"Tell me everything you can," Parker said interrogating Eliott, again.

"I told you, I didn't really know Colton."

"But is there anything you can tell us about him? We know he was quiet. Was he a good Imperial? Did he struggle?"

"Parker. I. Don't. Know. How many more times can I say it?"

Parker huffed but refused to give up. He had to figure something out. "Is there anyone that would know?"

"Maybe—" Eliott began to say. A smile stretched across Parker's face. "I'll ask around and see if there's anything I can find out for you. But no promises okay?"

Parker's smile grew immensely. "That's all I'm asking for!" They shook hands and Eliott turned around and entered his common room. He figured there was a chance that he could actually enter The House of Leith without setting off their traps but knew that everyone inside would know he didn't belong.

Thinking about how Master Sora said that Omnis used to be open about it made him slightly jealous. He wished the others in the school would just accept it completely. His house and a few select others were the only ones who would still talk to him. Everyone else just kept a wide radius whenever he was near.

He made his way back to The House of Erion common room and crashed on the couch. Leaning his head back, he moaned loud enough to gain everyone's attention.

"What's wrong Parker?" Alexis asked.

"Eliott still doesn't know anything!"

Caleb laughed quietly. "Did you think his answer would change overnight?"

"It's already been two days since Cassidy was attacked! Who knows how soon Lara is going to attack again!"

Ana interrupted, "How do we know that the attacks are happening in the corridor?"

"Well, let's see," Parker said sarcastically. "We've found four different people in the same spot in that corridor. Where else do you think it's happening?" He finally snapped at Ana when asking his question. Frustration had put him past his limit.

"I don't think those ice burns could happen on the spot like that," she said. "I think that Lara is taking them somewhere first."

Everyone stared at her waiting for her to continue. She sat in thought for a moment before Alexis rushed her. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, Cassidy wasn't at our practice this entire last week."

Everyone stared at her again. "You've been having practices? Season just ended."

"Evelyn wants us ready to go for next year. And she said that she wants you two back as soon as possible."

"Why didn't you say that Cassidy hadn't shown up though?" Parker asked.

"None of us really thought anything of it. She's been working really hard on her homework and studying lately so we figured she just couldn't make it."

Alexis put her hand on her chin, deep in thought. "That sounds just like Cassidy, but it's also very unlike her to miss a practice. I don't think she missed a single one last year."

They all sat and pondered for a moment before anyone else spoke. "Do you think we should tell the masters about this as well?" Ana asked.

"I say we do some investigating before we jump to conclusions. We can ask around and see if any of the three who were attacked before noticed if they'd been missing."

-----

"What'd you find out?" Alexis asked.

"Eliott still doesn't know anything. I'm not sure if he actually wants to help us. He always seems like he does but never returns with any information." Parker was visually upset that Eliott hadn't found anything out for him.

"Maybe he just can't find anything out that we don't already know." Alexis was quick to defend him, assuming the best in everyone as she always did. "I think you should give him a little more time, or even offer to help him." Parker considered what Alexis suggested and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, it turns out that Riley had missed a few study sessions she was supposed to have with Marianna so that could verify our theory," Alexis said with an inquisitive look on her face. "What'd you find out about Philip, Caleb?"

"I asked Corinne and she said that she had classes with Philip but didn't know him very well. She told me to go talk to his friend Jared. When I talked to him he said that Philip had missed several classes before he was found in the main corridor." Everyone smiled when Caleb told his news. After a second of smiling, they realized that they'd felt happy the victims had been missing for a while beforehand. This realization quickly turned their smiles into flat, emotionless expressions.

"Hailee, did you find anything out about Liam?" She shook her head. "Well, three out of four is still pretty good evidence, right? Wait, aren't Liam and Eliott like best friends?"

"Yeah, why?" Parker asked.

"Did you not ask him about Liam when you talked to him?"

Parker's expression changed. "I didn't know I was supposed to. I thought I was just asking about Colton, like I have been."

"It didn't occur to you to ask Eliott about his friend?" Parker shrugged and apologized. "Well, how about you ask him the next time you see him, which will be in class."

-----

The castle was covered in snow and the lake had frozen over. Very few of the students spent any time outside. Parker noticed, that for the most part, only members from The House of Leith would go outside in the snow because they could control the water inside the snow. It always made for a good snowball fight.

