“What's their problem?” Misa asks me, speaking spiritually. “Weren't they talking animatedly to each other less than a minute ago?”
I nod my head in response to Misa's words. “Very true ~mya,” I agree, looking towards the sisters. Both of them are still in the same positions, but now their eyes are fixated on the exit of the bus.
Looking out of my seat's window, I realize that their stop is next.
May, picking up her only bag, looks at me to say, “You can come to the forest with me tonight to train if you want to, but Aurora won't be there ~nyo.” Before I can ask why not, she explains, “She's working with Neil on something for school ~nyo. Aren't they smart people ~nyo?” She makes a 'hmph' sound before standing up and walking off the now-stopped bus with Alyssa hurriedly following behind her.
Obviously, Neil must've said something. May and Alyssa—prominently May, therefore Alyssa as well—wouldn't randomly be angry with the kid for no reason...would they?
I don't feel like discussing this particular subject anymore. Let's move on to something that I think is just as important as this current argument.
When I got to my Physical Education class this morning—Alyssa was already there and dressed out when I opened the door to the girls' locker room—, nobody other than Alyssa tried talking to me. There was still a lot of stares, and there were a few girls who waved and/or smiled at me, but other than that, the only person who cared about me was Alyssa. It made me feel a lot better. I hate it when people give me their complete, undivided attention when I don't want their complete, undivided attention. And the best part about that was, even if it was only for about half a class period, I felt like I was a normal teenage girl again, one that didn't have elemental superpowers or a spirit listening to her every thought.
“Sorry,” Misa murmurs spiritually, which is very interesting for me to hear because when Misa and I speak to each other, we have to completely focus on the other girl in order to hear exactly what she's saying, so you can probably imagine how much I had to focus so I could hear Misa just now because she was speaking quietly...or maybe you can't.
“It's not your fault ~mya,” I say to her, speaking loudly [and spiritually]. I pause for a few seconds before correcting myself. “Actually, in a way, it is your fault, but it's not entirely your fault, so I guess I forgive you ~mya.” I silently smile at my words; Misa frowns internally but says nothing.
I glance out the window and notice that my stop is next, so I close the cover of my DS (this doesn't mean it's off now; this reduces the amount of power it uses up as long as it stays in this state) and drop it into my purse. I pick up the purse and my messenger bag and poise myself so I can easily jump up when the bus stops.
Seconds after I do all of that, the bus comes to a gentle stop, opening its doors so the students can get off unharmed. I stand up, carrying my two bags, and half-skip to the front of the bus, slowing myself when I catch up to the other students getting off at this stop.
As per usual, I'm the last person at my stop to get off the bus.
“Hey ~mya!” I call as I open the surprisingly unlocked door to my house. “Dad, what'cha doing home ~mya?”
My dad is sitting on the sofa in the living room and was apparently reading today's newspaper before I walked into the house. “'Afternoon, Flannery,” he says to me, his voice sounding a little depressed.
Such a thing as this is very uncommon and almost unheard of to me; my dad always seems to have a surprisingly bright edge to his voice and an annoyingly cheerful smile on his face. I decide to take a chance at hearing a sob story and ask him what's wrong. “Dad, are you feeling okay ~mya?” I try my best to make my voice sound concerned, but I don't know if I made it sound genuine enough.
“I'm fine,” he says, his voice brightening a little at what he thinks is my concern. I guess I sound interested enough to him. “I'm just reading the paper, looking for anything new...looking for new job offers.”
Okay, now I'm actually concerned. Why is he looking for a job? Did he get fired? I didn't think it was even possible for him to get fired because of his optimistic personality and his enjoyable way of teaching.
“Oh! I found an open teaching position!” he exclaims, his eyes suddenly lighting up like a pair of candles. “It's for a 'Biology I' class.” Ugh...science. But I guess whatever will make him happy is okay with me. “Oh! Even better! It's at Cunningham Academy, the same school you and Chris attend now!” That's not okay with me. How could he even think of teaching at the same place where I go to school?! I might end up being one of his students! I don't even want to think of how terrible that would be...
“Um...t-that's great, dad...you might be t-teaching at my school ~mya!” I try to insert feigned enthusiasm into my lie, but once again I'm not sure how real I sound.
My dad gives me his usual optimistic smile, and I have to restrain myself from punching his face in. That's how annoying I consider optimism to be, especially my dad's optimism. His is the worst kind of optimism there is.
“I'm going up to my room to work on homework ~mya. Call me if you need me ~mya.” As I head towards the staircase, I can sense his approaching question, so I add, “Try not to need me ~mya.” I can feel him frowning at my last words, but he doesn't seem to have the desire to say anything in reply to them, so I shrug my shoulders—an almost unnoticeable gesture—and double-step up the stairs, seeking solace in the commodious place I call my bedroom.
The difference between unpacked and unloaded boxes in my room is not as great as it had been before; I've unpacked a little over half of my boxes since I moved in, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Usually, I'd go on the computer during my freetime and rant to the people who are older than 18 and still play Endless-Online like the critical bitch I turn into when I'm bored, but I didn't do that at all this past week; I unpacked eight of the boxes in my room and three of the ones in the living room, leaving nine remaining boxes in my room and four in the living room.
Constructively speaking, I've done more work this week than I did in the two months before it. Other than unpacking eleven boxes, I did all of my homework, including the annoying math problems that I usually don't bother with. Not only that, but in the time between my daily visits to Chris and dinner, I'd practice my Fire powers alongside May's Lightning powers and, from Friday up until today, Aurora's Earth powers.
