With everything that Alec had seen the previous night, the prospect of finally starting Wildfire's training program could not have been more welcome. On top of being nearly two weeks behind the other squads, who had not, to his knowledge, had any such issues with their leaders or their subordinates, Alec was sure that some good, hard training would help to drive the memory of Dusty, surrounded by a group of smoking, crowing, ruffian-looking youths from his mind. When class had ended the next day, Alec's mind vaguely clouded the entire time with visions of what he had witnessed last night (despite his best efforts to repel such thoughts), as though the smoke Dusty had expelled had somehow found its way into his brain, he, Maddison, Ethan, and Javon made their way towards the place Wildfire had booked for them. It was the wide stretch of grass near the basketball court, which was situated atop a small slope overlooking the main office, where some of the older students sometimes went to play.

Wildfire was lying on the grass, staring up at the cloudless turquoise sky as they walked up the tiny crest towards him. He had nothing but his crutches with him.

"Isn't this an out-of-bounds area?" were Ethan's first words when they had reached him.

"It is, if you're not with a teacher," Wildfire said breezily, getting to his feet. "Which, if you haven't noticed, I am."

"So what are we going to do today, Captain?" Javon asked. He looked both excited and trepid.

"Train, of course!" he said. "Long overdue, isn't it?"

"I wonder why," Maddison said coldly. Wildfire pretended not to hear her.

"So, let's begin. I thought for our first official lesson, we could go a slower. We already had an epic sparring match to see where you were at earlier — not bad, I'd say. Now it's time to progress along the path we were initially supposed to.

"As a squad, you're supposed to know your teammates — intimately. I'm not saying you need to spill your closest secrets to one another, or go on sleepover bonding trips, or anything of the sort. But you need to be aware of the others' strengths and weaknesses, as well as their overall view of a battlefield. Remember, these are the people who're responsible for your safety, and vice-versa. From my own observation, you excell in hand-to-hand combat," he said, pointing at Maddison. "That's good, always nice to have a fallback, you can't rely on powers for everything. The battlefield is unpredictable; a wide scope of options is always advisable. The knives are also a nice touch. But even so, there's still the problem of range. Throwing the knives is a good adaption, but not a cure-all solution.

"You, on the other hand, are obviously the team's tank," he said to Alec, with a meaningful look, taking him aback. "No doubt about that. The raw power that comes off you is crazy. And the element you're naturally disposed to is inherently one of the most powerful in terms of defense.

"As the team's healer," he went on, turning to Javon, "you'll need to be near the back, kept out of the way." Javon looked extremely disappointed at these words; possibly noticing this, Wildfire went on, "Unfortunately, that doesn't always work out as planned. So you'll need to learn offensive techniques as well.

"And you." He turned at last to Ethan, and his handsome, cheery face suddenly darkened. "Your pyschic abilities are excellent for things like communication. Comms can be tapped or jammed, but mental links are powerful, efficient, completely safe, and can be extended over just about any range. Telekinesis is an extremely high-tier ability, when used right, of course. With all that in mind, I think we have a nice little team setting.

"Each of you already seems to have a good enough handle on your abilities," he said, indicating Maddison, Javon, and Ethan, "but I want to see how far you can improve individually before we try to mesh you together as a team. Which means we'll need to do some work first," he said, gesturing at Alec. "The rest of you can wait over there, while I deal with him."

He stopped in front of Alec as the others moved away. "So," he said, clapping his hands together. "You, you, you. I've been doing some research on earth-based Elementals; the League has records of many Elementals in its ranks over the years. The last Earth was in 1952, went by the name Terra Firma. She had power over rock, as well as plants. You don't have any power over plants, I take it?"

Alec shook his head. "Not to my knowledge."

"No, I didn't think so." Wildfire heaved a deep breath. "It's strange. Seeing that both of us are Elementals, you'd think I'd be the best person to help you with your powers, wouldn't you?" he said. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. I can give you the same advice as them" — he indicated the other three again — "use the same general tips and methods, but not the level of intimacy with your abilities that you're looking for."

"I don't understand," Alec said, both surprised and disappointed at this news.

"Think of it like this —" But Wildfire stopped himself abruptly, frowning as though contemplating a sudden thought. "No, actually, don't think of it like that. Have you ever watched Avatar? Not the blue people movie, the Last Airbender, I mean," he added impatiently.

"I did," Alec said, staring at the hero in mild amazement. "But I didn't take you for the cartoon type."

"I'm not. I saw it on TV while I was in the hospital. Caught a few more episodes since I've been here. Not a bad show," he said, as an aside. "Anyway, in one of them, I heard an explanation that perfectly sums up our problem. The elements are different in nature, and are capable of different things due to their composition, but because of that, they also require different approaches to be used at their full capacity.

"For me, fire has been a part of me my whole life. It's linked to some of my — less than pleasant emotions: rage, fear, shock. That's what sparks the flames, literally. But fire is something my body is naturally capable of producing, I don't just manipulate a preexisting substance like other Elementals.

"To do it, I need to think back to those thoughts — those thoughts that would get my blood pumping, which would stimulate my Deva gene, which in turn produces energy, and converts it to fire.

"But for you, earth requires a different approach. Fire demands more effort to produce and to control, because it's not a stationary force. It breathes, it grows, it spreads, and I need to keep all that steady and proportional. You just need to manipulate something which already exists, and which is entirely inanimate. So I want you to remember that night," he said. "That night when we were both in Downtown Vulhaney Street. What were your dominant emotions during that encounter?"

"Well . . ."

