It wasn’t like the grass was just plucked out of the ground, or simply sliced away, but rather the grass literally didn’t exist. 

The circle in the center of the star had glowed white before the grass and the dirt beneath it freaking disappeared. There was a glowing white hole in the ground going lord knows how far down. Lilli craned her neck to see the hole better. The people she saw outside probably thought she was insane, that she was seeing things. But Lilli didn’t hear laughter directed toward her at all. Rather, it was strangely silent, as if she was in a bubble. For example, the man loudly talking on his phone was still speaking, but his voice was muffled, a mere hum in the background. Just as Lilli thought things couldn’t get any weirder, a person rose out of the glowing circle.

First to come out of the circle was a tan head with short, fluffy black hair. Bleached highlights behind their ears came next. A pair of clear blue eyes followed, then a nose, a mouth. A body, with a strange symbol on its left wrist. They were rotating slightly.

The person stepped out of the circle and smoothed out their clothes before raising their eyes to Lilli. Their outfit was made up of entirely black clothes, their design foreign to Lilli, save for a small gold patch on the right sleeve. There was also a small ring on their finger that shined a cloudy silver.

“Are you by any chance Lilli Silva?” Their voice was soft, as if trying to convince a wild animal to approach them. Lilli stood dumbstruck, her usually ever-present voice gone. The person waved a hand in front of Lilli’s eyes. “Hello?”

Lilli snapped out of her daze, some of her wit returning. “Who’s asking?” she said carefully. She didn’t know if she could just blindly trust this random person who spawned out of a hole in the ground, claiming to know her name. 

“Just tell me yes or no before I resort to force.” Their voice was still soft, but somewhere in their blue eyes, Lilli saw a low bar of patience. 

“Yes.” It came out as more of a question rather than a statement. 

The person stuck their left hand out to Lilli. A slight breeze ruffled the loose sleeves of the—jacket?—and tugged at their hair. “I’m Kealin, Kealin Lepidus.” Lilli hesitantly shook their hand before noticing something. 

“What’s that on your wrist?” she asked. It looked like Lilli’s birthmark, only it was a shimmery gold. 

“My rune. I’m a Timer, that’s why it's gold.” Kealin said it so casually, as if Lilli had simply asked what color the grass was. “Give me your right wrist.” Lilli obliged, ready to snatch her hand back if needed. Kealin studied her wrist before dropping it. “Seems like you haven’t gotten your power yet. Don’t worry, lots of kids don’t get it at your age either.” 

Lilli found her voice once more. “What’s a Timer?” 

Kealin looked at her before speaking. “I can manipulate time. Duh.” Lilli didn’t believe her. She was probably still dreaming inside her house, her alarm about to ring. “Don’t believe me? Watch.” Kealin picked a small clover flower from the ground at their feet.  “Come here, you won’t be able to see from there.” Lilli shuffled forward so she could see. The white clover lay in the palm of Kealin’s hand. Kealin took a deep breath before turning their hand clockwise several times. The clover started to shrivel, turning brown, before eventually laying there, dead, a hair's breadth from crumbling into nothing. 

Lilli shivered. Kealin took no notice of it. Their hand turned counterclockwise this time, reverting the clover into how it was before it died. Kealin’s eyes were fixed on the clover, even when it started to hover and reroot itself back into the ground. Kealin’s hand dropped back to their sides, their ‘rune’ a brighter gold than it was before. “See?” Lilli was dumbfounded. She had just witnessed magic—real magic! 

“Also, this bubble around us?” Kealin said, gesturing to the air around the tree, “I’m making the area around us seem like how it was minutes before you came here. If anyone looks at this area exactly, they’ll just see a slight distortion in the air. I’m not insanely good at it, but it doesn’t require too much energy, especially because I have a bond.

“One more thing. Aito! Come here, you little rascal!” A fox head popped out of the glowing circle, followed by a body. It looked fairly normal, aside from being solid gold and having seven tails. 

A kitsune.

The kitsune—Aito, yipped, twining around Kealin’s legs. “This is my animal bond, Aito. He amplifies my magic and is my constant companion. You can pet him, he won’t bite.” Aito padded up to Lilli, all seven tails swishing behind him. He reached just above Lilli’s hip. Lilli slowly extended a hand and petted Aito’s head. She was surprised to feel that Aito’s fur was cool and felt like multiple thin little rods of metal. Aito’s eyes were also gold, but a much darker, metallic color, and they regarded her with a serene expression. 

