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Chapter 1

"So which classes must I be tortured in?" I asked Caleb when we got our freshman year of high school schedules. Caleb was the boy that I had recently developed a crush for, or, at least, I think it's a crush. Let's just go with, I can't live with him, but I can't live without him either. It's driving me insane, I always liked being an independent person who didn't need anyone else, though I knew that would change, I didn't want it to and I sure didn't want to need him in particular. But life is never easy, for anyone that I knew at least.

"It's worse for me, Vi." He replied in good spirits, "looks like English and geometry."

"Well, English starts in ten minutes, see ya later." I said quickly, avoiding an awkward silence, which always happened, unless the conversation ended abruptly. I started to walk away, but, of course, I tripped on my own feet, sending my books flying forward, fortunately they didn't hit anyone in the crowded hallway. I paused for a short second, deciding if it was worth getting up in the humiliation of what happened, I decided that it would be worse if I stayed lying on the floor.

"You okay?" Caleb asked when I started to rise, he was kneeling down next to me, my books had been piled neatly near by.

Was I really down long enough for him to come over, get my stuff, and get back to me? "I'm fine, thanks" Apparently I was, thank god I don't blush!

"Try to make it class in one piece, see you in ten." He mentioned, as he left. It was going to be a long year.

Vi! What happened? "What class do you have first?" Amy, my best friend, called out from near by.

Nothing important! "English, you?"

"English, let's get to class; I need to talk to the teacher." Amy always had a reason to be the first one places, I was usually late. Oh, and the whole conversation without words, yeah, we are also sisters of another world, called Cantella, a world of, yes, magic. Along with our other five sisters and our three brothers, we're to end up ruling a planet.

"You go on ahead, I need to stop off at my locker and grab a book."

"Okay, I'll save you a seat." And she was off, as usual, energetic on the first day of school.

I grabbed my book from my locker and hurried up to class, getting there just as the bell rang. I was the last one to class and just barely making it on time, and judging by the look on the teacher's face it was not a good way to start off the year, I was going to be closely watched.

Amy was true to her word and saved me a seat right next to her, I quickly walked across the room under the stares of my classmates, I really didn't care who sat on the other side of me, as long as I wasn't sticking out. Fortunately it was in the back almost the corner seat, but they were the last two seats in the class, I was surprised that they weren't the first ones taken. Then I saw the look of pure amusement on Amy's face. She wouldn't, my eyes searched the room She would!

You did that on purpose! I thought to her as the realization dawned on me, Caleb had not come in yet.

Who, me? Her grin widened involuntarily.

Yes, you! You saved these seats, both of them, how did you know he would be late to class too? I glared at her. I sure hope we get assigned seats this time!

I heard him talking in the office, he was getting a pass to his first class because he was helping one of his teachers with setting up for something, I didn't catch what. Her eyes moved to the doorway. He should be here right about, now.

And sure enough, there he was, he walked up to the front and handed the teacher a sheet of paper, she took it and nodded. He glanced around the room, looking for a spot to sit, his eyes found the empty chair next to me and then found me, we both glared at each other as he came over, yep, this was going to be a long year.

"Why is the only spot left right next to you?" He muttered under his breath to me as the teacher started taking role, and taking a note of where everyone was sitting, this was going to be the first seating arrangement, of course.

Amy, you will pay for this! "You can blame Amy for this, I got here just as the bell rang and these were the only seats left."

I bet I won't. Amy said grinning. "Vi? You look a little pale, be careful."

Great, that was another little problem, along with this whole magic, royalty, and other planets thing came the fact that I was new to the magic business. Which meant that my powers still had to settle in, and they came and went at random, every time they went I turned pale before it happened, in about five minutes I will barely be strong enough to move my arm. Of course, I still enjoyed being able to control all these elements, as the eldest I had them all; water, fire, earth, air, light, and dark. And I always found an excuse to "practice" them on someone annoying. But, then again, I am the one with the philosophy the there is an excuse for everything, and I was good at finding them!


Chapter 2

Wow, the French test was easy!" Amy said as we walked home. "I'm amazed at how much we have learned in the mere four weeks since the start of school."

"Yeah, Spanish isn't so bad either."

"Okay, well, see ya tomorrow!" She called as we parted ways.

"See ya!" I walked silently along my normal route through the small forested area beside my neighborhood. It was unusually quiet, no birds were singing, no animals were scurrying, it gave a rather creepy effect, but it was probably just a storm coming in, I wouldn't stay too long today. I continued on my way, looking for my favorite tree, the tree that I had planted when I was six. I had gone every day I could and sit to read under the green leaves.

"That can't be right." I said softly to myself when I reached the familiar spot. Everything looked exactly the same, except for my tree; all its leaves had fallen off, leaving the dark brown dead looking trunk and branches. A chill went down my spine as a cold gust of wind blew across me. I decided to get out of there, now.

"Why are you just standing there?" And eerie voice said from behind me, my muscles refused to move, to turn and fight or run, neither of those were an option. I tried to bring up a gust of wind, to blow him back, but nothing happened, the branches of the trees remained unmoved by the wind, I knew they were still there though; it wasn't the same feeling of weakness.

Crunch. Crunch. Whoever it was that was walking forward, slowly. I was truly scared and for some reason I couldn't get my protective shell of indifference to come up around me, every emotion I was experiencing was being shown clearly on my face, no one has ever been able to cause that effect on me and it was not a good sign.

There were fast footsteps that were getting closer and closer, and then suddenly there was another person in the clearing. The person who was holding me captive turned, he was maybe a foot away from me. "Get away from her." A growl came from the one furthest away, sounded male, but I did not recognize it.

"No, leave and you will not be harmed." The voice from nearby growled back, again, it was male, but I didn't recognize it. I closed my eyes and tried to focus my hearing on the sound waves bouncing of objects, sort of like a bat, I got an image of two people standing, facing each other, behind me. The one farthest away was clearly posed to attack, and his aim was not to scare, but to harm, I didn't know who he was actually trying to attack. The one closest to me was in a more protective stance; he was clearly going to keep the other one away from me. They were about the same height but I could not get a detailed enough image to figure out who they were.

It didn't take long for the fight to start, and once it did, I had to stop paying attention because there was too much movement to listen to. So I remained frozen in my place, listening to the crunches of their feet hitting the ground. I decided to try and contact any of my siblings, it's possible that one of them was in the clearing, fighting. I hadn't heard any of my siblings growl before, so it was possible that I wouldn't recognize it. Erik? Edward? Sam? I waited a couple of minutes, but there was no reply. Amy? Tiff? Carol? Sarah? Lisa? Sidney? Still no reply. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my back, I heard something crack and I started falling forward, still incapable of movement. Someone, save me! That is something I would never have uttered aloud, no matter how much trouble I was. And then, it was black, nothing.


Chapter 3

Creak! "Stupid door!" I woke up to someone hissing at a door as they closed it quickly. I sat up and looked around myself. The room was pretty ordinary, a door with a jacket hanging on the back, a bed with light blue sheets and pillows, a desk with a lamp, a clock, that read 11:00, and a computer, a closet, a dresser with a CD player sitting on top, a window with blue curtains to match the bedding, a book case filled with various genres and titles of books, and a blank calendar hanging on the wall. The door creaked open and closed just as quickly again. There was absolutely no clue as to who lived in this room, no posters, no pictures, the calendar didn't even have any pictures on it. I could probably search the closet or the dresser to see if I could find anything, but that felt very wrong.

Instead, I opened the window, letting the curtains billow out in the wind. Then I went and sat against the wall were, if the door was just cracked open, I would not be spotted.

I could sense someone on the other side of the door, but they didn't enter immediately. About fifteen minutes passed by before the door opened again. It opened a crack, as usual, and, just as I had expected, the door paused, not closing immediately, then it opened a bit more and someone entered. I bit my lip to keep myself from gasping at the tall, brown haired boy standing before me. He was staring in the opposite direction from me, just like he always seemed to be doing, never seeing me. Of course, only my sibling had ever seen me, should I allow my dream to come true, to show this boy who I really am?

"Figures, I finally build up the courage to come and talk to her and she has vanished." Caleb muttered quietly to himself. I stared down at my hands sitting in my lap. He had to build up courage to talk to me? It always took me so much courage to talk to him! That's when I heard a surprised gasp.

"It takes courage to talk to me?" I said, keeping my voice monotone. "Am I scary or something?"

"Uh, no, not really, I don't particularly know how to explain why it wasn't easy to talk to you."

"Wasn't? So it's not a problem now, right?" I looked up and nearly jumped he was a lot closer now, his right hand extended out towards me.

"Not really, would you like to go eat something, It's a little past dinner time."

"Uh, sorry, I don't eat dinner with strangers." Where did that come from? He wasn't a stranger! Why wasn't I flipping out that Caleb Callans was asking me to have dinner, or something similar to dinner, with him? Idiot!

"Oh, sorry, I'm Caleb. May I ask who you are?" Oh, that's right, I have a secret identity of being a powerful princess and I had been kidnapped last night and wound up at Caleb's house, I think it would be a good idea if I left now.

Of course my powers still refused to work. "Yeah, you can ask." There was a pause as he waited for me to give my name. "But you're not going to get it."

He looked at me in a curious way with his head tilted slightly to the side. "Do I know you?"

No way had he recognized me from that! "Not that I know of. I said you were a stranger, didn't I?"

"Okay." He said uncertainly. He then thrust his hand toward me again. "But I must insist that you eat something."

"I'm not really that hungry, thanks though." I took his hand, out of politeness, and let him pull me into a standing position.

"A drink then?"

"I think it would probably just be better if I head home."

"Please, I want to talk to you a bit."

I glanced at the window, debating whether I could make a dash for it, but he was blocking my path. "Uh, huh. You just want to try and figure out who I am. You still think you know me, don't you?"

"No, can't I offer someone who's been knocked-out for a few hours something to eat and then maybe find out a little about them?"

I stared at him for a moment before replying, "Do you hear what you're saying? Why was I knocked-out? I should be finding out more about you! Not the other way around!" I forced myself to calm down after he flinched away from my tone. "Sorry, it's been…an interesting day."

"Indeed." He replied mildly. "Perhaps we can go sit down and chat for a little while, if you'd just follow me."

I nodded my agreement, figuring I really didn't have a choice. I followed him down a hallway that led from his room. The first door, right outside of his room, looked like another bedroom, Caleb's mother glanced up from her book as we passed. The next one was closed and the third door led to a TV room where his father glanced at us too.

"Uh, aren't your parents curious as to why I'm here at this hour?" I asked suspiciously.

"Not really. Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" He glanced over his shoulder at me.

"Just water please."

He seemed satisfied with that. After being a gentleman and pulling out a chair for me to sit at a medium sized dinner table, he vanished through another doorway. Returning before I could figure a way out, he carried a glass of water. I still eyed it carefully, you never know. I sipped a couple of tiny sips, I had a very good metabolism that could get rid of small amounts of even the most deadly poison.

"Thank you." I said as I realized he was staring at me.

"No problem. So what do you want to know about me?"

My eyes widened, "You are going to tell me about you?"

"Yeah, you were right, you have more right to answers than I do right now. So, I'll answer any questions you ask if I can. And maybe you'll answer a couple of mine in return."

"I know what your question is, you only have one and because I know that after that there will be no other questions I'm not going to give you the upper hand!"

"So I do know you!" It wasn't really a question, but it is now.

"Yes, you do. I answered one of your questions, now you have to answer one of mine." His eyes narrowed, "How did you recognize me?"

He tensed a little, "There was, uh, just, um, something about you that I recognized." His answer was very clearly just pieced together.

"Uh, huh, now tell me the truth."

"That is the truth!"

"No it's not. That was an improvised answer, you're a bad liar." If I hadn't been so sure of my first conclusion I would have believed his second statement, so he was just sometimes a bad liar. I waited for him to say something, but when he didn't, I got up and headed toward the nearest door, only half paying attention to what I was saying. "I think it would have been a good idea for me to leave now. I'll be able to find my way home from here, see you in English." Oops.

We both froze in place. "Vi?" I allowed my powers to shift, changing me into my everyday appearance on Earth.

"Hey." I said casually, "I've answered your question, how did you recognize me? The truth this time please."

