Why did I let myself get into this mess!?

Sand sprayed into Jamie's face as she dove behind a stone pillow. I just wanted to make a few friends, maybe learn some cool telekinetic tricks, but NO, now I have to FEND FOR MY LIFE! A loud crack snapped overhead, as another mutant teen was jettisoned across the desert maze.

"Sorry, didn't mean to hit that hard, you alright?" A weak "yes" could be heard a few meters away.

Jamie and Quincy squatted between stone pillars as they watched other teams run by. She shout-whispered to him, "We're only half way through the game, and already like three kids have been hospitalized."

Quincy kept his eyes on the playing field but grinned over at Jamie, "I promise you, they're fine. We get tossed around by Kevin all the time. He's usually a little more careful though," Maybe he is trying to show off for the pretty new girl,...

Jamie didn't mean to read his thoughts. All this adrenaline was making it hard for her to focus on one ability at a time.

Try humming your favorite song in your head, suggested Annie.

It helps block out others' thoughts from creeping in, added in Amy.

Jamie thought back, Kind of like what you are doing now?

Aren't we supposed to keep in contact with you? They both answered.

Jamie rolled her eyes, Yeah, for the game, not for distracting reasons, and could you try to be not so sarcastic?

But sarcasm is our bread,...

and butter.

"Hey," Quincy interrupted, "Are you three thinking about me?"

No, the trio thought back to him simultaneously. Jamie couldn't help but laugh out loud at the awkwardness of the situation.

"You ARE thinking about me, aren't you!"

"No," reassured Jamie, "We are discussing the plan. There is a blue team member at the end of this alley, If you can block them in, I can get behind them for the tag."

"How can you do that?"

"Like this," To revert from her solid form back to her astral state was like taking a deep breath before jumping into a cold lake. The clarity of her skin dissipated as the illusion of Jamie's body faded. Being tangible felt so natural to Jamie now that she forgot that her true body was back in Professor Grey's lab at X-Manor. By the look in Quincy's eyes, she could tell that she disappeared completely.

He searched around for her, "Where did you…"

I'm still here, she thought back, My spirit is here, my body is,... How would she explain this? Could she explain this? Was Quincy ready to hear her truth, or even, was Jamie sure of what that was yet?

"You're invisible!" He shouted.

Yes, I'm invisible, Jamie decided to prioritize her concerns on the game, I'll follow your lead to our target.

Actually, you'll follow my lead, joked Amy.

The two huffed it down the winding corridor, ready to execute their strategy, when suddenly a wall built itself between them. This didn't deter Jamie, as she could just phase through the structure, but on the other side, she couldn't find Quincy.

I can't see Quincy. Do either of you know where he is?

Amy answered first, We can't see him either.

There must be another telepath blocking him, concluded Annie.

Crap, I can't just keep phasing in and out of walls to find him, will he be okay?

He isn't dead, if that is your concern, Annie replied, It's like talking on a phone with a bad connection, we can't see all of the details.

That was reassuring news to Jamie. About how many kids actually die from playing War Breaker, anyway?

None, so far, Amy responded, but there is always a first for everything.

Not. Helpful. Jamie decided that while hunting for Quincy, she would try to tag as many other teams along the way.

The first competitor she came upon was Shawn. He was leaning over his right ankle, rubbing at the spot with a grimace on his face.

Are you okay, Jamie thought. He looked around expecting to see someone.

Oh, sorry. She phased back to solid form standing beside him.

"Woah, impressive. No wonder Harmony wanted you on our team."

"Thanks, and by the way," she took the marker all teams used to declare their tag points. It looked like a bubble wand where the color was stored in the handle. A quick turn counterclockwise and a flick of the wrist, and the paint projected out, with the shortest range imaginable. That's why teams only received points when the wand made contact, but that required getting close enough to anyone. It was unfortunate that their team was also assigned the lamest color: brown. She tapped the color across his left should.

"Tagged," She meekly said.

Shawn lightly laughed, "Good hit," he looked over at his shoulder, and Jamie noticed that he didn't have any other marks on him so far. She wondered if he often went through a match without getting tagged.

