Pasquinelli/Rise 465

“Finally,” said Ray with a gleam in her eye.

“I wouldn’t look so happy, Miss Cavitt. This is going to be hard work,” said Jotea.

“Pshh,” Ray dismissed. “Hard work? I thought you told me this was a family trait.”

“It is. But answer me this: have you started Shifting forms yet?”

“No.”

“Then this is going to be difficult. In order to be prepared for the confrontation, you should at least know how to transform your arms into talons. If we’re lucky, we’ll have you with venom-filled fangs.”

“Fangs?” said Jon, utterly grossed out.

“Yes, fangs. In a month, I could have Miss Cavitt Shifting into me. In two, I could have her become a parakeet.”

“Why humans first, then animals?” asked Ray.

“Because humans are more simple, it’s more of a cosmetic Shift. Animals are more complex because several, like a parakeet, are many, many times smaller than a human. Your fist is bigger than the entire bird.”

“So how am I supposed to change back to myself?” said Ray.

“Your shifting is not an etched in stone permanent change,” Jotea explained. “It falls under the same principles as Jonathan’s fire. His powers were undeveloped, so the fire did not last long. Your transformations will be brief as long as you remain a novice.”

“Oh,” said Ray. Jon could tell she was slightly downtrodden at this news.

“Not to worry,” said Jotea. “You will become an expert in a few month’s time.”

“No I won’t. I can’t stay here for months. I’ve got school...and a life on the other side of the Gate,” said Jon. “I’ll help you guys while we’re still off, but once class starts, I’m gone.”

“I see. It should not take any longer than that.” Jotea looked up at a clock hanging on a wall. “I must be off. I have other duties to attend to. Training will begin at three o’clock p.m. Meet me in the courtyard.” And with that Jotea opened the door and began to exit.

“Uhh, just a sec,” said Ray.

Jotea stopped and turned around. Ray was tugging at her aqua pantsuit.

“Oh, you will again be provided with something to wear for the training,” said Jotea.

“I’ve got my jeans; all I need is a top.”

“Believe me, you will want the clothing we provide,” said Jotea, and she walked out of the room.

“Well fine then,” said Ray.

“That gives us two and a half hours. What should we do until then?”

Their eyes met in unison and they said, “lunch” together. They left the side room and exited the cool Capitol building. As they passed the gate into the castle grounds, Jon looked back up at the ornate clock tower that was about to chime one o’clock. He briefly imagined what it would look like with all of its hands frozen in place. It made him smile knowing one day he would be able to do just that. Ray was looking down at the bustling High Street and groaned.

“I need to go shopping,” she said.

“I don’t think Norea takes MasterCard,” said Jon as the gates shut behind them.

“Tell me about it. And how am I supposed to give someone my number? ‘Oh sorry, I’m living at the castle in a room way up high. Just try me there’. Really?”

“I’m sure you’ll survive.”

“What if a cute guy wants to contact me?”

Jon’s ego was slightly bruised, but he settled for a “yeah” response.

After they had their luncheon, Ray and Jon were had stopped to people-watch on one of the ornate sofas in a long third floor hallway lined with tall windows on each side. Most people passed by Jon and Ray without noticing them. Those that did were mostly wait staff bustling about. Jon was struck with a thought.

“I wonder who actually lives in the castle besides the ruler.”

“Well, we do,” said Ray.

“And the servants, I suppose.”

“Maybe some of her close, personal friends.”

“I wonder where her bedroom is...” Jon said.

“Bet it’s the biggest one in the country.”

“I’m sure of it.”

“With the biggest walk in closet,” Ray said staring off into space. “I can’t wait till I can change my clothes at will.”

Jon gazed out the window onto the horizon of the sea as Ray started going off on various outfits she could change into, and mimic all the clothes she’d only read about. Jon was brought back to reality when Ray stopped talking and he noticed another castle servant was standing a foot from he and Ray.

“Yes?” said Ray.

“A message for his lordship and her ladyship. From the Empress,” she added and held yet another silver platter with an envelope on it.

Jon took it, smiled a little and thanked the woman.

The servant gave them a fast half curtsey and stepped away.

“What do they do? Have...magical tracking devices in our clothes?”

“Probably in the food,” Jon said, while reading the letter. “We’re supposed to go to our rooms. We have new...‘attire’ waiting for us.”

“Even you?”

“I guess so. It says my name in the text. Come on, we’ve got half an hour before we’re supposed to meet Jotea.”

There was a sharp gasp behind him.

