"Come on, forget what Jack said. Mara and Jayson are probably wondering what happened to us," says Kalen, walking past the groups of new trainees that had been watching from their doors.

The other teams were obviously used to this kind of behavior though, because they keep talking to the new Elites as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. We make it to a familiar door and walk in on Jayson and Mara playing a game of cards.

"We weren't even gone for five minutes," exclaims Kalen, but Mara just shrugs.

"You know our big baby has a short attention span and gets bored easily."

Jayson pouts

"Hey!"

Mara puts down her last cards and, I don't know what they're playing, but she seems to win by the way Jayson throws his remaining cards down and lays flat on his back, defeated.

"How are you so good?" he groans, and Mara just laughs.

Cassie laughs with her, and I remember the first time she met Mara the other day.

It had been during our tour, Kalen had us meet up with Jayson and Mara in one of the courtyards, we found the two of them sitting on a bench under a big tree.

"How was initiation," asked Jayson, slowly scooting away from Mara, as if he didn't want to be caught too close to her.

"Great!" exclaimed Cassie. "The duels were incredible!"

At the mention of the duels Maras head shoots up, eyes landing on me with concern written all over her face. She's probably wondering if my Gift has been discovered.

"Don't worry," I reassure her. "They don't know. They think my Gift is just having the freakish ability to guess peoples moves in a fight."

Her shoulders slump, posture relaxing instantly.

"It's not a great cover, but it will have to do," she gets up from the bench and turns to Cassie.

"It's nice to see you again."

Cassie smiles and shakes Maras hand, eyes roaming over her petite frame. Today Mara was dressed all in black, a cherry red leather jacket slung over her shoulders. She was well built, with toned arms and legs, from all her afternoons of training. She seems to ooze confidence. No wonder she has such an impact on people, her aura demands respect. I can already tell that she and Cassie are going to become very good friends.

"Right back at you. Bri wouldn't stop talking about you guys since she came back from her first visit."

I blush when the three of them turn to look at me, and I just shrug.

"What, it was a very exciting day, of course I had to tell my best friend about it."

Mara smiles at my response.

"So, since you wanted to talk to us, would it be wrong of me to assume that you want us on your team?" asks Cassie, feigning indifference, but I know my friend well enough to tell when she tries to hide her excitement.

No one answers at first, concern written over their faces. For a second I worry that we overstepped our boundaries, and that they don't want us to join.

"We would love for more people to join us," says Jayson, getting up from the bench and coming to stand in front of us. I inhale and I realize I hadn't been breathing, waiting for someone to answer, when the air reaching my lungs makes me dizzy with relief.

"But we can't force you to join us, you have to want to become a part of the team."

I smile, not understanding why they seem so glum. Of course, we want to join them.

"But we do want to join you, so what's the problem?" says Cassie, also noticing their sad faces.

Mara gives her a small smile, but it looks more like a grimace. In the end it's Kalen who tells us the real reason behind their gloomy mood.

"Usually anyone we ask refuses. You see, it's hard to want to be part of a team where you would be called a freak or labeled as dangerous. Why do you think we are so low on the leader board?"

I had been wondering about that. Everyone seemed so impressed by their Gifts, why would no one want to join? And what did he mean, dangerous? Everyone here has a dangerous Gift! Sure, some were more dangerous than others, but they were all considered unsafe. That's why we were here, training to control them. Kalen reads the question on my face and continues.

"It's because our Gifts are so rare. How many more Flames have you met?" he says, referring to his Gift. "How many people can break your ears with a single whistle?" he asks gesturing to Mara.

"Who can control our planet's gravity at will? The cases are so strange that almost no one knows how to train us, which means it's not safe for us to use our Gifts during missions, so we don't get to go on many. At least now we have Daniel, we started training with him this year, and he's been able to help us. It was his idea for me to have my suit made, it helps me control my body temperature, so I don't get out of control in a fight."

That was what I thought when I saw him wearing it at the demonstration. But there was still something that wasn't making much sense to me.

"But weren't you on a mission when we found you at the smoothie shack? There must have been mentors that tried to train you, aside from this Daniel fellow, right?"

Mara nods.

"There were a few, and we were on a mission," she says. "But that was the first mission we had been on in over a year. Our last mission didn't go so well, so we weren't able to go on any more until our mentors thought us safe enough."

So, they got to go on a mission after training with this Daniel person. He must have thought they were ready to get back out there, at least someone seemed to have enough common sense around here. Instead of keeping them locked up in the compound, they should let them get out more, with their Gifts, they could help a lot of people.

"But obviously somebody thought you were ready! If not, you wouldn't have been out in the first place."

They still seem weary, probably worrying about us choosing them and then deciding we made a mistake.

"Listen," says Cassie, hands on her hips. "Bri and I, we've been picked on all our lives. Bri for... obvious reasons."

I glare at her for that.

"And me for standing up for her. Also, my Gift isn't exactly common either. So, if you are worried that we won't choose this team just because there are people that underestimate you or call you names, well you've got another thing coming for you. If anything, it makes me want to join even more."

You tell them, Cass!

