Anna

The warmth of the sun feels cold in comparison to Leo's torso pressed up against my back. "Like this" he says, his warm breath touching my ear. His hands firmly grasp my wrists and adjust them to the correct position. "Relax" he whispers, "Why are you so tense?" Leo releases his grip and stands in front of me. He looks me up and down with a mischievous grin as I glare at him.

"This position feels awkward" I admit as Leo bends down to adjust my legs.

"That's because you need to relax," he states plainly, "Do I make you uncomfortable? Would you prefer someone else teach you?"

"No, no" I shake my head, "Honestly I would prefer Mel, but she isn't here." I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm normally super comfortable around Leo. He puts me in choke holds all the time. So… why is my heart beating so fast?

"Of course you would" Leo mumbles barely loud enough for me to hear. "Anyway," he speaks louder while placing a dummy in front of me. "Try punching it."

I punch the dummy to the best of my abilities, but apparently it wasn't good enough. Sighing, he walks behind me again pressing his body even more than before. He gently places his la

rge hands around my tiny waist demonstrating how my body should move with the stance. I feel the heat rising to my cheeks once again. Is it the heat?

"Do you understand now?" Leo asks cutting me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, could you, um" I stutter, "repeat that...again."

Leo's laughter fills the summer air giving me life despite the draining humidity of the Southern Province. "When you punch with your right arm," he repeats, "you need to turn your body like this…" he demonstrates by tightly gripping my waist and turning it, "for more power."

"Okay, I think I understand," I say despite not feeling confident in the slightest.

"Good," Leo says before poking me in my side causing me to scream.

"Leo!" I yell as I chase him around the training grounds trying to get my revenge.

Leo laughs as he easily dodges my attacks. His curly blonde hair bounces perfectly as he runs circles around me trying to tickle me. His bright blue eyes are filled with joy, but quickly fades as his foot gets caught in a divot in the ground. Using the opportunity, I body slam him into the ground. He tries to laugh, but it comes out as more of a cough. Meanwhile, I can't stop laughing.

"Good to see your elixir strength has kicked in," Leo's voice comes out as little more than a whisper, "I don't remember you being able to body slam me." He turns his head towards mine so our eyes lock as we lay in the grass. A giant mischievous grin stretches across his face while I continue to laugh at my success.

I place my hand over my face to block the sun and look at Leo and smile. He's so annoying

Leo stares at Anna wide-eyed. "What?" Anna asks, getting a bit uncomfortable.

"Do that again," He commands.

"Do what?"

"You said I was annoying, but your mouth wasn't moving."

Derek walks over to us and asks, "Um why are you laying in the grass?"

"Why are you not laying in the grass?" Leo snaps back.

"Leo is going crazy" I say half joking.

"I heard you say something about me being annoying, but your mouth wasn't open."

"Did you say that?" Derek asks.

"No, I thought about it," I reply, "but I don't know how it happened

"Do exactly what you did when it happened" Derek instructs.

"Um ok," I say while laying back on the ground. I put my hand over my face as if I'm blocking the sun. I try to focus my thoughts specifically to Derek and Leo. "Leo is annoying," I try to project. Derek and Leo's eyes grow wide as they look at each other.

"Say something else!" Derek says, eager to test out how my power works.

"Um… testing 1, 2, 3," Anna thinks to herself.

Derek and Leo look to each other with widened eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait" Derek says waving his hands in the air, "Your elixir power is telepathy?"

"I guess?" I shrug my shoulders.

Leo extends his hand to me, helping me off the ground. "Try doing the same motion with your hand but hold it."

"Okay…" I put two fingers to my forehead and tried focusing my thoughts on them, "Helloooo?"

"Can you hear me?" I hear Leo's voice chime into my head.

"Woah I can hear you," Derek adds.

I remove my fingers and laugh as they stare at each other trying to hear each other's thoughts.

"I can't hear you anymore!" Leo says with frustration.

"I cut the connection a while ago," I say laughing.

"Hey guys!" I hear Tess' voice call out to us. I turn towards the main building and see Tess standing in the doorway. "Come in for a second!" she yells while motioning for us to come inside. The four of us, including Jae, go back inside the house to see Tess standing in front of the doorway. "Derek and I are going into town."

"We are?" Derek asks and Tess gives him an annoyed look.

"Yes, we are," Tess says, grinding her teeth. "We need to pick up some medical supplies and check on the town's progress. Meanwhile, I want you to clean the house."

"Ugh," Leo groans, "Can't we just wait for Mel to do it?"

"No." Tess says firmly, "You need to stop being lazy and do something productive.

"You just want an excuse to go on a date with Derek~" Leo sticks his tongue out and crosses his arms as a child.

Tess glares at him - a sign of her anger rising. I quickly grab a hold of her right before she snaps.

"ANNA! LET ME GO!" Tess yells at me and I simply laugh.

"Don't worry Tess," I try to calm her down, "We will get the house completely spotless exactly how Mel does it. No need to get angry."

"STOP BEING SO NICE!" She yells before Derek wraps his arms around her waist and throws her over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll take her out of here," He tells me.

"Haha, thanks."