"Are you sure your ankle is fine?" She asked again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered the wary teenager as he stood up, "Couldn't have guessed I'd make it the whole game without a bruise or two, right?" He shook the sand out of his shirt, and Jamie could see a glimpse of a six pack under his shirt.

No, don't get distracted by the sexy guy! Jamie thought

It's okay, we don't blame you for taking a sneak-peak. Amy and Annie thought back together,

Ew, gross, no, guys, this is really a bad time to be talking, I mean thinking, about boys!

But Jamie's eyes lingered longer on Shawn, as he took one foot against the solid wall.

"The game must go on," he teased. He adjusted his horizon, making him stand straight against the wall and walk up it's ten foot height.

He didn't take the opportunity to mark Jamie back for the point.

Why wouldn't he try to tag me back?

I don't know, answered Amy, but take advantage of the opportunity at hand. Shawn's ability is manipulating gravity. If you follow close enough behind him, you can scale the walls and get a better look out for Quincy.

His powers already had an effect on the space around her. Jamie felt herself being pulled along the wall with him, slowly levitating into the air.

You are stuck in his orbit. Annie cooed, Literally and metaphorically.

Jamie thought back as she ascended the wall, I don't know if you can see this, but I am gagging at what you just said.

He was fast, and Jamie had to keep focus on him to not lose her footing. The effects of vertigo settled on Jamie's stomach as her world turned slightest look to either side made her stomach turn cartwheels.

He jumped over the edge, spreading his hands out for a swan dive, but Jamie couldn't see his dismount, as her footing started to slide slightly ground wards.

You are too far behind him, his range is limited. Hurry, before you fall! Amy thought back.

Thankfully all those hours of sprinting at baseball practice came in handy as she just grappled the top edge of the wall as gravity resettled to normal. She hoisted herself up. From her vantage point, she could see the immensity of Kevin's work. Some areas of maze had shorter walls than others, but luckily none leveled as high as the one she stood on. Just below her she could see Shawn perform an impressive array of acrobatics to avoid enemy team members. The amount of speed and control Shawn displayed with his mutant ability reminded Jamie of the hallway fight scene in the movie Inception, and could understand how his team managed to win so many of these competitions.

Hey, we think we found him, Amy answered, we can see him through another player's eyes.

Can you guide me to him from up here? Jamie asked.

Without her control, her eyes wandered across the uninhabited plain, guided by one of the twin's telepathic connection. The feeling was jarring at first, but Jamie felt a level of trust with the sisters that felt surprisingly natural. Her gaze found Quincy, and luckily he wasn't too far off, but he looked like he was struggling.

Thanks for the assist girls, how are you two holding up?

Well, answered Annie, Amy is already tagged.

What!? How did that happen? You're supposed to watch each other's backs. Um, I mean, your back … The social etiquette for friends who are conjoined siblings was still a new lesson for Jamie to learn.

Hey, you know how boring it is to be held up in the middle of nowhere like some damsel in distress? thought back Amy, There is nothing for us to do, so I figured I could at least read a little read. Some sophomore snuck up on us, but ...

...we're lucky he didn't realize that technically it takes two tags for us to be considered a hit each, cut in Annie, but this is a little harder than we expected, keeping track of everyone's movements.

Well, you two are doing great, don't give up, replied Jamie.

I just want to clarify, interrupted Amy, this isn't necessarily 'challenging', it just requires about as much concentration as cooking scrambled eggs and bacon at the same time.

"Oh, well," Jamie said out loud, "don't mind me then."

By now Jamie made it to the alleyway where Quincy was stuck and just managed to witness a lean, pale skinned guy with long greasy black hair, shoot a yellowish-white liquid from the crevasse of his inner elbows. The spray of the mystery material matted Quincy against a pile of broken bricks, causing him to curse in pain.

"You couldn't have at least given me a cushion to land on first, Mark?" Quincy yelled out. The only sign of a response Mark gave back was a shrug, and before he ran off, tapped a stretch of pink paint on Quincy's shoulder. Jamie jumped from the wall and hurried toward Quincy.

