"What do you mean we can't go to our classes?" Alexis said louder than she intended to.

Master Sora looked at her concerned. "It is not safe for you. The student who attacked Zoey the other day has disappeared." All five of them stared at him filled to the brim with fear.

"What do you mean he disappeared? You said that Master Terra had a room you put people that they couldn't escape from." Everyone could hear the high level of fear in Alexis's voice.

"We went back to speak with him, and when Master Terra lowered the rock wall so we could enter, the boy was nowhere to be seen. So, unless he's able to render himself invisible like you three can, he has disappeared."

No one knew what to say to him at this point. They were stuck somewhere in the middle of being extremely mad and extremely terrified.

"We plan on keeping a close eye on you guys and Zoey to make sure you're safe. This means that you need to refrain from wandering around like you tend to and sticking to the inside of the castle, which should be easier with the colder months coming in."

Master Sora walked into the classroom, and everyone followed him in. "What are we going to do?" Ana asked. Her voice was filled with terror. She'd only been at the school for a couple months and she was already in danger. She couldn't help but wonder if this was a natural thing at the school.

"I'm not sure... I don't know how we're supposed to just up and change our daily routines because some guy is out there." Alexis was frustrated with the thought of having to uproot everything she did, especially considering that she stopped him in the first place.

"Alexis, I know what you're thinking," Parker began to say. "But what if he were to surprise you. How positive are you at being able to stop a surprise attack?"

She shrugged, frustrated that it seemed like Parker was reading her mind. Alexis was noticing the closer she got to Parker, the easier it was for him to know what she was thinking. She couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Today we are moving on. We've mastered our tornadoes so now we will learn to alter our tornadoes. The end goal is to confine it into a sphere the size of a beach ball. Move around the room and begin practicing."

Everyone moved to their normal spots to start. Alexis looked at Parker and smiled. "I know that we aren't masters yet, but I feel like I could still probably handle that kid. He's only a year older than us."

Parker raised his brow at her. "I know you're strong but look what he was doing to Zoey." He was going to bring up the fact that she had beaten Caleb, but he didn't want to break Caleb's spirits.

They started working on their spheres without talking. Even though they weren't talking about it, all five of them were definitely thinking about it. Thinking about what they could personally do to help protect themselves and each other.

After thirty minutes of trying, not a single student had figured out how to confine their tornadoes that had been several feet tall to the size of a beach ball and keep it a sphere.

Parker and Ana's kept turning into a large egg that would break after a few seconds. Caleb was getting close to the spherical shape of the beach ball but couldn't keep it from breaking after a minute.

Hailee was having plenty of fun creating a perfect sphere and moving it around them. Winding in and out as they struggled to make a shape that possibly resembled a sphere.

Alexis was the closest of their group but was getting overly frustrated that she hadn't figured it out yet. She finally stopped and took a break, anything to try and regain her focus. The more times that she failed the further from a sphere her tornado would turn.

A voice whispered in their ears to return to the central clearing. Everyone made their way from within the trees around the clearing. After a few weeks of practicing the previous year no one would use the central clearing to do their practicing anymore because then almost everyone could see them if they wanted to.

"Raise your hand if you've successfully created a sphere." Hailee, who was standing behind everyone raised her hand with a smile on her face. One other hand in the room went up and everyone's heads whipped to see whose it was. "Well done Emma! How long were you able to sustain it?"

She lowered her hand and said, "Only about twenty seconds and then it popped like a balloon and knocked me on my back."

Master Sora laughed while congratulating her. "What were you thinking about when you were able to successfully create your sphere?"

She thought for a moment before responding. "I just thought really hard about wanting to turn my tornado into a sphere. It worked briefly then failed."

He thanked her for answering and moved on. "Has anyone figured out one of the most crucial keys to succeeding with your Imperial?"

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Everyone turned and looked at each other with funny expressions. No one had any clue as to what the key to succeeding with their Imperial was.

"Talk to each other for a moment. Think about what Emma said and see if you can figure it out." Everyone broke into their usual groups and began discussing.

"I have no clue," Parker said.

"Me either," Caleb agreed. "Hailee, I assume you know the answer?" She laughed and nodded. "But I also assume you won't tell us either?" She pointed at him and then tapped her nose. "I thought so."

Hailee walked away to see what the other groups were talking about. She found it very difficult to spread herself evenly around the room when her best friends were in the class.

After about five minutes of discussion, Master Sora pulled them together again. "Did anyone figure it out?"

Emma raised her hand and the master called on her, "I'm going to wait to hear your answer, let's see if the others figured it out."

