Trust

Ah, the first day of school

So which classes must I be tortured in?" Violet asked me when we got our first high school schedules. I really didn't know what to think about her. She had always stuck out of the crowd, still does. But I don't know why, it's often like she's a soar in my side that needs to go away, but when she's not there, I feel like there is something missing. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

It's worse for me, Vi." I replied in good spirits, "looks like English and geometry.

Well, English starts in ten minutes, see ya later." She said and then turned to hurry but she tripped on something, sending her books flying in every direction, fortunately they didn't hit anyone in the crowded hallway. I hurried over to help, stacking her books up next to me, I knelt down to help her up

You okay?" I asked when she started to rise.

She looked around, seeming to be briefly surprised by something. "I'm fine, thanks." She replied calmly. She wasn't even embarrassed; I know I would have been.

I suddenly realized I was smiling and turned around to leave. "Try to make to class in one piece, see you in ten." I muttered under my breath as I left in no particular direction as Vi's friend, Amy, swooped upon her, that was not something I wanted to stick around for.

I wound up near the library. Finally getting a bearing on my surroundings, I started off in the direction of Ms. Sorokin's room. She was my friend's cousin who used to babysit us when we were little, and she had asked me to help set up some science project before school, her first block was free and I already had a pass to my first class.

I got to the classroom to find her clearing off the front table of all the paperwork that was littering it. She grabbed a ring of keys and walked past me the door, signaling that I should follow. "Thank you so much for helping me." She said as she lead me to the teacher parking lot. The back off her blue truck had a bunch of, what looked like random junk. "Can you get one end of this board here." I held on to one side of a rather large piece of plywood that was painted whit on one side, the other end rested on the side of the truck and she started pilling various supplies on top. Taking the other side when she was done, we carried it slowly, so nothing would fall off.

Couldn't you have taken more than one trip out to get your supplies?" I asked when we were about half way there.

Yeah, but it's threatening to rain, and I forgot my tarp to cover everything." As if to prove her point, thunder crashed in the distance.

Right, that makes sense." I replied as the sprinkles started.

By the time I was done I was 5 minutes lat to class. Ms. Sorokin signed my pass and I hurried upstairs to English.

Ahahaha! Too bad you chose today to be late, Caleb! Candy giggled into my mind.

What are you talking about? I replied, oh yeah, did I forget to mention this? I'm a prince of this other planet called Cantella. It involves a lot of magic and royalty, I was to rule next. I also had strange little powers, like talking to others with powers like me and also the ability to block other's magic, for what ever reason that it's needed. The others can only block certain powers while Kelly and I can block all of them. We've never used them and I'm not sure why we even have them, who has the powers that we can block anyway? That's one thing my father won't tell us.

You'll find out soon enough. She replied just as I reached the classroom.

I walked up to the front of the room where the teacher had started making notes onto a piece of paper and handed her my pass. She nodded and continued writing, looked like the seats we chose would be our first assigned seats. I glanced around the room, every seat was full. Then I found Candy's gaze for a fraction of a second, pure amusement on her face as she looked to the back of the room. There was the last seat, in the back corner by the window, usually the first one gone. I started for it and then noticed who was sitting in the chair next to it. Violet sat there, glaring at me as I came over, I glared back.

Why is the only spot left right next to you?" I muttered under my breath to her as the teacher started taking role, and taking a note of where everyone was sitting, I just had to be right about the seating chart, didn't I.

You can blame Amy for this, I got here just as the bell rang and these were the only seats left." She replied coldly, shooting her glare towards Amy, her friend sitting on the other side of her. And, was Vi looking a little pale? Strange, I hope she's okay. I didn't let my eyes linger to long, because that's just weird and I also needed to pay attention to class now too.

Bad day

It's been four weeks since that first horrible day of school. I was taking the long way to my house, going through a forested area so as to not cross Violet's path. Occasionally she would wander into the forest and we would bump into each other, but that was rare. For the most part we avoided each other, but I always felt better if she was nearby. An annoying person, that Vi.

Crunch. I heard footsteps from nearby. What are the possibilities that I would be the only one here anyway? The forest was rather large. I continued on, but when I heard it again and closer this time. I stopped and listened. That's when I noticed the eerie quietness. There were no birds chirping or squirrels scampering about the trees, something was definitely off. I continued on a bit faster now to get home. A cool breeze suddenly popped up, making everything creepier.

That can't be right." A soft voice drifted to me from my right, Violet? I came closer and peeked around a tree. Oops, not Vi. A girl with long, slightly wavy brown hair stood staring at a dead tree. The tree was completely bare, unlike the other trees that still had all their leaves, this one stood alone.

I started to move toward her, my feet crunching the dead leaves on the ground, but she remained unmoving, still staring at the tree. Just then another voice spoke up for the shade of the trees. "Why are you just standing there?" I concentrated on blending into the background as I slowly moved over to the girl, getting between her and the man. There was nothing I could do about the sounds of my footsteps, but I kept my pace the same as his and revealed myself only when I was directly in his path to the frozen girl.

