"What's this about?" Alexis asked as she and Parker waited for the masters to arrive.

"I'm not sure. They said there's something going on with us but wouldn't say what. They just told me to come here and wait with you until they showed up." As if they could hear him, the masters walked in as he finished his sentence.

"Master Sora, is something wrong with me?" Parker noticed that Alexis didn't ask if there was something wrong with them but just her. He tried not to let it get to him but he couldn't help it. What had happened was only an accident and he apologized numerous times. She just wouldn't talk to him the same way anymore.

"All right, listen carefully. I said this to Parker so I will say it to you as well. You must promise not to do anything rash." She nodded her head agreeing to his terms. "We believe that the accident with Lara has messed with your ability to control the Imperials."

"Duh! I could've told you that!" Parker interrupted.

"Watch your tongue young man. Do not forget that we are you masters. You will not speak to us like that." Parker bit his tongue. The presence Master Keegan gave off as he said that made Parker shrink back, afraid to say anything else.

"We believe she messed with your Imperial by accident. Her goal was to take it away completely. However, Caleb interrupted that process and caused an accident to happen. Whatever happened when the burst of energy came from her caused your abilities to get… mixed up for lack of a better term. Parker, you were a phenomenal Air Imperial from a family of Fire Imperials. That is something that happens maybe once every several generations. You are a very unique case. In cases like yours in the past, the specific Imperial was incredibly powerful. My guess is that's why she targeted you in the first place. But then she found out that Caleb was an Omni so she used you in order to obtain him."

Parker was trying to take in everything that Master Sora was saying. Alexis sat in her bed looking both confused and angry. Master Keegan noticed their expressions and motioned for Master Sora to take a breath.

"What's going through your head right now Parker?" Master Keegan asked.

"I… don't really know… What should be going through my head?"

"I'm not sure either lad. Just remember that we are here to talk to but please hear out what Master Sora has to say to finish our hypotheses."

Master Sora was looking out of the window behind Alexis's bed. He began speaking again, "As you've noticed Parker, you now can control fire as well as a little bit of air. You're no longer great at the one and instead are equally mediocre at both. And Alexis," she perked up a little at what was going to come next. "We're not sure what is going on with you. There's only been the one incident so far so we don't have much to go off of."

"What do you mean 'There's only been one incident so far'?" They looked at her confused. "There's been more than one. We told you that didn't we?" She looked at Parker for confirmation but didn't get as much as a glance from him.

"What incidents are you speaking of dear?"

"When Parker and I were talking at the base of the stairs and no one was around. Then when we finished talking, people started to appear out of nowhere. What would cause that?"

The masters thought about what she said for a bit before saying anything. Master Keegan spoke first, "Maybe you somehow obtained the ability to manipulate space and time. You were an exceptional Imperial before the accident, so maybe now you can handle even more."

Parker thought about what he said and how he said it. The comment made him feel like he wasn't a good enough Imperial to handle something like space and time.

"Has anything else happened?" Master Sora asked while looking sternly at Alexis. The look told her that he felt she was holding back on some information.

She thought for a moment and said, "I don't think so… at least not that I can think of."

"What are you talking about Alexis?" Parker asked confused as to why she wasn't bringing up the most obvious one. Alexis looked at him completely confused at what he was referring to.

"You just appeared next to me when I accidently hurt you."

Her eyes went wide. He could see the irises of her eyes perfectly. They looked like the sky from when Lara's Imperial was placed around the castle. "No I didn't. I walked into the room. We made eye contact and then you just attacked me!" Her sentence became heated as she spoke. He could hear the anger in her voice.

"I didn't just attack you. You appeared out of nowhere right next to me! There was no one in the room when I was making that fireball."

Master Sora spoke, interrupting their debate. "Hold your horses kids. Let's figure this out. If Parker says that you just appeared, there's a good chance that is what happened."

Fury could be seen in Alexis's eyes. "Why are you taking his side?"

"Think Alexis. When the two of you were talking by the stairs, it was just the two of you then others appeared around you. Think about it from their perspective. The two of you would've just popped out of nowhere. So, think about if Parker was alone and you thought you were just walking to him and then just showed up. From his point of view, you popped up out of nowhere. Even though you felt like he knew you were there. Because let's face it, Parker would never attack you. If anything I believe the boy's got a crush on you." Alexis's face blushed. Master Sora was a little surprised that he had said it. Parker stared back and forth from the two of them. He turned around and walked straight out of the Medical Ward.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I can't believe he said that!" Parker muttered to himself. "How does he even know that? I haven't told anyone! The only person would possibly know would be Caleb and I can't imagine why Caleb would tell the master about it. It's none of his business!"

The corridor was empty as he stormed away toward The House of Erion common room.

The common room was empty when he arrived which was unusual for this time of day during break but he didn't notice. His mind was so focused and embarrassed that he wouldn't have noticed if an elephant had been in the room.

He made his way back to his room and slammed the door behind him. No one was in his room either. Parker sank into his bed, burying his face into his pillow. He let out a loud, high-pitched scream. Then he heard a knock at the door.

It slowly crept open and Hailee's head popped into view. Parker saw that it was her but didn't say anything about the fact that she wasn't supposed to be in there in the first place.

