldstones." Cayto offered. But Ivan shook his head again.


    "Change it to three greenstones and I''ll pay you.¡±


    Cayto sighed in exasperation. "Alright, three greenstones it is," he agreed reluctantly as Ivan dropped three small green coins and his phone into Cayto''s hand. After being given Ivan''s phone, Cayto poured all of his concentration into generating just the right amount of electricity needed to charge the phone without overpowering it. He didn''t want to fry the phone, after all. But as soon as Ivan''s hand brushed Cayto''s, Cayto lost all control of his aura and the battery symbol on Ivan''s phone shot up from 3 to 74 percent.


    "Whoa, I didn''t know you could do that. Does that mean you can charge my phone instantly?" Ivan queried.


    "Actually, your crappy piece of plastic is burning my hands right now," Cayto muttered. "And I bet I almost destroyed it because you were distracting me, so next time I do anything for you, you''re gonna have to pay me more. And you''re also gonna have to give me more space so I don''t do something stupid like lose control of my aura again!"


    While Ivan and Cayto sat in silence on opposite sides of the infirmary bed, Cayto tried to focus all of his attention on charging Ivan''s phone and nothing else, but sometimes he couldn''t help but gaze longingly at the healer''s assistant. The way the sunlight illuminated his face and bounced off his sea-green eyes, the way his sweater, colored with three shades of yellow, orange, and teal, gently draped his form, even the way he fidgeted with his hands as he waited for Cayto¡ª all of it mesmerized him. God, I could fall asleep in your arms right now¡­


    "You know you''re gonna have to move out of here and into an actual room soon, right?" Ivan reminded Cayto after some time had passed, jolting him from his thoughts. "Since you appear to have recovered from the evaluation incident, Hyacinth is trying to find you a room to stay in. And speaking of Hyacinth, don''t tell her this, but I started volunteering at the infirmary because of her. I know Hyacinth''s a teacher, but damn, she is hot¡ª uh, Cayto? You look depressed, what''s wrong?"


    At that moment Cayto felt his heart drop to his stomach, but if he was left dejected upon hearing that Ivan was already interested in someone else, and an older female healer mage at that, he was too stubborn to admit it. "Nothing''s wrong with me," Cayto lied, his face burning. "You, on the other hand¡­ not taking your job seriously and only volunteering so you could get with some woman who¡¯s also your teacher? One who''s out of your league and would never like you back, and even if she did, would rightfully be fired for it? You should be ashamed of yourself, Ivan¡ª I swear you curse-bearers are all the same!"


    Cayto might have been trembling from head to toe, but Ivan reacted to his rant with nothing more than a shrug. "It''s hard to take you seriously when you''re trash-talking curse-bearers while using your own "curse" to charge my phone. What, do you think you''re special somehow, that you''re excused from your own prejudice?" The assistant asked coolly. He then got closer to Cayto, making him flinch. "And by the way, your face is all red and you seem extra fidgety today. Are you hiding something?"


    "I''m not hiding anything!" Cayto shot back, looking at his hands in embarrassment. To his relief, he saw that the phone he was charging had a full battery. "Your phone is charged," Cayto announced, hoping to redirect Ivan''s attention as he handed the device to him. "Take it."


    "Thank you!" Ivan replied as took his phone back, headed for the door, and twisted the handle. But just before he could disappear into the hallway, Ivan turned around at the doorway. "And by the way, I still don''t believe you," he said to Cayto. Then Ivan left the room, and once again, Cayto sat alone on the bed, feeling emptier and more alone than ever.

 1.8- Firestarter

    "Oh my. This is terrible." Hyacinth shook her head at the sight before her. At the center of the market square stood a crumbling statue of a winged woman, charred with soot and ash. "The Shrine Scorcher is at it again. Blanche will never answer our prayers to restore aura magic when some of us are being this disrespectful!"


    "How many times are we going to have to clean this ¡°Shrine Scorcher''s¡± messes?" Orion asked nobody in particular as he picked up a chunk of statue from the ground. The lanky, blue-eyed, raven-haired man tossed the piece into the wheelbarrow before continuing to scour the ground for more rubble. "Ruining the environment, denying people of their connection to Blanche¡­ what an asshole."


    Hyacinth sat at the foot of the shrine''s remains. "Come to think of it, it''s only Blanche''s shrines that I''ve seen burnt like this," the healer noted. "I don''t think we''ve had defacing incidents involving shrines of other entities before."


    "Actually we did," Orion reminded her. "Remember when Andromeda''s statue exploded?"


    "That was Juliana, not the Shrine Scorcher," Hyacinth corrected Orion. "And she did make amends for the damage afterwards. She even offered to rebuild Andromeda on her own. But this guy¡­" Hyacinth trailed off as she took a hand brush and swept off a layer of ash from the end of Blanche''s robe. "He doesn''t seem to be sorry at all."


    For the next hour, Hyacinth and Orion brushed and scrubbed and dusted at the statue in an attempt to restore it to its former glory. But no matter how hard the two mages tried, they couldn''t fix its misshapen shape, nor could they remove the messy writing from Blanche''s wings. On the deity''s left wing, Hyacinth caught sight of an ominous message, scrawled in a frightening shade of red:


    Tyranny will fall.


    "W-wait what?" Hyacinth sputtered. "What tyranny?"


    "Hey, you should check this out," Orion said, gesturing to the statue''s right wing. "Look what''s written here."


    Hyacinth descended from the top of her ladder and walked over to Orion''s side. She noticed that the next message said something just as confusing:


    Justice for Polaris.


    "Justice for Polaris?" Hyacinth read out loud. "What''s the meaning of all this?"


    ***


    Skye dug a sketchbook and pencil out of her school bag, which was seated next to her on the bus seat. To her left was a window, and outside it lay a three-lane road divided by two lines of white dashes. The road carried all sorts of vehicles, mainly small passenger cars, but every now and then a truck would roll past the window or a person on a motorbike would zoom by the bus. A thicket of trees grew on the opposite side of the road, and rising above the trees were a series of tall metal towers, connected by a line of wires that seemed to follow the bus wherever it went. Fluffy white clouds chased each other across the endless blue sky.


    Skye flipped her book open to the next empty page so she could draw, and she momentarily panicked after noticing some strange writing on the page before it. The writing was a childish scrawl that almost resembled Ivan''s handwriting except something was off about it and Skye didn''t know what it was. Perhaps Ivan had one too many cups of coffee or energy drinks; that could explain why his note looked so messy. Meet me at the greenhouse, 3:30 pm. Nice art by the way, the note read.


    Skye glanced at the page suspiciously. "Nice art by the way?" Her brother would never say or write something like that¡ª not without making fun of it first! And it was at that moment when Skye remembered: this was the notebook she left in the cafe, the one Noi returned to her. So maybe it wasn''t Ivan inviting her to the greenhouse after all. Perhaps it was Noi. It could explain why his note looked so strange¡ª having claws for hands must make writing difficult for him.


    ***


    As Skye was entering Silver Run''s campus, two students stood in the center of the locker room with their backpacks on the floor. One of them, a twintailed girl with half-pink, half-yellow eyes, wore a gray skirt, a pair of thigh-high leggings, and a blue cardigan over a yellow shirt with pink stripes on its sleeves. This girl''s hair was black, but the ends of it appeared to be colored pink. The other student, another girl whose dark brown hair was tied in a spiky ponytail, had sharp green eyes. She wore a jacket and shorts. As Skye walked into the locker room to retrieve her supplies, she heard the ponytailed, green-eyed girl speaking:


    "Hey Alexis!"


