The following week flashed by with everything that was happening. They had told the masters about Hailee, and she immediately joined in on their Omni class and private sessions.

The first few days were spent testing each different Imperial and what caused them accidentally and then what focused thoughts could control them.

Parker discovered that he could only keep his fire under control for longer than a second when he wasn't mad or frustrated. He found that when he was angry, the fire became destructive just as it had when he accidentally hit Alexis. Hours upon hours were spent learning to control his fire. Focusing his breathing so that it was smooth and controlled created energy that was required to create a controlled fire.

Hailee discovered that their Water Imperials weren't solely connected to their emotions. She found that if you weren't focused it became difficult but if you focused on the water itself, it became very natural. She spent an entire afternoon sitting by the lake watching the water. Ever since Lara's Imperial vanished, the lake no longer looked like a sheet of glass; small waves rolled into the shore. Hailee noticed the way the water came and went with a natural, graceful flow. She then took that into working with her Water Imperial.

They had figured out the basics for those two Imperials but were still struggling with the others. One day after class, Parker caught Eliott on their way out. "Hey, can we talk? Somewhere private?"

"Sure!" Eliott responded cheerfully. He was always happy to help out. They walked out of the school and stood by the bridge looking over the lake. "What can I do you for?"

"You're one of the few that know about us. I was wondering if you could help us with our Water Imperials. We've got the basics down and figured out how it works for us, but I think we could use some more help."

"Absolutely! That sounds like a blast!"

"Where are we going to practice though?" Parker asked. "I mean, we can't really do it out here."

"There's a room on the sixth floor that has a ton of water in it. We can meet there some time. But if you understand how it works, then what's the issue?" Eliott was intrigued by what Parker could need help on at this point. He knew once you had the basics down, it was just practice.

"Well, after talking with Master Kingston for hours we found that it's much more difficult for the three of us because it's not a part of our natural chemistry." Parker saw the confused look on Eliott's face and tried to clear things up. "Because we weren't born Water Imperials, it doesn't come naturally to us."

"Oh... that makes absolute sense! So, yeah. I'll do anything you guys need!"

"You're a life saver! Thank you so much."

-----

The next day, Parker, Alexis and Hailee met up with Eliott and were led to the sixth floor. "Here we are," Eliott said pointing to a wooden door.

Eliott opened the door and led the way in. Parker couldn't believe what he saw. He always felt that their main meeting room was the best with its open grass areas and trees, always feeling so peaceful. After seeing this room, he wasn't so sure. It was filled with several small ponds and beautiful grassy hills. A few trees were scattered throughout the room. It was the size of their Air Imperial class spreading across several rooms.

"This is gorgeous Eliott," Hailee said. "Is this one of your classrooms you go to?"

"Yeah, this is where we hold our Water Imperial class when it's too cold outside. Apparently, it didn't get a whole lot of use until last year when Lara's Imperial disappeared."

"Oh yeah... I forgot about how cold it got outside last year, and all of the snow that came." Eliott almost asked how they could forget but remembered that they went missing for months when they were trying to stop Lara.

"All right, show me what you know so far." He watched as the three of them started to move the water in one of the ponds. Between the three of them, they were only able to get the water to swish around some but none of them were able to move the water outside of the pond. "Hm... what's going through your minds right now?"

Eliott could see each of them thinking about that. Parker was the first to speak. "I'm thinking about the time we played The House of Leith in Aether last year. Thinking about the way your players moved around the field."

"I'm thinking about how the water moves in the lake outside," said Hailee.

Alexis said, "I don't really know right now. I just want to figure this out."

Eliott made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Well, there's the problem. I want you each to try and move the water in the pond by yourself."

They each took a turn and it turned out that only Hailee was able to move the water. "You have to focus on the water itself. This part doesn't tie into any happy memories," he said looking at Parker. "And it definitely won't work if you're not focused.

Eliott motioned for them to step to the side and watch what he did. He moved his body like he was the water going in and out of the shore. It was smooth and fluid. He then moved his hands along with his body. The water in the pond began to move slowly and then started to lift into the air making the same motion as Eliott. He stopped his movements and the water fell straight back into the pond.

"I focused my mind solely on the movement of the water and made my body do the same. Now you give it a try." Eliott watch as Parker followed the same motions as he had but the water didn't budge. "What are you thinking about Parker?"

He stared at him, clearly frustrated that the water hadn't moved. "I did what you said. I focused solely on moving the water."

"No, no, no. I said focus on the movement of the water."

Parker threw his hands in the air. "What's the difference?"

Eliott laughed at how frustrated Parker already was. "You need to breathe Parker. Take a break for a minute. Alexis, give it a try."

"Okay!" She said with a chipper voice. "I just focus on the movement of the water. I take it you mean how the water actually moves?"

"That's exactly what I mean. Focus on how it moves naturally, as though you weren't doing anything."

Alexis stepped forward and started to sway. She relaxed her shoulders and just let the motion take over. After a moment she moved her hands as well but the water stayed still. "What am I doing wrong? It felt right!"

