“Tom. Tom? Tom?” Mathew prompted, bringing me back to reality.

I snapped back to reality, “Huh, what just happened?”

Mathew mainly sounded confused, “You sort of blanked out for about a minute?”

“Sorry, I must’ve gotten distracted by something.”

“It's ok if the lesson affected you, and you need longer to think things through,” Mathew reassured me as he put his hand on my shoulder. I don’t know what they did for you, but if you need to talk, I’m sure any of us are willing to talk.”

“I definitely appreciate that, and I’m here for you guys as well, but I’m fine. My brain just blanked for a few seconds, that's all.”

I felt something in my hand that I was pretty sure I didn’t before. It was a small piece of paper with writing on it that just said “Ask Jacq—Nobody” and a simple drawing of an eye on top. It felt slightly creepy in that there shouldn’t have been a way for it to have gotten into my hand. I looked over at Edward to see if he had an explanation, and he felt as confused as I was.

“So, as you clearly weren’t listening,” Mathew continued, saying whatever he was saying before my mind went empty in a mock scandal of the interruption. “We all decided that we’re going with Team Bright Sparks. Any last-minute complaints, dear leader?”

“None from me, but I still liked Unstopples.” I was mostly just glad we came to an agreement to get rid of the previous name, as we had been planning on changing it for a while. Also, completely tangentially, I just got a note that says to ask Dr Jacq about something. Does anyone want to come with it?”

Alex’s eyes showed a slight shine, “Yeah, sure, I've heard from my dad that Dr Jacq has so much weird tech stuff. I think they just keep the weird junk that previous students have made that they leave because it's broken, not what they intended or just weird junk that they didn’t care what happened to.”

“Huh, makes sense. Now I’m interested in that too as well.”

***

We arrived outside Dr. Jacq’s office after I confirmed that Bright Sparks is a good name. Mathew and Oliver went to the office to change it, and the Legends went to the common room. Cassie still needed to vent some anger, though her frustration had lessened over the course of helping us come up with a name.

I knocked on the door.

A male voice answered, “Come in. Unless it's Wash, then no, I haven’t done it yet.”

We entered the office. It was as you would expect of an easily distracted academic: shelves of books with pieces of paper sticking out, random open draws, and white boards with random equations and drawings written on them in various stages of completion. I half-recognised some of the illustrations of Shades, one of which reminded me of my aura channelling, with the two separate types interacting.

The room had a slight dusty smell with a hint of mould. Many different mugs of tea were spotted around the place, some with the bag still in it. Each was in a different state of life, as a few had clearly been there a while, and a couple had weird growths on them that Dr Jacq had started to take notes on.

Alex clearly had been right. There were weird-looking things scattered around, such as a stone monkey, a robot seemingly fighting a flower and losing, and a partially taken-apart watch. The robot clearly had caught Alex’s eye as he discreetly moved towards it.

Edward leaned against one of the walls, ignoring all the weird things on the shelves. He gave his attention to Jacq because he wanted to know what was watching us, and it clearly unnerved him. He had been more aware of it for longer than I had. Feeling like you're being stared at when no one should be able to even see you definitely would be a cause for concern.

“Huh, hi? It’s Tom Walker. I got a note that said to ask you about something on a note which was signed–”

“Nobody?” they interrupted. “Did it also appear out of nowhere or in a weird place?” A female version appeared right next to Alex. Also, tell your tech friend not to touch my stuff.”

Alex’s eyes went back to normal as he was clearly about to mess with the robot-looking thing on one of Jacq’s shelves. He stood to attention as he was caught, eyes still looking longingly to work out what made the thing tick.

“I learned my lesson to let an Eye have free rain on my collection.” His tone is like an older sibling trying to prevent his toys from being messed with.

“Yeah, you have to keep an Eye on them,” I smirked at my own joke that eye alone liked. Everyone else gave me a flat look, clearly eye rate. “And also, yes. It appeared in my closed hand after I apparently spaced out for a second after feeling like I was being watched.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Understandable why they sent you here then.” Jacq started knowingly. “I’m probably the one who knows them best or even has a vague idea they exist. The fact that you were even conscious of their presence is in itself impressive.”

“So…” I began waiting for Jacq to carry on with their explanation, and when they didn’t I carried on, “Who is Nobody?”

Jacq answered with a grin, “No clue.”

“What.” Both Alex and I looked at him blankly.

“Ok, I lie. I have about one percent of a clue.” Jacq appeared at a draw and opened it, revealing lots of small pieces of paper with writing on them. “Tell me one thing written in this drawer.”

“Ok?” I looked more closely at the drawer and read the first note I saw, “It says… wait, I need to read it again… uhh what?”

