Hidden Heirs and Fallen Crowns (Complete)

Chapter 23

I stood staring up at the tree, as I always did before climbing it. There were still the strips of bark that had been peeled away during yesterday morning's lesson.

I took my shoes off, like I always did, and ran towards the tree. At the last second, my running quadrupled in speed and I would have smashed into the tree bark had it not been for my reflex Talent, making me swerved at the last millisecond. I felt some of the bark brush against the hair on my bare arm.

I stopped suddenly a few metres behind the tree, catching my breath. That was one thing I really needed to learn to control.

I walked back to the tree, but instead of jumping like I usually did I stood in from of the trunk, and placed my open hand a few centimetres from it. Instantly I felt a strong tug, and my hand was pulled into contact with the tree.

My eyes widened. I took my hand away, noticing how much harder it was than usual, and tried again. I placed my hand a bit further away this time, and there was the tug, but a bit weaker.

This answered one big question: why didn't my fingers and toes leave loads of marks everywhere in the tree? There were a few, yes, but nowhere near as many as I thought there would be, considering I had twenty nails in all and I crawled up the tree like a snail.

I spun around and was about to tell Jasmine and Zed, but then realised this was probably a bad time to interrupt.

Oh well. I walked back to the tree and placed both hands a few centimetres from the bark. They were both pulled strongly.

I messed about with this for a bit, placing one hand further away from the bark than the other, seeing how far I could walk back and feel the tug, try and work out which part of my hand exactly was being attracted to the tree, work out if I only felt the tug when I was stationary or when I was moving, trying to see if my feet were attracted as well (which they were).

Then I remembered the actual purpose of me going to the garden. I placed both hands higher up on the trunk, and then one foot in contact with the tree. They seemed to stick there like strong magnets. I placed my second foot next the other one.

I got into a less awkward position, and started my climb. Taking one hand away from the tree was nearly impossibly in my position the first time, but I pulled it away firmly and placed it higher up. The same happened with my other hand and my feet.

The second time I pulled my hand away from the bark the tree seemed almost reluctant to let me pull my hand away, but it was still a tiny bit easier this time. Again, the same went for my other limbs.

Now a pattern appeared: the more I took my hands and feet away from the bark the easier it got. I started worrying that the connection (or whatever it was called) was fading, but when I was halfway up the tree the easiness remained the same until I reached the highest thick branch.

By then I was very confused. What was happening? Why was this appearing all of a sudden? It hadn't happened the last two times I'd been Climbing, had it? No, I was positive it hadn't; I would definitively have felt it.

By the time I had settled myself on the highest thick enough branch, I was sure I had to tell Jasmine.

I sent a sharp, direct signal, and heard an immediate response. Yes?

Hi, Jasmine. I just wanted to tell you that I turned magnetic.

Huh?

I'm magnetic.

Silence. Suzanne?

Yeah?

Are you OK?

I'm actually not joking, I insisted. I'm my hands are attracted to the tree.