Hugh Vinson looked behind him as he heard the door of the private club room close, a young man who looked eighteen years old closed the door; he wore the uniform of Tesla Academy that consisted of a black sweater with the coat of arm of the Academy, a white shirt with a black tie and black pants. The young man was a brunette with icy cold blue eyes and natural haughty expression on his face. He was also tall and athletic. The attache case in his right hand was large, silver and eye-catching; Hugh’s eyes were glued to it.

 

“Hello, examiner.” Benjamin Price’s voice sounded like a bass.

 

He was a handsome and upright-looking young man, but Hugh wasn’t fooled; he remembered that Benjamin Price had a reputation as a skirt chaser, he would bring up a girl, treat her like a princess and brutally bring her down once he was done playing with her. The examiner couldn’t understand why the girls kept coming at him with a reputation in the shitters like his.

 

“Young Price.” Hugh nodded at the young man in greeting.

 

The young man sat on the plush sofa while crossing his leg; Benjamin looked at Hugh after putting the case between them on the low table.

 

“Do you have the info?” Benjamin felt eager, more than usual to Hugh.

 

“That and more!” Hugh laughed while clapping his hands, but his face suddenly became more serious. “But I am sorry, I could only procure one file. The video is one use only too, I edited it to be able to see everything that happened and it will erase itself when you finish watching it.”

 

“That’s not what was agreed.” Benjamin squinted his eyes dangerously.

 

Hugh sighed and went to sit heavily on the sofa facing Benjamin’s.

 

“Yes, I know. However, this is my last stint as an info broker. Tesla is onto me,” The sandy blonde haired man leaned forward in his seat. “I feel it, and Price I brought you the video of the girl who will without a doubt break your little ruling system. She’s so powerful that I think she could potentially be a low Omega.” Hugh added with gravitas.

 

Benjamin stayed silent, not showing that what the examiner just said blew his mind. After long seconds of silence, he finally let go of his composed facade.

 

“You are joking, right?” The wooden armrest of the sofa cracked slightly when Benjamin’s grip tightened on them.

 

Hugh pushed his silver-rimmed glasses up on his nose, the reflection from each the lenses semi-blinded Benjamin who flinched backward a bit.

 

“I like to joke, but I am serious right now.” Hugh’s voice became more forceful.

 

“Damn it, Vinson, I need to watch the video before giving you the money!” Benjamin shouted.

 

He liked how everything was in the Academy, the girls flocked to him, the guys worshipped him and wanted to be his friends or to be acknowledged by him. He is an Alpha rank strongman member of the rankers in the Academy; he couldn’t let some broad coming from somewhere and take everything away from him!

 

“The world is unfair, Price. This is a lesson from me to you, the last one before I disappear. So, the money or I leave.”

 

“Fuck. Fine, take it you ratbag!” The young man made the silver briefcase slide on the low table toward the sandy blonde haired man.

 

“You wound me, young Price,” Hugh said while doing the same with the datacube by sliding it on the table, the young man caught it and put it in his pocket.

 

Data cube were a big thing on Mercer Island, it’s a technology that Nikola Tesla cracked from the Vadwaur tech he stole from the aliens that invaded earth in the ’90s. It was able to store one Petabyte of data, nothing on the market was comparable to it.

 

“It was a pleasure to make business with you, Price.” Hugh stood up and adjusted his blue uniform, took the attache case and left.

 

Benjamin asked himself if the twenty grand he just spent was worth it? The young man took the datacube and connected it to his CLO that deployed a holographic window and showed the files of the examinees in the placement exam of this start of spring. The young man first looked for the guys, two strongmen, a kinetic absorber.

 

“Fuck!” Benjamin shouted.

 

That guy Donovan Sims will be a tough nut to crack! The other two strongmen will be a piece of cake as they were the only beta ranked, that kinetic absorber guy was low Alpha and a potential high one. Benjamin didn’t know how Hugh could think that some broad could beat that? The young man looked at the last boy, and saw that he was a magic user, he had heard that Tesla was getting a new magic division. He didn’t know what to expect from it so he didn’t pay it any mind but still shelved it for later.