He shot back to the safety of the forest when he saw me appear out of nothing. But seemed to decide I wasn't really a threat as a kid. He stepped back into the clearing. "Get away from her." The man growled. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

Lowering my voice to be more threatening, I growled back at him. "No, leave and you will not be harmed." Just then his stance changed into an attacking pose, I readied myself to protect the girl. But I wasn't sure how long I would hold out, the man was definitely threatening.

I heard the girl's breath slow a bit, I looked back to make sure everything was okay. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating really hard on something. Then she gasped and her eyes opened again, just as a fist stabbed into my stomach. I gasped, but regained my composure quickly and knocked him back away. He regained his footing just as quickly as I had and came again with enough force to break a normal teenage boy's bones. Fortunately I'm no normal teenage boy. I had plenty of speed and strength to stop him again. Catching his fist in mine I twisted his arm and forced him down. When I heard a satisfying pop, I released it and he bent over it, cradling his injured arm. I turned back to the girl, trying to make sure she was okay. But the man still had some fight left in him, and he didn't take loosing well. He came back with a vengeance. Pushing me hard enough that I flew forward and right into the girl. There was a sickening crack; she fell to the ground, unconscious. I turned back to the man, who was also staring at the girl, concern on his face. I was mad, but the concern on my face made me realize something. What if she is dead? What if it's my fault she is dead? Something inside me screamed at me that she couldn't be dead and I didn't have the slightest idea why Something must have crossed my face because the man looked me in the eye and they seemed to say I'm sorry and took off. If the girl hadn't been unmoving I would have followed him.

Turning back to the girl, all that was left to do was to carry her to my house and make sure she was okay. So that was what I did, I brought her to my house, being as quiet as possible I laid her down to rest in my room and then waited outside the room for her to wake up. And the hours started to pass slowly by without a sound from inside the room.

Confrontations

I had been waiting for 7 hours. I knew she was okay because I could hear her faint breathing through the door. But I was becoming impatient, especially now that I had time to think about what was going on. First off, who was this girl? Second, why was she just standing in the middle of a clearing when some guy was trying to get to her, and not being sneaky about it either. Third, who was the man and why was he somewhat familiar?

Okay, that's it, I'm going in there! I opened the door to enter and wake the girl. But the door creaked and I closed it quickly out of a reflex of trying not to make a sound. Okay, maybe I'm not going in. I applied some WD40 to stop the creaking. So I tried again, it still creaked and louder this time. "Stupid door!" I hissed at it out of frustration. I closed it quickly, again. I stayed by the door this time though. I could hear her moving around inside.

It took me a while to build up the courage to go in and talk to her, I'm not sure why I was nervous, but I was. When I opened the door again, she was gone. The curtains blew out from the open -blocked-

Figures, I finally build up the courage to talk to her and she vanishes." I muttered to myself. I turned to leave and spotted her sitting against the wall, staring at her hands in her lap. I gasped out of surprise.

It takes courage to talk to me? Am I scary or something?" she asked, her eyes remaining down. Her voice was carefully kept level.

Uh, no, not really. I don't particularly know why it wasn't easy to talk to you." I replied, taking a couple of steps forward without really realizing what I was doing.

Wasn't? so it's not a problem now, right?" She looked up at me and started to jump.

I extended my hand to help her up, "Not really, would you like to get something to eat? It's a little past dinner time.

Uh, sorry, I don't eat dinner with strangers." After she said this, I could see an internal argument going on in her head, I moved a little to my right to get between her and the -blocked- Another thing to my list; why did I want to know her so badly?

Oh, sorry, I am Caleb. May I ask who you are?" Oh yeah, I'm so good at introductions, it's been five minutes, and I never even gave my name! For all she knows I'm the kidnapper! Which, I guess I sort of am. Oops.

Yeah, you can ask." She paused and I waited for her to continue, I was about to literally ask who she was, but she spoke first. "But you're not going to get it.

Something about the tone and the joke made something click. Her scent was familiar too. I tilted my head trying to figure out where I had recognized everything from. "Do I know you?

Something passed through her eyes, "Not that I know of. I said you were a stranger didn't I?" She starred at me like she was trying to force her words directly into my head.

Okay." I said a little suspicious. I extended my hand to help her up again. "But I must insist you eat something." I'm not entirely sure why I was being so persistent about it, but it seemed like a good idea. Maybe if I could convince her to just sit and calm down I could get some answers.

I'm not really that hungry, thanks though." She said, but took my hand anyway. Was that a sign that she was trusting me a little more? Or was she just humoring me so she could get a chance to leave?

A drink then?

I think it would probably just be better if I head home now.

Please, I want to talk to you.

She glanced around me at the window, I moved purposely to show she wasn't getting over there. She sighed a little. "Uh, huh. You just want to try to figure out who I am. You still think you know me, don't you?

Well, she hit the nail on the head, so naturally say, "No, can't I offer someone who's been knocked-out for a few hours something to eat and then find out a little about them?

She stared at me like I was an idiot for a minute before replying. "Do you hear what you're saying? Why was I knocked-out? I should be finding out more about you! Not the other way around!" Her tone was deadly and I flinched away subconsciously. She paused and I could see her eyes relax a little before she continued. "Sorry, it's been…an interesting day." She continued considerably calmer.