    The pink-haired girl looked down. "Hazel?"


    "I saw your post on Avriya''s Anomalies today!" The green-eyed girl, presumably Hazel, announced. "Is it true that Blanche''s statue got burnt?"


    "Yeah," Alexis replied. "Stopped by the square the other evening and saw some stranger absolutely obliterating her shrine. He had a torch and all. Or she, I didn''t know, it was too dark to see who was doing the torching. I figured it would make a great blog post so I took multiple pictures and a video."


    At that moment Skye, who overheard the conversation, was beginning to feel frightened and a bit intrigued. What kind of person sees somebody committing arson and posts it on the internet? She wondered. That''s a bit messed up¡ª wait, didn''t Noi say something about Blanche murdering Polaris the other day? Perhaps the stranger burning the statue had something to do with Blanche and Polaris.


    While Skye looked over her schedule and retrieved her supplies from her locker, another girl teleported into the locker room. Skye, almost dropping her textbooks, took a few steps back. "Nova?"


    "Hey Skye!" Nova chirruped as she smiled and waved. "Have you seen Avriya''s Anomalies¡¯ latest post?"


    "Avriya''s Anomalies?"


    Nova opened her phone and entered a link into the browser''s search bar. A moment later she turned up with a website''s home page, displaying the blog''s title and a menu against a pink glittery background. "Here it is. It''s a blog run by Alexis that tracks her investigations of supernatural activity around the island. See her latest post? That''s the work of the Shrine Scorcher."


    Skye inspected the image. "Wow. Thanks for sharing," she said as she packed her bag. "But I''m gonna have to head to class soon, so later, Nova!"


    Nova smiled and waved back at Skye. "See you later, Skye."


    ***


    As Skye left her final period, she shuffled her feet down the hall, holding her notebook open in front of her so she could reread the note on the page:


    Meet me at the greenhouse, 3:30 pm. Nice art by the way.


    Skye entered the stairwell of Silver Run''s campus, weaving between clusters of students as she descended from the third floor to the courtyard. After traversing the courtyard, she stopped by the entrance of a gabled-roof greenhouse, located next to the campus''s third building. Skye opened its door and entered a world of greenery, a pocket dimension where tendrils scaled the glass walls and rows upon rows of vegetation sprung from soil-plots.


    "Hello-o! Is anybody here?" Skye called out. "Anybody?"


    An echoing voice responded from the other end of the greenhouse. "Heeyyyy¡­"


    Skye followed the voice to an area behind a row of plant shelves. "Noi? Is that you? Oh wait, nevermind."


    Skye took a startled step backwards. Instead of Noi or Ivan, seated on the bench of the backroom was a redheaded, green-eyed boy with scars on his face, a red cloth around his neck, and strangely dragon-like features. He had both of his feet on the bench, an arm on his knee, and a tail wrapped around the bottom of his seat. "Actually, my name is Lucian," he corrected. "But you can call me the Shrine Scorcher. Kai Dalton calls me the Little Shit for some reason, but come on, that name makes no sense! I''m not that short, right?"


    "Even if you are, I don''t think there''s anything wrong with being short," Skye said in an attempt to reassure the dragon-boy. Meanwhile, alarm bells were going off in her head. Skye knew she should run, because here was the Shrine Scorcher, sitting right in front of her, but something kept her in place and she didn''t know what it was. Perhaps it was some form of morbid curiosity.


    While Skye was thinking, Lucian unwrapped his tail from the bench and stood in front of her. "See?" He said with an air of pride. "I''m almost 6 feet tall."


    Of course Skye knew this to not be the whole truth, as when she and Lucian stood next to each other, Skye could see that she was the taller of the two, and the girl, unlike the dragon-spirit, did not consider his horns to be part of his height. With his horns Lucian would be taller than Skye, but even then he wasn''t quite 6 feet tall.


    "Oh, and you''re Polaris, right?" Lucian piped up, interrupting Skye''s thoughts.


    Skye gave a hesitant nod. "Kind of?... Well, I''m Polaris''s incarnation. Have I seen you before?"


    "Yeah you have," Lucian answered. "In the cafe, remember? I even got your notebook from when you left it behind. Flipped through it a couple times before making Noi return it, and your interpretations of Polaris are¡­ something, I¡¯ve gotta say¡ª"


    "You FLIPPED THROUGH MY NOTEBOOK?!" Skye spluttered. "Oh sorry, I didn''t mean for it to come out that way, that was rude, well, uh¡­ let''s pretend you didn''t see anything okay? Again, I''m sorry, please don''t take this personally, I bet I look absolutely ridiculous right now and you probably think I''m weird or something, I mean I probably am but ugh¡­ nevermind¡ª" The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Skye gasped as Lucian took a pot of daisies and dumped it all over her. "Hey! What was that for?"


    Lucian stared at Skye, perplexed. "Isn''t chamomile supposed to calm humans down? That''s what Noi said."


    Skye brushed the dirt off her clothing with a grimace. "I think he meant chamomile tea, Lucian. Not dumped all over my clothes like this."


    "Sorry," the dragon-boy murmured as he took the red cloth off his neck and used it to wipe Skye. At the same time, Skye attempted to put the potted daisies back in their place.


    ***


    "Why am I here?" Skye asked Lucian.


    Lucian slumped on the bench, resting his chin in his hand. "I don''t know, I''m not a philosopher."


    Skye laughed quietly. "I meant to ask why you invited me here."


    The afternoon sun beamed through the glass walls, bouncing off Lucian''s horns and brightly-colored hair so they reflected the sun''s light. Over his head a potted fern hung from the ceiling, its feathery leaves draping the edges of its container. "Long story short, you''re reincarnated from a seal and destined to fight God," he explained.


    Skye nodded. "I know. Noi told me."


    "So are you going to?¡±


    "I''m sorry but I can''t. I already promised Noi I was going to keep myself safe." Skye responded. "Wait, you''re not gonna burn me for saying no, right?"


    Lucian winced, and for a moment Skye thought he looked like he was in pain. But then his agonized expression faded as quickly as it appeared. "Wait, why would I do that?!" He remarked. ¡°Who the hell do you think I am?¡±


    ¡°A strange half-boy, half-dragon who may or may not be stalking me and burns shrines for fun?¡±


    The dragon-spirit gave Skye a blank stare. ¡°I don¡¯t burn Blanche¡¯s shrines for fun, y¡¯know,¡± he clarified. But then he paused. ¡°Okay, maybe I do. It is fun to watch everybody collectively lose their shits over glorified dumping grounds, I¡¯ve gotta say. It¡¯s also good for letting off steam. But you do know that every spirit is practically enslaved under Blanche, right? Last time I tried to break free from her influence¡­" Lucian shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of a painful memory. "You know what, forget it."


    Skye gave Lucian a look of concern. "What happened?"


    Lucian began laughing nervously. "Hey, no need to worry about it! It''s literally nothing. For now you should focus on¡ª oh crap."


