Lindsay, wake up! You have classes to teach! Thunder nudged his bonded. And I can't get down from here without you!

Lindsay sleepily pushed him away. "Later, later."

"You're still the only person I have ever known to sleep in broad daylight, you know that?"

Startled by the new voice, Lindsay sat up to find Adriane smiling down at her. "It's a talent of mine."

Adriane laughed. "You're going to miss breakfast if you don't hurry. Some of the campers are great cooks; you should try some of the stuff they whipped up."

Lindsay just stared at her blankly.

"Or you could have cereal," Adriane added with a smirk.

Breakfast was hectic. Kids of all ages ran back and forth from the kitchen to the dining area, and Lindsay wasn't a fan of the crowd. After pouring herself a bowl of cereal, she found Gabby eating breakfast with a bunch of other kids. Each of them paid close attention to her; some seemed to be hanging on every word. Gabby spotted Lindsay, smiled and waved her over.

As Lindsay sat down, Gabby said, "I had them save that seat for you. Anyway, meet my class, Lindsay. Well, some of them."

The other kids stared at her in wonder. Most were girls, but a few were guys. The oldest looked about Lindsay and Gabby's age, and the youngest had to be no older than nine.

Lindsay shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Nice to meet you."

"They're all returning campers," Gabby explained with pride, "Emily asked me to teach more complex healing methods. Things like controlling balances and healing the imagined element."

A few students squealed with excitement.

"You're teaching them to control balances?" Lindsay repeated warily as her whole body stiffened, "Is that such a good idea?"

"Don't worry about it," Gabby assured her, "It's only balancing, not manipulating. And that's only if the class gets to it. It is one of the most complex techniques."

"We can do it!" one girl exclaimed, an older one with black hair and blue eyes, "We'll prove how good we are!"

Lindsay glared at her and snapped, "That isn't something you need to learn."

"Jenna," a little red haired girl that Lindsay recognized, Anna, whispered to shocked older girl, "I told you she's scary. Don't make her mad."

Gabby sighed, "Don't scare my students, Lindsay. I won't teach them it if it bothers you that much."

"Thank you," Lindsay grumbled, "You know that makes me uneasy."

"Anyways," Gabby said, happily changing the topic, "What classes are you teaching? I'm helping Emily with another healing class after the more advanced one. After lunch, I have a beginning fighting class. Apparently the whole camp has free time after that."

"Yeah, that's what I heard. I'm teaching a beginning flight class first and then an advanced one," Lindsay explained, "Zach insisted on a combat class after lunch too."

Before anyone could comment, a huge falcon landed next to Lindsay's nearly empty cereal bowl. A few girls yelped, but Lindsay just stared in horror as it finished off her cereal. When it was done, it stared at her with steady yellow eyes and ruffled its brown and white feathers. Furious, Lindsay reached out and grabbed its neck.

Ignoring the bird attempting to tear apart her hand, Lindsay stood and growled, "Whose bird is this?"

The room fell silent besides the bird's struggling until a boy behind Lindsay spoke. "If you break Mercury's neck, I won't forgive you."

Lindsay whipped around, fire burning in her eyes. The boy seemed a year or two older than her and was much taller. He smirked, running a hand through his choppy black hair.

Releasing Mercury's neck and letting it retreat to the boy's arm, Lindsay was seething. "And who do you think you are?" she snapped.

"Gavin, a friend of Alex. But don't mind me. I was just observing."

Suddenly, Lindsay covered her ears and sat down, trying to ignore everyone's gazes burning into her as she took in one shallow breath after another.

Gabby glared at Gavin, who simply looked intrigued, and put her hand on Lindsay's shoulder. "It's just cereal and an irritating boy," Gabby whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry I already had you upset. Take a deep breath and walk away from it."

"I know, sorry. It's just too early," Lindsay muttered and bolted out of the room.

So do you think she's alright? Carmel asked Gabby on the way to the first class.

Gabby nodded. "She'll be fine. Like she said, it was just too early. Plus, she was already on edge."

Is she always this way? Amity inquired with concern. Is something wrong with her?

"I'll explain it to you later," Gabby whispered as she came around the corner of the manor and faced her first class.

They were all gathered in back of the manor, forming separate clusters of friends. It was a smaller sized class, since it was more advanced, and the gender ratio was surprisingly even. Most were relatively close to her age, with the exception of Anna and her friends.

