“No don’t!” Grace demanded as Sebastian reached out to touch her arm, the girl cringing away and closing her eyes at the same time as Melissa called out.

“Sebastian wait!” She reached out to stop him, but both girls were too slow as the boy placed his hand on her arm. Melissa cringed too. Right now Grace was still too volatile, too scared. She had just relived a traumatic event from her past and she hadn't had any physical contact for a long time, for him to reach out and touch her arm, even if it was to comfort her was so dangerous. She could have easily accidently stuck him accidently with her powers.

However as the seconds ticked by Grace eventually opened her eyes and looked over to him curiously. She couldn’t really remember the last time she’d let anyone touch her, even her own parents, out of fear of freezing them to death or something like that. Yet nothing. Melissa watched as a great deal of ice and frost began receding as the two sat there next to each other. Quick to move on she encouraged Sebastian to move away as she placed the cup in front of Grace.

“Well, since that seemed to better than you’d thought, we’re going to try a small exercise, just so you can get a feel of actually using your powers, rather than them working of their own account. The more you use them willingly the more you’ll learn to control them.” She said as she glanced over to Sebastian. They’d definitely have to talk about all of this once they were done here.

Sebastian jumped. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... I just wanted to show you that you weren't completely out of control. I'll... I won't do it again, I promise."

Never before had he wanted to use his powers more than right now. He wanted to teleport to some mountaintop far away from humanity and just sit alone. How could he have been so stupid? That was completely uncalled for. Sure, it worked, he was still alive, but that was too reckless. God only knew what Grace was going through, and he just barged into her life trying to help her when he had no idea how. He knew he wasn't cut out for this. He would just tell Melissa to find someone else for the job.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Sebastian stood now and walked over to the door. With every step, he could feel his body heat up more and more despite the cold. He wanted to get a million miles away from there, before he did any more damage to Grace's emotional state.

"I should get going. Sorry, again," he said before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

Grace looked to Sebastian as he left and then down to the ground. That felt about right, someone wanting to be her friend and help her and she pushing him away. “Melissa smiled slightly as she looked to the door. “Don’t think about that for now, I’ll talk to him later. For now, while we’re here I want you to start experiencing your powers in a good way.” She pushed the cup forwards slightly, smiling encouragingly.

***

By the time Melissa did end up back at her office it was about an hour later. Grace had made some progress with her powers, being able to freeze the water in the cup at will, but still had a hard time accepting it as a good thing. She had been so nervous, especially when it didn’t go fully to plan, like when it tipped over and she’d been unable to un-freeze it. She had noticed that she had been rather distracted and sad that Sebastian had left her. She had felt the boy become very unsure of himself when he’d touched Grace and, true, it had been a mistake, but he was still learning. She had made plenty when she had started out too and she hoped that it didn’t turn him off it. He seemed to have a very positive effect on Grace.

Sebastian was sitting on the roof of the school, looking down at the courtyard where the students were walking around and spending time with their friends. His mind replayed the scene from just a few minutes ago over and over in his mind, until finally he got fed up with it and stood up from where he was sitting. He had to go tell Melissa that he wasn't up for this, being a mentor for these students. Just because he could control his own powers, it didn't mean that he could teach others to use theirs.

So now Sebastian teleported down to the front of the building where he knew no one was walking and stepped inside the building. He couldn't be reckless about where he teleported, especially if it was inside a populated building where students were walking to and fro all day. The chances that he could teleport where someone was walking were too high to risk. Regardless, he made his way up to Melissa's office and knocked on the door before opening it up slightly and peeking his head through to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything.

He stepped inside the office, and, despite the fact that she could just read his mind anyway, he decided to say what was on it.

"Melissa, I, um... I wanted to apologize for what I did earlier, again. I shouldn't have been so impatient to help. I just... I don't think I'm cut out for this. I'm afraid I'll make some other mistake like that and ruin all the progress that Grace is making. By the way, how did she do?"

