The skinny, slightly hunched, and crackling-with-every-step figure that was Mr. Burke was a familiar sight at the front of the classroom. He sat behind a desk, a marker board behind him, with the desks surrounding his space much like an amphitheater.

Windows on the far wall let in plenty of natural light, illuminating the room’s many decorations. The wall opposite of the windows was covered in ancient illustrations both fantastical and medical of psionics, as well as a large display case of historical instruments of psionic training or testing.

The front of the room had a big portrait of Zhou Ping next to the white board, his most widely distributed picture of him in that too-large jacket, smiling his warm smile, and around it were smaller pictures of him. Some were familiar, like when he’d met with various figures of fame, others were less so, looking more personal to Mr. Burke, such as the two of them sharing cigars in some garish 90’s apparel.

The rest of the classroom had a few students. Taz was early, and had found her way with her sister’s help, so she supposed she had that going for her. Other students would begin filtering in soon enough, so Taz quickly skipped down the steps, Melodica swimming after her, dropping her bag off at a front row seat that hadn’t been claimed before bouncing up to the professor’s desk with a smile.

“G’morning Mr. Burke!” Taz spoke almost in a ramble from excitement.

“Good morning, Taz. I’m glad to see you found your way here!” The old man stood, extending a papery, thin hand towards her, and she shook it vigorously. “And Melodica!” He looked up at the mermaid, who stayed behind Taz until he’d looked her way.

“Howdy, sir.” Melodica took his hand and shook it, his hand squeezing hers for a moment longer.

Mr. Burke smiled between the two, his hands clasping in front of his belly before he fell back into his chair. “Well I’m very happy to see you both here, I’ve been looking forward to getting to know more about you.”

“Really?” Taz sounded surprised.

“Because of me?” Melodica didn’t.

“Not just because of you, I have plenty of other reasons to be excited. The psiences are an ever-evolving field of research, and one of its greatest propellants is new practitioners; most especially evolinks.” Mr. Burke chuckled in his excitement, and Taz put on an awkward smile. “Oh, but here I am getting excited over research when I should be your professor.”

“No no, it’s completely fine, I wanna know how I can help!” Taz grinned; it wasn’t as if it was rare for a teenager to want to be special in some way.

“No no, I’m prioritizing things incorrectly.” Mr. Burke shook his head, glancing up at Melodica thoughtfully. “There is much time in the world to know your particular quirks and strengths, but I only have so much time to teach you while your brain is still a sponge for information.”

“Well I can do both!”

“I don’t doubt that.” Mr. Burke gave a slow nod, casting his eyes about the room. “But one of the best ways to learn about something is to observe it in a state of normalcy. Manufactured tests will show us much, yes, but watching you use your abilities naturally is equally important, and much healthier for you in the long run. So, don’t worry about anything extra for now, let’s focus on getting you settled in first.”

“I like that idea.” Melodica piped up. Taz shot Melodica a bit of a look, but her tulpa was already swimming back to their desk, picking up their backpack to start setting up.

Taz gave the mermaid a curious look. Melodica was never allowed to help with classwork back at normal school, so it struck her as both alien and familiar to see her opening up the fishscale bag. She turned to look at the aged professor, who was also watching Melodica with an intrigued expression.

“Are psychic powers allowed in the classroom?” She asked, and Mr. Burke gave a quick, curt nod.

“We’d be quite the poor school for psionics otherwise! All psychic powers are allowed provided they are non-disruptive and conducive to your learning experience.” He shot Taz a pointed look. “Your learning experience; using telepathy to steal answers for a test is not allowed and I will be able to tell. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes sir!”

“HEY!” A girl’s voice cause them both to turn. Melodica, who had been arm-deep in the backpack, suddenly found herself in a game of tug-o’-war with another girl, with dark, mocha brown skin and a bushel of wavy black hair. “Let go of my backpack!”

“This is my backpack!” Melodica insisted, other students now watching the conflict as the girls fought for the bag.

“MR. BURKE!” The girl wailed, pulling hard with her physical strength, but then Melodica floated upwards and pulled back. A fiery pain flared up in Taz’s forehead, and she quickly tried to smother it with one hand, her eyes glazing over as Melodica tried to pull hard.

