There was a small rap on the door and a tall, lean woman let herself in. She had long, light brown hair and hazel eyes set in a heart shaped face of pale skin that was lightly freckled. She smiled at the teenager sitting in the room. “Sebastian?” She asked softly as she moved to stand by the bed in his room. “I was going to head out soon to pick up a new student and was wondering if you wanted to come with me?” The woman’s name was Melissa, and she was one of the mentors of the collage, which was a converted old university.

She had the ability to read minds, as well as a degree in psychology so she primarily acted as a counsellor to the students and helped them to mentally cope with their powers, instead of the physically draining side which was covered by other teachers. She also often helped to pick new students up from their homes. Sebastian had been fitting in well with the other students but he had arrived under rather strange circumstances, so she felt as if maybe he should come and see what a more normal case was like. That and this case was rather worrying; she’d probably need a friend.

***

The car ride was long, about six hours to a small town. She had refused to let Sebastian teleport because even if he could make it this far she didn’t want to puss his abilities by trying to make him go so far to a new place he’d never been with two extra people. They arrived at a small street and she stopped outside number twenty eight. It seemed like a normal enough two-story house. But Melissa walked up to it confidently and knocked, a man answering a few moments later. He looked at the pair curiously as Melissa smiled happily at him.

“Can I help you?” He asked curiously as a woman appeared beside him. “We’ve come to see Grace.” The couple looked at one another for a moment and then back to Melissa. “We spoke on the phone? My name is Melissa, from the institute? This is one of our students, an incredible case, his name is Sebastian.” They looked at each other again before the man nodded.

“Come inside.” The four of them made their way to the living room where the woman disappeared into the kitchen.

“So... why don’t you tell me a little bit about Grace, Mr. Whitney.” Melissa offered as his wife came back with a tray of tea.

“Grace...” She began slowly. “Developed her... abilities at a very young age. And, for a long time she seemed to be able to control them quite well. She and her sister used to play all the time. And then one day... they were playing and... and Grace struck her, accidentally of course. She’d never hurt anyone on purpose. But it... Courtney didn’t survive.” Tears formed I her eyes and she sniffled and turned into the man’s shoulder, crying softly.

The man patted his wife on the back gently before continuing. “After that... Grace was never the same. She refused to go outside, she locked herself in her room, she wouldn’t talk to anyone. We had to start home schooling her. She... she won’t even touch us anymore. Any control she may have had is gone. It only got stronger and stronger and the other week... my father died, her grandfather. The pair of them had been close. We haven’t had running water for a week now, because of her.” He stood, leaving his wife on the couch. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

He led them up the stairs, where the house suddenly got noticeably colder. He turned down another hallway and stopped. The door at the end of the hallway was covered in ice, as well as parts of the walls and floor. Melissa stopped in shock, looking towards Sebastian and then back to the door. As she approached it, she found it frozen shut and then looked back to the boy, indicating for him to go ahead.

Sebastian had been laying in bed, deep in thought for a while before his mentor had walked inside. He was thinking about the way he had come to be here, laying in this bed across the world from where he was born. While it was true that he felt like an outsider back home, he now felt as if the people here really understood him and what he was going through. The language barrier had disappeared when he'd learned how to speak English as fluently as the people around him did. But even with all these differences, there was something that made him comfortable with where he was, and with the people who lived around him.

When Melissa entered the room, Sebastian bolted up in bed, wondering what exactly was the matter. She said she was going to pick up a new student. Interested, Sebastian nodded his head. "Of course. I'll just get changed before we go, if you don't mind," he said, now very curious. Why was it that she was bringing him along to recruit a new student? He'd never been asked to do this kind of thing before. Maybe it was some kind of initiation. Whatever it was, Sebastian was now very interested in this new student, and didn't need much more convincing to follow Melissa as soon as he was able to.

---

Driving seemed like the most pointless exercise in the world to Sebastian, and the entirety of the six-hour car trip almost drove him insane. He was used to instant transport, just thinking and being somewhere. Actually experiencing that excruciating travel time was completely different. However, he was told not to teleport them for safety reasons, so he went along with it.