Indeed." I replied, keeping my voice indifferent, trying not to tick her off again, in that little explosion, I had sensed great power behind her weaker appearance. "Perhaps we can go sit down and chat for a little while, if you'd just follow me.

I waited for her nod of agreement before starting off down the hallway. I could hear her following a few steps behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw her examining the surroundings as best she could, probably looking for an escape. Then I realized the window in my room was still open, she could leave whenever she wanted to. I turned back around as we neared the dining room.

Uh, aren't your parents curious as to why I'm here at this hour?" She asked me a little suspicious.

My parents really didn't mind, actually, they weren't really my parents, they knew I was different from everyone else, so they didn't really bug me about anything. "Not really." I replied calmly. Then I glanced over my shoulder and asked, "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?

She sighed, "Just some water please.

I nodded; satisfied that something was going my way. I pulled a chair out for her to sit down at the dining room table, and then I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, hurrying back, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't take off the moment I turned my back. She eyed it suspiciously, probably thought I poisoned it, but she took a small sip.

When she glanced up at me and said, "Thank you." I realized that I had been staring at her, probably just making her think I had poisoned it and was waiting for her to pass out. I was seriously not good getting a guest to relax.

I sighed inside my head before continuing. "No problem. So what do you want to know about me?" I asked. The least I could do to help my case is let her get her way a little first.

Her eyes widened in surprise, or disbelief, I'm not sure which one. "You are going to tell me about you?

Yeah, you were right, you have more right to answers than I do right now. So, I'll answer any questions you ask if I can. And maybe you'll answer a couple of mine in return.

I know what your question is, you only have one and because I know that after that there will be no other questions I'm not going to give you the upper hand!

So I do know you!" I said, finally getting one of the questions answered. Then I realized my mistake. Oops.

Yes, you do. I answered one of your questions, now you have to answer one of mine." My eyes narrowed, "How did you recognize me?" Shoot!

I felt myself tense a little, "There was, uh, just, um, something about you that I recognized." I floundered around for an answer that wouldn't give anything away. This technically wasn't a lie, I guess.

Uh, huh, now tell me the truth." Okay, fine, it's not really the truth, it wasn't just something, it was a specific thing, and too bad I couldn't figure it out for myself!

That is the truth!" I semi lied again.

No it's not. That was an improvised answer, you're a bad liar." Great, that was not something I needed. She paused and waited for me to answer, but all I could do was search for something to say, nothing came. She didn't wait long, and when I remained silent she continued. "I think it would have been a good idea for me to leave now. I'll be able to find my way home from here, see you in English." She and I both froze where we were.

Vi?" I asked timidly. She sighed and then she blurred for a moment and then she was the girl who sat next to me in English.

Hey." She said casually, "I've answered your question, how did you recognize me? The truth this time please.

Your scent was familiar." I replied, a little stunned.

My scent?

I have strengths that most of the others don't, apparently not as rare as I thought.

You have no idea.

What's that supposed to mean?

There are several students at our school that are, well, like me.

They change appearances?

Well, yes, that is one thing. But our senses are amplified an –

Which senses?

Um, all of them, why?

Oh, nothing.

It will take me a while to tell you everything about my abilities, let's start with you.

Fine, I don't mutate or any –

I disguise myself, not mutate!

Whatever, I don't change how I look or anything fancy like that. As far as I know, I can just hear a pen drop from three miles away, I can pick up any scent, I can see in the dark as well as I can in the light, I'm unusually strong," I'm just gonna leave off the little, block powers thing, "I can hear the thoughts of the others like me, and –

Other's like you?

There are a few other students at our school that…" I stopped midsentence as I sensed the students of which I spoke, "are on their way.

What?" She paused, thinking about what she was going to say next. "I'm going home now.

Wait! I think you should stay." I started to say, but the back door closed before I was done. I hurried outside and continued, "As long as you're with me nothing will happen to you!" But she had opened a small portal. I froze, slightly mesmerized by the portal, that always happened, but I was getting better. The portals were basically a circle in the wall that was just big enough for a person to go through, but it could stretch to fit anything. But the colors were what amazed me, every portal was every color and no color at once, and each portal was different. And somehow this one was more beautiful than the others. I also recognized the small symbol in the middle of the portal, there was one on every portal that symbolized where you were going. This one was a symbol that I saw a lot. Violet was going to Cantella, my home planet.

Don't Ask

My friends showed up in no time. "Caleb? You okay?" Kelly snapped me out of my trance of the portal.

Y-Yeah." I stuttered and then collected myself. "I'm fine.

So what happened?" Luke asked.

Nothing much, just ran into an old friend.

An old friend?

We're not the only special ones at our school.

What are you talking about?" Lindsey asked.

Violet. Violet and some others have special abilities." I sighed. "I don't know what her powers are, except for amplified senses, like us, she can make portals. And here's the big one, she can disguise her appearance. When I found her, she looked completely different, but her scent was familiar." I looked around at everyone there. "She knows about my amplified senses and ability to talk to you all in my head. She doesn't know about you guys though, she left the moment I said you were coming. I also don't know who her friends are. And when she left, she went through a portal; I saw what symbol was in the middle. She went to Cantella.

She couldn't possibly be one of the princesses? Could she?" Candy asked the obvious question. "Your guys' little, uh, battle doesn't mean anything, right?

I sighed and shrugged, I sure didn't like the idea that she was an actual enemy. "I think we'll, I'll have to talk to her during English. We sit next to each other in the back corner. Any other suggestions?"Everyone shook their heads. Everyone split to go home and get some rest, who knew what would happen tomorrow.

entering the war

The next morning I made sure I was early to English. Taking my seat in the far back corner as usual, I was the first one there. Ten minutes passed by and she still didn't come in. The warning bell rang, still no sign of Violet. Class started, she didn't show. So, she was going to avoid me, huh. Five minutes into class an unfamiliar girl came in carrying a notepad and pencil. After the teacher assigned an assignment to keep us busy she went over and talked to the girl. After a moment she signaled for her to take a seat near the door on the other side of the room, where she sat throughout class, watching everyone and jotting down a few notes here and there. I eyed her suspiciously, but she ignored me. So I gave up, I would look like a complete idiot if I walked up to her and said, I know who you are and she wasn't Violet. I sighed and finished writing.

At lunch I asked if anyone had seen her, they hadn't, she wasn't in any of their classes, but she is in my last class, geometry. I'd wait till then and if she wasn't there I'd find a way to get her address from her friends, which would not be pretty. Especially if any one of them where as powerful as she was.

I arrived at math early too, just in case. She did arrive, but not until the bell rang. I tried to catch her eye to tell her, quietly, that we needed to talk, but she ignored me the entire time. And she was the first one out the door, glancing at me briefly, using the many other students to cover her exit. I ran into Tim in the hallway. "Well, was she there?" He asked, leaning against the wall, watching the other students leave.

Yeah, she was, but she got out the door the moment the bell rang. I think she's still here though, in the building. We should get the others and look around, if anything, we'll find her friends.

He nodded, just as my math teacher came over to us and told me I needed to go see the attendance office about something.

Never mind, you guys go ahead, I'll find you all later." I corrected myself as I took a note from my teacher.

Okay, see you in a little bit." Tim said as he headed off in another direction. I went to the attendance office, according to my note, I had been counted absent on accident. But first I had to wait for the attendance people to get back so that I could get a sheet that my teacher needed to sign. It was twenty five minutes since I had left Tim when I was finally done.

Where are you guys? I thought to the others.

Back hall of the English wing, and you better get here soon, things are getting messy. Candy replied hurriedly. I rushed to the hallway of which she spoke, and found a shield blocking all view, but it was the type of shield that let certain people in and completely blocked everyone else. So I had no trouble entering the hallway, but found a war taking place. Everyone was fighting with someone. I went to help the one closest to me, Lindsey, fighting with Erik. That's when Vi made herself known. She had me pinned against the wall in no time.

What a rude thing to do to an ally!" She hissed in my ear as the barrier around us thickened to block everyone from entering.

Everyone stopped and was watching us now, the outcome of our argument would spark what they did next. "How is helping someone rude?" I questioned.

It is insulting to them. Think about it, you and your friends are in the middle of a big fight and someone helps you first and no one else. That practically screams 'You're weak!'" She said as if she were talking to a five year old. But, she was right, and it was kinda obvious now that I thought about it.

Oh. I see your point. Sorry Lin, I honestly didn't mean that.

She gave me a forgiving smile and replied, "It's okay, I know you didn't mean anything like that.

Violet took a step back from me and her friends left they're fighting positions to stand behind her. She placed her pointer fingers together and then spread them apart, forming a thin, glowing blue thread like thing, She then added a loop on each end. "This will connect two parts of the two people who place their hands through the loops. The hearts shall beat as one. Which means; if one stops, so will the other. And the minds are connected as well, no secrets." She then placed her right hand through one of the loops and held the other side out to me. "My siblings' minds and mine are connected, just as you and your group. This will connect all of us.

And what about the heart thing?" I asked, trying to keep one eye on her and one eye on the rope.

Unless you plan on dying, it shouldn't be a problem, because I don't.

Can it be removed?

Yes, if all the minds are in agreement. And that means absolutely all of them.

There are no other details?

Well, the two connected people can't put more than 100 yards space between them.

You have a weird way of putting things." But I put the loop around my wrist anyway.

The spell took hold within a second and then there was a sudden rush of all the new thoughts and views that bombarded my mind, giving me a major headache. It took a few minutes for us all to get used to it.

Okay, now none of us can act without the others' knowledge. And even though we can hear your thoughts, we still can't hear your secrets?" I asked.

The secrets we keep have to be kept. It can affect way more people than just us. We use our abilities without thinking about it." Erik replied.

Some people don't have to have their minds connected to hear others' thoughts," Vi continued, "which means we still can't tell you.

What?" Kev started, becoming a little irritated.

I put a hand out to stop him. This is hardly fair, we have trusted you with plenty but you have told us almost nothing.

I know, Erik is work…

Done!" Erik said, pulling us from our conversation. "There is just one little thing that needs to be added.

Why do you emphasize the 'little' part?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

Well, we have to link the spell to the people.

How do you do that?

It depends on the spell, but this one requires one drop of that person's blood.

Blood?

Vi held up a hand and cut Erik off from his reply. "Blood is one of the strongest bonds. Are you afraid of a little cut? Anybody got a knife?" Kevin pulled a small pocket knife. She held out her hand, palm up, "If you would.

Gladly." He made a small slit on her palm, the blood started to bead along the red line. She walked over and allowed it to drip into the spell, which glowed a bright red.

Oh look, nothing happened, your turn." I shrugged and took the knife from Kevin, poking my finger, I let a drop of blood drop into the spell. Everyone else followed my lead.

Have you noticed what happened after the connection was set in place for a little while? I questioned in Vi's mind.

Yeah, the connections between us and the others was broken.

Vi? Our magic is protecting their minds now." Erik announced.

Right, we might as well start with examples of our abilities. But we shouldn't do it here, too public. Follow me.

She walked over and tapped the wall. A portal opened, the elegant symbol for Cantella hovering in the middle. She stepped and signaled for them to come too.

finding the secrets

We came out into a large, impressive hallway. I glanced around myself as everyone else came out. That is so weird. The thought wasn't really meant for me to hear, but Vi wasn't paying attention. Caleb and I, Tim and Lisa, Lin and Sam, Chris and Sidney, Kev and Tiffany, Cindy and Andrew, Luke and Carol, Mike and Amy, Jason and Sarah, and Candy and Edward. Now that I looked around, I could see what she was thinking about, everyone had, uh, paired up with someone else; all of my friends were with one of her siblings.

I decided to play along. You noticed that too, huh? I thought to her as everyone else was inspecting the new surroundings.

Yeah, it's rather strong. They're not actually friends, but they would protect each other with their lives if it was necessary.

I know, we better get on with your secret and it better be good. I sent a meaningful look at her, but she'd already turned her attention to everyone else.

Alright, let's just go down the line," She announced. "All our senses are amplified, just like yours. But we have added abilities as well, Edward and Sidney, would you care to start?" She nodded to the two standing close together and practically blending into the wall.

I recognized Sidney, vaguely, from science class, I sat by her once, in the very back of the room. "Sure, we have black magic. It is not evil magic, but literally black magic." She formed a black orb in her hand to demonstrate her point.

I didn't recognize the boy, Edward I was guessing, at all. "It also is illusions of the eye," He continued from where Sidney left off. "The barrier Vi put up earlier was using a little black magic, to make all of us vanish." And then suddenly, he was gone. I kept my surprise low, but I had been expecting something like Sidney's orb, I should have expected something like disappearing kids.

Sam, Lisa, you're up." Vi called.

We have the opposite of black magic, which is, of course, white magic." Sam began, "We can vanish as well, but we use the light instead of the shadows." He followed Sidney's example and created a white orb in his palm.

They tend to be better at using stealth, we use distractions." Lisa finished.

Those are the most difficult to describe, the others can be easily demonstrated." Violet continued on.

My turn!" Amy volunteered. She formed a little stream in mid air. "Water, obviously. I can also heal things.

Fire." Tiffany snapped her fingers together and a small candle flame appeared above her pointer finger.

Air." Sarah created a small tornado around us all.

Earth." A flower appeared at Carol's feet. "But I can heal things as well.

And Erik and I are the eldest son and daughter, so we have all seven of the powers." Violet finished.

What is so dangerous about telling us that?" I spoke up, trying to figure out if Vi was trying to distract us or something.

That's not what the important secrets are, this is though." Vi signaled for us to follow her through the huge, ornate doors that we'd been standing in front of the entire time.

We came out into another room, only this one was enormous. "Does it ever end?" Luke asked, gawking at the rows and rows of book shelves.

He asked in a rhetorical sort of question way, so I was surprised to hear Sam answer, "Actually, no, it doesn't." I looked over at him, but he was inspecting a row of thick, old textbooks. At the bottom of each of their spines was a small symbol that I'd been raised to despise, it was the mark of Violet's family. On Cantella, we do last names differently, instead of the last name being past down generation to generation, each generation has a different last name. For example, my family's last name changed to Callans once I was born. But only the child who will take over the thrown keeps his or her last name, everyone else chooses a different on once they are old enough to go to earth and school.

There is a book on everything, every place, every event, and everyone that has or will ever exist." Vi broke through my internal babbling. She paused as if waiting for something, then I realized what she had just said. If there was a book on everything, then there was a book on us, all of us! Once that got through, she continued. "Yes, that does include all of you." Then she started walking again. We all followed.

If you had a book on each of us, then why didn't you know about our talents? I muttered, well, if you can manage to mutter in thoughts I guess, in her mind.

We don't read about anything in here unless we have a reason to. She replied to me before returning to everyone else. "The only books that aren't in here are the books about us, they are hidden. But to get there, we must go through a passage that is designed for us to know our surroundings, but others won't. So, to get there, you're gonna have to have some serious trust in us.

