by R. T. Martin
“No,” he panted. “I was just . . . I was just, uhh—running.” Lying had never been one of Parker’s strengths. “I’ve got homework to do,” he added, scratching Foster behind the ears before hurrying upstairs to his room.
The empty soda can was still sitting on his desk. Parker sat down and stared at the can. First, he tried to push it with his mind, willing it to slide along the desk. It stayed where it was. Maybe it has to be moving to begin with, he thought. Maybe I can only pause things temporarily. He used his index finger to tap it off the desk. He willed it to stop in the air using only his thoughts. It hit the ground. He picked it up and set it back on the desk. He tried it three more times and nothing changed.
His mom’s voice startled him. “What are you doing in there?”
Parker looked up and saw her standing in the hallway outside his door.
“Nothing!” he said. “It’s a . . . science experiment. For school.” He scrambled over to the door and pulled it closed, pretending not to notice the strange look his mom was giving him. Over and over again, he knocked the can off his desk, and every time, it fell down. Before he knew it, his dad was calling that dinner was ready. He set the can aside and went downstairs.
Parker was distracted all through dinner. Why does it only work sometimes? he kept asking himself while his mom and dad talked with his sister. It’s happened twice now. What am I missing?
“Parker, did you hear me?” Parker’s mom brought his attention back.
“Huh?”
“I asked you how school was today.”
“Oh,” he said. “It was fine.” It wasn’t convincing, and he caught his mom give his father a concerned glance.
“Anything interesting happen?” his dad asked.
The image of the water suspended midair popped back into Parker’s head. “Nope, nothing that doesn’t happen every day.”
His dad raised an eyebrow, but instead of pushing it, he moved the conversation back to Jamie. Parker was relieved. He finished dinner in silence and went back up to his room.
He must have knocked the can over thirty or forty times before he paused.
Am I imagining things? he wondered, leaning back in his chair. It happened with the can and it happened with the water bottle—two separate locations, two separate objects. The only similarity is me. What am I missing?
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice how far back he was leaning. Just as he felt the chair tipping backward, he prepared for the familiar feeling of his stomach jumping up into his chest, but it never came.
Parker waited—five seconds, ten seconds. Still no drop.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and released the tight grip his fingers were making on the armrests. The chair was still leaning backward, although it was a lot closer to horizontal than it should have been. It should have fallen, but instead it remained at a severe tilt. It was as if he’d paused a video of the chair falling backward with him in it.
Afraid to move in case that would make the chair fall, Parker held his breath. He had done it again—stopped something in midair. But could he do more? Could he make objects move too? He pictured the back of the chair and mentally started pushing it back up to its upright position. The chair began moving. Slowly but surely, it started righting itself under Parker’s control. It felt like a recliner coming up from lying down. After a few seconds, the chair was right side up again.
I’m doing this, he thought. I moved it with my mind!
4
The whole thing was deeply unsettling to Parker. For someone who preferred to avoid attention, the idea he could do something impossible was terrifying.
Could I actually have the power to move things with my mind? he asked himself over and over again. He could feel cold sweat form on his back. His heart started racing and his hands went a little numb.
He sat on his bed and tried desperately to calm down. At least no one knew about his power—except for maybe Yuan, but she hadn’t seen exactly what happened. It seemed pretty unlikely that she could’ve guessed what he was capable of doing. So for now, his secret was safe. And the longer he was able to keep this to himself, the more he’d be able to focus on figuring out exactly what was happening. Eventually his heart slowed, and he felt more relaxed.
He hadn’t finished all of his homework for tomorrow, but he went to bed anyway. I’ve got bigger problems than math right now.
***
“Hey, Parker!” He heard the shout but couldn’t tell where it was coming from at first. Yuan emerged from the flood of students passing between third and fourth period.
Parker focused on the books in his locker. He pretended he didn’t hear or see Yuan, but she came up and tapped him on the shoulder anyway.
“We didn’t get a chance to talk before you ran off yesterday,” she said, excitement in her eyes. “What was the deal with that water? It was so weird. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Who knows?” Parker said, grabbing a notebook he didn’t need so he wouldn’t have to look at her. “Weird things happen all the time.”
“Yeah, but what do you think caused it?”
“No idea.” He closed his locker door. “I have to get to class.”
“Oh, okay, sure,” she said, looking a little disappointed. Then she gave him a small smile. “I’ll see you later then.”
At lunch, Parker headed to the table in the corner where he sat every day. A few other students sometimes sat farther down, but no one ever sat with him.
“Hey!” It was Yuan again. She’d popped up from her seat when Parker passed her table. “Why don’t you sit with us?” She gestured to an open spot next to her and across from two boys who were playing an elaborate card game.
Parker looked at the table where he usually sat. It was empty, the way he preferred.
Yuan’s eyes flicked in the direction he was looking, then focused back to him. “There’s no one over there. Here, sit down. I’ve seen you around the theater, but I don’t think we’ve ever officially met. I’m Yuan. You’re Parker, right?”