Melissa looked up as Sebastian entered and she smiled happily at him as he told her how thoughts and she invited him to take a seat. She was determined not to let him leave here with the same mindset. "I know how you feel." She said first, but gathered he'd think she was just trying to make him feel better. "No, really. My very first time trying to mentor a student went so bad, they set the room on fire." She laughed softly and shook her head. "I didn't expect you to get it right the first time, no one does. I didn't pick you because you can control your powers, a majority of people here can do that. I picked you because you have a genuine interest in helping people.

I think you did better today than any mentor ever has on their first day, up until you left. Most people will sit there and they'll be too afraid to say or do anything, too busy focusing on me they hardly pay any attention to their pupils. But you asked her questions, you touched her. It was dangerous, yes, given how volatile she is, but it paid off. Even Grace was surprised at herself, you didn't see how happy she was the rest of the session." She shrugged slightly as she leaned forwards a little bit. "She likes you." The woman told him with a smile. "If you really don't want to do this then that's okay, but at least don't give up on Grace as a friend. I think she needs someone like you, who will push the boundaries a little."

Despite his feelings, Sebastian couldn't help but smile a little at Melissa's reassurance. She wouldn't lie to him about something this important just to make him feel better. She really did believe in him. But the next thing she said made his face start to heat up. "She likes you?" The way she said that made him curious, but immediately he dismissed what he was thinking. Grace must have just appreciated his trying to help her.

Sebastian looked down at the floor and nodded his head slightly before looking back up at Melissa again, this time with a much wider, more confident grin. "Alright, I won't give up yet. I really do want to help her, I'm just afraid of screwing up again. Do you... Do you think I should go and talk to her? If I'm going to be continuing to help her, it would probably be better to go and apologize for leaving like that."

He sighed, sitting back in his chair with a pensive look. "But... I have no idea how to start. Or what to say. You're a mind reader, what should I say?"

Melissa simply smiled and shook her head slightly. “I don’t think apologies are necessary.” She informed him gently. “She didn’t take offence to it. She knows you’re learning.” She invited him to come sit down. “I think right now the important thing is that we talk about the techniques I used, why I did it, things like that so you can understand more what to do in these situations and why we do it. Understanding is always the best way to learn, and it’s the same with people who can’t control their powers. There’s always a reason. Find out about their powers, as specific as you can and then delve into when they began to lose control. Find the event and figure out why. Often it takes someone with an outside view to see things clearly.”

***

It was dark, and the building was quiet. It was probably close to midnight and most of the school was asleep or off doing their own quiet activities. Grace peeked out of her door cautiously before stepping out into the school for the first time. Walking through the halls she felt tense, but also more at ease than usual. With the threat of running into people removed she felt a lot calmer about not hurting people with her powers so they didn’t seem to be playing up on her as much. Making her way down to the first floor she eventually found her way out into the yard.

Sebastian nodded. The key to getting Grace to be able to control her powers was first to find out what was making her lose control in the first place. Grace and her father had told them that the point where she began to fear her own power was when she accidentally killed her sister. That was not going to be an easy subject to discuss, but he was determined to help her. He could only imagine the guilt she felt, and how afraid she was that it would happen again.

Hopefully it won't happen to me, he said, feeling a twinge of fear, but then letting it go.

"Okay. Thank you for the advice, Melissa. I think I'm going to go back to my room. In the morning I'll go and talk to Grace again." He stood up and, saying good night once more, left the room and just wandered around the halls for a while, thinking about Grace and how he was going to help her. He played over a mental conversation in his head a thousand times, with all of their consequences playing out in his head. He finally went back up to his room and stayed there for a while, laying back on his bed, unable to sleep.

When he had trouble sleeping, Sebastian liked to go up to the roof so that he could think in peace. Closing his eyes, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared sitting on the ledge of the roof as he had been before. Taking a deep breath, Sebastian looked up at the stars and sighed contentedly. He liked being alone. There was something about going somewhere to be alone with his thoughts that relaxed him, probably since he'd grown up more or less his whole life on his own. Not that he didn't like to be around other people, but he always felt more comfortable just by himself.

