In the early fall of 1706, a band of early Canadian settlers took chase after a native Inuit hunter that had strayed into the settler’s territory. They had moved to corner the hunter against a river, but to their shock, the waters froze over and created a bridge for the hunter to flee over. When the settlers tried to cross, the bridge of ice suddenly melted, and the river swept them away.

This is but one recorded historical instance of thermokinesis being used by early psychics for matters of survival. In more recent history, thermokinesis has developed a more sinister reputation after pyrokinesis was used in the near total obliteration of the country of Vietnam by the now disbanded American Psi-Ops.

Taz suddenly lurched awake at the sound of her phone ringing, and scrambled out of bed with her blanket wrapped around her body. She grabbed the device off her study desk and stared in surprise.

She clicked the answer button and collapsed back into her desk chair, her panic subsiding back into tiredness as she spoke into the phone.

“Hey Robbie.”

“Li’l monsta!” An excited man’s voice filled her ear, and Taz couldn’t help but smile at the exclamation. “Hey, Taz, how are you?! I know it’s early, but…”

“‘m tired, Robbie, it’s six AM!” Taz gave a little laugh. “Ah… but what?”

“I just got the news about…” His voice trailed off. “About what’s happening in Arizona.”

“About…” Taz trailed off a moment.

She was just about to crawl into bed last night when her mother politely knocked on her door and came inside without waiting for an answer. Taz was going to wish her good night and usher her out so she could sleep, but her mother had suddenly embraced her, almost carrying her to bed so they could… talk…

“Yeah. Mom’s really worried.” Taz said. Truthfully, it wasn’t being up at six AM that was making her tired, it was the long, near sleepless night of sitting under a window, flinching at the sound of wind, or tree branches creaking in the distance. Then there was the periodic creaking of her door as her mother poked in to check on her, or sat in her desk chair and wring her wrists in worry as she watched her daughter try to sleep.

“I figured she would be. I’d talked to her a bit before I called you.”

“Oh? And how’d that go?”

“She’s… bitter.”

“Shoulda called me first, Robbie.” Taz chuckled.

He gave a small laugh in return. “Probably, but I wanted to see what she was doing to keep you safe. I’m sending y’all some money to buy some home protection stuff.”

For a moment, Taz was silent with surprise. “Oh! Thanks, man, that’s really nice!”

“Yeah, I—” He trailed off, and the silence that followed was more nerve-wracking than the knowledge that a bunch of kidnappers could have been outside Taz’s window at that moment. “Taz, babe, I…” Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when a muffled voice spoke through the phone, and Robbie grunted. “Shut up man, it’s Taz!”

The voice sounded surprised, and then: “Taz, baby! Stay safe! Monsta Mamas loves ya!” A man shouted through the phone, and Taz giggled to herself.

“Hey Siren!”

“Yeah, she says hey… no, go grab me some breakfast, dumbass! Oh, not you Taz, Siren’s being—piss off!” There was some laughter, a bit of muffled shouting, and Robbie sighed into the phone as Taz hid her laughter. “Taz, what I wanna say is, even if I’m out here chasing fame, you and your mom still mean a shitload to me. Your mom might be mad about it, but I ain’t gunna stop doing everything I can to make sure you two stay safe. Is your mom still teaching you how to shoot?”

“Yeah, every Wednesday.”

“Okay, good. Some of this money… I know your mama’s got her gun, but with everything going on, I think you should keep one around you, too.”

Taz was silent, her skin itching at the idea. She’d thought about it plenty of times last night, it felt… weird thinking about it after some sleep, but he had a point.

“I offered to go down there with the Monstas to keep an eye on things, keep you safe, but mama says she’s got a plan.”

“She always does…” Taz mumbled to herself, glancing at the window, and hesitantly climbing onto her bed to peer out of it. All she saw was grass, dirt, trees, and a few birds fitting about, chirping away… nobody standing around, or… anything more devious.

“Yeah. Taz, stay safe, okay?” He begged, more than ordered, and Taz nodded to herself.

“I will be. I just got school today, and mom’s still dropping me off and picking me up. Mallory’ll be over tonight, so we’ll have some extra hands on deck until late.”

