...I pulled up to the gates of Kaine University at around four in the afternoon, two hours before I was supposed to be at Luke’s. The guard peeked his head out of the kiosk he was manning and rose a brow.  I cocked my head. Oh right! I took the helmet off, revealing my face, and holding up my school ID. He waved me through. I put the helmet on and drove onto campus. The batting cages were about five minutes into campus on the right. I rode for a little while amazed at how great riding a motorcycle was, I’d stolen his bikes and vehicles before but it was surprisingly easy to pick up a new bike. The only problem was I had been in too much of a rush to remember a jacket, the air was cutting through my bicep and forearm. The short sleeve t-shirt wasn’t cuttin it for me. I arrived at the cages at about 4:06 and stepped off the bike. Luke was sitting on one of the benches just outside one of the cages. 

“Whaaaat!” He called rushing over to me. “Did you steal your dad’s bike??” He yelled. I nodded. “Why??” He yelled. 

“He pissed me off.” I said flatly, walking over to the cage. I grabbed a bat off the wall to the right of the cage and entered the settings for the baseballs. I clicked ‘enter’ then stepped inside the cage. 

“So what happened this time?” Luke asked leaning up against the cage. I was quiet for a moment. 

“Uh- Nothing.” I said, a ball fired out of the chute. I cocked the bat back and swung it, the ball cracked against the wooden bat and flew passed the chute. 

“Seventy- two” Luke said. Referring to the speed at which I had hit the ball. I cracked my neck. “Is he still. Ya know...” Luke started. 

“Yeah. He’s still taking them.” I returned. A while back Lance had surgery done to his back. He got opioids for the pain and... he never put em’ down. Another ball fired toward me. I wound up the bat and released it smashing the ball passed where the other had landed. 

“Eighty- three” Luke said. “How’s your mom?” 

“She’s ok... I guess.” I responded. 

“Does she know?”

“Probably not.” *crack*

“Eighty-four”

“You know what he called you before I came.”

“Me?”

“A mutt.” *crack*

“Eighty.... well maybe he’s wound up from work?”

“Doubtful, but I’m a variant too...” *crack*

“Ninety... so it was like he was calling you one too...” 

“It’s whatever, it’s nothing new.” I muttered. Another ball fired toward me. I inhaled deeply and swung the bat with everything I had grunting loudly. The bat collided with the ball and snapped in half. Wood chips scattered across the floor and the top of the bat fell to the floor. I breathed heavily turning to Luke, who’s eyes were wider than a dinner plate. I dropped the bottom half of the bag and exited the cage. “I can’t stand it anymore.” I said sitting next to Luke. “I- I thought I could just power through the pain and keep living as the only variant disaster in my family, and take his shit... but I can’t.” Luke put his hand on my shoulder. 

“Being a variants not so bad. We’ve got badass abilities! No one else I know can turn themselves metal, no one else I know can summon a demon. You gotta stop thinking like you’ve got a disadvantage in life! It’s that kind of thinking that makes you act like you do.” Luke said. “Embrace the cards you’ve been dealt, and use them!” There was a long pause then Luke clapped his hands together. “Alright. We should go to the dorm, no point in you goin home, just to come back on that sweet ass bike. Plus I’m certain at this point Sabrina’s finished cleaning her side of our room off and she’s gonna try to tamper with the food I’ve got baking.” He muttered. “And you do NOT want that.” We both laughed and got on my bike. The ride to Luke’s dorm was a short two minutes. We got off the bike and headed into the building through a thick wooden door. We walked up the steps to about the third floor then walked through a hallway until Luke opened the door. 

“Wow this place is emaculate.” I muttered. Luke smiled and nodded. 

“Welcome back to casè de Lucas!” He said spreading his arms. Sabrina stepped out of the bathroom with a spray bottle of chemicals. *ahem* she grunted. “And I guess Sabrina too.” Luke shrugged. “Always gotta ruin my fun.” He groaned, walking into the kitchen. “I do most of the cooking, and... lounging, ya know the fun, cool stuff, and Sabrina does most of the boring cleaning and... what studying?” I turned to Sabrina, we both laughed. 

