Abbey returned with food. It was hot soup and while it tasted a bit strange, it was there and that was all they needed. Abbey had brought it in a thermos and was pouring it out into everyone’s bowl.

“I’m sorry I didn’t really have time to talk with you all before.” Abbey said. “I find it amazing that you have gotten this far into Area… And all the way from Betamy too. You all must have had dozens of adventures…” Collin nodded and began to rattle off stories of their travels, while Abbey listened with a quiet smile on her face.

“What about you Abbey?” Collin asked. “When we left, your job was still at the labs in Avrai. You got transferred out here?” he asked. Abbey blinked and dropped her eyes.

“I suppose you could say that. I think it was more of a demotion… The labs out here are old. About sixteen or seventeen years old really… It may seem like a step up to have the head position here, but really the only people here are my students and me. I’m prepareing them for a career in the Avrai labs…”

“Ohh…” Tella said. “So what do you do?”

“Umm… A good bit of it is classified… but we do a lot of genetic work… I’ve just recently showed the students how to split and rejoin nucleotides… It’s kind of intresting… But slow going with them.” Abbey said.  Tella nodded, not understanding but not really caring to.

“What were you doing out there in the strom, when I first saw you?” Collin asked.

“Oh, that.” Abbey said, “You know bad these storms are out here. Simply being inside wouldn’t protect us from them. We have a secured field that reaches around the buildings which curves the wind and rain away from us. It stretches out quite far, making us little more than a hill. I was setting up the field… You’re all quite lucky you came along when you did. Once set up the field can’t be disabled anywhere but the main contol room and I wouldn’t have been able to do that…”

“Abbey, thank you again.” Collin said. “I’m sorry I’m putting you at such risks.” Abbey smiled, leaning over and planted a kiss on Collin’s head.

“It’s alright.” She said, “I’m just thankful you’re alive.”

“Ms. Winter,” Demus said, “You said that you lived in Avrai?” Abbey nodded.

“Yes, I did.”

“What is the city like? I’ve heard that it is spectacular.” He said.

“It is…” Abbey said sighing. “It’s very pretty at night, and in the day for that matter. The ingenuity of that city alone makes it wonderful…”

“You sound a bit hesitant to speak well of it. “ Demus said, “May I ask why?” Abbey shrugged uncomfortably. Collin looked up at Demus with a curious frown.

“It’s… Ah…” Abbey started, “… There are bad memories there… That’s all.”

“Ah. Excuse me.” Demus said quietly apologetic.

“No, it’s alright.” Abbey said smiling. “There are a lot of good memories there too. Collin, did you tell your friends that Bran was a senator?” Collin shook his head.

“Really?” Tella asked. “He was a senator and left to go to Betamy?”

“Eh, yes well…” Abbey said, “He had some enemies… Bran was always pushing for unpopular ideas… For instance most of the senate wanted to direct all government money to the war effort… But Bran wanted a bit saved for the people… He saw some of the terrible things happening in Area… With the poor…” she smiled, “That’s one of the reasons he adopted Collin. He was touring one of the orphanages in the south and saw this sick little boy… The orphanage wanted him to take one of the healthier ones, but Bran was stubborn and insisted on adopting the sick boy, who was Collin of course.” She smiled down at Collin sadly. “And Bran brought him back to Avrai and raised him.” Collin looked down at the floor, flushed at bit because he was being talked about. Demus smiled slightly.

“Are you all… ah…” Abbey paused, “You all are going to Avrai…aren’t you?”

“Yes.” The wanderer said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry… I really don’t want you to tell me anymore about it.” Abbey said.  “It’s just that, it will be hard to get there…” she bit her lip pausing, then said quietly, “All troops are on alert. Everything is tightening up. I hear you can’t get in or out of Avrai without all sorts of inspections and papers…”

“They must be looking for us…” Demus said quietly.

“Yes.” Tella said.

                “But why would we matter that much?” the wanderer said. “Are we that much of a threat?” no one answered for a moment.

                “It’s not that we can do anything to them,” Tella said, “they just want us killed and out of the way. We’re just another thing to over come in their war.”

                “… Um, sorry, I really should get back…” Abbey said standing. “Please feel free to walk around, but stay in these rooms, right around here… I’ll lock off accessed to this wing for tonight, so no one will come down here…” she smiled and exited, closing he door quietly behind her, saying a quick, “Good night.”