One day when the snow was coming down heavy, Parker and Caleb went to join in a game that had just started. They joined Eliott's team but after a few moments of playing, the other team quit and went inside.

A boy who had been on the other team whispered something to Eliott before he joined the others. Parker looked at him as he received the mysterious information and gave Eliott a questioning look.

"What was that about?" he asked trying to figure out what was wrong with them joining the game.

Eliott wouldn't make eye contact with Parker and began gently kicking the snow at his feet. Parker could tell that whatever the kid had told Eliott wasn't going to make him jump with joy.

"Well... the others just don't think it's very fair for you to be on one of the teams." Eliott said it in a way that sounded like he meant the both of them but the others didn't know anything about Caleb, so he knew that they meant just him.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Oh." was all Parker could say. He turned and made his way back into the castle alone.

"Is he going to be okay?" Eliott asked Caleb, not knowing that Parker was still within earshot of their conversation.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I think he's just tired of people treating him differently just because of the accident. Heck, if it wasn't for Lara, there wouldn't be an issue at all. It used to be accepted if you were an Omni, she had been super popular in the school."

Parker had slowed down to make sure he didn't miss anything but made sure that he looked like he was still making his way inside.

"That's fair. I feel bad for him..."

With that, Parker sped up. He didn't want other people's pity for him. He was doing just fine. All he wanted was for everyone else to get over themselves.

The others had just been acting ridiculous. If they were smart, they'd let him be on someone's team because it would give them an advantage. He wasn't nearly as good with his Water Imperial as they were.

Rising through the entrance into the common room he saw that no one was there. He wondered where everyone was, it was very unlike the common room to be empty in the middle of the afternoon. Typically, it was filled with idle chatter and kids studying.

He made his way back to his room which was also empty. Plopping down into bed he stared out of his window. The snow continued to fall, getting thicker by the minute. It reminded him of last year when Lara had taken away her Imperial.

After a little while, he decided to get out of bed and get some studying done. History was starting to get easier for him, but it still wasn't easy. The strategies that they'd come up with the previous year were still working for him, although now he had a few different techniques to use while studying. He could focus each different topic with a different Imperial, at least, once he learned all his Imperials.

The dining hall had been packed that evening right as dinner started. Normally, dinner would start, and students would trickle in throughout. It made for a very crowded, and extremely loud dinner.

Parker had wanted to talk to Caleb about what had happened earlier, but he didn't feel like yelling an entire conversation about his insecurities with everyone else around. The last thing he wanted was for Alexis to pity him also because of the way others were treating him. He knew that she meant nothing but good intentions, but he couldn't help but let it hit his nerves.

The masters sat at the front of the room as usual, having a lively conversation. Parker always wondered if the students who sat at the front of the dining hall could overhear anything the masters talked about.

He turned his head when he felt a tapping on shoulder. "What?"

"Have you talked to Eliott yet?" Alexis asked.

"Have I...?" His eyes widened. "Oops..." He realized that he'd had the perfect opportunity to ask him earlier that day and completely missed it because he had been pitying himself. His thoughts were always focused on keeping others from pitying him for what happened and he realized that he'd been doing just the same thing to himself.

"Don't worry," Caleb chimed in. "I talked to him when you left."

Parker dropped his head, glad that Caleb had picked up his slack but was still upset with himself.

"He said that Liam had disappeared for a while, but he didn't think anything of it because they would go through spurts of hanging out a lot and not."

"We need to go tell the masters." Hailee said it with certainty, not asking for the groups’ permission or opinion. She stood up and started to make her way to the head table. Parker ran to catch up with her and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Hailee, wait a second," he said trying to stop her. "What are you even going to tell them?" He managed to stop her for a moment, but it had been too late. Many other students had noticed their miniature scene in the aisle along with the masters as well.

Hailee wriggled her wrist free and approached the masters. "How may I help you Hailee?" Master Sora asked.

"We need to talk about the attacks."

"Not here. Meet us in my chambers shortly." One after the other, the four headmasters of the school walked single file out of the dining hall. The room had fallen silent and everyone watched as the masters disappeared into the corridor.

When Hailee began making her way back to her table, everyone's heads turned to her. She could see Parker standing in the same spot she'd left him a moment earlier. Her table was dumbfounded that she had told them.

Slowly, chatter began again in the hall but at a very low level. Hailee made her way to the master's chambers without waiting for her friends. Parker was close on her tail, but still far enough away that he couldn't talk to her without drawing more attention to themselves.

