Program: Superhuman *ON HOLD*

Chapter 11: Learning New Things

"Okay, just focus."

Uncle Forge stood at the desk and clicked a button. A few feet in front of me, a mannequin appeared out of the floor. I stood in the middle of the section of the "cave" that was descended from the other. I looked up uncertainly at the stairs leading up to where the rest of the group stood, and where I had left my hoodie. Caspar had left to take care of The Last Novel, but everyone else was there. Timber nonchalantly still sat on the computer's desk, but this time, her eyes were glued to me. Her pupils were no longer thin, but large and - actually - curious-looking.

Gale watched me, arms crossed, standing next to Uncle Forge. Arden was next to them as he stared at me with concern. Finally, Macy sat on the swivel chair, in front of the computer, looking at the video feed of the security cameras surrounding. Being the genius of the operation, she had installed the cameras to recognize certain things in the "subject" (that's what she called it) in the "training room" (the descended platform... Gale and Uncle Forge called it that) - like if there was too much stress on them, or they injured themselves. I have to say, I was kind of impressed by it all, but with the task at hand, I didn't really pay it any mind.

A clear, five-inch wall stood between us. It was, supposedly, there to protect them if my powers went ballistic and exploded everything around the perimeter. Just one more thing I can put on my list of "encouraging" things.

"What was the last thing you remember feeling before you blew the school ceiling?" Uncle Forge asked, his voice coming from a microphone on the computer. Speakers connected to the walls around me blared it out.

I glanced back to the mannequin. "How about: I was terrified out of my mind because there was fire everywhere and I thought I was going to die."

"Willow," he sighed wearily.

"What?" I snapped indignantly. "You can just ask your toy superhero upstairs. He was there. Besides, didn't you say that you didn't agree with superheroes running rampart on the streets?"

"I said that to get you off my trail," Uncle Forge explained. "Now, focus, Willow. Center your attention on that feeling and try to blow up the mannequin."

I sighed. I still wasn't over how Uncle Forge had kept this a secret from Arden and me for so long. I mean, he wasn't even our uncle! Should I even be calling him Uncle Forge?

Stuffing those thoughts away, I stared at the mannequin again. I tried thinking about what I really was feeling when I blew that hole in the ceiling. I was freaked out. Wait, no, that was only after my palms started glowing... terrified, then. That's what I was feeling. I thought I was a goner. I felt... despair. Like I would never make it out to tell the story. I was scared that if I died in that fire, I wouldn't go to Heaven... I would go to Hell.

Wrapping my mind around that emotion with a grimace, I aimed my hands at the target and squeezed my eyes shut. I waited for that shock-like feeling I remembered from the fire, but it never came. Daring to look again, I saw the mannequin was still standing, and my palms weren't showing any signs of a blue glow. Straightening again, I glanced to the others.

"It didn't work," I said.

"Great deduction, Sherlock," Macy responded, her own voice coming through the speakers. "Your heartbeat went up a bit, but that's understandable. Otherwise that, your vitals are fine. No sign of a superpower."

I rolled my eyes. "Great."

"Willow," Gale said, "try to picture yourself somewhere else. Imagine that we're not here."

"Kind of hard to, when you're staring right at me," I responded.

"Just look at the mannequin."

Biting down my anger, I glanced at the human-like figure.