Gabby called the class to attention and instructed them to sit in a large circle. "For those I haven't met yet, my name is Gabby. I'll be teaching this class, so if any issue comes up, please tell me. As we go around the circle, please say your name and age. Oh, and introduce your bonded."

She surveyed the circle of students to make sure they were listening. "Alright, I'll start. Hello, my name is Gabby Rede and I'm fifteen. Amity is a water elemental horse, and Caramel is a mistwolf."

"I'm Eric Martinson, and I'm thirteen. I don't have a bonded animal."

"Hey, I'm Rani Patel," one of the girls who had sat with Gabby at breakfast introduced herself, "I'm sixteen. My partner is Raj, a flying white tiger."

"I'm Riley McGregor, and I'm fourteen. This is Isis, a Miniature Ice Dragon. Miniature Dragon," the girl repeated to make her point, "Not a D-fly."

The laughing boy next to Riley Gabby recognized before he introduced himself. "Alright, my name is Alexander Mono. Call me Alex. I'm sixteen. This is Scream, a griffon."

"I'm Trevor Grant, and I'm fifteen," Alex's other friend said, "My friend here is Ripley, a Spirit Bird."

"Hi everyone! I'm Emily Whitman. I'm ten. This is Maggie. She's a fox but still magic."

"Hi, I'm Anna Elkman. I'm eight. This is Canna. She's a dragon."

As the rest of the class introduced themselves, Gabby realized that teaching this class was going to prove a challenge. Since most of the kids were her age, they weren't likely to listen to her. Not only that, but many of them had rivals within the class.

"Hello everyone, I'm Jenna Tolland, and I'm fourteen," the last introduced herself. Gabby recognized her as the girl that Lindsay snapped at during breakfast. "I may not have a bond but I'll work together with everyone so that we can all reach our full potential," then to Gabby she said, "I just can't wait to learn from you!"

Gabby smiled at her, encouraged by her enthusiasm. Unfortunately, those who knew Jenna saw her excitement another way.

"Jenna, shut up," Alex moaned, "No one likes a suck up."

Jenna looked stunned. "Suck up?" she repeated innocently, "What are you talking about? I'm just excited."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Your anger is showing."

A few of the class snickered. Gabby was confused for a moment before remembering that Zach had told her Alex was able to see emotions.

"Ah, now you're embarrassed," Alex continued with a smirk, "Oh no, here comes the anger again. Embarrassment and anger? Ah, that's not a good sign."

By now, you didn't have to have Alex's abilities to see Jenna's emotions as she was taunted and laughed at. Her face was beet red, and her hands were tightened into fists.

"Alright, cut it out," Gabby interrupted, "Whether she was sucking up or not, you don't need to harass her."

After a few moans from the rest of the class, Alex sighed and suddenly grinned like an idiot, "Whatever. Just be careful who you suck up to, Jenna."

Ignoring Alex's strange comment, Gabby started the lesson with reviewing what Emily had taught them in their basic class.

Lindsay was having an absolutely miserable start to her day. First, she nearly had an episode at breakfast. Second, she was late to her first flying class, and a bunch of kids had decided to fly around on their own. Since none had very much experience, in the mere minutes that Lindsay was late, three kids managed to fall and get hurt. Third, while escorting the three injured idiots to a healing class on Silence and leaving Thunder in charge, she ran into Cinder and Erin, who thought that it would be hilarious to make her students think they were falling out of midair. Fourth, after threatening the twins with bodily harm and finding Gabby's healing class, she had to watch as Alex and that annoying girl from breakfast, Jenna, healed them. When the first class was finally over, Lindsay sighed with relief, hoping the rest of her day would turn out better than the morning.

Splashing her face with the cool water, Lindsay knelt by Owl Creek while she waited for her next class to come. It would likely take a few minutes for them to get there since Owl Creek was in the back of the preserve.

She had just managed to muster an optimistic attitude when she heard Thunder moan behind her, Oh no.

Turning to see what peril Thunder had discovered, Lindsay found her day would not be going as smoothly as she had hoped. Among the first few to arrive in the clearing was Alex. She made a mental note to yell at Zach for this.

Don't go off on anyone, Thunder warned, He hasn't done anything yet.

"Yet," Lindsay growled.

Silence spit for emphasis.

Lindsay smiled and stroked his beak. "That's right, buddy. You always side with me."

Thunder rolled his eyes. And this is why I'm forced to be the voice of reason.

"Yeah, right," Lindsay scoffed, "You're the voice of reason until food or she-wolves are involved. Then you turn into the voice of the excited puppy."

