They stared at Hailee dumbfounded. No one could say anything. Hailee stared back at everyone, waiting for someone to say something. Anything they could say would be better than nothing at all.

It was several minutes before Master Sora broke the silence. "I see it in your eyes, all of you. She's no different than she was ten minutes ago. Hailee has no control over who her parents are." He turned to look at Parker. "She has no more control over it than you have control over being an Air Imperial from a family of Fire Imperials."

All of them continued to stare without saying anything. Caleb was looking straight into Hailee's eyes. Hailee’s were filled with tears that refused to fall. Through the tears she could see the hurt in Caleb's eyes, the hurt of someone who's been lied to. When she saw the hurt, her tears poured down her face.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you guys. I didn't know until we saw her in the chamber. I didn't know that my mother was the one doing all of this."

They still had nothing to say. Parker couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that her mother was doing these terrible things. He knew that Hailee wasn't at fault here and that he should say something to help calm her down but he couldn't form words.

Master Sora spoke again, "I want you three to imagine how she felt when she found out."

Parker finally found the words. "Hailee, I'm not mad at you. I'm just confused. Why didn't you tell us?"

Hailee shook her head, crying. "I don't know... I thought you all would hate me for it."

"Hailee, you should know us better than that by now," Alexis added, finally able to organize her thoughts.

"I know, I was just afraid. Imagine finding out that your mom had kidnapped eight people and stole their Imperials increasing her own to create a new world that would inevitably destroy this one." She felt ridiculous saying it out loud but she could tell it was exactly what needed to be said to snap everyone out of the daze they were in.

"So, we think that she is planning to take the students' Imperials again but we don't know how. I don't think she can purposefully give someone the status of Omni. I truly think what happened to you three was an accident caused by Caleb's attack."

"Is there anything we can do?" Alexis asked. She was sure she knew the answer but figured it couldn't hurt to ask, again.

"No. We simply need to wait for Riley and Philip to wake up. Until then, all we can do is wait."

The door to the room burst open and Cassidy came running into the clearing. "Master Sora! There's been another attack! Master Keegan said to get you and tell you to go to the Medical Ward."

The master stood and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Everyone stared at the spot he had been in. "Can he...?" Alexis asked.

"Man he's fast. I always forget that until I see him do it," Cassidy said, half talking to herself.

"Wait? He just ran out of here?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah! He uses the air to push from behind him as he runs forward. It's awesome and oddly hard to master. It doesn't seem like something that would be overly difficult, but you fall on your face a lot while you practice it." With that, Cassidy turned around and left the room.

The four of them looked at each other and without a word agreed that they needed to be in the Medical Ward. When they got there they couldn't believe what they saw. A boy in blue robes was lying in a bed with black patches all over his skin. His eyes were closed and he was barely breathing.

"Where did it happen?" Parker asked as they walked up behind the masters standing around his bed.

"The same place as the other two. I think it's time we kept an eye on that spot to try and prevent this from happening again. The attacks are happening quicker and quicker so I imagine that Lara is growing in power, significantly at this rate." Master Keegan sounded terrified at what was going to happen.

Parker remembered when the masters would keep a poker face while talking about awful things. He noticed that lately they didn't even try to disguise their fear around them.

Master Sora turned and looked at the group, then focused on Parker. "I need you all to promise that you're not going to go looking for her. Nothing good could possibly come from that."

They looked at the masters and promised they wouldn't go searching. When they got back to their common room and looked at each other they silently agreed to do whatever they could to stop her.

"Hailee—" Alexis started to say. Hailee turned her head and looked at her with puffy, red eyes from when she was crying. "What happens if it comes to it and we have to—" Hailee didn't need Alexis to say it. "If it comes to it, we need to stop her no matter what."

"Can I ask something?" Caleb asked looking at Hailee. She nodded and he continued with his question, "How come you never talked about your mom before everything had happened?"

"She left when I was five. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. It's one of the only memories I have from before I was eight."

Everyone looked at her with pity in their eyes. "Hailee... I'm so sorry..." Alexis said.

"I got passed it eventually, but it was really hard."

Caleb put his arm around her shoulder again making her smile. "Why was it so hard? Besides the obvious fact of her leaving."

"She blamed me. Said she was ashamed to have a daughter with zero potential."

"You were only five... almost no one shows signs of their Imperial at that age." Caleb couldn't believe that her mother had blamed her. "I mean that's like blaming a flower for not blooming in the middle of winter."

"I know, but what could I do? I was five. I didn't even know how to defend myself then."

Parker could see the sympathy on Alexis's face. "What about your dad?" Alexis asked.

"I only have one memory of him from when I was four and then he just... disappeared." She hadn't thought about it until that moment but from what she's learned about her mother recently she was worried that Lara had done something to her father.

"I wonder how long she's been planning on creating her alternate universe," Parker thought out loud.

"Who knows," Hailee said.

-----

Third term started and by the end of the first day, they were all exhausted, lying on the floor in the common room.

"Having all of these Imperial classes is killer. Especially trying to keep straight how to combine ours with each Imperial separately." Caleb was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. "Plus having our Omni class on top of everything else!"

Parker, Hailee, and Alexis agreed with him. Ana looked at them, slightly less tired. "It'll be okay. You guys will be fine!” When Parker looked at Ana, she looked unfazed by the work they'd done that day.

"How are you not tired?" He asked Ana.

She shrugged. "I'm not really sure to be honest. I found it really refreshing. I much prefer to work with my Imperial than to sit in a classroom listening to the masters talk at us."

