"How are you going to do it?" I asked suspiciously. "You know nothing about me."

Desma looked at me. "We've studied you. We know what you're capable of. We can help you."

"And, most importantly, we want to," Aliyah interjected.

I smiled at them. "Thanks, but I don't know how that would work," I said. "I'm just too complicated."

Katie looked at me. "It's nothing I can't fix," she smiled quirkily.

Me and Katie met Desma, Aliyah and Samantha after Katie's last lesson. Most of the classrooms were empty now that the first-year students' school days were not as long as the rest of the students'. Desma had chosen the Duel, as they were privileged to have access to the room thanks to their roles as students of the Sapphires.

I was nervous. I hadn't even figured out half of what my ability entailed, and changing teachers as many times as I actually had hadn't exactly helped much.

I started by giving myself access to Desma's thoughts. That was the easiest part. She had what felt like several thousand of them in her head. She made it extra difficult for me. At first the occasional thought from Katie got in as well, but after about four tries it wasn't a problem anymore.
When Desma then asked me to take control of her, I was more skeptical. But I needed to know how far I could stretch my ability without collapsing completely.

That I managed to control Jake so well during the Duel had been pure coincidence. Beginner's luck. Besides, I had wanted to. I had wanted to take control of him. That was not the case with Desma.

Katie saw that I hesitated. She gestured to her older sister who nodded in response.
"Take your time, Aline," said Desma. "No rush. We'll wait until you're done."

I nodded gratefully and took a deep breath, shaking off the bad feeling that had begun to grow. Prepared myself. "Let's go," I said.

I took it easy and carefully while I took control of Desma. She didn't fight back, but let me do it without so much as blinking.

As soon as I felt her body connected to mine, I was able to relax a little. What I considered to be the most mentally difficult was now over. The controlling itself was relatively simple. At least when I didn't let my emotions take over.

I didn't dare to do the most difficult things, but started simply by making Desma walk a few steps forward and finish by spinning a lap. When she looked at me, told me to keep going, that's exactly what I did. I developed my command, making her run up and down the room.

Katie, Aliyah and Samantha laughed hysterically. Especially Katie.

Apparently, it was amusing to watch her older sister do things she didn't really want to do.

We continued with my commands for a few minutes. Finally, Desma asked me to stop, saying that we had worked enough and that I had done well. That was also how it felt.

I had been so preoccupied with first surviving Mrs. Downhill's lesson in Control, as she so nicely renamed it, to then having a far better one with Desma and her friends during the time I didn't really have one, that I didn't notice how the time just flew by. Suddenly the last week had come to an end and even though it was meant to be a week to take it easy, I had toiled like an animal. And I wasn't unhappy about it. It went well now. Even better than it had done with Liam in the few lessons we actually had.
I had really taken command now.

Although I didn't like the idea, I agreed with Katie's nagging to take it easy at least on the last day. After all, it was graduation day.
"No education allowed," she said, and once she mentioned it, I realized how tired I was. But, it's clear, after four weeks of intensive training without a break, that's the result you can expect.
Every day after school had started with a conversation inside Simon's room. With neither Liam nor mom present, my visits became even more important than they had been.
I had screamed, cried and even fell asleep in there. The latter was not the intention and besides, I had been super tired that day.

As soon as I slipped through the door to Mystic from my room, Tristan and Katie greeted me. Despite Katie's plea that we be dressed in matching outfits, I had opted for something more... simple.
A knee-length, black dress and heels and my otherwise curly, in honor of the day, flat hair had to do the job. To make Katie happy, I had chosen the sparkly version of the dress I usually wore everyday.

Both Sam's bracelet and the Mystic anklet were in their proper places, and to be honest there were no plans to take them off.
I had considered skipping the fancy dress and just wearing a simple t-shirt and my worn jeans, but I didn't want to be too boring.

When Katie caught sight of me, a big smile spread across her lips.
She wore a neon pink pantsuit that was decorated with butterflies in yellow, orange and blue, all in neon. In the high ponytail sat the associated butterfly jewelry in the same colors. It was... something extra. It hadn't been difficult to say no to it.
But I admired her courage to come to school wearing such a unique look.

