Kat sat heavily down on a branch. She put her head in her hands.

Where had it all gone wrong?

She had tormented herself with the question the entire way here. It hurt, knowing how badly she had failed. How she had lost her one chance. How her dream was further away than ever.

Her head was also full of cotton from the mana burn. It made it hard to think, and her thoughts just looped back to her failure again and again. There wasn’t much actual pain, the painkillers had done their job.

She sat with her head buried in her arms, breathing steadily. Minutes passed. She massaged her head. It felt a lot better when Ella did it.

She glanced up at her treehouse. Well, what remained of it. The tree itself hadn't changed all that much since the tree shaper worked it. She had changed. Grown taller. The previously challenging branches were now child's play to traverse.

As for the house part… how had it deteriorated so much? She could count the number of intact planks on two hands, while the rest were broken, rotted, or missing. It wasn’t this bad when she was last here. When? She had been what, eleven? Wait, hadn’t she been here in over two years? That sounded… about right, actually. When she wanted to be like the big girls, and…

It was a strange, and also sad feeling. She felt nostalgic for her uncomplicated past, where she didn’t have to perform in front of everyone all the time.

Fucking Mina. That's where it all went downhill. It was all her fault. She had stolen everything. If she hadn't come here, this wouldn’t have happened.

Okay, if she hadn’t come here, the Consortium wouldn’t have come here either. She wouldn’t have had a chance to prove herself, and no opportunity to botch it. Argh.

It wasn't like she fucked up everything, though. It worked fine for a while; her peeking gave the Consortium Mina's original position. But right before she reached into the maze, she suddenly disappeared. Well, not entirely. But focusing on her became impossible. Kat barely managed to zoom in on her for a moment, but she couldn't really get any impression of her or her surroundings. It was like trying to pinpoint the moon behind a layer of dense clouds. Like she wasn't really there, but behind something that obfuscated her sight.

She had no idea why she had suddenly been unable to peek at Mina. It was an unfamiliar sensation. It was different when she tried to peek at her friends without any connection. But she had a connection, damn it. She had been holding Mina's hair.

When it happened, she had immediately tested with Ulan's hair. It had worked like a charm. Only Mina eluded her.

She glanced down at her hand. In her haste, she had forgotten to return Mina's hair to the box. It was still in her hands. Some of her disgusting pube hair. Maybe she could …

Her thoughts were interrupted by the tune from her cell phone. Mom again. Couldn’t she take a fucking hint? She declined the phone call and put it on silent.

Back to the hair. She knew the risks of overtaxation. But she needed to do this, to peek at Mina, and confirm… That it was working again? To see what Mina was doing? The details were a bit fuzzy. She just knew that if she did this, she would get some answers.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she took the plunge, opening herself up to the impressions channeled to the hair.

A room. Mina. With a book.

Suddenly, darkness.

Falling. She flailed, hitting something. Grip it.

Vertigo. Where was up?

Confusion. Pain. Agony.

A sound. A crash. Near? Far?

Irrelevant. Hold on. Not give up. Ignore the pain.

Words. Hard. Pins, needles, cotton in her head.

Other sounds. Bird songs. Insects. Wind.

Pain. Different pain. Arms, hands, hurt. Slipping.

No. Bad.

Fail. Falling.

No, not fall. Leaning on something.

Good.

Sleep.

She woke up. Her head was heavy, her body complaining. She opened her eyes, still groggy.

What the fuck.

She was half-lying, half-leaning on some of the branches leading up to her treehouse. Just one or two branches further down from where she was sitting earlier. The branches were digging into her sore skin. Still better than falling down.

She tried to move into a better position. Her pained muscles struggled to obey. A bit better, at least. She needed to wait a bit more before she could climb down.

Her head was barely functioning. It had been a terrible idea to try peeking again. She was so used to peek whenever she felt like it. It wasn’t the first time she had tried it while fatigued, but this was definitely the worst outcome she had experienced.

She scratched her arm. Fuck. Mosquito bites. Fucking hell. Fuck the forest.

Where was her cell phone? Not there, not there… weird. Had she lost it?

No phone, no watch. Had she been out for long? Not evening yet, at least.

She started climbing down the tree. Her muscles trembled. It wasn't hard, just agonizing.

A rustling below. More than just wind. She looked down.

What? Mom? With a gray haired guy Kat didn't recognize. From his uniform, she guessed he worked at the school.

Mom met her eyes. "There you are," she exclaimed.

She debated climbing up again to avoid her. Tempting, but pointless. She had nowhere to go; the tree house was bust. In addition, she wasn’t sure if she was capable of it right now. Time to go down and face the music.

"Thank you for your help, Viktor," Mom said to the other guy, "We'll find our way back on our own."

"Very well, ma'am."

He disappeared into the forest.

"I wondered why you turned off your cell phone," Mom said.

