“Go on, Oksa, you can do it!” shouted Gus encouragingly, cupping his hands around his mouth.
Determined to ascend on her own, she took a deep breath and, concentrating hard, quickly gained height. Leomido was right—it wasn’t difficult. Perched at a height of more than 130 feet, she ventured a backflip but fumbled the landing, because the empty space didn’t provide all that firm a foothold. Gus shuddered and Dragomira put her hand over her mouth to stifle a cry of alarm. Only Leomido stayed calm, with unshaken confidence.
“You’re a fast learner, which is good,” he said casually, when she landed on the ground again. “But let me show you something now. Although height is good, it’s even better if you add speed.”
The old man—who was almost eighty—stood absolutely still with his arms at his sides, then took off like a rocket until he was no more than a tiny figure over 600 feet in the air.
“Whoa! Did you see that? Unreal!”
Eyes wide with amazement, Oksa looked up at her great-uncle who waved to them. As quickly as he’d shot up, he plummeted down head first, singing a famous opera aria at the top of his lungs. He stopped level with Oksa’s face, dropped a light kiss on her cheek, then floated horizontally down to the ground, still singing.
“You’ll have to work flat out if you want to do that one day,” said Gus, slapping Oksa vigorously on the back.
“I’m totally hooked,” remarked Oksa, astounded by what she’d just seen. “I want to try it too. I can do it, I’m sure I can.”
“Of course you can!” exclaimed Leomido.
Surprising even herself, Oksa shot as fast as lightning into the sky, which was clouding over. Then she reappeared, a tiny speck quickly growing larger as she approached the ground head first, like Leomido. But Oksa’s yell was also growing louder… and it was not so much a yell as a downright scream—which prompted Leomido and Dragomira to shoot off at such staggering speed that Gus only reacted when he recognized Dragomira’s red dress in the air. In a flash, her great-uncle and her gran had reached Oksa and had escorted her down onto solid ground, holding her securely under her arms. Both looked annoyed.
“Hey!” shouted Oksa, pulling roughly out of their grasp. “I was doing fine. You don’t trust me, do you?”
“Don’t take it the wrong way,” replied Leomido gravely. “It usually takes weeks of training before you can Vertifly at that speed—it’s very hard to master. It wasn’t a lack of trust, we were just afraid you were in free fall.”
“In free fall? Are you kidding, Leomido? I was having a whale of a time!”
And to prove what she said was true—just in case anyone doubted her—she shot off again at incredible speed. Her powerful take-off took her so high that she disappeared into the clouds. This magnificent flight was followed by a flawless landing which, this time, earned her a round of applause.
“Well, that was a very productive first day, congratulations Young Vertiflier!” said Leomido with a broad smile.
“I was on fire, wasn’t I?” beamed Oksa.
“You’re amazing!” said Gus, admiringly. “And Dragomira you were totally awesome too. I didn’t know you could fly so well.”
“I’m a little rusty,” replied Dragomira, stretching. “But thanks for the compliment, Gus. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. And I think we’re being called, anyway…”
The two male Lunatrixes, hanging from the small chain attached to the bell in one of the house’s towers, were ringing to summon them in for dinner, while the Lunatrixas were signalling to them by vigorously waving tea towels. In the setting sun, Leomido, Dragomira, Gus and Oksa walked back to the house, shoulder to shoulder, physically exhausted but buzzing with exhilaration.
38
A QUESTION OF WILLPOWER
“TODAY, OKSA, I SUGGEST WE LOOK AT THE MAGNETUS in a little more detail,” Leomido told his great-niece. “With it, you can animate objects from a distance, using inner spirit and attraction.”
“What do you mean by ‘inner spirit’?” asked Oksa in surprise.
“Your mind is what makes things move,” her great-uncle replied. “The spirit is born within and moves through you. Relayed through your eyes, it’s as though this spirit assumes solid form. It can then carry or move objects just as your hands would.”
“Oh of course,” said the young apprentice, pretending to sound casual. “Naturally.”