 

The girls were all lookers, he couldn’t wait to see them to have a closer look, particularly that trio of blonde girls. They all had interesting abilities, but when he saw the redhead though, his heart stopped; she was gorgeous and easily overshadowed everyone she had that royal-like aura around her.

 

“Hello, Princess.” She was his type, big boobs, her body was at the same time athletic and voluptuous and she was short with her 1.62 meters of height. But her stats made him stop salivating like the pervert he was. She was an ice manipulator, the girl was also amazon combat trained and a magic user.

 

“What the hell?”

 

Benjamin began to question himself if it wasn’t the girl Hugh warned him about. He watched the video of the placement exam with rapturous attention when he was done studying the examinees. Two hours passed and when he was done, he couldn’t stop trembling. It took a long time for his nerves to settle.

 

*What is this kind of monster doing here? Will we survive? Maybe she’ll ignore us? No, I and the others will show her who is boss! Or better yet! Let’s make her join us, I just want to continue to have an awesome school life…*

 

***

 

Malicia was guiding the three teenagers mage on the white stone road flanked by enclosed meadows, the bare trees separating them from the road were burgeoning showing that spring was revitalizing them. Wayne, the fire mage was staying silent not wanting to attract the ire of the powerful sorceress; Dawn and Elissa chatted amicably between them, talking about their previous school, fashion and then magic. But they stopped speaking when they saw a female goblin with pink hair, purple skin and a heavy coat pass them, she was on a buckskin colored pony with white mane, she turned her face toward the little group and made a smile that reached her big amber eyes and waved her clawed hand. Elissa and the others greeted her too and the female goblin continued to go on her way. There was mist in the horizon, hiding what was before them, the goblin and her steed entered it and disappeared from view.

 

“Mom, who was that?” Elissa asked.

 

The noise of the teenager's boots sounded on the stone road, the young redhead walked slower putting herself at the right side of Malicia who took her daughter’s hand in hers. The Dae sorceress remembered when Elissa was four years old and followed her everywhere and asking her question every thirty seconds or so with a cute lilting voice. She still thought of her this way, Elissa was her baby. However the weight of the secrets she kept from her daughter made her fear that the young girl might hate her, but when she looked in the eyes of Elissa she only saw love, even though she might resent her for taking away her magic.

 

“Your Alchemy teacher, Histreldia Bridgeburn.” Malicia made a warm smile as she answered Elissa, satisfied that her daughter didn’t hate her.

 

“Huh?” Elissa was shocked, she knew that name.

 

*What is the Alchemist Grandmaster doing here?* The redhead thought.

 

Histreldia Bridgeburn was a tycoon in the magical world, recreating the Philosopher's stone is her most notable feat, also known as the tincture or the powder, the Philosopher's stone is a substance able to turn base metals into precious ones; like Mercury into Gold or Titanium into Mithril. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving pseudo-immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy and Histreldia Bridgeburn rediscovered its formula. Now, she’s so rich that she had bought the undying services of Summer Faes warrior to protect her and her enterprise. The goblin was supposed to live in Arcadia the main Fae realm, Elissa didn’t understand why she was interested in teaching alchemy to mages.

 

“Wow, awesome name,” Dawn said, she had kept silent and wanted to know too.

 

The funny family name of the goblin made her laugh; Elissa looked at Dawn with surprise, stunned that her new friend didn’t know who she was mocking. Wayne as for him, shut his mouth; not wanting to interrupt the gossiping women with a racist diatribe. His parents have in contempt anything that is low Fae, they didn’t even do business with them. Unfortunately, he didn’t know who the Goblin was too.

 

“She’s a friend…” Malicia continued.

