Chapter 17

         There are some things I need to explain to you. As you may have guessed, we can't truly feel human emotions. That doesn't mean we can't feel anything. My brothers and I love each other just as you would love your brother (hopefully he's not too annoying), and we can feel pain and sorrow. The difference is that our emotions aren't as strong as human emotions. There's love that a hecapsycheir might feel for their family, there's love for a friend, and love between husband and wife. I'm pretty sure that Vesta and Vasuman fell in between the "love for a friend" and "love between husband and wife" category.

         Another thing about the hecapsycheires. We don't need bathrooms. Waste for a hecapsycheir who can control fire is ash. Waste for wood are small shavings. We don't eat. We get our strength from being inside, next to, or around our element. My brothers and I ate in the mortal world so we wouldn't arouse suspicion. For me, I basically threw my food into an incinerator. That happened internally so people couldn't see it, but once it entered my mouth, I lit it on fire, and used it to fuel the flames.

         Seven days had passed since I saw Vadrak and Thor in my dream. Irvin was doing most of the research that he could with the books that Vesta and her friends had around the house. We needed to be able to get out of the house to find more books, for that, we needed to extend the protective spells.

         One day, after sitting around for days, Demetrio was sick with cabin fever and had to let off some steam.

         "Why can't we get out of here? Oh, right, because of Vadrak and his Heinous Knights. Well, they can go back to Dimension Z for all I care, I'm tired of sitting around here like a pig waiting to be slaughtered. I need to do something!" Demetrio roared. After that, Demetrio sat back down on the sofa looking embarrassed. "Sorry, I just needed to rant."

         "It's not a problem," Gina said, as she entered the room. "We all understand you're feeling cooped up."

         Vesta and Izumi joined us in the sitting room.

         "Maybe there is something we could do," Vesta said.

         "What did you have in mind?" I asked.

         "I'll tell you, but I'd be pretty mad if I didn't hear what I had to say and everyone else knew what was happening. We should collect everyone here for a meeting."

         We all agreed, and Demetrio and I ran to find our other brothers while Vesta, Gina, and Izumi went to find Aurelia and Tamara. Once my brothers, Vesta, her friends, and I had assembled in the sitting room, Vesta told us our plan.

         "When Aden had his dream last week, it gave us access to the enemy's plans. We used that information to hide; we didn't actually do anything about it," Vesta started. "It seemed like the Elders liked the idea that Vadrak put in their heads. Maybe we could try and find how this will affect us."

         "How what will affect us?" Tamara asked.

         "Vadrak wants something, and he wants it badly. My guess is that it's not going to be good for us," Vesta replied.

         "He wanted the Elders to move us to a new dimension. Maybe he just wants to get rid of us," Aurelia suggested.

         "I think that's possible, but I think it's much more complicated than that," Vesta said.

         "I have an idea," Timur said.

         "What is it?" Hearst asked.

         "There's a lot of variables, but if it worked, we might know more."

         "Come on, Timur, what's your idea?" Demetrio asked.

         "I think that if we could find a way to spy on Vadrak through our dreams or some way to spy on him without going near him, we could figure out what his plans are. We could find his weaknesses, we could protect people he wanted to hurt, well, we'd know his plans in advance so we could be prepared for whatever he throws at us."

         "Timur, that is fabulous idea," Irvin said.

         "Wait, do you know how to control dreams?" Timur asked.

         "No, but there is another way," Irvin replied

         "What's the other way?" Izumi asked.

         "There's a way, I don't know how exactly, but a hecapsycheir can see things through their elements. Aden and Vesta, you could watch Vadrak through a wall of fire. Demetrio, Gina, you could see through the soil in the ground, and Timur and Aurelia could see through a large sheet of metal. Izumi, you and I could watch the ocean or rivers for Vadrak's plans. Hearst, Tamara, the two of you could see using trees or perhaps even wooden furniture."

         We let all of that sink in. I broke the silence by saying "That sounds incredible. How would we do it?"

         "I know that we're undercover here, but I think I know how to extend the protective spells. They could cover each of us so that we could find the resources we needed to learn how to see Vadrak's plans through our element," Irvin replied.

         "So we could leave here unseen, get the books we need, and do what we needed to do to so that we can spy on Vadrak without being anywhere near him?" Gina asked.

         "Yes. I think that the quickest thing to do would be to let me go out and get what we need. Wait for me to return and then we can figure out a plan from there."

