Kaden pushed the dolly stacked high with boxes for Mark Hernandez out the door of the Mailroom. He needed to take this delivery to the second floor, so made his way to the elevator bank, skirting the main lobby as he did so.

He had never been to the Purchasing Department before, so he stopped to ask directions. The admin at the reception desk pointed him down a row of cubicles. He pushed the dolly to the end of the row. Looking around, he noticed a row of offices lining the outside of the space, but he didn’t see Mark’s office right away. He did, however, spot a small group standing and chatting at one of the cubicles. Kaden thought he recognized one of them from the first day’s orientation meetings.

“Excuse me,” Kaden said. “I’m looking for Mark Hernandez’s office, can you guys point me in the right direction?”

Three faces turned to look at him, two men and one woman. The two men turned back and continued talking to each other, ignoring Kaden.

What the hell, Kaden thought. Did I do something to those two?

The woman stood on the side, arms crossed, looking uncomfortable. She raised a hand and pointed back the way Kaden had come.

“That way,” she said. “Corner office.”

“Thanks,” Kaden replied. “I’m Kaden Chen, by the way. I’m one of the summer interns.”

Her eyes widened and she stepped away from the other two to talk to Kaden. “Me too! I’m Jill. Jill Morris.”

“Oh!” Kaden exclaimed. “We’re on the same team!”

Jill smiled. “Yes! It’s good to meet you. I was thinking of messaging you and our other team member today.”

“Same here. Bill – the other member of our team – he and I actually met the first day, I think we all have a training session together later this afternoon.”

Jill nodded.

Kaden got the sense that she was a quiet person, very introverted. She was somewhat plain, a little chubby. No makeup, red hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. She wore a light blue sweater and black pants, which was on the casual side of typical dress at the Company.

“How’s your experience been so far?” Kaden asked.

Jill glanced sideways at the other two interns. “Ok, I guess. I’m one of three interns in the department. These are the two.”

“Ok, cool. Introduce me?”

Jill nodded and turned back to the two young men. “Hey guys, this is Kaden Chen, another intern. Kaden, this is Iqbal and Roger.”

Iqbal was tall and thin, with a pretty face and a haircut Kaden was sure he’d seen sported by some boy band pop star. Roger was short, large, and had deep-set, beady eyes.

Iqbal rolled his eyes and Roger sniggered, as if laughing at an inside joke.

“If he’s a member of your team, I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other much. Rog and I don’t associate with losers.” Iqbal looked down his nose at Julia as he spoke.

The smile on Kaden’s face froze, and his blood pressure spiked. These two were idiots… and clearly they’d been making Jill miserable. It made his blood boil.

“Right,” Kaden replied, pointing at first Iqbal and then Roger. “Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, right? Did I get your names right?”

The haughty smile drained off Iqbal’s face as Kaden took a step forward, jabbing a finger into his chest.

“Or was it Asshat and Dipshit?” Kaden’s eye’s bore into Iqbal’s.

“You’ll regret that,” Roger said, his fists forming into balls.

Kaden turned to Roger, and their eyes met. Kaden did not waiver. A heavy moment passed. Roger looked away.

“You have no idea who I am,” Iqbal said, his face turning an ugly shade of fuchsia.

“And I don’t care,” Kaden said, turning to leave. The point had been made. He had made two enemies today, but that was fine. Now they knew that if they messed with Jill, they messed with him. And they wouldn’t bother Jill unless they wanted to pick a fight with him.

“Let’s go, Jill,” Kaden said, picking up the dolly and pushing it down the corridor.

“Why’d you do that,” Jill hissed, catching up to Kaden.

“Bullies are bullies, no matter where you are. Schoolyard, streets, the corporate headquarters. Bullies are the same.

“Besides, those two guys are truly idiots. I’ll be surprised if they still have their jobs at the end of the week.”

“Where are you going?”

“Delivery to Mark Hernandez. Do you know him?”

Jill shook her head. “I think he’s my boss’s manager. But I’m not sure.”

“You’re welcome to come along, if you’d like.”

“That’s ok, I think I’ll head back to my desk and get some work done.”

Kaden stopped for a moment. “Alright then. See you at the training later today?”

“See you there!” Jill nodded and walked back the way they had come.

Kaden hoped he had done the right thing. In the heat of the moment, he knew his temper could get the best of him. But he also knew he hated arrogant people like Iqbal and Roger.

His thoughts wandered, as he pushed the dolly down the corridor. He remembered a very different time, and very different circumstances… way back before he had learned to stand up for himself. When someone else had stepped in and protected him…

Mariko… Kaden thought. What brought you here to the Tower?