"Your scent was familiar."

"My scent?"

"I have strengths that most of the others don't, apparently not as rare as I thought."

"You have no idea."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There are several students at our school that are, well, like me."

"They change appearances?"

"Well, yes, that is one thing. But our senses are amplified an –"

"Which senses?"

"Um, all of them, why?"

"Oh, nothing."

"It will take me a while to tell you everything about my abilities, let's start with you."

"Fine, I don't mutate or any –"

"I disguise myself, not mutate!"

"Whatever, I don't change how I look or anything fancy like that. As far as I know, I can just hear a pen drop from three miles away, IO can pick up any scent, I can see in the dark as well as I can in the light, I'm unusually strong, I can hear the thoughts of the others like me, and –"

"Other's like you?"

"There are a few other students at our school that…" He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes unfocused, "are on their way."

"What?" Did I really want to know yet? No, my friends needed to know about Caleb, I couldn't run the risk of being trapped with telling them anything. "I'm going home now." He didn't know where I lived and I hoped none of his friends did either.

"Wait! I think…" But his voice was lost as the back door closed behind my retreating back.

He followed me outside just in time to see me open a portal to Cantella, my home planet.


Chapter 4

"Vi! Are you okay?" I came out in the, sort of, living room, where most of my siblings were around me, staring at me with wide eyes. I was leaning against the wall, trying to control my breathing as I let out all the emotions I'd been bottling up and everything I'd just learned sink in. I wasn't exactly sure who all was talking to me. "What happened?" "Where have you been?"

"I'm fine. I was at…" What should I say? But my siblings were good, they caught the hesitation and became suspicious.

"Vi? Tell us everything!"

"I was at Caleb's, he –"

"Caleb's?" Several surprised voices cut me off.

"Yes Caleb's. He helped me, no, he saved me. I think. Someone managed to knock me out while my powers were gone." We won't go into great detail about this, for now. "The next thing I know I woke up at Caleb's house, in my disguised form. That's not all, he has special abilities! His hearing, sight, scent, and strength are all as strong as ours!" By now, everyone else was frozen and silent. "That's not everything either, he wasn't the only one, there were others, they go to our school too. And the group of them can hear each other's thoughts."

"Wow. All that happened this evening?" Tiffany asked after a moment.

"Does he know it was you?" Amy asked. All I could do was nod to them.

"Does he know your powers?" Carol asked, worried. We didn't just go around telling everyone our talents.

"He knows one or two, but not many of them. He's gonna track me down tomorrow, he knows I'm not the only one with talents." I replied, sighing.

"He should know school is too public, right? He wouldn't do it at school. Will he? What about his secret…" Carol babbled on, alarmed now. Her green eyes were wide, contrasting greatly to her tan skin. Her strait, dark brown hair swirled around her, adding to her alarmed look.

"I don't know, any thing's possible." I remarked calmly. "As a matter of fact, I think he might."

"He won't have long to wait then." Amy, Calm as usual. Her deep blue eyes never looked troubled, even in battle. Her slightly waved blond hair always seemed to remain perfect too. "We have English with him."

"When do you have that?" I was surprised by Tiffany's calm. Her hair was always doing something different, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't control it. Her light brown, oddly orangish, eyes were shaped into a permanently fierce look. She was usually very impat – "When do you have English and how much time would he have to talk to you during class?" Never mind.

"First block and the entire time. Thanks to someone, I sit right next to him." I answered, shooting a glare at Amy.

"Well, clearly I didn't foresee this!" She retaliated.

I sighed, "I will avoid first block, the others shouldn't be a problem. We will talk to them after school, follow my lead." They all nodded in agreement with the plan. "Now then, does anyone know where mom is?"

"She's in the library."

"Thanks, um…" My voice trailed off as I looked around for the source of the voice.

So happy you noticed me." Edward remarked, sarcastically, coming from one of the corners. Always dressed in black, extremely dark grey eyes and his always neat, yet messy, black hair, and his main talent of the dark, or the shadows, he blended into the background of anywhere. He was the exact opposite of his twin, Lisa, except for their light colored skin and the fact that their tall, but all of us were unusually tall.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

I found the queen, my mother on this planet, reading a book by the large window overlooking a flower garden. "Yes?" She asked, not looking up.

"I need an excuse to skip my first class tomorrow."

She looked up now. "You do know that just because you're a princess, doesn't mean you can just skip classes whenever you want. Right?"

"I know. But the boy who sits next to me knows my secret and it's a bad idea for him to get the chance to talk about it."

"And what about the other days? You will not be missing more than one class."

"We have agreed to confront him about it after school, when no one will overhear us."

"All right, I will excuse you for that class, that is all. And you need to find a way to still attend class."

"Thank you, that is all I need, and I will."

"I got back to my room, eager to get some sleep so that my improvising tomorrow could be easier. But the alarm went off before I could even pull back the sheets."


Chapter 5

"What a long night!" Sarah yawned. Her light blue eyes were droopy, just like the rest of us, from the lack of sleep. Her light blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and a very hurried looking one.

I had spent the last hour working on a spell that would change me into a completely different looking student. I now had it in place. So as to avoid missing the class, I was posing as a student reporter who was watching the reaction of students in different classes.

My first three classes went smoothly, Caleb gave me a few suspicious glances but seemed satisfied enough after a while. I made sure I was late to my last class, math, so that he wouldn't have a chance to stop me before it started.

He glared at me all through the class. I hurried to the back hallway that my sibling and I had agreed to meet, before the confrontation. But the footsteps that came down the hallway were not theirs. I was invisible to all that would rely on their sight, but I should have known that it wouldn't matter.

Tap, tap, tap. "Please. Just give us some answers." I looked up to see that I was cornered by a group of my classmates. Kevin was the one who spoke. "There are more of us and you are surrounded."

"Are you the leader then Kev? Where's Caleb? He's the one who's been trying to find me." I replied, ignoring his requests. The murderous intent coming from the group of them told me that, even though they didn't want to hurt me, they would if they had to. Kevin didn't say anything, he just waited for my answers. "What are your questions?" I finally sighed.

