Helena felt a slight jolt collide with her body, sending her consciousness bubbling to the surface. A tremor ran across her nerve-system before she bolted upright. Her heart was thunderous, colliding against her chest as her eyes darted around out of focus. Recognizing the mirror in the left corner, she followed the green wall to the door. Swallowing uneasily, she found the steel door hanging off a single hinge. It wasn’t a dream.

Kara’s troubled voice slowly increased in volume. “Well—that was completely unexpected. I would say impossible if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” She was standing to her right, against the bedside wall. Her left thumbnail was clamped between her perfectly even white teeth as her right hand rested across her stomach.

Helena’s head slowly tilted down to stare at her left hand, heart fluttering as her peripheral vision fed back its shape. Her skin was slightly pink, but her hand wasn’t blackened charcoal as she remembered and the HCID was still intact, just above the discolored skin. Her stomach constricting as the memories returned, the terror washing over her body. It really did happen. I—incinerated my left hand...

Noticing a crease in her mattress weight distribution and the soft smell of lavender, Helena glanced left to find Belesis sleeping next to her with a worried expression. Taking a shuddering breath, Helena asked. “What happened?”

Kara studied her for several seconds before answering. “You’ve been out for a few minutes. Belesis got here fast enough and repaired your hand to the best of her current condition. With her present Focus and cellular distribution, she was only able to heal your hand to that state before collapsing. She was quite adamant before passing out that I tell you she’d finish.”

Helena could now smell the lingering smells of the lightning and her burning flesh. She couldn’t work her head around it. Why am I being treated so well? Kara’s interested in me, sure, but this goes far beyond simple curiosity. Belesis is a General and she’s used so much Focus on me over the past few days.

She stared down at her left hand and flexed it. Not even a millisecond hesitation, a perfect reaction. It did leave a slight tingling sensation she wasn’t accustomed to, but just a moment ago she didn’t have a hand. Playing with her fingers, she asked. “Why did that happen? I recall you saying that my ability would only be slightly overpowered. I’ve never produced anything—close to that.”

Kara’s brooding complexion deepened as she moved to the foot of the bed and leaned against the curved foot rod. Seriousness drew out every word Kara spoke. “I’m going to ask you questions that seem completely unrelated, but I want you to answer them. You’ll get your answer soon enough.”

Helena nodded stiffly. Kara didn’t ask her questions for another few seconds as she scrupulously studied her wrist. “What kind of calculation did you use to produce that lightning?”

Shifting under the blanket, Helena scooted to the headboard, resting her tight back against it. “A simple electrical shock that I’d—normally just feed Focus into.”

“Have you ever produced an electrical bolt exceeding five hundred million volts and eighty thousand amperes?”

Helena’s eyes widened. “What, no … at most I’ve produced a hundred and fifty milliamps.”

Kara was silent for a moment as she paced the room, every so often looking over Helena’s body. Stopping and folding her arms, she examined Helena’s right arm. Kara’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her earrings and bracelet. “What about your jewelry?”

Confused, Helena asked. “My jewelry? What about them?” Odd, why bring my jewelry into the questioning? I’ve had my jewelry for four years and never had a problem with excessive power.

Adamant about her questions, Kara continued. “How long have you been wearing them and how long have you gone without them?” She’s serious.

“I don’t believe taking them off for more than an hour and I’ve worn them since I was four. Drake gave them to me as a present and told me to always keep them close, they were expensive and jewels showed the signs of Nobility.”

Kara rubbed her right temple and sighed in frustration. She whispered to herself as she paced the room again, suddenly cutting off her silent conversation. “What’s your brother thinking … I’ve never heard of an experiment like this. The side effects suggest it’s impossible! Yet … no, there has to be a different explanation … but what?” She asked herself and her voice continued to accentuate her annoyance.

Helena felt totally out of the loop, a bit of exasperation entering her chest, her hair started to stand on end as static gathered. When’s she going to tell me what she’s figured out or theorizing? She obviously narrowed something down and she doesn’t like her answer. “What are you talking about? What do my jewelry and Drake have to do with some kind of experiment and that power outburst?”