"I didn't…" Kat began, until she noticed what her mother was looking at. Her cell phone, in pieces. It had fallen down and hit a stone or hard root or something.

She made her way down. Mom didn't look angry, but Kat knew she was far from pleased. She met her eyes. There was nothing Mom disliked more than people looking away. No reason to piss her off any further.

"Anger or an accident?" Mom pointed at the phone.

"Accident."

"Very well."

Kat wasn't sure she said that because she believed it or had more important beef to pick.

"What were you trying to accomplish by running away?"

"I wasn't. I mean, I had no plan. I just had to get away from everything."

"Tsk tsk. So immature. The agent might give you a negative mark for that on her report."

"Who cares? I failed. It's like an F- instead of F."

"Failed? You think you failed?"

"I know, Mom. No need to mince words or spare my feelings. The Consortium will never accept me now."

"I think you've misunderstood something, dear. You didn't fail."

"No? How else do you explain why I couldn't peek at Mina at the most crucial time?"

Mom sighed.

"Katinka Kowalski. Stop for a moment and think. Why do you think the Consortium employed those helicopter things?"

"The drones? To find Mina?"

"Yes, but why would they use them instead of just regular awakened agents?"

"Because you can't run away from… "

Halted mid-sentence. She knew of at least three people with supernatural speed in the school. Surely the Consortium had agents they could employ if they wanted. Hell, maybe some of the agents she saw had similar talents, but hid it until they needed it.

"They weren't really trying to catch her?" she asked.

"One of their goals was to catch her, I'm sure. But it was obvious that was not their only purpose. Do you remember when we could see Mina on the screen, but the agent next to her seemed oblivious?"

"Yeah, that was so strange. I thought they were pretending not to notice her, for some reason. It was even stranger when it happened again.”

Mom shook her head.

“Too bad you left there at the end. I asked for and got an explanation. They were testing Mina’s talent.”

“Seriously? She can sense feelings, that’s what the teacher determined. Was that a lie?”

“Doubtful. It’s more likely that there’s a second aspect to her power. One she might not have been aware of. She can, in some circumstances, deflect attention away from her. So much that she, for most intents and purposes, is invisible.”

“Really? That’s … bloody unfair.”

“Unfair? The world doesn’t care about fairness. You of all people ought to know that by now.”

“Yes, but … I’m envious.”

“Indeed you are. Put that aside for a moment, and think about your own position. You didn’t fail any test. Mina succeeded in hers. You were expected to fail, if she succeeded. The Consortium will not automatically reject you in the future.”

“Really?” Kat asked in disbelief.

“That’s not the same as saying they are guaranteed to recruit you. Then again… I have connections. If you want to become an agent, I can ensure it happens.”

"Really?" She asked again, this time elated. She hugged Mom hard. "Thank you," she muttered into her shoulder. Her muscles were still trembling, but she held on. Tears of relief ran from her eyes. She couldn't stop it. They stood like that for a while, until Mom's shoulder grew too wet for comfort.

She disentangled from Mom. It was a bit embarrassing to cry so much. But Mom didn't comment on it, so neither would she.

"Now, let's go back," Mom announced.

Kat just nodded. Then she did something she hadn't done in years; she held Mom's hand while they walked. As long as no one saw them, it was fine. Even nice.

"There’s something I'm wondering about," Mom broke the silence after a while, “Why is it you want so badly to join the Consortium?”

“It’s like the best of the best, right? It’s what I’ve always dreamed of.”

“I know that. But you’re thirteen now, not six. You ought to think long and carefully about your goals. Not because I want to discourage you, but because you need to know your own motivations. It will help you in the future.”

“Okay, Mom. I will.”

They walked in silence. Then it was Kat's turn to break the silence: “So, what happens next? Mina will leave for the Consortium?”

“Don’t be silly, dear. She is eleven. The Consortium won't recruit her until she is done with school here. They’ll put her in their academy the year she turns sixteen.”

“So I have to live with that bitch for another three years, until I graduate?”

“Language, dear. Yes, you will. But she is two years younger than you. If you don’t want to deal with her, you don't need to.”

“Oh, I want to. I want to make her life here a living hell.”

Mom sighed exasperated.

“Listen to me. I know you. No matter what I say, you won’t back down. But know that what you are trying to accomplish will not help you in any way, except for the momentary satisfaction. You need to realize that such a behavior is ultimately pointless, save for making more enemies.”

Great. More lecturing. The annoying part of being with Mom.

“I’m not going to stop you," she went on, "It’s your choice. But I’m also not going to be around forever to shield you from reprisals. You need to mature and find this out on your own. Hopefully soon.”

Kat nodded, as was expected of her. Mom probably wanted to share some wise words, but they just proved that she didn’t really understand her daughter's situation.

“Now, dear. We missed lunch. I suggest we get something sent to my office, and we'll eat there together. Then I have to pick up the work I left when chasing after you.”