"Are you okay?" she asked once the other competitor raced away.

"Yeah, but don't touch it, or you'll get stuck too. Don't worry, I can take care of this." A ripple pulsed through his skin, and waves of orange light undulated in and out of his scales. The heat touched the webbing and melted it away like soft serve ice cream. Within seconds Quincy stood to stretch his back, displaying an array of colorful streaks on his body, but Jamie was more bothered by his profuse perspiration.

"Are you sure you're okay? I don't want you to push yourself too hard for this." Jamie's instinct was to put a hand out on Quincy's shoulder, but the heat of his skin reminded her of how bad of an idea that was.

"Sure, I'm super," he said between breaths, "Let's go, I think we're close to another team."

Before she could ask anymore questions Quincy bolted down the corridor, not taking care to avoid any remnants of Mark's webbing. A small tuft of the stuff stuck to the bottom of his shoe, making it look like a piece of toilet paper trailing behind. One of the twins gave directions over their mental radios on how to avoid any other team members. The pair stopped when a number of footsteps were heard on the other side of a wall.

Jamie whispered, "How did we get separated?"

Quincy's hot breath whispered back, "I could ask you the same thing. All of a sudden, you weren't running beside me anymore. I didn't hear any directions from Annie or Amy, so I ended up in a trap."

Don't blame us for your missteps, Quincy Adams, Annie thought back, you are perfectly capable of using your eyes and ears to avoid other teams. Also, it was Harmony that caused you to be separated. She used her ability to lure Quincy away from you Jamie, and once far enough away, she made him forget it ever happened.

Quincy thought back, Huh, I don't remember that happening?

Well, you wouldn't, would you, Jamie chuckled back, It sounds like the others are gone now, we can move.

Before they could move forward, a giant tendril slammed down between them. A cage made of giant fingers enveloped around them. Jamie looked up and saw that the origin of the hand came from the other side of the wall, and as her gaze followed downward, she could see an eye peeking through a crack. She could see enough that the person owning the eye was grinning and he tightened his grip around her. He must have not noticed Quincy there though, because his ring finger brushed against his back, leading him to yelp in pain. Immediately the hand jerked skyward, shrinking back to a normal size on its assent.

"Quick, here's our chance," Jamie sprinted forward in the maze, remembering the directions the sisters sent telepathically. Quincy was struggling to keep up. His panting became heavier than before, and his shirt was completely soaked with sweat.

I don't know how much more sun Quincy can take. Please tell me there is some oasis at the center of this?

I can send cooling thoughts to him, answered Amy, that might help him a little, but you're right, this is the longest I've ever seen him in the heat.

As Jamie looked over her shoulder to check on Quincy, the same student with the long fingers was chasing after them now. Both hands extended like five pairs of stilts, and the kid balanced about eight feet in the air between the sets. He lurched forward with each crawl of his finger picking up speed much better than Quincy was able to.

Jamie yelled back to him, "Watch out, Spider-Hands is coming!" Thinking hard on the moment earlier that day when she managed to produce something with her powers, Jamie generated that same feeling, and pushed a forcefield of purple air toward the suspended teen, sending him staggering backwards. Seeing this display of power perked up Quincy's mood.

"Way to go, Jamie! How did you know we called him Spider-Hands?"

"How could you not, he has HUGE HAND SPIDERS!"

"Fair point. Jamie, I knew you would be dy-no-mite in this game!"

"Oh no, his brain has fully melted, what do we do?"

No, unfortunately that is just regular, lame Quincy speaking, answered Amy, but you two are about to come up on Harmony and Gisela.

With Amy's help, she could see in her mind's eye Harmony and the girl with the black box braids from before waiting just on the other side of a wall. Harmony didn't have a single mark on her, while Gisela had one yellow streak down her forearm. Either that tag, or just Gisela's permanent resting face, made her look pissed.

"I know I can handle Harmony, but what does Gisela do?" asked Jamie.

Quincy shook shiny bits of sand from his arms, "She makes things either really loud or really quiet."

"So, she's basically a radio dial?"