Kara broke eye contact with Helena as two people came running into the room, Booker and Klen. Booker’s jogging clothes were rumpled; his glasses askew showing Helena a glimpse at his dark blue eyes and his skin was covered in sweat. “I heard Belesis came flying down the halls like an esper out of Tech!” Booker exclaimed, white-faced. “What’s going on?”

Klen was breathing heavily as he leaned up against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment to focus on slowing his heart. They both slowly looked down and leaped back with a yelp as they found bloody footprints leading to the bed.

“Is that Belesis’ blood?” Klen asked as he shrunk back into the hall.

Kara’s troubled tone hung as a hum. “Booker, Klen, grab the containment personnel and have them quietly,” she stressed the word with a thumb pointed at Belesis, “clean up this mess and send word to the medical department.”

“What about...” Klen cut off as Booker put his hand on his shoulder. “Got it, Boss. Let’s go, half-pint!”

“I’m not a half-pint, I’m taller than Helena.” Klen exclaimed as they walking out of the room.

Booker’s laughter echoed down the hall. “Yeah, an eight-year-old girl and by what, an inch?”

Klen’s angry voice quickly disappeared. “At least five!”

Kara waited for their voices to fade before leaning against the side of the bed, staring down at Helena. “Why don’t we take this into a relief room? There aren’t a lot of personnel on this side of the base at the moment, so most relief rooms should be fairly clear.”

Helena nodded as she lifted herself from the bed, steadying herself. She walked with Kara out of the room as she led the way. The hallways were chilly against Helena’s bare legs and arms. Without a glance backward, Kara asked. “Have you been taught anything on Espology at the Vandred manor?”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Helena replied. Espology? Is there something in the practice that explains that outburst?

She was silent until they reached a room with multiple couches and armchairs. Kara walked over to a couch and sat down, pressing a button on a device resting on a table. “This is Kara. I want refreshments brought to relief room Y16.”

The response was sharp and the voice seemed in haste from hidden speakers around the room. “Yes, ma’am!”

Kara huffed as she looked at Helena from her sitting position. “Where should I begin … Espology is a basic among espers.” Esp is obvious enough and ology is the study of something.

Sitting across from Kara, she asked. “It’s the study of ESP, correct?”

“Yes, but the basics should be known to all espers. I’m shocked your brother didn’t have you taught the foundations, but,” she cut off as she glanced at her jewelry, “I presume he had his reasons. With that information, you could have figured it out—eventually.”

Helena was starting to get tired of the ambiguous approach Kara was taking. “Then please teach me what in Espology I need to know.”

Kara pursed her lips disapprovingly. “That’s not the tone you should take with someone who’s going to teach you something, but—I am drawing this out a bit. I’m—trying to wrap my head around it myself.” Kara said as she bit down on her left thumbnail again. She must be very annoyed. Is she trying to figure out something Drake did? “Why don’t we start with Focus, what do you know about it?”

Helena sat a little straighter before answering. “It’s an esper’s power source, the energy behind our ability. Our mind calculates and directs what our Focus becomes, based on our individual ability.”

“Right, but what do you know about the Focus initiation process?” Kara asked.

“Initiation process? I don’t understand what you’re referring to? Doesn’t it convert into base elemental partials and your subliminal and conscious calculations carry on from there?”

Leaning back with a hum, Kara waited a moment, finding the right words. “In a way—you know the four categories of an esper’s power; Regeneration, Capacity, Force, and Control?”

Thinking back to her profile and several things people have said over the past few days, she nodded saying. “I’ve recently heard about them, but I don’t know how they relate.”

Kara put her hands behind her head. “It’s explained like this to the new recruits. Imagine a spout that pours water, but instead of water imagine its Focus. This spout is only dripping small amounts of Focus as a young esper develops, but usually around the ages of ten to twelve the tap is opened and it releases its full amount.