Jon looked over and saw a noble (or at least she seemed to think she was a noble) woman clutching her chest and glaring at him.

“Oh god, what is it now?” said Ray.

“You NEVER address her Majesty that way,” she hissed.

“I’m sorry,” Jon said snidely. “I meant to say ‘her highness’.”

“Yes, well...apology accepted. You are new here, after all.”

“How do you know who we are?” asked Jon.

“Everyone knows, young man,” she answered.

“Oh...wonderful,” said Jon.

“It’s nothing to be upset about, you know,” said the woman in a maternal sort of voice. “News travels fast. And this is news, see.”

“How fast?” asked Ray.

“Well I’d say the whole city knows by now.”

“Great,” said Jon. “The last thing we need is for everyone to be watching our every move.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much, young man. No one knows why you’re here. Even me. Besides, he won’t know either. We’re all careful with who we tell.”

“Hmm,” said Jon.

“I have to go. Good luck with your future,” she said, smiled, then left.

“Come on, let’s try not to run into anyone else today,” said Jon, pulling Ray’s arm down the corridor.

Their newly prescribed attire certainly was different than Jon expected. When he opened his bedroom door, he half expected to see a steel suit of armor next to the wardrobe with a note attached to it with a magnet. Instead of the usual (if you could call them usual) dark embroidered robes, very loose-fitting garments awaited him. They were some form of luminescent fabric that changed color when viewed from a different angle. The material was a silky smooth material, but slightly heavier than silk itself. They were like oversized luxurious bathrobes.

Jon put on the silky robe and waited for Ray in the corridor. She came out a minute later with hers on: it was slightly more feminine and flowy.

“It’s a good thing this country has a lot of underwear,” said Ray, readjusting her robe.

“Underwear?” said Jon with a straight face.

“Don’t start with me. How are we supposed to...train...in these things?”

“Maybe it’ll be like virtual reality training,” said Jon, visualizing visors and electrodes coming from every point of his body.

“Have you been awake lately? This whole place is like virtual reality.”

As they began the descent through the castle, Jon felt rather silly walking around in what he still felt like was a bathrobe with slippers to match. The clothes even seemed to bother Ray, who walked behind Jon (usually she had no trouble keeping ahead of him). The servants didn’t seem to care though; they went about their business as usual, not making eye contact. The Amulet was cool in his hand; he wasn’t instructed to do so, but he brought it with him just in case.

After much swishing and staircases, Jon and Ray made it down to the entrance hall, and out the front doors, which were open. Outside it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. Birds were chirping merrily in the indigo skies, and off in the distance Jon could hear the faint, crashing sound of waves on the shore and cliffs. He wasn’t sure whether it was superior hearing, or the Amulet assisting him, but he was glad for it.

Jotea was standing in the courtyard with her hands behind her back. She was staring intently in Jon and Ray’s direction. She was also wearing one of the silky bathrobes herself, but hers was gold in color. Jotea looked at them and simply said, “Follow me,” and walked past them, back to the castle.

“What --?” said Ray.

“Come on,” said Jon, and followed her back inside.

When they were back in the grand hall, Ray couldn’t keep her annoyance to herself. “Why did you make us come outside when all we were going to do was go back inside?”

“Because it is a beautiful day,” Jotea replied with a smile. “And it will help with our session today.”

“I --” Ray began, but Jon put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped. But every now and then she shot Jotea a ticked-off look.

They climbed up the split staircase they had just come down, and down numerous hallways and up endless other staircases. This was the most complicated route through the castle Jon had ever been on. It was about the time they stepped in a square room with a staircase running up along one of the walls that Jon determined that they were definitely higher than his and Ray bedroom’s stood. Ray was doubled up with her hands on her knees breathing hard.

Jotea took a deep breath. “We’re nearly there.” She took to the staircase as if it was nothing, and up and up they climbed. Along the walls Jon saw wonderful paintings of landscapes and portraits that Jon figured must have been of Iannis and it’s ruling family. They climbed at least another nine stories in tight turns. On each story they climbed was another landing with a smartly displayed painting or artifact.

Ray let out an exasperated sigh as they reached the fifth story of the tower they were in. As the three of them were climbing, Jon kept hearing Ray saying things like “Shudda -- stayed -- home” between intakes of air and “Must -- be -- crazy.”

At long last they reached the top. They went through a door and found themselves outside atop a the highest tower of the castle on a large square balcony with another tiny circular tower on the other end. The view was phenomenal. The whole city sprawled out before them, and the ocean was endless behind them, and the trees of the forest swayed almost imperceptibly in the breeze several miles away.