    A large figure of a man loomed at the door of the greenhouse. He had a muscular build, a head of silver hair streaked with gray, and a cold ice-blue eye. In place of his left arm and right leg were two metal limbs, and a metal piece covered the other half of his face. Skye and Lucian took a glance at the man, and a glimmer of fear flashed across Lucian''s eyes.


    The man opened the door and entered the greenhouse. "I''m closing the greenhouse to all Silver Run students," he announced, facing Skye. "You may leave."


    "Okay," Skye responded. She waved at Lucian. "Bye Lucian, it was nice meeting you¡ª"


    But the man, pointing at Lucian, interrupted before Skye could continue. "Young lady, if I were you, I''d stay far, far away from that thing. Don''t want you getting burnt to a crisp by the little shit who destroyed our shrines and regularly stirs up chaos around this area!"


    Skye shuffled her feet toward the doorway. He''s right. I shouldn''t be here, she thought. But soon after Skye left the greenhouse, she heard some noises coming from its direction. Alright, that''s unsettling, she thought. Something is going on in there.


    Skye, hiding behind a tree to remain undetected, crouched down and watched the scene unfold from inside the greenhouse''s glass walls. A look of shock crossed her face when she saw the man conjure a piece of metal from his right arm, shaping it with his metallic left hand into a pointed, deadly-looking weapon. And then what he did next alarmed her: he pointed the blade at Lucian. "Apologize for burning the shrines. Now." The man threatened. But the spirit only flashed a smug grin.


    "Make me."


    The man attempted to drive the spear into Lucian''s chest, but the spirit swiftly dodged the attack, knocking over a pot of begonias with one of his horns in the process. The pot of begonias landed on the ground with a thud, spilling its contents all over the floor. Meanwhile, the man produced a series of blades from what looked like thin air, throwing each of them at Lucian. One of them caught on his left wing, tearing it down the middle. A stream of blood trickled from the wound, and when Lucian twisted his body to rip the blade out of his wing, a few droplets of his blood landed on a young sapling. Almost immediately after the blood hit the soil, three of the sapling''s buds flowered into luscious red blossoms.


    Bloody blossoms! Skye thought, recognizing the plant species she learned about in a biology lesson from her mother. A type of tree that grows flowers when watered with blood.


    At this point, Lucian was gaining on his opponent. The dragon-spirit had snuck up behind him, just about ready to drive the man''s own blade into his back. But he didn''t act fast enough, and the man, in a single swift motion, turned away from the attack, grabbing onto Lucian''s left horn with an iron grip. Before the dragon-spirit could go thrashing about for over a split second, the man drove another, even bigger blade into Lucian''s right wing, pinning him to the floor with it. While the spirit was wincing as he tried to rip himself free from the dagger, the man took up his final weapon¡ª a sword the length of an arm span¡ª and drove it into Lucian''s stomach. Skye gasped. The man towered over him triumphantly, and the slain spirit''s eyes rolled back into his head. All too quickly, he stopped breathing.


    "That''ll teach ya to leave the shrines alone!" The man shouted at his victim as he left the greenhouse, slamming the door behind him.


    ***


    Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. Hyperventilating at a million miles per hour, Skye nudged the greenhouse door open. She violently shook from head to toe and could barely walk without stumbling. In front of her lay Lucian, collapsed onto his side, in a pool of blood. The sword remained wedged through his abdomen, and its tip, coated with the sticky red substance, protruded out of his back. Lucian, I''m so sorry¡­


    The logical part of Skye''s brain tried to convince her that she had no reason to feel pity for this boy, that he wasn''t even a boy at all but a half-dragon, troublemaking beast. But the other, more emotional part overwhelmed her, and within moments Skye found herself kneeling on the floor beside the body of Lucian with tears streaming from her face. "Lucian, if only I could save you..." she choked out, her voice trembling. "But I was too stupid¡­ ugh! If only I wasn''t so terrified of confrontation, if only I wasn''t selfishly hiding and cowering while that horrible man was brutalizing you, if only I was able to jump into action without being paralyzed by fear¡­ you know what, I may not have a shovel to bury you with, but I''ll try my best to give you a proper funeral. I''m sorry, I''m so sorry!"


    Skye took the hilt of the metal sword in her hand, and with a painstaking amount of effort, attempted to pull it out of the body without messing it up further. A wave of nausea washed over her as she picked up the bloodied blade, so Skye cast it aside immediately, her face contorting in disgust after seeing what it had left behind. Now that she had pulled out the weapon, even more blood was spilling from its place, and the entire front side of Lucian''s shirt was stained as red as the cloth around his neck. The crimson pool forming below him had gotten bigger, so Skye took another step from it, shivering.


    For a moment Skye pondered over what she could do in honor of Lucian. Then it struck her: she was in a greenhouse, and using flowers to honor the dead was already a tradition, so she figured she could do something with that. First, Skye walked over to the bloody blossom section of the greenhouse and started picking fallen flower parts off the soil. The flowers she gathered ranged from fully-formed velvet blooms to less mature, milky-white buds and petals painted with scarlet splatters. After collecting the bloody blossoms, Skye began gathering more fallen flowers from other parts of the greenhouse, careful not to break any of the growing ones off the plants. By the time she was done, she had accumulated a fistful of flowers from multiple sections: flame lilies, gladiolus, red spider lilies, purple hyacinths, forget-me-nots, daffodils, and after some consideration¡ª the stray begonias and chamomile daisies Lucian had spilled onto the floor.


    Solemnly, Skye began scattering petals on and around Lucian''s body. Bit by bit they formed a colorful ring, but while some of the petals and flower parts remained clean, others landed in the spirit''s blood and soaked in it, turning a dark shade of red. Skye left her final flower, the purple hyacinth, by Lucian''s head. "I''m sorry," she whispered, her eyes watering and her voice breaking. "I should have saved you. Actually, you know what¡­ I should quit my training! What kind of mage would I be if I couldn''t even try to stop that man?!"


    Skye had always idolized the mages of old for their heroic acts, from the healers of the healer guilds who recovered their patients from the brink of death to the fighters of the warrior guilds who battled enemies of the people. Nearly all of these mages faced high-stakes situations, and many of them had even risked their lives. But Skye? While Lucian was in the greenhouse getting slaughtered, she was too overcome with fear to do anything about it! She let him die, and it was all her fault¡ª


    "You only have to say sorry once, y''know. And I''m not dead."


    Skye jumped at the voice. Lucian?


    The body on the floor began to stir, and Skye felt her skin crawl. She tentatively backed away from the dragon-boy as he pushed himself onto his knees. He doubled over and gagged.


    "If you don''t want to see me shoving my guts back into my body, you should turn around," Lucian advised Skye. Now it was Skye who gagged. "I''ll tell you when you can look."


    Skye, following Lucian''s advice, turned away from him, focusing her gaze on the floor. Thank you for being considerate, but that image is going to be burnt into my brain forever, she thought. Too many questions swirled inside her mind, and Skye wasn''t sure if she had enough time to ask them all. "Were you really dead?"


    "Not quite," Lucian replied. "I was regenerating. Being a spirit who''s like, 95% immortal, I''m unable to die of natural or unnatural causes. I can only die of¡­" he paused, an uncomfortable smile plastered onto his face, "supernatural causes."


    "And what are these supernatural causes, may I ask?"


    "Oh, it''s complicated," Lucian responded before noticing the circle of flowers around him. "But I guess we''re even now, huh? Since we both threw flowers at each other?"