He seemed taken aback by this and had to look to his comrades for help, but they all just shrugged. I noticed my own family coming up behind them. They all showed up and, including myself, there was currently one more of us than them. So if Caleb was here, the two sides would have an even number of ten each.

"Doesn't really matter anyway." I stated calmly, they all turned back to me.

"What?" Chris practically growled at me. I had always taken him for a quiet, shy person, but something told me that my impression would change. And, I must admit, I had never really gotten along with this group of peers.

"It. Doesn't. Matter. Anymore. I'm no longer out numbered. Turn around and see for yourself."

"Hey Tim." Sam said casually, his oddly white hair messed up after gym. He and Tim had been best friends for many years, that relationship could help keep the peace.

Or not, there was instantly a hostile aura coming from every direction. "Back down Sam. You and your friends should leave, we won't hold it against you if you do. She – " he paused to indicate me – "stays though." Warning thick in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that."

"Please, we don't want to hurt any of you. I don't want to hurt you!"

"Then don't."

"We will if we have to. And right now, we will have to unless you leave."

"None of us are leaving, we –"

"You don't have to protect her!"

"Of course I do! All of us have to protect each other! Each of our siblings!"

Tim froze, wide eyed. "Your. Siblings?" He looked down at his shoes and closed his eyes. "Then I'm sorry that she has made you an enemy." He shot me a glare so deadly it made me cower into the wall a bit.

Almost immediately after that a fight broke out amongst the two sides. I stood on the side, unable to help anyone.

Where was my fighting partner? Where was Caleb? I thought to myself as my eyes cast over the fight. Caleb has to be the leader, none of them are acting quite the part, and with a group that large, it wouldn't survive without a leader, same as us.

There! He was coming up behind my brother, Erik, in his fight with Lindsey. Erik's orangish hair was very easy to see, along with his eyes, which was colored orange with contacts. But behind him, Caleb was coming in to aid Lindsey. I had him pinned against the wall before anyone could blink. "What a rude thing to do to an ally!" I hissed, concentrating on putting up a barrier, so no one would know what's going on, around everyone.

"How is helping someone rude?" He questioned. Everyone had stopped and was watching our conversation. Probably because any outcome between us two would determine what their next move was.

"It is insulting to them. Think about it, you and your friends are in the middle of a big fight and someone helps you first and no one else. That practically screams 'You're weak!'" I explained calmly.

"Oh. I see your point. Sorry Lin, I honestly didn't mean that."

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean anything like that." She replied, smiling forgivingly.

I backed a foot or so away from Caleb and my sisters and brothers fell in behind me. I formed a string of magic, glowing a faint blue, between my hands, then formed a loop on each end. "This will connect two parts of the two people who place their hands through the loops. The hearts shall beat as one. Which means, if one stops, so will the other. And the minds are connected as well, no secrets." I placed one end on my wrist and offered the other to Caleb. "My siblings' minds and mine are connected, just as you and your group. This will connect all of us."

"And what about that heart thing?" Caleb questioned, eyeing the string suspiciously.

"Unless you plan on dying, it shouldn't be a problem, because I don't."

"Can it be removed?"

"Yes, if all the minds connected are in agreement. And that means absolutely all of them."

"There are no other details?"

"Well, the two connected people can't put more than 100 yards space between them."

"You have a weird way of putting things." But he placed his hand in the loop anyway.

It only took a second for the spell to set in, but it took at least a minute for our minds to get used to the new thoughts and perspectives.

"Okay, now none of us can act without the other's knowledge. And even though we can hear your thoughts, we still can't hear your secrets?" Caleb asked when it was done.

"The secrets we keep have to be kept. It can affect way more people than just us. We use our abilities without thinking about it." Erik replied.

"Some people don't have to have their minds connected to hear others' thoughts," I continued, "which means we still can't tell you."

"What?" Kev said, becoming a little irritated.

Caleb put a hand out to stop him. This is hardly fair, we have trusted you with plenty but you have told us almost nothing.

I know, Erik is work…

"Done!" Erik said, pulling us from our conversation. "There is just one little thing that needs to be added."

"Why do you emphasize the 'little' part?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

"Well, we have to link the spell to the people."

"How do you do that?"

"It depends on the spell, but this one requires one drop of that person's blood."

"Blood?"

I cut Erik off before he could reply. "Blood is one of the strongest bonds. Are you afraid of a little cut? Anybody got a knife?" Kevin pulled a small pocket knife. I held out my hand, palm up, "If you would."

"Gladly." He made a small slit on my palm. I walked over and allowed it to drip into the spell, which glowed a bright red.

"Oh look, nothing happened, your turn." They all gave in and allowed a drop of blood into the spell.

Have you noticed what happened after the connection was set in place for a little while? Caleb questioned in my head.

Yeah, the connections between us and the others was broken.

"Vi? Our magic is protecting their minds now." Erik announced.

"Right, we might as well start with examples of our abilities. But we shouldn't do it here, too public. Follow me."

I walked over and tapped the wall. A portal opened, the beautiful symbol for Cantella hovering in the middle. I stepped and signaled for them to come too.


Chapter 6

I came out just outside the library. Everyone followed behind me, everyone seemed to have "buddied up" with one other person; Caleb and I, Tim and Lisa, Lin and Sam, Chris and Sidney, Kev and Tiffany, Cindy and Andrew, Luke and Carol, Mike and Amy, Jason and Sarah, and Candy and Edward.

You noticed that too, huh? Caleb asked, coming up behind me.

Yeah, it's rather strong. They're not actually friends, but they would protect each other with their lives if it was necessary.

I know, we better get on with your secret and it better be good.

"Alright, let's just go down the line," I announced to everyone. "All our senses are amplified, just like yours. But we have added abilities as well, Edward and Sidney, would you care to start?"

"Sure, we have black magic. It is not evil magic, but literally black magic." Sidney formed a black orb in her hand to demonstrate her point.

"It also is illusions of the eye," Edward continued. "The barrier Vi put up earlier was using a little black magic, to make all of us vanish." He vanished from sight for his example.

"Sam, Lisa, you're up." I called.

"We have the opposite of black magic, which is, of course, white magic." Sam began, "We can vanish as well, but we use the light instead of the shadows." He followed Sidney's example and created a white orb in his palm.

"They tend to be better at using stealth, we use distractions." Lisa finished.

