"What do you mean there aren't any?" Parker said. He couldn't wipe the look of shock off of his face.

"We found many different Imperials out there, but none were willing to make the journey back here. I mean, I can't really blame them, but getting none to agree is just baffling."

"Master Sora, why didn't they want to make the journey? I mean, there wasn't ever an issue with enrollment from before Lara was here right?" Parker asked.

"When Lara was here, and before, the level of enrollment was nothing compared to what it is now. No, we didn't have issues but there also weren't very many students. Then Lara used her newly found Imperial to help the school obtain more Imperials. Once that was in place, there were so many more families willing to come here to learn how to master their Imperials."

"If she was mad enough at you for not teaching her that she left before graduation, why did she help the school out?"

Master Sora looked at Parker, trying to think of a logical reason as to why she would've helped them but nothing came to mind. "I really don't know Parker. That's a great question. We were just so grateful that we accepted it and moved on without thinking about it. Now, go enjoy your food we can discuss more another time."

Caleb watched Parker make his way back to the table to eat his food. Hailee leaned over to whisper into Parker's ear and Caleb gave them a weird look.

"He said we would talk later," Parker said to Hailee.

"Talk about what later?" Hailee asked.

They all leaned in so no one would overhear. "There aren't any new first years." Haile and Caleb stared at him with wide eyes and their mouths hanging open.

"What?" Hailee said louder than she had intended to. Parker shushed her, hoping she didn't draw any attention their way.

"He said we'll talk later so I don't think we should talk about it either." They both agreed with him and continued to eat their breakfasts. All they could think about was what the New Year was going to bring. Parker was terrified for all of his classes now. Before, he had the safety net of his Imperial class to fall back on but now he doesn't even have that.

"Parker, don't look so afraid. You're going to do just find this year; you have nothing to worry about. Behind the Imperials changes to Combining the Imperials where you learn what happens when you combine the different Imperials in different ways. You even get to experiment a lot on what happens when you combine the Imperials. It's not just a bunch of discussion like it was last year. For the most part, it's the first time you get to see the other Imperials actually in action aside from Aether and our little pal here." She eyeballed Caleb as she finished her sentence.

Parker looked equal parts excited and terrified for this class. He knew that no one would want to partner up with him. His only hope was that he had it with either Alexis or Caleb. When he thought about it, he dropped his head, thinking that he actually only had Caleb to hope on now.

"Your Imperial class won't change a whole lot. From time to time you get to tinker around with what you can do with the other Imperials using your own Imperial."

Parker felt the same way here. No one was going to want to work with him when it came to working on his Imperial. He was just going to be stuck working on his own while everyone else paired up.

"History is actually a lot of fun this year. You get to learn about all sorts of things from the school." She sounded really excited about it. Parker was looking at her with a look in his eyes that said, "Nothing about history could ever be interesting enough to draw me into it."

"Hailee, what's so exciting about history?"

"Well, you get to learn about two of the greatest wars of all time that are never talked about otherwise. No one in the regular world discusses it due to the astronomical number of loses of their people. And we don't talk about it either for the same reason. But I don't want to spoil anything else for you."

Parker seemed to be slightly more interested in it now. Now it had to do with the Imperials themselves instead of just a bunch of random information.

"I can't believe how much we've learned and seen in just the past year," Caleb said. "To think, a year ago today, we were having our first breakfast here after such a long night, especially for me!"

Parker looked at him for a moment without saying anything. "Are you okay, Parker?" Caleb said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"What's wrong with me?" Parker snapped. He got up and rushed from the table. Hailee and Caleb looked at each other utterly confused by what had just happened.

He made his way to the table where Alexis was sitting with the Aether team. Alexis didn't see him behind her but the rest of the team did. They stared at him, a look somewhere between mad for hurting Alexis and upset that he couldn't be on the Aether team until he improved, again.

"Um… Alexis?" he said meekly. She jumped a little in her chair having not noticed everyone staring.

Alexis turned her head slightly to acknowledge that he was there. He noticed and took that as a small sign that she was starting to come around. "I just wanted to say sorry again."

"I know you're sorry. You've said it a thousand times."

"I mean I am sorry about that still… but that's not what I meant this time."

She turned her head a little more, "Then what are you sorry about this time?"

"Happy Birthday, a day late at least…" he said it and then walked away hastily. He walked right by his table and out of the dining hall then the front of the castle. The waterfall was roaring as loud as ever helping drown out the rest of the world for Parker.

He sat on the bridge staring out over the edge of the waterfall until the sun was at its peak. Caleb and Hailee sat on either side of him and put their arms around him.

"What can we do for you Parker?" Hailee asked.

"There's gotta be something we can do to help," Caleb said.

Parker didn't say anything in response and neither of his friends pressed him further. The three of them sat there until it was time to eat dinner. No one had said a word. So much weight lay on their shoulders at the moment that nothing seemed important enough to talk about.

Parker's thoughts raced between Alexis, Lara, his lack of confidence and how everyone looked at him now.

Caleb couldn't stop thinking about Lara, what was happening to his friends and how he wasn't able to actually help any of them.

Hailee was worried about Parker's recent mental state. He kept getting so mad all of the time and she couldn't find a way to help him. Then her thoughts switched to the fact that there were no first years this year. She hadn't gotten to do her job like she did the previous year. She never mentioned it, but that was one of her favorite things, it's how she made her only true friends.

-----

Parker crawled into bed ready for the day to be over. He was torn between being ready for his second year to start and wanting to stay curled up under his covers for the rest of his life.

His dreams were all over the place as he tried to sleep. They started by tormenting his emotions and replaying the images of Alexis's face as the fire scorched her neck and shoulder. Then they played images of him in class with all of the houses. They would start a lesson on combining their Imperials and everyone would walk away from him. He would try to use his Imperial and fire would scorch his hands and then the room would become an inferno. This dream played over and over, waking him up each time.

What felt like the hundredth time he'd jolted awake, the sun was starting to peer over the edge of the lake. He slowly sat up in bed and saw each of his roommates doing the same.

Parker noticed that each of them had a parchment lying on their nightstands. He grabbed his to see what was written on it. Across the top it read, "Second Year Courses" and below it was the list of classes, room numbers and times of each class.

"Parker, how's yours look?"

"Not bad," he said as he was peering down the list. When he saw Combining the Imperials on his roster, he took a peek at his books and noticed that it had been added to his stack and Behind the Imperials was missing. Above his copy of Combining the Imperials there was something missing. His Aether book used to be there, he wondered if this was a bad sign. "How does… yours…" he stopped mid-sentence.

"How does mine look? Not bad at all, I'm very content with it. I even have a break between Combining the Imperials and lunch! Why'd you stop midsentence?" He grabbed for Parker's schedule but Parker yanked it away. "What's on there that has you so stunned? Did you get put in my… class?" He almost blurted that he was an Omni in front of all his roommates.

Parker nodded his head. "There's nothing wrong with that! We get to practice together. Wait, you do it have it right after lunch right?" Parker nodded again. "Then there's nothing to be so stunned about. You'll be fine!" Caleb got out of bed and started getting ready.

It took Parker a little longer to get moving. Caleb was already in the common room, probably waiting on him but he couldn't stop staring at his schedule. At the bottom in bold print it said, "You will have one-on-one sessions with me every evening at six o'clock. Keep this to yourself, don't even tell Caleb about it." Below that it was signed by Master Sora.