"W-Where am I?" Cyclone said softly.
"About time you woke up," James said. "You've been asleep for two weeks, man."
"Two weeks?! What happened? With Obsidian? And Giv?"
"Come with me, I'm sure the others will be happy to explain."
Together, James and Cyclone ventured out of their dorm and to the fountain where Samantha, Summer, and Mary were sitting around gossiping.
"Cyclone! You're awake!" Samantha cheered, running over to hug her friend.
Mary was not so kind in greeting her friend. A swift kick to the shin was a much warmer welcome.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Cyclone asked.
"That was for getting yourself kidnapped," Mary said with a cheeky smile.
"Easy now, I'm sure he has a lot of questions," Summer laughed.
"Yeah, for starters, why are we here?"
"Headmaster Cord said to meet here," Summer said.
"Headmaster Cord?"
"Yep. After all that crazy stuff happened, Headmaster Jon stepped down and made Mr. Cord take over," Samantha explained.
"Talk about a promotion, huh?" James said.
"Yeah, but why are we meeting him here?"
"I don't know, he just said he wanted to tell us something" Mary answered.
"Ah, Cyclone! You're up and about, I see." Mr. Cord happily approached the group with a smile and new suit, his book bag hanging from his shoulder.
"It's good to see you, too, Mr. Cord."
"Why did you call us here?" Samantha asked.
"I wanted to share a bit of news. East Coast Academy is getting a bit of an upgrade," Mr. Cord shared.
"What kind of upgrade?" James asked.
"We're opening up the school to high schoolers now. We now accept students from sixth to 12th grade!"
"That's awesome!" Summer exclaimed. "So we'll be seeing more students next school year."
"Indeed. I do hope you all continue to attend this school and continue to-"
"Dad!" a voice called out in the distance. "Are we still going out for ice cream?"
A young girl approached the group, sporting a black jacket and light brown hair wrapped in a ponytail. A few freckles decorated the fair skin canvas under her hazel eyes.
"Haha, yes we are. Just wanted to have a word with a few of my former students before we head off," Mr. Cord said.
"Umm, Mr. Cord, who is this?" Samantha said, thoughts rushing to her head.
A big smile grew across Mr. Cord's face, knowing very well what was to be expected from this encounter.
"This is Alana, my daughter. She just transferred here from another school."
Cord continued to weep on the bedroom floor, his heart pounding with sorrow. Yet, through the sobs, he could hear the slight creaking of the closet. He turned to see Alana poke her head out from behind the closet door. In that moment, Cord realized that he no longer had the Aura Crystal around his neck, but that it was around Alana's.
"They'll be back," Alana said softly. Cord ran to his daughter and scooped her off the floor, holding her tight.
"Well let's make sure we're not here when they come back."
Samantha and Mary stared at their headmaster in disbelief. Cord held back his laughter, looking at the faces his students were making.
"If you all knew the truth, it would risk them finding out where she has been.Who knows how powerful Cyclone's mind reading abilities are? I couldn't afford to take that risk."
"That makes sense," Mary said. "If we knew where she was, she'd be in danger again."
"Exactly."
"Dad, what are you guys talking about?" Alana asked. "You didn't tell them our secret, did you?"
"I told them everything. Well, almost everything."
"Wait, what didn't you tell us?" Samantha asked.
"On that note, we gotta get going," Mr. Cord said. "I'll see you all around. Keep up the good work." With that, the headmaster and Alana walked off, leaving the group of friends behind.
"Well now that we've helped him with whatever, what do we do?" Cyclone asked.
"Well, as a token of appreciation he let us keep our Aura Crystals," Summer said.
"That's awesome!" Cyclone said. "Where's mine?"
"If you want it, you'll have to come get it." Mary smiled and held up the silver Aura Crystal that Cyclone wielded in the final battle.
"Very funny, Mary. Hand it over."
"Work for it." Mary continued smiling and ran off without warning.
"Mary!" Cyclone gave chase, desperately wanting the crystal for himself.
"Those two are always after each other," Summer said.
"Wait for me!" Samantha said, happily joining in the chase.
"Wait, don't leave me behind again!" James followed behind, trying to keep up with the rest of his friends.
Summer couldn't help but smile and watch her friends run all over the place. After a sigh of relief, she joined in on the fun. The autumn air was both warm and delightful as the five friends ran around the school they called home.