"Who's an excited puppy?" a familiar voice asked nervously, "I'd rather avoid being chewed."

Now, Lindsay was beaming as she faced the edge of the clearing to find a pile of twigs with quartz eyes looking around cautiously. Tweek made his way towards the class, plugging things into his HORARFF as he surveyed them. Unnoticed, Lindsay towered over him.

"Way to say hello, Twighead," Lindsay grumbled.

When Tweek swirled around and looked up, his quartz eyes spun. "O' me twig, it couldn't be! Inconceivable!"

"What," Lindsay laughed, "Did you forget that people grow even when you're not with them?"

"This is the little mage that tried to pull my quartz off!" Tweek exclaimed, recalling when they had first met, "Now she's teaching classes!"

Lindsay rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. Silence leaned over her shoulder, analyzing the talking mass of sticks. "Oh, yeah, this is Silence. Silence, this is Tweek. He is not a toy."

Tweek acknowledged the griffon warily. "I see why Alexander is in your class."

"Speaking of my class," Lindsay said, ignoring the very mention of Alex, "I should get going. See you around, Twighead."

The class was all there by now. With a groan, Lindsay called her students to attention and started introductions. Most of her class rode a griffon or dragon and were about her age. The oldest was a griffon rider named Elena; she was seventeen, nearly eighteen. On the other hand, the youngest was eight-year-old Anna with her dragon Canna. Besides Anna and Alex, Lindsay recognized Cinder and Erin with Dusk and Dawn.

"Alright," Lindsay said, climbing onto Silence's back after introductions, "Let's see what you guys can do. I'm going to circle the Preserve. The first one to catch me wins."

"What do we win?" Alex asked.

Lindsay thought for a moment. "My help in any prank on anyone," she decided after considering that there were kids like Erin and Cinder in her class, "Not that any of you will manage to catch me."

That got the class excited though. As her students mounted their bonds enthusiastically, Lindsay helped Thunder up with a glare from Silence and took off. The class tailed her as she soared through the tree tops, and she realized this would be harder than she thought with such huge dragons after her.

Are you sure this a good idea? Thunder asked wearily, What if someone falls?

"This is an advanced class, Thunder," Lindsay reminded him, shifting to lie on her stomach, "I don't think Zach would put them with me if they were in danger of falling. He knows how I am."

The competition was clear now as the slower kids fell behind and the more talented stayed on her tail. Lindsay looked to the side, spotting Alex on Scream edging closer. To the other side was Anna, wide eyed and intimidated by the thought of catching her teacher.

That older girl and her griffon are directly behind us. I think those are the twins behind her. Thunder warned.

"Awesome, come over here," Lindsay said, "Let's show them what skilled flying looks like."

Thunder groaned. You know I hate this.

Still, he did what she asked and crawled under her so that she was caging him in against Silence. Dropping her legs to straddle the griffon, Lindsay grabbed the strap around Silence's neck and pulled up gently. Interpreting her signal, Silence shot straight up with the others following their tail. Then, he twirled sideways, causing Lindsay to grip the strap hard to keep Thunder in place, and plummeted towards the trees. At the last moment, he twisted again, and with one powerful beat of his wings, straightened himself out, letting his feet graze the top of a tree. Now, they were rocketing through the sky and the students were far above and behind.

Lindsay sat up, letting Thunder out from under her. She heard Scream screech in frustration as she looked back. Thunder let out a howl of triumph, and Silence spit, showing what he thought of those trying to catch him. Lindsay laughed at her companions' enthusiasm but knew the competition was only half over. She signaled Silence to gain altitude as she set up in her more comfortable position, legs crossed and facing backwards.

They were passing the Topiary Gardens when Alex caught up to them and cut them off. Silence shot higher, trying to get by him, but Scream kept pace with them, blocking their way. Annoyed, Lindsay urged Silence towards the other griffon, stood, and jumped off his head.

Landing next to a stunned Alex, she yelled to Silence, "Up!"

Alex reached to grab her as she ran across Screams back. "Up!" he ordered Scream in an effort to cut off Silence once again.

But Silence didn't go up; he went under Scream as the griffon followed Alex's command. Evading Alex's grasp, Lindsay jumped off Scream's back and onto Silence once again. They finished their lap, leaving the students in the dust. When they landed, Lindsay leaped off of Silence with a triumphant howl. Thunder jumped down and joined her, and Silence did a quirky little victory dance. The day might just turn out alright.

What? I want you to review? Unheard of!