Samantha swiftly padded one stone at a time across the delicate cobblestone path to not disturb anyone. Keeping her head held high and her eyes straight, she went towards her teacher, who was waiting for her at the bridge. Mr. Triproot tapped his toe lightly on the ancient oak wooden floorboards of the bridge looking down at his watch.

  "Late as usual, but at least you made better time than yesterday." Rowan Triproot said, trying to sound like an adult.

  "Done pretending to be assertive?" Sam replied jokingly, a smile sliding across her face. Ro may be only 20 but he could have the knowledge of an 80 year old and the attitude of an 8th grader, yet still have the spirit of a 7 year old. Ro was technically an orphan too but he couldn't find work anywhere and he had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go so now he taught Sam.

  "Hey Ro." Or as Rowen says, 'HeRo'. "What's the lesson today?" She asked bluntly as he put his hand on her head, rustled her hair a little, and gently pulled her with him towards the garden in a brotherly gesture.

  "You'll see." Answering back with an all too knowing look of devious rebellion. A sly smile spreading across his face.

  "Whatever you say." She said back nudging his shoulder lightly with her fist.

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

  They made their way across a canopy of moss and trees towards a small shack in the center. He must have sensed her tense up because he whispered into her ear, "There are no snakes here, just me." And with a goofy grin on his face, he blew into her ear and ran through the canopy, disturbing all of the critters hidden in their nests as Sam chased after him.

  They stopped just at the steps up to the shack to catch their breath. "Wanna go in now?" Ro said while slightly nudging her up the steps.

  "I have to admit I am intrigued but,-"

  "But- there are no buts here, as your teacher I order you to go through that door."

  "Oh you're ordering me now, wow I'm sooo scared." She replied, rolling her eyes. He had to be so superior, didn't he? "Fine, whatever, humor me if you must, but under one condition." Ro narrowed his eyes as he went through his options.

  "Fine, let me hear your condition."

  "Stop showing your emotions to me!" Ro grinned as Sam stated her condition, he tended to have a habit of tweaking his emotions for her to feel so she didn't know what his real emotions were and after years of doing it, she was tired of it. "Either show your real emotions or none at all please." She begged. "You are giving me a headache." she moaned.

  "Fine, I will agree to your terms, your highness." He said bowing. Then they grabbed hands and shook on it.

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

  Sam neared the door, nudging the creaky thing open with her palm and the tip of her boots. It groaned in protest followed by a thick layer of grainy dust. The shack was small, just enough room for three people, with an even smaller desk beneath a window, a tall bookshelf filled with a grey haze, an old tack board, and a chair nestled beneath the desk. A small storage compartment here and there dotting the naked floorboards. "So what did you want to show me?" Sam pondered as her eyes skimmed her surroundings.

  Ro walked straight to the window and took his sweet time examining the forest before turning around and focusing all of his attention on Sam, "This my dear, is an old hideout. There are hidden passages that lead all over, it can save your life if you are careful but if not you may lose your life instead. I believe that there is something hidden here, a secret message planted for the right person to find-"

  "Like the Meeks?" Sam interrupted wide-eyed. The Meeks were known to belong to old traders back in the day, using their secret tunnels to smuggle goods across the borders. Sometimes they left encrypted coding's with classified information, but only the person it was meant for could retrieve it. Those items were charmed by a Shade, hidden in the shadows but surrounded by dozens of tests and traps if the wrong person were to seek it. The tunnels were abandoned but reclaimed by a secret group of scavengers, no one knew their name or what their purpose for the tunnels were but they too were long gone. However, the messages may still be there, never discovered, or just neglected. People have spent their whole lives searching for those hideouts and their children's children have turned mad trying to figure out where the messages were let alone what they meant. The messages could be as simple as a riddle or as difficult as reading a language only one person knew how to speak.

  "If you'll stop interrupting, I'll continue." Sam rolled her eyes in response, nonetheless, he continued. "I am going to test your ability today and see if you can sense any of the traps or even the passages."

  Sam stood quiet for a second in shock, "You want me to do what?! You lunatic! You do remember what these traps could contain, the stories we've been told!" Everything screamed at her to turn around and leave Ro and his crazy ideas, but her curiosity got the best of her as it always did, and she reluctantly kept her feet planted. Sam anxiously awaited Ro's response and he merely smiled at her.

  "Sweet, naïve little Sam. I am aware of the stories we've been taught. But not all of them are true you know."

  "And how exactly would you know this." She shot back.

  "Because my Flick mentor tried this exact technique on me, God rest his soul, he spent years studying the effects of these hiding places. What he learned he never told anyone the whole story, I got bits and pieces here and there but nothing huge. Then suddenly one day he was going to meet me here again for another lesson, but he disappeared. No one saw him but later that night there was a break-in into his office. The whole thing was trashed but we couldn't figure out if anything was stolen. I suspect he was getting close to cracking the mystery and someone didn't want that. Luckily he taught me quite a lot so now I am passing the information down to you." He looked at her expectedly as if she had something to say... He knew her enough that that fact would be true.

  "What exactly did he teach you... What do you now know about the Meek's hiding places? So let me get this straight. Your mentor knew about the Meeks and how to unlock its secrets and he taught you how to do it. Then you claim he knew something else and would have told you but he was murdered and his research could have potentially been stolen. And now you want me to find these secret passages as a lesson?"

  "The facts are correct but the point is wrong. I want you to try to sense where the clues are with your ability, from there we can determine how strong and controlled your ability is, and my mentor never tried this technique on an Empath before. And if you happen to discover a passage from there then great, if not, cool, that wasn't the main focus anyway."

  "You do know this is very dangerous."

  "I also know you are as intrigued as I am to see how your ability will react. You can't deny it and you can't ignore it. You want to do it and we both know it, the only question is, when are you going to realize this?"

  Sam heaved a sigh and walked to the middle of the shack. She tried ignoring Ro's triumphant smirk but that only made him smugger.

  Planting her feet she called to her ability and let it comfort her. Calm, patience, determination. Sam called to those emotions and held them close as she began her work. She quieted her mind and let her ability lead her.

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

  Emotions tugged and pushed at her senses. They swarmed her and settled as a deadweight on her shoulders, nudging her in too many directions with too many spiraling feelings. Some were angry at her, disappointed, disgraced. Others were welcoming, overjoyed, pleased, but something about the happy ones felt off, forced. While the angry ones felt confused, not all there. Sadness bled its way to her heart making her shed a tear. A tear of someone else's sadness or of her anger she was unsure. Anxiety crawled up her legs, trembling in protest she fought off the anticipation with her determination. Pride struck her in her shoulder as a growl escaped her lips as she continued battling the pride with understanding and acceptance. Then worry enveloped her, What if I never found it, what if I failed, what if, what if, what if? What if I am alone forever, my friends abandoning me, my peers laughing at me until I wilt into nothing and they leave because I'm not worth it anymore? Left to rot in my wallowing fear clawing at any memory of companionship and happiness. Memories flashed like racing cars behind her eyes making her blind and an open book. Vulnerable to one's power-hungry monster and empty to any emotion other than desperation and fear. Her fear choked her forcing her to her knees.

  Sam faintly remembered Ro running towards her before her vision darkened around the edges. But before she went out completely a harsh blue halo surrounded one of the chests. Something shifted her and she was faced at the open door, too exhausted to protest and too far gone to know what that meant she let the darkness carry her away.