The Ability (Ability, The) (16 page)

“Yes,” said Chris, a little more relaxed.

“Good. Then we’ll begin.”

The picture zoomed out again, leaving Cassandra on the ground below him. He felt himself soar backward, until she was just a red dot in a green landscape, and then turn sharply. He flew forward, passing over more fields and into a stretch of fog, which dissipated to reveal a small cottage with a thatched roof, surrounded by a dark forest. The door of the cottage loomed large in front of Chris and, once it took up the full screen, opened to reveal a dark room with two stools and a wooden table. Cassandra was sitting on one of the stools, smiling at him, and on the table stood a plain white candle with a small flame—the only light in the room. Chris turned his head and the chair followed, revealing the back of the room, which was in almost complete darkness. Chris squinted and leaned forward, making out the faint silhouette of what seemed to be a large dresser.

“Come, sit with me,” came Cassandra’s voice from behind him. Chris turned to face her, and the picture took him deeper into the room, until he was facing her across the table.

“The easiest skill to begin with is telekinesis. Have you heard of that?”

“No,” said Chris.

“That’s the power to move or manipulate objects with your mind. We’re going to start with a very simple task. All I want you to do is focus on the candle’s flame. I want you to focus on it getting bigger and then smaller again. You must think of nothing else, just the candle, and see the flame in your mind doing exactly what you want it to do. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Chris.

“Okay, off you go.”

The picture turned to the candle, and Chris looked at it intently. He imagined it getting bigger, and the flame flickered slightly.

“Good. That’s excellent; keep going,” said Cassandra. “Imagine it getting bigger and smaller.”

Chris imagined the flame bigger, and the flame flickered slightly more before he heard a small pop and it disappeared, leaving him in total darkness.

He heard the sound of a match being struck, and the flame appeared again.

“Now, the problem there was that you weren’t giving the candle your full attention. You have to forget that I’m here or that the candle is not real. The only thought in your mind should be about controlling that flame. If it helps, make the thought exaggerated. Imagine a huge flame coming out from it and then a tiny one.”

Chris was determined to impress Cassandra. He turned his attention to the candle and focused on its flame getting bigger. There was another flicker, like the first time, but Chris ignored it, and slowly the flame began to get larger.

“Good, Chris, wonderful! Don’t stop.”

The flame continued to grow until it was about a foot high, and then he imagined it getting smaller, and the flame began to diminish until it was the size it had been at the beginning.

“Keep going, Chris; make it bigger again.”

Chris put all his energy into the thought and willed it to get larger, and the flame began to rise again, faster and faster, until there was a flash and the whole of the screen around him turned white.

Chris jumped, and he put his hands up to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

The light faded, and Cassandra appeared in front of him again, the candle glowing brightly.

“Well, Chris, I think we could call that a successful first attempt. I’m very proud of you.”

Chris blushed. “What happened?” he asked.

“You managed to make the whole cottage explode. Not quite what I had in mind, but it does tell me that you have incredible potential, Chris. The only problem is that the more power you have naturally, the more harm you can do with it. You’ll have to learn how to control it. But that’s what I’m here to teach you. And now, for the second half of the lesson,” she said, “follow me.”

As Cassandra stood up, Chris’s point of view rose as if he were on his feet. He watched her turn and followed her out of the cottage door and along a stone path, which led into a dense forest. He stopped and watched Cassandra as she walked ahead, following the path into the forest until all he could see was the faint flash of red from her
dress and then nothing. He leaned forward in his seat and watched the forest close in on him, as if he were running to catch up with her. When he did reach her, he found her standing in a dark clearing, the trees leaning over so that the sun filtered through the leaves, casting a green glow about them.

“Look down, Christopher,” said Cassandra, and his eyes followed hers down to the screen under his feet and found that he was standing in the center of a circle of pebbles.

“This is your safe area. When you see anything approach, use your Ability to push it away back into the forest before it crosses the circle. Let’s practice,” she said, and he saw that she was holding a small red ball. “Are you ready?”