Kaden shook off his reverie as he reached the door to the corner office. The nameplate on the wall outside the door read “Mark Hernandez, Purchasing Director.” He knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in,” a low voice boomed out.

Kaden pushed open the door to see a small office with a desk, filing cabinet, a couple chairs, and a coat rack. The back wall was all window, but the shades were completely drawn.

“Hello,” Kaden said. “I have some boxes for you,” gesturing to the dolly outside the office.

Mark Hernandez looked up from his desk. He was a thickset, muscular man with thinning black hair, bushy eyebrows and a short, spiky salt-and-pepper beard.

He was wearing a bright pink Hawaiian shirt with a white flower pattern.

That’s different, Kaden thought.

“Well what are you waiting for? Bring them in,” he said, motioning to an empty spot beside his desk.

Kaden wheeled the dolly around and pushed his delivery through the door. As he did so, it felt as if he was pushing his way into a wall of syrup. It gave way when he pushed, but very slowly. He also began to feel uncomfortably warm, like the sticky humidity of a hot summer day.

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He activated the “Mark Hernandez” counterward with a hands-free eye movement Peter had taught him. Immediately, the pressure dissipated, and he was able to wheel the dolly into the office.

Mark looked up and harrumphed.

I guess he didn’t expect me to get in this easily, Kaden thought.

Standing, Mark picked up each of the boxes and set them out on the floor.

As Kaden turned to go, he noticed a jar on Mark’s desk. It was a clear glass jar full of dog treats. Peanut-butter flavored dog treats. Kaden knew this, because he had just ordered a bag of the same kind of treats the previous day.

“Dog treats,” Kaden said, pointing at the jar on the desk. “Are you part of Sandy’s fan club too?”

Mark looked up, his face betraying his suspicion. “Sandy’s fan club? Who are you?”

“Kaden Chen. Intern in the Mailroom. Just started yesterday.”

“And you already work for Sandy?” Mark shook his head and mumbled to himself. “That dog moves quickly.”

“Well… I wouldn’t say I work for him,” Kaden said. “More like… we have an understanding.”

Mark harrumphed again. “Same difference,” he said, appearing thoughtful.

As Kaden wheeled the dolly out of the room, Mark held up a hand. “Hold on a minute. I got something you can do for me.”

Kaden stopped and turned back around. Mark’s attention was focused on the boxes. He had his right hand out, waggling his fingers and pointing to each of the boxes arrayed on the floor in front of him. Flickers of pink light flashed back and forth across his hand.

Streaks of magenta flew across the brown cardboard boxes. Instantly, the top of each box flapped open. The tape holding the boxes closed had been cut. The magenta light had cut all the lines of tape simultaneously.

Whoa… That was fast! How did he do it? Kaden thought. He wanted to ask about what he had seen, but before he could, Mark had pulled an item out of the box and was handing it to Kaden.

“Here you go,” he said, handing him a sealed manila envelope. “Take this to Cliff on the 1st Floor. You know Cliff, right?”

Kaden nodded his head. “Yeah, I know who Cliff is.”

“Alright, great. Saved me a trip downstairs. Make sure that doesn’t wander off – I’ll know if it doesn’t make it to Cliff.”

“Ok,” Kaden replied. “What is it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Ha! That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” Mark said, and barked out a short laugh at his own joke and waved Kaden out the door.

Kaden took the envelope and the dolly and made his way back to the Mailroom. On his way, he stopped at the front desk and handed the envelope to Cliff.

“From Mark,” Kaden said. Cliff just nodded and surreptitiously placed the envelope in a desk drawer. Cliff wasn’t making eye contact, so Kaden just kept going.

Weird, Kaden thought. It felt like he was being used to smuggle contraband or something. He made a mental note to ask Sandy about it next time he saw him.

Back at the Mailroom, he asked Peter about what he had witnessed in Mark’s office, but he left out the part about the package for Cliff.

Peter chuckled. “He was definitely showing off a little. Mark is very skilled in attack magic. He has quite the reputation, and he enjoys it. What you saw was probably some simple variation of one of his signature skills. He likes to call it ‘Death by Thousand Cuts.’ Mark Hernandez wasn’t always in Purchasing, if you know what I mean.”

Kaden shook his head. “No, I don’t know what you mean.”

“Let’s just say he had a long and illustrious career in the monster-fighting Operations part of the Company before retiring from active duty to take a cushy desk job. Although I hear he still gets called up from time to time.”

Kaden continued to be impressed with the versatility of magic and all its applications. He wasn’t sure what to make of Mark or Peter’s comments, but there was definitely something there that Kaden wanted to learn more about. There was just too much he didn’t know.

