"Katia come on time to wake up," someone said, shaking her back and forth on the bed.
"Hmm, what time is it?" Katia groaned as she stretched her arms wide. Her hair was a giant mess and her eyes were half closed. She was never much of a morning person.
"It's seven!" Laura shouted from the next bunk, already wide awake.
"Ugh how is she so awake?" Katia groaned, collapsing back on to her bed.
"We have no idea. We're starting to think it'a one of her powers," Suki said groggily from the bottom bunk.
"Come on you guys! I want to go eat breakfast!" Laura shouted again, throwing pillows at each of them.
"All right, all right we're up!" Amanda said, throwing the pillow back at her.
The four girls showered, got dressed, and met the boys in the living room. Together they exited their cabin and began to head back into the city and into the center courtyard for breakfast.
"This walk is so long!" Amanda complained. "Laura can you teleport us there? Please!"
"I can't teleport all seven of us," she said.
"I'll fly over with Mike and David and you can take the girls," Nathan suggested.
That seemed good enough for Laura. "Okay everybody hold hands!" She instructed.
All four girls linked hands. "See you over there!"
Laura closed her eyes and in a flash they disappeared into thin air. Katia felt like she was spinning rapidly in circles and felt slightly dizzy when she felt her feet touch the ground. She opened her eyes and saw that they were suddenly in the city. She let go of Laura and Amanda's hands and almost fell over. The whole world was spinning rapidly.
"Whoa! Careful!" Suki caught her and set her straight up. "Laura's teleporting takes some time to get used to."
Katia just mumbled an acknowledgement. Her world was still spinning in circles and her stomach was a little queasy.
"You didn't do so bad," Laura assured her. "Amanda threw up the first time."
Laura and Suki laughed at the memory, but Amanda just pouted.
"You promised you were never going to talk about that again!" She complained.
"Oops I guess I forgot!" Laura said in between laughs.
"You ready to go?" Amanda asked Katia, ignoring the two girls.
"Yeah, most of the dizziness is gone. Let's go eat!" Katia told her.
They entered the dining area and began filling plates with omelets, bacon, waffles, and fruit. There was so much delicious food Katia was afraid she was going to get fat.
Finally the three boys came in and they also filled their plates with piles of food. Hardly any time passed before all of the food was gone.
"So what are we doing today?" Katia asked.
"We all have self defense, classes, obstacle course training, and lunch," David answered. "Then we go off to our personal training where they specialize in our powers."
"Wow that sounds super busy," Katia said. Most days she just went to school, swim practice, and back home.
"It is so we better go," David said. "Self defense starts in fifteen minutes."
***
Self defense went by better than Katia thought it would. She wasn't too bad for her first day and she finally got her weapon. It took a while but she finally found the perfect one. It was a thin, silver sword with a sharp point at the end a little bigger than her forearm. It wasn't too big so it was perfect for Katia's small figure. She practiced with it and even had a sword fight against Nathan. It took some time for him to beat her, but Katia felt like he was going easy. The entire time, Amanda, Laura, Suki, Mike, and David were cheering her on.
Then they all went to a school a couple of blocks away. In class they learned about different dark monsters they could encounter, curses, and ways to fight Hunters. For once class was interesting, and Katia saw how she could actually use all of this in life.
The obstacle course was the greatest challenge of the morning. They had to run and dodge the rocks and fire being thrown at them, swing across ropes over a little cliff, jump into the water and swim across while avoiding the piranhas, and ring the buzzer on the other end.
"Isn't this dangerous?" Katia asked while looking worriedly at the course.
"A little," Mike said. "But if you get hit with a rock or fire you'll just feel a little sting or heat. You're body will still feel tired like you actually got hit though. And there's an invisible net over the cliff. The piranhas will just scratch you up a bit. Don't worry you'll be fine."
Katia nodded but she was still a little afraid. Everyone was so fast and agile, but still only a few made it. A lot of people were having trouble swimming across with the piranhas. After a while they would drag people under and they'd lose.
