It had been a week since the new trio's first day of training. Stella, Edmond, and Celestine had been waiting in front of the portal for nearly twenty minutes. Stella turned her head as she searched for Helene, but she was nowhere to be found. Stella found it odd; Helene was always the first to be there.

Edmond checked his wristwatch. "It's nine ten. Should we go ahead?"

"No," Celestine said, "we can't leave them behind. I'll call them."

She retrieved her cellphone from her purse. She dialed a number, turned on speaker mode, and held it close to her face. It took a few seconds for José to pick up.

"Hello?" said José.

"Hello," she said, "what's taking you so long?"

"I'm on the way, I'll be there shortly."

"Shortly, shortly! You're lucky Helene is too busy to be with us today. She would've dragged you using telekinesis by now."

"Si, si, we're almost there. I'll see you soon, goodbye," he said. She promptly hung up on him and put her phone back into her purse.

"Zia, why is Helene not joining us this today?" Stella asked.

"She has some things to do. She may be retired, but sometimes they ask her to help train the recruits or do other things," she answered.

Footsteps sounded from the other side. The father and son had finally arrived! Celestine rolled her eyes at them as they climbed down the stairs and approached the portal. "Sorry we're late," José apologized. Celestine said nothing and pressed her hand on the door.

They crossed to the other world. It took them a little longer to reach the gymnasium. Helene often treaded at a quick pace; without her, they walked more relaxedly. Stella observed that the dilapidated buildings that once lined the ladder street had been replaced with low-rise residences and an expansive playground.

The apartments on the left side were unlike anything she had seen; their rooftops doubled as hanging gardens. Waterfalls cascaded from one roof to another, their source of water coming from the cascading fountains that occupied the park above them. Short, thick, fruit-bearing trees and flowering bushes filled most of the rooftops. Circular hatches, similar to the ones found on submarines or on top of underground chambers, served as entrances to people's homes. Tiny balconies with iron railings were built on the walls facing away from the ladder street, most of them allowing only enough space for two people to stand. The windows facing the ladder street were small, square, and could only be opened from the inside.

On the right side, a children's park stretched from the bottom of the ladder street to the edge of the cul-de-sac. In addition to the usual slides, swings, and seesaws, the playground boasted six sets of zip lines, varying in height and length. Stella felt tempted to ask Celestine if she could drop by the playground but felt too shy; she was already thirteen years old.

They arrived at the gymnasium. When they had managed to find their room, José retrieved his card from his pocket and held it in front of the scanner. The door automatically opened. Before they began training, Celestine made an announcement.

"Helene can't be with us now because she has some things to do. Edmond, you will join Stella and me for your first lesson today," she informed.

"Okay," he said nonchalantly.

He walked towards the right side and stood next to Stella. A barrier surfaced in the middle of the room. Celestine used her tablet to summon two identical targets, located ten meters away from where the two were standing, and formed a force field around herself. She placed her tablet on a nearby table.

"Today is going to be interesting," she began, "because now you're going to create your own lightning! If you miss your first shots, don't worry, because it is usually harder to control your own lightning versus directing from a source. The first step is to separate the positive and negative charges in your body."

"And how do we do that?" he asked.

"You just feel it. Actually, one method that can help you is to bring your two fingers together like this," she said, pointing her index and middle fingers at each other. The two teenagers imitated her.

"Like this?" Stella asked.

"Yes," she said.

Stella stared at her fingers, their tips nearly touching. She did not feel anything for a while. She glanced to her right to see what Edmond was doing and immediately saw sparks flying between his fingertips. How did he do that, she thought. She looked back at her own fingers and tried to recreate what she had just seen. Slowly, she began feeling warm tingles in her arms, which spread to the rest of her body through her shoulders. Buzz. A few sparks flashed between her fingertips.

"Good. Now put your left hand down and point your right arm at the target. Don't straighten your arm yet—leave it a little bent," Celestine instructed them, lifting her limb to show them.

The two of them aimed at the targets with their right hand. Stella's elbow slightly pointed towards the floor as she adjusted her arm. She then glanced at Celestine once more to make sure that she was aiming properly.