Then a voice cut through the silence.

“Are you done showing off?”

Kealin whirled around to face the voice. There was no one there, save for a small bluejay that was…talking?

“Stop fooling around! I thought I told you to stay at home,” Kealin snapped.

The bluejay blinked it’s hazel eyes before opening its beak. “Yeah, but I wrote the letter! I have as much of a part in this as you do! Besides, I asked Dad if I could go,” it said. Lilli stared at it before putting together the pieces. 

“Wait, you wrote the letter?” Lilli pulled out the folder from a few nights ago and took out the envelope. “This one?”

“Why are you carrying it around!? Do you even realize how dangerous that is?” the bluejay said incredulously. 

“...No?” Lilli said. It wasn’t her fault that this fool never specifically told her to keep it hidden. “Wait,” she began, turning to Kealin, “If your last name is Lepidus, and you’re their brother, then—” Lilli paused. The bluejay began looking anywhere but her. “Charlie!?”

The bluejay sighed. In a flash of royal purple, the bird disappeared, before a boy stood in its place. Charlie was smiling sheepishly, half hiding behind his sibling. His eyes were the same as the bluejay’s.

Lilli stared at him. “While I appreciate your effort, you have no idea how to write informative letters,” she said. 

Charlie blinked. “Damn, okay.”

‘Wait, you’re not surprised by this at all?” asked Kealin.

Lilli raised her eyebrows. “Oh, I am. It’s just that I’m fighting off sleep with a toothpick at the moment because of this stupid tugging in my wrist,” she said tiredly. “Wait, if you’re a timer,” she said, looking at Kealin, “then what the hell are you?” 

Charlie flashed his left wrist at Lilli, where his ‘rune’ glowed a royal purple. “Changer, I can shapeshift. Pretty self-explanatory,” they said. 

Lilli squinted. “Then where’s your,” she looked at Kealin for confirmation, “animal bond?” Kealin gave her a thumbs-up.

“I got my ability like a few weeks ago,” he said, “and you can only get a bond during the school semester. Courtesy of being school-aged.” Charlie rolled their eyes. 

“Well come on, we’re going to see the council now that I’ve found you.” Kealin took Lilli by the arm and dragged her to the glowing circle, Charlie right on their heels. Lilli couldn’t have escaped even if she had tried. Kealin’s grip on her arm, though gentle, was strong, so Lilli stumbled after them. Aito followed, standing next to the circle patiently.  Kealin let go of Lilli’s arm and faced her. “Do you really need that backpack?” they said, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes,” Lilli said defensively. Charlie snorted.

Kealin shrugged. “Alright, just hang onto me.” Lilli awkwardly took hold of their arm while Charlie hugged Kealin’s other arm. “Just relax, Anifaister travel can’t hurt you. Probably.” Lilli’s protests fell on deaf ears as Kealin stepped into the glowing circle and they all immediately began to sink into the light, Aito on their heels.

The sensation was…strange. If Lilli opened her eyes, she could only see light on all sides. She felt a warm tickling sensation travel up her spine. Then, in a second, it was over. Lilli cracked her eyes open and saw that they were under a tree. Unlike the one Lilli had just sat under moments earlier, this tree was giant. Lilli’s armspan was probably only a third of one side. The bark was studded with insignias, some more etched in than others. One insignia stood out, slightly glowing. Lilli didn’t recognize it. The leaves on the tree were a dark purple, some as small as Lilli’s thumbnail, some taller than her. Lilli turned in a slow circle, taking in the fact that the tree was in a courtyard of sorts, inside a large glass box. The box had to be huge, considering the fact that the tree stretched way higher than Lilli could see. There was almost no space around the perimeter of the glass room that separated the clear walls from the stone arches and walls of the…castle? Building? Lilli didn’t know what to call it, considering that she could only see the courtyard. In front of them, there was a crowd of people organizing themselves into multiple messy lines, along with several twenty-pointed stars projected on the lush green grass under Lilli’s feet, like the one she had just popped out of. 

