A flame struggled for life in Parker's hand as sweat poured down his face. “Come on Parker, you can do this!” He could hear Alexis cheering him on as they sat in the grass hidden by the trees in room 23-D. It was just Parker, Alexis and Caleb because no one wanted anything to do with them since the incident.

"I don't know why it's so hard now! On exam day I made a fire tornado, now I can't even make a candle flame without wearing myself out."

Caleb patted Parker on the shoulder. "It'll be okay. You'll get there. Think about how long it took me and I just had the masters to help me. You both have me to come to for advice. I've already been through it."

"But Caleb, I not only can't make a flame, I can't control my Imperial anymore either. It's like Lara took almost all of my ability away. Like she wanted it all but left enough to frustrate me."

"Parker, it'll be okay. We'll figure out how to harness our new abilities," Alexis said, sounding as optimistic as ever. The look on Parker's face doubted that Alexis was right.

"It's only been a week Parker. It took me over a month to even begin getting the hang of it. I think if you let yourself calm down, things will start improving." Caleb was doing his best to try and lift Parker's spirits. He knew first-hand what it was like to be frustrated to the point of wanting to walk out of the castle and give up. His friends didn't know that about him, and he had no plans of ever telling them. Especially now that they were in his exact shoes from a little less than a year ago.

The sun was beginning to set, so the three of them made their way down to the Regale to eat dinner before calling it a night. They walked through the corridor and stared down the center of the castle. The giant empty cylinder, that was the middle of the spiral stairs, looked threatening ever since exam day.

Parker leaned his head over the short wall and gulped. "I hate this! I was like the top Imperial in our class! Now, I can't even fly down to the main floor. It's like I'm a first timer all over again!"

"There's nothing wrong with that Parker," Alexis was trying to sound uplifting. "Think about it. You are starting as a first timer. Except this time, you not only can control the air, but all of the other Imperials as well."

Parker lifted his eyebrows, thinking about what she said. "We don't even know if we can control each Imperial Alexis. We just assume so since I created that fire tornado and you froze the room. Those are the only two other Imperials that we've been able to control so far. What makes you think we can actually control each of the Imperials?"

Alexis turned her head sharply and started walking down the stairs. Parker's mind flashed back to the night he snapped at her the last time. He chased after, "Alexis! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to snap at you, promise! Please forgive me…" She could hear in his voice that he was being genuine.

"I just don't need…" Alexis had stopped to continue her sentence and Parker crashed into her knocking her over. He was standing over her trying not to crash down on top of her. Instead, a small girl with a long black braid stumbled over her and almost went tumbling down the stairs.

Caleb grabbed her by the arm to keep her from falling. "Don't worry! I got you." The girl turned around to thank him and when she saw him, his eyes went as wide as dinner saucers. He immediately recognized her as the girl from the library he had met the previous year.

"Thank you," she said. Her cheeks began to flush as she looked into Caleb's eyes. "Hey… haven't I met you before?"

Caleb could see the fear in his face reflecting off of her dark rimmed glasses. "Uh… I'm not… sure…"

Parker and Alexis hadn't moved. They were both staring at what was happening right next to them. Each of them had recognized her immediately as well. Parker looked down at Alexis and they exchanged a silent conversation, both confused as to why Caleb wasn't saying that they had met.

"Well… I hope you have a good evening," the girl said. She turned and started to walk down the stairs. Caleb just stood in the same place staring at her as she walked away.

Neither Parker nor Alexis said anything for a few moments. Alexis had gotten back to her feet and was whispering to Parker. "That's definitely the House of Leith girl he met in the library right?"

Parker nodded his head. "Yeah, that was her. How could you forget that braid? It's the longest one I've ever seen. I bet she's never cut her hair before."

"Caleb, you okay?" Alexis asked. He didn't say anything back but started to walk down the stairs. They followed suit, figuring he would say something soon. The walk down twenty-three floors was a long one, plenty of time for conversation.

Parker and Alexis had picked up where they left off before the run-in with the small girl. "Look Parker, I understand that you're frustrated. But why do you have to snap at me each time you get frustrated. I don't understand that. All I did was try to help."

"I know… I said I was sorry. I don't know why I snap. It just pops out of me at times." She eyeballed him for a minute and continued moving.

"She's beautiful…" Caleb said.

Parker and Alexis both came to halt. "What was that?" they said in unison, something that seemed to be happening more often.

"That girl…" he said. "She's beautiful."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

They both looked around to see whom he was talking about. No one was near them at this point. The small girl had disappeared below them, most likely in The Regale.

"Why didn't you say anything to her then?" Alexis said, figuring out who he was talking about.

"What should I have said?"

"I don't know, maybe, Hi, I'm Caleb. I think you're stunning?" He didn't find Parker's suggestion very amusing.

"Are you crazy? I can't just say that!"

"I was kidding Caleb. But you could've said hi and introduced yourself. Maybe then you would have learned her name."

Caleb didn't say anything, but looked disappointed in himself for staying quiet.

They arrived in the dining hall and saw Hailee sitting by herself. "Hey guys! How's it going?" Alexis told her all about the girl they ran into and how Caleb thought she was cute. Hailee didn't look overly pleased with the fact that Caleb thought this random girl was beautiful but didn't say anything about it. "Is everything getting better?" she said, staring at Parker.