"To fire, just straighten your arm. Give it a little push." Celestine demonstrated.

Stella nodded her head, peered at the target, and fired her first shot. A bolt of quicksilver left her fingertips and zigzagged across the room before striking the wall. She missed it! She tried again. Another bolt shot from her fingers. It hit the ninth ring. Still a long way from the bullseye, but she did not miss it this time. She tried again. Sometimes her lightning hit the eighth circle, other times the seventh, and one time she reached the fifth. After a while, she managed to reach the outer edge of the third ring.

"Oof, that was close," Stella said aloud.

"How close?" Edmond asked. "Which circle did you hit?"

"The third one. You?"

"The second one."

He zapped the target. A mark was left at the edge between the second and first circle. Stella's gaze lingered at his target. From the looks of it, it was not the first time he had hit that close to the bullseye.

The next shot Stella fired missed the target. She observed Edmond briefly as he repeatedly struck the second ring, whereas hers were spread around the target. How is he so good? she wondered. We both started just last week. A white bolt of lightning shot from Edmond's hand and hit the target squarely in the middle, sounding the bell. He brought his fingertips to his mouth and casually blew the smoke off his two fingers, like how men would blow the smoke off their pistols. Meanwhile, Stella was struggling. Some of her shots would strike near the edge of the first ring whereas others were scattered around the other rings. She glanced at him out the corners of her eyes. He was as still as the metal bar he was leaning on, his arms folded across his chest as he silently observed her. She returned her gaze to the target. She zapped the fifth ring, then the third, and then the eighth.

"Do you need help?" Celestine asked.

"A little bit," she replied. "I don't know why my shots are inconsistent."

"Your arm is recoiling when you fire. Try to be still."

Stella tried following her advice. The next few shots were more consistent than the previous ones, skimming the edges of the second and third rings. A few of her other shots barely missed the first ring.

"You need to improve your aim," Edmond said.

"What?"

"Align your fingers with your eyes," he clarified. "Fold your thumb; it's blocking your view."

Stella gave a slight nod and followed him. She adjusted her aim, folded her fingers, and tried for the twenty-fifth time. A flash of violet escaped her fingers and struck the target. Ding! A dark mark formed squarely in the middle.

"Great job, both of you!" Celestine said. "Now do it with the left hand."

Edmond and Stella relaxed their right arms and aimed with their left. She glanced at him. He lifted his left arm, aimed, and fired. Ding! Stella gaped at him while Celestine raised her eyebrows; he struck the bullseye on his first attempt!

The rest of the lesson played out similarly. Every time Celestine give them a task, whether it be striking still targets or shooting at moving ones, Edmond would finish them in little time. And since he was always so quick to finish them, he ended up spending much of the lesson waiting for Stella to catch up. Stella wondered if he had already learned those techniques with Helene or if he was simply that talented. She was leaning towards the latter.

Their morning lesson ended two hours later, as usual. The temporary barrier sunk into the floor and the equipment vanished into thin air. Jon jogged towards Edmond and Stella as José and Celestine placed the tablets back into their proper spots.

"Hi. How was it, you know, learning together?" Jon asked them.

"It was alright."

"He lowered my self-esteem," Stella said, laughing. Jon looked at her, a bit confused. She then clarified, "He's so good that it makes me look bad."

"You're not bad," Edmond said, "you're alright."

"Yeah, but compared to you, I'm bad."

"Wait, what happened?"

"One time my aunt asked us to shoot targets with our left hand. I had to shoot ten times, but he hit the bullseye on his first try," Stella told him.

Jon's mouth opened. "Really—"

"Time to go," José said, interrupting their conversation.

The trio followed José and Celestine out of the room. As they exited the gymnasium and strolled towards the portal, the trio continued their chitchat. Most of their conversation revolved around Jon's healing lesson. In order to teach him how to heal wounds and scars, his father used a humanoid robot that could bruise and bleed like a person. Apparently, Jon was better at healing than his other powers, so his father taught him more techniques than what was initially planned. The two decided that they would focus on healing than his other abilities.

