Timeline

3

"Welcome to detecting!" the school announcer called out. He was a Herald, which meant he could project his voice as far as he wanted. "This is the last day of detecting, as none of your abilities seem ready to unlock. However, if one of you unlocks, we will go one more day. Please go to your stations."

"I hope someone unlocks something today," Tom said to Lynne as they went to the first station. A Breezer was demonstrating how to call a gust of wind. Nobody seemed to have any skill at that, so they moved on to the Telekinetic instructor. Nothing happened there, or at the Channeler station. No one was a Herald or a Cryofrost either.

"Well maybe one of us will unlock a rare ability," Tom said hopefully as they moved over to the rare stations.

"Here we will be testing you for the rare abilities," an Allseer told them. "There is an invisible book in my hand. I want to to tell me what the title is, if you can. The book is about this tall-" she indicated with her hand- "and about this wide. The cover is red and it has a picture of a sun on the front. Good luck."

Half an hour later, no one was having any luck. They moved on to the Musemage station, where a man in a golden-yellow shirt and ripped jeans was sitting on a chair with an acoustic guitar. His curly brown hair matched his eyes.

"Yo, Lynne, isn't that one of the guys on your hoodie?" Tom asked, nudging her, but she had already recognized him. "Yup," she said excitedly. "That's Golden."

"Oh, the lead one?" Tom clarified. Lynne nodded.

"This is one of the rarer abilities," Golden informed them. "Not many people can play music well, let alone impact others with it." He strummed a chord on his guitar and the whole area echoed with a peaceful aura. Another chord and tension radiated through the courtyard. "Most Musemages prefer acoustic instruments, as they give purer sound," he said. "Just a little fact about us." He strummed another few chords, making the area hopeful, then despairing, then calm.

"We can't actually change anything about the world," he said. "But we can let you see what we see." He started playing a sweeping melody and a field came into Lynne's mind's eye. The tune dropped to a low, tense melody and the image shifted to a canyon. It faded to a sunset as the melody turned soft and sweet. A moment later, the music slowed to a halt and the image faded completely.

"That's so cool," Tom whispered, animated.

"I know, right?" Lynne whispered back. 

Unfortunately, no one unlocked that ability either. The students were moving on when Golden glanced at Lynne. His eyes flicked to her hoodie and he grinned at her. She returned it and moved to the next station.

"The Timeshifter is one of the most rare abilities in the world," the instructor announced. "Very, very few have this ability, so it is one of the last to be tested." He held up an apple and took a bite out of it. Then he snapped his fingers and a ripple of energy swept through the area as the apple was restored to its fullness. "I sent the apple back in the timeline," he explained. "Timeshifters can move themselves and others through and across timelines. Now I want all of you to try." He handed out various fruits and the students obediently took a bite of them. "Good luck."

Lynne concentrated on the pear in front of her. As usual, nothing happened. Come on, you have to unlock something, she told herself. You have to unlock something now or there'll be no chance until next month!

Her right shoulder ached and she pressed her lips into a line. "There has to be something," she murmured, staring at the pear. "There has to be something."

Then it clicked.

Her eyes narrowed and the pear shimmered with energy, restored to its natural fullness.

There was silence.

She couldn't believe what had just happened. One of the rarest abilities there was! And she was only in the first year of the unlocking period!

"You did it!" Tom whispered, awed. "Lynne, that's so cool!"

"Congratulations, we have an unlocked ability!" the Timeshifting instructor said, sounding surprised. "I honestly didn't expect anyone to unlock this one, it's very rare."

"Indeed, very surprising," a warm voice said. Golden walked up behind the Timeshifting instructor with a smile. "Not many can unlock at such a young age, let alone such a rare ability," he told her, looking directly into her eyes. "I'm truly impressed."

She smiled, touched. "Thanks!"

"Wait, now I'll have to do detecting alone," Tom said. "Darn, that's gonna be rough."

"I hope it's not that bad," Lynne said, still excited.

"It probably won't be," Tom said with a smile. "Have fun in your special people classes!"

"You goofball," she said, nudging his shoulder with her own. "Your ability is going to be just as awesome, maybe even more so."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "I guess we'll find out!"

Lynne tagged along for the rest of the ability classes, but Tom didn't unlock anything.

"My shoulder kinda started hurting in the mark spot before my ability unlocked," she told him as they went to the teleporter. "I guess that's one way to know."

"Oh, yeah, I wanna see your mark soon!" Tom said excitedly as they touched their respective crystals.

Lynne gave him a smile before the castle blurred away.

***

"A Timeshifter!" Lynne's mom exclaimed. "What a surprise! Not many unlock at such a young age!"

"Yeah, Golden did say that," Lynne told her. "Oh, I don't think I mentioned that part."

"Golden was there?" her mom asked. 

"Yeah! He was the Musemage ability instructor, because that ability's so rare," Lynne said excitedly. "He played something on his guitar and you could see the scenery change in your mind, it was so beautiful!"

"I've only heard a Musemage play in real life once before," Lynne's mom said. "Their songs don't have the same effect if you're not listening to the real thing." 

"Yeah, I hadn't heard one before either, I'd only heard them on the soundcrystals." Lynne agreed. The special crystal plates were altered to record sounds and could replay them as many times as needed. Lynne had a whole box of them in her room with Starstruck's many albums. The band mainly played rock songs, but sometimes varied off into other genres of music. That was one of the things Lynne liked about it.

"I should take you to one of their concerts soon," her mom mused. 

"YES YOU SHOULD CAN WE PLEASE DO THAT?" Lynne said immediately. Her mom laughed. "I'll see what I can do," she assured her. "For now, you need to eat something and go to bed. Take a look at your new mark, too!"

"Alright," Lynne said, smiling. She grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl in the kitchen- those were her new favorite fruits now- and headed down the hall to her room. Once she got there, she pulled up her right sleeve and looked at the two-inch circle that marked her shoulder. The symbol was a clock with a portal around it and it was bordered by a violet circle.

"That's so cool," she breathed. Smoke rubbed around her ankles, purring. His soft fluff smoothed under her touch as she bent down to pet him. He sniffed at her arm and looked up at her as if he understood the significance. Surely he didn't... right?

"Yeah, I guess they'll let the others do one more ability test now," she murmured to him. He purred again and flicked his tail at her legs.

Lynne settled into bed, smiling as Smoke curled up next to her head.

"What do you think tomorrow's going  to bring, huh?" she asked him. "Think anyone else will unlock anything?" Smoke mewed and licked a paw.

Lynne closed her eyes. "I guess we'll find out."