Disclaimer : Yada Yada Yada… Tamora Pierce is a genius… Yada Yada Yada… Original Characters are mine… Yada Yada Yada… Me no steal… yada yada yada… might see some Harry Potter reference stuff in here…not big… not mine… that's JK Rowling's… but if you actually recognize it, you read her books way too much… like me…

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait guys. I've been finding it increasingly difficult to focus my time to writing this. Not to worry though! My editor for the book I'm writing has agreed to make me stick to my schedule (I'm supposed to work on this story for an hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and for a couple hours Saturday). Hopefully, this will make it so that the chapters come out quicker (especially with me working on it 4/7 days). In any case…You guys never answered the question! Would you like a little "Next Chapter Teaser" at the end of each chapter or would you rather me not do it? Also, I HAVE read The Will of the Empress, but because I began this story before then, and though I am loathe to do it, I must leave the new characters we know of out of this story. The only one who will make occasional appearances will be Glaki.

The Circle Reunited

Chapter Four: The Cold Born Feast Revelation

A bumblebee buzzed lazily through the air – dipping lower here, higher there – of the expansive outdoor garden. Almost as if it were a last-minute decision, the bee dropped swiftly towards a clutter of roses. Following its trail was a blonde boy who dropped to his knees to examine the beautiful plants in awe.

"I've never seen such a beautiful garden," he mumbled to himself. Inspired to pick one of the flowers and give it to his brother, who would not appreciate its beauty but would at least pretend to care, he reached out to touch a plump rose-bud. At his touch, the flower promptly bloomed. Vito pulled his hand back swiftly; so much so one would think he had been burned. Shaking his head, knowing he could not possibly alter something so beautiful, he rose from his kneeling position and wandered further into the garden. As he did so, he began to smell tea-leaves whose scent he promptly followed. It led him into a new part of the garden. At its gate, there was a mat on the ground that, in near childish handwriting, formed the words:

"Enter, but do NOT touch.

You Touch, You Die."

It was all too obvious that it was Briar's garden. It was a strange concept to Vito. For his entire life, his mother had been the one to tend to the garden. Never had he ever so much as seen a man in the gardens. Yet here was this man, a mage no less, who appeared to dedicated months, if not years, to the maintenance of the garden and who was apparently quite possessive of it. These thoughts crossed his mind as he passed High Cranberry, Rue, Passionflower, German Chamomile, Marigold, Garden Balsam, a clutter of Elderberry trees, Marshmallow plant, and Common Sage. The young boy came to halt as he realized he recognized many plants in the garden – most of which he had never seen before. There was, however, a common theme throughout the entire garden: Healing. Every plant that bloomed from the ground had a healing quality to it that did not require the use of magic. He also noticed, though he was sure it was his imagination, that the plants were happy to see him. Shaking his head, his blue eyes landed on a door with an entrance covered in large, thorny vines and briars. Above the door, the sign read:

"Death awaits those that enter…"

Whoever is crazy enough to try to get through that deserves to die anyway, thought Vito looking warily at the plants. Nevertheless, the blonde stepped closer to the plant-door in an attempt to gain a glimpse of what was in the garden. Was it his imagination or did the vines suddenly become thicker? I really wish I could get through these vines though, he thought stepping away. As if the vines were responding to his very thoughts, the slithered and pulled themselves away from the archway entrance.

"Okay… that's just weird," he said aloud. Apparently, it was no weird enough to curb his curiosity. Slowly, cautiously, he entered the room which, unsurprisingly, was yet another garden. Yet this was no normal garden. It was quite far from normal.

The first thing Vito noticed was the impossibility of the size of the room. The room he had entered looked as if it were acres wide instead of the small size it should have been. The second thing he noticed was the plants – some of which had a mind of their own. He saw large bulbs of a peculiar plant bouncing excitedly. There were large leafless plants with large boils that wriggled in the ground they had sprouted from. In the distance, a forest of strange trees decorated the edge of the massive garden the strangest of which seemed to be a willow that was thrashing the ground violently. An entire patch of pink pods sat plump to the right of another patch of large, spiky, dark-red, plant with vines that wriggled in Vito's direction. He was forced to stuff his hands inside his pockets after a yellow geranium bit him sharply on his index finger.