         We all agreed and stayed out of Irvin's way as he got ready to leave without being detected. While Irvin was gone, I stared at the wall and thought about the possibility of a new dimension. What would happen on our trip through the portal? Every hecapsycheir knew that it was very dangerous to travel through the portals if they ever managed to create one. Another thought came into my head. Utopia or Dystopia? From my only experience with the Elders, I hadn't found them as courteous or understanding as the former Elders. Would they really be so cruel as to create dystopia?

         It seemed like I had only been sitting around for a few minutes when Irvin returned with a grin on his face.

         "Were you successful?" Timur asked.

         "I was," Irvin replied. "I have everything we need. I can explain how to spy on Vadrak, but I'd like to tell all of you at once."

         The ten of us gathered in the living room, and Irvin told us all about his plan.

         "I can place the protective spells on all of you so that they will last until you want to remove them. That way, we can leave this house and go anywhere without being detected. After that, you must use your element to create some sort of screen, or something that you can view Vadrak on. Then you each must have one of these."

         Irvin reached into the bag he was carrying and handed each of us a crystal. It was about the size of my fist so it wasn't hard to carry. Both mine and Vesta's were red, and they glowed in our hands.

         "Guard those with your life," Irvin said. "They weren't easy to find, and you need them so that you can eavesdrop on Vadrak. You're going to leave the house with protection spells around you, create or find the surface that you'll use for viewing Vadrak, and then take your stone and hold it above your head. It doesn't matter what hand, but while it's above your head, you must chant this spell."

         Irvin pulled a book out of his bag and opened it to a page with characters written on it.

         "What do those say?" I asked.

         "I'll write it down phonetically for you, but I won't say it now, not until I'm ready to actually perform the spell. I think that we should stay together for the most part. Pair up, two hecapsycheires with each element, just in case."

         Irvin tore a sheet of paper into five sections and scribbled down the phonetic spelling of the characters we had seen on the page in the book. Irvin handed my other brothers and me one of the papers with the phonetic spelling.

         "Chant what's on the paper three times in a row. Once you finishing chanting, say Vadrak's name and you should see the characters hover in front of you. A few seconds after that, Vadrak should appear in your element. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose when it ends. It could last for sixty seconds or run on for as long as ten hours. I don't know how that works, but I hope it won't be too long or too short. I think that you should let me place the protection spells on you, and then we can spy on Vadrak later this evening. I read that dawn and dusk are the best times even though it works all the time. I think you'll get a clearer image."

         Irvin placed the protective spells on the rest of us. After that, we sat around studying the characters that were on Irvin's book. I don't think any of us actually knew what they meant.

         As the sun began to set, my brothers and I separated. Vesta and I went one way, Demetrio and Gina went another. We stayed together in terms of the element that we could control, but my brothers and I split up as did Vesta and her friends.

         Vesta and I teleported to an unoccupied plain in the Sahara Desert. We both created a wall of flame to use as the screen that Irvin told us about. We took out our stones and raised them above our heads. I removed Irvin's paper and held it in between us so we could both read it. It said:

boy-suh-nique   ah-ven   too-sah   nee-sco   dreen-sten

         We said that three times in unison, said Vadrak's name, and the characters that we saw in the book appeared in front of us just as Irvin had said they would. Vadrak was in a computer room that was similar to the one I had seen in my dream. He was focused on one screen specifically. To my surprise, Jessica and James were on that screen.

         James was holding Jessica in his arms as tears silently ran down her face. Vadrak spoke into the microphone, and James said the same thing as Vadrak.

         "If he was going to leave you and only wanted to study you, then he didn't deserve you," James and Vadrak said.

         I gasped in horror as I realized Vadrak was controlling James. I had never liked James that much, but no one deserved to be possessed by Vadrak. I realized that James and Jessica were talking about me. I felt sorry for her pain, but I didn't really want to go back.

         Vesta, Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, Tamara, and my brothers could give me what I needed. I hadn't realized it until Vesta told me that I was handsome. I missed my world. Handsome meant that I was prepared, I didn't understand what Jessica meant when she said it, mostly because my definition didn't fit the context. My brothers and I had spent twenty years in the mortal world trying, without much success, to understand human behavior. I heard this quote from a movie once. "There's no place like home." I'll take that for granted because that's how I feel.

