“You okay?” Vega snaps her fingers in front of my face, snapping me out of my trance and forcing me to look at her.

“She’s probably brain dead,” Dariyah snorts in amusement.

“I’m fine, just tired.” I lie.

Nerissa eyes me but says nothing.

She’s been distant from me since the whole election thing. I really don’t know what she’s been up to these days. Been way too busy with the task force and training, and catching up on school stuff.

Speaking of elections the student election is this upcoming week.

Vega is dreading it, she really doesn’t want to be elected, but Lysander won’t let her drop it. She still hasn’t told me what he has on her.

“Ah, there you are,” Dr. Ross walks over to us.

I see Vega and Dariyah stiffen next to me.

They still haven’t talked to their mom once since she’s moved here.

“Oh shoot, sorry. I spaced.” I turn to Dr. Ross.

She shakes her head at me in disappointment. She’s very strict on deadlines and meetings and such.

“Well don’t keep me waiting all day,” she snaps at me as I quickly dig into my bag.

“Here,” I hand her the slip of paper which I was supposed to have into her by yesterday morning.

She snatches it out of my hand.

“You test me, Emery,” she quickly walks off, her heels clicking all the way out.

She didn’t even acknowledge her daughters. She’s a shrew of a woman. Always grouchy and nitpicky. But I admit, she’s a hell of a good therapist. We have weekly sessions.

“What was that about?” Darko asks.

“I had to fill out this form for her, nothing special.” I lie again.

I guess these days I’ve been lying to my friends a lot. Not on purpose, but I’m not allowed to tell them more than half the things I’m dealing with. It’s all classified stuff. I’ll get in trouble if I tell anyone.

What I gave to Dr. Ross is actually very important. It’s a permission form I had to sign. She wanted me to read the consent form forwards and backward and talk it over with Cyrene to make sure I understood fully what I was getting into.

With the form signed and turned in, I have officially given Dr. Ross permission to probe my mind and investigate the visions.

After the joint task force was formed Cyrene and I decided it was best to come clean about everything. Because even if one of the people on the council is involved, it would be hard to make a move with everyone watching and investigating now. So I told them everything.

Well, almost everything. I didn’t tell them my working theory about the time caster involvement, because Gideon is one of my mentors now and the last thing I want is to give him a chance to rewind time again. If it is him, the jury is still out on that one.

But telling them all about the visions led to Dr. Ross coming up with the idea to investigate the visions and give her professional opinion on them. But the subject is very touchy and sensitive. Something like a Psy Caster getting into your head isn’t taken lightly by either council. So I had to make sure I was fully aware of what I was getting into before I agreed.

Dr. Ross and I have a working relationship. The first thing I did when I saw her was blurt out that I was dating her daughter, she laughed at me and said she didn’t care. Things have been strangely formal and normal between us since. She’s been very professional with me but expects a lot from me. As Vega warned me, the woman is a perfectionist. She hounds me until I do what she wants the way she wants it. But overall, my experience with her isn’t unpleasant at all. She’s actually been quite helpful to me. Much to Vega’s annoyance. I know she doesn’t like that I see her mom on a regular basis.

“You’ve been pretty busy these days,” Nerissa finally speaks up.

“Tell me about it,” I sigh.

“Well lucky for you, Winter break is almost here and you’ll finally get a break,” Ro says.

“Actually, not really. While all of you guys get to relax and take a break from class, I will still be doing my training to help me catch up with everyone. Cyrene has set a goal for me that I will be on all of you guys’ levels before next fall. So yeah… she’s working me until I die.” I sigh.

“Not going to happen,” Bastion comments.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I frown at him.

Gunner chuckles.

“Will you at least get to see your family?” Wieland asks.

“Yeah, my mom and brother are coming to visit me,” I say.

“Lame,” Dariyah comments.

“I’m going home for break.” Bastion says.

“Same,” Ro says.

“Me too.” Gunner adds.

“Me as well, but not until Christmas week,” Wieland adds.

“Well my family is here, so Dariyah and I are stuck here,” Vega says.

“Same,” Nerissa adds.

“Hey, and I thought I’d be alone this winter break.” Darko smiles.

I smile at him.

“At least I’ll have some company,” I say.

