The quiet for Nathan ended in the early hours of the morning. Dawn began to knock insistently on the door of the room Allen had assigned to him in the Council dormitory.

Nathan rubbed his eyes, huffing, and cursing the moment he had chosen to follow her and the man who had shown up in the convenience store that summer evening. Until then, however monotonous, his life had been peaceful. That place seemed too lively for someone like him, who didn't feel like doing practically anything. He just wanted to be alone, like he had always been, he didn't want to spend time there at all. He didn't even care that those guys could do things that normal human beings couldn't do. Even if that girl insisted he was like them, she had to be wrong, there was nothing special about him. He had always been an ordinary boy, like everyone else, although he felt out of place most of the time.

The lights in his room suddenly turned on, blinding his still sleepy eyes. «Don't make me use the water.», Dawn's voice threatened him from behind the door.

Listlessly, Nathan raised his back and got out of bed. He reached the door and, before opening it, he snorted one last time. He put his hand on the handle and pulled it.

«Put these on.», Dawn handed him a uniform like the one everyone wore there. «Get changed quickly. We are very busy people here, so don't waste time. And don't snort, get a move on.», it was Dawn who closed the door so he could get dressed.

Nathan was stunned for a few seconds. They didn't even know each other and she had practically allowed herself to give orders to him. But he was too lazy to even react and get out of there. As usual he let everything slide on him without doing anything. Actually, Nathan was a little intrigued, even if he didn't want to admit it.

He changed quickly, before the girl at the door played some trick on him, with who knows what power. Nathan realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet. He only knew her name and that the principal of that place was her father. He had seen her use water and turn lights on and off, so he assumed those were her powers. He stopped thinking and hurriedly got changed. He first put on the gray trousers and then the white shirt, which she had brought him. Finally he put on his yellow vest, not very heavy given the summer season. On the right side of his chest, a small coat of arms was sewn. There was only one "N" inside, no other writing. Nathan remembered that girl, who had attacked him when he arrived, had called the place Nemlyth Institute. The “N” probably stood for that.

Dawn knocked on the door again, interrupting his flow of thoughts. «Look, I don't have all day, if you want to know the rest of the story, hurry up and get out.» she insisted.

Nathan opened the door. «Can you stop ordering me around?!» it came naturally to him to say. He almost shouted, out of patience, because of that girl's attitude.

Dawn opened her green eyes wide in surprise. «You can talk, I thought you were mute.» she said sarcastically before walking down the hall. «Follow me, the library is ahead.»

«This is also an order… » Nathan whispered. She kept walking without looking back and so he just hurried after her.

They walked quickly through the corridors. Every now and then, Nathan would peek out of the corner of his eye at the girl next to him. She was also wearing the uniform. Without her black hat covering her face, and her sweatshirt, she looked different from the night before. Her brown hair, which had been sticking out of her hat in a ponytail the night before, was loose and reached halfway down her neck.

Dawn couldn't stand the silence any longer. She stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor, and he did the same. «Is it possible that you have nothing to say? Anything you want to ask me?» she said annoyed. «Yesterday I made water explode in front of your eyes, Meg appeared out of nowhere and Jeb teleported behind you… you seemed surprised, now shouldn't you be bombarding me with questions?»

«Right now I just want to go to my house.» he said out loud, shrugging.

Dawn rolled her eyes. «What traumatized you so much that it left you in this pitiful state?»

Nathan clenched his fists. He hated talking about the subject, not only because it still hurt to think about it, but also because he didn't want anyone's pity.

«Do you think you're the only one?» Dawn said looking at him seriously, straight into his eyes. «Most people here have been through a lot. There is no real safe place for those like us, forced to hide and constantly flee. We are almost all orphans, but here we have found a family. I promised we would help you, but you have to cooperate too, please.»

Nathan studied her. Dawn's eyes were teary. «Did you lose someone too?» he asked her. He hadn't even noticed his lips had moved.

Dawn hesitated a few seconds before nodding. «But that doesn't mean I stopped living.»

Nathan flinched. Those words were actually directed at him. It wasn't the first time he'd heard them either. His cousin also often scolded him, because he never tried to make friends, because he was always holed up in his daily routine. Yet said by that girl, they seemed to be more effective. Maybe because she was a stranger, maybe because she said them directly and without any mercy.

«Now let's go to the library.», Dawn resumed walking again and Nathan followed her without saying a word.

That building seemed really huge and the corridors were endless. Everyone they met greeted Dawn with a smile. Even though Nathan was a new face, they gave him the same treatment. They weren't at all like the grumpy and rude customers he often found at the convenience store counter. It was an unexpected but almost pleasant sensation.

