I stare up at the scuffed white panes of the ceiling tiles without really seeing them. My ears hearing Mr Selic’s boisterous voice but my attention instead focused on the little block of glass and steel between my hands. I spin the ‘work phone’ over again inside the pouch of my hoodie, mind still buzzing with the sort of energy that only comes after waking from a sleep of deep exhaustion.

  Yesterday, I’d been too tired to do much besides stagger through the door of my dad’s empty apartment. Even after the excitement of being rudely woken by the building’s security and finding them holding uncle Owen at gunpoint. They’d needed me to confirm that I wasn’t being kidnapped when he tried to enter the garage with me half hidden under a coat and passed out in the passenger seat. Even after all these years, dad still won’t let him onto the building’s whitelist.

  It worked out this time though, as I’d been able to bluff feeling better long enough to tell security not to call dad and then convince uncle Owen that I could be left alone to make dinner. Not that he had much choice in it given the stern men and their rifles. It can’t have been more than a few minutes after I’d waved him off from the apartment window that I collapsed onto the sofa and passed out. I’d only meant to rest for a half hour but the call of a pain free sleep had simply been too strong.

  Waking up to my alarm this morning after missing the rest of Sunday had made it a bittersweet rest. Finding out I still had everything to get ready for the school week had ruined it completely and only the knowledge that dad would find out the moment I ditched had convinced me to roll off the couch. At least the long sleep had taken care of the worst of my injuries, with painkillers proving enough to cover the rest. Mostly.

  In some ways, an accelerated rate of healing might be the best Power every Supe gets.

  Thoughts of healing have my mind going right back to Legit where he’ll still be recovering in whatever level of hospital Fairhurst is keeping him in. From looking it up on my phone this morning, I now know that first time and likely underage villains are kept separate from the general population. News that had made it possible for me to stop worrying about him quite so much. The idea that he’d take one of the council’s deals like the prison suggested nearly all young, first-time villains did isn’t one I feel the need to worry about. For now, Jason is probably just enjoying the time away from his family.

  ‘I wonder if they’ll even notice he’s gone.’

  Probably only when Osterholt Academy calls to ask where he is and even then, they’ll just assume he’s run off to a join a gang a little earlier than expected. For as much as Jason is a great friend, there are a lot of good reasons why dad forbid me from spending any more time with him. Despite that, whenever I’ve needed help in the past, whether to sneak out of the prison of my dad’s apartment or after what happened with Amelia, he’d been there. So now, I need to be there for him.

  ‘Also, there’s no way I can get the rest of the money I need without him.’

  I smile up at the ceiling from the thought, letting myself stay lost a moment longer in imagining what I’ll do once I have enough before the sudden silence of the room gets through to me. I whip my head back down as panic fills me. Worried that I might have been called on to answer a question I wasn’t listening to and so pulling my hands out of my hoodie to pick up my tablet and stylus from the desk. My eyes glancing about to see if anyone is looking at me while trying to act like I’ve been paying attention at any point in the last fifty or so minutes.

  I glance at the boy to my left, meeting his eyes from under my curls and almost flinching as I find him already staring at me. He grins and rolls his eyes as he gestures to the front, my heart beat spiking before I notice Mr Selic is just struggling with the smartboard. The old teacher’s constant tapping on the ancient piece of tech causing it to freeze and bring his lesson to a halt as he struggles with a video.

  I side-eye the boy beside me, swallowing down the urge to shout at him for scaring me as I realise that he wasn’t here this time last week. It takes me a moment to place his name. It has been over a month since I would have sat next to him and then only for a few weeks at the years start. Even if we’ve been going to the same school for just over two years now, in a school this size, it’s amazing I know the number of names that I do. Archie, I think, is his. He hadn’t made a huge impression but I feel like I would’ve remembered someone with tech-hair.

  As I watch, the strands of synth-weave shift from blonde to a bright gold as they curl themselves into tight little ringlets. Archie catching me looking again with a wider grin as he runs a hand through his newly altered hair. I make myself give him a smile instead of the slap I want to and then look away fully while slumping down further in my seat. Ignoring how he keeps looking at me as I angle my head so that it appears I’m watching Mr Selic struggle when really, I’m staring at the clock above his head.

