I slam the door open and come face-to-face with… nothing.

“What the-,” Kris frowns. “I’m sure it’s here.”

Although I can sense a pernicious presence here as well, the only thing in sight is the state-of-the-art, Olympic-sized swimming pool, rows of metal bleachers, and a large stopwatch hanging at the anterior of the pool area.

Was this a false alarm? Somehow, I doubt it…

I uneasily take a step forward, then another step, and then another step until I’m right in front of the pool. Squinting down at the water, I observe that it looks slightly murky. Aren’t the filters and sanitary inspections and chlorine supposed to keep school pools clear? The water, which should be an effulgent shade of light blue, is swirling with a strange silt-like substance.

“Kris… I think there’s something wrong with the poo-,” I begin to say, but that’s when a spiral of dust rises up from the water and pulls me under.

I am immersed in water- except it is 10 times thicker than normal water feels. It’s like I’ve been pushed face-down into a tub of honey and someone’s holding my head down. Desperately flailing my limbs about, I attempt to get out of the liquid but to no avail. A horrible raspy noise fills my ears, and when I open my eyes (big mistake) I see that I am surrounded by a black, dirt-like substance.

It’s encircling me and trapping me underwater. 

Channel your chi, channel your chi! I scream to myself, but I am too woozy to do anything. I need oxygen. I need air.

Gradually, I feel my vision begin to dim and flicker out.

Get out of here, Kris, my last thoughts are. Get out now.

Everything goes black.

I feel dizzy.

I feel groggy.

I feel strange.

What’s going on?

And suddenly it all comes back to me: the pool, the swirling silt, my futile effort to escape.

Am I dead?

But then suddenly something hits me with large intensity.

Something repeatedly pounds my chest, something is pressed down on my open mouth.

“Get up, Hana! Come on, get up!”

And something flows into my body, something warm, something safe. It feels like all the cuts, the bruises, the aching muscles have been soothed by this mysterious force.

My eyes flicker open.

I am greeted by a pair of wide brown orbs.

Suddenly, I realize what’s going on.

“Oh my god, get off of me,” I croak, twisting my face to the side. “What are you doing?”

“CPR, you idiot. Ever heard of it?” Kris replies gruffly. He rubs his lower lip with his thumb. “Are you okay?”

I try to get up, but I ache all over. It’s like someone stuffed 8 tons of rocks in my body, causing me to be unable to move even a few inches. The unpleasant sensation of wet fabric sticking to my skin just adds to my lousy situation.

Oh my god, is my shirt see through?

"Just… give me a few minutes,” I mutter. “I’ll… get… up-,”

“I’m taking you home.” Kris removes his blazer and carefully wraps it around my body. He slides an arm under my legs and positions another behind my neck.

“Hey, what’re you doing?!” I shriek, blushing furiously. “Stop it, I’m not a baby-,”

“So do you plan to go to back to school right now?” Kris snorts. “Just shut up.”

He carries me out of the Athletic Center and across campus to the parking lot.

“So what happened?” I ask.

“I had to use my weapon to create a bubble around you and the monster, and then I isolated you and blasted the chi. The monster exploded and disintegrated," he explains nonchalantly.

I stare at him for a few seconds. “What?” he says.

“How did you know how to do that?” I say incredulously.

“We learned it in training, back at HQ” he shrugs. “And I’ve practiced a lot.”

I exhale slowly. Maybe if I had gone to training, I would’ve learned not to be such an idiot and approach suspicious areas so hastily. But Kris and Avi and Kai and everyone trained at such a young age. Being in training now would be rather embarrasing. I'm... inexperienced. 

“Don’t beat yourself up too much over it. You’re just a beginner.”

Doesn’t make me feel better.

When we finally arrive home, I’ve regained enough strength to move around. I scurry upstairs and slam myself into the bathroom.

I failed.

I’m useless. Why did I have to be so stupid? I need better judgement. I have to work harder, otherwise I’ll just be holding Kris down when we fight.

I can't get trapped like that again. 

I trudge downstairs. He’s in the kitchen, talking on the phone to someone.

“Yes, she because nauseous during a dissection in Biology. I took her home because she was vomiting. Mhm. Yes. I understand. Of course. Thanks.” He spots me leaning over the banister of the stairs, trying to listen to him.

“Come eat something,” he tells me.

“I’m not hungry.” I reply monotonously. “I have to call Amy and ask her to bring my backpack-,”

“No need. That’s already taken care of.” Kris gestures to the dark blue bag sitting near the foot of the stairs. “I was able to transport to school and back to get our stuff.”

He can transport too?

Another thing that I have to catch up with him on.

Another thing that I’m behind on.

I feel horrible. 

Will I ever be able to fight side-by-side with Kris as equals? 

A/N: Aww poor Hana beating herself up over her first failure :/