When they had arrived, Sebastian was interested at how normal the house looked from the outside. To think that a place so inconspicuous would hide a person with abilities like theirs, the kind that were shunned from normal society laid in those ordinary-looking four walls. But, snapped out of his reverie, he listened to the girl's father as he explained the development and terrible consequences of his daughter's abilities. Sebastian felt strongly for the man, seeing the fear and confusion that laid underneath the surface. He'd heard stories of people like him discovering their powers at the expense of hurting loved ones. He wasn't prepared to see what came next.

They went upstairs, and Sebastian noticed the temperature significantly drop as the went further down the hall. As they turned the corner, Sebastian stared at the room at the end of the hall in pure astonishment. It looked like the entrance to some kind of ice cave, sitting here in a suburban house. He stepped closer along with Melissa, but the door was closed shut. Whoever was causing this didn't want anyone in that room. However, there was little option here, and when Melissa turned to look at him, he knew what she wanted him to do.

Sebastian closed his eyes and pictured the inside of the room in front of him. He pictured the other side of the room, the area right in front of the door. There was a strong sense of fear right before he disappeared, as he hoped he would be unharmed on the other side of the wall. If he were to teleport in the same area as an existing object, he would be dead for sure. However, upon opening his eyes again, he saw that he had been successful. Looking around the room, which was absolutely freezing cold, he marveled at the sight of so much ice. It didn't take him long to find the source of it all.

There was a girl, probably near the same age as he was, huddled up on the bed. She looked afraid, afraid of what she might do next. Sebastian felt something sink in his chest and he knew he had to try and reach out to this girl. She was probably in the same situation he was, feeling like she didn't belong. After a few seconds, he finally spoke to break the (literally) cold silence in the room.

"H-Hi," Sebastian said, suddenly feeling like a complete idiot. Clearing his throat, he tried to redeem himself. "Are... are you Grace?" he asked, shivering slightly in the icy room.

Melissa could feel the fear of the girl inside. The fear was not so much of people judging her or shaming her. She’d never experienced it, locked up in her house and cut off from people as she had been for so long. No, she was terrified of her own powers, scared of hurting people. That was likely the reason she was so unable to control herself; powers had a strange way of reacting to emotions, if she felt scared or anxious, no doubt caused by the experience with her sister, her powers would react to that defensively, even if it wasn't needed.

The more she tried to repress it the more it would build up. She’d no doubt hurt herself or someone else if she didn’t let it out soon. However she doubted sending Sebastian in there, he’d likely scare her but so long as he remained calm she knew Grace wouldn’t attack him. Her parents had said he wouldn’t hurt someone intentionally, and Melissa knew this. But right now her powers were quite volatile. Still, Sebastian knew what he was doing. He’d be fine. And if anything started going wrong then she’d intervene.

Inside the room it was easily freezing cold. Grace was huddled on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her head in her lap. Everything in the room was frozen solid, frost building up on a lot of the surfaces and a light snow was falling from the ceiling, a light powder covering the icy floor. Grace had a dark blue coat on and some jeans but she didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold at all. When she heard someone suddenly speak to her she looked up fearfully, wondering how they’d gotten in here.

Her eyes shifted to the door which was still frozen shut with a thick layer of ice covering it before she looked back to the boy. He looked a bit older than she was. He was tanned, with dark hair, like someone from a warm climate. She could see the cold affecting him, he was already shivering and his breath was creating a light fog when he breathed. The question of who he was still plagued her mind, but how he’d gotten in here was also a good one. This was a second story room; the window was frozen shut too.

And he knew her name. She nodded slowly in response to his question, but didn’t move from where she was sitting. “I’m Grace, yes.” She said softly before she cast her deep blue eyes back towards the floor. “You should stay back though. I’m... I’m not safe.” She winced slightly at this statement and a small tear could be seen escaping the side of her eye before it froze on her cheek.

“Grace?” The sudden voice made her look towards the door fearfully. “My name is Melissa. This boy here is Sebastian. We’re here to take you somewhere where you can learn to control your powers. You don’t need to be afraid of us alright?” Grace shook her head determinedly. “Do you want to come with us? Why don’t you unfreeze the door so I can talk to you in person?”

