In a world torn between heroes and villains, it can be a dangerous and hostile place. Some take comfort in the Gifted that stand up against those who would use their powers for greed and chaos. While others choose to hide away, fearful of the day...
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Elaina and Karina sat across from each other, neither speaking nor moving, only staring straight into each other with flat lips and vacant expressions.
They sat out on the patio of Dominic's vast acreage, with their palms flat upon a sturdy wooden table. The wind whipped around them from their lofty height in the hills of San Francisco. Karina wore her golden hair in a tight ponytail that swung at the pleasure of the breezy currents, while Elaina kept her dark, wild hair free and natural so that it swarmed around her like waves crashing against a rock.
Karina blinked first.
"Well, I'll at least give you credit for maintaining this silence for an hour," she said through stiff lips. "I didn't believe you could handle going a minute without making a snide comment."
"I was waiting for you to take the lead, oh great Jedi Master."
"Ah, there's one," said Karina with an amused twist of her lips. "Nevertheless, those exercises you were doing during my recovery must have actually helped. One hour in silence and I didn't feel even a flicker in my emotions."
"Then maybe you need to turn up the heat, teach."
Though Karina kept her lips firm and her eyes steady, there was still evidence of what happened the last time she turned up the heat. Makeup concealed most of the dark bruising beneath her eyes, but there was no hiding the unnatural curvature of her nose. It was subtle, thanks to a gifted surgeon, but Elaina had left her mark on her teacher. A mark Karina wouldn't ever forget.
Elaina sighed and turned away, lifting her hand to massage her forehead.
"You're running out of time here, Ms. Tutor. Your contract is almost up and I'm waiting for that diploma, which I can't get if you don't put me before a final exam."
"Oh, your final exam is coming," she replied with a sharp seriousness to her words, "but, you're right, I need to prove to our audience that you are ready to take that test." Karina motioned to the small group of observers who stood on the far end of the patio, watching the proceedings with quiet stoicism. Among them was Dominic.
Elaina did her best not to follow Karina's outstretched hand. If she did, she might catch Dominic's eye, and she didn't need that hurdle added to her trial with Karina. The illusionist may have had better control over her emotions, but the thought of her night in his arms, feeling his warmth and kindness despite baring her terrifying secret before him, often caused her to lose some sense of reason. She didn't think that fault should affect her graduation to the Society of Trusted Gifted, or whatever the hell Dom called his team of rogues, but she also didn't want to give them any reason to doubt her.
So instead, she focused her attention on the real obstacle at hand.
"So, do something," said Elaina as she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.
In return, Karina's jaw clenched, and her eyes wavered. She turned her head; the light bouncing off her skin, catching it just right so the pale, pink line of her scar gleamed. This sat an inch or two above the flattened expanse of her broken nose, where her skin had ruptured because of the repeated pounding it took when Karina attempted to crack her head open and unleash the self-loathing and sorrow that Elaina had infected her with.