Finally they arrived at the library. The number of shelves inside seemed endless. Dawn guided him to one book in particular. It was in a glass case on a pedestal, not far from the entrance. The closer they got to the glass, the more Nathan realized that what was in front of him wasn't a real book. It looked like a notebook, not an ancient book. Before Dawn spoke, he decided to be the one to initiate the conversation and show a modicum of interest. «What is that?» he asked.

«Well… here, those who have clearly seen too many movies call it a grimoire, but it's just a diary.» Dawn answered him.

«But it's in a display case, so it's important.» Nathan deduced.

Dawn nodded. «It it. One of the nine wrote it.» Dawn said as she opened the case to get the diary. She made sure not to drop any of the pages. «Come, let's find a quiet place to talk.»

They headed towards the tables, between the shelves. At that hour it wasn't difficult to find a free one. Dawn gently placed the journal on it and then sat down. «I'll give you a summary.» Dawn said as soon as Nathan was seated too. «If you want you can read it later, everyone can consult it, you just have to be careful not to ruin it, okay?»

Nathan nodded. «Okay.»

Dawn began to tell. «Hundreds of years ago, there was a planet called Nerissa. The diary doesn't say how, but we know that it exploded and that only nine people managed to escape. These nine are our ancestors. The nine surviving Nerys learned to blend in with the Earthlings and generated their offspring, us, awaiting the day when Nerissa would be resurrected, as the ancient prophecy had predicted. Five hundred years have passed since then. Very soon there will be the convergence of the planets and the ray that will be released will give new life to the fragments of our planet, scattered across the galaxy.»

«So… you are… aliens?» Nathan asked after patiently waiting for the end of the story.

«It's not a very nice term, but we can say it. Although we could say the same about Earthlings. We – not you – are Nerys.»

Nathan shook his head. «You keep saying I'm like you, but I think that's not the case.» he said. He thought back to what the black-haired boy had said the night before. He was now twenty-two years old, if he had had particular abilities, he would have noticed it long ago.

«Why? Because you don't have your powers yet? You know, there are those who have them since childhood, those who develop them in adolescence... it's rare but it can happen that they don't manifest themselves immediately.» Dawn said. «This is why I want you to be part of the Council. Maybe, being in action they will wake up. We will find out who your ancestor is and what you are capable of doing, don't worry.» she tried to reassure him. «Now, you should ask me where our powers come from.» she whispered to him and then stopped speaking until he asked the question.

Nathan snorted but finally relented. «What do your powers depend on?»

«Glad you asked. Each ancestor had special abilities, which have been passed down to us.» she explained. «For now, we have managed to find the descendants of only seven ancestors, two are still missing. Who knows, maybe you are one of those we're looking for. So let's try to make them manifest, okay?», she held out her hand to him and he shook it, to make her happy.

«You control the elements, is that right? It can't just be the water, even the lights that flash, or turn on by themselves, are your work, right?»

Dawn feigned surprise. «I didn't think you could say so many words.»

Nathan rolled his eyes. «Where did all the kindness you had at the convenience store go?» he let out aloud.

Dawn smiled. «It seems that being nice doesn't lead to good results with you. My provocations on the other hand seem to work quite well. Look how much you're talking now, yesterday the longest sentence you uttered was: "That-that girl... she came off the couch..."», Dawn did an imitation of Nathan's surprised face.

«So, can you tell me what your powers are?», Nathan tried to change the subject.

«Right, I didn't introduce myself yesterday.» she began. «I'm Dawn, and you already know that. I am twenty-two years old, my descendant is Erleen, the author of the diary. I am able to control the four elements, and energy. By energy I mean not just electricity. I can also control the vital one, but only for a few moments.», Dawn stood up and took the diary from the table. «Now that you know the basics, let's join the others. We must always be ready to intervene.»

Nathan followed Dawn. «Intervene for what?»

«There are people looking for us and still many like us out there using their skills inappropriately.» she explained as she placed the diary back in the display case. «We're safe here, people like Sam protect us.» she said. The institute, in fact, was surrounded by a shield that made it invisible, and the Nerys along the perimeter made sure that no one crossed it, not even by mistake. They couldn't use an electromagnetic shield, because it interfered with their powers.

«We can use our powers without fear but, outside the institute, using them means putting ourselves in danger. They would find us.» Dawn continued.

«Who? Scientists ready to make us laboratory guinea pigs?» Nathan asked.

«We don't know if they are scientists. We call them the Hunters, because they are always on our trail. Whoever is caught never comes back. As far as we know, only one person escaped, and that's Jeb.»

«The kid who teleports, right?»

Dawn gave him a round of applause, not too loud after all they were in the library. «Very good. You'll see that you'll get to know others too.»