 

Wayne was happy to have kept his mouth shut suddenly. The fire mage was still mystified, why was a powerful arcanist, like Malicia, friends with a goblin? Was he prejudiced? If Elissa and her family had contact with the lesser Faes why isn’t his family doing the same? Yet again Wayne’s worldviews were shattered.

 

“Mom, I am really happy that you made a friend. So, how did you meet her?” Elissa asked, curious.

 

“I saved her from being killed by a soul eater, a rival Alchemist wanted her dead.” Malicia rolled her eyes to her daughter and changed the subject. “More importantly, I was showing you the way to the school and now we are here.” Malicia brushed off her daughter’s line of questioning and changed the subject.

 

“I don’t see-” Elissa started but as the mist in the horizon was dispelled a beautiful sight slowly came to view.

 

A black castle with vast gardens with fountains, canals and geometric flower beds and groves forming spell arrays of different nature were before them. It was as if a miniature palace of Versailles was before them, Elissa recognized what was called the Grand Trianon that looked like the real thing she had seen when she lived in France. It looked like the Palace of Versailles, a replica really, but it wasn’t as big. Elissa looked at it with her mage vision and noticed that the castle was at the center of a nexus of multiple Ley lines that crossed each other. Elissa thought about how did her mother obtain this? Wars were fought over such place of power, around the palace she also noticed that the woods behind were teeming with supernatural life; Fairies, gnomes, and a multitude of lower Faes. Elissa looked at the sky and saw the multiple elemental nodes powering something. The redhead gasped as she noticed the spatial tether with her piercing gaze.

 

“Mother, are we in a pocket realm?” Elissa’s tone of voice was higher as she was in awe of her discovery.

 

Malicia giggled, Elissa always called her mother when she was impressed or scared by something. Indeed they were in a freshly made pocket realm built upon the middle-grade nexus of Mercer Island; the entire place was warded by her personally, it was her territory as Tesla had bought the land and given her the deed. Now the sorceress was charged to produce magic users that would help his team and country to fend off magical and mystical threats. Of course, the school was bound loosely to the superhuman league but had to follow some guidelines from the Council of Corvinus.

 

“Some Fae Lords owe me services.” Malicia’s smile became more predatory.

 

Dawn became scared of her friend’s mom, Elissa was right don’t meet your heroes. Elissa paid no mind to her mother’s antics and tried to call on her mana to test the wards by calling to them; she was surprised to find them responding to her eager to follow her commands.

 

*Mom must have done something to let me be able to control them.* she rejoiced in her heart.

 

Her mother looked at her, aware of what she was doing and giggled soundlessly. Elissa has access to the security enchantments of the school for the reason that she still had her enchanting business to manage. Her daughter was a good Warden and knew how to operate everything like the wards at their home at Seattle. With only seven students to manage, for now, Malicia found herself free to do what she wanted.

 

“Mom who doesn’t owe you?” Elissa asked wryly.

 

Elissa has seen her mother handle deals since she was able to speak, more often negotiations to obtain her services, know how for a set reward of magical knowledge, materials or future boon and services.

 

“Very little individuals and that also count for you, young Wayne.” Malicia suddenly turned toward the silent boy.

 

She scanned him with her mage sight and find him… wanting. His mana core wasn’t as big as Dawn’s and the strain on his spiritual meridians showed how he didn’t bother with spells that weren’t from the fire elemental branch. To Malicia a good mage should be able to weave other types of magic spell, general or arcane.

 

“Hum, what do you mean?” Wayne said as he endured under the contemptuous gaze of the sorceress.

 

Malicia golden dress fluttered as she approached him with an elegant and feline gait, she placed the young man’s chin between her index and thumb forcing him into looking her in the eyes as he tried to not to.

 

“You parents owe me,” Malicia began to say. “They signed you away to learn from me and hope to pry away some of my magical knowledge at the same time.”