April raised her hand, "Is it just hard work?"

Master Sora chuckled. "Hard work is definitely a component of it but it is not simply hard work. You all worked very hard for the past thirty minutes but only one of you succeeded."

"Focus?" Someone blurted out from the crowd of students.

"Yet another component, but you were all still focused, or at least I assume so and only one of you succeeded." A few more hands went into the air. "Alexis, think you have it figured out?"

She nodded and paused before speaking. "Does it have to do with the desire to succeed?"

"Great job Alexis! That is exactly what I was looking for!" Her group looked at her shocked. She hadn't shared her answer with them but Parker thought that she might have just figured it out.

"Now, my next question is, is desire enough?"

Everyone began talking again, determining if just a great desire to succeed would suffice or if there was more. Hands shot up around the room as groups decided what the correct answer was.

"Emma, now you may share your answer."

"Thank you Master Sora. We talked and think that it's a mix of desire, focus and determination." Master Sora clapped when she finished her answer and the class joined in.

"Great job. Those of you that had your hands raised, was your answer similar?" Most of the room was nodding their heads, whether they'd actually gotten the correct answer or not. "Now, go and practice again with what you know now and we'll come back together at the end of class."

When they all returned to the clearing for a last minute discussion almost everyone had created a sphere once for at least a minute before it dissipated.

The master clapped his hands and said, "You all did a great job today. The level of perseverance was outstanding, no matter how frustrated you may have gotten. Be proud of what you accomplished. And between us, you did much better as a whole than the third and fourth years did." He winked at them and sent them on their way.

Parker led the way to history for the day but was not in the mood to pay attention. "Hey, we're talking about this conflict our house had when the enrollment was so low." Alexis sounded excited to get to learn more about their house, even though she'd already read the chapter on it.

The class dragged by and Parker couldn't pay attention to save his life. Nothing he tried could keep his mind on the discussion. It kept going back to The House of Leith student that managed to disappear from a sealed chamber. There was only one person they knew that was able to do something like that and the thought of her return frightened him beyond imagine.

After class they met up with Eliott to see how things in his house were going. Parker couldn't imagine what it must be like to be the house of the culprit or even the house of the victim.

"It's not awful at our house right now but it's by no means going well. Master Kingston is up in arms at how no one reported anything being off with him. She refuses to believe that there were no outward signs of what he was about to do." They could tell that he was frustrated with his master, which they all understood very well. Even at that moment, they were going against their master's wishes. After classes, aside from meals, they were to remain in their house.

"I'm sorry to hear that she won't believe you guys," Alexis said.

"It's okay... just frustrating is all. And none of us even really knew the guy. He kept to himself and didn't really have many friends."

Alexis had a half glare on her face when she started to talk. "No one stepped forward and tried to befriend him?"

Eliott thought for a moment and realized that he definitely hadn't tried to befriend him, but wasn't sure about any others. He shook his head to answer her question.

"Poor guy—you know, maybe he was just really shy and afraid to make the first move when talking to someone."

Eliott took a step back and Alexis verbally assaulted him. Parker grabbed her by the shoulder making her pause. "Hey, I'm sure Eliott didn't mean to not talk to him. I mean, you can't talk to everyone and be friends with everyone. Look at us, we pretty much stick together for the most part."

Parker took a step back when Alexis glared at him. After a few moments the glare slid off of her face and her breathing calmed down. No matter how mad she may be, as of late Parker was always able to bring her back down. If he hadn't stepped in, she had no idea what might have happened. Her Fire Imperial may have shown itself on accident, just like Parker's did when he got heated talking to Hailee.

"We should probably head back to our house—" Parker said it, but was nervous as to how Alexis would react to his suggestion. She simply huffed and walked toward the stairs. Parker watched as she disappeared up the center. "Sorry about that... we were just told by Master Sora that we could be in serious danger since that guy saw who we were."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me know if I can help at all."

"Just keep an eye out for him and let us know if you see him."

They left Eliott to return to their house. When they got there, Alexis was sitting on the couch staring into the fire. She had a scowl on her face that let Parker know she was still mad. He decided he would let her sit for a while and calm down before he tried to help out.

Caleb went back to their room and Parker followed him shortly after. "Hey," Parker said, tapping Caleb on the back. He looked around the room to see if anyone else was there, but luckily no one was. They must have gone to dinner early. "Have you thought at all about him disappearing?"

Caleb turned to look at him but didn't say anything. "I don't want to think about the possibility right now—"

"So, you think it's possible too?" Parker asked. Caleb nodded his head with a sullen expression on his face.