Awakening - The Last Science #1

Interlude I - A Year in the Life of Hailey Winscombe - III

III.

A warm night in late June, a few weeks later, in Hailey's apartment.

  Try as she might, Hailey simply couldn't feel it.

  "It's like there's a fabric completely surrounding you, Hailey. Just feel for it and try to grab onto it."

  "I can't, Wes. There's nothing there," Hailey cried, frustrated.

  "Well, how do you make your air pockets?" Jessica said.

  "I push air together until it becomes solid."

  "Right, so how do you feel out that air?"

  "I don't? It's just there. I know where it is and I push it around."

  "And you don't feel the room? The environment?"

  "No!" Hailey cried again, plopping herself down on the couch.

  Ian coughed. "Face it, Jessie, she's just not gonna pull it off. Still can't even do her double-jump thing properly."

  "This is a clue though," Jessica said excitedly. "Of the theory I was working on."

  "What theory?" Weston asked.

  "That Hailey's terrible at everything except air tricks," Ian said snidely.

  "Of specialities," Jessica answered, ignoring him. "Everyone seems to have one and they cover different types of magic."

  "So you think we all have different specialties?" Weston prompted. Hailey sighed and curled up on the sofa, pulling a blanket over herself. Weston seemed to be practicing messing with the temperature of the room while they carried on their conversation. She wasn't sure he was even doing it consciously anymore. It was a measure of his skill and focus that he could affect the room while carrying on a conversation.

  "Exactly. There's gotta be different branches of magic that different spells fall under and we each got a particular specialty. Something we're born with, I suppose. You're good at the stuff with the environment, Wes." Wes? Hailey noted with jealousy. Only Hailey called him Wes. Jessica was getting a bit too comfortable around him. "Hailey and Ian are both good at manipulating the elements. Ian likes fire and Hailey likes air, but they're both pretty good at either one if they really try at it."

  Hailey had to concede the younger girl was right. Even though she favored playing with the air and the flowing, dancing sensations it gave her to move it around, she was pretty equally skilled at messing with fire. She didn't have anything like Ian's finesse or deep bag of tricks, but she didn't find it as taxing as Weston or Jessica did.

  "And you, Jessica?" Weston prompted.

  "Well, I dunno," Jessica started, her face falling a little. "I'm able to do all the stuff you guys can, but not easily. So I'm not specialized in natural or elemental magic. And I find telekinesis harder than all of you apparently. I can't even lift a piece of paper."

  "What did you feel, Jess?" Hailey asked, a flash of inspiration jogging her memory.

  "Huh?"

  "When you read the page. What did you feel?"

  "You actually remember that?" Ian asked. Hailey shot him a look of disdain. It was one of the most powerful and life-changing moments she'd ever experienced. How could she possibly forget?