Alexis woke up to a white wall and the sound of beeping. She was lying on her side in a bed, and had a gray blanket placed over her. When she rolled onto her other side, she was faced with a room containing four empty beds in addition to her own. By her own bed was a heart monitor and a shelf with her phone, charger, earphones, and clothing laying atop it.

  Was it really Cayto who did all that? He didn’t seem like the violent or aggressive type to me…

  Sure, he can be blunt and irritable at times, and sure, there was that whole thing with the shock tagging, but Cayto never struck me as someone who enjoys bullying or causing harm to people. He just has a very harsh worldview, and therefore lashes out at others to avoid showing weakness and protect himself… right?

  Alexis absentmindedly reached for her cell phone, wincing at the pain that her movement caused. Oh well. Enough with Cayto. Since I’m here and have my phone, I might as well do some egosurfing, she thought. Then she typed her name into the search bar.

  A few moments later, a list of results came up, the first two being Alexis’s blogs. Avriya’s Anomalies: tracking spirits, spells, and supernatural activity around the island, the first blog was titled. Alexis clicked on the link and logged onto her account on that site. Then she opened her inbox, which had 7 new messages:

  HazyDaisy: LEXI WTF

  HazyDaisy: SO IM WALKJNG HOMR FROM AURA PRACTICE TODAY

  HazyDaisy: AND THEN I FIND A PURPLE SNAKE WITG FINS AND ELECTRIC SPARKS FLYING OFF IT

  HazyDaisy: AND THEN THE SNEK STARTS CHASING AFTER ME SO I TRY TO FIGHT IT OFF

  HazyDaisy: BUT IT WONT STOP AND NOW IT’S ENCIRCLINH ME AND MAKING WEIRD SHAPES WITH ITS BODY

  HazyDaisy: AND NOW KM RLLY FREAKED OUT BECAUSE IDK IF THE SNAKE IS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH ME OR IS HAVING A SEIZURE

  HazyDaisy: PLZ HELP

  Alexis laughed. Are you sure that’s a snake and not an electric eel? She typed. Then she sent the message to Hazel and waited for a response.

  ItsLexi (owner): Are you sure that’s a snake and not an electric eel?

  The response, which consisted of a message and an attached photo of an electric eel, came a few moments later.

  HazyDaisy: It has to be a snake. If it was an electric eel, it wouldn’t be on land.

  THAT’S NOT A SNAKE, Alexis typed back. IT’S AN ELECTRIC EEL ON LAND. Then she pressed send, and Hazel’s reply came almost immediately.

  HazyDaisy: HOW TF DID IT END UP ON LAND

  Beats me, Alexis admitted. Then she began typing again. Oh, and, can you send a video? I want to see what weird shapes this eel is making.

  ItsLexi (owner): Oh, and, can you send a video? I want to see what weird shapes this eel is making.

  After a minute, Alexis received a video from Hazel. Here it is, the video was captioned. Alexis clicked on the video.

  For the first part of the video, the eel was crawling in a circle. After it made a full loop, it straightened its body and began slithering downwards, in the direction of the camera. Then it made a sharp turn to the right.

  A circle, an L-shape…

  It was at that point when the eel began moving in a way that Alexis didn’t know was possible for eels to move in. After it had finished gliding to the right, the eel reversed and began crawling backwards. Huh. Strange. Alexis thought.

  For a moment, the eel retraced its path on the lower part of the L-shape it had formed earlier, going left. Then it curved its tail up and to the right, away from the camera, and continued to slide backwards. But it only moved a short distance until the eel bent the middle part of its body towards the right and curled its tail up and away from the camera yet again. The eel’s shape now resembled the number three, but reversed, with its head at the bottom and its tail at the top.

  A circle, an L, and a backwards three… or are they all letters? O, L, and E? What could that mean?

  But in spite of her pondering, Alexis’s questions were left unanswered, and the eel slithered off the screen. Then the video ended.

  I think this eel is trying to communicate to you, Alexis messaged Hazel. But I don’t know what it’s saying. Either way, I could probably post it on my blog.