“And somehow he gets higher grades than me.” Sabrina muttered smiling to me and moving back into the bathroom. 

“Come on in here.” Luke called to me. I stepped into the kitchen where my jaw just about dropped. He had about five pizza dough circles spread out around the kitchen and bowls of toppings “what do ya think!” Luke said gesturing to the pizza dough. 

“You made all this?” I muttered. 

“Didn’t know ol’ Lucas had a nack for baking, huh?” He said triumphantly slinging a kitchen rag over his shoulder. “Anyway, were all makin pizzas tonigh!” He said. Sabrina entered the room and rose a brow.

“Hey genius there’s only five dough circles.” Sabrina muttered.

“Hey genius” Luke started, mocking Sabrina “there’s only five students... aaaand the transfer...”the impression died down.

“Aaaaand the transfer.” Sabrina said nodding. 

“That’s ok! That’s ok.... we’ll uh... she can share mine!” Luke said shrugging. 

“You’re gonna let someone else touch your food??” I asked loudly. Luke turned to me and laughed. 

“W-well... she doesn’t have to make a pizza...” He muttered. 

“So you’re gonna make the poor girl starve while we all eat pizza?” Sabrina asked raising a brow. 

“Dammit! you’re right...” Luke whined. Sabrina moved to her bed and sat down on it, she opened and glanced at her phone. 

“Lauren said she’s picking up Caleb and April on the way.” She said looking up. 

“Ugh... does Caleb have to come??” Luke complained. 

“Unfortunately.” Sabrina returned. I glanced around and noticed their tv sitting on top of one of the counters. I walked over and flipped it on. 

“Oh yeah, you can change that.” Luke said. “I was watching the news earlier but if you wanted to watch something else that’s fine.”

“No no.” I said. “I saw it earlier too! The guy who can get scientists past the teleportation barrier!” I called. 

“Yeah!!” Luke said, turning his attention to the tv. “The dude looks serious.” Luke said. 

“What are you dorks talking about?” Sabrina asked, moving into the kitchen. 

“This guy can apparently get scientists past the teleportation field!” Luke called. 

“Ew, he looks creepy.” She muttered. 

“He looks awesome!” Luke called. I laughed. 

“What do you think his magic is?” I asked. Luke put his hand to his chin. 

“I don’t know of any magic that can break a barrier like that... probably a variant.” Luke said. 

“Hey! Dummy!” Sabrina said flicking Luke’s forehead. “Dark magic can usually negate some sort of magic.” Sabrina said. 

“Oh... right.” Luke muttered. “Well... that didn’t get us anywhere. Maybe he’s a pure Magi who uses dark...” 

“You think we know him?” I asked. 

“Pfft yeah right.” Luke responsed. “I don’t think anyone I know is this badass.” Luke said. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Luke rose a brow and walked to the door. He opened it. “Oh, hey.” He said “you guys are early...” Luke looked at his watch. “Like REALLY early.” Lauren, April, and Caleb walked in. 

“Well we would have been a bit later but I left a little earlier to get them and pick these up.” Lauren said displaying three cases of beer. 

“Appreciate it.” Sabrina said stepping out intro the main room, she waved the others in. 

“Whatcha watchin’” Lauren asked moving up to see the TV 

“Remember when Mr. Stevenson was talking about the tree and how we can’t get to it. Apparently this guy can.” I explained gesturing to the tv. 

“Pffft no way.” Caleb said. “The Magi that guard the tree are like a thousand years old I’m sure their magic is more powerful then a guy in a fedora.

“Alright, takin’ bets!” Luke called slamming a five dollar bill on the table. “Five bucks sayin’ he can break the barrier.

“Five he can.” Sabrina said. 

“Ditto.” I spoke up. 

“Well...” Caleb said. “TEN says he can’t.” He crosses his arms. 

“Eh... five says he can’t.” Lauren said. 

