Kora walked out from her classroom, five minutes into the lunch hour.  Already the Jr. high halls were full of talking, yelling, rambunctious kids.  People sat against lockers, and talked, small groups walked around, most without purpose or direction.  She glanced left, glanced right.  No one she recognized as a friend was within sight.  She tapped the cosmic map for a moment, gauging the direction and distance of the closest friend. 

Having done this a million times is was easy to her.  Being a magic user she was in tune with the energy surrounding her, indeed with everything around her.  For a moment she stood there, her hair long and flowing.  A light reddish brown wave that fell almost to her thighs.  She wore a red hooded sweatshirt that sagged off her, and covered all the things she considered imperfections.  She was slightly overweight, but her body held the extra weight well enough.   Her jeans hugged tightly to her hips and the top half of her legs.  The make-up she chose to where was barely noticeable, but it improved her look ten-fold.  Her lashes were slightly fuller, her eyelids a little more purple than they should be, her lips slightly redder than they should have been.  Her skin was a little more perfect that it usually was, but nothing was perfect enough that it looked plastic.  Her whole look was about reality.  A reality she could not find on the inside of her mind.  Her mind was full of dark images.  Some of these demonic things would sometimes invade her vision during moments where she was awake.  From looking at her you couldn’t tell the inner turmoil or torment that was boiling inside her.  From the look on her face, from the way she spoke you weren’t able to decipher her murderous rage she felt.  Her voice stayed respectful and polite.  She chose not to insult those around her.  Her fear of what she was saved those around her.  It created peace wherever she went.  But if she were ever to snap it would all be gone.  The power of the rage inside her could destroy lives; in a blink of an eye it could all be gone.  The school she attended, the people she knew, and the neighborhood she lived in.  If she slipped even for a moment she stood a massive risk of losing it all.  But such was the responsibility of a magic user.  Her very being was not formed of flesh and blood, but rather magic meant to look and feel like flesh.  Though it followed the rules of flesh for now.  If she was cut – provided she didn’t transport afterwards – it took the same time to heal.  She bled red, and tanned in the sunlight.  To those around her she was real enough, but anyone in tune with the cosmic forces could tell what she was.  She shared enough similarities with people that she could pass for one, and walk among them until she was pure.  As it stood she was a mixture: not entirely one force or another.  What she would become was still undefined.  If she gave into her dark side she would become a demon, a creature of the night, a shade.  Though she would still look as she did now, her magical ability would shift into something unseen for a thousand years.  But always known was that she was surrounded by other magic users.  She was aware of who they were, as they were aware of her.  Though none dared to talk to one another because tomorrow you could have to kill that person for the sake of the balance.  If Kora shifted to the dark side, one of the others would shift to the good side to balance.  The shift to good was never controlled but always controlled was the shift to the darker side.  She paid close attention to her moods always making sure she never slipped into fits of rage.  And when she felt her rage cooled she looked for those that we’re slipping.  Her body was in constant sync with the universal energies.  When the balance shifted to the negative side of things, her body would often be the one to compensate. She was a universal barometer.  Today she felt as if she could tear someone’s head off, and then revive them only to do it again.  The burner of rage was on at full blast underneath her.  All he attempts to just cool it were failing.  Kora could feel her mind being edged closer to the cliff.  She could feel something trying to push her over.  Though trying as hard as she possibly could without letting anyone know.  If someone saw her starting to slip, they would not come to her rescue, they would simply push and then kill.  Though her death would be quick, and she did not fear, she longed to stay here.  Because here was her family, her friends, here was life.  Closing her eyes and meditating, using her seed of electrical energies though out her body, wasn’t working.  The electricity was quickly turned from a cool blue to a bright red.  Its movements went from slow and controlled to erratic and lightning fast.  After a few moments it seemed to fuel her rage.  She felt the pot that is her mind beginning to boil over.  Her emotions were coming into the real world, into a place where they didn’t belong.  She stopped in the hall and put her bag on the bench.   She opened the biggest compartment, almost tearing the zippers off their tracks.  She fished through the inside at a frantic pace.  Finally her fingers wrapped themselves over the cords to her headphones.  Finally she went finger over finger and traced the rubber cord back to the portable CD player.  For a quick moment a thought passed through her mind, a vision of the player laying in several pieces on the floor.  She waved it away, through it in the trash with the rest of the thoughts she despised.  The only thing she had left to do today was to take out the trash; she had to get it out of the house inside her mind.  And in fact over the years she had turned a small apartment into a mansion.   Most people never open certain doors inside their heads, preferring to lock them and pretend their not there.   She opened every door and found the rambling castle of her mind, pathways she never had before.  Creating new ones.  Tapping into parts of her brain that everyone else seemed unaware of.   The paths inside your brain controlled indeed your thoughts and emotions and intelligence, and over time some of them changed and broke down.  She held the power not only to maintain the ones that were there, but also to open new ones. To develop and harness the powers that were locked deep inside her.  She remained and improved this ability, further strengthening her special abilities.  Folding time and space - or warping - as well as being telekinetic, hydro kinetic, pyre kinetic, electro kinetic, and telepathic were among her many, and possibly infinite powers.  Though all of them took a toll to use.  Most of the smaller abilities were easier.  Projecting herself was among the easiest.  Mind control wasn’t beyond her ability, but so far only small creatures seemed to be effected.  At the moment she didn’t want to use any of the fire related exercises for fear of her meditations becoming reality.  She pulled herself out of her mind and ripped the CD player triumphantly from her bag.  She held it up in the air, with the headphones dangling; it was her prize, all that she had strived for.  She wrapped her other hand in the headphone cord and clumsily pulled them into her hands.  She put them around her head, and turned the player on.  Her hands were shaking so bad she had to engage the anti-skip system.  When the music came on, it was at a deafening level, blearing KoRn into her head like a drill piece.  For a moment it broke her concentration.  And a shot of telepathic power crushed a garbage can, turning it into a flat sheet.   She quickly stopped the player and picked her bag up.  She walked away scanning songs.  By the time she was outside, she was listening to Sarah Sleen.  She wasn’t shaking but she needed still to find a place to let loose before class.  Glancing at her watch – which was set to school time – she noted that she only had twenty minutes to perform a task normally taking a little better than an hour.   Risking exposure, she used her mind to find a suitable location.  Within a few moments, she found a small meadow, high in the mountains.  The clear patch was a little better than 1 hr by car.  But distance was not an issue. 

