The Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms contains the story of a man by the name of Hongtao Wu, a sorcerer in the service of Liu Bei. Accounts of Wu are short and mentioned only in vague passing, but indicates that one of his greatest contributions to Liu Bei’s war was crafting grand illusions and creating strange sounds with which to distract Liu Bei’s enemies, allowing his master several victories via distraction and disorientation.

For a time, debates around Wu’s role were limited and it was commonly accepted that he may have used fireworks and foreign instruments among any number of other tricks, but a single passage has gotten the attention of modern-day psientists: ‘For Liu Bei he plucked invisible strings, and from these sonorous sounds emerged beings of light, who danced for his lord.’

Wu is now the subject of much inquiry amongst psientists, who believe that, with other more factual sources offering similar accounts, Wu may have been a practitioner of the mimicry discipline, the psionic power of illusion.

“—and Billy didn’t know that psionics were counted under school harassment stuff because he thought you needed physical proof of that stuff; did you know that miss Tasha?”

“My principal told me about it in sixth grade. Also, you can just call me Taz.”

“Okay! Yeah, and Billy thought he was being sneaky about it, but enough girls told on him that they brought in a diviner, who found foreign brain waves in their resonance, so Billy ended up—”

Taz was realizing that growing up as the only psychic in her grade maybe wasn’t a bad thing, because psychic dick pics sounded like a big ol’ can of nope she could happily live the rest of her life without opening.

Or having opened on her, to complete the metaphor.

Danielle had a lot to say about the other psychics in her school, but Taz was starting to tune her out as they got closer to the convention center. It wasn’t deliberate, out of either boredom or annoyance, but because the convention center crackled with thoughts and power.

To any human it wouldn’t seem any different; a pair of buildings packed to the gills with people of all ages working their way inside, but to Taz, to Danielle, to other psychics…

It was like walking into water. Light and free, and then suddenly there’s pressure against you, flowing around you, particles and debris being carried against you by the waves, brushing past you as you move deeper in, until you’re submerged from head to toe in this comforting, enlightening pressure. The only indication she was in the open air was the guitar case swinging freely under her arm.

Stray thoughts passed through her mind, never lingering for long; the excitement was genuinely palpable for Taz and Danielle. Intrigue sprouting in every corner, wonder coming from the audiences around the psionic performers up front, a general energy and happiness from being in the area.

Taz squeezed James’ hand when Danielle ran ahead to join a crowd around a man using electromagnesis to manipulate crackling bolts jumping out of a miniature tesla coil; his focus was immense as tongues of electricity lashed out to pop balloons and strike light bulbs, making them blink and flash brilliantly before winking out from overload.

“Mom, can I get James an ice pop?” Taz called over her shoulder to the three adults tailing her, and Anna glanced over at Lindsey and Trevor, the latter of whom strode forward to hand Taz a five dollar bill.

“He’d love one; cherry’s his favorite if they have one.” Trevor smiled, and Taz nodded as she led James over to a stall a small ways past the entrance.

It already had a pretty big crowd, though a majority of them were already licking ice pops and just watching the show. Taz pushed her way to the front, keeping James close as he clutched her hand in nervousness over the crowd, but then he was standing before the stall with two smiling women watching him, both in baseball caps and waterproof aprons.

“Hi honey! What can we get you?” One of them asked.

Taz held out the five dollars Trevor had given her. “One popsicle; cherry, please!” She answered for the staring, unsure boy.

“One cherry, darlin’!” The woman called, and the other girl—Darlin’, Taz supposed—opened up a half-empty jug of water and stretched her lips wide as the water began to slowly flow upwards and outwards, her extended hands moving slowly and fluidly to help ‘direct’ the water into a glass tube floating nearby. “As you all can plainly see, my partner here is using hydrokinesis–that’s psionic water control!–to retrieve the water! No need for expensive pumps!”

Darlin’ passed the mostly-filled tube of water over to her partner, who unscrewed the cap off of a jar of what deep red liquid, and with her eyes squinted, pulled a tendril of liquid out of the jar to fill the rest of the glass tube up. “The flavored syrup we use is a good deal thicker and stickier than water, so it requires a different approach than hydrokinesis.” Darlin’ explained while reaching into a bucket full of wooden popsicle sticks, using one to direct the crowd’s attention. “She pinches it off at the end…” And the tendril cut short, leaving no mess on the table.

