Will paced around the training ground in a wide circle, watching the sparring partners with a close eye. He couldn’t keep track of all of them on his own, of course, but Felix was there to help, walking the other half of the circle. He was the only other person on the campus who had mastered the basics of fighting with his fists. To top it off, he knew more about using Nexus powers in tandem with his powers than Will did. Together, they could catch any flaws.
“James,” Will called, catching the attention of his friend. “Don’t throw so much of your weight into each strike. You’ve got a lot of reach over Emmet, so you can stand back a bit.”
James gave a brief gesture to show he understood and resumed mock-fighting with Emmet. Will caught the immediate improvement in his movements and nodded in approval. James picked up small corrections like that quickly. Much longer, and he’d be beyond the rest of the Nexus in martial skill. As that thought struck him, he had another and called for James to stop and take a break. “Angel, you take over sparring with Emmet!”
The thin and graceful Angel rose from their seat where they’d been resting, nodding gently at Will before moving to join Emmet. No matter how often he talked to them, he couldn’t get used to Angel, Will thought. They were a professed non-binary, not exactly a rare thing in the world, but the first person he’d met who disowned any traditional method of address. But Will had picked the new system up quickly, and soon enough had no issue thinking of Angel as nothing more or less than… Angel. In any event, they were a great fighter. They had a lot of natural balance and grace that was needed for martial arts. All they needed was to work on the power.
“Looks like they’re having fun,” a voice said from behind him. He turned to see Noratuk approaching, wearing her Nexus furs. She nodded in approval as she watched the others. “They look much more confident than last time.”
“They’re getting better,” Will agreed. “Where have you been?”
“That’s none of your business,” She replied at once, a smirk forming on her face. “You just do what you do best, and leave the rest to Edward and I.”
“And what is it that I do best?” Will asked, not letting himself be redirected. “What do you do best, now that we’re talking about it?”
She let out a snort at the jibe. “You do annoying best, Will. Keep on doing that, but annoy them and not me. I’ll be fine without your interruption.”
Will decided to let the matter go then, turning back to the fighting group. He knew that Noratuk had spent the past two days since their return out in town. What he didn’t know was what she did while away from the camp. She went alone each time, and returned towards the end of the day, deflecting all questions. It was almost as if she suspected eavesdroppers. Well, there were a lot more outsiders in the camp recently, he thought.
It wasn’t just Felix or Olivia. Their mother, Rachel, had been on the Campus for nearly fourteen hours, not that Will was keeping track. She kept to herself during the visit, only appearing for brief moments to speak with her children. The rest of the time, she was locked behind a door, evidently discussing the current state of affairs with Edward. Will was more than happy to leave them to it, content that they’d think of an appropriate plan. All he had to do was keep training his friends and family how to fight with their hands. When the time came, he’d be ready, and so would they.
He half-turned, and his eye rested on the two other strangers. They’d arrived yesterday, practically without warning. The older of the two was the middle-aged man in a business suit Will had spotted at the assessment. The other was a cheery sort of girl, perhaps twenty-five, wearing a yellow and blue tracksuit. She was a veritable riot of color compared to her solemn companion. They were Cornelius Woodrow and Kiera Lawrence, from the Air Nexus. Kevin had arranged for them to train with the Fire Nexus for a week or two, and Edward had accepted.
“Will!” Felix called, snapping him out of his thoughts. “It’s almost six!”
He waved briefly to show he’d heard, then raised his voice, telling them all to stop. One by one, they broke apart, some taking longer than others to shake off the state of intense focus they’d taken on. Will told them to take a short break and gestured for Felix, Olivia, Charlisa, and James to join him off to the side. They came over, each looking a little nervous as the next planned activity came closer.
“Right,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a long sigh. “How the hell are we going to do this?”
He looked to Charlisa in particular, as she was possibly the most experienced in the topic. She frowned thoughtfully at him, lifting her shoulders in a gesture that was almost a shrug. “I don’t have a clue. It’s unique to each of us, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know about that,” Felix said. “Olivia can do everything I can. I’m just a little faster than she is. I can also copy her skills, but I can’t muster as much power.”
Olivia nodded her agreement with the point, and Will rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think through the problem. “The issue is that we don’t have any precedent. I mean, Charlisa made flowers at the assessment, but I think that's less a unique tactic, and more just her expert control.”
“Well,” Felix put in, his face thoughtful. “The way I found that helps is thinking of it in three parts.”
“Thinking of what?” James asked, his eyebrows raised as he tried to keep up with the pace of the conversation.
“The Nexus power,” Felix replied. Then he held up a hand as James opened his mouth to speak again. “Just wait. So for Nexus powers, there are three categories. Power, control, and endurance.”
“I thought it was power, agility, and endurance,” Charlisa interjected.
“That’s just for the assessment. But when it comes to your power, it’s the first three. Endurance is how much of your power you can produce before your Condition breaks.”
