by Darrell Pitt
Chapter Fourteen
It’s a beautiful day in the park. The sun is warm on our shoulders. A breeze is gently shaking the trees. There are clouds in the sky, but there’s no chance of rain. People are flying kites. Kids are playing with their dog. Someone is marching a baby carriage around a lake. A couple holds hands on a park bench.
We’re here for entirely different reasons.
We’re here to see if I have super powers.
Roughly twelve hours have passed since our aborted rescue of the kids in Ravana’s tower. Dan climbed out of bed embarrassed though grateful to be alive. Brodie looked a little stressed, but also determined. She took charge and ordered breakfast from room service for the three of us. We all ate like starving people and finished our meals in silence. Finally Brodie told us to shower because we had a lot of work to do.
“Like what?” Dan asked.
“We’re taking a drive to the country,” Brodie says. “We’re going to test Axel’s powers.”
“What powers would they be?” I ask cautiously.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” she replied.
So three hours later we’re not in the country, but we are in a large parkland area on the outskirts of the city. We wander through the park until we find a secluded corner surrounded by trees. A rock in the middle seems to be the perfect target upon which to practice. We sit around the rock in a circle.
“We’ll start with you trying to move the rock,” Brodie says. “Now, just focus on it. Get a sense of its size and weight and dimensions.”
“Okay,” I say after a moment.
“Now try to lift it.”
I stare at the rock intently, willing it to rise up off the ground. I imagine myself under it, lifting it off the grass, making it rise into the air and making it soar high above the trees.
It does none of the above. It sits there like a rock.
I continue to stare at it.
“Really focus on it, Axel,” Dan says.
“I am.”
“Imagine you’re surrounding the rock. Trying to lift it.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“You’re making it rise –”
“That’s what I’m trying to do –”
“Be the rock,” Dan urges, his eyes growing wide. “Be the rock.”
“I am a rock,” I tell him. “I’m lumpy and bored.” I shake my head in frustration. “Nothing’s happening. It won’t move.”
“You need to concentrate on it longer,” Brodie says. “Really get into it.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” I tell them. “Why do I need to focus now? Last night it looked like I could deflect bullets with ease.”
Neither of them have an answer.
“Maybe you need a smaller rock,” Dan suggests.
“Maybe.”
My eyes search the field for a smaller boulder, but instead I find myself staring at the sky. I revise my earlier weather report. It could rain later. The wind has picked up in the trees. They are being tossed around more ferociously with every passing second. I decide to focus on one of the trees. Maybe if I can make the branches stop moving –
They stop.
It’s an eerie sensation. All the other trees are still being tossed about by the breeze. The single tree I’m looking at is stationery. In fact, the longer I look at it the more I can see a cocoon, like a transparent bubble, encasing the branches.
I grab Brodie’s arm.
“What is it?” she asks.
“The tree.” I point with a shaking hand. “Look.”
Both she and Dan look at the still branches. After a moment, Dan says, “How are you doing that?”
I let out a deep exhalation and realize I’ve been holding my breath. “I don’t know. I was looking at the branches and sort of willed them to stop moving.”
“And they did,” Brodie says.
I nod.
“Try lifting the stone now,” Dan says.
I give it another attempt, but still it won’t move an inch. I even go over to it and lift it up with my hands to make certain it hasn’t been cemented into the ground. No. It’s just a plain ordinary rock.
Holding it in my hand, I focus on it until my head hurts.
Nothing.
Brodie has been watching me and frowning. Now she looks back at the moving trees and I see a determined expression cross her face.
“Axel,” she says. “I’ve got an idea. Try the trees again, but this time make the branches move more instead of standing still.”
“That’s right,” Dan says, nodding. “You could be a new type of superhero. You might be Tree Man.”
“Tree Man?” I repeat.
I hope not.
Dropping the rock, I turn my attention to the trees again. This time I focus on trying to make the branches move even more. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I’m on a roll now and I don’t want to stop.
Holding out both arms, I give it all I’ve got.
And nothing happens.
“Okay,” I say. “This is no fun.”
I stare impatiently at the trees, watching the branches move gently in the breeze. Slowly, an idea occurs to me.
This time I focus on the wind in the branches. The effect is instantaneous. It’s as if there’s a breeze coming from our direction, blowing the branches away from us; it’s like the exhaust from a jet engine. Excitedly, I push even harder until I hear the sound of cracking boughs from the tree. Within seconds, branches are breaking loose and flying away out of sight.
“Holy –” Dan begins.
“It’s the air,” I tell them. “I can control air.”
Now I turn back to the rock. This time I don’t think about moving the rock. Instead I think about using the air to do all the work. The boulder trembles, shudders and starts to roll away from us. Finally I pretend to use it like a bowling ball and it bounces away from us at high speed and disappears into the bushes.
“That’s amazing,” Brodie says. “Air…” She starts thinking. “Air is pretty powerful. Think of hurricanes and tornados. They can slam pieces of straw into timber like nails.”
“And knock down houses,” Dan says. “Flatten towns.”
“And lift things,” I say. “They can make things airborne. Carry things away.”
“You’re not thinking…” Brodie’s voice trails away to nothing.
I gather the air around and under me.
A moment later I’m flying.
