The first final was English, taught by Mrs. Kraus. A 150 question multiple choice test over a cumulative total of 10 passages. Funny enough, when I first met TJ we ended up wrecking the class. He stole my breakfast, and I remember being in a bad mood that day anyways. I’m not smiling, but it’s really funny to replay the image of TJ punching through that wall over and over again.

The second final was a study block, because it was our Emblem discovery class taught by Ms. Delta. She couldn’t test us over our own Emblems or anything, so she just sat there and let us do whatever we wanted for the block. Most of us studied for the third block, but TJ called me and Mercury over. He discussed the plan to leave, and even made room for Crystal in his plan. It was crazy, and reliant on luck, but it might work. People like TJ who don’t have evolved families are forced to stay at the school during breaks, while normal people like me and Mercury get to go back to our families. While away we’d all be tightly monitored by the staff. There’s a very short period of time that we’d be able to be coordinated, where all of us could move together. Tonight, we’d have to leave tonight after we’d been sent to bed. We’re separated first thing in the morning, and forced straight from class to class and then home during the day.

Our third final was combat training, physical education. We had to fight Mr. Virgo, who taught the class, for five minutes. There was an inherent downside to going first, and a huge advantage to going last. So of course, TJ went first. So stupid. I remember fighting him within his first week here. We tied, but he really did show me how stupid I was being. He was more than just stupid. He also showed determination and drive to fight in spite of pain. I can’t help but shoot him a small glare as he goes up to challenge Mr. Virgo first, I remember the pain when he broke my back. “Asshole.”

Our fourth final was English. A terrible class taught by Mr. Kraus, and a useless class at that. We don’t do anything, he just makes sure we understand nuances in tone and extends our vocabulary. TJ asked on his first day if we were going to read any novels, and Mr. Kraus just laughed. Our test was a ton of multiple choice questions about what meaning conversations had, assuming we were overhearing them and whatnot. It was quite easy, actually.

Then we were sent to our rooms. We made it through the day, and now I’m simply waiting. Waiting for TJ to burst open my vent with Crystal and Mercury, and for those three to whisk me away from this place. What am I living in? A fairy tale? That’s stupid! They’re not my saviors or anything! They’re just some stupid acquaintances I’ve made while staying here. Acquaintances might be a little mean, maybe they’re not that. Crystal’s something more at least. A friend, I guess, if I had to put a word to it.

It’s kind of fun to have friends. Or, a friend. I don’t have multiple friends, I keep having to remind myself. I hate TJ, I don’t like him. I didn’t have a friend before now, and I can’t put my finger on why.

I didn’t need them, that’s gotta be it. I didn’t need a friend, I just needed to be the strongest person in school so I can work in the E.E.E. like my mom and uphold my family expectations. My family expectations…Would they be proud of me for dropping out of school? For leaving abruptly and running away from my life? From my birthright?

I’m a little queasy, I’m more nervous for this than anything else I’ve ever done in my life. My arms have way too much energy in them but I don’t want to move them, my nervous system feels like it’s operating in overdrive, my heart is beating way too quickly, and I want to scream.

“Hey Nia, you holding up alright?” I no longer want to scream. My heart falls to my feet and my eyes may as well fall from my face given how wide they are. Mr. White stands in front of my door, his hands in his pockets and his face as cool as can be. “Principal asked me to check up on you, his most special daughter. He thinks something crazy is gonna happen tonight so the place is on extra tight security.” My chest barely loosens, and the smallest glimmer of hope starts to dawn on me. Maybe he doesn’t know what I was planning on doing with TJ.

“The Emblem study room has three guards by it now, but they’re all unevolved. They’re only armed with some Vein weaponry, so the place may as well still not be guarded. Jasmine got moved to the principal’s office for some reason, that’s where she’s staying the night. I’m guarding the entrance once I make sure you’re ok, and you look fine. I’ll take my leave now, so I’ll see you later Nia.” He gives a lazy wave with one hand, keeping his other out of his pocket. Mr. White is an anomaly. He’s completed every mission assigned to him without fail, perfectly fulfilling any and all expectations anybody has had for him. On top of that he’s cool, and collected. There’s a sense of mystery about him because of that. I don’t know what his Emblem is, and to my knowledge the only person who does is the principal. I didn’t see him open my door to enter, but he opens the door as he leaves, and it’s only after he shuts it behind him that I remember to breathe.

I desperately try to organize the information he just gave me so I don’t forget any of it. Jasmine’s now in the principal's office, useless guards by the Emblem study, and Mr. White himself is guarding the perimeter of the school. Now where on earth is TJ!? Why is that dumbass always late to everything ever? Can’t he focus at all!

I can’t move my left arm, it's frozen solid. The vent I retreated back into is so cold it makes my lungs feel like they’re three sizes too small. My ears and nose are both stinging as blood rapidly tries to warm them. “Mercury!” I hiss at him, poking my head through the vent. I spot him with his hand on the ceiling, applying his Emblem to my vent. “What the fuck?!”

