Agent BlueBird

Chapter 4 - Mental powers

Her mother leads her to the center of the mat and starts to explain, "There are different levels of mental abilities. Some people like me and you are stronger than others. Some even have the potential to develop their mental ability so far that they can do what we call the three T's; telekinesis, teleportation and telepathy, the one we have. I must warn you however, that nobody has mastered the art of teleportation. It is still a theory at this point, but some have mastered manifestation, which is connected to teleportation."

" What makes them so special? What did they do to be able to do the things that others can't do?" Rebecca asks her mother while frowning deeply.

"They are slightly more intelligent and advanced than others. Manifestation and teleportation isn't something you can gain by practice, it's an ability you have to be born with, but if you don't practice you won't know you have that ability either and you definitely won't get better it."

"So do you think that I maybe have that ability?" Rebecca asks perking up and bouncing on the balls of her feet again, her hazel head of hair bouncing along with the action.

"There is only one way to find out," her mother says in a sly but excited way while raising one eyebrow.

"Let's get started. First, I want to start training you in the basics. Developing your natural ability which is telepathy. For a start you need to try to read my mind and later I will try and block you out, create a mental wall which you have to break through. "

"Okay, that doesn't sound too hard to do. Please just don't think of any feelings towards Dad, I know you guys love each other but seriously I don't want to know your exact feelings," she requests, cringing in disgust.

Her mother laughs at this and continues to simply reply, "Okay." She pauses and shakes her head before speaking again. "Now, look at me. Zone in on my current thought and see into my mind." Rebecca stares at her mother intensely, her face turning red from holding her breath while concentrating. Her mother's eyes are fixed on her face and she notices Rebecca's state.

"Stop, stop. Before you pass out," her mother says comically.

"What?" Rebecca asks gasping for the air she needed a couple of seconds ago.

"You are doing exactly what you must not do, you have to breathe. Get oxygen to your brain," her mother says and demonstrates by breathing deeply. "Try to remove all thoughts from your mind, clear your head. Now look at me, look into my eyes. Connect our brainwaves," Her mother tries to explain in the only way she knows how.

"I have done this before you know, at school," Rebecca says with her left delicate brow arched.

"Well good, then all I need to teach you now is to zone in on specific people and to look casual doing it, " her mother says in a bit more challenging way than she intended. "Now remember what I said and let's try again."

Rebecca tries once more, breathing controlled deep breaths. Removing all thoughts from her mind, she starts to hear a breathy, vague voice. She can tell the voice is not her own, it's as if it is an intruder in her mind. The voice asks, "Can you hear me?" repeatedly. Rebecca tries to answer by telepathy, but it is something she never tried before. She struggles and after a while just answers aloud," Yeah I can hear you." in an exhausted voice, reflecting how big a toll the action takes on her and how mentally unfit she is.

"You sound a little tired, as a beginner it takes a lot out of you. You are using a lot of brain power you never used before, along with parts of your brain you have never used before," her mother says gently. "You have to constantly refuel, especially at the beginning of developing your talents. Eat lots of brain food," her mother gives her some advice and puts her hand on Rebecca's shoulder.

"Do you have any specific 'brain food' that you can suggest?" Rebecca asks, knowing that the more advice she can get the better for the future of her abilities. Her mother walks to one of the cupboards against the wall opposite to the door and opens it up. It turns out to actually be a fridge containing all kinds of food and drinks. Rebecca follows her mother to the cupboards and leans against one.

"We keep food and drinks here for the breaks in between training," her mother explains as she shows Rebecca some of the contents. "Oily fish is good brain food, unfortunately we don't keep that in the fridge," her mother jokes and smiles at her daughter, who smiles with closed eyes in return. "Nuts are also sufficient, you will find some in the cupboard behind you." Her mother points to the overhead cupboard behind Rebecca. Who turns around to open the cupboard and finds some salted nuts in the white interior. "More examples are whole grains, blueberries, tomatoes, blackcurrant, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, sage as a spice and of course drink your Vitamins in general," her mother continues.

"Wow! That is a long list." Rebecca starts munching on a few nuts and asks, "Are all these cupboards full of food?"

Her mother laughs at her daughter's innocence and excited tone. "No. Some are full of self-defence training apparatus and others with mental training apparatus." She pauses for a second to look at her daughter, who is staring into the packet of nuts, and smiles. "Your dad will now tell you more about self-defence," her mother says and starts crossing the room.

"Wait, was that it for today?" Rebecca asks in surprise and drops the nuts on the grey marble countertop of the bottom cupboards. She follows closely behind her mother with small strides.

"Yes. We don't want to overwhelm you; we know how much of a shock this can be. So today is all about introducing you into the training program and seeing where your abilities lie," her mother says and stops a few steps from the door where they entered.

"Okay, so all I need to know is what brain food to eat and how to zone in specific peoples' thoughts?" Rebecca asks with a surprised and confused tone.

"Pretty much. Three classes will be split into three parts. First, we teach you about the different powers, their history and how to theoretically use them. Then we do training where you try and do it yourself. We still teach you facts during training, but mostly you just practice. The last part or third part is when we start taking you on assignments with us. If we really think you are that good, we might even let you do an assignment alone, but it will be a long time before that happens."