It would have been better if I was alone in a stark white hospital room rather than in the center of some wonderful faces. My head was pounding when I opened my eyes. My parents were sitting on chairs and there was a medic too.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

"You come here half dead in the middle of the night and worry us to death and you say what's up? "Mother said exasperatedly.

I was going to die when I recovered from whatever that had happened to me.

"You had us worried sick. What were you thinking? Leaving without telling us, on Council business, without my permission? You do not know how much trouble you are in, young lady."

"Father, I did not think this would happen. Well, obviously I did not want to end up half dead. Next time I'll tell you if I am on any Council business."

"You aren't going anywhere on Council business or any other thing for that matter. Three months. That's your punishment. No buts and we are being lenient."

I was indignant now. I turned towards mom and she looked like she supported my house arrest.No help there.

Finally, she said, "Rest now. You have been through a lot. We will have a talk with Mr. Wallace about his son's punishment."

He was in more trouble now.

I woke up feeling pain everywhere. It would be worse when I had to work. Figuring, I could ask to reduce my punishment. I got up. I decided to talk about our punishments, so I went towards the meeting room where I decided my parents would be.
They were discussing something with Mr.Wallace.Preferably our punishment duties.

"Good morning Mother, Father, Mr.Wallace.I see you are discussing something."

"Sit down. We are discussing you "punishment" duties," my father answered.

"Chris should not be punished. I was the one who did not tell anyone. Chris was there at your request, Mr.Wallace."I turned towards him.

"Well, he did not tell me either. So he will also get punished. See you are a Princess, and we can never endanger you. If you were not a princess, even then he should have told."

"We did not get the time for that. With rain and transporting here, there was no way we could have informed you, sir."

"See Aria, You should have told us when you left. We do not want you to get hurt. Anyway, both of you are on cleaning and gardening duty."Father said.

"Well okay."

"We get it you went because there was no harm. It's just that sometimes situations turn out unexpectedly. And maybe you think you are ready to handle on your own, but you are not. You can't be ready even with your complete training."Mr.Wallace said in a serious way.

"Anyway, you are getting 2 days off. Rest well," Mother nodded.

"Thank you, "I said taking their leave and bowing.

Time to meet my accomplice in punishment. After thorough searching, I found him resting in his room. Turns out he was in worse condition than me.

"Hey. How are you?"

He smiled. He sat on the bed reading some book. He put it aside and turned towards me.

"Nice to see you conscious. How's your head?"

"Look at you, worrying about me when you are the one confined to bed."

He gave me a serious look. I raised my hands in mock surrender.

"I am well as you can see. So, what happened yesterday?"

"Our combined energy was enough for transporting us here. But we could not handle it's after effects. Since it was your first time, you passed out. And I could barely stand. I don't remember anything after."

"So why are you still resting? I mean you should be more immune to this. You did this before. So, why did you pass out?"

"I think because I used my energy to transport once, my energy level decreased. And then putting both our energies together was a feat which altogether made me weak. I think it's a miracle we arrived in one piece here."
"Maybe because we use our energy to do something and you used yours to a point of exhaustion, you got your magic drained like we read that time in that story."

"That's what it is, Aria. A story. We don't know it for sure. I am not saying the story is far-fetched. I am saying we do not know complete details."

"Okay. We can put this Drain theory aside."I said observing the room.

"Why do I get a feeling that you will be hounding me as soon as you get some information?"

I turned towards him."You know me so well. Anyway, do you know how much trouble we are in?"

"Loads, I guess."

"We are not on landscaping like last time but on gardening and cleaning."

"They are almost worse. I am losing my free time."He moaned.

"Buckle up for the ride.3 months, no free time, no extra studying, no music, no Council jobs," I said ticking off my fingers one by one. By the end of my little speech, he looked really miserable.
We heard a knock.

"You were seriously looking bad  I found you guys. Anyway, what happened?"

"You found us?"

"I was returning from the library. I mean, Mrs. Wilkins practically kicked me out. And you both were passed out in the corridor, soaked."

"We transported here."

Before I said anything he interrupted me.

"What do you mean-transported? You mean you guys appeared here from where ever you went?"

"Yup.The same."

"How did you make that happen? You guys are really good then? How come you never perform that good in your class?"

"It was a matter of survival. Do or die kind of situation. You are not making us do extra work from now on, right?"Chris frowned at his brother.

"We will see that. I definitely would have to change your curriculum. That aside, where were you?"

"One quick question, bro. What do you know of Sameyra and her brother?"

"You mean Queen Sameyra?"

"Yes, Carl." I piped up.

"She is like a legend, I think. No one knows more about her. She was also a Mind Reader. I did not know she had a brother."

Chris and I looked at each other.

"Dad sent me to check on his office at the new construction site. It started raining heavily then. The house was risky to stay. So we decided to transport here to save ourselves."

"But it's hard to do. It requires much energy and concentration for people who are good at it. And you guys are, no offense, new to that stuff."

"None taken," I replied.

"We combined our energy. I lost most of mine when I attempted to try. It was not good."

"So you acted like a vessel to use both of your energies and focusing it on transporting. Wow. That's cool. If you had tried individually, It would have ended in disaster. I don't know what to call you: lucky or genius. "

"Why "disaster" ?"

"Because channeling that much of energy for the first through you can get your brain out. It's like forcing a huge amount of water through a small pipe. You handle much pressure then. Concentration is key everywhere. If you had deviated, both of you would have suffered. Because at that time, your minds were linked with all that energy bridge."

"So, that's why he is suffering more than I am?"

"Yeah. He took the weight of both your powers. His own power is more than enough to make him mad." Carl nodded. "After projecting all that energy, he would naturally be exhausted. Drained."

"So, using much energy drains the projector. Aren't we supposed to use energy from things around us?"

"I think Aria, there are two kinds of projectors. Projectors who use their own energy to project and those who use their surroundings."

"But we used both."

"I think that's the reason it will be kept secret. "

"What?"Chris and I asked in unison.

"You guys doing this would freak out many people out there. They would think this unfair. Like you are somehow benefitting from being talented. Let's keep this under wraps until we know more about it. Okay?"

We agreed.

I left both of them talking and went straight to eat something in the kitchens. All talk about energy drain made me hungry. I left for gardens munching on the chocolate I scored. Things were edgy and kind of hard to make sense of.

"I was hoping to run into you."

I was caught off guard by my mentor Jim.Again.Like all the times it happened before; I was surprised for a moment then took a hold of myself.

"Were you searching for me because you wanted to lecture me?"

"That's one of many reasons. How are you feeling?"

"I am good. But Chris is the affected one."

"I know. I will meet him for the same things I am telling you now. How could you go without informing anyone? That was irresponsible of you."

"Yeah, well. I am sorry. I understand now how many things go wrong at the same time."

"But based on what I have been told, you were pretty good at getting back. You will practice extensively from now on."

"Great. I look forward to it."

"I hope you are sincere. I am supposed to meet your father now. Don't get in more trouble than you are in."

"You say that, like, I like being in trouble."

"You have a knack of getting yourself more punishment. I'll take your leave now."

He was gone before I could retort. I shrugged and reached my room to nod off.

Author's note:
Thanks for reading.😁
Also thanks for voting this story.
I dedicate this chapter to my friends who loved it and asked me to publish here on Wattpad.