“Wow,” was all Jon could say.

“Okay, maybe it was worth it,” Ray admitted. ”Maybe. Even if we’re really high.”

“I’m glad you enjoy the view,” said Jotea. “As you can imagine, not many venture all the way up here. But we are not here for the view.” She swept to the other end of the balcony to the other, smaller circular tower.

“Don’t tell me there’s a spiral staircase that we have to go down in that thing,” said Ray.

Jotea didn’t respond, but removed a key from her pocket and unlocked a door to the small tower. She motioned that they follow her inside. After closing the door behind her, they were in total darkness until she lit a candle. The circular stone tower had nothing on the stonewalls but oddly long empty picture frames that stretched from floor to ceiling. There were eight of them along the wall. It was as if someone wanted to frame the wall eight times and simply forgot to put pictures in them.

“Allow me to introduce you,” she said, “to the Windows. These are portals that can transport persons and things to eight different spots in Iannis. They are two-way portals. Once at the other end, it can be reactivated to take the person back here. As you can imagine, these windows are extremely valuable, and also dangerous so only a few Iannisenes know how to operate them, and why they remain in such a remote location.”

“And I bet you’re one of the ones that knows how?” asked Ray, knowing the answer.

Jotea turned to Ray. “Correct. We will be using these Windows in the first part of our training, and again to get to the Frost.”

“Uh, let’s roll, I guess?” said Jon, looking uncertainly at them.

“I am not familiar with that aphorism. Could you explain it?” asked Jotea.

“Never mind, go ahead.”

Jotea slightly raised an eyebrow and turned her full attention to the third frame from the door (the candle had been floating on it’s own accord for some time now). Jotea fit the key onto the keystone of the Window, and when she removed her hand, it sank into the stone and disappeared.

A small spiral of white light began spinning and growing in the Window’s center, and covered the entire interior. Once the plane was totally white, colors began swirling into the center and created a vortex. At the very center of the vortex, a tiny misshapen window showed a forest that was wavy and blurred, but the vortex looked like it would take a mile of walking through to reach the center. The wind and sound it generated made it hard to hear much of anything else.

Jotea glanced at the two of them, completely nonplussed. She showed a hint of pride when she saw Jon’s impressed look. His looked faded when he turned to Ray and saw she looked totally unimpressed, and even a little bored. “Well?” he said over the noise.

“At this point, nothing is surprising me.”

Ray stepped casually through. She entire form flashed, disappeared, then became an indistinct blur in the vortex center. Jon felt brave enough to just go for it. He stepped through, too. It was like being in a hundred mile per hour wind tunnel for less than a second. It stopped just as abruptly as it began, and Jon found himself back in a forest. He turned around and saw that they apparently stepped out of a tree that had a similar vortex, looking back into the castle tower.

A second later, there was a flash, and Jotea was through. She reached up into the tree’s bark, and pulled out the key. The vortex evaporated. Jon noticed that the carvings in the tree trunk were unusually rectangular, but something a passerby would not have noticed unless it was pointed out or sought.

The three of them were at the edge of a clearing with a short grass prairie that sprawled out before them and a forest behind them.

“Follow me,” said Jotea, and she picked up the front of her robes and walked briskly into the forest.

Jon and Ray caught up to her. Jon finally remembered to ask a question he’d been wanting to know since they first appeared in Iannis a week ago. “What’s the name of this forest?”

“It is called the Forest of the Golden Rays.”

Jon thought the name was fitting as he remembered little golden splotches on the ground that the sunlight created when it shone through the foliage. It did the same thing here.

“How big is this forest?”

“It stretches nearly the length of the entire continent. It stops north of Norea, at the Frost, Drax, and at the Salmon Desert.”

“Salmon?”

“Yes. The reason for that particular designation is twofold. The sands of the desert are salmon-colored, and there were species of salmon fossils discovered there.”

“Oh. How...proper,” said Jon.

“Here we are,” said Jotea as she stopped walking. The three of them were in the middle of a grove with a pedestal in the center made of stones.

“Here where?” said Ray, looking around.

“Please...sit,” said Jotea, and she sat a few feet from the pedestal.

“I’m not sitting on the --” began Ray, but Jon pulled her down to the floor next to him before she could finish.

“I will hurt you,” said Ray.

“The longer you fight it...” said Jon.

“Yeah fine,” Ray grunted. She made herself as comfortable as she could and began staring at Jotea with a half glazed-over, half “well what’s next?” look on her face.

