Eden's Gate

Chapter 9: A Terrible Mistake

It had been a little over a week since classes began. Every day of Psychic 101 had been theory, theory, theory. Today though, was the first time she'd get to practice. She was very excited for that.

Their first unit was on Telekinesis because it was the easiest to do. While using the Third Eye to gaze beyond the current space and time was all well and good, the different ways it could do that were all unique to do. Telekinesis, by contrast, was utterly simple; use brain to push object. But there was so much to it - how were you pushing that object? What sort of forces were you applying,in what way, and even how you saw the forces being applied.

The past week had been Professor Manfred demonstrating how things as simple as how you envision your force could change it. He had set up a bowl of water and showed them how he could move it telekinetically as a ball, as a hand, a single line, or even as a claw. This has been how he's been able to stop Devon. While Devon had imagined moving the whole ball, he simply imagined his force as a wall in front of it.

He broke the kids off into two groups, and of course Edelweiss went with Kaitlyn. Clifton and Taylor formed another pair, and Richard joined them to even out the odd numbered class.

"Alright. I want you to stand across from each other, and lift the steel ball into the air together. To do this exercise, you will need to focus on two skills. The first is the amount of force you're applying. You and your partner will have to balance each other's forces to lift the ball properly. The second is adjusting your force such that it only affects half the ball. Begin!"

The task was harder than it seemed to be. Kaitlyn's Telekinetic ability was more powerful then Eda's could ever hope to be, but her raw power was much more then Kaitlyn's. Balancing those two forces out - that was a challenge. But she knew that was the point. Not to mention the timing required for the ball to stay where it was. It was all very precise.

Which, Kaitlyn realized fairly quickly, was entirely the point.

"Okay," Edelweiss said after 4 trials, "let's try again. This time, we both lift our half on 3."

"On 3?"

"On 3. 1, 2, and 3!"

The two lifted it together slowly, up and up and up. Kaitlyn struggled to keep it controlled and Edelweiss struggled to keep up. The ball jittered in the air, almost like it was twitching. It was at their waists. Kaitlyn widened her stance ever so slightly. She was picturing a flat panel under half the ball. She knew Edelweiss was imagining the other half. The ball glowed with a mix of her shimmering purple and Edelweiss' radiant white. It kept going. Her eyes fixed on it, unblinking, until it reached over both of their heads.

"Bully!" Called out Professor Manfred, "Looks like our two young ladies were the first to get it! Don't be discouraged, close friendships often make working together with psychic abilities much easier. That's why I let you choose your partners! Don't worry, you'll be paired up with someone you're not as compatible with soon enough. Now back to it!"

He clapped his hands and everyone got back to work. Kaitlyn was blushing a bit, so she didn't notice when Professor Manfred came up to them.

"Alright. Well done you two! Now, I want you to do it again while you wait for the others to finish up. Try and go as fast as you can," he said.

The two nodded, and he walked on to the next group to observe how they were doing. Kaitlyn snuck a glance at Clifton and Taylor - they were getting close, too. She could tell. Richard just sat at a nearby desk while he waited for his chance.

"Alright. We lift on 3 again?"

"Right."

"1, and 2, and 3!" Kaitlyn counted down.