'I'm sure this Sharing stuff of theirs is where they take students to infest them!'

'Right. And you suggest what, exactly? The more suspicious this place gets, the farther I'm staying away from it!'

'I'm with Annabel on that one,' Phoebe declared, 'We can't just sit around and let Shadows take students right under our nose.'

'True, though the question isn't what we can't do, but what we can,' Lynn pondered, 'Except for Annabel, we still need to figure out how to use that Instant Genetic Engineering stuff.'

'And even Annabel is still just beginning,' Sophie added. 'No offense, you can do amazing things, really, but what if you just collapse in front of the enemy, like you did the night you visited me?'

'I couldn't care less. I'm going in there and rescue my sister, with or without your help.'

'Woah, woah, woah!' Abiona called with her arms raised. 'As much as I admire your passion, I have to stop you right there – you're saying what? You're going to risk everything, including our lives, just because you can't cope with your sister being a damned Shadow?'

'She isn't a Shadow!'

'Whatever! Wake up, girl! What do you think is gonna happen? Saurians and Myriapods are going to topple like dominoes at the sight of a teenage warrior in a sailor suit crying oh no, we're screwed? You can't be serious! You're going through something, all right, I get it, we all get that, and I would probably freak out just like you do if it was me – but what good are you doing by going in there and getting yourself killed?'

'Or worse – Infested,' Sophie added with a sorry smile.

I clenched my fist on the table.

'Okay, you're right. This is not my own decision to make. So let's vote it out. Who's in favor of taking action now?'

Phoebe and I raised our arms right away. Two out of five was obviously not enough. Abiona smirked.

'You lose. What did you expect?'

Then Lynn slowly raised her hand, too.

'Oh no, you've gotta be kidding me.'

'Lynn, why? It's too dangerous,' Sophie pleaded.

'Of course it's dangerous. We're not saving mankind by using Pegasian technology to grow fancy clothes and give a nice show. Whatever we do, we're going to risk our lives sooner or later – and if it's not today, it's gonna be tomorrow.'

'I did not sign up for a suicide squad!' Abiona exclaimed while shaking her head.

'And we're not going to suicide, either. I'm in favor of taking action, but only if everything is carefully thought out and we do have a solid backup plan.'

'All right, let's plan everything out,' I acknowledged with a grateful smile.

Abiona sighed.

'I'm thrilled!' she said with an apathetic look, 'Sooo, who's the lucky girl that's going in?'

'I am, obviously,' I said with resolve. 'I might need my powers. And besides, I told Ellen I would be going because I had no friends. It would look suspicious if I brought people over out of the blue.'

'Be my guest.'

'Maybe I should go too,' Sophie shyly said, and we all looked at her in surprise. 'Um, well, turns out I was invited on my side as well. I can watch your back.'

'We will stay nearby in case you need help,' Phoebe affirmed.

'But you can't walk in there and risk getting caught too. We should think of some way to get them out.'

'Ring the fire alarm,' Abiona suggested, 'Though they know the instructions to evacuate, they generally can't help but freak out.'

'So true! I remember two years ago, it was hysteria – some moron wished to pull a stupid prank…' Sophie mused.

Abiona chuckled.

'Yeah, what a good laugh!'

'Laugh? What's there to laugh about?! Wait – it was you?'

'What can I say? I was bored. I had no world to save at the time.'

'How do we stay in contact?' Phoebe asked, 'For all I know your cell phone doesn't work anymore, does it?'

'I'll keep in touch through mental speech.'

'Are you sure you can keep it under control?'

'Yeah. Fear triggers my power. And there'll be plenty of it in there – especially if there are any of those monsters we saw the other day.'

Abiona shrugged.

'You'll be fine. Just tell them you're Sailor Mercury.'

'What?'

'A reckless idiot,' she hastily rectified.

I nodded thoughtfully. Sailor Mercury, eh. I liked the sound of that.

Students chatting while enjoying sodas and crackers, playing cards or board games, exchanging phone numbers – this Sharing looked dull enough to be a genuine activity club. If I hadn't heard Ellen speak like an Infested for myself, I wouldn't have been able to find anything suspicious about it at all. In short – the perfect cover.

'Don't be shy, enjoy yourself,' Ellen had told me before leaving me to join some older students.

Okay, Annabel, time to get boring.

Since I was to ignore Sophie the best I could, I tried to join the students that looked the less comfortable in there, thinking they had the best chance to be actual people rather than Infested. We spent about half an hour getting to know each other, talking about ourselves, family, friends, well boring stuff.

'So, how did you end up coming here today?' I casually asked.

'My best friend's an active member, and he's been going on and on about how cool it was and that I should definitely join – so I wanted to give it a try,' a boy replied.

'Apparently it's open to everyone, but they mainly take newcomers through invitations,' the girl seated next to me explained. 'The real deal happens behind that door, though.'

She pointed at the door in the back of the room. Students were periodically going in and out – each of them would stay no more than about ten minutes before coming back.

'What do you reckon is going on in there?'

'I don't know,' the girl said with a shrug, 'Stuff for full-time members, paid activities, I guess.'

'Nothing illegal, I hope,' the boy jested.

'Don't be silly. We're at school – they wouldn't endorse anything suspicious, now would they?'

The perfect cover.

As I was watching the door discreetly, I suddenly noticed Ellen going through. My pulse hastened. Save for Sophie, there wasn't anyone left in the room who would recognize me. It was time to act. I left my company, on the pretext of going to the bathroom. I walked over to a crowd of students to blend in and waited a full minute. I breathed in. Then, as soon as the way was clear, I strode to the door and opened it. I quickly glanced back. No one seemed to care about me. So I stepped into the corridor and shut the door behind me.

Surprisingly easy.

The corridor was a few yards long and led to a down stairway. I was making my way there when my heart jumped – I had just walked past a man who was standing hidden in a corner, just before the stairs.

'Identification?'

I tried my best to suppress the shock and gave the most apathetic gaze I could. A Shadow name, I needed a Shadow name – what were those again?

'Iolite,' I slowly uttered, 'One-Four-Two.'

The fourteenth of February. My birthday. I silently prayed hard they wouldn't make a connection somehow. The man ran his fingers on a touch pad. Then he stared at me for a few moments. Then back at the pad. Something was wrong.

'You already checked in an hour ago. Please stay put-'

You've gotta be kidding me, a voice called in mind, out of a thousand possible combinations, you had to pick the wrong one. But I was ready to act. I threw my arms in the man's direction while mentally reciting the formula, giving it everything I had in me.

MERCURY POWER, MAKE-UP!

I could practically feel a surge of energy waves shooting from my hands, which went all shiny as my nails turned into small blades of light. I was ready to attack the guard, but he dropped unconscious at my feet instantly. My magnetic powers must have messed up with his brain and knock him out somehow.

I felt powerful again. Despite the danger, I was so thrilled I was able to reconnect with my super self and be in control once more. The feeling was so exhilarating I just wanted to jump around and perform superhuman gymnastic moves, so I took a few moments to focus. I looked down the stairway with all my apprehension gone.

Guys, I'm in.