A PLAN FOR EMMA

Estelle, Minerva and Emma met up in her room. Minerva twisted uncomfortably on Estelle's bed, the furthest bottom bunk from the room in a row of four bunk beds. Emma leaned on a bed post, nibbling on the fourth strudel that day.

"Your bed is so uncomfortable, Estelle." Minerva grunted, jamming her elbows repeatedly into the firm mattress.

"Don't judge me, girl. Not all of us are privileged enough to sleep in a council member's dorm room. Downwards from there, this is as good as it gets."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. And by the way, try to keep your voice down. If this plan is as secret as you want to be, you don't want the other girls to eavesdrop, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Minerva never had to worry about being overheard before. It was a drastic change from living with Catherine. "It can get pretty boring living with Catherine," she offered.

"Boring? Living with Catherine? I don't think so. You should be grateful. I wish I was living alone. These roommates are driving me crazy."

An Asian-looking girl with perfectly straight black hair swung her head out from over the top bunk. "You love us Estelle, don't play around."

Estelle suppressed a smile. "Shut up, Macy." Everyone giggled.

Minerva nudged Emma, who dropped her strudel in surprise.

"Not on the bed, Emma!"

"Sorry! Besides, you two Madchen have nothing to complain about. I had to sneak out of my dorm and into yours!"

"This Emma's pretty funny," Macy commented.

Estelle rolled her eyes and kicked the bottom of the top bunk. "Anyway, down to business. We've got to get this cute-as-buttons Claudia Schiffer hooked up with Damon."

Minerva massaged her temples. "Of all the boys, you just had to pick the most mysterious one?"

"Don't judge my preferences, Fraulein."

"Yeah, Fraulein," Estelle butted in. "They've talked more than he's talked to anyone else today."

Minerva was livid. "You've TALKED before? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I din't think it was important. We just talked about physics. He's really interested in magnets."

Minerva shelved the matter for later. "Got any ideas, Estelle?" She asked.

"I've got one," she replied. "I think we should get them alone together at dinner time."

Emma and Minerva were confused. "So how do we do that?" They asked in unison.

"Alright. We'll take an eight table seat; You, me, Emma, Malik, Catherine, Amelia and the twins. We'll trail off separately, turn by turn, until they're the only ones left. They just need three minutes to connect."

Emma spoke. "That's a great plan, but we're forgetting the person we're planning for. We all know that Damon isn't the extroverted type; he's likely to just continue eating without saying a word!"

"That's true," Minerva agreed. "So therefore, we need them in a situation where they have to communicate."

"What about you, Minerva? Have any plans?"

"I think our best bet is to get them on a walk together. It's incredibly difficult not to engage someone whose walking beside you. We could set them up at the boarding grounds!"

"Minerva?"

"Yeah?"

"When Damon walks, who does he always walk with?"

"Oh yeah. Phoby."

Minerva sighed with frustration. "So what are we going to do?"

Out of nowhere, Macy stuck her head out from her bed. "Um, guys? You might want to see this. Its Malik and Daimen."

"What are they doing?" Emma asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Just trying to kill each other."

The girls hurried outside to the grounds. In a crater of paving stones and dirt, Malik stood,baring his teeth in fury. Daimen stood a few feet away, grinning like a maniac, levitating swirls of mercury above his palm. "Are you finished? Or do you want to hurl more chunks of stone at me like a Rasta caveman?"

Malik screamed in fury and raised his arms. All around him, chunks of limestone and marble rose in millions of chunks and particles, surrounding his body lie a cloud of concrete. Blinded by rage, Malik balled his hands together, causing the material to condense into numerous spikes.

Daimen just stared, clearly enjoying Malik's bout of anger. Minerva rushed towards the scene, dragging Emma behind her. She had to do something. She had to stop the fight. Daimen may be tough, but liquid mercury couldn't possibly stand up to one solid spike of hardened concrete, let alone countless attacks. If someone didn't do something, Malik was going to kill him.

Malik roared and hurled his hands forward. Countless spikes of marble and dirt rushed forward with a mighty rush. Daimen popped the cork of his glass flask and hurled it into the air. Minerva watched, astonished. What was he doing?

The flask burst into a million pieces with a thunderous smash, Daimen willing the mercury inside to expand with tremendous speed. The mercury condensed and form a circle of metal, Daimen moving into position with one hand. Minerva watched as the ball in his other hand liquidized and reformed into a french saber, its razor sharp point glinting in the sunlight. The first two spikes smashed against the shield, the splinters whooshing into the high grass. Emma watched in amazement. How could Daimen manage to hold the molecules together with enough force to shatter columns of stone?

Daimen smirked with satisfaction, although beads of sweat dotted his forehead. "Do you see now, Malik?" He declared. "You aren't advanced enough to beat me, you fool. No amount of anger would change that."

Malik gritted his teeth in anger and threw his hands back, but Daimen was quicker. With surprising speed he dashed forward, his feet making a friction-less sliding sound on the stone floor. Malik grunted and formed his fists into balls, the remaining spikes shattering into millions of stone darts. He waved his hand, curling them around his body. Daimen, not slowing down, whipped out his saber and swung it in a wide arc, deflecting the splinters that came too close. "Really, Malik!" He yelled over the din of millions of whirling stone darts. "Fight me like a man!"

Minerva ground her teeth in frustration. She needed to stop this fight, but in her dash to see what was going on, she had stupidly forgotten her cube of glass in Estelle's dorm room. She wold be torn to ribbons by Malik's stones or be run through with Daimen's saber without some glass to protect herself.

Then she noticed it. The glass shards from Daimen's flask. He had shattered it in attempt to get the mercury close enough to Malik. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated.

The glass shards broke down into dust and floated towards her. She had no time to celebrate her successful granulation. Working quickly, she formed the glass into a thin pole about three feet long, secretly thanking Daimen for sparing no expense on a thick walled flask. Still, the pole was too thin. She would have to concentrate on increasing the density of the pole drastically...

"I'll take care of this."

Minerva whirled around, noticing Virgil for the first time. "This Daimen kid is really advanced, increasing the density in a split second," Virgil spoke in low tones. "Unfortunately, they're breaking the rules. Seeing as I'm a member of the council, I'll have to step in."

Daimen lunged, saber in hand. Suddenly, the young boy was pushed back by a wall of air. Virgil frowned concentrating. He had displaced the air to form a barrier between the two first years. "Pay attention, Minerva. When air is displaced, it leaves empty space behind."

A ripple in space appeared behind the warring classmates.

"Matter rushes to fill the space, creating a vacuum."

The boys struggled against an invisible force, straining to get to each other. The fight was over.

"That's how gas manipulation works, basically."

Minerva glanced at his hand. The translucent ring was still on his finger.

"You did that while the ring was on?"

"Yep."

Virgil walked over to the two boys, still straining against the invisible vacuum. I'll make sure you two boys get your appropriate punishment."

Emma noticed Damon standing alone in the crowd. This was her opportunity. "Hi Damon. Did you see the fight?"

"Yes, I did. I'm quite impressed at Daimen's manipulation skills, although I can't say much for his maturity levels."

"I noticed you had your hand in your pocket. Were you planning to intervene?"

"If it had gone too far, yes. You're Emma, right? We've talked before."

Emma blushed. "You remember me."

"Of course I do. You're cute when you smile."

More blushing. "Thank you."

Minerva and Estelle watched from a distance. "I guess we're all set for tonight then."

"Yes we are."