~~(Flame)~~

“You’re late.”

“By one minute,” Professor Tem says. “And do you really think you should be telling a superior officer that he’s late?”

“You want me to be punctual, be punctual yourself.”

“How long have you been waiting here?” He asks.

“Not very long.”

“An hour and a half,” one of the guards answers.

“See?” I say. “Not very long!”

Professor Tem chuckles, then leads me inside. He shows me around the facility. It’s so different from the GSDF’s facility, partly because they have multiple libraries for studying and training magic, based on different types. Their cafeteria smells awesome, too, and we stop for breakfast. I receive more than a few curious glances as we’re eating.

“They’ll learn you’re a new cadet soon enough,” Professor Tem says as I devour my third breakfast. “Though it probably won’t be too long before people hear you’re the one from the duel yesterday.”

“They already have,” I swallow the bacon I’d shoved in my mouth. “They’re talking about it now.”

“You can hear them?” He looks around in surprise.

“Yeah,” I nod. “I’ve always had good hearing, because of my dragon fire. Brooks’s senses are better now, too, now that he’s awakened his dragon water. I can’t wait for Caleb to awaken his dragon stuff. It’ll be so cool. I wonder what his is like. He’d probably not really change much. Maybe it’s just too much like his own Ability for it to really matter? ‘I am Caleb, and this is my horde. I see it all, I know it all, and I will defend it all!’”

I giggle at the thought of that.

“How do you have this much energy this early in the morning?” He asks.

“How do you not?” I ask, and he stares at me. “What? It’s so easy to have this much energy. Just wake up and go ‘energy!’ and you’ll have it. You have to pump your fists in the air or do a little dance, too. Oh, and drink plenty of water when you first wake up, that way, your metabolism gets a nice little kick-start. Don’t eat right away, though, you gotta give your metab some time to get into high gear, first. Good way to stay at a healthy weight, y’know. Or to start losing excess fat. Good piece of advice. I’d follow it.”

The table behind me erupts into laughter, and I look at them, then back to Professor Tem.

“See?” I say. “I’m not the only one with a lot of energy right now. Anyway, I’m done eating – what next?”

Professor Tem takes me to be fitted for a uniform, then starts showing me some of the classrooms and training arenas. Finally, he shows me the dorms, including the one which I’ll be staying at.

“Hey, Flame,” Tucker looks at me from his bunk. “You’ll have the bottom bunk.”

“Does anyone in here snore?” I ask.

“A couple of guys,” he nods. “You don’t happen to know a quieting spell, do you?”

“No,” I answer. “But Caleb does. The room was always silent even though half the room snores. It was sooooo funny the first few times, when people couldn’t figure out why no one was snoring after he moved in. The first time he tried sleeping when others were around, there was snoring, snoring, snoring, silence. Caleb grumbled something, then passed back out. I’ve been trying to figure out his silencing spell, but can’t. I can’t figure out what he’s doing differently from me. I’m willing it to happen, which is what he says is all that’s needed for a spell – well, that and magic – and it’s not working.”

“So you really just will it to happen?” He asks.

“Yeah,” I nod. “Caleb said it’s hard for people to learn how to do magic properly once they start learning the standard way, just because it’s an entirely different mindset. Instead of incantations – which he says are wrong, anyway – you’re just willing it to happen. Visualize it, then will it. Movements help in the beginning, though Caleb doesn’t need them at all. He’s so awesome with magic. Supposedly, he once opened up a passage between Alzir and the Fuller Mansion using a lake, the reflection of the moon, and his own magic. I soooooo wish I could’ve seen that. He actually cast a Reality Marble over the entire Enchanted Forest. Like… how do you even begin to attempt that? And he just goes and does it! I can only dream of one day being close to Caleb in power. Shouldn’t you be in training right now? It’s the middle of the day.”

“We pretty much set our own schedule,” Tucker shakes his head. “As long as we meet a certain point goal, we’re fine.”

“Point goal?”

“Number of lessons attended or jobs completed,” he nods. “As well as amount of training hours put in, progress made, and so on. You can go without a single training lesson or mission and still meet the quotas through studying alone. They still recommend that you attend training lessons and do missions, though – helps you get real experience.”

