The Magic Factory

by Morgan Rice

“It’s nothing,” Ralph said.

  The next door opened and everyone started to file out.

  “It’s clearly not nothing…” Oliver began, following the others.

  But his words died in his throat when he saw the sleeping dorms. Like the other specialized areas, this one was a huge fifty-floor atrium, with strange glass pods attached to the walls and a central column. It was very dark, save for the white glow of each pod, and some small glittering snowflake lights that fell endlessly through the air.

  “How does that work…?” he murmured, transfixed by the snowflakes.

  He looked over and saw that Ralph had already joined the queue. He snapped back to attention and hurried after him. He wasn’t about to drop this one.

  At the front was an older Japanese boy who was directing each kid into a pod. It was a smooth process, done with almost military precision. The pod would whiz into place, the boy would push a button to open the lid, the kid would climb in, and then the boy would push the button again, the lid would close, the pod whiz away and everyone in the queue would take a step forward.

  Edmund was right at the front of the queue. He turned, clearly searching for someone. When his gaze found Oliver’s he called out, “Hope you get a good sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day for you!” Then he got into his pod and whooshed away.

  Oliver turned immediately to Ralph.

  “A big day?” he demanded. “What is he talking about?” He was starting to feel panicked now. This was more than a random insult he didn’t understand. Ralph was definitely keeping something from him.

  Hazel, who was standing just ahead of them, jumped in. “He just means your first classes,” she said, hurriedly. “You know, new teachers, new kids, that sort of thing. He’s just being mean.”

  Though Oliver was, indeed, very anxious about the new classes and all the new people he’d meet tomorrow, he could tell by the tense atmosphere passing between Ralph and Hazel that there was more.

  “Please,” he begged. “What is happening tomorrow?”

  As more kids got into their pods and whooshed away, they inched closer to the front. Oliver saw Simon, the pale Victorian boy, climb into a pod and whoosh into the ether. Then Walter with the dark skin and short Afro went next. It would be his turn soon. He couldn’t get in without knowing what fate awaited him.

  Finally, Ralph sighed. “You’re going to be tested,” he said.

  Oliver gulped. “Tested? In what way?”

  “It’s fine,” Hazel said, jumping in again to try and reassure him, to diffuse the tension. “You’ll pass no problems.”

  But her words made Oliver even more tense.

  “It’s a test I have to pass?” Oliver asked. “What happens if I don’t?”

  Ralph’s expression was even more grim than before. He looked at Hazel with grief. Edmund had clearly brought this up to rattle Oliver, and now Ralph would have to clean up the mess.

  “It’s to find out what specialism you have,” Ralph explained.

  “Okay...” Oliver said. He could tell there was more to come.

  “But…” Ralph added.

  Oliver swallowed hard.

  “There is a small chance that you won’t pass at all. Professor Amethyst doesn’t always get it right.”

  Oliver felt a jolt like lightning strike him in the chest. “You mean I might find out I’m not a Seer after all?”

  Ralph shook his head. “You’re a Seer, all right, Oliver. It’s just whether you’re a bromine Seer or a cobalt one.”

  “I don’t understand,” Oliver stammered. “Bromine and cobalt are elements. What does that mean?”

  “They’re the two different types of Seer,” Ralph explained, sounding increasingly worried that he was giving Oliver too much information. “Bromine is red and cobalt is blue.”

  Oliver was suspicious. “If it’s just a case of finding out whether I’m red or blue then why have you gone as white as a sheet?”

  “Because cobalt Seers usually turn to the other side,” Ralph blurted. “They use their powers for bad.”

  The news hit Oliver like a freight train. His heart started to hammer wildly. Feeling dizzy with shock, he staggered and held an arm out to steady himself. Hazel appeared beside him, gently supporting him by the elbow with a concerned expression on her face.

  “You’ll be okay,” she assured him. “Even if you are a cobalt Seer, it doesn’t mean you have to leave or anything. You’ll still have a place here. It just means you’ll have to be very careful with your powers. You’ll have to learn to resist the lure of evil.”

  The next pod arrived for Hazel. It flew her into the blackness as well. Then, suddenly, it was Oliver’s turn. A pod was flying into position for him.