“Oh sweet! She still teaching you bass?”

“Yeah! It’s going really well! Reminds me a lot of lessons with you.” Taz grinned, settling back into her chair, and she could hear Robbie chuckle.

“Good, good, I miss showing you how the Kraken plays, but I’m sure my little Devil’s getting her own style worked out.”

“Little by little. Watching a lot of video tutorials to learn what else I can do.” She told him, glancing over to her guitar sitting in the corner of her room.

“Hey babe, however you can manage it! Anyways, I’m sorry for waking you up out of the blue, but a man’s gotta worry.”

“I appreciate it, Robbie, I really do.” She smiled, closing her window blinds before flopping back into bed on her back.

“I’ll be checking in as often as I can until those Brain Scythe guys are all dead or behind bars. I know you and your mom probably got things on lockdown over there, but hey, I’m not gunna stop worrying.”

“Me neither, in all honesty…” Taz sighed. “But thank you. I’ll look forward to talking more with you.”

“Same here, li’l monsta. Rest up, I’ll call again soon.”

“Okay! I’ll call you if anything happens. Enjoy your concert tonight!”

“I will, Taz, I will; goodbye, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And the call ended.

Taz stretched out in bed, yawned, and let her phone slide out of her hand onto her nightstand.

She wished Robbie had stayed… but ‘the Kraken’ had insisted that it had been his dream to tour with his band, and as far as Taz knew, Big Monsta Mamas was killing it in the rock community. Robbie in particular was growing a reputation that earned his band nickname; the man seemed to grow more fingers when playing guitar…

Her mom was, of course, hurt he was gone; he’d tried to bring them along, but she didn’t want them moving around constantly, making a teenager live the rock band life on the road. Taz thought it would have been cool, but Anna Cooper was a traditional woman and wanted a traditional upbringing for her child.

In the end, the man chose his dream and disappointed the family he was merging into… but Taz didn’t blame him.

Part of her feared she’d hurt her mother as badly if she ever did weasel her way into Phoenix Academy, but she tried to justify it by reminding herself that she wasn’t just up-and-leaving on her own… they still had a deal going on, though Taz figured this entire thing would get thrown out of whack with Brain Scythe crawling around…

Taz stared at herself in the mirror, relaxing in a fluffy white robe. She combed her long, long hair, admiring its length, its perfectly straight look, its bright, straw-yellow color… man, it was a pain to maintain, but so worth it.

She waved a blow-dryer along the length of her hair nice and slowly as she watched a tutorial video on her phone to learn how to play cello.

Melodica floated nearby, watching the video in near rapture, making note of all the movements and moving her hands slowly along with the cellist explaining proper posture and arm movements.

It was peaceful, and almost too normal. It was useful to distract herself, but every now and then Taz would remember the news and Melodica would shiver, and they’d have to rewind the video.

“Y’know, we didn’t even play with the water.” Melodica suddenly noted, and Taz nodded.

“There’s other things on my mind.” She answered in a quiet voice.

“Yeah… same.” Melodica mumbled.

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and Taz glanced over her shoulder, sweeping some hair out of the way. “It’s open!”

The door opened and her mom walked inside. Taz and Melodica both stopped moving as they stared at her in the mirror.

Anna Cooper, succinctly put, looked awful. She was wearing just a pink bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, her golden hair disheveled and barely brushed, heavy bags under her eyes, and a cup of coffee in hand. She didn’t even say anything as she walked straight over to Taz and hugged her.

A tired groan escaped the woman, and Taz meekly embraced her back, clicking the hair-dryer off as Melodica paused the video.

“Hey mom…” Taz mumbled, rubbing her back. “Are you okay?” She ventured softly, and Anna deflated.

“Hon, I’ll be honest, I feel like total shit right now.” Anna asked, letting her daughter go to squeeze her shoulders as Taz blinked in bewilderment.

“Like what?”

“Don’t get cheeky, Tasha.” Anna stroked her cheek and stood up straight, closing her eyes to let her head adjust to the quick change in posture. “I called your school to let them know you won’t be going today.”

“W-wait, what?” Taz straightened up, very much awake now in a mixture of excitement and alarm as Melodica suddenly floated between them, her hands balled up into shaking fists as she gasped.