Every plant seemed to have a special quality about it that made it stand out; all except these small tuffs of leaves that stuck out of the ground in, seemingly, random places. Thinking them weeds, something unsightly in a garden such as this, he reached to pull the leaves out from the ground near the bouncing bulbs.

As he gathered all the leaves in his hand, a voice said loudly, "Unless you wish suffer the painful death of a mandrake's scream, I would sincerely reconsider pulling that plant from the ground." Standing in the archway door, his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed in a frown, Briar glared at the young boy.

"Perhaps I should elaborate. When a mandrake screams, unless you have magical protection against the harms of a plant, the shrill scream you hear will cause your brain to begin bleeding. Blood will pour from your nostrils, your ears, and your mouth. You will die. The sign was not lying when it said death awaits you. Had you neared the trees over there you may have been poisoned, strangled, or thrashed to death. Had you neared the pond over there, you may have been drowned. If you had gotten any closer to this large dark-red plant, it would have ensnared you, poisoned you, and then strangled you while you dealt with the nasty effect of the poison." Walking over to Vito, he asked him, "How were you able to enter here anyway. The Forbitor Vines should have been plenty to deter you."

"The what?" Vito asked quietly.

"The vines that covered the entrance. How did you get pass it?"

With a voice that was almost inaudible, he answered, "They moved." Briar's frown deepened for a moment before the expression lightened and his eyebrows rose in wonder and, what may have been, disbelief. Rubbing his chin, he muttered, "He couldn't be wrong. He has never been wrong. It's impossible. And yet…."

At the same time….

There had to be hundreds of them. No…. there had to be thousands!

Never before had Justis ever seen such a grand library. Even at his… last place of residence… the library had not been so large. As he passed along the shelves, he noticed books on every subject from the Aurora lights to Zephyr. He was going to pull out a book that read: Swordplay: A Beginner's Guide to Handling a Sword when a door, that blended in so well with the shelves of the library that he almost missed it, caught his eye. Walking up to it, he felt around for a knob. He scowled as he was unable to find one and pounded his fist against the wooden door. He turned to return to his book about swordsmanship when he heard a scraping sound and saw the door sliding to the left. Slowly, cautiously, he entered the hidden room to find a miniature library. Not even a second after he had crossed the threshold, the door behind him slid swiftly forward and locked into position.

Lanterns of blue light sprang to life.

At least a hundred books covered the wall to his left and another hundred covered the wall to his right. Perhaps wall was not the right word, however. The room was quite circular and, thus, the only thing that separated the two walls was the door and the opposite wall that was the same width as the door he had just entered through. In the main library there had been a few scrolls, a few gatherings of parchment that had been bound together, and a few books that had leather bindings. In this small library, there was distinct difference with these books: every single book was leather bound. They seemed, there was no other word for it, majestic.

He ran his hand along the books as he walked around and randomly chose a book and opened it. The first line that caught his eye read: "Ambient Mages are the hardest of mages to find. Those with the ability to see magic can find them with a bit of effort. Yet there are many ambient mages who, because their gift is so rare, never find their magic. Among them…"

As if he had touched something hot, the blonde dropped the book. Disgusted that he had read something about magic, and disgusted at himself for being intrigued, he used his index finger and thumb to pick the thick book up as if it were a dirty loincloth and returned it to its shelf. Justis turned to exit the way he came and found that he had no idea how he would go about that task. He was sure that the door had to be pushed in first and then it slid away. Only… he was on the inside.

How do I get myself into these situations, he scolded himself angrily. As he shook his head, he saw the light from the blue flames glinting on something on the door. Slowly, cautiously, he approached the glittering object. He saw that it was some sort of metal; only, in the blue light, it was impossible to tell what type of metal. He reached out to touch it, thinking that he would have a better idea if he could get a feel for the metal; if he were going to be stuck in the room, he might as well find something to entertain himself.

Upon contact with the metal, which he determined to be silver, his hairs immediately stood on end. Sparks began to emit from the strange object and, out of pure instinct, Justis dropped to the ground to lay flat. Not a second later, lightning poured from the silver charm and slammed into the opposite wall. Justis watched in horror as it created red-hot scorch marks in the stone.

It lasted for a full minute, which seemed to last an eternity for Justis, before the lightning ceased. Blue eyes stared at the wall that, strangely enough, seemed to have very specific symbols now engraved into it. While he did not recognize they symbols, he made note of them both. One seemed to be a pole with a side-ways triangle attached and the other appeared to be a pole that was bent in opposite ways at the ends. The fact that he remembered it was to be admired as, only seconds after the lightning stopped, the wall vanished.

