“Have you found her yet?”

“No… Any sign from your end?”

Adela dragged a hand down her face, adjusting the phone against her ear. “No… How did she get away from us so fast? It was instant.”

On the other line, Chika sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe the ice sped her up or something?”

“Unlikely, considering it melted so fast on the sidewalks.”

“Why are they even heated so early in the year, anyway? It’s barely the end of summer!”

“I don’t—”

A beeping interrupted the call as another line joined.

“Guys!”

“Soledad!” Adela perked up. “Did you find her?”

“Yeah, she’s near the sand pits in the sparring fields, but…”

“But what?” Chika asked.

“She has this… forcefield around her? I don’t know, it kind of looks like a snow globe, but… wet?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”

“Just— Come here. I’m not approaching it by myself.”

“On it. We’ll be there soon,” Chika stated.

“Great.”

Both lines went dead; Adela sped herself up and rushed to the sand pits.

It was a sight to behold.

The ground was bone dry despite the post-rain mist; it seemed every drop of water had been sucked away to become a part of the large… orb in the edge of the sand pits closest to the forest. It looked as if someone had taken the rough currents of a river and wrapped it around itself.

Footsteps and the flapping of wings wounded, and Chika and Soledad stood at her side a moment later. Chika’s mouth fell open as she took it all in.

“What… She’s in that?!”

Soledad nodded. “There was some light coming from inside a moment ago,” she explained. “I saw a bit of brown.”

As if on cue, lights flashed. Soledad frowned.

“It wasn’t that light, though…”

“That almost looked like—”

“Lightning,” Adela concluded. She turned and started to pace. “Fire, ice, water, electricity… I think Terra can control elements. That’s her Ability.”

Chika and Soledad stared at her. “Are you kidding?” Chika squeaked. “That’s an incredibly powerful thing to have. You think Terra has it?!”

“Look with your eyes, Curtain Bangs!” Soledad exclaimed. “What else could this be?!”

“How could we not notice something like that?!”

“She’s been hiding it,” Adela replied, grabbing onto her necklace. “It was one of the only questions she didn’t answer in my survey… In fact, when I asked, that’s when she started to panic.”

Chika glared, but for once, there was no malice, only concern etched in her brow. “She panicked?”

Soledad pushed her hair back and turned to the orb. “Whatever her reasoning, we need to talk to her. I’m going in.”

“Are you insane?! You can’t even swim!” Chika shrieked.

Soledad smirked and shot her a wink. “No, but I’ve flown through a waterfall or two in my day,” she said. “Watch and be impressed.”

Adela’s eyes widened. “Soledad, wait—”

“I’m coming, Terra!”

Soledad shot off like a bullet in the night, flying at full speed towards the water; she put up her arms and crossed them in front of her face to avoid getting it in her eyes, pulled her wings in…

And promptly slammed into a solid sheet of ice.

With a pained yelp, she tumbled into a heap on the ground. Chika and Adela rushed over, the former crouching to help her up while the latter looked up at the crack she’d left.

“I was going to say,” she informed, “that we need to approach carefully in case she tries to hurt us.”

Chika looked at the orb; where there had been water was now frozen and solid, the waves still stuck in the position they were in when Soledad took off. A soft, orange glow was emitting from the center.

Fire.

“…I don’t think she’s trying to hurt us,” she concluded. “I think she’s trying to protect us. Or, defend herself without hurting us, anyway.”

“Protect us?” Soledad repeated. “From what?”

A pained expression passed over Chika’s face, and she looked away.

“…Herself.”

Realization washed over the other two, and they looked at the ice with equally heavy hearts.