Cameron woke in an unfamiliar place, and kept himself silent and still as soon as he did. He kept his breathing in the pattern he knew he had when he slept. No one would notice he'd woken, not unless they could sense minds.

Praying for a miracle, he hoped the voices would tell him what happened to him. Strangely, they were silent, though he could still sense them there. Ever since he could sense them, he could never not sense them, something which had become a comforting for him. No matter how much he felt alone, he knew he wasn't so long as he could sense the voices.

As soon as he thought about sensing, Cameron slowly expanded his mental range, detecting three minds nearby. He was on the second level of a building, he determined, and there were three other people within it. One upstairs, in the same room he was in, the other two conversing downstairs. One seemed frustrated while the other remained calm.

Something that bothered Cameron about the situation wasn't that it felt like he was lying on a couch, but that someone had removed his shirt. Without his permission. Panic began to set in, though he could still feel his pants and shoes. That didn't mean anything, though, right? It could have just been too difficult for them to put his shirt back on after, right?

"Do you think she has any pencils?"

Cameron let out an involuntary groan, freezing up as soon as he realized he'd alerted the guest – who was female, judging by her mind and the voice – that he'd awoken.

"No need to groan," the woman said, and he recognized the voice of the woman he'd spoken with before fainting, and he sensed a little amusement in her. "My name is Elaine. Do you remember meeting me?"

"Yes," Cameron slowly sat up, taking in the living room he was in.

Rugs in earthen tones covered the floor, the walls painted a mild brown. Other than the couch he was on, there was also a love seat and two recliners, one of which was occupied by Elaine. A coffee table sat in the center of the room. Resting on the table was a polished wooden box with a flower painted onto the top.

Two openings led out of the room, one into a hall and one into the kitchen. It was a cozy little home, but it could be a trap. Cameron had awoken in comfortable traps before.

"Where's my shirt?" Cameron asked.

"She burned it."

"That thing stank, anyway."

"I threw it out," she informed him. "Bathroom's down the hall, second door on the left. There's already a set of clothes for you in there, take a shower. We're having a talk once you're done, and don't think about running."

Cameron nodded, then hesitantly went to the indicated room. The woman made him nervous, and her verbal warning had a little of that same tone in her mind. She didn't want him to leave and that bothered him. If she hadn't already done bad things, then was she about to?

Looking around the bathroom, Cameron hurriedly locked the door, then walked over to the shower, examining it. At least that looked normal. He turned on the water, which was hot immediately. It had been more than a year since he'd last had a proper shower, but one thing he remembered was that they were never hot immediately.

How did she do that? He wondered.

Stripping, Cameron stepped into the shower, nearly yelping at the sudden heat on his body. He adjusted the temperature to a more comfortable level, then spent the next twenty minutes scrubbing himself. He sensed Elaine head downstairs and talk to the other woman, the man that had been down there leaving a few minutes after he woke.

Elaine then went towards the front, then returned to the other woman, and the two came upstairs. He supposed they were above the shop and that they had just locked it. That didn't comfort him in the slightest. The voices never led him to a trap before, but there was a first time for everything.

When he finished the shower, he stepped out and took the towel from the bar, patting himself down before rubbing it against his cheek. It was fluffier than anything he'd touched in two years and he didn't want to stop using it.

But he had to, he knew, so he quickly changed into the jeans and tee they had provided. There was even fresh underwear and socks, though he knew the size of the underwear had been guessed at based on how badly they fit him.

That gave him some degree of relief. It meant they didn't know for sure. He wasn't sure how they knew his sock size, though, and thought about that as he pulled his sneakers back on. They were held together with duct tape, but they worked. He didn't see a fresh pair of them, anyway.

That didn't bother him, especially considering the new clothes felt uncomfortable on him.

"How long was I out?" Cameron muttered under his breath as he laced up his shoes.

"You've been out of the shower for three minutes and twenty-eight seconds."

Cameron snorted a little. The voice that always kept track of time, no matter what, was usually silent, but if he asked a question about time, it would answer. Sometimes, misunderstanding what he was referring to, like then. He often wondered if that particular voice didn't speak English as its native language.

"He meant unconscious," another voice informed the timekeeper.

"Oh. Two hours, eighteen minutes, forty-two seconds."

"Why did you guys do that to me?"

"Do what?"

"Yeah, we didn't do anything to you."

"We especially didn't ensure you passed out in front of the mage."

"Sh! He wasn't supposed to know!"

"Elaine's a mage?" Cameron suddenly felt scared. "You guys know I don't want to-"

"She teaches unregistered mages."

"But you said if anyone found out about my power-"

"Then don't tell her that you can sense minds and hear voices."

"Especially that last part. Most people would think you're crazy."

"I think I'm crazy," Cameron hissed, then gathered up his old clothes, pulling out his wallet and shoving it into his new pants.

Instead of attempting to get more answers out of the voices, since he knew they wouldn't tell him, Cameron made his way back to the living room, standing hesitantly in the doorway. The other woman was in her twenties, and had long, brown hair, also tied into a tight braid, and dressed in a similar outfit as Elaine, except her blouse was a plain blue one instead. Her name tag declared her as Suzanne.

The two women were looking at him with curiosity, and that worried him. He never liked it when adults were curious about him. Especially not after what caused him to run away from the last foster home.

"We don't bite," Elaine smiled warmly at Cameron. "I promise. Come on in and sit down."

"Why did you take off my shirt?"

"Come in and we'll explain."

"They were testing to see if you had a magical gift. They know you do."