Then everyone one was looking at me, waiting to see what I would say. I glanced at Violet, and knew that we could trust her and her siblings, but what I didn't know was if they could trust us. I put that out of my head quickly and nodded to everyone. Erik and Vi moved next to each other outside of where the rest of us stood, Erik started muttering something under his breath that I didn't hear and Violet started walking around us in a large circle, Erik turned so that he was facing her the entire way. When they met back up they both nodded and took a step toward us. The ground dropped out from beneath us. We ended up in a pitch black hallway, my eyes were completely useless. And yet, I could feel every little detail about the place around me. I could sense that all of Violet's group wasn't have a problem with getting around the assortment of junk that littered the ground, but my group had to cling on to one of Vi's group just to move a few feet. They clearly didn't have any senses working right now.

Caleb? How's the seeing issue? Violet asked in my mind as we made our way down the tunnel.

I'm fine.

Interesting. Then her mind went off into another mental chat with herself, mostly involving the fact that everyone was with their "buddy" except for us. It was an interesting little conversation, so I did a little listening. I started to drift off into my own thoughts when something I heard caught my attention. I wonder if he found out about some of my previous thoughts!

She sounded almost worried, and I wasn't able to stifle the laugh that escaped quickly enough. I felt her piercing glare fall on me, so I decided not to try and hide the fact that I'd heard it. What previous thoughts?

Nothing! Her reply was quick, a bad disguise of secrets.

Oh, come on, let me see! Then out of curiosity I started to search around her mind, I'm not even sure how I was doing it, but I was.

Absolutely not! Suddenly there was a large wall that came up between and more than half her mind.

Why not?

Too embarrassing! She muttered the next part almost to soft of a thought for me to hear. This hall is longer than usual.

Another laugh escaped me, I won't tell anyone.

Yeah, I would rather they know before you! I'm not entirely sure that some of them haven't already guessed. I know realized that her mood had been getting more and more annoyed as we had "talked" so I let the subject drop quickly before I got a fireball to my face.

Got enough answers for now

Chapter 7

It took a few more minutes to get to the end of the tunnel, which opened up into a nice little sitting room, with several book shelves that held thick, old fashioned books without anything written on the sides.

My little group of friends split up, each grabbing a book, we would share what we learned later. I happened to get a book about Violet's great, great, great grandmother; Queen Selenalia Caloet. I flipped through it, finding interesting little facts about Violets family history. I ended up reading four other books too. Two of them were about the children of Violet's kingdom, like what they learned and what was expected. The other two were much more interesting, they were about various laws and traditions of the kingdom.

Depends on the book!" Kevin practically shouted, drawing me away from the story and back into the realization that it was getting really late.

Comic books don't count." Kelly said, rolling her eyes.

Kevin opened his mouth to continue, but I cut him off. "Come on you two." I sighed, rolling eyes. They always start fighting over the littlest things. I commented to Vi.

Yeah, I know the feeling. She replied, laughing as she remembered the many times that we had had arguments, friendly arguments like Kevin and Kelly, about little things. A small laugh escaped me as well.

Now then," Luke said, the last to join us. "I don't suppose we could get a tour of the castle?

Not tonight, well, actually, now it's morning. And we do have to go to school." Vi replied, causing a little ripple of groans.

As we started to walk down the hallway again, I remembered something that had come into my mind when Vi mentioned school. That reminds me, where were you first block?

In class of course. She replied.

No you weren't!

Yes I was! Just not as myself!

I paused for a moment, thinking about it. The reporter?

She nodded and we continued on silently

We reached the exit shortly, that's when the newest problem arose. "Uh," I started, as sudden realization crossed me that I should have realized sooner. "I think our homes are more than 300 feet apart.

Well, that leaves two options." Erik began, "You could find a way to cut the distance, or you could cut the connection, but don't forget about that final detail.

I won't." Vi replied hurriedly as everyone else filed out the portal home. "See you tomorrow.

What detail?" I hissed at her. She shrank away a little bit and refused to look me in the eyes.

I sort of thought it was a minor one, and wouldn't really matter." She started and then paused briefly. "The connection can only be used between two people once, in other words, once it's removed it won't return.

Several long seconds past before I realized she was waiting for a reply. I didn't really want to talk to her right now though. What? Did she think I wouldn't have done it if I knew about that? All I managed was a disappointed "Oh." Then something crossed her eyes briefly, but I couldn't tell what it was, why was she so hard to read?

...would end badly! I heard the tail end of one of one of her stray thoughts

What would end badly? I asked, then realizing that my tone was still a little harsh I thought about what I should say next and calmed down a bit. I think we should keep the connection.

Uh, nothing, nothing will end badly! She said quickly and then tried, and failed, to smile. She paused to get her thoughts strait and then continued. I think we should end it. As a matter of fact I think we should all pretend this never happened.

My eyes widened involuntarily when I realized that she was serious. No, you said that both minds must be in agreement. I say it stays, so it stays.

She sorta half glared at me for a second and then asked aloud, "Why?

