Everyone stood facing their opponent or opponents, ready to face off in a battle that would determine the fate of the Academy. Mr. Grayson stood, watching from his office window, noting how helpless he was in this situation, though there was something he could do, something he remembered, that he learned a while back. This wasn’t something he utilized on a daily basis, and it wasn’t something that was widely known about him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the eleven combatants. Each of them were enveloped in a golden light and they disappeared. He teleported them to five separate training ground areas so they wouldn’t destroy the grounds.

Each training ground adapted to that of the students entering the battlefield, but in Emily and Jake’s case, he didn’t know what it would do, since the teachers usually paired each student up with someone who shared the same element as them. Each of the combatants, once on their field, took their fighting positions and prepared for the battle of their lives.

Finn and Reed VS Anila

Finn and Reed stood before Anila on the battlefield, which had changed to better accommodate all three combatants. The battlefield now had an airy feel to it, as if it was completely outside, and there were clouds all over. Even the hard floor had changed to become fluffy clouds, which could still hold weight without anyone falling through. Finn’s outfit had also changed. Finn was now wearing a white scoop neck top with long flowing sleeves, a white skirt, and white ankle boots. Reed was wearing his school uniform, but had discarded the tie. Neither of them looked surprised at Finn’s new attire, and they quickly turned their attentions back on Anila.

“Do you two have anything to say before we begin?” Anila asked, in her soft spoken tone.

“Nothing other than we’re going to defeat you.”

“I’m sorry, I must defeat you, otherwise Kari will be very angry with me.”

With that, she fired a large, concentrated blast of air at Reed and Finn, who quickly dodged it. Reed fired back his own large, concentrated air blast and Finn closed her eyes, concentrating. She had been doing a lot of practice with her powers and developed attacks with both her air and sound powers. She opened up her eyes and looked at Anila, a look of uncharacteristic anger on her face. She pointed her hands, palms facing her target, at Anila

“Zephyr Shriek!”

Waves of high speed, razor sharp air waves and high pitched, crescent shaped sound waves left her hands and barreled toward Anila, who easily countered, as if she’d been fighting her whole life.

“Now what?” Finn asked Reed.

“I don’t know, Finn. She can counter each of our attacks, that’s no secret, since she has same element as us. We need something that either she can’t counter or…”

“Well, I’ve already mixed my air waves and sound waves together and she was able to counter that just fine. We need something more potent than just standard air and sound waves.” Finn told her boyfriend.

“We could always attack together. I’ve been doing a lot of practicing myself. Both of us together are stronger than either one of us alone.” Reed said.

“So, how do we do this? Do we use our strongest attacks and attack at once, or do we use our weapons and attack at once?” Finn asked.

“What about both? We use our weapons first and then follow up with our strongest attacks. Then, we use our strongest attacks and follow up with our weapons and make our final strike.”

“Alright, that seems like a good plan, but what if it doesn’t work, Reed, then what?”

“Then we either try again or come up with another plan.”

Finn nodded. Both she and Reed could feel the power of their Guardians stirring within them.

“Vibro Gale!” A silvery-white handled, chain morning star took up residence in Finn’s hands. A small, brown wren materialized along with her flail.

“Mistress, it’s so nice to see you!” She chirped, happily.

“Hello, Sarah, are you ready for this?”

“I am, I am!” Sarah chirped, happily.

Reed let out a small chuckle before turning serious again.

“Echo Shot!” A pair of silvery-white, Glock 22, semi-automatic handguns took up residence in his hands. A peregrine falcon flew around his head before perching on his shoulder.

“Master, are you ready?”

“Of course, Horus, let’s do this.”

“I’m sorry, as I told you before, I have to defeat you or Mistress Kari will be very angry with me. You are unable to do anything to defeat me. Your attacks have already failed, so what makes you think that weapons will work?” Anila asked the couple.

“Our weapons make us stronger. They allow us to channel our powers and deliver more powerful attacks. Now be prepared to see the fruits of our training, Anila.” Finn told her, her characteristic happiness gone, a serious look on her face, a look prepared to end everything once and for all.

Finn took the opportunity to make the first move and flew in close, swinging the spiked ball of her chain morning star. A gust of air, wind, and sound waves emanated from it as it was swung, as Finn was channeling her powers through her weapon.

“Vibro Whirlwind!” That was Finn’s strongest attack, made from high powered winds and sonic waves, more powerful than her Zephyr Shriek attack, and even more powerful now that it was being channeled through her weapon.