The six lines were organized in front of a large number of different exits, each with a silver sign above the door. Council members, Misc. Workers, Directions, Interns, Insignia Approval, Legal Advice, and more. Kealin took Lilli by her arm and stepped over to the line before the Interns sign. The four of them stood in line for a moment, inching forward, before Kealin huffed and dragged Lilli to the front of the line, ignoring all the people in line protesting that the three of them got to go in front of them. The two squeezed through the people in the front of the line, leaving Lilli profusely apologizing after Kealin.

“Sorry! Excuse us, my bad!” 

Kealin showed the patch on their right sleeve to a bored-looking guard at the door. He opened the massive glass door (by seemingly just waving his hand) and closed it after them, Charlie just barely squeezing through. The chatter that was present in the glass room was gone the second the door had shut. Lilli turned around and looked at the door they had just come out of. She could barely see it now that it was closed. There was almost no sign of the hinges or any mechanical things that were used to operate the door. 

“Tinkerer’s work.” 

Lilli started a little, forgetting Kealin was there. “They made the doors as difficult to find after hours as possible so no one could harm the tree. Or get out of that glass box. Only the guards and people who work in here know how to operate them.”

“Do you know how to work them?” Lilli asked. Kealin wrinkled their nose. 

“Not yet,” they said carefully. Lilli nodded, sensing that it would be best to leave the subject for now. “The tree’s called a purpura arbor. It's usually called an iris tree, since the flowers that bloom in the spring look suspiciously similar to an iris flower. In case you wanted to know. It’s the most preferred tree when using Anifaister Travel, since it has such a high light consistency.”

Kealin paused before walking toward a large entryway directly to their left. “This is the way to the office. I would recommend being ready to hear things you have probably never heard. Ever.” 

“Stop walking so fast!” whisper-yelled Charlie.

“It’s not my fault that you have short legs!” Kealin whisper-yelled back. 

Lilli had lost all sense of direction. They had taken at least fifteen different turns and gone up at least four flights of stairs. At one point, Lilli wondered if Kealin was lost, right before they stopped in front of a large door. Lilli almost crashed into Kealin before regaining their balance. Aito regarded her with a concerned look while Charlie looked like he was holding in a laugh.

They were in front of an ornate door that had a gold plaque on it, with the words ‘Lost Multi Ante Office’. Lilli wondered what a ‘Multi Ante’ was. It was probably Latin, but Lilli wasn’t sure. Kealin knocked on the door and straightened their spine. A man with friendly brown eyes opened the door. 

“Ah! Kealin, you’re back. Who’d you find today?” Kealin cleared their throat before gesturing to Lilli. 

“Roland, this is Lilli Silva. Lilli, this is Roland Tierna, my mentor.” Lilli waved, immediately regretting how awkward the atmosphere had become.  

“Hi,” her voice sounded small in this wide, echoey hallway. 

Kealin sighed. “And this,” they said, jabbing a finger in Charlie’s general direction, “is my brother, Charlie.”

“Well come in you two, don’t just stand there on the doorstep!” Roland opened the door further to let them in. “You can come in too, Charlie, just don’t break anything again, alright?” Kealin dragged Lilli with them, and Roland shut the door behind them. 

Lilli fell in step with Charlie. “What the hell did you break?”

“A vase.”

“Well, that’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, except that it was holding an ember flower.”

Lilli furrowed her brows. “What’s an ember flower?”

“Looks like a daisy, but the center is an ember and the petals are tongues of flame.”

“Oh,” Lilli said. “Why do they have a fire flower—”

“Ember flower.”

“—ember flower in an office anyway?”

“No idea.” There was a pause. “Rune placement depends on your dominant hand, in case you were wondering.”

“Thanks. Super random, but thanks.”

The ‘office’ was fairly large. Hell, it was probably larger than her entire first floor at the Spencer’s house. There were half-walls around each large office area, high enough to allow for privacy while leaving the room with an open feel. The floor was wooden, but as they passed by other offices, Lilli saw that some had carpet, stone, or, wait was that sand?