His blue eyes flicker over coldly to me, and he removes his hand. He takes a seat on his bed as though nothing’s happened. “TJ, come down. Let’s talk.” What? Why is he trying to pretend he didn’t just make Julius and Brutus look tame? I reached down to help him into the vent and he froze my arm.

“We don’t-”

“Have time for this?” He finishes my sentence, unamused. “You’ll make time. Your arm is frozen, and I won’t come with you unless we talk, and I’m the only one who can restore your arm to proper function. Nia’s Emblem wouldn’t restore proper control of your nerves to you, that arm would be numb until the day you die. Unless, we talk.” For the first time in a while, somebody’s getting on my nerves. In fact they’re really annoying me.

I drop down from the vent, and shoot daggers at him with my eyes. “What do you want to talk about? The weather? The economy? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” I talk quickly to him, sitting against the wall and crossing my arms. I start tapping my finger, it’s a new habit I picked up when I’m a little stressed, and boy am I stressed,

“You...” What does he mean, me? “Idiot.” He whispers under his breath, hardly audible. “TJ, you changed. We never got a chance to talk about India, and certainly didn’t talk about what happened after that. I was too excited that you came back at all, I forgot to check if you were still you. You sliced off Thomas’s fingers, mutilated what was left of his hand, laughing like a child. You never would have done that to anybody before. So explain yourself.”

Is that what this is about? Really? “Yeah I would’ve. Thomas was an asshole, I just didn’t have the conviction to make a scene before now. India taught me the world isn’t black and white, and the triple E taught me I need to stop keeping up appearances. I’m not gonna be nice to somebody who's just an asshole, not anymore.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“You lied.” Mercury says flatly, his eyes trained on me a little too intensely. “You wouldn’t have. That’s not who you are, you would never have gotten mad at somebody for not liking you or being an asshole.”

“Oh? Oh really?” I stand up, a little pissed off that he’s trying to act like he knows everything about me. “I think it’s only fair to fight back when somebody is being cruel. I never shy away from a fight, and I never have. Whether it was Nia, Rahj, Mr. Virgo, and I won’t shy away from this one either.” I give an underlying threat there, letting it hang in the air between us.

“Go ahead, prove my point. You have changed.” He stands up now too, crossing his arms defiantly. “TJ you never started a single one of those fights. That’s the thing. You don’t throw the first punch, you hate hurting people, and killing them is even worse.”

“That’s…!” Technically, it’s true. I made it a point that I wouldn’t throw the first punch. If I got into a fight I was going to win it, but I wouldn’t start them. “I don’t start fights now. But I’ve never had anything against hurting people, I’m fine with killing them. You don’t know me Mercury, you don’t know anything about who I am, so stop pretending like you know everything!” He’s acting way too pretentious, like he knows it all, he thinks he can talk to me about the past and who I am.

“Yeah, I do.” He states objectively, as though it’s the most natural thing in the world. “I know people who are, or were just like that. Like what you're pretending you are. That’s pretty much what I was surrounded by in this school until you showed up. Nia was just like that. If she fought you now the same way she did when you first met you’d kill each other. TJ, you would make fun of how she acted. You hated how she was so brutal, how much she seemed to enjoy hurting people. She looked for an excuse to do it, you looked for an excuse not to. Now?” He hops off his bed and stares into my eyes, “You’re worse than Nia.”

He crossed a line, I reel back and slam a fist into his stomach, sending him flying back into the wall, which he smacks against with a loud crack. “I’m not worse than Nia.” I whisper, barely keeping a hold on my emotions as I say that. I feel like I’m losing control of my rationality. My face feels exceptionally hot even though my stomach feels like it’s hosting a swarm of locusts. My forearm for whatever reason is super warm, and it feels like I have to keep my hand in a fist. “I just got smarter. People called me an idiot all the time, and I laughed it off. But they were right. Now? Now I’m smarter. I know that it’s smarter just to kill people, less loose ends. It’s not worth trying to put any time into people who obviously wouldn’t do it back to you.”

I hear him cough, and Mercury slowly pushed himself off the bed before spitting some blood out of his mouth. When he looks up at me, his eyes are the same as they were before. It drives me insane, they’re still cold. Collected as he just looks at me.

I’m wrong. His eyes aren’t cold, they look almost pleading. “TJ. Man…You met me on a whim. A random chance. You would never bite when Nia mocked you, and guess what? She ended up liking you. Nia tried to kill you three times, at least, and you didn’t care. Guess what? She’s your friend now, and she would fight for you. I know she would, because she never let Thomas mock you when you were gone. She talked about you all the time. We have fun together. People are better than you give them credit for…” He looks down and shakes his head gently, reaching out and unfreezing my arm. “You’re the one who taught me that. I can’t believe you forgot it.”

“Mercury…” People are better than you give them credit for? Yeah of course they are. I preached to Nia about that yesterday. The greatest force of good in the world is people, I know that already. Why do I feel like he’s right, that I’ve changed?

