The cold air hit my face as I skated faster than normal to set up for Triple jump, something that Irena called a flip, but it didn't make sense to me because I didn't do a flip.

I jumped as high as I could and landed it with a smile on my face. 

"Well done, Telvi. I think you can be done for the day," Irena said as she clapped. 

Today was a good skate day and I didn't want it to end. "I think I'll stay a little longer." 

She shrugged as the last skater got off the ice. "It is up to you. I think soon we can start work on quads."

"That's four times around, right?"

"So they do teach you things in the commonwealth," she said with a wink then walked away. 

I had been the last one to get off the ice before this wasn't completely unheard of for me. I just wanted to stay a little longer especially if I was jumping better than normal. Maybe I would finally be able to land a triple jump. That thought caused jitters to shoot inside my body.

I don't know how much longer I skated for. All I knew was before long, the ice turned softer and the lights flickered. Taking that as my sign, I stepped off the ice with a smile on my face. I knew the skate I just gave and it excited me to know I was improving. If mom was still around, I just hoped she would be proud. She was reason I got into skating. She wanted me to be the best skater I could be, and look at me now. I am here, in the Motherwealth, being the best skater I could be. 

The smile did not leave my face as I untied my skates. This place wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was getting better, and now I realized that was what I wanted. 

Suddenly I heard my name called out. My head snapped up to see Ezra walking towards me. "Hey Telvi!" he said with a smile. 

I smiled at him as I slipped off my skates. "Hey. So, got my schedule memorized?"

his cheeks turned red for a second before shaking his head. "Nah. It's just I expected your schedule to be the same as all the other talented." 

"Good point there." 

"So anyhow, have any plans tonight?"

I shook my head. Eydis and I normally hung out in the evening but I'm sure she would think nothing of it if I hung out with Ezra instead. 

"Cool! I was wondering if you wanted to leave campus and get something to eat." 

As much as that thought would be great, I knew that I couldn't leave campus until the free days happen. Until then, I was stuck here on campus. "I can't really leave campus unless it's a free day."

A smile flashed across his face. "Well, will me, the possibilities are endless." He waved a card in the air allowing me to see a golden color of it gleam in the light. It looked fancy, but then again, nearly everything about Ezra was fancy. 

I swung the bag over my shoulder and smiled. "Sure. I would love to go out. I just need to put this away." 

He shook his head as he took the bag from my hands. "I know a secret place we can hide it for tonight." He walked towards an corner of the lobby. "There is this vent system that they will never fix. Used to hide a slew of things in it." 

He got onto his hands and knees and pulled a grate off the wall. He reached his hand into the darkness and pulled out a small rolled paper stick and smiled. He tucked it into his pocket then stuck my skates in the darkness then put the grate back. 

"No one will see them. Now we can leave." He smiled at me as he dusted himself off. 

I nodded as I followed him out of the building just as the lights flashed off. 

"Those dang power outages. They are getting worse." He shook his head we walked towards the front gate of campus. 

"What are the causes of the power outages?" I asked, unable to fight my curiosity. 

He shrugged. "Sometimes I hear my dad talk about it. I think we are running out of ways to get power. That is why we are looking into Amber. It is supposed to be better and last longer."

"In Hell there was an Amber mine." 

He frowned slightly. "I heard that is tough working conditions." 

"It's Hell, most conditions are tough here. But Amber mines are probably the worst. They also pay the most. I had friends that worked there and they couldn't say no to the money."

"And your family? what do they do?" 

"It's just my brother. He used to be a fisher but since I came here, I don't know what he's been doing." 

"He hasn't written to you?"

I shook my head as the lights flickered on again. I wish I heard from him but there was still no letters from him. 

He sighed. "I'll see what I can do about the mail. Maybe you do have something out there. It wouldn't be the first time they lost something over here."

"Thank you." 

"Any time." 

We made it to the gate for campus and Ezra swiped his card by the door. The machine turned red, but the door did not open for us. 

"Walter," Ezra muttered as he swiped his card again. This time the gate opened so quickly, it banged against the wall. "I thought they fixed the gate. Guess they are still on it." 

