Awakening (8 page)

“How many rooms are there like this?”

“Five. The first three are reserved for newly awoken and the last two are for those that have already gone through the Threshold. The last two are larger than this one and allows for multiple people to train in at once.”

“So today I am an observer?”

“For the most part you will be. You have already seen telepathy, so I am going to show you the basics of levitating and telekinesis and we will talk about healing. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable.”

“You are kind of taking up both chairs. Unless you want me to sit on the table.”

Garrett gave that damn smirk again before grandly removing his feet. Caitlyn plunked down on the chair, tempted to knock over his. Before she could act, Garrett stood up, walking over to the display on the other side of the room. She watched with interest as he picked out various objects. One by one, ten balls of various colors lifted into the air, swirling around him. As he walked closer to her, the balls began to move of their own accord, creating various patterns, circling around her mentor’s body. Finally, when Garrett reached the empty table in the middle of the room, they all landed softly in a perfect row.

Garrett walked back over, placing his palms on the table. “That was levitating in its most basic format. However, what I just did was more difficult than it may appear.”

Caitlyn was amazed even by the capability to do that. Hearing him state that Actuals can levitate was one thing, but seeing it first hand was completely different. She was enthusiastic to try. “How so?”

His left hand grabbed two of the balls, letting them rise a foot above his hands as he talked. “All these balls are the same shape and size. But the balls are made out of completely different materials. This ball-” He indicated the ball on his left hand, “is made out of cork. The other one is made out of copper. Why would this be important?”

“May I?” she asked pointing to the balls.

“Absolutely.” Garrett levitated the objects into her hands.

Caitlyn examined the two balls briefly, feeling the orbs in her hands. “They have different densities.”

She was pleased when Garrett grinned widely. “Exactly! The denser the object, the more difficult it is to levitate the object. The cork is much less dense than the copper ball, so the cork ball is easier to lift. It takes more concentration to lift the copper ball.”

“So when we start levitating, I’ll start with items low on the density scale.”

“Yes. Most times, a student will learn to lift multiple objects of a lighter density before they are ever able to levitate a small ball made of gold. Some Actuals, whose specialties lie within other talents, are never able to lift even that.”

Garrett returned most of the balls to the corner, where the room lowered the items back to wherever they came. The one exception to this was a plastic ball that remained on the table. Caitlyn looked at him questioningly.

“For those that master levitating, the next step is manipulation of physical matter. It is one thing to lift it, but quite another to be able to bend it to your will. This ability is much less frequent within our society.”

The plastic then began to shift and change, the material molding to whatever it was that Garrett desired. What was once a ball, now slowly morphed into a single plastic snowflake, intricate in its design.

Caitlyn picked it up gingerly, turning it to examine the back and sides. It was flawless. “That is amazing.”

“It takes a massive amount of concentration to do that. We will not begin to work on that until you have mastered levitating. Because it is so difficult, it is tested for in the Threshold, but not required to accomplish to pass.”

She handed the snowflake back to Garrett, who set it back on the table. “What else will we work into the training?”

“Well, the last ability that you will be tested on is healing. Healing is even more complex than matter manipulation. What is interesting about that is while some folks may not be able to manipulate matter; they have the uncanny capability to understand the abstract art that is healing. Healers by profession need to have an intricate knowledge of the body. Without that, someone who attempts healing anything significant can do irreparable damage to the subject of the healing. They are a doctor in every sense. I can teach you to heal a cut or a bruise, but anything larger than that, you would want to consult a Healer.”

“What if I have that ability?”

“A healer goes through more training than anyone else. The Trust has its own hospital, and someone that chooses Healing as a profession goes through a lot of biology and human anatomy courses with specialists. The main healers have gone to Medical School and have their doctorates.”