         When I focused my attention back into the present, I saw that Jessica was still crying on James' shoulder. They were sitting on a piece of furniture that I didn't know the name for. It was like a bench, but it could swing back and forth because it was attached to something above the bench itself. Jessica was curled up next to him.

         "I know this may be hard to talk about, but, if you can, tell me about him. I never really did get to know him. Mostly all we did was fight. I know that I was a bad boyfriend before. I've changed. Let me help you now," Vadrak and James said.

         Jessica looked up at him with glassy eyes, and said, "You really have changed."

         She tilted her face in his direction and their lips made contact. I remembered that Jessica had tried to do that to me, but I didn't know what she was doing so I backed away. I didn't understand, and still don't for that matter, why humans do that. I guess it must be a sign of affection. Jessica sat up and began to tell him about me.

         I wanted to scream "No!" and tell her that James was being possessed by Vadrak, but she wouldn't have heard me. This was a vision of something that was actually happening. If I wanted to talk to her, I'd have to talk face to face.

         Fortunately, she didn't tell James too much about me. She said that I was very "sweet." In the hecapsycheir world, a "sweet" was something that tasted good, or the adjective means that someone was kind to others. I guess that fit the context.

         "He was almost like a superhero," Jessica told James/Vadrak. "He could do all sorts of amazing stunts that were very impressive. He was always warm, but he didn't want me to curl up next to him. I don't think he liked physical contact with people. I think he was the nicest boy I ever met. You used to have a bad temper and fight with people all the time. I think that I only dated you for your looks. I know that you've changed. I like the 'new you' much better than the 'old you.' I don't know what my feelings are anymore; it's all so confusing."

         "I wish that I could feel your pain. I realize now that I've had an easier life than you have these last few years. I know that I tried to play every card I had. For that I'm sorry," James told her.

         "You don't have to be. I felt and still feel sorry for what your father did to you. I'm sorry about your brother stealing everything from you."

         They stopped talking as James pulled Jessica towards him. There was something about their last few words that pulled at the back of my mind. The image began to fade, and I figured that our viewing of Vadrak was over. I had almost forgotten that Vesta was next to me and watching. She slowly turned to me and asked, "Was that the human that you spent time with in the mortal world?"

         I nodded.

         "I'm sorry. It must have been painful seeing her speaking with Vadrak's puppet," Vesta said trying to comfort me.

         "It's okay, I used to consider her a friend."

         "You don't anymore?"

         "Not really, after thinking about it, I realized that my place was here. Well, not here in the Sahara Desert specifically but here with other hecapsycheires."

         "Your place has always been here with other hecapsycheires, but we respect your choices of studying the mortal world."

         "I believe that you and your friends can. The Elders weren't that sympathetic."

         "What was their reaction?"

         "Most of them were rather short and curt. Fire wasn't too bad. Well, there were various levels of brusqueness that they used with us, but it was clear that they didn't like us in the mortal world."

         "Everyone always says that they can only imagine feeling the way another does, but in reality, they really can't even imagine or feel it unless they've actually experienced it. I wish that I could comfort you, but I honestly don't know how."

         "You don't need to worry about comforting me because you just did."

         We stood there in silence but still made eye contact. Finally I broke the silence by saying "I suppose we should head back."

         Vesta sighed and said, "I suppose we should. You know, you broke a beautiful moment."

         "How so? By breaking the silence?"

         "In a way, not exactly. Shall we teleport back?"

         "Yes."

         Before we teleported back, Vesta took my hand. In the hecapsycheir world that was a sign of affection. Sometimes hecapsycheires did it when teleporting so that they wouldn't be separated, but usually, a hecapsycheir would grab an arm rather than a hand. I liked Vesta as a really close friend, but I didn't really know what to think after she took my hand. I didn't have the time to think, because a nanosecond later, we had teleported back to Vesta's house.

         My brothers and Vesta's friends returned shortly after. All of my brothers had grim looks on their faces, but Irvin looked the worst.

         "What did you see?" Vesta and I asked together.

         "Vadrak is possessing Cari's former boyfriend," Timur answered.

         "That's quite a coincidence," Hearst said, "He was also possessing Portia's former boyfriend as well."

         "Vadrak was using Terra's former boyfriend too," Demetrio said.

         "Same thing with James," I told them.

         "Vadrak lied," Irvin muttered.

         "Of course he lied. Vadrak was always a liar, what did you expect?" Demetrio asked.