I nodded. This wasn't the only thing they needed to fix. I used to think that the Motherwealth as full of fancy spotless buildings and technology that was flawless. But over the weeks I had been here, that was the complete opposite. Buildings may have looked nice on the outside, but there were riddled with faults and the technology was just as glitchy as what we had in Hell. 

Eydis's words floated around my mind. Intellectual property war. If all the best and brightest minds were here, why was everything having issues? Where were we all going once we completed our time?

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as he closed the gate behind us. 

"Just about the Motherwealth." I looked down the avoid a pothole with water in it. 

He was connect, the last thing I wanted to say was too much. I knew it got my father into trouble and I would not let myself fall into the same problem. He didn't need to know all of the issues I saw with the Motherwealth. 

"Is it what you thought it would be?" He gestured to the wet streets and flickering lights. 

The thing was, I saw all the documentaries about the Motherwealth and how grand it was supposed to be. There were a lot of grand things about it, but there was a lot that had issues. I thought the Motherwealth would be perfect, but this was not perfect.

I shook my head in silence.

He snorted as he kicked a rock down the road. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. We are all built on smoke and mirrors here. Some just do a better job at hiding it."

My gaze shifted to him, wishing he gave more to that comment. I wanted to know what he hid or what he knew. What kind of information hid behind his eyes? Was that why him and Eydis fell out?

"People hide things. It's in our nature," I state, hoping it would draw him out. 

"The Motherwealth has it's own set of monsters." 

"Like what?" 

His face twists as if he just hurt himself. "I already said too much. Dad wouldn't like that. Besides, this wasn't supposed to be about me complaining about the Motherwealth. This was supposed to be about getting to know you and doing something fun." 

Did he not do fun things? I thought about my childhood which was full of running through fields, skating, picking flowers. It was simple. I liked it simple. It only became complicated once my father was taken from us. I was sure if my father was still around, my youth would have been less complicated then it had been in the last few years. 

"I could use some fun. What kind of fun are you looking for?" 

He smiled as he looked down the road. "I was thinking about going out for a local delicacy. Have you ever had an Evengreen roast?" 

I shook my head. I had never heard of such a thing before. 

"Well, let's get some dinner. I stole my father's card so it's on me tonight." He winked as he waved the card around in front of me. 

I was now familiar with the way the Motherwealth paid for things. There was no such thing as physical currency, instead, it was chips and cards. When my father was around, I never dared steal any money from him. There wasn't enough of it and I trusted him to do what he thought was best for us. 

"You've never stole anything have you?" 

I shook my head. Never. 

"Not even from your father, I'm shocked. He must be proud to have a daughter like you." 

"Wouldn't know. Haven't seen my father in years." 

"I'm sorry."

I was too. "My father is in prison here," I blurted out before I thought about it any farther. 

Ezra's eyebrows rose in shock. "I had no idea."

I nodded. "I suppose not many people do. It's not like I talk about it."

"Do you know why he's in prison?"

"I don't know details but it's about standing against the Motherwealth."

He nodded as he picked at his coat. He then looked up to meet my eyes. "The Motherwealth has little tolerance for that kind of thing. You are either with them or against them. There is no gray area. You have to be careful who to trust here."

Eydis told me the same thing. But she also warned me against Ezra.

He sighed as he leaned closer to me. "How long ago did they take him?"

"A few years ago. Not so long after my mother lost her mind."

"And is she..." his voice trailed off.

"She's dead, as far as I know." She lost her mind quickly and before I knew it, she was not a person I recognized. There was still a pit in my stomach when she was brought up, but as time went on, it became smaller and smaller. My mother was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. But my dad, he was still out there and I could do something about that.

He placed his hand on mine for a moment before pulling away. "I'm sorry."

I nodded. As sad as my story was. Most people in the Commonwealth had stories like mine. It was a hard life we lived out there.

"And your father, you are sure he's here?"

"I'm positive." At least that was what everyone told me. If he wasn't here, where else would he be?

"I cannot promise anything, but I could maybe get him a visitor, like you."

