Nadia eventually rallied them to try meditating together, but everybody fidgeted uncomfortably. Sam considered the implications of Mim’s guidance. He had an idea.

  After he explained, Nadia’s skepticism was obvious. “Hold up. You want to mess with the electric currents in our bodies? That doesn’t seem wise. You’ve just learned how to make sparks. This is a bad idea.”

  “It’s not like that. I’m going to bring in a mote of the energy into myself and then share it with you. My guess is that this will assist you to skip the first step and move to the second step. And we can then each try using our new abilities.” He snapped his fingers with excitement.

  Nadia still eyed him with suspicion.

  “Come on, let’s try it. It’s not like I have the power to truly harm you. I think. Right?” Sam heard the question in his statement and tried to balance it out by making confident eye contact.

  Nadia studied him, then puffed her cheeks out and exhaled. “Fine. I know when your mind is set on something. Plus, if this works, it could really be useful. Everybody else?”

  The others voiced no concerns, and they formed a circle, each holding hands. Sam smiled as Win subtly changed positions so that he could sit next to Nadia. Sam had Elias on his right and Nadia on his left.

  He closed his eyes and did his best to inhale and exhale evenly. It had been another interesting day. Lots for his mind to get stuck on if he let it. Instead, he went to the well of his basketball experience and created an imaginary game to occupy his mind space. He had the ball, his team at his back, and drove across the court. He maneuvered around a defender and lined up his shot. The intake of collective breath from the crowd gave him a feeling of exhilaration. Oomph. The ball left his grip, swatted away from behind. He lost control of the gathering aether, and it discharged into Nadia and Elias, who both shivered slightly.

  Nadia glared at him, but then her expression softened. “Try again, Sam. You can do this.”

  This time, when a hand rose to block him, it was too late. The ball was perfectly situated against his fingertips, and he pushed it up and out of his hands. Swish.

  The mote of energy sprang into existence in front of his face, just past the tip of his nose. This was new. Given that his hands weren’t free, it made sense that the mote needed somewhere else to form. Elias’s hand gripped his more tightly, and he wondered if the others could sense the presence of active aether.

  He gently persuaded the mote to sink into his forehead, and with a light tingle, it spread throughout his body. Now came the interesting part. The last place it reached were his fingers, where he could feel two different barriers. The barriers weren’t visible, as they existed within the aether dimension. On his left, he detected a potent magnetic pull. The barrier flickered in and out as if battered by an invisible force. On the right, a bubbling brew of phosphorescent sludge, swirling and heaving against the barrier with abandon.

  The mote recoiled from these differently attuned energies, causing Sam to tremble. He almost lost concentration but kept his mind’s eye on the basketball frozen in the middle of the hoop.

  Calming himself, he determined that he couldn’t convert these foreign energies. That would be impossibly difficult. He could charge them instead, if he mixed his energy with theirs.

  He started with Nadia. He let the static of his internal energy grow flush with the barrier that separated them. Sparks flew as pressure began to steadily build. The strain of the battle took its toll, and sweat built on his forehead and hands. He silently apologized to Nadia. The mote released a larger surge of electricity that scored his arms, leaving behind red lines. The barrier weakened, but the pain almost caused him to lose focus.

  Just as he was about to let go, a spark leaped the chasm between them. The barrier abruptly disappeared, replaced by a strong vacuum, pulling in spark after spark, puncturing his hands and arms with short-lasting but painful welts as they went by. He quickly dropped his hand and shook his arm out. This would require significant practice, both to improve his technique and get used to the discomfort.

  He wasn’t done though. The desire to spend time recovering lost out to the need to sustain momentum, so Sam focused on Elias. He mentally recoiled. The surging sea across from him seethed with toxicity, and a rancid perfume wafted toward him. If he used the same technique as with Nadia and battled with the sludge, he’d risk being poisoned. Could he adapt to using his technique at a distance? He pictured himself throwing a spark across the distance. The spark sizzled as it left his chest and barely flew an inch. He sighed.