  “We’ve said too much,” Ralph said, looking concerned. “Come on. Get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

  “I can’t sleep now,” Oliver protested. “What if I turn out to be a cobalt tomorrow?”

  He glanced at Ralph’s face. He looked drawn and worried. The huge pit of anguish in Oliver’s stomach grew deeper.

  He turned back to the front, to the older Japanese boy peering at him.

  “You’re new,” the boy stated. “I’m Ichiro, the residential assistant, or RA. I can help you while you’re here. In you get.”

  But Oliver wasn’t able to move at all. He was practically hyperventilating. All this time he’d been wondering about his powers it had never occurred to him that they might be something bad, something dark and evil. It was too much to take in.

  “He’s a bit daunted,” Ralph said on his behalf.

  “Everyone is first time,” Ichiro assured him.

  He clicked the button to open the pod lid and Oliver got his first glimpse inside. It looked like a coffin.

  Ichiro spoke. “Once you’re in you connect the white probes to your temples, press the sticky heart-shaped pad to your chest, put your finger into the pulse clip, lie back, and press the white button.”

  His words were very fast, too fast for Oliver’s already befuddled mind to follow.

  “I’m sorry,” Oliver stammered. “I do what with the sticky pad…?”

  But there was no time. Ralph was gently pushing him from behind into the pod.

  “You’ll be fine,” Ichiro said, as he shoved Oliver down into sitting in the pod. “Just don’t press the red button, okay?”

  Oliver felt panicked as he slid into the pod. He could see Ichiro standing on one side above him, and Ralph on the other, wearing his expression of concern. Maybe Ralph had been right to try and hide the test from him. Knowing had just made him more nervous. He’d never sleep now.

  Ichiro slammed his palm onto a button and a frosted glass lid closed on him. He was really trapped now.

  Panicking, Oliver felt the pod lurch upward. He grabbed the sides, feeling like he was on the most unstable rollercoaster in the world.

  He looked around for the wires and things he was supposed to attach to himself but it was as disorientating as being in the trash can in the storm had been. Besides, his head was spinning with everything he’d been through that day, with all the rules and things he needed to remember, with anxiety for what was to come.

  The pod stopped moving suddenly and everything went quiet. Oliver lay there, staring up at the frosted glass, breathing rapidly. He took a moment, then began to run through in his head the steps he was supposed to follow.

  He found a bundle of wires. Amongst them was a heart-shaped sticky pad, which he placed to his chest. Then he found a small white clip the shape and size of his finger, and slid his index finger inside. Then finally he found two pads which must be the ones to put on his temples. Then he lay back, his heart thrumming.

  Above him were three buttons. One white. One red. One blue.

  Red or blue. Bromine or cobalt. Good or evil. Tomorrow he would find out what type of Seer he was, what specialism he really had. He would finally find answers to his questions, answers he may wish he’d never learned.

&nb
sp; Oliver took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. With a mixture of nerves and dread, he reached forward and pressed the white button. And in an instant, he was asleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “How was your first sleep in the pod?”

  Oliver blinked with confusion. He looked up into the face of Ichiro, the boy who just moments earlier—or at least that’s how it felt to Oliver—had shoved him into the sleep pod in which he was currently lying. Behind Ichiro, the sky was no longer sparkling stars in a blanket of black but soft warm daylight, like an early spring morning.

  In a flurry of surprise, Oliver sat up. He rubbed his eyes. He felt disorientated and quickly pulled the sticky tabs from his skin. “It’s morning? But it feels like no time has passed at all.”

  Ichiro chuckled. “There’s no morning or night here. It’s all synthetic, all manipulated. But if it makes you feel less weird, then sure, it’s morning. As for whether any time has passed or not…”

  Oliver held a hand up to stop Ichiro in his tracks. Ralph had given him enough of a headache talking about the nonexistence of time yesterday. The last thing he needed was a debate first thing after waking up.

  Instead, he took Ichiro’s outstretched hand and got to his feet.