“Ah, okay,” I say. “So what are you doing today?”

“Grabbing something,” he answers. “Then heading to the water library here on campus.”

Tucker’s a water adept – he’s been studying water magics.

“I’ll come with you,” I offer.

“Aren’t you a fire guy?”

“That’s my Ability,” I grin at him. “I can do more than just fire with magic, though fire’s the easiest for me. I can help you become a real water adept, then you can help me figure out a way to use a pond to open a gate up to where Caleb is.”

Tucker stares at me, then grabs his bag and leaves. I follow him to the water library, where he grabs a couple of books and makes his way to a training room, which has small channels of water along the walls, and we have to cross over a small bridge to reach the actual center of the room. The bridge vanishes once we’re in, leaving us surrounded by water and walls.

“Ignore the books,” I tell Tucker. “And just visualize the water doing what you want it to do. Use your hands in whatever way feels natural. Don’t incant, don’t try to use the chants you know. Clear them from your mind, and simply visualize it, then will it into occurrence.”

Tucker frowns, but sets his books down and tries anyway. From his hand gestures, I determine that he’s probably trying to lift some of the water out of the channels. After a few failed attempts, he starts to grow frustrated.

I step up next to him, and scoop with my hands, lifting them up as I will the water to lift as well. It only takes a single try for me to pull the water upwards in a small pillar. Tucker stares at it, then looks at me, and I release it.

“You made that look easy,” he says.

“Clear the magical words from your mind,” I tell him. “They interfere with it. Caleb says that if you use the right ones, it’ll help you greatly, but the known chants are rubbish and don’t at all work properly, which is why they take so much energy.”

Tucker takes a deep breath, then attempts again. This time, he attempts three times before the water lifts a little bit. He gets excited and keeps trying, and it takes him almost half an hour to lift a small pillar of water to about six inches.

“I’ve got so much magic leftover, too,” he looks at me when he stops. “I’ve never had this much magic left over after that many spells in a row.”

“Like I said,” I nod. “Caleb says that it’s because using the wrong incantations or a bad one will require more magic to perform the spell. When he cast the Reality Marble over the Enchanted Forest, he probably used a very precise incantation designed specifically for that purpose. He says that the magic words you use are part of a massive language, and that the incantation should be specifically tailored for the intended result, mixed in with visualizing and willing it. That’s why I could confidently ignore Garret yesterday – he spent so long using up so much of his magic on incantations that were faulty for the spell he was actually casting that it didn’t matter. He’d run out of magic soon enough, and his spells would still be pretty weak. I also knew that I could counter his magic instantly with but a thought and gesture, and for far less mana.”

“Cool,” Tucker smiles, then focuses back on the channels.

I watch him play with the water for a bit, then grow bored and start mixing in my fire with his training. It’s good training for me, too, having him attempt to extinguish my fire with his water. He can’t quite create enough water at a time yet to do much, so he uses the water from the channels.

After an hour of him attempting to extinguish my flame, I can see he’s becoming discouraged. It’s only natural he’d not be able to, seeing as I have more power and experience than him. My fire is simply more powerful than his water.

Seeing that, I decide to switch to him resisting my flame, attempting to keep his water from boiling. I start small, just a little fire and heat in the beginning, and increase it as he figures out how to resist it, until I reach the point that he can’t fight my fire, his water vaporizing instantly.

“I can’t do it!” He cries out in frustration after his tenth failed attempt in a row.

“You can,” I tell him.

“No, I can’t,” he throws himself onto his back on the ground, staring at the ceiling. “Your fire is too powerful for me to resist!”

“You’ll be able to, eventually,” I say. “The fact that you made it this far already is pretty good. I think. Maybe it’s because you already knew some magic? We had to train our butts off for it. Then again, Superhumans have always had a hard time learning magic, so that could be a factor. I’m not sure. I really need to figure out how to get to that damn island, so that Caleb can answer a whole lotta questions.”

My phone rings, and I look at it.

“Brooks is calling,” I pull it out. “Hey, Brooks! Was just teaching Tucker how to use magic properly. He’s a natural water wizard.”

“Cool,” Brooks responds. “Uh… think you could head over here?”

“I got kicked out.”

“Yeah,” he snorts. “Like that’ll get in your way. Caleb’s back, and he brought Jared with him.”

“He is?” I ask, then realize that Caleb is, indeed, nearby. How did I not notice him arriving? “Wow! He’s fast. I’ll be there. I’m bringing Tucker with me!”

----------------------------------------

~~(Jared)~~

“Master Fuller,” a butler knocks on my door, and I glance at it before returning my attention to scraps of metal filling the room before me. “Master Fuller, your father requests your presence.”

Lifting a hand, I take control over each and every last scrap of metal within this room, bending it to my will and merging it all together into the form of a giant wielding an immense sword. The butler enters the room just as I slice the sword down with a swing of my arm, and he jumps as it nearly cuts through him.

“What are the rules,” I glare at him. “About entering the room while I’m training?”

“My apologies, Master Fuller,” the butler bows. “Your father had impressed upon me that it was most urgent that you meet him in the-”

“Do you know,” I interrupt him. “What happened to the last staff member who entered the room while I was training?”

“No, Master Fuller,” he bows again. “However-”

He screams as a thin spike embeds itself in his chest, but the scream ends quickly.

“He died,” I state as the bracelet pulls out of his chest with but a gesture, the blood sliding off of it as it returns to me, wrapping itself around my wrist and connecting itself from end to end once more. “Much like you just did.”

I flick my wrist, and the door slams closed, and I look at the giant.

“Stupid butlers,” I mutter. “They should at least listen to the more experienced ones. I’m tired of them interrupting my training.”

The giant stands there like an idiot, probably because it’s nothing more than a puppet. I melded the metal together, so it no longer resembles the scrap it once was.

“What’s the point of being S-Rank,” I question. “When you’re stuck inside a stupid mansion? Father won’t even let me leave the premises, for fear that I’ll leave again. He’s taking this protection far too seriously.”

Another knock on the door.

“Master Fuller, your father has requested your presence in the foyer.”

“The hell?” I look at the door.

I expected another butler to be around, they usually have a second one ready, just in case I kill the first one, but I did not expect my father to want me in the foyer. He leaving on a trip and now deciding he wants me present?

I flick a wrist, and the giant disassembles, collapsing to the ground in a crash of scrap metal as I approach the door.

“Have the staff clean up the mess,” I gesture to the deceased butler.

“Yes, Master Fuller,” the butler bows, and I make my way through the halls to the foyer.

“What?” I ask Father when I arrive.

“Adjust your attitude, Jared,” Father looks at me, gesturing for the two security guards to step away. “I am leaving for an emergency meeting with the Council, do not leave the grounds. The staff is already preparing dinner. I know you’ve been bored, so I arranged for some criminals to be brought down to our dungeons. Do not leave the dungeons covered in blood again. A little bit is fine, but you go excessive quite often.”

Father leaves, and I wait until I’m informed he has left the premises.

“Are the gates closed?” I ask.

“Yes,” the security agent answers.

“Good,” I respond. “Initiate the seal and go into privacy mode.”

“Why?” He asks.

“How many criminals did father bring?”

“Ten.”

“I want to play hide-and-seek.”

“Your father said-”

“He only specified the dungeons,” I say. “Perhaps if I make a mess of the house, he’ll finally realize that he should just allow me to return to the GSDF as a cadet. I want them released. Inform them that they must not be in the lower levels after three minutes. The game ends only if either they are all dead, or if I die. Have it begin in ten minutes.”

“Yes, Master Fuller,” the security guard bows, then leaves.

I wait out fifteen minutes, and that’s when the first of the criminals arrives, running at a pretty high speed.

“It’s just a kid?” He laughs. “Hah!”

Before he can do whatever he was planning, he’s pinned to the wall by the door, screaming. I turn and face him.

“What’s your crime?” I ask.

“Why?” He snarls. “Gonna hurt me worse?”

“Honestly?” I ask. “I couldn’t care less. You’ll die either way. There is nothing you can do to harm me. I was simply asking as a courtesy.”

“You-”

He never finishes that thought, another piece of metal embedding itself in his right eye. The metal returns to my body, and I make my way outside. I can sense one of them running toward the front gates.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

They won’t be able to leave – ancient magics seal this place tight, preventing passage in and out.