“The both of you, that’s enough!” Mr. Burke snapped, rising tenderly to his feet, Melodica and the brown girl glaring at one another as they held the backpack between them. “Whose backpack is that?!” He demanded.

“Mine!” Melodica and the girl responded as one.

Taz lowered her glasses after wiping her eyes, staring at the two, then the desk nearby. Her gasp drew the room’s attention, and after a quick jog, lifted a fish-scaled, finned backpack onto the desk, turning to show it to Melodica and the girl.

“Oh my gosh, look, we have the same backpack!” She squeaked at the girl.

Melodica’s eyes fluttered, and she let go, sending the girl stumbling back with a yelp, the backpack spilling her folders, binders, and writing utensils all over the floor.

“MR. BURKE!” She cried again, rubbing her head and glowering Taz’s way, her mood practically sizzling the thought bubble around them.

“Ah!” Taz dropped her bag to run over, falling into a knee slide that could have only made Robbie prouder if she’d performed a killer riff before it. “I’m really sorry miss! Mel, c’mon!”

With a grumble, Mel flew down to grab a binder, only for it to leap out of the way before she even got there.

“Don’t touch my things!” The girl ordered angrily, and an invisible force wrenched Taz up to her feet by the shoulder, leaving her stumbling back as the girl seethed her way.

“It was just a mistake!” Melodica snapped, but the girl focused her ire on Taz.

“MR. BURKE! This girl attacked me with a tulpa!”

“I didn’t attack you!” Melodica huffed.

“Yeah, it was an honest mistake!” Taz frowned.

Mr. Burke stood, holding his hands out awkwardly. “Girls, please, this is terribly unnecessary! Fatima, this is—”

“And now she’s trying to act like she didn’t do it on purpose!”

“I didn’t!”

“Yes you did! Tulpas are just puppets!” Fatima spat Taz’s way.

“N-no I’m not!” Melodica shouted back.

Fatima fixated on Melodica with a glare. “You are just a psionic manifestation of a personality she invented! Tulpas aren’t real, you aren’t real! You’re fake!”

Her vicious mood was suddenly joined, if not overcome by a new source of anger. Melodica stared down at her, her normally flowing body almost eerily still as she formed two tight fists, causing the girl to flinch a step backwards. Fatima’s backpack suddenly jerked violently into the air above her head, and then went into freefall.

Fatima yelped as Taz pushed her head down and reached up, grabbing the empty backpack out of its fall in one hand.

“Melodica, that’s enough! Stop it!” Taz shouted.

The room went silent as the tulpa and her progenitor locked eyes. Taz tried to keep a firm face on as she watched Melodica’s expression morph through surprise, pain, betrayal, and fury.

“I—” Melodica started. “She—” She turned to Mr. Burke, who looked unsure of what to say or do as Melodica’s tail thrashed. “I’M—” She swallowed thickly, her face quivering, and with an infuriated shriek, her visible form exploded into colored smoke, leaving behind the rank scent of low-tide.

Taz stood silently, before a sudden, white-hot anger filled her brain, causing her to clutch her head for a moment and squeeze her eyes shut as they threatened to spill bitter tears, but then, a moment later, it passed, and she gasped for air.

She straightened, shakily, and glanced around the room wildly. People were staring at her, students at the door coming in just in time for the period looking bewildered and a bit frightened, and Fatima…

“MR. BURKE!” She turned to face the professor, looking infuriated and confused.

The professor, however, looked calm. “Hm.” He held his hands behind his back as he tried to process what he saw and think on what to do next, and with a quick, ragged clearing of his throat, looked at Fatima and Taz. “It is the first class of the first semester, and your first time here at PA. As your teacher, I don’t want this moment to color nor dictate how this class will go from here on out. We will speak after class. For the time being, we need to settle in and start with our introductions. Get to your seats, and let’s take a moment to calm down.”

Emerging from behind his desk, he approached both Taz and Fatima with outstretched hands. The both of them hesitantly held their own hands out, and he dropped a piece of gum into their open palms. Plain mint flavor, with a nice, cool scent. Taz popped hers into her mouth immediately and knelt down to pick up the still spilled contents of Fatima’s bag.