    "I wasn''t trying to get back at you for anything, I swear!" Skye blurted out. "I genuinely thought you were dead so I tried to do what I could for you¡ª"


    Lucian gave a small laugh. "Hey, I was joking about us being even! No need to get worked up over it." He walked over to Skye, patting her on the shoulder. Skye jumped. "You can look at me now. I''m done regenerating."


    Skye inspected the dragon-spirit from head to toe. "That was traumatizing," she said as she gulped, only to feel guilty for not being able to comfort the spirit after he literally got impaled in front of her. What the hell, Skye?! She reprimanded herself. You gotta show a little more sympathy than that! Unfortunately, because Skye was still frozen in shock, the best response she could muster was "please don''t die again."


    Lucian rubbed the back of his head. "That''s gonna be difficult," he admitted. "I''ve already died, how many times? Eleven? Twelve? You know what, I think I lost count. Probably would''ve been fewer if Mr Dalton wasn''t trying to exterminate me for "destroying the connection between Blanche and humanity" or some crap like that, but it''s not like I''m gonna quit anytime soon! Not until everybody on this hellhole of an island stops falling on their knees over that goddamn biblically-inaccurate angel¡­" he proclaimed. But then the dragon-spirit caught his eye on the metal weapon on the ground, the one that had slain him. "Ooh, shiny thing!" He exclaimed. "That''s going into the Sword Hoard." The dragon-spirit picked up the weapon, dragging it after him.


    "The Sword Hoard?" Skye asked with a dumbfounded expression as Lucian, with the sword in his hand, ran for the door.


    "And by the way, please don''t blame yourself for me almost-dying!" He shouted at Skye as he stood in the doorway. "I''ll even help you with mage training and stuff. You''re NOT gonna quit following your dream because of me, and there''s nothing you can do about it." In a flash, Lucian disappeared, and Skye was left alone in the greenhouse.


    Wow, that was something, Skye thought. Also, the dragon-boy was kinda cute, but is he okay?

 1.9- Morning Tea with an Owl and a Dragon

    Skye couldn''t believe it. After she left that bloody scene in the greenhouse behind, she swore she would find the man behind the stabbing and save Lucian from him to make up for her failure to intervene earlier. But she already had an uncomfortable gut feeling on who the attempted killer could be: all signs pointed to her childhood idol, Kai Dalton, former head of the Cloudgate Crusaders and current High Mage of Avriya.


    At first, Skye refused to believe that Kai could be the one who stabbed Lucian. The metal mage in the greenhouse looked far different from how she remembered him. When Skye would read of Kai''s exploits, none of his pictures showed him with metal limbs or a metal covering over his face. And there was no way Mr Dalton, known for his heroic acts, would take pleasure in driving a sword through an innocent man¡­ right?


    But the clues hinting otherwise were impossible to ignore. First off, were there any other metal mages in Avriya besides Kai? Skye doubted it. She had already asked around and nobody in her class knew of anyone who controlled metal besides the High Mage. Well, one of her classmates mentioned having a younger sister with a metal aura, but then he said she was seven, and the man in the greenhouse certainly did not look like a seven-year-old girl.


    And then there was the matter of the "nickname" he gave Lucian. Before the man arrived, Lucian brought up how Mr Dalton would call him a certain name that involved a certain profanity, and that metal mage had addressed Lucian by that same profanity. It probably wasn''t a coincidence, as much as Skye wished it was.


    Dear Mr. Dalton, Skye wrote in her notebook on her bus ride home. Words cannot describe how appalled I am. I strongly advise that you repent, resign from your position as High Mage, and maintain as much of a distance as possible from the young man you stabbed if you wish to lessen the consequences of your actions. Then once she finished writing, she reviewed her page:


    Not bad for a first draft, Skye thought. It''s formal and gets my point across. But I still feel like something''s missing¡­


    And so, Skye flipped to the next empty page of her notebook and began writing again. Dear Kai Dalton, she continued, scratching her pencil on the paper furiously. I used to love you. I used to look up to you. You were my biggest inspiration and the source of my childhood hopes and dreams, but now you have gone and crushed them all and I am beyond heartbroken. Why? Why would you do such a thing? Are you, the honorable leader of the Cloudgate Crusaders, paragon of justice and peace, really the same as the man in the greenhouse who drove a sword through Lucian? Did you really think that boy deserved to die MULTIPLE TIMES OVER for spreading the truth about the deity you idolize¡ª the same way I used to idolize you?!


    Skye scanned through her words. Almost perfect, she thought. But it''s a bit lengthy, and I don''t know if Mr Dalton will be willing to read all that. Maybe I''ll go for something shorter, something more direct. And so, she flipped to the next page of her notebook and started writing again:


    Dear Kai Dalton, Skye began her third draft. She paused for a long moment, and after a while, two more words appeared on the page in front of her:


    Fuck you.


    Skye smirked. Beautiful. Perfect. 10/10. Captures my feelings about that metalbending piece of scum perfectly, she thought to herself. Skye could almost see the look of shock that would cross Kai''s face once he opened her letter and discovered that his bloody crimes weren''t as well-hidden as he intended them to be. And maybe, just maybe, if luck was on her side, then he wouldn''t be the only one reading the letter. Perhaps the other members of Avriya''s council would be reading alongside him, and then, once they found out their High Mage tried to commit a murder, (over something as trivial as a winged lady statue, too!) they''d arrest him. Somebody else would take his place, and Lucian wouldn''t have to suffer at the hands of the former head of the Cloudgate Crusaders anymore.


    Don''t worry Lucian, I''ll protect you, Skye thought. Because if I couldn''t, then I''d never forgive myself.


    ***


    The next early morning, with her letter in tow, Skye took the bus and the ferry to Avriya. The previous night she had reviewed her drafts with Ivan, who gave her advice on how to convey her honest thoughts and feelings through writing while remaining formal enough to be taken seriously (which unfortunately meant she had to remove the "fuck you" from her final letter). And in typical Ivan fashion, he made it an exchange, so Skye now had to find something for him that could strengthen his aura. "You see, Skye, I want to go to class to improve my magic as well," he said. "But if you haven''t known by now, my aura is kinda shitty, so please find something that could make it less shitty so I don''t humiliate myself. Thank you." Now all she needed was to find someone who would deliver the letter for her, as Skye wasn''t planning on delivering it herself. No, because that would make her a suspect¡ª to avoid a potential case of retaliation from the High Mage, Skye had chosen to write anonymously. And now she was going to find somebody to deliver the letter for her.


    Fortunately, Skye just happened to know the right person (or spirit?) for the job. "Noi?" She called out in the middle of the empty street she was passing through, the first traces of day peeking through the clouds above her. "You there?"


    No response.


    "Hello! Noi?!" Skye shouted as she walked past a row of sand-colored townhouses, cupping her hands over her mouth as if they were a megaphone. "Where are you?"


    A moment later, a pink-haired, ponytailed girl wearing a blue denim skirt with suspender straps over a pale pink button-up shirt approached Skye from the opposite direction. "Hey Skye!" The girl, whom Skye recognized as Alexis, greeted her. "I can tell you where Noi lives. You''re looking for that silver-haired man who always wears long sleeves and kinda looks like a woman, right?"


    Skye stopped in her tracks. "Yes, that''s him," she confirmed.