I use the iron within him to rip his body apart from the inside, then seek out the others.

Two hours pass before the tenth one dies, and the house is a fair bit of a mess. I stop by the kitchens, which were sealed when the building was, and the chefs look at me.

“I need to shower and change clothes,” I say. “I’ve already ordered the maids to clean up the dining room. I’ll probably be ready in about half an hour.”

“Yes, Master Fuller,” the head chef bows to me. This isn’t the first time he’s seen me coated in blood, so I’m not surprised he isn’t staring in horror. “I’ll make sure it’s laid out for you.”

“Thank you,” I say, then make my way up to my room.

I can release the seal around the mansion after dinner. If Father returns early, he’ll call. Probably chew my ear off, since he can see the mess on the lawn, but whatever.

Stepping into my room, I stop and stare.

I have two beds in my room, a regular bed, and a water bed. Currently lying on the water bed is Caleb, eyes closed, face twisted a little in confusion.

“As adorable as you are,” I say. “How did you get past the seal?”

“It was easy,” Caleb opens his eyes and looks at me. “This bed is so weird. It keeps shifting.”

He wiggles a little on it, sending the whole bed into waves.

“You’ve never been on a water bed before?” I ask.

“No,” he answers. “It’s so weird.”

“Glad to see you’re healed.”

“Sure.”

Something about his tone, and the look in his eyes, sends off alarms in my head.

“What happened?” I ask.

“What makes you think something happened?” Steel flashes in his eyes before he closes them and turns his head away.

“Because you’re not the same Caleb I knew three months ago.”

He doesn’t respond for several minutes, just lies there. Eventually, tears begin rolling down his cheeks.

“I had to kill him,” he starts sobbing. “I had to kill Tommy! He was trying to kill me and Bar and it was the only way to stop him! I had to kill him!”

Caleb… killed someone? From the anguish in his tone, this Tommy was someone close to him. But he doesn’t let people get close to him. The only reason Kieran is is…

Tommy was from the orphanage. Another survivor.

Caleb wails, thrashing his limbs, and my door flies open, security barging in with guns drawn.

I hold a hand up as Caleb throws his fit. He hasn’t properly grieved yet. On top of that, he had to do something he hated to someone he loved.

“Sir,” one of the guards begins.

“Leave us,” I order. “Caleb’s a friend, and the one who helped me see Cody, back in basic. If he wanted to kill me, there’s only one force in the world that could stop him. His anguish is from having killed someone. He is no threat to me. Leave us.”

The guards obey, closing the door behind them. I go into my bathroom and strip off my bloody clothes, dumping them on the ground as I step into the shower. I spend a little bit longer under the water than I need to, to give Caleb a little extra time.

When I step out, I grab a towel and dry off as I walk back into my room. Caleb’s now crying silently on the waterbed, curled up in the fetal position, hugging his knees to his chest. I pull on some underwear and shorts, then walk over to the waterbed and climb onto it.

Caleb doesn’t react as I do that, but when I wrap my arms around him, he bursts out in sobs again, turning over to face me and burying his head against my chest.

When he starts to calm down, I decide to try an idea. It could backfire and make him even worse, but if it works, then he’ll calm down a lot, and it may become easier for him to handle what he did.

“Can you tell me about him?” I ask. “Your friend?”

“He was murderous,” Caleb sniffles. “He wanted to kill me and Bar and Kilmar,” that’s probably an adventure by itself. “I found him in the other realm. I think I accidentally sent him there during the-the… when we were younger.”

During the massacre.

“What was he like, back then?” I ask.

“Cheerful,” Caleb sniffles. “Always happy. He liked playing in my Reality Marbles. Me, Kieran, Jonathon, Tommy, and a bunch of others. There were twenty of us in our group of friends. We got into trouble all the time. We all looked up to Kieran and a couple of the older boys there. Tommy was one of three of the Perceptions at the orphanage.”

They had three Perceptions there? How the hell?

“There was this one time,” Caleb sniffles. “Tommy and I snuck out to go catch frogs. I used my Ability to help us get out quietly, and he made sure we weren’t noticed. Then we got to the frogs, and I used my Ability to track them down, and he used his to catch them, so they wouldn’t notice us. We got, like, a hundred frogs and released them into the school. We got into so much trouble for it, but they were too busy trying to catch all the frogs to really punish us. I got snot and tears on your chest.”