Darlin’ held the popsicle stick inside the liquid, which swirled and churned subtly with Darlin’s hydrokinesis, and her partner spoke aloud. “Now I’s gunna use thermokinesis to finish this off! Keep a close eye!” She ordered the crowd, and with her brow tightened, the liquid subtly changed, no longer as loose, and the two slowly worked the ice pop out, handing it over to James with a big smile.

James hesitated in taking the red-colored pop from a stranger, but he snagged it, and was sucking on the end with wide-eyed gusto, already leaving a nice, red stain around his mouth as Taz grinned at the two women.

“That was really cool! I’m just starting to learn hydrokinesis!” She told them, and Darlin’ and her partner beamed at her.

“Well do you wanna try and make one, suge? It’s free for any attendant who can make one themselves!” Darlin’ raised her voice to the crowd, earning some curious ‘ooh’s as Taz gave a nervous grin, but stared at the ingredients on the table.

“Pick a flavor, sweetie.” The other woman offered. There were a half-dozen jars of different colors, their flavors on their labels, and Taz considered it for a bit longer than most people would have, wondering if this would be humiliating or amazing, but…

“Lemon!” Taz set her guitar case down and pointed to the yellow jar, which the women opened up and set the materials she’d need in front of her. “You guys are getting this done way faster than the lemonade goose guy from last year.” She noted, drawing a quick laugh.

“Oh yeah, that guy? He’s how we got this job in the first place.”

Taz stared at the jug of water. A quick glance towards James confirmed that his mother was now there, holding his shoulders and watching her with interest, so she put all her focus forward.

All around her, psychic resonance sizzled. Encouragement was in the crowd’s thoughts; encouragement, wonder, and tinges of envy as they watched her. So many thoughts and ideas and emotions, so much attention on her… her mind felt sharper. Even if they were doing it unknowingly, the pressure of their surrounding brain power made her feel… more sure, so much less alone.

With a lick of her lips, she drew water out of the jug in a ball, squeezed some into the glass tube the ice pop women provided, and did her absolute best to not splatter the table with the excess water as she returned it to its container.

It felt smoother and easier when buoyed by buzzing thoughts of the crowd. Her psionics manipulated and moved the liquid with ease; her practice was paying off and she stared at the little glass tube with pride, taking it in her hand as the two women clapped.

“Your hydrokinesis is good, hon, but this’ll be the hard part.” Darlin’ told her, sliding the jar of lemon syrup over.

Taz held her hand up to the jar, the action giving her a sense of focus, direction, and intent needed to direct her telepathy, and she narrowed that focus on the yellow syrup inside and tried to pull it upwards.

The liquid inside barely quivered. She didn’t get a perfect sphere, she barely managed to scoop out as the syrup, sticky and dense, clung to itself, almost fighting her with its consistency. She wrapped her thoughts tightly around it, and hung it over the tube of water.

“You’re doing good, sugar, but be slow with it. It’s very different from water.” Darlin’s partner said, and Taz let out a breath she’d been holding.

“It’s easier to keep together but…” Taz mumbled, and Darlin’ nodded.

“Harder to shape, harder to pull apart.” She said, leaning forward to examine the pearl of lemon. “The secret here is in how you shape it; ya gotta thin it out and rip off the pieces you want. Thankfully, it’s harder to make a mess with than water.”

Taz nodded. What did they say earlier? Pinch it off? She needed to keep it suspended in the air while applying telekinesis as some sorta… pinchy-grabby thing. Applying two forms of telekinesis was difficult for her to imagine straight out, but…

She had better ways of visualizing it.

“Melodica, I need some help.” Taz said out loud. At first, Darlin’ and her partner looked confused, but they, along with the crowd, nearly jumped as a girl simply appeared on the counter, kicking her pale, skinny legs underneath a skirt, a pair of comfy-looking sandals with seashell decorations on her feet.

