She placed a bit more of her weight on the decrepit step and quickly made it up the first four. This was very dangerous, but how else would we get up there? I followed up the stairs; when Tao made it up three, I got up two. We were both tall, and the steps would easily collapse if we used them to support 100% of our weight.

Tao gave my hand a firm grasp and assisted me on getting passed the wood that completely fell down to the concrete below. The rusty, metal door was cracked open just a few inches, so Tao and I crouched down to peek through the jamb. I couldn’t see much, since the door was beyond a normal size and, Tao’s blue hair was in the way.
“Move,” I whispered.

She walked the the other side of the door and I peeked through. The first thing I noticed: an extremely tall person with green hair and a long black dress on. Tao tapped my shoulder which made me jump and gasp, almost falling off of the rickety landing.
“What?!” I roughly whispered.

“I’m going to crack it further,” Tao said hushedly.

I nodded, moving my fingers so I didn’t have to have bad fingers. With her manicured fingertips, Tao bit down on her lip, shut her eyes and rifted the door open by a millimeter, and despite that fact that we were completely silent, the door made the soft rurr sound and Tao gasped. I pulled her away and slammed my hand down on her mouth before both of us were seriously hurt. Footsteps. Light, getting louder, stopping at the door. My eyes and Tao’s were the size of tennis balls and a man with rustic red hair peeked his head out. He caught my eye and tilted his head to the side as if he was thinking something.
“Stay here,” he whispered.

Tao and I both let out sighs, the man closing the door and saying something very loud. We pressed our ear to the cold material to listen.
“What the hell was that noise?” a first voice boomed.

“Two girls. One with really blue hair and the other with teal. Know who they are?” It was the man, his voice was hushed and he was speaking directly to another man with another enrapturing voice.

“Wait…,” this was a woman so speak, “the girl with the teal hair. And blue hair?”

“Yes… Holy shit!”

“Go get them!”

By now, there were six voices: three different women, three men. This time Tao and I didn’t freak out when the door opened, but I do think I pissed my pants.
“Aya?”

“Shh, you have to be quiet.” Her pink hair and hazel eyes were the same. I knew it was her I was just confused as to why and how it was her.

She grabbed our hands, bringing us through the door and I had to take a moment to wrap my head around the group of people before me.

My eyes scanned over the room, but locked on a woman with bright red hair. Her pretty orange eyes were glowing and her bottom lip was trapped between her vibrant teeth.
“Eris…” she whispered.

“Mom…” I could barely make out her short figure through the tears forming in my eyes. How and why the fuck was she there? But, I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and cry into her shoulder. I wanted to break down my life into 18 different hours, tell her about all of my birthdays, tell her the first boy I kissed (surprisingly, it was not Dallas), tell her that I loved her a million more times than I had been doing for the past 16 years. I just wanted to tell her anything.

“Ba!” I turned to Tao as she noticed a man with jet black hair, who I knew to be her father. He had the same Chinese features as Tao and his eyes were an unbelievable shade of emerald. Yep, that was her father.

They shared a small smile and just as Aya leaned into me to whisper something, a voice I was far too familiar with flitted my ears and soft footsteps sounded throughout the room, the area dearth of much furniture to keep the soundwaves from bouncing back and echoing.

“How did you two follow me? You should be killed for this,” Lena pathetically said. I could tell by the apprehensive glow in her eyes that she wasn’t expecting two more guests to her party. “What, are you here to play tea party and catch up with your murdered parents? News flash, children, but, you can’t see these fuckers anymore because they’re dead”—Lena scoffed and slammed down a glass jar on the wooden table she was standing behind. “Not like half of these people would want you as their kid anyway.”

My mother, short and frail-looking, threw a glass jar at her feet and Lena jumped back from the bursting shards of glass.
“You dare not say that” she eloquently roared. The black dresses that all of the women had on were so… “fitting” for Lena’s evil personality and the men were dressed in all black. Mom tossed her red hair behind her shoulder and continued: “Lena, you are in no place to chastise anyone when you, you yourself are the biggest piece of shit that I’ve ever met.” Work it, Mom. “I’m not dead by choice or natural causes, no, I’m dead because you wouldn’t put your ego behind you and you wanted more power than—”

“Yes, Layla! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that I’m a selfish bitch who loathes children and their revolting parents! Would you like to know why you’re dead and not babying your child?! Because, I, Lena, am selfish and a self-concerned asshole who killed you with Black Magick to eliminate the strongest generation of Rian.”

“What…” All eyes were on Lena and she started laughing. Like a crazy woman.

“Oh boy,” she chuckled. “So, did my brother send you here?”

I shook my head before and answered, “No. Brice saw you leave the mansion.”

“Sons of Alke and Sons of Kratos are losing their shit looking for you,” Tao added.

Lena gave us a disgruntled look and rolled her dark eyes.
“Well, he has never been so good defending himself. That’s why Brice always needed someone by his side to baby him and take care of him.”

I gave her a confused face but Lena held up a hand with a knife. She lowered it and said, “When we were children, Brice always had this… ‘fantasy’ about becoming something powerful, something charismatic. Ya know, it doesn’t always end too well for most people. As we got older, he became more and more helpless, as in, he did not want to leave Rianate when he turned 18, he did not want to abandon our Mother and Father for another life. So, being the wildchild that I was, I told him to man up and accustom to a life as an adult. But, yet again, it was always Lena the bad child. And, our powers developed, and I got the hang of being a potent Leader… Brice did not.” She shrugged. “So I told the fucker to grow up, and anyone he saw as a ‘strong leader’ with ‘much potential,’ as in your families and their children, I killed them. Think: a police officer kills an innocent young man, the world doesn’t blame him because the police officer was ‘defending himself’ and he saw the man as a threat. It’s the same as being a High Rian: no one’s blaming me, because I’m here to ‘protect,’ and to keep y’all safe. But all in all, I couldn’t give less of a fuck about you or your stupid little powers. That’s why it is so easy to be manipulative and a self-seeking asshole! Why do you think Brice is so fucked in the head? Because he’s selfless; he cares about other people when really, other people are pieces of shit–especially if they have teal hair–and whatever Brice does, I say ‘fuck it’ and turn around and do the opposite.”

Tao made a “wha?!” sound.

“Lena: crazy kid, a bit of a hybrid—shall I say—and, independent. Brice: foolish, nonviolent and always helping people. Well, maybe it is time to stop being so altruistic and become become the opposite—that’s what I did. Fast Forward to the present, I’m the one to take matters into my own hands and conquer my power, not stand by and watch someone else live it. Brice can die for all I care, but I on the other hand, I wanted the powers so I thieved the powers. Eris, are you really that dumb?! Your best friend dies right after you lose your power, and your other best friend loses her own powers! Plus, you’ve got a crazy bitch chasing you in circles all day, making your life a living hell!”

She cackled so loudly that she put her hands on the tabletop, and burst into more laughter. Tao glanced at me, rolled her eyes and sighed. Lena stood up straight then fixed herself and continued: “It all ties together now, huh?! And Tao. Did you expect your life to go on with that boy, Maz? He’s a Dark Son, and, we all know that Dark Sons get around. All of that lovey-dovey shit was just an act. Oh, and uh, Eris, that little situation with the weed, he put that together. Wasn’t my idea, I was just along for the ride.”

“You’re not the only one,” Tao muttered. I know she was pissed off by Lena’s harsh words so I patted her lower back and cleared my throat.

Lena shook her head, probably clearing her wicked mind for some new thoughts then looked directly into my eyes.

“Just, one question,” I said without looking away from her, “how in the hell did you get them here?” I gestured to our parents and Aya, and the other faces I didn’t recognize.

“Oh, I’ve killed everyone in this room. And, you both know how your best friend died. Since she died in your arms. I mean, honestly, I have already told you that I’m not a people person, so…. can I say that I’m using them as ritual stand-ins? Shit, it’s not all that hard to kill someone. Especially, like I said before, when you can predict that their children are going to be powerful and kind of annoying. I knew what type of children they would have. It just takes a little hypothesis and a bit of your brain to figure it out. Honestly. For example, Layla and Jeff were most likely to have a kid with an affinity for an Element, but instead, they got one that controlled all four. And—”

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

All of the adults’ exclamations made me jump, since they directed their voices to me. Mom bit down on her lip saying, “That doesn’t exist. I’ve got a special daughter!” She giggled and the rest of the adults laughed and shook their heads at me.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch; her powers are gone. But, I have them,” Lena said in a singsong voice, completely killing the vibe(would it be appropriate to say she killed everyone and their vibes?). “And, Eris, that little accusation that Maz and I created, it worked perfectly, huh? You called your Father, asking him if he believed it, you cried on your boyfriend’s shoulder, your best friend lost a boyfriend, and it all just went—” Lena blew a raspberry with her thumb pointing downwards. “Ya see, I extinguished them all in the same year because I had an important ritual and spell to perform; I even provided some for a few friends. That year was the perfect year to kill them all, and it may have inflicted another spell on another person, but, I guess I can save that story for later. Of course, I drowned Indiana and Detroit first in Texas, then garroted Ross and PeyTon in Arizona. But, after that, I figured it would be inane of me to kill them all, and leave behind patterns. After all, I had been gone that entire year and, I was really using the ‘vacation’ as a killing spree. So, I switched from both parents to one parent. After that, I went to Florida and brought along a few dragons, then found Caden and did a big number on him. One day, my husband, Axton, pissed me off, so, I cast a spell and, he internally burned and died in our bed. Oh, and after him, I found Kin practicing on campus, so, I shot him up. My beautiful sister-in-law, Ma’at. I cast a spell, that made her do everything until she died of mind control. And of course, little Eris watched her mommy get her throat slit in the backyard. So, any questions?? I guess you’re wondering how long it took me, who accompanied me while I traveled all over the country, or maybe why I used my nephews to help me, or why the ephemeral time with your parents. I dunno, ask them.” She smiled and tossed some salt in a circle in the corner of the room.

Aya rolled her eyes. “Lena, what good is salt gonna do you if you’re the evil one?”

“I think she’s doing the ice and salt challenge,” Tao whispered, jokingly.

I shot her a dirty look. “Really? You’re making jokes, right now? What if she kills us? The last thing you ever said was ‘I’m an asshole and I’m gonna make jokes as we’re screaming our heads off and dying. Har har.’”

We tried to keep a straight face but Aya broke out giggling and holding her stomach. At the worst times, we were making jokes and laughing.
“See,” Lena growled. “That’s the annoying thing about you three: you don’t know how to shut up and be serious.”

“Rude!” Aya pointed a finger at Lena. “Says the crusty old woman who feeds off of children.”

Tao and I both slapped her arms and Aya did a teasing face at Lena. Okay, at the worst, worst times, Aya was still making jokes and putting all of our lives at risk. As Aya settled down, my eyes scanned over the room so I could know what my surroundings were.

The room was probably the size of two of my classrooms put into one, and a bunch of storage stuff and plastic coverings thrown everywhere. On the west wall, there were big plastic covers over the broken ceiling-to-floor wall, and it was a great height to fall down to the cement. The cold night breeze was making everything wild, there were a few loose papers, the plastic was loud and obnoxious, and the four banged-up light fixtures barely had working bulbs, so the sound of electricity crackling and a slight creaking filled the top floor. The dim light was casting creepy shadows over everything, so any which way I turned, there was something to worry about. I even spotted a tiny rat in a corner, scurrying along to get somewhere other than here.

Lena cleared her throat once more.

“So Lena,” I directed towards her, “your point of all of this is to hurt people and have excessive powers?”

Lena nodded. “Yep. And, trust me, if I had not of taken their lives, things around campus would be so much different. Oh! And, Eris, you do remember the one time you were in Dallas’ apartment and I accused him of killing that dragon? Or, the numerous occasions I have had to talk to the Twins about stealing or killing? Yeah, I did all of that stuff myself.”

Wow, and Superman flies.

Lena winked at us and a rusty grandfather clock in the back of the room tolled 1am.

“Ah! It’s time!” she exclaimed. Lena snatched up nine Kilner jars full of dust, lined them up on the table and grabbed a knife. She started speaking a form of ancient Riate that was hard to follow as she slit her wrist, leaving behind a long line of scarlet red blood. I could see something changing over her, like she was Bruce Banner forming into the Incredible Hulk, only she was not turning green and she most definitely was not becoming larger and buffer. Instead, her long blue hair whipped in the wild breeze, I could even spot her racing pulse throbbing under her skin, and her voice was booming through the air. All of the dust shook and vibrated in the jars, making a loud clanking noise on the wood that reminded me of a bunch of girls racing in heels (if that was safe). Lena finished the spell, and all of the dust embedded in her body, and before I knew it, the entire building was rumbling, the lights were flickering on and off, and Lena was shouting another spell. By time everything calmed down, Lena had disappeared from sight.
“Shit,” I muttered.

“Language,” Mom grinned. She gave me a little wink and I remembered her doing that all the time when I was a little girl.

“DON’T YOU GUYS JUST LOVE BEING POWERFUL?! I SURE AS HELL DO!”

We all peered off to the south wall, and I think we all had the same look on. Lena’s spell had given herself all of the power. Every affinity in those jars, and she was more intimidating than I’d expect. Her royal blue hair had turned over all ten colors, with different shades of every color, and she had my powers. A small patch of her hair was teal! And a small patch of her hair was the same blue as Tao’s. The creepiest thing was her eye color. The dark brown pupils had gone completely black, and I couldn’t make anything out. Lena’s evil grin had me shuddering in my head and shoulders.

“Eris, I never got to tell you happy birthday.” She flicked her wrist and an invisible energy sent me flying into a pile of broken glass.

I screamed out when a massive, broken shard embedded itself into my leg. With that lightning-Rian speed, Lena was tossing Tao around, and had her up on the wall, suffocating from unseen hands. I couldn’t turn onto my side, couldn’t move my arm from under my chest, instead, I had to bite my lip to keep in the tears that had formed in my eyes. Reluctantly, I reached down and forced the shard out, which had torn through my jeans and got a few inches into my flesh. I threw the blood-covered glass to the side then limped back over with most of weight on my left leg, but was flung back to the missing window by a strong wind. I knew I wasn’t afraid of heights but uhm, I was afraid of heights if I was dangling off the side of a building. The little broken bullets of glass were digging into my palms, scraping my hands and making it harder to keep a good grip on the freezing cold cement. It was still early March, so all of that snow and wind was destroying my body and my body was starting to sway in the air. The plastic was making it harder to grab on, and there were more shards of glass hanging on the corners of the wall. Okay, I love that they were trying to stop her, but it wasn’t making my pulse slow down. Lena used a breeze to keep me from climbing back up, and I could feel my fingers slipping on the hard floor. I gasped. I fell. I screamed. I stopped.

Her face was overhead, peeking out of the window I had just fallen from. How was I not dead? How was my body not just a spray of blood? I felt light, like I was floating… floating. I tilted my head backwards, seeing the concrete and grass upside down and the ground was a few feet under my body. I kicked my foot up, my black boots coming to view over my head and I was then sure that I was floating. Think of exorcism movies: the body is possesed, and the person is hovering over the bed or table or floor like something is supporting them under their backs. This was honestly what I was in. The light of the crescent moon was glowing down at me, and the small snow was flurrying down and coating my clothes. I squinted past the white particle and saw Lena. She was smiling down at me.
“Are you comfortable? You look like it,” she said.

“You wait. Because I’m going to kick your ass back to birth, bitch,” I growled.

“Those are some very foul–” Lena disappeared from sight and was yanked backwards.

Someone else was in the window. He was very handsome, like I had seen him before, other than tonight. The window was about 20 feet above me, but he just rubbed his chin and said, “You ever been rock climbing?”

“Is this an appropriate question?! My leg hurts and all of the blood is rushing to my brain!” I exclaimed.

“I can’t help you unless you answer the question.”

I sighed and squinted my eyes closed. “Yes, I’ve been rock climbing.

“Good. Grab onto the wall and climb back up.”

“I can’t.” He held his hand out and I reached for him, my body sitting up and reacting.

I was still floating but it was like I was sitting on an invisible bed or platform and it was supporting every move I made. Holding onto my bad leg and depending entirely on my right side, I pushed myself up so I was standing on nothing and my hands were flat against the rough wall of the building. Other than jagged bricks and broken rocks, there was nothing I could grab onto and carry myself up. The man with the green and blue striped hair was still looking down at me. Now, my mother was standing behind him and saying, “Baby, are you okay? Get your ass up here!”

I can always count on my mother to curse at these times.

“How am I supposed to get up there?” I exclaimed back at them.

She shrugged. “You have to climb. Remember as a baby when you’d climb up the couch?”

“Yeah. But, this isn’t the time for reminiscing!” I sighed aloud and the man with the blue and green hair stepped to the side so Mom could peek down.

“Get your ass up here, right now,” she forced.

“Foul language.”

“Now. I will count to ten and you better be up here.”

I gave her a confused look. “How–what–Mom!” She pointed her finger at me and pulled her lips tight and I put one foot on the brick to make her happy. Shit, I had to make her happy; I hadn’t seen her in over a decade.

I couldn’t use my bad leg, so I was really depending on two arms and one foot to get me up there. As I was climbing the fourth foot or so, the wind redirected, and I was pulled back through the plastic. Mm grabbed my face and started complaining in a high-pitched voice like any mother would do about her child.
“Oh my gosh, my BABY! Are you hurt? Do you have to throw up? Where’s the most pain? Eris, are–”

“Layla, shut up.” Lena was behind us and she raised a hand to hurt her but Mom threw a middle finger, which had her palm lighting up in a burning flame. It kind of surprised me that her hand could still burn, but she wasn’t using any of her powers against Lena. I didn’t get to say anything or move a bit before Lena used Air to fling me the other way and to another window of broken glass. This window was not entirely missing, but it had a gigantic hole in it and I fell forward into another pile of disintegrated glass. I pushed my leg to the floor, looking up and seeing a flying ball of ice directing at my face. I gasped. It took a lot of effort to roll out of the way and safely on my stomach, but at least the ice hit the ground instead of me. I inched back to my feet, feeling the tons of blood gushing in my hand. I had rolled onto another piece of glass, and I balled my fist around the sharp object, so nothing was pouring out just yet. Slowly, I opened my hand and my lip trembled even harder; the gash rapidly leaked my blood, coating my palm in a flushed color. I gasped and cried out as I pulled the glass out, then tossed it onto the ground with my good hand.
I didn’t get to help my best friend from bleeding out in the corner before Lena used my Air power to lurch me into the north wall. She slammed me a few times, then let my limp body land back on the ground, away from the large hole. The sharp feeling of frostbite ran through my body, and I knew that Lena was using Tao’s power to freeze my body like I was to be an icicle. I didn’t get to fully freeze before my body was attacked by little prickling. As if holes were being shot into me. SHOT! Lena was using Kin’s (Tao’s Father) power to assault my body with invisible bullets and rapid tingling. The pain stopped. I rolled onto my stomach, coughing and gasping for air in my lungs. With no hands, Lena had managed to bang my body up like I was a rag doll and make me ache and take this type of abuse. I slowly crawled to my feet, grunting and holding my arm, which I think was now dislocated.
“You have it easy, Eris. Come to a new life, get some cool powers, then have everyone worship you,” Lena boomed, her voice sending a sharp sting through my anatomy.

I got that ringing in my ears, the kind you get when all the blood rushes to the anger center of your brain. And boy, did I have a lot of pent up anger at that moment. Lena had rotated her body to attack Tao again, but I spotted a large, jagged, sharp piece of broken glass the size of a slate board, and big enough to stick into somebody. I picked it up, stalked behind Lena and WHACK! right into her spine. The black and white shirt she had been wearing slashed, and Lena fell to her knees, coughing and spitting up blood. Tao stood up, then looked at me with a praising gaze. The scar under eye seemed to dance as she placed a finger on her lip and gathered a small smudge of blood.
“Where did you get that?” she asked.

“On the floor,” I said as I tossed to glass to the wall, letting it shatter to a million tiny pieces. Lena was starting to lift her head, but Tao stepped on the back of her neck and slammed her face into the ground with a very fashionable boot.

She used her Stealth power to quickly scramble up, and dart to the back of the room and seize a dagger that was large enough to probably kill a tiger. She was at a stance where I could easily run up and shove her to her ass, so I took a step to the side so I would be able to run directly at her body.
“I told you!” Lena boomed. “Your life is a living hell right now! You’ve been beaten so much that you can barely stand straight! And I have all of your powers, so, what are you gonna do?! Call 911?! Ask your Mom to help you?! Nothing! You know why? Because—” Lena threw the knife and got me in the right leg.

I howled in pain, then sank to my butt and arched my leg a bit. Great, both of my legs were fucked up, I had bruises everywhere, and my arm was dislocated! Whoopty-fucking doo for Eris today, huh.There was no time to yank it out before Lena flung me into more glass, and my throat clogged up like someone was grasping my neck in their hand. I gasped over and over again, clawing my nails at the invisible force cutting off my airway.
“YOU’RE HURTING HER! LET GOOO!” My mother had a set of lungs.

There was a ring of fire around my body, and I still couldn’t breathe. Hot hot hot. Air air air. Roots of trees wrapped around my arms and legs, pinning be down in the tortuous glass shards. Move move move. There was a loud shatter, then an ultrasonic screeching that made my ears ring even harder, and it made my head feel like a bass drum. Screaming. Screeching. Aching. The torment was akin to Satan whipping his tail across my bare skin—excruciating and I could feel my body heating up from the powerful burning sensation. The roots locked around my bad leg—though both of them had taken a kicking—and I tried to sit up and hold it, but the roots were squeezing my arms and neck. My arm throbbed under the pressure, I was attempting to suck in air, my legs were pinned and I was just having a bad day. I was choking, I couldn’t hear anything, and I was trying my hardest to break my restraints. The pain was so wicked and tortuous that I felt myself blackout for a second. There was a loud crash…I felt the numbness in my arm… I smelt the metallic blood… I know it had no taste, but the sting of my own blood on my tongue… I could see the swirling colors everytime I opened my eyes, and nothing but nothing when I closed my eyes.

Air traveled to my lungs. The burning went away. I could move my body freely. It all went away. Thank god. The roots disappeared, the flames burned out, and I could barely breathe, but it was something.

When I glanced up, Tao was running at me full speed, with two boxes in her hands. It was the box Dad gave me when he first took me through the portal with my initials carved into the top.

“Open it,” she rasped. There was a big cut on her lip, and I could feel the gash on my neck leaking into my collarbone.

I smashed open the strong clasp, and I had to toss the box to the side because it was too much. Like an F5 tornado was approaching , everything in sight started blowing, getting tossed around, and even the omnipotent Lena had to cover her eyes. I opened one eye, and saw a glowing light coming from her dark body.
“AHH!”

Honestly, she sounded like the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, all she had to do was scream “I’m melting, I’m melting!” and have a pointy hat. Her screeching made my ears hurt again, but there was a loud bursting that had my body shaking and I had to cover my ears. The booming and shaking was over, and there were colorful little dust particles flying everywhere. I squinted my eyes open, then gasped. Lena had exploded. Seriously. All of that colorful dust had been in her hair, and those were the powers. It wasn’t long before the dust separated by color, then directed toward me and Tao at full speed.

An exciting jolt of energy shot down my spine, and I was left laying on the ground with my dislocated arm being crushed under my weight. My powers were back, but I wasn’t sure if that was it. There was a hand on my shoulder and a soft voice. I glanced up, seeing it was Aya’s mother, PeyTon. Her blue and green hair draped behind her black satin dress, and she smiled at me saying, “Hello, beautiful. Let’s get you up.” She turned her head and nodded, then Cade picked me off of the ground.I couldn’t walk on my right leg, so he balanced me on his broad body. Across the room, Tao had Indiana gently carrying her arm while she weakly walked toward me.

“You all have to release us with a Riate spell. Since Lena is gone, we need someone with strong powers to do it,” Kin announced.

“Wait, why can’t you all just come back—”

“It’s not an option,” Cade frowned.

“But, before we go, we should probably introduce ourselves like normal people—or dead people,” Aya giggled, coming over and looping her arms through mine.

“For you old adults who don’t know who this is, this is Eris: Layla and Jeff’s daughter who controls the four—sorry. She now controls the Five Elements, and she is the abestestest friend ever.” I kissed her cheek before she smiled at Tao.

“This is Tao: Kin and Sumiko’s daughter with an affinity for Ice. Now, she has control over Ice, Snow and Water. I’ve known her ever since I came to Rianate.” They shared a teeny kiss before Aya ran over to her mother.

“Momma Rinah, aka PeyTon. Her green and blue hair shows her affinity for World. I’ve used her so many times to cheat on tests.” Her mother thumped her on her head.

Aya grabbed her Father and smiled.
“Daddy Rinah, aka Ross. Ask him any Math question, and he’ll get you an A+ in no time. And, we have similar hair color.” His bright lavender hair was as gentle as Aya’s pastel pink.

Indiana was next. “His affinity is Stealth. Never try to race him, because you will end up losing your pride and any thoughts you had about being fast.” He ruffled her hair and Aya giggled.

“You’ve already met Cade, but he is the Twins’ father. His affinity is Autumn, and he’s a softy.” Cade smiled and Aya ruffled his dirty red hair.

Detroit and Aya seized each other’s hands, then started a giggly dance of the Salsa.
“This is Detroit, and she is super-mom. She loves Water and anything the shade of blue. When she lived in Michigan, she spent all of her time at the Great Lakes, and Detroit loves anything that has to do with kids.”

Aya gave Detroit a small kiss on the cheek, then went over to Axton and Ma’at.
“Ma’at was Brice’s wife; Axton was married to Lena. Ma’at is the name of an Egyptian Goddess, and Ma’at has the same power for Truth. Axton can speak any language in two seconds; his vocabulary tops anyone’s.”