I look down and am about to tell him not to worry about it when it vanishes. Or he could just magic it away.

“I’m sorry you had to kill him,” I rub his back. “It sounds like you two were really close.”

“Yeah,” he sniffles.

If that’s the Caleb from back then, no wonder Kieran acts so weird around him. He really snuck out in the middle of the night to catch a hundred frogs and release them into the school? Kieran must be missing that old Caleb a ton. I mean, the current Caleb definitely has some of the traits I know of him from back then, but the current Caleb definitely wouldn’t do something like that.

He’s not reacting to my thoughts at all…

Caleb?

I wait several seconds, then repeat the thought. Nothing. I check, and he’s still awake.

“Caleb?”

“Hm?” He looks up into my eyes. “Why are you shirtless?”

“I had a feeling you’d probably get snot all over whatever shirt I put on,” I laugh. “So figured I might as well not waste the shirt. Are you hungry? Dinner is probably served.”

“Sure,” he sighs.

He’s so damn cute and adorable, even if he’s depressed. I hope I can bring the light back to his eyes, the light that was snuffed out when he was only six.

I help him off the bed, then pull on a shirt and some sneakers, and he quietly follows me downstairs. It isn’t until we’re turning a corner that I notice we’re being followed by a goblin that is ugly as fuck. As soon as I look at it, it hides behind Caleb.

“The fuck is that ugly thing?” I ask.

“That’s not nice!” Caleb exclaims. “Bar isn’t ugly!”

Bar… is a goblin?

Why is he not responding to my thoughts?

“Bar thinks the friend of the Caleb’s does not like goblins,” the goblin says. “Bar thinks the Caleb should have let Bar go in dungeon and cellar and look for yummy rats.”

And he refers to Caleb as ‘the Caleb’.

“You’re my friend,” Caleb looks at the goblin. “I’m not going to let you just eat rats. I offered to let you on one of my islands, too. You refused.”

“Bar is regretting that decision,” the goblin nods thoughtfully. “Bar has rethought that. If the Caleb be alright with it, may Bar be allowed to go on island? Bar say it sound very nice and lovely. No mean humans glaring at Bar like friend of the Caleb.”

“Okay,” Caleb says. “But I’m bringing you back when we return to the training facility so you can meet my other friends. Jared has mental problems.”

“Hey!”

“You do,” Caleb looks at me. “You enjoy killing people who you see as lesser or weak.”

“Criminals,” I correct. “I enjoy killing criminals, Caleb. I despise people who are weak or useless. And why do you have a goblin following you around?”

“Bar thinks humans like killing Mo’Ak Goblins,” Caleb states. “Everything seems to hate humans in that realm.”

“So Teacher said,” I say. “How did you survive?”

“The force that was restricting my power wasn’t affecting me there,” Caleb shrugs. “As soon as I returned, it began affecting me again. They couldn’t really do anything to me there. Bar and Kilmar revealed that I’m probably as powerful as I am because I’m half-dragon. Oh. I totally meant to ask Teacher if he knew of any other dragons on the world, since my parent was probably the same breed as him.”

“Teacher’s a dragon?” Caleb’s half-dragon?

“Yeah,” Caleb nods, his voice filled with sadness. “I only found out when Kilmar told me, though. He calls him Allmaker, though.”

“Who’s Kilmar?”

“A doggy.”

“Kilmar not be doggy,” Bar shakes his head. “Bar no understand why the Caleb call him that. Bar no understand the Caleb, or Kilmar, for that matter. No Rift Wolf should allow such an insult, but Kilmar let the Caleb call him doggy and pet him and give him belly rubs.”

Rift… Wolf?

Caleb gives a Rift Wolf belly rubs and calls him a doggy?

Is he fucking insane?

“And then,” Bar continues his ramble. “The Caleb goes and accidentally initiates a familiar contract with the Rift Wolf, and the Rift Wolf accepts! That’s absurd! A Rift Wolf, accepting a familiar contract? That’s unheard of! And it’s from a half-dragon, too! Bar cannot believe it!”

Bar shakes his head in disbelief, and I stare at Caleb in disbelief.

