We didn’t do much talking at the start. Not a lot of room for pleasantries and conversation over all the grunting and groaning we did trying to arrange our luggage properly. We had a roomy, sleek SUV. There was so much space that putting luggage away shouldn’t have been an issue. It just felt like we were just making everything harder than it had to be. After all, we had maybe seven bags that were of notable size in a vehicle that had three rows of seats. It shouldn’t have been that hard, and yet, we definitely found a way to make it that hard. After an embarrassingly long amount of time, we did finally manage to get everything put away properly.
“Well, now that we’ve proven the three of us are about qualified to put away some suitcases, who’s ready to cross half the country to find something of unimaginable power?” I asked, clapping my hands together. Alex just sighed, but Lori did giggle a bit.
“If I’m driving, he’s riding not riding up front,” Alex said, climbing in the front seat. Lori was more than happy to get ride shotgun next to him. I could see her trying to keep her hands busy and her eyes off him. He saw me about to sit behind him before stopping me. “You should sit behind her. She’s smaller, so you can get more leg room that way.”
We got all settled and situated in the SUV, and I don’t think it mattered where I sat, since I had a bunch of legroom behind Lori without her even adjusting her seat. The vehicle was awesome. There was a screen in the seat that I could cast my phone to for a better view. There were rows of lights along the ceiling of the vehicle, and those could be adjusted depending on the comfort of everyone inside. Most importantly, we all had seat warmers and coolers, and we could adjust the temperature of the air conditioning or heat for each person’s vents.
“Oh yeah, so why do we have to drive there?” I asked, already gluing my head to the window. We were finally outside of the complex, and even though all the surrounding trees were naked from the frigid air, it still had a sort of eerie beauty to it. Even growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I never quite got to experience mountains like this. “We couldn’t just teleport there?”
“Right, about that,” Lori began, shifting so that she could better see my face. “We were going to teleport originally, but then there was a bit of an issue. Fink, the one who died in Pittsburgh, could teleport silently without leaving any trace of his power. That’s why he was so heavily relied upon.
“But this time, the only teleporter we could get quickly pretty much leaves a line of energy that can be traced and followed. If we asked him, there could be a target on our starting position and our destination because of it.”
“There wasn’t anyone else?”
Lori shook her head and her eyes found the floor. “No one that could be counted on with such short notice. Teleportation and healing are two of the rarest and most useful powers. If we didn’t all need to be hidden now more than ever, we might’ve had better luck.”
“Gotcha, that makes sense,” I said, instantly understanding why Mrs. Carmichael wouldn’t want us to be so visible. I remembered that fanny pack that was given to Lori and got curious about that. “What’s in the bag?”
“Backup stuff,” she replied, checking through it. “There are three backup phones in here, one power detector, and three teleportation tokens. And before you ask, the teleportation items had to be created by someone with an Anomaly, and they are very exhausting for them to make. Like, the lady who made them can barely move her body for days after creating one. As far as we know, she has to actually put her life essence into items she creates, so it’s only under dire circumstances we ask her to do it.”
“That’s an incredible power,” I said, wondering what else she could make. Lori pulled out the tokens and gave me a good look. They were about the size of a quarter, but they looked like purple glass. Inside of them, there was a swirling energy that appeared to be hunting for any way to escape. “These look really nice. How do they work?”
“You crush them in your hand, think of the place you want to teleport to, and you’re there. As long as you imagined the place correctly, that is.” She carefully handed me one and I gingerly put it in my front pocket. “We only got these made as an escape method in case things go wrong somewhere. Since we’ll probably have to search a large area, having one precise teleport in without a vehicle to broaden our search wouldn’t do us much good.”
“And that’s where the power detector comes in?” I asked, piecing together what Mrs. Carmichael’s idea for the whole thing was.
“Exactly. It’s a little bracelet-like thing. It’s been designed to pick up other Anomalies besides ours, so it won’t go off just because we’re nearby. Well, it shouldn’t. It’s the first device of its kind. We’re going to have to cover a large area and use these to find that cave. This was actually made based off the guy who felt your latent Anomaly the first time.” Lori handed it to me and I carefully clipped it on my wrist. It beeped once, which I assumed was it activating. Sure enough, it didn’t seem to go off just because we were nearby. I handed it back to her after a few seconds. “It has a small and basic display that can help guide us once it goes off. I think Mrs. Carmichael said it has a range of about four miles in any direction.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Lori trailed off and I returned my view to the window. I wasn’t sure how big the Catskills were, but I was figuring that I’d be staring at naked trees for a long time. Sometimes I saw some deer darting in the other direction, or a courageous bird braving the winter, and I wondered how high up in the mountains we really were. Since we were on an actual road, I was having trouble gauging our orientation. I thought about asking Lori and Alex, but she appeared to be messing with her detection bracelet, and he had an intense look on his face while driving, so I decided to just leave it be.
