Billy: Messenger of Powers Read Free Page B

eyes to Billy for a moment, as though she was going to single him out, too, but then seemed to think better of it. She looked at a large boy in the back of the class. “And it’s how I know that you are the third of four children, Mr. Canter.”
    She looked around at the class, which was now silent. “Why did I do this? Because I received the information, and I did not want to waste it. You should have all done the same with your orientation information.”
    Mrs. Russet resumed handing out the papers. “And as for what is ‘fair,’ Mr. Crane…” she stopped a moment. “There is a ‘fair’ that comes to the county every summer. Other than that, ‘fair’ is not something that most of us will encounter very often in life. I will be fair in that I will only test each of you on information I know you have received. But your notion of whether that is or is not ‘fair’ is not something that will concern me.”
    She finished handing out the papers. Harold looked like he was thinking of something to say, but before he could, Mrs. Russet held up a hand. “The tests have been passed out. Testing has begun. Anyone speaking before all tests have been completed will receive a zero.”
    She sat down at her desk, folded her hands, and began methodically scanning up and down the room, watching the students with the precision of a spy satellite.
    Billy fumbled in his bag for a pencil. Then he wrote his name at the top right of the page, and read the first question.
    “1. Where is the Principal’s office located? Please describe how to get there from the main Student Entrance.”
    Billy blinked. The words were familiar, he knew they were English, but he wasn’t able to process them. Between his encounter with Cameron, his time in the locker, meeting Blythe, and the whirlwind introduction into history class, he had blown a fuse somewhere. He knew he had to focus. Billy had never been an “A” student, but he always tried his hardest. He would try his hardest here, too. But to do that, he had to calm down.
    He closed his eyes for a moment. He took a breath, held it, then let it out slowly. It was what his mom—a checker at a nearby grocery store who he knew had to face at least six hundred crises per day—always told him to do when in danger of panicking.
    It worked. Billy felt his heart rate slow down from Hyper-Speed to the level of You’ll Have a Heart Attack Any Second Now. Another breath, and he relaxed further.
    He concentrated on “seeing” the insides of his eyelids. At first, all he could see was pink. Then strobing flashes started to go off. He concentrated on them , and imagined they were space ships, carrying passengers into distant places. He imagined hopping onto one of them. It carried him into space, where nothing could hurt him, where he was alone and safe, where—
    “Mr. Jones!”
    Billy jerked, his eyes flying open as his name was called. Mrs. Russet was still at her seat, her gaze drilling into him once again. This time, her look was even more intense than it had been when Billy entered the class.
    Billy waited, horrified. Did she think he’d been asleep? Cheating somehow? What?!
    Mrs. Russet blinked a few times, as though she herself was uncertain why she’d called his name so loudly. Then her stare returned to its previous level. “Please stay after class, Mr. Jones,” she said.
    “But, I’ll be late,” he managed to squawk. His throat felt drier than the surface of the moon, which at least was an improvement over constantly feeling like he had to use the bathroom.
    “I doubt you’ll have to worry about that, but if it happens I’ll write you a note,” Mrs. Russet said.
    Billy nodded, feeling the class’s eyes on him once again. Mrs. Russet looked around at the class, apparently noting their attention as well. “The test is still in progress,” she reminded them. Everyone looked back at their papers.
    Billy looked down as well. He began writing, but knew when the papers were turned