Sera awoke with a start gasping for breath, she jumped out of bed and grabbed a coat out of her

closet.

Fifteen minutes later she frantically knocked on a battered door for a full minute before it was

opened by a groggy Michael.

"I need to talk to you!"

Michael rubbed his eyes and surveyed Sera a moment before waving her in. "What the hell

happened to you, you're shaking."

"I uh..."

"What's going on?" Maria asked as she emerged from Michael's bedroom.

"Hey!"

"Sera? Are you OK?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about-I should just go."

She attempted to move past Michael, his hand shot out and grabbed her arm.

"What's going on?"

"I just had this weird dream and I needed to talk to you about it, but it can wait."

"What kind of dream? What happened?"

"It was, I don't know.It was like I was remembering something."

"Tell me."

"We were in that place, from the orb: The palace. Tess-Ava...whatever the hell her name is,

was there.

She was telling Max that she didn't think Khivar was a threat; but the weird

thing was, after she finished speaking, she closed her eyes for a minute or two, it looked like

she was concentrating on something.
After that, you and Max concurred that Khivar was less a threat than you originally

thought."

"She was mindwarping us."

"Yeah, cause that's not something she does a lot!" Maria snorted.

"Is that what she did to Kyle and Alex?" Sera asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"That's her nifty little gift." Maria's beautiful face turned stony as she thought about Tess.

"You saw her mind warp us.anything else?" Michael asked.

"Serena and Rath-you and I talked afterwards. We discussed Khivar, and I told

you what happened in the throne room."

"So you're saying you could tell she was mindwarping us?"

Serena nodded then looked past Michael at Maria who was filing through her purse. Pulling out

her cell phone Maria punched speed dial #2.

"Maria its 2:30.who are you calling?" Michael asked

Across town a very sleepy Liz located her cell phone.

"Yes Maria?"

"How did you know?"

"Who else would call me in the middle of the night?"

"OK true, Listen chica-Is Max there?"

Um-yeah-why?"

"I need the two of you to come to Michael's right now."

"Is everything OK Maria?"

"It's not an emergency, we just need clarification on something."

"OK. We'll be right there!"

Max and Liz arrived quickly, Michael was waiting at the door for them.

"What's going on?" Max asked looking at Michael, then he noticed Sera sitting at the

counter. "What is this?"

"She had a dream-a vision."

"What?"

"I remembered something.I don't really know if it means anything, It just seemed so

real."

"Tell me what you saw."

Sera repeated what she had told M & M earlier, then focused on Michael.

"There's more, When I was captured. I got you killed."

What?"

"No Sera we all saw what happened. Nicholas killed Mic-Rath. It wasn't your fault." Max

placated.

"No it was! We had a connection."

Maria's face fell at Sera's choice of words.

"Not that kind of connection. We could communicate telepathically. I gave you my location-

if you hadn't come to rescue me, you wouldn't have been killed.

"Sera don't think that."

"Its true Liz. Rath died because of me."

"I died fighting our enemy, I was a soldier, its what I was supposed to do."

"Michael, you."

"Look Sera, none of that matters now, that was another life."

"Liz and I can communicate telepathically, Max said hoping to steer the conversation away

from unpleasant thoughts. I assumed it was a side affect of the connection we formed when I

saved her life. Maybe I was wrong, maybe this is a dormant power we all have. That Liz

has, because she was changed, if we can believe Ava."

"Then that means that Kyle would have it to." Liz said looking at Max.

"Hypothetically."

They let that implication hang in the air for a moment before Maria asked the question that was

on everyone's mind:

"Can you do it now?"

"I don't know..I don't know what I can do." Sera said.

"None of us know the full extent of our powers." Max stated. "All we know is what we've

learned on our own over the years and what Tess and Nasedo told us. And we don't know

how much of that is fact or fiction."

"Everyone seems to know more about us than we do." Michael said ruefully.

"What if you trained her."

Everyone turned to face Liz.

"Train me.what do you mean."

"Help you understand your powers, help you to control them, the ones you guys have

honed."

"Wait a minute." Max began.

"No. I think it's a good idea." Michael interjected.

