by P. J. Hoover
“Thank you, thank you,” The Panther said. “I’m glad you liked my little ‘demonstration.’” He cleared his throat. “I’ll be spending the next hour getting an idea of your ability. You’ll be competing with each other all summer, and I need to know how best to pair you up. Who’s first?”
Ryan quickly raised his hand.
“Fine. Mr. Jordan will be first. Front of the room.”
Ryan immediately walked up next to The Panther who turned to face him. He pointed to a large display of stones, varying from about the size of a fist to larger than a man. “Pick a stone and lift it and hold it there for thirty seconds.”
Ryan glanced at the stones and bit his lip, before settling on one of medium weight, about the size of a small pumpkin. The stone wobbled, and then rose off the ground. At twenty-five seconds, the stone started to shake and by the end of the thirty second period, it wobbled so violently Benjamin was afraid it might fly over out of control and hit him.
“Should I be wearing a helmet?” Andy asked.
Benjamin and Heidi busted out laughing, but Ryan glared at Andy in return.
“A bad display perhaps, but a strong natural ability,” The Panther said. “Who’s next?”
Gary went next. He chose the lightest stone he could find, and just barely held it in the air for five seconds. Heidi chose a stone about the size of brick, though after ten seconds, it fell to the floor with a loud crash.
Iva picked a stone, about the size of a dinner plate. She lifted her arms as she held it in the air for the full thirty seconds, guiding it with her arms back down to the ground. Her face retained its usual calm composure the entire time.
“This isn’t ballet class,” Jonathan Sheehan called out. Benjamin looked over as he said it and noticed Ryan punched him on the shoulder in response.
“Well done, Ms. Marinina. An elegant display of grace under pressure,” The Panther commended her.
Iva’s eyes lit up, and she smiled.
Andy selected a stone just bigger than Ryan’s, glaring at Ryan as he did so. Ryan pretended to look the other way. Andy easily lifted the stone high in the air and held it there, spinning it for effect. The class applauded as the stone spun faster and faster. Andy smiled and bowed, forgetting to watch what he was doing. The stone immediately fell toward the floor, being stopped mid-fall by The Panther who set it upon the ground.
Ryan Jordan and Jonathan Sheehan fell over laughing. “So who needs the helmet now?” Ryan called out.
The Panther pointed his finger at Andy. “Mind the object of your telekinesis, Mr. Grow. Irresponsible telekinesis is just one of the many ways to get kicked out of school.”
Andy’s face turned beet red, and he quickly returned to his seat, avoiding looking at Iva as he sat down. Benjamin felt Andy’s intense embarrassment through the Alliance bond; he’d have to be sure to make fun of Andy later.
Finally, only Benjamin remained. He got up and made his way to the center of the classroom. “Pick the biggest one,” Jack said, suddenly appearing on his shoulder. Benjamin jumped in surprise. He hadn’t seen the small man since the day before. Jack smiled and waved to him.
“What? Are you nuts? It must weigh five hundred pounds,” Benjamin replied in his mind.
“So what if you can’t lift it? At least you’ll have tried,” Jack answered.
“Hey, no fair if the Nogical helps him,” Ryan said.
“I’m not going to help,” Jack answered Ryan. “He doesn’t need any help.” Without another word, Jack vanished.
“So which one will it be?” The Panther asked Benjamin as the class watched.
Benjamin looked at the largest stone. It was huge. How could he ever lift that? It must be impossible. He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of everyone like Andy had. But he also didn’t want it to look like Andy was better at telekinesis. Okay, so not the heaviest one, but definitely something bigger than Ryan or Andy; he’d show them who was the best at telekinesis.
Levitating the beach ball sized rock was hard at first—much harder than he actually would have thought. But come to think of it, the only things he’d really spent much time levitating in the past were frogs and dinner plates. But though it was hard, he did lift it, and hold it, for the entire thirty seconds. The class applauded—not as loudly as they had for Andy—but they did applaud. Through the Alliance bond, he felt Andy’s presence and a slight bit of jealously to go along with it. Benjamin smiled. He was better.
