I was expeg my regur i doctor, Dr. Maerin. The appois with him were always quick, aalked even quicker. A different doctor walked in. My stress levels were already hitting me from a lot of angles, from scary sudden i awakening to hospital waiting room to watg basically a puberty dotary with my sister right there, I didn’t need sudden new doctor on top of that. She looked about Stel’s age. She had dark red hair that she zily brushed her hair through. She ehe room chugging a of an energy drink. Once she finished, she chucked at the garbage and missed.

  “Hey! I’m Dr. Diast,” She said. “I’ll pick that up in a sec.”

  “Hi,” I said meekly. I reflexively offered my hand, but she was looking at my info on a tablet. She g the TV s, mercifully blog it.

  “Oh man, they’re still showing that?” She said when she saw the tape ing up. “I’m sorry. ‘Like, whoa dude. Like, i fangs help me nosh this sweet wave.’”

  In addition to having a perfect Thadley impression, Dr. Diast had a box under her not-energy-drink-drinking arm that she set on the ter. She finally noticed that I was still holding my hand out and shook it firmly. She grabbed some tools the nurse had set out. They all looked sharp aist-y. She started by measuring my fangs.

  “Zeta Faleur, pleasure to meet you, how did your i awakening go?” Dr. Diast asked. “Mine was terrific. Fantastic. Terrifying, but it was one of the best days of my life.”

  “I don’t know if this is gonna go down as one of the best days,” I said ohe tool was out of my mouth.

  “The nurse said you had a pretty hard bite,” Diast said. “But it’s not bad enough for stitches at least. Now you get to the real fun stuff.”

  Dr. Diast grabbed a metal mouth tray thing with pink goop in it off the ter.

  “Open, please.” She said as she quickly shoved the thing in my mouth. “Now bite. Just need a quick impression of those fanew teeth.”

  I bit into the gross rubbery stuff and held back the gagging feeling. Stel reflexively scooted ba her chair, knowing how bad my gag reflex was with doctors. I had to do all the tricks, like lifting a leg and humming to stop myself from puking.

  “OK, we’re good.” Dr. Diast said, pulling the mold back out. She put it into a baggie a it on the ter. “Doesn’t that suck? Sorry, have to get a i vampire joke in. You’re not a vampire, by the way. But I’m sure you've read the book, it’s very popur.”

  I spent a few minutes spitting out the cy stuff, but I could still feel bits of it in my mouth.

  Diast pulled out a three-pronged little gadget thing and held my wrist. I inhaled sharply, but she didn’t notice the faint mark. There was a clear sphere in the prongs ed around. She pressed the three-poiips of it against my right palm. I felt a slight pressure from the tips, then in the sphere a tiny baby thuorm formed. I could almost feel ihe sphere, like the little bursts of lightning were part of me. Diast turhe device off and the storm poofed away.

  “Yep, looks like weather trol as yift,” Diast said as she jotted some notes down oablet. “I bet you had a very fun awakening in addition to the blood. Or was the lightning going off the cause of the blood?”

  “The cause.” I said. “I slipped when it all…went off.”

  “Eh, it es with the territory,” Diast said. “Which is why the part is very important.”

  Dr. Diast opehe bck bag on the cart. It was filled with pamphlets and paperwork, and a small box. She opehe box and handed me a sleek wristband.

  “Zeta, put that on, and parent/guardian, you hahese,” Diast said as she handed paperwork from the box to Stel.

  “Guardian,” Stel said. “I’m her sister.”

  “Hey, no judgment here,” Dr. Diast said. “I e from a unique family situation as well. If I may presume.”

  “That’s about my line for presuming things,” Stel said.

  “Then we shall leave it at that,” Diast said.

  While Diast and Stel tiheir weird small talk, I peeled the clear ing off of the bck band.

  “What is this exactly?” I asked. I didn’t remember reading about this before.

  “Power blocker,” Dr. Diast said. “As you saw today, you don’t start out with trol over yift. This is like your training wheel.”

  “What happens if I don’t wear it?” I asked.

  “You really should,” Diast said. “Power blockers make sure you don’t actally turn someone’s yard into hair or blow up my b while I was in the middle of a breakthrough, making me lose all my progress on a very important research project that would have done some serious good to the people of East Vataran…stuff like that. It’s another reason that it’s best if you go to a i focused school while you learn to trol your new gifts. Unless you’re prepared for frequent emergency renovations.”

  “Not on my sary,” Stel said. “And you should be thankful Zeta, those were a lot kier when I had mine.”

  I still hesitated. I’d have preferred to verify the effects of a power blocker on 3WMB, but at the hospital I felt I had no choice. With a few clicks, I pced it around my wrist and made sure it was fortable. There were three lights on top of it that glowed blue.

  “Alright, one more thing and you get out of here,” Diast said. “You’re su easy patient! pared to the st kid at least. If you smell a smoky room in the hallways, it’s ‘cause little Trilbert thought it’d be a good idea to show off a sneeze-fire before I could get his blocker on.”

  Diast pulled out some pamphlets from the box.

  “Now that you’re officially in the i club, you have to go to a i school. I’m sure that incredibly b videht that up.”

  “Wait, like…not Staverius?” I asked.

  “Staverius isn’t super equipped for i these days,” Diast said. “Lucky for you, I work at a school that is. I’m only here in this building in the summer. While I am a fabulous and talented doy main squeeze is teag at a i school.”

  “You’re a doctor and that’s how you say that?” Stel asked.

  “A doctor during the summer,” Diast said. “Big difference. But don’t worry, despite my crap verbiage I know what I’m doing. Now I get back to Zeta’s deal here?”

  Stel backed off.

  “I highly reend my school, Rising Shards. It’s got some garbage tied up with the Kinders, but it’s at least super well-funded ‘cause of them. It’s the best i training school in the whion. Well, tied with Falling Shards, cuz Rising is the girls’ school and Falling is the boys. But they’re only like a field apart so I kinda lump em together. And it’s one of the closest. And and and! I’d probably be your advisor!”

  “Would that be OK?” I asked.

  Stel had been looking through pamphlets and paperwork for the various i schools around here. All I had thought about a i school was that I couldn’t go to Wildfire Hearts.

  “Doesn’t look bad,” Stel said. “Not far from here at all. But…”

  Stel sighed. I khe look she gave me. The “we ’t remotely afford this” look.

  “Oh…” I said.

  “We’re just strapped for cash right now,” Stel said. “I’m sorry…”

  "Pfft," Diast said. “As if I wasn’t prepared for that.”

  Diast stood grinning for a bit until Stel got tired of waiting.

  “…and?” Stel asked.

  “Oh!” Diast said. “Yeah, my bad. I got lost in my own moment of pride. Schorships, dude! I get Zeta in. Then I’d also really more likely be her advisor!”

  “A schorship?” I said. “Am I even good enough for one? I’m not really anything special.”

  “I think so!” Diast said. “You seem pretty remarkable to me, and I just met you. This schorship has a little bit of a qualifier, but I think you’d be able to ha.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked. “The qualifier part, I mean.”

  “There’s a set number of things you have to do in your first semester to stay on,” Diast said, handing me a card she had in her pocket.