Part 2 :)

Anke's POV

I haven't been able to practise my ability so far because I'm scared of turning the training thing on.

I have never made a proper forcefield before. I've made a barrier before, and sometimes wisps, but never a proper forcefield.

The training thing is a sinister-looking robot with a laser gun. I've been too scared of turning it on, but when Diana comes up to me, she encourages me.

"There's two modes," she tells me. "Harmless and laser. Harmless emits just a light which will bounce off a forcefield in the same way as a real laser, which is the second mode. Laser emits a…well…a laser. A pretty harmful laser, so we're only going to use that mode when you're ready."

I nod nervously.

Diana switches on harmless mode and gets ready to fire the machine. "Ready?"

I lower myself slightly and hold out my paws. Diana flicks on the machine and a light comes flying out of it. I try my best but no forcefield appears from my hands.

We try again and again and again but I just can't get it. I stamp my foot in frustration. Then a wooden crate flies just a few inches over my head and crashes into the machine. I whirl round and see a sheepish-looking Hermes. "Sorry," he calls. "My bad."

With a slightly disapproving look, Diana checks that the machine isn't broken, before Hermes levitates the crate away from us.

Just as Diana flicks on the machine, she suddenly yells, "IT'S ON LASER MODE!"

I scream and throw up my hands to protect myself. I hear a horrible firing noise and I screw my eyes shut, expecting to feel heat burning me.

But it doesn't. Instead, I hear Diana whisper quite loudly, "Don't move!"

I slowly open my eyes and see six red lasers spouting from my hands. I blink in confusion. My vision gets into perspective, and I see that I have created a forcefield around myself. The laser has hit the forcefield and bounced off in six different directions. I can't stop a short laugh as I fully realise that I have done it.

I've done it!

Diana hurriedly switches off the machine and rushes over to me. "Are you okay?" she asks worriedly.

I nod. "I'm fine. But how did laser mode even get turned on?"

"The crate must have hit the switch."

We both turn and look at Hermes, who has been watching. He grins sheepishly. "S-sorry."

"Be more careful next time, Hermes," chides Diana. "Anke could have been badly hurt."

"Sorry, Anke," says Hermes quietly.

I bound over to Hermes and hug him. After a moment, he hugs me back. "It's okay!" I say brightly. "We all make mistakes. And thanks to you, I made a forcefield!"

"Yay!" shouts Hermes, swinging me round.

Lateysha's POV

Noah and I are helping each other with our training.

At the moment, I can only phase through floors and pop back up again. I can't phase through walls or items yet, and the latter is what Noah is helping me work on.

While I was practising, Noah snuck off to the toilet and came back with several new toilet paper roles because, and I quote, "They're soft but throwable."

Ten minutes later, I'm feeling frustrated. I've been hit by a loo roll in pretty much every place you can imagine, and I haven't phased through any of them.

I'm on the verge of tears when Noah comes up to me and hugs me tenderly. "It's okay," he says. "You want to work on mine and see some of those pesky loo rolls get blasted?"

"Yes please," I say rather forcefully.

I line up six toilet rolls on the side of the trampoline. To his credit, Noah manages to not hit the trampoline with his energy blasts, but each time he only hits about four of the six on the first shot.

Then I get a rather risky idea.

I pick up a toilet roll and go to my best friend. "I have an idea," I tell him. I walk backwards until I'm the same distance away from Noah as the trampoline was, and I hold up my hand palm up with the toilet roll balancing on it. "Hit the toilet roll."

"Are you crazy?" gasps Noah. "I could hit you!"

"Then try not to." I give him a grin, though I'm feeling nervous inside. But if he can do this, he can do anything.

It takes a while for him to build up the courage, but when he does, he lets out an energy blast from his right hand, which blasts the toilet roll right off my hand. It comes very close to burning me, but my hand doesn't get hurt. I cheer and throw myself at my future mate. "That was amazing! See, you can do it!"

"Then you can do yours too," encourages Noah. "Want to try again?"

I pause. "Okay. But how about you shoot at me with one of your energy blasts?"

"What?" Noah gasps. "But that could kill you!"

"Only if I don't phase out of the way in time," I say. Again I'm grinning, but again I'm terrified inside. "You saw it yourself. The only way is to raise the stakes."

"But…" He trails off. "I-I can't…"

I take his hands. "I believe in you."

He shakes his head. "If that light hits you, it'll kill you. No offense, but I don't want to risk your life on an ability that you haven't perfected yet."

Hermes's POV

"If I may," I begin, coming up to my friends. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but perhaps I could throw a crate at Lateysha? It wouldn't kill her if it hit her but it would hurt a little more than a loo roll. Wouldn't that be upping the stakes enough without upping them too much?"

Lateysha and Noah glance at each other. "That seems reasonable," says Lateysha. "Noah?"

The other phoenix nods. "You won't throw it too hard, will you?"

"Not lethal force, no," I answer. "Of course not. Just hard enough to hurt."

Lateysha gets into position. I go opposite her and levitate the wooden crate. "Ready?" I call.

She nods.

I put my hand in the position Diana showed me and throw the crate towards her. As the crate approaches, you can see the concentration in her face.

Lateysha's POV

I close my eyes as I focus on what I know: even though it won't kill me, I don't want to be hit by the crate. With that thought cemented in my mind, I imagine myself passing through the box and emerging unharmed on the other side.

Which is what happens.

When I open my eyes, I find myself unharmed. I look behind me and see the crate lying on the floor a few metres away.

Noah cheers, grabs me, and swings me around, both of us laughing excitedly.

"I did it!"

"Yes you did," grins Hermes.

"Thanks for your help," I say to my friend. "Really."

He holds up a hand. "It's okay. I "helped" Anke so it's only right I help you."

He turns and walks away.

Noah puts me down and we hold each other, looking into each other's eyes. Then it happens. We finally have our first kiss.

Even though I'm only five years old, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Noah.

Hermes's POV

I smile as I look at Noah and Lateysha together. I really like them. They're amazing, and they're clearly the perfect couple.

Diana calls us all together again. "Okay, guys," she says. "It's time to stop for today."

All of a sudden, Adrian bursts into the room in tears. He runs over to Anke and me, and I clutch his shoulders. "Adrian, what's wrong?"

"They hate me!" Adrian sobs. "I only got to heal one person because everyone else saw my abilities and called me a freak and didn't let me near them!"

Anke pulls him into a hug. I step back and look across at Diana, who is looking angry.

Looks like it's going to take a while for people to fully trust our abilities. First, they have to get used to us being in, and especially using our powers in, OWCA HQ.

The discrimination does not stop here :( but that's the whole point of the story XD