He looked to Will and Charlisa, who nodded, knowing that rule all too well. Once you ran out, your Condition broke, and it was a few minutes before you could recover. It was the body’s natural limit. Try to push past that limit, and you risked serious injury. Felix continued. “Power is easy. It’s how much effect you can get out of that limited amount of power.”
“Then Control,” Will said slowly, “Control would be how efficient you are?”
“Exactly,” Felix agreed.
“But what does that have to do with our unique skill?”
“I’m getting to that. So basically, each person has a special affinity for one of those three categories. If we know what that is, we can learn more about them, and then it’ll be easier to determine what they could do.”
“And you could determine that,” Will asked him. “Just by watching each member?”
“Of course,” the young teen said, grinning confidently. “I already know you’re best at control. Your endurance is alright, but your power is super low for the average Nexian.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” Will growled, thinking of his assessment and the public dossier the scholars had written about him. It had been careful to point out how weak he was compared to the average Nexus member. “Power isn’t everything, you know.”
“I know, I know,” Felix said, waving his hands in a placating gesture. He was very animated that morning, Will thought. Full of excited energy. “But I only mention it to help you understand. So far, you’ve only tried two things with your power. Explosions when you strike, and jumping or flying with fire.”
Will nodded slowly. He thought he knew where Felix was going with this. He wasn’t disappointed long, as the boy went on eagerly, “Those are both things that rely on strength. You should be leaning into your control before anything else. It shouldn’t take you long to find something that suits you as well as my abilities suit me.”
“What makes you think that?” Will asked crossly. “I’ve been trying for almost two straight months, you know. I can’t think of something.”
“That’s because you’re thinking too hard,” Olivia said. Felix nodded in agreement. “You’re quick on your feet, but your mind is even faster, as long as you don’t weigh it down. And Felix is your best teacher for that.”
“Why?”
“Because most Water Nexians specialize in control,” Felix said, puffing his chest out. “And I’m one of the best by far.”
“Alright,” Will said, finally accepting what they had in mind. “I’ll give it a try. But how will we find out how the others rank in the categories?”
“Most of them I already know from watching,” Felix replied. He stepped back and conjured his signature spinning sphere of water, sitting on it as if it were a comfortable armchair. “For the others, I just need to watch again.”
They broke apart then, and Will called the rest back over. He still felt a bit odd telling the others what to do. He felt even weirder seeing those instructions obeyed. Edward had named Will a Captain on the day he’d returned, letting the others know that he was to be obeyed. There hadn’t been any sign of disagreement, much to Will’s surprise. Of course, he learned later that they were all impressed at what they’d heard about the fight with the stranger. Edward had told them, in detail, about how Will had jumped into the fray without fear, trying to protect Kevin when it was thought he’d been badly injured.
It seemed that fighting so fiercely alongside the Alpha, even if he’d ultimately gotten his ass handed to him, had earned a great deal of respect from the others. They didn’t stare suspiciously at him anymore, and they were much more friendly when he spoke with them. It was a welcome change, to be sure.
“Felix and Olivia here,” he said, his voice ringing out louder than intended in the expectant silence. To cover the awkward moment, he gestured at the siblings. “They’re going to help us each figure out a unique power that we can use. If we get used to using these skills and master them, we’ll be in much better standing for the tournament.”
A ripple of quiet but interested murmurs spread throughout the group. Several people leaned to their neighbors, muttering something, and receiving an excited reply. They’d been waiting for this part of their training all day and were thrilled to finally get started. Will cleared his throat, waiting for the silence to fall again. When it did, he pointed at Angel.
“You first,” he told them. Angel stepped gracefully forward, lifting their arms to the sides. Will nodded encouragingly. “Show Felix what you can do.”
Angel coated their hands and forearms in bright blue fire, then spun slowly on the spot. The flames dribbled off as they moved, forming a wavy blue disk of light and heat. A few more rotations and Angel was surrounded by three rings of fire, like the rings of Saturn. The rings wobbled ever so slightly as they spun, giving off powerful heat waves. Felix frowned thoughtfully, but his eyes were wide, showing that he was impressed.
“Nice,” he said, drawing the word out. “You’re clearly best at power.”
“I would have thought control,” Will put in. “Are you sure?”
“Look at their fire,” Olivia put in. “Blue fire is exceptionally hot. That shows that Angel has a lot of power.”
Will shrugged, accepting the explanation. “Alright then. James, you’re next.”
“Actually, I already know he’s best at Power,” Felix cut across him.
“Fine then,” Will said. He caught Charlisa’s eyes, noting her patient smile. “You take care of telling them what their best category is. I’ll take a break.”
He made his way over to the picnic table, which was still laden with food and water, and picked up an unopened water bottle, downing half of it in one. He let out a long sigh as he sat down, aware that Charlisa was coming over to join him. There was a lot still left to do, he told himself.
“I wish I could say we’re nearly there,” Charlisa said. She was clearly thinking along similar lines to him. “But we’re not, are we?”
“Not really,” he said, shaking his head. “But we still have two months, and if there’s anything I know, it’s that they all learn quickly. We’ll be ready.”
“For the tournament?”
“For anything.”