  That’s what I was thinking, too, Hazel agreed. Doesn’t seem to be an ordinary eel, that’s for sure. I bet there’s some sort of supernatural occurrence behind all this.

  Alexis quickly uploaded Hazel’s photo and video of the eel to her blog, and then she reopened her search page. The second result had a link to her other blog, the Silver Run Scoop. The Silver Run Scoop: get your news on SRA here! It read. Clicking on the link took Alexis to her own neatly-curated feed full of photos, text posts, and the occasional video clip. The school message board, which was also on her blog, now had over fifty new messages:

  4aron: CAYTO WTF

  Nova.m: Not to condone violence, but @CYTHLFX could use a good smack on the head rn :/

  Nova.m: Anyway, @ItsLexi, r u ok? I hope that jerk didn’t hurt you too bad. Get well soon bby <<3

  HazyDaisy: @Nova.m That’s sweet but thanks for reminding me of my third wheel status

  Nova.m: @HazyDaisy Looks like somebody’s jealous that both her besties got Autumn’s End Festival dates and she didn’t ;D

  HazyDaisy: @Nova.m I’M NOT JEALOUS

  Nova.m: @HazyDaisy Sounds like something a jealous person would say

  P0laris: What’s going on? Why is everybody hating on Cayto all of a sudden?

  RealIvanEverson: @P0laris Some petty drama I’m assuming. Either that or they hate him cause he’s rich or something

  RealIvanEverson: Anyway, @P0laris, stay oblivious and innocent while you can. There are things in life that you don’t need to know.

  Deep_blue: @P0laris @RealIvanEverson He was yelling at Alexis and saying some really mean things to her over a joke. Dude was enraged, too. Went completely apeshit on her before knocking her out with his lightning aura.

  RealIvanEverson: @Deep_blue Oh he did? Shit.

  P0laris: @Deep_blue Whoa that sounds bad. But anyway, what kind of mean things did Cayto say? What kind of joke did Alexis make?

  Deep_blue: @P0laris Well, Alexis was sarcastically pretending to cry after Cayto called her the worst teammate he ever had or something like that. Then Cayto threatened to make her cry for real and insulted her a ton, calling her things like “spoiled,” “useless,” “vile,” and a “disgusting piece of shit”, all because he blamed her for losing a match. Complete overreaction imo, and that was before he electrically shocked Alexis and had her taken to the infirmary.

  Shadowshifter14: @Deep_blue Yeah that was messed up of him. Dude should be taken out of magic classes asap. He’s sick in the head.

  Alexis clicked off the message board. Not gonna lie, it's nice to have all these people worry about me, especially Nova, she thought guiltily. Call me desperate for attention, but who cares?! I deserve to be loved, don’t I?

  It’s better than constantly being pushed to the side and treated like you don’t exist…

  A second later, Hyacinth walked into the room. “Is everything alright?” She asked Alexis.

  Alexis gave the healer a thumbs-up. “Yup, I’m doing great!”

  Hyacinth gave Alexis a concerned look. “Are you sure? That shock Cayto gave you was quite bad,” she told her patient. “It’s fortunate you were wearing protection gear and that I was able to arrive on time; the damage you would’ve gotten from it otherwise would’ve been much more severe and would’ve lasted a lot longer, if not permanently. I’m telling you, your heart almost stopped. You got really lucky that you didn’t face any severe burns or are at risk for long-term complications.”

  “Oh.” Alexis reacted. “So, for how long do you think I’ll be here?”

  “I’m guessing four days tops,” Hyacinth estimated. “Thanks to your protection gear, your shock injuries aren’t as bad as Cayto’s were, so you’ll likely recover a lot faster.”

  Alexis let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank Blanche,” she commented. “I’ll still be able to host my dorm party.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Hyacinth replied. “Also, I’ve meaning to tell you this, but you have people who want to see you waiting outside, and I was wondering if you were accepting gues—”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Boo.”