“Can you breathe fire?” Is all I can think of to say.

“Yeah,” Caleb nods. “But that’s a very basic magic, and it’s not a dragon’s breath. I still need to awaken the dragon within me.”

“The dragon within you?”

“Yeah,” Caleb nods. “A lot of us have some form of draconic heritage. You, Kieran, me, the Quartet… oh, speaking of – Flame had his draconic heritage awakened a long time ago, and Brooks woke his up in the Enchanted Forest. Tommy didn’t have a draconic heritage in him… but that’s okay, not everyone does. I’m carrying on his legacy, too.”

Carrying on his legacy? What do you mean by that?

Caleb doesn’t respond to my thought, yet again.

“Caleb,” I say, and he looks into my eyes, and I’m momentarily entranced. Dammit, Caleb! Stop being so adorable! “Caleb, why aren’t you reacting to my thoughts?”

“Huh?” He looks confused. “Oh. I’m tuning them out. You keep thinking about how awesomeI am.”

“You can tune thoughts out?” I ask. “I thought you couldn’t do that?”

“I can,” Caleb says. “Kilmar and Teacher helped me do it. You’re a pervert.”

That hurts. That really, really hurts.

“Dinner smells delicious,” Caleb sniffs the air, then starts walking, Bar following close behind him.

We arriving in the dining room a few minutes later and take our seats. Bar climbs up onto the one beside Caleb, who sat across from me. They prepared steaks and mashed potatoes, along with a few other vegetable sides and sliced melons and strawberries.

Caleb pokes at his fruit, and I call over a servant.

“Do we have any bananas?” I ask.

“Yes, milord.”

“And apricots?”

“Yes, milord.”

“Very well,” I say. “Please fetch some for Caleb, he enjoys them.”

“Yes, milord,” the servant leaves, returning a few minutes later with a plate of sliced banana and apricots.

Caleb barely glances at them when the plate is set down beside him, but when he looks at it, his eyes widen, and he digs in. I know he likes strawberries, but he probably wasn’t feeling it. He’s still mourning his friend.

That explains why he’s been gone for so long, though – he’s probably just been mourning on Teacher’s island. I had no doubt he’d return here quickly.

As dessert is being served, Father returns, looking quite annoyed.

“I said don’t make a mess,” he ignores Caleb and the goblin entirely. Wasn’t Caleb going to send it to some island? “And yet you do that shortly after I leave.”

“Actually,” I say. “You said not to make one in the dungeon. I didn’t make one in the dungeon – I made one up here. Father, I’m sure you remember Caleb. He’s come to bring me back to the GSDF.”

“You’re not returning.”

“Sure,” Caleb says, and a turtle appears on the table. “Just as this isn’t really a turtle. Or this. Or this. Or this.”

More turtles pop out of his ring, and I do my best to keep a straight face as Father stares at the turtles. Caleb keeps releasing more and more of them, until there are at least a hundred or so wandering around the room, if a bit on the slow side.

“Stop this at once!” Father demands.

“Or what?” Caleb asks as another turtle pops out.

It is getting harder and harder not to laugh. Caleb has a serious, iron-will expression. He’s not going to give up this fight.

“I will-”

“You do realize,” Caleb says as another turtle pops out. “That you’re facing one of the most powerful Superhumans and magicians in the world, right? I can do this all day. Seriously. I have thousands of turtles. Once I run out of them, the rabbits are next. I know it’s winter here, but on the island? It’s always spring.”

Father pales when he realizes what Caleb just said.

Caleb plans on releasing hundreds of rabbits into the mansion. While they’re in mating season. As Father tries to process this, Caleb continues to release turtles. He actually moves to a different part of the room so he’s not dropping them on each other again.

“Jared is on my team,” Caleb states as he continues to release turtles. “So are Flame, and Brooks, and Kieran. Jared is an S-Rank Superhuman surrounded by A-Rank and S-Rank and more, all of whom can use magic, including the leader of the team. He survived the Enchanted Forest because of his team. While he has not helped the team out in any way,” way to put a blow to my ego, Caleb. “He will do so eventually. He is a part of my team, and if you prevent him from participating in training and in our team activities, then if we fail even one mission, if even one member of our team gets injured, then I will hold you personally accountable.”

