The Key (3 page)

But I don't get far before a hissing sound has everyone look up to the sky. The morning buzzer sounds, but no one takes any notice as the hissing sound turns into a shrill and eerie whistle. Ethan grabs my arm and shoves me over. ‘Take cover!'

From out of nowhere a flaming ball of fire comes sweeping into view, careering and spinning wildly. Everyone – and I mean every single person in the entire school grounds – starts screaming and running in all directions. The fireball – or meteorite – or whatever the hell it is, suddenly explodes. Burning rock-like debris
shatters over the top of the school. Some fragments hit the ground, burning holes, while others hit and roll, leaving a trail of fire behind.

Ethan falls on top of me as a piece of burning debris crashes so close that the heat from it scalds my skin and singes my hair. Before I realise what's happening, my hair catches fire. Ethan tries to put it out with his bare hands. I grab his wrists to stop him, but he's strong and doesn't stop until the fire is completely out. We sit up and I take his hands to look at them, but he pulls them away. He's badly burnt and I can smell his burning flesh mingling with the smell of my burnt hair.

‘Are you guys all right?' Isabel comes running over with Matt.

‘Ethan's hands are burnt,' I tell her.

She takes his hands and turns them over. She's going to heal them right now in front of everybody! As always, Isabel's heart rules over her head. Some call it courage. It will get her into trouble.

‘Don't be so obvious,' I tell her.

She snaps at me. ‘Would you rather I leave him in pain?' She looks at my hair, singed right up one side. ‘He did this for you, obviously.'

If only I wasn't so conscious of Ethan's eyes on me. I don't dare wonder what he's thinking. My mind switches to auto sometimes and I can't help what I overhear. But right now I don't want to know. He probably thinks I'm cold and heartless, happy to see him suffer.

Within seconds of Isabel's touch, Ethan's red and blistering skin starts to heal and smooth out. He gives his hands a little shake and thanks her, which reminds me I haven't thanked
him
yet for putting the fire out in my hair, or for knocking me out of the direct path of that
fragment of burning cosmic debris.

Strangely, it's as if
he
can read my thoughts for a minute. When I look up from studying my toes, he says, ‘It's all right. You just happened to be the closest to me at the time. I would have done it for Carter if he'd been standing in your place.'

Deflated, I take a look around. The school yard is a mess, with little fires dotted all over the place, but amazingly, only one classroom appears damaged, down in D Block. People are still screaming though. The two security guards and a half-dozen teachers are running from one person to another checking to see if anyone has been seriously hurt. There are sirens in the distance, drawing nearer, so someone in the office must have already phoned for help.

‘Look at that,' Isabel says in a stunned tone.

The whole sky from one end of the horizon to the other is lit with flashing streaks of falling stars. It's a meteor shower, dazzling even in the bright morning sunlight. The sight is simply amazing. Everyone stares, mesmerised.

Then one comes careering in our direction, and we start running for cover again. It explodes high enough in the atmosphere to burn up before hitting the ground, but creates a brilliant flash of light right over the top of us.

The teachers have started organising students to go home. Some line up at the office to call their parents. Others pull out mobile phones. The first siren has arrived and it's a fire truck. It's then I realise that part of D Block is now burning away to the ground!

Another flash and hiss overhead has everyone screaming. This is soon followed by a series of explosive bursts
of hot gas. Mr Carter runs over to us, grabbing our arms and pushing us together. ‘Get to the mountain. Tell Arkarian what's happened. He might have some answers.'

‘I have to stay,' Isabel says. ‘I can help if anyone is seriously injured.'

‘No!' Mr Carter yells. ‘You can't risk exposing your powers, Isabel. It's against the rules. I shouldn't have to remind you about that. Besides, medical help is on its way. There are ambulances and rescue vehicles headed here right now.'

‘Mr Carter, I can't turn my back on someone who is injured if it's in my power to help. The Tribunal will understand. I promise I'll be careful not to reveal my identity.'

Mr Carter looks at Matt, then Ethan. ‘Whatever you have to do, get Isabel out of here, even if you have to drag her screaming with her hands tied behind her back.'