CHAPTER 11
A Series of Unusual Classes
The day continued with Telepathy and Teleportation. Although Benjamin shouldn’t have been surprised after the little he’d experienced of Heidi’s telepathy skills, the class turned into nothing but the teacher testing Heidi’s abilities.
Mrs. Zen, the telepathy teacher, was more of a nerd than Gary. With black rimmed glasses and baggy clothes, she stumbled into the room, catching her oversized shirt on the doorknob before regaining her composure. She kicked the door shut with her foot and proceeded to the large desk at the front of the room.
“Good afternoon. I am Mrs. Zen, and I will be your Telepathy teacher.” She looked out upon the mass of students in the class.
“Can anyone tell me what I am thinking about, right now, at this very moment?” She studied the students.
Heidi threw up her hand.
“Yes, Ms. Dylan?” Mrs. Zen asked.
“You’re thinking about the third volcano starting from the northeast in the Ring of Fire,” Heidi stated.
Mrs. Zen cocked her head, just a little. “Exactly right. Interesting. There’s never been a Year One Denarian who’s been able to break through my first day mind shield. There must have been some weakness I wasn’t aware of.” She settled herself. “Let’s try again, shall we?” She directed an challenging smile toward Heidi. “What am I thinking about, right now, at this very moment?”
Heidi’s hand again shot up.
“Yes, Ms. Dylan?” Mrs. Zen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re thinking about a row of five volcanic statues on Easter Island.” Heidi said.
Mrs. Zen’s mouth dropped open. “I…um…uh… um…I’m completely astounded. That is amazing. Truly amazing. I would like to try one more time. Now, please get up and go to the back of the classroom.” Heidi stood up and walked all the way to the back part of the room. “Please turn around and face the back wall.” Heidi turned around toward the wall. Mrs. Zen also turned around such that her back now faced the class. “What am I thinking about, right now, at this very moment?” she asked.
Heidi did not hesitate. “You are thinking about a secret chamber under the paw of the Sphinx.”
“How in the world is she doing that?” Benjamin said to Andy and Gary, not even trying to whisper.
“Could she possibly be cheating somehow?” Gary asked.
“Completely impossible to cheat,” Mrs. Zen snapped, overhearing the question. “Ms. Dylan, you may return to your seat.” Heidi did so. Mrs. Zen shook her head. “Well, I believe you have found a strength. Clearly this summer may be more interesting than I previously had thought.”
“Wait until you guys see Asia Philippa,” Andy said as he, Benjamin, and Gary walked up the fifteen flights of stairs to teleportation. “She’s totally hot.”
“That’s what you said yesterday, but you’re kidding, right?” Benjamin asked. “A hot teacher?”
“Just wait,” Andy replied.
They hurried up the stairs and got to the room just as the chime sounded; the door swung shut, nearly hitting Benjamin in the back. Just as they sat down a woman materialized at the front of the room. She had long brown hair, worn in tight curls and wore perfectly fitted black pants and a black shirt. Her face took a break from its no nonsense composure to flash a brief smile at the students.
“My name is Athanasia Philippa, but you may call me Asia. I will be your instructor for Teleportation, the most difficult of subjects in this school. The study of Teleportation is a gradual one. If you mas
ter the theories of Teleportation, you should have no problem teleporting yourself to just about anywhere you may like. If you do not properly learn these theories, then I am sorry to say your success rate will be low even when teleporting inanimate objects.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Benjamin thought to Andy. “She is hot.” Heidi turned around and gave him a dirty look which he chose to ignore.
“Tell me about it,” Andy replied.
“Teleportation is the act of dematerializing an object from one location and rematerializing it to another location.”
“Are you sure she’s dating Proteus?” Benjamin asked.
“Completely sure. Can you believe it?” Andy replied.