         "No, I mean, when I saw into his past . . . ." Irvin trailed off for a few seconds and then he opened his eyes even wider. "Oh."

         "'Oh' what?" Hearst asked.

         "I just realized what Vadrak did. He is good at telepathy, there's no denying that. He gave me that vision of his former life on purpose. He didn't show me everything that he could really do. He knew that we didn't think that he was good with telepathy so he gave me part of his past life," Irvin said.

         "What do you mean 'everything he could really do'? What else was he hiding?" Timur asked.

         "Vadrak . . ." Irvin said with a long pause. He inhaled and continued, "can split himself into six people . . . at the very least."

Chapter 16

         Vesta and I became close friends over the next few days. I went to the funeral of Vesta's fallen friend whose name I learned was Vasuman. Apparently, the five fallen had become absorbed in the mortal Hindu religion and changed their names. They had bathed in the Ganges, even though it was filthy and polluted, and they worshipped the Vedic Gods and Goddesses. I had been to my parents traditional funeral for hecapsycheires, but I had never been to a funeral with Hindu customs. There were no bodies to cremate so the families had had exact replicas of each hecapsycheir to be used for the ceremony. Before we got there, someone had already cleaned, dressed, and adorned the statues of Vasuman (fire), Bhudev (earth), Kanak (metal), Jafar (water), and Rohan (wood). Prior to the cremation of the sculptures, there were many prayers to Yama, who was the first mortal to meet Death according to the Hindu religion.

         There was a ritual that followed that lasted for eleven days, but Vesta, her friends, my brothers, and I couldn't stay for it.

         A few days after the funeral, I fell asleep on the couch in Vesta's living room and had a dream. You know hecapsycheires dream about things that really happen, but some aren't as important or memorable as others. This one wasn't just memorable, it scared me. I know you're probably thinking, nightmare, it didn't really happen, but everything we dream happens. Some where in the universe at about the same time as we dream it.

         I appeared to be in a computer room. There were screens in front of my face wherever I turned. Under the screens was a large control panel that circled the room. There were chairs all around the room, but all of them were empty except for one. There was a man sitting in it. He had on a black, cotton, long-sleeved shirt, black, cotton, long pants, black socks and shoes, and a black cloak over all of that. If the lights had suddenly gone out, he would have been invisible. His appearance wasn't very scary, but I could sense the presence of pure evil which I had only sensed once before. It seemed like only yesterday I had stood with a crowd of hecapsycheires as Irvin stood up to him -- to Vadrak. Vadrak had said he would, "leave with no further destruction." What was he doing here in this computer room?

         Vadrak flipped a couple of switches and five figures appeared on the largest screen. I gasped in horror as I saw that the five figures were the new Elders. I knew Vadrak couldn't hear me, but I clapped my hand over my mouth anyway. Vadrak picked up a microphone and began to talk into it.

         "How can you live like this? The name 'hecapsycheir' came from a mortal for crying out loud! Build one Master. If you build one Master of all of the Elements, then the Master will be in your debt. You will have more power than ever before. Think of the possibilities. You could have money, power, fame, anything you have ever dreamed of. Create the Master. Channel your power into him and let him rule this world.

         "In fact, you could build an entirely new dimension. You use the English alphabet to name your dimensions so create a new character. One that could name a new dimension. Only the five of you together have the power to create a new dimension. You could move all of your kind to the new dimension, and you could be in charge. Let the Master you build help you create the new dimension and leave this dimension to the Master as a gift."

         Vadrak stopped talking and put down the microphone. On the screen, I saw the Elders nodding their heads. It looked as if Vadrak had put the idea into their minds, and the Elders were liking it.

         There was a knock on the wall behind me. Vadrak turned around and his eyes seemed to bore through me.

         "Come in," he said coldly.

         I turned around to find a Heinous Knight had walked through the door. It was the Heinous Knight that attacked Jessica and me back in the clearing so long ago.

         "My lord, our sources tell us that the sons of Sergius are still alive and well," he said.

         "I know they are," Vadrak spat. "Anything I don't already know, or will the Mighty Thor become the Mighty Bore?"

         "Perhaps, my lord. The sons of Sergius have joined forces with five female hecapsycheires."

         "What!" Vadrak shouted as he jumped up from his seat. "Which hecapsycheires? Give me everything you know about the subject."

         "The names of the female hecapsycheires are Vesta, Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, and Tamara. Each controls a different element. Why do you care, my lord?"

