******
Jade and Kendis ran to their tent to get showers and a change of clothes, dressing for baric ball in shorts and tees, then they made their way to the mess tent, joining Alex and Ro at their table.
“Hey, how’d it go?” asked Alex.
There were now four regular cooks for the camp so everyone no longer had to take turns, and the cooks made up the menus. On the first day of the three day weekend, it had become customary to have pizza for lunch, and Alex was happily munching on his fourth slice. He watched with raised eyebrows as Jade and Kendis sat down with their trays piled high with pizza, salad, and a stack of Healer Cybil’s chocolate chip cookies. Jade also had a bottle of Lark’s elixir.
“Went fine,” Kendis got out before diving into his plate of pizza.
Jade smiled and nodded in agreement, saying, “You wouldn’t believe the energy we used up this morning!” and chugged the contents of her bottle while reaching for a slice of pizza.
Ro looked on in amusement. “I think I’d believe it,” she said, grinning.
Alex, who was no slouch when it came to eating, couldn’t believe his skinny little sister had just stuffed down four pizza slices on top of that stuff she drank and was gobbling up salad like it was trying to run away. He felt sorry for those cookies that seemed to be trembling in a corner of her tray awaiting their turn.
The cookies had to wait through two more pizza slices and another bowl of salad before she finally picked one up and bit into it with enthusiasm. She ate the next one a little slower, taking time to savor it.
Meanwhile, Kendis was polishing off his third bowl of salad after slaying ten slices of pizza. He eyed the cookies and one of them rose up and zipped near his lips. He grinned, opened his mouth, and the cookie sailed in, disappearing with barely a whisper. Two more followed their companion down the hatch into his stomach, which finally felt satisfied.
Alex and Ro had stopped eating just to watch. In fact, most of the folk in the mess tent had grown quiet and were watching Jade and Kendis eat with total fascination.
When they finally sat back in their seats and looked up, the entire tent exploded in applause and cheers. They blinked in surprise. They hadn’t been aware that they had an audience.
Jade blushed and grinned sheepishly, but Kendis just smiled, another cookie floating in front of his mouth.
“Wow! You guys musta used up a weeks’ worth of energy out there. I’ve never seen anybody eat that much at one time.” laughed Ro.
“Heh, well, we did use a lot,” said Jade. “Eagle and Owl warned us we’d be extra hungry and they sure were right.” She picked up another cookie, glancing up as Louis and Hester walked over and sat down.
“That was some major eating you two did,” observed Louis smiling and shaking his head.
“I saw you down on the field,” said Hester, “I didn’t know you were both flyers, Jade. I thought Kendis was just a lifter.”
“Um, I am,” said Kendis. He explained how he could only fly when he touched Jade. “Of course, she can lift when she touches me, so it’s reciprocal. Lark explained that our esas are complementary, meant to work together that way.”
Alex looked at him thoughtfully. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. There are other abilities that work together. Question: have you two noticed your esas getting stronger, lately?”
“Well, I know mine have,” said Jade. “The finder one has gotten so strong it’s beginning to be kind of annoying. It sometimes finds things I wasn’t looking for and didn’t want to find.” She blushed, remembering Healer Ross and Loretta “attending” each other.
Kendis nodded. “Definitely stronger. And more refined. Those cookies I picked up? Wouldn’t have been able to do that a month ago. Remember? I had to touch anything before I could move it. Now I can move everything by just concentrating.”
“It’s not just you two, Kendis,” said Alex. “I think it’s happening to everyone. For some reason, all our esas are getting stronger, including the Elvwists’.” He leaned back. “I wonder if they know what’s causing it?”
“Only one way to find out: ask them,” said Jade. She sighed. “I’d really rather have some fun this afternoon, though.”
Three strangers entered the mess tent. Ro sat up, her eyes widening.
“Hey! It’s our old boss Norm, from th’ work camp, Jade. And th’ two guys with him are wearin’ th’ Nuisance Apprehenders Inc. logo. I wonder what they’re doin’ here?”
“Oh, they’re probably here to assess the Dimmer problem,” explained Jade. “You know the ruling council decided the Dimmers are more like pests than anything else, so they’ve hired our old company to come up with a method for getting rid of them. I would imagine Norm is here because our work camp is the closest to this area.”