“Don’t—” Fatima began, but stopped herself, and with a glare, knelt down to get everything put away.

Taz returned to her desk with a heavy sigh, settling into the chair with what felt like a brick inside of her brain. She felt heavy, and all of a sudden, even worse, she felt insecure. She wanted to shake and she didn’t know why. But, she chewed her gum, and quietly curled her legs up into her chair, held her hands in front of her on the desk, and with a few taps of her fingertips, began to play Claire de Lune to clear her mind.

She got a few looks as she played, but no further anger or agitation as the motions and the sounds calmed her.

“Mr. Burke?” Fatima said off to her side, a seat away. “She’s bothering me.” The girl growled, and Taz’s fingers froze.

“Taz?” She opened her eyes, looking up at Mr. Burke with a worried frown, but he merely smiled. “While I do love Debussy, it’s time to start our first lesson. I’d love to hear some more after class, however, if you’d be up for it?”

“... Yessir.”

“Very good. Let’s put this behind us for now, and begin.”

Mr. Burke sat on the edge of his desk, unaware of the thought bubble now so full of anxiousness and concern, but able to read it in their faces all the same. He worked his jaw for a moment, thinking on what to say; he’d so carefully planned his first day, after all, and it immediately hit a hurdle.

So… improv was in order.

“As you have all undoubtedly come from schools before now, you know that at times, personalities clash, mistakes are made, tempers flare, and pride demands we fight.” He looked between Taz and Fatima calmly, quietly, and then eyed the rest of the class. “Dean Davis, in his orientation speech to you, said that you now have more responsibility than ever, and that is true. You need to be mindful of others so that you don’t make a mistake, and you need to be forgiving.”

“You are psychics.” He said, letting it hang in the air for a moment. “Your emotions are stronger through you than through me, so you need to be in control of them, and not just that, but rational when they’re going to overtake you. This is a school for learning how to do just that, for the sake of society and for the fine arts you can produce. You are all accepted here, and we will help you develop your abilities.”

With a screech of her chair, Fatima suddenly stood, her face tight with anger. “My father didn’t start this school to train people who still need imaginary friends!”

“That is untrue!” Mr. Burke’s voice raised over Fatima’s, making her twitch, even as she held her broad-shouldered posture. The other students in the room turned to stare at her as Mr. Burke harrumphed. “Zhou Ping built this school for precisely those kinds of people, and for the kinds of people who want to see the future, or carry bricks, or play songs!” He gave Fatima a frown. “Ms. Ping, please sit down.”

With a small growl Taz’s way, Fatima did as ordered. Taz straightened in her seat as she stared at the girl, who refused to return her look. Staring at her more closely, Taz saw that Fatima didn’t have a crease between her eyelid and her forehead, and she turned to stare blankly at her desktop.

“Now then.” Mr. Burke sighed thickly. “This isn’t quite the mood I wanted to start the year off with, but it seems I don’t have much choice. So… let’s lighten things up a little bit, shall we? My name is Frederick Burke, I’m from Hannover in Germany, and I would say my greatest passion outside of psionics is fantasy stories; reading, watching, telling, whatever the case, I enjoy a good story of wizards and dragons.”

He turned, giving a small, half-cocked smile up at the top of the room, in the far corner near the window, where a willowy red-head sat, crammed up against the wall and giving the man a wide-eyed look.

“Hello up there! Would you introduce yourself, tell us where you’re from, and a non-psionic passion you hold dear?”

The girl shifted awkwardly in her seat as others looked her way, and in a trembling voice: “Um… I’m Theresa St. Claire…” She trailed off, tapping her fingertips together. “I’m from St. Claire in, um, Utah, a-and, um, I like God…”

“Very good, miss St. Claire. And you?” He gestured to the boy in front of Theresa, who after a moment of thought, answered.

“I’m Gerald Carmichael, everyone calls me Gerry. I’m from Toronto, Canada, and, uh, ball is life.”

“I’m Christine Woods, I’m from Manchester, England, and I love cats and photography!”