    Alexis leaned close to Skye, standing on her toes so she could whisper in the other girl''s ear. "His address is 34 Mahogany Street, Cragmire County," she informed her. "And by the way, I know why he wears such long sleeves all the time. Noi says he''s a regular guy, but sometimes I''ll see his sleeves roll up, and I''m telling you, he has literal bird claws for hands."


    "Okay..?" Skye replied, hesitation in her voice. "Thanks for giving me the address, but I don''t think you should go around telling people Noi has¡­ you know. He could be covering his hands because he''s self-conscious about them." Then she walked on, searching up directions on her phone for the address Alexis gave her.


    ***


    Skye knocked three times on the wooden door of a white house with a brick roof and a stone veneer. "Hello?" She called out. "It''s me, Skye!"


    Noi, who was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt instead of his usual robe and feather cloak, opened the door for her. "Greetings," he said to Skye, stepping aside to make space for her. "I''m sorry if the house is not as clean as you''d like it to be. You see, I''ve been trying to talk some sense into Lucian, but his hoarding habits have really been getting out of hand as of late¡­"


    Skye took a look around the living room, which had a faded wall, a worn-out couch, and a rug at the center of it all. A bit shabby but at least it looked liveable. "I don''t see anything wrong with this house," Skye stated. Then suddenly she heard the creak of a door opening, followed by the clatter of miscellaneous items falling to the ground.


    "Can somebody help me?" A voice shouted from another room. Noi and Skye rushed over to the direction of the voice, crossing the hall and ending up in a red-walled bedroom. There Lucian stood, in front of an open closet, surrounded by every conceivable yellow or bronze-colored item, anything remotely resembling gold. Noi shook his head. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Oh Blanche, not the golden hoard again," the owl-man grumbled as he got to work on cleaning up the mess. He picked up a cracked yellow tennis ball and discarded it. "Seriously? You think this is hoard-worthy?"


    "Hey! Give that back!" The dragon-spirit shouted, shoving Noi aside and diving into the trash to pick up the discarded tennis ball. He flinched once he saw that the ball was covered in brown goop, so he ran to the bathroom with it and washed it under the sink. "Don''t. Touch. My. Hoard."


    Noi sighed. "Ugh, fine. But some items in there may be hazardous. Don''t want you cutting yourself against the glass of this light bulb, for instance," he said as he picked up a broken light bulb and threw it in the trash. Skye, not sure whether she should be discarding the items or putting them back in the closet, stood by the door awkwardly.


    Lucian, meanwhile, was furiously stowing his "treasure" away before Noi could take it from him. "Oh, please! A crazy man stabbed me the other day and I survived. Getting cut by a light bulb is the least of my worries," he remarked.


    Upon hearing this reminder, Skye pulled out her letter. "Noi?" She asked. Noi turned his head¡ª and was Skye seeing things, or did he turn his head a full 180 degrees? "You see, I came here because I wanted to deliver a letter to Kai Dalton calling him out for trying to kill Lucian, but I didn''t think I could deliver it myself. I was wondering if you could, I dunno, fly it over to him?"


    "Sure, I can do that," Noi agreed.


    Suddenly Lucian rushed to Skye, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "Finally, somebody on this island gives a damn about me!" He exclaimed. "You know what, you''re my favorite human now." Skye, startled by the sudden gesture of affection but appreciative nonetheless, instinctively backed away at fist, but then she smiled politely.


    "Uh, thanks," Skye responded, her face tinged red as Lucian let go of her. Then she faced Noi. "And by the way, is there any particular reason you wear long sleeves in public?"


    "I bet you already know by now that I''m an owl-spirit, which means I retain a few owl features in my human form," Noi replied. "And that includes my hands, which resemble the claws of an owl. You see, I''m not particularly self-conscious about them, and I see no reason to be, as it''s completely normal for spirits to resemble their respective animals in their human forms. But I still cover my claws out of consideration for humans in the mortal realm, since many of you would understandably be put off by a human with claws instead of hands," he explained. "I also do it to avoid people crowding around me once they find out I''m a spirit. It can be incredibly exhausting to deal with many people at once." And then, with a glance at Lucian, he added, "dealing with this guy is exhausting enough as is¡ª"


    "Hey!" Lucian interrupted. "Stop embarrassing me in front of Skye!"


    Noi shrugged. "I''m not trying to embarrass you, I''m simply telling the truth," he stated.


    ***


    Once Skye, Lucian, and Noi cleaned Lucian''s "gold" off the floor, Noi offered to take the other two to the kitchen. "You said you had extra time before school today, is that right?" He asked Skye.


    Skye nodded.


    "So would you like some tea?" Noi offered. "I have green tea, black tea, cinnamon tea, apple tea, mint tea, peach tea, hibiscus tea¡­"


    "I''d like a cinnamon tea, please," Skye requested.


    "And I''ll have a mint tea," Lucian followed.


    Noi chuckled. "Did somebody swap your orders?" He asked jokingly before heading to the kitchen. Skye and Lucian stared at each other, dumbfounded.


    ***


    A few minutes later, Noi arrived at the kitchen table with two cups of tea, setting them down in front of Skye and Lucian. "Thanks," both of them said as Noi sat with them. Then Noi gasped.


    "Skye, I almost forgot to bring this up, but I am terribly sorry for frightening you when I brought you the notebook and the sealskin," he blurted out. "I am also sorry for flying in on you and using the sleeping spell while you were in the shower¡­ I didn''t know it back then, but apparently you humans don''t like it when others intrude on them in the bathroom. I swear I was just trying to find a faster way of communicating with you; it was not my intention to make you uncomfortable. I promise I''ll avoid doing it again in the future."


    Skye gave an awkward laugh after sipping her tea. "Hey, at least I know I''m Polaris because of it," she replied. "If it weren''t for the water in the shower triggering my transformation, I would''ve assumed that the selkie skin was a regular towel and everything that happened in that dreamworld was all in my head. But then again," she added, "I also had to endure three days of gross medicine and fever dreams because of you. You better apologize for making me sick on top of everything, and maybe I''ll consider forgiving you."


    Noi bowed his head. "I''m sorry."


    "I forgive you, but only because you''re my guardian owl-spirit and you didn''t know better. If you were some random creepy guy instead of Noi, I would''ve called the cops long ago."


    For a long moment, the trio sat at the kitchen table without a word spoken, and the only noise heard was the sipping of tea. Skye took the opportunity to look around the kitchen¡ª it wasn''t a bad kitchen. The floor was made of black-and-white tiles and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. The chandelier, which was really just four candle holders connected at the center, wasn''t particularly grand or fancy, but it was elegant in a modest way. The kitchen countertop, which would''ve been a fine countertop had it not been cluttered with utensils of all shapes and sizes, was colored white and had small gray specks¡ª hold up, Skye thought once she caught sight of a huge brown mark under some pots and pans and even more brown marks on the wall, are those burn marks?


    "What happened to the kitchen?" Skye asked Noi. "The brown spots, that is."


    "Oh, those brown spots? They''re why I don''t let Lucian cook anymore. Almost set the house on fire that time," the owl-man explained as Lucian glared at him from the other side of the table.


    "Well, if you''re gonna talk about me like that when we have a guest over, I might as well do the same to you!" The dragon-spirit snapped. Then he turned to Skye. "Psst¡ª did you know that Noi swallows his food whole only to throw it back up?"