Inquiries abounded, some minds trying to feel the tulpa to see what she was, but Melodica, well… she didn;t much care for the crowd at the moment.

“You shoulda gone with grape.” Melodica sighed, making pinching motions with her fingers at the marble of syrup.

“It’s a hot day, lemon’s better.” Taz huffed, and Melodica groaned.

“Come oooon, you made me put on feet, can’t I get grape?”

“No, I want lemon!” Taz gave her tulpa a glare as her fingers pinched the syrup, telekinetic force sloppily severing it, but it made it easier to keep both halves suspended with Melodica’s assistance, and plop one into the water tube.

“Well I’m feeling grape, and I came from your mind!” Melodica pointed out as Taz stirred the water and slid a popsicle stick inside.

“I don’t subconsciously want grape, brat.”

“Maybe you do and you’re just stubborn.”

“I don’t and I’m not!”

“You are too! You always are with me! ‘Oh I know what I want, Mel!’ Well what did I say about going rogue before mage in Dragon Age?! But noooo, cool spell effects!”

“That was three years ago!” Taz made a frustrated noise, pulling her lemon pop out of the tube as Melodica pouted. “It’s always food you get so fixated on!”

“Says you! I know for a fact that what I want is what you really—” Taz stuck the lemon pop in her mouth, “—oh that’s actually really good!” Melodica blinked, and Taz huffed.

“Told you… grape my ass.”

Melodica pouted on the counter, and grumbled. “Well I’m going back inside because I hate staring at my toes. Call me again if you get brownies.”

Taz paused, and groaned. “I hate you. I hate you so much, Mel; brownies sound super good…”

Melodica winked, and with it, disappeared.

Taz gave Darlin’ and her partner a grateful smile, with a tinge of apology at the edges of her lips. “I’m really sorry about that, Mel’s difficult sometimes. Thanks for the popsicle!”

“Uh… yeah, yeah.” Darlin’s partner mumbled, side-eyeing Darlin’. “What?”

Taz paused mid-lick, and blushed as she suddenly remembered she was surrounded by people she’d just had an argument in front of… an argument with a figment of her imagination. People were staring, whispering, and snickering as she coughed to clear her throat.

“Err, well, Mel’s—”

“Tasha!” Her mother’s voice called over the crowd, waving to get her attention. “You need to come and register! The next presentation is starting soon!”

Taz nearly gasped; they still needed to meet with Aunt Zi as well! She quickly shook both of the stunned womens’ hands and turned to face Lindsey and James, the former of whom was staring at her like she’d grown a second head.

“C’mon c’mon!” She encouraged, bustling through the crowd while trying to eat her ice pop as quickly as possible.

The convention center’s entrance lobby had a long row of tables just past the security guards inspecting bags. The tables were covered in tarps advertising Phoenix Academy’s name and logo: a circle with a single line down the middle, and three branching lines in each half, helping provide the facsimile of a brain.

Taz drew a few curious looks and excited grins when security opened up her guitar case to see the handsome acoustic Fender sitting inside, its light brown finish decorated with stickers of adorable rabbits and anime figures, but Taz was distracted with her surroundings.

From what Taz could see through the crowd lining up at each table, there were about twelve or so people running registration. Taz had never felt so many psychics in one place; she could sense children, teens, and adults alike throughout the building, and quite a few were signing up to go in.

She saw all sorts of folk around as well; the usual American looking folks, but she heard accents she’d never heard before, she saw men in turbans and women in headwraps, fashions she recognized from pictures online in entirely different countries, and skin colors that ran the gamut of chalk white to a soil-like ebony.

A man in a suit surrounded by bodyguards shook hands with passing people, passing out political pamphlets, one her mother was reading in idle interest as they stood in line. He looked every bit the politician he was, and was almost always audible over the din of the crowd.

Signs all around the lobby advertised events, from psionic displays of talent, to conferences and presentations regarding new psientific discoveries and theories, to political discussions both domestic and international, featuring prominent experts that supported psychic freedoms or railed against their public use.