Aya didn’t go over to my Mom, or to Tao’s Dad. They came over to us and gave us another hug that I had been needing since I was 2. Not seeing your mother for years was something weird, especially if you’d watched her get murdered. I always needed her. I needed her when I got braces. I needed her when I found out I had two cavities. I needed her when I realized my eyesight was terrible. I needed her when I “became a woman” in gym class and had to tell Dad by myself. I needed her at homecoming. I needed her when my dog, Lurie, died when I was 10.

I NEEDED HER.

“I missed you, baby,” Mom whispered. “You’re more beautiful than I could imagine. Who let you get all of this metal in your ear?” She traced her finger over the hoop helix, and smiled and wiped the blood off of my cheek.

“Daddy, when I was 15,” I smiled. “He also let me get contacts when I was 12. He let me get a four-wheeler on my 10th birthday. And, he exposed me to comic books when I was 4.”

“Oh, Jeff. He was always the wild parent. But, uhm, what’s this about a boyfriend?”

My eyes got wide and I felt Mom laughing.

“I’m just kidding, Fairy”—Mom gave me the nickname Fairy because I used to watch this Fairy movie all of the time—”let’s go talk with Indiana, I hear it’s one of his boys.”

Mom and I crossed over to Indiana, who had been laughing and talking with his wife. Mom said something to him in an old form of Riate, then he glanced at me with bright hazel eyes.
“You got the wildcard, huh? Come here,” he said.

I followed he and his wife to another window, and Indiana held my shoulders.
“Just know that I don’t think it is appropriate for a dead man to give you a lecture about his son. Anyway, has he given you the chance to meet his sisters? You’ll really like them,” he smiled.

I stammered. “Dayton and Dakota… they lost their powers a few years ago because they were killing humans.”

Detroit shook her long blue hair.
“Figures. I knew they were too good to be true,” she scoffed.

“Detroit. Let’s not forget the older boy,” Indiana gently said to her. Wait, older boy? Dallas was younger than both his siblings. Must be a senile mistake.

“You love that boy as hard as you can,” Detroit interjected. “He needs a type of care that no other person except for four people in this world have shown him.” She got close to my ear and whispered, “Don’t judge him because of his ADHD. Please don’t; he doesn’t need any more hurting in his life.”

I hugged her then smiled at Papa Bear. I gave him a long hug, stood up on my tippy toes and kissed his cheek.
“Trust me, Dallas will have a lot to deal with after I show him these powers,” I said.

“Is that a code for sex?”

I gasped and dropped my face into my hands.

“I’m kidding,” Indiana laughed. He had a beautiful laugh. Like Dallas’ would, his hazel eyes changed to a dark blue when he blinked.

“Oh, it is almost 3am. You two have to release us,” Cade announced.

Tao and I nodded, then limped behind them to a big wall with Kilner jars on the floor. They told us a few words, slowly and obviously trying to stay longer. Tao and I gave them all hugs, hugging our parents longer and whispering our last words to them.
“Mom, I have to tell you something…” I sighed.

She tilted her fiery red hair. “What? Please tell me you are not pregnant…”

I giggled. “No. I just want to tell you that Dad misses you. Every day. More and more. And, I miss you more than anything, and, I got your messages when I cast my circle.”

She grinned. “I just wanted to be connected with my daughter once more before I became a full Goddess. Lena had been planning this for a while, ya know.” We shared one last hug and kiss before I stepped back to Tao.
When we got to Aya, we broke into tears and whispered “I love you” a million times.

I pulled back, Tao kissed her father one more time then held my hand.
“Huwpl quent saszsd loyero fanxa!”

They bowed to us, and their bodies dispersed into dark orange dust, which all floated into jars with their symbols and colors. Tao sniffled a few more times before I said, “We’ll take them back.”

“Right. Wait… this ritual stuff… we can’t leave it.” Tao gestured around to the tons of Black Magick materials and I groaned as I sat my four jars down on the floor.

I hadn’t had my powers in what seemed like forever, so I used Air to crash all of the jars of blood, a big skull, a few knives and some other sage through the missing wall, and I made sure I heard a loud-ass shattering and crashing on the hard cement down below. Tao froze a few of the items and they exploded from the pressure and she gave me a big grin.
“Well, I guess it’s all over,” she said.

“Yeah. And I have to call them to let them know.”

Tao opened the large door and I put my foot on the rattled wood, but I didn’t have time to react as my body was lifted over the hellbenders, and my feet were planted on the concrete down below. I glanced up, seeing Tao’s surprised look and her body shaking with laughter.
“How did you do that?!!” she exclaimed, laughing harder.

“I don’t know. Come on,” I giggled.

“What if I fall through the floor and end up dying?”

I rolled my eyes, but Tao disappeared from my sight. Where in the hell…

“Tao!”

Rapid footsteps sounded above my head, and I glanced heavenward, to see Tao running at me full speed and she lunged forward and jumped down the steps. I tried not to step to the side, but I couldn’t resist. She landed on her feet and shook her wild hair behind her shoulders.
“How in the fuck did you do that?!” I yelled. Actually yelled.

“I had a vision and I knew it’d work,” she sighed. “But… Now my leg feels even shittier.”

“Come on, we gotta hurry up and get back.”

Tao hadn’t had a knife thrown into her leg, so I was hurriedly limping after her while we exited the crumpling warehouse and to the air-car. I revealed the vehicle, and it took me a while to get myself together as I leaned on the wheel and took deep breaths. Tao rested her cold palm on my thigh.
“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, my throat and leg hurts… Well, my entire body does, including my brain,” I weakly chuckled.

