I woke up with the world pounding inside my skull.
At first, I thought Harley had maybe experimented with a new psychic migraine-inducing spell and accidentally hit me in my sleep. Wouldn't be the first time. But then I remembered.
Training.
With Julian.
Sneaking out of my house last night like some hoodie-wearing superhero-in-training, only to end up doing enough mental gymnastics to cook my frontal lobe. He made me focus until I thought my brain would physically leave my body and throw itself off a cliff. And that was just the warm-up.
I groaned and rolled over, half-hoping the world had just decided to take a day off. But nope, the sun still rose, school still existed, and I still had a math test I hadn't studied for.
Fantastic.
Dragging myself out of bed felt like trying to climb a mountain with bricks tied to my forehead. My face looked like someone had photocopied exhaustion and pasted it on. I somehow made it downstairs without falling, which honestly deserved an award. Charley and Harley were arguing about which cartoon had better mind control accuracy—like, real accuracy—and Justin had taken over the TV with what sounded like an explosion montage.
Mom was making eggs. Dad was pretending to help.
"Morning, sweet pea," Mom chirped as I staggered in.
"More like mourning," I muttered, holding my head.
"Headache?" Dad asked, tilting his head in mild concern.
I nodded and made some vague excuse about "school stress" and "hormones" which they accepted way too easily. Either I was getting better at lying or they were getting too old to care.
Spoiler alert: I wasn't better at lying.
But I didn't have time to feel guilty. I grabbed a slice of toast, kissed the air somewhere near my mom's cheek, and bolted out the door.
When I got to school, Kim and Jake were already by the lockers.
Kim took one look at me and gasped. "You look like you got into a fight with a vampire squirrel."
Jake raised an eyebrow. "So… I'm guessing training was intense?"
"Oh my god," I groaned. "I think I touched a part of my brain humans are not meant to touch. Like, Julian had me feeling other people's emotions from across the block. I accidentally tapped into an old man's grocery list and then couldn't stop craving tinned olives."
Kim cackled. "Psychic dieting. I love it."
Jake tilted his head. "But like, how did you sneak out?"
"I used the back window and a sock puppet decoy in my bed," I said.
Jake high-fived me like I'd just broken into Area 51.
The rest of the day was a blur. My headache was like a passive-aggressive ghost that just hovered. Teachers spoke in underwater tones. Math class was a crime against humanity. And Julian? That boy ignored me all through morning classes like he hadn't made me question the entire fabric of space and time last night.
But then lunch happened.
And things got very interesting.
We'd just gotten our trays—Jake had his usual chicken nuggets with a side of fries and a mountain of judgmental health warnings from Kim—when I felt it.
Julian. Energy signature: unreadable. Presence: dramatic as hell.
He walked in with Alvin by his side, the two of them looking like they'd just stepped out of a psychic boy band photoshoot.
Alvin was shorter than Julian, with sharp cheekbones, spiky dark hair, and a very intense vibe like he could roast someone with just his sarcasm. He wore a perfectly tailored blazer like he owned the cafeteria. I'd seen him around but never up close. I assumed he was just one of those smart, overachieving kids who helped teachers alphabetize their feelings.
Julian walked straight toward our table like this was a mafia meeting.
"We're sitting here today," he said, then looked at Kim and Jake. "Cool?"
Kim gave a slight nod like she was both amused and terrified.
Jake just blinked at Alvin. "Do you smell like bergamot and bad decisions or is that just me?"
Alvin raised an eyebrow. "Depends. Are you always this charming or just when you forget to blink?"
Jake grinned. "I'm Jake."
"Alvin. Psychic, fashion snob, and occasional heartbreaker."
"I'm sold," Jake said, patting the bench. "Sit."
And just like that, I lost my best friend to a fabulous psychic.
Julian sat across from me, smirking slightly like he knew I'd been waiting for an explanation.
I leaned in. "So, are we just pretending last night didn't happen?"
Julian raised a brow. "You survived. That's step one."
"Barely."
"You did better than most on their first run. You absorbed psychic feedback and resisted a false mental construct. That headache you have? That's just your mind stretching into new dimensions."
"Fantastic," I muttered. "Stretching into dimensions is my new thing, apparently."
Alvin leaned over. "First time always hurts. Like falling in love or doing squats."
Jake snorted so hard milk came out of his nose.
Kim just nodded like this was the most normal lunch conversation in the world. "So, Alvin, what's your deal?"