"I heard the Citrines were having some kind of game now before dinner," Katie said. "Shall we check it out?"

I nodded slowly, lost in my own thoughts. "Mhm," I replied.

Tristan seemed to notice that I wasn't really interested in the game that I was probably going to lose anyway, so he saved me a few minutes of the far too long hours ahead.
"By the way," he said. "Mr. Brock was looking for you before. It seemed important. Something about Simon, I think."

I smiled at him, grateful for the rescue. "Thank you," I said. "I'll go search him up right away."

He nodded in response.

"But, Aline!" Katie called after me. "What about the game?"

"Start without me!" I answered over my shoulder.

I saw Katie give Tristan an angry look before they continued down the hall.

I guessed that Mr. Brock was at his residence, so that's where I went.
I knocked. Stood waiting for a few minutes, forced to knock again.
This time the door opened and Mr. Brock looked at me.

I smiled a little stiffly. "Hey," I said, "Tristan said you wanted to see me?"

He nodded and opened the door even more so I could step inside.

His place was just as messy as the last time I was there, if not more so.
I sat down in the same spot.

"I thought I'd have a cup of tea before I go down to the festivities down there," said Mr. Brock. "The water just finished boiling. Would you like some?"

I nodded, accepting the offer.
Mr. Brock poured two cups of tea and handed me one. I didn't care what flavor it was.

I was a bit puzzled why Mr. Brock called me into his office. Sure, Tristan had said it was about Simon, but... The only thing that could be about Simon was curing him, and that was impossible.

Mr. Brock looked at me, studied me. "We've come up with a thing," he said.

I watched him, waiting for him to continue.

He sighed. "As you know, your brother's situation is very serious. Unusual, moreover. It has only occurred once before, and that was several hundred years ago, before my time. Therefore, we don't really know how to manage—cure—this disease. It's already been three years, and nothing has happened..."

Here I interrupted him. "It sure has," I said. "He's gotten out. Twice! There's still a chance to save him."

"And that's great," he continued. "That's where I'm going. We—or rather Liam—have found a potential solution." He looked at me a little uncertainly when he mentioned Liam.

I took a sip of my now lukewarm tea. It didn't taste too bad. I had never learned to drink tea, had never liked it.
I tried to seem unfazed, to hold back the feelings I had for him. "What solution?" I asked.

Mr. Brock looked at me again. "That you would get into his mind. You know, because your ability is to control people. Liam thought that you might be able to reach Simon that way... Basically, that you would try to wake him up from his trance."

"At least we can try," I said quietly. I was unsure. Liam only had a theory. A theory that may not have worked. But if I didn't try, it was like I gave up. Gave up hope of ever getting my brother back.

"Then," replied Mr. Brock, clapping his hands. "That's all I wanted. Come on, we'll go down and enjoy the festivities."

The Hall was full of students when me, Tristan and Katie settled down next to Izadora where she sat at the Blue Topaz table.
She had placed herself a few chairs away from the other students and I suspected it was on purpose. This was her last term and neither Simon nor Liam were involved.
She looked up as we approached, as if to show that she at least noticed us. Then she returned to staring at the empty table in front of her.

Katie looked at me. "This is it," she said.

I nodded slowly as I looked at Mr. Brock, who was now making his way up to his seat in front of the teachers' table.

"Welcome everyone!" began Mr. Brock. "Now another semester has come to an end. For many of you, it was your first ever." He looked out over the front row of long tables. "I hope you have been well taken care of by your respective dorms." Mr. Brock realized that he was starting to lose us, and immediately hurried to change the subject.

While he was doing that, I felt a hand on my shoulder and suddenly an older guy appeared next to me. I guessed he was in third grade. "Hey, Aline," he whispered.
Hearing my name made me jump, and my first instinct was to ask him how he knew my name, but then I remembered the fact that I was famous among basically every student in the school.
"If you head down to the Duel, you'll find someone who would like to see you," the guy continued.

I did as the guy said, and as an excuse to be able to leave the table without having any suspicious eyes directed at me, I lied about having to go to the bathroom. It wasn't actually a lie as I drank a lot of unnecessary drink without caring about the consequences consisting of one or more visits to the toilet.