The men were talking to Loretta and Healer Ross who were sitting at a table near the entrance. Loretta pointed at Jade’s table, and the men nodded at her and headed over.
“Hello, Jade, Ro,” said Norm as he walked up. He nodded at the others at the table, introducing himself.
“I’m Norman Taylor, supervisor at Jade and Ro’s work camp outside Twelve.” He shook hands around the table while introducing the two men with him.
“These two gentleman are Jeremy Wu” - he indicated the shorter of the two, who had straight white hair and dark brown, almond shaped eyes and a kindly face, reminding Jade of Healer Chen - “and Caine Montford” - who was much taller, with short, gray-streaked brown hair, slate gray eyes, and pale, white skin as if he didn’t get out into the sun much - “They’re here from Headquarters at the request of the ruling council. We’re looking at the Dimmer problem you folk are having out here.”
Oh. Company high-heads. Jade frowned slightly. Caine Montford looked vaguely familiar but she couldn’t think of where she might have seen him before.
The men shook hands with everyone, smiling at the young people. They all nodded a greeting, looking at the men with questioning faces.
Jade was thinking what they all were: what do they want with us? And on the weekend?
Norm started out, “We’ve heard you were at the beach when the Dimmers first attacked and we’d like to get a little information from you. May we join you?”
“Sure,” nodded Kendis, “have a seat.”
“What we need to know,” said Jeremy Wu, “is exactly what you were doing when the Dimmers showed up.” He pulled out a thin, round recording device, laying it on the table. “I hope you don’t mind if I record this. We just want to ensure that we get a complete picture of the situation.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Wu,” said Jade with puzzlement, “But did no one else tell you what happened?”
He smiled. “Yes, Jade, but we’ve heard several versions and that’s why we’re here. We’ve found that it’s best if we get a first-hand account.”
Caine Montford spoke up. “Also, if we could, we’d like to get a really good image of what these things look like.” He chuckled, dryly.
“Everyone we’ve talked to so far has a slightly different opinion of that, too.” He explained that the recorder would capture mental images, too.
Jade was okay with Jeremy Wu but felt uneasy about Caine Montford. Nothing she could put her finger on, but she didn’t care for the…vibes? She wasn’t sure what it was so she tried to ignore it. She glanced at Kendis and saw he was staring at the man with a slight frown.
Everyone looked at Jade. She sat up straight.
“I can do that. Which image do you want? The one of them coming out of the ocean or when they came across the beach? I can also give you my aerial view of them, if you want.”
Norm looked at her in surprise. “You saw them from the air? Were you in one of those aircraft we’ve seen going over?”
All the young people chuckled.
“She don’t need one, sir,” said Ro, grinning. “She flies.”
The three looked at her, then back at Jade, eyebrows lifted. Apparently, the
word of her ability was not widespread outside of the camps.
“What do you mean “she flies”?” asked Montford.
“She levitates. Sir,” said Kendis. He was still staring, unsmiling, at Montford.
“Humans don’t levitate,” said Montford, flatly. “Only the Elvwists do that.”
Jade looked at him and shrugged. “Do you want the images or not?”
They were making her feel tired, and she was thinking she wanted to wrap this up and get rid of them as quickly as possible. She was ready to relax and have fun for the afternoon, not sit around talking to a couple of old guys.
“Okay, just tell us what happened,” said Wu, “and we’ll also take whatever images you have.”
One at a time, they told them what happened, finishing with Jade and Eagle flying them out. “There were four others there that day,” said Alex. “The woman who sent you to this table” - he indicated Loretta, still sitting with Healer Ross - “and Reece Pearson, the Cat Tally, and the Dog Dotshea.”
Reece was not in the mess tent though Jade knew he was with Sparrow, and Tally and Dots had volunteered to work perimeter duty for the weekend.
“Do you want the images, now?” she asked, quietly.
They nodded, and she projected the image of the Dimmers coming out of the ocean.
“My gods!” exclaimed Wu and Norm at the same time.
“There were that many of them?” asked Montford. “You sure you’re not exaggerating the number?”