It was… exciting. The Phoenix Academy convention at the Phoenix, Arizona Convention Center was the place to find support and share information about the psiences. The main drive was, of course, to help students learn about PA and sign up for it, but it drew so much attention globally that it had grown in the twenty-or-so years since it had began.

And here Taz was, in the middle of it. She wondered if Brain Scythe was creeping about, but she doubted it; cameras and security were everywhere, empaths the world over were in attendance… Still, it was a bit of a sick feeling thinking there could have been someone making notes of every person who got a pass from the registration desks.

She briefly departed from her little group to throw away the popsicle stick and lick her fingers clean, returning to see Danielle playing with a psychic trainer she’d gotten outside, and James slumped in Trevor’s arms, hiding his face from the crowd.

“Hey, you’ve almost got it!” Taz smiled at Danielle, who grinned back and focused on the toy again. She had a long wire strung between two rings, wrapped around a finger on each hand; on the wire was a plastic sphere that she was telepathically raising from her bottom hand towards her top, the toy shaking as her focus splintered and the strain made her wince.

“Telekinesis is super hard for me.” Danielle said distractedly, and Taz nodded in sympathy as she pressed her fingers to Danielle’s temples to try and massage the ache away.

“Me too. I never got how it was so easy for some people.”

“Me neither. James is really good at it though.” She dropped the sphere into her palm and looked at her little brother, still clinging to his dad like he was his only source of stability in a storm. “He won’t wanna do it right now, though.”

“That’s okay.” Taz shrugged and smiled as the crowd moved forward.

Danielle came up to the registration desk and peeked over it with a freckled smile that drew out a grin from the woman behind it, then held up a pen and a hand-sized cardstock ID card.

“Welcome to the PA Convention, sweetie!” The woman said, and Lindsey and Trevor both stepped forward, Trevor patting James on the back. “Who here is a psychic?”

“Me!” Danielle raised her hand.

“This one, too.” Trevor pat James’ back. “And I’m a pseudo-psychic.”

“I’m the odd-duck out.” Lindsey chuckled a bit.

The woman nodded. “So that’s one non-psychic, one pseudo-psychic, two full psychics?” She asked, and at their nods, she grabbed three plastic ID holders on lanyards, two of which were blue, one of which was yellow. “And names?”

Trevor set his hand on Danielle’s head. “This is Danielle Michaels, this is James Michaels, I’m Trevor Michaels—”

“—and I’m Lindsey Michaels.”

The woman wrote down information on a clipboard, then three of the ID cards, signing off on the bottoms of each before sliding them in the ID holders, then passing the lanyards over. Danielle wore hers proudly, and after Trevor put his yellow lanyard on, he gently eased the last blue one over James’ head, making the boy fuss a bit before he was distracted staring at his ID and playing with the string.

“Oh, James here,” Trevor bounced his son in his arms showingly, “has Mustafi Syndrome; will his helmet be enough?”

“As long as its made properly, absolutely. If not, and he starts to get overwhelmed, you can take him to the west building; I don’t believe we have any events scheduled there so it should have a low resonance.” The woman explained.

“That’s perfect, thank you.”

The Michaels stepped aside to wait for Taz and Anna, the former of whom stepped forward with an enthusiastic bounce in her step and a bright smile at the woman.

“Welcome to the PA convention, sweetie!” She said, drawing out some fresh cards. “Are both of you psychics?”

“Only my daughter is.” Anna explained, settling a hand on Taz’s shoulder as she nodded with enthusiasm. “Neither I nor her father are psychics, and neither were her grandparents.”

“An evolink, then!” The woman nodded, grabbing a red lanyard as Danielle ‘oooh’ed from nearby. “And—”

“Natasha Cooper!” Taz answered before the question could even be asked, and the woman nodded, filling out her card and handing everything over.

“Anna Cooper.” Anna followed up, getting her name on the clipboard.

“Enjoy the convention, sweetie! Oh, and don’t feel pressured to talk to anyone you don’t wanna; we get lotsa stories about people holding evolinks up to ask them every question under the sun.” The woman bobbed her head, her curly hair bouncing with the motion, and Taz nodded back.

“I’ll be sure to keep her out of their hands.” Anna said, and guided Taz out of the way so the next group could register.