    Noi shot an exasperated look across the table at Lucian. "They''re called owl pellets! Not throw-up. That''s different." He corrected the dragon-spirit, and at that moment, the owl-man''s face contorted in an unusual way. "And speaking of pellets¡ª" he sputtered as he gagged and picked up a napkin, "I might¡ª need¡ª to cough up¡ª one right now¡ª"


    Skye, not wanting to intrude on Noi''s privacy, looked away from him. Lucian stared at him with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Noi coughed up a perfectly oval-shaped pellet into his napkin. "Done," he said after he made the pellet, throwing the napkin away. "Skye, you can look now."


    Skye looked up. Lucian continued to stare ahead. "Imagine being an owl and having to do that instead of eating normally," the latter commented.


    Noi laughed. "Imagine being slain so many times that you grow swords in your garden."


    "Hey, growing swords in a garden is badass!" Lucian proclaimed. "Every respectable dragon has a sword hoard, a gold hoard, and a hoard of sacred scrolls, and that''s a fact."


    "We all know your gold hoard is full of junk, your scroll hoard is really just a bunch of overdue library books, and the reason you have a sword hoard in the first place was because you pissed off a human so much he felt the need to stab you at least five times over," Noi shot back.


    Skye''s eyes darted back and forth between the two spirits. This whole time, I was worried for Lucian and how much pain he was in, yet here he is, joking about his deaths with Noi like they were nothing, Skye pondered. Do I really need to give this letter to Kai?


    And then Skye recalled Lucian''s reaction upon realizing that she wrote the letter: one of pure, unfiltered joy. And then she recalled how he looked in the greenhouse: his expressions were those of fear and agony. Mr Dalton''s attacks were clearly affecting him more than he let on, but how much were they, really?


    "Thanks for having me over, but I have to go now," Skye announced as she handed the envelope with her letter to Noi. "Please give this to Kai."


    Noi took the envelope. "No, thank you for coming. You were a pleasure to have," he responded. "I''ll deliver the letter now."


    Skye left the kitchen and headed to the front door. "Bye!" She called out across the living room as she opened the door to leave. Lucian and Noi waved at her.


    "Bye!" The two spirits echoed back at her.


    ***


    Skye shut the door behind her and stepped onto the porch. A cool breeze blew through her hair, and at this point the sun had climbed a good way up into the sky. A glimmer of silver caught Skye''s eye, so she turned her head to look at its source. Off to the right of the porch was a sword dug into the ground, the faintest hint of bloodstains leaving their marks on the blade. The sword appeared to have a slip of paper tied to its hilt by a string, so Skye walked off the porch to inspect the sword and the paper. Then she picked up the slip of paper and examined it closely:


    Excalibur, it read.

 1.10- Auralilies and Hazelnuts

    Skye looked around. Next to the sword with the Excalibur tag were four more weapons: a stake, a metal ax, a machete, and another sword, all of them dug into the soil blades-down. (Minus the stake, which was still buried in the soil but didn''t have a blade) Skye picked up the tags from each weapon and read them off, one by one:


    Nightslasher, read the label on the other sword.


    Woodchopper, read the tag on the ax.


    Jungle Blade, read the tag on the machete.


    Long pointy thing, read the label on the stake. Skye chuckled at the last one. Lucian may have run out of ideas when naming the stake, but he''s not wrong¡­


    After taking a look around the Sword Hoard, which was surrounded by a swath of weeds, Skye left Noi and Lucian''s front yard behind. Then, after opening up directions on her phone, she began her commute to school.


    ***


    "Luka?"


    The hooded boy stopped in his tracks. "You''re Ivan''s sister, right?"


    Skye nodded. "Yup, that''s me."


    Skye had just finished her first four periods, and was now taking lunch break in Silver Run''s courtyard. It was at that moment when she ran into Luka Archer, the elusive plant mage and Ivan''s friend since junior year.


    "Why have you called me?" Luka asked.


    "So¡­" Skye began, "do you know of anything that could boost my brother''s magic skills? Make his aura "less shitty," as he describes it?"


    "Less shitty in what way?"


    Skye paused. True, Ivan could suppress his aura quite effectively, but as a consequence of that, he never got to develop his powers beyond using them to pull off the occasional prank on Skye. Ivan may be an illusion-caster, but his illusions were rather spotty, and frankly, quite easy to detect. Just because he was an aura-haver who volunteered at Avriya and had friends who were mages didn''t mean he could become one himself without struggle¡ª due to a lifetime of passing himself off as a non-aura-haver, he was left at a disadvantage among his magic-practicing peers. "My brother''s an illusioner with an abnormally weak aura, so I''m assuming he''s looking for a way to strengthen it," Skye replied. "You happen to know at least one way, right?"


    "Sure I do," Luka responded. "I''m a plant expert after all." For a moment, Skye thought Luka''s eyes darkened, but then his expression returned to normal. "So have you heard about auralilies?"


    "Auralilies?" Skye asked. "What are those?"


    Luka tugged on Skye''s sleeve. "I''m growing a few in the garden," he told her. "Let me show you them."


    ***


    After passing through the gates of Silver Run''s garden yet again, Skye was greeted by a barrage of greenery. She took in the scene with her eyes, gaping at the tendrils and the vines and the vast multitude of plants crawling in one area. Luka, meanwhile, kept on walking, leading her to a corner of the garden with a small pond, where colorful flowers blossomed from lily pads floating in the water. "Auralilies," he told her. "Here they are."


    "That''s neat," Skye commented. "So, which ones are for illusioners?"


    Careful not to fall into the pond, Luka picked a tricolor flower off a lilypad. He held the flower in front of Skye, and Skye took a closer look at it. The auralily had an orange center, which faded into yellow in a ring outside its center, and trailed off to blue at the tips of its petals. Luka put the flower inside a container with a pressing and filtering mechanism, pushing the plunger so that it squeezed the flower''s juices through the filter. The remaining nectar pooled at the bottom of the container, orange and sticky. "Auralily nectar. Good for increasing the intensity of one''s aura. A single flower''s worth can boost a mage''s abilities for up to fifty minutes," he explained. "After that its effects wear off. But even if auralily nectar only works temporarily, it''s insanely strong. Some of the most famous mages in Cloudgate drank it to enhance their performance on missions. Kai Dalton was rumored to have drunk a hundred gallons in his lifetime¡­"


    Skye cringed. Luka continued his monologue. "If you''re careful with them, auralilies could be a great help in your training. But there are also risks that come with using them to increase your power output. Some mages have an even harder time controlling their powers after taking auralilies, and others were reported to have become addicted to them. Additionally, auralily nectar has become illegal on the mainland due to its association with wild magic. Over here it''s permitted under specific circumstances, but even then, some Avriyans still view taking it as a form of cheating, or as a sign of poor character. So while I''m not going to try to stop you or Ivan from taking auralily nectar, I''ll give you this heads-up: consider the consequences of doing so before you start," he warned. Skye nodded.


    Luka gave the bottle of nectar to Skye, who put it in her backpack. "This one''s for illusion-casting," he said.


    "Thanks," Skye replied. And as an afterthought, she added, "do you have any auralilies for ice users? My second evaluation is coming, and I want to level up so I won''t remain at the lowest level forever."


