The morning's events had rattled Joey, but spending time just hanging out with other students and eating pizza was simple and familiar enough that Joey almost felt normal. The fact that he could sense the feelings of the people around him, though, reminded him that things were not actually normal. When he checked his phone, he found a number of worried texts from his family, which he hurried to respond to to assure them he was alright.

As he and the others walked into the lobby, Joey whistled. The hotel was an impressive place, and the fact the school had gotten all the students rooms so quickly was even more impressive. It certainly wasn't the kind of place he expected to find a weirdly dressed bunch of people arguing with the manager. Joey winced at the volume, and at the negative emotions he picked up from them.

He would've just made an offhand comment about the blue-haired man and simply moved on, but the unexpected fear Joey sensed made him reconsider. "You know," he said, "I thought about dying my hair, but my parents weren't big fans. If I'd asked to dye my hair that shade of blue, they would've had a fit." Casually, he moved a little closer to the blue-haired man and the rest of his group, trying to listen in on what they were saying. "What do you think all the fuss is about?"

Glancing with little interest at Damian’s arm, Evelyn’s eyebrows arched as she shrugged. “You should be fine. I’ve never heard of a venomous gnome.”

“Junior Grayson’s is probably right, there are probably more of them holed up somewhere underground,” mused Adi aloud.

“But why are they shaking things up, and why now?” asked Evelyn “It makes no sense.”

“I’ll look into this further,” replied Adi as they walked out of the classroom. “You two should head to the hotel with the rest of the students – and Damian – Make sure you get that arm sterilized and bandaged.”

----------------------------------

Fiona dragged both girls into the room before they were spotted. She had never been in such a situation before, and she didn’t want to get in trouble…and yet, the curiosity of trying a few shots seemed to draw her. She looked over at Lotus with a shrug.

“I’ll do one, if you do?” she said more like a question than a statement. Chantelle had no qualms with drinking, though as the eldest she would keep most of her wits about her to make sure that none of the other girls hurt themselves. Meanwhile, Sangeeta raised her hand shyly, turning down her offer, but ready to sing another round of “Bollywood Bangers”

----------------------------

“What do you mean there are no rooms available!” exclaimed one of the men in the group at the front desk worker. “Is this not a palace?! It says it on all the signs!” He yelled while pointing at various flyers and the sign on the wall behind the front desk. To note, Joey found their accents quite foreign – seeming almost British.

“I’m sorry sir” replied the worker, clearly unimpressed “We received a sudden influx of guests this afternoon due to the earthquake earlier today.”

“Do you know who I am?!” replied the man. The woman accompanying him touched the man’s shoulder lightly to settle him down and then leaned forward, whispering something into the concierge’s ears. Immediately the body language of the worker changed, his voice even sounding much more enthusiastic.

“Of course, my lady, your rooms will be readied at once. Follow me to the lounge” He stepped out from behind the desk, the oddly dressed family leaving the area. It was a notable and distinct change in character that the group had witnessed. Sam looked at Joey with a questioning expression and then shrugged. Joey on the other hand, felt something strange that he could not quite explain. It felt almost like a brief electric shock had filled the air and flooded his senses for a moment before disappearing.

----------------------------------------------

Without Adi, Evelyn and Damian walked in an awkward silence back to the hotel. Granted, she could have just flown back by herself, but she felt a small sense of kinship with Damian. They were in the same year and they were both Spiritorum disciples. Old Evelyn would have just left their commonalities at that, but new Evelyn knew she had to get to know her peers a bit better.

“So…” she began a bit awkwardly “Your arm alright?” Evelyn hated small talk like this.

OOC: My work thing has drained the life out of me…so sorry.