“I believe you’ve already tried this, so it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.”
“Problem? What problem? No problem!”
In perfect agreement, teacher and student headed for the same place as the day before, the practice ground sheltered by rolling hills overgrown with heather. Leomido had brought all kinds of implements in a large bag. Seeing that some of the creatures were accompanying them too, Oksa was for a moment perplexed.
“You don’t want me to practise on living creatures, do you? That won’t be possible, Leomido, I couldn’t. I’m totally against animal experimentation, I warn you right now!” she said forcibly.
“Animal experimentation? Good lord, there’s absolutely no question of that,” he said, with a laugh. “The creatures are simply there to help you and nothing can be done without their agreement. You’ll begin with objects and I’ll make your task more complicated as you progress. Let’s get an idea of what you can do, my dear.”
Leomido dotted various objects around on the heather and told Oksa to make them move. There wasn’t actually anything difficult about it—she had already put her technique to the test on numerous occasions. The young apprentice simply had to focus all the attention she could muster on the object she wanted to move, as if all the strength and movement came from her eyes. Her will did the rest. None of the objects, whether heavy, bulky, soft or tiny, could withstand her Magnetus.
Delighted, Gus watched her every move.
“Do you have the wish for a collaboration with my body, my Young Gracious?” offered the Lunatrix. “My will is in full agreement!”
Oksa hesitated, but seeing the entreaty in the eyes of the adorable creature, she couldn’t resist. Soon after, the Lunatrix found himself suspended in the air, circling Gus, who was crying with laughter.
“My lightness! My lightness!” exclaimed the small creature.
“Hey, Zeppelin, can you hear me? This is Earth speaking,” said the Getorix. “It’s true, isn’t it? Don’t you think it looks like a Zeppelin with its big paunch?”
Oksa turned to glare at the bushy-haired, mischievous creature, making its shaggy head of hair stand on end. The Getorix was drawn upwards as if an invisible hand were lifting it up by the hair until it found itself level with the Lunatrix. It put its long arms around the neck of the household steward and straddled his back.
“Giddy up, you old nag, giddy up!” it bawled, its enormous mess of tangled hair falling over its eyes. The Lunatrix tried to unseat this unwelcome rider, a difficult task because Oksa kept them suspended in the air.
“I reveal my inadequacy!” screamed the Lunatrix, which was obviously furious at the excess weight. “Will this Getorix please remove itself from my spine! Young Gracious, evict him so I can float with peace.”
No sooner said than done: the Getorix was dispatched pronto into Gus’s arms and the Lunatrix regretfully landed on the ground. Leomido gave a long whistle of admiration at Oksa’s new feat.
“Do you like flying, Lunatrix?” Oksa asked the little creature, who was full of wonderment at the experience he had just had.
“Oooh, Young Gracious, that is a certainty! Vertiflying is my most exotic desire.”
“Your desire is not the only exotic thing,” said the Getorix, sniggering.
“No, you’re not the only one with that desire, Lunatrix!” insisted the Squoracles, which were shivering and nestling in a ski cap. “It is also ours. Why is exoticism refused to us? Why? Why won’t someone tell us!”
“Come here and let me put my arms around you,” said Oksa, beckoning to the small steward.
&n
bsp; “Oooh, Young Gracious!” was all the Lunatrix, purple from head to toe, could mumble.
“Hold tight, okay?”
And they took off like a rocket, accompanied by two loud cries, one from the deliriously happy Lunatrix and one from Oksa, the great Vertiflier.
Escorted by the elated creatures, Gus and Dragomira had already gone back to the house a while ago, when Leomido decided to train Oksa in a completely different subject.
“My dear, I’d like to check on something,” he said mysteriously. “See those clouds above the hills in the distance?”
“Yes, I see them,” replied Oksa, intrigued. “Surely you don’t want me to bring them closer, do you?”
Leomido didn’t reply immediately, for the simple reason that he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted Oksa to do. He gazed at her affectionately, then turned to look at the clouds.