    "Sure I do," Luka responded, picking an ice-blue auralily from the pond, squeezing the nectar out of it, and pouring it into a blue bottle. He handed the blue bottle to Skye. "Here''s your ice juice."


    Skye took the bottle from Luka and left the garden. "Thanks," she said to him.


    ***


    It was the final period of Skye''s school day, and Skye was going to the gymnasium to practice for her second evaluation. Outside the gymnasium she took off her backpack and rummaged through it, retrieving the blue bottle Luka gave her. Surely no one will notice if I¡­


    Skye unscrewed the lid and downed the ice nectar in one sip, immediately doubling over. Whoa. That was strong.


    Suddenly a dark-skinned, golden-eyed girl approached Skye from behind. "Are you okay?" She asked.


    "Oh d-don''t worry Nova, I¡ª I''m doing fine!" Skye stammered, her voice and her whole body shaking. "I¡­ I just needed to tie my shoe, that''s all."


    "If that''s what you say," Nova said before walking off, a hint of doubt in her voice. In all fairness, the other girl could see that Skye was not wearing shoes with laces on them.


    The time on the overhead clock hit 2 pm, and the gymnasium''s doors opened. Skye entered the room among throngs of students like her, who were looking to practice for the next evaluation, and hopefully, advance to their next level. At this point, the lily nectar was coursing through Skye''s veins. She could feel her blood pulsing, as if her aura was threatening to spill out at any moment. Then Skye stepped through the doors, and within moments, chaos ensued:


    Flames flickered. Fountains sprayed. A basketball levitated and made three circles in the air before bouncing off the backboard and missing the basket entirely. Fortunately, Hyacinth happened to be in the gym, and she also happened to be able to scream very loudly:


    "EVERYBODY STOP USING YOUR AURAS THIS INSTANT!"


    Silence. The fire mages extinguished their flames, and the water mages turned off their fountains. The floating basketball hovered in the air before landing on top of a large brown dog, which for some reason was running around inside the gymnasium. The dog collapsed and howled in agony before transforming into a human boy, who flipped off the telekinetic that happened to be manipulating the basketball''s movement. "Fuck you, Aaron!" The boy yelled.


    With pure rage in his eyes, the telekinetic, presumably Aaron, charged towards the shapeshifting dog-boy. "You don''t speak to me like that!" He shouted at the shapeshifter, grabbing him by shirt collar.


    Hyacinth stepped in between the two mages. "Aaron, Collin, that''s enough from you two," she said sternly. At once, the telekinetic dropped the shapeshifter, and the fight was broken up. Hyacinth continued speaking. "To prevent incidents like this, we''re going to go two at a time, in alphabetical order. I''ll be watching," she told the crowd. "Aaron Montgomery and Alexis Bingham will be going first."


    The rest of the crowd backed up so the telekinetic and telepath could step forward and practice their routines. On Aaron''s side, objects flew, and on Alexis''s side, Hyacinth was testing her student''s telepathy. Alexis was staring Hyacinth down in a menacing manner, as she did with everyone, saying the words the healer was thinking out loud before moving on to describing imaginary¡ª and remembered¡ª pictures and scenes from her instructor''s mind. For the first minute, Skye watched, but then she zoned out, and the rest of the session passed her in a blur before her name was called. "Sebastian Hollister and Skye Everson, you may now step up."


    Skye entered the training area with a blue-haired, blue-eyed boy. Hyacinth jotted something in her clipboard before looking up. "Water aura for Sebastian, right?" She asked.


    "Yes," the boy responded.


    "And ice aura for Skye? Huh, you two seem to have similar abilities."


    "Yes." Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "You may begin," Hyacinth told the students.


    Upon hearing her cue, Skye tried summoning her aura, only to feel her right arm shaking furiously. She grabbed her own wrist in an attempt to steady herself, but her efforts proved futile, and a blast of ice shot out of Skye''s hand and into the air. This better not be the auralily nectar¡­


    "Hey!" A wet Sebastian shouted from his side of the gym, now littered with puddles. "That ice storm just broke through my water structure!"


    "Sorry!" Skye shouted back, refocusing her energy to her fingertips. You know what? She thought. I''m going to try creating a structure of my own. If Sebastian could create one from water, and if I''m on auralily nectar right now, how hard could it be to make an ice sculpture?


    Recalling her breathing exercises from Hyacinth''s classes, Skye tried steadying her breath. One, two, three, in. One, two, three, out. One, two, three¡ª what the hell? Why is it so hard to control my breath? She thought. You know what, screw breathing, I''m going to make one of these ice sculptures anyway. So once again, Skye focused her energy to her fingertips, drawing the outline of a swan in the air with elegant, sweeping curves.


    It was at that moment when her right arm got stuck in a block of ice.


    "What the¡ª?" Skye reacted, her eyes wide in shock. When she tried shaking her arm out of the ice block, it only grew larger and heavier, weighing her down. In an attempt to free her arm from its prison, Skye collapsed onto her knees and tried to yank it out, to no avail. At this point, the ice block she had created had frozen her arm to the floor, rendering her immobile.


    "Hey, what are you, a popsicle? You do look frozen, that''s for sure," a girl from the audience jeered. Skye twisted her neck to glance at the offender, a brunette in a light-colored hoodie jacket. She had her hair tied in a ponytail. Hazel? The earth mage?


    "Don''t you see I need to focus here?!" Skye blurted out. "Your comments are not helping me, so please stay quiet!"


    "Then pull the popsicle stick out of your ass and take a joke!" Hazel shouted back as snickers from the audience followed her. Fortunately, Hyacinth was able to reprimand Hazel before she could say another word.


    Her face red and her tears on the verge of spilling, Skye finally managed to wiggle her arm out of the ice block entrapping her, only for her foot to slip on a sheet of ice. Instinctively blocking the fall with her arms, Skye collapsed yet again. Exhausted, she planted her face on the floor.


    Hazel laughed from the audience. "Hey, not bad!" She said mockingly, a smug look on her face. "Keep at it, icicle! If you faceplant a few more times, you might be able to grow a garden."


    At this point, Skye had enough. She thought she might have felt her left foot, which was stretched out behind her, grow cold, and maybe she heard a cracking noise coming from there too, but Skye couldn''t be bothered to check what it was. As of now, dealing with Hazel was more important. Kneeling, Skye whipped her head around, glaring directly into Hazel''s eyes. "What did you say?!"


    "I said, if you faceplant a few more times you might be able to grow a gar¡ª"


    A green vine slapped Hazel across the mouth, followed by another vine wrapping around her wrists. Within moments, Hazel was hoisted into the air by vines, an angry Luka glaring up at her from the floor. "Leave her or I''ll string you up with poison ivy," he threatened.


    Hazel gave a nervous laugh. "Damn. Sorry, I guess," she apologized halfheartedly, her voice muffled by the vines. Hazel dropped to the floor as Luka released his vines from her.


    "Don''t worry about her. Hazel just got promoted to the advanced group in her training and now she thinks she''s all that," Luka told Skye. "Focus on yourself first. Ignore anything she says."


    "Thanks," Skye said to Luka before turning around to check what was behind her. She gasped at what she saw.


    Holy shit, Skye thought, taking in the view of the enormous pillar of ice in front of her. It was so tall it almost touched the gym''s ceiling. Luka was right. Auralilies are insane.