My heart soar at the thought of seeing him. It had been years since I saw my father. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought about it. I would want nothing more than that. I came here for this, to speak to him, to free him. This was what I wanted. "Yes, please."

"Alright. I'll see what I can do, Telvi." 

We walked across the road and slipped into a building that was brightly lit. People waited in line as they stared at screens or holograms in their hands. Some appeared to be talking through  them and others to be reading. At the end of the line was a glass looking tube. 

I watched as someone stepped inside of it and within a moment, they shot up and vanished. 

"I supposed you have never used a jumper before?" Ezra asked as we got into line. 

I shook my head. Eydis had never showed me this place. I wondered if she even knew about it. 

"Makes sense. I don't think many Talents know about it. It's a transportation that we use." 

As Ezra and I walked closer to the tube, my heart started to race. Where did those people go? And how did they get to places safely? This looked dangerous and something I didn't really want to do. 

I backed up slightly. Ezra turned to me with a frown. "It'll be ok. I use these all the time." 

I shook my head. There was no way I was going to get in that. Maybe there was a reason why Eydis hadn't shown me this. It was a death trap. 

"I'll be right behind you." 

That wasn't good enough. I just didn't want to use it. 

Ezra gave me a little nudge. "For someone that skates with blades on their feet, I'm surprised you would be scared of something like this." 

His words were soft but they still made my cheeks turn red. He might have a point, but did I even want to prove him wrong? 

Before I voiced my opinion, the glass door opened and Ezra nudged me into the tube. The door shut me in and I only had a second to look at him frantically. 

Air blew around me and suddenly I felt myself be pushed off the ground. There was a massive amount of pressure on my body and my stomach felt like it dropped to my knees. I tried to scream but the air choked me. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe but in a blink of an eye, I was on the ground again, stumbling out of a glass door. 

I fell onto my knees as tears streamed down my face. I choked in a breath as people passed me, paying little attention. 

"Telvi, Telvi. Sorry," Ezra's voice rang out from behind me. 

Being by him was the last thing I needed. I told him I didn't want to ride in that. I attempted to stand but my legs felt like Alge in the water. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to force you. I thought you just needed a little nudge." 

"That was the most terrifying thing in my life," I muttered as I took a deep breath. That was the first and only time I would use that to travel. 

"I am really sorry," he said as he helped me to my feet. 

Once I got to my feet, I pushed him hard enough to stumble back. "When I tell you I don't want to do something, you better listen," I threatened.

At this point, I didn't care about doing anything else with Ezra. I just wanted to go back to campus. "I want you to take me back." 

He frowned but didn't protest. "Alright," he stated before pulling out a small flat screen. He pushed a button which lit up the screen then proceeded to type something. "The car will be here in five minutes."

Good. I didn't want to stay around any longer. 

By time I got back to campus, it was later than I thought I would return. Carefully, I opened the door to my dorm room, hoping to not wake Eydis but to my surprise, she was waiting for me with the light on. 

The fact that she was awake surprised me enough to jump. 

"Where were you?" she demanded. 

I slipped off my shoes and climbed into bed. "Just out with Ezra," I stated, holding back the information about Jumping. She already didn't trust him, I didn't want to fuel her fire any more.

She frowned. "I don't like that you are getting close to him." She flipped the light switch and muttered something under her breath. 

Instead of asking her again what she said, I pulled the blankets over my head and rolled over to sleep. It didn't matter if she didn't like him. I liked him and that was all the mattered. 

"He's bad news Telvi, I promise you that," she said in the darkness. 

I turned to face her even though my eyes were not adjusted to the dark yet. "Why? Was it because you two were friends?" 

She shook her head. "I'm not that petty. But I know him. I know his family. There was a reason they are the most wealthy family in the Motherwealth. You don't just get that way from selling ice cream."

My stomach tightened, making me squeezy. "Eydis, please, tell me what happened between you two."

She frowned. "We Commonwealth people do not belong with Motherwealth citizens. They think of us nothing but cattle, here to sell or use for their bidding. He father is a gross man, and Erza will turn into that, I am sure of it."