Facing away from her and idly rubbing his arm around the bite, he muttered with a discontented tone. "Doesn't mean they don't exist." Now settling for holding his arm behind his back, he grimaced at Adi's agreement, mostly from suddenly imagining a multitude of them. He maintained a raised eyebrow of interest asvthey spoke and nodded quickly to Adi. "Sterilize, got it." Not actually practiced in doing so, he didn't concern himself with it yet. There was a far greater challenge ahead anyways, talking to Evelyn.

It wasn't going very well. Granted, Damian had a healthy dose of respect for Evelyn as another Spiritorum and really one more experienced than he was. He also found her mildly amusing in a challenging conversational way but no words came to him. Hearing speech come from Evelyn first was a surprise, the exact words were stranger still. With some effort, he reduced a potential chuckle to a mere smirk he kept out of her view. "Oh y'know, stings, burns, but not too bad. Say, speaking of arms, I don't remember you ever lifting," emphasizing the last word, he gestured an imitation of her carrying him through the window.

Lotus let out a sigh as the two were quickly accepted into the party. Then she began to ponder the thought of having a drink. She hadn't had one before but that's what all the popular kids do right? But under aged drinking could get her in some serious trouble. Lotus pondered the thought for a bit.

"I'll have some." She said as she waited for Id and the others.

---

Id was quickly pouring drinks.
"Have no fear I brought a little bit of every thing. So what'll it be ladies? I got everything from the purist of Vodka to Champagne." Idelia popped the cork on the Champagne to add emphasis. The cork quickly flew into one of the overhead lights. Breaking it with a loud crash. "OH and Tsubaki, I brought something specially for you. Here's some Sake, and none of the bottom shelf junk."

This girl again? What were the chances she'd meet her again while be in an awkward situation with a door for another time? Unless it was her room? She did seem to have a card for it, but the person on the other side didn't seem particularly excited to see her, rather she aggressively pulled both the older girl and Antilita inside the room with a bit of shock and fear.

Hold on, Antilita recognized most of the people here as Archive Club Members. Maybe they all were and just missed the first meeting? Other Omnivident gave her sort of a tingle, as did spirits and other supernatural forces, and one of the new girls gave off that sense, though the other didn't. She didn't bring it up as Id started pouring out drinks for the group.

"Uh, I'll have a bit of champagne. I'm allowed to have a glass on special occasions." She paused for a second to think of a special occasion that was happening today. "And I mean 4 people are born every second so..."

---

Fears confirmed, Id kicked the door in and welcomed herself into the room, proclaiming she had alcohol with her; as though she needed to do so. But it was interesting to see the new girl in her company, it wasn't the first time she saw the two together today. It was good if Id had made a friend, but remembering Derrek she wasn't really sure if she was fond of the people Id made friends with.

When Sangeeta and, afterwards she herself were offered something to drink she reinforced her friend's statement. "No thank you Id. I don't drink." Then under her breath she added. "And I don't really think anyone else here should either." Wincing at the broken light. She was pretty sure this idea was going to go pair shaped and she'd have to clean up the mess, but no one else in the Archive Club or even Chantelle seemed to care and all joined Id in her endeavors.

Evelyn was silent for a few minutes as she ruminated over what to say next. It was quite true that she had never done that before. All this time she had spent training her primary soul of light, she forgot to work on the development of her secondary soul of flight. It was definitely something she should have learned to do much sooner. Even Damian had surpassed her in the training of his secondary soul.

“Yeah,” she said, the tone of her voice hinting at excitement with what she had accomplished “I’ve never done that before” She looked at her hands almost incredulously “I believe it works similar to how you learned to make groups invisible. I’m able to ‘share’ my ability to fly as long as I maintain contact with whoever is flying with me.” She shrugged, acting as if she didn’t really care to know, but she knew she couldn’t wait to tell Logan and Maximilian over Skype.

Eventually the two reached the hotel, but they could immediately sense a foreign energy lingering about them in the lobby. It was clear that whatever the source of energy, it was now gone, but it was enough to keep them on edge. It was similar to what they had felt in the school, but somehow different.