  A couple of seconds went by as Sam pondered what to do. If he gave up, he’d be reinforcing to Elias that his affinity was less than desirable. He couldn’t be the one to do that. He steeled himself. Poison could be extracted. He’d survive.

  But as he asked the mote to produce a charge again, Elias squeezed his hand. Hard. Sam almost jerked his hand away, but his attention was caught by the sludge slowing, stiffening, and then freezing in place. Oh, wow. Elias had exerted his will over the aether to such a degree that he’d created an opening for Sam to act. Sam wasted no time, shooting a bolt through the immobilized barrier. The electricity sizzled when striking the sludge, dimming noticeably, but still traveling the length of the toxic sea as far as Sam’s perception could extend. A second later, Elias’s hold on the sludge released and the barrier once again churned with friction.

  Exhausted and worried about what he’d done, Sam opened his eyes. Opposite from him, Win and Camila sat in repose. Camila gingerly rested the hand that Elias had been holding on her knee, as if burned. Win held a spoon. But he twisted his hand around, and in fact, the spoon stuck to his wrist, in defiance of gravity.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Nadia and Elias each remained still, their eyes still closed. Not sure what was happening, Sam reached out to shake Nadia’s shoulder, but Win shook his head. “No, don’t touch them. They’re processing right now, absorbing the insights your ploy showed them. If you interrupt them, they might lose control and use their abilities on us.”

  “How do you know?” Sam asked.

  “Camila and I received the side-effects of whatever it is you did. For about five seconds, I had the urge to do whatever Nadia told me to. It was tempting in a way.” He stopped and glanced over at Camila, who was listening. “I mean, it felt unnatural, so I had to let go of her hand, and then it stopped. For the past minute or so, I’ve been able to do this though.” He pointed to the still-attached spoon.

  Camila pulled her knees into her chest. “For me, I felt this intense pull toward Elias. There was this churning pit of energy erupting inside him that I could feel my ability responding to. At first my aether and his clashed. Whenever any of his splashed on me, it hurt like hell. I kept pushing though, and my aether grew more solid and powerful. It forcibly melded our aether streams together, and there was a great suction, forming a whirlpool, pulling the two of us in. I immediately dropped my hand then.”

  “What could any of that mean?” Sam asked, feeling puzzled and fearful. This had been a strange experiment.

  Camila only shook her head.

  It wasn’t much longer before Nadia and Elias each emerged from their stasis.

  Nadia fell forward and grasped Sam’s shoulder. After taking a deep breath, she flashed him an enthusiastic grin. “That was unbelievable. I felt so in-tune with myself, like the aether had stitched into me, rather than being a strange external force that I had to wrestle to control. If that was a glimpse of what it means to excel at this whole Path thing, we’re all in for a lot of fun.”

  Sam swallowed. “Oh, good? I didn’t know it would have such a powerful effect. What about you, Elias?”

  Elias moaned. “I feel awful.”

  He swayed a bit, and Sam reached out to brace him with his arm. It was a good thing he did, as Elias immediately sagged into him. Sam grunted as he shouldered his weight.

  “Are you okay? What happened?” Win asked.

  Camila moved over and laid a couple of fingers across his forehead, testing for a fever. After some time, she said, “He’s very warm, but it seems to be getting better. Let’s give him a minute.”

  Eventually, Elias took a deep breath and pushed himself up. “Thank you. And sorry. I didn’t mean to cause concern.”

  Sam eyed him, looking for any outward signs of harm. “What happened?”

  “When I saw what you were planning to do, I could see it wouldn’t work. To make it possible, I needed to control aether and give your technique space, and I had to meditate. The difficulty was very high, and I had to . . . go to a dark place in order to still my mind fully. Then you supercharged my power, and if I hadn’t already put that control in place, I would have . . . exploded? Something like that.”