“It’s been proven that espers can’t increase or decrease their Focus amount … naturally. It’s just set by nature, genetics, or whatever else Espologists speculate. This tap is categorized as Regeneration.”

Helena frowned but nodded. So this Regeneration is what replenishes an esper’s Focus and its amount will only change once, as an esper matures. It also can’t be manipulated with by the esper himself.

“Then you have a gigantic bucket that this Focus tap feeds Focus water into. This bucket holds all the Focus that is supplied to an esper, our reserve, and it has tiny little crevices. Those leaks are our passive fields we produce naturally and that we can’t stop. For us, it’s an electrostatic field, while say a Pyrokinetic would naturally increase molecular motion around them.” Kara explained.

The regenerating Focus fills a bucket, giving espers the ability to store and use their ability later on, simple enough. The small holes let a minuscule amount of Focus continually escape, giving espers their passive ability effect.

“Force is a large hole in your bucket. It has two subcategories; Force Pressure and Force Width. Pressure is how quickly Focus can be expelled from the bucket and width is how much can be drawn out at a time.”

That means an esper can’t dump all their Focus into a single attack. There’s a limit to the power that can be drawn into the action. They are in a sense the same, but different.

A high Force Pressure can expel a singular ability at a fast pace, while a high Force Width will allow an esper do multiple actions with their ability. It really does seem elementary.

“Control is where our brain comes into play, everything before is natural and out of our control. Consider control as the cap on your Force opening. It designates how much comes through and at what speed.”

I see, my Control couldn’t handle the Force being expelled back in the room, but there are still plenty of things that need addressing. Like how my Force is large enough to expel that much energy and at such a fast pace, also how that much Focus could be stored inside my Capacity.

“Espers can increase the Capacity, Force, and Control categories, but not the Regeneration. The reason Focus being given the simile of water is its behavior.” Does Focus behave like water?

“Water has the dynamism that hates to be bound; it tries it's hardest to escape and can find the tiniest holes to escape through. Focus is the same way and this is how an esper expands their Capacity and Force. Think of your bucket or Capacity being filled with a bottomless sand pit. Focus is constantly in motion, making a current. That current slowly carries out sand, making your bucket or Capacity deeper.”

So the more an esper uses their ability the more their Capacity increases by the sand leaving the bucket. What does all have to do with Drake and my jewelry? A pit formed in Helena’s stomach as it started to click together in her head.

“Water also corrodes, which is exactly what Focus does to the hole in your bucket, making the opening larger. That means that your stopper, your Control, needs to increase as well.”

Helena was white-faced. “Then my jewelry is like the stones in WITCH’s Black Box?” My stones are continually draining my Focus, making my Capacity deeper and my Force wider with less resistance.

Kara breathed a heavy puff of air as she examined her. “Not exactly.”

She leaned closer. “There are hundreds of D-grade Espit around that room … the Black Box.” The stones are named Espit … there are ranks to their quality as well, then what’s mine?

“DG Espit is rare enough to find and Tech goes to great lengths to horde the majority of it. However, your stones must be of higher grade, AG or Advanced-grade. It’s the only explanation I can come up with. However, this plan has a gigantic hole I’m trying to work through.”

“What kind of hole?” Helena asked, fearing the answer she’d already worked out.

“An esper’s Capacity normally sits at ninety to seventy percent and going below that can cause extreme discomfort in the brain as it makes up for the loss with more elaborate subliminal calculations, maximizing potential loss with efficient quality in the product. However, with you...” She cut herself off with confusion evident in her voice. “How can you still use your ability if it’s consistently being dropped to its minimum? In absolutely all cases of Full Focus Depletion, subjects die, even nearing Full Focus Depletion. Yet, you’re standing right in front of me and I’ve seen you use your abilities without effort.”

Helena gulped, feeling her breath hasten slightly as she remembered back to her earlier years at the Estate. Tentatively Helena said. “I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but after my fourth birthday, when I received these pieces of jewelry, I became deathly ill. I had severe migraines and the family Biokinetics couldn’t leave my side. I was bedridden till the age of six.”