“Air Shot. Sound Shot.” Two bullets, one made of air and the other from sound waves, shot forth from the barrels of Reed’s dual pistols. It wasn’t his most powerful attack, but it was more powerful than being fired through his weapon than through his hands. He figured that with Finn’s attack, the fight would be over, but when he saw that Finn’s attack had hit Anila head on, along with his, and there didn’t seem to be much damage done, he was surprised.

“Finn, now what?”

“We attack her again. If we attack her again with the same attacks, at once, we might have a chance. Our attacks may not have done as much damage as we thought, but it did do some, so if we follow up, maybe it might be enough.”

Reed nodded and held up his guns, ready to fire again.

Finn held up her flail and flew in close to Anila once more. She swung the metal, spiked ball with the most powerful swing she could muster. Once more, waves of high powered winds and sound waves emanated from the weapon, flying at Anila, hitting her head on. Anila hadn’t even tried to dodge the attack, and she hadn’t tried to dodge the last one either. It was almost as if she figured that she couldn’t dodge them, so it would be better to take the attacks head on rather than try and get away. It was rather strange, since anyone would try to avoid an attack, rather than take it head on.

“Vibro Whirlwind!”

“Air Shot. Sound Shot!”

Once again, both attacks hit Anila head on. She hadn’t even tried to dodge them, and Finn and Reed couldn’t fathom why.

Unless, she knows she can withstand our attacks and bide her time long enough to send out a devastating attack. Reed thought.

“Finn, she might just be biding her time until she can launch a powerful attack, one that we may not be able to defend from. It seems like she’s tanking our hits for some reason, and I think that’s it. Let’s be careful.”

Finn nodded.

“What about attacking at once, using both of our plans? We attack at once using our weapons, then we attack at once using our power attacks. We follow them up, one after the other, that way, she has no time to dodge or launch an attack, and she has no way of combatting it.”

“Let’s do it. It’s a better plan than what we’ve been doing, so let’s combine our plans into one. I like the way you think, Finny.” Reed said, with a smile.

Finn readied Vibro Gale and Reed readied Echo Shot. They each launched their most powerful attacks with their weapons and then quickly followed up with two of their strongest power attacks and another volley of their strongest attacks from their weapons. When the fog scattered, Finn and Reed were shaking, panting heavily, their weapons heaving in their hands with every breath they took, and Anila was on the ground, sliced up from high powered air waves and sound waves, and out cold. Reed went down to one knee as his weapons disappeared from his hands and Horus disappeared along with them, still panting heavily. Finn breathed a heavy sigh of relief as her weapon and Sarah disappeared.

“It’s over. Now we can go find Emily and celebrate our victory.” Finn told her boyfriend.

Aurora VS Kyla

Meanwhile, Aurora and Kyla faced off on a battlefield that changed into a large ocean with water pillars springing up in random places. Aurora’s outfit had also changed, like Finn’s, only hers was a blue, halter neck bikini top and purple swim shorts, not unlike the ones she wore over her swimming uniform. She was also barefoot, something that she preferred, as she loved to be in the water, the one place she didn’t have to wear shoes.

“Be prepared to be defeated, you little water witch.”

“Me? You’re the one that should be prepared to lose! What did you do to my friend?!”

“I didn’t do anything to her, she came to us of her own free will, saying that she wanted to get stronger.”

“I don’t believe you! You brainwashed her and made her unlock her powers for your own gains!” Aurora lashed out at Kyla, using her words, as well as water, in the form of whips.

“Listen to yourself!” Kyla laughed, while dodging Aurora’s water whips.

Aurora’s eyes grew dark and her hair shielded her face.

“Cryo Surge!” In Aurora’s hand was a blue, watery whip, with an icy blue handle. “Killer, let’s go!”

“Oh please! Your whips didn’t do anything to me before, so what makes you think this one will do anything?”

“This whip is different, and Killer and I will take you down.”

“Just try!”

Aurora swung her whip, “Icicle Siege.”

A barrage of icicles flung out of the whip and sailed toward Kyla, who managed to dodge each one. That didn’t disturb Aurora at all, who just kept swinging her whip and letting more icicles fly out. Aurora was fueling her swings with her anger, so each swing of her whip was more violent than the last, but her attacks were incredibly controlled. She was truly acting as an incredibly cold fighter.