The five of them continued walking the same path until they had reached the portal to Earth.

***

The five of them met up at Old Port Warehouse at ten minutes to two o'clock. They arrived at the gymnasium about eight minutes later.

"Stella, this time you'll be with José and Jon. Edmond, stay with me," Celestine informed them.

Stella nodded her head and walked towards the left side of the room. Jon was eagerly waving to her, motioning her to stand next to him. José picked up his tablet as the temporary wall surfaced in the middle of the room. Ten cannons, about five times the size of bamboo sticks, emerged from the floor, walls, and ceiling, pointing at Jon and Stella from five different directions.

"I'm pretty excited for this lesson because we're going to use cannons!" José said, his brown eyes brightening. "Don't worry, the cannonballs are not that hard, you will only suffer minor injuries. Anyway, so far we've only focused on protecting ourselves. But what if someone else is in danger? We can use our powers to protect them. But first, Stella, what was the hardest thing Celestine taught you?"

"The hardest thing? I think it would be rear shields, or sphere shields," she answered him. José raised his eyebrows.

"Sphere shields?"

"It's a force field that... envelopes you so it's like you are in a big ball."

"You're already at that stage? That's a bit advanced," José remarked. He stole a glance at Jon before he went on, "So this is going to be very simple. I will launch a cannonball at... Juan... yes, and Stella you will try to protect him. Don't worry, no pressure."

He promptly pressed his screen. A cannonball launched straight towards Jon. Stella lunged forward with both arms as if she were throwing something in front of him. Bump. Stella watched in horror as the round shot slammed into Jon's chest, knocking him backward. Her shield materialized a nanosecond too late.

"Ay," said José, "maybe that was too fast. Juan, get up! We'll try with a slower ball this time."

Jon slowly stood up, massaging his aching sternum, and kicked the cannonball away. He took a deep breath and glanced at Stella, his eyes spelling don't let him kill me. Stella readied herself, waiting for the cannon to fire. Boom! She once again threw her hands in Jon's direction. Fwshh. A wall of semi-transparent violet popped up in front of him. The projectile bounced off the force field and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Jon breathed a sigh of relief.

The next two hours felt much longer than they were. Stella realized why Jon was so elated to have a classmate—finally, someone could share in his misery. Round shots launched at them from five different directions simultaneously at speeds much higher than they started with. Stella had been hit by the projectiles twice; one hit her right shoulder while the other one slammed into her back. Jon was more unfortunate, having been hit by the cannonballs more than ten times. Some hit his chest, others slammed into his back, a few struck his arms, and one even knocked him on the head! Stella lost count of how many times she had to apologize to Jon for failing to summon the shields in time.

José checked his wristwatch. He then tapped his tablet's screen a few times. The cannons faded into the walls and ceilings while the projectiles vanished into thin air. "Time's up," he told them. Stella and Jon looked at each other, the two of them smiling faintly.

"Are you hurt?" he asked her.

"A little, but I bet you're hurt more. Sorry for being too slow."

"It's okay. I can always heal myself." Jon placed his left hand on his right shoulder. A baby blue light emanated from his palm, seeping into his shoulder.

The central force field dematerialized. Edmond casually walked across the room to Jon and Stella. His eyes darkened upon noticing Jon healing himself.

"Oh, Jon, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. What did Celestine teach you?"

"Nothing much. She just taught me how to make lightning nets and whips. What did you guys do?"

"Jon's dad fired cannons at us," Stella said.

Edmond raised an eyebrow. "Wait, cannons?"

"Small cannons," Jon clarified. "We had to create force fields in front of... let's say Stella is about to get hit by a ball, I have to create the force field to protect her. If I am about to get hit, then she has to protect me."

"Aïe, I hope you didn't get too hurt."

Bang! The door burst open as Helene barged into the room. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head, her already pale face was drained of color, and her mouth was gasping for air. She yelled at them,

"We must leave, now!"

✧ ✧ ✧

Fun Fact: Out of all the adult characters mentioned in this book so far, only José played a role in the very first draft.

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