Queen of the Faeries.

We had six days of class, alternating between Power Training days and General Education days, and then one day off each week. It took some getting used to, but Alice was always helping Luna and I find our way around school. Seamus loved to carry Luna around at lightening quick speeds whenever he could, and Luna seemed to be brightening up to him too.

On Power Training days, I was in Mr. Hank's class most of the day. The basic idea was to develop skills and controls over our powers, though Mr. Hank also had us doing rigorous exercises to keep us in peak physical and mental shape. He explained that being in better physical strength would strengthen our powers, as would being in better mental strength. I still never saw Alice use her power though. Mr. Hank never made her use it, and she avoided answering the question whenever I asked, so I was just left wondering.

General Education days were long, boring, and tedious versions of regular high school days. Classes started at 8AM and went on until 10PM. We had 5 blocks of 2 hour classes, with a break or meal in between each, plus an hour and 40 minutes of our elective class (which changed each month). Our first day of General Education, Luna and I had to be tested to see where we were academically. The test was long, boring, and tedious. I ended up testing into all honours classes: Geometry, English, Biology, Spanish 1, and Gifted History. My first elective was Computers. As it turned out, Alice was in the exact same classes, so we were rarely apart, except for sleep.

Luna tested a lot lower than me, a fact neither of us dared mention, (though I knew it was on her mind and I wished there was some way I could just magically make her better at school) so we ended up only having Computers together. Luna didn't take that too well, but Seamus was in a few of her classes. He always found a way to cheer her up, which I was thankful for.


"He's good for her, you know," Alice said quietly on one of our days off. Seamus had just whisked Luna off to go do whatever, leaving Alice and I to spend the day alone.

"I-- What?"

"It bugs you sometimes. Luna likes being with Seamus."

"No. I'm happy she's happy. I--"

"I know, Emma. I wasn't saying you're a jealous person or mean or something. It just bugs you sometimes. It was just the two of you all your lives, so it'd be perfectly normal to feel a irritated about sharing her." I opened my mouth to argue, but Alice held her hand up. I sighed and let her continue. "Feel that cold breeze? You're tense. Every time you get any bit upset, the weather changes slightly." Alice smiled suddenly.

"Alice, I think you're a bit delusional," I laughed.

"You're a lot more powerful than you realise. Think of something really happy." I sighed. Alice had been trying to get me to fly again for weeks. I appreciated her willingness to help, but flying wasn't something I could really control.

"I told you already, Alice. I can only fly when it's one of the happiest moments of my life." Alice rolled her eyes at me.

"Get up. You're going to try it. I need to prove my theory." Alice suddenly stood up and pulled me up too. "Close your eyes and focus on a happy memory." I obeyed, rather unwillingly. I didn't really know what happy memory to use. It seemed kind of stupid really. No, I wouldn't think that. I'd at least let Alice have her little experiment done right. Happy memories? I decided to think about the last time I flew. My whole class cheering for me. All the excitement and relief. The way Alice had so easily believed in me, having just met-- Alice laughed triumphantly. "I knew it!" I opened my eyes suddenly. Alice was dancing around, swirling in the breeze. Wait, breeze? For the first time, I paid attention to the weather. A warm breeze seemed to be circling around me. I suddenly noticed the way Alice's hair was flying in all directions.

"Alice--?"

"See? I told you! Feel it?" Alice grinned massively. "You're an aerokinetic!" Her grin grew even bigger, if that were at all possible. "Want to see my power?"

"What? Yes!" After weeks of seeing nothing of her power, I definitely wanted to know what it was. I felt the wind pushing at me, trying to pull me up. Her grin faltered a bit.

"Well, I already told you it's not that great, so, uh, yeah . . ." The air gave up on lifting me.

"Aw, c'mon, Alice! I want to see it!" She grinned again.

"You have to give me some wind to work with first." So that was her plan. Get me to show off my power in exchange for letting me finally see her power once. It wasn't really a fair trade, but oh well. I was going to see her power finally. That thought started to fill me up and I felt the air pressure around me start to build and push me off the ground. More wind! C'mon! I thought. The leaves beneath my feet started swirling around and flying up into the air next to me.

"How's that for wind, Alice?" Alice grinned some more, and put her hands out toward me.

"Watch the leaves." And I did. At first, I saw nothing. They were just leaves. Then I noticed one suddenly fade to a pale pink colour and what looked like wings sprout out. Another turned a bright blue colour. Then there was a beautiful orange one. Soon, I was surrounded in flying bits of colour, all resembling something between a faerie and a flying leaf.

"Holy crap, Alice! 'Not that great'?? You're nuts! That's amazing!" Alice's face turned bright red. I couldn't focus on flying any more and stumbled as I hit the ground. Most of the faeries fell to the ground and slowly turned back into regular leaves. The few that remained fluttered around Alice and I.

"I can't really do that much. And it makes me really tired." As if to prove her point, she wandered a few feet over to a nearby tree and sat down against it, closing her eyes. I walked over and sat next to her.

"You just turned a bunch of leaves into faeries. That's insanely awesome." She laughed a little and then rested her head on my shoulder.

"You have no idea how tired that just made me. All that physical fitness stuff Hank has us do is nothing. It makes me so exhausted. That's why he never has me do it in class. I used to pass out in class every time he'd make me practice. He got tired of calling in the nurse, and I got tired of being tired." She didn't say anything more. We both just sat in silence as she fell asleep. The last of the faeries turned back to leaves.