"Did you stay solely focused on the movement of the water?" He eyeballed her suspiciously. "For now, that's the only thing that can be on your mind. Once you've mastered this part, then you will start to multitask with your thoughts to make the water do different things."

Hailee stepped forward. "Let's see if I can do it better than before." She stood still and breathed deeply. She took a loose stance and started to sway in spot. As she began to sway her hands the water started to shift. After a second she raised her hands in the air and the water followed. Hailee cheered with joy and the water fell back down.

"That was great Hailee, what were you focused on?" Eliott patted her on the shoulder congratulating her.

"I thought about my time by the lake, watching the water come to and from the shore."

"That's a perfect thing to focus on. Now I want you to each go to a different pond and work on mastering that."

They spent about two hours working at the ponds until they had it down pat. Parker learned quickly that he needed to learn to control his thoughts. He had to put his back to Alexis so that he could think just about the movement of the water. If he could see her he couldn't stop thinking about her. He was so glad that she wasn't mad at him anymore.

Stolen novel; please report.

"You two improved so much! I'm proud of you. Next time, we'll work on moving the water through the air to a different place." They all left and went to dinner.

Caleb and Ana were sitting at a table together saving seats for the three of them. Hailee hesitated a second before taking her seat next to Ana. She was back on speaking terms with Caleb, but she still wasn't a fan of Ana, even though Ana was a nice person, she couldn't help how she felt about her.

"How'd it go?" Ana asked. "I wish I could've seen you guys practice. I still think it's so cool!"

All four of them shushed her quickly. "Don't talk about it so loud."

"Sorry... I thought we only had to keep Caleb a secret—" she whispered to the group.

"No one else knows about Hailee besides Eliott." Parker said. "But, yes, it went well overall. We're moving on to something new next time."

"That's awesome! Congrats! How is everyone feeling about the duel tournament starting in two weeks?" They discussed this for a while and came to the conclusion that everyone was fine with it. Parker, Alexis and Hailee had control over their Air Imperial, so they weren't worried about that. They just had to stay focused so nothing else slipped through or they would get disqualified.

-----

"Parker Gray and Eliott Chou, please take your positions on the field." Master Sora directed them to their dueling arena on the Aether field. It was a circle twenty feet in diameter. "The rules are simple. Either render your opponent incapable of continuing or knock them out of the ring twice.

The boys stared at each other for a moment. "Good luck Eliott."

"Good luck!"

Parker felt that he had a slight advantage having worked with him for the past couple of weeks. He had an idea of what Eliott was capable of, but Eliott did not know what Parker could do with his Air Imperial.

They bowed to one another and took their stances. Parker attacked quickly with a low blast of air that swept at Eliott's feet. He jumped into the air and launched a ball of water at Parker that was quickly deflected.

Parker watched his movements carefully and was able to predict several of his attacks. It looked as though they were at a stalemate for several minutes until Eliott pulled a large stream of water from the edge of the field and shot it at Parker. It crashed into him faster than he expected pushing him out of the ring.

"One point to Eliott."

They took their positions again but looked around the room before beginning again. There were three other duels going on at the same time. One headmaster at each of the duels. Up above them sat the rest of the students who were watching. On tournament days, all classes were canceled, and because there was only one first year student, the headmasters got to referee instead of run class.

The two boys bowed again and started. Parker held off to see what Eliott was going to do. He saw the same movement as before. Parker saw a large stream of water start to come out of the trench at the edge of the field. He kicked a burst of air and broke up the stream of water.

Eliott hadn't expected this move from Parker and he hesitated for a moment causing the water to fall to the ground. In that moment, Parker shot a blast of air from each hand at Eliott. Eliott jumped to the side to dodge but was hit by the second burst of air. When he landed again he looked down and saw that he was outside of the ring.

"One point to Parker Gray. Final round to determine the victor." Parker thought he saw nerves on Master Sora's face, as though he might make some mistake.

They took their positions again. Parker looked at him and said, "No hard feelings no matter what happens?"

"Absolutely!" Eliott exclaimed. Parker was glad he'd made friends with him. If it hadn't been for Eliott, he wouldn't be able to control his Water Imperial but now he had a good enough grasp of it to understand how to predict others' attacks.

They bowed and began. Eliott began moving around the outer rim of their circle. Parker mirrored his movements. When Eliott took a step forward, Parker spun his hands in a circle, as though he were making a snowball.

Around Eliott's left foot a ball of air appeared. Eliott looked down to see what was happening and Parker began moving Eliott around by his foot. He panicked not knowing how to get out of it.

"Got you!" Parker yelled. He whipped his hands to the side and the ball of air sped in the same direction. Just as it reached the edge of the ring Eliott threw his weight in the opposite direction. He did it with enough force to break out of the foot lock he had been in.

Eliott hit the ground hard and turned to look at Parker. Parker had jumped in the air and was coming down like he was going to kick Eliott in the stomach.