                “Goodnight.” They answered. After a paused, the wanderer spoke.

                “I guess she didn’t like us talking about Area that way.”

                “Hm, guess so.” Tella said, “But it’s the truth.”

                “Abbey isn’t for the war…” Collin said, “But she’s still loyal to Area. Just like my master was.”

                “And you?” Demus asked. Collin looked at him silently, deciding not to reply.

                “I’m going to find some water.” He said, moving to the door.

                “I want to look at the lab equipment.” The wanderer said. “Some of it looked like stuff from my world… And some of it was completely alien.”

                “Oohh.” Will said rising, “You’re going to look at the shiny things? I wanna come.”

                “Don’t touch anything Will.” Tella lectured, “You’ll get us in trouble.” He scrunched his nose and stuck his tongue out at her as he disappeared out the door. Demus had found himself a book and was reading, leaned comfortably back on his cot, a small lamp glowing behind him. Tella got up and turned the overhead light off, giving the room a softer mood. She collapsed on her cot, lying on her back with an arm sprawled over her eyes. They sat in silence a moment before Tella moved her hand and looked over at Demus.

                “Hey, Demus?” she asked. He blinked, looking up form his book.

                “Yes?” he asked.

                “I know this is kind of a strange thing to bring up but I was just thinking about the Areans…” she frowned and continued in a very quiet voice. “you know that I don’t like Areans.” Demus blinked, saying nothing, merely listening. Tella paused looking uncomfortable. “Its just that… I never expected any Arean to be… well, nice. I mean this woman Abbey, she’s not terrible… or mean or blood thirsty and from the sound of it, Collin’s master Bran wasn’t such a bad guy either, granted the only time I met him was when he was trying to kill me… The thing is… It’s strange to think of…” Demus paused a moment, then put down his book.

                “It is hard to give up stereo types.” He said. “They are so easy to follow… Then you find people that don’t live within the stereo types and that shatters all your preconceptions…” Tella flushed and shook her head.

                “I don’t know why I’m talking to you.” She said softly. Demus watched her.

                “I used to hate Areans as well.” He said.

                “Really?” Tella asked. “Y-Yeah… That makes sense… But… I just somehow didn’t connect hatred with you… That’s very hard to imagine.” Demus shrugged slightly at this.

                “A lot of people in Betamy don’t like Hailians.” She continued in a quiet monotone. Demus peered at her. She frowned and met his eyes.

                “When I was little I didn’t understand… my parents never held with such things… my mother hired a Hailian, Avery, to be my nurse even… One time, we went out on the streets, me and Avery and I think of my sisters… And… And… We got some strange looks… And some people even made comments about Avery… Being in such a position… A position in which he could influence the government, through me and my sisters I suppose… I was only about five, but I still understood that… That something was wrong. Avery took us home quickly that day. I remember that. And we didn’t go out anymore.” Tella blinked, coming out of her thoughts and looked again at Demus. “I’m sorry. This is strange… I don’t mean to offend you…”

                “Nothing you’ve said has offended me.” Demus said. “I’m just sad. Betamy is a wonderful country. It shouldn’t have things like that happen in it.” Tella nodded vigorously.

                “Yes. When I take reign that’s one of the first things I’m going to work on… But…” she paused. “Areans and Hailian are very different… I suppose there are some Areans, like Abbey that aren’t that bad... But for the most part, especially the government, they don’t want peace. They want to take over!” she said stubbornly. “And they’ve done so many things! They deserve hatred… Hailians, they haven’t done anything their just… different. And I don’t mean that to be rude.”

                “Stop apologizing Tella. I realize there are differences between our people.” Demus said impatiently. “Go on.” Tella shrugged.

                “That’s really all I had to say.” She said. Demus nodded and looked back at his book. Tella blinked indignantly, waiting for a response. A few more moments went by before Tella growled and said,

                “So what do you say? Aren’t you going to comment?” she asked. Demus looked up, meeting her eyes.

                “You didn’t ask for a response.” He said lightly.

                “Well I am now.” Tella said. Demus watched her a moment, dropped his eyes and said causally,

                “You’re rationalizing hatred. It really doesn’t matter, all these things you’ve said, the fact is, that you hate a group of people and deep down you feel guilty about it, especially since you’ve met members of that group that you can’t make yourself hate.” He stopped, seeing Tella’s glare become more intense with each word.