Hesitantly, he rose from the ground and sighed when he did not feel the tense feeling in the air that had warned him of the lightning. He did not, however, rush into this room. Instead, he slowly crossed the threshold and jumped back, making sure he would not be trapped in this room as well. When no door slammed shut, he re-entered the room and looked around, glad to be out of the small, cramped, pantry-like room.

If the books in the other room had appeared to be majestic to Justis, these books seemed to shine with a royal light. This room, however, had to be more of a study than another library. Indeed, the desk near the back which had a shelf full of white scrolls and the shelf below filled with ink indicated a place of academia. Yet the living area to the left of this corner indicated a place of refuge and comfort. In fact, the books that were in this room only filled two single shelves on the wall on either side of the entrance. Each of these books was bound in gold. And they were thick. They were quite thick, in fact. So thick, that only ten could fit on each of those shelves. Greedily, he reached for one of the gold-bound books on his left.

"Unless you wish to suffer a long, excruciating death by electrocution, I suggest not touching that book," said a sharp, almost cold, voice from behind. Justis jumped back so quickly, he tripped over his own feet and tumbled to the ground. As he looked up, back at the miniature library he had come from, his face burning with embarrassment, a red-head, with braids in many designs and pinned up in a specific way, looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Just how did you get in here anyway?"

Justis visibly flinched under her gaze. It would not be honest to say he did not know why she frightened him, but he certainly was not going to admit it to himself. He attempted to convince himself it was her cold voice that made him afraid to answer her, but it was futile. In truth, she reminded him of…well, it did not matter. Hopefully, he would think he had died and would forget he had ever existed. He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not realize that he had just finished telling Tris exactly how it was that he ended up in her private study.

"Oh, but that is simply impossible," she said at once. "If you are going to lie to me, you could at the very least make the lie believable. Only someone with magic can activate the opening amulet, Justis. Although," she continued, more to herself than to Justis, "It is the only way to enter my study… and Niko could not be wrong… I must have made a mistake with the spell. In any case, the feast is ready. Go! Now!" The young boy did not need to be told twice as he scrambled to his feet and ran out the door.

The twins arrived at the dining room at the same time and froze in the doorframe. The sight that greeted them was enough to make a beggar feel that he were in heaven.

At the center of the dining room, the table was cluttered with an expanse of food. At either end of the table, rolls of bread formed small pyramids next to the twin suckling pigs that opposed each other. Bowls of salads, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cabbage, and various pastas encircled a large turkey. On each of the platters before the chairs was a steaming baked potato with butter melting at the center. Justis stared hungrily at the feast while Vito closed his mouth and swallowed the saliva that had accumulated as his mouth watered.

Tris and Briar grinned at each other before gesturing at the table, signaling that the twins were welcome to help themselves – an offer they readily took. Soon, everyone had joined the feast and before long, stomachs were full and conversations started.

"Mandrake," Briar told Vito during that dinner, "Is a very powerful magical plant. It is very rare, though I have a healthy supply. The Mandrake is a healing plant that can cure most illnesses and drinking it will reverse most hexes and curses. As I told you before, it has its own defense mechanism which will result in the instant death of those without some sort of buffer or immunity to the cry." Vito listened intently, managing a spoonful of mashed potatoes from time to time. Briar continued on, excited to be sharing his knowledge of the subject with someone willing to listen…who was not a woman. At the same time, Tris was explaining to Justis what ambient mages were.

"Very underrated is what we are," she said rather stiffly. "Ambient mages, unlike the academic mages you may know of, draw their power from the things to which they have a magical connection. Like Sandry," she told Justis, who had just stuffed a large bit of turkey into his mouth, and pointed at the noble in question, "she is a Thread Mage. All of her spells work through thread, whether she's working thread or magic, the work takes the form of thread." While everyone else seemed to be wrapped in conversations, or in seconds, there was one person in the room who seemed uninterested in talking with anyone. At the far end of the table, Niko sat staring curiously at the twins. Every moment or so, he would mumble something to himself and shake his head.

Slowly, the tinkle of silverware against glass died and the conversations grew louder. When everyone had completely finished eating, including dessert, Sandry rose from her chair and went to where the twins sat.

