Lewis was watching from the shadows, smiling. His work here was done.

Are you proud of yourself? he heard Simone ask him.

“Of course I am,” he replied, disappearing into the shadows.

—

True Self

Spellcrafting was an unusual course that very few in the finishing school were allowed to attend. It had less to do with anyone’s knowledge level or year, and everything to do with practical talent with mana. If anyone, of any year or age showed an aptitude towards magic, they were automatically enrolled in the course.

Control was everything, and they couldn’t have students accidentally blasting each other with magic, now could they?

Janus and Lila, despite their insane talent, were no exception to this rule. So while little Timmy was receiving the utmost attention while he tried his hardest to control a small, flickering flame, the Terrowin twins were messing around with high level magic. It was easy for them to manipulate mana, and even easier to be flashy about it.

“This is easy enough,” Janus said as he held out his hand and formed a ball of shadows. “I always wondered how Dad was so sneaky…” Of course, he wasn’t going to let on that he could do so much more with the darkness. Not yet, at least. He still wanted the ability to prank the student body.

“What are you trying to do, Lila?” he asked with a big smile on his face.

Lila was playing around with fire. She danced elegantly around as pillars of flames shot up. The students were watching and clapping. She had learned from watching Ezili how to dance but not even Ezili could pull the stunts that she was doing. Lila flipped herself around the flames like one would around a pole. It was amazing.

Neomi wasn’t as advanced as the Terrowin terrors but she was showing off gentle earth magic. She was focusing on a potted plant and making it grow. Nothing flashy but it was elegant in its own way.

Myrri was worrying about safety as he chase after Lila around the building. “Lila! The flames are too high! What about if you catch the building on fire.”

Lila stopped as she started to laugh. “Myrri… I’m fine see? And the building is fine. I live and breathe by fire.” She was a phoenix after all. The fire was second nature to both of the twins. However, while she was distracted by Myrri there was a student behind them.

“WATCH WHAT I CAN DO,” the student yelled as he whipped out some fast magic. Lightning struck Lila and she avoided the main bunch of it. She was hit by the off branch of the lightning. Lila lay on the ground motionless. Completely disconnected from the resonance with Janus.

“LILA!?” Janus dropped everything and ran to his sister’s side, shaking her. “Lila?” His eyes seemed to glaze over. “Wake up Lila…you need to get up.”

Myrri ran to her side as well, trying to check for her pulse. “I can’t-”

“Don’t touch her,” Janus’ eyes flickered azure blue, and he effortlessly threw Myrri to the side. He stood up and looked to see the kid who had thrown the stray bolt of lightning. The corners of the room seemed to grow darker as the shadows came to life. Those closest to Lila seemed to surround her, cradling her to protect her from further harm. The others, though, slithered their way towards the one student. Before anyone could figure out what was going on, the tendrils lashed out and grabbed the kid, lifting him off the ground.

His eyes were a full, beautiful azure blue. In any other circumstance, it would have been pretty, but standing there now, his eyes were hollow.

Janus stepped forward, reaching his hand out. No one was quite sure where the dagger came from, but it was pointed at the other boy’s neck. “Die.” He pushed the dagger forward.

Neomi was up fast as she ran over to Janus. She put her arms around his waist, “Don’t… Janus!” The azure blue was something beautiful that she had never seen before. However, what she didn’t expect was the surrounding room overflowing with magic. There was a flash as Xeik appeared pushing the kid who did the lightning back and he caught the dagger with his fingers.

Lewis appeared on the other side while he grabbed Janus’s hand from being able to grab another. “Janus,” Lewis’s words came out. “Back down.” Janus struggled more instead of answering Lewis. He was actually making ground against everyone trying to hold him back.

“Sorry Janus,” Xeik knocked him out effortlessly. “My priority is Lila.”

Simone was cradling Lila in her arms. It was clear where the lightning had hit her from all the marks on her body. “Myrri… We need to move her. You know where the infirmary is. Myrri!” Simone snapped Myrri out of whatever daze he had been in.

Under normal circumstances, someone would have died just now but Xeik had been able to keep Lila stable from where he was.

“How… How did you all know?” Neomi had tears in her eyes as she looked at her best friend being taken away to the infirmary.

“Questions later,” Lewis said as he hoisted his son up. “Get that kid out of here before I have a go at him.” He was furious as well, but he was more focused on his children.

Lila was put in the infirmary with Xeik now working at full speed with magic. Thanks to the natural abilities of a phoenix he was able to save Lila.