  Hyacinth turned around in surprise. Right behind her, a golden-eyed girl wearing a navy-and-white school uniform and bows in her braided hair materialized, giggling behind a bouquet of brightly-colored daisies and chrysanthemums. She placed the bouquet on Alexis’s shelf. “Get well soon, Lexi.”

  Alexis opened her arms, and the other girl leaned into her tight embrace. “Oh my Gosh, Nova! Thank you!” The former exclaimed. “I’m so happy you’re here!”

  As Hyacinth smiled and backed away to give the two girls space, Alexis heard a new thought from the healer. I should probably tell them that Cayto is waiting outside to apologize, but I don’t want to ruin their moment…

  “It’s fine, Hyacinth. Let him in.” Alexis told the healer.

  Nova looked at her girlfriend with a puzzled expression. “Let who in?”

  “Cayto.”

  A skeptical look crossed Nova’s face. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yup! I’m completely sure,” Alexis confirmed as Hyacinth brought in the new visitor. The boy fidgeted with his hands and stared at the floor. Nova gave him the side eye, and Alexis flinched, but not at Cayto. Okay, maybe it was at Cayto, but more specifically, at his thoughts. So many of them were bombarding her brain at once, so many jumbled masses of yelling and choked sobs and blurry scenes of two adult figures that quickly flashed through her mind to the point where they overwhelmed her, and no matter how hard she tried to block them out, they simply wouldn’t disappear:

  “Remember, Cayto, if you let your emotions get to you, people will stop respecting you and leave you behind, and you’ll be all alone.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Cayto?! Why haven’t you done what I told you to do?!”

  “I’ve given you food, clothing, shelter, an education, and I’ve set you up with a career… I’ve given you more than most parents ever would, and all you do is complain? Why can’t you shut up and be grateful for once?!”

  “Oh, so you’re crying?! I’ll give you something to cry about!”

  “What do you mean “making shock tags depresses you?!” In the real world, nobody will care about how you feel, so you better get to work this instant!”

  “I seriously don’t discipline you enough. I’ve gone easy on the belt the past few days, and you’ve gotten all spoiled as a result.”

  “Ugh, you’re hopeless. Why do I bother with you again?”

  Alexis cringed. If this was what Cayto had gone through up until his arrival at Avriya, then that would put his outburst at practice in a whole new perspective. Was everything he said to her a new version of something either Martin or Sierra said to him at an earlier time? It didn’t seem to be entirely unlikely.

  “Sorry for yelling at and shocking you,” Cayto apologized, looking at Alexis. “I feel like I should say something more, but I’m not sure what else to add…”

  Alexis smiled. “Think for as long as you’d like,” she told him. “I don’t want you beating yourself up over a half-baked apology.”

  Apparently, according to what she got from Cayto through telepathy, he ended up beating himself up anyway.

  I don’t know what to say next…

  Why do I always ruin everything?! What’s wrong with me?!

  I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.

  Everything I said to you, I really meant about myself.

  I wish I was never born.

  Now I see why my mom hates aura-havers so much.

  I don’t know what has gotten into me. Perhaps I was sick of constantly feeling inferior to everybody else.

  I’ve literally gotten no sleep the past night. I’m even more terrified of myself than I was before.

  I remember when I wanted to be like my dad, not because I admired him, but because I thought it was the only way I would not be weak, or a failure, or get on his bad side. But if success is being a carbon copy of my father, then I don’t want it anymore.

  No, seriously, after this I don’t know how my parents live with themselves. Maybe I deserve to have gone through everything they have put me through, but after doing the same to Alexis as they have done to me, I feel so horrible… I don’t know how Martin and Sierra have gone for this long without apologizing.

  Alexis stifled a smile. Could it be? She thought. Is Cayto finally starting to admit to himself what he’s been denying this whole time? Meanwhile, as he stared off into the distance, lost in thought and seemingly unaware of his surroundings, Alexis heard more of his musings. She had to admit it was oddly satisfying to hear him break apart everything he had internalized throughout his life, even if his train of thought had traveled away from the initial topic of his apology.

  Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a shock tag work. But if they work the same way as me just using my lightning aura, then what’s the difference between me shocking Alexis and creating a tag? Why is the latter encouraged by the Halifax code of conduct, but the former forbidden?

  If shock tagging has the same effect as me simply using my aura, then I want no part of it anymore. I was wrong to think I was better than the mages when in reality I’m no different from them, if not worse.

  Why have I wasted my life obeying my parents and trying to be “good” when all it had led to was an endless cycle of pain, frustration, and loneliness, and drove even more people away from me? Do I still have a chance at living a fulfilling life without them? Were they holding me back this whole time?

  Eh, nevermind. I’m probably just overthinking things again. My Dad is right about one thing though— I’d be a failure without him.

  Alexis sighed and shook her head. You were this close to greatness, Cayto. This! Close! She thought angrily. But no, you just had to back down and doubt yourself again. As she thought that, she gave him an ironic smile.

  “You know, it would really do you a world of good to be more like Hazel,” Alexis commented. Cayto gave her a dumbfounded glance.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Alexis laughed. “Oh, I just meant that you two are almost complete opposites. You think too much and second-guess yourself and get caught up in your own head a lot. Hazel barely thinks at all. She just acts. In fact, I am ninety-nine percent sure that was why she kicked our behinds during magic practice earlier. Because while you were driving yourself in circles ruminating over how to get the best possible outcome, she was already hauling earth and busting ass. And as somebody whose power relies on people thinking—” Alexis paused to catch her breath— “that makes an opponent like Hazel very difficult for me to deal with. I can’t read her mind if it's completely blank, and because she doesn’t think before acting, all of her moves are completely unpredictable to me. That was why I simply gave up and started hyping her up and recording her instead. If you can’t beat your enemy, join them. And maybe get some virtual popularity points out of it, too.”

  Nova laughed. “Opportunism at its finest. That’s Lexi for’ ya.” Then she turned to Cayto. “So, were you gonna finish your apology?”

  Cayto nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I know an apology is meaningless if there’s no action to back it up. So Alexis, is there anything I can do for you? If there’s nothing and you don’t forgive me, I completely understand, but if you do, I want to make things up to you as well.”

  Alexis hid a smirk behind her hand. “You asked if there’s anything you can do to make things up to me?”

  “Yes,” Cayto agreed. “As long as it's reasonable, that’s all.”

  “Oh, you know. Before you tell your father off for being a terrible parent and leave him behind for good, ask him to drop a million goldstones into my bank account,” Alexis joked. Cayto rolled his eyes.

  “Nova, is this what you meant by “opportunism at its finest?”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  Alexis elbowed Cayto in the side. “Hey, I’m just joking! I don’t actually care about your family’s money that much,” she admitted. “What I really want is for you to relax and stop overthinking for once in your life. All that tension can’t be good for ‘ya, you know,” she advised. “And I know the perfect way for you to do that.”

  Cayto gulped. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

  Alexis opened her phone and showed Cayto a virtual copy of the party flyers she forced him to hand out earlier. “By attending my dorm party! Everybody will be there. Including both of the Everson siblings. I asked them,” she added knowingly.

  “The Everson siblings?”

  “Skye and Ivan. God, you don’t even know your future husband’s last name? I’m disappointed in you.”

  “Can you please stop bringing up Ivan?” Cayto asked, exasperated.

  “Never!” Alexis exclaimed. “Or not until you drop the I-couldn’t-care-less-about-him act and confess already. Least convincing act in all of mankind, I gotta say. Doesn’t take a telepath to see right through it.”

  Cayto stared at his feet self-consciously. “Am I really that obvious?”

  “Yes you are.”

  Cayto, Nova, and Alexis jumped. Even Hyacinth started a little. Right at the doorway a sandy-haired, green-eyed male poked his head into the infirmary room. “Sorry, I overheard your conversation and couldn’t help but butt in. And speaking of apologies,” the boy added, making a beeline towards Nova, “where’s yours for stealing flowers from the school garden?”

