The Exception

Chapter 7

"What just happened?" Crystal asked James. "Did I do that?"

James didn't say anything, staring at her in shock. After a few seconds of silence he broke his stare, and put his shock aside, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Try doing it again," he said.

Crystal focused on her hands. She put all her energy into them, feeling them start to tingle. She then threw her arms down, the same way she did before. A strong gust of wind blew from her, in all directions, knocking down the remaining chair. She thought she saw her necklace glow a light red, but ignored it, thinking it was just in her head.

Crystal stared at James, wide-eyed. She wasn't in as much shock as she was the first time, but she was still shocked knowing that it wasn't just a one-time thing. She looked over at James. He looked a little shocked, but seemed kind of calm.

"Try something else," James said, eager to see what was going on.

"Uh," Crystal said, biting her lip in thought.

"Maybe try lifting one of the chair back up," James suggested.

Crystal focused all the energy in her hand, and directed it at the chair. She moved her hand up, and she saw the chair lift off the ground, getting farther from the ground as she continued to move her hand up. As she saw what was going on, she gasped, losing her focus. The chair fell to the ground, breaking once it hit the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" Crystal said, looking at James with sad eyes.

"It's fine," he said. "It's not even that big of a deal."

Crystal didn't respond, looking at the broken pieces of wood. "Hey, maybe I could try putting it back together!" she suggested.

"I don't know," James said. "That just seems really hard."

Crystal ignored him and decided to try, starting to get a little excited at the fact of new powers. She directed her hand at the chair, and tried to imagine what it would look like if it wasn't broken. She put the picture in her mind, and focused her energy towards the chair. The pieces lifted into the air, and swirled around. They were put back together, as if they were never broken, as the chair sank back to the ground.

"Did you see that?!" Crystal said, looking at James with a huge grin on her face.

James noticed that she was smiling. He tried not to smile back, but he couldn't help it. It was a small smile at first, but as it grew it pressed his cheeks up, slowly revealing his teeth. Finally, the smile reached his eyes, lighting them, and causing them to crinkle around the corners. Yes, I did," he said, his eyes seeming to twinkle.

"What else do you think I could do?!" Crystal said, excitement bursting out of her.

"I don't know," James said. "Try anything,"

"Oh, I know!" Crystal announced. "I could try to make something appear!"

"Go ahead," James said, still smiling.

"What?" Crystal asked, wondering what to make appear.

"How about a small bag of chips?" James suggested.

Crystal closed her eyes. She stuck her hand out, imagining a bag of chips in her head. She felt her hand shift weight, as she felt something in it. She opened her eyes to find that it was a bag of chips, with a shiny new wrapper.

She looked at James, her heart racing in excitement.

"You deserve to eat that bag of chips," James joked.