“Arctic Chill. Hail Torpedo Barrage. Icicle Siege.”

Aurora fired off her attacks in quick succession, leaving very little room for Kyla to counter or do anything, but unlike her lover, she wouldn’t accept her defeat so gracefully. She attempted to dodge Arctic Chill’s wave of ice, but she realized her feet had already been frozen, as the water around her feet had already froze. She couldn’t move and she couldn’t counter all of the torpedo-shaped chunks of ice and icicles created by Hail Torpedo Barrage and Icicle Siege. There was no way she could keep moving her body to dodge all those projectiles, so it was that moment when she finally realized she couldn’t win.

There’s no way I can win against her. She keeps launching attack after attack at me with no end to them. I could counter one, but not all of them. I wonder how the others are doing. Did they win or lose? Mistress Kari is going to be so angry with us if we lose, and I’ve already lost. Those were Kyla’s last thoughts to herself, wondering if the others had won or lost and if they were okay or not.

“Stop! You win. Just…Just, please stop.”

“Let my friend go!”

“I can’t! She’s too far under our control. There’s nothing I can do! I’m not lying about that, I swear! Mistress Kari had me develop a mind control serum that was soluble in water. I used that to control Emily. I gave her a glass of water to drink with my serum in it and before either of us knew it, the serum was taking over her mind. I didn’t create an antidote, so I don’t know how you’re going to free her, because I’m unable to do it myself.”

As angry as Aurora was, she couldn’t kill the girl, so she cracked her whip and all of her attacks stopped.

“But, just because I can’t free your friend from our control, doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to free her. There’s always a way. You know what they say, don’t you? Love conquers all.” Kyla told her, before passing out.

Aurora nodded and left the room, running toward Emily.

Grey VS Alana

The battlefield had changed to a sandy area with large boulders and both girls squared off against each other. Grey already had Quaking Metal equipped and her outfit had changed into a green t-shirt, brown cargo pants, and brown boots, but Alana didn’t care much. She launched herself off the ground right away and flew toward Grey. To protect herself, Grey threw her steel-plated glove covered fist out and aimed toward Alana’s face. Alana had no choice but to dodge and abandon her attack. Alana landed on her feet in a crouch and then leapt up, her fist outstretched, ready to land a punch on Grey. Grey used her own fist and glove to block the attack.

“I will defeat you and get my friend back. You can count on that.”

“That’s funny, because I was going to say the same thing to you, minus the friend thing.”

“Let’s make this fight short. I want to save my friend sooner rather than later.”

“Sounds good to me, but I’ll be the one coming out on top, and there’s nothing you can do to save your ex friend. She’s ours now.”

“No. She’s. Not!” Grey punched the ground with her steel-plated, gloved fist. “Fissure Strike!”

A large crack appeared in the ground and Alana jumped up, but she knew she had to land somewhere. However, because of the enormity of the crack, anywhere she landed would most likely crumble underneath her feet. That didn’t mean she was about to give up though. She levitated a rock and used it as a platform, and Grey did the same. Grey steadied herself on her rock and kicked out, using her steel-plated boot to make contact with Alana. The steel-plated boot missed Alana, but Alana, not being prepared, faltered a bit and almost fell off her rock. Grey knew another kicking attack probably wouldn’t work again, since Alana might expect it, so she had to try something else. Grey thought of something and began to test it out. She launched another kick at Alana, but this time, she followed it up with a punch, followed by another punch, and finally, another kick. Alana had only had time to dodge the first attack before being unable to dodge or block the others. Alana was knocked off her rock and fell on the sandy ground, on the edge of the fissure. Grey knew this fight was drawing to a close, but she needed to finish it up once and for all.

“This is over, and you have lost. Aftershock.”

Grey delivered a high power, high strength punch with each of her steel-plated gloves into Alana’s stomach. Alana’s body lifted off the ground a bit, her back arching, and blood and saliva flying out of her mouth, before coming to rest on the sandy terrain. She was badly beaten, but alive, and her body still shook with tremors, like the namesake of Grey’s attack. After an earthquake hits, causing tremors throughout the area, aftershocks occur and cause tremors long after the initial attack has occurred. Alana soon fell unconscious, the strain of the tremors on her body and her other wounds too much for her to bear. Grey walked out of the room and made her way toward Emily.

Emily VS Jake

“Emily, please stop this and come back to us, come back to me.”