“I’m Patriot Traynor, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and when the NFL opens for psychic teams, I’ll be first in line! Roll Tide!... Oh oh, and y’all can call me Pat.”

Introductions went on, row after row, with applause scattered throughout.

“My name is Fatima Ping.” She said, abruptly standing up in her seat and staring directly at the professor. “I’m from Telangana, India, and psionics is my passion.” She stated firmly, to brook no argument. “And if anyone here needs help with their psionics, you may ask me.” And with a dramatic glance at Taz, mouthed, ‘not you.’

Taz rolled her eyes.

“I’m Armando Guitierez, from Mexico City, and the only thing I love more than my dogs is football!”

“Hell yeah, brother!”

“Soccer, in gringo speak!”

Patriot made a deflated noise.

“Carmen Walburgh, Louisiana, uh… I wanna write a novel.”

Mr. Burke’s eyes eventually made their way down to Taz, who straightened up and put on a smile. “Uh, hi! I’m Natasha Cooper, b-b-but I like to be called Taz, and I’m from Petersburg, Arizona, and outside of psychic stuff I love music!”

“Do you play anything?!” A boy from the back called.

“Err, piano, guitar, a bit of bass, some drums!”

“Cool.”

Taz sat down, and her nerves instantly went away with that over with.

The rest of the class went, introducing themselves person by person, until the last student admitted that their greatest passion was ‘meat’ with no further elaboration, and Mr. Burke leaned against his desk with a grin.

“There. It’s good to meet every single one of you, and I am proud to have the opportunity to teach you about the important history of your powers, and those who wielded them.” He held his hands in front of himself, mouth open for a moment to launch into his lesson, when he paused, and thoughtfully moved his hands behind his body. “I’m so sorry, everyone, I forgot a student that is learning with us today.”

The students glanced between themselves, wondering who got skipped over, and Mr. Burke cleared his throat.

“Melodica?” He called out loud, making Taz blink in surprise. “Melodica Cooper, will you come out and introduce yourself?”

There was a still moment of silence, with looks of confusion that scanned the room, several eyes inevitably falling on Taz as she racked her brain in surprise; Fatima in particular was giving her an annoyed look.

A few bubbles suddenly wobbled into few, pink and with a shining reflection totally independent of the light coming through the windows, and from the floor, a silver-haired mermaid slowly swam up into view by Mr. Burke’s side, wearing a small uncertain frown.

Mr. Burke smiled, and gestured to the class. “Go on, Melodica, introduce yourself.”

Melodica glanced back at the surprised students, tapping her fingertips together, eventually meeting Taz’s eyes and getting an approving nod.

“Are…” She gulped. “Are you sure?” She asked the professor, who simply nodded.

“It might be unusual, but yes, I’m sure.”

Melodica turned to face the class, looking deeply, convincingly uncertain. Then, she took a breath, audible to everyone in the front row, flipped her wavy, silver hair over her shoulder, and threw her arms out.

“Hel-lo everyone!” She squeaked out, breaking out into a broad smile as bubbles filled the air around her. “J’aime Melodica Cooper,” she bent in a little bow, and a low, almost disbelieving laugh came from a few students, “I’m from Petersburg, Arizona and,” she swept over to Taz, making the little blonde squeak as she rapped her knuckles against her creator’s head, “Taz’s head! I’m also super passionate about music, but more than anything, I really wanna learn to use a touchscreen!” She wiggled her fingers in the air, before spring upwards and plunging them into the ceiling.

Awkward applause tailed her introduction, leading to her giving a few, self-aggrandizing bows before swimming back down next to Taz, sitting on her tail between Taz and the student on the side opposite of Fatima.

Taz couldn’t keep herself from smiling at Melodica, and that brick in her brain finally seemed to disappear as her tulpa took her hand and squeezed it, reassured.

“Very good! That’s everyone introduced.” Mr. Burke grinned. “With that done, we can now start properly. Let’s begin with the course curriculum, and I’ll break the semester down into segments.”

Taz and Melodica both organized their history folder, with the sheet containing their curriculum breakdown at the very front, ahead of required reading materials and websites Mr. Burke recommended for self-study.