Taking a few running steps, he was able to catch up to her before she could fly up the center of the stairs. "Hailee, wait a second." He was panting from trying to catch her. "Please."

"What? You can't stop me from talking to them."

"I'm not trying to stop you. I just want to know what you're going to say."

Her eyes cleared a little and her body loosened slightly. She'd been so focused that she hadn't considered he wasn't trying to stop her.

"All I wanted to know was what you'd say so that I could back you up. I want to tell them about it as well, but I think we should plan out what we tell them, don't you?"

She nodded slightly, a little embarrassed that she'd jumped to conclusions. "I'm sorry... It's just been a rough day."

Parker's face scrunched up in confusion. "What do you mean a rough day? I haven't seen you much, did something happen?"

Her face dropped and she said something inaudible making Parker lean in to try and hear her. "Sorry... I didn't hear what you said."

"I hate my mother! That's what I said!" She snapped, louder than she intended but she hadn't been sorry about it either.

Parker backed away a step without responding. He stared at her not sure what to say. There was no answer that popped to mind, making him uncomfortable. It was unlike him to be unable to help out or at least offer an uplifting word of advice.

"It's my birthday Parker." His eyes widened, realizing that he'd completely lost track of what the date was. He couldn't believe that he hadn't realized it was her birthday and Christmas Eve. She'd mentioned it to him not long after they'd gotten back from the run-in with her mom. They'd missed all of Christmas and the New Year with everything that had happened the previous year.

"Hailee... I'm sorry." Parker said nothing else. Hailee turned and stormed up the center of the stairs. She shot straight up in the blink of an eye. He'd barely seen her before she disappeared out of the center.

"Where'd she go?" Alexis asked when they caught up to him.

"She went to the master's chambers."

They all slowly rose through the center of the stairs. Parker was still nervous about flying from time to time, even though it had been weeks since he'd had any sort of an accident controlling the right Imperial at the right moment.

The door was cracked open when they arrived. "Do you hear anything?" Alexis asked, not wanting to be the first to enter.

"Just go in," Parker said pushing past her and opening the door. The masters and Hailee were staring at them as they appeared in his cramped office.

"We were waiting. What is it that's so important?" Master Sora looked upset that they'd taken so long to get there.

"You didn't tell him?" Parker asked looking at Hailee. She shook her head and gave him a look that said she was too nervous to do it. "Well, we think that there might be a little more to each of the attacks. Ana, tell him what you told us."

Ana's eyes shot open, not ready to be put on the spot. "Uh... well... we were talking, and… we realized that Cassidy had missed several Aether practices which was unusual for her. Caleb, tell him what you found out..."

Caleb laughed, clearly aware that Ana was not comfortable talking like she was a defendant in a trial. "I'll fill you in on the rest. We thought there might be more to the attacks once we realized Cassidy had been missing briefly before she appeared in the corridor. So, we went around asking if any of the others were like that as well and it turns out all of them were missing briefly before they appeared in the corridor. Don't you think that's a little odd?"

Master Sora didn't say anything but looked to each of the other masters. Without having to be asked, the kids left his office so they could discuss the new information.

"I'm sorry I rushed this." Hailee said feeling guilty. "I just—" a tear fell off her check and hit the stone at her feet.

Alexis rushed forward and put her arm around her. "It's okay, we just wanted to talk about it first, that's all." Her voice had regained its cheery tone that matched her optimism. "We're not mad at you."

Hailee smiled slightly but didn't say anything.

"Happy Birthday, by the way," Parker said. Everyone's heads whipped to him and then back to Hailee.

"It's your birthday?" Ana asked. Hailee nodded slightly but still didn't say anything.

"How did we not know it was your birthday?" Caleb asked, realizing that he'd never known when it was.

"We were a little preoccupied last time," Parker added. They realized that Hailee had missed her last birthday because of her mother.

"But I didn't get you anything... I feel like a terrible friend!" Alexis's hearted started to race. "You'll get something tomorrow."

"Where are you going to get her something?" Caleb asked. "We're on an island in the middle of a lake at the top of a mountain."

"I'll figure something out!"

"Don't."

Alexis squinted at Hailee. "Don't what? Get you something? Yeah, like that's going to happen."

"All I want is for us to stop my mother from doing whatever it is she has planned."