Corporal Holland led Cassy to a room where three men conversed next to what looked like a medical exam table. Cassy noticed that one of the men had been talking to Mr. Grayson the night before.

As they approached the group, one of the men stepped away from the group, "Welcome, Ms. Riley. I am Doctor Bennett. Thank you for coming." As he said this, the other two men stepped away from the table, continuing their conversation in the corner of the room.

Doctor Bennet had impeccably styled silver hair and blue eyes. "Please take a seat here. I've been asked to give you an exam and check for any lingering effects from your recent encounter.”

Cassy walked over to the exam table, sitting on the edge of it, while Doctor Bennett grabbed an otoscope hanging from a nearby wall. Returning to Cassy, he examined her ears and nose. He then returned the otoscope and checked under her eyelids. “Was there any bleeding from your gums?”

"No"

"Wonderful. I've heard the report of what happened, and it isn't unusual for someone to get a bloody nose or begin bleeding from somewhere else after an encounter like that. There are just a couple of scans I need to do. The first will be a standard body scan, and the second will give me a better idea of how you were able to resist the effects of what you experienced. Both machines are in the base of the table you are sitting on and will come up from behind your head and pass over the top of you. If you would be so kind as to lie on the table."

Cassy lay down on the table. Doctor Bennett pressed a button on the side of the table, grabbed a tablet from the counter, and began pressing some buttons on the tablet. "Alright, we will begin the first scan now." A bar slid out from the head of the table, passing over the top of Cassy several times before returning to the top of the table and sliding back down. "Everything looks fine, so let's proceed to the next scan." Another device slid out from the top of the table. This one, though, came to rest at the top of the table and surrounded Cassy's head. The device hummed for a minute before retracting and disappearing into the table.

"That will be everything I need, Ms. Riley. Your scans look fine, but I will take a more detailed look at them later today and let you know if there is anything of concern," said Doctor Bennett.

Cassy sat up, swung her legs over the table's edge, and stood before saying, "Thank you, Doctor Bennett."

"You're most welcome. I imagine you must be quite exhausted from your encounter. If you could, please follow me to one of the medical rooms where you can rest.” said Doctor Bennett.

Doctor Bennet showed her to a nearby room with some more medical equipment and a hospital bed. As they were about to enter the room, a guard approached them.

Corporal Holland said, “Ms. Riley, this is Corporal Roberts and he is my relief. He will be staying with you for now.”

Cassy turned to Corporal Roberts and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise Ms. Riley.”

Cassy followed Doctor Bennett into the room and laid down on the bed, falling to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, while listening to Corporals Holland and Roberts talk in the hallway.

Meanwhile, in Fletcher’s personal study, he admired a painting on the wall. The study was lavishly furnished with a four-seat table to the right of the door, a large desk across from the entrance, a fireplace and chairs on the left, and bookcases lining the walls.

Mrs. Hopkins and Mr. Grayson knelt on a rug behind him, surrounded by guards. Fletcher spoke as he turned to face them, "This is your last chance to tell me who your master is before I send you for interrogation."

Mr. Grayson looked at Fletcher with defiance in his eyes. Mrs. Hopkins began to stutter, "We only know…." she was cut short as she started choking, then vomited blood all over the rug before collapsing and convulsing. Mr. Grayson's eyes widened in fear as he met the same fate.

Fletcher stood silently for a moment before turning to Richard and saying, "Have this cleaned up. It looks like we have more investigation to do and have autopsies done on them. I would like to know what killed them."

"Yes, my Lord," responded Richard as he walked towards the door and spoke to someone just outside the room.

Lord Burton turned back to the painting, deep in thought.

Several men entered the room a few minutes later carrying a pair of body bags and a new rug. They quickly removed the bodies and replaced the carpet.

Richard approached Lord Burton after everyone had left and said, "My Lord, it was wise to get rugs with waterproof backings."

"Just a little intuition."

“If I may ask, I’m still unsure about your choice of the girl's mark.”

Lord Burton turned towards Richard, "Yes, I understand why you would be confused. Come take a seat." Lord Burton motioned, and the two sat in nearby chairs.

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Lord Burton continued, "A phantasm attacked us her memory. When I suppressed its attack against her, I could sense the amount of power it was exerting, and it should have killed her. She also withstood my counterattack against it. After the ordeal, all she did was vomit for a few minutes. I looked a little deeper during the attack, and she has a great deal of untapped potential. I'm unsure why I could not sense it before. I'm amazed she was never found by the scryers."

"I see. Do you think you will be able to keep her in check," asked Richard?

"I looked further back into her memories during the probe, and yes, she will be simple to control. Presently, all she wants is a place to belong, our protecting her at this stage will cement her loyalty, and in the future, we can guarantee her loyalty further with some simple steps."

"And what might those steps be, my Lord?"

"She loves her sister and fears her parents will kick her out when she graduates from high school, like they did to her. We still have a few years before that, her sister is entering 10th grade this year, and we will be done with our business here well before then. Still, if we allow Ms. Riley to meet her sister, she will naturally ask if we can take her in. I am unsure, but I feel her sister also has some potential."