         "I care because they are more powerful than I thought possible. I tried to kill them before, but no, they decided to take a tour around the world, and then the former Elders decided to get rid of my Heinous Knights," Vadrak shouted.

         "Forgive me, my lord, but when did you learn of their powers?"

         "I learned over time. I admit that I was slow, but they are stronger than other hecapsycheires. Their father Sergius was powerful, and now, they have been handed that power. Times five, considering the fact that there are five brothers. Find me the female hecapsycheires. I need to know what we're up against."

         Vadrak cursed and dismissed the Heinous Knight.

         I woke up and came face to face with Vesta.

         "Are you all right?" she asked. "You were muttering in your sleep."

         "Listen, Vesta, can you do me a favor?" I asked.

         "Of course, what is it?"

         "I need you to get all of my brothers and your friends together, we need to talk."

         "Okay," she said, and ran off to find her friends and my brothers.

         A few minutes later, they all joined me in the living room. I told them about every single detail that I had seen and heard in my dream. When I was done, Irvin leaned forward and asked, "Do you know if Vadrak transmitted his words directly into the minds of the Elders?"

         "I'm pretty sure he did, but I don't think that the Elders knew it was Vadrak speaking. They liked the idea even though Vadrak's words weren't very persuasive," I told him.

         "So this 'one master' that Vadrak was talking about, was it supposed to be created through a hecapsycheir or would it be some sort of automaton?" Vesta asked.

         "I have no idea, although he did say 'build' which points toward the automaton theory," I replied.

         "What would happen if the Elders did build this new master?" Izumi asked.

         "I don't think that Vadrak was lying, I think he really thought that this new master could build a new dimension, and put the Elders in charge," I said. "I think that he wants control of this dimension for some reason, and he wants to kick all of us hecapsycheires out of this dimension."

         "But it's dangerous to travel between dimensions. Does he expect the Elders to have us all line up and jump through a portal?" Gina asked.

         "I have no idea. Do you guys have any idea what's happening?" I asked.

         "I don't," Timur and Hearst said.

         "Neither do I," Demetrio said.

         "I have a theory," Irvin said.

         "Let's hear it then,' Izumi said.

         "I think that Vadrak wants to be the leader of this dimension. I don't know why, but he wants it," Irvin started.

         "If he wants to be the leader, then why would he try and kick us out?" Tamara asked.

         "Maybe he just wants to be the leader of humans," Irvin said. "I think he wants to kick us off the dimension, but since he can't do it, he wants the Elders to do it. Neither he nor the Elders have the power, but if they combine their powers, they could create a master who was as powerful as the six combined. Once they recovered from creating the master, they would combine their powers again. Then it could be seven people, but one would have the power of six, so it would be like twelve people. Their power together could create a new dimension, and they could throw us all in it.

         "After that, the Elders could rule us however they want. They could create Dystopia, or they could create Utopia. Either one, but I don't think they'd create something in the middle. Then Vadrak could have this dimension to himself."

         "Maybe he's trying to control all 26 dimensions. He might have conquered Dimension Z. Did you pick that up when you saw part of his past life?" Timur suggested.

         "I didn't, but I think that's possible, It would take an awful lot of work. I don't think he would have enough power to create many more portals, travel through them, and take over the dimension he travelled to. I think my theory about wanting to control this dimension fits better," Irvin countered.

         "But what would he do with the Master that he and the Elders created?" Hearst asked.

         "I don't know . . . . Wait a minute. Aden, didn't you say that Vadrak said 'Let the Master you build help you create the new dimension and leave this dimension to the Master as a gift'?" Irvin asked me.

         "Yes, he did," I replied.

         "Perhaps he wants to be an acolyte to that Master. I mean, there would be no way that Vadrak could defeat the Master because it would contain most of his power and the power of five other powerful hecapsycheires. If he were an acolyte or even an advisor, for that matter, he could almost control this dimension as we know it. The final decisions would be the Master's but the Master would be in Vadrak's debt since Vadrak was the one who actually created him. I don't know, it's just a theory at most," Irvin said.

         "They said we were more powerful that he thought, do you know what he meant?" Demetrio asked.

         "I don't know. He said he knew over time and that the power came from our father," I said.

         "Aden, he only just found out that we had become friends, right?" Vesta asked.

         "Yes, I think so, why?" I asked.