Kara’s eyes popped open as if realizing something. “Of course! It could have even saved your life as an Electro Master!”

“How so?” Helena asked feeling the nervous jitters in her stomach. How did I not noticed anything strange until now? Had I just been an experiment for Drake or had it been our parents? It was beyond risky; the success rate was in the multi-decimals. Her mind turned back to the argument Drake had with their parents. She still couldn’t recall their faces, but she remembered how outraged Drake had been about something that teased her thoughts, just beyond her reach, the gap in memory likely caused by the FFD side effects.

“In the early years of an Electro Master or any esper that can control one of the four base energies of the universe; it can be hard for Control to take hold. A burst of Focus can cause an electrical backlash in the brain’s bioelectrical impulses, causing brain death or even send a shock through your heart or other organs, stopping its rhythm and causing tissue damage.” It all makes a lot of sense. Learning to control the three different aspects of an Electro Mastery wasn’t an easy task for me.

“However, now it means you’re dependent upon those restraints to control your Focus,” Kara said as she bit back down on her thumbnail with a concentrated expression.

“How will I increase my Control without taking them off?” Helena asked.

Kara’s demeanor showed that she was deliberating on unfavorable resolutions as she studied Helena’s bracelet and earrings. “First we need to rid you of all your excess Focus.”

“How?” Helena asked, heart skipping.

Kara held out her hand. “Take my hand and direct as much energy as you can into me.” Helena watched Kara’s open hand with reserve. “What’s with those hesitant eyes?” Kara asked with a grin. “Do you actually think that you’ll hurt me? Make the most complex and powerful bolt you can.”

She’s right. Kara instantly took control over my outburst in her room and she didn’t even think it was in the remote realms of possibility that I had that much energy. Yet she still recovered quickly enough to save me from my own electricity. A cold shiver ran down her body. I seem to be all but helpless latterly … relying on Kara’s Faction for everything. I’ve never felt so useless.

Taking Kara’s hands, she found her skin surprisingly smooth. “What did you think I’d have rough man’s hands?” Kara asked with an incredulous grin. She’s so good at reading muscle spasms… Helena didn’t answer as she went over the most complex formula she could think of in electric motion. She felt a horrifying sensation as the energy started flowing out, but Helena found a wall. She couldn’t progress past a low stage of energy and it was much less than what she normally produced.

“What’s the matter?” Kara asked with concern and a knowing fear in her brown eyes.

Helena noticed her own hand was shaking and her mind shifting back to the previous overwhelming feeling of power, not ten minutes past. Kara released Helena’s hand and sat back with an apprehensive sigh. Her eyes reflecting her deep internal thoughts as she passively studied Helena.

Helena examined her hand as it shook and questioningly said. “I—can’t produce anything more?”

Kara closed her eyes as she brought her left index finger up to the corner of her eyebrow, pressing against her skin apprehensively. “I was afraid of this...”

Helena studied Kara with a sharp screw twisting into her intestines as she swallowed nervously. With a serious tone, Kara said. “You’re frightened of your own ability; your subconscious is blocking your conscious from producing anything serious.”

Breathlessly, Helena asked. “How—can I break past it?”

Kara huffed with a frustrated expression and a weak laugh escaped her lips. “Tch … I don’t know! I’ve never had to deal with this kind of problem before, I grew into my ability.”

Panic started to leak from Helena’s voice. “What about all the excess Focus? How can I get rid of it?”

“Don’t fret!” Kara demanded. “Your jewelry pieces will drain your Focus back down in no time.”

Scrutinizing Helena’s red diamonds, Kara said. “I want you to give me your jewelry pieces, separately … there’s another thing that’s bugging me.”

Complying, Helena removed her bracelet and gave it to Kara. The strange sensation escaped as she unclasped it. Is that the feeling of the leech being pulled away from my Focus cavity?