The door slams behind them leaving the three of us alone.

"You know what we should do?" Leo asks with his mischievous grin.

"Oh gosh," I respond, "what do you have planned now?"

"Whatever it is, count me out of it." Jae states firmly.

"It has to do with Mel~" Leo says trying to entice Jae to join him in whatever trick he has planned.

Sighing, Jae responds, "...what do you have in mind…"

"Perfect! I knew you couldn't resist," He says happily, but then whispers, "lets sneak into Mel's room."

"What! Are you crazy!" I yell at him.

"Shhhhh" Leo places his hand over my mouth.

"Why are you shushing her? There isn't anyone else in the house," Jae points out.

"Oh, haha right," Leo chuckles while rubbing the back of his neck, "Anyway," he regains his former strength, "Let's go see what's in her room."

"Absolutely not," I insist, "do you have any idea how dead you would be? If even the slightest thing is out of place she will notice."

"That's why we have to be extra careful," Leo says with a grin that tells me he has no concern for being careful.

I look to Jae hoping to receive some support, but he simply stares at the ground as if he is actually contemplating helping him. Surely he won't stoop to Leo's level.

"Ok, I'll join you," Jae looks up and says.

"Wait, what?" I turn to him, "You can't!"

"Why not?" He says with a mischievous grin which appears more terrifying since his midnight colored hair covers most of his face.

"Fine, I'll come with you, but don't touch anything!" I yell at Leo.

"Yea, yea," Leo waves his hand in the air as he walks up the stairs with Jae. I follow the two up the stairs, to the girls side of the house, and finally we are staring at Mel's closed door. Leo pulls out one of my medical gloves and slaps it on.

"Hey!" I yell at him, "When did you get that? I never said you could use one."

"Shhh," He makes the sound without looking back at me, "Just watch the master get to work."

He opens the door.

"Wow some mastery," Jae says.

Leo looks over his shoulder with an annoyed look. He turns back around and takes a step inside. Then another step. Then another. "This is so weird!" He yells back at us even though we are only a couple of feet away.

I hesitantly place my foot across the barrier and slowly touch the wooden floor.

"C'mon Anna!" Leo yells, startling me, "We don't got all day!"

"Shhhhh, I'm focusing." I say as I am about to place my other foot inside, but Leo grabs my hands and yanks me inside. I scan the room for anything interesting, but, to my disappointment, the room is plain and spotless. "Be careful where you step," I tell Leo, "If you leave a single spec of dirt on her floors she will kill you."

"It's fine," Leo insists, "stop worrying so much." I watch as he opens the large closet doors to reveal an entire extra room. "Woah, check this out!"

Jae and I hesitantly follow Leo into the extra room. One of the walls is completely lined with guns With a large shelf running through the middle of the wall displaying all of her knives. Leo picks up one and runs his finger to the side of the blade.

"Be careful!" I whisper yell fearful of whatever beast is behind all of these weapons.

"Yea, yea," Leo mumbles and sets the knife back.

We look at the other wall and instead of seeing more weapons, the wall is one giant bookcase.

"So she's a bookworm," Leo says bluntly and I elbow him.

"Why would she want textbooks, aren't they illegal?"

"You think she cares if something is illegal or not?" Leo laughs.

"I guess you're right…" I start running my hands over the spines of the books, "History of Icamera, History of the Walls, History of our World, The Proposed Origin of Elixir" I mumble, "I think this section is all history," I tell Jae who is bent down looking through the books.

"This section is about war tactics and fighting," Jae informs me.

"Conspiracy of the Walls, Conspiracy of Elixir, Conspiracy of Icamera… Why would she have an entire section dated to conspiracies?" I look to Jae who starts scanning my section.

"These are especially hard to find," Jae says, "If having textbooks wouldn't get you into enough trouble, this would get you killed." I watch as Jae pulls out a book titled, 'What Happened in the Year 2020?' and he starts scanning it. "Look," he says pointing at a date at the bottom of the book, "5/7/2092" he reads, "This book was created 72 years after the year of chaos."

"So it's seriously old," Leo chirps in.

Jae slightly opens the book and it makes a crunchy sound.

"Maybe we shouldn't mess with it," I tell him, "We don't need to accidentally mess something up."

Jae glances once more at the book, his dark black hair covering any emotion that could have been shown through his eyes. I watch as he slides the book perfectly into its place. I look up, and a colorful book catches my eye, "Woah what's this?" I ask excitedly and try to grab the book on the top shelf.

Leo laughs at me and grabs the book with ease. "Need help shorty?"

"Yea, yea whatever," I say, accepting defeat. He hands the book titled 'Zoology' to me. The book is lined in some clear cover. Maybe it is supposed to preserve the book. I start flipping through the pages. "Woah!" I stop the page from falling over and show the book to Jae. "Look how clear the images are!"

"What is that?" Jae asks leaning closer to the book.

"It says it's an 'elephant'" I read to him, "am I pronouncing this right?"

"Who knows…" Jae mumbles.

"You know what?" I say loudly startling Jae and Leo. I slam the book shut: dust flying in the air. "I think that's enough for today. Let's clean," I smile at them.