Caitlyn listened to Garrett’s various explanations; completely absorbed by the fact that humans can do all of this. He then took her on a tour of the facility; at least, the parts that she was allowed to enter. There were conference rooms, other training and testing rooms, two libraries, media centers, and even a gym with a pool on one floor. Caitlyn was amazed at how all of this could be at one facility without the knowledge of the town while it was being built. Garrett had advised her that the lower half of the building was completely off the grid. It was not in any way reliant on the town’s water or power supplies. If she was impressed before, she was surely blown away now.

As they returned to the training room mid-afternoon, she was lost in her own thoughts mulling over the possibilities. What if they were wrong about her? What if she did not have any special abilities? What if she was a disappointment to Garrett? It was with that last thought when Garrett’s voice again snapped her out of it.

“Nonsense. You are not going to be able to disappointment me. Ready to start?”

“Excuse me?”

Garrett laughed, throwing the cork ball at her. “I said, are you ready to start? The only way to remove those doubts is to start training. We still have a couple of hours to kill. I bet within three weeks, I’ll have you levitating.”

Caitlyn caught the ball, all the while blushing, embarrassed that she was so engrossed that she forgot that she sometimes inadvertently projected her thoughts. “When are you teaching me how to block my thoughts exactly?”

“Once we get the basics of levitation down, I promise that we will move on to blocking. Don’t worry; it’s usually only when you are deep in thought that you project them. It’s not as if I can hear them all the time. So I am going to start by having you sit and close your eyes.”

Caitlyn did as instructed, sitting in a chair. “Now what?”

“Now, I am going to have you start by touching the ball, feeling its composition. It’s often easier for new Actuals to grasp the concept of levitating by touching the object in their hand to start. Feel the ball, the texture, the weight. Now today we are just going to concentrate on teaching you how to relax, how to focus for levitating. You have to open your mind to thinking differently, to thinking like an Actual. Breathe slowly; try to clear your mind of anything. Imagine you are the ball.”

Caitlyn tried not to let her performance anxiety get to her. She held the ball in her hands; it was incredibly light, the ball overall smooth, with small imperfections on the surface. In her mind, she imagined herself as the ball, cradled in warm hands. She looked out at the walls from the balls perspective.

She listened as Garrett advised her to visualize lifting the orb till it was up to her head. Caitlyn concentrated, her mind picturing elevating the ball. Something did not feel right when she did so. She could tell she was not levitating the item. She took another deep breath, trying again and again. It was still wrong. There was an invisible barrier in her mind, a thin film that she could not quite penetrate. She let off a small groan in frustration.

“Open your eyes, Caitlyn. You need to refocus.”

Her eyes squinted slightly at the man who was now towering above her. “It’s wrong.”

Garrett grabbed her hand and lifted her to a standing position, his head cocked ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?”

She tossed the small sphere back and forth between both hands. “I don’t know. I can almost perform the levitation. When I am trying, I am pushing, trying to make the levitation occur, but my mind is not yielding. I need to do something different.”

Garrett scratched the back of his neck. “That is good. Very good. I am surprised you can feel a barrier already. It takes weeks for most people even to recognize it. Think of it this way. Your brain is used to functioning one way, but now the nerves need to complete the rewiring process. The basics are there in your head, but everything needs to connect. Give it time.”

She sat back down, closing her eyes, starting again to concentrate on the ball. The next twelve attempts were the same as the first, that invisible block always in her way, mocking her, refusing to succumb. It was late in the afternoon by this point and she rubbed her temples, frustrated that they would need to stop soon.

Garrett plopped down next to her. “We will have you try one more time today and then we can resume again tomorrow, okay? It’s been a long day and there was a lot for you to take in. Believe it or not, you have already made a lot of progress.”

Caitlyn dropped her head to her chest, wallowing in her defeat, before slowing raising it again. “Can I take a break, just for a minute, and then we can try our last attempt?”

Her teacher smiled. “Of course. I am going to check to see if Katie has the details on my meeting with Councilman Riley. I’ll be right back.”