“Not today, Damian” she said without prompting, but she knew what he would want to do. She pointed to his arm “Get some rest and we can let the others know tomorrow.” Evelyn was in no shape to investigate any further. Using her newfound abilities had drained her substantially, and if there was something that might threaten them, she wouldn’t be able to protect them both. If she had learned anything from her last year, it was to choose her battles wisely.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quite obviously, Fiona was a lightweight and quickly devolved into a giggling mass as she downed her drink at an alarming rate for one unaccustomed to alcohol.

“This is so much fun!!” she exclaimed a little too loudly. She grabbed Lotus by her arms and hugged her tightly “I’m so glad we’re best friends! You’re the best! I’d save the world with you any time!”

Sangeetha glanced at Tsubaki with a mildly worried expression. Clearly the girl had gotten quite drunk very fast. Chantelle smoothly slid the drink out from Fiona’s hand and poured in down the sink before replacing it with water from the sink.

The door creaked open as two heads popped into the room curiously. Stan and Adam entered the room with broad smiles as soon as they saw the alcohol being poured.

“So this is where the party’s at!” exclaimed Stan with a devilish smile.

“Woah, check out Fiona!” laughed Adam as she danced – poorly – to the karaoke music that was playing.

It was probably the alcohol talking at this point but hanging out with these people that were annoying her just a bit ago was actually starting to feel okay. Some of them were even good singers when not heard through a wall. Tilly had completely giving up on her quest to quell the rabble and instead just chilled on the bed, pointing out the occasional off pitch note. Not that she'd be able to do better.

Then, suddenly and inexplicably, two boys barged into the room. Antilita's face flushed red immediately. Other than her shoes that she had kicked off she was still quite clothed, but the same could not be said of all the girls in the room, most of which were in varying nightwear of various modesties.It was just indecent. The small girl unsteadily slithered from her seat, and quite unceremoniously threw one of the young men over her shoulder.

"You can't just come into a girl's room you perverts!" She said a bit too loudy. "It's indecent! It's immoral! And it's uh.. And it's uh.. It's perverted! Pervert." And she punctuated her sentence by just as unceremoniously dropping the boy in the hallway just past the door, before spinning around and giving the other a glare and popping her neck.

---

A lot of things were happening and all of them too fast. Tsubaki could explain away Id's intrusion as Id being Id. That girl could find a way to the other side of the veil and back in one piece if she thought it could cause trouble for someone else, but some other students, boys even, now she wasn't comfortable with that. Not with people getting drunk. Not with people thoughtlessly using their powers while drunk. What was supposed to be a relaxing hang out after a rough day was turning south quick and it would probably be up to her to salvage what she could and minimize the trouble that would no doubt follow.

"Sorry Sangeeta, I didn't expect the party to turn into all this." Making a motion mostly at Id but tactfully elsewhere as to not get caught onto. "I think it's probably best if you head back to the room before hotel staff or a teacher shows up, I know you can't afford to be caught up in underage drinking scandal even by proxy. I'll follow soon, I just want to try to make sure the others won't get into a bigger mess than they otherwise could."

She hoped Sangeeta would get out quickly and though she didn't like Antilita literally throwing people out, if it caused them to leave quickly too then so be it. She'd almost certainly need to use her own powers to help clean things up, and normies would interfere with that.

Damian's arms remained in that gesture longer than he really cared for. When it became clear he wasn't going to get any immediate response, he slowly and subtly maneuvered them back into a regular walking swing. On the verge of opening his mouth for another less hopeful attempt at conversation, his expression froze when Evelyn started speaking. With interest piqued and anticipation of some kind of excitement coming from Evelyn, Damian nodded with a growing smile only to let it die when she shrugged casually. Staring into the distance for a moment, he shrugged as well. "Yeah, totally, you're probably right."

