Without realizing it, the hours had slipped away into evening. Quinn Thorne remained seated cross-legged on the ground beside the campus pond, so deeply immersed in his meditation that the passage of time had ceased to exist for him entirely. The ethereal energy he drew inward was faint, barely a trickle compared to what he needed, but it was steady enough to keep him anchored in that state of absolute focus.
The sound of voices and footsteps along the nearby path finally broke through his concentration. A group of five, two men and three women, approached from the direction of the university's martial arts building. They all wore crisp white training uniforms, and the man at the front of the group stood noticeably taller than the rest, broad-shouldered and well-built with an easy confide