"Well," she began nicely, "did you enjoy the feast." Instead of a verbal response, they nodded vigorously. "Excellent! Now, tomorrow, we need to make sure we get your measurements."

"Measurements?" Justis asked almost nervously.

"Well, the fire destroyed any clothes you may have had and we have to get you some clothes to wear. You cannot wear that everyday," she told them indicating the outfit they wore now. The twins looked themselves over self-consciously. They wore identical white outfits with drawstrings at the waist of their pants and an unbuttoned shirt. Neither had put shoes on, but had decided that they would go barefoot – it was so unnatural to place things over one's feet.

"Why can't we wear this tomorrow?" Justis asked, confused.

Sandry seemed genuinely surprised that they even had asked the question. She, quite uncharacteristically, stuttered so horribly that Daja answered for her. "Sandry," she explained, "is a stitch witch. She lives to sew and stitch things together. So…she takes seeing the same clothes two days in a row as a personal challenge. Don't worry, you'll have a full wardrobe by the end of this week – if not, sooner." The blue-eyed girl considered her sister's words for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

"Oh," Justis said lamely with a hint of disappointment. "Well. Right then." A part of him argued that he liked the clothes he wore. Yet the more rational side of his mind argued that insulting a mage, one with nobility in her blood for that matter, was not a smart idea. As long as they don't burn it, he thought to himself, I can still wear them whenever I like.

It was around midnight when everyone had lain themselves down to sleep. Outside, the peaceful sounds of night sang those in homes to sleep. Crickets chirped, owls hooted, and a cool summer breeze blew through the open windows of the manor. In the manor, there was only one person who had not fallen into the land of reverie.

On the third floor, in the recovery ward of the manor, Vitalis shook his brother vigorously. In turn, he received an incomprehensible grumble and a back turned to him. Determined, he shook his brother more vigorously.

"I don't wanna clean the fireplace…it makes me cough," he mumbled through his sleep. Vito's eyes softened as he heard the words and a look somewhere between content and depression hung on his face before he remembered why he had pretended to be asleep for so long.

"Justis! Get! Up!" he ordered his twin gently. Receiving no response but a loud snore, he muttered, "Sorry about this…" and covered his brother's nose with his hand. It took several seconds before Justis finally woke from his sleep, gasping for air.

"You promised!" he gasped, rising to sit upright. He looked around for a moment, remembering where he was before his eyes fell on his brother. "What!" he snapped.

Vito ignored the harsh tone of his brother's voice and explained. "You have got to see this," he whispered, pulling on Justis' arm in an attempt to drag the boy from his bed. Justis shook Vito off of him and mumbled, "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

Several minutes later, they were creeping through the house trying their best not to make a sound. Justis followed Vito to the first floor, through the kitchen, and out the back door to the gardens. He was led through the first ordinary garden, then into a garden that smelled of tea, and finally to where Vito must have wanted to end up.

"Vito," he said nervously, "I don't think we supposed to go in there. I don't know how good your reading is, but that says--"

"—I know what it says," Vito interrupted irritably. "But I was in there and didn't die."

"But we can't get through there anyway," Justis argued. "It's covered in thorns; and no garden is worth getting ripped to pieces."

"They retract." Vito approached the vines that…did not move. Vito stared at the thorns and ran a hand through his hair. He could not, for the life of him, remember how he had managed to get those vines to move before. He reached a hand out to touch them; thinking contact would inspire them to open the entrance. The thorny vines remained stubbornly in place.

Justis gave an overly exaggerated yawn before saying, "They don't seem to be retracting." His brother ignored him, growing frustrated.

"Open!" Vito hissed angrily at the thorns. Like children being scolded, they quickly pulled themselves back from the entrance to reveal the archway leading to the final garden. Turning he looked smugly at his brother who had folded his arms over his chest and whose head had drooped onto his chest that he had crossed his arms over. Vito grabbed Justis by one of his crossed arms and pulled him through the entrance.

The twins spent the next half hour in the garden exploring. Or, more accurately, Vito explained the properties of the plants that Briar had told him about while Justis smiled and nodded. When it became apparent that Justis was merely humoring him, a fact that was made obvious from the lack of enthusiasm, Vito suggested they should be returning to bed.