                “You didn’t listen to a word I said!” she shouted. Demus sighed and looked back into his book.

                “You ask for my response.” He said.

                “Well I didn’t want that one!” she growled, standing up and moving to the door. “I think I’ll take a walk.” She said, slamming the door behind her. Demus sighed wearily and began reading again.

               

                The door slammed and Will and the wanderer jumped. The loud noise had echoes across the large vacant room. Tella turned, glaring at them and turned on her heel, exiting, into the hall. Will and the wanderer stared after her a moment in silence.

                Jeez, what’s with her…? Will thought. That time of the month?

                … If you haven’t realized it yet Will, Fairien told him, She’s always like that.

                “I wonder what’s wrong with Tella…” the wanderer said softly. She shrugged and went back to looking over the glass tubes they had been studying.

               

 

The evening passed and eventually they all migrated back toward the room. Sitting on the cots, facing one another they talked in low voices, planning out their journey.

“We leave here, and according you Collin, how much longer do we have to go before we reach Avrai?” Tella asked.

“Abbey said we’re about forty miles away from Avrai, but that’s on foot… It will take a week, if we’re lucky… The real problem is the tightened security. As we get closer to the capital it’s going to get bad…” he sighed.

“What do we do about that?” Will asked.

“Deal with it as it comes along.” Demus said.

“We really don’t have any other options I’m afraid.” Tella said. “We’ll just have to see what we can do.”

“The good news is that we’ll be out of the wastelands soon.” Collin said. “This is really the last of them, right around these labs. But don’t expect the terrain to get much better… It’s still rather tough.”

  “We’ll have to try and-” Demus began, but cut off as the lights flickered, on and off, and then dying. A second late a loud buzzy ding sounded, making them all jump.

<<PLEASE REMAIN CALM STUDENTS>> came Abbey’s voice over the speaker, <<WE HAVE HAD A TEMPORARY POWER OUTAGE. ALL SENIORS PLEASE REPORT TO CONTROL ROOM, LOWER CLASSMEN REMAIN IN DORMS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THAT IS ALL. THANK YOU.>>  

“I guess it’s the storm.” The wanderer said softly.

“Guess so.” Tella agreed. “Well, I wonder what they’ll do about this.”

“They’ll fix it.” Collin said impatiently. “Any way, we were talking about the security…”

 

 

Gwenith Foxworth walked down the dark tiled halls of the lab, her shoes making a soft, click, click, click. She held a thin notebook with a list of supplies on them, which she checked again, muttering under her breath about densities, and weights. She stopped at the locked double doors that marked the entranceway into the supply wing. Taking out her senior card she swiped it through the slot, and with a soft click, the doors opened.

 

 

“Alright, lets stop this!” Tella said in loud impatience. “I’m getting tired of talking in the dark! I can’t tell where anybody is and someone keeps squishing my arm in between this cot and the wall! Who is that? Stop it!!”

“Oh, that’s you?” Will said. “S-Sorry… I thought that was a pillow.”

“A pillow?!” Tella shouted.

“Calm down Tella!” Demus said raising his voice. “You’ve done nothing tonight but scream at all of us!”

“I can’t help it!” Tella said, “This place makes me edgy!”

“Well then you should be quiet!” the wanderer said.

“I would, but I can’t see!” Tella said viciously.

“What does that have to do with anything?!” outside in the hall Gwenith stopped, hearing the raised voices, and frowning entered the lab. She inched closer to the door, listening through a crack. Who were these people? Test subjects? But she’d never heard such noisy test subjects. Most of them were half dead by the time they got them…

“Stop it! All of you!” Collin shouted, “If you want light, here…” he opened his hand and a small ball of light appeared illuminating the room.

Gwenith gasped, looking the boy over widely, looking for a channeling object. She frowned, not seeing one. She watched as a girl with long brown hair scowl at the boy.

“Stop showing off.” Tella said. “We could have done that just as easy.”

“Not just as easy.” Collin said smiling cockily.

“Stop it, come on let’s talk.” The wanderer said. “We have to figure this out.”

“But there isn’t anything else to figure out wanderer.” Will said. “I say we go to bed.”

“You’re just being lazy Will.” Tella said.

“Am not!” Will said.

“Stop it!” Demus said, growing irritable. “Stop acting like children! Tella, get a hold of yourself, try please for the sake of your dignity to act in at least a more civilized manner. And Will, try to ignore her.”