After a while, Sebastian looked down over the grounds, at the yard that was now much more empty than it had been earlier in the day. Most of the students were now asleep or otherwise in their rooms, so he didn't expect to see anyone. However, he could see the shape of a girl walking alone in the yard. Curious, he tried to get a better look at who it was, only to find that it was none other than Grace.

It was pretty late for her to be going for a walk. He debated going down there for a few minutes, since all he'd done was invade her privacy since the moment he met her. Then he had an idea. He could pretend that he was in the yard the whole time, and that it was just a coincidence! Sure, it wasn't entirely honest, but it would seem less creepy for her. Maybe it was more creepy that he was thinking so hard about this.

Sebastian shook his head forcefully. This was stupid. He was overthinking this whole thing. Without another thought, he teleported down to the yard, in one of the benches by the large memorial fountain, which was now brightly lit. He sat back in the bench, now thinking this was a pretty good spot to come and relax now too. He looked to the left and noticed the Grace was coming up one of the paths and feigned surprise.

"Grace?" he asked. "Is that you? Well, this is weird. What're you doing out here?"

Grace was walking down a path through a small garden in the yard of the school. It was strange, now she thought about it. Schools didn’t usually have things like this. It was more like a garden in a mansion or something like that. She stopped suddenly as she heard someone say her name and she gasped, flinching black as she saw Sebastian sitting there. However after the few initial seconds of shock and fear she smiled slightly, though made sure to keep a safe distance as she approached the fountain cautiously. “I could ask you the same thing.” She replied softly, walking up to the fountain but being careful not to touch it.

She was feeling fairly calm right now, but she had frozen water accidentally before. “You’re not following me now are you?” The girl then rolled her eyes as she pushed a stand of blonde hair out of her face, white blonde hair that was almost glowing strangely in the moonlight. “I was just um... taking a walk, I know it’s late... but I knew, at least I thought, no one would be up. I find I’m not so... nervous when there’s no one around.”

She ran a hand along the marble of the fountain but quickly drew it back when she saw frost forming. “I was hoping to maybe find a lake or something like that... even a small sports court... maybe a large empty room like an assembly hall.” She smiled at him again as she reached out and placed a hand on the fountain, watching as the water quickly froze in a beautiful, if not slightly menacing looking crystalline shape. “Back home if I was feeling frustrated or unsure I’d find a big space and I found it really helped.” She shrugged slightly and sat by the fountain, looking up at it.

“In hindsight it’s probably not the best idea. I’m sure the school wouldn’t like me freezing things.” She shrugged and sighed and then looked down. “That’s the problem I guess. Even at the best of times I can never unfreeze anything I freeze. I’m beginning to think I don’t actually have the ability to unfreeze things I freeze, which kind of sucks when you think about it.” She ran her hand over the ice lightly, watching as her touch smoothed out the ice, making it glass-like and clear. “It can be kind of pretty though, sometimes. It’s just when I add in people I have trouble.”

Sebastian shook his head quickly. "N-No, of course I'm not following you! I'm out here for the same reason as you, actually. I like being alone too. It clears my head. I mean, I guess it's a little different, but still." Too much explanation, he thought. He decided to just shut up and let her speak. It was better this way, because he liked the way she looked in the light of the moon and from the lights of the fountain. He didn't have to think so much.

He watched as she froze some of the water in the fountain, amazed by what she could do. However, it didn't seem like she was very impressed by herself. When she expressed her doubt in controlling herself around people, however, Sebastian spoke up. "But Grace, you can control yourself around people. When I touched you today in your room you didn't hurt me. Obviously you have some control, we just have to find a way to get you to see it."