“Five he can’t.” April said. We all turned to the tv. 

“The barrier is measured to be right in front of the boat at this location.” A newscaster spoke over the video of the crew reaching an empty area on the ocean. The man stepped out to the bow of the boat. He stood on the edge and rose a hand. 

“Lazy fooooorm.” Caleb mumbled sing songingly. The man formed a fist and cocked his arm back.

“Woah... wait, wait, wait...” I muttered.

“Holy Shit He’s gonna punch it!!” Luke called looking at me excitedly. His arm illuminated an yellow color. Suddenly a wind whipped up, flapping his trench coat around wildly, the Sea became choppy. The crew on board gripped the railings tightly. The man smirked then a loud explosion fired off from behind his elbow, His arm exploded forward like a piston, it contacted something then recoiled backward. There was silence. 

“Ha! See.” Caleb said. “Pay u-“ suddenly a crack formed in front of the man. Yellow cracks continued to form around the initial crack, outlining some sort of invisible dome. Then there was a deffening explosion blaring through the tv my eyes widened as the power shut off, along with the tv. The room grew dead silent, no one could see each other. 

“Soooo who won?” Luke whispered....

“Ok, ok, ok” Sabrina muttered pacing around. 

“Hey Sabrina calm it down a little.” Luke muttered putting his left hand on her shoulder. Benny’s arm poked out next to him, holding a flame, to light up the room. 

“Ok, so let’s think rationally here...” Lauren muttered. 

“Holy shit were all gonna die!” Caleb yelled. 

“Yup, that’s the opposite of what I said!” Lauren yelled in protest, smacking Caleb in the back of his head. “Was his spell THAT powerful??” Lauren asked. 

“Well let’s see...” Luke muttered. “What could have caused the power outage...” 

“Can a shockwave from a spell do that?” Lauren asked. 

“I-it’s possible...” Luke responded scratching his chin. “... but not likely I recognize that spell and even a spell as insane as that... the magical energy only travels a max distance of around a thousand miles, and that’s being generous. Near South America, where the newscaster said they were along the Atlantic... that’s anywhere from 3000 to 5000 miles away from us...” Luke said quietly. 

“So what?” Sabrina asked. 

“So this was a set up...” I said quietly. Luke nodded and smirked at me.

“Someone was watching this and thought to disguise the power outage as a shockwave from that rare spell...” Luke explained 

“So he or she thought people wouldn’t know the ins and outs of it...” I said. 

“Exactly.” Luke responded, snapping. 

“What’s going on here.” Sabrina muttered. 

“Quiet little sis, the adults are talking.” Luke teased, turning to me. 

“Harry, the generators how long until they’re supplying power?” Luke asked. 

“Uhhh it depends... I think the school has water powered generators, so if someone turned them on as soon as the power went out, like... eleven minutes until they bring the power on.” I said. 

“Excellent.” Luke said. “Let’s assume whoever did this accounted for that. They’re after something that they think they can get within five minutes.” Luke said.

“Well any important documents are in the headmasters building, but that’s ten minutes in from the outside, coming from any direction, not enough time to get in and out...” Sabrina said I nodded. 

“Maybe what this person needs is in the headmasters building but he just needs to get in...” Lauren muttered. 

“But then how would they get out without being noticed??” Caleb asked. 

“Holy Shit.” Luke muttered. “It might be a student! They know about everything in the school! They know what time your dad’s out of his office, five o’clock, they know how long the generators are active for, and they know the layout of the campus.”

“We should hurry to dad’s place.” Sabrina said, Luke nodded and we all exited the dorm room and made a break for the headmasters building. When we arrived at the door we stopped. 

“When we open this... it becomes real...” Luke muttered. “... whoever’s In There is going to probably fight back, and if that’s the case we’re all gonna need to be ready.” He said. 

“Yeah yeah open the door!” Caleb said grabbing the handle and rushing inside. Luke shook his head. 

“Ok then.... let’s catch ourselves a criminal”