"LUCAS!" screamed Claus, running to his unconscious brother. A few workers looked up, annoyed from Claus' yelling. Claus began to tend to his younger twin, not caring if they would get fired from their job. Within moments, Claus noticed the stream of warm, sticky, red blood making it's way down Lucas' face from his nose. This caused Claus to panic even more. Just the thought of his twin getting a nosebleed terrified him. "SOMEONE HELP, YOU NEED TO HELP MY BROTHER!" he shouted in desperation. Soon, Lucas and Claus' boss came over to the scene.

"What's all the commotion about?! People are trying to work-" Mr. Minch, the manager of the Stitchery, stopped talking when he saw Lucas. He frowned. "Dropped from work exhaustion, did he?" said Mr. Minch, "It's a shame. The poor boy was great at his job." "Look, can I just take him home?! I don't know what's wrong with him!" Claus almost yelled. "He's had a fever for the past few days, and now he's unconscious! He could be dying!"

"Fine. Whatever, but you two won't be paid for the day," said Mr. Minch, a disapproving look on his face. "Aw man.. Well, thanks for letting me bring him home," said Claus. He was upset that they wouldn't be getting paid. They would be losing 10 dollars this way, because he and Lucas each made 5 dollars a day. It was fair though, Claus had barely sewn anything. In fact, he was still tangled up in thread.

Claus picked up his twin, cradling him gently, as he walked through the workroom, into the lobby. He exited the building and faced an icy blast of December air. Claus raced down the cracking, worn out streets, trying to get home as soon as possible, snow filling his shoes as he ran. Soon, he reached the small house he, Lucas, and their father, Flint lived. Claus kicked the door open and laid Lucas on the raggy navy blue carpeting. Just then, Flint came through the door.

"What happened?!" said Flint, face full of concern. "I don't know, Lucas fainted at work, and I-" Claus was interrupted by Flint. "Well, if he fainted, you should let him rest. Put him on the bed." Claus did as he was told and placed Lucas on the bed he shared with him. Flint's bed was next to it.

The house only had 2 rooms. There was a main room, with 2 beds, a small stove, a table, 3 chairs, and a small television. There was also a small bathroom, with a toilet, sink, and shower. If anything, they were lucky that they had a bathroom. Most people in Tazmily didn't, and had to go outside to use the bathroom, which was very inconvenient in the winter.

Lucas awoke about an hour later, startling Claus. "Lucas!" Claus yelled, throwing his arms around Lucas. "Wait Claus, I don't want you to get sick-" Lucas realized he was at home. "What happened?" he said. "You fainted at work, so I took you home. We didn't get paid for the day," said Claus. Lucas seemed saddened. "Now we can't get the jackets that we need.." "Who cares about jackets anymore?! What matters is that you're alright," said Claus. The twins hugged eachother for a few minutes.

Claus realized he needed to get food. Only necessities, of course. That was all they could afford. "Well, it's my turn to go buy food for the week," he said. Shortly after, Claus left the house. Lucas noticed he felt odd, like there was something weird about him. He brushed it off as nothing, or maybe possibly because he didn't have a fever anymore. He didn't feel like he had a fever anymore, anyway. He was bored, so he decided to watch television. There were only 2 channels, a news channel, and the Capitol channel, with news directly from the Psions and occasionally a New Year's special, or something else. Those were the only two channels they got in Tazmily.

After about 5 minutes of watching the news channel, the TV automatically switched to the Capitol channel. "There must be an announcement from the Psions," Lucas said. Blue eyes trained on the TV, Lucas began to watch. Paula, one of the Psions, originally from Twoson, stepped in front of the camera. She was wearing a beautiful holiday dress, pink with shiny silver accents. She was wearing her golden blond hair in a bun, tied back by her signature red ribbon. She was beautiful.

Paula began to speak. "Hi Eagleland! I just wanted to say happy New Year's! Remember, the Festival starts tomorrow! But don't worry. I'm sure everyone will have a great time! Anyways, that's all I've got to say. Bye!" the TV turned off. Lucas had always thought Paula was a nice person, because she really cared about people's happiness and wellbeing. The only problem was that she didn't know what happened in Tazmily. Lucas chuckled sadly as he got up from where he sat on the floor and stretched.

Lucas began to think about what it would be like to be a Psion. It would be great living in a spacious house in the Capitol, never having to worry about getting money or being cold or going hungry. But Lucas couldn't bear the thought of leaving Claus and Flint to fend for themselves back in Tazmily. He certainly couldn't bring them with him. "Good thing I ain't a Psion," Lucas thought.

Lucas was starting to feel paranoid for no real reason. He had read in school that Psions got high fevers sometimes, due to their powers adjusting, and he had just had a fever. A worrying parallel for sure, but likely nothing. But wait. What if this wasn't just a cruel coincidence? What if this was something bad? Lucas had to run an experiment.

Lucas chose to see if he could freeze anything, burn anything, shock anything, or do anything PSI related. He searched for something, anything to test on. He found a small pad of paper, yellowed and falling apart, that he could test on under his and Claus's bed. He set the pad down on the floor and stared at it, concentrating. He wasn't really sure what he was concentrating on. After a few seconds, the pad froze over, like a block of ice with paper in it. Lucas was horrified.

He was a Psion.

Lucas began crying. He knew The Testing was tomorrow, and since there were no Psions ever found in Tazmily, The Testing was done by everyone. Even babies. Not just people ages 13 and up. Lucas realized he had to hide this in order to stay home. There was a million thought racing around in his head, and he was scared. He then began to relax. There was only one way to know if he was a Psion for sure. He had to see if he could read minds, which was a trademark skill of Psions.

Lucas jumped when Claus entered the house. Frightened, he froze in place. "Hey Lucas, dad's going to be late coming home tonight. He had to run an extra errand-" Claus noticed the fearful expression on his twin's face and stopped talking. Claus was about to ask what was wrong when he saw Lucas' face go blank, as if Lucas was deep in thought. Scared, Claus picked Lucas up and put him into bed. "You should rest," Claus said.

Lucas was reading Claus's mind. It felt so weird to be looking at thoughts that weren't his. It was like information was flowing into his mind. Lucas was saddened by this.

Lucas snapped out of his trance-like state frowned. He had just read Claus' mind. Claus registered the frown on Lucas's face and began to worry. "Lucas, what's wrong?" "Nothing, Claus.. But what if I told you that.. Uh.." Lucas struggled to find the words he needed. "Just spit it out, Lucas!"

"I'm a Psion, Claus." Lucas couldn't hold back his tears.