The door closed shut behind her and she pulled at her hair with her hands. Caitlyn could not grasp why she could not do this. She knew that it was right there, right in front of her. She needed that barrier to break. But the question remained on how? What was she doing wrong? When Caitlyn felt the barrier, she pushed and she had pulled, and… nothing. She paced around the room thinking of a solution.

Garrett re-entered the room, her mood no better than she was before. He placed a sympathetic hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder, patting in lightly. “Ready to go one more round?”

“Yes.”

She grasped the ball in her hand, the image of raising it clear in her mind. She felt the obstruction at that moment. As she pushed at the barrier, she again pushed harder, to try to lift the ball, only to find the resistance got stronger and harder. Finally, a thought occurred to her. What if she didn’t push? What if she did not do anything? She let her body relax, the stress built up in her melting away. The barrier then released.

Caitlyn surged forward when she felt it, visualizing the ball high in the air. She felt it leaving her hands gently, and she opened her eyes. The ball was floating directly in front of her. Caitlyn gasped in surprise that it worked, losing her concentration, and she heard the soft clang as the ball hit the floor.

Garrett’s eyes were wide. It appeared that he was talking to himself. “Remarkable.”

Caitlyn grinned. “Nothing to it!”

“No, Caitlyn. Actuals don’t…” he squeezed his eyes shut. “Actuals don’t just levitate on the first day of training. It just doesn’t happen.”

Her elation deflated. “Is there something wrong with it?”

He forced himself to smile at her. “No, of course not! It’s just… very unexpected. Sorry, it sounded like I wasn’t excited by it. I really am! It’s an amazing feat. Really!”

“Can we try again?”

“Not tonight. But I promise, first thing in the morning we will begin right where we left off.”

As they left the building, Caitlyn felt as if she was the one floating only a few minutes before. That night, she went to bed truly believing that all of this was real; that it was not just a dream or something she made up in her head. Caitlyn was beginning to feel that for the first time in her life, she truly was where she belonged.

T
he weeks flowed by and Garrett and Caitlyn fell into an easy pattern. They met in the mornings to train, working all day, and several evenings a week they would get together to have dinner or watch a movie. Caitlyn enjoyed the time she spent with Garrett; not only was he a good mentor, but she liked him genuinely as a person.

There were times that she felt the lines of friendship blur. It was obvious to note that while Garrett was a flirt by nature, he never actively pursued any woman he rained his attentions on. As far as Caitlyn knew, she was the only person that he spent any quality time with.

When they were in the training facility, he was overall professional. But outside of it, Caitlyn saw the Garrett that she met back in North Carolina return. He was relaxed and fun. The evenings they would have dinner, there were often seemingly innocent touches or hugs, as she would leave. Lately, she had been finding herself trying to make those hugs linger or finding ways of accidently brushing by him.

It was a strange kind of dance she was performing, and she was not quite sure why she was doing so. She was attracted to Garrett’s looks and had been from that first night she saw him. But he was her mentor, and she did not want anything getting in the way of that most crucial relationship.

Caitlyn’s success on the first day of training continued. She could tell that Garrett was bewildered by the fact that she could so readily pick up on the things he was teaching her.

First, it was levitation. After that first day, Garrett spent that primary week, honing her ability to lift the ball. He was right about rewiring her brain. The more she practiced, the more levitation became second nature. By the end of the second week, she could lift the ball without closing her eyes and concentrating. She simply thought that she wanted to raise the ball, and the ball lifted to her will.

Garrett then moved her to objects with a higher density. Again, he warned her that this would be a more difficult task than the cork ball. And at first, it was. The block was more difficult to break through. But once she had a fundamental understanding that the she needed to think about the object more abstractly, it was extremely easy for her. She thought of the objects that Garrett gave her as a group of atoms, nothing more. Once she did that, she was able to lift anything that he threw at her-Styrofoam, Steel, and Gold.