  The tall and always a little gaunt looking man twitches back and forth behind his desk at the front of the room. Tapping on the ancient keyboard with an energy that feels almost unnatural for someone his age. The newer schools, and the ones with richer kids going to them, might get personal visors and holographic amphitheatres but, out in the fourth circle, we’re stuck with the latest advances of thirty years ago.

  Despite my best efforts to refocus on thinking up a way to free Jason, Archie’s continued stare and Selic’s constant movement manage to keep me distracted and fidgety. If it was any other class on any other day then I’d be just as attentive as the people around me, more so, given I’m one of the highest achievers in the school. But being in a ‘Meta Studies’ class is a very different experience once you are one.

  “And remember, their will be a test before the October half-term so make sure you study. Just because we won’t be splitting you from your friends and sending you off into sets for this topic is no reason to slack off.”

  A round of half-hearted agreement rises from the chairs around me as Selic runs out of time to get the video working. The bells ringing providing a signal for everyone to start packing away and making my stomach rumble with the reminder that I had to skip breakfast. I do my best to ignore it while hurrying to keep up with the more attentive students around me. All without letting my hand stray too far from the phone in my hoodie. Paranoid that it might buzz without me noticing.

  “Hey, hey. You’re the girl who was off for a month, right? Cause of that Supe fight? Or, was it a Psycho thing, like some people are sayin’?”

  I freeze as Archie uses his greater height to lean over me. His softly glowing eyes of liquid gold feeling like they might drip into mine with the sheen of interest that sits behind them. Another bit of ‘ware I hadn’t noticed at the start of the year. I pull my eyes away, shaking my head as I hurry to pack up the unused tablet and stylus set that I shouldn’t have bothered getting out.

  “Damn, you totally are. I mean, I heard wha’ happened but-”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Just read the police report if you really want to.”

  I cut him off with flare of anger that has me almost hissing at his distraction, flicking my eyes back to his with a look that shuts him up better than my words ever could. I almost flinch myself at the reaction, the taller boy stumbling back and jerking his face away like I’m liable to bite.

  “You saw the video.”

  The words slip out of me before I can stop them. Confirmation that the damn thing isn’t quite as smothered as Osterholt had promised my dad it would be. Not that anything can be killed once it’s on the net. Old or New. Not unless you can get a Supe specialised for that sort of thing to help you and even then, there are limits.

  The flash of anger that accompanies Archie’s returning grin washes away my stray thought of hiring such a Supe with the jewellery money. Given their rates, it probably wouldn’t go very far anyway. I set my jaw as I move to brush past the much larger boy, stopping with a glare as he just shifts his feet to prevent me from passing him. His mouth already opening to ask me the same damn question that everyone has ever since I came back to school a week ago.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “So, is it true? Is your frie-”

  “Hmm, that didn’t seem very encouraging. Three questions before you go!”

  Thankfully, Selic cuts everyone off before he can get it out. Archie’s half-spoken question drowned out by the rising groans and complaints. I take the chance to turn around and scoot down the aisle on the other side of my desk. Trying to put enough bodies between me and the larger boy that I can hopefully get away before he catches up with me once we’re released.

  I glance back to see Archie stuck behind a trio of students all too big for him to squeeze past quickly. The very first one he tried to get past, now nearly two rows behind me, quietly arguing with him after he looks to have torn her tights with his boot. I can’t resist smiling at his frustrations before turning back around to sneak a little closer to the door. Grimacing as I look through the window to see that the corridor outside is quickly filling up with students taller and bigger than me. Which is almost everyone.

  My still tender ribs and near full-body bruising already starting to ache in anticipation of the jostling to come. A night’s rest with my Meta rate of healing means I can at least walk around and move my arm without being in constant pain but anything more is pushing it.

  The lunchtime rush outside, and the still rising sounds of annoyance from the students around me, does at least make Selic go quicker than usual. The teacher grinning widely at our pain as he raises his voice to be heard and points theatrically to a girl in the front row. The golden chrome of the vanity plates replacing the skin of her neck and shoulders making it difficult to actually look at her with the way they reflect the glare of the ceiling lights.

  “Quickfire then! Patricia, when did Meta-Powers and Clarke-Tech start appearing?”

  “At the turn of the millennium, sir. During the first alignment.”

  “Half marks, that’s when humans found out about them. We have evidence of their appearance in other places far, far earlier.”

  He spins on one foot as he sweeps his ruler out to tap one of the boys on the head. A wave of laughter rolling across the room as the freckly startles from the touch, his eyes darting up from the phone hidden behind his bag to find the teacher raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Jonnie, why does our city have the most Meta’s?”

  “Uhh, cause we’re the best in the multiverse! Throne! Throne! Throne!”

  He bangs his hand against the desk as he speaks, looking around to his friends who pick up the chant at once. The noise traveling most of the way across the room before someone notices that Selic is just staring up at the clock above his broken board. Five minutes of lunch lost already. After that, the patriotic chanting is replaced by shushing and complaints at the boys to shut up. Selic waits until near silence has returned before looking back down with a raised eyebrow and an exasperated look.

  “No marks. Our city is certainly the largest and very likely the most prosperous after what the Alignment did to everywhere else but best is always a matter of opinion. Scot, can you answer the question?”

  “Supes come here from other places because the Founders and city council guarantee their identities and that means there’s lots of work. Also, we get the most Conjunctions of anywhere humans can live.”

  What hushed conversation had still been going on comes to a stop at that. A few of my peers even looking angrily at the nasal-sounding boy who seems entirely unaware of how he’s gained the entire rooms dislike. Just smiling smugly at the silence he’s caused and pushing his glasses further up his face. I cringe away just from the proximity to him, glancing around the room just so I don’t have to look at him embarrassing himself.

  “Full marks but please don’t mention conspiracy theories or topics we haven’t covered in the test. We won’t be going over Conjunctions until near the end of the year. Although, the implication of what you just said doesbring me to my last question. Millie, can you tell us how people get Meta-Powers?”

  My heart stutters as the class turns to look at me, hands gripping tightly to the phone in my pouch as I feel the classroom falling away into a pit of memories I try not to think of. My feet teetering on the edge of a drop so vast I can’t be sure if stepping forward would mean falling or flying. My eyes seeing the board ahead without any issue, yet my mind more certain than it has ever been that I stand on the threshold of something… else. I lean forwards, filled with the same urge that makes me want to leap off bridges or try to Pocket a bullet.

  “No one knows.”

  The answer slips out between heavy breaths, the sound of my own hoarse voice bringing me back to the moment. Tone trembling and words chocked as my whole body shakes from the memory that I still can’t make sense of. Can’t even be sure it’s a memory and not just a stress induced hallucination. I’d hardly been having a good day when I gained my Powers. Silence fills the room before Selic claps his hands loudly, drawing the classes attention back to himself as I struggle to hide deeper into my hoodie.

  “Indeed, full marks. While there are a lot of theories, and even many Meta’s, that will tell you about ways of ‘definitely’ getting a power, nothing has been confirmed. The consensus, from the Founders and our best scientists, is that the theory of dimensional exposure holds the most weight but there’s still a lot of holes there. The biggest one, Scot, being that anyone who’s not already a Meta can’t survive exposure to a full Conjunction and no survivors of partial ones have developed anything besides alien cancers, or PTSD.”

  Mr Selic sweeps his eyes across the now slightly more subdued class of teenagers. Not from any mention of the hundreds of thousands of lives lost every year to Conjunctions and their fallout but because it’s lunchtime and we all want to leave.

  “Alright, get out of here. Just remember to study!”

  I join the rush to escape near the middle. Not wanting to fight to be at the front and knowing that the people behind me are enough to act as a buffer to the questions I just don’t have the energy to deal with. My stomach rumbles again in a reminder that I’d been hoping to get down to the cafeteria to buy some lunch. The empty corridor outside telling me I’ll be far too late unless I want to stand in line for most of the hour. The food hall and its kitchen has only been expanded once, when the school went from a capacity of a thousand pupils to fifteen hundred, but that was over two decades ago. By the year I joined, it was over three times that.

  One of the hands in my hoodie’s pouch slips into my Pocket and touches against the various food I’ve stored there. My mind occupied with trying to think of a spot that I can pull them out to make myself a sandwich where I can be sure no one will see me. My other hand grasps my work phone tightly as I struggle not to fall behind the crowd of longer legged students. Just like everyone else, I’m more than eager to get out of here though, I’d rather find somewhere more private than one of the many designated lunch rooms or the courtyard outside. If Legit calls, or, far more likely, someone from the council who’s taken his phone, I want to be ready to negotiate.