Damian felt a mixture of relief and failure when he reached the hotel. On one hand, it still ended up a mostly quiet walk. On the other, she seemed excited about something even for a few seconds. Upon entering the lobby, a feeling of unease joined those present within him. As tired as he was, his body still tensed at the knowledge something similar might have been here and outright flinched when Evelyn shut him down before he could begin to climb aboard any train of thought. He examined his arm with a frown before crossing both. "You don't even know what I was gonna say. I'm tired too. I'm not that trigger happy to investigate," he lied and grit his teeth. "Well goodnight I guess, don't let the gnomes bite," he yawned out before half-heartedly waving and making his way to his room. Of course, he kept his senses peeled as well as he could and looked over anyone he saw more cautiously.

Lotus had fallen asleep at this point in the party. After having some drinks, getting a slight buzz, and the rest of the party's activities she was exhausted. She went to sleep despite all singing and chatting going on in the room.
She awoke to Fiona quickly grabbing her and smushing her. Lotus flinched as Fiona yelled in her ears. Lotus sleepily hugged Fiona back.

"Ya... I think saving the world once is good enough for me."

It was then that the boys entered the room. Lotus, still in her pajamas and her hair still a mess, quickly covered herself in a nearby blanket. She watched the weird girl react and use her powers in front of everyone.
"Um... can you guys please leave and learn to knock before entering?" Lotus said gesturing to the door.

---
Id was getting enjoyment in making the others get drunk and letting themselves have some general fun.
When Tsubaki declined Id's offer she stared at the small girl for a brief moment before shrugging and throwing the bottle of sake at the wall.

"It's ok it tastes terrible anyway."
Id continued acting as a bartender for the others pouring and mixing drinks. Soon Stan and Adam entered the room.

"Adam, Just the man I was looking for!" Id stood and approached the boy. She leaned one arm on his shoulder as she continued. "I ordered a pizza a while back and your family hasn't delivered it yet... Would you go check on it for me? There's some cash in it for you if you can get it here quickly." To further emphasize the cash she pulled out the wad of money she got from scamming the new first years.
As Tilly passed Id with Stan in her arms, Id began again "So I believe that's your queue, See ya later Little Sullivan."
Id shoved Adam through the door before closing and locking the door. She then turned around and pulled out her phone and called Antonio's Pizzeria.
"Ah, yes. I'll take 2 large pizzas. One with pepperoni and Pineapple, and one with ham and pineapple.... Yes that's all.... Ok bye." She hung up the phone before looking at the others. "What don't like pineapple on pizza? Tough I'm the one paying."

Stan was quite easily manhandled by Antilita and sat mildly shocked in the hall at what had transpired. Clearly, he needed to do more lifting if such a small girl was able to rough house him. He definitely had to figure out what protein shake she was drinking. Likewise, Adam did not want to mess with the tiny titan – where had she come from again – and did not resist as he was pushed out by Id. It also helped that he did not want to be around Id. she scared him. It was a shame the party was over so soon.

Sangeeta walked out promptly, wrapped in a robe, and stared disapprovingly at the boys as they reoriented themselves and quickly got out of the girl’s way. She had truly mastered the “mom stare” despite not being one herself, then again, it helped that she had siblings that she sometimes had to keep in line. With a slight smile, she returned to her room, expecting Tsubaki to help the other girls settle in for the night. She was glad she got to meet some of the Archive Club members – but they sure were weird.

Amidst the chaos, Fiona had leaned back and fallen asleep without even realizing it herself. Her snoring was quite pronounced as one arm drooped off of her bed. It was a good thing the others had left, for she was slightly floating over her mattress in her drunken slumber. Chantelle, seemingly unchanged and unbothered by what had transpired, placed a blanket over Fiona’s body and its weight brought her back to a peaceful rest on the mattress’ surface.

“Perhaps we should help clean up and head to bed” suggested Chantelle as she looked over at Lotus and Fiona – the hosts of their party.

