As Katherine headed back behind the glass, I fiddled with the ear device, making sure it fit properly despite wanting to throw it to the ground and smash it under the sole of my shoe. 

A sudden grinding noise resounded throughout the room. Flinching, I turned to the front of the area. The floor was opening up into a thin, long rectangular pit. I winced at the screeching of metal against metal, pressing my hands to my ears in a desperate attempt to block out the noise. A metal platform slowly rose up from the pit, and with one last, high-pitched scream of grinding steel, it halted to a stop.

Lined up on the platform were five red-and-white targets, held up with creaky wood legs.

"Shoot those targets with a jet of water," Katherine's voice boomed across the room. 

I glanced around, about to ask where the water was, but spotted two jugs sitting in the corner to my left. I quickly jogged, picked them up, and placed them by my side. Just as I did so, a purple glow lit up across the room. 

"What the…?"

I tipped my head to see glowing violet screens embedded into the wall. What the hell were these, and where were they before? Because I was damn well sure that they weren't here when I first walked in.

"Hey, don't focus on those!" Katherine called, rather panicked. "Just… just hit the targets, don't pay attention to the screens."

I shielded my gaze from the screens and turned to Katherine. "W-Why?"

"Just don't, okay? They're nothing."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Yeah, sure, just scream at me to ignore something, because that was the most effective way to get me to believe it was nothing at all. 

The corner of my eye caught Katherine glaring at me, offended. Right, right, she could hear my thoughts through this damn ear device. I shuddered and looked away. It was so unsettling…

Uncapping the first jug, I sucked in a deep breath. The container was half-full, but that should have been enough. All I had to do was shoot the targets, right? Simple. I scrunched my brows and locked my gaze onto the liquid in the jug, blocking out my surroundings.

A thin stream of water floated up from its original body and out of the jug, my eyes following its direction. Sight was the only way I learned to control the movement of the water. Caster, on the other hand, could use either his eyes or hands to control his telekinesis. 

The thought of him made my heart hurt, so I shoved him away and stood up, facing the target on my far left while shifting my focus back to the water in front of me.

I inhaled sharply. On the count of three, I had to shoot.

One.

Two.

Three.

I flicked my gaze to the target, and the jet of water followed, shooting through the air and splashing the third ring away from the bullseye. It was far from a perfect shot, but as long as I got this over with as quick as possible, I didn't care.

"Keep going," Katherine called. "Shoot the other four."

I conjured up another sliver of water and shot it at the target on my far left. Missed. I tried another time, this one aimed at the target in the middle. The water splashed the bullseye. 

The last two targets, I half-assed. When it came to hydrokinesis, I lacked endurance. Living in a non-super family and all, I hardly had any chance to practice, and back when I lived with Dad, he barely let me do anything in the first place.

Now, it was like an invisible band wrapped itself around my head and tightened, a straining ache running across my forehead, and it hadn't even been five minutes.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Nope." Katherine shook her head. "Form the water into icicles now, and then hit the targets."

She wanted icicles now?

"I… I don't know if I can do that," I called back. "I don't have that much experience using my power—"

"Well then, just try."

Stunned, I blinked rapidly. "I— okay…?"

I wasn't even that good with water, and now ice? I'd only tried that once in my life in my college dorm, and it was a complete fail. 

I shook my head and looked back at the jug. Whatever. I just had to get this over with as quick as possible.

Fixing my gaze on the liquid in the container, I conjured up a thin stream of water into the air…

And then I froze. 

Moving liquid water was simple — I just focused all my energy and used my eyes to direct it. How that worked, I wasn't sure, but it worked, nevertheless. But for ice, what did I do? Focus harder? Stare at it more? How would that even help?

I tried it anyway, because it wasn't like I had any better ideas. Furrowing my brows, I took in every detail the sliver of water had to offer: its shine and highlights lining the round edges, the distorted, translucent image of the floor and wall behind it, and its moist surface. Soon enough, silence filled my ears, and my vision processed nothing else but the liquid hovering in front of my eyes.

Yet steam — yes, steam — hissed and rose in thin wisps from the water. My brows rose, focus breaking for a split second. 

That was all it took for the water to fall from my control and splash right back into the jug. A screeching pain attacked every inch and side of my head, forcing me to kneel on the floor and catch my breath in heavy gasps. 

The water evaporated instead of freezing. Did I focus too hard? Was I supposed to do the opposite?

A stabbing ache shot through my head like a bullet, and I grit my teeth.

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked.

Girl, did I look okay?

She sighed. "Okay, so this completely failed. You can't freeze water into ice, yet you looked like you evaporated some of it instead. Any idea how that happened?"

"N-No…?" I sat on my rear and gazed up at her from afar, head still spinning. "I think I have some sort of idea, but…"

"Well, what's your idea?"