“Sorry. Do you want me to drive?” she asked.

I shook my head and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and clutched my fingers around the wheel to get back to the portal.
====
After returning the car back to the garage at 5am, Tao and I made our way to Ria. 84 and knocked on Brice’s door. He had already been talking to someone, that someone being Dad, Sumiko, Chryseis, the Twins and Dallas.

We ran over to him and hugged Brice as strong as we could.
“Where is she?” he gently asked.

“Dead,” we answered.

“What?”

“Girls, sit. Christopher, heal them,” Chryseis said.

As Tao and I sat in the newly-changed velvet chairs, Bull kneeled in front of my chair and whispered, “Are you okay?” He raised his hand to my lip and healed the small cut.

“I’m okay.” He glided his hand down my arm, and the doves soothed my insides while the scrapes and bruises on my skin disappeared.

“Girls,” Brice said, pushing us to tell him more.

“I saw Dad,” Tao said.

“I saw Mom,” I added.

“We saw Cade and Axton.”

“We saw Ross and PeyTon.”

“Ma’at and Detroit.”

“Indiana and Aya.”

They gave us looks like we were crazy, but they knew what we were getting at.

“Lena explained how she killed them, she said it like she was asking for a newspaper: she was crazy and obviously not in a good place,” I explained.

“She said this spell that gave her all of the powers: Autumn, Language, Guns, Elements, Ice, World, Stealth, Truth and her own powers. Lena obviously banged us up, then I summoned our ephinitares and we broke them open,” Tao added.

“Tao, you’re not suppo—”

“She wouldn’t have done it if we stood a chance against Lena. She had a of those powers, and we had none.” I gave Dad a look that made him back down.

“And, we have something.”

Tao and I reached into our bag, receiving the jars and giving them to Brice and the guys.
“Wow. I’ll make sure to keep these safe,” Brice lightly said. He put them on the desk. “So, what else?”

“That was it. And we—” I was cut off by a rushing in my head. I shook it off then tried to continue, “We got the car—” I groaned.

The headache moved further down, and the pains made my pulse race. I rested my elbows on my thighs, using my hands to massage my temples, even though it did no better. It was like someone was driving invisible knives into my spine, neck and an uncomfortable throbbing moved from my temples to my throat. I was sure I was gonna be sick, and I clutched Tao’s hand, but she didn’t grab back because the same excruciating pain was shooting into her body. Her pulse was pounding, her normally cold skin felt like it was bursting into flames, and she was trying to keep a grip on me. The pain made our new powers react, and before I knew it, I had a colorful barrier of energy surrounding my body. Yellow, blue, red, green, purple, orange, white, royal blue, a rusty red, and all of those colors were making the world a distorted blur. A white pain made my entire body shudder—not a comfortable shudder; the one that makes your body feel like a big puzzle and you have to put it together—and I let out a groan that sounded like a dying bear. Looking over, I could barely make out the swirling patterns of colors surrounding Tao’s body. She noticed my gaze then squeezed my and a bit tighter. Pain speared from my spine to my abdomen to my heart… It was like I had been thrust into someone else’s dream and I was being tortured by invisible knives and unseen lethal fists. I screwed my eyes shut, he’d my breath, and concentrated on trying not to cry from the ongoing pain. It felt like someone drove one more knife into my throat, then everything stopped. Seriously. I had my head resting on my knees when someone asked, “Girls, are you alright?”

We took a second to clear our heads. “I’m perfect!” Tao and I said at once.

When we both looked up, their jaws fell off the face of the Earth.
“What did I do?” I asked.

“Is my hair messy?” Tao asked.

Brice waved his hand before our faces, and instantly, a big, floating mirror appeared.
“HOLY—”

“—CRAP.”

I trailed my fingers down the side of my neck; my filigreed Maxi had expanded!! I lifted my shirt just a little and peered at my stomach: the ink that marked my navel, and wrapped around my hips has made its way up my sides, in an ornate rope of teal ink, the marking had twisted around my shoulder blades, and my neck had the complex lines of knots and complicated swirls that looked like paisleys… oh gosh… Framing my eyebrows was another snake of tangled designs that would have me admiring them forever. It reminded me of two snakes, twirled together and creating a difficult pattern to follow with a Mendhi-looking flower directly in the middle of my skin. The curving and convoluted ink made my teal eyes seem brighter, it all made me. I loved tattoos—or markings in general—and this was absolutely perfect.

When I glanced at Tao, we just stared at each other, observing the ink that covered each other’s skin. We glared back at them and Brice sighed.
“Well, then, you had not said anything about the power extension,” he said.

“Oh! That!” I gasped.

“Ne yazık ki, biz çığlık ve invisible cehenneme tarafından işkence meşgul.”
Tao said. We all glanced at Tao, who was trying to figure out what she had just said.

“So, do you all know what powers you received?” Dallas asked.

When no one was looking, I shot him a wink and I got his dimple to show. He was so perfect, and I had gotten to meet his parents, and what they thought of him. The thing that was still confusing me was when Indiana said “older boy”. He probably just meant that Dallas was changed, and he was no longer the wildcard son, but a strong (not to mention, sexy) Archer who had really matured.