When I looked at the piece of paper, it was like trying to remember a sequence of random paint splodges. I could read the words easily, but as soon as I tried saying them out loud, the words just went out of my head. I took one of the papers to get a closer look and took a few steps away.

Alex and Jacq looked at me expectantly. “Why do I have a piece of paper in my hand?”

“Exactly!” Jacq yelled, making both Alex and I jump. “Nobody has an aura of forgetfulness that affects information about them. They might be a Mythic with a slightly unfortunate Legacy or something else.”

The mention of ‘Nobody’ made me realise the note in my hand was signed with that name. This explained why I randomly had a piece of paper in my hand; I must have been caught in one of their lingering effects.

“Only a few people are even able to be aware of them, and after a point, even their notes become forgettable. I think they might have influenced my research by making me think one of me wrote things, I am only vaguely aware of them because small notes occasionally bipas the effect of their power. It seems to be similar for you, with you feeling their effects. You don’t need to worry about it if you ever just forget why you're doing something or going somewhere that might just be Nobody helping.”

“Thanks for clearing that up then.”

“By the way, congrats on the name change. Bright Sparks is a good name, and I don’t think I forgot about your test.”

***

“So, we might be being stalked by someone that even arguably the most powerful member of staff after maybe Washington only knows little about. Definitely settles my nerves.” Edward said after we left.

I nonchalantly mentally reply, “Well, if they trust them, then it's probably fine. It's not like we can really do much about it. Plus, we have a secret person who maybe helps us because they find us interesting. Just try and focus on what we can impact.”

“If you say so.” He replied clearly that he did not agree with my assessment.

Thinking of assessments, while I hadn’t thought the threat was idle, it had reminded me to look over my notes again. As we still had the rest of the day off, it would be good to keep my mind off Nobody and Miss Smallwood’s lesson.

“Alex, go catch up with the rest of the team. I just need to stop off at the room to grab my Shade notes.”

“You got it, boss.” Alex gave me a mock salute before reassuring me. “Besides, it sounds like you have nobody to worry about, according to Jacq. Plus, on the bright side, I did manage to look at some of the code of his stuff which means more autonomous buddies in the future, so I’m glad you let me tag along.”

“I probably would have gotten lost anyway if you hadn’t.”

***

The rest of the day consisted of looking over my Shade notes and making use of the extra free time. Tatum seemed to be trying to ease the slightly more taxing lessons on us by throwing us out at the deep end, seeing if we’ll float then letting us recover after.

I’d only been here a short while, and it was already considerably different from my previous education. That had mostly been exhausting because of the volume of work, whereas here, it was more in less time. I don’t know how different it was from the academies, but it certainly was a leap for me.

It’s extremely weird, now that I had a slight break, how I am actually here. I had thought becoming a Mythic had become a pipe dream, but now I’m actually able to follow my mum’s footsteps. I looked at my hands and wiggled my fingers, causing sparks to fly as they moved faster than what should physically be possible.

Honestly, it was just neat.

Matthew yelled across the room, “Hey, Tom! Now that we’ve gotten a proper team name, have you thought about your Mythic name?”

I grin. “Of course I have. It's been in my mind longer than the team name. I’m going simple; as my powers give off blue sparks, I’m going with Blue Lightning. It's simple and classic, a colour plus a thing.”

Oliver answered next, “I might not have unlocked my Legacie yet, but the archive says it's likely something to do with teleporting, and I use a bow, so Quiver.”

Alex got up and put one leg up on the table giving a pose, “Mine will clearly be the best, I will be Upgrade!”

“I’m a rune mage so Rune,” Matthew said with no fanfare. He then turned to the Legends, “Hey, team feet, what about you guys?”

“Granet, because rocks are heavy and gra-” Cassie answered before stopping her explanation as her brain caught up with what Mathew just said, “Team feet?! Why team feet?”

“Blame Tom, he was laughing to himself earlier about how Legends is spelt leg ends, hence team feet.”

“Well, Blue Lightning is a dumb name. It sounds like you're throwing up lightning and fits better with your old team name.” Cassie mumbled, annoyed at the nickname.

“Hey! It's a good name.” I strike back, “Anyway, what about Star, Lilly and Emily?”

“I’m going with Plasma because Plasma is hot, and Cassie wouldn’t let me choose Sunny,” Star replied matter of factly.

“And I stand by that. Sunny sounds too much like a kindly grandpa, who’s too into art history, than a Mythic.”

“Maybe people want to be saved by a grandpa,” Star said defensively.

Lilly replied next, “Same Cassie shot down my original idea of Treeson, saying the pun doesn’t even work in context, so I’m being boring and going with Grass Blade.”

“And mine is Wild Spirit,” Emily answered finally.

“Nice, that's good then, as tomorrow’s lesson is about our Mythic identity; luckily, we all have at least a starting point.”