 

The sorceress let go of him and walked back and forth before the young man her gaze never leaving him. When he saw the shine of her aura around her and her glowing eyes Wayne almost shat himself as he felt the weight of her power engulf him. Wayne felt like he was adrift in an ocean and he was alone, dwarfed by the immensity of it. Malicia is a Dae, the hybrid offspring between a Fae Lady and a Demon King; this particular pairing made that she thrived on the emotion of fear and intimidation that she created on the young man; in a sense, she was feeding on him. Once she got what she wanted she continued to speak.

 

“That’s fine, they can try to copy my magic if they can, I also am eager to make them change their attitude toward the little people and most beneficial supernatural creatures. Your Magi circle has a terrible reputation, I hope you are aware. Nobody wants to do business with the Griffin. They were even cursed by Fae magic to be recognized, even if they changed their name.”

 

This was the first time Wayne heard of this, he had always believed that his family was a respectable one! A memory came to him, magical creatures like Pixies cringing or even Unicorns fleeing at his presence.

 

*It couldn’t be!* The young man thought in his heart.

 

If what Malicia revealed was true, after the death of his Firebird he won’t be able to summon another as his reputation was sullied. Spirit and Faes have a really tight relation as their planes were contiguous compared to Earth. The sorceress looked annoyed when she guessed that the young man was kept in the dark by his parents about their position in the supernatural world, it soured the feelings she felt from the fire mage, so she added offhandedly “You are here to open your horizons young Griffin, sincerely I didn’t want to bother and just eliminate your family for their past trespasses…”

 

This certainly got the young man attention, Malicia felt as terror engulfed the fire mage’s mind, sweet and honeyed nectar that emboldened the Dae. Elissa watched the show taking place not bothering to stop it, her mother was feeding and she didn’t like Wayne as she thought he was a fop. Dawn hid behind Elissa and her hand tightened on the girl's right arm in fear.

 

“Please no! Don’t do it!” Wayne was forced on his knees when he tried to touch the sorceress, he didn’t even feel outside mana insinuating in his body.

 

“But I am a merciful woman, I won’t erase your family; unless you pledge allegiance to me and I will assure your ascension as the patriarch of your family and you can enact changes,” Malicia added as she looked at her manicure.

 

The sorceress grinned at him evilly, her beauty contrasting with her acts. Why not take over a family while she was at it? Malicia missed those type of power games from her own court. The Sorceress sighed lightly and waited for the decision of the young man.

 

“I am willing, I am-” Wayne tried to say, his mind went blank when he imagined his family murdered or changed into statues like the rumors about what happened to others who went in Malicia’s way, trying to take her out.

 

“I will, please… I pledge myself to you, on my magic.”

 

Elissa and Dawn could literally see the magic of Wayne binding itself to his oath; Malicia approached him and put a hand on his forehead. The young man felt a light burn between his brow, to the girls he was marked by the sorceress and it showed. Tears ran down the young man’s eyes.

 

“Stand up, Wayne and welcome to the Daphne Snow school of magic,” Malicia said sweetly.

 

Elissa understood the plan of her mother and felt awkward when she realized that her mother was building her own sorcerous circle. Her own army and the one who financed this project won’t be even aware of what a terrible mistake he did. The redhead shrugged, took Dawn by the waist and went toward the castle.

 

*I am sure that Tesla isn’t aware of this…* Elissa thought.

 

***

 

“Daddy, where is Eli?” Cassandra whined as Heracles turned in circles in the lounge.

 

They have been waiting since this morning in the tower assigned to Elissa, Cassandra was seating on the red leather sofa, her feet dangling in annoyance. The little girl wore a red dress with golden fairies pattern on it and little black boots; her hair was coiffed in cute pigtails. Cassandra missed Elissa, her sister could make her look the cutest with her hairdressing skills and there was another reason she missed her big sister; living in that big house in Seattle wasn’t the same thing without her. The little girl had no one else to play with and she couldn’t understand the animals and know what they wanted. Even her cat, Lady Christine often visited Elissa’s bedroom to see if she was there. They always had fun together and did mock fight, the cat missed her.