Ethan and Matt share a brief look of amusement.

‘What about Neriah?' Matt asks. ‘How much does she know? Should we take her with us?'

Mr Carter frowns. ‘She needs to get home. By the time I call her guards to come back and collect her …'

‘I'll take care of her,' I volunteer. ‘I'll make sure she gets home all right.'

Mr Carter stares at me for a second too long. I don't even try to read his thoughts. He's projecting his hostility for clear viewing anyway. ‘All right,' he agrees reluctantly.

With that decided we move off, when another hissing sound draws our attention back to the sky.

‘Look!' Matt calls out. This time a meteor hurtles
wildly across the sky, leaving a trail of fire where it passes. ‘It's headed for us!'

Mr Carter screams in our ears, ‘Get out of here! Everybody run!'

The meteor takes no more than a few seconds to descend thousands of metres. It seems impossibly close when it explodes, shattering right over our heads. Burning pieces of rock hit like cannonballs, wiping out anything in their path. Trees tumble, fences come down. Several cars in the carpark are annihilated. I look around for a safe space when I hear someone nearby scream out in agonising pain. I spin around and see Mr Carter, half buried in the ground, his legs crushed beneath a slab of misshapen and steaming rock.

I run over to see what I can do. The rock isn't on fire, but the heat radiating from it keeps me at a distance. Matt and Ethan run over and are also stopped by the pulsing heat. Both look shocked. Mr Carter is in big trouble.

Ethan and Matt peel off their jackets. Together, with their clothes covering their hands, they attempt to shove the boulder off with their hands and feet. But the boulder is too heavy and the heat is still intense. How can Mr Carter stand it?

‘We need a crane here!' Ethan calls out.

I can't help thinking that by the time that sort of equipment arrives, it will be too late.

Isabel and Neriah come running over, looking stunned.

‘I'll get the firemen,' Neriah suggests. ‘They'll know what to do.'

Even though Mr Carter is so badly hurt, he tries to wave Ethan and Matt away. He's dying, and he must know it.

‘We're not leaving you!' Isabel gets down near his head. She's going to try and heal him, but how can she when that boulder is still there, crushing his legs? She exchanges a look with Ethan. ‘Get this thing off him! Hurry!'

Mr Carter grips her arm and struggles to whisper, ‘Forget it, Isabel.' He tries to stifle a moan. ‘Forget what you see here. I want you to go. Just get out of here!' He turns his head towards Matt and Ethan, pleading with his eyes. ‘Take Isabel and go!'

Neriah returns with two firemen. They quickly assess the situation and one runs back to the truck for some equipment. The other talks into a radio attached to his collar, requesting urgent backup and heavy wrenching gear. He then tells everyone to stand back, including another teacher, a very distressed-looking Ms Burgess.

‘You'll be all right, Marcus,' she calls out.

Isabel doesn't move. The fireman insists and Ethan and Matt drag her away. Mr Carter is treated by two paramedics, but they share a look filled with silent hopelessness.

At last the machinery arrives and the rescue team work quickly to set it up. Before long the boulder is secured and ready to be mechanically lifted. The crane takes the strain, but nothing moves. The boulder is too heavy.

Isabel attempts to run over but Mr Carter, weak from blood loss, shock and severe burns, pierces her with warning eyes, and Ethan drags her back. Matt urges her to hold on.

‘But Matt, he's still alive! As soon as that boulder is lifted, I can heal him,' she hisses. ‘But I have to be close enough to touch him.'

And as if this day hasn't freaked us all out already, suddenly a golden light appears in the sky. It swells and shimmers and starts to pour down towards us. We gasp, but have no time to move. Within seconds it goes through me, warming and tingling as it passes through every cell in my body. I shake with it, unable to speak, and wonder what on earth is going on. What could this possibly be?

‘What's happening over there?' Ms Burgess calls out as she sees the light surround us.

The shaking continues for several seconds, until suddenly the light disappears and I drop to the ground on all fours. Out of breath, I try to regain some balance and realise I was somehow hovering in the air.