The six of them walked in the direction of the food court, following the flow of the crowd and pushing through immobile clusters stuck in conversation. Danielle was all but dancing around Taz and staring at her red lanyard, and Lindsey leaned over to Anna.

“An evolink! That must have been quite a surprise.” Lindsey smiled, and Anna gave a small, knowing smirk.

“It was; I wasn’t prepared for Tasha at all, but thankfully, my best friend–who we’ll be meeting soon–has a psychic daughter a few years older than Tasha, so she gave me plenty of advice.”

“That must have been nice. I spent so much time on the internet googling questions while I was raising Danielle.” Lindsey groaned, and Trevor scratched his scalp with his free hand.

“I thought having some telekinesis I would be better prepared, but nothing prepares you for having a daughter who can read your mind.” He groaned.

“Tasha was much the same way. We went through some psionic training to keep her from poking into peoples’ heads without their permission.” Anna said, and Lindsey nodded.

“We did the same with Danielle; lots of lessons on privacy and talking about laws and rules. It amazes me that there are so many psychics in her school that haven’t been taught some mental manners!”

Anna grinned at that.

Danielle stared up at Taz as they followed the adults from behind. “So, what’s your special thing?”

“My special thing?” Taz blinked, keeping a hand on Danielle’s back to guide her through the crowd, though there was enough psionic resonance in the air that most people naturally flowed away from each other as they felt people getting nearer.

“You’re an evolink! Don’t all evolinks get, like, a super special psychic power?”

“That’s actually not true!” Taz huffed a bit, squeezing Danielle’s shoulder. “Like, we just don’t usually get all the same training and stuff from parents. Evolinks just usually experiment more and stuff since they’re more often self-taught. Some of them make really unique stuff, most barely even reach the level I’m at.” She thought for a few moments. “Besides, my uncle Randy–not, like, blood uncle–and Mr. Cole helped teach me, so I didn’t have to experiment much.”

“Aww, I thought all evolinks got super powers…” Danielle pouted, and Lindsey glanced over her shoulder.

“Tasha, what about that… girl that helped you make your popsicle?” She asked, her brow furrowing in confusion at the memory, causing Taz to blush and Anna to shoot her a look.

“Melodica’s just a tulpa! Y’know, an imaginary friend…” Taz explained, and Danielle cocked her head curiously, blinking her big, brown eyes.

“You have an imaginary friend?” Danielle asked.

“One that you argue with?” Lindsey looked confused.

“Well, yeah…” Taz scratched the side of her neck with embarrassment. “A tulpa’s technically more than an imaginary friend, they’re a purely mental… oh… uh…”

“Construct.” Anna finished for her. “Tulpas can almost be classified as a split personality, but they’re created deliberately and treated independently.” She waved a finger in front of her face as if she was lecturing a class from a wikipedia article. “Through psychic power, they can be given a visible shape, and a voice.”

“And the longer they last, and the more you treat them as a separate person, the harder it is to disassociate their character from your consciousness, eventually creating an entirely independent, subconsciously controlled entity that is eternally bonded to, but not always controlled by their creator!”

The six of them turned right in bewilderment to stare at whoever had spoken, and Taz instantly let out a high-pitched squeak. Danielle was flapping her arms in surprise when the older girl shot by her and all but threw herself into the arms of a tall, beautiful black girl, who grabbed the short little blonde in a tight hug.

Her dark, coffee-colored hair was almost perfectly straight, breaking into gentle waves that curled until it came to a stop just above the middle of her back. She had her mothers narrow face and her father’s pointed nose, and a set of large ears that were all her own.

She looked like a full grown woman, even if she was only two years older than Taz, nearly matching Anna’s height and overall figure. Puberty treated her with an almost adoring generosity.

Her denim vest was covered in buttons and pins from various stalls and events hosted by Phoenix Academy, and her blue lanyard marked her as a standard psychic; though, Taz already knew that.

“Hiya Taz, mom sent me this way to try and find you.” The black girl laughed as Taz stepped back, having to reach up to hold her by the shoulders.