Kara studied it as if it were a dangerous creature. Clasping it around her wrist, she winced and quickly removed it again. “Not an AG, but a Terminus-grade. TG is the maximum grade among Espit, impressive.” Kara said with a sigh as she handed it back to Helena. How could she tell?

Replacing the bracelet, she felt the strange sensation leave. It must be my Focus depletion taking a shift. Is that the feeling Kara got or can she somehow read deeper into it? Giving Kara one of her earrings, she waited, but for some reason, she didn’t feel a shift like her bracelet.

Placing it on her ear, Kara’s eyes popped open in disbelief. “Fascinating, could this be—give me your other earring,” Kara ordered and Helena sensed her heart begin thumping dramatically as if in excitement or dread.

Removing it, she handed Kara the piece. Helena still didn’t feel a thing. Taking a deep shaky breath, Kara added it to her ear and tenses, while closing her eyes with a slight quiver. Why’s she acting so strangely? Opening her eyes widely, she stopped shaking and a brilliant smile lit her face.

“What is it?” Helena asked.

“These aren’t TG, they aren’t even Espit!” Kara said breathlessly.

Perplexed, Helena asked. “Then what are they?”

Kara seemed awestruck. “These two gorgeous little girls are Espite.” Like I would know what that is.

“Is it rare?”

Kara shook her head as she stroked the gemstone in her left ear. “Beyond rare, they’re only theory among Espologists.” Taking one of the earrings off, she shook her head again in disbelief. “How did your brother get his hands not only on Espite, but also resonating pairs.” Wonder shook her voice.

Helena found a strange twinkling shimmer in her deep brown eyes as she stared at an earring. Thoroughly confused, Helena asked. “What is the difference between Espit and Espite? And obviously, I’ve never heard of resonating pares. What makes them so special?”

Kara took the earpiece off and handed them back to Helena. Solicitously, she said. “Put those back on.” Helena complied and still didn’t feel a difference.

“Where to start—where to start,” Kara mumbled. “I’ll start with Espit,” she decided, staring into Helena’s eyes. "Espit are special stones that act as a leech. Once in contact with your personal field, they can latch onto your Capacity … your bucket. Eventually, somehow, they find their way to your Force hole and draw out your Focus. Like in the Black Box, if there are enough, they can amplify their effects and drain an entire area of espers.

“That wrist accessory is a TG, which means it acts a bit differently. It instantly attaches onto your Force opening and starts pumping Focus out. The more Focus you use, the more of a pull it can drain.”

Helena hummed with understanding. “Is that why my energy is much weaker than when I was back in your room?”

“No, your fear is getting in the way—also; it’s your room, not mine,” Kara said with a frown. Helena nodded silently, experiencing a slight shock race across her body.

“Now—Espite is different in the way it attaches,” Kara said as her eyes flickered to her earrings. “Espite doesn’t attach to your Force opening—it attaches to your Focus Facet your Regeneration,” Kara said with excitement.

“Isn’t that worse?” Helena asked. “Wouldn’t that mean that my bucket would go dry?”

“Theoretically, yes. It would continue to drain your Focus until basically, you weren’t an esper anymore. However … the truly astounding thing about your Espite is they are resonating.”

Helena sat quietly, waiting. Clearly Kara’s excited, not worried. So this resonating thing should be a good thing?

“Resonating has only been documented in Espit and in rare circumstances. Resonating Espit forces your bucket to expel all the water at once. Essentially it causes a massive power spike, but soon kills the esper from FFD.” That sounds horrible. Why is she so excited about Espite resonating? Is there a difference?

“If removed quickly it's fine, which is why I tested it myself and I was a bit light-hearted, let me tell you! I mean … with how much Focus I have—that would have been … bad.

She concluded with a tinkling laugh close to her lips. “It seems that Espite resonating pairs act as a shield!”

“A shield against what?”

“Think about it like a limiter on your Facet that is connected to your Control valve. In accordance with your Control, it lifts more of the restriction off your Facet. It’s brilliant! I never would have imagined it possible!”