         "And he said that he wanted everything on the subject. So, what if the ten of us together are even more powerful? Maybe we are the real threat to this "Master" that he wants to create," Vesta suggested. "I mean, isn't that possible?"

         "I think it's possible," Tamara said optimistically.

         "But wouldn't we know if we had special powers?" Aurelia asked.

         "According to Aden's dream, Vadrak thinks that we have special powers or we're some sort of threat to his plans, but we didn't know we have powers, well, I didn't at any rate," Timur said.

         "I didn't either, but Vadrak clearly found us a threat," I said.

         "Irvin, do you know if there's a way to choose one's dream. Some sort of spell?" Hearst asked.

         "What do you mean?" Irvin asked.

         "If we could control our dreams, or make sure that we spy on the enemy through our dreams; then we could keep tabs on his plans and prepare for surprise attacks," Hearst replied.

         "I don't know. I could do a little research," Irvin said.

         The hecapsycheires don't have the internet, but there are many books on spells, ways to control the elements, and many other topics.

         "Irvin, don't bother," I told him. "Doing research may or may not help. But if you go out to do research, then Vadrak and his knights could find you and track you."

         "Couldn't they find us here anyway?" Tamara asked.

         "I don't think they've found us yet," I told her. "There are protective spells that could be used to help us stay hidden for a longer period of time, but I don't think that we can evade them forever."

         "Why don't we set up the protective spells, and in the meantime, work to find out what these special powers are," Vesta said. "We may not have the special powers, but you five obviously do."

         "I like the idea. Do we all agree?" Irvin asked.

         We all nodded in assent. We decided that it would be best if we placed the protective spells around the house right away. My brothers and I each knew a different spell, but most of them took more than one person. Vesta and her friends did what they could to help, but none of them knew any spells. I wasn't sure why they didn't until I found out their age. They were all born in 1960.

         After 1930, schools were no longer required to teach students about protective spells. I told you before we studied how to bend the elements to our will and what is in the other dimensions. Think of a protective spells class as a required elective. Kind of like gym, or perhaps your school makes you take an art class. That was how my brothers and I knew about the spells.

         The spell that I knew was an invisibility spell. There needed to be a protective circle drawn with the powers of five hecapsycheires, all of which had to have different elements that they controlled. After we drew the circle, I performed the spell. Anyone on the outside of the circle would not be able to see the house, instead they would see straight through it.

         That spell didn't help sound or smell. That's where Timur and Hearst came in. Timur knew how to prevent anyone outside the circle from hearing activity inside it, and Hearst knew how to prevent anyone outside from smelling anything that was inside the circle. Demetrio knew a spell for expanding the invisibility on the earth, so if any of us left the protective circle and left footprints, nobody would be able to see the footprints except for us.

         Irvin's was probably the most useful. He knew a spell that would make a person, hecapsycheir, animal, or any other living thing (including bacteria), turn away once it reached another protective circle that would have a greater area than the first. If a human or hecapsycheir reached the second circle, they would forget where they were going and turn in a different direction so that they wouldn't come near the inner protective circle.

         If you imagine a ring with a large house in the very center, then you'll have the right idea of what the land looked like to us when we were done. To anyone else, it would probably look like a clearing, or they'd just see straight through it.

         Once we had performed the spells, we all went inside for some rest. My brothers and I had our house back in California, but the house here in Seattle was big enough for the ten of us to stay comfortably, so we all stayed, especially since the protective spells had been set up.

Chapter 15

         My brothers also chose to teleport to our house in California. They arrived at the same time I did. When I saw our house again, it reminded me of everything that had happened over the last two years. I looked at the piano and remembered harmonizing on my guitar as Jessica played. I walked into the living room as memories rushed through my head. My brothers joined me in the living room, but none of us had anything to say to each other.

         Later that morning, we still weren't in the mood to do anything. I managed to go outside to the huts we had made before we met the girls. There we could use our powers freely; rather than losing energy, we would gain it.

         I went into my hut and lit a fire with a wave of my hand. I sat down in it and released my five senses as the flames licked my body. Sitting there, I let my thoughts and emotions flow through my head. The first thing that came to mind was Jessica. I thought I really did love her like a sister. That would have explained why I put up with her complaints and still protected her when we were fleeing from the Heinous Knights, jumping from country to country. But there was more to her than that. She was a human. I wished that I had had time to learn more about her. She had told me that she was not the average human. If she wasn't, then what was? I hoped an average human being would be a little more . . . selfless.