“Maddy~! Gawd, I’ve missed you! How’s PA treating you?! Are you still doing classes? Are you an intern now?! Did you switch specializations again? Holy crap,” Taz stared at Maddy’s bust, “did you grow again?”

“And you’re still just tall enough to appreciate that.” Maddy smirked, flicking Taz’s nose to get her eyes off her chest. “I’m doing well, classes are getting harder, yes I am, and no, still in div. Aunt Anna!” Maddy turned her attention to Anna, who strode forward with a confident stride and a warm smile, and the two embraced without hesitation, Maddy’s head resting against the blonde’s shoulder. “Mom’s getting antsy.”

“Oh, I bet.” Anna and Maddy broke their hug, and almost immediately Anna was fussing with Maddy’s clothes. “Maddy, you’re growing too fast.” She lamented with a smile, before reaching up to run her fingers through the girl’s hair. “And, goodness, you’re growing beautiful. Are you still dating that Icelandic boy you mentioned in the summer?”

“Einar? No.” Maddy’s expression soured. “Turns out he had a girlfriend back home.”

“Oh.” Anna’s expression fell. “Is he dead, then?”

“Tch, not yet, didn’t wanna blow my chances at an internship.” Maddy reached out to Taz to gather both the blonde women together for a quick group hug, and pointed off towards the cafeteria. “C’mon, I’ll tell you about it on the way there!”

“Okay! C’mon Danielle.” Taz reached a hand out to take Danielle’s, and the girl raced ahead to look up at Maddy curiously, drawing the bigger girl’s smile.

“Hi!” Danielle squeaked.

“Hi!” Maddy answered.

“I wanna be as big as you!” Danielle grinned, and with a snort, Maddy stretched her back.

“No you don’t. Find a new sister already, Taz?” Maddy gave Taz a teasing smile, and Taz just snickered.

“Sorta, we met the Michaels on the drive here! C’mon, let’s go see Aunt Zi and I’ll introduce ya!”

Maddy nodded, one arm around Taz’s shoulder as they walked and talked.

“You know, I had the exact same thing happen to me in college.” Lindsey said after a loud groan, now holding James while Trevor took the bag. “But the guy was dumb enough to date me while he was dating a girl a few doors down from me in the dorms; we found him out real quick.”

“Y’know, I might have handled the whole thing better if his girl back home hadn’t shown me the texts he’d sent to his guy friends; guy was going on about having scored a ‘cocoa goddess.’” Maddy growled under her breath. “Ugh, talking about it’s making me wanna ship him to Vietnam again…”

“Ew, yeah…” Taz’s nose crinkled. “But at least she didn’t blame you.”

“She did at first until we cleared some things up. As far as I know, he’s still single because word gets around campus fast.”

“Wish my cheater actually got any sorta comeuppance, but it turns out he had a third girl on the side who didn’t care.”

Anna spoke up, more out of idleness, her eyes fixed ahead towards Zi sitting at a table. “I am sure they are as happy as they can be together.” She hummed, then broke ahead of the group when she caught Zi’s eye, and the two were instantly wrapped in a tight embrace and happy chatter.

Taz was next for a hug, and the moment Zi let her go, she was shoving a bag into her hand. “I know you Cooper girls love being fashionably late, so I got you something to snack on before the big show.” Zi winked, rubbing her shoulders before turning to Maddy. “Alright Madeline, you can go on ahead, I’m sure they’re running ragged without you.”

“Noelle should be keeping it together without me, but…” Maddy trailed off with a lop-sided smirk. “It’s Noelle, so hopefully I won’t have to pull her and a roadie out of a closet.” Maddy leaned down so her mother could kiss her forehead, then turned tail to half-walk, half-jog off in the direction of the showroom floor, and Zi turned to face the gathered Michaels.

“Well while we got a second, how ‘bout some introductions?”

The seven of them sat comfortably around a table. Anna was much quieter than normal as she glanced around, clearly antsy in her chair, watching some folk with suspicion, and otherwise only contributing when prompted. Thankfully, Zi took on most of the work keeping everyone distracted, chatting amicably with the Michaels and managing to praise Danielle while bragging about Madeline in the same breath.

