While I had expected Elias's valley to look differently than mine, seeing one of the cities in person stole my breath from my lungs. It was like walking into a different world entirely.

The main roads were paved with what looked like concrete, except I'd never actually seen that in person. It was incredibly hard beneath my feet and rough when I'd bent to touch it. Most of the buildings in the city were made of brick, some stretching up to twelve floors high, and they all had electricity. A trolley system followed a long rail down the left side of the main road. It looked like something out of a book from the library in the Sacred School.

We'd arrived nearly twenty-four hours ago and traveled to reach a nearby city where Elias had connections but wouldn't be under the thumb of his leaders. Our first stop would be to meet with a friend who Elias said we could trust to install the neural implants without asking questions. The problem was that he didn't have long to spend here before they would expect an update from him. Apparently, the time they had given him came simply from respect for his long-standing dedication to the guild, but they were growing concerned with his secrecy.

Having Piercey with us also posed a challenge because Elias would have no way to explain an identical twin. He'd chosen to have us dress like the members of a religious group in his world who covered their heads and faces in public. It did draw attention because they were a minority group here, but Elias said that he had a reputation for making connections with people outside of his guild. He'd given them the cover story that they were here to study and he'd promised to help them in return for some training that would be useful to him mastering his powers to cross worlds.

I just hoped we didn't need to explain ourselves often because the entire situation felt too vulnerable to me. So far, no one paid much attention to us, which was good, because we all gazed at the city with eyes peering out from our covered faces.

I'd noticed differences between my world and this one before reaching a populated area. Their highway system not only featured better roads but was far more expansive. While many people rode horses or walked, we saw a fair number of vehicles. Most were simple seats atop a wheeled platform that could connect with other small cars in a line. There were larger ones, however, that looked more like a carriage.

My friend had been stunned to see people traveling so far without a horse.

Their train system also cut through the countryside, carrying passengers. Leif had grumbled when he watched one of the "massive beasts" drive by, while Nash looked on with excitement, the two men surely remembering our time on top of one in very different lights.

This city, however, caused all else to pale in comparison. We walked down the streets together in stunned silence, that I finally broke with a quiet question. "You said your world needs resources." I leaned toward Elias. "Is that why you still need horses?"

"Yes. We are making progress with technology to improve our ability to mine resources and to produce our goods, but there's steep competition between kingdoms and guilds. Some guilds hoard these resources and dominate our mines to keep others from advancing. We're gridlocked in many ways, preventing us from advancing as much as we could because we're too busy sabotaging one another. The conditions you see here in the cities are far superior to smaller villages and rural areas. The guilds take on special projects in the cities to improve conditions and master new inventions. It's a competition really."

I nodded as I looked up the tall buildings. Their world had advanced much more than ours. They must have had plumbing as well and a water system because I didn't smell the stink that often accompanied so many people living in one area.

"This is incredible."

I looked over at Nash to see him looking dumbstruck. This would have been a greater shock for my friends who hadn't grown up with the library at the Sacred School. They'd explored it in the past year, but we'd been busy. This was very new to them.

On the right, we passed a building where I could see children gathered through a window. They were all standing in rows, holding small flames in their palms. "Is that a school?" I asked.

"Yes. All children go to school here. Our Sacred School is very hard to get into it. It's prestigious. In a way, every community has its own Sacred School. We each receive a basic education in utilizing our powers, which of course includes important elements of learning, such as history. Around the age of ten, once our talents begin to show, every student chooses a discipline to specialize in."

"Discipline?"

"Combat, technology, medicine, infrastructure, connections, and inventions."

"What are connections?"

"It's a complex field that combines politics, psychology, and communications. People who study this are experts at connecting, which runs much deeper than your use of it. Bringing our consciousness together in any form creates dynamic opportunities. It's one of our most versatile disciplines and it's applications vary from interrogation to community leadership."

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I shook my head. "Crazy. At least some of the disciplines make sense to me, though. You chose technology. I would be in combat."

"Yes. Each discipline has major categories of study as well. Combat, for example, breaks down into dozens of main forms, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"What's the difference between inventions and technology?" Piercey had worked closer. "I don't remember that from connecting."

"Our minds choose the important details when we connect. Things like that can often be lost. Inventions focus upon thinking outside of the box to develop uses for our powers that we have not yet considered, or by working to advance underdeveloped uses, or to create new technologies. While there is overlap with technology, traditionally, a person in technology will not be inventing but mastering and utilizing technology."

