Natasha

I paced around the main room, feeling her waking coming closer. She would wake up from her coma at any moment, and I wasn’t even there yet.

“Finally,” I snapped when Damien walked in with Arabella, one of my friendliest students and a teleporter.

“Hello, Miss Greene,” she said formally. She stopped in front of me, her posture painfully professional. No matter how many times I have told her that she doesn’t need to be so polite with me, she insists on being formal. “What do you need from me?”

“Arabella, there’s no need to be so formal with me,” I told her for possibly the millionth time. I walked over and pulled her into a tight hug. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugged. “My powers don’t drain as much from me as they used to. I used to feel terrible after using them for just a small amount of time.”

I turned to Damien. “Have you been monitoring her training sessions carefully, like I instructed you to?”

Damien grinned. “Of course, my darling sister.” He pulled Arabella to his side until she managed to wriggle out of his grip. “I only do what you so perfectly instruct me to do.”

I looked at Arabella for confirmation, and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

“If messing around with his powers count as monitoring my sessions, then yes.” She shot him a dark look as he faked an innocent smile. “He mainly tries to have me escape lightning bolts or a raincloud.”

I glared at my brother, who looked proud of himself. “Is that true?”

“It’s not my fault that I have a different training system than you,” he explained, trying to hide his amusement. And failing.

“Whatever. Go help some of the Shifters. They keep turning into weird creatures,” I told him.

He groaned and kicked at the floor. I suppressed a smile, remembering how he used to do that when he was younger too.

“Do I have to? They enjoy using me as a personal chew toy sometimes.” He shuddered dramatically. “I cannot be around Kyle anymore. He has something against me. Like, he is purposefully targeting me.”

“Stop whining,” Arabella snapped with a glare. Damien stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same, before stomping out of the room.

“Now that my brother is out of the way, we can get back to business.” I held her shoulders and searched her amber eyes. “Arabella, if you cannot do this for me, know that you are not required to. I will not force you to do anything that you are not capable of yet.”

She looked into my eyes challenging. “I can do this, but are you going to be able to do your part?”

“What do you mean?”

She scoffed. “You don’t like getting help, and I know the second something happens that you’re not prepared for, you’ll just try to do it by yourself. I will not allow you to endanger yourself. We need you. Your brother needs you, despite how much he says he doesn’t.”

I nodded with a sigh. “You’re right. I will try to be careful.”

“Do you promise?” she asked, holding up her pinky finger.

“I promise, Arabella.” I wrapped my pinky finger around hers.

She nodded and took my hand. I braced myself for the flashing and the nausea that happened whenever I had her teleport me places.

***

I walked into the hospital, trying to look like I belonged there. Act like you own the place, I always say.

I was halfway past the front desk when the front desk woman stopped me. She looked me over questioningly.

“Are you supposed to go back there?” she asked me accusingly.

I cleared my throat, trying to make my powers work. I’m a psychic, and though I’m not technically a mind prober, I can influence others occasionally. I’m the only person at Greene Institute who has two powers.

“I work here. You are going to let me go without question,” I told her calmly. I watched the power take over her. “I’m a doctor that you forgot worked here, and now that you remember, everything is okay.”

She nodded slowly, and I prayed that my control over her would last.

“You work here,” she repeated robotically. I nodded, and she went back to looking at the files on her desk.

I sped to Estelle’s hospital room. Her mother was still awake.

“You never saw me.”

She went back to reading her home decor magazine as I leaned over her daughter’s bed. She would wake any moment now. I could feel it.

“You will remember who you truly are,” I whispered. I grabbed her wrist and tried to push that thought into her mind. Hopefully, if she remembered something when she woke, she would be able to stop whatever is coming for her. Even I wasn’t entirely sure what was coming up. It was too blurry to figure right now.