“I can’t!” Grace suddenly screamed; the area around her growing thicker with ice and frost. “I can’t ‘unfreeze’ any of it. It doesn’t work like that.”

Outside Melissa paused. She hadn't anticipated that Grace had so little control she’d be unable to remove the ice she’d created. “Would you consent to me putting you to sleep so we can get you out of here without you freezing anything else?” She called through the door. Once she was asleep she wouldn’t freeze anything and Sebastian would be able to get her out of the room and to the car without risk of him getting hurt.

After a pause Grace nodded, looking over to the boy, Sebastian. She knew she didn’t want to be here anymore, and she did want to learn how to control it. But she doubted she ever would. After a few seconds she felt her mind going fuzzy and everything started to go black. “You can bring her down to the car now, Sebastian. Her powers won’t actively work whilst she’s asleep.” Melissa then turned and began making her way back to the car, ready to take the two back to the instirute.

Sebastian looked on with sharp interest at the girl sitting on the bed in front of him. For a few moments he was afraid that she would lose control, but thankfully Melissa was able to convince her to be put to sleep temporarily. Immediately Grace fell fast asleep on her bed. Melissa then told Sebastian to bring her back to the car, so he stepped closer, but before he reached down to pick her up he stopped to look at her while she was asleep. Even though she was so confused and afraid, right now she looked... peaceful. He hoped that the school would be able to help her. He knew what it was like to be afraid of your own self.

Taking a deep breath, and anxious to get out of the insanely cold room, he reached down to pick her up off of the bed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was out by the car in front of the house. He then opened the door and gently placed her in the back seat. Then he teleported back inside where Melissa was outside Grace's room.

"Grace is in the car now," Sebastian said, glad to be out of that frozen cave. "Please tell me we don't have to drive all the way back home. I promise, I can get us back safe, I'll go crazy if I have to do that again. I ran out of crossword puzzles two hours in, I'm begging you." He put his hands together and gave her his best pouty look to sell his case.

Melissa smiled at the boy's request and nodded slightly. "You can go ahead and teleport back to the school, let them know we've got a new student coming and have a room prepared for her." She reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't want to risk you hurting yourself by going so far with such a large load. Besides, when we arrive it will be close to midnight and everyone will be asleep in their rooms. I'd prefer it that way, to lessen Grace's anxiety." She smiled reassuringly at him and nodded to go. Personally she liked the long drive, it gave her a lot of quiet time to herself to think.

***

Grace woke to darkness. She was in a small bedroom and she blinked a few times. Once the haze of sleep began lifting she remembered what had happened and where she now logically was. Moving over to the small window she peeled back the curtain, squinting as the light hit her eyes. Outside the room she saw a large courtyard with beautiful gardens and dozens of happy looking people. She smiled slightly, until she saw her hands freezing up the window, covering it in frost and she pulled back swiftly, the curtain falling back over the window. Turning towards the door she approached it cautiously, opening it just a little and peeking out into what seemed to be an empty hallway.

Sebastian pumped his fist in the air. "Alright! I'll go ahead then. See you back at the school!" he said before vanishing and reappearing back in his room, laying with his hands behind his head on the pillow with a relaxed sigh. Cars. Who needs 'em? He thought as he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, after he'd gotten dressed and ready for the day, he thought back to yesterday and the girl they'd brought here, Grace. He knew how difficult it was to try and fit into a new place so far from home. Hell, he was in an entirely new country. When he'd first arrived here, he didn't know anybody. He didn't even know the language. It was only after he'd made a few friends that he actually began to feel comfortable in this place. With this realization Sebastian decided to head for her room. Maybe he could show her the ropes around here so she wouldn't feel so alone.

So, he first teleported down to the main office to ask where her room was. As soon as he got his answer, he thanked the lady quickly and teleported right in front of Grace's door. However, when he opened his eyes, he saw that the door was already open and that Grace had been looking out into the hall. Sebastian gasped and jumped back in surprise, holding a hand to his chest to try and calm his frantically beating heart.

