Spell Robbers Read Free Page A

magnify the quantum energy radiating from Peter. That is how he was able to do what you saw. Without them, he would not be able to actuate that cloud.”
    “Can you actuate things without them?”
    “No. My equipment is what makes actuation possible.”
    This was unbelievable, and Ben was confused. “How can the rest of the world not know about this?”
    “When the idea of actuation was theoretical,” Dr. Hughes said, “I was laughed at by my colleagues. We’ve now gone beyond theory, but the technology isn’t perfected. Before I go public, I have to make sure the data and evidence are unassailable. But I do hope to make an announcement in the next six months. Until then, I expect you to keep this a secret.” Dr. Hughes looked at him from under her brow. “Understood?”
    “Understood,” Ben said.
    “Excellent. Then let’s begin your first lesson.”
    A few minutes later, Ben stood inside one of the tripod rings. Dr. Hughes and Ben’s classmates stood outside the circle. It felt to Ben like he was on some kind of stage, with bright lights and an audience staring at him, and he did not want to trip.
    “The key to actuation,” Dr. Hughes said, “is how fully you realize the event you are trying to bring about. Like the visualization exercise I just had you do in the hallway.”
    Ben took a deep breath. “Okay.”
    “The more detailed your visualization, the more complete your thought, the greater the chances of actuation. That means understanding all the consequences, all the precursors, everything about the event that you can.”
    “Got it.”
    “So now.” Dr. Hughes went to stand in front of one of the computer monitors. “I’d like you to close your eyes.”
    Ben did.
    “Relax,” she said. “Take a few deep breaths. Hold your hands out in front of you, like you saw Peter do. And now picture a cloud between them. Imagine the moisture condensing out of the air, molecules collecting.”
    Ben saw what she described. He turned his normal vision into science-documentary animation, zooming in on the atoms floating in the air around him, the hydrogen and the oxygen. He grabbed two hydrogen, one oxygen, and stuck them together, and he imagined others coming together, too. Hundreds, thousands, millions more. Together, they became a mist, and then a cloud, and then falling water droplets, all between his hands.
    Suddenly, he became aware that the room was silent around him. He became aware of his feet squishing inside his tennis shoes, and the coldness of wet jeans against his shins. He opened his eyes.
    A charcoal cloud the size of a car churned in the air in front of him. It stretched to the edges of the circle, flooding the floor with rain even as Ben’s excitement burned hot. This was power. This was control. In his hands.
    The others had all stepped away from it. They looked back and forth between the cloud and Ben with fear in their eyes. Except Peter. Peter was looking past the cloud, right at Ben, his expression blank.
    Dr. Hughes’s fingers flicked over her keyboard. “Good. That’s good, Ben. And now I need you to disperse the water in your cloud back into the air, just as you collected it.”
    The cloud flashed with an angry little bolt of lightning.
    “Close your eyes,” Dr. Hughes said. “Before it gets away from you.”
    “Gets away from me?” Ben asked.
    “Just do as I say.” Dr. Hughes’s voice sounded calm, but strained. Was she afraid, too?
    Ben closed his eyes. He pictured the cloud in his mind, and focused on its molecules. He cracked the bonds holding them together and broke them into atoms, just as he’d assembled them, and scattered them like smoke until they’d dissipated.
    He opened his eyes. The cloud was gone. But the floor was still wet. “How was that?” he asked.
    No one said anything. They just stared. Like they were still afraid. But not Peter.
    Dr. Hughes cleared her throat. “Class, you will continue practicing your exercises. Ben and I will return