He nodded, reluctantly taking the offered seat and wondering where she was going with all this.
“This is Cole,” She gestured to the boy sitting across from her who was too immersed in the card game to notice the mention of his name. “And this is Drew.” The other boy looked up and smiled.
“You ever played?” Drew asked, gesturing to the stack of cards between him and Cole. Parker shook his head. He didn’t even recognize the cards. They all had pictures of landscapes or monsters on them. “It’s called Sorcerer: The Summoning,” Drew said. “You battle each other by casting these monsters.” He gestured toward a row of monsters he had in front of him.
“You can also cast enchantments and spells,” Cole said. “Those help your monsters or hurt the other team. It depends on the card. There are a ton of them.”
“Want to play?” Drew asked.
“Um, I’ll just watch,” Parker said. Drew and Cole returned to their game while Yuan smiled at him and picked up her sandwich. He didn’t know what else to do, so he grabbed his fork and began stirring around his mashed potatoes.
“How long have you been working crew?” Yuan asked.
“Since last year,” Parker responded without looking up from his lunch.
“I’ve seen you around, but I didn’t really know who you were.”
Parker felt like he should say something, but part of his brain was telling him not to bother. He hadn’t needed friends before, and he didn’t want any now.
Yuan turned toward Drew and Cole. “Remember what I told you guys about what happened yesterday?” Parker’s head snapped up. “Parker was there. He saw it too.”
“Sounds pretty weird,” Cole said, laying down a card. “What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know,” Parker mumbled. He saw Yuan give him a suspicious look, but she let the issue go, changing the topic to the upcoming English paper. She seemed concerned about it and the rapidly approachi
ng due date, but Cole was confident he could finish it in just a couple of days, despite the fact that he hadn’t even started yet. Parker couldn’t help being amused.
He remained silent the entire time, but when there was a lull in the conversation, Drew leaned across the table, showing Parker his cards. “I’m going to show you how to beat Cole.”
Soon Parker was engrossed in listening to Drew’s explanation of the game—and occasional taunting of Cole. The bell came out of nowhere. Parker realized that he’d been enjoying himself—that he actually wished lunch had lasted longer.
“We play at the table outside the door right by the theater if you want to hang out after rehearsal,” Drew said, gathering cards. “We usually wait for Yuan there.”
“Okay,” Parker said without thinking. They all said goodbye and went in separate directions.
For the rest of the day, he wavered back and forth between joining them or not. I’m not sure right now is a good time to hang out with new people, he thought, painting the tree in the workshop. Not with this whole . . . telekinesis thing going on—if that’s even what it is. He smiled to himself. On the other hand, that card game looks like fun. And as far as friends go, I could do a lot worse than these people.
“Hey,” Yuan said from the doorway. “You coming?”
He hadn’t noticed the time. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Outside, Drew and Cole were right where they said they’d be, in the middle of a game. As Parker and Yuan approached, Drew said to Cole, “You don’t have enough lands to cast that.” Cole took the card back and put a different one in its place.
“Parker,” Drew said, turning toward them. “Come here. We’ve got a real game going.” Parker sat next to Drew, looking at his cards, while Yuan sat next to Cole and pulled out a notebook. “I don’t want to cast this yet,” Drew said pointing to a card with a cyclops on it. “You want to save your better cards for later.” He cast a suspicious glance at Cole. “And for when your opponent is least expecting it.”
“I fear nothing,” Cole said flatly.
“Do either of you have a highlighter?” Yuan asked. Cole pulled one out of his bag.
Drew continued to explain the finer points of Sorcerer: The Summoning while Parker patiently listened. After an hour or so of watching the game, Parker felt himself relax. The others didn’t seem to care that he stayed quiet, and Parker was grateful for that. He could just sit and watch the game while the others filled the silence. Eventually, he even started getting the hang of what Drew was teaching him.
“Shouldn’t you play that instead?” he said, pointing to a card.
“Aha! I forgot I had that! Nice, Parker.”
Just then, a strong gust of wind whipped by, and the cards lifted off the table. They would have blown all over the grass, but Parker, completely on reflex, felt himself reach out and grab them with his mind. They hung in the air, spinning slightly, just a few inches off the table.
Cole and Drew’s jaws both dropped. The wind continued but the cards stayed suspended where they were. When the gust passed, Parker let the cards fall back down onto the table.
“Just like last time,” Yuan murmured to herself, staring at the cards in shock. She turned to Parker. “Was that you?”
5
“I don’t really know,” Parker said. “It just sort of . . . happens, I guess.”
Cole and Drew collected the cards and put them away, bombarding Parker with questions the whole time. They wanted all the details—when this had started, how many times it had happened before. Parker explained every incident as best as he could.
“Well, that’s it then, right?” Cole remarked after Parker had finished explaining what happened with the soda can. “It kicks in when something bad is about to happen.”
Parker hadn’t thought about that. It was true. Every time he had stopped something midair, it had been to prevent some sort of accident or mini disaster from happening.