Speaking of Aurora and her powers, Aurora has been ranting to May and me, complaining about her mom finding out about her powers the day she [her mom] got back from “the riot, which was supposed to be Sunday but ending up being Friday ~mya. Actually, I don't even think she attended that riot; she probably just skipped or visited some of her friends ~mya.” I don't get what she meant by 'the riot' when she said that, but I doubt it was anything but a somewhat harmless riot, since Aurora and her family honestly seem like good people who work towards good causes. I might ask Aurora about it at some point, but not anytime soon...definitely not.
“I know I've told you before that it's not good to talk to yourself,” Misa tells me, a slight hint of concern in your voice. “From now on, I'll let you know when you're talking to yourself, just in case you don't realize that you're even doing so.”
“That's just wonderful ~mya,” I mutter spiritually, frowning externally at my spirit's words. “I don't need you telling me when—”
My left jacket pocket vibrating prevents me from finishing my sentence. I take my cell phone out of it and tap the green button. It says '1 new message' with 'Amy Monroe' stated as being the sender.
Amy has been one of my best friends since we met each other in third grade. I remember our meeting as if it had been yesterday: I walk into the classroom as a new student, and Amy Monroe walks in behind me, entering the classroom later than she's supposed to. She says “hello” to me, a cheerful smile having spread across her nearly tan face, and she immediately gets made fun of by the class. I don't even ask why they're making fun of her before I run up to one of the boys and punch him directly on the side of his face. Amy's eyes widen a little but she almost immediately spins around and dances over to one of the boys to land a kick on their stomach. We high five and congratulate the other as we walk down to the principal's office. We've been good friends ever since that day and I want us to stay as friends for the rest of our lives.
“You're talking to yourself again—”
“I know ~mya!” I shout, frowning again at Misa's irritating habit of saying just the right things to annoy me. I decide to ignore her for a while and open the text message Amy just sent me.
“Can you come to my school right now? Come alone.”
My eyes widen. She never asks me for anything unless it's an absolute emergency, so I open my bedroom window and jump out of it, landing in a perfect crouch with every part of my body intact. As I run across the backyard of my house, I text a reply: “I'll be there right away.”
I haven't seen Amy in person since the fire, therefore she hasn't heard my little phrase. I wonder if she'll be as surprised as I was.


I didn't expect this.
Power is standing in front of Amy's school, watching it burn down as if it were the most interesting movie he's ever watched in his entire life. Amy is sitting in a cage made out of Earth, obviously the handiwork of none other than Power. Amy's cell phone is lit up on the ground near the Earth cage, the words '1 new message from Flannery Faeroe' faintly visible on its pastel cover—a combination of blue, purple, and pink, the colors that have been Amy's favorites since third grade.
“Oh...He's a lot stronger than you girls are,” Misa remarks. Before I can reply to her, Power senses my presence and turns around to face me.
“So, you got my message,” he says to me, a smirk clearly visible on his face. “At least you're not as smart as May and Aurora are. If you knew your friend well enough, you'd have easily figured out that she wasn't the one who sent you that message.”
I growl and shout, “You bastard ~mya! Leave anyone other than the three of us out of this ~mya!” He picks Amy's cell phone up off the ground and throws it straight into the fire. “What the hell did you do that for ~mya?! Amy didn't do anything wrong ~mya!”
“She's your friend,” he states, acting as if the most obvious statement serves as the best answer. “You should be able to save her and her phone.”
“But you just threw it into—!”
“Activate your powers,” Misa commands. I obey, my desperation to save Amy taking over me.
“Hinote Shihai!”
Misa sighs in approval. “Good job...Now, create a sword to destroy the cage.”
“I haven't perfected the sword yet ~mya,” I protest, frowning.
“Do you want to save Amy or not?” I nod. “Orbs will take too much time, and that's something you can't afford to waste.” I sigh. “Create the sword.”
I almost growl at Misa, but I decide not to, because she's more knowledgeable on this subject than I am. I close my eyes and add “Katana!” to my previously said 'Hinote Shihai' and watch in total amazement as a perfect Fire sword materializes in my left hand.
It feels interesting to have a sharp object made out of fire in your hand, like you just touched fire but aren't feeling any pain. You probably wouldn't know what that feels like, though.
I grip the Fire sword tightly in my hand (I'm left-handed, but I'm not ambidextrous) and charge towards Amy, slicing apart the bars of the Earth cage without harming any part of Amy's body in the process of doing so. I pull her up out of her sitting position and say as calmly as I possibly can, “Amy, you have to get out of here, so try to find your way home if you can ~mya.”
Amy slowly nods, her dark blue eyes wide like discs, then she dashes away from the burning school at the fastest speed I've ever seen her run. I sigh in frustration; I'll have to explain all of this to her eventually, but I'm hoping that'll be after I get rid of these intiformer powers, however and whenever that may be.
I whirl around to face the raging fire, but what I see when I turn around isn't a raging fire anymore: it's settling down considerably, now not much more than a miniature house fire. I blink in confusion. How did this happen without me noticing? I blink again when I realize that Power isn't here anymore. He must've left when he saw that his fire was dying.
Suddenly, I hear the snapping of a tree branch in the distance. Someone must've tripped over it. I call to the person, “Hey, who are you ~mya?”
I hear a soft giggle coming from someone. It sounds like the person is an elementary school student, probably upper elementary, and the sound has a hint of soprano in it, indicating a girl. I see a flash of light blonde hair, but it disappears before I can say anything about it.
I hear sounds from the main road, sounds signaling that help will be arriving soon. The sirens of ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks can be heard now. I decide to run in the same direction as Amy, ignoring the fact that her house is to the northeast while my house is to the southeast. But Amy will probably let me spend the night anyways, just because we do sudden things like that for each other.
Even so, the mystery remains as to who that girl is. I hope I'll be able to see her again so I can introduce myself...and thank her for saving Amy's life.

End Chapter 5