Chapter 6
Oops! I Did It Again
I could smell the eggs and bacon from outside, and couldn’t wait to eat some. I just realized that in all that excitement I had missed supper last night, and I was starving.
When we walked in the door everybody was running around getting breakfast. It took a total of 3 seconds for everyone to stop what they were doing and stare at us. I was feeling pretty awkward when to my surprise, a chorus of, ‘Hello’s and ‘Welcome’s rang through the kitchen. Then everybody went right back to what they were doing before.
“Good old home,” Jack said behind me, and I realized that this was his house, he lived here, and all these kids were his guests.
I looked back at him and asked, “Where are we staying?”
He pointed up and said, “I’ll show you after breakfast.” I didn’t argue, I was too hungry to disagree with him.
Breakfast here reminded me of lunch at school, everybody was talking so loud you couldn’t here the person next to you. All through the meal people came up to us and introduced themselves and their gifts. About half way through the meal the water people came in and got their food.
I didn’t say much the whole meal, even though all these people provided conversation, I wasn’t in the mood. I was really tired, and just wanted to find my room and collapse on the bed. I’d had plenty of time to think on the way here, but I still hadn’t figured anything out.
Finally Jack noticed that we were all tired out, even Jennifer, after her long nap, was looking exhausted. And he led us up the stairs to the second floor and showed Nico and me our room, looks like we’re roommates. Then he took Jennifer up to the third floor and gave her a room as well. I guessed that the guys got the second floor and the girls got the third floor, and as the flood of people from breakfast came back to their rooms for a quick break, the girls kept going up the stairs just as I had guessed.
I turned back to the small dorm we were assigned. On the wall opposite the door, was a twin size bed with a plain blue blanket and pillow on top. In the other corner was an identical bed. On the same wall as the door was a closet with double doors that folded open. It was a relatively simple room but I didn’t mind. Nico was already out on the farthest bed and I thought he had the right idea, so I plopped down on my own bed. Slipping my shoes off, I lay down.
It felt like I had only just closed my eyes when someone shook me awake. It was Nico, “Hey, dude, you gotta go! Time for training!”
“What? What time is it?” I sat up rubbing my eyes.
“About 10 in the morning,”
“But we just got here an hour ago! They can’t expect us to train right now!” a simple nap wasn’t going to revive me from the fiasco that had occurred only hours before.
“Dude, we just got here 25 hours ago,” he replied calmly, but putting emphasis on the 25, “You slept through the day and the next night,”
I got dressed and went down stairs, Nico stayed upstairs for a little while because he didn’t have training yet or something. There was a group of around 7 people waiting for me in the backyard. When I got there, they all greeted me with big “hey”s and “hello”s. I got a few names, Charlotte, Dan, Melissa, Willie, and I can’t remember them all, but there were more.
Jack showed up a few seconds later and demanded our attention. He told us all to hold out our right hands and did so himself.
“Now I want all of you to close your eyes.” He said, “And think of a candle, a small candle. There is the smallest of flames hugging the wick, flickering in the breeze.”
I imagined it, the small candle, sitting on my palm against a black background. It was so small but it helped me see everything around me. Then as if triggered by my thoughts I felt a warmth on my hand. I opened my eyes to find a small flame flickering not less than a centimeter above my palm.
I took in a sharp breath, and then realizing it wasn’t burning me, let it out slowly. As I breathed out, the flame flickered in my palm and went out. My brow furrowed in concentration as I tried to make the small flickering light reappear. After a minute of trying and failing to make it come back I looked up to see that Jack was watching me. He seemed disappointed yet approving at the same time. I wondered what was wrong but didn’t have the courage to ask.
Around me the other kids were still trying to get their first flame. Jack quieted them and then started talking some more.
“When you want a flame, you do not concentrate on a getting a flame to appear, that will do nothing for you. You focus on the flame itself. Imagine it flickering in the breeze. Fell the warmth of it. And try again,”
Once again I imagined a flame and again I felt the warmth on my palm. Opening my eyes I found a small flame sitting there. I wondered briefly what I could do with it. Curiosity got the better of me and I imagined the flame moving up a few inches. It floated only an inch higher than it already was.
Happy with this outcome, I imagined it getting larger, only by a little bit. This time I had no control, the flame expanded to be larger than my head, and caught fire to the tree I had been standing under. I yelped in surprise but the flame vanished. I looked back at Jack, and he had his hand out in front of him, balled up in a fist.
I realized that Jack had vanquished the flame, and I, was in trouble. He had a grim face on that told me I had just broken a huge rule.
“Oops,” I said in a voice so tiny I wondered if he heard it.
His face contorted to confusion for a quick moment, “It is a simple mistake, but from now on, no experimenting. You will do as I say and nothing more.” He said.
I nodded and he turned back to the class continuing. I barely listened the rest of the time. Not trying anything but what he said. We did simple things, like make the flame float in certain patterns, and putting it out. We did not however work on enlarging the flame. I think there had been enough of that for one class.