Sure, we may not know the other teams that well, but I don't need to know them to have decided that I want to join this one. They've been kind to me through this whole ordeal with my Gift, and they were the only ones who seemed to know about it as well! Which reminds me.

"Just one question before we decide," I say, waiting for them to pay full attention to me before continuing. This is important.

"How is it that you know about my Gift, but the other trainees, even some mentors, don't know about it?"

Mara bites her lip, turning to Jayson and Kalen as if she's asking for help with her eyes. She feels uncomfortable answering. Jayson notices just as I do, so he answers for her.

"Your father," he starts, "told us about his Gift in our last class with him."

But that made no sense. Weren't we supposed to keep it a secret? No offense to them, but why would he tell a bunch of teenagers? Surely there was someone more qualified that deserved to know?

"Why would he do that? He knew he had to keep it a secret," I say, confused.

My dad was many things, but careless wasn't one of them.

"I know we probably don't deserve to know about it, but your dad, he said he saw us in your future."

My eyebrows shoot up, and I open my mouth to ask about what he just said, but Cassie places a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Let him finish," she whispers, so I close my mouth and keep listening. Jayson thanks her with a nod of his head.

"He said something bad was going to happen, and he needed to stop it before it did. We didn't understand, what did he mean he saw something? So he told us about his Gift, making us swear not to tell anyone else. He then told us about you."

"About me," I mumble, looking down at my hands.

My dad, whom I hadn't seen since I was a child, saw me in one of his visions. He saw me as I am now? Grown? How must that have felt, to see your child grown up before they were? Did he know that he wouldn't get to see me again? Why didn't he say anything? Why did he let my mother suffer through his disappearance, and then finding out he was dead? I don't understand.

"Is this what you meant before when you said he used to talk about me? Was this it?"

The three of them nod their heads.

"He said that, if anything happened to him, your Gift would manifest itself. We didn't understand, but we agreed to help you if we ever met. Which is how Mara and Kalen started to suspect who you were when they first saw you at that smoothie place. I honestly had no clue who you were until you told us," he says sheepishly, but I couldn't care less about him not knowing who I was. My head was reeling from what he was telling me, I wobble over to the bench and sit down, placing my head between my hands.

"But if Bri's dad told you about his Gift, shouldn't there be more trainees that know about it? I mean, you said it was an entire class right?"

That was a good point, I lift my head and wait for someone to answer.

"Because it was just us three in the class," says Kalen, his gray eyes clouded with memories of the past, his usual cold expression replaced with something I can't describe. Sadness? Guilt? It looked like a combination of the two.

"You were right," he says, turning to me, meeting my tortured expression with his own. "Some of our mentors did try to train us, one of them being your father. He didn't care about how 'dangerous' our Gifts were. He used to say we were the safest ones in the compound, we never believed him of course. He trusted us and believed in us when no one else did and tried to help us when everyone shied away. He and Christian were probably the only ones who made an effort in including us with the rest of the trainees."

He sighs, letting his head hang as he rubs his neck, eyes closed.

"We knew we wouldn't be seeing him after that class, we knew and yet we did nothing to help him."

He clenches his fists at his sides.

"We knew and yet we let him go alone, and he got himself killed."

He opens his eyes and looks at me with such a sad expression that I forget my sadness for a second. It breaks my heart, how his clear gray eyes now seem to storm with guilt.

"We're sorry we didn't help him Bri. Because we did nothing, you lost your father."

He looks away in shame, and sadness is replaced by incredulity. Did he think I blamed him for Dad's death? I get up from the bench and step over to him, placing my hands on either side of his face. He startles and looks at me, eyes wide at our proximity, and I give him an encouraging smile, even though I probably still look sad myself.

"I don't blame you for what happened, I don't blame any of you," I start, turning to Mara and Jayson as well, who look at me in shock.

I never blamed anyone for my dad's death. Not his job, not the Elites, he was the one that made the choice to chase down the man that ended his life. Alone. It was his decision; how could I blame anyone else for that

"He made his choice; one no one could change. It's in the past now."

I step back and wipe my face with my sleeve, catching any stray tears that manage to escape. No one says anything, still watching me, to the point that I start to get uncomfortable. Cassie notices and comes to my rescue, throwing an arm over my shoulders and giving everyone a dazzling smile.

"That settles it then," she exclaims, trying to get rid of the tense atmosphere.

"We are joining this team. That is, if you'll let us?"

Mara seems at a loss for words, while Jayson and Kalen look like they turned to stone. But eventually, like statues coming to life, smiles find their way onto their faces and they nod. No words are said, they don't need to be. After all this time they finally found people willing to join their dysfunctional family, and Cass and I found the friends we've been searching for our entire lives. It wouldn't be perfect, but it was what we had. 

I come back to the present, to Mara pummeling Jayson at cards, to the latter whining when he loses for the third time, to Cassie sitting next to the pair, laughing at Jayson's misfortune. To Kalen, standing next to me with a fond expression betraying the mask he wears.

"Well," I exclaim, opening my arms. "It looks like you finally get to have a bigger room!" I exclaim, noticing how cramped the space feels now that the five of us are in here. Mara laughs, and Jayson smiles at me.

"Amen to that," says Kalen, letting his smile make an appearance for once.