⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰⌍

Three bells chime as I finger the end of my tunic, watching Li-Yang tie my hair into a complicated set of braids through the mirror.

"Are you sure about this?" It's about the fifth time she's asked ever since Ryker and I informed her that we were teaming up. "Nora, if this goes wrong..."

"It won't," I say, not sure if I believe it, "It won't."

⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰⌍

Our plan was risky, yes, but Ryker promised that he'd be able to get us in. "I know Madame and I know my father. He'll be her host for tomorrow and that's when we'll strike."

I was hesitant at first. He seemed a little too passionate for someone who wanted nothing to do with us just a day before. We were talking about seriously harming, maybe even killing his father, after all.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." I touch his arm, and he freezes, looking down at my hand. We sit like that for a while before he shakes his arm away from me, rubbing his fingers over the spot of pale skin where my fingers landed. 

"It's not like you're giving me much of a choice," Ryker replies, and I back away, eyes widening. I knew it, of course. I threatened to expel him from school and this school meant something to him. Not like me. It never meant anything to me.

After I found Mom, I would go back home and continue to be taught by Dad. I would never see Li-Yang or Devon again. I wouldn't walk the halls of Aurelia's, balancing books from the Duke on my hands or laughing with Devon, ignoring the soft look in his eyes every time he looks at me. 

I found myself missing it already.

⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰⌍

So what's the plan? Ryker asks through our bond. We're lined up in the Great Hall, and I see him across the room from me, standing at attention like the dutiful soldier that he is. 

You know what the plan is, Ryker. I resist the urge to look over at him. He's not looking at me, but I can tell that he wants to, that he's not used to the Abraham bond. We're standing in alphabetical order on opposite sides of the cafeteria, boys on one side and girls on the other. Our examiner is busy talking to Baz Snow, and we are forbidden to start our test until they're finished. 

The Duke told me the test was simple in hushed, whispered tones, snatched in between classes. We each had an opponent: one boy vs one girl. We fought until we forced our partner to yield and whoever won the fight got to move on.

I look across the room at my opponent: Nathan Adriks. He's a Lunar, just like Madame Aurelia, but I don't know much about him. Nathan's clear violet eyes meet mine and the scowl in between his forehead deepens, adding more lines to his already well-drawn face. He has so much raw power and is one of the best in the school, not far behind the Snow siblings. 

Nathan mouths 'loser' to me and out of the corner of my eye, I see a furrow appear between Ryker Snow's perfect eyebrows. Stop it. I think, hoping he gets the message. Stick to the plan.

Before Ryker can answer, Baz Snow turns around sharply on one heel. The massive room goes quiet and we wait with bated breath. Baz Snow walks down the rows like a general, looking each and every test taker in the eyes.

He stops when he gets to me. "Interesting," is all he says and I ignore him. I am an Abraham. It does not matter what a Snow thinks of me.

"Applicants," Baz Snow is so much like Ryker: all cold edges and hidden power, a soldier making soldiers, "Today you will finally learn what it takes to be a true Aurelian. No more games. No more coddling. This is the real thing, and so far, none of you are ready for it." His gaze lands on Ryker when he says this and my heart breaks. 

Ryker doesn't react. He stares right at his father, challenging him. Ryker Snow is not like his siblings, or even his father. He's rough around the edges. He's been beaten down but he finds the courage to lift himself back up. Not many people can do that. This world is cruel to people with powers, people who aren't born on a pedestal. In a way, that's how we're similar. We've been taught from birth to be warriors, and yet with all we've seen, all we've done, him and I still find a way to find the light. To pick ourselves up, even when there's nothing left.

I can find some respect for that.

Baz Snow finishes his speech, and without any warning, fires an icicle at the gilded chandelier above the hall. "Now that I have your attention," he says, "let's begin."

Good luck. I tell Ryker.

You too. He replies. I'll signal Devon and Li-Yang.

⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰⌍

The test has been going for three hours. Each of the twenty-four applicants that were granted special clearance by their mentors have gone. Ryker finished his battle with ease, knocking out of Lana Salvador within the first five minutes of the battle. She didn't stand a chance against him. I don't know why she was given a pardon but she was sloppy. Lose blows, weak knees, no defense and very little power behind her fire blasts.

I only hope Nathan will be that easy. I'm probably wrong, of course.