Roland surpassed them and strode over to a rather large office area with its door closed. The door in question was birch and had a silver plaque with Roland’s name on it. He opened the door and the trio stepped inside. The floor was dark oak, and the back wall behind Roland’s desk was a window that overlooked the courtyard. The shape of the glass gave Lilli the impression of a bubble. The desk was glass, with its legs made of a material that Lilli didn’t know of, but was a pale grey. The chair was white, and it spun as Roland set himself into it. Cabinets set into the walls were present. There were two chairs in front of Roland’s desk, similar to his own.  A shaggy white rug took up the space beneath the desk and chairs. A chair (similar to all the others in the room) with a very low back and long seat was pushed up against the right wall, close to the desk. 

On the chair, a leopard—no, a snow leopard— lounged, regarding them all with wispy blue eyes. Actually, the whole animal was wispy; it looked like a cloud, ready to blow away at any moment. Aito gave a yip in greeting, while the leopard seemed to nod in response. Roland clicked his tongue and the leopard bounded over. Its tail went right through Lilli’s leg and reappeared once more. The leopard settled itself next to Roland, resting its head in his lap. 

“Well, sit down! We have much to discuss!” Roland stroked the leopard's head. Wherever his hand touched it, the cloud seemed to solidify. Lilli took the seat to the right, and Kealin took the one to the left. Aito settled between the two of them. Charlie stared that them both incredulously. 

“What the hell am I supposed to do?” he said.

Kealin batted their eyelashes. “Stand?” they said innocently. Charlie looked at them with a deadpan expression. Roland chuckled and waved his hand at the space to the right of Lilli. A chair materialized, one that looked as wispy as the snow leopard. Charlie took a seat gingerly.

“Lilli, this is Sabu. Sabu, go say hello.” Sabu padded over to Lilli, walking through the desk. Lilli tentatively patted Sabu’s head, causing him to purr. Sabu’s fur felt like wispy pieces of cotton wherever Lilli’s fingers brushed it. Lilli noticed that the clouds that made up Sabu were constantly moving, causing the occasional gap to form. Lilli drew her hand back and Sabu nuzzled her arm before bounding back to Roland. 

“You may have noticed that Sabu is made of clouds,” Roland began. “I’m a Caelikinetic.” He lifted his left arm and rolled down his sleeve slightly, revealing his rune. It was a light grey color, occasionally shifting to lighter or darker shades. 

“A what?” Lilli blurted out. “Sorry, that sounded a little rude—”

Roland laughed. “Don’t worry about it!” He shifted his posture. “I’m a Caelikinetic. I can control air.” With that statement, he flicked his wrist at Kealin, causing a wind to tousle their hair and for Kealin to let out a: “Roland!” as they tried to fix their hair. Roland snorted and turned back to Lilli. “And clouds, with Charlie’s chair over there.” 

Lilli giggled. “Are there, other powers?” she asked.

Roland scooted his chair to one of the cabinets and took out a file before answering. “Well, you’ve got Cealikinetics and Timers like me and Kealin. Timers are super rare though, which is why Kealin interns for the Council. 

“Let’s see, you’ve got your other three basic elements; Pyrokinetics, Hydrokinetics, and Terrakinetics. Fire, water, and earth. A little cliche, but who am I to say anything? Their runes are red, ocean blue, and dark green.”

“Glaciepaths control ice and cold stuff, with ice blue runes. I know, shocking! Personas—they can change their appearance, also pretty rare, their rune changes color a lot, but it’s shinier than the others. Darkefaels, they control shadows and darkness with a black rune, pretty cool if you ask me,” Kealin interjected, counting off their fingers. “And Timers, like me!” 

Roland nodded. “Then you’ve got Faunas, they’re basically fairies with the grass-colored rune. If they’re super powerful, then they can even create things living or plant-like, and control them. Tempests, they can control lightning and storms, so obviously their rune is stormy grey. Changers are the animal shapeshifters with the royal purple rune, they can only do animals, considering that Personas cover the human side of the spectrum—”

“Bummer, if you ask me,” cut in Charlie. Kealin gave him a look before continuing.

“Tinkerers, they’re crazy good with machines and technology, they’ve got the bronze rune.”

“A Luxpath can control light and even manipulate it to make things invisible, white rune. Aminopaths cover all areas of the mind, even mind control! Although, that’s pretty much illegal. They’ve got the silver rune. Flyers are pretty self-explanatory, they can fly. They have a greyish-yellow colored rune. And finally, Mimickers. They can mimic anything. Human voices, bird calls, machinery, anything! Their rune is a navy blue,” finished Roland.