  Sam shared an anxious glance with Nadia. Even if she’d profited, they needed to be careful using this technique in the future. “I should be the one who is sorry. We bit off more than we could chew.”

  Camila looked at Elias with a hint of trepidation. “The power you have, it’s so potent. Having that inside you, it must feel so heavy.”

  Elias returned his expression to one of studied blankness as he considered. “You could say that. The feeling is not new to me. Excuse me, I would like to take a break now.” He stood up, looking wobbly.

  “Of course. You can rest on one of our beds.” Nadia pointed to the hallway.

  Elias hesitated, but not for long. “That’s okay. I will return to my place.”

  “All right then, since we didn’t get to do much team bonding, how about breakfast in the morning before the group training session?” Nadia asked in a hopeful tone.

  “Yes, I can do that. I hope my appetite will recover by then," Elias said. He pulled the door open and heaved himself through.

  “What do we think? Successful first team experience?” Win grinned.

  “Blame Sam and his great ideas.” Nadia smirked.

  Sam winced. “I was channeling your relentlessness. I’ll try to refine it for next time.”

  Nadia looked out, in the direction of the moon. “Next time. Camila, you ok?”

  Camila looked over her shoulder at the doorway Elias had gone through. “I can see why the Editor put us together. We have the potential to make a great team. We could become strong. Win this.”

  “We’ll steadily build trust and operate as one,” Nadia said, putting a fist over her heart. Sam groaned, earning an eye roll.

  Camila winced almost imperceptibly. “Yes, of course. The more we work together, the tougher we’ll become. We can face down whatever awaits us.” She also looked out the window, but to space instead.

  Sam gave a half-hearted fist pump, too tired to say anything.

  “As good a point as any to end on,” Nadia, unofficial leader, declared.

  #

  Elias had recovered by the next morning and, while still not overflowing with words, did seem more relaxed in their company. With Nadia as a freight train of conversation, it didn’t matter much. They’d received notice the evening before that the first round would be a capture the flag contest. Nadia had stayed up late devising a strategy and decided to use breakfast to brief them all. She’d determined how to use her wristband to store notes, and a blue-colored projection filled with Nadia’s cursive now occupied the middle of their table.

  Sam tried to be gentle. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself just a bit, sis? A lot could change over the course of the week.”

  Nadia jammed her hand on her hip and dipped her chin in exasperation. “This is your fault because you got my brain going at a million miles a minute yesterday. Just go with it. My guess is that they decided on capture the flag for the first round because it will emphasize our ability to work together as a team, given that none of us will have progressed yet very far as individuals. Sound strategy is what will enable us to win.”

  Sam raised his hands in supplication, and Nadia pressed on. She pointed to a corner of the project marked Roles. “Win, you’ll be our scout. Figure out the lay of the land and coordinate with the advance team, Elias and me.”

  Win’s head popped up from the bowl of oatmeal he was consuming. “Got it.”

  “Elias and I will follow Win and work on stealing the flag. Once we have it, Win will carry it back home, and Elias and I will get his back. We are both more offensive in nature and can take out any guards they leave. Camila and Sam, you’ll hang back and defend our home flag.”

  Elias was slowly shaking his head. “I’m not comfortable using my power on another human being.”

  Nadia froze, then tapped her fingers. “Oh, okay. Is that something you could speak to Tar and Mim about? Maybe there’s a way to minimize any harm you’d cause to others.”

  “Maybe. Either way, I believe we can be successful. Once the opposing team finds out about my affinity, they will be scared of me and run away,” Elias said matter-of-factly.

  Win raised his spoon, sending oatmeal flying. “Smart plan. We can start building our reputation. Instill fear and all that.”

  Nadia gave Win an amused smirk. “You’re right, Elias, I love that idea. So you’re okay with us spreading the word about what your affinity is?”

  Elias shrugged. “They will find out soon enough anyways.”

  Sam admired the man’s indifference. It would bother him if just the sight of him sent people running.