“You aren’t going home for break to see your dad?” Gunner asks Darko.

“Nah, holidays won’t be the same without my brother. Everyone in my family just kind of agreed that we wouldn’t celebrate or anything this year.” He shrugs.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“I’m fine,” he shrugs it off.

But I feel bad for him. Must be hard this time of year for him.

“Hey!” I say in a sudden burst of energy, half the people at the table flinch. “I have an idea. We can have a friend's Christmas here! For those of us stuck here.” I say.

“That sounds like fun,” Darko says.

“Lame.” Dariyah once again comments.

Vega elbows her and glares at her before she says, “I’m so in, it will be fun.”

“Sure,” Nerissa shrugs.

“Ow,” Dariyah complains.

We all giggle.

“It will be so much fun; we can plan the details later,” I say just as it’s time for us to get going, a small chime reminds us that our breakfast hour is up.

No obnoxious school bells here.

“My lady,” Vega outstretches her hand towards me.

I smile and take it, interlocking our fingers.

“Barf!” Dariyah comments before walking off.

I glare after her.

“So, what did my mom want?” Vega asks as she walks me to class.

“Nothing really, just another dumb form I have to fill out. I swear these people know everything about me now. Down to what baby food I ate when I was little.” I say.

She chuckles.

“You think I’m joking, but I swear one of the questions was what tastes better, carrots or peas.”

“Shut up, no there wasn’t,” she playfully pushes me.

“Peas was the obvious answer.” I shrug.

“You’re such a liar,” she laughs.

I giggle and peck her on the cheek.

She smiles at me and returns the favor.

We pause at the door.

“See you soon,” she pecks me on the lips.

“We better do actually learning this time. I swear Cyrene is getting suspicious of our morning sessions.” I smirk.

“We will, you’ll definitely learn something new. I just don’t know if it will be helpful to the class.” She says.

“Jerk,” I giggle before kissing her again.

“Ugh, lip-locking first thing in the morning.” A classmate of mine, Zach, pushes past us to get into the class.

We both giggle before pulling apart.

“See you soon,” she repeats before slowly backing away.

I smile at her before going into my class.

My classes are going very well. Professor Puck is one of the classes I’ll get through with after this semester. At least I will as long as I pass my test tomorrow. But I’m pretty positive I will.

Some classes only last a semester, some the whole year. Since it’s just a refresher course, it’s only a semester-long. But professor puck also teaches the next class I need to take, Casters Law and Government 101. Then the Class I have to take after that is Caster Sociology. He only teaches that class in the fall, so I’ll have to wait until next fall semester to take it.

After this semester if all goes well, I’ll be moving on past my refresher courses 1 and 2, and moving up in spell casting and Caster History. My other classes, like math, lit, and physical education are a year long. Trust me, I asked. I hate Physical education.

If all goes well, I’ll be moving on to Law and Government, and Energy Conversion. Plus I’ll finally be in Spellcasting 101, and History 101. I’ll have all the same professors except for my energy conversion class, which to my great dismay is taught by Lorelei. I tried to opt-out, but Cyrene wouldn’t let me. I already know I’m going to hate that class.

It’s finals time here at Belmore and students scramble to turn in all their work and prepare for exams. I have all of my tests this week, only because Cyrene got an exception for me to push all my tests back to the latest date possible to give me a better chance at passing and more time to study and practice. For the classes that last all year, it's time for midterms.

I’ve been learning and studying a lot, trying to get through the mountain of books in my room. It’s a hopeless battle. Every time I read one book, another magically appears, pun intended.

Professor Puck goes over all that we learned this semester and what we can expect on the test before he starts to go over the review. I look up at when there is a knock on the door expecting to see Vega, but instead, I find Asherah.

“Can I steal Emery away from you?” she asks.

“Of course, just be sure to get the review answers from Vega, Emery,” Professor Puck says to me.

“Got it,” I put my things away and leave with Asherah.

Asherah has been distant from me ever since the councils joined together against her, well not against her, but that’s what it feels like. She’s been pushed out of the inner circle. They don’t really tell her much these days.

“What’s up?” I ask as we walk towards her office.

“There was an incident last night?”

“Oh,” I look away from her.

“What happened?”