Alvin leaned back, balancing his apple on two fingers. "I'm Julian's assistant-slash-handler-slash-unofficial life coach. Assigned by his father when he was little. It's a whole drama."
"Wait, assigned by his dad?" I asked.
Julian nodded. "He's a high-ranking psychic in the Gossamer Network."
"The what now?" Kim asked, pausing mid-fry.
Julian and Alvin exchanged glances, then Julian finally leaned forward and said, "Time for the real talk."
Apparently, the Gossamer Network wasn't just some cool name for a psychic book club. It was a massive underground organization of psychics—some born, some awakened—who worked together to protect their own and secretly help the world. You know, typical low-key superhero stuff.
They operated globally, hiding in plain sight. Schools, offices, even bakeries. ("Gossamer Bakery in France has the best croissants and mind barriers," Alvin whispered like it was national security.)
The Network had its own internal structure: operatives, trackers, mind-code engineers, and what Alvin called "emotional medics" who helped with psychic trauma. Julian's dad was apparently one of the Elders—a group of the most powerful psychics alive. He could bend reality around his pinky finger.
"So… you're like psychic royalty?" Jake asked Julian.
Julian looked bored. "I'd prefer interdimensional aristocrat, but sure."
"And you're training Julia because…?" Kim asked, squinting.
"Because she's strong," Julian said simply. "She just hasn't realized it yet."
I stared at him, trying not to blush under the heat of that gaze. "What exactly am I training for?"
Julian paused. "There's something coming. Something the Network can't handle alone. And you, Julia… you're part of the answer."
I blinked. "Okay, chill, Avatar Aang. That's a lot to dump between bites of mystery meat."
Alvin leaned over, smiling faintly. "You'll understand more soon. For now, survive training. And maybe buy some better shoes. You'll be running a lot."
"And what about the Crimson Veil?" I asked, popping a fry into my mouth like I hadn't just dropped a mini-bomb.
Julian froze. His eyes darkened so fast it was like someone dimmed the lights in the cafeteria.
"How do you know that name?" he asked, voice low. "I never mentioned them. Not once."
I chewed slowly, swallowing harder than I expected. "My parents told me about them yesterday."
Now both Julian and Alvin were staring at me like I'd grown two heads and dyed them both radioactive green.
"Okay—chill," I said, raising my hands. "I told you last night, remember? I told my parents about you and the whole… power thingy. They got weirdly tense and just kind of dropped the name. Like, in passing. They didn't explain much."
Julian leaned back in his chair, exhaling through his nose. The kind of exhale people do when they're trying not to break something expensive.
"They were right to say that," he said. "The Crimson Veil isn't just dangerous. They're everywhere. Most people don't even know they exist, and the ones who do wish they didn't."
I blinked, Kim leaned forward, voice hushed. "Okay, who are they? What do they want?"
Julian glanced around, then dropped his voice.
"They started decades ago—maybe longer, but no one really knows. Think of them like a shadow version of us. They collect gifted people like trading cards, but not to protect them. They manipulate them, brainwash them. If they can't control you, they erase you."
He tapped his fingers on the table, slow and deliberate.
"They operate in secret, but they've got ties with a covert arm of the government. Off-the-books type stuff—contracts, experiments, cleanup jobs. They use influence, money, and power to control parts of the psychic world, and they're not afraid to use force. Or worse."
Alvin swallowed. "Worse than force?"
Julian nodded grimly. "They've erased entire lineages. Whole families, just… gone. They don't just want power. They want dominance. To be the only voice left in the psychic world."
My appetite vanished, and suddenly my fry tasted like cardboard.
"My parents did talk about how they were after my family years back, we had to move," I said. "They never mentioned it before And I never knew until yesterday."
Julian stared at me for a long second. Then, softer than before, he said:
"Because if the Crimson Veil has their eye on you… your family's probably been involved a lot longer than you think."
My skin crawled, the hair on my skin standing on ends. I got goosebumps.
-~~~~~~~~~~
By the time lunch ended, Jake and Alvin were full-blown gossiping like they'd known each other for years. Kim was already Googling "Crimson Veil conspiracy theory," and Julian just stood up, dropped a napkin on my tray with "Training. 9PM. Same place." written on it, and walked away like a cryptic dream boy.
I sat there, watching him go, still holding the napkin like it was a love letter or a death warrant.
Both, probably.