Richard sat for a moment, deep in thought, before saying, "Thank you for elaborating, my Lord. Would you like me to investigate the sister?"

"Yes, thank you, Richard. Furthermore, please move Ms. Riley's quarters to our servant quarters. I would like her to be tested to determine her full potential and begin training her in etiquette. She could prove useful politically."

"It will be done, my Lord," said Richard as he rose from his seat and bowed before departing the room.

Cassy woke from her nap. The room was dark with a pleasant temperature. She looked at the clock on the nightstand next to the bed; it was Noon. She slowly sat up in the bed, unsure of where the light switch was in the room. As if responding to her thoughts, the lights dimly lit up and gradually brightened over the next minute. Cassy got out of bed and walked over to a mirror by the door to the room; examining her appearance, she fixed her hair and smoothed the wrinkles in her clothes.

Cassy left the room, stepping into a hallway. Corporal Roberts was standing just outside the door, who turned to her and said, "Afternoon, Ms. Riley."

Cassy looked over to Corporal Roberts, getting her first good look at him. He had clean cut short dark brown hair with a well-defined jawline. He was wearing the guard's standard uniform, which looked like a military dress uniform, with a short sword on his left hip and a sidearm on his right. “Afternoon, Corporal Roberts. Is there anything left from lunch?"

"This way, Ms. Riley," said Roberts, leading Cassy back towards the common room in silence.

On the way back, Cassy broke the silence, "Corporal Roberts, why do all the guards have military ranks?"

"The Burton family maintains a large estate that includes a standing military. Our presence is not very large on this world, but on their home world, the Burtons command several hundred thousand troops," responded Corporal Roberts.

"Oh, thank you, Corporal Roberts," said Cassy as the pair arrived at the common room, where Fletcher’s personal servants had spread out among several tables eating lunch. One of the maids, noticing Cassy and Corporal Roberts, stood up from her seat and approached them.

"Hello, Ms. Riley. I'm Victoria Turner, the head maid for Lord Burton. Everyone calls me Vicky or Ms. Turner," said the woman, who looked in her early 30s. Victoria carried herself confidently with a commanding presence. She had dark hair just past her shoulders and piercing green eyes. "You must be hungry; come have a seat. We eat family style here, and there's still a lot of food left," said Victoria, taking Cassy over to a seat at the table she had been sitting at.

Cassy ate lunch with the group, getting to know the different staff members at the table. After finishing lunch, Cassy began helping clean up the table. Richard entered the room and walked over to Cassy, "Ms. Riley, how are you feeling?"

"Much better," responded Cassy.

"I'm glad to hear that. There is one more task I need you for, and then you will have the rest of the day off," said Richard.

"Okay," responded Cassy before being cut off by Victoria.

"What are you taking her for, Richard," Victoria asked.

"It's nothing to worry about, Ms. Turner," responded Richard.

"Alright, I expect her back shortly," said Victoria.

Richard smiled lightly and chuckled, "Very well, Ms. Turner. Ms. Riley, this way, please."

Richard led Cassy out of the room, followed closely by Corporal Roberts.

Richard led Cassy to Fletcher’s private study, where he was sitting at his desk reading on a tablet.

Richard showed Cassy to a chair in font of the desk. Cassy sat down as Fletcher looked up at her. “Ms. Riley, how are you feeling?”

“Much better, my Lord.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Thank you for being so cooperative this morning.”

“You’re welcome, my Lord.”

“I have something important I need to speak with you about. I noticed something about you this morning during the mind probe.” Fletcher paused, watching a curiosity form across Cassy’s face. “You have gifts that haven’t manifested yet. I’m still waiting for Doctor Bennett to report on his findings, but from what I was able to judge, you have a decent amount of potential.”

“Gifts my Lord?”

“Yes, like my mind probe.”

“Oh, I see, my Lord.”

“Yes, well, this causes a bit of a wrinkle for you. I’m afraid you won’t be able to return to your duties for now.”

“When will I be able to return to them, my Lord?” Cassy was beginning to worry that if she couldn’t work, it wouldn’t be good.

Fletcher paused, taking a breath, “With the amount of power I sensed in you, there are only two options I can give you at present. Either I have to hand you over to the Scryers for further assessment and training, or you can remain her at the estate and undergo training to learn to control your gifts.”

Cassy thought about the decision being placed before her. If she went with the Scryers, it was likely she would never get to see her sister Emily again. If she stayed here, she would have a chance to see her and might get to return to her normal duties. She looked Fletcher in the eyes, trying to gain a sense of him as a person.

After a few moments, she wasn’t able to make a judgement on Fletcher as a person but, based on his previous actions, she decided to trust him. “I will accept training her at the manor.”

“Very well, your training will begin in the morning. You will be working with Captain Reed and Mr. Davis.”

“Yes my Lord.”

“I am also having your personal quarters moved to a private room on this side of the estate. Unless you have any questions, you are free to return to my personal staff’s common room.”

Cassy nodded at Fletcher, “Yes, my Lord. I have no other questions.” What Cassy didn’t want to tell him was she was too afraid of the Scryers to risk going with them. She stood from her seat and bowed to Fletcher before leaving with Corporal Roberts, who led her back towards the common room.