“Close your eyes,” she said and closed her own eyes. Jon thought she looked beautiful and serene in the second before his vision disappeared behind his eyelids. He tried to push the thought out of his mind when he remembered that Jotea could read minds. “Concentrate on the stillness...” she breathed. “Let your mind become clear and devoid of extraneous thoughts. Let everything go...”

At first Jon was able to comply, but after a few seconds, he kept getting thoughts that were “extraneous.” He didn’t want to, but his mind wouldn’t stop.

Then, an ethereal version of Jotea’s voice that he’d heard once before began speaking. ”It’s time to release your mind and your inhibitions.” Jotea sounded like she was whispering in his ear. ”It is time you released to your full potential. It is time to put the word ‘can’t’ behind you and start concentrating on the word ‘will.’ Open your eyes, Jonathan.”

Jon opened his eyes, or at least he thought he was opening his eyes. He seemed to be in a different place. He was still in the grove, but the trees and bushes all had highlights of glowing white light brushed onto them. And in the space were only Jotea and himself, and they were both standing. Jotea was very close to him, and looking intently into his eyes. At first, Jon was a little startled, but immediately felt at ease.

Jotea stepped toward him very slowly. They were almost nose-to-nose and Jotea raised her arms and ran her hands around Jon’s head, but making no actual physical contact. Her palms were glowing, and the effect was rather liberating. Jon felt warm and content all over. The same power that built inside of him when he first transformed was happening once again. But this time it wasn’t uncontrollable, nor did it make Jon feel like he was going to burst. Jotea fizzled away and so did the dreamy forest.

He opened his eyes (for real this time) and felt power surging around him. In fact, it WAS surging around him as he looked down at himself. Jon’s skin looked as if it was on fire. Opaque flames were dancing on his arms and torso. He waved an arm and the flames billowed peacefully with it. Jon also noticed it was practically dusk.

Ray was also just “waking” up. She glowed a little bit too, and she looked intently at her hand as it changed colors to blue, green, and snow white before returning back to olive. Her hair went through similar color shifts before going back to black.

“Whoa,” she said before smiling and giving the forest a few of her huge laughs.

“Uh huh,” Jon agreed. His flaming self was now also normal again.

“Our training is complete for today,” said Jotea. “We will begin with actual Charges tomorrow. I suggest you get sufficient rest when we return,” she added before standing up.

Jon surmised that his encounter with Jotea probably wasn’t unique given Ray’s similar reaction, but surely Jotea could feel what he felt? Or maybe she didn’t delve into someone’s mind unless necessary?

They all walked back to the tree with the Window embedded in it. On the walk back, Ray seemed much lighter on her feet and in a much better mood the whole time. She had practically no sarcastic comments to make. Jotea reactivated the Window, and they all stepped through. Once on the balcony, the clock in the Imperial plaza chimed nine o’clock, and the city lights below were starting to twinkle. It was the first time in many days that Jon felt somewhat at ease with himself. Ray was quickly returning back to normal though. “I’m hungry. And I want chocolate.”

Jotea bid them good night and swept down the staircase in the tower. Jon went down with Ray back to the food galley, and ate a light dinner for he wasn’t quite as hungry as normal. Ray found her chocolate, and said she was going to go into town in the evening. Jon stayed in.

He began wandering up in the castle. Low candles were burning in the library, which he had all to himself. He marveled at the high ceilings and huge volumes of books -- it must have been many times the size of the Jouler’s library, and was even bigger than the library he volunteered at back in Los Angeles. The terrace at the back of the library drew Jon outside again. It was the largest balcony on the side of the castle facing the ocean, and he could clearly hear the waves crashing many feet below. Another sound reached Jon, and it was closer to him. It was a bird. It chirped a few times, and Jon looked around for its source. Under the balustrade, there was a tiny red finch staring up at him with its circular body.

Jon edged closer to the bird, and it fluttered for a moment but didn’t fly away. So he slowly went closer to it, and eventually had to get down on his hands and knees. By now, Jon was hardly a foot from the bird, and still it remained quite placid. The bird looked like it wanted to say something to Jon; it kept leaning in closer to Jon and staring at him unblinkingly.

He didn’t know why, but Jon whispered, “Yes?”

The bird didn’t actually answer (though Jon half expected it to), but it continued to stare at him. It then took off in flight and landed on the banister, still looking at Jon. It took off again, and flew around Jon, orbiting him like a strange feathery satellite. It landed again on the banister where it previously was and looked at Jon expectantly.