Focusing on the meadow, she brought into real color and sound.  She brought into her reality.  For a moment, the world around her went black.  Then there were little points of light, which then began to spin and move in all directions.  They then gathered into a single point.  That point then came rushing at her and formed the meadow.  She dropped the half-inch onto soft, high grass.  Here there were no paths.  She had left her backpack on the ethereal plane; she could retrieve it later. 

There were no signs of any people being here for the longest time.  Normally when she came to places like this there were bike trails and hiking paths winding through them, much the same as a small stream winds its way down the mountainside.  But this place would more than due for her needs; privacy being the tallest order. 

Kora began to move.  But this was not any random order of movement.  To an on looker it might have looked like a Martial Art; this wasn’t the case.   She was moving in tune with the energies of the meadow, which were calm and serene, this exercise improved her concentration and often calmed her.  Letting her magic loose often did the same but, she felt that was a last resort.  Kora felt that weakened her other means of resistance.  After a few minutes of moving around the field like a Thai-chi master, she felt a little more in control.  But that control quickly diminished after she stopped.  Her CD player was still with her and it was still playing, a song by a band known as Tantric now, but the song was slow and calm.  However this was almost a distraction now, so she decided to put it down.   She set it down in the grass, the high foliage rustled as it took the weight.  However the stocks were healthy and held the whole apparatus a few inches off the dirt.  When she looked up, Kora noticed a small patch of grass that was parted.

            The displacement meant a foreign object was concealed there.  She searched and found a life sign there.  Though it was extremely weak, so much so she could not tell what it was.   Ignoring all her better judgment, she crept forward.   Parting the grass with her hands.  As she approached the displacement she could hear breathing choked by blood. 

            The gurgling breaths were shallow, but slow; which was an odd combination.  From Kora’s experience the shorter breaths got, the faster they came.  She parted the last foot between her and the dying life.

