"So, how is it?" Dave asked.

Lucy sighed, dropping her hands. "Look, Dave, this isn't very good. You should know that," she scolded him. He shrunk away from her, looking terrified.

She was very grown-up for her age, especially since the boys in her grade were just always making farting noises and whatever, and the girls were daydreaming about finding a prince that would catch them when they fell. I wasn't even in charge of them, but I'd heard enough from Aarti to know Lucy and Luis were the best we could've gotten as Siphons.

"I say the same as Lu. This isn't impossible to recover from, but it'll take a week and a few days. If you want them to recover faster, I suggest keeping them around a few Healers and Extreme Healers." Luis stood up, his forehead creasing as he gazed at the people from Jackson.

"There was really no point in making us come here," Lucy agreed. "Whatever Avery said about the rank, then that should be accurate enough. I got a D rank testing them out."

"I thought it was F," Avery stammered. Her usual confident self was gone, replaced by her uncertainty of the situation.

"Okay, wait, wait," I said, waving my hands. "You're completely sure? D rank?"

"Of course." Luis looked offended, and Lucy raised an eyebrow at me.

"Right, right. It's just that Avery's almost as good as a Siphon when it comes to judging rank. It's been a minute or two since you've done your stuff, right? Can you do it again in a bit?" I saw Avery give me a quick thumbs up of gratitude.

Lucy looked mystified, but Luis nodded. "You wanna see if their ranks have gotten any higher by then?"

I grinned. "Yeah. Emotions can temporarily lower your rank sometimes, so I want to see if anything like that happened. Maybe we can establish some sort of pattern."

Bella spoke up. "Emotions have a big place in determining our rank, but it would have to be something big as hell for it to manage to lower their ranks instead of bringing them up."

Michael had been inching over a bit, and he seemed to be on his sister's side. "Bella's right. That's what Inez says."

"That Bella's right or that it would take really strong emotions to affect your ability?" I asked, playing around.

His expression fell, and he mumbled,"Leave me alone," as he shuffled away.

"Sorry," I called after him. Bella smirked in his direction.

"That's why I'm the better one."

😓😓😓

A day had passed already since the Jackson people had gotten here, and it was a bit of a mess. They were randomly stuffed into classes, following their Jackson schedules, and even though I only had a few extra second graders, it was easy to see they were still terrified of something. They wouldn't even do their work.

I sat down on the floor, but the teacher saw me and scurried over.

"Miss Elizabeth, you don't have to do that. You can use a chair," she squeaked. She pulled one out for me, and I accepted it, my eyebrows scrunched.

"Uh, thanks, Miss Lilburn. You really don't have to keep calling me Miss Elizabeth. Liz is fine." It felt weird to be saying my own name so many times.

"No, no, no. It's an honor to teach the children here, really, and it's an honor to have you in my classroom, the Gamma, I mean - oh I'm so sorry I'm rambling excuse me sorry sorry!" She took a deep breath and practically ran away.

That was... interesting.

I took my eyes off of the panicky teacher and surveyed the little Jackson kids. I needed to find something out, get information.

Maybe I could start with befriending them.

I scooted over, intent on my mission, but someone grabbed the back of my chair. I choked a little, and the kids nearby turned around to look at me with wide eyes. Arabella, a small Irish girl whose ability of Mindlessness could probably conquer a small island, stared at me in wonder as her blue eyes burned a bright white.

I got my answer to her confusion as I felt someone's warmth on my back and Michael whispered,"Liz, some person wants to talk to you."

I turned my head, about to ask who, and twitched in surprise as I realized his face was right next to mine, his green eyes concerned. He stared at me, and I stared back, heat rising to my cheeks.

"Miss Lilburn, my ability won't work," Arabella announced loudly. "And Liz is going to kiss some strange man."

I jumped, and Michael practically launched himself into the wall, his face red and his mouth open to defend himself against the barrage of little kids that were beginning to glare him down.

"Arabella! Why would you do that! Your ability is not one of the ones that has permission to be used in class!"

"But the strange man doesn't let my ability work on him or Liz!" She wailed.

Miss Lilburn turned around, spotting Michael. She immediately began to stammer out apologies.

"Oh, Mister Michael! Um, um, welcome! I-I never thought the second Alpha would be visiting, I'm so sorry!" Miss Lilburn hastily cast her Peace over the room, and the children turned calm. Their gazes were still filled with curiosity and suspicion as they stared Michael down.

"Uh, no problem," he responded. He looked at me, hesitating, but I blushed again and turned away, standing up to face Miss Lilburn.

"Miss Lilburn, I need to leave for a while. Are you okay with that?" I questioned.

She nodded frantically. "Of course!"

"Liz, we need to take the Jackson kids too," Michael said awkwardly.

"We'll be taking them," I added on quickly.

"Okay?"

Are you done yet? Bella's soft telepathy threaded its way through my brain.

I didn't hear Michael's response, but I saw him nod a little bit before grabbing my hand.

"What-"

"Sorry." He wouldn't look at me, but the tips of his ears were a bright shade of tomato red. "She's going to teleport us."

"Oh," was all I could manage before he unwrapped his jacket from around his waist and laid it over the kids. They looked up in a dazed trance before we dissolved into nothing.

Abilities Used

Lucy Finch and Luis Rodriguez: Siphon - Siphons remove a bit of power from a person and examine it, correctly judging rank and ability as well as the state of the ability. Some Siphons can recall the past times the ability in examination was used and what for.

Michael Uriah: Negate - Negates are hard to find, and this ability closely resembles Debuff, which the Delta Wesley uses. Negates immediately cancel any and all abilities being used/triggered in their vicinity. Some are born being able to turn it off and on, while others cannot. Michael has learned to control the space his ability affects, which is the closest he can get to turning it off, as he is a passive user of Negate.

Arabella Sezeir: Mindlessness - This ability's name is a very accurate description of what it does. Mindlessness users can completely wipe someone's mind of control and thinking for a limited amount of time, and acquire the person's thoughts and control during this period. Some Mindlessness users show signs of the activation, as Arabella's whitened eyes show. This is considered a dangerous ability, and many children born with Mindlessness are kept under close watch due to the nature of it.

Miss Lilburn: Peace - Peace lowers the emotions in the room, causing a calmness in the room that cannot be lifted unless the user decides to, or if a Negate like Michael blocks it. Peace does not wear out the user, and thus can be used for an unlimited amount of time, unless the user is unconscious or asleep. It can be classified as both a passive and active ability. The drawback of this ability is that if the user has been using it for an extended period of time, they may become affected by their own ability.

Bella Uriah: Replicate Telepathy - Replicate is a completely new ability, introduced by Bella Uriah when she was born. As according to her own studies of herself, she can replicate other's abilities, and keep them permanently. With hard work, she has managed to hone this ability, and can currently use five different abilities at the same time, not counting any passives she has picked up. She must experience an ability in order to acquire it, be it in an attack form or being within its area of effectiveness.

Telepathy is a simple connection of mind that is common among Silver students. In other parts of the world, this ability is rare, but not difficult to come across. In Chapter 2, we saw a boy Liz referred to as Red use his Telepathy. It is possible for Telepathy users to extend their reach into the mind and mentally attack their opponents, although this requires huge amounts of time dedicated to working on their ability.