“Is that all of them?” Lilli asked, feeling a little overwhelmed with this surge of new information. 

Roland nodded again. “That’s all! And then of course you have the ones that never manifest, but that’s super rare.” he looked at a clock that was perched on the wall. “We’re running out of time.” Kealin rolled their eyes at the attempted pun. Roland slid the file he had taken out earlier to Lilli. It was your standard manilla folder, kept shut with a fancy-looking seal, the same as the insignia. There were stamped black letters on the front. They read:

NAME: LILLI SILVA

DEPT. OF LOST MULTI ANTE

Out of curiosity, Lilli opened the file, finding that the seal was only decorative. The first page was a page about…her. 

There was her last school picture from earlier this year (which she cringed at, she looked like a corpse), and underneath was all her information.

NAME: LILLI SILVA

HAIR: BLACK

EYES: BROWN

DATE OF BIRTH: DECEMBER 16

POWER: N/A

SCHOOL: OMNES VIRTUTES/THE NOULERRA ACADEMY OF POWERS UNITED

SPECIES: MULTI ANTE

The rest was all the rest of the information about her. Lilli raised her head. “What’s a ‘multi ante’?”

Kealin was quick to respond. “A multi ante is well…us. It's you, me, even Roland over there.” Roland gasped in mock offense. Lilli’s head was reeling. “It means multi-faced. Kinda just showing how ‘versatile’ we are.” Kealin made air quotes when they said versatile.

“Jeez, you guys sure use a lot of Latin,” she joked in an effort to cover her confusion. 

Roland snorted. “Well, us multi ante sure love our Latin. However, we usually just use the Common Tongue. You’re speaking it right now, actually.” Lilli’s eyes widened. “All multi ante have the ability to switch between human languages and the Common Tongue once they learn either one or the other.

“Oh yeah, almost forgot. Remember those intelligence tests the school gave you in fifth grade? We used your results to place you in a school. You’re lucky, getting placed in one of the best. Although, it took us a while to track you down, due to you living with the Spencers, and we didn’t find you in time for your first year. You’ll be joining the rest of the second-years at school, considering that we found you a week before the semester began. You can keep that folder by the way. You’ll know if I need it back,” Roland finished. Lilli stuck the folder in her bag, carefully between the two textbooks that she had completely forgotten about, right next to the plastic folder containing the letter. “You’ll be living at the school for now, until we can find a family for you. If that’s alright of course! If you would rather you live on your own, I could arrange that as well—”

“I would rather have a family,” Lilli said. She didn’t want to be alone in this new world, not yet. Roland nodded and wrote something down on a notepad. He rubbed Sabu’s head again. 

“You will probably need to leave today if you want to get situated in time,” Roland started, pushing his chair back. Lilli stood. 

“What about my,” Lilli bit her tongue before continuing, “normal life? The Spencers, Ms. Heath, the school, my classmates?”

Roland smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we’ll sort that out. It will be relatively easy, because Ms. Heath, who you know as your English teacher, is one of our contacts in Penketh, along with one Mr. Clide and one Mr. Cartright. There have been other muli ante that popped up in Penketh, so we have them stationed there for the time being. They’re all one of us. As for the Spencers”—Roland swallowed before continuing—“they’re one of us. I don’t know why they’ve been hiding you this whole time, and I’m not entirely sure I want to know. But, I can erase their memories, if you want. Give you a clean slate.”

Lilli swallowed hard and inhaled. “No,” she said shakily. The Lepidus siblings looked at her worriedly. “No. I want them to know that they failed.”

Roland made another note on his notepad. “I can arrange that. Kealin will take you back to pack everything you will be bringing. Anything you don’t want will be redistributed. When you’re done saying goodbye, make sure that Kealin brings you to the Lepidus family residence. I have sent a list in advance of what to get. Rest for tonight, then I’ll meet with you tomorrow so we can begin catching you up on all the work you missed in your first year. We have until the Eleventh of September.” He walked around the desk, Sabu at his heels, and placed a hand on Lilli’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon.” 

“Wait.” Lilli turned on her heel. “If you have anything that’s school property, I’m going to need it back,” said Roland. Lilli set her bag onto a chair before digging out the two textbooks she had forgotten about. 

