The Boy Who Could Shape The Air

-=Chapter Three- And You Thought YOUR Hallway Was Awkward=-

  "Great bloody plan," Ethan deadpanned.  "Only problem- how the frick do we get in there?"

  "I think I have a solution for that," Mark said.  He began making extravagant gestures with his fingers, little twinkling lights flickering into existence wherever he swept his hands.  Finally, with a last, larger burst of light, he stopped.  Cleared his throat.

  "Um... what did you do?" said Jaden.

  "Mind-field," he said.  "It's one of the things I can do.  While we're in here, people will not notice us by sight.  We can make noise, but nothing obvious.  Probably shouldn't talk."

  "That's sort of cool," replied Eric.  "But if we can't talk, how will we get you to Lisa?"

  "I can set up a mind-link with you three," he said.  "Just kind of... think at us, and we'll hear you."

  We barely know these people, I said.  Are we really putting them in our mindlink?

  No, said Mark.  I'm not dumb.  They'll be in a separate one that also includes us.  Different frequency.  You'll get it.

  Whoa, said Jaden.  This is cool.  Can you guys really hear me?

  The answer was obviously yes.  Sara staggered back in alarm, while Eric looked around at us.  "Oh," said Mark, "I should probably put Aaron and Jess in it too."  He concentrated for a second.  "Done.  Now, there's three things we need to be careful of.  One, no obvious noises that people might notice.  Two, no touching anyone- I just can't block out those mental impulses, and we don't want to be noticed.  Never."

  He spread his arms wide as he continued.  "And three- we CANNOT get separated.  If we're apart, the mind-field might get stretched too thin, and suddenly everyone can see us."

  "Okay," said Sara, bouncing on her heels impatiently.  "We got it.  Let's go for it!"

  In a tightly knit group, we advanced toward the school, where the students, scratching their heads, were filtering back in.  Jaden directed us through a small, stone-flagged courtyard and through a set of double doors.  They led to a cafeteria packed with middle-schoolers eagerly chowing down squares of pizza.  Jaden directed us down a hallway to the left, where we narrowly dodged a tall girl sprinting from around a corner, then turned left toward a room where someone was playing a tuba with intense focus.

  Inside the room there was a curly-haired guy flipping a water bottle over and over, a few little groups chatting, the aforementioned tuba person, and two guys playing Pokémon on the floor.

  No Lisa.

  Where.  Is.  She?  said Ethan in frustration.

  Jaden slapped himself.  Crap.  I think she's up in the art room.  Sorry.

  Ethan shook his head.  Now you realize this?  Where's the art room?

  Up on the second floor.  Other end of the school.

  Haley hissed.  Mark winced.  A couple people turned in our direction, then turned away as we held silent as stones.

  We needed that, Mark conveyed.

  Shut up.

  Not actually talking.

  Sara walked out to the front of the group, then led us down the remainder of the hallway.  At the end, we turned up another set of steps- a one-eighty- then walked down the upper hallway and turned into the art room.