“However,” Macy continued, “I abide by ethical standards. Why do you need to find these people?”

“Basically,” Jana explained, sweeping her braid back, “exactly what we said. They’re all friends or something, and we’re trying to reunite them.”

She raised an eyebrow, then glanced to one of the cameramen. They exchanged bewildered expressions, and Macy eventually looked back to Jana with a mix of curiosity and concern. “I daresay, if you’re fooling me, you’re quite good at it.”

“What?” Jana said. “They a lie detector or something?” She glanced at the cameraman.

“Roughly, but why don’t we keep that between us, hmm?”

“Sure.”

“But, this is rather strange. Just who are these people?”

Jana shrugged. “Dunno. They called themselves super psychics at first, but I’m pretty sure that was bullshit.”

“Hmm…and what about their names?”

“Blue and Yellow. We thought Blue was called Hatty at first but apparently they had amnesia and didn’t know their name.”

Madam Illuma exchanged looks with her cameraman again, and when she looked back, she simply appeared confused. “You…I can’t believe you on this. Do you have any definitive proof that these people are real?”

“Do you have Recognition?” Jana asked.

Macy nodded. “Yes, I do. Why?”

“Then have you noticed anything strange?”

She looked around the room with a furrowed brow. “I don’t…” she began, before her eyes widened. “There are two extra people!” Jana nodded as as Macy walked toward where Jeremy was looking, then began to wave her hand around.

Jeremy, for himself, saw her waving her hand through an uncomfortable Blue and Yellow.

“Is this really wise, Blue?” the latter asked, redirecting their attention.

Blue nodded. “I understand your concern, and it’s the same for me. I’ve noticed that I’m naturally against being found out, ever since I met Jeremy. I find it concerning, yes, but, in truth, I feel this is a necessity. We must find our brethren.”

“That’s a long way to say ‘yes’,” Yellow said, looking forward with an unamused expression.

“Erm…was that intended as a yes or no question?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Jeremy chuckled.

“Hmm…” Madam Illuma finished her prodding, then walked back ot her seat. “I’ve found no reason to distrust your claims, yet,” she said. “But you said that it might be possible to see these invisible people through clarivoiance?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I will see for myself if that claim is true. However, before we do that, we must…do a retake.”

“A…what?”

“A retake. We will repeat what we said, just modify our language to follow up with the show! Trust me, it isn’t too difficult, just respond to my prompts like you would if you were trying to sell your story, as normal.”

Jana and Jeremy locked eyes and shrugged. “Works for us,” she said.

“Good. [Crew, to action!]” she said in Italian, clapping.

They repeated much of what had already said, now speaking as though Jana’s bogus story was true. As awkward as it was for Jeremy, Jana seemed fairly practiced in public lying.

“However,” Madam Illuma said, her voice much more mysterious in the retake, “I must test for myself if your theory is true. After all, we don’t have a deal if it fails to prevail.”

“Yeah,” Jana said. “So how are you going to do this?”

Madam Illuma chuckled. “Oh, nothing could be simpler for me, so you needn’t worry. Magna, would you display the sight reader as I concentrate?”

A camerawoman nodded, and ran into the hallway. After a moment, she walked out of the room’s double-doors with a computer-sized machine rolling with them. It had a helmet corded into it, and was set on a stand with wheels.

Macy placed the helmet on, then sat on the carpet in front of the fireplace in a meditating position.

The machine was then connected to a hidden wire in the corner. After that, the camerawoman then produced a small remote from her pocket and clicked a button. The tapestry above Macy suddenly flickered, revealing it was, in truth, the screen of a TV, with options for sources. It took Jeremy by surprise, but Jana was already familiar enough with Madam Illuma’s show to remember it. She’d watched quite a few episodes with her father some years ago.

“With this device,” Magna explained, a hand on the machine, “we can see what Master Illuma sees with her Clairvoyance ability for ourselves.”

Jana, unlike before, was surprised to hear that. She’d heard of the technology, but the last time it had been brought up to her, it was…well, not that long after The Catastrophe.

An image began to form on the TV after Magna changed the source, but it was incredibly blurry.

“Is…that what we’re working with?” Jana asked.

“No, no not at all,” Magna said with a strange accent as she leaned over the machine, then began fiddling with some knobs. “We must modify the focus and sharpening, and the attenuation, and the…erm, sorry, it will simply take a while for me to…attune the Clarifier to Madam Illuma’s clairvoyance.”

“Ahh, got it,” Jana said. Is that a…Swedish accent?

Blue and Yellow leaned against the wall, since they weren’t needed for the moment.

“A new device to visualize clairvoyants’ sight. Interesting,” Yellow said.

