So I Tried to Write a Next Generation Story

Chapter 1: Callista

Three days into Level Five and someone had already graffitied Callista's locker. And it wasn't very nice things either. Callista scrubbed at "your dad ruined the Vacker family!" and "Down with Pyrokinetics!", trying to erase the angry red paint.

"Having trouble?" Jaye asked, reminding Callista that he was another one of her problems. A twin brother, an ability that had been banned for most of the Lost Cities' history, a whole mess of drama surrounding her parents, she had a lot to deal with.

"Nobody does this to your locker," Callista said.

"They're just afraid of getting on the bad side of Jaye Redek, Mesmer," Jaye answered, fidgeting with a strand of his blond hair. Jaye and Callista might have been twins, but they didn't look much alike. Jaye took after his mom: Short with blond hair, except he had his dad's teal eyes, while tall, dark haired Callista, looked exactly a female, ice-blue-eyed version of her dad

"They should be afraid of getting on the bad side of a Pyrokinetic." Callista blasted the paint with a fireball, covering her locker in a scorch mark. "Could you please mesmerize these jerks to leave me alone?"

"I wish! Mesmer powers are temporary, and I'm pretty terrible at it. And it's so awkward training with my sister's best friends grandfather," Jaye complained.

"Grady's cool," Callista argued. "You're lucky. I have to train with Mom."

"Which reminds me, where is Zoe?" Jaye asked.

"Zoe's always late," Callista said. "Help me with this?" She scraped ash off her locker.

"I can't help you, but I can force other people to help you," Jaye said.

Callista laughed. "Isn't that illegal?"

"I'm fifteen. Nobody's going to exile me for mesmerizing random annoying kids. They deserve it," Jaye said.

Callista nodded. "You'd still get detention."

"When don't I have detention?" Jaye demanded.

"Never," said a blond, brown-eyed elf. Zoe was one of the only brown-eyed elves in the Lost Cities. She'd inherited the unique eye color from her mother, Sophie.

"Zoe!" Callista exclaimed. "You dyed your hair!"

Zoe brushed one of the purple streaks with her fingers. "Xandra gave me a hair-dye kit for the first day of Foxfire and I finally decided to try it out. Do you think it looks okay?"

"It looks awesome!" Jaye promised. "You have the best sister ever. My sister only gives me...what was it...gulon spit? Sure, I'd given some to her already, but I'd love getting a non-stinky gift for once. Anyway, love the hair."

"Thanks." Zoe's face went red and she twisted her hair.

"You look like you're turning into a verminion," Jaye added.

Zoe punched him.

"How dare you!" Jaye shoved Zoe into the wall of lockers, right next to Callista's.

"What happened here?" Zoe poked at the scorch mark.

Jaye didn't hesitate to recite all the insulting things that had been written on Callista's locker.

"Show me who did that and...I'll punch them! Jaye can tell you how much it hurts," Zoe said. "I must avenge my best friend!"

"I wish I knew," Callista said. "It's like everyone in the Lost Cities is against me."

"Well, I know how some of it is. There's a lot of drama around my family, too. And...you know," Zoe said. It wasn't exactly a secret that Zoe, the daughter of two of the most powerful elves in the Lost Cities, was Talentless. Callista didn't know how she could deal with the scorn and still be so cheery most of the time. Though, Zoe was also a genius with a photographic memory who was a year ahead in Foxfire. Basically, Zoe was awesome and not having an ability didn't tarnish her awesomeness one bit.

"Callista Redek, Jaye Redek, Zoe Foster. Stop chatting in the halls and get to class before I give you detention!" shouted a random Mentor.