Liz knew the second the tunnels appeared which one she was meant to return to. Her feet hardly touched the ground as an unknown force propelled her forward. Sure enough, the marble walls ended and the smooth floor dropped off at a steep angle. Liz could barely make out a lake or pond at the bottom of the drop.

Liz had faced this cliff many times. Every year something different happened. Once it was an illusion, and when she jumped off she immediately landed on solid ground, but another time the cliff stayed exactly the same. Last year when she jumped she landed on her side on a steep grassy hill and rolled down the rest of the way. You never could know what to expect.

Liz's chest shuddered as she looked down into the abyss. She wasn't scared of much, but she was for sure scared of heights. All around her older girls and some girls her age were plunging off the cliff. She finally pulled herself together and closed her eyes tight, leaping forward off the cliff edge.

The second she jumped she was surrounded by warm water. Liz quickly swam to the surface and looked around, sighing in relief. Surrounding her was the warm water of a pool. When she looked up at the cliff she had just jumped off with, the rocky edge nowhere to be seen. Instead, she saw the smooth stone of a pool edge.

Liz climbed out of the pool and was handed a towel by a familiar face.
"Lizzy!"
She looked up to see her best friend, Carmen, handing her a plush white towel.
"Carmen!" Liz grinned at her best friend and quickly hugged her. "How's New York?" She asked, drying off her hair. A sign hanging above the exit to the pool directed the girls down a hallway to the 5th year's rooms

"Why do you always seem so interested in my boring lander life? Your town is so much cooler. You can use your thrafts whenever you want!" Carmen said, looking to Liz.

"It's not that fun. When you're 14 you can only use your thrafts before town curfew." Liz said, nonchalantly.

"Liz. I haven't used my power in two months. The second I stepped in the welcome hall, my powers basically burst out!" Carmen said, throwing her arms to her sides.

You could say that Carmen had a flair for the dramatics.

"You think I'm joking? Ask kid who was next to me who now has bright blue hair." Carmen said, her own hair turning bright blue as she spoke.

Liz laughed and pointed to the wall. "Look! Room assignments! I hope you're close to me again. It's so nice that we all get our own rooms this year. I remember being a 1st year. We had to share with 4 other girls, that was awful." Liz said, scanning the page.

"Hey!" Carmen exclaimed with a fake-horrified face. "I was one of your roommates!" She said, elbowing Liz. Liz laughed and ran a finger down the page.

"Carmen Changan, 406 and...... Liz Schuyler 405!" Liz jumped up in the air gleefully, grinned at Carmen. Carmen grinned and winked at Liz.

"You can thank me for that. Milly was in charge of room assignments, and I happened to follow her around the entire summer, begging her to put us next to each other. Older sisters come in handy." Carmen said.
We're going to have some fun late night talks. Speaking of, have you heard about..." Carmen's voice shrunk as another student walked up next to them. Carmen grabbed Liz's arm and pulled her into a near by closet.

"Have you heard?" Carmen glanced around anxiously.
"Heard about what?" Liz responded, equally confused and excited.
"I don't know if it's well known yet, but guess who's in the Powell cohort?"

Liz looked at Carmen, puzzled. "Who?" She asked.

"A girl."