When he reached the end, he resurfaced and pulled himself up so he could sit on the edge of the pool. He lifted his goggles and removed his cap before rubbing his eyes and trying to catch his breath. “I was beginning to wonder if you were just going to stay in there forever.”

Blaine swung his head over his shoulder and squinted up at the boy standing above him. “Sam? What are you doing here?” Sam kicked off his shoes before sitting down and joining Blaine on the edge.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” Sam glanced around the large room, as if he was making sure no one else was there. “What is it, Sam?”

“Look, I know what you are, okay?” Sam said, keeping his voice low. Blaine raised a brow at him. What the hell was he talking about?

“Sam, what are you talking about?”

“Blaine, I know.”

“Okay well I don’t. Can you please tell me what the hell we’re talking about here?” Sam let out a large sigh.

“Blaine,” he whined, “I know that you have powers.” How could he possibly know that? The only people who knew were Kurt, those guys from the bathroom, and himself. He knew it couldn’t have been Kurt who told him because Kurt all but disappeared that day (not that Blaine cared because he didn’t. He hasn’t been thinking about Kurt at all.). So unless either of those two guys told him, Sam was clueless.

“Have you been swallowing too much chlorine?” Blaine moved to touch Sam’s forehead but the later smacked his hand away.

“Don’t play dumb, Blaine. We both know the truth.” Blaine looked out at the pool water, watching as the choppy waves slowed with his absence.

“What makes you think I have superpowers? Is it because my times are incredible?” Sam chuckled and jabbed him in the arm.

“Yes. You swim with inhuman ability and the only explanation was that you found a magic fish and it granted you a wish.” Blaine laughed. “Seriously though? Tom told me.” Blaine kept his face controlled, trying to show no change to Sam’s words. Tom told him that Blaine was a Paladin? Why would he do that? Wasn’t that against the rules or something? Unless…

“Sam, are you two-”

“Surprised me too. I think I always knew, though, I just- I just didn’t want to say it.”

“When did it happen?”

“Actually, it started when we all went to Breadsticks. When Tom and I went off, I was so mad. I thought I was mad because that guy was insulting you, but I think I was mad because in a way he was insulting me.”

“Did you like Tom then?”

“I did,” Sam admitted. Blaine felt special in that moment. Sam wasn’t the type of person to openly speak about himself so personally. He wondered if he’d told anyone else this. Probably Thomas- but other than that? “It was hard not to. I mean, he was always there, you know? When you’re around someone so much- being with them almost every second your awake- it’s hard not to get feelings for them. I tried to ignore it, but it was damn near impossible. So I stopped. I told him how I felt. That I was confused but I liked his company. He told me he’d been waiting a long time to hear me say that.” Sam was smiling to himself, most likely reliving it in his head.

“Wasn’t that like…three weeks ago? You’re already Sealed?”

“When you know, you know.” Blaine sighed, his mind drifting to Kurt and their own Sealing. As much as he hated himself for it, Blaine really wanted to see Kurt again. He wanted to hear his voice. He wanted to wrap his arms around him and have Kurt hold him back. He craved Kurt. Ever since that day he’d found Kurt in the choir room two weeks ago, he’d felt a newfound emptiness. He wished he had to ability to turn back time. “So what do you have?”

“Huh?”

“Your powers. What do you have?”

“Oh, um… I can, like, copy others. But I think it only works if they’re present.” Or conscious.

“Badass! Alright then, copy this.” Sam cleared his throat and, without warning, let out a bellowing shriek. Blaine’s hands flew to his ears to try to dull the sound, but Sam was already done.

“What the hell was that?” Blaine yelled, but Sam simply smiled and pointed at the water in the pool. It was spinning, like a vortex; Blaine could see down the swirling tunnel to the floor of the pool.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Blaine stared wide eyed at the water for a few more moments before shaking his head.

“You finally have a use for that trouty mouth of yours.” Sam appeared to be trying to glare a hole through Blaine. “Alright, my turn.” Blaine felt that same fire igniting him from the inside out and, when he screeched like Sam had, the water before him began to rise out of the confines of the pool and swirl around above them in an enormous chlorinated tornado. “OHMYGODHOWDOYOUSTOPIT?!” Blaine cried and Sam quickly jumped to his feet.

“Go to the other side of the pool!” Sam yelled over the roar of the water and Blaine stumbled to his feet before obeying and running to the opposite side of where Sam was going. “Instead of screaming,” he shouted, “suck!”

“WHAT?”

“SUCK THE AIR, BLAINE.” Blaine thought it was weird, but he followed Sam’s instructions. He began sucking in the air and, strangely enough, the tornado began getting smaller and fatter, eventually fitting back into the pool. Blaine looked across the room to Sam, who looked tired but seriously proud of himself.

“How did that even work?” Blaine asked, ears still roaring. Sam began to make his way back over to where they’d previously been and Blaine moved to meet him there.

“When you scream, you’re sending out the forces and pushing them away. When you suck it back it, you draw it closer. Since we were on either sides it stretched out the water and brought it back down to the pool.” Blaine blinked at Sam a few times. Maybe Sam wasn’t as dumb as everyone thought.

“So you suck it and it comes,” Blaine said and a second later he found himself back in the pool.

“I’ll be back at dinner.” The owner of the voice shoved Kurt into his cell, causing him to stumble on his feet before falling down on his hands and knees. He heard them close the door behind him, the clang of metal vibrating though the concrete box. Kurt tried to get back to his feet, but his arms and legs felt like jelly and his whole body felt like one giant bruise. His arms wouldn’t support him anymore and he fell onto the floor. He barely felt the scratch of the rough stone scuffing his cheek.

Kurt stared at the floor and wished he could be staring at a different one. He remembered his old home with his father. They used to sit on the carpet in the living room when Kurt was little and play board games with his mom. That was before she died. Kurt wanted to go back to those days.

Honestly, Kurt couldn’t remember much between then and now. He didn’t remember much about growing up and he definitely didn’t remember what he did to be stuck in a crap hole like Oust. Whatever it was though, it must’ve been pretty bad. The Wardens were always coming up with excuses to punish Kurt. Just five minutes ago two Wardens came into Kurt’s cell and dragged him out to the Rec Room. Apparently another prisoner had been caught stealing extra food and said Kurt had forced him to do it. I mean, really? The other guy was three times Kurt’s size. How he could persuade him to do anything was beyond Kurt. But the Wardens didn’t care; they had an excuse to whack Kurt like a pi�ata. And that’s exactly what they did.

Kurt decided he must’ve committed genocide, because he couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d be treated like a demon.

Kurt closed his eyes and tried not to think of the excruciating throbbing coming from his new cuts and bruises and instead cleared his head. He hadn’t slept much at all since arriving two weeks ago. Every night he heard screaming from other cells down the hallway. Sometimes he swore there were things trying to get inside his own. Kurt usually curled into himself on his paper-thin cot and hummed to himself in an attempt to dull the noises, but it never really worked.

Kurt had now taken to sleeping during the day as much as could, but with the constant interruptions of Wardens, it was almost impossible.

Kurt focused on his breathing and eventually was able to calm himself down enough to lull him into a light sleep. He awoke an hour later to the sound of a tray smacking the ground beside him. Kurt practically threw himself at the tray, stuffing his face with mushy brown beans and a stale bread roll. He licked the tray clean before forcing himself into a sitting position. He placed the tray aside, just in front of the door, and then lay back down.

He had been dreaming, Kurt realized as he lay there again. He couldn’t remember anything really, but one thing stood out like a bright neon sign in his head. Honey and emeralds.