"Yes!" Justis cheered to himself quietly. It was not quiet enough, however, to bypass the ears of his twin who promptly flushed with anger and marched towards the entrance to the garden. "What?"

"You know what!" Justis snapped; well, as much as he could. It seemed even while angry, he could not bring himself to yell. "You coulda at least pretended that you cared about the things I care about. But no!" With that, he resumed his infuriated path to the entrance, swiping angrily at the branch of a weeping willow that was in his way.

"Oh, wait up!" Justis said irritably to his brother, jogging to catch up, moving the same branch from his path. As he caught up with his brother, he placed his hand on his shoulder and was going to apologize before he heard the rustling of leaves coming from behind. He slowly turned around and watched the branches of that tree rising, snake-like, into the air before they began to wave violently, like ribbons caught in a furious wind. From the branches, leaves shot forward. At first, Justis thought nothing of the leaves before he saw that they caught the light of the moon unlike any leaf he had ever seen; the only thing that reflected light like the leaves did was metal. His only thought to protect his brother, he threw himself in the path of the blowing leaves, spread his arms, and closed his eyes in preparation for the onslaught of the magical plant.

It never came.

When Justis opened his eyes, he saw the leaves bouncing off what appeared to be solid air with the sound of metal on glass. His mouth dropped open in shock. Just as his lips parted, a final leaf-blade, for there was no other name for them, seemed to penetrate the air and slashed viciously against Justis' arm, causing blood to splatter from the wound and onto the ground, before falling lifeless to the ground as a leaf should. Justis fell to his knees and howled in pain, all airs of toughness forgotten as tears flowed freely from his eyes. Vito was frozen in horror, looking down at his twin as his hand trembled its way to cover his open mouth.

"What are you two do--" From the entrance, Briar stood looking at the blood on the ground and the branches of the leaves which were now flowing innocently in the night breeze. He scowled at the tree before plunging his hand into the damp earth beneath him and yelling, "SANDRY!" Using some sort of magic, his voice echoed fiercely throughout the entire garden and, one would imagine, throughout the manor. Turning his attention back to the tree he said, "For that little stunt, you'll be going leafless until spring." Waving his hand once, every leaf from every branch of the tree fell to the ground in one fluid motion. The remaining branches of the tree drooped lower than usual in, what could be nothing but, sadness. "Now," he continued frustrated, "I thought I told you to only come in here if I…." He stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes fell on Vito.

"I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry." Those were the only words anyone could hear coming from Vito's mouth. As he spoke them, his voice trembled. It was, perhaps, one of the saddest things Briar had ever heard in his life; and he had seen children cry before. For some reason, Vito made those around him want to care for him. Briar had the distinct feeling that had he not been a plant-mage, he might have cut the tree down. He rushed to Justis, removed his shirt, and put it over the wound to stop the blood.

"I'm fine," Justis continually lied through clenched teeth. Vito, apparently, was not listening. He kept apologizing over and over, tears streaming down his face. He was still apologizing when Sandry arrived with her Mage's kit. She removed Briar's shirt from Justis' arm and her mouth dropped.

The ripped and gapping skin on Justis' arm was falling back into place as a golden light poured from the wound. Once all the skin had lain itself back on the arm, there was a jagged line of light that traveled down the cut before vanishing altogether. Aside from the stains of blood over his arm and on Briar's shirt and on the ground, there was no evidence that Justis had ever been cut. It was then that the remainder of the house decided to show themselves.

Groggily, Niko, Daja, and Tris walked across the grass to where the group was sitting, quite silently.

"What is all that noise about," Tris asked irritably.

Ignoring her, Briar turned to Niko and said bluntly, "You were wrong." Everyone stared at him as he made that profound statement. He continued, "It may be an unrecognizable form of magic, but these two have magic in them. They have to have some form of magic running through them."

Niko's eyes widened and his mouth formed itself into a frown before he said, "Please, explain."

"Do you see that?" Brair asked pointing at Justis' bloodstained arm. "A minute ago, that arm looked as though someone has taken a butcher knife and given him a nice slashing with it. Somehow, it healed itself. Not just any healing either; I've never seen anyone perform a healing like the one that just happened. There is no trace of a scar or any sign that he had ever been cut in the first place. And before the Blade-Leaf Willow's leaf scratched him, it had been held off by some sort of invisible shield. I'm telling you, Niko. These boys have magic in them."