"Yeah, but imagine if you wanted to sneak up on someone, you could go into ninja mode and quiet your steps. Or if you wanted to distract someone, you can make the most annoying sound imaginable, and that is the only thing you'd hear."

She could already see how this could work to their advantage, "I have a plan. I'll cover you while you run up to tag them. You ready?"

He held up both of their brown wand markers, "Ready to smear some shit!"

"Dude, is that why you choose brown as our color?"

"No, everyone else complained that the color didn't show up on my skin, which is incredibly racist if you ask me,"

No, losers don't get to pick the colors, that's why, chimed in Amy, Also, there is only about 5 minutes left in the game.

"What, already, but we've gotten so few tags done!" Quincy asked back,

"Hey, just be proud of yourself that you made it this far in the game, and we are going to

get these two," Jamie stood out from their hiding spot and walked confidently towards the opposing team.

Harmony noticed her and spoke first, "So, decided to switch teams yet?"

A grin crossed Jamie's face, "Not likely." She put her hands up and a dome of purple light and smoke swirled around the two girls. Gisela showed genuine fear, but Harmony looked like she was on the verge of yawning. Jamie pressed her hands in to tighten the dome's radius. In an attempt to stop the air's restriction, Gisela opened her mouth to let out a scream. The sound waves knocked noticeably against the purple walls, but none breached the perimeter. Harmony clenched her ears. She yelled back at Gisela, but Jamie could only tell what was being said by reading her mind.

You idiot, stop it, you're going to burst my eardrums!

"Quincy, now!" Jamie yelled back at him.

He cut around the corner wielding the wands in the air as if he was running into the battle at the end of Braveheart. Jamie managed to close the dome tight enough around the girls so their shins were just exposed below the forcefield.

"Hurray Quincy, I am not sure if they are actually getting air in there."

For dramatic flair, Quincy chose to slide across the sand like he was trying to reach home base. It would have been cool if he had managed to get all the way to them with the move, but fell a few feet short of the mark. With one swipe he managed to get each of the girls legs.

"Awesome! Now let's meet back up with Annie and Amy," she tried to hold onto the sphere a little longer to allow them to get away, but Jamie could already feel the power draining from her mind. Just before the two could make it around the corner, the purple air dissipated, releasing Harmony and Gisela. Jamie reached up to cover her ears expecting a scream from the girl with amplifying powers, but instead heard a panicked, "Wait".

It was Harmony, and she managed to get Quincy to stop running.

"No, don't stop running," Jamie yelled back.

"Don't trust her," Harmony yelled back across the space between them.

"What?" Questioned Quincy.

"Don't trust her. She isn't on your side," she repeated.

Quincy, she is using her ability on your emotions, think logically about this. Harmony's hold was strong on Quincy, as neither Jamie nor the twins could get through to him.

"How long have you known her. How long have you known me. Listen to me, don't go along with her."

Jamie couldn't physically move Quency on, but she could try to push out what Harmony was saying. Another telekinetic push and Jamie produced another wall of purple smoke between Harmony and them.

"Hey, quit it!" Quincy yelled back. He ran to the wall and pounded his first against the smoky air. Sizzling sounds escaped from each punch.

"Quincy, no, I don't know how long I can hold this up. It's for your own good, it's for our team."

His eyes snapped back at her, "She's the only one I need!" There was anger and hostility in Quincy's mercury eyes. While all this was happening, Shawn managed to fall into the fray, quickly tagging Jamie and Quincy's backs with blue paint. With just as much speed, he managed to use his ability to vault the forcefield. Landing gracefully on the other side, Harmony took Shawn in for a hug. At that moment, a klaxon rang out through the maze.

That's the game everybody, twins thought together.

Jamie brought her hands down and let the tense release from her shoulders. The recently erected walls started to shift and fall away back into the ground. Other team members reconnected across the field to compare battle wounds. Two kids were still fighting and Kevin had to intervene. Even Amy seemed a bit proud to show off her participation tag on her arm.