I hesitated for a second before continuing, "Well, your mind interests me." Wasn't really a lie, I didn't so much as care about the secrets that were hidden in the secret sitting room, but the ones that she hid from everyone. But it wasn't really the truth either, I wasn't sure why I wanted the connection to stay.

Her glare returned, but I ignored it. "You are really stubborn aren't you?" She asked, surprising me.

Me? You seem more stubborn than I!

Hardly! What have I been stubborn about?

The secrecy thing. The refusing to talk to me after I found out part of your secret thing. And several other things from before all of this started!" I said, satisfied with myself when her face suddenly turned to surprise. "What about me?

Well, let me see. You were pretty persistent about me eating or drinking something on that first day," Then she paused as something flashed through her memory.

You were happy that it was me who you thought saved you? I commented, surprised.

Yes, but I want to know the truth about the next part. She said and then another memory went through her mind. This time it was her thinking of the possibility that I was the bad guy behind what happened. What do I say? I mean, it sort of is true, and should I really be getting so close to this girl? I mean, I was who kidnapped her in the first place, granted I was really trying to save her. I continued babbling in my mind until she interrupted with. So, it's true. She sighed, her gaze dropped to her feet.

I sighed as well, something inside me was telling me to just go along with it. Yes, I was the one who knocked you out, and the one who blocked your power and paralyzed your body… Blocked her power? Was this group of people the people that my special talents work against? Well this could be a twist.

Why? Her thought had an edge of desperation as it cut me off. Wait, you knew I had powers?

Yes, I could sense your powers… Where the heck is all of this coming from?

She stopped me again as I started babbling again, What did I look like?

I didn't know it was you. She paused and thought about something I couldn't see. This connection was weird, it blocks some people out completely and then we can overhear some things but not others?

Then who was the other person and why did you do what you did? She continued.

I don't know who the other one was, but I knocked you out because I sensed your power. I kidnapped you because I wanted to know if you were friend or foe. Well, the first part was sort of true I guess…

Our conversation was cut short when someone cleared their throat nearby. I turned and a beautiful, definitely royal, woman staring at us with raised eyebrows as she leaned against the wall. Apparently she'd been watching us glare at each other for the last few minutes.

Vi? Would you mind introducing us?" She asked

Uh, this is Caleb. Caleb, this is my mother," Vi paused and then added, "the queen.

Should I bow? I asked in her mind.

It would be the polite and appropriate thing to do at this time.

Pleased to meet you, your highness." I said while bowing. I don't suppose I'm supposed to bow to you because you're a princess? I asked Violet.

No! I hate all that formal junk! Please just act normal to me.

Good! I wasn't planning on bowing to you.

Violet? Why can't I hear his thoughts?" The queen asked a little frustrated. She was eyeing me a little suspiciously.

Well, Erik's and my powers are protecting his and his friends' minds." Vi replied.

That wouldn't matter, he is in my castle and he is not royalty. I should be able to hear his thoughts and I know you didn't purposefully create a barrier that strong, it would waste too much of your energy.

I can hear his thoughts just fine…

You linked your minds together?" Her eyebrows went up even higher.

Yeah, and now we are cut off from everyone else.

I see. Caleb, you need to go home and get some rest, same goes for you, Violet.

That's the problem, our houses are too far apart, the connection won't let us. Mind if we barrow two rooms?

Violet, you know that this is your home too, and the rooms are always open to you and your friends as needed." She said and then pulled Violet over to the side and started talking too quietly for me to hear.

Should I say anything? I asked in her mind when the queen glared at me suspiciously again before starting off down the hallway. Perhaps something to get her to stop giving me that look?

Better not, just act humble. Besides, she only thinks you're a spy.

Lovely. I thought sarcastically.

Trust me, it could be worse.

If you say so.

That is really annoying." Her highness commented, stopping at the end of a hallway. The wall in front of us had a large door that was centered perfectly along the wall. It was simple, yet complicated, which described a lot of Cantella. "That whole not being able to hear the conversation thing, that is. Violet, you take this room," She said, tapping a door on our left. "And Caleb, you may take this room." She tapped the door across the hall from the other one, then turned and left.

I am laying down one rule, please avoid mirrors! Vi said as I shut the door behind me.

Same to you. I replied.

How to make this work

Chapter 8

It was definitely the worst night of my life. Violet's dreams and mine seemed to be fighting each other, so all we saw were little flashes of them. And all I had when I woke up was a bad headache, and from the looks of Violet, when we met in the hall, she did too. Both our closets had been linked to our closets on earth, so we had our usual choice of clean clothes.

There has got to be a better way!" I muttered, massaging my temples.

We'll deal with that later. right now we need to concentrate on school." Violet replied.

I glanced at his watch and then gasped. "Which starts in five minutes!

Relax, I have a plan," Violet said, rolling her eyes in a way that made me think she didn't really do it on purpose. She snapped her fingers twice. "That just gave the appearance that someone walked into a restroom stall in both girls and the boys restrooms, no one is actually there." Then she created two portals, both had the symbol for earth in it, and around the edge was the description of the exact place we wanted to go, those were different on the two portals. She signaled which one I should go through and we stepped through, into the world of annoying homework assignments.