Since the nerves had died down a bit and we were actually on the road, it amazed me how quickly the boredom of a road trip hit. I thought about texting Shelly and asking her what she was up to. Since I’d only just left, I couldn’t help but think it might’ve been a little weird. Lizzy was next on my list before I remembered she had her new teammates with her. Besides Lori, those were the only two people I had in my contacts I wanted to talk to. I had to stop myself a few times from seeing just how far Missouri was.
Thinking of Lizzy did remind me of her parting words to practice more. I was a bit scared to try it after last time, and I was pretty sure there was another tingle in the base of my skull. It may have just been my nerves mixed with me remembering how unpleasant the sensation felt. Still, looking forward and seeing Alex and Lori quickly put to bed any internal debate I was having. I knew that I needed to be able to keep them safe as best I could. Without Lizzy’s guidance though, I wasn’t really sure how to begin.
At first, I tried to imagine a thin shield going around my left hand, just like a latex glove. It was kind of clunky and uneven to start with, but after a few seconds of focusing, I was able to get it down. I gently pressed my right hand against the left, still a bit nervous to really test out putting pressure on it. I could feel that familiar tingling sensation in my head, though it wasn’t as bad as it had been. It was just enough for me to recognize that it was there, so I guessed that it was breaking the shields that caused the more severe issues. I tried thinking of ways to mitigate that, because I couldn’t black out in the middle of an attack just because some of my shields were destroyed.
Next, I tried to have the shield grow up my arm to my elbow, which it did with surprising ease. There were still some issues with it being uneven, with some areas being a bit weaker than others. Like the tingling feeling, it wasn’t nearly as bad. Everything felt a lot more intuitive than I was expecting. Maybe it made sense, since my powers had been likened to training your physical body, meaning it should come somewhat naturally. Either way, I was glad for the smooth progress, no matter how slow it might have been.
“Lori, what have the known telekinetics been able to do?” I wasn’t completely buying that Lizzy was right about me having telekinesis. My gut told me whatever I could do, it wasn’t truly telekinesis.
“Hm, let me think...” she said, fiddling with the power-detecting bracelet. I guess she knew about some other functions on it and wanted to see what it could do. After a bit, she stopped playing with it and left it alone on her wrist. “They can generally move stuff and create shields with their minds. Why?”
“How do their shields work?”
“I’m not really sure,” she admitted. “Every video I’ve seen makes it look they create big shields and they’re done when the use switches focus. Actually, now that I think about it, there’s always been a visible energy around the shield or an object being manipulated.”
“Even when they’re novices you can see it?”
She bounced her head around and waved her hand in a non-committal gesture. “Again, my exposure to telekinetics is limited, so take it with a grain of salt. Do you think it’s something different?”
“Well, I have a thin shield going from my left hand up to my elbow right now.” I stopped to move that arm around to see if the shield would take damage, break, or maybe do something freaky. I didn’t feel anything, and like the barriers from before, I could see a small shimmer on the protected area. I tried to will the shimmer to become visible to Lori. I could see it in higher detail, which made me get excited. “Can you see it?”
Disappointingly, she shook her head. “Nope. I haven’t heard of a telekinetic being able to make a localized shield like that. Usually they’re more...grand and flamboyant with their power use.” She looked a bit puzzled and paused to think. “But you also made a big barrier. Keep practicing with that and let me know how it goes. Oh, and practice safely, please.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I tried to extend the shield past my elbow, and that’s when I started feeling a lot of resistance from it. Like before, it didn’t hurt, but I could tell it was a sensation where its purpose was to tell me something was wrong. Instead of trying to make it larger, I focused on making it stronger. That felt harder to test without potentially hurting myself, so I settled on thumping the shield with my knuckles, which felt weird to do. It did yield some results though, as I could feel the barrier kick back a bit more each time.
What finally brought me back out of my little world was a thumping in front of me. I peered around the seat to see Lori’s left leg bouncing rapidly and her foot tapping the carpeted floor. Her arms were crossed, and it didn’t take a genius to tell she was pretty agitated about something. I looked toward Alex who was his usual, intense self. I swallowed my fear and tried to help with the situation. “What’s wrong, Lori?”
“I have to use the bathroom so bad,” she said, her leg somehow bouncing even more. She clenched her teeth and tensed up. “So. Bad.”
“You couldn’t go before we left?” I asked.
“Dude, we left over three hours ago, and I have to pee,” Lori said, surprising me. I looked out the window for the first time in, well, apparently three hours. Sure enough, we were on an actual interstate with heavy-flowing traffic. “That’s more than enough time to pass before I need to go.”
Alex pulled into a clean-looking rest stop that, thankfully, didn’t look to be crowded. The instant the SUV was parked, the small girl bolted out of it and to the nearest bathroom. How much time had passed surprised me and made me worry about my focus. Then it was my turn to realize that I could use a trip to the bathroom as well.
“Yeah, I think this is a good time to stretch my legs too.” I threw open the door and took in a deep breath of the cold winter air.