“Some jerks tried to burn the building down, they ran away before we could catch them.” I lie.

“I should have been alerted to the incident first thing in the morning, instead I find out through an email from one of the security guards.” She says in frustration.

“Cyrene and Lorelei were with me, I thought they would have told you.”

She eyes me.

“Good point.” I sigh.

Cyrene still isn’t on speaking terms with Asherah.

It’s all very complicated.

“Tell me everything that happened.” She says.

So I tell her about how I was planning on pulling an all-nighter for my spell casting test today. Cyrene was helping me practice and Lorelei let us into the building. I tell her about the thugs that lit a trashcan on fire and how the alarm went off and when we went outside more thugs ran off but not before tagging the building. By the time I finish explaining everything, we are at her office.

She sighs and sits at her desk, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Everything okay?” I ask when she still hasn’t said anything.

“That’s the 6^th time this year. I don’t know what I’m going to do. We only have enough budget set aside for a few instances, not this many. It’s draining our funds. Not to mention all the reports I have to write, dealing with the media, and local law enforcement. I can’t do this anymore,” she rests her forehead on her hands and holds back tears.

I notice all the plants in her office wilt and droop down.

It makes me feel bad.

“I should have never taken this stupid job. What was I thinking,” she shakes her head.

“Don’t say that.” I try.

She sniffles and lays her head down on the desk, covering it with her arms.

“It will be okay.”

“How!?” she challenges.

“Once we build a bridge with the outside community I’m sure things will calm down,” I assure her.

“No one is building a bridge! I’ve tried!” she looks up at me. “I’ve tried, and I’ve tried, and I’ve tried again. It feels like I’m the only one who cares! Not the stupid councils, not local law enforcement or organizations, just me! Everyone wants to say they support unity, but at the end of the day, no one is willing to take that first step. Things are just getting worse and worse, especially since your bid was pulled. It was like a slap in the face to the outside community, but do they care, no!”

“I’m sorry,” I say. The lights flicker.

“No, I’m sorry.” She wipes her eyes. “I shouldn’t unload all this on you. Thank you for telling me what happened. You can go if you want.”

I get up but I don’t leave, instead, I walk over to her and hug her.

“I care,” I say.

She shakes as she silently cries in frustration.

It must be hard being a headmaster at a school where no one is willing to help you do anything around here.

That’s not right at all.

Both councils are here, the least they can do is help out around here.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you,” I say.

She pulls back and looks at me.

“I… I know who did this.” I look down in shame.

“You do?”

“Well, I know one person. I didn’t tell you because I don’t want him to get in trouble, but if he’s doing this then he needs to stop. He’s hurting a lot of people, and could have hurt someone.”

“Who?”

“My old friend, before I was changed, Darius. He goes to my old school.” I say.

“I see.” She says.

I look up at her then.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I say.

“I understand Emery. Sometimes we do things to protect the ones we love, even if they don’t deserve it. But there comes a time when we can’t protect them anymore, and we have to hope they know what they are doing and that they can protect themselves.”

“We’re not talking about my friend, are we,” I say.

She sighs and averts her gaze from me.

“If it’s any consolation, I think you deserve better than her. Cyrene is great and all, but I think she still has some growing up to do. And I should know, I have a lot of growing to do myself.”

She forces a smile for me.

“Don’t stress about all this stuff anymore,” I hug her again. “I’ll help clean the building if you want. You don’t even have to pay me.”

“Thank you, Emery,” she hugs me back.

“Plus I won’t even tell anyone you cried,” I say.

She chuckles.

“And for an added bonus, I think you’re way better than the stupid councils. This joint task force is a total nightmare. A girl needs her free time!” I complain.

She laughs at that.

I smile as the flowers perk up again.

“You got this, don’t let a bunch of stupid brats get you down,” I say.

“You’re right.” She wipes her tears. “Sometimes I just get overwhelmed.” She sighs.

“Trust me, I know the feeling.” I sigh.

“Well get back to class, I don’t want you to miss anything.” She says.

I nod and leave.

“And Emery,” she calls before I walk out the door.

I turn to her.

“Thank you.” She smiles.

“Anytime,” I smile back before leaving.

I think I know what I’m doing for lunch.