         That led me to something else. Had I used Jessica? No, I don't think so. I socialized with her even though it made me uncomfortable, but I protected her. Well, I had introduced myself so that I could examine her characteristics, body language, and everything about her in general. My experiment . . . that sounds as if I were using her. It wasn't just an experiment. I thought I loved her like a sister. There were many things that she did that I didn't understand which made me uncomfortable including her walking into my arms. For hecapsycheires, that is something that only husband and wife or future husbands and wives would do. That was the reason I didn't like it. We had only known each other for a couple of years. She couldn't like me that fast. One has to become close friends before they even get to the hand holding stage.

         There are three or four stages of love. It starts with becoming very close friends. There can be close friends with the same gender, but there can also be close friends of opposite gender without it being assumed they'll become future husband and wife. The second stage is hand holding. (Hecapsycheires usually look human when they're not in the form of their element, so they have arms, legs, hands, feet, and a head.) The third stage is what humans call hugging. That shows true love between a hecapsycheir and a hecapsycheire (that's kind of like saying a man and a woman in the human world). There are two types of hugging. One between brothers or good friends, the other between future husband and wife.

         Another feeling had entered my mind. I didn't feel bad about leaving Jessica; I felt sorry for her because I knew that she would miss me. But I also felt that she would get over it. I realized that even if she didn't go back to James, she would find someone else.

         While I was sitting in the fire mulling things over, someone else came to mind. Vesta. She too was beautiful. More beautiful than Jessica because she was always prepared. I didn't have the burden of protecting her. I wanted to see her again so that she could comfort me. I knew she would be able to, but I had promised Jessica that I wouldn't go out with any other hecapsycheire for a week, and I keep my promises.

         I made up my mind to go to Vesta's house at the end of the week. I had her house coordinates from when we parted on the battleground, and I hoped she would be willing to set aside time to talk with me.

         Other ideas began to float through my mind. What would our lives be like now? My brothers and I had spent the last two decades studying Homo sapiens, and now the Elders had thrown all of our work away as if it were nothing more than half of an apple core at their feet. The Elders hate litter. I could imagine them with disgusted faces as they see mortals throw trash over their shoulders as if they couldn't care less about it, which is probably true.

         I thought that we might start working as servants of the Elders if they would accept our pledge of service. Considering their short temper with us before, I wasn't too interested in working for them. Perhaps we could work with the schools for small hecapsycheires who were just beginning to learn how to control their powers. I'm not sure I could handle a bunch of short tempered Elders snapping at us day and night, but guiding little hecapsycheires would be entertaining at the least.

         Time passed slowly as the flames enriched my form. I didn't know how much time had passed when I came out of my hut. It felt like months, but the sun was rising. So a day had passed. I assumed my brothers would be in their huts, but I looked anyway and found Irvin sitting in the living room.

         "Where are the others?" I asked.

         "They're in their huts. Didn't you see them? You were there just a minute ago."

         "I didn't see them. Have you gone to your hut yet?" I asked.

         "Just for a couple of hours. I think that the more relaxed I become, the greater danger I am in."

         "What do you mean?"

         "Well, think about it. If you're truly relaxed, then your reflexes are not going to be as fast. What if something happened and I couldn't react quickly enough because I wasn't thinking straight, or thinking at all."

         "But the chances of something bad happening are pretty low. Isn't it better to have more time away from reality than less?"

         "But you're always going to have to face reality at one point in time whether you like it or not."

         "Okay, so what's on your mind now."

         "Now, I'm thinking about the feelings that have passed through me when I was with Rhonda."

         "And what feelings were those?"

         "They're hard to describe, but I think you did a good job describing them to the Elders. It wasn't love like I have for you, Hearst, Demetrio, and Timur, but it wasn't the same feeling that I sensed between a happy husband and wife. I think it was another kind of love, one that made me want to protect her. I know this will sound cruel, but by now, I don't feel too bad about leaving her. I mean, I feel bad about the pain I caused her, but I don't feel pain inside me. Maybe I feel empathetic, but I can't feel any emotions of my own. I'm lost in a maze of feelings and there's nobody there to pull me out."

         "I know exactly how you feel. I think you've extracted my feelings from inside me and put them into words."

         "I agree," Timur said from the doorway.

         He entered the living room and sat down.

         "Did you just come out of your hut?" I asked.