When she glanced down upon it she recognized the face.  It was one of a kid who attended school at her Jr. high.   She looked around her for signs of any one being near.  There was none.  She hadn’t seen him at school today, or the day previous for that matter.  But still the possibility of her finding him here was an odd, she would have used the word coincidence if such a thing existed.  But Kora knew everything that happens happened for a reason.  He was trying to speak, but the blood caught his voice and rammed it back into his lungs.  “Shh,” she said.  Holding a hand out to her CD player, which came skidding to her. “It’s ok, I’ll get you out of here.”  The boy began to shudder and shake.  He turned his head and coughed up blood.  There were no visible wounds to cause this.   Just little scraps and bruises, as was common among folk stranded in the bush for several days.  “Close your eyes,” Kora said to the boy as she closed her eyes. Trying to find a small little nook close to the hospital but somewhere no one would notice her warping in.  She found a dark corner, after confirming no one was around, she began to bring it into reality.  It was in the back corner of the first level of the parking structure.   She grabbed hold of the boy, and with him in one hand, and her CD player in the other.   She folded space-time to her.  Though the travel was not instantaneous she could get anywhere she wanted in around ten seconds.  Considering the time lag, she had been absent from this world for well over a month, if you added in all of her trips.  When she was younger it was her primary source of travel.  But she still could not manage to jump anything under a hundred feet.  Though she was not sure why.  Possibly it was because the distance was too small, possibly because there was not enough room to rematerialize her body and clothing.  She ended up in the garage; a quick check revealed that there were not even any cars on this level.  She came back, looked over the boy.  He looked the same, his breaths were the same, but his energy was almost none existent.  He was on the edge of dying, and no doubt the trip was not a healthy thing for him, but Kora had no other choice.   She picked the boy up off the ground.  Using her telekinetic power to assist in the lifting.  She flung him over her shoulder and marched for the emergency entrance.  Located around two hundred feet away.   Thinking of ways to come busting through the doors.  She figured the best was to come charging through screaming and yelling for help. 

Marching over the small patch of uphill grass, which served as a divider from the parking lot to the emergency entrance, she came down upon the driveway.  The pavement was solid beneath her feet, but by now the weight of the boy was so great she felt the she might sink through it.  Her demonic rage had taken a back seat to her angelic rescue operation.  Perhaps this was the answer, though how she would explain any of this to the officials inside she did not know.  During the teleportation all of the foliage stuck in his clothing was gone, the fact that it was ever there would be oblivious to anyone.  But she still did not know how she would explain where she found him; maybe she wouldn’t explain anything.   She stepped up to the automatic doors.  She took a deep breath, but quickly realized that her companion had not drawn one in sometime.   Hurried she stepped through the threshold.  Screaming, “I need some help here!”  Orderlies looked up at her.  Their eyes widened with a surprised expression.  Once their attention was gained they moved with a speed and accuracy only gained when the skills were used daily.  Four came out the door next to the reception desk.  One more orderly came from the double set of doors on the other side of the desk.  This one wheeled a gurney.  Kora almost didn’t want to break contact; something inside her caused her stomach to twist at the thought.  But she surrendered the boy to the orderlies.  She insisted that she follow them, and they told her to stay in the waiting area.  Reluctantly agreeing Kora took a seat.  All of her evil thoughts and all of the frustrating ones of school had left her.  She waited for quite sometime, her internal clock telling her it had been a little over an hour.  She could only wait till quarter past two o’clock - for that was when school let out  - before her parents would come looking for her.  It was more luck than skill that hid the nature of her being from them. 

Kora’s parents were devoted Catholics.  They believed in Adam and Eve, not Evolutionism.  They believed that Mystics – or magic users – were damned to hell.  But rather than start an argument, or religious debate Kora just didn’t say anything of her growing powers.  This was the reason for the separation in spirit that she shared with them.  It was not teenage depression; it was not anything to do with age, simply a matter of faith that was slowly tearing her family apart.  Her mom had been a witch, once, but she was wedded and bedded before fully realizing her powers, and converted to the Catholic faith long before Kora had been born.  So thus her mom never suspected that residual magic had bred another witch.  Things were however, best kept this way.  Arguments were common, and heated in the Furlong household; any that Kora could spare were to come at any price.

For now the majority of her mind was not focused on the arguments that would come with truancy; instead they poked and prodded at the fading signature of the boy.  She doubted that this was love, merely concern for another human being, more than that another life form.  For Kora valued nature and it’s law over man and his.  Men were short of superiority, far less than they appeared.  Certainly no one could argue there were four billion of them, they had no natural predators.  They had technology; they had this, and that.  But all their technology, and all their intelligence had bred wars, destruction, need, and greed.  Nature worked in a balance, one that if undisturbed would continue forever. This balance would be ever growing, ever changing, but always working.  Even from the mind of the squirrels she could tell this.  For the squirrels instinct told it how many acorns it would need for the winter.  Squirrels never got greedy, men did.  Men knew from their calculations how much they needed, but always there would be more available, always would man take that extra months supply of food. 