Oh sure, just expect me to answer coherently when my brain was whirling and aching like a tornado full of blood and pain. Totally doable. 

The corner of my eye caught Katherine glaring at my thoughts, again. 

I sighed and slowly lolled my head to the left, blinking rapidly to get rid of the floating black flecks in my vision. "I… I don't know. Maybe I put too much mental energy that made the water… heat up instead of cooling it down, or something. I don't know; I've never done this before."

She drummed her fingers on her desk for a few moments. "Fair enough. We can improve on that the next time we're here, but for now, this was just to see where you were at. That being said — you're done, and you finished relatively fast. Just thirty minutes."

Thirty minutes? That felt like ten. Why was time so screwed up in PowerGen.

"So… can I leave now?" I asked, tipping my head forward as the headache started to dull.

Katherine nodded. "Leave everything as is. I'll clean it up. You can remove the earbud and get your monitor band back. That last part is especially important. The doors won't open if you don't put it back on."

Bummer…

I dragged myself to my feet and plucked out the earbud, handing it to Katherine before walking to the device near the door and hovering my wrist over it. In a single red flash, that damned band was strapped tight onto my wrist. I wished I could tear it off in a single tug, but nothing worked.

As Katherine cleaned up the jugs and targets on the floor, I walked out. Melissa was already sitting by her door, knees hugged into her chest and foot rapidly tapping the ground. 

"When is everyone gonna finish up…?"

I awkwardly sidled to the side, but just as I sat down and watched my door close, room 02's door slammed right open, and out burst Cassian..

"Please!" he cried, sending stabs of chilly fear into my chest. "Please don't make me use my —"

"Get back in here, goddamnit!"

Another man had rushed out with him, grabbing his wrist and twisting — hard. 

That was the first time I heard Cassian scream, and it rattled me right to my core.

In a split second, Melissa already jumped to her feet and lunged towards the man.

"Oy, get away from him!" 

She shoved the man away from her cousin and grabbed his arm, twisting it so that way he was the one who screamed now. Her eyes widened right after and she stepped back, in horror at what she'd done — but why?

I managed one step forward before fear froze my feet in place, and doubt took over my brain. What could I even do? Both Cassian's and his trainer's arm were broken, and Melissa was stuck in the middle of it. 

Damnit, why couldn't I just think faster and fucking do something?

At that moment, three guards at the side of the room shouted, rushing over to the scene.

"Talia, stay back, don't get involved," Melissa shouted. 

"But — I —"

"Talia, you'll get punished," she cut me off.

Just as she finished her sentence, a hand yanked her shirt collar. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" screamed a guard — Myra. "First we had a kid melt a PowerGen employee, and now you break someone's arm? The nerve of you motherfuckers!"

Melissa winced as Myra's grip tightened. I inched forward, but Melissa shook her head and mouthed five words: "Cassian. Take care of Cassian."

Breathing shallowly, I slowly pulled Cassian to the side, leaning him against my shoulder. He trembled violently, whimpered quietly, and looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

"What? You have anything to say for yourself?" Myra snapped.

"Actually, yeah, I do," Melissa spat. "How come it's okay for this guy to break my cousin's arm —" she jabbed a finger at Cassian's trainer — "yet he can't get the same treatment? Ever heard of the phrase 'what goes around comes around?' Hell, have you even heard of human fucking decency—?"

SMACK!

Myra slapped her square in the face.

"Melissa!" Cassian and I shouted, but Melissa held a hand to stop us from acting.

"We'll need the damn chancellor." Myra glared at her two co-workers. "Again."

Cassian's grip would practically break my wrist at this point, but I let him hang on anyway. 

His grasp slipped, though, when a new guard ripped him away from me. Cassian let out another pained cry, this one even louder than the last. 

"W-wait, what are you —"

"Taking him to the infirmary," he answered in a clipped voice.

"But —"

In the blink of an eye, he pulled a revolver from his belt holster and aimed it right at me.

My. Heart. Stopped.

"If you become the fourth person to mess things up today, I'm going to blow your brains out."

Before I could even reply, he slammed his gun back into the holster, gripped Cassian's Cassian's good arm, and dragged him away, just as Myra was doing with Melissa, minus the flailing, thrashing, or yelling. 

"Talia!" Melissa cried. "Please, find a way out of here —-"

Myra clapped a hand over her mouth. "Shut it. I don't want another word from you."

But I still wanted to reply. I still wanted to leap ahead and drag Melissa and Cassian out of those bastards' grasps. 

And just as I was about to, Kody came up from behind and cuffed both my hands.

"W-Wha —"

"Temporary restraints," he mumbled. "Can't have you on the loose, it seems."

I just gaped at him, heart sinking into the hollow, cold pit of my stomach.