Finally it was Katia's turn. When the buzzer went off, Katia started to sprint across the field. She jumped and ducked, dodging the fire and rocks. A few scraped by her but they just left little scratches. Katia sped up, leaped, and reached for the rope. She grabbed a hold on it and swung her body across. She was suddenly really grateful she swam all her life or she'd be out of shape.
When Katia landed safely on the other side, she stopped for a second to rest. Then she jumped into the water. She began to swim and the piranhas instantly started to dart towards her. Katia stopped and treaded water. She could hear the people behind her wondering why she stopped, but she just blocked them out and concentrated.
She didn't really know what he was doing and went on instinct and adrenaline. She controlled the currents of the water and made the piranhas move back. Then she lifted herself slightly higher with the water and sped across. She slammed her hand on the buzzer and everyone began to cheer. She couldn't believe she had done it.
Katia went back to her friends on the other side. People started to congratulate her, but she noticed that one girl looked a little angry. She was tall, had brown hair, and hard set features. She was one of the few who crossed and had one of the fastest times until Katia beat her.
"Congrats," she said with a cold smile.
Katia just nodded her head once and the girl moved on and walked away.
"Okay great job today!" the instructor said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
The class started to disperse and go their own ways.
"Come on let's get lunch. I'm starving!" David said.
"You're always hungry," Amanda joked.
"Well did you see how hard I worked? I thought I was pretty impressive," David said cockily.
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Yup you and only you."
Amanda and David then began to bicker and joke all the way to lunch. The entire time they were standing close together despite there being a lot of room along the path back to town.
"Are they together?" Katia whispered to Suki.
"No but they obviously like each other," Suki said with a roll of her eye. "None of them wants to admit it though."
"Ahhh," Katia said in understanding and then smirked. "Should we give them a little push?"
"Yes let's do it!" Suki said, mirroring her grin.
Lunch was just as extravagant as every other meal Katia had so far. The long morning tired her out and she didn't realize how hungry she had gotten. She barely talked the entire time since she was too busy scarfing up food. Then afterwards they split up to go to their individual training.
"You want to head over there now? It's kind of far," Nathan asked Katia. Because they both had powers with the elements, their training area was bigger and further away.
"Sure, we'll see you guys later!" Katia said, waving goodbye.
Nathan took Katia's hand and she felt a gentle push lift her up into the air. She still smiled in exhilaration and wasn't sure she would ever get used to the feeling.
"So how are you liking it here?" Nathan asked.
"It's pretty amazing. Way more fun than my average day," Katia answered. She was looking around and could see everything from the sky.
"You were great a while ago at the obstacle course," Nathan complimented and Katia smiled nervously.
"Thanks. That was a huge work out. I still think you flying over pretty much everything is cheating," Katia teased.
"It's not! It's called using your powers wisely," Nathan retorted.
"Whatever," she laughed, rolling her eyes.
"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" Nathan asked in an accusing tone.
"No, I don't know what you're talking about," Katia replied in an innocent voice.
"I hope you're telling the truth or I might just drop you," Nathan threatened.
"You wouldn't!" Katia said.
Nathan laughed and shoved Katia playfully. He lowered them slowly until their feet were on solid ground again.
"I'm going to be in the field over there. Have fun!" Nathan said as he let go of Katia's hand and flew to his own training space.
She watched him go and started a bit as she heard someone clear his throat. She turned around and saw a man who looked like he was in his early 40s. His brown hair was beginning to have bits of gray mixed in. He had some wrinkles settling in but they made him look cheerful.
"Hi you must be Katia," the man said. "I'm Wes and I'll be your trainer."
"Nice to meet you," Katia said, shaking his hand. "So can you control water too?"
"Unfortunately no, but my grandfather could and I knew your parents so they thought I was the best man for the job. I can copy other people's powers so I guess you can say I can control water," Wes answered with a smile.
"That's so cool," Katia said enthusiastically.
"It sure is a great power. So we're going to start today by getting you comfortable with using your power and learning how to use it. We have a lot of ground to make up for," Wes said.
Katia looked around and saw that they were by the beach and that there was a lake nearby. There was a lot of space and of course a lot of water.