"You found a new use of power," I said.

"Yes. It's one reason I got away with keeping it a secret. It's not every day that new powers are discovered. We have millions of skills that we've developed as a civilization. It's the one thing the guilds can work together on–sharing knowledge of our neural implants. We record everything having to do with our power in a digital library that we can all access."

Wren took my elbow. "Max, we could take this information to our world."

"I can help you do that," Elias said. "We have ways to share and store information. I can send files back with you to take to the Sacred Schools."

Nash and Leif continued walking without joining the conversation. Both men seemed captivated by the sights around them. I smiled while watching them and realized that once they received their neural implants, they'd experience something even more shocking than this.

What would it have been like to grow up with everyone having power? Again, I could not help but think that this world turned out better than mine had. Sure, they had their problems, but this city was incredible. It would take hundreds and hundreds of years for my people to reach this level because so few had power and we were so caught up in war. We hadn't even explored a fraction of the uses of the neural implant that these people had.

"We have so much to learn." I crossed my arms and nodded at Piercey. "Our people need this. They must have less sickness here. It's cleaner than our cities."

Elias looked happier than I'd seen him. "Our world has so much to offer yours. If my guild manages to find a way to travel, it would be a disaster, but if we can keep the circle closed to us, then think of what we can do."

"You think the gods will allow that?" I hadn't thought Nash was listening until he spoke up just then. "It's only a matter of time before they check in with you, Max. What will they say about us mixing up their experiments?"

Chills snaked down my spine. Even seeing this would affect their experiment. I'd considered the gods and worried about this, but I'd gotten so caught up in the excitement of this city that I'd forgotten about them.

No one had any answers. It quieted the group. What if the gods did decide to shut down our worlds? They'd agreed to let us live in peace, but they didn't want us altering their experiments. They wanted their data. Could I really trust that they'd allow us to live if we defied their will?

Nash came to my side now and tilted my head up toward his face. "Dr. Drake will advocate for you. Calm down. I'm just saying that we need to think carefully about what we do here and what we bring to our world. We need to be discreet."

"He's right." Elias slowed to a slop at the door of a shorter building. "It's something we need to carefully consider."

"Is this it?" Butterflies tickled my stomach.

"It is. Are you ready?" His eyes moved from Nash, to Wren, and finally Leif.

Nash was the first one to speak. "Yes."

Wren and Leif looked at one another before also nodding.

"Good. Now, before we go in, I should explain a few things. My friend won't ask questions or look at your faces. He's discreet and can be trusted. But for any social setting, it's important to know about our practice called composure. It means to regulate how much of our power we allow others to feel at any given time."

Piercey and I did not normally need to hide our power, but I had done it frequently enough that I trusted my abilities. I doubted he would struggle very much with it either.

"Consider it the same as your voice," Elias said. "Your tone and volume, as much as your words, will speak during negotiations or discussions. It's polite to remain neutral, which is your most comfortable place of rest. However, some choose to always conceal their power until they're ready to use it. While this can cause suspicions, it is considered socially acceptable."

"What does Ashton do? In case my face is seen."

Elias grinned and rubbed the bottom half of his face. "Ashton does as she pleases in the moment. She's known for getting a little loud with her energy readings when it suits her. It's not like her to overly moderate her resting state. So when she does choose to carefully control her composure, it is very significant and telling."

"That sounds about right," Leif said.

I elbowed him. "Sounds like I can follow my instincts on that."

Elias twisted his brows. "It might have been cowardly and selfish of me to only connect with Piercey. You need the knowledge as well."

By the conflicting look on his face, I knew it truly pained him to think about connecting with me and entirely exposing himself to me–his life, his memories, his spirit. "Let's save that for if we really need it. Right now, I think we're fine."

Now that Piercey had the knowledge, I could connect with him to receive it. Elias wouldn't have to actually go through the process then. For now, I'd keep that to myself. He looked too thankful for what I'd said for me to bring it up again. The way Elias had hidden truths from me had made me focus on his differences with Piercey, but this sheepishness was all too like my friend. It softened my heart.

"We'll go inside then," Elias said. "Just follow my lead and let me do the talking."

Taking Nash's hand and meeting Leif and then Wren's eyes, we all walked forward together. When we left, these three would have power. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would be for them to learn how to control it.