"Wh-" Cameron almost asked the voice what that had to do with removing his shirt, before remembering he wasn't alone and had two eyes on him. "Who are you?"

"I am Elaine," Elaine introduced herself. "And this is my student, Suzanne. What's your name?"

"Why did you take off my shirt?"

Cameron immediately sensed frustration in Suzanne, though Elaine remained calm, a touch of amusement in her mind.

"How old are you?" She asked. "I say you're twelve, while Suzanne guesses that based on your malnourished state, you're probably closer to fourteen.

"I'm twelve."

A little on the short side, too. Not too short, he knew, and he'd never admit that it bothered him despite that.

"Are you still at the age where you believe in magic?"

"Why?" Cameron asked. "Because you two are mages?"

Elaine paused at his blunt response. She knew Suzanne would likely think it was just him testing them, being a moody preteen, but his wording gave her pause. He didn't call them witches, like most children she'd met did.

He used the proper term, mage. He had at least some knowledge of the true world.

"How could you tell we were mages?" She asked before Suzanne could open her mouth.

"Why did you take off my shirt?"

"To see if you had a magical gift, and if so, what it was."

"Elaine," Suzanne protested. "You said-"

"That's enough, Suzanne," Elaine told her student. "The boy has already proven himself to know about our world."

She looked back to the boy, who had tensed up the moment she mentioned his magical gift. He knew what he had, and he knew that whatever it was, it was something to keep secret. The lone schools of magic were rare enough for someone to even be able to learn, and he had a natural gift for them.

"Look inside that box," Elaine indicated to the box on the table.

Cameron hesitated, until the voices told him it was safe. Then, he walked over to the box, keeping an eye on the two women as he did. They were both sitting in the recliners, which made it easy for him to keep an eye on them.

Opening the box, he looked at the colorful shards of crystal within.

"What about these?" He asked.

"Those were the crystals I used to test you," Elaine told him. "Normally, they read one's magic and glow in response to whatever their natural gift is once placed on someone's torso and activated with the proper spell. They read the roots of your tree, so to speak. There were fourteen of them. Thirteen of them represented the thirteen connected schools of magic, while the fourteenth simply read how strong one's overall magic was.

"When a crystal picked up what the root is," she continued. "They would then glow, its intensity letting us know how strong the gift of that was. The darkest purple of the stones would tell us how strong someone's overall gift of magic was.

"Your gift of magic," she informed him. "Was strong enough that simply reading the roots of your tree shattered them. Suzanne and I were both temporarily blinded by how brightly the general reader glowed. You're quite powerful, child. However, the crystals weren't able to tell us which school of magic your roots are grounded in."

They didn't know what he had? Was that good or bad? Cameron tensed, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"Reading your magic broke them too fast," she told him, and he knew she was lying by the shift in her mind. A touch of hope, which only made sense to him if she was lying and hoping he'd believe her. "The only one that glowed was the one which read your overall magic. Unfortunately, it will be time before I can acquire ones that might be able to withstand your gift of magic, if I can locate any such ones at all."

Cameron thought over that for a few seconds.

"What do you mean by 'schools of magic'?"

"There are eighteen of them," she answered. "The thirteen linked schools of magic, and the five lone schools. Within all people is a tree which represents your magic. The stronger your roots, the more magic you can learn and know. Each root represents a magic you know through your founding school of magic. Mine is nature, and I have many roots. This allows my tree to grow tall and strong and support many branches.

"Every time you learn an additional school of magic," she continued. "A new branch will grow out of the trunk, and every variation and spell within that school you learn will supply off-shooting branches from that. These are your boughs and your sticks and twigs. The closer in nature a school of magic is to your roots, the easier it will be to acquire the branch for it. The more spells and magic and talent you have within a branch, the more lively it will be. Some of the most powerful magicians in the world have not only plenty of leaves upon their tree, but even fruit, it's said."

Elaine paused there. She could tell she was confusing the Cameronby the look on his face, he could sense that much in her mind.

"Thirteen of the magics," she told him. "Are linked together. If your roots are in fire, you might have an easy time learning air magics. Earth roots can help with water or enchant schools. Necromancy goes with scourge, which is friendly with water. If you run through the links, those thirteen are all connected, much like a chain.

"The other five schools of magic," she continued. "Aren't connected, and it's very, very difficult to learn one of them if you don't have an affinity for it. If your roots are in one of them, it can be difficult to learn any other school of magic, though once you learn a linked school, it becomes easier to learn its own links. That's not easy, simply easier. Does that make more sense to you?"

"Yes," Cameron answered, closing the box of crystals and returning to his spot by the door, then muttered under his breath. "Hush."

Suzanne started to react, but a slight breeze from Elaine told her to keep quiet. Unlike her student, Elaine understood immediately what was going on. The boy heard voices in his head and they were talking. It was unlikely to be related to his gift, whatever it was, and more than likely to deal with whatever he had gone through that made him so cautious.

"You know of magic," Elaine said. "Do you know what the schools are?"

"No."

"The thirteen linked schools," she said. "In no particular order, are fire, water, earth, wind, energy, light, dark, necromancy, scourge, blood, force, enchant, and nature. The five lone schools of magic are void, space, time, shift, and mind."

Because he was sensing her mind, Cameron realized that he somehow told Elaine what his school was. She realized it was mind magic, though didn't seem to have a defense against him sensing her mind. He cursed himself for making whatever sign it was that told her, but was grateful that it seemed like she didn't intend on telling Suzanne.

Cameron also worried about that. Secrets, especially when it comes to mind magics, are rarely good for those who have mind magics.