“I have control over Ice, Water, Snow, Language, World, Visions, Guns, Truth and Leadership,” Tao announced.

“I have Spirit, Air, Fire, Earth, Water, Autumn, Stealth, Math and Leadership,” I announced.

“Hmm,” Brice hummed. He grinned at us. “I love the new Maxis; you young women are beautiful.”

“We’ll talk about power control tomorrow morning,” Dad said.

Brice nodded. “You two have been up way too long, and your powers are way too out of control. No school tomorrow, get some rest.”

“Thanks,” Tao and I sighed. We gave weak waves before going off to our dorm and getting some needed sleep.


The next morning, I woke up and took a long shower, then trotted downstairs for some breakfast. None of the girls were home, none of them had seen our Maxis. I opened the fridge, grabbed some cereal and made myself an amazing bowl of Captain Crunch. I was watching Catfish: The Tv Show on the couch when my phone buzzed on my hip. I fished it out of my black joggers and swiped my thumb across the screen, reading Dallas’ text.
Dallas: Hey Avatar. U ok?
Me: I’m fine. Can I come over?
Dallas: No. u should stay home and figure out ur powers. I want u over, but u need to sleep.
Me: Thanks. I’ll call u later, I know ur @ work.
Dallas: Alright. Bye baby.
Me: I love u.

I sat my phone down, and just then, Tao joined me on the couch with an even bigger bowl of cereal.
“Jeesh,” I said as I scooched over.

“I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since last night,” she huffed, chewing a big bite of Apple Jacks.

When we both finished, I took our bowls to the kitchen then Tao led the way back to our room. I wanted to show her something, and she had something to show me.
“Is it your Maxi?” I asked.

“Yes,” Tao smiled. She slipped off her shirt, and I saw the light blue icicles.

The ones that had started on her shoulder blades had crawled onto her arms, but there weren’t just icicles; there were snowflakes and a swirling pattern like wind and rain. The elaborate curls and pointed lines made its way onto her hands, covering her fingers and wrists like the henna I had designed for her last week. Lastly, the sides of her neck had blue and white and grey snowflakes that floated up to frame her eyebrows, in a winding pattern like a visible breeze.

“Would it be weird to show you my boobs?” Tao giggled.

“Wait, you have them…”

She gradually unhooked her bra, and the small bristles of rain and water lines the top of her mounds, giving her pale skin a glowing blue tint.
“Damn,” I chuckled.

“Your turn,” Tao smiled as she pulled her clothes back on.

I stood from my bed, then pulled off my tank top to show her my torso. I turned around a few times to give Tao an entire few of all of the knotted teal ink. I even lifted my hair so she could see the bit that marked the sides of my neck.
“That’s awesome,” she laughed. “I wonder how much fun Dallas will make of it.”

“Shut up”—I pulled my shirt on and gave her a look as I pulled my hair out of the collar—”I have to show him. And, yours covers your tits!”

“Whatever. So, are you going to see him tonight?”

It was getting kind of chilly in the room, and I had my powers back, so I waved my finger in a circle and the air instantly heated up.
“Nah, he’s at work. And, I need to fix my powers,” I sighed.

“Right. Would it be considered cheating in class? Ya know, I have the Language and Visions, and you have Math.”

“I dunno. But I just need to go to school tomorrow. Hey, I never knew you looked so much like your Dad.”

She snickered. “Me? You’re the spitting image of your Mom. Indiana and Detroit seemed kind of happy that you have their son.”

“Yeah… They told me to love him as hard as I could; he needs it. And I love that I have the job, because it’s an easy job,” I grinned.

“Yeah. You should be happy they didn’t interrogate you about it—” Tao was mid sentence when the bedroom door flew open.
“OH MY GOSH!”

I had never heard Giovanni scream so loud, and she ran over to me and squeezed me in a hug that smushed my boobs into my chest. Her long purple hair was making my nose tingle; it had a faint scent of lavender in it. Ophelia gave Tao a hug, and I couldn’t even comprehend the gazillions of questions they shot at us.
“Guys,” I blurted. “We can tell you all later, but, please, we can’t be overwhelmed with all of that.”

Tao nodded. “It’s okay, we promise to fill you in tomorrow at lunch.”

Ophelia and Giovanni nodded, then waltzed out of the room with big grins on. For the rest of the evening, I only went downstairs twice, and both times was I tersely interrogated by all of my friends, and I even saw a few Dark Daughters discussing my new powers. I went to bed with Boing on my neck, only this time she was nestled into my skin and caressing on my Maxi. I loved her and everything.
====
On Tuesday, I slept through my first alarm, and it took Tao shaking me awake to get my feet on the floor. She snagged a shower first, so I quickly turned on the water and cleaned myself. When I stepped out, Boing lurched into my wet arms and I had to keep my balance.
“You’re gonna make me late!”

She squealed as I wrapped a towel around my body. I came back to my closet, tossed on my Looney Tunes shirt and a pair of tight skinny jeans. Tao tossed me a pair of Uggs that were sparklier than Kate Middleton’s navy blue ring. I made a confused face, but Tao made a gesture to her watch and hustled out of the doorway.
“Hurry,” she giggled.

I stepped into the boots, then followed her out of the room while I tied my damp hair into a ponytail. I grabbed two sides, pulling the hair down to the middle and pushing my glasses back on my nose (I’m such a nerd).