Slowly the masses congregated towards Duncan who was still monitoring the teacher's movements within X-Manor. Somehow he managed to prop up a beach umbrella over his desk and monitors. How could after all that just went on, the sight of a guy sitting at a desk with multiple computers, one of which was playing an episode of Naruto, in the middle of an empty desert, be the craziest thing for Jamie to witness?

While everyone else counted their points, Jamie went over to console Quincy. "I'm sorry about that, but we worked really together. I think I might actually be into playing this again."

Quincy's demeanor had he hunched away from Jamie, still looking at the air where Harmony once stood. "Get away from me," he bellowed.

"What?"

"I said,... get,... away,... from ME!" Flames jumped from his skin as they spiraled heavenward. The others around him jumped back, but Jamie tried to bear as much of the heat as she could.

"Quincy, what's going on!?" she yelled over the flames.

"He's absorbed too much energy," Annie yelled over the distance. The two ran the best they could over the soft sand to reach them.

"He needs to expel all of that energy before he hurts someone."

"Or himself," Amy finished.

Jamie had to act quickly, "Dizzy, open your portal now, get everyone out of her except me and Quincy." Without hesitation, she did, and the classmates shuffled through.

"What about you two?" Amy and Annie asked in unison.

"Keep a mental lock on me, and when things are safe again, reopen the portal, now go!"

Quincy screamed in agony. He squatted to his knees holding them tight. "It feels like my whole body wants to explode!" he shouted.

Crap, what did I get myself into.

"Quincy, it will be okay, just look at me,"

He was like a sad puppy, the last to be abandoned at the pound.

"How can I trust you?" he asked her.

"Because...," she stammered. How could he trust her, she didn't even know if she could trust herself. She'd only met this person this morning, but the way he welcomed her into his group of friends was like nothing she'd seen before at her old school. It took years for boy Jamie to climb the social ranks, scrutinizing every decision to make sure he didn't slip down the ranks. He could never admit to himself how he really wanted to be, but now this school of misfits took her in, no questions asked.

"Because I know how it feels to hate the body you are in," she answered.

The tears flowing from his eyes evaporated before they could even roll down his cheek. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"All you want is to be accepted by your classmates, but it is hard for you to be close to anyone. You try so hard, but no one appreciates your efforts to be their friend. But I am here, because I do appreciate you, even though we just met, you made my first day at a new school not an awful mess, even though I did almost die about half a dozen times. I know you have all these pent up emotions, but you will feel better once you let them out. And I promise, I am here for you."

The flames emitting from his skin altered from red/orange to blue, and it was difficult for Jamie to continue looking at him.

"Put your hands out, like this," she showed him, and with shaking limbs he followed her instructions. "Now, just imagine all of the heat, all of the pain, just pushing out of your hands."

He closed his eyes. A purple barrier wrapped around his shoulders and filtered out towards his hands. Jamie focussed her energy in building a funnel with her mental energy to protect Quincy and herself from the blast.

"I've got you covered, go for it, let it out."

Quincy let out a yell, and the energy slowly flowed from his head and feet towards the core of his body, finally reaching his hands. His scalded skin locked tight outlining each strained muscle. Finally, a star of energy burst from his hands shooting across the desert.

Jamie could feel a pushback and closed her eyes from the emitting lights, but never dropped her focus on her wall. They were both yelling in frustration. Her muscles shook from the strain. Then, almost as quickly as it started, it stopped.

Quincy took in a deep breath of air, then fainted to the ground.

"Quincy!" Jamie rushed over to him. She knelt to the ground and forgot that she shouldn't touch him. But he wasn't hot. He actually felt a little cold

"Oh no, Quincy!" She cradled his head and shoulders on her lap attempting to shake him awake. It must have been too much, she thought, He released too much energy, now he has none left inside of him. She tried finding a pulse, but she couldn't tell if his skin was too thick to feel through, if she was doing it wrong, or if it really wasn't there.

Hot tears clogged her eyes. "Please wake up, please. Amy! Annie! We need help," she thought out loud. She waited, but did not hear a reply.

The sun fell behind them on the western horizon. A glitter of light skated across the river of glass freshly formed before them. She couldn't tell how far the strand extended, but only saw a mirage of water waiting at the end of it.