“I don’t...what?” said Jon.

The bird cocked his head at Jon and flew off one last time.

“This place is crazy,” said Jon.

Not a moment later, Jon heard a very strange sound, it sounded like a burst of energy, followed by a small explosion. The banister and floor shook slightly from the sound. Then the whole thing happened again. He rushed back inside the castle, and made his way as much as he could opposite him toward the sound. Upon finally reaching the massive front doors (which were locked), Jon looked out one of the tall windows that flanked the doors. Through the open gate, Jon saw several Norean Force members rushing out the gates. Several fired a strange light blue colored ray from a pistol that lit up the night. Jon rushed to the next window to get a better angle, and sure enough, there was the perpetrator just outside the gates; he was generating massive energy orbs and hurling them at the gates and soldiers. Many fell over, but finally one of the soldiers fired the ray right at the attacker, and he slumped down immediately. Dead or not, Jon did not know. The guards dragged the unconscious (or dead) man inside, and around a corner Jon could no longer see into. The front gates closed and the castle doors unlocked. He heard some murmuring in back of him, and when he turned around, half a dozen castle servants had congregated, and when they saw Jon looking at them, they ceased speaking and hurried off again.

Jon’s sense of adventure was eking from him faster than his energy was. The day had been trying and he just saw what looked like a siege on the castle, but hopefully just a mere act of terrorism. In his bedroom, feeling much safer, Jon drifted off in his cloud-like bed, half dreaming of energy orbs shooting out uncontrollably from him and destroying everything in sight.

The following morning resembled the previous one, at least up until the moment when they reached the Window. Jon had been instructed to transform into his Amulet robes, and Ray was given a black leather-like body suit that made her look like she was about to forge into a frozen lake as an undercover secret agent. After much huffing and puffing up the hundreds of stairs, they got to the Windows and make their way back to the secluded part of the forest. But this time, they weren’t in their billowy robes and didn’t go to the grove, but went right into the middle of the prairie.

“What now?” asked Ray.

“I have freed your minds and bodies as much as I can. The rest is now up to you. It is time for practical sessions.”

“You’re going to attack us?” said Ray.

“You will not be harmed. This lesson is focused more on becoming familiar in your garments and learning to dodge and move quickly.”

“Uh -- ?” said Ray as she raised her hand. “I can barely walk in this...thing. How’m I supposed to run and dodge?”

“Much like one breaks in a shoe, you will break in your suit.”

Ray tried to raise her hands straight above her head, but was only able to get them high enough so that she looked like a lazy ‘Y’. She raised her eyebrows at Jotea and simply said “unlikely.”

Jotea, who usually had a generally expressionless face, began to look slightly irked. “It is not just a conventional jumpsuit. Microscopic Pimicron metal flecks have been woven into the fabric, and that is the most durable and protective fabric in the country. It is also highly malleable and can stretch with whatever form you can take. It will be of great protection.”

Jotea paused, sighed at the lack of confirmation from Ray, then said, “If I must disprove you doubt, so be it.” She casually raised her arm toward Ray and a column of flailing white light bolted from her hand and shot at Ray. It all happened too fast for Jon to react.

Ray screeched as the energy hit her and sent her flying straight back twenty feet and into a tree trunk. Jon ran to her, but surprisingly, Ray stood up with ease and other than disheveled hair, appeared to be unharmed, but was very stunned.

“I feel...fine,” she said looking herself over, apparently surprised she was still in one piece.

Jotea stood in the same spot with a subdued I-told-you-so look on her face.

Once Ray was convinced that having her suit was a good idea, the session carried on fairly well. Jotea would throw low-intensity beams at them, and after a while, Jon and Ray were becoming quite adept at avoiding them. At one point, Ray was tired, and Jotea wouldn’t let her rest, so Ray became angry, and to the surprise of everyone, roared just like a mountain lion. After that, Ray had to sit down on a rock because she couldn’t stop laughing.

Jon had had his moment too. Also tired, instead of half-heartedly trying to dodge one of Jotea’s orbs, Jon was actually able to consciously raise a fire shield much like the one he had when they were being attacked by the mob in the Square.

“Excellent job!” said Jotea at the end of the day. She alone still looked well composed; both Jon and Ray were red in the face, sweating, and exhausted. “Miss Cavitt, loved the roar, and well done with the shield Jonathan.”

“For god sake, stop calling me Miss Cavitt,” Ray panted. “My name is Ray.”