Looking at the time, Kaden decided to head up to the 4th Floor a little early for the group training on wards. He was particularly excited for this session because he was getting the sense that being able to bypass wards would be critical to moving more freely about the Tower.

As Kaden arrived in front of the training room, there was another session wrapping up. The room was square in shape, about 100 feet on each side and 20 foot ceilings. It was very brightly lit with thin strips recessed in the tall ceiling. Apart from the thick glass curtain wall along the corridor, there were no other windows. All surfaces in the room appeared to be polished, dark-gray concrete.

Kaden turned to see Bill and Jill walking down the hall. He also noticed the leaderboard on the wall behind him for the first time.

He scanned it as Bill and Jill walked over. They also stopped to study it with him.

The Intern Leaderboard was divided into two major sections and took up the entire wall, almost twenty feet tall and thirty feet wide. The first panel listed the rank of the teams and a total points score. The second panel listed the individual rank and individual points. There was a total number of points at the top of each chart.

Kaden’s heart sank as he saw his name ranked dead last on the individual board. The team ranking was no better – his team “Tiger Blue” was also ranked last at 33rd. He found Jill at 53rd and Bill at 42nd.

“At least one of us is in the top 50%,” Kaden remarked. “But how does the ranking work? Who decides?”

Bill shrugged. “Still figuring it out, bro. But have you looked at your stats on your mobile?”

He had not.

Bill quickly showed him where to access his overall stats screen. At the moment, it was a simple list and pretty depressing:

* Name: Kaden Chen

* Job Title: Intern

* Grade: 15

* Role: Mailroom Clerk

* Aura Affinity: Unknown

* Ward Rating: N/A

* Individual Rank Percentile: <10%

* Team Rank Percentile: <10%

* Key Objective Completion: 0%

He had no idea what grade, aura affinity or ward rating meant. But he could figure out that the last three numbers were bad. It was not clear to Kaden what was driving the ranking.

Interns exiting the previous training flowed around them. Some stopped to briefly look at the rankings.

Kaden and his group were closest to the elevator. The doors opened and a tall woman stepped out.

“Hello,” she said, approaching Kaden and extending a hand. “Allow me to introduce myself. Patricia Stamford.”

Each of them took her firm handshake in turn and introduced themselves. Kaden recognized her from the first day. She was the tall blonde who had cut in line.

Patricia turned to look at the leaderboard, ostensibly searching for their names on the list. Turning back to the group, she asked, “And you’re all on the same team? Or different teams?”

“Same team,” Kaden offered.

“Right… “ Patricia immediately looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else. “Well then… I would say good luck, but to be honest, I think investing your time in a back-up plan would be best. Not everyone’s manager track,” she said with a slight shrug.

“I see your name at the top of the rankings,” Kaden said. “Did you cut in line to get there as well?”

The smile froze on Patricia’s face. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“You know,” Kaden continued. “‘Jump the queue,’ as they say across the pond. We all saw you cut in line to get through security on the first day. Not the best first impression, to be honest; I think investing your time in manners would be best.”

Perhaps Kaden was going too far… but he was enjoying this. No one liked a condescending know-it-all, and everyone hated people who jumped the queue. In fact, you could say he was doing her a favor, giving her some free feedback.

Bill had a slight smirk on his face and seemed to be enjoying the exchange. However, Jill was definitely looking uncomfortable and backing away.

Time to wrap this up, Kaden thought.

Patricia’s smile was gone. In its place was a look of cold, ruthless calculation. Strangely, she didn’t seem upset or angry, just very intense. Her eyes bore into Kaden’s. He did not flinch.

Without another word, Patricia turned and walked away. Kaden watched her go. She approached another group of interns milling about in front of the leaderboard and introduced herself to them. She seemed to be making the rounds with all the interns, making sure she knew everyone and everyone knew her.

Bill glanced at his watch. “Time for class,” he said to break the tension.

“Why did you have to make enemies with the number #1 ranked intern,” Jill grumbled.

“Trust me,” Kaden replied. “You don’t want to be ‘friends’ with her. She’s the type to push everyone else down in order to get ahead. We don’t need that.”

“Word,” Bill agreed.

As they filed into the training room, Kaden remembered a conversation he had with his father over the dining room table. It had been late, after Kaden came home from a failed job interview.

“First impressions matter,” his father had said. “For good or bad. So make sure they count.”

A ghost of a smile crossed Kaden’s face as he remembered the conversation.

“But what if I don’t want to make a good impression?” he had complained.

“Then don’t,” his father said. “But do it on purpose and with intention. People will judge you on the first interaction you have with them, and you rarely get a second chance. So make it count.”

Back at the training room, Kaden pulled the door open and strode into the large room. He would make sure everyone had the right idea of who he was.