“In the weeks to come, we will be focusing on natural teleportation—the teleportation of objects without using machines. We will study complex formulas and theorems to determine proper end points, and we will practice on inanimate objects only. Depending on your skill levels, you may have the opportunity to practice on animate objects in succeeding years.”
A long brown curl had fallen into her face as she talked. She brushed it behind her ear.
“She’s all business though, isn’t she?” Gary thought to Benjamin and Andy.
She pointed to the desk behind her at a large basket of wooden cubes. “For the remainder of class today, we will practice teleporting these cubes.” The cubes began to dematerialize one by one and rematerialize on the desks in front of each student.
“In accordance with Bailey’s theorem on dematerialization, when a telegen aspires to teleport an object, a transient path must be chosen through the cerebral cortex without distressing other compulsory life sustaining functions. Now please go ahead and begin.” She turned away.
“Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” Andy asked Gary.
Gary shook his head. “I think she said when we teleport stuff we have to remember to breathe.”
“Great,” Andy replied. “That should be enough to get us started.”
Benjamin, Andy, and Gary sat staring at their cubes. And they sat. And they stared. They stared harder. As they continued staring, Andy finally burst out laughing. “Well, I don’t think my cube’s going to run away from me.”
Gary laughed too. “I think it would be a lot faster to just move the cube with my hand, don’t you?”
It was pretty funny. Benjamin grinned, but kept staring at the cube. “Maybe there’s some sort of secret.”
“Well, of course there’s a secret,” Jack said, appearing out of thin air right on top of the cube. “The secret is that you’re going about it all wrong. I mean, what are you trying to do—stare the cube to death?” He laughed. Benjamin, Andy, and Gary looked at one another, and Benjamin felt his face redden.
“So, how do I do it then?” Benjamin asked.
“It’s easy,” Jack said. “It’s just fancy telekinesis. I don’t know what Asia was talking about, but here’s how I do it. You have to picture in your mind where the cube is starting, and where you want the cube to end up. Once you have a firm grasp on these pictures, you simply move the cube from the starting point into your mind. You then shift the cube in your mind a little bit. Finally, you move the cube from your mind to the ending point.” Jack smiled. “Simple, huh?”
“Yeah. That really clears thing up,” Andy replied with a smirk. “I’ll just go ahead and get started.”
Benjamin, however, gave Jack his full attention. “You mean when the object moves, I actually have it inside my mind?”
“Exactly.”
“But what if it doesn’t fit?” Benjamin asked.
“That’s where a powerful mind comes in handy,” Jack answered.
“But, how about when people teleport themselves?” Gary began. “How can you put yourself into your own mind, when your mind isn’t really there, it’s inside yourself?”
“That’s a paradox; just don’t think about it,” Jack answered. He leaned closer and started to whisper, “Now, don’t tell Asia over there I said this, but in my opinion, teleportation works better if you just don’t give it too much thought. She always tries to make it way more complicated than it really is. Sure, the theory is interesting and all, but all we really want to do is materialize right in front of our friends to try to scare them, right?” He disappeared from on top of the block and rematerialized right in front of Gary’s face. “Boo!” Gary jumped. The boys started laughing, and Asia looked over. Jack disappeared.
“Please continue with your practice,” she instructed and looked back to the students she was helping.
Jack reappeared. “So, let’s see you try it again,” he encouraged Benjamin.
Benjamin focused on the cube. He tried to create a point inside his mind. That was easy enough. But, how did he move the object into his mind? Pop. There it was. Before he knew what happened, the cube was in his mind, and not on the desk. But he hadn’t done anything. Just as quickly, it left his mind, reappearing on the desk.
“I thought I should help you that time, just so you could see how it feels,” Jack said.
Benjamin shook his head. “You could have warned me,” he said. “But, thanks, I guess. That felt pretty cool.”
“Just wait until you teleport yourself,” Jack replied.
