Smoking Power

Chapter 27

We all stand in some crazy semi-circle around the four gifts. The one that we opened before, we pushed away to the side so we wouldn't make the mistake of opening it again by accident. After we put the four pieces of the lavapick that we do have back together, we went to check up on Declan and to explain some more stuff to him.

Much to Declans grudging and complaining, the doctor said that he was good to go but just take it easy. So we literally pulled him with us so we could figure out how to get this final piece. Which is the reason why Amber, Declan, Clarence, Clark and I are now all staring at the boxes in some containment room in Headquarters.

"So, what d'we do now?" Amber asks after several moments of us doing absolutely nothing pass by.

"Right," Clarence over enthusiastically claps his hands together, "We should put this bar over the top of whichever box we're opening just incase the same thing which happened to you last time happens again." Clarence grabs a spare metal pole from the back of the room and positions it above the boxes. I understand what he means, if the same thing happens again and we can't move any of our limbs, the box lid should hit the pole when we open it and slam back shut again. 

"So who's going to open one? I bags not me. I did last time." Declan quickly shakes his head so he's not stuck doing it.

Across the room from me, Clark sighs and shakes his head at Declan, "I will."

We all take a step over, allowing Clark to walk forward, towards the bronze boxes. Out of the three boxes that we'll have to open, Clark selects the middle one. I see him inhale loudly before he turns his head to look over his shoulder at us, "Everyone move your arm around or something so we'll know if it's another Brain Wave Disrupter."

We all hold our breaths an mindlessly swing our arms around as we wait in anticipation for Clark to open the gift. Everything seems to in slow motion from here, I see the tips of Clarks fingers graze the corners of the lid of the gift. My arm which is actually moving quite fast seems to slow down dramatically.

But as Clarks fingers fully grasp the boxes lid, the moment of slowness ends just as quickly as it began. The lid slams up in a rush of wind before noisily banging into the pole and slamming back down on top of the box. Through the whole ordeal, my arm never stops spinning in a hypnotic circle.

The only sound that can be heard in the room is our loud breaths coming out of all of our adrenalin filled bodies. "BWD clear." Clark manages to mutter after we all manage to catch our breaths back a bit.

"Then what is it?" Declan asks dumbly, twisting his head up to get a better angle of the box as if hoping it'll tell him somehow.

"As hard as it may be to believe, I didn't get a good look," Clark rolls his eyes at Declans stupiditly as I fight to hide the smile that threatens to fill my lips. "I'm going to keep it open, okay?"

"Okay, go ahead," Clarence gives Clark the nod of approval for him to open it.

Clarks nods back at him before turning to look back at the box. From my angle of view, I can see Clark take a few more deep breaths as his fingers secure their hold on the gifts lid. This time, Clark opens the lid slowly and carefully. As we all try to get a view of whatever the box contains, we realise that Clarks body stands in the way and blocks the view from all of us.

"Well? What is it?" Declan impatiently asks after he obviously gives up on waiting for Clark to share whatever it is with the rest of us.

"Uh," Clark looks at all of our expectant faces and blinks in surprise. He seems confused. I can't help but wonder whether that's a good or bad thing. "It's a torch."