The moment I woke up, I knew something was different. I seemed to be in a much tighter space, and the air was damp and stale. The total darkness was a bit of a shock, especially after coming from amidst the bright blazes that raged on the surface of Earth. 

As my senses sharpened one by one, I found that I lay on a small cot, pressed against a wall with only a thin blanket to cover me. The other Glitches sat on long, narrow benches in no particular order, strapped in place by thick seatbelts. My own seatbelt was stretched diagonally across my body, pinning me to the cot.

For a moment, I assumed the worst, wondering if we had been captured by the Icehearts, but the joyful expressions on everyone's faces and the lack of Ice Guards around us made me immediately drop that theory. 

"Claire! You're awake!" Kelly squealed.

"Yeah, barely," I groaned, pressing my clammy hand to my forehead. I had a splitting headache, and my Aura was the weakest it had been since the day of my Awakening.

If only I knew how to use my gift to Auraheal, like my mother. 

"You should've seen what you did out there!" Iveya said, her eyes widening with awe. 

"Yeah, it was amazing!" Megan beamed. "You put your hand on Justin's neck, there was this huge, bright light, you passed out, and then Justin was back to normal!" 

"And, the thing is, you didn't just drive Armetorius out of my body," Justin said happily. "You destroyed the Icehearts' ability to control me. I'm not a Code anymore!" He turned around, proudly showing me his tattoo-free neck. 

"What...?" I trailed off. So that was why my Aura felt so weak, I had exerted it far past the levels my body was comfortable with. But, the thing was, I hadn't meant to do that at all. I didn't even know that I could do that. 

"This is a huge step, Viviana," Cameron added. "To remove his Code tattoo, you must have reversed the Curse of Control that Sierra inflicted on Justin. That means that, with proper training, you could reverse the Curse of Cold that Queen Saralee inflicted on your sister!" 

"You mean...I could cure Tara!?" I gasped, forgetting my awful headache for a second. 

"Hypothetically, yes," Cameron shrugged. "At least, according to what we've seen of your extremely unique powers so far. I have to say, I'm very impressed. You know, I was a military Aurologist during the war. It was my job to study Auras, and even I have never seen anything quite like your Gift." 

"That's amazing," I looked down at my hands in disbelief. 

For all we knew, I had the power to do absolutely anything...

"Might not want to get up," Justin said as I fumbled with my seatbelt. 

"Why?" 

"The lack of gravity may be alarming."

"We're in space!" Megan exclaimed when she saw my confused look. "We made it to the ship...thanks to you." 

Everything was finally falling into place.

"Set our course for Rhena," I turned to Cameron, who seemed to be the only one who knew how to properly operate a spaceship. "We have a rebellion to find."