Serene's view

I barely make it to my room before the wave of exhaustion crashes over me and I collapse onto my bed. Lucy doesn't say anything, just goes over to my computer and sits on my rolling chair, waiting patiently.

The ease of my earlier transportation is gone, replaced with what my mom always warned me about as a drainage, too much power used at once.

What was I thinking, transporting five people at once? I've never gone more than two---myself and Janessa! Whenever I have Brietta and Lucy over at the same time, they normally get dropped off by someone else.

And now I'm paying the price. Every muscle on me is pulled tight and sweat is trickling in cold threads down my forehead. I feel ready to puke, but my stomach is empty, like I haven't eaten in days. I can barely move, and acting halfway normal around Janessa took every ounce of strength I had in me.

"Serene?" Lucy's tiny voice finally says. I hear the swivel chair moving closer, and she moves into my line of vision. "Are you okay?"

I grunt halfheartedly. "That was stupid."

She gives a shaky laugh. "Yeah, it was." She hesitates, scooting the chair closer to me. "So...why did you do it?"

"I don't know." I say quietly.

"Yes, you do." Lucy pokes my shoulder gently. "I know you do."

I smile weakly at her. "Yeah... I do."

"It has something to do with why you blew up at Brietta earlier, doesn't it?" Lucy says. When I look at her in surprise, she holds up her phone guiltily. "Bri texted me."

I laugh. "Of course she did. And, yeah, it's just..."

"You're overlooked." Lucy says simply when I don't continue.

I meet her eyes to find her smiling at me. Sometimes I forget that part of the reason Lucy is so quiet is because she prefers to listen to people, and pay attention to what's happening around her. She's the most perceptive person I know.

"Is it obvious?" I ask.

"No. Not unless you know to look." Lucy says matter-of-factly. She hesitates for a moment before rising off the chair and sitting cautiously next to me instead. "Are you... are you okay, Ree? Your sister isn't being mean, is she?"

I laugh, pushing myself into a sitting position. Blood rushes to my head, but passes within a few seconds. "Not intentionally. Don't worry about that, Lucy. Jenna is just oblivious."

Lucy leans against my shoulder. "She totally is. Even more than Sophie is in Keeper."

I smile to myself and lean against her head. We sit in comfortable silence for a few seconds, then a knock on my door washes away the peace.

I sigh and sit up. So does Lucy. "Come in."

My mom opens the door, locking eyes on me right away. "Serene? Are you all right? Janessa said you teleported everyone home."

"I did."

"You did?" Mom looks shocked, and her hand is on my forehead before I can stop her. "Serene, you know how dangerous that is! So many things could've gone wrong, do you understand that?"

"Mom, I'm fine." I protest, pushing her hand away. Lucy shifts awkwardly at the lie, but I ignore her. I do feel pretty normal right now. A little dizzy, but not bad enough so I'm close to collapsing.

Mom rises again, her hands on her hips, giving me a look as close to fury as I've ever seen on her. "Serene, that was incredibly reckless."

Who cares? I want to snap, but I bite my lip.

"Serene." Mom says when I don't answer. "Do you understand what could've happened?"

"I understand fine, Mom." I say under my breath.

"Serene!" Mom shouts, making me jump. Mom never raises her voice. At least, not to me. When I look up, her eyes are flashing with blue flames.

"You're not allowed to transport to or from school anymore, okay?" Mom says, and when I launch angrily to my feet, I can see a hint of regret in her face, but she hides it well. "I'll pick you guys up and drop you off every day until this wears off. I'm sorry, but if this happens again, I'll ask Endora to block it. I mean it, Serene. No transportation. It's not healthy until you recover. And don't use your powers unless absolutely necessary. No powers, Serene."

Furious, I close my mouth and sit back down. "Fine."

"Good." Mom turns to leave, but hesitates by the door. "Hi, Lucy."

"Hi, Mrs. De Vil." Lucy says, her voice quivering. I don't think she's ever heard my mom yell, either. It was kind of scary.

My mom hovers by the door a second longer, shakes her head, and leaves. She shuts the door behind her with finality.

Once she's gone, I slowly realize that my palms are stinging. Looking down, I see that I was clenching my fists so hard my perfect, pretty, polished nails cut into my skin, and a few drops of blood are dripping onto my dress.

Lucy inhales quickly. "Ree?"

"I'm fine." I promise, wincing when my voice comes out in a furious, raw tone.

"She can't stop you from using your powers... can she?" Lucy asks.

"Not herself, no. But she could ask Endora to put a lock on them. I heard her telling Janessa that Aunt Dori did that to a bunch of villains on the Isle. Like Ares, Sera's dad?"

"And my grandpas." Lucy pipes up. "Gaston and Frollo. Mama mentioned that Endora put spells on them that could monitor what choices they made, and would transport them back to the Isle if the spell even suspected foul play."

I sigh. "Yeah. Like that."

"So just don't let her catch you using your powers." Lucy suggests sneakily. She reaches for my hand but pauses when she realizes I'm still bleeding. She quickly twists around to pull her bag off of her shoulder, reaching inside and pulling out a small glass bottle filled with shimmering pink liquid.

I stare at it, my lips twitching. "You brought healing potion to the first day of school?"

"I like to be prepared!" Lucy says, taking my hands and carefully squeezing a drop on each of my palms. Within seconds, the cuts are gone.

"Thanks, Lu." I hug her and she hugs me back.

"And besides, you rarely use your powers anyway." Lucy continues when I pull away. "You just can't transport anymore."

I force a smile, agreeing with my hopeful friend. Of course, she doesn't know how often I do use them, creating shadows in the dead of night, the perfect time to practice because of the pitch-black of my room with it's thick curtains blocking out the lights from outside. I do my best practice at night.

So I don't argue when she pulls out her laptop and starts working on homework from the only class that gave it---Chem 1.

And we don't talk about anything but that until she leaves that night, my mom transporting her with Isla and Max instead of letting me do it. 

________________________

Okay I had to post today--- Spare886 you're killing me with the PM's I felt bad I wasn't giving any answers so I posted a chapter instead XD hope this makes up for it a bit! 

Also, for anyone who hasn't guessed where I got a lot of my names from... Barbie. XD I'm nostalgic at heart. I was watching 12 Dancing Princesses with my sister months ago, and I saw Janessa and Kathleen and Lacy, thus Janessa, Serene, and Lucy's names were born. Brietta is from Pegasus, Elina was going to be Eleanor, which is Fairytopia. Isla is 12 Dancing Princesses as well. Danielle is the Queen from Island Princess. 

I'm a dork. 

Also Lucy---her name is special to me, because Lucy is my favorite girl name of all time. Some of the best characters every created are named Lucy. Example:

Lucy Pevensie from Narnia

Lucy Wilde from Despicable Me 2 & 3

Lucy the maid from the Selection series (can't remember if they say her last name)

Lucy from Charlie Brown

Luciana from Island Princess (technically)

Lucille from Junie B Jones (technically)

I'm sure there are more that I know---but I can't remember any more off of the top my head. But Lucy Pevensie from Narnia is one of my favorite characters EVER, and I love the name Lucy... so Lucy was a name I HAD to use. Brit's daughter was the only choice, because anyone who was a combination of Gil and Brit had to be someone sweet and small, and Lucy fit that in my head.