"Those are the most difficult to describe, the others can be easily demonstrated."

"My turn!" Amy volunteered. She pulled the water particles from the humid air and condensed it into a little stream. "Water, obviously. I can also heal things."

"Fire." Tiffany snapped her fingers together and a small candle flame appeared above her pointer finger.

"Air." Sarah created a small tornado around us all.

"Earth." A flower appeared at Carol's feet. "But I can heal things as well."

"Erik and I are the eldest son and daughter, so we have all seven of the powers." I finished up.

"What is so dangerous about telling us that?" Caleb asked.

"That's not what the important secrets are, this is though." I signaled for them to follow me into the library.

"Does it ever end?" Luke asked sarcastically, gawking at the rows and rows of book shelves.

"Actually, no, it doesn't." Sam answered distractedly.

I explained as Sam moved under the unbelieving stares, "There is a book on everything, every place, every event, and everyone that has or will ever exist." I paused and let everything sink in, then continued when the same suspicious look crossed everyone's face. "Yes, that does include all of you." I then continued to lead them to the back wall.

If you had a book on each of us, then why didn't you know about our talents? Caleb muttered in my mind.

We don't read about anything in here unless we have a reason to. "The only books that aren't in here are the books about us, they are hidden. But to get there, we must go through a passage that is designed for us to know our surroundings, but others won't. So, to get there, you're gonna have to have some serious trust in us."

They turned and looked at Caleb. After a quick glance at me, he nodded to them. The floor dropped down after a simple, but unique, spell. Leaving us in a pitch black hallway, due to the spell that had been placed before I could sense every little detail about the place.

Caleb? How is the seeing issue? I asked, our minds were connected but I was getting no sign that he was disoriented.

I'm fine.

Interesting.

Everyone held on to their "buddy" as we walked down the passage, whether they realized it or not. Caleb and I were the only ones who didn't. As we walked in silence it occurred to me, but was smothered quickly, that it was possible that Caleb had found out about previous thoughts, the ones I didn't want him to know about.

He let out a small laugh that clearly meant I had to be faster at concealing my thoughts. What previous thoughts?

Nothing! I thought a little too quickly and then went back to concentrating on not thinking about it.

Oh, come on, let me see! I could feel his mind trying to search mine.

Absolutely not!

Why not?

Too embarrassing! This hall is longer than usual.

He laughed again, I won't tell anyone.

Yeah, I would rather they know before you! I'm not entirely sure that some of them haven't already guessed. My mood had been steadily getting more and more annoyed during that conversations, and apparently he sensed it, because he allowed us to start walking in silence again.


Chapter 7

It took a few more minutes to get to the end of the tunnel, which opened up into a nice little sitting room, with several book shelves that held my family's history, their secrets, whatever anyone wanted to know about us was here. It took a few hours for them to find out what they wanted to know about us. My siblings and I had already read all of these years ago, so we busied ourselves by simply watching their reactions, some of which were very interesting.

"That was, um, boring!" Kevin commented, putting a book back on the shelf.

"It was a good story." Kelly said joining us, "Kev just hates reading."

"Depends on the book!" Kevin retaliated.

"Comic books don't count."

Kevin opened his mouth to continue, but Caleb cut him off. "Come on you two." He sighed, rolling his eyes. They always start fighting over the littlest things.

Yeah, I know the feeling. I laughed, remembering the many times that we had had arguments, friendly arguments like Kevin and Kelly, about little things. A small laugh escaped him as well.

"Now then," Luke said, the last to join us. "I don't suppose we could get a tour of the castle?"

"Not tonight, well, actually, now it's morning. And we do have to go to school." I replied, causing a little ripple of groans.

As we started to walk down the hallway again, Caleb popped into my mind again. That reminds me, where were you first block?

In class of course.

No you weren't!

Yes I was! Just not as myself!

There was a short pause before he continued. The reporter?

I nodded and we continued on silently.

We reached the exit shortly, that's when the newest problem arose. "Uh," Caleb said without really thinking about what he was thinking. "I think our homes are more than 300 feet apart."

"Well, that leaves two options." Erik began, "You could find a way to cut the distance, or you could cut the connection, but don't forget about that final detail."

"I won't." I replied hurriedly as everyone else filed out the portal home. "See you tomorrow." The portal closed, I could make a new one.

"What detail?" Caleb hissed at me. I had to concentrate to keep myself from shrinking away from his cold aura. But I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes.

"I sort of thought it was a minor one, and wouldn't really matter." I began, my eyes staring past him at neck level, he was tall. "The connection can only be used between two people once, in other words, once it's removed it won't return."

Several long seconds past before he replied, I knew it wasn't an unimportant detail. I hoped his reply would tell me a little bit more about him, but all he said was, "Oh." And it hurt, he was disappointed. The hurt confused me, this all confused me, I didn't want to care like this, it would end badly!

What would end badly? Caleb interrupted my thoughts. I think we should keep the connection.

Uh, nothing, nothing will end badly! I tried, and probably failed, to smile. Then it dawned on me that the tone of his thoughts sounded different, as if he was trying to calm a hurt child or something. I think we should end it. As a matter of fact I think we should all pretend this never happened.

His eyes widened when he realized that I was serious. No, you said that both minds must be in agreement. I say it stays, so it stays.

I didn't really like how he had made it sound like it was final, like he got to make the decision, which right now he kinda did I guess. "Why?" I asked aloud, tired of our arguing now. It had given me a headache.

He hesitated for a second before continuing, "Well, your mind interests me."

I glared at him, but he ignored it. "You are really stubborn aren't you?"

"Me? You seem more stubborn than I!"

"Hardly! What have I been stubborn about?"

"The secrecy thing. The refusing to talk to me after I found out part of your secret. And several things before all of this started!" He looked satisfied when my face turned to surprise, but I wasn't surprised for what he thought I was surprised for. I was surprised that he had noticed what I did before all this started. "What about me?"

"Well, let me see. You were pretty persistent about me eating or drinking something on that first day," That made me pause for a moment when I remembered a thought that I had had that day."

You were happy that it was me who you thought saved you? Caleb interrupted the memory.

Yes, but I want to know the truth about the next part. I then remembered the thought of if it was him who had knocked me out.