“Do you think you could have any kind of effect on them?” he asked her finally.
“No, Leomido, of course not!” exclaimed Oksa.
“Why?”
Oksa was baffled and began to doubt her great-uncle’s sanity.
“Why? Because they’re clouds. How am I supposed to make clouds do anything? That’s impossible!”
“Think, dear girl,” Leomido said gently. “Think.”
Irritated, she gazed at the clouds. They were a dazzling white and looked as soft as huge balls of cotton wool.
“To tell the truth, Leomido…” she ventured.
But her great-uncle had stretched out on the heather with his hands crossed under his head and seemed to have fallen asleep.
“Brilliant,” grumbled Oksa, disconcerted. “Thanks a million for your help.”
Suddenly she remembered something with almost blinding clarity: the violent storm which had broken after her disastrous mishap in the boys’ toilets—had that been caused by HER? She sat up, her mind spinning at this insane idea. The terrible weather had reflected the waves of anger and fear washing over her. And she remembered perfectly how amazed she’d been.
“It’s not possible,” she whispered, walking away from her sleeping great-uncle. “I can’t believe it!”
When the white clouds turned an unsettling leaden colour, Oksa understood perfectly what Leomido had meant. The light faded as a thick blanket of purple-streaked clouds covered the sky. The clouds, swollen with rain, grew even blacker and raced towards Oksa with a rumble of thunder. The wind, which had only been a light breeze till then, began to blow more violently, moaning as if carrying distant screams to her ears.
“Oh no, not that,” she murmured instinctively, putting her hands over her ears. But it was no use, she realized. They were the same awful screams she’d heard before and which made the hairs on her arms stand on end. They pierced her brain like lightning bolts, sounding even more heart-rending than before. And when she heard her name chanted by distant women’s voices, she thought she was completely losing her mind. The voices might have seemed a long way off, but she sensed they weren’t and that they were trapped inside her. What a nightmare. She stood there looking at the dark clouds as heavy rain lashed the rounded hilltop on which she stood.
The shower barely lasted a minute. The sky brightened and in no time was as clear and blue as it had been, just as if there hadn’t been a violent downpour on that precise spot a few seconds ago. Dazed and drenched, Oksa turned round and found herself face to face with Leomido, who was wiping his face with a large handkerchief. She looked at him in alarm.
“Leomido! I think… I think I understand,” she whispered, her heart thumping.
“Oksa… my dear girl… I think I understand too,” he said with great emotion.
And when his great-niece looked at him enquiringly, he added in a shaky voice:
“You’re a powerful Gracious, Oksa. Certainly the greatest of them all.”
When they neared the house, Dragomira and Gus raced to meet them, towels in hand.
“My goodness, don’t tell me you were caught in that terrible shower!” exclaimed Dragomira.
Still in shock, Leomido and Oksa didn’t reply and merely wrapped the towels around them.
“Come into the warm quickly before you catch your death of cold,” said Dragomira.
Sitting by the fire after changing into dry clothes, Oksa needed time to recover from her strange experience. She couldn’t ignore the intrigued look her gran had given Leomido and his reaction: an imperceptible nod. The silent answer to the question Dragomira had just murmured, “Was that caused by Oksa?” Yes, it was. The Lunatrixes brought her a steaming hot toddy which she drank with a grimace and only then did she see that Gus was staring at her in silence, looking concerned. She hurriedly brushed aside her worried thoughts and feelings and exclaimed:
“What lousy weather! Next time I won’t leave the house without an umbrella.”
“These microclimates are crazy,” added Gus with an inscrutable smile. “There can be a downpour in one place and not a drop a hundred yards further away.”
“Gus…” muttered Oksa.
“Don’t worry, I understand. Drink your hot toddy.”
39
AN UNHAPPY FRIEND
THAT EVENING MARIE AND PAVEL POLLOCK TELEPHONED and, with an enthusiasm tinged with euphoria, Oksa talked to them for ages about everything she’d learnt in just two days.
“You are being careful, aren’t you?” asked her father anxiously.
