That morning, Cal sprang up, almost like he couldn't wait. He called Nate's home line after which his mom picks up
"Oh hey Cal"
"Hi Mrs. Carson. Is everything alright with Nate, didn't see him at school yesterday…"
"My dear, your friend's under the weather" she said
"Okay I'll come see him soon".
He drops the call and then heads out to school after.
The rest of the school day passed in a blur. Teachers droned. Pages flipped. Cal sat through class after class, his fingers idly tapping against the desk while his mind drifted elsewhere—back to everything, he couldn't wait to get it all off on Nate. He was different now. Not just some loser from East Halcroft with a thing for tight tops and thigh-high skirts—he was an Arbiter. A real one. Still, he tried to keep it together. Tried to play it cool.
When he passed Becky Hangston in the hallway between fourth and fifth period, their eyes met—just for a second. No words. No smiles. But her gaze lingered a beat too long, like she saw something she hadn't before. Cal blinked and kept walking, heart thudding for reasons he wasn't ready to admit.
The final bell rang, and Cal was already moving. He didn't stop to talk. Didn't wait for Becky or anyone else. He bolted straight out the front gates, cut through the alleys by Parlow Street, and made a beeline to Nate's place, an old two-story townhouse tucked behind a pawn shop with faded paint and cracked windows. Familiar. Comforting, in a way.
He knocked once, then twice more in their usual rhythm. A few seconds later, the door creaked open. It was Nathan's Mom
"Hello Mrs. Carson"
"Hello Cal, he's right upstairs"
"Thank you". Cal replies before going straight up towards Nate's room and without so much as a knock, he barges in to see Nate wrapped in a thick blanket, hunched over on a little couch like a sick, sarcastic burrito.
"Hey dude…" Nate snorts
Cal sits across from him, leaned forward, eyes flicking around like he's still piecing it together himself.
And so he began…
___
"Whaaaaaaatttt???!!!…"
Nate exclaims at the top of his voice
"I didn't even touch it, dude. It just… came to me"
"Wait, hold on, hold on Are you telling me…"
"Yeah. That's when I realized—I'd awakened. I'm an Arbiter now."
Nate throws off blanket yelling again "whaaaat??!".
Few minutes ago Nate was under the weather but it felt as though Cal's story had made him whole
"It's still new. I didn't even get it at first. I still don't. I thought it was a fluke"
Nate who was still processing then said
"Okay, okay… That's already insane. But then—
Cal continued as if almost excited to add this part
"That night, after it happened, I go home, still freaking out, right? And then this woman—this gorgeous woman in skintight black leather and on heels, just walks into my damn room through the window"
Nate, eyes wide, mouth open
"AND A RANDOM WOMAN ENTERS YOUR ROOM?!"
Cal laughs and then continues,
"Not random. Her name's Selene Virelle. She's an Arbiter and works for some works for an agency, I don't quite get it yet"
Nate, stands up, flailing the blanket to the side
"So let me get this straight, you awaken powers by accident, then Miss Seductive Spy Lady comes crashing through your window like it's a damn anime?!
"Pretty much"
Cal answered, some what satisfied and proud himself
"Dude… What the actual hell is your life?", Nate asked still dazed
Cal's phone vibrates at this point and as soon as He glances at it, his eyebrows shoots up
"…Okay, what the hell?"
"What? Who is it?"
"It's her. Selene. How the hell did she get my number?"
"She just walked into your life two days ago and now she's texting? Man, we used to dream of days like this" Nate said almost dreamily, whilst staring at the ceiling
"Rendezvous point. Old Halcroft Rail Depot – Sector 7B. Ten minutes."
That was what the text read
Rendezvous? Damn, even her texts sound like spy codes. Nate remarks jokingl
"I have to go now"
Cal adjusts himself to leave
"Be safe man, and even if you turned up dead, I know you wouldn't have preferred any other way to die, other than at the hands of an older sexy lady"
"I wouldn't have it any other way"
With a creepy smile on his face, Cal shrugs and then proceeds to leave.
——
The city lights were distant glimmers behind a rusted fence, barely piercing the gloom of the old industrial lot Selene had dragged Cal to. Surrounded by sagging buildings and broken concrete, the air here felt stale—like the place had been forgotten for years, left to rot under Halcroft's shadow. Cal adjusted his hoodie, trying to ignore the way the wind cut through the holes in the walls.
Selene stood ahead, heels clicking softly against cracked asphalt. She looked absurdly out of place—flawless skin glowing under moonlight, her legs bare, cleavage still unapologetically dominant even in this dead zone.
"I'm not even going to ask how you got my contacts, moreover this feels like the start of a murder documentary," Cal muttered, eyeing the surrounding dark.
Selene turned with a smirk. "Relax. If someone wanted to kill you, they wouldn't bring you somewhere this cliché."
"Comforting."
She raised a brow. "You want to learn about your power or not?"
"I do," he said quickly. "I just figured we'd maybe start somewhere… less sketchy."
"You think the world's going to wait for you to get comfy? No, Cal. You learn wherever you bleed." Her gaze shifted behind him. "Besides, you're not the only one here."
Cal followed her eyes—and that's when he saw her.