“What’s interesting about it?” Blue responded.

“Oh, the repercussions this ‘Clarifier’ will have on the very fabric of law and justice,” he said. “After all, individual psychics can’t easily be taken at their word.”

“Hmm. I…suppose so.”

After a few minutes of messing with the knobs, Magna began to make the image began to grow sharper on the whole. People began to quietly speak amongst themselves about the image as it did, the determination of Blue and Yellow’s existence obvious.

“Erhm,” Magna grunted meaningfully once the image of the room was sharp enough to clearly show the two ethereal beings. The rest of the crew took their positions again.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“This is the image that Madam Illuma has brought up,” Magna said impartially. “It appears as though she is viewing our room through Simple Clairvoyance, her vision stationed in the corner of the room.” She walked to it, then swiped a hand over thin air, causing the image on the TV to briefly blacken as her hand passed over the invisible ‘camera’. She began to explain in painful detail how ‘Simple’ Clairvoyance functioned, for the audience:

“Madam Illuma has the common psychic ability of Simple Clairvoyance, which allows her to, in a meditative state, create a point of view, almost like an internal camera, from afar. With how well trained and powerful she is, Madam Illuma can see any place on Earth through her Clairvoyance, a bit like Santa Claus. This machine, the Clarifier, allows us to see what she sees through that camera!” The camerawoman pointed to the TV hung above Macy, and Magna continued. “This is what Madam Illuma sees, as of now.” She looked up at the screen. “As you can see, everyone is here,” she waved her hand around, showing how it mimicked her movement fro a second time, “but…there seems to be two more people!” she said, genuinely surprised. “Would you two please stand here?”

After a look and nod, the two beings walked to the fireplace’s base, Yellow casually squatting down.

“Can you hear me?” Blue asked. No audio was produced.

“Audio functions aren’t implemented yet, so unfortunately, it seems we cannot hear them,” Magna said noticing him speaking. “But, as we can see, the people in question are there…for some reason wearing strange robes.” She glanced to Jana, and the younger girl just shrugged. “But, this is good! Master Illuma, would you halt your Clairvoyance?”

As she opened her eyes, the Psychic Master stood. “It seems you speak the truth, Miss Jana.” After a pause, she made a gesture to the cameramen, then said, “But before we continue, let us not forget your contracts.”

After some careful reading, Jana, with some expertise in legal jargon and contracts, told Jeremy that it was alright to sign the contract.

“So can we get a move on?” she said as Macy nodded at the signed documents. “I’ve got a busy schedule coming round’ the corner.” She glanced at her phone’s notifications. “Ugh.”

“Of course, Miss Pontoon.” She gestured again. “I would rather not waste either of our precious time. However, what stands before me is no easy task. Seeking five such people will require time and effort on my part, not to mention compensation.”

“Compensation? Like, you want money?”

Madam Illuma shook her head, slyly smiling. “No, nothing of the sort. As compensation, I simply want you to hear me out, and consider what I’m about to propose.”

Jana crossed her arms with a soft, curious expression. If this is going on TV, it couldn’t be anything shady. A taste of fresh air. “Alright, whatever it is, lay it on me.”

“Gladly. So far, as you can tell, my personal institution has many disciples. But they don’t only train in the psychic arts, they also work as employees of mine, who aid the creation of Illuma’s Lost to Find.”

“Alright…”

“So far, I’ve made good money on my show,” she glanced to one of the cameras then winked, “Because of the support of my wonderful viewers.” She looked back. “And so, I have been searching, for quite some time now, for a way to use what I have gained to give back to my audience. However, now, with you seeking my aid, I see a path forward.”

“And what would that be?”

“I would like to work with you and your world-renown company, Psychic League, to create a school for psychics!” Psychic Master Macy Illuma outstretched her arms dramatically, in a flourish.

Yet, despite the woman’s dramaticism, Jana felt she was being genuine. Her eyes widened with curiosity, and she briefly glanced back to Jeremy, who seemed a bit skeptical. If she’s serious about her intentions… Jana thought, That’s really noble of her. Not to mention, it’s exactly what I’d like to work on. She nodded approvingly. “Okay, I like that Idea. But you’re the one pitching, so throw me some details.”

“Gladly.” Macy walked to a door on the other side of the room. “Would you care to follow me?”

She led Jana to her office, a large, homely place with many filing cabinets and bookshelves, then pulled papers and binders from about the room and nestled them onto her desk.

Once she was finished gathering the relevant items, she looked over Jana’s shoulder as she curiously looked at a paper beside Jeremy. “As you can see, I have had this project in the works for some time now.”