“No,” Xeik said as he seemed to read Lewis’ mind before the ex-assassin could say anything. “You can’t kill the kid.”

Lewis gave a disappointed glare, but he knew that Xeik was right. It had been almost an hour since the whole event had happened. Everything had happened so quickly, and no had the ability to really unravel what all had transpired without some time. The best that Xeik could piece together was that a stray, high level spell had hit Lila and stopped her heart. It completely shorted out Janus’ resonance, and the kid went berserk.

Xeik had a running theory that neither Lewis nor Simone could really die. First and foremost, both were phoenixes that could, at least in theory, infinitely rebirth themselves should anything happen. But, with the resonance, Xeik held onto another idea. He had always theorized that if one of them had died, the other’s soul would simply migrate through the resonance and inhabit the other body. It was not unheard of for two souls to inhabit one body.

He wondered if Lila’s soul had been temporarily housed in Janus’ body.

“She’s still not waking up,” Lewis said as he paced back and forth. “A finger. Can I take a finger?”

“Lewis, she’ll wake up. It’s not a matter of if…just a matter of when,” Xeik assured him. The thing he was more worried about was Janus. He hadn’t woken up either. The healer had not used a deadly spell, but it had required a lot of power to put the berserked Janus out. He wondered what kind of damage the boy might have sustained from the sheer explosion of magic, let alone the possibility of housing a second soul at such a young age.

“Go get Myrri,” Xeik said after a moment.

“What…that useless brat of yours who couldn’t protect her?” Lewis stormed up to Xeik, getting in his face. “Why would I ever trust that-”

“Lewis Terrowin,” Xeik said calmly. “I’m warning you-”

“Warning me the fuck what?” Lewis demanded.

Xeik calmly took a breath, and slammed his head into Lewis’, sending the ex-assassin to the ground.

“What the fuck, Xeik!?” he yelled, holding his head.

“Get it through that thick skull of yours,” the healer said as he knelt down. “No one could have prevented what happened. Even if you had been there, I doubt anything would have changed.”

“Shut up,” Lewis replied as Xeik helped him up. “Fine. I’ll go get your furball.”

“That’s better…”

Meanwhile, Simone was with the principal of the school. She had her arms crossed. It wasn’t a quiet match as they talked where the students could hear. “I’ll have this place demolished, burned to the ground… I will buy this whole damn school just to do it.”

“Mrs. Terrowin,” the principal was trying to calm her down. “We’re doing our best to figure out what went wrong.”

“Well, figure it out faster before I do it for you.” She was small compared to the principal but she had him backed into the corner. “You promised us that they would be safe here. We don’t take broken promises easily Mr. Hucksley. We don’t take our children being hurt lightly. You are lucky we arrived on the scene when we did or else my daughter would be dead.”

“We have already begun the investigation,” the principal was terrified of the mother but the father was also someone who terrified him even more. Right now the father was preoccupied so he at least had that going for him.

“What of the student who shot lightning at my daughter?” Simone snapped up at him.

“We are working towards removing him from the program immediately.”

“I want his parents’ names,” Simone shot back up at the man.

“You know for their safety I cannot give you that,” the principal tried to get Simone to back down about it.

“Fine,” Simone said as she realized that was the responsible thing to do. “I expected better professors from this place.” Sophia and Terra were behind Simone as they pulled her back. “Let me do this!” She struggled lightly with them.

“Simone, it was an accident. Let them do their jobs,” Sophia hugged the mother and Simone struggled lightly again but clearly wasn’t about to hurt either of her friends. “Simone… Go be with Lila.”

“We’re watching this school from now on. You might not see us but we will be watching,” Simone shouted at the principal as she stomped off.

“And she’ll do it too,” Terra said. The principal knew they needed to hurry up with their investigation. High level spells were forbidden in the classroom… The professor hadn’t been watching close enough.

Neomi was holding Janus’s hand, “Janus… I need you to wake up, please… Lila needs you.” She had tears in her eyes as she didn’t know what to do.

“He’ll wake up…” Simone came in and patted Neomi’s head.

“So… How did you know.”

“The wedding ring Lewis got me for our anniversary… It’s special and lets me know when one of the children is hurt. We were having brunch with Xeik when the accident happened. And it’s a good thing he was with us.” Simone showed Neomi her beautiful wedding band. “It’s very special to me. Allows me to keep track of all of our children. It lets me know which one is hurt and relative to where they are as well.”

Hey…

Hmm?

Are you okay?

Mhmm.

You scared me.

I’m sorry. I was scared too.