James sat on Taz’s lap, pushing a plastic stegosaurus around on the table to play with the mimicked stegosaurus Taz had conjured up, and Taz chewed on a three-bean burrito. Danielle, nearby, was struggling to imitate her despite her muffled instructions, creating foggy globs of green in the air with no real discernable shape, but Taz was patient in explaining how best to visualize new things.

“How’d you figure it out?” Danielle eventually asked, and Taz smiled, wiping a smudge off the side of her cheek.

“I had a lot of practice with Melodica. She’s… very picky about her look, so I kinda have to be good about it, otherwise she’ll throw a fit.” Taz shook her head, and deep in her subconscious, she could feel her tulpa flipping her the bird.

“Can I meet her?” Danielle asked, the green fog in front of his dissipating.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Taz screwed up her eyes for a moment. “Melodica, c’mon.” She ordered out loud, but after a few seconds of nothing… “Melodica?” She quirked an eyebrow, and now her mother was looking her way.

“Huh, never thought Mel was one to have stage fright.” Zi paused, frowning as Taz sighed and rubbed her arms.

“It’s not that; she’s mad because she has feet.”

“Is she really being that stubborn about her tail?” Anna asked dryly, and Taz gave a disbelieving chuckle.

“Yeah…”

“Well she came out earlier to help you make your popsicle, didn’t she?” Lindsey reminded her, and Taz gave her an embarrassed shrug.

“She wanted a popsicle too. I think she just feels put on the spot, and is mad she didn’t get grape.” Taz flinched, and pouted. “Yeah, real mature, Mel…”

“What? Where?!” Danielle whirled around, and Taz shook her head.

“In my head still. Sometimes I wish I could just kick her out.” Taz slapped the side of her skull with a smirk, before refocusing her attention on keeping James entertained.

With the kids distracted, the adults turned towards one another. “So you aren’t a psychic.” Lindsey said towards Zi, who gave a quick, affirming nod. “But your husband is?”

“Correct!” Zina smiled. “Why’re ya asking?”

“I saw Madeline and thought for sure she must have been a scion.” Lindsey audibly sighed, Trevor backing her up with a surprised nod. “You have the most gorgeous child, Zi.”

“What’s your secret? Plenty of milk?” Trevor asked teasingly, and Zi snorted, shaking her head with a laugh.

“She gets it from her mother.” Anna stated, almost bragging in her tone as Zi shook her head.

“Maddy makes me look like a toad, Annie.”

“Oh, but when you were young, you had men chasing you out of bars begging for your phone number.” Anna reminded her with a fond grin, and Zi puffed.

“Only twice! Drunk boys aren’t what I’d call good judges of beauty; ‘sides, you shouldn’t go bragging on my behalf, miss one-o’-one!” Zi laughed, and Anna grinned more broadly, though she was idly distracted by somebody ubruptly standing up nearby, then walking off.

“Of course…” Anna answered off-handedly, the Michaels looking amusedly puzzled.

Zi leaned towards the Michaels with a big grin. “We play a game every year: how many men will approach Annie to give her their number or ask her out on a date. 2015 was a busy year for lonely boys.” Zi cackled, smacking Anna’s arm and getting her attention back on the conversation.

“And I thought she was a scion the first time I saw her, too.” Lindsey smiled, and gave Trevor an accusing elbow to the side that made him grunt and break his dumb grin. “Two girls at Danielle’s school are scions; Regina and Georgia are their names, are two of the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen, and of their parents, three of them look like marble statues that walked out of the Louvre, one looks like Danny Devito from that Batman movie, and all of them are scions. We talk with them all the time at school get-togethers, and lordy I can’t pull my eyes off of them. I always wonder how they manage to either be the most beautiful people in the world, or the ugliest.”

“Well medical biokinesis is all the rage these days.” Zi said with an off-handed wave of her hand. “Ain’t sanctioned—yet—but plenty of psychic parents are learning to use it to help keep their kids good-lookin’ and healthy. Though, trying to keep psychic parentage to keep pumping out true scions gets into weird-ass inbreeding territory.”

“Scions are also a host of physical disabilities.” Anna brought up. “Only about eighty-percent of psychics have lactose intolerance—”

“My baby girl included!”

