“I still can’t believe she would go out with my teacher.”

“I can’t believe this is still bugging you,” Maggie replied.

“It’s just weird!” Jessa exclaimed, en route to their Friday afternoon Parapsych Skills lesson. Maggie and Flynn had both been sympathetic towards Jessa’s feelings, especially after hearing that Mr Fletcher had joined their family for dinner one evening during the week (and everyone agreed that seeing a teacher outside of school is weird anyway, let alone having them in the house for dinner) but Jessa’s annoyance was starting to get old.

“Jessa,” said Flynn, “I know this is strange for you, but think about it from Audrey’s point of view.”

“Like how?” Jessa snapped back. “From the point of view of someone who manages to make my life difficult without even realising it?”

“Exactly, she didn’t realise it. She didn’t do it on purpose. Didn’t you say they met at a library? It’s not like she came here and found a boyfriend deliberately to get on your nerves.”

“Well no, but—”

“And then she kept it from you because she knew it would upset you. She was trying to protect you from that.”

Jessa stayed quiet.

“Jessa…” Maggie said cautiously. “It sounds like Audrey really likes him. And we do too, remember? He’s super nice, and helpful, and intelligent. He’s total boyfriend material. Ask any of the girls in our school.”

“Ugh,” Jessa sighed. Maggie was right, she did like Mr Fletcher. Everyone did. “Fine, maybe I got a bit carried away. But it’s still weird to be friendly with a teacher outside of school.”

“Yes, we agree with you on that,” said Maggie.

“I don’t think it’s that weird,” said Flynn. “Teachers are just people.”

“Still, I hope nobody else finds out apart from you two.”

The first-years usually only went to the second floor for maths and science lessons, but once a week they ventured down the opposite corridor to 2nd Floor East, for Parapsych Skills with Ms Alzamora. Each of the five Parapsych labs was a base for the school’s most renowned teachers—acclaimed parapsychs in their own right—and whose lessons were mostly reserved for the fourth and fifth-year students studying P-Levels.

Professor Winton, the oldest and wisest teacher in the school, taught Telekinesis, and he was known for training students so well that even those with very minimal ability would be able to easily levitate small-to-medium objects by the time they graduated. Dr Hoover was the Telepathy teacher. She was most known for her harrowing stare and for occasionally making students cry. Undoubtedly, the students’ favourite parapsych teacher was the loud and rambunctious communicari, Mrs Tobias, whose Caribbean upbringing inspired her colourful personality and vibrant outfits. Her lessons in the animal communication parascience were highly anticipated by all the pet-loving students. The newest professor to the department was Dr Fish, who was relatively famous in the scholarly world for his work in the healing parasciences, which Jessa had discovered when Maggie emailed her a link to Dr Fish’s most recent paper, ‘Synaptic efficacy in post-surgery parapsychs’, as soon as the latest quarterly edition of The Journal of Parapsych Healing was available. Maggie strongly urged Jessa to sign up for email alerts from the Journal. Jessa declined.

Finally, there was Ms Alzamora. She was not as bookish as the other Parapsych Lab teachers, nor as acclaimed. The students liked her, but there was something vaguely dishevelled about her that didn’t command quite the same authority as the others. Her dark curly hair wound tightly to her head, and her handmade smocks always bilged out from her slim form, making her look shapeless and wide. She spoke with an ambiguous accent that made her seem worldly and well-traveled in a way that Jessa found particularly compelling.

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She welcomed the first-years graciously into her lab and watched as they took their regular seats.

“Wait. What are we doing today?” she asked as a curtain of confusion fell over her face. “Oh yes, I remember. Today we’ll be working on some open-mind practice, building on what you’ve begun investigating in both physics and biology lessons. What we call ‘open-mind practice’ is also used by advanced parapsychs as a basis for telepathic communication, clairvoyance and auto-writing, among other things, so if you can get really good at it, it can be extremely useful.”

Jessa found the phrase ‘open-mind’ fascinating. While she’d always had some essence of a telekinetic mind ability, the idea of having an open mind captivated her.

“So!” Ms Alzamora announced loudly. “Find a partner!”