Calm down Kora, she spoke to herself, all these thoughts of the injustices of man was getting her burners going again.  She needed to remain calm until tonight, when under the full moon she would enter the night and take in its coolness, until she could walk freely under the silver moonlight.  The moon was special to a lot of mystic religions; Wicca’s believed it to represent the triple goddess.  Gypsy’s as well did dances to celebrate the mistress of the moon.  There were many others, most of which Kora had never studied, nor could remember the name of.  Two o’clock came and went by five minutes before Kora decided she should leave and begin the trip to the school.  She got up, and calmly walked out of the waiting room.  The doors parted for her, and she went left, down the grassy knoll, across the open parking lot, into the garage, and vanish. 

Kora reappeared about five feet away from here original position outside of the school.   The track team was in the field, but none of them had noticed her little trick.  She scanned the ethereal plane around that area for her backpack, she notice it floating; it looked like a 2-d image of the pack, slightly transparent, and a tad darker.  She found it just above where she had originally disappeared.  Reaching across the threshold she grabbed the straps and pulled it into her world.  It came without resistance.   Though gravity had not touched it on the ethereal plane; it held fast here.  But she just let it swing down and then used the momentum to bring it up onto her back.  Again the track team was oblivious to her.  A little nervous but still grasping the reigns of control Kora walked forward.  Though her steps were a little hurried and her hands were slightly shaky, no one would have noticed.   Save the mage she passed at the doors.  Who – upon feeling her nervousness – almost followed her.    Classes were already in progress. The halls were quiet, and the air was still.  But every time she walked passed a class she felt the buzz or frustration and the drone of boredom.  Classes were often a sum of two opposite feelings, only because teachers attempted to group everyone together and teach them the same way.   Kora herself was usually in check and didn’t get overly frustrated, but a little bit of frustration at the knowledge attempting to be crammed into her head was unavoidable.   But it was never anything near her breaking point.  Right now if she went to class she just might snap. 

            SO she wandered the halls and left by the back way onto the field.  The grass was soft and Kora could feel the earth patience being soaked into her through her feet.  The team was jogging the 300meter track, keeping an even pace.  None showed signs of weary.   Though it was evident which were the distance runners and which were the sprinters.  The sprinters kept their pace lower and hung back slightly from the distance runner, to which this was not a test but a mere daily exercise.  Kora watched them for a moment intrigued by their mathematical precision in their steps.  Always the same distance, the same pace.  It had been about five minutes since she had gone into the school and then come out here.  All the while that she had walked through the school they had kept the same pace, they had not slowed from their task, yet none appeared to be sweating yet. 

            She began to fall into a trance over the runners.  So much so that she didn’t even notice when her science teacher snuck up behind her.  He just stood there for a few moments silent.  Though not a magic user, the older gentleman had a large reserve of patience, and a even larger reserve of knowledge from which to draw his calculated formula of conversations. 

            “I hope this is not where you come whenever you ask to go to washroom during my class,” his voice was calm and pleasant sounding.  Though it did communicate his sense that she should not be here.  For moment his voice fell on deaf ears and Kora’s mind was invaded by the thud of the runners shoes against the earth.  Then she slowly pulled herself from them and his voice came into her head, as if it had been held by a red light just before her ear. 

“Sorry Mr. K, I’m just not feeling to well, needed some fresh air.  I’ve had a hard time concentrating lately, thought that a little bit of the outdoors would help,” this was of course was a version of the truth.   She did not have to include the reason why she was so short of her main trait.  Playing stupid was any persons best tool.  For no one dared to argue with ignorance. 

“Well Next time you need some fresh air, you should check in with your teacher first.” The science teacher smiled a little and placed a firm hand on Kora’s shoulder.  This activated her far-sight ability.  And she saw her science teachers little girl, no older than Kora, but possibly as young as a fifth grader.  This was a shock, was his reason for pleasant gestures that he saw his little girl in Kora?   Kora withdrew his hand from her shoulder risking more causeing pain for him to spare her from continued pain she felt from him.   Kora had simply been given the image; no reason stood behind it, for the girl didn’t look similar to Kora.  There was a shocked look on the teachers face, but when he caught Kora’s eyes, his face softened to his normal expression.  “Well then, Ms. Furlong, I suggest you get to class before they decide to call your home.  Truancy at your age is a felony.  With all the disappearances and lack of knowledge of your whereabouts you could be charged for something you never did.” Though the message would have been unclear to anyone who had not heard it before, Kora knew that he was referring to the fact that if no one knew where she was and something happened – say a murder – she could be held accountable for it, simply because no one knew where she was.  For a moment she lost herself in that thought.  She was a god among insects, for no one knew of her power.  That was a good thing; people weren’t aloud to know.  But if a murder happened on the other side of the planet and she was in the washroom.  What then?  