"Let's start off with the lake and then we'll move on to the ocean to see which one suits you better," Wes said.
They walked over to the lake, and Wes had Katia try to lift the water and copy his formations. She was pretty good at it and could do it without much of a problem. Then he had her see how long she could keep the water suspended. That proved to be harder. Katia was upset when she could only hold it for about five minutes before she got tired and let it go.
"Don't worry. With more practice you'll be able to hold a lot of water for a long time," Wes assured. "Let's try to develop your ability to breathe underwater."
The two of them jumped into the lake and thankfully the water was warm. Underneath were hundreds of fish and brightly colored crystal coral. Katia could see everything clearly. It looked absolutely beautiful.
"Okay relax and try to take a breath," Wes advised. He was able to talk under water, and Katia could hear him perfectly.
Katia took a cautious breath and was delighted to discover that she could breathe underwater just like she could that day the pier.
"How about we have a little race," Wes challenged.
"You're on!" Katia said, never one to turn down a challenge.
"First one across the lake wins. Ready, set, go!" Wes yelled.
The two of them started to swim as fast as they could. They whipped by so quickly that the fish were just blurs of color. Wes was getting ahead, so Katia willed the water to push her forward. She felt a lurch and passed by Wes and touched the end triumphantly.
"Yes!" Katia screamed.
"That was very good! Way to use your powers to give you a boost," Wes said impressed.
"Thanks! I--" but before Katia could say anything more, she rushed up to the surface of the lake. She broke the surface and took a deep breath.
"Katia what happened?" Wes asked, popping up beside her.
"I don't know. I couldn't breathe all of a sudden," she gasped.
"Your power isn't fully developed yet. We'll keep working on your endurance," Wes said.
Katia then spent a few minutes just treading water and had a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest. It lasted for about fifteen minutes with Wes winning.
"I think that's good for today. Just practice holding weight with your powers by bringing us back," Wes instructed.
"You're probably just too lazy to do it yourself," Katia joked.
"Well hurry up with it," Wes said sternly but a smile was tugging at his lips.
Katia lifted her hands and the two of them raised higher. They were on a platform of water. Katia imagined it moving forward and they started to move quickly towards shore. She landed gracefully on the ground with Wes jumping down beside her.
"You did great job today! Very impressive for your first lesson. Pretty soon you'll be able to use the water in the air and whip up a storm," Wes told her.
"Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow." Katia waved goodbye and started to walk to where Nathan was practicing in the field next to hers.
As she was walking, she felt like someone was watching her. She looked over to the side and spotted a guy who looked about her age at the edge of the forest. He was tan and had cropped, black hair and deep, dark eyes. Katia couldn't be sure but it almost looked like Damien. When she caught his eye, he quickly looked down and walked deeper into the forest, disappearing within the thick trees. She noticed a faint glow surrounding his body.
Katia thought it was a little strange but she continued to walk and eventually made it to Nathan. He was still practicing. The wind was roaring around him as his teacher looked on and yelled words of advice over the wind. Nathan looked really powerful suspended in the air in the middle of a wind vortex. His hair still looked perfect. It was moving gracefully as if it was being blown by a light breeze instead of a storm. Katia couldn't help but look up in awe.
"Okay Nathan that's enough! You can come down now!" His teacher shouted from the ground.
Nathan cut off the wind almost instantly and glided gracefully towards the ground and landed lightly.
"That was great," his teacher complimented him. "I'll see you again tomorrow."
"Okay bye!" Nathan turned and flew over to where Katia was sitting on a rock.
"Hey!" He said with a smile.
"Hey! I must say you looked pretty impressive up there," Katia said.
"Thanks!" Nathan beamed. "You didn't look so bad yourself from what I could see from here."
"Why thank you," Katia laughed.
Nathan took her by the hand and they flew back to their cabin where they would meet their other friends. As they were soaring over Aevria, Katia told him all about her first lesson. She described how beautiful the lake was underneath, about Wes and how she beat him in a race, and how she could lift gallons of water and force it down powerfully. Nathan just listened, amused at how enthusiastic and bubbly Katia was about everything.