“I’ll see you all bright and early Wednesday morning, so please come prepared! Assuming your other teachers aren’t cruel, I will be assigning your first homework assignment of the semester that day!” Mr. Burke called over the din of the classroom following the bell signaling the period’s end. A groan followed his declaration, but the students were quickly filing out, some returning to grab something they missed.

Taz stood slowly, backpack swinging over her back, with Melodica swishing about her, tightening the straps up a bit and looking pleased with herself. Taz was feeling better too; there wasn’t much of a lesson, just getting an idea of how things would play out going into the summer, but most of the stress had dissipated by now.

Mr. Burke was still sorting some things behind his desk, not looking at either Taz nor Fatima, so she didn’t know if he still wanted to talk to them, so Taz stuck around, hanging by her desk and watching in curiosity as Melodica floated over to the professor to peek at the papers he was sorting.

“Can I help you, Melodica?” He asked, only to get a cheeky grin.

“Nope! Is this homework stuff for Wednesday?” She pointed to a page, and the man gave her a suspicious look.

“... No.”

“You’re lying!”

“Did you hear what I told Taz at the beginning of class?”

“... No!”

“I also smell a lie.”

Taz looked around for Fatima, and saw her standing in front of the many pictures of Zhou Ping. Taking her in, Fatima was taller than Taz by maybe an inch and a half, and a bit chunkier, not that that was hard; Taz’s metabolism was due to burn out in a few years at the rate it worked to keep her skinny.

With a loud gulp, Taz walked over until she was standing next to Fatima, the girl shooting her a scornful look and pointedly taking a step away.

A long moment of silence stretched between the two as Taz tried to figure out a clever way to ask her question, but ultimately came up with: “You’re Zhou Ping’s daughter?”

Fatima gave her a quick, tense glance, but nodded. “I am. When he was in India fifteen years ago, he met my mother.”

“Were they married?”

“No.” Fatima shook her head.

“Did you ever get to meet him before…?”

“No, he’d died before then; murdered by the Brain Scythe.”

“Oh, yeah…” Taz trailed off a moment. “I’m sorry.”

Fatima shot her a look. “Why would you be sorry?”

“Well, I never met my dad either. He also died before I was born.” Taz said almost dreamily, staring up at Zhou Ping with a small, sad smile. “My mom worked her ass off raising me.”

“She must have.” Fatima sighed. “You’re an evolink, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re a big liability.”

Taz gave Fatima a curious frown, and Fatima rolled her eyes.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you? You’re an ‘evolutionary link’; if you know anything about evolution, you’d know it’s full of losers.” Fatima gave Taz an angry frown.

“Your dad was an evolink.” Taz reminded her, trying to control the glut of discomfort and anger that filled her belly.

“Yeah, one of the exceptions that wasn’t weak, or crazy, or died young because of some sudden allergic attack or disease, or wasn’t an unstable, dangerous psychic whose powers will blow up heads or set the campus on fire.” Fatima sneered at her.

“Well I’m not going to do any of that.” Taz said, an edge of her mother’s sternness in her voice.

“You think you have a choice?”

“Yeah, I do.” Taz insisted, not that she had any way to prove she did, but…

“You are not the next Zhou Ping.” Fatima snorted at her, only to get a dismissive flick of Taz’s hair whipped in her face.

“You’re right, I’ll be better.” She answered, and stormed away from Fatima, missing her flabbergasted stare as the little blonde headed towards the exit.

Standing outside the classroom door, Taz headbutted the wall and groaned.

“You’re going to be better than Zhou Ping?!” Melodica repeated, barely able to contain the amusement in her voice.

“I didn’t mean to say that!” Taz agonized as Melodica floated around her with a girlish giggle, drawing eyes from passing students.

“But you did! You did!” Melodica made a sound like she was clearing her throat, and in as close to Taz’s voice as she could manage: “I’ll be better! They’ll call me Taz Ping!”

Taz swat at the air that Melodica hovered – and guffawed – in. “I didn’t say that!”

“Since when did you think you were gunna be the next big thing?!”

“Never, I was mad because she was saying I—I sucked!”

“You do suck!” Melodica cackled while Taz whimpered. “That’s why we’re here, girl, don’t sweat it!”

