Aria followed Pan down the stairs. Pan’s aura of lavender dominated the descent, but the same old aura Aria had seen on the door decorated the stairwell walls. It glittered in dull shades of blue and an orange-yellow shade of hunger.

Aria stiffened. “Pan, there is a very odd shade of aura in this hall.”

“What’s that?” Pan kept walking. She didn’t even turn around.

Irini, who occupied a point between them, glanced back at Aria.

“I see a yellow-orange. I usually see it on…hungry beasts,” Aria whispered.

Irini stopped.

Pan stopped. She shone her light back and ignored the bottom of the stairs. “When do you see hungry beasts? When, in your career as a politician’s aide, have you seen hungry beasts? Unless you’re talking about your ambassador…”

Aria flushed. “The zoo. In the safaris for semi-sentient beings. It isn’t funny, Pan.”

Pan smiled. “That makes sense. Well, Aria, he left. He doesn’t like it here, and if we run into any of his friends, we’ll show them the way out. It’ll be fine.” Pan shone her light down and resumed the descent.

Aria crossed her arms and didn’t budge. “Maybe, he behaved the way he did – non confrontational – because he had just eaten. We found him in the cafeteria after all.”

“Is the aura old?” Pan sighed.

Aria let her arms drop. “Yes, but not as old as everything else.”

“So, they starved the arcane when he was down here. He got away. I’d let you wait outside, Aria, but I think you’ll be safer down here with us.” Pan reached the bottom of the stairs.

Aria resumed her own descent, following Pan’s flashlight. She knew Pan was right. She just didn’t like the idea of descending into a strange lab, most of which seemed to be underground. Her promise to Gavain felt paper thin.

“Irini, look for danger,” Pan ordered.

Irini reached the bottom of the stairs and paused a short moment. She looked at her hands. “There’s a very weak thread – maybe ahead. The strongest one still points up.”

Aria tried to relax. They were safer below, even if the hunger of a beast painted the walls.

Pan pushed the lower door open, and it squeaked on its hinges. The squeak echoed all the way up the stairwell. Irini covered her ears, too late. Aria frowned, and Pan winced.

Pan slipped through the door. Irini and Aria followed.

Pan led them through the facility, and Aria finally got to see what the real lab looked like.

Glittering auras painted the walls in streaks and peppered the floors in puddles. The auras had staying power. They looked stronger than those upstairs, but still, presented spotty coverage. Aria thought the whole place looked a little like a child’s poster board covered in squiggles and splotches of glitter glue.

As for the colors of those auras, Aria could find nothing threatening. She saw green, blue, yellow, and red – all colors typical of academic work.

Murmurs reached Aria’s ears, and she thought them too deep for Pan or Irini. Aria froze. She put her hand against the wall and discovered that she touched the glass of a window. It felt cool to the touch and dipped inward from the wall she thought she’d grabbed. Aria withdrew her hand.

“What the…?” Pan looked through the window.

“What?” Irini echoed.

Pan strode to the door and flung it open. “Do you know this place is falling down around you?”

Aria slowly crept up behind Pan. She peeked over Pan’s shoulder and saw five Soffigen men. All stared as if caught with their pants down. Their auras leaked yellow.

Pan stepped inside. “You’re working in a ruin.”

“What the hell are Scaldin women doing in here?” One of the scientists asked. His aura was the first to show red.

“Do you even turn on the lights so you can work properly?” Pan’s own aura showed a light green disgust.

“These are our emergency lights,” one of the men said. “We’re saving power for the rest of our machines.”

“Why do you think you’ve got emergency lights on, instead of real power?” Pan crossed her arms.

The men stared. They displayed a mix of yellow and red, anxiety and anger.

“Anyone?” Pan asked.

One of the men placed down his equipment. His aura had been the first to go red, and it still held the most of that vibrant shade. He raised his hand. “Why are Scaldin women in our Soffigen lab? No uniforms. And, young girls too. Where there are young Scaldin, you can expect arcanes. Are you arcane?”

“Well…” Pan shrugged. “I can’t deny it. We’re arcane.”

The angry man tossed up his hands. “Oh, well, that’s alright I guess. You can go wherever you please. What can you do? What powers will you grace us with?”

Aria answered first, “I’m able to see emotions on people, in the form of colors. There’s no need for you to be so upset. We scanned this planet and found ruins. We just wanted to offer some help.”

Three of the men wore chagrin. They knew what their lab looked like. They just ignored it. One man ran with suspicion, an electric yellow shade. The angry man continued to be red.

“Since when do Scaldin care about Soffigen? Are we supposed to believe you suddenly give a damn?” the angry man asked.