Parker's foot hit the ground with enough force to leave a divot in the field. Eliott thought that he had missed him but a split second after a burst of wind hit him in the stomach. It took his breath away and he had to tap out.

"Parker Gray will move on to the next round. Great duel you two." Master Sora walked away without saying anything else. Parker felt weird that the master was acting so distant but he figured that the master had to try and be as unbiased as possible.

Parker walked over and helped Eliott to his feet. "Great duel Eliott."

"Thanks, you too!" Eliott wheezed as he said it, still trying to regain his breath. The two of them made their way up to the stands just in time to see Alexis deal the final blow to Cesily. They stayed to watch a few more matches before they left. Caleb and Ana weren't due to go on until the afternoon and Hailee's duel wasn't until after dinner.

"Let's go grab some lunch!" Hailee said. "You guys definitely earned it! I can't believe we already have two in the second round."

Lunch passed by and it was time for Caleb and Ana to go on. They were upset that they had to be on at the same time so they couldn't watch each other. Luckily they were on opposite sides of the field so they wouldn't be able to see each other.

"I'll watch Caleb, you watch Ana." Parker suggested. She shrugged and walked over to watch. Hailee stuck by Parker's side to watch Caleb duel.

Parker looked down to see who Caleb was facing because he had never heard of the person's name. Caleb was staring up into the face of an Earth Imperial that was two heads taller than him. "Oh dear..." Parker said. Hailee heard him but didn't know why he said it. When she saw what Parker reacted to she said the same thing.

"Well, I hope his size becomes his advantage." Parker stared at her like she was crazy.

"You mean Caleb right? Not the monster he's staring at."

"Of course I mean Caleb!"

The two bowed to each other and Caleb sent three bursts of air as fast as he could at his opponent. The first one missed his head, but in ducking he caused himself to get struck by the second and third bursts. The second hit square in stomach making him bend forward while the third swiped his feet out from under him dropping him flat on his face. He wasn't moving and then after what felt like minutes, Master Keegan declared Caleb the victor.

When Caleb made his way into the stands Parker was cheering like crazy. "That was amazing! How'd you come up with that?"

"Well when I first looked at him I thought I was going to end this match with my own death. But then I thought I would use his own size against him."

"Like I said, that was fantastic!" They all walked over to watch Ana finish her match. Parker saw the way Hailee look at her, a look that hoped she was going to lose.

"It's one to one," Alexis said. "The two points went so fast but this third one isn't."

Ana circled around the outside rim just as Eliott had. She then ran to the center and created a dome of air around her that increased in size. Her opponent didn't know what to do. She tried to hit her with several streams of water but they just bounced off of the dome. Nothing she did could get through. Eventually, the dome grew large enough that she had no place else to go and teetered out of the ring.

"The duel goes to Ana Rey! Great duel." Master Kingston sounded like a robot. Parker figured that by this point in the day they were probably getting rather bored.

Dinner came and went. It was getting close to time for Hailee to duel. Ana asked her if she could talk for a minute away from the group. They stepped to the side of the room but didn't realize that Parker could still hear them.

"Did I do something to you?" Ana asked.

"What makes you say that?" Hailee said sheepishly, trying to hide the fact that she'd been caught.

"You give me such a cold shoulder I might as well ask Parker to actually freeze my shoulders."

"No, it's nothing you did. I'm just trying to figure something out."

Ana glared at her before responding. "Is it Caleb? I can tell that you like him."

Hailee faced glowed bright red. "What? Why would you think that?"

"Hailee... it's so obvious. It's written all over your face." Hailee remembered having almost that exact same conversation with Alexis last year about Parker.

"Is it really?" She could feel the heat in her face spread to the rest of her body.

"Do you want me to back off? I know that I've been rather flirty with him. I didn't know that you liked him so much."

"I feel like a horrible person asking you to back off. But wait, how did you figure out I like him so much. You can't tell that just from my face." Her body got a little more heated.

"Well, Alexis may have said a little something. But I will back off. You were here first. I hope it works out for you guys." Ana said it with little conviction. Hailee wasn't sure if she could believe what Ana was saying but she couldn't do anything better than just take it and be happy.

"Thank you Ana. I appreciate it." Ana smiled and went back to the group. Hailee made her way to the field with the biggest smile of her life stretched across her face.

Parker whispered into Alexis's ear, "I can't believe you told Ana that Hailee likes Caleb." Alexis's face had guilt written all over it and she was nervous at what had been discussed between the two of them. However, when she saw Hailee's face below in the ring, she knew that it was good news.

Hailee's match was over faster than Caleb's had been. She did a jump, spin, kick so hard that it blew The House of Kenna student into the side wall knocking him unconscious.

The four of them met her at the floor ten door and congratulated her with big hollers. Caleb gave her a big hug which made her day, even more than blowing away her opponent.

"So when is the second round?" Ana asked.

Hailee responded which shocked both Parker and Alexis. "Well tomorrow are the duels for fourth, fifth and sixth years. Then second round is at the beginning of next term so about three weeks from now."