"Fear?" Wildfire prompted.

"For one," Alec muttered, a little embarrassed at the admission.

"No need to feel ashamed," Wildfire said bracingly. "Heroes face all sorts of terrifying things on a daily basis — even regular civvis, like the police, firefighters, and all that. Don't you think they feel fear too? Now, what else?"

"Well . . . I guess . . . anger?"

"Anger?" Wildfire frowned. "How do you work that one out? You were angry that Shadow Shifter tried to hurt your friend?"

"No, I was — I was angry at myself because Dusty and I were in danger and there was nothing I could do." The words were out of him in one breath, faster than he could stop them, his chest suddenly labouring as a surge of white-hot rage overtook him without warning.

Wildfire stared at him for a moment, looking as though he might say something. But he merely nodded. "Quite understandable." His tone was formal now, like a doctor making a diagnosis. "That was your Trigger Moment, wasn't it? Usually, in those moments, one's dominant emotions are fear, anger, shock, or simply powerlessness. And in many cases afterwards, high levels of those emotions can cause those abilities to surface again. Which is why you need to train yourself, associate those powers with different feelings, ones which you determine, which you can moderate. The mind is directly linked to a person's body, and, in turn, their powers. If you learn to control your mind, you're well on the path to controlling your abilities.

"You said you were afraid? Angry? Well, you don't need to be, not anymore. Shifter isn't here, your friend is safe at home, and you're not powerless; you're a student here, at Helix, learning to improve.

"I want you to concentrate on this rock," he said, nudging a ball-sized stone in the grass with his toe. "Steady your thoughts, your mind. Concentrate on those times that you used your powers when you weren't afraid or angry; when you were calm, confident, happy, and use those emotions as your trigger. Take a deep breath."

Alec closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, then exhaled.

"Again."

He repeated, feeling his lungs expanding and contracting as the air flowed through him.

"Now, concentrate on what I said just now, about the times you used your powers of your own accord, the pride you felt when you made that marble tablet to show me. . . . Hold out your hand."

Alec did so, his eyes opening.

"And I want you to picture that rock rising from the ground and into your palm.'

Alec did as instructed: in his mind's eye he saw the rock rising from the ground as though borne upon a powerful wind, then falling gently into his palm. His breathing was steady, his mind full of the memories of when he had made his power his own. The rock twitched, then bounded into the air as though an invisible string had yanked it upwards and leapt into his outstretched hand.

"There we are," Wildfire said, a broad smile now curling his lips. "Now keep it going. . . . Earth Mimicry this time, absorb the rock matter."

Continuing with Wildfire's instructions, Alec focused on the rock. The orange-brown material started to spread across his fingers, sliding over his skin like a strange, viscous, fast-moving fluid. Unlike in previous attempts, however, the rock stopped at his elbow.

"What's going on?" he said, bewildered, shaking the rock as though this would fix the issue. "Why did it stop? I was doing everything you told me —"

"It's not you," Wildfire said hastily. "Like I said, I did some reading. In order to fully absorb something, there needs to be a large enough quantity of that substance. This rock is too small. But that's not the focus here, the point is you can do it now, of your own will. This ability can work on any form of earth-based material: crystals, metals, even glass — though as your teacher I strongly advise you never to attempt to use glass as your conductor."

"Why not?" Alec asked curiously.

"Because you don't just cover your skin with whatever you absorb. You transform the affected areas into that material. If you touch glass and end up getting hit — well, needless to say, it'll end badly."

"What?" Alec said loudly, alarmed. But a sudden thought occurred to him as he stood there, rock in hand. "Wait — that doesn't make any sense. If what you're saying is that I actually become whatever material I absorb, then — what about my internal organs? I doubt they'd function properly if they suddenly turn to stone!"

"Oh, that," Wildfire said, with a blithely dismissive wave of the hand, as though it were a matter of little importance. "No, you don't have to worry about that. It's one of Vesta's Laws: I can't remember it word for word, but basically it's a recognized phenomenon that a superhuman's abilities are deliberately developed in certain ways so as not to inflict direct harm on their users, even if regular logic says they should. Take myself, for example. I'm able to create and manipulate my own fire yet I don't have to worry about being burned by it. Your internal systems still function even when you turn to stone. And Smith over there doesn't end up with a gaping hole in her wrist whenever she pulls out one of her custom daggers."

"I still don't really understand."

"Don't really need to, it's not important. Point is, superhumans break the laws of Physics every day. By nobody's laws, whether Newton or Archimedes or Einstein or whoever, should this be possible." A small flame bloomed in his palm as he spoke, and, guided by his finger, spun out of his hand like a gig, raced up his clothes and along his shoulders, then disappeared into thin air, leaving his clothes entirely burn-free. "But it is.

"Anyway, what I really wanted to share with you was certain formations that you can employ to utilize your various skillsets to their fullest advantages. Obviously, we don't have the opportunity to use them in the Tournament anymore, but I think we should still do them. Certain aspects of them could still be useful in different situations, especially since you have more practical courses across your time here."

So he spent the rest of the period explaining how the different formations worked, how they would be set out, and the advantages of each. When the session had come to an end, Alec found that he had achieved the result he'd wished for: he was no longer dwelling on thoughts about Dusty, or whatever mysterious act Damon was evidently sneaking out at nighttime to commit.

He, Maddison, Ethan, and Javon went back to the Hades Dorm, where Maddison and Ethan both retired to their own rooms, while Alec and Javon whiled away the rest of the afternoon before dinner talking with their other roommates and the small knot of friends that had gathered around them.