Spell Robbers Read Free Page B

shortly.”
    Return? Where were they going?
    “Yes, Dr. Hughes.” Peter smiled at her, and then cast a dark look at Ben. Was he angry about something?
    “Come, Ben.” Dr. Hughes waved for him to follow and led him through the classroom door into the hallway. “Let’s go up to my office, shall we?”
    “All right.”
    They climbed the stairs to the first floor, and then up to the second, past more creepy old photographs. The wooden steps creaked a little under their feet on their way up to the third. The ceiling on that floor slanted, giving Ben the feeling of needing to duck his head. They walked down a narrow hallway to its end, where Dr. Hughes unlocked a door.
    The room inside was round, and lined with shelves and shelves of books. A desk overflowing with papers stood before a single slit of a window, straight ahead.
    “Are we in a tower?” he asked.
    Dr. Hughes glanced around. “Yes. I asked for this office. I don’t like corners. Things get stuck in corners. Please, sit down.” She motioned toward one of two chairs in front of her desk, and she took her place on the opposite side.
    Ben sat. “Am I in trouble?”
    “No, no, Ben. Nothing like that.”
    “Then why —?”
    “I’m sure you took note of how the others reacted to your actuation.”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “The fact is, none of them, not even Peter, has actuated anything remotely close to that. And they have been practicing for weeks and months. You were able to do that on your first try. It’s quite astonishing.”
    Ben kept his pride from turning into a smile. But then, what she’d said made him wonder something. “Can you actuate, Dr. Hughes?”
    She smiled down at her desk. “No, Ben. I can’t. I haven’t found an adult who can.”
    “Why not?”
    “I think it has to do with imagination. Adult brains have already decided long ago what’s possible and what’s not.” Her eyes watered up, and her voice got quiet. “But actuation would have meant a great deal to me when I was your age.”
    Ben looked away, unsure of what she meant or what he should say.
    Dr. Hughes cleared her throat. “During the actuation, I told you it could get away from you. Do you remember?”
    “Yes.” Ben leaned forward, grateful for a change of subject. “What did you mean by that?”
    “In the beginning, it was your thoughts that created and sustained that cloud. But if you had let it go long enough, or get big enough, eventually, there would have come a tipping point when the cloud would have ceased being an actuation and become an actual cloud.”
    “What’s the difference?” Ben’s cloud seemed plenty actual to him.
    “An actuation is still just the physical manifestation of a potential, one remote possibility. But an actual thing isn’t potential anymore. It’s there, and it has a material life of its own. A runaway train.”
    “So what happens if it gets away from me?”
    Dr. Hughes shook her head. “Who knows? Bigger cloud. More rain. Lightning. It hasn’t been a high enough risk to worry about until today.”
    “I see.” But inside, Ben wasn’t worried. The cloud had felt completely under his control. It hadn’t felt like a runaway train at all.
    “I’m glad you understand,” Dr. Hughes said. “Knowing what I know now about your gift, I’ll be better prepared next time. We’ll take it slowly. Cautiously. You’re very unique, Ben. Who knows what you might accomplish.”

AFTER class, Ben walked with Peter to the bus stop. Ben didn’t plan to ride the bus, but it was on the way to where he was meeting his mom. It was a busy time of day, and they moved with a tide of college students.
    “What did you think?” Peter asked.
    “I don’t know what to think,” Ben said.
    Peter nodded. “That’ll pass.”
    Ben didn’t see that happening. How could you get used to this? “Why’d you give Dr. Hughes my name in the first place?”
    “When we met at school, I could tell you were an Actuator.”
    “How?”
    “You start