Cal and Fiorenza had been training the other people for weeks, and it seemed as though they'd never actually go through with the plan.

Emerson wished that was the case.

Later that day, Cal found her. Emerson was walking down the hallway and going towards the training room, when she felt someone grab her elbow and pull her backwards. She felt someone's body pressed against her back, and her heart raced for all the wrong reasons when she heard his voice.

"It's happening tomorrow. You and Finch need to get the Control Room set up with the intercoms and all that junk. Ask Finch, he'll know what I'm talking about," he whispered, before letting her go and walking away like nothing even happened.

Emerson was left to stand there and reply what just happened in a loop she couldn't escape. Her arm still tingled from where he touched her, but she knew she couldn't like him. Cal was dangerous, unstable, and probably too much for anyone to handle.

But she just remembered his unique eyes, the way he got embarrassed when talking about them. Emerson found herself falling into a hole with no way to get out.

"Hey, you okay?" Tamara asked, voice laced with concern.

Tamara's voice snapped Emerson out of her thoughts, "Yep."

"Okay," the other girl whispered. If she didn't believe Emerson, she didn't say anything.

"I need to talk to Finch? You know where he is?"

"Yeah, he's probably swimming," Tamara laughed, rolling her eyes.

Emerson gave her a puzzled look, and the other girl explained further, "He has been working on his scream call thing underwater to see if it'll work. It's easier if he just shows you what he can do." 

Still confused, Tamara sighed and dragged Emerson to a part of the underground division she hadn't been to before. Inside was a light transparent blue pool, and Finch was swimming gracefully under the surface.

"Finch!" Tamara called out, and the boy surfaced, gasping for air.

"Yeah?" He shouted meekly.

"Emerson's curious about your ability," Tamara smirked, nudging a dumbfounded Emerson forward.

Awkwardly walking down towards the pool, she tried to look anywhere but at Finch's naked torso. He was like, 14 years old and Emerson felt uncomfortable. It was like looking at your brother without a shirt on.

Finch rolled his eyes at Emerson, "It's only weird if you make it weird. And, no offense, you're not my type."

This caused her to laugh, "It's not that. I just--"

Finch just gave her the look, and she shut up.

"Anyway, you might want to cover your ears," he advised.

Before Emerson could ask why, Finch let out an earsplitting scream. It made her feel like her eardrum exploded, and that it was bleeding. Finch kept on screaming, and she desperately wanted to drown him at that moment.

But then she saw something flutter towards the ground. It was a black and yellow streak. Then there were blue, red, brown, gold streaks flying from every nook and cranny.

He finally stopped screaming and studied Emerson's awed face. The entire floor was covered in birds.

"So that's why they call you Finch?" She breathed out, still astonished.

"That and because the first bird I've ever drawn to me was a Golden Finch," he nodded, proudly beaming.

"That's so cool! Can you do any other creatures?" She asked excitedly.

He then frowned, "No. I've been trying and training as hard as I can, but so far it has only been birds. Renza says if I keep on practicing in different elements, maybe something will change. She says that I'm going to powerful, but I think she's just trying to get my hopes up."

"Are you talking about Fiorenza? Like Fiorenza, Fiorenza?" Tamara asked in disbelief.

"You tell me how many Fiorenza's you know?" Finch sassed.

"She doesn't have a caring bone in her body!" She exclaimed.

He just shook his head, "Then you obviously don't know her as well as you think."

"Oh snap!" Speaking of the Devil, Fiorenza said, heeled boots clicking as she sauntered down the stairs. "Talking about me, were we? All good things I hope?"

Tamara scoffed and rolled her eyes. Renza's calculating brown-yellow eyes snapped towards Tamara's, and Emerson felt like she was interrupting something.

"Finch was actually showing me--"

"The birds? I could tell. I had to kick at a few to get them to leave. You really need to find a way to make them leave. Last time, I had to sweep feathers for a week and I can still find them sometimes!"

Finch turned red, "Sorry."

"It's fine, just do me a favor. Stop calling the whole nest, 'kay?"

He laughed at that.

"Anyway, I need you two to prep the Control Room, and Tammy's coming with me," Renza ordered, clapping her hands in a chop-chop, hurry up way.

"My name's Tamara," the girl growled, radiating annoyance as she followed behind the tall girl.

Emerson couldn't help but notice Renza styled her hair differently. It was in wavy curls, making it really look like fire when the black turned from yellow, to orange, to red. The hair was pulled back in that half up half down style that made some girls look effortlessly beautiful.

It was as if she was trying to impress someone, and Emerson couldn't help but notice the way Fiorenza had looked at Tamara. Always teasing, always making sure Tamara was okay even though Tamara hated her. Emerson felt a sudden pang of sympathy for the girl. Could it be possible Fiorenza liked Tamara? No.....no Fiorenza was flirty with everyone. But still......

"Hey, we should probably set the control room up. Cal will want to test the intercom before they go," Finch said, touching her shoulder.

"Right, right," Emerson nodded, smiling a little, and following Finch to the room. "Don't you want to shower or something?"

Finch smiled over his shoulder, "I'll do it later. We have a lot of time to kill, and Cal wants to test it in an hour."

"But won't your wet hair--"

"That's what the towel is for." 

Emerson just sighed.

"It's going to be so boring tomorrow, just sitting here," Finch complained after pulling up several computer programs and typing things Emerson didn't understand.

"What if we didn't just sit here tomorrow?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if we left?"

"Now you've got my attention," Finch smirked. Turning around on the spinny chair, he stopped typing and looked at her. Eyes sparkling with mischief.