You can’t leave me alone.

I won’t.

Silence filled the resonance for a moment.

Hey Lila?

Yes?

What would you do if I almost killed someone?

Over me? I’m flattered…but you’re an idiot.

Janus smirked as he opened his eyes. He could feel Neomi’s hand over his, and he grabbed it, making a quick squeeze to show he was okay and awake. “I’m fine, Neomi…” He sat up carefully. He was feeling rather sore, but otherwise seemed unharmed. It took them little time to find Lila’s room, and all of them barreled in.

Myrri was already there, holding Lila’s hand. “Wake up soon…please?”

“She’s already awake,” Janus said, crossing his arms with a half smirk. “She was hoping you’d give her a princely kiss.”

“Over my dead body,” Lewis replied with a glare. “Get up Lila.”

Simone was holding Lila’s other hand during the entire situation. “She’s awake?” Looking over at Janus Simone was shocked.

Myrri had one foot in the grave with Lewis at this point. Simone had to remind Lewis that it wasn’t Myrri’s fault that Lila got hit.

“Boo,” Lila said as she woke up finally. She was clearly tired as she tried to move.

“Take it easy Lila… You got hit by lightning,” Xeik reminded her.

“Yeah, I gathered that from Janus,” Lila squeezed Myrri and Simone’s hands. “So how many people got killed over me getting hit? I need a death count.”

“No one but your father is still trying,” Simone smiled at her daughter.

“Do I have any cool scars?” Lila groaned up at her mother.

“Xeik said that you’ll have this lightning-like mark on your stomach up to your shoulder,” Simone said softly.

“Awesome, now I’ll look hot naked,” Lila laughed and Simone cuffed her upside the head.

“You are lucky to be alive,” Neomi said as she brought flowers in for her. “I brought you lilacs from the courtyard.”

Simone had an idea where her daughter was going with her naked comment, and blasted a white noise for a moment, pretending to sneeze, that caused both of them to wince while Lila said it. That meant Lewis missed the whole comment, and the whole room could avoid that catastrophe. Janus wasn’t stupid though, and gave Lila a look.

Really? In front of Dad? Do you want him to kill Myrri?

The thought was dropped, though, as Neomi gave Lila some lilacs.

“Aww, it’s like your name,” Myrri said with a smile. “Why didn’t I think of that?” A sudden look of horror came over his face. “Oh no, are you trying to steal Lila from me?”

“Calm down,” Lewis said with a roll of his eyes. “Lila isn’t going to drop you that easily.” It was strange coming from him, but he was right. “That’s why I have to find a way to get rid of you mys-”

“SO,” Janus interrupted. “How about we all try this great family restaurant in Nisshoki?” He was trying his hardest to change the subject. Even if he was initially the one who lost control…

The principal allowed the students to leave the campus if only because he was terrified of Simone if he said no. Lewis had made the moment that the silver was ready and he knew where the deed to the grounds was.

The Terrowin family and friends were all around the restaurant together. All chatting at their various hotpots.

“We got a full house!” Effie yelled. They hadn’t been this busy in a long time.

Lila had Myrri’s hand in hers as they lightly flirted at the table. Myrri was just glad that Lila was alright. Neomi had Janus’s hand. They were getting to know all of the Terrowin siblings.

Simone and Lewis had Camille who Lewis was hoisting up so she could add things into the hotpot. “Like this Daddy?”

“Yes, just like that,” he brought her back and kissed her cheek as her laughter filled the air. It was amazing she wasn’t all over Janus but usually she let him eat before she wandered over.

“Daddy,” Camille faced her father on his lap.

“Yes, Camille?”

“Why are you in a bad mood?” Everything in the room came to a stop as everyone looked at the Terrowin Father.

“I’m not in a bad mood,” Lewis corrected her.

“You need to smile more,” Camille brought her hands up and made Lewis’s face twist to a smile. “See?” There was nervous laughter. Lewis’s lip was twitching into a smile. “See! It’s not so hard Daddy!”

“Thanks, Camille,” he kissed her again before she picked up more carrots and was hoisted back over the hotpot.

“Are you just adding things into the pot now?” Simone looked at Camille with skepticism.

“It’s so much fun!”

“You are going to eat this right?”

“Yeah, it’s not blueberries.” The little girl stuck out her tongue as she thought about it. “Gross berries.”

Thanks to Camille the energy picked back up. Even Alshaya and Llonan were there sitting with Lucas and Ezili. Ezili and Lucas had their son with them who was having just as much fun with their hotpot.