The Magic Factory

But Edmund was still gripping it, willing his powers to work.

Oliver realized what was going to happen a second before it did. He only had time to cover his eyes with his hands. Then CRASH. His ostreagle slammed into Edmund’s. Both boys fell from their ostreagles and began to plummet toward the ground.

Oliver let out a huge scream as the floor raced up to meet him. But instead of smacking into a hard ground he found the surface he landed upon was as soft as a feather pillow. He bounced gently, the floor yielding to his weight like foam. He realized Coach Finkle had used his powers to change the physical properties of the floor so that it was bouncy, because after a second of bouncing, the floor returned to a solid state.

Lying on his back, staring up at the two riderless ostreagles circling above, Oliver blinked in surprise. Then suddenly, Edmund appeared above him. His face was red with rage.

“You idiot!” he screamed, grabbing Oliver by the shoulders. “You flew into me on purpose!”

Oliver batted at Edmund’s hands. “I didn’t mean to! My ostreagle wanted the ball and there was no way I could stop her. I told you to throw it!”

Edmund’s face was red with rage as he shook Oliver roughly, zaps of electricity sparking from his fingertips, each one like a small stabbing needle.

Oliver wasn’t going to lie there and take it. He might have taken Chris’s thrashings, but he wasn’t going to take it anymore, not here, at the School for Seers, at the place where he finally, truly belonged. It had been building all day, this tension between him and Edmund, and now it was finally exploding.

With all the strength he could muster, Oliver pushed out with his arms. But as he did so, some other force from inside him burst out. His powers. He’d made no attempt to conjure them, and yet his mind had visualized so clearly his hands turning to solid steel that he’d made it materialize as a reality before him. And his two steel hands were so strong, they sent Edmund flying.

Time seemed to slow down as Edmund arced through the air across the vast expanse of the court. He hit the ground hard and let out a yelp of pain.

Oliver sat up suddenly, his mouth agape. He had not meant to push out with his mind like that. He touched his head. There was no perspiration like he’d felt when using his powers before. It was as if certain situations brought his powers out without effort on his part, like the time when Chris had tried to harm him. His powers had protected him then, as they had now. It had been uncontrolled, unexpected. He’d hurt Edmund badly when all he’d wanted was for the bullying to stop. Shame swirled inside of him.

All around him, the class were muttering, whispering; his sudden explosion of power had taken everyone by surprise. He wasn’t sure if anyone had seen him transform his own body, though. To go from barely altering the structure of a mouse in Transformation class to doing it with his own body seemed like a huge leap for Oliver.

He looked down at his hands, which had returned to normal. How had he done that? Without even meaning to he’d rearranged the atoms of his own flesh, turning skin to metal. Surely that was the sort of power that took years to train to achieve? Could it be, Oliver wondered, that he had an atomic specialism after all? Had his failures not been because he was weak, but because he possessed the specialism that was the hardest to hone?

Suddenly, Coach Finkle was there beside him. He glowered down at Oliver.

“You. Headmaster’s office. Now.”

Oliver gulped. “H…headmaster?” he stammered.

Coach Finkle crossed his arms, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “You heard me, Blue. Go.”

“I don’t know where the headmaster’s office is,” Oliver admitted.

“Take the elevator to the top floor. It’s through the door into the sixth dimension,” Coach Finkle said, irritated. He turned and marched away from Oliver, calling out to the others, “Someone get the nurse!”

Oliver got to his feet. Over on the other side of the court, the rest of the kids were landing and dismounting their ostreagles, crowding around Edmund to see if he was okay. Vinnie glowered at Oliver. He wasn’t going to let him get away with this.

But whatever retribution Vinnie and Edmund would line up for him, it was going to be nothing in comparison to the headmaster. This was not how Oliver had wanted things to go. With a mixture of disappointment and terrified anticipation of his punishment, Oliver scurried away.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Oliver rode the elevator up to the very top of the School for Seers. He looked around for the headmaster’s office and found a door with a big number six on it.

He went to knock but the door opened before his knuckles had even collided with the surface. Cautiously, he stepped inside and called out, “Hello?”

The second Oliver crossed over the threshold, he began to float. It was dark inside the room, like the vacuum of space. Light came from a galaxy of multicolored orbs floating about the place. Oliver reached out and touched one as he passed. It spiraled away from him just like an object in zero gravity would.

“Oliver, is that you?” a voice called.

Oliver looked all about him. He couldn’t tell from where the voice had spoken. There wasn’t anyone around, as far as he could see.

“Up here, Oliver. Coo-ee!”

Oliver looked up and saw, floating with his arms and legs outstretched, a very kind-looking man. He had a broad smile and was wearing a shiny orange two-piece suit. If this was the headmaster of the School for Seers, he wasn’t anything at all like Oliver’s imagination had conjured. And he didn’t seem to be about to punish Oliver for his fight with Edmund, either.

Confused, Oliver watched as the man floated toward him, propelling himself like a swimmer through a pool. He reached Oliver, floating to his side. They shook hands.

“I’m Professor Amethyst,” he said, his smile growing ever broader.

“I’m Oliver Tu—”

“I know who you are!” Professor Amethyst interrupted. “Since I can see the past, present, and future of every timeline, I’ve gotten to know all about you.”

Oliver blinked with surprise. “You have?”

It was very difficult to maintain a conversation while he was floating around, and it didn’t help matters that at times he’d spin so that he was facing away from the headmaster.

“Oh yes,” Professor Amethyst said. “You’re a very important young man, Oliver. Some might say you’re as important as I am, but that depends on which history book you’re reading, I suppose.”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said, spinning to face the man who was currently floating behind him. “But what do you mean?”

Doctor Ziblatt had seemed certain Oliver couldn’t be the one they were waiting for. With all his failures, Oliver was inclined to agree with her. But the headmaster seemed to be suggesting the opposite. Oliver didn’t even dare hope that the headmaster was right about this.

“It will all become clear,” Professor Amethyst said. “One bit of information at a time. We don’t want your head to…”

“…explode,” Oliver finished. He’d heard the mantra enough now.

Professor Amethyst chuckled. “I called for you now because in ninety-nine point nine percent of timelines, Edmund comes to his senses and knocks you silly.”

“Oh,” Oliver said. “About that…”

“I’m not going to give you an ear-lashing,” Professor Amethyst said. “Although I can’t tolerate violence in my school and you’ll be punished in due course. But that’s not what this meeting is for. This is an introduction. A welcome.”

Oliver felt relieved to be temporarily let off the hook.

“Can we sit down somewhere?” he asked. “This spinning is making me seasick.”

“Of course,” Professor Amethyst replied.

He clicked his fingers and in the blink of an eye, the space transformed. The galaxy disappeared and Oliver was suddenly sitting on a couch. Just a plain brown leather couch, with a slight rip in the armrest. There was a fireplace to the left, and a coffee table ahead of him, sitting on a weathered Persian rug.

“Is this more what you’re used to?” Professor Amethyst said.

Oliver looked around at the room, which had the appearance of an old 1940s-era study. His head spun from the suddenness of the transformation that had taken place before his eyes. Professor Amethyst must be a very powerful Seer if he could rearrange all those atoms so quickly without breaking a sweat.

“I guess,” Oliver said.