"Holy crap! I almost had a heart attack!" Sebastian stood against the wall, taking a few seconds to catch his breath. "S-Sorry about that," he said after he'd regained his composure. "I was just checking in on you. I know it can be hard to adjust to all this, so I thought I'd come and see how you were feeling."

Everything seemed quiet and calm. Gace was about to take a step out into the room when suddenly the boy from the other day just appeared right in front of her. She screamed in fright and slammed the door closed, watching as more ice began to form on the wood where she had been holding the door. Outside she could hear the boy apologising, saying he’d been scared too and whilst she knew he meant that he was only scared from her being there when he hadn't expected someone she felt like he was saying he had been scared of her.

“It’s- it’s fine.” Grace said softly, looking to the door as she backed away from it cautiously, holding up her hands as her heart thudded in her chest. “I’m fine.” She told him, though it was very much a lie. “I’m fine right here.” She made a small movement and before she realised what had happened a blast of ice shot from her hands and blasted the door. It didn’t open, but more ice was starting to spread over the surface. Sinking down to the floor she looked at her shaking hands and shook her head slowly.

Her powers were just too powerful for her. Sitting on the floor she looked back to the door and then to the floor. At least in here she didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone. She wondered what made the boy come here. He’d seen what she’d done to her own room. Why didn’t he realise it was just safer to stay away from her?

Sebastian stepped forward towards the door when he heard what sounded like a thud on the other side of it. Reaching out to touch the knob, he was surprised to find that it was extremely cold. Remembering what happened to the other door, he was suddenly afraid she would try to lock herself in again. Or, it could have been an accident. Either way, he now knocked on the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, but realized that she probably didn't want to talk to anyone right now. She was probably afraid of herself and what she was capable of. He wanted to try and comfort her somehow, but he wasn't about to just invade her privacy and teleport in there like last time. With a sigh, he looked up at the door again.

"I understand if you don't want to see anyone right now. It might be scary now, but this place can really help you. I mean, it helped me." Sebastian took a step back from the door and turned to leave, but decided to say one more thing before he left. "Don't be afraid to be yourself here. Everyone here's been through the same thing. But if you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me." With that, he started to walk down the hall to find Melissa's office. Grace needed help controlling her powers, at least so she could get out of that room. She would know what to do.

Grace looked up when the boy knocked on the door and asked if she was okay. Honestly, no, she wasn't really okay. His words did comfort her, the hope that this place could actually help her control her powers. However when he said everyone had been thought this she really hoped that he was lying. The idea that everyone had been though what she had... she hoped it was either a lie or he just didn’t know. It went quiet and she looked to the door for a long time before eventually looking back to the floor as ice began slowly spreading over the floor.

Melissa looked up before she ever heard the knock on the door. “Come in Sebastian.” She said, smiling at the boy when she saw him. “You’re worried about Grace aren’t you?” She tried to not read people’s minds but it was hard when their thoughts were practically screaming out at them. “Sebastian... you’re a very exceptional case, you have amazing control over your powers, considering how long you’ve been using them. If anything we hold you back more than anything else because we don’t want you to hurt yourself, but you’re clearly capable of more than we allow you to do.”

“I’ve been thinking, for some time now, about training you to be a mentor too, like myself and the others. Grace... I think might be a good way to start you out. I’ll be there to help you, you can watch how I do it and then you can try under my supervision if you like. This is all if that is something you might be interested in doing of course, and if Grace agrees too. We can’t help those who don’t want it. Is this maybe something you want to do Sebastian?”

Sebastian was floored. A mentor? Him? While it was true that he'd grown much more accustomed to his powers, the idea of him having that kind of responsibility seemed especially daunting. Teaching someone how to control their abilities was surely more difficult than it seemed. But he trusted Melissa, and the fact that she had faith in him inspired him with confidence.

"O-Of course! I'd love that! I mean, if you think I'm ready. But... I don't know the first thing about teaching someone how to use their powers. I'll need a lot of help." But he couldn't help but smile now. "Oh, man, this is so cool! So do I get a special suit or something now? Because I had some really cool ideas, maybe a utility belt or something. Oh, and do I get to go on missions and stuff, too?"