“Why would I do that? I’m happy with Mistress Kari and the rest of her group.”

“Emily! They’ve brainwashed you, don’t you understand that? You left us and then you come back as a completely different person? I don’t think so! Something happened. What happened to you?”

“Nothing happened. I wanted to get stronger and so I trained to become stronger. Now, I’m definitely much stronger than I was before, and I will prove it by defeating you and bringing you to Mistress Kari. She’ll know how to properly deal with you.”

“Then I guess I have no choice. I’ll just have to defeat you to make you see reason. Don’t take offense if I beat you too badly, because lover or not, I’m not holding back.”

“Neither am I. I never hold back in a fight, so don’t expect me to now. And, another thing, that’s ex-lover. Don’t take offense if I beat you too badly.”

The battlefield was a mix of their elements, volcanoes with lightning crackling through the skies and clouds hanging above them. Emily’s outfit had also changed, just as the others had. Her outfit consisted of a black, turtleneck style minidress, with a short, frilly skirt that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Lolita style dress. The skirt was so short that it barely covered the creamy skin of her thighs, but underneath her dress was a leotard styled garment that prevented anything important from being seen and still allowed her the largest range of motion. Her feet were encased in black, thigh-high boots, not unlike the ones she was used to wearing every day.

She leapt up and aimed a kick right at him. Jake countered by grabbing her foot and making her lose her balance. This was a mistake, as she kicked out with her other foot, but that one didn’t make contact either, as her position made her kick weak. Instead, she settled for wrapping her legs around his neck and sitting on his face. As intimate as their position was, they were still locked in a fierce battle for the fate of not only the Academy, but for Emily as well. Emily used her position and her strength from much training to lift herself into a straddle split, her hands on his shoulders. She then bended her body, dug her heels into his back, and used him as a springboard, going into a front handspring and then a midair twist, turning her body so that she landed facing him. She ran at him again and leapt into a flying kick, once again aiming for him. Jake once again countered by grabbing her foot, but this time, she used the grab to flip backwards, landing on her feet again. She put her hands back up by her face in a standard hand to hand combat fighting position. Jake did the same and the two faced off once more. Emily lit her fists and feet on fire, then ran at Jake. She launched herself into the air and did a front flip, bringing her flaming leg down, intent on hitting Jake with her flaming heel. Jake countered that attack by shooting a blast of air at her, avoiding her flaming limbs altogether. He knew that if he hit her flames, the air would only make the flames bigger and cause him more problems, so he used his air blast to knock her off balance. His attack did as intended and she fell, not having enough time to right herself. She picked herself up from her heap and materialized Flare Bolt.

“Your weapon. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see it and I was also hoping I wouldn’t have to do this. Whirling Gale.”

A large white and silver battle hammer took up residence in Jake’s hands and an eagle flew overhead.

“You showed me yours, now I’m showing you mine. Prepare yourself Em, because I’m going to defeat you right here, right now! Aguila, are you ready?”

“Sí, sí!”

“That’s laughable. We’ve already been through this, prepare for defeat!”

Jake and Emily ran at each other, weapons in hand, ready to strike each other down in one strike. Emily swung Flare Bolt down in a slashing motion, but Jake blocked with Whirling Gale. Emily jumped back a little and Jake swung Whirling Gale down, aiming to knock Emily down and out. She blocked him with her own weapon and swung again. This time, her swing hit him a little, but he managed to block most of it, so the wound wasn’t as bad. He could still fight and fight he did. He continued swinging Whirling Gale at her, but she kept dodging and blocking with Flare Bolt. The next time Emily swung her scythe, it was glowing. She smirked.

“Bolt Slicer!”

She swung Flare Bolt down as it crackled with electrokinetic energy.

“Gale Shot!”

A blast of high powered wind intercepted the crackling slash attack and the two attacks exploded, causing both combatants to fly backward. Both flipped and landed on their feet. They both had scratches on their faces, Jake’s shirt was torn up and ripped in quite a few places, and Emily’s dress was also slashed up in a few places, exposing her stomach, though everything important was still covered.

“Emily, let’s stop this, please! Come back! You’re not yourself, you are being controlled by them, and unless you fight, you won’t win. You need to fight and come back to us. We love you and we want our friend back. I-I love you and I want you back, please come back to me. Emily, I love you, please come back.”