Silence.

So, it's true. I sighed, staring at my feet.

He sighed as well. Yes, I was the one who knocked you out, and the one who blocked your power and paralyzed your body…

Why? My thought had an edge of desperation, I didn't want him to be my enemy. Wait, you knew I had powers?

Yes, I could sense your powers…

I interrupted again, What did I look like?

I didn't know it was you. I had already changed by then?

Then who was the other person and why did you do what you did?

I don't know who the other one was, but I knocked you out because I sensed your power. I kidnapped you because I wanted to know if you were friend or foe.

Our conversation was cut short when someone cleared their throat nearby. We turned and found mother staring at us with raised eyebrows as she leaned against the wall. Apparently she'd been watching us glare at each other for the last few minutes.

"Violet? Would you mind introducing us?" She asked

"Uh, this is Caleb. Caleb, this is my mother," I paused and then added, "the queen."

Should I bow? Caleb asked in my mind.

It would be the polite and appropriate thing to do at this time. He bowed a stiff, quick bow.

"Pleased to meet you, your highness." He said while bowing. I don't suppose I'm supposed to bow to you because you're a princess?

No! I hate all that formal junk! Please just act normal to me.

Good! I wasn't planning on bowing to you.

"Violet? Why can't I hear his thoughts?" Mother asked, a little frustrated. She was eyeing Caleb suspiciously.

"Well, Erik's and my powers are protecting his and his friends' minds." I replied.

"That wouldn't matter, he is in my castle and he is not royalty. I should be able to hear his thoughts and I know you didn't purposefully create a barrier that strong, it would waste too much of your energy."

"I can hear his thoughts just fine…"

"You linked your minds together?"

"Yeah, and now we are cut off from everyone else."

"I see. Caleb, you need to go home and get some rest, same goes for you, Violet."

"That's the problem, our houses are too far apart, the connection won't let us. Mind if we barrow two rooms?"

"Violet, you know that this is your home too, and the rooms are always open to you and your friends as needed." She said and then pulled me over and talked in a voice was for my ears only. "But are you sure about him?"

"Yes, I trust him." I replied in the same tone. She gave me a look to say that I better be sure, then she straitened up and started down the hallway again.

Should I say anything? Caleb asked in my mind. Perhaps something to get her to stop giving me that look?

Better not, just act humble. Besides, she only thinks you're a spy.

Lovely. The thought was very sarcastic.

Trust me, it could be worse.

If you say so.

"That is really annoying." Mother commented, stopping near the end of a hallway. "That whole not being able to hear the conversation thing, that is. Violet, you take this room and Caleb, you may take that room across the way." She then turned and left, probably to get a guard or two to watch the rooms.

I am laying down one rule, please avoid mirrors! I mentioned as I shut the door behind me.

Same to you. I then started ignoring his thoughts, just in case.


Chapter 8

It was an interesting night, that's for sure. Since I could only ignore his thoughts while I was conscious, sleeping was insane. Our dreams seemed to be fighting each other, so all we saw were little flashes of them. And all I had when I woke up was a throbbing headache, and from the looks of Caleb, when we met in the hall, he had the same problem. Both our closets had been linked to our closets on earth, so we had our usual choice of clean clothes.

"There has got to be a better way!" Caleb muttered, massaging his temples.

"We'll deal with that later. right now we need to concentrate on school." I replied.

He glanced at his watch and then gasped. "Which starts in five minutes!"

"Relax, I have a plan," I snapped my finger twice. "That just gave the appearance that someone walked into a restroom stall in both girls and the boys restrooms, no one is actually there." I created two portals, both had the symbol for earth in it, and around the edge was the description of the exact place we wanted to go, those were different on the two portals. I signaled which one he should go through just as I took mine. We arrived in class just as the bell was ringing.

The day was a little awkward at first because we weren't sure how to act around each other. we decided to go with ignoring them. Then the day went as normal.

Do we have a test in math today, Vi? The thought popped into my mind during lunch.

Yes, but this is not a cheat sheet!

Why would I cheat off of you?

Because I'm better at math and you know it.

Try and stop me!

Don't forget that I've had a lot of practice talking about stuff without really thinking about it.

A short pause passed before he replied. Fine! Didn't really hear anything from him after that.


Chapter 9

"Show us the rest of the castle." Luke demanded after we had all finished our homework.

"Why do you want to see the castle so badly?" I replied.

Stupid question, Vi. Caleb muttered in my mind.

"Why wouldn't we? One, it's a freaking castle! Two, the first day we came here we get to see a never ending library, a secret passage way and a lot of magic!" Luke replied.

Well, all that stuff is normal, everyday things in our world. I replied to Caleb.

But not in ours. By the way, they're staring.

That turned my attention back to everyone else. "Sorry. Where shall we start?"

"How about we introduce them to mom?" Lisa suggested enthusiastically. I nodded and stifled a laugh at Caleb's sudden tenseness.

"Who?" Tim asked.

"Our mom; the queen of this area." I explained, some of their faces became very worried. "She won't lock any of you up. Just show proper respect." They nodded and we headed for the main lounge.

As usual, mom was reading, the only one there. She looked up curiously as we came in. "can I help you?"

"Yeah, just introducing you to some new people to this world." Caleb, want to demonstrate some proper respect? He stepped forward, sighing mentally. He followed the same procedure he had last night. "You remember Caleb." She nodded and I continued on, introducing everyone. They all followed Caleb's lead, except the girls curtsied.

She is still giving me a suspicious look. And she's only giving it to me she seems to be okay with the others. Caleb commented in my mind.

You're imagining things. I replied, but now that I was paying attention, she did seem to be treating him differently then everyone else. "Erik, do you want to go show everyone where the guest rooms are, in case they have some need of staying here?" I kept majority of my attention on how mom was interacting with everyone.

Erik took in my tone and nodded, he led them out the doorway. Caleb gave me a confused look, but didn't resist leaving.

"What do you have against him?" I asked mom once the door closed.

"Against who?" She replied, acting like she was only half listening.

"You already know. Caleb. From the looks of it, all you want to do is throw him in the dungeon."

"The only reason I haven't is because you seem to trust him. I never will."