------------------------------------------------------------------

As Damian walked to his room, his elbow bumped into a boy with brilliant blue hair. There was a brief jolt as they touched as they both received a static shock from each other.

“Woah! Sorry bro!” said the young man as he quickly walked down the hall, not waiting for a response. He seemed to be in a hurry. Damian noticed that he could sense that odd sense that he had felt down in the lobby before. He recalled what Evelyn said earlier.

---------------------------

OOC: SUPER TIRED OMG

With everyone leaving or falling asleep Antilita returned to the room with a disappointed look on her face. "Pfffft. You guys suck ya bunch of light-weights. Lets keep this thing going all night!"

She moved to go shake on of the sleeping girls awake but tripped over her own feet and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Tsubaki promptly rushed over to see if she was alright only to find her lightly snoring. Checking her pockets she found her room card, so she put her arms around her to drag her next doors. Glancing up at Chantelle she said to the room, "I'll be right back to clean up all the mess. I assume anyone still around when I get back is going to help out."

She assumed Antilita would have been heavier since she was so strong, but she was incredibly light. All the club members where still children but at this time Antilita struck Tsubaki as especially so. She opened the door ready to answer "Poor dear threw a tantrum and wore herself out, y'know the usual" hoping that it was the usual for her roommate too, though really she hoped the other girl would already be asleep and she wouldn't have to worry about it.

The enormous bed in Alice's grand suite was fortunately enough to hold the various scribbles and doodles she had made, each piece of stencil paper had been meant for an intensive strategic breakdown of what could have caused the quaking, she had even planned to do that thing where you stick them to the wall and draw gigantic lines between them to represent connections. Of course it is a known statement that nothing lasts forever, and some things like this plan last only for eighteen seconds before a spiritual pixie child draws a massive pingas through the initial brainstorming outline, sometimes it comes to be that the child's spiritual partner forgets what she was doing and begins to play and doodle with her charge and drink complimentary tea and eat two pounds of succulent ribs while the sermon from which Big Chungus originated blasts through a portable speaker dubbed "The Cowboy's Least Of Kamikaze Steeds." The best laid plans of mice and men are predetermined to go awry for the Artes de Totem practitioner, the spirit of wild majesty and the wild savagery of fanged youth were beautiful bedfellows and were still more wild in Alice's case, so the plan was not too tragic of a loss anyway.

Sipping her tea, Alice giggled and watched a compulsively false documentary of the previous semester's demonic incident, several security camera shots of herself in various degrees of visibility were featured and suspicions were abundant concerning her actual involvement with the incidents. However it was becoming difficult to hear the paranoia inducing mislabelling and eskewing of her character over the sounds of her pair of totems chattering intensely to each other in a strange language which she did speak, though it was similar to being in a state of deep attunement for her to fluently communicate in, especially with a caffeine buzz as intense as a hard drug.

She tossed her pillow at the two, it bounced from the Phoenix youngling's slowly diversifying coat of feathers and came to a stop inches from the fancy hearth which had been lit with kerosene and used for the purpose of an indoor weenie roast. The Phoenix turned to gaze upon Alice, and then so did the pixie. The teenager growled and said, "What are you two arguing about? Can't you be quiet after two hours of bickering -"

A loud notification sound rang from her school-issued laptop, the high-tech machine rang a cheery little tune that was custom set for a specific caller - her boyfriend, Lloyd. Her beautiful features lit up with excitement and she swept the computer into her hands while umming bemusedly. Phora happily trotted over to greet the young man alongside her master.

The visuals of his face and surrounding room filled the screen. "Llooooyd!" The two girls said together. "Hiii~! We miss you!" She was always doting on people, but obviously her boyfriend had priority. She blushed and smiled, very happy to see him.

The boy was always taken aback by their cheery demeanor, which he had come to appreciate and admire since last year's demon invasion. He then grinned and spoke. "I'm so glad you two are alright! I heard about the Earthquake and was worried sick. I can't imagine what would have caused it, was anyone hurt?" He asked.