"Parker? What happened? You disappeared from the table and then I saw you leave a little before the masters. I guessed that you went to see Alexis so I made my way to the Medical Ward. But when I got there, you were storming out of the room muttering something to yourself. I tried to get your attention but you didn't budge all the way back here and I couldn't catch up to you."

Parker glared at her without saying anything. His face was on fire. He knew that he was mad for no reason at all. "You wouldn't understand!" He snapped at her, which had been happening more frequently as of late.

"Try me."

"Master Sora ruined my life!"

"I highly doubt that he ruined your life… you haven't been expelled from the school right?" He shook his head but continued to glare at her. "Then see, he didn't ruin your life. Tell me what happened."

Parker didn't want to say it to her. He didn't want the word spreading that he may or may not have some amount of feelings toward his best friend.

Hailee could see the wheels turning in Parker's head as he contemplated what to say to her. "Ah… so that's what this is about." His ears perked up and his glared ceased.

"What do you mean?"

"First tell me something." He nodded for her to continue with her request. "Alexis is mad at you because you accidentally burned her right?" He nodded his head again but then went to tell his story. She held her hand up before he had a chance to say anything. "Parker, how do you feel about Alexis?"

"I feel awful! I've told you that! I've told everyone that! I didn't mean to burn her, it happened completely by accident."

"Has she told you why she's upset with you?" She could see the look on his face and understood that she had told him. "What'd she say?

"She said that she was making eye contact with me and then I just attacked her. But I didn't! She wasn't in the room. I was just trying to make a fireball and then she popped up out of nowhere and it scared me so I threw it at her not knowing it was her."

"No wonder she's mad. I can't imagine if someone I liked just attacked me."

Parker was getting angrier at this point. "I didn't attack her! I just said that!" His blood was starting to boil now. His hands burst into flames and he kept going. "I would never attack Alexis! Who in their right mind would attack someone they like? That doesn't make sense! How could she think that I would ever attack her?" His voice kept getting louder and louder the more he said.

Hailee was staring at his hands while listening to him rant. She put up her hand to try to get him to cool down. "Parker! You need to settle down. You're on fire." He didn't realize his hands were engulfed in flames at the moment.

"I know! I'm mad! That's what happens when I'm mad!" As he said that, a burst of flame exploded from his hands. A small part of the flame grazed Hailee's leg and she dropped to her knee. "Hailee! I'm so sorry! What's wrong with me?"

She pressed her hand on the burn gritting her teeth at the pain. "I'm fine."

"No. We need to get you to the Medical Ward!"

"Parker, seriously, I'll be okay. It was just an accident. You didn't do it on purpose. I think I'm starting to see what controls your fire though." She stood up, moving her hand from the burn. Parker immediately looked at the spot. It wasn't very big, but it looked like it hurt a lot.

"I need to be locked away so I don't hurt anyone else. What if something were to happen in my sleep and I lit the entire room on fire?"

"Parker, stop being ridiculous." He couldn't figure out how she was being so calm after being attacked by him.

"Why aren't you mad at me? I just burned your leg!"

"Accidents happen. There's no need to get all bent out of shape about it."

He stared at her for a brief second. "Then why is Alexis so mad at me?" She stood for a moment and then made her way to his bed so she could sit down.

"To her, it looked like you just got mad and then threw a fireball at her. You have to think about it from her point of view." Everything Hailee was saying was just hypothetical guesswork but it seemed to be helping calm Parker down.

"But I didn't. She wasn't even in the room. I was alone." Parker couldn't get out of his own point of view. He had calmed down significantly though. His voice lowered and his breathing steadied and the fires in his hands had gone out.

"I understand that it didn't seem like she was in the room to you. But to her, she was and she thought you knew it. I would guess that her new abilities are forcing their way out of her without her always knowing it. Have you seen it happen?" He thought for a minute about his times with her and the things that happened. The memory from the stairway popped into his head right away.

"Well, we were standing by the stairs having a conversation and then out of nowhere people just appeared."

She looked at him quizzically, thinking hard about what he said. "Maybe they weren't appearing."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe the two of you appeared. Like you hadn't been there in the first place. It would explain how you didn't see her but then she appeared."

"But we weren't able to see everyone else in the hall. She said that we were looking right at each other."

"Hm… I'm really not sure then…"

Parker felt more and more defeated as he tried to make sense of how Alexis was feeling. "Maybe if I just give her some space and time to sort out her feelings things will go back to normal?"

"Did you mean to use that as a pun?"

"Huh?" His eyes opened wide, realizing what he had said. "No, I absolutely did not. I hope she can figure this out. I hate not being able to talk to her."

Hailee left the room and time dragged on. Parker lay in bed unable to think of anything but Alexis. His roommates came in to go to sleep but not a one of them said anything to Parker. After hearing about what happened with Alexis, they were hesitant to interact with Parker, afraid they may get burnt.

The moon was high in the sky and Parker's eyes were wide open. He couldn't get even the slightest wink of sleep. He lay in bed pondering what he could do to make it up to Alexis. "Maybe just giving her some space for a while really is all I can do."