“Thanks,” said Jon, still flushed. Jotea complimenting him didn’t help his redness.

As they made their way back to the castle, Jon was grateful that they only had to climb down stairs to get back to his room. He turned to Ray as Jotea went ahead of them. “I think it’d be nice if one night we weren’t totally exhausted by the time the sun goes down.”

“If I’d have known this is what I was signing up for, I would have gone back home.” Then she added, “Wait, no. I would have had to deal with the old bat. And at least it doesn’t rain here every other day.”

The training sessions continued much like the first one, with subsequent sessions becoming more challenging and more difficult. Seeing as how they were going into that prairie to train every day, Jon had more bumps, bruises and cuts in the past five days than he’d had in his entire life. After getting hit with a medium intensity energy orb that sent him flying backwards ten feet, he didn’t want to repeat that too many times more.

But also by the fifth session, Jon and Ray were finally using their powers in defense and offense together. Jon was now able to control the stream of Eternal Fire (or at least that’s what Jotea called it) into an offensive attack. He could set fire to things (and with some concentration, put it out as well), and cause a severe burn/impact which would send the objects it hit flying backwards, not nearly as far as Jotea’s would, but more than Jon thought was possible with mere fire. At one point, Jon enacted a kind of flame-throwing Charge from his arms that made both Jotea and Ray run far away. Jon couldn’t help it, once it got started he kind of lost control. The final thing Jon could do was channel intense heat and concentrate it.

There was also a bi-product of his powers. When he released the fire energy, it made him feel very empowered. It was an intoxicating feeling he’d never had before. The more Jon enacted one of his fire Charges, the more confident he became, and the more he wanted to do it. Every time those feelings surfaced and threatened to take him over, Jon had to work to remind himself of what could happen. Fortunately, he was able to control himself every time and remain focused. It also didn’t necessarily help matters when Jotea informed him that his powers at this early stage were tied to his emotions and he could possibly activate abilities when he wasn’t transformed, or worse yet, when he didn’t even have the Amulet. Jon wasn’t sure he liked the idea of having a connection to something so powerful when he wasn’t even near it.

Ray was coming along well too. She could sprout fur when needed and was able to create scales instead of her skin. Jotea was working with her to get to the point of venom-filled fangs and penetrating claws, but that was taking some time. Ray was clearly frustrated with her lack of immediate progress, and Jotea on the other hand was exercising every bit of patience she had to keep cool and collected.

“It’s not fair,” Ray said once during a short break in the training. “She’s had her powers forever, so she could probably tear the whole planet apart. She expects us to be all prepared for this already?”

“Relax. We’ve still got a few more weeks of this. Maybe you’ll sprout wings and fly or something by then.”

“And maybe you’ll stop Time for a couple of days,” Ray retorted.

They both laughed, and inadvertently signaled Jotea to continue the session.

But Ray’s joke lingered in Jon’s mind once they restarted again. His Temporal abilities were giving him trouble, and Jotea, sensing his unease, tried to comfort and inspire him.

“Yes, I was anticipating problems in that area,” she said.

“But why?” said Jon.

“Because altering the Timeline is very serious business.”

“But so is the Amulet, and I’m learning to deal with it. Why has this one been so difficult?” asked Jon.

“You mustn’t become frustrated. Once you understand it, it will come just as easily as your other abilities. And the reason it is so difficult is quite simple. The Timeline is not just something you alter like that” -- she snapped her fingers. “The closest thing I can compare it to is a raging river. There are three things you can do to a river: slow it down, speed it up, and stop it completely. Now, slowing down a river is not that difficult, as with the Timeline.

“Stopping the Timeline is far more difficult, as it would be with a river. Stopping a river takes a great deal of effort, and eventually, no matter how strong the barrier is, the river will eventually restart. You can stop it, but for now it will be very difficult and not last that long. And then of course, there is the most difficult feat, which is Temporal Reversal. This is most difficult to do, and as we learned from Ignus, could possibly deplete the Temporal Charge from your Amulet entirely.”

Jon’s head was now filled with images of him trying to hold a river in its place. “Um, okay.”

Jotea went on. “The Timeline is all relative to you. You will stay in real time while the Timeline is altered. You will not freeze or slow down, or reverse with it. You remain fully continuous during any alterations. This is the reason you typically do not want to enable a temporal advance, or make the Timeline go faster.”

“Wait why is that?” said Jon, still not fully understanding.

“Oh come on, even I could follow that,” said Ray, who had taken a break but was still listening. “If you advance the Timeline, you stay in real time and everything and everyone else will be moving faster than you.”