 

“She’s coming,” Heracles grunted.

 

As for their father, Cassandra thought that he was worried after all; Elissa gave great hugs and kisses and he must miss them. The little girl had found that Elissa not going to school normally was the happiest time of her life, they had played for hours, studied magic, gone to the Amazon Complex to run and exercise, ate super large serving of food at Daisy’s and even meet her friend Kelly and played with her when she was available.

 

*But Elissa won’t be able to come often at home now because of this stupid school.* Cassandra crossed her arms and pouted.

 

Heracles looked at his little one, stopped walking in a circle and went to sit beside her, putting an arm around her frail looking shoulders. They stayed another ten minutes this way before Cassandra asked another question.

 

“Is she there yet?” Cassandra looked at her dad.

 

“No…” The man closed his eyes tightly.

 

Heracles was getting annoyed by the questions of Cassandra, he thought she was doing it deliberately. The muscular man wore a black and silver shirt with pants, you could clearly see his steel themed accessories, rings, wrist band, and even his belt buckle were enchanted with magic defenses. The hero had given his shift to his colleague, the hero Mercury, a speedster that was glad to find that Heracles could be familiar with his team members and didn’t hesitate in helping cover his sorties. If the speedster knew that Heracles dined and wined with his wife at Tesla’s he wouldn’t have been this eager. Heracles heard the murmur of voices and the sound of footfalls from the outside; Cassandra got out of the sofa and stood up running toward the door that opened as she had detected a familiar heartbeat.

 

“Eli!”

 

The older redhead caught her sister who didn’t surprise her at all; she too had felt the presence of the adorable little girl and her father.

 

“Cass! You have gotten stronger…” Elissa noticed as her sister’s powerful muscle strength was making breathing harder.

 

“I know right, and look dad gave me a new phone! I want to take your picture and put in on the wallpaper.” The little girl took a smartphone in a fire red case.

 

The phone was one of those super sturdy ones made by Tesla industries that could resist being run over by a semi-trailer. It was thick and the screen was protected by reinforced glass and still act like a touch screen. On the wallpaper there was Lady Christine, Cassandra’s cat familiar and Elissa didn’t care for the cat at all, though her sister thought they were best buddies. The older redhead kissed her sister’s brow sonorously and the little girl tightened her grip on her sister’s hand.

 

“Aww, Elissa your sister is super cute!” The soft alto of Dawn rang out.

 

Cassandra looked at the newcomer with mistrust, she put her phone in her little black bag and put herself between Elissa and the Asian girl before her. She was clothed like Elissa, in a blue field uniform and silver armor, the long brown hair of Dawn fluttered in the breeze entering by the door.

 

“Who are you?” Cassandra asked.

 

“I am Dawn, a friend of your sister.” The Asian girl looked fondly at Elissa, the redhead reciprocated.

 

Cassandra didn’t like this sudden intimacy between her sister and this new girl. She opened her senses and let her mage sight as she was less skilled than her sister and mother, Dawn felt it when she was basically peeped on. It wasn’t a nice feeling at all.

 

“Hmm, space magic.” Cassandra guessed the Asian girl’s element.

 

Dawn looked at Elissa with wonder. “Did she just look at me with mage sight?”

 

She couldn’t believe that such a young little girl could use a skill like that. She herself had mastered it at twelve years old, and Elissa’s sister was younger than that; well ok, she was less skilled at using it couldn’t be sneaky, but this was absurdly good progress!

 

“Yeah, she did.” Elissa looked wryly at the two girls, she could feel Cassandra's animosity toward her friend and she worried that it could fester. Sorceress like her sister magicked their problems away.

 

“Wow, so what type of mage is she?” Dawn sounded impressed.

 

“She’s not a mage.” The redhead looked proudly at her sister.

 

Cassandra was a powerful apprentice sorceress who mastered a lot of attack and defense spell and was studying to become a battle sorceress. The little girl leaned into her sister and looked defiantly at Dawn who didn’t understand that she was in danger.