         "Yeah, I think that Demetrio and Hearst are still in theirs," he replied.

         "Nope," Hearst said as he entered the living room. "Demetrio might be in his hut, but I'm not."

         "What do you want to talk about until Demetrio gets here?" Timur asked.

         "That may be a long time, I don't know when Demetrio will get here," Hearst said.

         "You don't have long to wait. He's coming now," Irvin said.

         Sure enough, Demetrio walked into the living room a few moments later.

         "Morning, is there a reason you guys are meeting without me?" Demetrio asked.

         "We weren't purposely excluding you, Demetrio," Hearst said. "We just didn't want to pull you from your hut. We knew you'd come out eventually."

         "Is your conversation very important?" he asked.

         "Not particularly," Timur said.

         "We were just talking about emotions," I told him.

         "You mean the ones from leaving the female mortals behind?" Demetrio asked.

         "Yes," Hearst said.

         The days went by slowly as my brothers and I pulled ourselves back together. By the end of the week, we felt as if we were back in high school. We had the house and the huts, but we didn't have school. I guess we could be called college dropouts since we had left Harvard. Apparently, my brothers had promised Terra, Cari, Rhonda, and Portia that they wouldn't see another female hecapsycheire for a while as well. I wondered if that was a female mortal thing to request.

         Once the week was up, I teleported to the coordinates that Vesta had given me. I approached the house to learn that only Vesta's mother and brother were there. They told me Vesta had chosen to live with her friends: Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, and Tamara. It took me another few days to track down them down, but I found her eventually.

         I found the five of them in a large house in one of Seattle, Washington's suburbs. It wasn't near any human life, but there was a lot of wildlife around the house. I rang the doorbell and came face to face with Tamara.

         "Hello, can I help you? Wait a minute, I've seen you before. You were Vesta's roommate weren't you?" Tamara asked.

         "Not exactly roommate, but we shared a cabin with some others at the camp," I replied.

         "Come on in," Tamara said. She turned away from me and called, "Vesta, you have a visitor."

         Vesta came into view with a surprised look on her face.

         "Aden," she said, "What are you doing here?"

         "I came by to see how you were doing. I heard that five hecapsycheires had been killed by stray Heinous Knights, and it led me to you," I started. I was about to continue when I noticed the look on her face. Once I mentioned the hecapsycheires, a look of sorrow had fallen upon her face. I was pretty sure I knew what this meant. "Oh," I said. "Vesta, I am so sorry."

         "It's okay," she sniffed. "We were kind of edgy with each other anyway, but . . . I saw him die. I couldn't get to him."

         I held out my hand to her and she took it. I put my arm around her shoulder and let her lean against me. For those of you who haven't guessed who the five dead hecapsycheires were, they were good friends of Vesta, Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, and Tamara. Vesta stayed next to me until we were interrupted by the doorbell. I stood to the side of the foyer while Aurelia answered the door.

         "Timur!" she cried.

         I whirled around and found Timur in the doorway.

         "Aden," he said in surprise.

         "Timur, what are you doing here?" I asked.

         "I heard about the five hecapsycheires and came to check on Aurelia. I think the others are coming too," he replied.

         Sure enough, there was another knock at the door. This time Izumi answered the door and said, "Irvin! With Demetrio and Hearst right?"

         "Aden, Timur, what are you doing here?" Demetrio and Hearst said together.

         "We might ask you the same question," Timur and I said in unison.

         Irvin remained silent, though he greeted Izumi with courtesy. I was still next to Vesta, with my arm around her shoulders. I felt sorry for her close friend whom I had never met.

         As the other engaged in conversation, Vesta led me up the stairs to her sitting room. It was probably the bedroom because it had a bed, but it also had a couch. Her room was designed in the stereotypical way for those of our element. The usual human bedroom consists of a bed, a chair, maybe a desk and a book case, a closet or a chest of drawers, and a window. Since Vesta could control fire, her bed was simply flames and ashes. There was no window nor closet nor book case. But the chair, couch, and desk were made from flames and there were some candles on the desk. I'm pretty sure the walls were fire-retardant.

         Vesta sat on her couch and indicated I should sit next to her. I sat at the end of the couch, and she lay her head on my lap and cried silently. You may wonder how hecapsycheires who control fire can cry, but it's possible. I let her cry herself to sleep while I gave myself more time to think. What would happen now? I had lived under the former Elders my entire life. What would happen now that that had changed?