Leaning against a bent streetlamp was a girl, probably a few years older than him. Her stance was bored, like she'd rather be anywhere else, and she wore short black shorts and a cropped athletic top that hugged her tight in all the wrong—no, right—places. Cal's eyes traced her toned stomach, the curve of her hips, and up to the dark glare aimed directly at him.
Her hair was short, choppy, and jet black, and her skin had a faint tan. Her chest wasn't massive like Becky's, but the shape and roundness pushed firm against her top in a way that made Cal's thoughts stumble. He didn't even realize he was staring until she pushed off the post with a scoff.
"Really?" she snapped. "That what you're here for? To gawk?"
Cal's mouth moved before his brain did. "Uh—I wasn't—I mean, I was—but not like—"
"Pathetic," she cut in, rolling her eyes.
Selene stifled a laugh.
The girl approached with a swagger that showed off her muscular thighs and compact frame. Despite being smaller than Selene, there was raw power in her movements—each step grounded, shoulders squared.
"Kira," Selene said, tone smooth. "This is Cal. Freshly awakened. Maybe."
Kira gave him a glance that could've frozen lava. "Looks more like a freshman virgin."
"I'm standing right here," Cal said.
"Not for long if you don't stop staring at my tits."
"I wasn't—okay I was, but come on, you're kinda—"
"Say 'hot' and I'll break your jaw," she warned.
Selene stepped between them. "Kira's going to run your first training session."
"Training? I barely even know how these powers work and even if it was a training, why not you?" Cal said
"I'm supervising," she said, amused. "Kira's power is brute-level speed and strength. Don't worry—she's been told not to kill you."
"Told," Kira repeated, cracking her knuckles.
Selene waved a hand toward the open lot. "Show him how it's done."
Kira didn't respond. She just turned toward a nearby pile of concrete debris, cracked her neck, then—
Boom.
One moment she was walking, the next she blurred into motion, sprinting at a speed Cal's eyes barely tracked. She hit the pile full-force, shoulder-first—and the concrete cracked like glass under a hammer. Chunks flew. Dust exploded. Kira didn't flinch as she stood amid the crumbled remains, flexing her hands.
"Speed. Strength," she said simply. "Not complicated."
Cal's jaw hung slightly open. "Holy—"
"Your turn," Kira said, jerking her head toward a smaller stack of wood planks and bricks.
"I don't have—whatever that was," Cal said, frowning. "I can't move like that."
"No," Selene said. "But that's not the point."
"You did something that night," Kira added. "You reached. So reach again."
Cal exhaled slowly and stepped toward the stack. His hands twitched. He remembered the bat. How it flew to him. How it felt like a snap in the air, a blink in time.
He focused. Nothing.
He stared harder. Thought about the bat. About the weight of it. About Becky's terrified face. About her—
"What are you doing?" Kira asked, voice dry.
Cal blinked. "What?"
"You've got that look. Like you're thinking of something stupid."
"I'm focusing!"
"Focus on something that doesn't have cleavage this time."
Selene chuckled behind them.
Cal gritted his teeth. "Fine." He stared at the wooden plank in front of him. Reached out—not with his hand, but with that strange pull he felt before.
A breeze kicked up. The plank wobbled. Then nothing.
Kira folded her arms. "Weak."
"I don't even know what I'm doing!" Cal barked.
Selene approached now, her tone shifting into something calm. "It takes time. You accessed something under pressure. Instinct. Emotion. That doesn't mean you can summon it on command yet."
"So what now?" Cal asked.
"We train until you do," Kira said.
"And if I never get it?"
She shrugged. "Then you stay a loser with a staring problem."
Cal clenched his fists. "You're kind of a bitch, you know that?"
"Aw," Kira said mockingly. "Did I hurt your feelings, tit-boy?"
Cal turned away, face red with frustration. Selene placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's part of the process. She's here to push you. Arbiters don't grow by staying comfortable."
"Yeah, well… this isn't comfortable."
Selene smiled softly. "Good."
—
They ran drills for another hour. Kira demonstrated her strength by lifting old pipes, dented steel, and knocking holes through already decayed walls. Cal, by contrast, mostly tripped, sweated, and muttered curses under his breath while trying to feel something. He managed to knock a brick off a pile once—just barely—but neither of them celebrated.
When it was over, the moon had shifted high overhead, and Cal was bent over, panting, drenched in sweat.
"I'm dying," he said.
"You're tired," Kira corrected. "You'll know dying when it happens."
"You're not exactly a motivational speaker, are you?"
"I'm not here to kiss your ass, Everene."
She walked past him, hips swaying just enough to draw his gaze again.
She turned.
He quickly looked away.
"Eyes up."
"I didn't—"
"Next time, I break your ribs."
Cal groaned and flopped onto his back.
Selene leaned over him, casting a shadow across his face. "You survived your first night. That's something."
"Feels like I survived a car crash." Cal said whilst trying to catch his breath
"And come to think of it, don't you think it's a bit unfair? I've only known you 10 seconds, barely, and here we are trying to cook me into some arbiter agent?!"
Selene chuckles and then replies "It only gets harder from here."
Cal's eyes fluttered closed. He wondered about what he could have actually done in that situation except not get his ribs broken by the most terrifying hot girl he'd ever met.