  Nova smiled at the guest and shrugged. “Come on, why so greedy? The garden’s chock-full of plants and flowers as is. Could you really not afford to give up a few for, um… charity?” She asked, gesturing at Alexis.

  Luka sighed. “Alright Nova, you win,” he admitted. “But ask for permission next time. I’m not gonna chase you around the courtyard again after today. There’s no way I can possibly keep up with a teleporter.”

  Alexis snickered. “Damn Nova, you really were willing to steal just for me,” she said. Then her girlfriend placed her hand on Alexis’s infirmary bed, and the telepath squeezed it. “That’s how I know you’re a keeper.”

  ***

  Meanwhile, back at the doorstep of Noi and Lucian’s house, a young-looking, purple-haired man with blue eyes, freckle-like pores on his face and nose, tiny fins on the sides of his arms, an eel’s tail, and a mouth full of sharp and pointy teeth laid on the porch, cramped up and out of breath. Noi opened the door, his eyes widening in confusion and shock. “Raiden? What in the spirit realm happened to you?”

  “Put me in a warm bath ASAP, and I’ll tell you everything,” the man sputtered out.

  Noi nodded. “Okay,” the owl-spirit agreed as he picked up the front half of the other man’s body in his arms. “I’ll get you a bath.” Then the owl-spirit turned to face the inside of the house. “Lucian! Can you help me please? Raiden is here, and he needs a bath.”

  At once, the dragon-spirit rushed to the doorway. “Raiden!” He exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “How did the mission go? Was it successful?”

  “He needs a bath. Help me carry him to the bathroom, please,” Noi instructed Lucian.

  “Okay.” Lucian picked up Raiden by his legs.

  A few minutes later, after Noi and Lucian had dumped Raiden in their bathtub and turned on the water, the man, who by now had shapeshifted into a wriggling eel, was enjoying himself as he bathed. “So, did anything happen between you and the lightning spirit?” Noi asked Lucian. “I feel like there’s something I’m missing here.”

  Lucian smiled knowingly. “Oh, nothing much. It’s just that I was really bothered ever since Skye told me that one of her classmates had bullied her. It felt wrong, and I wanted to make things up to her after leaving her behind on the beach two weeks ago. So I asked her to tell me more about her classmate, and at first Skye refused, but when I promised I wouldn’t attack her bully, she agreed and told me everything. I was eventually able to find out that the name of Skye’s bully was Hazel, she was an earth mage, and she has brown hair and green eyes. She’s also quite short and tends to wear a ponytail and a jacket, according to Skye,” Lucian described. “And now that I had all the information in place, I needed to act accordingly.”

  “So where does Raiden come into all this?” Noi enquired. Then, as a possibility dawned on him, his eyes widened in shock. “Wait— don’t tell me you sent him out to shock her!”

  “Nah, I didn’t, though I wanted to,” Lucian admitted. “I know Skye hates violence, and I didn’t want to risk her getting upset with me. But still, letting Hazel get away with all this felt wrong, so I had to find an alternative way to teach her a lesson.”

  Noi gave Lucian an acknowledging nod. “That being?...”

  Meanwhile, the water in the bathtub splashed, and the wriggling eel that was bathing in it a moment ago was now replaced by a humanoid eel-man. The eel-man pointed at Lucian. “This guy made me chase after Hazel in eel form and twist my body in all sorts of directions just to “send a message!” He shouted. Lucian snickered.

  Noi looked at the two other spirits in confusion. “That message being?”

  “The full message was “you’re an asshole,” Raiden muttered. “And now my body’s all cramped because electric eels are NOT land creatures. Lucian, you owe me big time.”

  Lucian leaned forward. “What do I owe you exactly?”

  Raiden paused to think. Then, after a moment had passed, he came up with an answer. “Ten bars of gold. Two large buckets, one full of river plants and mud of the highest quality and the other full of fish, shrimp, crabs, and other crustaceans. And finally, your three most valuable weapons from your Sword Hoard.”