Lucas stared at the card his brother had put down, placing his own on top of it.

‘Snap’ he shot, before Reuben had time to think.

‘Dammit’ Reuben hissed, balling his fist in annoyance.

‘Come on’ Lucas said throwing the rest of the cards down. ‘We should be getting to our lecture now.’

‘Yeah I suppose’ Reuben huffed disinterestedly, picking up the cards. ‘I'm not really in the mood though.’

‘I know.’ Lucas rose from the grass, brushing flecks of dirt from his jeans. ‘But we can’t miss too many classes; the lecturer won’t be very pleased.’

‘Screw him; he talks a load of rubbish anyway.’

‘What are you talking about? You like physics.’

‘Only at the best of times’ Reuben said, putting the cards back in their box.

He handed Lucas the deck of cards as they made their way off. Reuben slinging the bag up his shoulder began strutting across the field.

‘You know I think we should go away after the exams’ Reuben started.

‘Oh yeah? Where did you have in mind?’ Lucas asked keeping in line with him as they walked.

Reuben fell silent.

‘You don’t know?’

‘I just think it would be a nice break from this town’ Reuben shrugged.

‘I thought you liked this town.’

‘I do’ Reuben said defensively.

They walked up the steps side by side and entered the building, with its cheap carpeted floors and walls filled with pictures and diagrams that were all contributions from every subject. Science with pictures of atoms and body parts, psychology, ancient history, art, even Latin, one of the many languages offered by the college. There was a balcony with glass walls overlooking the lower level, and automatic doors leading to the other exits which opened as the brothers went past.

The corridors now were fairly busy, some of the classes had just finished and people were milling out of a few of the doors set in a row along the wall.

‘Well what is it then?’ Lucas questioned his brother.

‘It’s just…’ Reuben struggled for words. ‘There must be more out there.’

‘Is that it?’ Lucas scoffed. ‘More than what?’

‘More than this, here, what we do.’ Reuben indicated everything around them as he spoke. ‘Our powers certainly didn’t come from around here. Not originally anyway. They must have come from somewhere else.’

‘You mean another world?’ Lucas offered, not bothering to keep his voice down.

‘It’s not impossible’ Reuben shrugged, uncertain for a moment whether or not his brother would laugh at him. But he didn’t.

Someone ahead of them in the corridor lit a cigarette, the match burning brightly.

‘I mean since we first changed’ Reuben explained, ‘it’s got me thinking, there must be a lot more out there that we don’t know about.’

‘You're probably right.’

As they talked they passed a small group hanging around outside one of the classrooms. One of the boys blew a cloud of smoke as they walked on. Then suddenly both brothers felt something. A sharp and sudden pain on their hand, like they had been burned. The brothers turned in unison, staring back down the corridor.

Jacob looked back, frozen as he noticed their stares. He stood as part of a circle with his friends. In his mouth was a burning cigarette, in his hand, a shrivelled black match.

Reuben glanced to his brother as Lucas gave Jacob a calculated expression. He then turned and continued walking, Reuben followed suit.

‘There must be more out there than just us and Drake’ Lucas went on, as if nothing had happened.

‘And more keep appearing’ Reuben added.