The Vision Master

by William Hill

Liam jumped, as did everyone around the table. Every face at the table turned toward the voice, as did Liam. Carol!

  "What!" simultaneously several voices sputtered.

  "Where were you, and what were you doing before you found yourselves here?" the man in black asked them.

  Liam, not taking his eyes off Carol, spoke first. "I was at the mall, in the bookstore. I saw Mr. Specks, and came up to him to say 'Hi' when suddenly everything went out of focus and then I was just here."

  "And you, young lady?"

  “In the bookstore, looking for Liam. When I found him, he was with Mr. Specks. They both had their eyes closed, like they were silently praying. I wouldn't have suspected what Mr. Specks was doing, except Liam was acting the same way, and I realized from what I learned from you all what was happening. I moved closer to 'watch' over them, to intervene in case they drew anyone's attention, but, I don’t know, then I was here when I thought I heard someone say my name."

  "Honestly, Georgie! What were you thinking? Such a public place! You could have..." The man in black stopped berating Specks, turned to Liam and Carol, and asked, "What did you hear?"

  "All of your deliberations…and decision about me", Liam told him.

  "I don't know how much, but you were talking about me having a 'significant role', and about Liam..." Carol explained, her voice trailing off.

  "I have a question," Liam announced. "I know everyone here but you. Who are you?" he asked the man in black.

  As the man walked towards Liam, extending his hand, Liam's father stood up and also came over to him. "Let me introduce you, Liam, to Doctor Smith."

  "Sir," Liam said, shaking hands.

  "Liam, it's good to finally meet you, but before we go any deeper into introductions, I think we need to first do something."

  Facing Liam and Carol he said, "You two go back to the bookstore and Mr. Specks will be with you shortly."

  Liam and Carol stared at him blankly. They had no idea what he meant.

  "Okay. Lesson one, how to get out of another’s vision. You could simply will yourself back, but that only works if you’re more powerful than the one who brought and is keeping you here. On the other hand, that person could simply release you, and back you’d be. So, as your first practical test, if he (as Smith glanced to Specks) would be so kind as to reduce his hold on you to a minimum? Close your eyes, imagine where you were before you were here, and will yourself there."

  They did, just as Specks exclaimed, “I…”, and they were, back in the bookstore, standing next to each other, and next to Specks who was still standing as Liam had first found him.

  They looked around, and then at each other, just as Specks open his eyes and did the same.

  "I’m sooo sorry!" he said. "Not my fault, really...don’t understand...I didn’t…I can assure you! Oh well, whatever and however. Come, we must go."

  "Where are we going?" Carol asked.

  "To where we were, there's more to discuss!"

  "You mean we were in an actual place?" asked Liam.

  "Dear boy, of course! Not everything in this business is in a dream!” He took them by the hand, and steered them quickly out of the bookstore and mall, to his car in the lot.

  As Specks drove, Liam asked where they were going.

  "To where the others are, of course. Didn't I just say? Oh, you mean specifically? That would be to Dr. Smith's."

  Specks drove out of the city of St. Mary’s and into the surrounding countryside, as Liam and Carol both just looked out their windows from the back seat, in silence. In their minds, the oh-so-many questions.

  After about an hours drive, Specks turned the car off the paved two-lane road into a rutted dirt and gravel drive. They could see an old farmhouse up ahead. It looked to be at least a hundred years old, two-storied clapboard with a wrap-around wooden porch, all in a state of repair that suggested benign neglect, almost hidden in a grove of trees that looked to be a hundred years older than the house and, in the darkening twilight, looked positively spooky. Next to it, at a short distance to the house, was an equally decrepit garage, almost barn-like, that had two swing-out doors.

  As the car pulled up in front of the garage, Liam noticed a couple of cars parked along side it, to the rear, but before he could take a proper look at them Specks asked Liam if he'd be so kind as to get out and pull open the doors. When Liam did, Specks drove in, parked next to a nondescript black, late model sedan and turned off the engine. Carol got out and helped shut the garage doors. Specks told the children to follow him.

  Walking to the rear of the garage, Liam and Carol watched as Specks opened the door of a tall cabinet against the back wall. It contained all kinds of cans and tools, and other assorted junk, on shelves affixed to the back panel. He gently pushed against the shelving and the cabinet’s rear panel swung back, apparently on some kind of hidden hinge, exposing a stairwell, with a spiral staircase that went downwards. Motioning the kids to follow, they watched him go down and, Carol leading, they followed. After about thirty steps or so, they found themselves back in the black, dimly lit room they had been in earlier. Everyone who had been there before was still seated around the round table in the middle of the room. Once again, Dr. Smith raised to great them.

  "I see you managed to get back. Everything okay?" he asked Specks.

  "I...believe so...saw no one looking at us. Don't think we raised any eyebrows," he stammered, as usual. “But…I don’t under…”

  "Good" Smith said, cutting Specks off as he steered Liam and Carol to the table where two new chairs were placed. "Please seat yourselves."

  As they did, he retook his seat and said to them, "Let me tell you a few things I'm sure you want to know. After, if you still have any questions, I'm sure one or all of us would be only too pleased to answer. To start, you, Carol, know about visions, and you, Liam, about you're being an Initiate. What you don't know is about us and what part you have been chosen by fate to play."

