The Magic Factory

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.

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