Max looked at his best friend.

"Maxwell, I speak from experience when I say its frustrating to have powers, but

you aren't very good at using them. You know as well as I do that so much of our powers

tied to our emotions and that could be dangerous for her, for us, for everyone."

"So what are we talking about? Rock breaking?" Max asked with a slight trace of humor in

his voice.

Michael caught the reference and shot him a look.

"Wait, how? I don't know how to do what you can do." Sera protested.

"You did it in Amy's shop."

"I was scared Michael. Those guys were coming after us, I heard them say they

were going to kill Maria... it just happened, I really couldn't control it."

"That's my point. You need to learn to control it. Our powers can do some really

interesting things Sera, but they can also harm.we can kill."

She blanched at the memory of the skin exploding with the combined energy she and Michael had

released.

"Outside that night at Amy's, I've only used my powers once.the night I accidentally

discovered them."

"We'll start slow."

"What do I do? Just try talking to you in my head?"

"I think you need to think of only that person."

Everyone looked at Liz.

"What do you mean?" Max asked his girlfriend.

"When you and I communicate, we are usually alone and not distracted by anything else. Its

like our focus is entirely on each other."

"Sweetie, that's not just when you two communicate. You're like that all the time." Maria

noted.

"OK Let's do this." Michael said interrupting the best friends.

//Sera, Can you hear me?//

Sera stared at Michael blankly.

He furrowed his brow and tried again.

//SERA!//

Her expression didn't change.

Maria stepped to him and touched his arm. "Try again."

//SERA!//

Sera's eyes bugged as she heard Michael's voice clear as day and noticed that his mouth hadn't

moved.

"I can hear you."

Max's eyes widened as shock registered for a moment. He let it pass and coached Sera. "Talk to

him in your head, not aloud."

Sera closed her eyes and concentrated on Michael alone, mentally blocking out everyone else.

//Michael, I can hear you. Can you hear me?//

//I hear you.//

Sera's eyes snapped open, her mouth dropped open and she stared at the gang.

"Its working."

Max looked to Michael. "You can hear each other?"

Michael nodded.

Max exhaled deeply. "OK, uh, lets try distance. You can hear each other in the same room,

let's separate you."

Michael walked into his bedroom and closed the door.

Sera looked at her friends quizzically.

"How do I know..." Sera stopped suddenly as Michael interrupted her.

//Does it work?//

//I hear you, Michael//

//So this is weird.//

Sera laughed aloud and in the connection.

Michael opened the door and returned to the living room.

"OK Maxwell. Your turn."

Max smiled and looked to Sera.

"Shall we?"

Sera returned his smile and nodded.

//Hi.//

//Hi Max.//

//Its weird to talk to someone like this, someone who isn't Liz.//

//That's what Michael said. Well, not the Liz part.//

Max grinned and broke their connection.

"Well, that's an interesting new development."

"What about me?"

"You want to try?" Max asked looking to Liz.

"Yeah, I want to know if it works for me too."

Sera and Liz faced each other and concentrated.

Neither one moved for what seemed like an eternity, finally Liz dropped her eyes and turned to

the group.

"I can't hear her."

"You know I'm kinda glad, I'd have been really pissed if I was the only one out of the inner

monologue loop."

Liz grinned at her best friend. Leave it to Maria to add the right amount of levity to the situation.

"So what happens now? Training wise?" Sera asked looking from Max to Michael.

"Well I don't know about you Pod Squad members, but I'm spent for the night." Maria

joked. "Yeah, we should probably all call it a night, the 6:30 wake-up call is going to be rough."

Max said, pulling Liz into his arms.

Plus, I have to make it back in my room before my mother realizes I was gone half the

night." Maria looked to Michael. "Drive me home Spaceboy?"

"You could stay here."

"Fine, but don't blame me when Amy drives over here brandishing a newspaper!"

"Yeah let's get you home. Hey, after your shift, come here."

Sera looked at Michael. "What?"

"If you want to learn more, be here after your shift tomorrow."

Sera smiled softly. "Thanks Michael."

He offered her his famous smirk before shepherding everyone towards the door. TBC