“Ms Furlong?” The teachers voice broke her trance, and brought her back to the field where he waited tapping his foot.  “Come along then, I will walk you to your class.  Social with Ms Burr? Correct?” The teacher turned before receiving an answer and walked back towards the school.   But the boy Kora had rescued earlier called to her, a mental call, weak and distant, but directed solely at her.  “Please come,” the voice said, and it repeated once more, then died into the background noise of the universe.  The teacher walked several steps forward, She had only moments to lock onto the boy and go before the teacher turned around.  Even then her disappearance would be questionable, for there was nowhere she could have hid if she had lacked her talents.  But Kora decided that this was urgent.  She found him lying on his bed, for he had opened himself to her.  She closed her eyes, and found him.  At the last moment, the science teacher grabbed her arm presumably to pull her into the school, but instead she pulled him headlong into her teleport.   Kora didn’t catch the sight of the teacher till she was traveling with him.  But once she did, she compensated for him.  When both her and her teacher appeared in the room, no doctors were around, and they appeared exactly as they had vanished.  The teacher immediately let go, and stumbled back.  The boy was lying in hospital clothes on the bed, which was raised slightly.  He turned his head weakly, his eyes stared at her, not only that, they cut deep into her soul.  He looked less healthy then when she had brought him here.  His skin was pale, his lips had almost no color, and his eyes were milky.  “Help,” his thin mental voice pleaded.  The teacher who was confused beyond belief but controlling himself stood idly by.  He had not made a sound since their entry to the room.  Kora glanced at him, “Don’t go anywhere, and don’t touch either of us till I tell you,” she said directly to the man.  He nodded in reply, but still issued no sound other than his breathing which was slightly heavier than normal. 

            Kora knelt beside the bed, and grabbed the boy’s hand.  She strove to touch his mind, and he strove to open it.  Once she was inside, she strove to find the reason that his body was dieing.  After what could have been any length of time, Kora withdrew.  She had nothing.  As far as she could tell there was little wrong with him, minus that the lights were slightly too bright for his eyes.  Kora sought in her mind ways to fix a problem with out knowing it.  With her eyes closed and scanning through a book, which existed only in her head, she found a page of energy transfers.   That page told her what she would be trying to do.  First she would transfer her healthy energy to him, then turn his sick energy into her being and then into the earth from which she would pull healthy energy to heal her being, and the earth would cleanse the boys sick energy.  But they were nowhere near ground where she could perform this.   The distance was not a trouble, but so far she had not attempted a travel with more than two people.  This was also not the only problem.   The more important one would be that forever this boy would be not only bound to Kora, but also have use of her magic and would not have the same control as her.  She decided the risk was worth the reward.  “Listen Mr. K, you have two choices, one is I take you back to the school, you go back to your class and say nothing.” Kora said to the teacher.

            “Or?” He asked

“Or I take you with us and you get to satisfy your curiosity as to how I could bring you here.  How ever either way you are sworn to secrecy.”  She looked at him waiting his answer.

            The teacher smiled slightly, “Why do you think I became a science teacher?  I’m all for satisfying my own curiosity.”

“As well as everyone else’s,” Kora had a slight laugh with him.  She grabbed Mr. K’s hand and focused on the field where she originally found the boy.  Once she was there, she let go of his hand and looked him in the eye, “I’ll be right back, stay here.”  And she was gone again. 

            Rush, she was back into the harsh light of the hospital room.  A nurse came through the door with a cart of food.  She turned around and was surprised to see Kora standing beside the bed.  “How did you get in here? This area is off limits,” a stern look crossed the nurses face. 