"Why?"

"He's an enemy."

"Not of you he's not. He hasn't done anything."

"He hasn't, which is why he's not locked up."

"You're not making any sense!"

"He is a member of an enemy family, they could be using him as a spy. I especially don't like that I can't hear his thoughts."

Vi? Please tell me that you aren't having trouble with your mother because of me.

Have you been listening in?

No, I can honestly say I haven't.

Good and it is fine, I'm learning some information that I needed. I then remembered my other conversation. "What enemy family?"

"You were talking to him again." She saw my surprised face and continued. "You become very unfocused. What did you say to him?"

"Nothing important. What do you mean by the enemy family?"

"There is a war taking place, it is at a sort of neutral point for now. No fighting is happening right now…"

I cut her off, "A war? Why don't I know about it?"

"Mostly because your father and I have been trying to protect you and your siblings from it, in case things get bad again. Your father is out at the headquarters, going over a variety of plans in case they attack. We won't attack unless they do first…"

I interrupted again, "What started this war?" I had done away with all the 'respect your mother' stuff and was really close to just yelling at her.

"W-we don't know." She said as if she had just surrendered.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"The war has been going on for many, many years. The start of the war has been long forgotten."

"That's why all the children of the royal families have been sent to earth to learn for the past several generations, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Caleb, you have some explaining to do! "Okay, mom, I'll be careful around him, I had better be going now."

What are you talking about? Caleb replied.

"No, I was going to talk to you about something anyway. I would like you to meet someone." Mom said, finally setting her book down on the table next to her.

I'll explain later. I replied to Caleb before replying to mother. "What?"

"This is Kayla." The girl that had just entered bowed slightly. She had beautiful, curly, brown hair that went down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were bright, light brown. Her skin was light, not tan at all, but it wasn't really pale either. The way she held herself was a shy, but fierce personality. "Kayla is a trained soldier, and is one of the smartest we have. she has her own special talents that made her seem perfect for some extra protection for you and your siblings, especially when your powers fade. Kayla, this is my eldest daughter, Violet." Mother continued.

"Hello, you can call me Vi. Welcome to our little group." I spoke my greeting to Kayla.

"Your little group?" Mom laughed, "It has twenty people in it!"

"Twenty-one now. Is she registered at our school yet?"

"Yes, every thing's taken care of. I'll let you introduce her to the others." She nodded to each of us, put a bookmark in her book, and left.

"Okay, good night. shall we go see if the others are still awake?" I asked, turning to her. She nodded and we headed off.


Chapter 10

I lead her to the guestrooms where everyone said they'd be. After showing her where she could stay, we went to the guest lounge and found Erik and Caleb sitting on opposite sides of the room. "Hey guys. Where is everyone else?" I asked, standing in the doorway, debating who I should sit by and who would be hurt more if didn't sit by them, they weren't exactly friends and Erik, being my protective brother, even though he is a bit younger, had shown his dislike of Caleb and I growing closer and had said several times that I should just turn my back on him and his siblings and grow up like the rest of them.

"Asleep. They all went into the rooms, but didn't come out." Erik sighed, "Anyway, I think I'm going to turn in as well."

"Alright, By the way, this is Kayla. She was appointed to stay with us, just in case we need some protection." I introduced Kayla as he got up to leave, he nodded to her as he passed on his way out. "And that was Erik, the eldest prince and my oldest, younger sibling." I muttered once he left.

"I'm going to go too." Kayla said softly, then she left as well, leaving Caleb and I alone. In light of the upcoming conversation I decided to sit opposite him.

What? Caleb asked after at least a minute of silence.

Tell me more about your family history.

Why?

Just do it. What nationality did you say you were?

A lot, but mostly German. His thoughts were very guarded.

Really? You sure you're not more like me than you have been saying?

How did you find out?

Mom told me. Why didn't you? And no freaking duh my mom didn't trust you at first and she still doesn't! As a matter of fact, I think that's why she assigned a body guard!

Look, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think anyone would recognize me, and I knew it would be bad if someone found out. So, I just kept my mouth shut.

Well you sure aren't helping my trust. I really hope you don't think that all these secrets come to light and I'm just going to pretend they were there the whole time. No, you are going to have to watch your step and get a lot of trust back.

I understand, but may I ask that you don't say anything about this to any of the others, that's all I'm asking.

I don't really care what you have to say at the moment, though that is probably mostly because I'm getting really tired. But you had better watch yourself, one wrong move and you are going down, and trust me, it would be at my hands that this will happen. I give you my word that no one will hear of this from me without reason.

He hesitated and then started asking, timidly, "Please, say…" he cut short when his eyes darted over to the doorway behind me. I turned and saw Kayla looking at us, first curiously, then surprised.

"Sorry, I didn't hear anyone leave the room and there were no voices, so I came to make sure you were alright and wake you up to go to your rooms if need be." She explained, her eyes darting between Caleb and I, which I now realized that we were standing, still opposite sides of the room.

I glanced at Caleb before replying to Kayla. Stop glaring at her, she hasn't done anything to you. "It's alright, we're just having a quiet conversation."

"We're fine!" Caleb practically growled at her.

This would be what I was talking about when I said to watch your step!

"Alright, I'll just go back to my room then." Kayla replied, shooting me a concerned glance. I nodded in return.

Please say your word out loud.

"Don't. Just don't. You know just as well as I do that a word spoken in the mind is the same as being spoken aloud. Now please, just leave me alone." I said as I left the room, he didn't bug me the rest of the night.

The next day at school we pretended as if none of yesterday's fight had happened. I didn't speak to him, or think to him, and he did the same to me. This continued for several weeks, eventually I forgot the connection was even there. Everything went back to how it was before the secrets were out...except for the fact that Erik's and my powers were protecting 10 other people's minds and my worst enemy stayed in the same building as me at night. Soon neither of those seemed to happen either. We forgot and went to our own homes one day and nothing happened. Erik and I no longer felt the energy leaving us to protect their minds, and our two groups didn't talk, except for Sam and Tim, they were still friends. And as far as Kayla was concerned, she found herself a group to hang with, but she was always there, always watching out for trouble.