As I start to get up I can't help becoming aware of the grass beneath my fingers. It's my hands that are my special skill. My sense of touch is analytic. I can tell the structure of things like chemical substances, rocks, metals and soils. But right now my hands are feeling much more. I'm aware, and can somehow ‘see' the structure of the earth for a depth of several kilometres. It's like my mind is on auto-focus, zooming through the layers of earth with a video camera.

And then I hear the voices. They sound like hundreds! I look around the school grounds, but there's no more than twenty people in the immediate surrounding area. I try to shut them out, but nothing works. A girl is screaming in her thoughts. Her leg is burnt and the pain from it is making her think she's about to die. I cover my ears with both my hands, but the voices won't go away. I can even hear the thoughts of the firemen still trying to put out the fire in the classroom down the other end of the school.

I sit back on my heels and wonder what's happening to me. It's as if my powers have been magnified. How am I going to handle this? I try to focus, to slow my own thoughts down enough to control the voices.

It's then I see Isabel. She's experiencing something strange too. The glow over her body is only now dissipating. Untouched by the light, the rescue workers and Ms Burgess stare as if we have each grown three heads.

‘Are you all right over there? The five of you were sucked into the air,' one of the firemen calls out. He shakes his head. ‘This is turning into one hell of a day.'

Ethan nods to reassure them, though he still looks dazed. But it's Isabel who looks the strangest; her stare is odd and vacant. I try to single out her thoughts from the others bombarding my brain. For a moment I can, but there's way too much power in her head right now. I get a strange buzz like an electric shock and pull away.

Suddenly the boulder crushing Mr Carter's legs lifts. And as the medical team moves in to shift Mr Carter to a stretcher, I understand what's going on. The gasps of awe from the medical crew are the first signs. They're saying now how the earth beneath Mr Carter's legs must have collapsed with the impact, creating some sort of cushioning effect. Another medic says it's just a miracle and that he should be dead, or even paralysed. But Mr Carter is neither dead nor paralysed. He's not even burned, even though his pants are ashen shreds. He's just shaken up. And if it didn't attract too much attention I'm sure he would simply stand up and walk, but he knows better than that. Isabel has healed him. Whatever that golden light did to me, it also had an effect on her, and by the looks of Ethan, on him too. Even Neriah looks strange, kind of vague.

Ms Burgess runs to Mr Carter's side. Just before she gets to him, he nods once at Isabel, and his look is filled with awe and gratitude.

She smiles at him with glassy eyes. ‘You'll be OK,' she mouths.

Isabel healed Mr Carter without so much as laying one finger on him. She healed him from a distance! A short distance, but a distance all the same.

Ethan comes over and takes my hands, turning them over gently. I look down and see them for the first time. They make me gasp.

‘Do they hurt?' he asks.

I'm lost for words. I can't stop staring at my hands. Streaks of vivid colours are running across them like little electric currents. ‘They tingle. What happened to them? Do you think it's permanent?'

He shrugs. ‘One thing's for sure, they're going to attract attention.'

He's right. I pull them away and shove them into my coat pockets. ‘What's happening to us?'

‘I have no idea.'

‘How have you changed?'

Softly Ethan says, ‘Those rescue workers didn't have a hope of lifting that boulder even with all their equipment. Whatever it's composed of, it's heavier than any rock or mineral found on this earth.'

‘
You
lifted it?'

He nods. ‘When that light came down on us I got a sense of … I don't know, it felt like a thrust of power surged through me. I felt stronger. So I tried to use my skill of animating objects, and it worked.'

‘Luckily for Mr Carter.'

Matt hears us talking, and his mouth hangs open.

‘Anything happen with you?' Ethan asks him hopefully. Everyone knows how desperate Matt is to gain his powers. According to the Prophecy, Matt is supposed to lead the Named into the Final Battle against Lathenia and her Order of Chaos.
It will come to pass that a king shall rule, but not before a leader pure of heart awakens
. But so far Matt can't even lead himself. And his doubts are destroying his confidence.

Matt's eyes flick to the sky, where the meteorite shower has slowed to a trickle of shooting stars in the distance, then jerks his shoulders.