That… sounds like a very serious threat, and I think Father agrees. It actually sounds really, really ominous, and sends a chill down my spine.

“If my son dies...”

“It’s not as if you could do anything to me,” Caleb interrupts father, and I’m so glad someone has the balls to do it. “Thank you, for your cooperation.”

The turtles suddenly suck back into Caleb’s ring.

“Jared, let’s go.”

“We’re two thousand miles from camp,” I stand up. “It’ll take a little bit of time to move there.”

“You have a pond on your property.”

Uh…

Caleb turns and makes his way out the back door, and I look at Father.

“I want to risk my life, Father,” I tell him. “I like the thrill of the missions and the battles, and I like making sure this world is a better place. See you around.”

“What does the pond have to do with anything?” He asks.

“Come and find out,” I grin at him, then follow Caleb out.

Damn, that boy is fast. Where’d the goblin go?

Caleb’s frowning at the sun in the sky.

“You’re going to blind yourself, staring at the sun like that,” I tell him.

“I forgot it’s daytime,” he looks at me, and I notice a darkness in front of his eyes, which fade when he looks down. “It works best with a full moon, because I’ve only really used it once. I’ll see if I can get it to work with the sun.”

Father approaches us, definitely confused as to how a pond is going to help us with travel.

“Father,” I look at him. “Remember when Caleb and I showed up during basic training? Your spatial magicians sensed the shifts in space, but couldn’t figure out how? Caleb used a pond.”

“A… pond?”

“Here we go!” Caleb exclaims, then begins incanting in the magical language.

I’ve never heard most of the words he uses, but his eyes turn violet and energy cackles around him as he raises his hands. The reflection of the sun on the pond begins to expand, until it covers the surface. The moment it does, the surface turns smooth, flat, and Caleb stops the incantation.

He moves his hands a little bit, and then the training facility comes into view from the sky. He zooms in until he finds a spot he likes – the cafeteria.

Of course he picked that… it’s dinnertime, and he’s probably going to be very hungry after this spell. That, and the massive meal we just had was already burned through, most likely – mine was.

“There we go,” Caleb nods in approval. “Ratios are even. Let’s go.”

He steps forward, dropping into the cafeteria and drawing stares from everyone in there, the entire room silencing at once. I look at Father.

“You really can’t stop him,” I remind him, then jump in after, landing in a crouch, then stand back up and look at Caleb. “You have one hell of a negotiation style, Caleb.”

“Really?” He looks at me. “I just made it clear what my intentions were.”

“You released over a hundred turtles into the mansion...”

“That reminds me,” Kieran approaches of us. “Of the time that he and Tommy released three hundred frogs into the orphanage.”

“You said one hundred,” I look at Caleb, who has started to tear up again. “Ah, hell.”

“I was five!” Caleb exclaims. “So I couldn’t count properly!”

“Three hundred, eighteen,” Kieran nods. “I remember, because I had to help you and Tommy relocate them all.”

“Tommy’s dead,” Caleb starts crying.

Kieran starts to say something, and I step forward and whisper into his ear what he told me.

“Oh,” Kieran looks at Caleb with concern. “Caleb, let’s eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’re pale as hell and wobbly on your feet,” Kieran says. “And you’re leaking magic. You’re hungry and need to eat.”

Caleb’s leaking magic? How can Kieran tell?

“How can you tell I’m leaking magic?” Caleb asks, then sniffs his arm. “I can’t smell it.”

Didn’t you tell us that magic doesn’t smell?

“No,” Caleb looks at me. He hears that thought. “I said that regular people can’t smell magic. I can. It has to do with-”

“Don’t say it!” I put my hand over his mouth and lock my gaze with his. “Caleb, absolutely, under no circumstances, should you tell anyone that. We can tell our team, but no one else. Got it?”

Caleb nods.

“Good,” I say, then look around. I spot the Quartet, minus Flame. “Where’s Flame?”

“He got kicked out,” Brooks answers. “Yesterday. He was recruited into the GMDF.”

Caleb licks my hand, and I jerk it away as I realize I’m still covering his mouth. Oops.