Jessa, Maggie and Flynn groaned. They hated when teachers told them to find a partner. Usually, it meant they’d get split up, and one of them would have to work with Gray Townsend, who was the third wheel to Eli and Cecily’s pairing, since they’d recently started dating.

None of them disliked Gray, but he was a difficult partner because he was always too busy making jokes or gaseous sounds or saying “wait, man, you have to check out this song, it’ll blow your mind.” Jessa wasn’t too bothered, but Maggie particularly hated working with him.

“It appears we’re missing one of our classmates today,” said the teacher. “So you three at the front can work as a group.”

“Yessss,” Jessa hissed quietly.

“Now, let’s push the tables against the wall so we have some floor space. Then pick out a cushion or bolster from the storage cupboard, and settle down opposite your partner. Make sure you’re comfortable but rigid. Sit strong! Strong posture brings a strong mind!”

She minced around the room and handed out cards, on which were printed a plain white circle on a black background.

Before making any further instruction, she pressed play on a sound system at the front of the classroom, and the tranquillising sound of ocean waves gently entered the room.

“Some people like to enjoy their open-mind practice in silence, but I find it helpful to have music or background noise. It’s especially helpful when you’re learning these skills so early in your parapsych career. It’s important to be able to drown out enough distraction that you can find an inner focus.”

Ms Alzamora flipped a switch and all the blinds in the room descended and fit themselves snugly inside the window frames, blocking out any fragment of light that could try to creep inside. Low-light sensors pulsated into action, feeding a gentle blue glow into the classroom.

When Ms Alzamora spoke again, she lowered her tone from its usual high pitch into a gentle, soothing, meditative voice.

“To have an open-mind, you need to be equally relaxed and aware. If you’re too sleepy, you won’t be able to concentrate. But if you’re too awake and worried and thinking about lots of things, you won’t be able to find a mindful state. Finding the perfect psychological position to awaken your mind is most of the battle. Some parapsychs take years, even decades to achieve the perfect state. It’s a lifetime practice, so don’t be upset if this doesn’t come to you in your first year, or even during your entire time at Winsbury. Remember that we call it practice for a reason.”

Jessa knew that Ms Alzamora was trying to reassure them, but she found the teacher’s words frustrating. It sounded like she was proposing a challenge.

They sat as Ms Alzamora guided them through a relaxing meditation.

“Now, slowly open your eyes and take a look at your card.” Every word came out as if she were reading a bedtime story. “Don’t stare at it, and don’t think about it. Just observe it and acknowledge your observations.”

Whispers of boredom and puzzlement arose around the room.

“What is she on about?”

“I don’t get it.”

“What’s supposed to happen?”

“If you’ve reached your capacity for practice today, please sit in quiet for a few more moments,” said the teacher.

But Jessa’s eyes lay unmoving from her card.

And she stayed there, still, quiet, and unaware of time.

“Now bring your attention away from the card and back into the room.

Jessa’s eyes watered as she fluttered them fully open, and she realised she’d barely blinked during the whole practice. She wiped away the sudden excess moisture from around her eyes. Flynn and Maggie were staring at her.

“I’ve never seen you focus that hard on anything,” said Maggie.

The blinds rose up and Jessa squinted in the light.

“Collect your things and you’re free to leave at your leisure,” the teacher invited.

“Wait, is the lesson over?” Jessa tried to gather herself among the hubbub of students hastening to leave the room. “I thought this was a double lesson?”

“It was. It’s 3:40.” Flynn took the girls’ cushions and put them away with his own.

“What on earth was that all about?” Maggie whispered as they departed the lab. “I didn’t understand it at all,” she sighed. “And I was listening to what Ms Alzamora was saying, so it’s not that I wasn’t paying attention. I tried to do everything exactly how she said. So what did I do wrong?”

“Stop worrying,” Jessa urged. “Remember, Ms Alzamora said that these things can take a long time to really get to grips with.”

“Hmm,” Maggie contemplated. “Maybe if I study really hard over the next week I’ll be able to figure it out for the next lesson.”

“Mags,” Flynn said, “I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you can study for. We just need to practice, like she said.”

“Yep,” Jessa tried to smile at Maggie, who clearly doubted that progress in anything could be made without studying.