Emily didn’t show any signs of hearing him, she just ran at him, intending to run him through with Flare Bolt and end this fight once and for all, but as she was running, she felt an intense pain in her head that made her stop in her tracks. She screamed, dropping Flare Bolt, and held her head. She clenched her eyes shut, hoping to take some of the pain away, and she could feel the fog in her head begin to lessen and dissipate. She stumbled to her feet and ran at Jake again, albeit clumsily, and fell to her knees in front of him.

“F-Flyboy, if you can hear me, I want you to do something for me.”

‘She’s coming back!’ He thought, happily. “Anything, what do you want me to do?”

“I-I want you to kill me. Their hold on me is weak, so if you kill me, it’ll be gone and I’ll be free.”

“I can’t do that! Sure you’ll be free, but you won’t be here with us anymore, with me. I won’t do it! We can come up with another way.”

“T-this is the way to do it. Take my scythe and run me through. I promise I’ll be fine, just do it.”

“What am I going to say to your sister? I was worried sick about you because I saw you left your bag behind when you left, so I called your house to see if you were there. Your sister answered and said that you weren’t there, so I promised her I would find you. I have found you and now you want me to kill you! What am I going to tell her? I can’t tell her I found her sister and then killed her because she asked me to!”

“Do y-you want me to be free, Jake?”

“Of course I do! But, there has to be another way to do it!”

“Just do what I say, please!”

“Fine, but I really don’t like this. I hate this. I love you too much to do this, and it hurts.”

“I know, I know it does, Flyboy, but I’ll be happier this way, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, my strong, independent woman doesn’t bow down to anyone.” He smirked, lovingly.

“N-now who’s being a pervert? I hate perverts, Morales.”

“I know you do, Emily Cathryn Rhodes.”

He took Flare Bolt from its spot on the ground and leaned down and kissed her. She weakly kissed back, and as the couple kissed, he drove her scythe through her stomach. He could taste her blood as it welled up in her mouth. He pulled away from their kiss and wept over her body. As he wept, he didn’t notice Reed, Agni, and the girls run up to the scene. Finn took one look at the scene and broke down hard. She sobbed into Reed’s chest and he just held her as he sobbed quietly. Grey also broke down, sobbing. Aurora was more angry than sad, but she was sobbing as well.

“What did you do to her?! Let me see her, I can save her!”

By this time, Jake had stopped sobbing and was now quietly sniffling.

“Aurora, stop. You can’t save someone who’s already dead.”

“Dead? She’s dead?! You killed her! I never should’ve trusted you with her!”

“She asked me to kill her, Aurora. She said it was the only way to free her from their control.”

“So you listened to her. You listened to her and now she’s gone! I hate you!”

“I can save her.”

“W-what?”

“I didn’t mean to startle everyone, but I just wanted you to know I can save her, however there is a cost.”

“I don’t care what the cost is, save her.”

“As you wish. My name is Malachi. I am your friend’s Guardian. She was indeed under the control of those people, and it was a control not even I could break. Now she’s dead, and I can bring her back to life, but at a cost. I will reduce my power by half, and I will be weaker. I can still serve her as Guardian, but I will not be as I once was.”

“Please, Malachi, just do it, please save her.” Jake pleaded with the ram to save the girl he loved.

“So, you are the boy my mistress holds so dear to her heart.”

“If by that, you mean I love her, then yes, I do. I love her a lot.”

“Alright, I’m going to begin.”

Malachi turned into a fiery specter and flew into the stab wound in Emily’s stomach. Emily was engulfed in a fiery light, but there were no flames, just a flame colored aura surrounding her body. She was lifted off the ground, her head and limbs hanging limp, and her hair completely down and hanging around her face. Sometime during the fight, her ponytail had come undone. The wound knit itself back together and Malachi repaired everything that had been damaged internally. After he was finished, Malachi flew back into the pendant around Emily’s neck, and she began falling. Jake ran and caught her before she had a chance to hit the ground. He felt her neck for a pulse and was overjoyed when he felt one.

“Aurora, I know you hate me, but can you heal her a bit? Just enough to make sure she’s alright before we get her to Nurse Rayne.”

Aurora gave him a glare, but nevertheless did as he told her to do. She healed her enough, even more so than Malachi had, so they could move her to the infirmary for a more intensive healing and checkup. Jake carried her off to the infirmary and informed Nurse Rayne of the situation, then left Emily in the nurse’s care.