Pan put a hand over her chest. “Not usually, but our commander is such a bleeding heart. He loves to rescue anyone in need.”

“We don’t need it. Go home, girls,” the angry man turned away.

“At the very least, let us tidy up for you,” Pan said. “I hate to reduce you to a stereotype, but five men – living like slobs. You seem to need a woman’s touch.”

The angry man turned redder. Pan glowed in lavender.

Oh dear, Aria thought.

“We don’t need help.” Another scientist tried to smile – tried to be nice. He wore his anxiety in waves of yellow. “We’re okay. The upstairs just saw a bad storm, so we moved down here till someone comes to repair it.”

It sounded plausible, but Aria determined his claim to be untruthful, given his shade of yellow.

“What do the other two of you do? What are your powers?” A tall Soffigen scientist, with a bushy beard, asked the question. He had shifty eyes, and wore the suspicious aura.

Pan gestured to Irini. “She’s a tracker. Finds lost, sad people – such as yourselves. I’m a telekinetic. That’s why I offered to tidy up. Won’t take me more than a few minutes.”

“The offer is appreciated, but we don’t need it.” The nice scientist smiled tightly.

Aria stepped forward. “What kind of research do you do here? I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t evacuate you. It must be important.” Aria watched their colors.

Yellow anxiety rippled through all except for the angry man. He grew redder.

“None of your business,” the angry man said.

Aria gave them her most innocent eyes. “Can’t you call for help?”

She watched pink flush the nice guy’s aura. Angry man stayed red. He even rolled his eyes. The others showed a mix of yellow and green. A flicker of pink moved through a few more auras. Aria didn’t know why this team of Soffigen scientists consisted only of men, but they seemed to be feeling it, especially if the appearance of three Scaldin women could move them so.

“How long have you been here?” Aria asked.

“About a year,” one of the men answered. He had never spoken before.

A man’s aura reached for a door at the back of the room. The aura moved in clouds of stringy yellow, anxious, afraid, and protective of that door. His eyes didn’t move there, but Aria didn’t need to watch his eyes to know where to look.

Aria stared at the door. “Pan, I think we should have a look around.” She pointed at the door. “And, I think we should start with that door.”

“Wonderful, let’s stay a while,” Pan said.

The men shot to their feet. Colors and voices objected to the suggestion.

Pan pushed them all back in their seats, with a single telekinetic shove. “Quiet now boys. I’m afraid you don’t get much say. We’re going to have a look around your facility, and you are going to sit here nice and quiet.” Pan flicked her wrist.

Little devices flew from their coats and pockets.

“Sorry no coms allowed.” Pan checked the items that slid along the floor and toed through them. “Just short range, but you’ll still have to go without.”

The angry man struggled to stand. He settled for an aggressive half-crouch and pointed at Pan. “You have no right to come in here. Just wait till our government hears about this. Just wait till yours does. Your mentors will sideline you just to keep the peace. This is going on your records.”

Pan smiled a little. “We would love to be sidelined. Most arcanes would. Do you know how busy they keep us?”

If sidelining could be Aria’s only punishment, she would do several bad things.

Pan’s lavender shone strong. “As for my record…It’s colorful already. Full of destroyed and stolen Soffigen ships. Not to mention the incorrect attribution of Tingaran’s destruction. The mentors are just dying to hear what more I’ll do.” Pan flicked her fingers in the direction of the door. “Irini, go have a look. Sniff out all their secrets.”

Irini hesitated a moment and then hurried off. She wore her own yellow, a yellow of anxiety and glee.

Aria had to admit. She got quite the rush watching the Soffigen scientists. A pale fear gripped most. Even the angry man’s anger softened beneath the fear. It must feel good to be Pan.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Aria promised. “But, we are going to find out what you’ve been doing here.” Aria narrowed her eyes. “Now, do you research Scaldin arcanes?”

“No,” the angry man spat. “We have no right to research that or access to the information.” His aura stayed red. It backed up his words.

Aria admired his determination, but unfortunately for him, his companions gave him away. Their auras seeped guilt, in shades of blue, and anxiety, in shades of yellow.

“You’re not to answer the next question.” Aria pointed at the angry man. “ I want the next answer from you.” Aria looked at the nice guy.

His aura flushed a little pink when her eyes met his, but his anxiety fought it. He nodded.

“Have you put any research into making Soffigen arcanes at this facility?”

The man almost shook his head. Then, he nodded.

The man in red huffed and threw up his hands.

The nice scientist gestured towards Aria. “She knows. She can read us.”

“So, she says. You don’t know if she’s telling the truth. She might just be an investigator playing an arcane.” The angry man crossed his arms.

“I can see that you’re very mad and anxious. Those emotions appear as red and yellow.” Aria stood straight and waited.