“Hey!” Tella started, but was but off by a glare from Demus.

“What Will said was a perfectly good idea. We do need to rest. I don’t know about you all, but I am quite tired after today.” Tella shrugged and laid down on her cot, pulling a blanket over herself. The others sighed in relief that Tella was going to behave herself for a while. They lay down, and prepared for sleep.

Gwenith rose quietly, wide-eyed and retreated silently back out into the hall. She passed quickly back through the double doors and was about to make her way back to the commons area when she turned a corner and almost bumped into someone. She let out a little exclamation, before realizing it was Abbey.

“Oh, Professor!” Gwenith said, catching her breath.

“Gwenith,” Abbey said frowning, “Where were you? You should have reported to the control room, with the other seniors.”

“Oh, yes I just had to pick up some supplies…” she said. Abbey blinked, her eyes widening slightly.

“Supplies?” she said. Gwenith nodded.

“Yes, but the power went out and before I could reach that wing I turned around.” She lied well, blushing a bit, “But I got a little lost in the dark. I’m just getting back.” Gwenith wasn’t quiet sure why she was lying, but something in Abbey’s expression had made her stop from telling her senior what she had seen. Perhaps she wanted to find out more before revealing her findings. Abbey nodded.

“Well, get off to the dorms its late. I expect you to do a good job tomorrow in lab.”

“Oh, yes mam.” Gwenith said waving as she departed. She knew why she didn’t tell Abbey. This was hers. She had seen it, these people… They were spies or something, couldn’t be anything else… Though, they had been awfully loud for spies in hiding… Truly she would have told her senior about them, if not for one thing. That boy had produced a magic field without channeling through an object. It was impossible, Gwenith knew that. Maybe the boy had be holding something small, but no, he had used both hands… She frowned, thinking. If she told anyone, the spies would be caught and probably killed. She wouldn’t have a chance to examine the boy, or any of the rest of them if that happened.

“If only I could examine him…” she whispered to herself, walking off toward the dorm. She stopped, pausing in the hall, no expression on her face. She looked down the hall on her left and turning, taking that way.

She had to get ready.

 

 

Most of the group had dozed off. Will snored softly while next to him Collin stared blankly ahead. He sighed and rolled over, trying to get comfortable. It was then that he noticed Demus, staring up at the ceiling.

“You awake?” he whispered. Demus blinked and turned his head to look at Collin, his black eyes shining in the darkness.

“Yes.” He said softly.

‘Ah.” Collin looked down at the floor in silence. Demus blinked and then asked softly.

“Do you want to ask me something?”

“Eh,” Collin flushed slightly, looking back up. “Why do you ask that?” Demus shrugged.

“You look like you’ve a question on your mind. That’s all.” He said. Collin sighed and tried to begin.

“I heard… I mean... back… I heard… umm…” he tried to pull his thoughts together. “You’re going to think I’m crazy…” he sighed. Demus frowned.

“No I won’t.” he said. Collin met his eyes briefly before continuing.

“Umm, back when… I was being attacked, by Mahito… I heard… A voice.” He said softly. “A voice… In my head.” Demus said nothing, just gazed calmly at Collin. Collin pulled his shoulders up in agitation.

“But… For some reason… It… It felt… I mean… I sounded like… you.” He said. Demus slowly nodded.

“Yes.” He said. Collin’s eyes widened as he stared at Demus.

“You mean, that was you?” he asked. Demus nodded.

“Yes it was.”

“But… You got into my head? How…”

“Some Hailians,” Demus began, “Have that gift. Thought waves are on a slightly different frequency than sound waves, so it is hard to tune your ears to it, but sometimes, especially if thoughts are loud, I can hear them, and even project them, though I’m rather surprised you picked it up. Even most Hailians can’t pick up thought waves.”

“Y-You can hear my thoughts?” Collin asked in a squeaky voice. Demus shook his head.

“No. I told you, only when they are especially loud, and even then I usually tune them out. It’s an invasion of privacy that I do not believe in.” he said.

“O-Ohh…” Collin said softly.

“Please don’t worry to much about it Collin.” Demus said. Collin blinked and nodded slowly. Demus smiled. “Go to sleep.” He said. Collin closed his eyes and pulled the cover up to his chin. Within a few minutes, he was asleep.