“Are we turning the house into a bunker?!” She asked, and Anna shook her head with an amused smirk.

“No, Mel. I don’t feel safe leaving you alone today. I know it’s a bad idea to hide you away forever, but today I don’t want you to go to school.” Anna stared at herself in the mirror and grimaced. “I think we both missed quite a bit of sleep, anyways. Instead, we’re going to go see Aunt Zi today..”

“O-... okay.” Taz just nodded, feeling both happy and guilty at her elation since the news from last night certainly stopped this from being a celebration.

“I’ll start on breakfast when you come downstairs.” Her mother told her, moving to exit the room, but she stopped and stared at her daughter for a long time, her expression calm, but… distant, and Taz slowly, awkwardly turned back to the mirror to finish off her hair.

She watched her mom leave through the mirror’s reflection, and Melodica swam into her lap, watching her go with concern.

“... Mom’s really not well right now.” The thoughtform whispered, and Taz could only nod in agreement.

Anna liked natural light when they could get it, even preferring to use candles rather than lamps when it was time to relax. So, when Taz came downstairs and found every curtain in the house drawn shut and the lights on, she was unnerved.

Her mother probably didn’t intend it that way, but what else could Taz feel? She sat down on the couch and listened to the sounds of frying bacon from the kitchen, and sat very still.

Even Melodica hid in her head, and Taz stared blankly at the television as a news report replayed the conference from last night, and commentators sat around discussing what it meant.

“It’s recruitment!” An older man said, staring between his co-commentators and the camera. “It’s some twisted form of recruitment! I guarantee that we will see these missing psychics come back working for this Brain Scythe group.”

“And if that’s true, what do we do?” A woman asked, looking… confidently befuddled at the man’s proclamation.

“Keep them isolated and keep them locked away; if Brain Scythe can’t get to them, they can’t be converted! If Brain Scythe tries to sneak in, we’ll have eyes all over the place, monitoring everything they do!”

“That sort of thing is precisely the sort of thing telepathy laws were created for!” Another man exclaimed, looking bewildered. “Constantly monitoring people for suspected terrorism is absurd, a majority of psychics are fine people!”

“But all it takes is a few of them to completely undermine our government. Get a handful of them close enough for mind control—”

“Perfect mind control is a myth! It’s been shown time and time again that even the best dominator can’t completely suppress a person’s personality or will to fight, especially over long periods of time.”

“But if you have, say, five working together, around the clock observation and control—”

“Shut up.”

Taz flinched at the voice and glanced over at her mother, who set two plates full of eggs, bacon, and toast on the coffee table, then changed the channel over to classical movies.

She sat down with a heavy sigh, watching James Bond schmooze his way into the panties of a gorgeous counteragent before digging into her breakfast, Taz following suit soon after with a satisfied hum.

It was almost normal.

The Cooper girls dined and distracted themselves, but Taz couldn’t help but feel off. She desperately wanted to feel that things were fine and under control; what was the likelihood that an organization of less than two-hundred would come to Petersburg? There were barely any psychics in town, less than ten out of five thousand!

It was a small chance they were even in town, an even smaller chance that they’d break into her house in the early morning to kidnap her.

So… why did her mother have her gun holstered at her hip under her sweater? It was likely just paranoia, but her mother never wore her gun around, always keeping it in a case.

“Man, that does not go with your day-to-day.” Melodica noticed, laying over the back of her mom’s chair.

“Don’t remind me.” Anna grumbled, shifting her thigh in discomfort. “It is absolutely atrocious.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear it before.” Taz said, and Anna shook her head.

“Last time I wore it was when I first bought the carrying case it came with, just to make sure it fit. I think I gained a little weight since I bought it.” She puttered her lips, staring at her bacon in offense for a moment… then ate it anyways with a reluctant crunch.

“Yeah, and you wear it so poorly.” Melodica rolled her eyes, and Anna swat the air the tulpa’s face occupied.

“Brat.” Anna accused, making Melodica giggle. A few quiet moments of eating followed, before Anna cleared her throat and looked at her daughter with a serious expression.

