A/N: *hides* I'm sorry, I took way too long with this chapter. This week had been way too busy. Yeah, I know that's an excuse. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. And a thank you to InfernalFox for following this fic.

Thalen got bored of the game of hide-and-seek with the other halfas. Abigail suggested that they all took a break and the thief agreed. That's what led him to wait by the elevator and wait till Catalina came back. He had every intention to chase her down and have her teach him how to teleport. It was on his mind since she mentioned it during breakfast.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. "Cat, I wanted you to show me how to teleport," the teen said quickly without greeting the woman. "Wow, you look like something the cat dragged in," Thalen commented looking at the ruffled and tired Catalina.

"That's nice, Thalen. It's nice to see you, too," the woman said distractedly. She continued down the hall head bent down.

"Hey, so you're going to teach me how to teleport?" Thalen asked hurrying to catch up with the woman. Catalina yawned but didn't answer. Thalen was about to ask the woman again when he caught sight of Vlad walking quickly toward the pair. The older man didn't look amused.

"Oh hi Vlad," the woman said perking up a little. "I got what you needed. I'll just be going to my room then," she said as she gave the bag hanging on her shoulder to Vlad. She turned quickly as if to retreat to said room.

"It's 12:30, Catalina," the older man said catching her arm. Thalen was going to ask what the time had to do with anything.

"Lunch time," Catalina said distractedly. "I'm not hungry. I need to sleep for a while." Vlad gave the woman a stern look. She sighed but nodded. The older man shifted his hold so he had his arm linked with hers before leading the trio to the kitchen.

"So about teleporting," Thalen asked following the two adults reminding the oldest halfa.

"Have you come up with an answer for our question?" Vlad responded. Thalen felt the two pair of eyes on him.

"Well, yeah. I want to stay and train. Better than living on the streets," Thalen said with a shrug.

"How about Dan?" Catalina asked brown eyes focused on the younger halfa.

"Can't handle him yourself, Kitty Cat?" Thalen said arrogantly putting his hands on his hips. The woman's eyes narrowed and Thalen thought they flashed an angry red. "Don't worry. I got your back. This will be a piece of cake," the halfa bragged.

Vlad chuckled darkly, "Be careful, Thalen. Life has a way of making you eat your words."

"Soo, about teleporting?" Thalen asked sensing that Catalina was becoming more lucid.

The woman frowned which was only matched by Vlad's. "Not yet. I'll do it, but I want to teach you some other things first," she answered.

"After lunch," Vlad added. Thalen thought he heard the woman repeat that she wasn't hungry.

DP~DP~DP

Sylvia went through her day distracted. She kept thinking back to the previous evening. Not only were there others like her, but they wanted her; they needed her. Catalina was willing to train her how to use her abilities. She didn't know if she wanted to face whatever it was that had Vlad become so serious. Then again the pair offered to train her without requiring the teen to fight. Sylvia decided and not a moment too soon. The dismissal bell rung and Sylvia hurried to her locker.

After putting away her things, Sylvia left the school. Once she was far enough from the school, she changed into her ghost half. Her normal golden brown ponytail became a short pale blue braid and her normal teal eyes became hot pink.

The teen artist took to the sky flying as quickly as she could. She pulled her dark navy jean jacket closer over her gray t-shirt. She landed near the abandoned shed her short maroon boots kicking up dust. Sylvia entered the shed slowly feeling the urge to run back to her home.

Gathering her courage, Sylvia entered the elevator and went underground. She stepped into the hallway hesitantly. She didn't see anyone. "Boo," Catalina said becoming visible beside the teen. Sylvia jumped away in surprised. "I'm sorry, that wasn't really funny," the older halfa said her pure red eyes sympathetic.

Sylvia briefly wondered if she had made a wise choice. "Everyone is waiting in the training hall. Follow me," the woman said as she walked down the hallway. Sylvia listened politely as the woman talked about the underground system and how it was built. "Well, here we are," the woman said suddenly opening the door and walking in.

The teen looked around the room. She didn't know the last time she saw so many ghosts. A girl ghost with dark , nearly black, purple hair; a teenage boy with gray hair and dark purple eyes; and a ghost with a white buzz cut. Sylvia committed the image to memory so she could sketch the other halfas later.

"Seems like everyone is here," Vlad stated drawing all the halfas attention. Catalina skipped to his side to stand beside the man.

"Uh, Mr. Masters, I have something to say," Sylvia said knowing that if she waited she'll change her mind. "I decided that I want to train with you two, but I can't stay here because I still have my family."

"That's not a problem. I'll make sure to pick you up from school and then we can spend the evening here," Catalina answered. "Okay now that's done. I want to move onto something new," Catalina said.

"Teleportation," Thalen said. Abigail gave Thalen an unamused look and the teen backed down a little.

"No, we're going to get you comfortable with your core. Once you become comfortable with it, you'll became to manipulate the energy you release," Catalina answered. She held her hand palm up in front of her. A small blue fire formed in her palm cackling. "If you don't become comfortable with your energy, it will hurt you." The woman looked to Vlad as if expecting the man to add something.

"Ugh, how is this helpful? A fire is close enough to a normal ecto-blast," Thalen said bored.

"Thalen, be polite," Abigail whispered to the taller teen. Alex just gave the thief a glare. Catalina cleared her throat drawing attention back to the two adults. Sylvia looked back with interest. The fire in the woman's hand was gone and instead blue sparks jumped from her skin.

"Okay, now that's cool. How do we do that?" Thalen asked.

"We meditate," Catalina answered before getting to the ground putting her legs to one side of her body. Thalen grumbled, but also sat on the hard ground. Sylvia sat similarly to Catalina not wanting to sit cross-legged in her jean skirt. Although she had black leggings underneath, she didn't want to expose herself. Alex sat beside her. "Now, I need all of you to be quiet. I want you to turn your attention to your energy. Feel it buzz and congregate at your core. It should feel either warm or cold." After this sentence, Catalina became quiet.

Sylvia tried to concentrate like the oldest halfa suggested. She closed her pink eyes and feel the buzz of ecto-plasm. The young artist could feel a deep cold settling in the center of her chest. It was so cold it nearly burned. "Okay, everyone that's enough," Catalina said breaking Sylvia's concentration causing her to lose the cold sensation.

"I could keep going," Thalen bragged.

"I can too," Abigail added as well. Sylvia had to agree with the two halfas; she wasn't tired at all.

"I know, but before it gets too late, I wanted to play a game. It's a good team bonding experience," Catalina said with a grin.

"More hide-and-seek?" Thalen asked, "We already did that."

"No, even better Clue," Catalina said excited.

"We're not playing Clue," Vlad interrupted to the surprise of Sylvia. "You always cheat," the man said.

"No I don't. I'm just very observant," Catalina said, "Fine, we'll play a different game…Not Monopoly though."

"How about Twister," Thalen suggested. Sylvia blushed at the idea of getting so close to the other halfas.

"Let's not. I don't want to be anywhere near you," Alex said unamused.

"How about Life?" Abigail suggested. All six looked at each other. No one seemed to think of any objections.

Moments later all six were sitting around the kitchen table looking down at the board. Sylvia played the game feeling a little amused as the game progress.

"Vlad, can you hand me one of the little blue guys," Catalina asked holding out her arm to have the man drop said piece into her hand.

"Aww, you and Vlad finally decided to tie the knot," Thalen teased.

"Once again, Vlad and I aren't together," Catalina said at the same time Vlad stated that their relationship was platonic.

"Right," Thalen said rolling his eyes. "So, Alex did you decide what you want to do."

"I'm going to stay here and train. I'm not going to fight Dan," Alex responded. "I don't want to go home."

"Oh I'm sure that your life is just plain horrible," Thalen said sarcastically.

"You know nothing of my life," Alex said coldly. "Who are you to judge."

"Well, it's better than mine. I lived on the streets, no parents, no friends, no family. I'm done here," Thalen exploded out of no where. He pushed away from the table stomping away. Sylvia watched as Abigail followed after the teen. With a pointed look from Catalina, Vlad followed the two teens.

Sylvia looked concerned to Alex who had his fist shaking. She didn't know what to say. "Alex," Catalina said softly thankfully taking charge. She put her hand near his, but didn't touch them. The teen looked at the older woman. "Everyone experiences pain and no one can compare their pain to another," she said. Sylvia nodded her agreement.

"I don't have parents either. How can he assume that my life is perfect," Alex said pulling away from the two.

"What happened to them?" Sylvia asked thinking of her own parents. She wouldn't know what she would do if she didn't' have them.

"They died in a car crash. A drunk driver," Alex answered looking down at his hands.

"I'm so sorry," Sylvia said putting a comforting hand on his. She didn't know what else to say to the teenage boy. Her life was fairly normal with three older brothers and both parents.

"A loan shark," Catalina said drawing both halfas' attention. "My father owed a lot of money. They went out one night leaving me at my babysitter's house and never came back." Alex looked at the woman who gave him a small smile. "But at least you have your aunt."

"Where did you go?" Alex asked distracted from his own tale for the moment.

"The system, but that's not important. I overcame that. What's important is that you know that your aunt cares about you. If she didn't she wouldn't have taken you in," Catalina said.

"Catalina is right. And you have all of us," Sylvia said trying to comfort the teen. Alex nodded and gave a minimal smile which made Sylvia's stomach become filled with butterflies.

DP~DP~DP

Abigail hurried after Thalen who didn't look back. He stomped away; the tiles on the ground became warm. She called out his name putting her hand on his shoulder stopping him. "Thalen, I'm sorry," Abigail said.

"Why? You didn't do anything," Thalen said still clearly angry. He became quiet. "Don't worry. I don't remember my family. The earliest memory I have is being strapped down on a lab table."

Abigail shook her head not believing that people could be so cruel. She didn't know what to say. She never experienced anything like that. "I never told you how I became a halfa," Vlad said as a greeting. "My idiotic friend miscalculated on our project and I became a halfa. I was stuck dying in a hospital for years as he married the love of my life," the man snarled. Abigail took a step closer to Thalen and away from Vlad. She never saw the man this angry. "I was poked and prodded for years."

"It's not very fun," Thalen said crossing his arms.

Abigail could tell that both were going to a dark place in their minds. "But you became a billionaire, Vlad. And Thalen those people back in Hong Kong look up to you and respect," she said. "You both might have had bad pasts, but your life isn't so bad now. And it's like that saying goes, the sun will come out tomorrow."

"At least you don't sing it," Vlad said amused. Thalen also grinned know who Vlad was speaking of. Abigail giggled thinking about Catalina singing with the famous musical number.

"Come on let's finish our game," Abigail suggested. The trio walked back to the room to see the other three halfas also ready to play.

"I'm …sor…. Alex. Just forget what I said," Thalen said, attempting to apologize.

"I forgive you," Alex responded.

"Great, now let's continue. I'm sure I'm going to win," Catalina said cheerfully.

"I don't think you can win in the game of life," Vlad noted.

"Shh, we don't need any more negativity."