Chris nodded, and Cassandra disappeared, only to reappear a moment later at the edge of the clearing. She was kneeling down. He watched her carefully as she swung her arm back gently and released the ball toward him.

“Look at it and imagine it flying backward into the forest.”

Chris stared at the ball for just a moment and watched as it slowed, came to a stop, and then flew gently backward into the air, straight into Cassandra’s hand.

“Well done. Let’s try it again,” she said, but she was gone, and the voice was now coming from behind him. He turned his head and the chair moved his body round to face her. He looked at her and realized her hand was empty and that the ball had already traveled halfway toward him. He stared at the ball quickly and willed it backward, but this time the ball didn’t slow down and instead flew backward violently, hitting Cassandra in the face and knocking
her to the ground. Chris looked at her in shock.

“I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to . . .”

Cassandra gave a small laugh and picked herself up. “No harm done. I don’t think you need any more practice, though; let’s begin. In a moment you’re going to have a series of animals enter the clearing. Your task is to use your Ability to make sure they don’t eat any of the food,” she said, then disappeared.

“Food?” asked Chris, looking around him; then, saw that the pebbles beneath his feet had been replaced by pieces of cheese.

Chris looked around nervously in anticipation, but nothing happened. Sure that there was something behind him, he turned quickly, saw nothing, and then turned back, but the clearing was still empty. He jerked back the other way and suddenly found himself spinning around faster and faster until the trees surrounding him blurred to become a black stripe. He held on to the sides of his chair and tried to keep his head straight. He was starting to feel sick.

“Just think of yourself standing still,” came Cassandra’s voice in a soft whisper—as if she were standing right next to him.

Chris imagined standing still and the chair immediately stopped. He sighed in relief, but before he had a chance to relax, he heard a rustle coming from the tree ahead. Chris sat up straight and stared at the leaves, his heart beginning to pound, and waited for the animal to appear.

Squeak!

Chris looked around.

Squeak!

He looked carefully at the leaves and saw a small brown nose and whiskers appear.

Ahh, cheese,
he thought, watching the little brown mouse scuttle forward nervously. Chris looked at it, wondering if he should begin, when he saw the mouse’s nose begin to twitch, and then suddenly sprinted forward, its little legs pushing up the earth about it, creating a small dust cloud that raced toward him.

Chris looked at the cloud and willed it to turn away.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the mouse froze and the dust settled.

Chris couldn’t believe how easy this was.

“Sorry, little mouse, no cheese for you today,” he said, and pushed the mouse away in his mind. The mouse squeaked, then turned and fled, back into the darkness of the trees.

Before Chris had a chance to congratulate himself, he looked down to see that the cheese had been replaced by carrots. A twig snapped to his left, and he turned to see a rabbit, which only managed two small hops toward him before Chris stopped it dead in its tracks. The rabbit’s eyes widened, and then it turned and hopped frantically away back the way that it had come.

Chris was finding his stride now, and he spun around to find a cat, crouched down, ready to pounce for the fish lying by Chris’s feet, but before it had a chance to jump, Chris stared at it and it cowered backward, meowing sadly as it retreated. Seconds later Chris turned to see the striking blue eyes of a white wolf from behind some leaves. He
looked down and saw large pieces of fresh meat laid out neatly about him. The wolf stepped out from behind the cover of the undergrowth and snarled. It rushed forward, but Chris was ready for it. He looked it in the eyes, and the wolf stopped and lay down a few feet in front of him. It turned on its back, its paws in the air, and looked at Chris pathetically. Chris didn’t blink. Finally the wolf stood back up and ran away.

Chris looked about him, waiting for the next animal to come into view, when he heard the crashing sound of branches being ripped out. He heard a loud, low growling sound, a sound that shook Chris from his complacency. As the sound neared slowly, Chris started to feel nervous. He looked down at his feet, but this time there was nothing, just the dry earth about him.

