EQAO

Chapter 32 - I Play With Water

Mr. Folman clapped his hands together,

"This is wonderful! Now with this new power, we can begin to make a plan to overthrow Ms. Gerdalli."

I was still marvelling at myself, but I took my thoughts back to him, and said,

"How?"

He waved his hand dismissively, and started pacing the room.

"If we could just get you close to her, and preferably water..." he mumbled to himself.

I stood up again, renewed strength coming to me. I stretched my hands out in front of me, and tried something new. Instead of imagining a body of water, I imagined the water shooting towards my hands. I saw the water rise out of the fountain, and I got excited. I couldn't control my thoughts, and the water reacted. The water jerked awkwardly, and hit the wall instead. I lost concentration, and gravity took control of the water again.

"Sorry..." I said, looking at all the papers on his desk that were now sopping wet.

Mr. Folman merely shrugged, and said,

"Keep experimenting."

So I attempted to take all the water from the floor and papers, and put it back in the fountain. Most of the water from the ground did, but the papers were still soaking. I sighed. Obviously I wasn't very good at using my power yet. I walked over to the fountain, and stared at the water in the basin. It was only half full, thanks to me. I moved my finger in a circular motion, envisioning a whirlpool. Soon, the water started spinning, then looked like it was going down a drain, but never lessened. It had turned into a constant, swirling circle of water.

I stopped twirling my fingers, and instead, held my hand out like I was holding a ball. I thought about there being a baseball in my hand. Then I pictured that baseball made of water.

Slowly, some of the water rose up out of the fountain, and created a sphere in my hand. I almost lost focus, but I re-concentrated. The ball swirled in my hand, and I tried to reshape it. The water moved to my will, and turned into a cube, cone, and finally, a dagger.

It struck me suddenly that I could use this gift as a weapon. And then, another realization struck me. Had I caused that explosion? All the water shooting up from around me, when Ms. Gerdalli had been about to kill my friends and I?

My friends.

It hurt my heart to think about them. I dropped the water-dagger back into the fountain, and looked at Mr. Folman. He had stopped pacing, and was eating a banana, brow furrowed.

"Every year," he said, without looking at me, "all the teachers who are involved in the Games come after it's done, to see the execution of the winner. Sometimes, they're killed before that, but they show the body."

I shuddered.

"But this year," he continued, "she won't have you. She'll probably think of an excuse, but..." he trailed off, collecting his thoughts.

"Anyways," he said, not finishing his earlier sentence, "everyone will all be in the one arena. If we could trap them in somehow..."

"Then we could get the police or the army here, and they'll all be arrested and put in prison for the rest of their lives!" I said, catching on.

"Yes!" Mr. Folman agreed.

"There's just one thing."

"What?"

"Ms. Gerdalli is mine."