Melissa laughed lightly at his ideas. “No, you don’t get a special suit, unless you want to. No one’s going to stop you. But we certainly don’t have any to provide you with. And we don’t really go on ‘missions’ exactly we’re just a school remember. You get to mentor people on how to use their powers, maybe teach classes if you feel like you can. That’s about it.” She shrugged slightly, it wasn't so bad really. “For now, we should focus on Grace; she’ll eventually be your responsibility when you’re ready. Though I think she may be a bit of a tougher case than some.”

She stood and walked out of the office, making her way back down to Grace’s room, but not before stopping by the kitchen to get a cup of water. Once at the door she stopped and turned to Sebastian. “Firstly you have to make sure they feel safe around you, with Grace it’s more that she is scared of hurting people, we know this from what her parents told us. It’s important to get as much information as we can so we know how to handle the situations. We can’t force ourselves on her; she has to let us in.” She raised her hand and knocked on the door, which was still rather cold. “Grace? Do you mind if I come in?” She called, and waited before opening the door. “Okay, I cheated there a little.” She smiled at him, hinting she had used her powers again.

Sebastian chuckled lightly. "Oh... Guess I've been reading too many comic books."

So now he followed Melissa up to Grace's room, paying careful attention to what she was teaching him. He hoped that he could act with some tact to try and get Grace to be able to trust him. If he left a particularly bad impression he worried that there would be no way she would allow him to teach her how to control her powers.

He followed in along with Melissa into the room. Flashing what he hoped was a reassuring smile, he walked into the room, which, as before, was much colder than the rest of the building, and stood facing Grace.

"Hi... Again," he began awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. "Uh, well, Melissa and I were talking, and she told me that I'm going to be the one helping you try and control your powers. But Melissa is going to be helping us too. Is that alright with you, Grace?"

Grace watched the two as they entered the room and Sebastian explained that they were going to help her try and learn to control her powers. She nodded slowly, but Melissa could see she didn’t have much hope. I’m going to be teaching Sebastian to eventually do what I do, which is help to mentor younger people with powers like ours so that they can control them. But we’re also here if you want to talk to us, tell us how you’re feeling and things like that.” She walked over and sat in front of the girl on the floor, placing the cup of water on the floor beside her and motioning for Sebastian to join her.

“For today Sebastian is just going to be observing alright? And we’ll just be talking, maybe trying a few exercises okay?” Grace looked up at her and nodded slightly. “So, you may or may not have figured out by now that I can read minds, as well as communicate with people telepathically. Sebastian can teleport. I want you to tell me a bit about what you can do, what you know about your powers.”

Grace was silent for a little while, and Melissa waited patiently until she eventually spoke. “I have... ice powers? I suppose. I can create ice and snow.” She couldn’t really say ‘at will’ could she? “I also seem to be immune to the cold. It doesn’t bother me at all.”

Melissa smiled happily, this was good progress, getting her to open up and talk about them. She looked to Sebastian and then glanced at the floor and back to him, hoping he’d notice that the ice around Grace was starting to recede. “Can you control the ice and snow you’ve created?” She asked eventually. “Manipulate it? Or once it’s there is it just there?”

“I used to be able to control it.” Grace answered softly.

Sebastian nodded. Immunity to cold and the ability to create ice and snow. He'd have to learn to get used to the cold if he was going to be around her so much. Almost his whole life he lived in the warm Argentinian climate. I'm gonna be living like I'm in Alaska. Better get some sweaters.

But the last thing she said made him narrow his eyes. "Used to?" he asked curiously. "What happened that made you lose your control over it?" Quickly, he added, "If you don't mind telling us, that is."

Sebastian nodded. Immunity to cold and the ability to create ice and snow. He'd have to learn to get used to the cold if he was going to be around her so much. Almost his whole life he lived in the warm Argentinian climate. I'm gonna be living like I'm in Alaska. Better get some sweaters.