I saw how Mr. Brock glanced at me as I left the room though he was still giving his speech. I looked at him nervously, but when he nodded I stopped and continued through the room.
As I rounded the corner of the corridor, I immediately saw a tall figure I recognized.

Liam.

Given his desperate expression, something was not right. Finally he just said it. "I'm so sorry, Aline."

I frowned. "For what?"

"That I left you." He looked at me pleadingly. "But I had to. He forced me."

"W-Who?"

"Hector Baluf," he replied.

I pretended not to understand what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"It's me," he explained. "I am the spy."

I literally dropped my jaw. "So it was true then?!"

Liam looked at me in surprise. "What?"

"Mr. Brock...," I began. The tears flooded. "Mr. Brock thought... He was right."

His eyes watered as he understood what Mr. Brock told me. "I didn't want to, Aline," he said. "I was forced."

I looked at him, demanding an explanation.

He sighed. "At first I obeyed him, carried out his plan. But after about five years-"

Here I stopped him. "Five years?!"

It took me a little while to figure it out but... "Ever since you guys started at Mystic?!"

Liam nodded, obviously guilty. "Unfortunately, that's the way it is."

I couldn't believe it.
Liam, who I thought I had gotten to know over the past few months, had had completely different motives. He had just wanted to get to me.
I boiled inside and a small part of me was tempted to use my ability, take control of him. But I forced myself to stand still, listen to his forgiveness.

"My first move was to befriend Simon. But things were moving too slowly and he was starting to lose patience. It wasn't until you started at Mystic that I was able to carry out the plan. And then another problem had arisen. By then I'd been attached by you."

"Why couldn't you just do what you were going to do so we didn't have to have this conversation?" I asked.

Liam didn't answer.

"Why not?"

Still no answer.

"Why not?" I continued to question Liam who had now started pacing back and forth across the floor like he was a model at a fashion show. He was frustrated, irritated.

"Why not?" I repeated.

He didn't answer, but just continued walking his pretend catwalk.

"Please Liam, answer my question," I said. "Why. Not?"

He turned to me with tears streaming down his cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. "For God's sake, Aline!" he exclaimed. "Isn't it obvious?!"

I had it figured out, but I just couldn't say it. I didn't know what to say. Sure, I'd had a premonition of what it was about, but I'd never really thought about what I'd say when the opportunity came knocking.

"I..." He paused to take a deep sigh, gathering his courage. "I like you, Aline."

"I like you too...," I replied, watching him light up, "...but not like that. You're Simon's best friend, and"—I paused and sighed—"and that you will always be."

He sighed in annoyance. "Of course," he said. "Simon does it again."

"Huh?" I said shocked. "What do you mean?"

But Liam didn't answer. Instead he went and fetched a vase. I foresaw what was about to happen, heard his thought in my head. And so he did it.
He threw the vase at me.

I jumped away, acted quickly.

Liam looked at me stunned. "How...?"

"Simon," I answered shortly.

"Of course," he snorted. "Simon."

"What do you mean?"

It wasn't meant to upset Liam, but I wanted answers to my questions. I needed answers.

"You do not understand!" he exclaimed.

He was right. I didn't understand at all why he acted the way he did.

"Simon took everything from me. Izzy. My reputation. The school. He was always the best and prettiest. Simon. The school's A kid."

"Were you never grateful to have him as a friend?" I asked. The question had come up during the minutes we had now been discussing back and forth. Could it be so?

He turned around. "No," he said. "No, I wasn't."

A few minutes of silence. Then Liam calmed down again, sighed, prepared to continue. I let him. "By helping you with Simon, I went against the rules." He must have found out that Mr. Brock had talked to me about Simon. "And then I just ignored it, ignored the mask," he continued. "After that, I've been nothing but honest."

It was now that I realized how strong Liam's feelings for me actually were. He really loved me.

It felt like it was my turn to say something, speak out. But just as I was about to do it, the clock struck twelve.
Liam became hysterical. He looked back and forth between the corridors, looking for something.
And that's when I heard them.

The dog bark.