“Hmm…you have neat handwriting,” Jana said absently, reading a paper discussing the classes that might be involved in a school for exclusively psychics. Huh. A mental fortitude class? That would really separate it from the rest.

Of course, a school for psychics wasn’t a new concept. In fact, militarys’ psychic specialization branches could be considered schools for psychics, albeit for war, and multiple psychic-specializing schools had been created around the globe, to various levels of success. Jana approved of the concept as well; psychics, despite their presence and influence on society being great, were somewhat oppressed, and not without good reason. The problem was psychics’ lack of legitimacy.

For example, postcognition was an infinitely important tool in court. It allowed a psychic to view scenes that occurred in the past. However, for a psychic of that sort to be utilized in the leading countries of the world, they would require a state-given or approved license, which could be difficult to acquire. That could change with new technologies, perhaps, and Jana did invest in those, but other potential professions for psychics seeking a source of income and place in society, such as psyche-delving psychologists, had lost almost all of their reputation and legitimacy.

“Hmm…” But a school for psychics had a massive conceptual issue, which overshadowed many others. As she continued to flip through Macy’s schematics, she couldn’t see a solution to it. If anything, she seemed more than aware of how impossible it was to overcome. “How do you plan on legitifying the school?” she asked. “If your plan is to make one university to start, that won’t make much of an impact.” She tapped a paper. “A license is only as legitimate as the school who handed it off, so anyone who earns one from this school of yours won’t just magically be able to work as a licensed psychic in just any country. Each and every license you approve must be acknowledged by each and every country your students plan to settle in, or else they’re just fancy pieces of paper.”

Macy nodded. “Correct, Jana. As I hoped, you understand what a school for psychics entails. The legitimacy of a school of this nature is incredibly important. Could you tell me why, though?”

“Uhh, let’s see…first off, every government has different expectations from psychics. That means that even once they get the certificate from the school, they will need to pass the particular test in their government, which varies greatly and can be difficult to find. Not to mention, those tests aren’t often specific enough due to how specific psychic’s abilities can get. Atop that, psychics usually don’t have any reason to train beyond the needs of the government, and rarely get the chance to train with people sharing their abilities. So, even if it were easy to get a state license under most governments, you would struggle to get clients as a freelancer due to the general public’s perception of psychics being dangerous. And psychics usually are freelancers, since, again, their abilities are specific and they are often seen as a liability by the government, and by extension by employers.” She rolled her eyes. “And all of that is dumb, because psychics could solve a shit ton of problems if people actually gave them a chance.”

Macy chuckled. “Perhaps, Miss Pontoon. You are clearly well educated on psisociology.”

“Kinda my job to be. So, how do you plan to handle that?”

She pointed to Jana. “You. Or rather, your company. And more than just that.” She picked up a specific binder hanging off the corner of a desk, then lifted it up for Jana and a camera in the back to see. She began flipping through the pages, revealing an informal contract with a signature on each. “Each signature you see in this binder is signed by an important leader in the psychic arts. I have gained the signature of each Psychic Master, countless researchers, many adept and well known psychics, leaders of offices in countries around the world, and finally, multiple great psychics such as you, including the revered Mrs.Foray. Not only have they agreed to help and give legitimacy to my cause, many of them have agreed not just to do that, but to potentially work as venerated professors and experts at my drafted university.”

Jana stared at it stunned, then reached out her hand, and took the binder. She began flipping through the pages with an awed expression. “Wow, you’re right…” she said. “That’s…really fu…freakin’ impressive. Do you think you can actually get so many people to join?”

“I have the money to partially support it from my own resources. I haven’t been stockpiling without a reason.”

“Well, it’s just…” Jana began, still flipping through the pages and recognizing names, “this is an incredible number of incredible people…if you made a college with a fourth of these people as staff members, it would be one of the most prestigious colleges around, let alone psychic colleges…” she frowned. “Do you just want my signature of approval, then?”

Macy shook her head. “That would be wonderful, but I wanted to propose something else.”

Jana closed the book. “Alright, hit me up. What’d you want my help with?”

“I would like to integrate the college into the psychic league.”

Jana blinked, surprised. “Erm…what’d you just say?” On a silver platter?

“I would like to integrate the college into the psychic league. Moreover, I want to expand it into many colleges across the globe,” she said, outstretching her arms again. “While an array of venerated staff might make a single college float, I could never create enough opportunities for the psychics across the globe as I’d want, at least not in my lifetime. Even then, some governments may still not acknowledge us on principle. However, Psychic League, in the last two decades, has become a superpower all it’s own. I think that if I combine the expertise that I and my collaborators have with the legitimacy and power of the Psychic League…” She thought about what she would next say for a second. “I think we could achieve something very special.”