“Precisely,” said Jotea. She glanced over her shoulder, and five or six small pebbles lifted themselves off the ground and floated over to them. They began revolving around a spot in the air in between Jotea and Jon. “I’d like to have you attempt to slow down the Timeline. Just concentrate. If anything happens, only you will be able to notice, since to us, Time is still moving normally, though we might see you move faster than us, if anything.” The pebbles began to revolve more quickly.

“Okay...here goes,” murmured Jon. He concentrated with every ounce of will he could muster. Nothing happened. Jon took a deep breath and concentrated once more. Again, nothing happened. He was concentrating so hard this time, his eyes were nearly shut. The pebbles remained at the same velocity.

Jon sighed and shook his head somberly at them. “I don’t understand. Everything else came pretty easily to me, but this I can’t seem to do.” He sank down on the grass and frowned.

“Do not become overly frustrated,” Jotea comforted flatly. “I have already stated that manipulating the Timeline was exceedingly difficult. You merely need more time.”

“Something we’re running out of, right? How much time do we have? Two more weeks?”

“That’s correct. However, I remain fully confident that you will make sufficient progress. You both have already done very very well considering the circumstances. Now we will return to our practical training. Jonathan, dwell no further on this today. Now, we will have to watch out for...” and Jotea continued on about tactics and what they would need to be aware of once in the Frost.

Jon did stop thinking about it, only because he was forced to concentrate on his offensive and defensive maneuvers. Jotea had increased the intensity of her energy attacks, and Jon needed to be in top mental readiness. She also began moving with them, attacking and dodging from various angles. Once, she even flew to being an aerial assault.

As they were walking back to the Window, a thought struck Jon. “Ray, why haven’t you been complaining about the training?” He knew that sounded blunt, but Ray was not one to hold her opinions back either.

“Because I’ve never been a part of something this cool, and besides, it’s good exercise.”

“Really?” he said and gave her a surprised look.

“Yeah. I mean, where in Eureka could I learn to do this?” she said and brandished her arm. It began to waver and ripple, and finally turned green and scaly. Four-inch claws sprouted out from where her fingernails were.

“Can’t argue with results,” said Jon.

“Oh stop it. You’re still down about the Timeline thing aren’t you.”

“Well, yes.”

“We’ve still got two weeks. You’ll do it. You’ll just need some sort of ... push.”

“Hmm,” Jon said in agreement.

In the next few days, nothing unnaturally temporal of any kind happened to Jon or Ray and Jotea. Once, Jon thought he was finally able to slow the now familiar revolving pebbles, but as it turned out, Jotea had to sneeze and her concentration was broken. The only bizarre temporal occurrence that happened was an intense feeling of de ja vu that Jon got one day. He glanced around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, just a really short fat old man trundling around a slight windstorm of leaves. He smiled awkwardly at him and stumbled off. Since he was beginning to get odd looks from Ray on the other side of the prairie, he thought he should just keep it to himself.

Other parts of the training were progressing nicely, though. Jon and Ray were developing a strategy against Jotea’s attacks. They would split up (for now they had progressed to the forest), return back together again, and Jon would shoot fire to confuse Jotea while Ray tried sneak up behind her. The only problem with that tactic was she was a Mental and could sense Ray, not to mention she could also just read their minds. Every so once in a while, they would be able to better her, and she took it fairly well. “I am glad you caught onto my offensive pattern. It forces me to adapt my strategy and prepare for the unexpected,” she would say.

Within the next week, Ray was able to fully shift her arms into armored talons, grow razor sharp retractable fangs, and the pupils of her eyes even turned into thin slits that were comparable to a cat’s. Since Ray had very few offensive attacks, she was learning a form of self-defense with the aid of Jotea. Jon thought Ray was picking up fairly quickly.

One evening on their way back from training, Jon and Ray were informed they needed to be formally dressed for a ball Jotea was throwing. Among the invitees were Ray and Jon, and much of Jotea’s court and few Councilors.

“Your attendance is requested,” she said, “because many of those in attendance will be anxious to meet you, Jonathan.”

“So I get to be the main attraction?” he said.

“Something like that, yes.”

“What about me?” said Ray, cocking her head and putting her hand on her hip.

“Not to worry, you will not be ignored. The Cavitt name is somewhat of an institution in Iannis. That, and we have very few Earthen visitors in Iannis anyway. Any visitor is regarded as a bit of a celebrity.”

“Better,” Ray said.

