Prologue

                                    

                                          
Five hooded figures sat in a small circle in a large dimly lit room. Their shadows spread out across the purple-coloured marble floor. They each had their eyes closed and their arms crossed into the opposite sleeve of their beige robes.
One of them said, "Anew."
With a sigh, another uttered, "Trice."
They were commenting on what they had seen in their minds. They each had the ability to view events in the past, present and future for the current reality and potential ones. The leader of the group changed the event to which they were connected. They told the others that there was still hope. There were five sets of candidates left, and they were going to watch another prove whether or not they could handle the challenge to come.

It had been four months since Rose first joined family suppers at Milli's house and she still felt weird about attending them. Growing up, family dinners were rare and dreaded for Rose. Any day that involved both parents also involved lots of yelling and the possibility of being hit. However, at Milli's, family suppers were common and typical. For the most part, everyone ate and voices only raised when someone became excited about the topic being discussed. Rose looked around the round grey marble table. Liz sat next to her that evening. Next to Liz was Peter wearing a blue suit. Liz and Peter had been spending more time training together to advance their abilities in case another near end of the dimensions disaster occurred. When they trained before supper, Peter enjoyed changing into one of his nicest suits afterwards. Next to Peter was Bobby. Bobby was fourteen years old and occasionally shared interesting stories. That evening, while they waited for the food, Bobby told the others about some of his friends who had skateboarded inside his school and how they had been chased by two teachers on their own skateboards. Next to Bobby was Alex. Usually, Bobby insisted on sitting beside Richard but Richard's girlfriend had accepted his marriage proposal two months prior and he had moved out of the house. Richard had proposed earlier than that but his girlfriend wanted to ensure that it was the right decision and needed time to think about it. Alex surrounded herself with all of the condiments to be the first one to have her burger ready to eat. Beside her was Sam, who was prepared to race Alex. Next was Gwen, who was also sitting beside Greg. Rose should have been sitting next to her but Gwen let Greg sit on the closest chair first.
While Rose glared at Greg, Milli entered the dining room with a pile of mooseburgers and buns. The meal was pleasant after Alex and Sam finished hoarding the condiments. The burgers had been cooked enough to be enjoyed without condiments but they preferred adding the extra flavour. Bobby and Rose grew impatient waiting and ate their burgers without any. They had a few small conversations at the table about events that had occurred that day or the previous one.

After supper, Gwen and Rose went to the basement to finish the movie The Fifth Element, which they had started prior to supper. The projector that they were using stood on a small black table next to the berry-blue couch. Gwen sat at one end of the four-seater couch and Rose sat at the other.
"Seriously?" exclaimed Gwen.
Rose replied, "Well, Greg needs somewhere to sit if he wants to join us. I wouldn't want to be next to you if he comes down."
"How many times do I have to say it? I don't want him to know about us. I'll have to deal with all his moping and crying. He thinks I'm waiting for 'the one' not just to have sex but to date. And he thinks he's 'the one'."
Rose looked at Gwen with a smirk. "Are you sure he said 'have sex' and not 'make sweet passionate love'?"
"You're lucky I don't have Alex's abilities or I'd throw those pillows and possibly that book at you."
"Why? Does 'make sweet passionate love' bother you?" Rose moved two seats closer to Gwen. "When do WE get to make sweet passionate love?"
"Never."
"That's harsh. Can I at least hold your hand?"
"Nope."
"C'mon, give me your hand." Rose reached out her arm to grab onto Gwen's hand but Gwen pulled it away.
Gwen said, "Nope. Now, you get nothing."
Rose kept trying to grab Gwen's hand but failed. The two of them half-wrestled each other as Gwen continued to refuse to let Rose hold her hand. Rose had both of her arms around Gwen when they heard someone coming down the red oak ramp.
"Can I join you?" asked Greg before he could be seen.
Gwen whispered, "Let go."
Rose reluctantly let Gwen go and started moving back to the other other end of the couch.
"No!" whispered Gwen loudly while waving to Rose to move back close to her.
"No?" asked Greg as he came into view.
Gwen lied, "It's fine. You can join us."
Rose moved back to the seat beside Gwen while Greg sat on her other side. They continued watching the movie.