Alice shook her head. "Nope! We pulled everyone out of the s****, no injuries or casualties. Come to think of it... I was trying to figure out what might have caused it, but this little one distracted me!" She grabbed Phora and held her up to the webcam, and the pixie stuck her tongue out at them with a giggle.

"Oh, Phora!" Lloyd said. "You should take this seriously for once. It's not very keen to throw your master off like that. Someone could be hurt!"

Alice was still holding Phora, who spoke. "You know what -really- throws her off?" Her lip trembled slightly. "You're not even here! She told me you went all the way across the world. It's not fair, come back right away."

Alice looked surprised, then she looked a little shy, looking down and turning more red. "When will you come back?" She asked with a slight tremble.

Lloyd was next in line to blush and tremble. "I-I... I miss you as well... I regret being so far, let me find an excuse to spend some time with you two, the Omnivident here think I'm an awesome superhero so I'm sure I'll find a good spot."

Alice and Phora squeeled in delight, and they chatted excitedly for a large portion of the night, eventually the beautiful blonde began to doze off, but she didn't worry about turning off the call, so Lloyd spent a while gazing upon his lover and partner's tantalizing form as she slept like an angel, and Phora quietly mulled about until she also fell asleep.

----------

Daniel gulped with grief as they began to open the door to the Mystorium. "I was so proud that she stood so nobily in her final moments... I took her for granted and it was an honor to be her student, in hindsight... I wonder... How is that salamander faring without her?" He sniffled a bit. "Let's go see what we came here for..." The teen stepped through the door

Damian had seen the boy coming even with his gaze downcast and his eyes feeling heavier. Though trying to be subtle, he focused a great deal on it through his peripheral vision. So focused on the hair was he that Damian hadn't noticed he was straying into the boy's path. The bump was fairly bothersome thanks to the actual jolt from the shock stirring his adrenaline slightly. Letting loose a grunt, he came to a halt and rubbed the arm in question in annoyance. "You're excused I gue..." Trailing off, he stared long and intensely behind him as the boy rushed down the hall. With narrowed eyes and a dilemma on his mind, Damian sighed. The young man closed his eyes as he tried to linger on the sense only to suddenly force himself out of it and walk to his room. "I can't believe I'm listening, todays opportunity, tomorrows crapfest," he grumbled as he opened the door to his room, groaning in frustration. "Now where the hell do I find First Aid?" He yawned out.

Lotus didn't wait for long. She pushed the others hastily out of the room before closing and locking the door. She then retreated to her bed for a peaceful nights sleep.

---
Id watched everyone begin moving around before Chantelle adressed everyone. Id couldn't help but let out a hardy laugh.

"Clean? There are literally people that get paid to clean these rooms. I'm headed home... or maybe the store to buy and airhorn for tomorrow morning."

Miss Rachel was melancholic as they walked through the vacant Mystorium. The teacher empathized with Daniel, only imagining what he was feeling as they walked through the abandoned shop. He had spent so much time with Ms. Ignianus learning what he could from the kooky old crone, and now, she was just, gone.

The Mystorium was dusty and riddled with cobwebs, a number of wares remained untended to on shelves. She made a mental note to have The Order sweep by to ensure that nothing dangerous had been left behind. They went behind the counter, where the woman had often kept her cauldron. Although it was quite dark, there was a faint light coming from beneath the largest cauldron. Miss Rachel got on her hands and knees to get a closer look; there, she found Ardor curled up, his once golden skin now a dull brown with a slight red hue underneath.

She looked up at Daniel with an expression of concern.

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Autumn, Saturday 08:00

The members of the Arclight Archive Club found themselves were all gathered around a table in Tea Tyme at quite an early hour for a Saturday. For some, it was a particularly rough morning as they massaged their heads and wore sunglasses as they dealt with minor hangovers from the day before. The fresh scent of lavender and brewed coffee filled the air as Harry Kline served the group an assortment of specialty drinks and freshly baked goods.

Evelyn always found herself at peace while in this café, the flowers and vines that hugged the walls had been grown by her sister herself. It reminded her of her sister’s comforting presence and the rest of her family, even if they were so very far away. She had spoken to both Logan and Max the night before, telling them of the new development of her own abilities. There was even word that Max was working on convincing his father to send him back to Arclight Academy.

Fiona wore a pair of sunglasses despite being indoors. She cringed at every sharp noise that could be heard in the café, very much regretting her decision to imbibe so liberally the night before. She was fortunate that she was no longer feeling as nauseous as she had earlier in the day. She glanced sideways at Daniel, wondering if there was a spell to cure hangovers.

Adi sat at one end of the table. He had spent much of the night researching what he could about The Fey. He avoided meeting Li’s eyes as he tried to read Miss Rachel, who as usual, seemed to be hiding something as she sat at the head of the table. He crossed his arms as he waited for the meeting to begin.

Li sat to Miss Rachel’s right; his thoughts were a bit too chaotic to be aware of the group sitting before him now. Had he been himself, he would have noticed that a few of his juniors were hungover from the night before. He fidgeted slightly as he noted that Adi had not sat beside him. He was also quite tired from having stayed up all night recalling what he had said the day before. Had he been right to react the way he did? He needed to make things right with his boyfriend.

As the kids finished their breakfast, Miss Rachel caught Harry’s eye and nodded her head curtly. The man nodded in return and casually walked over to the store sign, flipping it over to close so the group would have some privacy.

“Alright,” she said clearly to indicate that the meeting had begun “Let us begin, Adi?” she turned her attention to the young man. Her powers still waned, but she was slightly regaining her knack of knowing things. Adi, however, was not caught off guard, for this is what he now came to expect from the woman.

“Juniors St. Augustine and Grayson accompanied me yesterday to discern the source of that unnatural earthquake” he began “We were able to discover that the source was likely caused by Faekind”

“In particular, gnomes” added Evelyn.

“Gnomes?” asked Fiona, suddenly perking up from her suffering “As in, the garden variety?”

“Not quite” replied Miss Rachel with a chuckle “Gnomes are just one of the various beings of the Fae. That is, a race of beings that are typically quite elusive and rare on Earth. Phora and Sorbet are faekind, for example.” She said while indicating to the two totems.

“But, if they are so elusive and rare, why would they cause an earthquake now?” asked Li, joining the discussion.

“Ah, yes” replied Miss Rachel “Daniel and I did some reconnaissance and gleaned a bit of information in this regard” she said while lifting the lid off the teapot that had been set before her. A salamander with orange skin with warm yellow undertones poked its head from the top. “I present to you, Ardor”

“A pleasure,” spoke the salamander in a warm deep voice.

“Ardor is also a member of faekind and he has offered some interesting information.”

“Indeed” spoke up Ardor “To note, Darren has seen an increase in ethereal energies since…” his voice faltered as his eyes clouded “- Since last spring. I have been slumbering throughout most of the summer, so I cannot say where in particular, but I know that the ether has become much more active in that time.”

“So that must be that strange energy that I’ve been sensing of late” mused Evelyn aloud.

“Does this put Darren at risk?” asked Adi.

“This I do not know, seer” replied Ardor “The ether is unpredictable in our world, this is why the totems rely on the power of their host. It tends to warp things unusually.”

“Which is why I decided to look into cases of strange events over the last three months” stated Miss Rachel. “Aside from the freak earthquake, there have been reports of missing shoes at Ephraim Elementary, a sudden blooming of all the cherry blossoms in Regina Community Park and a sudden shortage of sugar at the Super Grocery, Pastry Palace and Coffee Corp. Before I split you guys up, do you have any questions? Most of you have not faced a fae before.”