  But as Oliver stood, his memories suddenly came back to him. With a jolt of fear, he remembered that today—his first full day of lessons—would involve the dreaded test. What if it turned out he was a cobalt Seer with the potential to turn his powers to evil?

  Ichiro must have noticed the change in Oliver’s expression.

  “Interdimensional sleep can feel a bit weird at first,” he said reassuringly. “But you’ll get used to it.”

  “It’s not that,” Oliver muttered. “Today is my test.”

  “You get to find out your specialism?” Ichiro asked. “What are you thinking—electrical? Or maybe elemental like me? That’d be great. I’d love another elemental buddy.”

  “Not that part of the test,” Oliver refuted. “The part about whether I’m bromine or cobalt. Good or…” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “evil.”

  Ichiro pulled a face. “I’m sick of those binary comparisons. Cobalt Seers can be good! Bromine Seers can turn bad. It’s the equivalent of saying every sociopath is evil. It’s reductive and not true at all. You’re a good kid, Oliver. There’s no reason you’d go bad, cobalt, bromine, or otherwise.”

  Oliver felt greatly reassured by his words. “You really mean that?” he asked Ichiro. “It’s really not that big a deal?”

  “Not at all,” Ichiro told him. “And I should know. I’m cobalt.”

  Oliver was surprised by the admission. Clearly, it wasn’t so bad after all. Ichiro seemed nothing but kind and reassuring, and he hadn’t been kicked out by Professor Amethyst either. Oliver had been worrying about nothing.

  “Your clothes will be in the airlock,” Ichiro added, patting Oliver’s shoulder. “Cleaned and ready for you. Enjoy your day!”

  Oliver felt very relieved. The thought of being tested no longer filled him with dread. In fact, without that anxiety occupying his mind, he suddenly became eager to learn more about his powers and how to harness them.

  He went to where Ichiro had pointed, the same changing-room area from last night, and wondered who else would be inside. He hoped to see Ralph and Hazel, and Walter and Simon. And the beautiful Esther. But not Edmund or his horrible scowling friend, Vinnie.

  Oliver entered the airlock changing room and was relieved to find Ralph and Hazel the only people inside. Hazel had already braided her hair into the same two-bun style she’d worn yesterday.

  “Feeling rested?” Ralph asked.

  “I got your clothes for you,” Hazel said, handing Oliver his blue overalls, cleaned and smelling of fresh lavender. “Oh, and this was with them.”

  She held out a small rectangle of hard transparent plastic.

  “Your timetable,” she explained.

  Oliver took the piece of plastic and it suddenly whirred. Lights appeared on the surface. They arranged themselves into times and coordinates.

  “It’s everywhere you need to be and when,” Hazel told him.

  “Does it show me when my test will be?” Oliver asked.

  Hazel pointed to a series of digits and numbers. It was right after all his classes for the day. She gave him a gentle smile. “I promise you it won’t be that bad.”

  Oliver took the bundle of clothes from her arms. “I know,” he said as he walked over to the changing area. “Ichiro told me that the test isn’t that big a deal.” He closed the curtain and started to change, calling out as he did so. “If he’s a cobalt then it can’t be that bad.” It felt nice to be out of the strange white sleeper. His overalls were the only familiar thing in his life right now and so wearing the factory garments from Armando’s factory made him feel secure. “You could’ve been a bit more reassuring. You made the test seem very dramatic! But if Ichiro is anything to go by, it doesn’t make that much of a difference whether I’m cobalt or bromine.”

  He remembered then that Ichiro’s exact words had been cobalt, bromine, or otherwise. He wondered if it was a figure of speech, or whether there might be more categories of Seer to belong to.

  Oliver put his timetable in his overalls pocket and walked out from behind the curtain. He saw Ralph and Hazel were still there, but the room was also now full of a ton of other kids. Amongst them were Edmund and his mean friend. They’d all overheard him. Edmund sneered at him.

  “Did you hear that, Vinnie?” he said to his friend. “Apparently it doesn’t make a difference what type of Seer you are.”

  Vinnie began to cackle.

  Then Edmund called out to Oliver, “Just keep telling yourself that when your test shows you’re cobalt!”