Helena’s mind birthed with realization. The earrings are to prevent my Capacity from gaining more Focus than I can control. The bracelet is used to deepen my Capacity and widen my Force. Eventually, I’d take off my bracelet and work on Control, now that my Capacity is fairly deep and Force wide. The earrings will keep my Capacity amount in check. The plan truly does seem genius, but again, the only issue would be the shaping process, being able to survive with minimum Focus.

“Do you get it?” Kara asked with a grin. “It really is fascinating that your brother not only came up with this plan but against all odds managed to get the items to accomplish it.”

Helena nodded. The words wouldn’t come to her mouth. I still don’t know Drake’s intentions with WITCH, but he certainly has given me somewhat of an advantage … though, at extremely great risk. However, he didn’t calculate Phantasm into the formula, which is understandable. It’s up to me to figure out the rest. He undoubtedly wants me trained by Kara, which is logical since she’s the most powerful Electro Master, but for what reason?

Kara leaned backward with a huff. “I’m a little bothered about the emotional charge though,” Kara said with a frown.

“What do you mean? What does emotion have to do with anything?” Helena asked.

Kara’s brows furrowed as she studied Helena. “What do you know about the Esper Emotional Correlation Effect, you might also have heard it as EECE?” Kara asked.

Helena’s stomach twisted. Yet another fundamental topic to espers that I’m completely unaware of, why didn’t Drake tell me about these things? Kara must be right and he skipped over anything that could ruin his plans. “Nothing,” Helena regretfully admitted, “just that emotions can hamper my ability to judge a situation.” Is this EECE the reason why Drake always warned me to keep a level head … subliminally instilling a rule that would keep me safe from some kind of side effect?

Kara pondered a moment. “There are eight basic emotions; Ecstasy, Admiration, Terror, Amazement, Grief, Loathing, Rage, and Vigilance. Each of these emotions when truly felt can amplify esper abilities, but doing so will cause esper’s Focus to drain more rapidly and your cognitive rationalization, in most cases, will regress.” Like the feelings, I had toward Ventre. I did notice a strange stir inside of me … loathing, rage?

“I’m just worried about the effects of strong emotion. You see, the sand I was talking about earlier isn’t dry. It’s saturated … soaked with Focus and depending on how high your Capacity is … the more Focus sinks down with pressure.”

“Is it like a hidden reserve?” Helena asked.

“You could see it like that and emotion can boil that compressed Focus to the surface. It’s just a rhetorical expression, but it’s fairly accurate and with how deep your Capacity already is and at your age … if that emergency fuel comes fizzing to the surface … with all of Phantasm’s weighted Focus that has already sunk below.” She cut off, not needed to continue. The same power spike will occur, even worse than that outburst.

“I don’t think I’ll have a problem with that right now,” Helena said.

“Maybe not now, since your catalyst is dead.” She cut off, not willing to say Ventre’s name. “However, there are things that can stick with you, even when your catalyst is no longer a part of this world.” She’s warning me to keep a handle on my emotions, but she clearly has issues of her own with emotional outbursts. Does that mean that she can’t control certain situations and loses cognitive control?

“Don’t go thinking emotions are useless to espers.” Kara said with a concentrated expression. Didn’t she just say that emotion will reduce your ability to rationalize? Why isn’t that a disadvantage?

“Emotion can be an espers greatest weapon and should be used. However, the absolute hardest thing for an esper to do is to find the equilibrium … the serenity between emotion and rationalization.”

“You haven’t found it yet?” Helena asked.

Deliberating her answer, Kara said. “At times … but I’m not perfect and there are other issues...” Helena recognized a slight shift in Kara’s personality as her demeanor darkened and her eyes shifted toward the left wall. “To end this little conversation, you should make sure to keep your emotions in check, because it’ll become life-threatening otherwise. Now, I think it’s time you get back to training … and keep that bracelet off. Put it in the drawer with the brush for safekeeping.” Kara instructed.

Helena nodded and rose to her feet, exiting the room. Espology … interesting.