He was staring past Hailee as she talked to him. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and made him jump. "Hey! Is everything getting better?" He just shook his head, trying not to think about how terrible he had been doing earlier.

"I'll be right back…" his voice trailed off as he made his way to the head table. Kids at the tables he passed stopped mid-conversation to stare at him as he approached the masters. The dining hall became uncomfortably quiet. He noticed that the amount of talking had significantly decreased the closer he got to the head table. It hadn't become silent. He could hear whispering from behind his back, which he was sure was about him.

"May I help you Parker?" Master Sora said after taking a drink from his glass. Parker turned his head quickly and everyone turned their heads and quickly continued their conversations like they hadn't paused to stare at him.

"Master… I need to improve. This is killing me and on top of that, you clearly just saw how everyone is looking at me. Something needs to change, and I don't see the latter happening."

"I understand your frustration Parker, just give it some time. The students will move past it and forget and you'll learn to control your abilities again."

"No! You don't understand!" The whole dining hall grew silent. No one had ever seen another student yell at one of the masters, let alone in the dining hall in front of everyone.

Parker turned around and stormed out, ignoring all of the leering eyes. Alexis just watched as he walked past her without even glancing. She got up and ran after him as he rounded the corner heading for the stairs.

"Parker, wait up!" She was panting slightly as she caught up with. She grabbed his wrist and stopped him at the base of the stairs. Without saying anything, she guided him to the middle of the staircase. "Breathe slowly now."

Parker closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. He felt like he was hyperventilating. "You need to calm down Parker… take a deep breath." Her words were helping bring Parker down from the rush of anger passing through him.

His breathing evened out and he began to calm down. "Remember, last year we were told to empty our minds and gently wave our hand to feel the air move around our palm."

He slowly lifted his hand out in front of him and could feel the air begin to turn in his palm. But this hadn't been where he was struggling. What he wanted to be able to do again was fly.

With his eyes closed, he couldn't tell that they were the only ones in the corridors. The stairs were completely empty. All of the students were either in other parts of the castle or in the dining hall. "Do you trust me?" Alexis whispered.

Parker kept his eyes closed and silently nodded his head. She grabbed him firmly right above the elbows and pulled him close to her. She created a cyclone of wind around them. It slowly lifted them off the ground about six inches. To Parker though, it could've been thirty feet. A moment later they touched down on the ground again.

"Thank you Alexis. I really needed that." She could see how much his mood had changed. Her heart started racing and she could feel her cheeks growing redder by the second.

"I just wanted to help you," she said.

"I appreciate it. I really do. Sorry again for snapping at you. I promise to work on controlling that so it doesn't happen again." She didn't need to respond; he knew that she had accepted his apology.

They started to walk up the stairs and students seemed to appear out of nowhere, like they'd been there the whole time. Kids popped up right in front of them and behind them as soon as their feet touched the staircase. Alexis looked at Parker, confused. "There wasn't anyone here a minute ago right?" she whispered into his ear.

The bustle of students moved around them, as they stood motionless at the bottom step of the stairs. "It was definitely just us a moment ago…" he assured her.

"What are you guys doing?" Hailee asked from right behind them. "Why are you just standing there?"

"Hailee? Where'd you come from?" Hailee looked at Alexis confused now.

"What do you mean? Caleb and I just walked right up to you. You were both just standing there doing nothing." Caleb nodded his head, confirming what Hailee was saying. "Did something happen?"

Alexis explained everything that happened from the moment she ran after Parker. Neither of them could make heads or tails of how it seemed everyone popped out of thin air. "Maybe the masters will be able to help?" Caleb asked.

They all turned around and made their way back to the dining hall. When they turned the corner, everyone was gone. All of the round tables had been returned to their resting spots in the floor. The head table was no longer there either. They had never seen it disappear from the room like the other tables.

"I wonder where they went off to," Alexis said.

"Not sure… maybe back to their chambers," Parker said.

Parker led them back to the staircase to go to Master Sora's chambers. Ever since they returned from Lara's parallel realm she took them to, they couldn't help but glance at the place in the wall that held the secret corridor.

When they made it to Master Sora's chambers, the door was ajar. Yelling could be heard through the crack. Parker immediately knew that it was Master Sora and Master Keegan arguing again. "Man, for two masters who've worked together for so long, they sure do argue a lot." Everyone nodded, agreeing with him.

Master Keegan stormed out, almost plowing right through all four of them. He apologized in a grumpy voice and then stormed off. Parker poked his head in a little, not able to see anything better than he could from the hallway. "Um… Master Sora…" he called into the room.

Master Sora appeared from around a corner of books. The look on his face showed that he knew he'd been caught.

"What was that all about?" Alexis asked.

"Nothing to worry about. What can I do for you?"

They filled him in on everything that happened. He listened very carefully, so as to not miss any details.

"Hm… It could have something to do with your new abilities…" he mumbled to himself soft enough that none of the others could understand it. "I believe that we need to start training you on your new abilities starting tomorrow. I know it's break and you still have about three weeks until classes…" He looked at them ready to be met with moaning and groaning but the look on Parker and Alexis's faces said otherwise. They were more than ready to start training properly with the masters, not just Caleb.

"When do we start?" Parker asked.