“Of course, Dad! You should see how well Leomido looks after me—frankly he’s worse than you.”
“Just listen to the way this insolent girl talks to her poor old father, who’s sick with worry! Poor me, no one understands me…”
“Oh Dad, why do you always have to be so OTT?” replied Oksa, laughing.
Oksa could also hear her mother laughing behind Pavel’s pathetic wails.
“Dad, can you do all these things?” asked Oksa, becoming serious again.
“Hmm… I wonder whether I shouldn’t take it up again in view of your mother’s lack of compassion, just to get my own back. She’ll soon see who she’s dealing with,” replied Pavel Pollock, sidestepping his daughter’s question.
Oksa heard her mother laughing even louder as she came to the phone.
“How are you, my little witch? Are you having a good time?”
“Amazing! It’s totally intense, but I love it. You’ll get to see everything I can do, Mum. I’ve improved my Magnetus no end and now I know how to Vertifly.
“Oh my goodness, it sounds terrifying,” she murmured. “Be careful won’t you, and don’t overdo it.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll call again tomorrow, love you, darling.”
After hanging up, Oksa went back to join Gus in the huge living room. Huddled in an armchair facing the window, he was gazing outside and stroking the baby Lunatrix, who was stretched out on his lap, snoring.
“You okay, Gus?” asked Oksa, going over to him.
Gus just shrugged, huddling deeper in his armchair.
“Is something wrong?” insisted Oksa.
“Er… nothing important,” grumbled Gus.
“There is then,” remarked Oksa, kneeling by her friend.
“Well yes, there is—me,” replied Gus, not looking at her.
“What on earth do you mean?”
“I mean… I don’t know how to do anything,” he said, trying to keep his voice down so he didn’t wake the small sleeping creature. “I mean, if I call my parents, what am I going to talk about? About my best friend who’s learning to fly and summon storms? Or about incredible creatures from an invisible country? About me, who can’t do anything except watch and applaud your amazing feats? About how useless I am? About how pathetic I am?”
Gus was speaking through clenched teeth, his jaw set. His scathing words cut Oksa to the quick. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Pathetic? Are you crazy? You’re not pathetic, you’re not useless!” she cried with a lump in her throat.
“Oh, right? You think? Even the In
competents are more useful than I am! You do everything better than I do. And I’m not just talking about Vertiflying or the Magnetus, I’m talking about the rest too: rollerblading, school, karate, friends, EVERYTHING. I’m always lagging behind. I always am and always will be Gus-the-loser.”
Oksa was amazed by Gus’s words. She’d known for years that he didn’t have a very high opinion of himself, but she’d never seen him like this. What saddened her most wasn’t his harsh, uncompromising words. No: the worst thing was that Gus really believed what he was saying. This was really the way he saw himself.
“But Gus, you’re talking rubbish!” she exclaimed. “You’ve got loads of great qualities. You’re loyal and intelligent, you’re super-talented at all kinds of things, computers, video games. You know everything there is to know about manga, and you’re a model student.”
“You must be joking,” moaned Gus bitterly. “You get better marks than me.”
“And what about karate?” continued Oksa, without breaking stride. “I’m sorry but you’re doing yourself down with that, as with everything else. Anyone who looks closely can see immediately that you’ve mastered it better than me. You know me, I always big myself up, but there are tons of things I can’t do. Unlike a certain Gus who is effective without drawing attention to himself, discreet as anything—which is a fantastic quality! And what’s also super-cool about you is that you never lose your head. If you weren’t there, I think I’d have got myself into really hot water. At least you think before you act, whereas I’m the complete opposite. Do you realize how important that is? I need you to be my friend… and anyway I like it that you’re my friend, and that’s all there is to it. You’re just as important to me as my family. You are family! Honestly, you do get on my nerves when you say things like that…”
Oksa looked away in exasperation and gazed outside. She felt a painful mixture of anger and sadness seething inside her. Struggling not to let these feelings overwhelm her, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.
Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope Page 22