The fight before ours finishes, with the girl next to me winning the match with a beam of light shot through the chest of the flamejin boy she was battling. He groans and collapses to the ground, the light only just barely missing his heart. With jeers from the current students who are invited to watch- Aurelian's do not like cheaters- the boy is escorted to the infirmary and I don't expect to see him again.

"Nora Abraham, telepath." The audience gasps at this. I came out as a telepath a few weeks ago when the Duke told me it was safe. The Aurelians know who I am. But as the rules of the test allow, they can do nothing about it. Not until the test is over and I either pass or fail.

That should make me afraid. But I've come to realize that I'm not afraid of them anymore. They're kids like me, no matter how monstrous they may be. Fear of monsters will only get you so far, and I'm determined to vanquish mine.

"Nathan Adriks, Lunar." The two of us walk into the circle, eyeing each other warily. We aren't supposed to begin until the gong starts, so I try to locate a hole in Nathan's armor, a weakness, something that will give me a chance of defeating him.

I find nothing. 

How the hell am I supposed to do this?

We stand at either edge of the circle, facing each other, watching, waiting. Nathan sneers at me and I wave, trying to show no fear. The gong sounds and Ryker's voice whispers in my head, and I square my shoulders, trying not to shiver.

Nathan is an attacker, not a defender. His weakness is in his knees, where he doesn't block.

I didn't need to know that.

You did. Trust me. And I do.

Nathan strikes first, summoning shadows and arranging them in the calloused spaces in between the fingers on his left hand. He throws them at me all at once and I vault away from him, avoiding almost all of them. 

The one leaves a shallow cut on my ribs and I hiss, clenching my teeth. Nathan chuckles and moves his hands again, about to summon more.

"This should be easy," he says, light peering over the tips of his fingers, "You're nothing. Just a fly."

I can't get a clear enough vantage point to his mind to do anything so I save my breath and go on the defensive, protecting my ribs. He laughs, perhaps thinking this was still easy, a predator picking on a scared, quiet girl, but I am nothing but quiet. 

I am powerful.

I am the flame.

Suddenly, my hands light up. The room goes quiet and I can feel every eye on me, every power kicking into action. I gasp quietly to myself and even though I can't see him, I can hear Ryker stiffen behind me. 

Since when can you do this? He asks, but I ignore him. 

Abrahams have never had this power. The most powerful among us have been able to convince men stronger than Nathan Adriks to rip their own hearts out, but that was millennia ago. The bloodline has watered down over time, to the point of me with my small amount of power and even less training.

This...

This is pure thought. I can see them, the words dancing around my fingertips, the power that the thoughts of every fire manipulator, air manipulator and Snow in this room give to me. I could take every thought they've ever had, crush their brains, leave them with nothing but ashes. Revenge is my easel and I could splatter it with the brains of the villains in this room.

Dad would finally be proud of me for once. I'd lose Ryker, Li-Yang and Devon but that's a small price to pay. I don't know them. Maybe I never really did. They'll be hurt but they'll never have to see me again and they'll be much better off.

No. What the hell am I even saying? This isn't me. This isn't what Dad taught me. Splattering brains everywhere isn't going to get Mom back. It isn't going to change things. If anything, I will have started a war, and war is not something we need.

I pull back, letting the lights grow dim, regretting watching them leave when I don't know how to get like that. I look up. Crack my knuckles.

In the Great Hall, the conjured up bleachers on all four sides of us are packed with students. Some of them look furious. Some of them look shocked. I spot Li-Yang and Devon in the front row. Devon is unsurprisingly grinning, while Li-Yang's black painted fingers are covering her mouth. She's shocked. I try not to let it bother me and turn back to Nathan. 

He's impressed. I can see it in his mind. Straightening, he cracks his knuckles and cackles a sharp, mean laugh. "Interesting. This is not going to be easy, is it?"

"Sorry," I say, trying to put on some ounce of bravado, "but I'd rethink the whole fly analogy."

And with that I seize control of Nathan Adriks thoughts and pull. It's easy, like removing cotton candy from the bucket and I do it quickly, even though I don't know how to.

No, it's not like how it is in Harry Potter. It's not white and shimmery. It's not painless or neat. It's gory. A loud squelching noise keeps reappearing and something red falls out of the side of Nathan Adriks' left ear. 

He slumps to the ground, eyes vacant.

Nobody makes a sound after that. 

⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰⌍