TAKE TWO, kotlc

Chapter 4- Arella

"Sir Rosing's face looks like he just ate a lemon!" Arella hissed to Braelynn, who laughed and twisted a finger through one of her dark braids.

"Ms. Sencen," Sir Rosings said stiffly. "Do not think that your parents fame and legacy will get you away from flunking Foxfire. I remember rather memorable detentions with both of them, and I would not be surprised if you took after your father."

Sir Rosings mouth twitched in a bitter smile and Arella clamped her mouth shut.

"Welcome to Abiltiy Detecting!" Sir Rosings announced. "Held every Tuesday and Thursday for young prodigies who have not yet manifested. How this will work: we will put in you in scenarios in which certain abilities will be used more than others. For example, when detecting for Frosters, we put you in a hot room for two hours."

Arella's mouth fell open. Oralia was soooo lucky she didn't have to endure this.

She had been so jealous of Oralia when she'd manifested as a Telepath- a pretty brilliant one from what she'd eavesdropped from her parents. At eight. And four years later, she still hadn't gotten an ability. Arella was used to her sister being cooed over and bombarded with questions about her manifestation, and sitting on the sidelines glaring.

All she had was a stupid photographic memory and an uncanny sense of humor.

Sir Rosings promptly walked over to her and closed her jaw shut with his sharp fingernails. "And I believe Ms. Sencen has just volunteered herself to detect first. What ability would you like to test yourself for?"

"Telepathy!" Arella said, shaking away the uneasiness in her voice. It would be sooo satisfying to get back at Oralia after all those years of teasing.

Sir Rosings gave her a glare. "I think not. How about we test you for a Froster?"

"No way," Arella said instantly- she could practically already feel the heat licking at her skin.

"Then for a Pyrokinetic it is. Sit for two hours in an ice cold room."

Arella glared daggers at him and obediently entered the kind of pod-like room filled with freezing misty air. Her parents had sort of taught her temperature-regulation- but the snapping motion that her father had taught her barely helped. At least it kept her from freezing into an Arella-Popsicle.

When she finally got out, no balls of Everblaze curled at her hands. She glared at her ability detecting Mentor and sighed.

"I knew this was a waste of time," she muttered angrily. "You're a Telepath, aren't you?"

Sir Rosings drew himself up proudly. "Indeed."

"Please give me that burst of mental energy. I really need to manifest- and my mom refuses to do it for me," Arella pleaded.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Sir Rosings said curtly. "Gather your stuff. I want you out of this room in two minutes time or I'm cancelling this session for you for the rest of the term."

Arella shot him one last angry glance before marching out of the door, a cheerful looking Braelynn following her.

"How'd yours go?" Arella asked grumpily.

"Amazing! I decided to go for Shade first, but that didn't trigger. So then I went for Vanisher, but that didn't work either. And then I went for Phaser- and Sir Rosings said he sensed something super strong when I tested for that! I'm definitely doing another Phaser testing tomorrow to see if it triggers completely."

"How'd you get so many detectings in?" Arella inquired- thanks to her stubborn mentor, she was stuck sitting in a block of ice for two hours.

"I did all three at the same time. He made me sit in a really light room for an hour and then a really dark room for the last hour. That tests for Shade, Flasher, Phaser, and Vanisher all at the same time because it includes darkness and light."

"You were smart," Arella decided.

"You weren't not smart," Braelynn argued, once again fussing with her braids. "He's just grumpy."

Arella sighed. "You got that right."