“I have my ways,” Kora said.  She was as surprised by the nurse presence and the nurse was of hers.  The nurses face went red with frustration, and she turned on the balls of her feet and left.  Most likely the nurse had gone to get a doctor or possibly some security guards to remove Kora.  This would be the second time today she would have slightly exposed herself for this boy, and possibly there were more to come.  Kora lifted the boy in her arms.   She found the field in her mind.  She had left all the bedding in the room, only taking her and the boy.  But they appeared about three feet off the ground.  Dropping into the high grass, Kora found herself feeling rather weak.  She fell forward and the boy crash landed in the grass.  It was Mr. K who helped Kora to her feet.  “Rough landing?” He asked, a smile still crossing his face.

“Yea I’ve used a lot of power, but I still have one more show for you,” she pointed her finger at him and knelt down to the boy.  He was groaning on the ground, but his eyes were closed and he seemed asleep.  She rolled him onto his back from his side, and started speaking to him: not only in voice but also in mind, and in soul.  He did not answer her but for the silence that told her that he was listening.  

“Open yourself to me, open your mind to speak to me the thing you wish cured, open your heart to the fear of what will happen if things stay, open your soul to show me the reason to spare.”  Kora echoed these words beyond the physical realm they crossed over into the spiritual, the magical realm of the universe that existed on top of what most could see or feel.   She felt the boy’s soul calling.  Crying out for help.  But he was so weak for a moment Kora could not locate him.    Once she calmed down his presence was defined.  Within the plane she went to him, and upon the earth her hand found his.  There was now a union on both planes of existence, she could feel his hand, and feel his soul.  She focused on the transfer, and told the boy – whom she was now sure of his name, Josh – to open himself to her.  Though frightened he did as he was advised.  Upon the other plane she could see his spirit draining into her, and hers was draining into him.  Upon the earth with the teacher of science watching, both their bodies began to glow.  The transfer took less than thirty seconds.  Kora then broke contact, and both members of the ritual passed into unconsciousness. 

Though neither dreamt, both felt the surge from the other.  Josh, well he felt Kora’s life imbue him.  The very nature of his being changed, but as of now he was unaware of that.

Chapter 2

When Kora awoke, Mr. K and Josh were talking.  Attempting to make sense of the events, and Mr. K filled Josh in on the pieces he missed.

            “So, she can actually do that?” Josh asked the teacher implying her method of travel.
            “It would seem so,” the teacher was struggling to make sense of how Kora could travel from the hospital to here in the blink of an eye. 
            “So she breaks the matter down into separate molecules and then turns those into light and brings them here?” Josh asked, completely intrigued by the explanation.

“That’s the easiest way of explaining it, yes.  But I’m not clear on how she can control such a power.” The teacher said, his finger on his chin.

“Well it’s very easy you see, but you’re wrong about the light thing,” Kora said, she was invisible due to the grass, as she hadn’t sat up yet. 
            “Than what is it that you do?” the teacher asked.
            “I never have to break any of you down, but if you think about things like I have come to know them, all points are the same point.”

“Well that would account for you to be able to bring more than one person with you, and how you could come through intact.”

“Yes it does, but now I need to recover some energy, so give me a moment,” she said back to the two who were about ten feet from her. 

            In her mind Kora saw the earth and all its energy, and she strove to take just a piece of it into herself.  It was several quiet minutes before she felt the energy start to flow into her. 

            The earth was like a balloon of energy.  If you poked the wrong spot it would blow up, but it was an amazing source for it.  After she had her fill she patched the hole, and the energy was cut off from her.  She stood up, feeling recharged.  She frowned at the fact that her drain had killed the vegetation for several feet around her.  But she knew it was a needed sacrifice.  A circle – about ten feet in diameter – of wild grass for the life of Josh, or hers, depends how you look at it.  Josh had no clue of what had gone on between her and him, but he felt it now.   When he caught her face, he was unable to keep a smile from creeping across his.  Kora in turn smiled back at him. 

“Well I suppose I should explain what I did, so that you don’t fall accidentally,” Kora said.  Directing her attention to Mr. K she spoke, “do you as well have the time her hear this, or do you have a class?”

            “I have prep periods for the rest of the day, so I can stay for another half hour,” he replied.

“Fair enough,” looking back at Josh now, “So, though I’m sure you have guessed this by now, I’m not so average.” Both listeners nodded their heads. “In fact I’m not even human, some would say I’m not real,” again both of them nodded, listening intently, grabbed by the ‘not real’.  “Myself I am a being of energy, not flesh, that’s how I am able to do the things I am.”

“So you’re like an angel?” Josh asked.

“I am what’s considered ‘Other Kin’ which is anything like that, be it elf, angel, devil, even vampires are other kin.”

“So not an angel then?”