CHAPTER 12
Guys and Telegnosis
Benjamin, Gary, and Andy entered the dining hall and walked over to the table where Heidi and Iva already sat. The cleaning lady, Leena Teasag, was sitting down talking to them. She looked at the boys, then got up from the table and walked away. Benjamin decided not to say anything. It had been a long day of classes, and he didn’t feel like arguing with Heidi about private conversations with Leena.
“I’m starving,” Heidi exclaimed once the boys reached the table. “Is anybody else super hungry tonight?”
“I sure am,” Gary agreed. “I think it was all that telekinesis we were doing.”
“Well, I don’t know how much doing I was doing,” Heidi said, “but at least I still tried. But, obviously, some of us are pretty good at telekinesis, huh?”
“I’m just glad I beat Ryan in The Panther’s class,” Benjamin laughed. “Can you imagine losing a Kinesis Combat to him?” He glanced over to the next table where Ryan and Jonathan sat. Ryan immediately looked up and glared back. Benjamin looked away.
“You think he can read my mind?” he quietly asked Heidi.
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “I can sense his thoughts though, and right now, he’s not even thinking about Iva. All he’s thinking about is telekinesis.”
“So what’s up with you and Telepathy anyway?” he audibly asked her.
“I don’t know,” Heidi said. “I always just thought my telepathic abilities were normal. Well, I mean normal for people like us.”
“It’s definitely not normal to be able to see five statues on some island I’ve never even heard of,” Andy said. “Easter Island? What’s that? Does the Easter Bunny live there or something?”
“Well, I’d never heard of Easter Island before either,” she said. “But there it was in her mind, plain as day.”
“So can you read all of our minds, right now?” Andy asked.
“Without the Alliance bond?” Benjamin added.
“Well, I guess I could if I wanted to,” Heidi replied. “But over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at filtering out and ignoring most everything unimportant. I still have a hard time blocking really strong thoughts or emotions, though.”
“So, what am I thinking about?” Andy tested her.
“Well, duh,” Heidi replied. “You’re thinking about how you were showing off in Telekinesis when you were spinning the rock around and around.”
“I was not showing off,” Andy protested. “I was just testing my skill level. Okay, how about now?”
“You’re thinking about teleportation, and how you think Asia Philippa is hot,” Heidi replied.
“I am not,” Andy exclaimed.
“Oh, really,” Heidi said. “I
think you are.”
“Okay, maybe the thought crossed my mind, but it wasn’t my main thought.”
“Do you want me to tell you who is?” Heidi asked sweetly.
Andy turned bright red, looked down at his menu, and then quickly said, “No, that’s okay. I believe you can read our minds, so you can go ahead and start filtering again, okay”
Gary picked up the Kinetic Orb Benjamin had brought in with him. “Hey, this is cool.” Amazingly, Gary levitated it in front of him and began to solve it, starting with the blue phase.
“You have to start with the center pieces of each phase,” Andy told him. “That’s the way to solve it.”
Gary ignored Andy, instead concentrating on the sphere. At first, it looked like nothing, but then it began to take shape. One phase, then the next. As Gary continued solving it, his pace quickened. Before long, the Orb was complete. Gary levitated it down on the desk once again.
“Wow, that was great,” Benjamin said. “Have you done it before?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t even know what it is,” Gary said. “I’m just pretty good with games and riddles and stuff like that.” He looked at Andy. “And you don’t have to start with the center pieces.”
“That’s how Benjamin said you have to solve it,” Andy replied.
“No, what I say is that’s the way you should solve it,” Benjamin replied.
“Yeah, that’s right. The way I chose is not the minimum number of moves, but it’s the most mathematically straightforward algorithm,” Gary explained.
Classes the next day consisted of Telegnosis and Science. True to her word, Iva had already met the Telegnosis teacher, Kyriake Eleni, and was already calling her just Kyri. And as Andy had predicted, Iva was definitely the teacher’s pet. What Iva hadn’t bargained on was anyone else being as good as she was at the subject.