“Where’s the food?” asked Chris, looking around frantically as the growling got louder. “I can’t see the food!” he said, beginning to panic. He took deep breaths and tried to tell himself that it was just a harmless computer game, but he wasn’t entirely convinced—it all looked and sounded so real. The growling continued, louder still, and Chris tensed up.
Maybe
, he thought,
this machine really can hurt me
, and the more he thought it, the more convinced he was that it was true.

His train of thought was broken by a sound close by, and he snapped his head round to see a set of large claws reach out from behind a tree and pull at a branch on the edge of the clearing. It snapped easily and fell to the ground. Chris held his breath as an enormous brown bear stepped out into the clearing. Chris looked at the bear and realized that it was staring directly at him. It was
only then that he realized that
he
was the food.

The bear stood up on its hind legs and let out a deep, loud roar that shook the trees about it. Chris jumped and leaned as far back in his chair as he could, and at that moment he forgot that he was supposed to be using the Ability or that the animal wasn’t real. At that moment all Chris could think about was that he was about to be ripped to pieces, and he watched in horror as the bear attacked, lunging forward.

Chris raised his arms instinctively to protect himself.

“Your Ability, Christopher, use your Ability,” said Cassandra’s voice.

Chris closed his eyes in panic and tried desperately to remember how to use his Ability, but his heart was pounding and he found it impossible to focus. He looked up and saw the jaws of the bear open wide in front of him, and then suddenly the screen around him turned black.

Chris realized he was sweating. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and breathed in deeply.

The screen began to lighten, and he was once again surrounded by woodland. Cassandra was standing in front of him, smiling.

“You did very well.”

“I didn’t, really; I couldn’t control the bear. I thought . . . I thought it was going to kill me.” As the words came out of his mouth, he realized how ridiculous they sounded.

Cassandra laughed. “You’re quite safe in here, Christopher, I promise. You did very well—the very fact that you reached that level tells me that you are an extremely talented boy, so don’t be so hard on yourself. It was, after
all, your first lesson. You will have plenty more practice—soon you’ll have bears flying all over the place!”

Chris felt his heart rate slowing. He smiled.

“That’s better,” said Cassandra. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Tired.”

“That’s to be expected; you worked hard. Have a moment to get yourself together. Drink your water and have some chocolate to get your energy back up.”

Chris lifted up the hatch and took out the water and a bar of chocolate that hadn’t been there before.

“Thanks,” said Chris, taking a bite out of the bar.

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow for your next lesson. And Christopher . . .”

“Yes?”

“I’m proud of you,” she said with a smile. The image of Cassandra faded and then the screens brightened, until all about him was the image of water swirling gently about him. Classical music started playing, and Chris leaned back in his chair and breathed out deeply. After a few minutes he took his last bite, washed it down with some water, and unbuckled himself. The door in front of him opened, and Chris stood up and reentered the classroom, which was again dark, lit only by the glow of the cubicles. As he stepped out, the doors around him also opened, and he was joined by all the other children.

Professor Ingleby was waiting for them by the door, eyebrows raised and hands clasped in anticipation.

“Welcome back, welcome back! Did you enjoy your adventure?”

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Sebastian.

“Amazing!” said Lexi.

Chris nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, it was awesome.”

Philip walked over to the professor and shook his hand. “Outstanding,” he said, and the professor grinned enthusiastically.

“I was scared at first, but I kept telling myself it wasn’t real, and after a while I really enjoyed it!” said Daisy, smiling.

“Scared?” said Rex, stepping out from the back. “You were scared of
bubbles
?”

“Bubbles?” they all asked in unison.

Rex looked about him, confused.

“Yeah, bubbles. A candle and some stupid bubbles floating about.”

“A candle, yes, but I see no bubbles,” said Sebastian.

“Me neither,” said Philip.

Rex shifted uncomfortably. “So you didn’t all stand in a meadow with some stupid military guy screaming at you to move the bubble to the left?”