The morning was a little awkward at first, we weren't sure how to act around each other. So, we decided to go with ignoring them. Then the day went as normal.

Until lunch that is, then I decided to put our little connection to use. I was helping Luke, Kelly, and Tim study for their math test that they had after lunch when it occurred to me that they were taking the same course as me, but from another teacher.

Do we have a test in math today, Vi? I asked Vi silently.

Yes, but this is not a cheat sheet!

Why would I cheat off of you?

Because I'm better at math and you know it.

Try and stop me! And I'm arguing why? I wasn't planning on cheating off of her anyway.

Don't forget that I've had a lot of practice talking about stuff without really thinking about it.

Not that I really have a choice about whether I could cheat or not anyway. Fine! I didn't really say much after that.

Interesting information

Show us the rest of the castle." Luke demanded after we had all finished our homework.

Why do you want to see the castle so badly?" Violet asked.

Stupid question, Vi. I muttered in her mind.

Why wouldn't we? One, it's a freaking castle! Two, the first day we came here we get to see a never ending library, a secret passage way and a lot of magic!" Luke replied, we had all agreed to keep our little magic thing, whether we understood it or not, a secret.

Well, all that stuff is normal, everyday things in our world. She replied.

But not in ours. Kind of true I guess… By the way, they're staring.

She turned her attention back to everyone else. "Sorry. Where shall we start?

How about we introduce them to mom?" Lisa suggested enthusiastically. I tensed as Violet nodded in agreement to meet the queen again.

Who?" Tim asked.

Our mom; the queen of this area." Violet explained, some of their faces became very worried. "She won't lock any of you up. Just show proper respect." They nodded and we headed off

The queen was reading, the only one in the large room that we had entered, there were several large chairs and couches scattered about. She looked up curiously as we came in. "Can I help you?

Yeah, just introducing you to some new people to this world." Violet replied. Caleb, want to demonstrate some proper respect? I stepped forward, sighing mentally, and followed the same procedure I had last night. "You remember Caleb." She nodded and Violet continued on, introducing everyone. They all followed my lead, except the girls curtsied.

She is still giving me a suspicious look. And she's only giving it to me she seems to be okay with the others. I muttered in Violet's mind.

You're imagining things. She replied, but I could tell she was taking a second look. "Erik, do you want to go show everyone where the guest rooms are, in case they have some need of staying here?" She said, keeping majority of her attention on the queen.

Erik nodded and led the way out the doorway. I glanced at Violet, but left anyway.

We followed a complicated system of hallways until we found one extremely long one that I would have said was as long as the library had I not known that the library never ended, but I could see the wall that marked the end. Each wall was lined with many, many doors. As we started walking I could see that some of the doors had little carvings, but I would have to stop and take a closer look to tell what it was. But most of the doors were blank

As we neared the end of the hallway I noticed that the wall at the end was not just a bare wall like I had thought it was there was a door, a bit larger than the other doors. As we got even closer I recognized it as the door that I had noticed last night. After a while Erik started pausing and tapping on doors and calling out the names of the people who could use each room. "Okay everyone, you can go in and take a look around if you want, but let's meet in the lounge, which is the door at the end." Erik said, pointing to the large door.

As Erik went to go claim a room for himself, I went and took a closer inspection of the door to my room. On the front were the symbols I'd noticed earlier, but up close I could see that they were elegant, calligraphy letters that spelled out my name.

Erik came back and led me through the large door and into a smaller version of the room that the queen had been in. He took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall to our left, I took a seat opposite him, no matter how close I was with Vi, his sister and close friend, he and I would never get along, never did, probably never will.

An awkward silence hung between us as neither of us knew what to talk about. I decided to break it after a minute or so. "So, why are you and your siblings staying in the guest rooms?" I asked.

None of us actually own a room in the castle, we live on earth mostly, and we stay in guest rooms when we're here. I'm the only one who's stayed here before, that's why everyone else went to see their rooms." He replied.

Right, why…

Violet's arguing with mom because of you, you know that, right?" He cut in.

It caught me off guard. Vi? Please tell me that you aren't having trouble with your mother because of me.

Have you been listening in?

No, I can honestly say I haven't.

Good and it is fine, I'm learning some information that I needed.

No she's not." I replied to Erik.

He raised an eyebrow, "And how would you know?

She just told me.

So you still have your connection?

You're just now realizing that your connection with her is gone?

No, I noticed a while ago, but I didn't know if she was cut off from everyone or just us.

Yes, Vi and I are connected, but we're completely disconnected from everyone else. The connection between me and my siblings is gone as well.

I finished explaining just as Violet popped into my head. Caleb, you have some explaining to do!

What are you talking about? I asked, caught off guard…again!

I'll explain later.

What's happening?" Erik broke into my thoughts.

I don't really know." I heard the slight confusion in my voice and knew that what I'd said was definitely true. "Wait, what exactly do you mean?

You were…uh…talking(?) to Violet.

And how do you know that?

You get this off in space look on your face, so does she. But you wouldn't have noticed that, would you?

No, can't say I have." We stopped talking when we heard footsteps outside the door.

Just don't loose my trust

Coming soon!

Thanks