There's a purple tint to the air around me. It's so thick I can almost reach out and touch it. But when I try, the mist dissipates, moving away from me as if in fear. I am once again wearing a ball gown, this time the color is deep green, covered by a glittering material. It looks like I'm wearing the stars.

I'm walking through an empty courtyard and my hand reaches out to touch the plants as I pass them. There's an order to my movements, a practiced ease that seems to come with years of experience. It's as if I'm leaving an essence of me with every touch and the thought makes me smile.

Watching myself make the progress across the yard, it's like I'm suspended in two places at once. I am the person walking in front of me, but I'm also the one watching from the sidelines. I don't think I can control where this is going, but I'm going to try. The other me stops for a moment, studying a flower bush in front of her. I will myself to move forward, to put my dream self in front of the dream. It's not as easy as it should be, and maybe that's another side effect of the majyk preventing my memories.

When I finally do step around her, I recoil at the sight of me. My face wears an expression of determination and smugness. It’s like I've done something bad that I'm proud of. The thought tastes like the truth and I take a step away from my dream self. There's something here that I'm missing, but of course, I can't know what it is without the full extent of my memories.

Everything I've seen so far, everything I've remembered, has just made me more confused. I have more questions now that I did at the beginning. As I watch my dream self smile at the plant and caress its petals, I'm left with more. The plant reaches toward me, much like one did in the forest, but then, instead of wrapping itself around my hand in comfort, it tries to pull away.

I won't let it. My fingers wave in the air and the purple tint I keep seeing intensifies in color. The plant jerks forward, as if pulled by a magnet, and the dream self me smiles once the petals touch the skin. The plant almost seems to shudder at the contact and then it's gone.

Shaking my head, I try to wrap my mind around what I just saw. The plant disappeared under the purple light. Completely. My dream self doesn't appear bothered at all. She seems to be enjoying herself. It would be nice to know what's going through her mind, what all of this means.

But just as suddenly as I'm here, I'm gone.

* * *

Landing on the mat with a bang, I grunt in annoyance. The dream weighs heavily on me, like I've just come out of the water, fully clothed. I haven't told anyone about it and the frustration of more questions is fueling my adrenaline.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I shout, tired of him always winning, as I jump to my feet and slam my heel into Brendan's stomach in the same move. He grunts, reaching for me, but I block him, sweeping his legs from under him. He rolls out of the way before I'm on top of him, and when I twist around, he has a sword in his hand.

"That's not fair." I pout, keeping my stance, my eyes darting between the sword and the boy. He gives me a Cheshire cat grin and the urge to wipe it off his face is larger than the fact that he's armed and I'm at a disadvantage. I attack again, dodging his swings before finally landing a blow to his back. He stumbles giving me enough time to do a front flip, landing on top of him as he turns. His sword clatters to the floor, and I'm pinning him with my body.

"Are you ever planning on teaching me how to do that sword trick?" I ask, trying to even out my breathing from all the exertion. I have a feeling that Brendan can easily throw me off now, but he continues to lie there, my legs around his middle, my hands on his wrists. He smiles then and my razor-sharp vision is instantly on his lips. I have the biggest urge to lean down and taste them.

Just like that, the air around us thickens and I move my gaze to meet his heated one. There is so much familiarity in this moment that I feel I can almost reach out and touch the memories floating up to the surface. Moving a fraction of an inch sends all of my nerve endings on alert, as my body becomes even better molded to Brendan's. There's no discomfort in our closeness, it's more like the complete opposite. The closer I am to him, the more at home I feel. I lean down, and then, I'm on the floor, face first.

Smacking my palms against the mat, I look over my shoulder at where Brendan is now standing. He's grinning at me, so proud of himself for sneaking one past me, but I'm not fooled. I see the underlying tension in his muscles. He's not as unaffected as he pretends to be.

"Once again, that's not fair,” I mumble, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him.

In the almost two weeks that I've been here, they've yet to even mention tutoring me in majyk. I've brought it up but all I get are vague reasons and then a change of conversation.

"It is what it is, zaichik,” Brendan says, moving to the other side of the room for a drink of water. I remain seated in the middle of the floor, because I have a feeling that any proximity to him right now is dangerous for my health. Well, mostly his.

“And what is this zaichik business. Are you going to tell me what it means?” I grumble.

“It’ll come to you, I’m sure,” he replies, laughter in his voice.

"You haven't answered my question; are you planning on teaching me your sword trick?" He takes a swig of water, turning to face me. I have a feeling that he's about to argue, and when he opens his mouth, I'm right.

"It's too dangerous, Cali. That's why we're working on your physical strength first. Once you're strong enough, we can introduce majyk. But until then—“

"Until then what?" I ask when he doesn't continue. "I'm so sick of you treating me like I'm defective. Yes, my memories are gone. Yes, I don't know anything about who I am. But I'm not a child!" My voice rises with every word. I get to my feet, hands planted on my hips, staring Brendan down.

"You can't coddle me and expect me to succeed. Everything you've told me about myself proves to me that I can handle this. Yet, here we are again. You playing your stupid tricks and I’m screaming at you in frustration. If that's how we've always been, I don't want any part of it."

Fed up with his attitude, and my own reaction to his proximity, the words just pour out of me. There's no rhyme or reason to the sudden overwhelming emotions that are flushing through my body.

"Calista."

"Don't you dare to use that tone of voice with me!" I shout, raising my hands in the air and all the frustration seems to surge out of me.

The sudden gust of wind pushes the furniture back against the wall with a bang. Brendan flies backward, catching himself before he slams into a wall. That purple tint that I've seen in my dreams torpedoes through the space between us, making everything spin around me.

I pull my hands to my body in shock, staring at the wreckage I created in a span of three seconds. My body begins to shake and I'm gasping for air. Suddenly, Brendan is in front of me, reaching for me, but I won't let him. Pulling my hands tightly against my heart, I try to keep it from exploding out of my chest.

"Cali?" Brendan raises his hands up in the air, like you would if you were approaching a wounded animal. We've been here before, over a dozen times, and the memory of him walking toward me with that carefully calculated look on his face doesn't send me into a fit of pain. It just flashes before my eyes and then it’s gone.

"What was that?" I whisper, still keeping myself tightly closed off. "I did that."

"Yes, you did. It's your majyk, Cal. It's reawakening much faster than we expected."

My eyes snap to his at that. But before I can say a word, I hear a noise behind me and I spin around to see Maxwell on the stairs.

“So I’m super powered now?” I ask, but neither boy answers me and I’m getting more fed up by the second. They’re not doing this to me again.

"I need some answers," I say, glaring at Maxwell before turning my attention to Brendan. "I need them now."