Chapter 1 - Offering to Teach

POV: Lena

It had been almost a day since we came to the beach house on Earth to hide from the Twelve Orders. And also since we, including Sid, found out about Grace's history with Sid's father. Not much had happened after all the things we'd been through. Just hid in the beach house for safety.

We were all doing different things at the time. Jesse spent about half an hour on the beach with his nose in a book, as he normally did. How he managed to read and be all poetic every day during a war, I would never know. Zenet was also in the beach, chatting with her partner, Contestir. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I left them to it - I didn't want to disturb them. Sid was just in the living room, sitting on a window seat as he stared at a photo of Grace and his father. I had a quick look at the photo earlier and it turned out that Grace was right about Sid looking so much like his father; the same blond hair; same facial features; same everything. Except the eyes. Sid's father's eyes were blue rimmed with red; whereas, Sid's were emerald-green. The shade of green was a perfect match to Grace's. I knew that Sid only found out that Grace was his mother, so it must've been quite a shock to him. I wanted to say something, but a part of me knew that he needed some time to himself to think things over.

And Ren was lying on the couch in the living room, still out cold from whatever had happened to him. I was told that it happened on Neathia when he got shot by Dharak and ended flying through the air and hit his head on the side of a cliff. He woke up done time after Sid took him to a medical room in Bakugan Interspace, but then he fell back to sleep once Sid threw some sleeping dust in his face. Sid did that for a really good reason - to make sure Ren stayed where he was since he kept insisting on trying to help rescue the rest of us from Kazarina. The sleeping dust was supposed to last for normally a few hours, as I was told, but Ren had been unconscious longer than that. It was either because of something Kazarina did to him before Zenet found him; there was something in the dust; or the way Ren's injuries, especially his head, had affected him. Nevertheless, we knew he woke up at some point. Sid had also been keeping an eye on Ren every so often, just in case.

As for myself, I was in the kitchen, helping Grace prepare some snacks and drinks for everyone. We were also talking about what I involuntarily did to Kazarina with a poisonous power I never knew I had.

"I couldn't explain it," I said, mixing some dough. "It felt like I was controlling the power, but, at the same time, it also felt like it was consuming me. I know that this power is lethal, but it's even more dangerous when I touch a person. I don't how to keep thus power under control, without killing people. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I do," Grace replied, slicing up chocolate into small pieces. "One time, I found out that I had the power to control fire once I was at a bonfire event in a forest back on New Vestroia. I accidentally set a small part of the forest on fire, and it was just pure luck that no one got hurt. It took me around five months to get used to it, even though I had people to help me through it. Now I'm able to use it whenever I need to. So, if you want, I can teach you some techniques for complete control over this new-found ability."

"Really?" I asked, my voice filled with hope. "You can do that?"

"Yes," Grace answered, dropping the chocolate pieces in the dough and mixing it together. "It may take a while, but I'm sure I can help you out."

"I want you to help," I said as Grace cut the the dough and rolled them into small balls, "but it could be dangerous. I mean, I can't touch you or you might die."

"My power was dangerous," Grace pointed out, flattening the balls into cookie with a pallet knife and the placing them in the oven. "And I felt the same way before. But once I went through with the tasks, I eventually received control over it. So, even your power has a lot to do with poison, I'm you'll get through like the way I did. You'll be fine, Lena. I can help you. The question is, will you let me?"

I thought about Grace's to help out for a bit. My power over poison was lethal, and I knew that I could hurt Grace at some point. I also knew that I needed a teacher to help me find a way to control it - without letting it control me. Finally, with a sense of dread and worry in my voice, I said, "Alright."

"Excellent," Grace beamed. "You're going to be great, Lena. Don't worry. How would you like to get started after all of us had snacks and something to drink? Sounds good?"

"Alright. I'll be ready for my first lesson."

"That's the spirit." The kettle on the cooker started to whistle. "Will you get the drinks ready while I keep an eye on the cookies, dear?"

"Sure," I replied, picking up the kettle.

Helping me learn how to use my power without killing people would be risky. But I was glad that Grace was willing to teach me. I just hoped that I would follow the tasks quickly, before something would happen.