Chapter Two

The Seven Names

Five years ago, the Academy had announced that Veyr was dead.

There had been no body.

There had been no funeral.

There had been no grave.

But the Academy had called it a victory, and the world had believed them.

It was easier to believe a monster was dead than to wonder where he had gone.

Five years later, in a room buried beneath the Academy, Headmaster Seraphina sat at the end of a long black table and stared at the seven sealed files in front of her.

There were only four other people in the room.

No guards.

No students.

No records of the meeting.

The windows had been covered, and every door had been locked from the inside.

Master Aurel stood beside the fireplace.

He looked older than he had five years ago.

Much older.

“You're certain?” Seraphina asked.

Aurel didn't answer immediately.

Across the table, another master shifted uncomfortably.

“Certain of what?”

Aurel finally looked at him.

“That he is dead.”

Silence.

The man frowned.

“We buried the matter five years ago.”

“We buried the story,” Aurel said.

Seraphina's fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

“And the truth?”

Aurel looked toward the seven files.

“The truth was never buried.”

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Then Seraphina opened the first file.

“Then we proceed.”

Aurel's expression darkened.

“You're really doing this?”

“We have no choice.”

“There are thousands of trained protectors.”

“None of them are what we need.”

Aurel looked at the files again.

“Seven children.”

“Seven young people.”

“Children.”

“They have been chosen.”

Aurel sighed.

“Chosen by whom?”

Seraphina looked at him.

“You know the answer.”

The room became very still.

Outside, somewhere above them, the Academy bells began to ring.

Once.

Twice.

Then stopped.

Seraphina placed her hand over the first file.

“The old system has begun again.”

Aurel's face changed.

“After all these years?”

“Yes.”

“And if Veyr really is alive?”

Seraphina looked toward the sealed doors.

“Then we have even less time than we thought.”

She opened the first file.

---

1. RAYDEN VALE

Rayden had never been particularly interested in being special.

He had been raised in the northern part of the city by his mother, who worked two jobs and had never once told him that their life was difficult.

So Rayden had learned not to complain.

He was quiet.

Observant.

Responsible.

The sort of boy teachers trusted with keys.

The sort of boy younger children followed without being asked.

His father had disappeared when Rayden was six.

Nobody ever explained why.

Rayden stopped asking when he was twelve.

At seventeen, he had already learned how to repair engines, cook three decent meals, and lie convincingly whenever his mother asked whether he was tired.

His power had appeared quietly.

A glass falling from a shelf had stopped halfway to the floor.

Rayden had stared at it.

The glass had floated for three seconds.

Then shattered.

He told nobody.

Not even his mother.

Seraphina closed his file.

“The first.”

Aurel nodded.

“He'll lead them.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he already does.”

---

2. ZAYNE

Zayne came from a completely different world.

Money.

Private schools.

Perfect grades.

Perfect clothes.

Perfect manners.

A perfect family photograph hanging in the hallway of a house where nobody actually liked one another.

His parents had built their lives around reputation.

Zayne had learned early that people rarely cared what you were.

They cared what you appeared to be.

So he became very good at appearing.

He smiled when required.

He listened when necessary.

He never raised his voice.

And he never let anyone see when something hurt.

His ability appeared during a school examination.

He vanished.

Not metaphorically.

One moment he was sitting in his chair.

The next, nobody could see him.

His teacher walked directly past him.

His classmates searched the room.

Zayne stood in the same place for almost four minutes before becoming visible again.

He never told them what had happened.

That night, someone from the Academy came to his house.

---

3. KAI

Kai had been expelled from three schools.

He considered this an achievement.

He was sixteen when he first set something on fire.

It wasn't intentional.

Mostly.

Kai had grown up with an older brother who taught him two things:

How to fight.

And how to run.

Their mother had died when Kai was young, and their father had disappeared shortly afterward.

Kai never talked about either of them.

Instead, he joked.

He joked when he was angry.

He joked when he was scared.

He joked when someone threatened him.

It was easier that way.

The first time his power appeared, a man punched him.

Kai hit the ground.

Then the entire street caught fire.