Before anyone else could ask him another question, Parker stood up. “Sorry, guys, I have to get home.” The others watched him but didn’t stop him.
“See you tomorrow?” Yuan said, giving him another one of her small, reassuring smiles.
He looked away. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t exactly want to have to talk about this with them again. “Uh, yeah, maybe.”
***
Parker surprised all of them—including himself—when he sat with them at lunch the next day. They all gave him careful smiles and talked about easy topics, like last night’s episode of their favorite TV show and a new video game they were all looking forward to playing.
But Drew and Cole did keep wiggling their eyebrows and staring at Yuan. Parker seriously wondered if they thought they were being subtle. Eventually Yuan quietly cleared her throat and turned to him. “So, uh, can we talk about it?”
Parker sighed. At least she’d asked him first, instead of launching straight into more speculation. “Sure.”
“Forget talking about it more,” Cole said, excitedly leaning in. “I wanna see something again!” He grabbed his plastic fork and put it between himself and Parker. “See if you can move this.”
“I’m not sure it works that way,” Parker said. “I mean, so far it’s only kicked in if something bad was about to happen.”
“Well,” Drew said, “at least this is a safe way to test it and find out.”
Parker had to admit Drew was right about that. Unable to think of any other reason to argue, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention to their table. He wasn’t surprised to see that, in fact, no one else was paying them any attention. Then he looked at the fork. He held his hand slightly above the table and opened it with his palm facing downward. He tried to feel his mind wrap around the fork. It twitched but didn’t slide to Parker right away.
He took a deep breath and focused harder. He pushed a little more, feeling some kind of invisible force reach out from him and wrap around the fork. Suddenly, it was like something clicked into place, and the fork slid right under his palm. He picked it up and handed it back to Drew, who was beaming with excitement.
“Cool!” Drew said, taking back the fork. “What else can you do?”
Parker shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I don’t really want to start giving demonstrations.”
“Maybe you could use it to help somebody,” Yuan suggested, staring off across the lunchroom at another table.
Caroline sat with a group of jocks—MJ Mursh, Devon Jones, and Paul Thornton—as well as her best friend, Jennifer Kelly. They were all laughing and joking with one another, keeping to themselves for the moment. But Parker knew that each of them had a mean streak.
MJ was always pushing younger kids around. According to rumors, Devon frequently pressured classmates into letting him copy their work. Paul was one of those class clowns who’d gone over to the dark side. As for Jennifer and Caroline, if gossip and backstabbing were competitive sports, they’d be state champions.
He watched them for a bit until he saw a meek-looking girl wearing a backpack, probably a freshman, walking by them. MJ eyed her, then elbowed Devon and Paul with a smirk. Parker was just barely able to see his foot pop out to trip her as she passed.
As the girl unknowingly walked toward MJ’s foot, Parker focused on her backpack and prepared to keep it exactly where it was if the girl started to fall.
When she hit MJ’s foot and should have tumbled forward, Parker used his mind to hold the backpack in place. Her feet flailed for a moment, but she stayed upright and regained her footing. She glanced around the room, clearly unsure what just happened.
MJ looked at her in shock, but she seemed just as surprised as he was. He shrugged and looked like he was apologizing to the girl. Parker knew it wasn’t an innocent mistake, but the jock was playing it off that way. He even looked a little ashamed. The girl didn’t say anything back to him, just scampered away, and MJ returned to laughing with the others, clearly blowing off the incident as an o
dd fluke.
When Parker tore his focus away from what had happened, he noticed that Yuan, Drew, and Cole were all laughing. He couldn’t help but smile himself. It felt good to have helped the girl, whose lunch remained in her hands rather than on the floor.
“Awesome!” Yuan said.
“That,” Cole said, staring intensely at Parker, “was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Drew patted him on the back. “Ever wanted to be a hero?”
6
I don’t really want to be a hero.
Parker was at home in his room. He had been trying to catch up on his homework since he hadn’t done any the day before. But he every time he paused to check an equation or research something online for his paper, he couldn’t help thinking about what happened at lunch today. I’m not exactly cut out for this kind of thing.
Yuan, Cole, and Drew had all been so impressed with what he could do. Parker was impressed too, but he would have preferred to watch someone else do it. The others had encouraged him to practice his ability—do more than just keep objects in place. At the time, Parker had told them he would, but he had said that mostly to get them to stop asking him about it. He had no intention of actually testing the ability.
Throughout the rest of the evening, he had entertained the idea a little more. He had to admit to himself that he was curious what he could do. He was nearly done with all his homework and he still had the empty soda can he was practicing with earlier.
Instead of tipping it off the desk this time, he held the can at the tips of his fingertips. He focused all his attention on the can and tried to tune out everything else. He pictured his mind power reaching out and wrapping around the can, holding it in place. I did it with the backpack, and I can do it with this, he told himself. After a few moments of staring, he opened his hand and let it drop. The can fell into his lap.
Parker sighed. One more try. If I can’t do it this time, I’m not going to bother.