Loki, Daphne, Terrence, Seraphine and Nishan formed a small group.
"So... What do we do while waiting?" Seraphine twirled her hair absently.
"Whatever it is, count me out," Nishan said. "I have no wish to associate myself to you anymore than need be."
"You don't have to be so haughty," Daphne glared at him. "Your parents really spoil you too much."
"Well, at least my parents love me, and don't slap me," Nishan retorted.
"Oh, shut up," Daphne growled. "It's not like your parents actually love you, just like that you guys are their obedient little dogs."
"Ummm..." Loki said, as he, Seraphine and Terrence watched Daphne and Nishan argue. "Should we do anything?"
"Let's just let it play out," Seraphine noticed Ada walking towards them. "Looks like we have to go."
Ada broke up the fight between Nishan and Daphne, saying, "Time for the level separation."
When Ada had brought them to a courtyard, she explained that the test was basically the same as the first level separation. She nodded at Daphne. "You go first. I don't want you to lower yourself to your friend's levels."
Daphne shrugged. She quickly took out the dummies, swinging the mallet against the drum hard, and dodged the arrows for quite sometime. Even then, Loki could tell that Daphne was holding back.
"Level 3.3," Ada frowned, updating Daphne's wristwatch. "Don't tell me this is your best."
"Maybe," Daphne said in a bored tone. "Just so you know, my friends are also now my bodyguards, so they'll have to stay close to me."
"They're your bodyguards?" Ada repeated. "I highly doubt Mr. and Mrs. Phoenix would hire them."
"To be honest," Terrence said, "They did it in thoughts that we would give up soon because Daphne would be a handful, but since we aren't quitting, we're technically still hired."
Ada scowled deeply. "Fine. Terrence Narrington is next."
Terrence and Seraphine, because of their improvement in their Ability control, had managed to get a Level 2.4 and Level 2.3. Nishan got himself a Level 3.6, ("I'm holding myself from completely destroying you guys," Nishan had muttered), and when Loki was called up, Ada looked at him.
"Have you finally used that Earth Ability stone?" "No, I sold it," Loki said.
"Very well. Let's see how you do."
With slightly heightened speed, stamina and strength, Loki managed to get a Level 2.2.
Ada said in an annoyed tone, "Daphne, since your friends are Level 2 but your bodyguards, you will be sharing a dorm with them once again. Daphne, Loki, Seraphine, Terrence and Nishan, you guys will be sharing a dorm with Saltavore, because your parents wanted your cousins to be in the same dorm. You may go now."
As they walked off, Terrence said, "Ada definitely put us together because she thinks we hate Nishan and Saltavore, right?"
"I'd like to point out that I still hate you," Nishan replied. "And I'm sure our parents did ask the school to put us together. Our parents wanted us to convince Daphne to see things their way."
"Well then, I guess it's to bad that we're in an alliance now, huh?" Seraphine grinned. "They won't know what hit them!"
"Shh!" Loki whispered. "They could have other students or teachers spying on us!"
They made their way to the dorm to settle in with Nishan and Saltavore. What they didn't know, was that they would need to be working together in a team soon enough, and trusting each other would be vital for their survival.