 

“Oh, magic user?” Dawn asked.

 

When someone had a mana capacity lower than a witch they were called magic users and simply couldn’t weave spell or channel too much magic in their body, else they would crumble under the strain. Being a magic user in a magical family could be hard… they were simply abandoned by their too elitist magical families.

 

“No, Sorceress. She’s like my mom, she can control the forces of nature and reality.” Elissa answered helpfully.

 

Dawn’s head whipped toward her friend, then she looked at Cassandra as if she was a particularly dangerous predator as her body tensed. Then she calmed down, she felt that she was being silly. Elissa wouldn’t let anything happen to her after all.

 

“Wow, how far along is she in her learning?” The Asian girl said casually.

 

“Well, she could wipe the floor with you. She mastered fire and earth, now she’s trying her hand at water and general magic.” Elissa added.

 

Dawn gulped, Cassandra looked at her sweetly; a familiar expression they had seen on Malicia earlier. Before the Asian girl could speak about Elissa’s sister she saw the hulking form of a man coming toward them and stepped back, ready to throw a spell at him.

 

“Dad!” Elissa shouted and ran toward the man.

 

The Asian girl let go of the spell she had almost launched at Elissa’s dad. The two hugged, the man kissed the top of Elissa's head and took her in the air and turned on himself with her in his arms, making the redhead giggle like a little girl. Dawn was seeing a side of Elissa that surprised her, gone was the reserved and cool beauty, there before she was a daddy’s girl.

 

“I am happy to see you, treasure. How did it go, your exam.” Heracles knew already but decided to hear it from her directly.

 

“You know me! I am first!” Elissa’s eyes lit up with and on her face appeared a smug expression.

 

“That’s my girl!” Heracles laughed. “I have something for you, Elissa, let’s go outside so I can show you.” The hero has prepared his daughter’s reward beforehand.

 

***

 

A lot could be said about the car and the motorbike present in the magic school’s garage, the four-wheeled vehicle was a black Camaro ZL1. It’s curves and fierce look seduced the redhead who squealed endlessly when she saw it. Heracles informed Elissa that the motorbike was a present from Nikola Tesla to her, this new model was called Tesla Vector it has a flyweight carbon structure and uses an electric power cell that produces 1500 units of voltage. That means it can rip from stationary to 62mph in 2.1 seconds and onto a top speed of 350 mph for a 'realistic range' of 400 miles. But more impressive is that it comes with a trendy jacket that alerts the rider to dangers around them and a helmet that projects vital information on a HUD, such as their speed, revs, and a rearview camera, on the visor.

 

“And don’t get guilty about them, treasure. They were all modified with a Tesla electric drive and reinforced to handle superhuman strength. You’ll not pollute the planet…”

 

Like her mother, Elissa was eco-conscious and the fact that her father thought about this made her love him even more.

 

“But Dad, how much did this cost?” Elissa calmed herself and thought about the money her dad had to spend to buy this. They were well off but she didn’t want to abuse it and let him ruin himself. After all, she understood that Heracles and Malicia kept their finances separate, not pooling their resources.

 

“Surprisingly nothing. My… work,” Heracles looked at Dawn who was at Elissa’s side. “Permit me to buy at a discount. Remember?” Heracles reassured her.

 

“Ah, sorry I had forgotten.” Elissa facepalmed.

 

“Treasure, we need to speak.” Heracles threw the keys of the car toward Elissa who caught them in midair. “You drive.”

 

“Stay here with my sister Dawn, please.” Elissa mussed the hair of her sister when the little devil tackled her yet again.

 

“Okay.” The Asian girl said.