Ah, now life is good, not as complicated, right? Wrong! This is just the beginning of the end of 9th grade, I hope skipping a bunch of classes doesn't hurt my GPA too much!


Chapter 11

"Violet?" A voice came from behind me, it was the principal. "Could you show a new student around? He is in all your classes."

"Sure, is he here yet?" It was still early.

"Hi, I'm Nick." A somewhat tall, blond boy came around a corner. He walked swiftly, and definitely had some strength. As a matter of fact, there was something familiar about the way he held himself, but I couldn't tell who it looked like. And there was one more thing that I noticed, to my great surprise, he was kinda cute, trust me, I never think of guys as hot, cute, et cetera. That usually leads to trouble in the end.

"Hi Nick, I'm Violet." I nodded my greeting, thanking god, again, that I never blushed.

"Well, I must go. Good luck." The principal said as he left, leaving us to get through the day.

"There is still about half an hour before class starts, have you found your locker?" I asked, he moved forward a bit.

"Yeah." He was really close now, I instinctively moved backward, only to find my back against a wall.

"Uh, I'll give you a brief tour then. The library is this way." I said hurriedly, ducking around him and starting down the hall. He kept up with my quick pass easily.

It took a while to show him where the library, cafeteria, restrooms, nurse's office, English and Speech area, counselor's offices, Math area, Science and Social Studies area, and also the variety of other classes. In the end we were rushed to our first class, geometry.

We got there with a minute to spare, I introduced Nick to the teacher and then found my seat in between Caleb and Nick, who exchanged a greeting as well. The rest of the day went fine, he followed me throughout the day and met several of my siblings and friends. Though the alarms telling me to be wary of him never left. Actually it increased when I walked into my last class, the only class I had with Kayla. I came in, introduced Nick to the teacher, and sat down in my usual spot by where Kayla sat, Nick on my other side.

Kayla came in, in a rather good mood. Until she saw Nick, that is. Her eyes flashed with a flood of emotions. I only caught the sadness, remembrance, and anger before it was gone, ending with a glare that lasted the rest of class. I acted as if nothing was happening, though it's hard to ignore the glares going around me between them.

"I'm assuming you two know each other?" I asked her after class. Nick laughed as he walked past, but was some how gone when I turned to ask what was so funny.

"Yeah, we did. No one knows me better than he does." She said, her tone was strange, it had so many emotions mixed together. I couldn't pick them all out. Sadness, anger, happiness, and something else stood out, but what was it? "Well, I have a lot of homework, I'll meet you back at home." And she started off, that is what made everything click.

"No, I want to talk to you." I said, blocking her path. "Now," I added when she started to argue.

"What?" She asked irritably once we were sitting in the library, talking too quietly for others to hear us, we appeared to be studying.

"What do you mean 'what'?" I replied calmly, "What other 'what' could I be talking about? Explain about you and Nick."

She studied me for a second before replying, "What do you know?"

"I don't know anything more than a few observations I made. I could only pick up on a couple emotions that appear all at once when Nick comes up; joy, sadness, anger, and remembrance. There was one other thing that I couldn't figure out, that one is love, isn't it?" I paused, but continue when she didn't reply. "Also, the way you two hold yourselves, it's almost identical, you both show strength and agility. But he shows more strength and you show more agility. And you two clearly know each other. Now please tell me what's going on!"

"Fine, how much do you know about my past?"

I paused to think, "Uh, I don't really know anything more than you know Nick." I admitted, surprised at myself for not knowing more.

"Okay, then I'll start at the beginning," she sighed. "I am not from your planet, either of them. I come from a planet with fighters, not many stay there, usually just the teachers. No one is usually born their either, most are just sent there to learn. I moved there with my family when I was very young, so I pretty much grew up there. My parents weren't fighters, they helped the large numbers of people move in and out. They signed me up for school at age five, which included everything from math, to history, to science, to music, and, of course, fighting.

"We learned our 'book smarts' first, by age seven I knew everything about math, history, and science that I was expected to know. It was suggested that we continue our musical study because it was easy to carry weapons hidden in the case, the instrument, and even the music, you can use the instrument or it's case as a weapon. I entered the basic martial arts classes. After two years of these I knew quite a bit about many of the styles on your two planets, we chose classes depending on where we wanted to go next. My classes taught techniques that used our flexibilities and agility to there fullest. The training often involved strengthening ourselves, but we mostly used strategies that would win without strength.

"Nick showed up on my tenth birthday. His parents just dropped him off at the place where people register their entry and then they just left. My parents took him in. I came home from school that day and found him reading my diary!" Her voice had steadily raised toward the end.

"Yeah, and she showed me just how strong she was that day. The red, hand-shaped mark on the side of my face took hours to heal." Nick said, sitting down at our table. Kayla quietly gathered all her stuff in one sweep and left without another word.

"So, she's mad at you for reading her diary?" I asked, turning my attention to Nick.

"No, she forgave me after she slapped me." He replied as he got up to leave, he then paused and added, "I did something much worse, something I should not be forgiven for. Just know this, I did what I did and now I travel alone. There is only one person who can trust me and she is the only one who never will." And then he left, leaving me with my thoughts. I sighed and finished my homework.


Chapter 12

Kayla never showed up at home and no one had seen her since school. It worries me that she just vanished, but she is just as able as any of us to live on her own, and she probably needs a break after the new arrival. I promised myself not to worry unless she didn't show up tomorrow, especially if Nick didn't show either.

Nick showed up, but Kayla didn't. "Do you know where she is?" I hissed at Nick during our first class, Caleb turned in surprise at my mood, but I ignored him.

"Who?" Nick replied after a second.

"You know who!" I replied icily, "If you did something to her..."

"I didn't do anything to her!" He cut me off angrily. "I told you yesterday that there is only one person who can trust me and she is the one person who never will. Only she can trust me because she is the only one I cant hurt, not again." If Caleb wasn't there, listening to every word, I would have pushed the subject.

About half way through the class an envelope was given to me. The front was hand written:



The note inside was in the same writing:



I finished reading and noticed that both Nick and Caleb had their heads tilted over to read it. Nick's eyes widened in surprise a little. "What?" I asked when it happened.

"Nothing, just a little surprised at something." He replied and then started ignoring me, yeah, we are going to be the best of friends.