“I have the potential to be anything I wish.”

“Makes sense, if you’re energy, you can be anything much like chemical energy can be converted into electrical, you can be converted into angel energy, or Elven energy?”  The teacher said, voicing his theorem.

“Yes you’ve got it, and much like those conversions I lose a bit of myself in the process, due to the energy it takes for the transformation, as such I can also recharge myself.  As you saw there,” Kora pointed to the dead grass.

            “So, now that we know what you are, what did you do?” Josh asked.

            “I did what I had, to.  I took from what was ill, your flesh,” Kora said.

            “Then why am I not dead?”

“Technically, you are, if dead means that your tissue isn’t living.  But you are still here because I made you into what I am.  Therefore you can do everything I can, in time, these and possibly more abilities will lend themselves to you.”  Josh smiled, and Kora waited for a moment to let his mind play with the possibilities before continuing, “word of the wise however Josh, use them sparingly, and with great care.  Because first off, man is not allowed to know of us, or the things we can do, and secondly, you must never use your gift for evil.  For if you tilt to evil it will become my obligation to hunt you down.” Kora pointed a finger at him.

“Sounds fair enough.” Josh said, accepting the terms upon which life had been granted to him. 

“This is all very interesting,” Mr. K piped up.  “I have a new understanding for you Kora, and you as well Josh.” 

“Just don’t let us change your life,” Kora said with a smile. 

            “Now I’m curious, we’ve seen one trick you can do.  Can I see some others just quickly,” Josh said, almost hyper with the possibilities.  Without a word Kora closed her eyes and looked for life, despite the small amount of wildlife in the mountains surrounding the small field, there was none. 

Kora eyes sprung open, “Ok, just give me a second to settle my power.”  Then they closed slowly.  The teacher and Josh waited patiently.  Though both were unclear what exactly she was about to do.  Kora’s eyes came open, and she looked up into the sun.  Taking in a small charge from which to manage her stunt she brought in the radiance of the massive fireball.  Then transferring the energy to her hands.  She held one hand closed as if she held a small item inside, the backside of her hand facing down.  Then she brought more energy into her hand.  Her eyes closed and her hand opened.  There was a small flame.  There was no source for the flame, but it was there, close enough that it should have been burning her palm.  Her eyes opened.  Still the flame burned.  Josh and Mr. K had stood and were looking in awe at the tiny spurt.  Then without warning it extinguished.  The light had dimmed around her, making it look as if a small cloud had gotten in front of the sun.  But there weren’t any in the sapphire blue sky.

“Pyro-kinetics,” Mr. K said quietly.  Kora held her hand palm foreword to Josh; he came skidding across the ground into her arms, “Telekinetic.” The teacher said.  Josh hugged Kora, and she hugged back.  For a moment she lost herself in him. 

“What other abilities have you learned,” the teachers voice snapped her back. 

“Beyond navigation, and other kinetics, very little,” she replied without letting go of Josh. 

“So you’re saying I can do all of these things as well?” josh asked.

“With time, and with concentration yes.  However you could just as well go on living life much as you already have.”

            “The problem is choice,” said Mr. K.

            “Well put, that is the problem,” Kora replied.  “Continue on with a life that’s easy and uneventful or hone your magic abilities but having to watch how you use them.”

            “Well I would obviously like to do some of the shit you’ve shown me today, I mean that’s pretty cool.”  A frown quickly planted itself on Kora’s face. 

            “Don’t choose magic because it is cool.  That’s like choosing the wrong tool for the job because you like the way it looks.  Besides that you won’t be able to show any one else besides me.” Kora said.

            “Well are there no other magic users?”

            “There are, but I would advise you not to get to close to them, nor to display your talents.”

            “Why is that?”

            “There are two reasons.  One is that if you remember that I said that if you became evil I would have to kill you, well if they become evil then you have to kill them.  The other is that a person of a strong faith is easy to confuse for a mage.”

            “Oh.” Josh said; his ideas of using magic openly were shot down.  Kora looked at him, and smiled once more, and then sat down cross-legged in the grass.  “Well can I just give something small a try?” 

            “Here this is a small thing,” Kora a penny from her pocket, and placed it on the soft earth.  “Move that without touching it.”  Josh stared at it intently.  Holding his hand out to it.  The disc twitched, but only once, and didn’t really move.  “You see how much concentration it takes?” She asked him.  His hand still out stretched.   Josh closed his eyes, she felt his power increase, it was marginal, but it was there. 

