Noel passed Brock's room on his way to the living room. He heard Brock in there, bustling around. That's what he'd been hearing from everyone, really, for more than a week, bustling around. That's what he heard when he got to the living room, Estelle packing something, probably the knick-knacks on the wall.  

​     Noel sat in his favorite chair. He heard someone playing with an ipad on the sofa. He assumed it was Anthony, Estelle's boyfriend. 

     "How far along are you?" Trevor asked.  

     "Almost done, at least in here," Estelle replied. "We'll be ready for when the moving trucks get here, for sure." Noel heard so much in her voice, her focus on completing her task, as well as a sadness over the fact that, after four years, they were breaking up as a training team, as well as a slight edge of anger for having to talk and, therefore, think about it, all tempered by a love for her good friend Noel.  

     Noel caught all of that in Estelle's single response. 

     "And you're helping?" Noel asked Anthony. 

     "Yeah, I'm helping by staying out of the way," Anthony replied.

     Noel felt rather than heard something flit over his head.

     "Shawnacy," he said. Shawnacy's soul power was flight. Noel hated to admit it, even to himself, because he loved all three of his housemates, but Shawnacy was his favorite. Hell, she was everyone's favorite. She flew into the kitchen to grab a couple of beers out of the refrigerator. Noel heard bottles tink. Her boyfriend, Roger, was obviously up in her bedroom with her. Before she floated back upstairs, she gave Noel a playful tap on the noggin. She was a mute. No one in that household had ever heard her speak or make any sound whatsoever, not even when she slept.

     "Hey!" Noel yelped, but he was being playful, too.

     But then they all got it.

     All four of them at once.

     It flashed in their minds.

     That's how the Azure, their teachers, their leaders, communicated.

     "Oh my God," Estelle said, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "We're going on one last mission."  

                                                     CONTINUE