 

Dawn was envious of the gifts of Elissa, her parents were so… giving and loved her to bits. She could feel that her mother loved her but her father treated her more like a prized mare… When Elissa entered in the Camaro she was assaulted by the smell of new car, leather, and chemical. Heracles went to the passenger seat and put on his seatbelt. He lightly leaned in his seat and looked at Elissa checking the integrity of her seat, put on her own seatbelt, check the mirror, plays with the pedals and then she put the key in the ignition. The car engine didn’t roar and was almost silent but the two superhumans could clearly hear the noise of the electric motor that was more of a purring. Elissa smiled, she liked it. The redhead changed the speed, as the car was an automatic and the car lurched forward. Elissa rolled with it and the car left the garage slowly; they were on the road leading on the plaza of the school.

 

“Where is your mother?” Heracles asked.

 

The muscular redhead looked straight before him, not looking at his daughter as he was confident about her driving. He had raised Elissa to be a winner, a methodical girl and a fast learner that doesn’t give up. They had after all went to drive on a circuit at Seattle Race at Lake Union Park Bridge and driven for hours until Elissa knew how to pilot a car.

 

“Settling the Griffin fire mage in his dorm.” The young girl made a smile while looking before her, careful not to drive into the beautiful shrubberies.

 

“Ah.” Heracles was happy that his wife let him time to speak with their daughter.

 

He knew Elissa really well, she might show a strong front and a happy smile right now but she was suffering right now. The muscular man could see it on her face, the way she moved and in the tension of her shoulders.

 

“You want to talk about what I did to win?” Elissa began without preamble.

 

“Yes.” Heracles opened the window of his car door and placed his arm on it as he relaxed, enjoying the drive.

 

“I wanted to win at all costs and test my skills on my foes,” Elissa said between her teeth, her hands tightening on the wheel. It was a testament to the manufacturing company that the thing resisted the grip of a superhuman.

 

“A general from this world said: ‘Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.’ It means you can expect to have problems with anything you work on or create, no matter how perfect you think it is. This is normal.” The man looked at his daughter who had closed herself. “Treasure, you wanted to project an image of invincibility and it will bite you in the posterior later. Some people will want to knock you off your pedestal. I don’t doubt that the video of the exam will garner... bad attention.”

 

The car was finally on the white stone road that led out of the garden of the school, Elissa raised the speed to 20 mph.

 

“Dad, Mother took away my magic.” Elissa let a rare whining voice out.

 

She knew that she could do this when her father was here, he was the softer side of her parental unit. Her mother would have told her to woman up and work harder and understand why she did what she did.

 

“I know.” Heracles simply said.

 

Elissa took her eyes from the road and looked at him, he was calm watched the road and smiled.

 

“You knew,” Elissa said in an accusatory tone.

 

Heracles sighed.

 

“I don’t understand magic really well, but Elissa if she took it away from you it must be because you did something bad and it scared her badly.” The red-headed man knew his wife and understood why she reacted this way.

 

She loved Elissa, and she took her parenting job seriously. If his daughter was about to kill herself with magic, Malicia would take from her the capacity to use it even if she was hated at the end of it.

 

“I-” Elissa tried to say.

 

“Whatever your mom did, it’s for your own good. Don’t doubt her, we want what’s best for you.” Heracles added sincerely.

 

He put his hand on his daughter's lap, trying to reassure her.

 

“How will I be able to fight?” Elissa raised the speed of the car.

 

Heracles heard his daughter’s voice crack, he felt her fear and loss of confidence.

 

“Easy, find another way to use your power. You’ll not be able to brute force your way anymore, Elissa.”

 

“But I am scared, dad! I used my magic to control my superhuman powers…” Elissa shouted and hit the dashboard with a slap of her hand.

 

“You have to believe in yourself. Elissa, my strength, I couldn’t handle it before in my youth, now I can. You can do it too.” Heracles said with conviction. “If you can’t believe in yourself, then believe in me.”

 

“Dad.” Elissa’s voice was softer.

 

If there was a person she could believe in, it was Heracles. She took his hand in hers while still having the other on the wheel. The muscular man smiled at her, showing his pearly white teeth.“Everything will be ok.”