"I mean I do too but I'm still exhausted," Parker said. They spent the rest of the night finishing their homework and preparing themselves for the next day. Hailee warned them that the third day of the term was going to be the worst. By then their muscles would be dead tired and they would be more worn out than they could imagine.

The night came and went in the blink of an eye. Before they knew it they were back in class running drills with partners. Parker felt like it was never going to end when the master released them for a quick break before the next set of Imperials came in.

Another class of the same thing with a new Imperial came and went, not as fast as they would have hoped for though. When they took their seats at lunch they all had their heads down. Ana joined them and couldn't stop herself from asking. "Are you just a bunch of wusses?"

All four of them raised their heads and glared at her for a moment until she started laughing. "Having our... extra class," Hailee started to say. "No, wait. Our extra two classes is absolutely exhausting. And we have to go there next so I apologize if I seem a little snippy." She didn't mean for it to sound as bad as it came out, but she couldn't help herself.

Ana gave her a look and walked to a different table. "You didn't have to snap at her like that," Caleb said. "She didn't mean anything bad by it. She doesn't understand the extra work we have to do, not only for the extra classes but to stay focused in the normal ones as well."

Eliott came walking up to their table and started talking, clearly having heard what they had been saying. "By extra class do you mean your—"

"Hush!" All four of them spat at him. Eliott immediately clammed up.

"Sorry... didn't know that would upset you so much." He was about to turn around and walk away when Parker grabbed his arm.

"No, we're sorry. We're just a little exhausted, that's all." Eliott could see the tired in all of their eyes. He figured their Omni class must really be taking its toll on them.

"Hey, if you ever need help with my specialty just let me know. I'm always happy to help."

Parker smiled and before Eliott turned and walked away, Alexis grabbed his other arm. "Hey, do you know the boy who was attacked?"

Eliott's head dropped. "Yeah... he was my friend. If I ever see Colton again, it'll be the end of him." Parker saw a fire light behind Eliott's eyes but he knew that he needed to tell Eliott not to confront him.

"Eliott—" Before Parker could finish his sentence, Eliott was gone. "I hope he never runs into Colton, especially if what we think is right and he's working with Lara."

When Parker said her name everyone turned and looked at Hailee. She saw the looks on their faces and said, "Seriously? You can stop acting like I'm going to cry every time she's brought up." There was a faint sigh of relief from all of them before they got up and left for class.

-----

By the time they crashed on the common room floor, Parker figured it was a miracle they were still alive. All he could think about was the fact that if Lara wanted to get the best of them, this was the time to do it. He knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop her and he figured the others were in the same boat he was.

By the end of the first week of the new term, everyone was still exhausted, but not quite as much as they had been in the middle of the week. Hailee hadn't been joking around when she said the third day of classes would be the worst.

"Guys... I'm starting to get nervous—" Caleb said.

The group looked at him funny and then Alexis asked what was making him nervous. "What's there to be nervous about? You're doing great in class."

"It's not class. I was just thinking about Lara and the attacks that have been happening and Colton. We know that Colton attacked on September third and then exactly one month later Riley was attacked on October third." Everyone stared at him trying to figure out where he was going with this. "Then, three weeks later, Philip was attacked. And exactly two weeks after that, Liam was attacked."

Their eyes widened when they realized what Caleb was talking about. It had been one week since the attack on Liam. "You think someone is going to get attacked today don't you?" Parker asked.

Caleb nodded his head. "If the timeline continues as it has, then yes, there will be another attack today."

"I think you're right to be nervous Caleb," Hailee said. Everyone else nodded. "Should we go and tell the masters?" she asked.

"What could it hurt?" Ana said. Everyone cringed at her words. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Not really... it's just the last time the masters got involved with Lara, she took away her Space Imperial from around the school."

"Oh—" Ana said, feeling bad that she'd brought up the previous year. She'd noticed how almost any talk about those events made the group shut down a little.

"It's okay, I do think that we should mention this to them," Alexis said. She could see Ana perk up a little bit which made her happy. Alexis couldn't help but feel bad for Ana. She may have missed the events of everything that happened, but she was pretty much in the same shoes as everyone at the school.

Parker sent a ball of air through the hole in the wall by Master Sora's door. It creaked open and they entered before being summoned in. When they saw Master Sora at his desk Parker began talking before the master could ask what they needed.

"We think someone is in danger."

Master Sora looked at him with a hint of fear and skepticism etched across his face. "What makes you think this?"

Caleb walked him through the dates he had noticed and how each attack happened one week earlier than the previous. "It's almost like she's counting down to something. Maybe after the next attack she plans on doing something major." Everyone looked at Caleb and he knew what they were thinking. "I'm not saying what's happened already isn't major, but I assume that she's up to something way more awful than attacking a few students."

With that comment everyone turned their heads and looked at Hailee. She noticed and rolled her eyes at them. "I think Caleb is right, master. We should keep a really close eye on that spot in the main corridor."

"I know you think it will happen today, but when today?" They shrugged, unsure of the correct answer to give him.

"I think we should just get down there now and keep an eye on it for the rest of the day." Master Sora nodded at Caleb's suggestion, and they all left to the main corridor.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they could see a bundle of white robes laying down the corridor. The four of them raced down the corridor to see why someone with their robes on was lying on the ground.

"Oh my gosh..." Alexis covered her mouth with her hands. Hailee and Parker gasped. Caleb and Ana couldn't make a sound. Master Sora walked up behind them and shook his head slowly.

"We were too late..." He bent down and picked Cassidy up off the ground and carried her to the Medical Ward.