  He began telling them about the history of alleged "witchcraft", much as Liam's parents had already told him. Liam guessed that Smith was telling them for Carol's benefit, perhaps she didn't know, or perhaps he didn't know that Liam's folks had already told him. He quickly brought them to the present, about how in certain families the ability to envision an alternate reality and to bring it into real time, and to bring others into it and make them believe it, existed, as they themselves now knew to be so. He explained that within this ability there were two types:“Masters,” who could create reality through a vision and extend it to include others, and those who, while exceptional dreamers, were unable to do more but were important to Masters as "Watchers", to help protect a Master by insuring that their vision wasn't interrupted by anything or anyone, or to help them escape being drawn into another's vision unwittingly. He said this as he looked at Carol, who understood that he meant that she was to be a Watcher, as she had already guessed and had agreed to when she earlier had volunteered to watch over Liam when he wasn't at school or at home.

  He continued, telling them how they, that is everyone else in the room, had discovered individually at various ages (all a lot older than Liam) that they could make a vision real, just as Liam had in his pirate dream in the woods. And how, in time, all (except himself, who wasn't originally from here) came together through an ability to recognize another Master, a level of ability he assured Liam he would acquire in due time. He then explained that there were other groups of Masters and Watchers, all around the globe, in most every country. He also was a Master, like them, and a doctor. But he was also an employee of a federal agency's special department, one that is charged with two tasks: The first is to detect and repel hostile visions from unfriendly foreign government agents against our government's leaders and civilians and, the second, to cast visions against other country's leaders and populations when necessary to protect this nation; warfare of the shooting kind could be eliminated by making them believe that we, in truth, ar
e not a threat to them, and that his department had assigned him to lead this group in that endeavor.

  He then looked Liam and Carol in the eye and said, "Now I need to ask both of you if you would like to join the rest of us in protecting our country."

  Looking at his father, Liam said, "Since it seems to be the family 'business', and I now 'have the need to know' (his father grinned at that), I guess so, even if I haven't the faintest idea of what you think I can do."

  "We'll get to that momentarily. Carol?"

  "Well, this must be important for my father to be involved. And it’s really important to me that nothing happens to Liam, so…yes."

  "Excellent!" Smith exclaimed. "A close emotional tie between a Master, or an Initiate, and a Watcher has rarely occurred in the past but has proved to be exceptionally beneficial to the Master and, hence, the program."

  Turning back to Liam, he told Liam that by all evidence he appeared to be a very rare Initiate, the likes of which hadn't been seen in generations, possibly ever, very powerful at such a young age. He could be considered a prodigy. He might even be the ‘One’ who the world would hail as a hero. Or the biggest scourge the world had ever known, Attila the Hun, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, and Osama bin Laden not withstanding, even combined.

  Shocked by that pronouncement, Liam stared at him and said in a hushed voice, "The 'One'? I'm afraid I don't understand."

  "Liam, if within you lies the potential your Grandmother believes possible, you alone could have more power than we collectively, and I can assure you that it is immense, we being the most powerful of all the circles, can exert. The ‘One’ will be able to create a vision spanning great distances, bring into that vision everyone within that distance, and maintain the vision for as long as he has the will and the strength. Whether you are the ‘One’ or not, if you chose to use your power for the good of all, or whether you use it for selfish ends, will be up to you. Know this, however, even should you attain that level of power, and use it for ill, even though you will be stronger than this circle combined, I, myself, will stand against you and will do whatever is needed until I utterly destroy you."

  Liam sat there in stunned silence. He hadn't the faintest idea of how to respond, either to that assessment of his potential, or to that threat. He never cared for threats. Or for those who made them. They were usually bullies who were trying to hide their inferiority complex. His natural instinct was to treat him the way he did any other bully, and that was to turn and walk away and have nothing to do with him ever again. Obviously, this person didn't know the first thing about him or he wouldn't have threatened him. Still, his father, who had even less use for wannabe tough guys than he did, seemed to trust him enough to work with him. Or, perhaps in spite of him.

  Standing tall, he looked Smith in the eye and said through clenched teeth, "You won't have to worry about me."

  "I'm sure I won't, if you turn out to be half the man your dad is. But I did have to say what I did, it's required."

  He still didn't care for Smith, but he'd defer final judgment on him until after he could discuss him with his father. What he did want to know now was what they expected of him.

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "Your first responsibility is to control, strengthen, and expand your visioning ability. Practice as often as possible and in as many different environments as possible. Whenever you're not in your own home always have a Watcher with you to watch your back."

  "Won’t it look a little strange in public to just be standing still with my eyes closed, like Mr. Specks in the bookstore?" Liam interrupted.

  "Yes, it will," Smith said, shooting Specks an angry look. "That’s why you should have a Watcher. However, a Watcher may not be available, for whatever reason. So, you'll need a cover. Most of us have one,” he said, again shooting Specks a glare. “I'll write you a note for your wallet stating that you’ve had a concussion and now suffer from a mild case of Epilepsy and that on occasions you may experience short episodes of blackouts and should be left alone until you regain 'consciousness', and no need to call the Paramedics. You should also get yourself a medical card for your wallet, or a Medic Alert bracelet or necklace, to support your cover."

  "How do I suddenly explain epilepsy to my friends?"

  "It can be brought on by a hit to the head," Smith explained. "Didn't you badly bump your head today and saw me, your new doctor, afterwards because of bad headaches and dizziness? And didn't I diagnose it and order you to stay home from school for a couple of days?" he said with a smile.

  Liam couldn't help but smile himself. "Yeah, that'll probably work", he admitted. "You told me my first responsibility. What's my second?"

  "For you and Carol to work with Mr. Specks and find out what's going on at your school."

  Chapter Nine: Gran’s Secret

  “Learn to see, and then you’ll know that there is no end to the new worlds of your vision.”