Sebastian thought for a moment, then had an idea when he thought back to what she said about finding big empty spaces. "Wait a minute, I've got an idea. There's a big lecture hall on the other side of campus, I can take you there if it'll make you feel better." He stood up from the bench and walked closer to her, slowly so she wasn't threatened or scared of him being so close. "It's a long walk, though. I can just teleport us there, but you're gonna have to trust me. And more importantly, yourself." He reached out a hand for her to take. "I can teleport more than one person or thing if I touch it. Grab my hand, we'll be there before you even realize we left."

“That was different!” Grace protested as she looked over to Sebastian. However after the initial snap she looked down slightly, becoming meek again. “I hadn’t let anyone touch me for a long time. I didn’t know how I’d react. Anything could have happened.” She sat there and was quiet for a long while before looking up as Sebastian began to approach her. “Anything could still happen.” She informed him cautiously as she stood up, taking a small step back from him and hiding away from his offered hand. “And I don’t think the school would like me freezing it...”

She sighed softly, looking down. “You’re very persistent aren’t you?” She eventually said, knowing her excuses weren’t going to work with him. He was very different to a lot of the people she’d met. He wasn't afraid, even though he should be. Maybe this place was going to be able to help her, even if she wasn't sure herself if she wanted it yet. Reaching out it was very clear to see how much her hand was shaking. What if this afternoon had been a fluke? What if when she touched him he froze solid or was blasted away? She had no way of knowing.

Closing her eyes at the last minute as she felt his warm skin touch hers Grace waited but felt nothing happen. After a few second she opened her eyes and quickly drew back her hand as she looked around the room. They were now in a big hall that was mostly empty now, but she could see the desks and chairs on the side of the room for if they chose to use it for classes. It would work. Looking over to Sebastian she looked down shyly before asking him to move right away from her, over to the side of the room. Before she hadn't been actively using her powers. She didn’t want to risk them getting out of control and hurting him. “And you promise I’m not going to get in trouble for this?” She checked finally as she moved back into the centre of the room.

Sebastian smiled when she said he was persistent. It was true. He was a very difficult person to say no to. He assumed it was just a habit of his, maybe something he'd gotten from his mother, a kind of tenacity that took him over when he was really dedicated to something. Right now, he was dedicated to help Grace overcome her fear and learn to control her powers.

"Yup. I won't take no for an answer."

Finally she gave in, probably seeing that there was no point in arguing with him. She seemed reluctant again to touch him, but like before, nothing happened to him. He smiled, seeing that he was right that she had the power to control her abilities, and when he felt her grab his hand, he took them to the lecture hall.

He obeyed her when she told him to move over to the side of the room, and when he was there he put up a thumbs up sign. However, when she voiced her concern over whether she would get in trouble, he waved it away. "Yeah, sure. It's fine," he assured her, but he actually had no idea. He wasn't an employee of the school, so he really doubted he had the authority to allow a student to freeze an entire lecture hall. But his curiosity to see Grace actually actively use her powers surpassed his thoughts that what they were doing could get them in trouble.

"Go ahead, Grace! Let's see what you can do!"

Sebastian assured her that she was allowed to do this, so she trusted him. Grace could feel her heart rate start to go up. She hadn't purposely used her powers in front of anyone in a long, long time. It had always been unintentional but he wasn't going to let her off without seeing something, so she may as well try. Melissa was right; her inability to control it was caused by stress and fear. She had been able to control it once. She could do it again. Closing her eyes she began slowly rotating her hands around a small invisible ball before her.

After a few seconds a small glowing blue ball appeared within her palms, small sparkling snowflakes floating off it. After a few seconds she threw her hands up into the air and watched as it exploded like a blue ice firework near the roof and a soft snow powder began falling to the ground. She looked over to Sebastian and smiled shyly as she raised her leg and then pressed her foot firmly to the ground. Ice began spreading swiftly over the floor, soon the entire floor was covered in ice and she waved her hand casually, her shoes rising as a pair of ice blades formed beneath them.

She turned to Sebastian and smiled shyly again, motioning for him to come over to her now. Well, he wasn't dead. So that was a bonus. Although this was still a little upsetting. The last time she’d done something like this has been with her sister just a few days before the event.