“So? Anyone could see I’m mad.”

Pan’s smiling eyes flicked to the angry man. He shrunk in his seat, arms still crossed.

“I can also see that you…” Aria pointed at the nice scientist. “…have a reluctant attraction to me.”

The nice scientist put his head in his hand and glittered, until his figure disappeared behind orange.

The angry man shot him a scathing look. “Star gods, Nilton. What’s wrong with you?”

“No more lies,” Pan teased.

The scientists stiffened. Yellow dominated their auras.

Aria drew breath to speak. “We saw one of your failed experiments in the forest. Tell me about that.”

The nice scientist couldn’t speak.

The tall, bearded man took over. “We haven’t done any work with Scaldin bodies. We just received genetic material. Scaldin and Soffigen both. We try to grow arcanes here.” He paused. He glanced at the room that harbored Irini. “Behind that door, there is a small hospital. We no longer have women to help with the incubation process, so we’ve used two artificial wombs. Neither of which resulted in healthy arcanes.” He shrugged. “It was like our…” The man stopped.

His aura phased grey all of a sudden. Hues of yellow bled into the edges.

Aria frowned. She felt her eyes narrow. “It was like what?”

“Our supervisor said we shouldn’t use artificial wombs because…” The bearded scientist stopped again. His aura showed a bright yellow – fear.

The Scaldin never used artificial wombs, except in extreme cases. They believed in nature, and whenever possible, they tried to let nature do its work. Soffigen did not share those beliefs. If they had need of an artificial womb, whether it was for medical reasons, research, or just because, they would use it. So long as they could afford it. Who was this supervisor? He or she sounded downright Scaldin.

“Do you have a Scaldin scientist helping you?” Aria asked.

“No, no.” The bearded man shook his head, and he meant those words.

Aria looked at Pan. Pan’s lavender gave wave to deep blue; she was thinking.

“Who is your supervisor?” Aria asked. “Are they in part, Scaldin?” Aria stared and waited.

The bearded man bowed his head. “Yeah.” His aura showed a chaotic storm of color.

Aria blinked fast and missed some of it.

Pan huffed. “And the mentors think I’m bad. I don’t help Soffigen perform experiments on us.”

Aria held up a hand and watched Pan calm. Aria would give the mentors the information, and they would find this part-Scaldin individual. Though, Aria wondered if this individual grew up partly in Soffigen territory. Would that make him or her Scaldin at all?

Aria took a deep breath. “Did Era come from this place?”

Yellow rippled through their auras, and a neon shock joined it.

“Era was the first success. Though, she was only here for the first six months of her life. She lived with her parents after that. We’re still waiting on a few other candidates to see if they develop powers. They’re living with their families right now.” The bearded scientist exchanged a glance with his companions.

The angry man avoided his eyes.

“Era has a lot of powers,” Aria said.

The angry man raised his gaze. “Yeah, she does. So does your reaper.”

“I came by them the old-fashioned way. How did Era get hers?” Pan glared at the man.

The angry scientist smirked. “She was just born with them. We gave her all those powers to start.”

“What can she do?” Aria interjected. She could see some red cracks forming in Pan’s aura.

The angry man opened his mouth to speak.

“Not you.” Aria shook her head. She gave her attention back to the bearded man.

“It’s been a while.” He stroked his chin. “She had ice shaping, fire starting…illusion creation, and…”

“Healing,” the nice scientist added.

“How does she track me?” Pan asked.

The bearded man’s eyes widened “Right. Tracking. It’s a bit strange. Stronger the further she is. Think of it like a rubber band. She feels a tightness when you’re far, and she can follow it. When you’re near, it goes lax.”

Pan and Aria exchanged a glance. Pan wore ripples of lavender and yellow.

“That’s to my advantage,” Pan said.

Aria nodded.

“You’re going to attack Era?” a scientist asked.

Aria answered, “Era’s already attacked Pan. Whatever Pan does will be in self-defense.”

Pan pointed up and swirled her finger to indicate the lab above. “So, why is this place really in such bad shape?

The nice scientist answered, “We told you. There was a storm. Knocked out our power grid. We wanted to shelter at the storehouse, but that failed arcane fled there…” He ran his fingers through his hair.

Aria didn’t need to read his aura to know he was stressed.

“No one is coming to repair this place any time soon,” the angry scientist said. “They’re done with this site. There’s a lack of potential mothers, and everyone involved is just hopeful the other children will prove to be as successful as Era. If we get more arcanes, the project will get more funding. It’s a waiting game. For now, we volunteered to stay, finish the last of our work, and eventually, go home.”

Aria knit her brow. “What exactly are you working on now?”