  Oliver felt his cheeks burn. He pushed past Edmund and Vinnie and stood beside Ralph and Hazel, silently wishing they’d told him to stop rambling aloud from behind the curtain. He had not intended to put himself in Edmund’s firing line so soon after waking up.

  Just then, Walter emerged from behind the curtain in sneakers and a shirt with a cartoon character on. He came and joined them.

  “Can’t wait for switchit practice today.” He grinned and slapped Oliver on the back. “Sleep okay?”

  “Yes. Fine,” Oliver said tensely.

  Simon joined them in his strange Victorian fashion, looking every inch the smart English gentleman. “Tally-ho,” he said.

  Just then the airlock doors opened and everyone filed out, in their usual hurried manner. Oliver was swept along with the crowd.

  A whole host of emotions roiled inside him as he followed everyone to the F hall for breakfast on the levitating table. He clipped himself in next to Hazel, prepared this time for the sudden sensation of elevation. He also knew to be quick and grabbed himself an oval-shaped banana and a stack of neon pancakes. But as he reached for a glass of green orange juice, his gaze went through the glass table to the one beneath him. There, Edmund was sitting with Vinnie. They both glared up at him. Oliver quickly broke eye contact.

  “Are you all right, Oliver?” Hazel asked. She sounded concerned. “It’s not still the test, is it? I did try to tell you it wasn’t a big deal.”

  “It’s not that,” Oliver replied. “It’s Edmund. I’m sick of bullies. I thought here of all places I wouldn’t get picked on.”

  Hazel looked at him sympathetically. “Try to ignore Edmund. I know it’s hard. I was bullied at my old school too.”

  “You were?” Oliver asked, feeling his friendly connection with Hazel deepening.

  She nodded, empathetic for his plight. “Being a Seer makes you different, even when your powers aren’t showing yet. I guess we’re smarter than the average kid and it makes us stick out.”

  From the other side of Oliver, Ralph suddenly piped up. “I’m not smarter.” He laughed and pointed at himself with both his thumbs. “Worst Seer the school’s ever seen, according to Doctor Ziblatt.”

  At the mention of t
heir teacher, Oliver remembered it would soon be time for lessons, for learning. He felt himself tremble with nervous anticipation.

  Once breakfast was eaten, the robot arms cleared their plates and the table descended. They left the F hall and went into the main atrium. It was even busier than it had been yesterday with students everywhere, whizzing around on the myriad walkways above.

  Ralph led the way to the elevator; thanks to his height, he had a larger stride than the others. He also seemed to enjoy being a leader, which was fine with Oliver because right now all he wanted to do was follow.

  Everyone squeezed inside—Oliver, Walter, Hazel, Simon, and Ralph. Though he’d only known them for a short while, Oliver felt like he’d found kindred spirits. They were from different points in history but were bonded by their powers. He felt closer to them than he ever had to anyone before. For the first time in his life, Oliver felt as though he’d found some friends.

  They whooshed upward. Then the doors to the elevator opened and Ralph directed everyone along a walkway. They stopped outside a door. Then, for the first time since arriving at the School for Seers, Oliver went into a classroom.

  He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but he should have known it wouldn’t be like your typical classroom. Instead, it was a domed room, with the seats in a horseshoe around the edges. In the middle was a sort of stage, with a raised platform. And there stood a woman in a white lab coat. She immediately reminded Oliver of Ms. Belfry, with her chestnut brown hair and warm smile. He wondered how Ms. Belfry was doing, back at Campbell Junior High.

  “Doctor Ziblatt is a wonderful tutor,” Simon said to Oliver. “She’s the most intelligent person one could ever have the pleasure of knowing.”

  They took their seats and Oliver noticed Esther sitting just a few rows ahead. She had a very poised demeanor, Oliver thought, as though she was aware that she drew the attention of every boy in the room.

  “Oh,” Ralph said, leaning over from beside him. “You should strap in.”

  “What?” Oliver asked. “Why?”

  He noticed black straps hanging either side of him and quickly clipped in. No sooner had he done so than the whole room started to spin. Oliver clutched the edge of the bench, feeling his neon pancakes swirling in his stomach and regretting now the speed with which he’d eaten them.