“—but about ninety-nine-point-nine percent of all scions are, and that’s not going into their being prone to cancer, degenerative immunity disorders, and any number of blood and organ problems.”

“Yeesh.” Trevor grunted with a frown. “I’m glad Danielle just got away with being lactose intolerant. James is autistic, but that’s easier to live with than any of that other stuff.”

“And he’s not anymore likely to get any of that stuff than a regular human, right?” Lindsey asked, her voice edging on concern, and Zi shrugged.

“Psychics tend to be more prone to physical stuff, but yeah, our kids have it better off than most scions.”

“What about Taz?” Lindsey asked Anna, who blinked in surprise and turned away from watching a woman playing with some leaves on a potted plant.

“What about her?” Anna asked defensively.

“She’s an evolink, does she have physical issues?” Lindsey asked, looking Taz’s way. She was taller than Danielle, but that didn’t seem like it’d last for long; Danielle was a gangly kid and was in the middle of the biggest growing period of her life.

“Taz is perfectly fine.” Zi waved her hand dismissively. “She went through the ringer as a kid; constant doctor’s checkups to make sure she was healthy and not getting anything weird, but evolinks are total mixed bags. They can give scions a run for their money; they can be the healthiest people in the world or turned into bubble-kids even in their own homes.”

“Tasha is growing as normally as any regular child.” Anna reaffirmed, the topic making her visibly uneasy.

“She’s quite lucky; people like to talk about evolinks being the next big step in the evolutionary chain, but I’d say a majority of them get the short end of the stick.” Zi shook her head, frowning and grunting in pitying rhythm. “Evolinks like Taz’ll get along just fine in the world, but she had to win a hard gamble.”

“That’s good.” Lindsey said, watching as Taz, with one eye screwed shut and the other wide, made her illusory-stegosaurus roar at the giggling James. “She seems like a good kid.”

“She is.” Anna mumbled, her eyes tracing the room again as she fidgeted in her seat.

Before anymore could be said, a small, happy chime sounded from over the convention center’s loudspeakers.

“‘A New Future for Psychic Students’, presented by Phoenix Academy speaker Aiden Walsh, will be starting in fifteen minutes in the north ballroom. ‘A New Future for Psychic Students’ will be starting in fifteen minutes in the north ballroom.” A pleasingly warm, feminine voice told the attendees, and Zi stood right up.

“That’s the big event, everyone, c’mon and grab your things! Cooper girls, I got us some seats saved up front; I’ll see if I can keep the space around us clear for the Michaels!” Aunt Zi beamed around as everyone stirred, James smacking the table with a pout as Taz’s stegosaurus disappeared.

“Oh there’s no need, Mrs. Cole, but thank you.” Trevor smiled. “We’ll find seats.”

“And if we can’t, we’ll be here all day for the other presentations.” Lindsey confirmed, bustling over to Taz to take James in her arms while Danielle tugged on her hand.

“But you have to show me Melodica sometime, okay?!” She demanded, and Taz nodded her head.

“I’ll convince her to come out when things have calmed down! Promise.” Taz held out her pinkie, which Danielle took and shook with giggling vigor.

Everyone was moving with energy and happiness, looking forward to the presentation and the psionic events that would follow; everyone except Anna.

She stood up slowly and silently, almost wraithlike in her overly smooth and controlled movements, watching the people milling about with lanyards of all different colors, watching the people sitting against the walls, watching the photographers and livestreamers milling about with their equipment.

She bristled quietly and stared at Taz, who gave her a curious smile, before getting distracted by Danielle. She rubbed her temples to try and ease her racing thoughts, and a gentle hand against her back made her flinch. Zi was giving her a look of concern, but Anna tried to relax.

“It’s alright, Annie.”

“No, it’s not.” Anna answered gruffly, picking up her purse and marching towards the conference hall, Zi frowning after her.

She moved quickly after Anna, pausing to tug her sleeve when the girl stopped to glare tightly at a man taking a picture in their direction. Zi could read the blonde’s mind better than any psychic, and she had to pull her away before she could threaten the photographer’s livelihood...