After climbing far too many flights of stairs, Elena announced that they were at Ms. Essie’s office. Now that they were standing in front of the door, Lior felt more sure than ever that she had seen this place before. She couldn’t make sense of all the muddled impressions.

Elena knocked on the door and it opened a moment later to reveal Ms. Essie and the room beyond. Lior’s parents were both seated in armchairs before a fire and Rolph sprawled on the floor with a black and white cat, which seemed to be barely tolerating him.

Ms. Essie smiled as she saw them and waved them inside. “Wonderful timing, you two. I was just explaining to your parents that none of the other students are here yet because they come from further away. Most of them will come on shuttles from the airport later today.”

“I guess that explains why everything was so empty,” Lior commented.

“Yes, It will be much more lively soon. Did you have a nice tour?”

“Well I saw the dorm and the quad; that’s about it.”

“Those are the most important bits anyway.” She turned back to Lior’s parents. You’re welcome to stay longer if you would like to see some of the grounds, but it’s perfectly understandable if you need to get going.”

“There’s no rush,” Lior’s father replied. “We have some time to spare.”

“Daaaad,” Rolph whined.

“Well then,” Ms. Essie said, taking a seat at her desk. “It was a pleasure meeting all of you. If you will excuse me, I have some work to do, but I’m sure Elena can answer any questions about the school you might have.

Elena stood up straighter and nodded vigorously. “I’m the official welcoming committee. I’m great at welcoming and tours and questions and stuff.”

“You forgot to actually show me my room,” Lior pointed out.

“Oh, right.” Elena shrugged. “But that wasn’t the important bit anyway.”

“Lead the way, then,” Lior’s father chuckled.

“Of course. Follow me.”

Elena showed them many of the things she had already pointed out to Lior on their mini tour. This time though, she pointed down some of the hallways in the main building and explained what department was where. Lior’s parents were duly impressed by the wide array of subjects the school had on offer, not caring that Elena couldn’t go into detail about any of the classes taught. They also complimented the quad and Whimsy Hall, satisfied that their child wouldn’t be living in a prison complex at least, no matter how mysterious the school was. Lior was certain they felt a good amount of relief as they said their many goodbyes. Even Rolph gave her an awkward hug before shutting himself in the car.

“Call if you need anything,” Lior’s father said. “We’re right down the road.”

“I know, Dad.”

He chuckled. “I know you’re eager to get us out of your hair, but I just want to make sure.”

“Love you both. Bye.”

He chuckled again. “Love you too, Sweetie. We’ll see you during the next holiday.”

Finally, they got into the car and started the long drive through the forest and out the gate. Lior watched them until the car disappeared around a bend, not because she would miss them or anything.

“Finally,” Elena sighed. “They kept wanting to see things and ask questions. My mouth is tired.”

“That’s what parents do.”

“Is it? I wouldn’t know.”

“They’re just worried. But I’m glad they’re gone too.”

“Will you miss them?”

“I don’t know.” Lior tried to imagine it, but the idea of being gone so long she missed her parents didn’t seem quite real. “I’ve never spent that long away from home before.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Elena gave a little shrug. “Now that they’re gone, let’s go back to the dorm and get to the really interesting stuff.” She grabbed Lior’s arm once again and began dragging her around the building.

“What do you mean, ‘interesting stuff?’”

“I mean, like finniks.”

The word was totally unfamiliar to Lior. “Finniks?”

“Oh right, you’re new. Umm, I guess you would call them abilities.”

“I-I don’t know what you mean.”

Elena just gave her a confused look. “I thought Ms. Essie explained things to you. Unless… stupid dreams. You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? That explains some things, I guess.” Elena studied Lior intently, seeming almost to stare through her.

“Dreams?” Lior saw a sudden glimpse in her head of a shadowy corridor and a woman with a cat, but she couldn’t make sense of them, and she couldn’t recall where they came from. “I don’t remember any weird dreams, but then I rarely do.”

Elena sighed. “Can’t be helped. Ms. Essie will hold a new student orientation later today anyway.”

“Do you think you could explain some things to me in the meantime?”

“Sure, things are going to start getting a bit crazy around here, so maybe best if you hear it from me first. But let’s head to the common room. It’s so much comfier than standing out here.”

Lior nodded her agreement. The realization of everything that was happening–everything that was changing–began hitting her all at once, and she felt exhaustion sinking in.

Once they had settled comfortably into a pair armchairs, they stayed silent for a moment. Elena appeared lost in thought. Finally, she said, “Umm, so the basics, I guess. Well, you probably guessed, but this school isn’t exactly normal. Everyone here has a finnick, which is like an ability or talent, I guess? Think of them like something you can do, but no one else can.”

Lior could think of something exactly like that, at least, she assumed nobody else slipped into another world from time to time. She felt a budding hope that she could be surrounded by people who would believe her when she tried to explain why she hadn’t heard them or had bumped into a wall. “I think I know what you mean by a…” She hesitated. “A-a finnick.” The word was strange in her mouth but somehow delightful.

Elena brightened. “Oh good, you know what yours is. Some people come here not knowing and that’s a whole other level of hard. I mean, I can’t imagine coming here and expecting it to be a normal boarding school and then they’re hit by all this information. And not knowing they’re finnick they must feel out of place, but that’s why I’m the official welcoming committee. Oh! Don’t worry about telling me your finnick, though, if you don’t want to. I know how personal it can be-”

Lior decided to interrupt her before she left the topic and went on another tangent entirely. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me about your finnick?”

Elena grinned. “Sure! I don’t mind. It’s super cool, though, so prepare to be amazed.” Lior couldn’t help giggling at Elena’s infectious enthusiasm. “I can see people’s emotions. Like you, you’re feeling mostly relaxed right now, with some happy and relieved mixed in, which by the way, this is the first time you’ve felt relaxed all day.”

“How can you tell?”

“Ooh, and now there’s a lot of curiosity, too. It’s mostly colors around you in sort of a cloud, but there’s also like this tingle in my nose and a whisper in my ears, and I sort of just know.”

“That sounds kind of weird.”

“You mean cool! I always know if someone’s lying or if they have good intentions. In case you’re wondering, you have nothing but good vibes, so I know we’ll be great friends.”

“I guess that does sound pretty useful,” Lior agreed. “But I mean, how often do people actually lie to you.”

“Pretty often, actually. Most people tell tons of little lies, though a little less here, ‘cause they know I’ll know. But there have been a few times someone told a big lie or was planning something bad.” Elena puffed out her chest and continued in a whisper, “When I grow up, I’ll be one of those superheroes you see on the news. The bad guys won’t know what hit them.”

Lior giggled. “I think I’d make a pretty useless superhero,” she admitted. “My, um, finnik wouldn’t be very useful in a fight.”

“Well mine wouldn’t either,” Elena replied impatiently. “Not all superheroes fight the villains. Sometimes they’re more like spies or like behind the scenes people. The point is, they use their finniks to stop all the bad people who somehow wound up with finniks.”

“Are there really enough bad people with finniks that it’s a problem?”

“Oh yeah. We’re like one percent of the population, which doesn’t sound like very much, but if you think about it, we could populate our own country. Most people just think they’re super rare because you only hear about the few who become heroes or villains. Most people with finniks just kind of exist and try not to let people know.”

Lior thought over her experience up to now. “I guess that’s pretty much what I see myself doing,” she agreed. “I spent so much time trying to hide it, I haven’t thought about the future.”

‘Well that’s where Galerose comes in!” Elena grinned. “Ms. Essie started Galerose so that people with finniks could make connections, so you have more options in life than just continuing to hide. Ms. Essie always says to remember that we are much stronger when we all work together.”

“That’s cheesy.”

“It’s true! Some people…”

Elena’s voice trailed away, turning into the honking of horns and murmur of people, and Lior’s vision blurred before resolving itself into the city. But this was an unfamiliar part of the city, and everything was most certainly not normal.