Jade was getting impatient. “I don’t exaggerate,” she said tersely, and she projected the image of the Dimmers landing on the beach, then the image she’s gotten of them spread out from the ocean to the wooded area when she’d taken to the air.
The men looked at her skeptically. Except Norm. He looked at her with admiration, his blue eyes brimming with excitement.
“Oh, these are great images, Jade! These are the best ones we’ve been able to get. And they move, too. Shows a lot of detail, which we need.” His face split into a grin. “I knew you would have excellent images. I remember a few of your images from around the work camp.”
He nodded. “These are even better than the ones you used to make. You’ve improved since then.”
Jade grinned back at him. He was a pretty good boss and sometimes he had come into the camp canteen and joked around with them. He knew she could make good, accurate images. And he was right. She had improved.
She thought about how much better her images had gotten and it dawned on her that doing images might be a type of esa. And maybe ran in the family: Alex and her mother were pretty good at it too. Something else to ask Sparrow or Lark about...
Montford looked at Norm irritably. “We probably should have her scanned, Taylor. We want to be sure about this.”
Jade’s insides clenched. No way was she getting scanned over this. They could take it or leave it.
Norm looked askance at Montford. “Why would we need to do that? I know how well she projects and she’s always been accurate.” He was aware of the side effects Jade got when she was scanned. In fact, it was in her records with the company, and Montford should know that.
Montford looked at everyone at the table. “Well it’s obvious she’s an illusionist. We know Humans can’t levitate.”
Jade didn’t say a word. She glared at Montford and got up and stalked out of the mess tent. She really didn’t like him now.
sent Kendis. She could sense he was seething at the insult to her integrity.
She heard the scraping of chairs and knew everyone at the table was following her out. She stood outside the tent, waiting for them. Norm and the two high-heads came out too.
Norm went over to where Jade stood with Kendis.
“Jade, I believe your images are good. I don’t know about the levitating but I don’t think you need to be scanned,” he said hurriedly before the two high-heads came up.
Jade smiled thinly at him. “Thank you Norm. I have no intentions of being scanned anyway. If my images are not acceptable, they can be discarded. Makes no difference to me.”
She lifted up into the air, looking down at the three men standing there, two with their mouths agape. Caine Montford’s mouth wasn’t open. He was staring at her fiercely, his face unreadable.
She looked at them impassively, hovering about ten feet up. “You can especially discard the aerial images since I couldn’t possibly have seen the Dimmers from the air. You can also discard the part of our story about me helping to fly everyone out.”
She came back down and hovered around five feet off the ground. “Kendis, you coming with me?”
He grinned and caught her hand, rising up with her. He’d picked up their packs on the way out of the tent and they flew up with him.
“Hey, anybody else want to go with us? I’ve been practicing and I believe I can lift at least four other people,” he said grinning even wider when he caught the looks on the pest controllers’ faces.
Alex and Ro excitedly said they’d go. Louis grinned and shook his head.
“I think I’d like to walk this fine afternoon. Where do you want to meet up? Hester and I will follow.”
sent Jade as she got up higher.
she said, as she started towards the field.
Alex and Ro, holding hands with each other, rose gently into the air, their faces dancing with delight.
Louis nodded as he laughed.
She had gotten a lot faster, and they reached the field in minutes. She landed them all gently on the grass.
“Wooo hooo!” screamed Ro dancing around the field. “When didja learn how to do that? Wow! That wuz great!” She sprawled down on the grass.
Alex laughed. “Leave it to Jade to come up with something new!” He turned to her. “That was wonderful, little sister! Did you see the looks on their faces when you took off? Priceless!” He plopped down beside Ro.
Jade shook her head in amusement.
“Wasn’t just me, you know. I just did the flying. Kendis did all the heavy lifting. Together, we make a good team. And, yeah, I saw their faces when we took off.”
She sobered. “Can you imagine that Caine Montford person thinking I would go through a psyscan just to satisfy him? Seriously, why did he ask me if he wasn’t going to believe me? Surely he’s been told all the facts anyway.”
She and Kendis flopped down in the grass with Ro and Alex to wait for Louis and Hester, and anyone else wanting to play baric ball.