  “Millie, stay behind a moment please.”

  Startled at the address, I make the mistake of looking up to meet Mr Selic’s concerned gaze before realising that I could’ve just pretended not to hear him. A few of the other students give me curious looks as they step aside to let me out of the crowd. All but one looking away as they see who’s being called over. What happened to me and Amelia might have been shocking but, in a school our size, shocking is only news enough for a week or so.

  ‘Unless you’re Archie apparently. What the hell? If you saw the video then you already know everything!’

  I move to stand in front of the desk, silently seething as I stare down at the cheap plastic until the rest of the class has left. Mr Selic asking the last one out to close the door before turning back to me and walking around to lean against the still frozen smartboard. The silence stretches a moment longer before I hear him start, and then cut off, a deep sigh.

  “I’m sorry if it felt like I was putting you on the spot there Millie. I just noticed that you were struggling with the work and wanted to make sure you felt included, ok? I let it be last week because it was the first one back but you do need to engage with the topic. Sometimes, it’s best to face our problems head on, ok?”

  I nod.

  “The rest of your teachers and I, we’ve all seen how much you’ve grown over the last two years. All of us know you’ve had it hard, harder than many, despite your background, and that what happened a month ago wasn’t your fault-”

  “It was.”

  That breaks his flow, my eyes flicking up to meet Selic’s over the rim of my glasses and not reacting as I see his pursed lips and narrowed brows.

  “I’ll leave that with the counsellor, though I think it’s important to remember that no one was permanently harmed. Our hospitals benefit from a lot of healing Meta’s after all.”

  I don’t join in as he chuckles lamely and pulls out the squeaky swivel chair from behind his desk. Lowering himself down to a spot where he can just about catch my eyes after I return them to counting the cracks in his desk. He doesn’t bother to hold back the sigh this time when I just turn to look out the window instead. Perhaps, if things had gone differently yesterday then I’d be more willing to humour his misguided attempt to help. It’s not likely though. I just want to leave.

  “Alright, one last thing then. Don’t go telling anyone this, Millie.”

  I look back despite myself at that, curious at his conspiratorial tone and the way the old teacher leans in with a small smile on his lips and a glint under his ancient looking glasses. His smile widening to show teeth as he sees that he’s got my attention at last.

  “I know damn well that everyone only takes this class because they want some hint on how to get Powers. Why they think I know is beyond me. But, the truth? Even if I actually did know how to get them, I still don’t think I’ve met more than half a dozen kid’s that I’d tell. And let me tell you, I’ve been doing this for a while.”

  I frown at his smile, unsure where he’s going but not liking the conversation as it dances closer and closer to my own secrets. Some part of my mind makes the obvious connection for what’s coming next and I feel a ringing in my ears even before Selic starts talking again.

  “But I’d tell you, Millie. Because I know you’d use those Powers to make this strange new multiverse we live in a better place. Whatever mistakes you think you might have made; there’s a core of something righteous in you. Something that looks at the world we’re building and knows it’s not the one our Founders dreamed of… Now go on, enjoy your lunch. Or what you’ve got left of it after having to listen to an old man ramble.”

  I stand there frozen for a moment, eyes wide as Selic grins up at me and leans back in his chair. Mind spinning up worries and questions I can’t ask without giving myself away. Heart beating faster and faster as it pumps adrenaline through my veins and urges me to jump across the desk and bash his head against the frozen board. To shout and scream and ask him just what the fuck he thinks he knows about me. What any of them do.

  I don’t do any of that though. Just nodding repeatedly as he takes my reddening cheeks for fluster and chuckles indulgently before gesturing again towards the door. It’s an effort not to sprint for it. Choking down the angry lump in my throat as I force myself to walk away at a more reasonable pace. I do still have to make a conscious effort to control my strength so as not to rip the door of its hinges though.

  I’m out and more than half a dozen paces down the corridor before my mind catches up to the voice behind me. A spark of recognition shooting through me as I feel a hand land on my shoulder. Leaning into its touch as I spin around on my heel, one hand gripping a knife in my Pocket while the other comes up to grasp my attacker’s wrist. Leveraging my elbow into their neck as I push them up against the wall before I pull my head back and-