Waking up, Henry glanced at his watch, which was sitting on the desk. It was 8 am sharp.

Huh. I've never woken up this early in summer before... maybe coming here has shifted my schedule?

Then he remembered he probably wasn't in Atlanta anymore.

Getting up, he realized he had slept in his clothes. You know, the ones that were dirty from sitting on the ground in the morning, and slightly torn from the bush?

Henry decided not to be like some wild animal and change into something that was in the closet.

Even though he didn't trust the Zalari, he knew he had to stay alive. And One way of doing that is by being clean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking outside after he brushed his teeth and changed and all that morning stuff, he went into the desk and looked through all the drawers, checking some of them multiple times. Anything that might help him escape, or help him get through the window.

He didn't know why, but something told him that the windows were a key to getting out of this place.

Finding nothing, he decided to go do something slightly more productive.

Henry walked out, looking for someone to tell him. Amber was sitting at the back of the desk, and stood up when she saw Henry.

"Good morning, Domino."Amber said. "Today we're going to start-" she paused here. "Class."

She led him into the hallway, past the ice room, and the one that looked like a jungle, and the one that had a cage.

The maze-like area after the hallway, and then into a small side room, that looked like an office with a desk.

"Right." Amber said, turning to Henry. She spread her wings. The glass disappeared, so instead of a clear room, it was made of concrete.

"I'm going to try to attack you with my magic. You'll use your powers instinctively." Amber looked around, as though she wasn't paying attention. Henry had taken enough Taekwondo to know this was just a distraction.

Suddenly, Amber pounced, more like a cat than a bird. Her wings wrapped around Henry and were about to trap him between the feathery depths.

Henry stepped back and blocked.

"Magic!" Amber reminded him, as she swept her wing under Henry's feet.

Henry concentrated and suddenly, a beam of light appeared. It hit Amber's wing and seemed to sting it. The light became brighter and brighter, and was turning a dark orange.

With a pop, the light seemed to explode. A small gem appeared in Henry's hand. It looked like a tiger's eye, with the stripes and the "pupil".

"Well, that's your charm." Amber watched the light flicker and die.

Henry looked at her with that "huh?" face (You know, that one! Like- turn your head and look skeptical-?)

"A charm is a sort of- place to keep your magic. Just keep it with you, and make sure you don't lose it." Henry pocketed the stone, vowing to never lose it.

Henry looked at Amber's slightly scorched feathers. The golden edge seemed to have turned a dark blue,which was strange because blue? Why blue?

"Well, something's going to happen soon." Amber either didn't care that Henry had injured her, or she couldn't feel anything.

Or maybe so many Zalar have scorched her feathers she doesn't care anymore.

Waiting, waiting, waiting, and then-

Henry was hurled into darkness once more, spinning down and down...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, he noticed he was in a library-ish area. It had lots of dark wood shelves, but there weren't just books, there were little scraps of notes, being taped to the shelves, and lots of cabinets.

It was dark, and only a few shelves were visible. The rest were hidden in a black mist.

Getting up from the floor, he walked around the bookshelves.

He found a shelf that looked old, and one that had fallen over. Another one had a weird hissing around it.

Henry gasped."Is this someone's mind?"

He remembered how Permafrost's prophecy had contained "their mind has many rows, all laden with files."

Walking over to the tipped shelf, he opened a file carefully. It was dated "2005".

I wasn't born yet in 2005... maybe this is Amber's mind?

He pulled out a sheet of paper. "School" was scribbled on it.

The rest of the text was erased, torn, or had things spilled over it. Henry tried to decipher the messy handwriting, with little doodles.

The one thing Henry hadn't considered was what his own thoughts looked like. Would they be in a dark place, with red satin and the dark mist, and so many torn and broken files and books? Would they store things that Henry couldn't remember, or would they be torn to shreds, by whatever was in a mind?

Finding another shelf that looked newer, he again, read the date.

"2006". He opened a file, and the very first thing he saw was "OLIVE" in giant bold letters. Henry suspected that this memory was clear in Amber's head.

It was basically a play, but with so much more. The pencil, plant, outside, door, and everything else was described in so much detail!

Henry skimmed the first few paragraphs, something about a portal, and a desk and how the pencils were almost sucked in, and gave up because his head had begun to spin.