When Jotea was out of earshot, Jon said, “So… who are we taking?”

“Well each other, of course. Imagine all the attention we’ll get arriving together.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Oh come on, you love it,” she said, winking at him.

When the gala evening arrived just the next night, Jon had just emerged out of his room and was brushing off his Phoenix Amulet robes (he was told to dress them up with heavy pearl manacles much like the ones he saw the Councilors wearing) and awaited Ray outside of her door. Jon smiled to himself because he knew Ray would be nothing less than stunning. She never skipped an opportunity to go all-out to outshine anyone else, especially now that she was going with the center of attention. But he was proud to have her on his arm entering the ballroom regardless.

When she stepped out of her room, Jon was not disappointed or surprised in the least. He was just very grateful that she was his date. Ray emerged holding a short train of a beautiful deep red ball gown. It had black inlay and was picking up specks of light from the chandeliers magnificently. Her hair was half pulled up in intricate curls, and half down, framing her neckline perfectly.

“You look --” began Jon.

“I know,” she said, adjusting her shoulder straps.

She took his arm and they began down the corridor. Just as they got to the first staircase, Ray groaned and said, “Damn. I forgot that awesome ruby necklace,” as she clutched her empty neck.

“Must you?” said Jon.

“That thing is on loan from Jotea’s personal collection. And it’s the size of a fist. You bet I must.” She immediately unlocked arms and turned to hurry back to her room. Her dress made a “swish-swish” sound as she parted.

“I’ll be down -- ” Jon called after her, but she was already out of sight, ” --stairs.”

He began downstairs and almost face planted down the steps because of a run in the carpet at the top landing. He told himself he would have to remember to warn Ray of it when she came back.

Jon started thinking about his Temporal powers again as he was standing idly by at the bottom of the staircase. He frowned when he dwelled on his inability to do something that seemed like it would be inherent. After all, Ignus traveled back in time almost thirty years, and Jon couldn’t even slow down the Timeline once. He began to think of the immense potential he could have if he was able to manipulate Time itself. There would be no such thing as “not enough time” or “too quickly.”

Jon was standing by the banister and began to absent-mindedly run his index finger in a circular motion on the fat banister head. He had actually started to create a little ring of fire that was dancing merrily and glowing in warm tones. The more he dwelled on his inabilities, the hotter and larger the fire grew. It started sending small sparks into the air.

Now his attention finally turned to the little bonfire he had created. At least there’s something I’m good at, he thought to himself and smiled. He cupped the fire in his other hand and made it airborne so he could manipulate it. He was succeeding at it, and making the little fireball bigger, but he was so enthralled by the flames that he didn’t hear the swish-swish of Ray’s hurried footsteps. When he saw her out of the corner of his eye, the fireball disappeared and he remembered about the carpet.

“Ray look out --” he started. But he was too late; she had already hit the run and misstep. Several things happened at once in less than a second’s time.

Ray’s footsteps became erratic as she tripped over the carpet; Jon snapped his head upwards in her direction, then she began to fall head-first down the stairs, and Jon instinctively extended his right arm up toward the top of the staircase and yelled, “Ray!”

Ray, who had become a tumbling ball of limbs and clothing, suddenly became a distinguishable person again by the fourth step from the top, falling through the air at a quarter of the speed as she was a moment earlier. Jon had barely time to register panic before realizing he finally had slowed down the Timeline. But Ray was still in trouble. He sprinted up the stairs to her and guessed (in a split second) that if he just pushed her back onto the staircase as fast as he could, it would be as if she were to be hit by a brick wall moving toward at thirty miles an hour in her time. So instead, he went very slowly and carefully began pushing on Ray so that she’d ease back onto the staircase, and stop her forward momentum. She was surprisingly lightweight as Jon tried to push her back toward the stairs. She also had a strange expression on her face. Jon eventually succeeded in getting her momentum down, and gently tried to get her back on the stairs as slow as he could.

A sound like a waterfall filled Jon’s ears and as soon as it had happened, both he and Ray were rolling down the last few steps together at the same speed. The Timeline had restarted.

Jon’s plan had mostly worked. He slowed Ray down significantly and put her closer to the stairs then when she was air born, but she still had enough inertia to keep going down and take Jon with her.

By the time they reached the landing they were all tangled in each other.

“Are you okay?” said Jon, breathless.

“Yeah I’m fine. How did you move so fast? You were just a blur.”

Jon just smiled at Ray as he helped her to her feet.

She beamed at him. “So you finally got it down, huh?”