I’m going to kill the principal. Because otherwise he’s going to become a very powerful person, and he’s not somebody I think should be in that position. In order to do that I’ll be a bad person. Because in the end me being bad won’t be nearly as bad as what the principal brings about. Right? That’s my thought process, there’s not something wrong there. There can’t be. “I changed Nia. I changed you. I taught you?” I murmur to myself, thinking things through. I was trying to be nice, and people picked up on it, and they started being nicer. If that’s what things are like, that means they’re cyclical. They lead into each other, so being evil even for the greater good just makes more people assholes.

“Don’t cry, dumbass.” He murmurs to me, glancing up. His blue eyes shimmer with a thin layer of tears past his gray hair. He’s definitely talking to himself, I have to remind myself of that while I wipe my shockingly wet eyes with my sleeves.

“I’m sorry. I’m just…I’m just sweating from my eyes.”

“Yeah. I bet.” He stands up a little taller, and runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his face. “Who are you? That’s the last question I’m going to ask before I decide if I’m coming with you or not.”

I know exactly who I am. I’m Jay Jeremy Jones. I’m 17 years old now, and I was excited to come to this school. Not because I ever wanted to abuse my power, not because I considered myself evolved. I wanted to help my hometown get rich, I thought I’d get rich here too. That would help people, and I’d help other people along the way. I have the Emblem dubbed Magnesis by my predecessors, I like to make other people smile and laugh, and I’m kind of an idiot. I’m a little charismatic, I think, and I’m pretty quick-witted. “Hahaha!” It’s such a stupid question, I can’t help but laugh. I feel almost relieved, a huge grin can’t help from spreading across my face. “Dude, I’m Jay Jeremy Jones. But that name sucks. Let me reintroduce myself.” I hold my hand out towards Mercury, and snort as I realize Nia’s been waiting for me for way too long now. “I’m TJ, and I’m about to get murdered by Nia for making her wait so long.”

“I’m going to murder him.” That’s all there is to it. He’s gone too far tonight. I don’t know why I was panicking. This idiot ended up hyping me up, making me more agitated than debatably I’ve ever been in my whole life, and then forgot to pick me up?! There’s a line in the sand, and he’s swimming with the fishes. Metaphorically, and physically once I’m done with him.

A clang rings through my room from above, and while it makes my heart drop I quickly collect myself. I look up, and see both TJ and Mercury staring down at me. Something’s a little different about the two. TJ’s green eyes have a light in them that I hadn’t even realized he was missing before, and he has a stupid grin plastered on his face. It reminds me of the first time he snuck into my room, an unpleasant memory. I don’t even know how he talked me into sneaking into the kitchen that night, but I remember being floored when I saw Mercury was there too.

“Nia!” He calls out, ripping me from my memories and recalling my conscience to the present. His hand extended towards me, and an array of doubts flash through my mind.

“Yeah, I know.” I retort, grabbing his hand and climbing into the vent with him. “It took you long enough.” After my words Mercury and TJ end up looking at each other, exchanging a wordless exchange, that ends with TJ smirking.

“We got…”

“We got held up, you know how Mercury can be. Wanted to pick out just the right outfit.” TJ jokes with a snort, before getting punched by Mercury. “Ow..” I can’t miss the opportunity for my vengeance, and punch his shoulder myself. “OW!? Nia, come on! What was that for?” He exclaims in a hushed whisper, rubbing his shoulder.

“That was for being late.”

“Yeah. In hindsight I was pretty late to show up.” He remarks quietly, snickering at Mercury who rolls his eyes. Those two are so annoying, they have way too many inside jokes and gags that I just don’t get.

“Well, since we’ve gotten past that, I have some important information.” The two of them both stop crawling ahead of me in the vent, and turn to face me with almost the exact same expression on their faces. “Mr. White checked up on me a bit ago, and I was able to figure out a few things. The security tonight has been raised. The principal thought something was up, and so there are guards in the Emblem study room. Three of them, armed with Vein equipment. Then there’s Jasmine, who got moved to the principal’s office for the night.”

“Well that one’s a tough work around.” TJ murmurs to himself with a frown, furrowing his brow and tapping his finger against his chin.

“But it’s worse. Mr. White is on guard around the perimeter! There’s no way we can get past him.” Why are those two looking at me like I’m crazy? Mr. White is scary, he’s quick and deadly efficient. There’s no shot we get past him.

“Nia, Leo won’t be a problem. He’s Leo! He loves me, and he worked with me in the triple E. The principal being with Jasmine is a problem. Not insurmountable though, assuming of course, we have somebody who can…I don’t know…Turn invisible?” He looks down below us, and kicks open a latch that we were crawling over. Crystal’s blonde hair almost seems to glow in the dark, and she looks up at us with nervous eyes. “Crystal! Sorry we’re late. Now come on, we’ve gotta get out of here.”