And again, everything turned dark and he fell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"H-huh?" Henry was still standing on the hard ground but he felt as though he had actually walked through the maze of thoughts and memories. It seemed that only a minute or so had passed in the real world, although it felt like hours.

"Well, that's your power. Or at least, one of them." Amber didn't seem to be worried that Henry had seen- well, read- things from her memory.

"O-oh." Henry's thoughts were still spinning.

"Could you get past the black smoke?" Amber asked casually. But Henry saw a tiny glimmer of worry in her eyes.

"I didn't try." Did Amber make the smoke?

Amber let her wings fall into a natural position, instead of the tense one they were in a moment before. "Okay." She thought for a second, then said, "Just a second, I need to bring someone here."

She left.

Henry sat down at the chair right next to him. He had so many questions! Why was he here in the first place? How could he enter someone's mind? What's the mist for? And most importantly...

How did no one ever tell me, or any of my friends and family, there was magic in the world?

Amber came back. Someone else was following her, the Zalar that sat behind the desk for hours, reading a book.

"Domino, this is Ash. He'll train you in combat."

Ash nodded at Henry, who noticed Ash looked pretty normal.

"'Combat' with magic or weapons?" Ash thought for a moment, and replied,

"Both, unless you would rather just start with one first."

"Oh." If he was honest, Henry didn't want to do either. But that wasn't an option. Maybe I can use magic to get out of here. He decided to try both, so he could see which would be best for escaping.

"Well, we should go outside." The walls turned into the crystal clear glass again.

Henry followed the two adults down the hall, past the other Zalari rushing around with papers and clipboards. It was clean and seemed to shine.

No matter what he had thought about the place, this place wasn't like a prison.

But still, Henry's sister had died in the place he was stuck in, for maybe his whole life.

They went through some doors that were surprisingly not made of glass, into a room that was like the gym in Henry's old school. It had lots of glass-bubbles that seemed to be permanently fogged over.

They went into one of these glass domes. Amber turned around and left Henry with Ash.

"So. This is combat training." Ash turned to Henry. "You've already found your abilities, so now it's time to use it."

"But I don't know my abilities!" Henry burst out.

Ash raised his eyebrows.

"Where did you walk today?"

Literally, speaking it would be the hallways. Figuratively, it would be-

"Amber's memory?"

"Yes. You also made that light." Ash made one in his hand, a floating orb of swirling vapor.

Ash focused on his light for a second, and Henry took that as 'Get ready, we're starting.'

Ash turned his hands around the light, and it turned sharper.

Almost like a spear.

Henry threw up his hands in an attempt to shield his face (for common sense reasons) and somehow, incredibly, when the light shot at Henry, it seemed to bounce back at Ash.

The more experience Zalar was able to turn the light spear into a little puff of smoke. "That was good for your first try. Most of the others try to force-change its element to try to control it better. It's neutral." Ash walked as far away as he could. The floor turned to ice.

"When the Vengeful Spirit comes, it wouldn't care how old you are. Amber does not wish for me to teach you this, but it is important later on, in case you will need to fight. Combat training will be a big part of your learning here, and it is expected that you will be taught it all, and learn most, if not all, of everything we give you, no matter how hard it is to understand." Henry nodded.

"Today is going to be fighting alone. When you are proficient in basic combat, you will learn how to fight with a partner, and then as part of a group, with weaker members in the center."

Very suddenly, Ash pulled out what looked like his charm, and pointed it at the floor. The ice melted all over, and Henry slipped.

Henry reminded himself to make sure to wear better shoes, since this pair, the one that was in the closet, were- weird, and slid so easily on the melting ice.

The ice was thicker than Henry had thought. Good thing that Henry-

"Domino! Focus. Remember, if I was a Dolir I could've killed you by now!" Ash shouted, as the water rose.

Henry concentrated. How could he use his magic to stop the water? Maybe he was a water element? Didn't seem very likely, since he was already drenched in water.

A giant wave rose up in front of Henry's face. "Aah!" He cried, trying to swim in the small glass bubble. Then, something weird happened.

The wave seemed to stop, right before it crashed. A wind went in a spiral around the wave, keeping it aloft. The breeze was strong, but it didn't affect anything beyond the smallest breeze on the edge.

"Air..." Henry breathed.

Ash smiled slightly. The water, remaining ice, and the wave disappeared.

They practiced until Ash's watch beeped at 12 for lunch.