Kai stared at the flames.

The man stared at Kai.

Kai looked around.

“Okay.”

A pause.

“That wasn't me.”

It was.

He knew it.

And so did the Academy.

---

4. VIKRAM

Vikram lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone's business.

He hated that.

Not because he disliked people.

Quite the opposite.

Vikram knew everybody.

The tea seller knew his favourite order.

The old shopkeeper knew when he'd skipped school.

Children from the neighbourhood followed him around because he was always inventing some ridiculous game for them.

He was energetic, loud, confident, and permanently incapable of sitting still.

He was also the sort of person who could walk into a room full of strangers and leave knowing everyone's name.

He didn't think there was anything particularly remarkable about him.

Until one afternoon, he was racing his friends down a hill.

He jumped.

And landed twenty metres away.

Everyone screamed.

Vikram stared at his friends.

Then at the distance.

Then back at his friends.

“Did you see that?”

They had.

He smiled.

“Do it again.”

He did.

This time, he landed on the roof of a parked bus.

He spent the next three weeks trying to convince himself that it had all been an accident.

It wasn't.

---

5. AURORA

Aurora had grown up surrounded by books.

Her mother was a doctor.

Her father was a professor.

Her house was quiet.

Too quiet sometimes.

Aurora was gentle, but she wasn't weak.

She simply had a habit of noticing when people were hurting before they admitted it.

When she was thirteen, she found an injured bird outside her house.

She held it in her hands.

The bird stopped bleeding.

The broken wing straightened.

Aurora dropped it.

The bird flew away.

She spent the rest of the evening staring at her hands.

Years later, when the Academy found her, she was studying medicine.

She almost refused.

Then she was shown the first photograph of the Aureon Realm.

She changed her mind.

---

6. MEI

Mei had never trusted people who spoke too much.

She preferred watching.

Listening.

Understanding.

Her father called her difficult.

Her mother called her intelligent.

Mei thought both were probably true.

She had grown up moving from city to city, never staying anywhere long enough to become attached.

She learned languages quickly.

Patterns even faster.

She could look at a puzzle for a few seconds and see the answer.

But her real ability didn't appear until someone tried to deceive her.

She looked at them.

And suddenly she could see what wasn't there.

A lie became an image.

A hidden object became visible.

A false memory became a crack in someone's expression.

Mei didn't tell anyone.

She simply started keeping notes.

The Academy eventually found those notes.

---

7. LYRA

Lyra was the last file.

And the only one Aurel didn't touch.

She had grown up near the coast with her grandmother.

She was stubborn.

Independent.

And absolutely convinced that she didn't need anyone.

She had never known her father.

Her mother had died when she was young.

So Lyra learned early that people could leave.

She didn't like giving them the opportunity.

She climbed rooftops.

She rode motorcycles.

She disappeared for hours without telling anyone where she was going.

And sometimes, when she was frightened, she simply vanished.

Not like Zayne.

Different.

Lyra could step through shadows.

One moment she would be standing beside a streetlight.

The next, she would emerge from the darkness halfway down the road.

She thought it was a strange trick.

Until the Academy told her what it really was.

Seraphina closed the final file.

Seven names.

Seven lives.

Seven powers.

None of them knew the others existed.

Aurel looked at the files.

“They're too young.”

Seraphina stood.

“So were we.”

Aurel's eyes met hers.

“That isn't the same.”

“No.”

Seraphina gathered the files.

“It isn't.”

She walked toward the door.

Behind her, Aurel remained beside the fireplace.

“Seraphina.”

She stopped.

“If he really escaped…”

She turned.

Aurel's voice dropped.

“Then he will come for the Academy first.”

Seraphina looked at him for a long moment.

“No.”

Aurel frowned.

“He won't.”

She placed the seven files beneath her arm.

“He'll come for something much older.”

“What?”

Seraphina opened the door.

“The first Key.”

Then she walked away.

Aurel remained alone in the room.

For several seconds, he stared into the dying fire.

Then, very quietly, he whispered a name he had not spoken in five years.

“Veyr.”

The fire went out.