Chapter 4

“Korii? No, but she’s…” Acacia blurted out. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Korii was an Electric Elemental and a Telekinetic. She could definitely have used her telekinesis to lift herself up, float away and also use some of it power to push open the door. But what would she be doing in the Dusters resting-room anyway?

            Acacia rubbed her forehead, like it could dig out the answer for her. Korii would never hurt her friends—but if whoever was in the resting-room threw a ball of electricity and made it explode in front of Acacia. And yet, whoever-it-was also saved Acacia by blasting the cupboard to smithereens before it hit her.

            Annice was a suspect too, but she had the Tail Superability, which was why she wasn’t counted as her genetics weren’t primed for her to have three abilities, so she only had the Tail Superability and her Electric Elemenability.

            Plus, she had actually gone to her dorm room—and she didn’t lie or fake like Acacia and Claris. And they were best friends.

            Well…she had quite a few things to ask Korii the next day.

            Estrella sighed. “Whoever it was doesn’t really matter, does it? You can just tell the principal or somebody tomorrow and they’ll find out for you,” she pointed out. Acacia chewed her lip. As much as she wanted to find out who it was that saved her and nearly trapped her, she couldn’t tell anyone, much less the principal or a teacher.

            If she did that, she would have to admit that she was sneaking around after curfew, which was against the school rules under the penalty of year-long detention. She was on her own. Clearly not sharing Acacia’s uncertainty—or picking up on it—Estrella clapped her hands.

            “As exciting as your midnight adventure is, I’ve been dying to tell you about this,” Estrella let the words hang, dragging her suspense until Acacia gave up thinking about who Whoever-it-was could be and asked, “What?”

            “I got asked out by Hester!” Estrella squealed, jumping up and down on her bed.

            “I’m . . . drawing a blank,” Acacia didn’t exactly know what to else to say. She wasn’t a very social person and usually kept to herself, so she didn’t know a lot of popular people, being out of the gossip ring and all.

            Plus, this wasn’t the first time Estrella was asked out by a boy. She was naturally pretty, with her long black hair and slim figure, and her personality was A OK for dating and all. But the five other boys she’d broke up with before had… complications.

            “Do you know Cai Ling from Orange House?” Estrella basically squeaked.

            “Cai Ling from Diamond Town?” Acacia remembered. Cai Ling was in her Potions and Ability-Making Classes.

            “Yeah! Hester’s her roommate!” Estrella grinned wickedly.

            “Err…cool?”

            “Awesome!” Estrella practically sang, pumping her fist in the air. “Cai Ling always has more boyfriends than me, so if I get Hester, her roommate—which is a bonus, really—we’ll be tied.” Only Estrella would find a way to compare boyfriends.

            Just then, there was a knock on the door. “May I know why it’s so noisy in there!” A teacher’s voice echoed around the room. Estrella immediately stopped whooping. Once the girls heard the teacher’s footsteps start to click-clack away down the hallway, they both let out a breath.

            Acacia went to her bookshelf to dig for books to read. Reading was quieter than talking, and sometimes it calmed her down. She needed some peace and quiet after tonight.

            Estrella kept sighing loudly behind her every few seconds, so Acacia switched to finding the heaviest book in her shelf to fling at her roommate’s head. “Will you stop sighing every few seconds?” Acacia complained.

            “He’s just so handsome! Acacia, you’ll be drooling for the rest of the week if I tell you what he looks like!” Estrella exclaimed, throwing her pillow in the air. “He is also sweet, and protective, and awesomely loyal, and—OWCH!” Estrella rubbed her shoulder where Acacia had flung a book at.

            “What was that for?” she whined, massaging her arm. “You’re lucky I have bad aim, or the book would have hit your head,” Acacia teased.

            She picked up the book she’d flung at Estrella’s shoulder. On the front of the thick leather book, it said in big bold letters, DYIAN HISTORY. Seemed interesting. It was good at silencing overexcited people too.

            Estrella folded her arms, jutting out her lip at an attempt at a sulky face. “You look ridiculous,” Acacia commented as she made her way back to her bed.

            “Can’t blame a girl for trying.” Estrella hopped onto Acacia’s bed to peek at what she was reading. “Wow, you reading history? I thought you hated that subject,” she said over Acacia’s shoulder.

            “I still do. I’m just preparing for the history field trip tomorrow. Based on what I know about him, Mr Claus—my History teacher—is probably going a to give a surprise pop quiz now and then, so I’m revising,” Acacia stuck her nose into the book, angling it away from Estrella’s line of sight.

            “Hey!” she complained playfully. They spent the next few minutes turning around and tackling each other to see the book. In the end, they both flopped onto Acacia’s bed laughing joyfully.

           Estrella’s iCom on the nightstand buzzed loudly, making both girls jump. “Who is it?” Acacia grumbled, sitting up on her bed. Estrella picked up her iCom and checked the chatgroups for messages. Acacia decided to pay her back by peeking over her shoulder.

           Estrella had millions of contacts, but the contact she zeroed in on was Hester Drews. “Ooh, someone has a crush!” Acacia teased Estrella. Estrella blushed and turned away.

           There was a message from Hester. He had typed: Super Salads Restaurant on Saturday night, you in? Estrella squealed delightedly, immediately replying to his message.

           Of course! Don’t be late! ^o^

           “Aww…that’s so sweet!” Acacia exclaimed. Estrella nudged her with her elbow. Acacia grinned, crossing over onto her own bed to read her book.

           “Hey, it says here that the Magic War lasted for eight years,” Acacia told Estrella. The Magic War was a great war of all the beings in Dyia—Magipeople, Elves, Aerials, Theodores, Sirens, Seaghosts, Mermaids and Ultraniums—and each species had fights going on in within their cities among their own people.

           Estrella was too busy looking at her iCom to hear. “What’re you looking at?” Acacia asked, poking Estrella.
           “Check your iCom right now,” Estrella ordered her. Acacia dug out her iCom from her satchel, switching it on. “Which com—” Acacia started to ask, but Estrella interrupted her. “Check the School e-Paper.”

           Acacia pressed the School e-Paper comapp and scrolled down to check the latest news update. Before that when she checked it in the cafeteria, it wasn’t updated yet. But now, the new update took up her entire screen. In big, red, bold letters, the words looked ominous and scary, but that wasn’t the part that got most of her attention.

          Estrella and Acacia stared at their tiny screens, slow smiles spreading across their faces. Acacia’s worries evaporated, overtaken by a huge surge of elation. The latest news update was:

                                                                                                                                                                                                          ALL STUDENTS FROM AGES 10-11 WHO WANT TO GO ON THE HISTORY FIELD TRIP ARE TO BE AT THE SCHOOL GATES BY 0700. THE LATE WILL NOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR.