We walked in with our baskets of laundry. I got hit by a wave of soap and nearly gagged. On the bright side, the overwhelming soap smell was distracting me from all of the people here. Tess picked a few open washers that were off to the side and loaded them up with quarters as we dumped everything in.

She tapped on my shoulder, "How are you holding up?"

I shrugged, "Last night got really rough. I'll be fine though."

Tess knew I was trying to lie. She pulled me in for a hug.

"I know you will," she said. "You're brave enough to come here today." She let go so she could see my eyes. "And you know we can leave if you need to. I'm not holding you hostage here."

I nodded, "I know. Thank you."

Jeremy came up, "Sorry to break up the moment but we still have one load left."

Tess sighed, "Well I'm out of quarters so those will have to wait until next time."

Jeremy nodded and picked up the half full basket. He took it out to the car.

"How long is he and Rachel staying with us?" I whined.

Tess chuckled, "I take it you aren't a fan of them."

I shook my head.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," Tess said. "But we have nowhere to send them. They were with the Edison Group the longest, their family doesn't want them back." Tess cleared her throat. "Don't repeat that last part."

I nodded quickly. Knowing what that felt like, Dad didn't want me back. Aunt Lauren was trying to change who I was. I had these guys but I didn't have my actual family anymore. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the two of them. They've been through a lot.

Jeremy came back and we all sat down in the chairs, reading magazines. I inhaled the overwhelming scent of soap in the air to the point it burned my sinuses and listened to the roar of the machines. Thankful I wasn't smelling blood and hearing heartbeats. I felt normal for a few minutes.

Simon's POV

Derek was asleep and Chloe left with Tess, we had Tori's room to ourselves. As weird as that sounded. I shut and locked the door behind us. Tori sat on the floor and held out her hands like last time. I sat across from her and took her hands. She pushed magic into them. I tried to create the smoke spell again. Whispering it quietly. It came out with ease until Tori suddenly cut me off.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked.

Tori frowned at me, "Practice something else."

"Like what? That's the only one I know I can do."

"So try to do something you couldn't before?"

Fair enough, I thought, I should try something new.

I started mumbling under my breath, a spell I never managed to master. I closed my eyes and repeated the words over and over. It gradually felt like Tori's hand was fading away. Like she was letting go of me. I told myself not to break concentration though, keep repeating.

After two minutes of just getting the hazy feeling of it working, I pulled harder on the magic she was feeding me and repeated the spell. Tori got knocked back from me and she rolled across the floor. A moment after the connection broke, the spell faded.

"What was that?" Tori asked as she got up.

"I always wanted to master a shielding spell. With all the antics Derek gets into; it would be nice to protect him back."

Tori nodded, "I think it worked."

"Can we try you feeding me magic without touching?" I asked.

Tori sat back down in front of me but about two feet back. She closed her eyes and muttered something. As far as I could tell, I didn't feel any different.

"I don't think its working," I said.

Tori frowned. Trying to think of another way.