Rikki threw her suitcase on the unoccupied bed. "So, tell me about you. What's up?"

I shrugged. My history was so clean, it was practically non-existant. "I live with my mom and dad. My dad's a paladin. Mum's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out. But they get along fine, if with some little arguments over which is better, evil or good."

Rikki smiled. "Wow. Sounds like a nice family."

"Well, you get used to them," I allowed. "Your turn. What kind of life do you have?"

She looked away from me. "Nothing like you've got. My mom is a fairy, so I was raised like one. I'm rebellious, though. I don't know exactly what my dad is, just that he must have been some evil being. Mother doesn't talk about him much. I'm hoping that maybe I can find out something about him in the Cloud Tower archives."

I wasn't sure what to do. I never had many friends, I never had felt a sympathy like this before. But maybe now that I had my empathy magic, it was intensified. I felt like I could touch her sadness, like the horrible feeling that I sensed in her was tangible. Now, I found myself sad for the sole reason of Rikki was sad.

I put up my numerous band posters around my side of the room. "Hey, Rikki," I asked. "You know any de-frillifying spells?"

"Nope, sorry."

"Damn. I'll have to use raw power." I aimed my crystal at the wall and concentrated. Out of the opaque object shot a beam of white light, knocking into the wall and ricocheting back. It hit me with a force I couldn't imagine, and I fell over. Rikki tried to hide her laughter as she helped me up.

"Never used magic before?" she asked between giggles.

I glared. "What's it matter? Have you?"

"Of course. Since I was only… oh, about… three years old."

How the hell could Rikki have had her magic for that long? Didn't all halfies have to wait for their magic?

"Nope, I got my crystal when I was WAY little."

Rikki's response literally made me stumble a couple steps backwards. Did… she… just answer my freaking thoughts?

"Nah. You just really wear your heart on your sleeve, Rory," Rikki said, giggling.

I grimaced. "Whatever. What is your power if you aren't telepathic?"

Her laughter now was louder, more pronounced. "Rory, I seriously thought YOU of all people would have figured it out by now! So, you haven't? Fine, then, I'll show you."

My crystal glowed as Rikki grabbed hers and raised it above her head. A blast of… what was that feeling? Was it pride? Happiness? Anger? No; it was a twist of all three, something strong, something dark. Something… twisted pulsed in my veins. Light shot out of me, and I screamed silently.

The smile on Rikki's face was eerily calm when she put the crystal down. The weird feeling stopped, and I dropped to the floor. "What the hell did you do?" I screamed.

Her eerie smile grew. "I took complete control of your magic, Rory. Only for a brief period of time, and only because you were so undeniably weak, but still… your magic was mine for sixty precious seconds."

I realized that she was the reason my raw magic backfired. "You… why are you doing this?" My voice, even to me, sounded weak as she had described, breathless.

Rikki tilted her head. "Oh, Rory. I wanted to show you that getting on my bad side… is not a pretty thing. 'I don't do frilly," she quoted.