His eyes opened.

Fire flashed behind their forest green surface.  The penny shot away towards the rim of mountains. 

Do you see how much concentration I have? His voice didn’t come to her ears, but rather to her head.  His hand lowered.  Mr. K clapped, “bravo Josh, an amazing display”

”That’s nothing,” Josh said, his hand came up again, open, palm facing the mountains.  There came a metallic ringing, a flash of copper in sunlight, and the penny smashed into his hand, causing Josh to slid back in the dirt.  He closed his hand and turned it so the palm was up, and then opened it again.  There was the penny.  The small copper disc was heat polished, the copper was utterly smooth, and smoked slightly in his cool palm.  Josh put the penny – which was little more than a circular piece of copper now – on his pointer finger and flicked it with his thumb into the air.  Before he could catch it, Kora caught it with her aura, holding it in the air, as if her palm was invisible and holding it about six inches from Josh’s waiting hand.  She pulled it slowly towards her, slowly her hand came out to match it, but the disc never got there.  She willed it to sail and stop about an inch from her palm.  She moved her hand below it, without changing the distance between her and the copper piece. 

She forced it to spin.  The copper was spinning so fast it appeared to be a solid sphere.  Mr. K got up to look at this new marvel.   When the copped came to a stop it was a sphere, approximately the same diameter as the piece was before.  She dropped the small ball into her hand.  The surface was so highly polished that a person could see their distorted image in it with perfect clarity.   It rolled around in her hand she rolled it up the back of her hand, over her fingertips.  All with out the control of her powers.  Both the teacher and student were mesmerized by this display.   “Power is nothing, control is everything,” Kora said as she let the ball rest in her hand. 

The ball deflated and turned into the original coin again, unmarred by its recent experiences.  Josh looked away, embarrassed and miffed that she was able to show him up.  “BRAVO!” Her science teacher shouted.  “Can we see another trick,” he asked politely.

”These are not simple tricks, their complicated manipulations of energy,” she smiled at him.

”So that’s a no?” he asked

“Up, down, left, right, purple, monkeys,” she replied with another smile.  The teachers and the student’s eyes narrowed in a comical questioning expression.

“What?” Josh asked, completely confused.

”Mean’s we’re not going to get a strait answer from her,” the teacher remarked without shifting his gaze.

”Oh, so can we get a slightly curved one then?” Josh said, just for comic relieve

“Triangle,” Kora piped up.  Josh laughed but her teacher knew that she was actually referring to a complex theory.    The basic run down of the theory was that answers came in multiplications of three.  If you found one answer then there were two more, if you could find five there was one more, if you found two hundred and ninety-nine, there was one more answer to the problem. 

”Triangle? You are full of odd answers Kora,” Josh said shaking his head.

”Well if you had the proper understanding you would find that answer to be rather intriguing,” the teacher said, still his gaze had not lifted from Kora.  She could felt he science teachers wisdom bearing down on her, piercing her, attempting to look for some essence of understanding.  For he was shocked at how someone could control such forces, because he was still blind to her, but he longed for sight.   His profession, his very soul was constantly searching for more perspectives, more knowledge, more understanding, not always of the world that surrounded him, but the world that surrounded other people.

“SO will we be leaving then?  It is nearly three o’ clock,” The teacher said.

”I think we shall, did you want to try this as well or did you want me to do this for you?” Kora said to Josh indicating her travel. 

”Well I don’t trust myself to do that yet, so you do it this time, maybe next time I can try,” he replied, giving a boyish smile that made her heart flutter.

”Ok, be right back,” she grabbed her teacher’s hand, the world went black, stars swirled, then they appeared, dropping into the washroom, next to the gym.  No one was around. 
”You have a nice day,” Kora said, and she was gone, through some rip in space. 

With a rush of air, she appeared in the meadow again.  There was no drop this time she controlled the height perfectly.  She had appeared behind Josh, but when he heard her appear he had turned around.  They were now nose to nose.  His eyes are an interesting mix of blues and greens.  The greens ranged from a diluted teal, to pure forest green.  The blues were everywhere between a smoke grey to the blue-black of the ocean depths.  Their patterns constantly changing, as if they were a sea of color: slits opened revealing different shades of blues and greens, mixtures of both.  Patterns so complex it was hard to imagine that something as simple as evolution had created them.  But then it’s possible that evolution hadn’t created them, that her magick, or that some all powerful being possibly had.