“Aaaaaaaah why did I say something like that?!” Taz curled up on the floor, whimpering as Melodica pat her back.

“I seriously can’t believe I came out of somebody as dumb as you.”

“I can’t believe I made such a bully!”

“Alright Ping Jr., c’mon, we only got a little bit of time to have a breakdown before the next class starts.”

“Don’t call me that!”

Melodica giggled and swirled above her, stirring the air with her tailfin as Taz sulked on the floor.

Mr. Burke’s classroom door opened and drew a squeal of surprise as it almost crushed Taz against the wall.

“Oh goodness! I’m sorry about that, are you—” Mr. Burke peered around the door, blinking as Taz peeled herself out of the trap she set herself in, and an almost relieved laugh escaped him. “Oh there you are, Taz, I was just coming out to see if I could find you.”

“Good job, Mr. Burke.” Melodica beamed.

“Thank you, Melodica. Are you alright, Taz?”

“‘m okay, just…” Taz leaned against the wall and squeezed her forehead. “I feel stupid.”

“Why’s that?” Mr. Burke asked as he shut the door, walking a step closer, but still keeping a respectful distance.

“I said something stupid!” Taz pouted.

“She said she’s going to be better than Zhou Ping.” Melodica clarified, drawing a miffed snort out of Taz, who, red-faced, crossed her arms over her chest and looked ready to melt from embarrassment.

“Did you now?” Mr. Burke asked. “I’m curious, Taz, what does that mean to you?” At her confused look, he said, “being better than him? How can you be better than him?”

“Uh…” Taz looked down, uncertainty crossing her features as she thought back on what she knew of the man. “Well, Fatima said he was the greatest psychic the world ever had—”

“Patently false.”

Taz gave the professor a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Being the ‘greatest psychic’ means being the most exemplary practitioner of all known psionic disciplines. Zhou Ping would be the first to tell you that the left-brain disciplines were some of his greatest weaknesses.” Mr. Burke’s smile grew into a grin. “I can confirm that myself; the man was a fantastic telekinetic but was confounded by electrokinesis. I’d dare say that, should you pass your electrokinesis test in your third year, you’ll be one large step closer to being better than he ever was.”

Mr. Burke continued. “What made him so famous, and indeed, so powerful, was that he cultivated friendships from across the world. Psychics from here to China considered Zhou a close friend, and he poured his time and his efforts in helping anyone who asked him.”

“So, he wasn’t a powerful psychic…” Taz trailed off.

“He was a good friend?” Melodica finished, and Mr. Burke gave a long, sad sigh through his smile.

“He truly was. No man is without their flaws, but you could forgive Zhou’s because he would forgive yours. In fact, he’d be excited to hear you wanted to be a better psychic!” Mr. Burke reached up to touch his chin, chuckling to himself. “Oh, yes indeed, he’d love to know the next generation was motivated to reach greater heights.”

Taz managed a small smile. She felt a little less arrogant, and a lot more relieved knowing Zhou Ping wouldn’t have taken offense.

“So, Zhou Ping was a right-brainer kinda guy?” Melodica asked, getting a nod.

“Indeed. In fact, his preferred disciplines were telepathy and dividualism.”

Taz straightened, almost with a jolt in her spine. “Really?”

“Really. It’s part of what made him an empathetic person, his ability to connect with people was quite literal. It’s one of the reasons I’m excited to see what you can do, Taz.” He reached up, one fingertip thoughtfully tracing the outline of Melodica’s chin as the mermaid stared in surprise. “Since his death, dividualism hasn’t had as strong nor as dedicated a practitioner. Certainly we had some try, but at a certain point, it becomes overwhelming for just one mind. You are unique in that, with little effort, you manage two.”

Taz blushed a small bit, and Mr. Burke glanced out the windows making up the front of the general sciences building, letting the natural light pour in and giving them an excellent view of the north quarter of the campus.

“Ah, but I’ve speculated and reminisced long enough. Your next class will start fairly soon, Taz, so do get going.” He told her with one last smile, then turned to walk into his classroom.

Taz blinked, checked her phone, and nearly sucked the building empty with a gasp before racing for the stairs.