Mr. Grayson teleported all of the defeated combatants back to the location at which Kari was last located at, a castle on the outskirts. Mr. Terra had been in charge of obtaining this information for Mr. Grayson and was delighted when he managed to find the hideout. Mr. Grayson was even more delighted, but even with a location, there wasn’t much that could be done. They saw what they did to Emily and they couldn’t take the risk with anyone else, so they had to bide their time and wait. Either Kari and her group would go into hiding or she would come after them again. Mr. Grayson sat down at his desk and began compiling a report of all of the events that occurred, then there was a knock on his door. He shouted for the person on the other side to come in, and all of the teens filed into his office.

“Everyone did well today. You should be proud of yourselves, as you each won major battles that would determine the fate of this academy. Ms. Luna, you trained hard to get where you are now, and you materialized both your weapon and Guardian in battle. You also materialized your sub-element in your fight, which was impressive indeed. Ms. Iris, or if you wish to be technical, Ms. Terra, though you took your mother’s surname, you also trained hard to get to this point. You materialized your weapon and your Guardian at an earlier stage and you utilized them to great effect in this fight. I also sense that you’ve also trained and gained some measure of control over your sub-element, though you refrained from using it in this battle. Ms. Borealis, you trained hard, alongside the rest of the girls. You materialized your weapon, your Guardian, and your sub-element and used each one to great effect. You girls are truly the defenders of this school. Mr. Skylark, you also assisted Ms. Luna in her fight, and you did well, so I commend you for a job well done. Where’s Mr. Morales?”

“He’s in the infirmary, Sir.” Reed replied.

“Watching over Ms. Rhodes, no doubt. She will not be punished for her actions, as she had no control over her faculties at the time. I just hope she gets better. I felt her power signature disappear and then reappear.”

“She technically died, Sir. This ram said he could bring her back to life, and he did.” Reed answered.

“Her Guardian brought her back to life? That’s very interesting, but I suppose with a deep enough bond between Guardian and human, it’s possible. I trust Nurse Rayne is keeping a close watch over her?”

“Yes, Sir.” Reed told him.

“Good, I hope she recovers quickly enough, because I plan on holding a party in honor of your victory. There will be dinner, followed by a dance, and of course snacks and drinks will also be provided. The dress code is formal, but you ladies don’t need to go out and buy full out prom dresses or anything. A simple dress and suit will suit the occasion quite nicely. Now please, take advantage of this down time to get some much needed rest, then you can prepare for the party. It will be held after Ms. Rhodes recovers.”

The group of teens all began heading for the door when Mr. Grayson cleared his throat.

“Oh, one more thing. You all need a date for this dinner dance party.”

Grey and Aurora grumbled, then someone else entered the room, chuckling.

“Don’t worry, honey, I can find you someone to go with if you want me to.”

Everyone turned to look at the person that entered the room.

“Mr. Terra!” The rest exclaimed, with the exception of Grey, who just whined at her father for offering to find her a date.

Mr. Terra chuckled a bit and looked at his daughter.

“Relax, hon, I was just kidding. I’m sure you’re more than capable of finding your own date to the party.”

“Dad, please don’t embarrass me in front of my friends.”

“Alright, alright, fair enough.”

Grey smirked, clearly happy at getting her way.

“Alright, now if there’s nothing else, you’re all free to go, as I said earlier, to spend your down time how ever you wish.”

“I think I’m heading to the pool.” Aurora said.

“I think I’m heading to the treehouses.” Finn said.

“I’ll go with you Finn.” Reed told her.

“I think I might hang with my dad.” Grey told everyone.

Mr. Grayson nodded at all of their choices and was happy that Grey was spending time with the man she discovered to be her father. Mr. Terra also nodded at his daughter’s choice. Though he had papers to grade, he wasn’t about to spend time with his newly discovered daughter doing work. And, though Jake wasn’t in the room, one didn’t have to be a genius to figure out where he was and what his plans were for his down time. He was right where he was at the beginning of the meeting, in the infirmary with Emily. He would stay there until the moment she woke up, if only so his face was the first one she saw upon waking.

Nurse Rayne had said that she was asleep and would remain asleep until her body finished healing itself from its ordeal, being dead and then being brought back to life. No one knew exactly how long that would take. She could be asleep for a day, two days, two weeks, a month, no one really knew. In the end, good triumphed over evil and the battle for the Academy ended in the Academy’s victory. Now, it was just a waiting game.