“Careful, they’re heavy,” she warned. Roland took them without complaint and put them in another cabinet, where they disappeared from sight. Then he handed Lilli a neon orange tote bag.

“It has the same function as the cabinet I put your textbooks into,” he explained when Lilli gave him a weird look. “Anything you place in here will wind up in the other identical bag, which is currently at the Lepidus residence.” 

“I hung it upside down,” said Charlie, “just so that it wouldn’t, you know, get stuck.”

And with that, he ushered them out of his office and closed the door. Lilli stuffed the tote bag into her backpack.

Aito nuzzled Lilli’s hand, sensing her conflicting emotions. Kealin took her by the arm, more gently this time, and started walking back to the glass box, Charlie trailing behind. Lilli once again had no idea where they were going until they wound up back in the courtyard. Instead of going straight to the glass room, Kealin hesitated before walking around the courtyard. The two of them walked through a corridor. 

“Charlie, sit here for a moment, yeah?” said Kealin.

“Why?” sputtered Charlie.

“Because I’m older than you, now sit.” Charlie huffed before leaning against the wall. Lilli snorted before Kealin kept walking.

The corridor ended at a very rocky cliff. Aito bounded up one of the rocks and sat, cocking his head. The cliff was overlooking, was it a lake? A sea? The ocean? Lilli didn’t know. Then salt spray went right onto Lilli’s face and glasses, making her eyes sting. She took off her glasses to wipe off the water droplets. Definitely a sea, or the ocean. 

“Where the hell are we?” She asked Kealin. 

Kealin smiled before leaning on the rock Aito was perched on. “I wanted to show you where we were. This castle is on an island. Like your future school. And my school, actually. You probably won’t see me a lot, since I’m a fourth year. But I’m here if you need anything.” Kealin said the last part softer than the rest of their statement. Lilli smiled. It was nice to have someone there for you. “You have Charlie too. He’ll be in your year,” they said. “Though it’ll be annoying to convince your school that both you and Charlie moved away on the same day, the Council will figure it out.”

Aito yipped and jumped off the rock he was on. Kealin sighed. “Well, I hate to break the moment, but we better get going. C’mon, kid.” 

“Wait.” Kealin paused, then turned around with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah?” 

Lilli gestured to the ring on their pinky finger. “What up with the ring? Is it like meaningful or just cool?” she paused. “Not that it can’t be both! Sorry, that might have been a personal question—”

Kealin laughed. “Relax, I’m fine explaining,” they said. “It's a pronoun ring. They’re pretty cheap to buy, and you can find them anywhere. Usually, people who are genderfluid, like me, or use multiple pronouns buy them. The color reflects what pronouns I’m using. Right now it’s grey, which shows they/them pronouns. You can customize the colors, so I used purple for she/her and a reddish-orange color for he/him. I can give you a key when we get to my house, if you want.” Lilli nodded, committing the colors to memory. “Alright, let’s go kid.”

The duo walked back, Aito next to them, to the glass room. Charlie fell into step with them without a word.

The room was as crowded as before, but Kealin forged their way through again. They found an insignia, different from the one before. It looked new, more rushed than the rest. Kealin sensed Lilli’s question. “I had to make a bad insignia earlier this week. Not my finest work.” Aito traced it with a single golden claw and they tapped it. The four of them huddled together before they were sent plummeting into the light.

The glow faded, and Lilli was back at the Spencer’s. In the backyard. In the old tree that was in the corner of the fenced-in space, she saw a rough insignia, identical to the insignia of the council’s castle. 

“How the hell did you make an insignia here?” Lilli asked, whirling around to face Kealin, who had sat down at the base of the tree, Aito beside them. 

Kealin winked. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” Lilli blinked. “You go in and get your stuff.” Lilli squared her shoulders and nodded. “One more thing!” Kealin tossed her a stone. Lilli caught it and turned it over in her palm. It looked normal, except for a groove in the center. “It’s a transmission stone. If you need me, just press your finger to the groove.” Charlie sat down next to Aito and began tossing a small item in the air. “We’ll be right here.”

She took a deep breath and walked to the house, pocketing the stone. This would be the last time she would set foot in the Spencer’s household, like it or not. She fumbled with her house key and opened the back door.