Sebastian stood with his mouth agape as Grace used her powers for the first time in front of him. The sight was incredible; she raised her arms after forming what looked like a glowing ball of ice, which rose in the air and exploded magnificently over their heads and sent snow- real snow- falling from the ceiling. Before he knew it, the floor was also covered with a layer of ice.

He looked up at her in the center of the room, and when she gestured for him to come closer, he ran over excitedly, sliding a little on the slippery ice below them.

"Grace! That was amazing! I told you you could do it, you just had to trust yourself." Sebastian smiled along with her, looking down at her feet and seeing she'd formed her own pair of ice skates underneath her shoes. He pointed down at them with a light chuckle. "Now that is cool. You know I've never actually ice skated before. Not a whole lot of those back where I come from. I've always wanted to, though. I'd see it sometimes on TV, or in movies and things. Do you think you could teach me how? Please?" he asked, putting his hands together and giving her the patented puppy dog eyes.

Grace smiled shyly and looked down a little as she easily supported Sebastian to make sure he didn't slip over. "It's not so much that I can't control them... Especially if I'm in a calm situation like this. It's just when I'm scared I can't control it. I don't know, I was just always worried of hurting people I suppose, because they always seemed so afraid of me. But you're not..." However she pulled away from him none the less. She could see the ice starting to creep up the walls, despite her not wanting to. She was losing control again. When he asked her to teach him how to ice skate Grace hesitated.

"Um... I suppose so." She waved her hand again hesitantly and watched him grow a few inches as blades of ice formed under his shoes. She didn't want to reach out and take his hands, so instead offered her arm for him to hold on to, though her arm was still rather cold to the touch. "It's important you stay upright, knees bent and your weight over your heels. You need to push your skate outwards, not backwards, like this." She pushed off from where she was standing, pulling him along with her. "So um... you said it you don't get to do this much because of where you come from. And from the way you look... where do you come from?" She asked softly, still looking down shyly.

Sebastian followed her slowly, trying to keep his balance. Ice skating was very different from normally walking, as he was now learning, so he stumbled a few times on the ice. Gradually he was able to stand up straighter, and learned from watching Grace's form how to move his feet in a more controlled motion so he didn't lose his balance. She asked him where he came from now, and he looked over at her.

"I was actually born in Argentina. I grew up in this poor town with my mother, but she died when I was little. It was okay, I guess. I had to learn how to kind of fend for myself, since there weren't really any places for me to go. I got along okay, though. Better than a lot of the other kids I knew growing up. I had to steal sometimes, but that was just what we had to do to get by. I got pretty good at it, but I always felt bad about it." Seb shrugged. He wasn't bitter about the way his life had turned out. It had been difficult, yes, but he was actually pretty lucky when he thought about it. He wasn't roped into crime or anything like that, like some of his old friends. It wasn't a great childhood, but he always kept in mind that it could have been much worse.

"Well, anyway, one day- I think it was four years ago now- I was just walking around in the neighborhood, and I saw this old TV set that a couple of guys were huddled around that was showing this report for this school. I remember it looked so pretty, I wanted to be there more than anything. I remember it really well, actually. I closed my eyes there, and I pictured the big fountain in my head, and when I opened my eyes I was here." He laughed lightly. "I freaked out, obviously. I had no idea what I just did, but after a while when I learned how to speak English the teachers here helped me a lot. Even the students were nice to me. I never really felt like I belonged back in my old town, but here, it's... I can't really explain it, but I like it."

He looked over at her now. "How about you? What was your hometown like?"

“I um…” Grace hesitated slightly and sighed softy, her breath coming out in a small puff of fog before she spoke. “My town is very small, very religious. They’re all close, everyone knows everyone, nothing is a secret for very long and everyone competes. Constantly. Everyone competes to see who has the best job, earns the most money, has the most expensive car, the nicest garden, cleanest home, the smartest kids, the most athletic kids, the most artistic kids. Anything you can think of, the town competed over. When my powers were first revealed you can imagine how proud my parents were about how special their daughter was.”