“Oh, good,” Caleb looks relieved. “Teacher told me it’s alright if other people learn real magic. I’m sure the GMDF will be happy to have a true magician in their forces.”

“I’ve told him you’re back,” Brooks said. “He’s probably going to be on his way here.”

“He’s here,” Caleb says as Flame suddenly appears in front of us, looking confused. “Hullo, Flame.”

“Whoa,” Flame looks confused as he spins around multiple times, looking around. “How did that happen?”

“Spatial magic,” Caleb responds with a tone that suggests Flame’s an idiot – and the expression to match. “How else?”

“I thought you needed a pond for that?” I ask.

“For long distances,” Caleb shakes his head. “A short distance is easy in comparison, though now I’m all dizzy and stuff, because I haven’t eaten enough food. Whoa. Everything is spinning. Hullo, Flame.”

“Only agents of the GDSF and its recruits are permitted on the property,” a staff member finally decides this is enough and approaches us. “Flame is not permitted-”

He silences when Caleb looks at him.

“Better,” Caleb says, then moves to an empty seat.

He wobbled the entire way over there, and barely collapsed into the seat. That boy needs to hold up on using his magic.

“Caleb, stop using magic,” Brooks says. “You’re going to pass out.”

“Gimme, like, fifteen,” Caleb waves a hand. “Teacher says I’m crazy if I use that magic, and that no sane dragon would attempt something like that, because of how much power it takes. A bunch of smaller hops are way better. I figured out the spells in reverse.”

Of course you did, Caleb.

The staff is at a loss as to what to do, and I can’t blame them. A recruit they kicked out got dragged in by a recruit who went missing two months prior, who returned with a recruit who was pulled out by the Council.

And said missing recruit is powerful enough of a magician that no Superhuman can really do anything to him. I can tell some of the more senior staff are more amused by the others attempting to kick Flame out and deal with Caleb. I just sit down and eat, because I know that what Caleb wants is what’s going to happen.

After Caleb burns off a few thousand calories to fuel the magic he regenerates, he clears the table in front of him, puts his arms down, his head on his arms, and promptly passes out. Flame chats with his brothers and me a little bit, and Kieran just watches Caleb until he wakes up.

----------------------------------------

~~(Caleb)~~

That was a nice nap, but now, I have to bring Flame back to the GMDF. He gives his brothers a hug, then I put a hand on his shoulder and transport us to the GMDF training facility. I decided to drop him off near Tucker, since I know him.

“Whoa!” Tucker jumps, throwing up a couple of hands. “Dude! Flame! Stop that! First, you just vanish from in front of me, then you just appear! Um… hi? Who are you?”

“Caleb Rivers,” I answer. “GSDF cadet. Flame thinks you’re cute and wants to kiss you. Anyway, I was just bringing Flame back. Bye.”

“Wait!” Tucker exclaims, face bright red. “You’re Caleb Rivers?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I did say that, didn’t I? Oh, Flame – guess what? Teacher’s a dragon!”

“What?” Flame asks. “Seriously?”

“Yeah!” I nod. “It’s so cool! I got to see his dragon form! He didn’t realize I was there, and was going to kill the doggy, because apparently, the dragons and the doggy don’t get along, and he had no idea why one would even go to his islands, so he took on his dragon form to kill the doggy, and then realized I was there. He was so beautiful and majestic… I didn’t realize it was him at first, though. “

“Dragons don’t like dogs?” Flame asks.

“No,” I shake my head. “They don’t like a certain type of doggy. The kind that Kilmar is. I think they should all just get along and be happy. The doggy was so nice. I got upset at Teacher for trying to kill him. I kept sleeping on the doggy, just in case Teacher changed his mind. Flame – Tucker thinks you’re cute, too. You two should totally go on a date. I wanna take pictures of you two cuddling.”

They both turn bright red, and before either one of them can respond, I transport myself to my bunk, giggling. A few of the cadets are startled.

“Caleb,” one of them I don’t remember the name of says. “You’re back.”

“Yeah,” I giggle. “I just left Flame alone with his newest crush. Anyway. I need to sleep some more. Used way too much magic.”

That, and I don’t want to think about Tommy more. It’s depressing. I’m grateful to Jared for letting me cry on him, though. I really needed that. It’s made it easier for me.