Niko's eyes widened even further in a look of sudden comprehension. "What is a sage?" he asked suddenly, directing his question to the twins. It was Justis that answered him.

"A sage is a rare type of mage whose power works through their mind," Justis informed him. "They are a type of ambient mage, but their power derives directly from their minds. Sages have the ability of telepathy, telekinesis, and the ability to manipulate the things around them in various ways. No one quite knows the limit of their powers, so many believe there is none."

"And how did you know that?" Niko pressed.

"I…I don't know," Justis said truthfully.

"You have never read that anywhere before?"

Justis shook his head and said, "No. I just…knew. It was like a little voice just told me."

Niko looked inquisitively at Justis as he asked, "Does this happen often? Do that voice tell you things all the time? And if it does, is it always right?"

Justis nodded. "It happens all the time. I know things I shouldn't know. It used to get me in trouble all the time. But its just these voices in my head tell me things sometimes and they just happen to be right all the time."

Niko nodded curtly and said, "Right." He then turned to the rest of the group and explained. "I do believe we have a Sage here. A Sage, or a Mind Mage, is one of the hardest types of mages to find because they often hide their magic from the minds of others without realizing it. You see, Sages have complete power over the minds around them if the minds are not prepared for them. Even so, a properly trained Sage cannot be blocked but by the art of Mind-Fortification. Luckily, they are also a rare type of mage." He paused as he looked at Vito, who was staring at his brother in fascination. "In any case, that is why the spells I used to reveal the magic to myself were not working. They would have worked, even with him being a Sage, seeing as I poured strength into those spells. Yet having a twin that is also a mage gave him extra-ordinary powers. Twin mages often have twice the normal amount of power in them individually than they should."

"I'm a mage as well?" Vito asked quietly, his voice trembling in what could only be fear.

"Yes," Niko said simply. "What Briar and Sandry witnessed was not the power of a Healer. There is no such thing as a natural healer. It takes years of training and practice to perform healings; especially the type that you saw. No… seeing as you told me that Vito was able to get past your plant-gate, I gather that he is but another rare type of mage: a Life Mage. Life mages are, of course, ambient mages whose power comes from the life around them. That alone gives them immense power in what they do…they are a dangerous type of magic, especially untrained. Life mages possess the powers of a plant mage, an animal mage, and…a healer."

Everyone was silent after Niko spoke. It was a lot to take in; sure, Niko explained why he was unable to find the magic before, but it was still unsettling. Niko had never been wrong, yet these children had managed to hide their magical gifts from him -- without even realizing what they had done. It raised the question that if he could be wrong about this, was it possible he could be wrong about other things as well?

Finally, Daja spoke. "So what does this mean? What happens now?"

"Well, meditation has to begin immediately," he instructed. "The last sage known died last week of old age…and there are no Life Mages in existence aside from Vito. Tris? As you have studied more magic than probably anyone else here, would you oversee Justis' training?"

Tris considered her options. It meant she would have to, yet again, take in a student. This student was not even nice and grown. He was a child who would certainly complain when things got too hard. Yet, she knew the look Niko fixed her with. Sure, he was asking, but it was only a nicety. She had no choice. As she had been the first to know of his power, for she had known that it was impossible to enter her private study without it, she would have had to take on the responsibility regardless. She scowled as she said, "Fine."

"Excellent," he said smiling at Tris, knowing precisely the predicament he had placed her in. "Now, who will instruct Vito?"

"I will," Briar said without hesitation. "It's for the best," he explained. "The magics you said he has are closest to the things I work with. No one else here knows how to handle plants and no one else knows healing methods. Even with the right books, I doubt even Tris could explain the processes in a way they'd understand."

Niko nodded his approval before giving in to a yawn. "It is late," he said looking at the moon. "I must be off to bed, I leave tomorrow. You all should follow my suit. I'm sure at least four of you have a busy day ahead of you." No one argued with them. They all silently returned to their rooms.

Justis and Vito lay in their beds for hours before they decided they were too scared to sleep in separately. Only when Vito had crawled into his brother's bed did they finally drift into the land of reverie peacefully.

Next Chapter Teaser: In the next chapter of this story, we will see yet again that Niko is not always right as we find problems with the Twin's Meditation. Briar, not liking the advice Niko gives him, decides to take things into his own hands. Keep your eyes out for: Chapter Five: A New Way of Mediation.