But the last thing she said made him narrow his eyes. "Used to?" he asked curiously. "What happened that made you lose your control over it?" Quickly, he added, "If you don't mind telling us, that is."

Sebastian nodded. Immunity to cold and the ability to create ice and snow. He'd have to learn to get used to the cold if he was going to be around her so much. Almost his whole life he lived in the warm Argentinian climate. I'm gonna be living like I'm in Alaska. Better get some sweaters.

But the last thing she said made him narrow his eyes. "Used to?" he asked curiously. "What happened that made you lose your control over it?" Quickly, he added, "If you don't mind telling us, that is."

Grace flinched visibly at the question and looked down again, the ice starting to creep back. “I um... my sister...” She took a long inhale and let it out slowly. “When we were kids we used to play together all the time. She loved watching me use my powers, and I actually used to enjoy using them. We built snowmen, skated around the street on ice, all kinds of things. One day though, we were playing and some other kids came over, they started calling me things like freak, one pushed me. I slipped and hit the ground, thick needle-like spines burst from the ground. Courtney...” She shuddered and shook her head quickly.

“After that... after I became aware that I could hurt people I got scared. My ability to control it went to virtually zero. I started turning everything I touched to ice.”

“So this inability to control it comes from a fear of hurting people?” Melissa interjected, not wanting her to continue and get any more upset. “Every time you think about being near other people you get scared and nervous, anxious?” Grace nodded slowly, her white-blonde hair falling in front of her face before she pushed it back slightly behind her ear. “Did you know that your powers are uncontrollable because they’re reacting to your fear? It’s a defence mechanism. You’re trying to defend yourself, the issue is that there isn’t anything to defend yourself from.”

Sebastian nodded. Immunity to cold and the ability to create ice and snow. He'd have to learn to get used to the cold if he was going to be around her so much. Almost his whole life he lived in the warm Argentinian climate. I'm gonna be living like I'm in Alaska. Better get some sweaters.

But the last thing she said made him narrow his eyes. "Used to?" he asked curiously. "What happened that made you lose your control over it?" Quickly, he added, "If you don't mind telling us, that is."

Grace flinched visibly at the question and looked down again, the ice starting to creep back. “I um... my sister...” She took a long inhale and let it out slowly. “When we were kids we used to play together all the time. She loved watching me use my powers, and I actually used to enjoy using them. We built snowmen, skated around the street on ice, all kinds of things. One day though, we were playing and some other kids came over, they started calling me things like freak, one pushed me. I slipped and hit the ground, thick needle-like spines burst from the ground. Courtney...” She shuddered and shook her head quickly.

“After that... after I became aware that I could hurt people I got scared. My ability to control it went to virtually zero. I started turning everything I touched to ice.”

“So this inability to control it comes from a fear of hurting people?” Melissa interjected, not wanting her to continue and get any more upset. “Every time you think about being near other people you get scared and nervous, anxious?” Grace nodded slowly, her white-blonde hair falling in front of her face before she pushed it back slightly behind her ear. “Did you know that your powers are uncontrollable because they’re reacting to your fear? It’s a defence mechanism. You’re trying to defend yourself, the issue is that there isn’t anything to defend yourself from.”

Sebastian looked over at Melissa with a surprised expression. She really was an expert at this kind of thing. He never would have known to say that at all. He would have a lot of work to do if he was going to be a mentor like she was.

But, looking back to Grace, he could definitely see that that was the reason for her lack of control. But the next step here was to find a way to get her to let go of her fear of hurting other people. The ability to control her powers was there, what she needed was someone that she could feel comfortable with.

"I'm... sorry to hear that about your sister, Grace. It must be difficult to have to live with yourself after that. But from what you've told me, it wasn't your fault." Sebastian moved closer, putting a hand on her arm gently, immediately feeling how cold it was. "You have to trust yourself. Look, I'm right here and I'm not dead! Kinda cold, though. Remind me to bring some gloves and a jacket when we talk like this." He smiled cheerfully to try and bring her spirits up. It would be a long road until Grace would learn how to control her powers, but he wouldn't give up.