    ***


    Not too far from the route which Skye took on her way from her school to the ferry was a park. Cherrywick Park, it was called. After departing from her usual path, Skye decided to stop at this park. She needed some time out in nature, and a bit of rest too, so she could clear her mind from the disastrous events of her evaluation practice.


    Inside the park, Skye stumbled upon an empty bench. Great, she thought, pulling out her phone and earbuds. Skye had already texted her parents that she''d be coming home later than usual to go for a walk, so they wouldn''t have to worry about her.


    After plugging her earbuds in and pulling up her favorite playlist, Skye lay on the bench, cherry blossoms and sunlight hanging above her. Her backpack sat on the ground next to the bench as she blissfully closed her eyes¡­


    "Skye?"


    Skye didn''t know how much time had passed. All she knew was that one moment she was peacefully drowning her anxiety out in music and the next moment Noi was standing over her. She awoke with a start, pulling out her earbuds. "Noi?"


    "I received a vision that you''d be here, so I came out to greet you," Noi explained. "I''ve also delivered your letter. It''s in the hands of Avriya''s council now."


    Skye rubbed the haze from her eyes. "Vision? Are you a psychic?"


    Noi nodded. "How else did you think I found out your name, where you lived, and that you were the final reincarnation of Polaris?"


    "I genuinely thought you and Lucian were stalkers at first," Skye admitted. "Turns out you''re just clairvoyant. And by the way, is Lucian also psychic?"


    Noi shook his head. "I wish! If he could see the future, he''d get into nowhere near the amount of trouble that he does."


    A moment later, Lucian came running up from behind. "Wait for me! You know I can''t fly, right?" He reminded the owl-spirit, panting. "And face it, Noi, you are a stalker. I know what you do as a hobby."


    Noi gave a quiet laugh. "You know stalking and human watching are two different things! There''s a difference between being a creep and simply observing humans in their natural habitat for the sake of learning more about them," he explained. "And if bird watching is normal among humans, why would it suddenly be weird when the roles are reversed?"


    Human watching? Skye thought. Is that a normal activity among spirits? And why can''t Lucian fly if he has wings?


    "Wait, Lucian, why can''t you fly if you have wings?" Skye asked. "Did something happen to them?"


    "Well¡­"


    "Great weather today, isn''t it?!" Lucian shouted, cutting off Noi. Skye gave him a baffled glance. "So anyway, Skye, what brings you here?"


    Skye scooted to the side of the park bench, lifting her backpack along with her. "I had a practice session for my upcoming aura level evaluation and everything went horribly wrong, so I''m taking a rest to clear my mind," she explained. "A girl in my class was bullying me when I messed up, which was highly embarrassing, but it was also kinda dumb because the class was a practice session, so of course people are gonna mess up. What even was the point of that?!"


    A glimmer of malice flashed across Lucian''s eyes, his tail twitching. "Give me this girl''s name," he demanded as a wisp of smoke trailed from his left nostril. "I just wanna have a talk with her."


    Noi''s already-wide eyes widened even more. "You don''t look like you just "wanna talk!"


    Skye stepped in between the two spirits. "Lucian, calm down. I don''t want you to attack her, okay?"


    Lucian sighed, looking deflated. "Mkay."


    Every now and then, a person strolling on the trail would walk past the park bench, but only Skye, Noi, and Lucian used it. Eventually, Skye pulled out the other bottle of auralily nectar from her backpack, the one she originally saved for Ivan but now felt ambivalent about giving to him. She showed it to Noi and Lucian. "This is auralily nectar, and it''s supposed to strengthen auras," she explained. "I tried it out thinking it would fix my magic, but it only made it worse. Do any of you know how I can make my aura behave as it should?"


    Noi leaned forward. "What exactly is your aura doing that you don''t like?"


    Skye shrugged. "I dunno. It''s hard to say. One thing that I do know is that my ice always comes out all sticky when I want it to make a different shape. Like, I''d try to make an ice sculpture in the air and end up getting a block of it on my arm. Or I''d try to make a wall of ice with my feet and end up getting caught in it by my legs. It''s hard to explain."


    Noi thought long and hard before coming to a conclusion. "I suspect the reason why your aura misbehaves so much is because of some sort of mental block," he theorized. "Perhaps there''s a part of yourself you''re disconnected from?"


    Skye looked at Noi, puzzled. "Like what?"


    "I don''t know. I just remember reading somewhere that auras are closely tied to mental and emotional states as well as personality, so those who struggle with magic are usually at some sort of roadblock. But then again, there are aura-havers whose abilities don''t match their personalities at all, and there are also plenty of non-psychological explanations for why someone could be struggling with their aura, so it''s hard to say," he speculated. "Another theory I have is that it could have something to do with Polaris. Humans reincarnated from spirits are almost unheard of, and nothing of that sort has ever happened before Polaris died and got reborn. Perhaps that could be another explanation?"


    Skye nodded. "Perhaps."


    At the mention of Polaris, Lucian whipped his head around. "And speaking of Polaris, have you changed your mind about fighting Blanche yet?!" He asked Skye, almost too enthusiastically. "If you do change your mind, I''ll let you know that you won''t have to do it alone, and I''ll be there with you every step of the way¡ª"


    Noi shot a look at Lucian. "Lucian, we talked about this. Much like how spirits have their own cores, Blanche is the core of the spirit realm. You destroy her, you destroy the entire realm. Skye is not going to kill Blanche, end of story."


    Lucian crossed his arms. "Fine! So Blanche doesn''t have to die. She just has to suffer for what she¡¯s done, that¡¯s all. And since Polaris is heavily implied to be part of the North Star prophecy, and since his current incarnation is Skye, out of all of us she must be the one best-suited for making sure that happens. So Skye, have you changed your mind yet?"


    Skye''s eyes darted between Noi and Lucian. Both of them stared at her expectantly. Crap, she thought. Either way, I''m going to let one of them down. "I¡­ I don''t know," Skye admitted. "Guess I''ll have to mull it over on my own."


    "Take as much time as you need," Noi reassured Skye. "I recommend that you don''t go seeking out Blanche for your own sake, but it''s your life. We''ll be waiting for your decision." Noi pulled out an ancient-looking scroll and handed it to Skye. "This is the North Star prophecy, by the way. I thought it might give you some context on your situation. Don''t worry, it has a preserving spell so it won''t fall apart all that easily despite how it looks."


    Skye took the scroll with her, storing it away in her backpack. "Thanks Noi," she said to him.


    ***


    While Skye was out at the park, Alexis, Hazel, and Nova were waiting at a bus station after practice. Alexis was on her phone, presumably updating her blog, Hazel had an ecstatic grin on her face, and Nova was standing in between the other two girls. Alexis looked up from her screen and shot a suspicious glance at Hazel. "Why''re you smiling like that?"


    Hazel sighed dreamily. "If it meant I''d get tied up and threatened by that cute chlorokinetic boy again, I''d totally make fun of more beginners!" She proclaimed. "He can use poison ivy on me, too, for all I care. I''d still thank him."


    Nova continued to stare ahead at the road, anticipating the bus''s arrival. "Your behavior deeply concerns me, Hazel," she stated. "Is there anything going on?"


    Alexis shook her head at Hazel''s comment. "Damn. Now I see why they call you the Hazelnut."