She said the words with much venom and hatred, indicating it had anything but pleasant for her. “There was so much pressure. All of the time. After the incident with my sister… well you can imagine how the town jumped on that. My parents were suddenly not so proud of me. The locking myself in my room wasn’t entirely my idea, though I hardly fought it. They managed to convince the town they’d sent me away to a boarding school for people like me. A school like this one. Honestly I’m not sure why they waited so long.”

She then shrugged slightly and gave him a slight smile. “But hey, I can’t complain. I mean, despite everything you’ve had a much tougher life than me.” She felt guilty just even thinking about it, about how she was sitting there complaining and he had grown up on the streets, never knowing for certain when he was going to eat next or where he was going to sleep that night. “But hey, this is a new start isn’t it? The chance for a new life. New beginnings.” However looking at him she could see he was starting to shiver, Grace sometimes forgot the cold affected people, since she couldn’t remember the last time she had been cold herself.

She giggled softly and skated over to the edge of the room. “Your lips are starting to turn blue.” She said softly, shrinking shyly towards the door. It was easy to tell by looking at him that he had grown up in a warm climate. “We should probably get back to bed. Hopefully all this will be melted by morning.” Looking down at her feet she kicked it against the wall and the blade shattered after a few good kicks. “I um… I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” She smiled softly and quickly turned, walking back down the hallway.

Well that sounds weird, Sebastian thought. I guess people in America were a lot more used to these powers. I mean, if they're so competitive that they would just show her off like that, they have to be. He shrugged. He didn't see their powers as anything bad. They were just able to do things that normal people couldn't. They didn't ask for these powers.

"I'm sorry to hear all that, Grace. Really, I didn't even have it so bad. It wasn't easy, but a lot of people like us have rough pasts. You're right, we have to just keep moving forward. And God, I am so cold," he said, shaking his head and rubbing his arms. He looked up to see her leaving and waved goodbye. "Oh, uh, yeah! I'll see you tomorrow." When she'd left the room, he immediately teleported back to his room, and when he was there he reached out and grabbed 2 sweaters and bundled up in his sheets until the cold left him.

After a few minutes he took the sweaters off and laughed to himself in the empty room. That was really fun, he thought looking back on what had happened. It had been a while since Sebastian had ever really connected with someone like that. All his life he felt different from everyone around him, because he was. The people here were nice, and he really felt like he belonged, for the first time in his life. He felt like he and Grace were more alike than he'd thought when he first met her. As he closed his eyes, he hoped he wouldn't screw this up. This was his chance to help her and prove that he could do this job. If he failed, it wouldn't just be his job being lost. Grace wasn't safe from her own power until she learned to consistently control it. She was a lot of progress, though. What she did was impressive, the most incredible thing Sebastian had ever seen. He was excited to see what she could really do as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A loud know came on the outside of Sebastian’s room and a small boy jumped outside on the spot excitedly. “Seb!” He called excitedly as he knocked loudly again. He felt a little bad, because it was seven in the morning and he knew the boy had a tendency to stay up late at night. “Seb! Seb! Wake up! You gotta come check it out! Someone froze the lecture hall! Wake uppp!” He looked around and sighed impatiently. Caleb was not the most patient person in the world, but for a boy of 13 that was not uncommon.

He leant against the door and waited for the older boy to answer. Caleb had taken quite a shine to Sebastian when he had arrived at the institute, primarily because he was from Italy, and had looked up to how Sebastian had been able to overcome cultural and lingual diversity when he’d come here. He was a technopath, he could understand and communicate with technology. He’d been brought here after being picked up as ‘gifted’ when he’d been arrested after emptying an ATM, though they had been unsure at first how to charge him. Luckily the institute had gotten him out of trouble on the promise that he wouldn’t pull things like that anymore.