Taz paused mid-bite, swallowing a bigger chunk of eggs than she’d wanted to, leaving her wincing in anticipation of some new rule, or the talk of what was to come, or… any dozens of things her mother would want to say about this situation, leaving her skin crawling in quiet fear of the future.

She met her mother’s eye, setting her fork down in anticipation for when Anna opened her mouth to speak.

“How’s your hydrokinesis coming along?”

Taz blinked, and the tension in the room deflated. “Oh my god, I thought you were about to tell me you were sealing me in my room.” Taz buried her face into her hands, and Melodica gave a quick, hyena-like laugh in surprise as Anna wore a bemused smirk.

“I’m trying to protect you, dear; the very last thing I want in this world is for you to be unhappy…” Anna paused. “No, I want you alive first, but I don’t think there’s much point if you hate me in the process.” She fiddled with her dress for a moment. “I just… you were working on hydrokinesis. I’m just curious.”

Taz gave her mom a momentary smile, and stood up.

“I can show you!” She told her excitedly, and Melodica’s tail wiggled, moving from Anna’s seat to the couch as Taz ran into the kitchen.

A towel laid over the table, and Taz set two glasses half-full of water on top. She looked at her mother with an excited glint in her eyes, and Anna watched with an encouraging smile.

Taz’s face twisted in concentration, her hands cupping the air above the cups. The water inside slowly began to stir, swirling as she prodded the liquid with her mind. It swelled, forming two bubbles about the size of an apple in the air, and as her hands raised, so did the water.

The water spheres retained their coherency and their shape, and Anna’s eyes widened as she realized they weren’t even dewing along the bottoms. Taz held the water up, raising her arms above her head, and slowly moved her hands together, the spheres pressing together and rippling, but only a single, fat drop landed on Taz’s forehead. Despite her wince, she kept her concentration, and the two spheres became one.

Then, with a slight exhalation, the bigger ball of water began to crackle and turn opaque as it turned into a near-perfect sphere of ice, which Taz levitated over to Anna with a bright, happy smile.

Anna took the ice ball between her fingers, staring quietly, not breathing.

“... Tasha,” her mother finally said, “all this in less than a week?” She asked.

Taz bobbed her head. “I’ve been practicing where I can! I think of sponges and stuff, and then try to apply a layer of, like… you know when you put water in a plastic baggie? Sorta like that!”

Anna’s expression fell for a moment, then held the sphere out to Melodica, who took it with a delighted flip of her tail and a big grin.

“It’s way easier when you get your hands involved.” Melodica explained, drawing a quick nod.

“Go ahead and let that melt in the sink, and go gather your things, we’re going to go meet with Aunt Zi.” Anna told her, standing up abruptly.

Taz hesitated at her mother’s reaction, watching her head upstairs, only to stop halfway and glance over at her.

“Oh, and bring your guitar, please.” Anna ordered, making Taz blink as her mom disappeared from view, leaving Taz alone with her tulpa.

“What was that about?” Melodica asked, cradling the ball of ice as Taz shook her head in concern. “I know things are weird, but that was a little weirder than usual, right?” The thoughtform pressed as Taz stood up.

Upstairs, light footsteps could be heard alongside some odd clicking; her mother was probably just checking the locks, but her thoughts were bouncing quickly between moods, questions, and orders. Her nerves were likely as frayed as Taz’s, but Taz was taking things more slowly… freezing up a lot, she realized.

Speaking of which, Melodica went and dropped the ice into the sink as Taz headed upstairs to grab her guitar, stopping for a moment to watch her mom jostle the window above her bed before closing the blinds.

“Where are we meeting Aunt Zi, by the way?” Taz asked, grabbing her wallet, keys, and phone, double-checking the charge as she did.

“We’re going to rendezvous with her in Phoenix.” Anna said, sliding off the bed as Taz gave her an utterly gobsmacked look.

“Out of nowhere? While this whole Brain Scythe thing is going on?”

“Correct.” Anna said, giving her daughter a gentle look. “I know a two hour trip out of the blue sounds crazy, but… I need you to trust me, hon.”

Taz still looked confused, but conceded with a small nod, heading downstairs to wait for her mom to join her.