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  “That's almost unbelievable. Of course, it's fantastic, but if everyone always has everything, isn't it a bit boring?”

  Renny jumped in. “Powers no! We still have all the normal problems: love, relationships, work. These things don't go any smoother at home than they do Earthways. Plus we have always had to deal with Or’ka.”

  “God, yes–that must be awful.” Gaiah changed the subject quickly, the last thing she wanted was to think about was her, apparently inevitable, part in dealing with Or’ka. “Hey, here's something else I was wondering since our first talk. How long do Gaianans live?”

  Kaley's reply amazed her. “Over a thousand Earth years. We have all the same body workings and functions as Earth people, but obviously at a much slower molecular rate. Our manipulation of energy and atoms allow for a far more advanced medical system. Though there are always things that even Gaianan doctors can't cure.”

  Gaiah had a million questions vying to be asked. “Are there any more super powers?”

  “Shifting,” answered Kaley. “This obviously could be seen as a power, because Earth people can't do it.”

  Renny leant forward. “And encognating of course. Though not all Gaianans can do it as well as I can.”

  “She said modestly.” Kaley and Gaiah both said at the same time. They caught each other’s gaze and burst out laughing.

  “Well, it's true!” Renny's voice rose, but she was smiling.

  “Where does all the energy come from?” Gaiah was thinking of her grandparents’ house appearing and disappearing.

  “We don't really create it. We move and store it. We have machinery, but need people to focus their own brainwaves in synchronization to extract energy from air and matter.” Kaley's voice took on a lecturing tone. Just as she launched into the physics of particles, neutrons and atomic structure, they arrived home. Gaiah grinned back at Renny, knowing they were both relieved to be spared the lecture.

  That evening, Renny and Gaiah settled down to an encognation class. Facing each other across the kitchen table, Renny began. “I can tell when encognating is being done, which is why I got this electric assignment. I can’t get exact individual words, but I get a strong sense of what is being encognated. But I also have a good encognative ability, which is what I must teach you.”

  “I can't wait! This is really exciting.” Gaiah sat upright at the edge of her seat, hands clasped on the table and stared intently at Renny.

  “It’s a three-pronged thought sequence and really easy. You must think–I WANT, that’s your number one. I WANT that YOU FEEL, now that’s your number two and then I WANT that YOU FEEL that YOU WANT is your number three. Focus hard on whatever it is that you want to suggest at them. This really is to protect people from being influenced by you when you don’t mean to do it. It also makes it far more effective when you do it for real. Up to now you've just kind of been wishing that people would do what you want and probably all they were getting was a vague feeling of confusion or maybe a slight desire to do something odd.”

  Gaiah protested. “No, it did work sometimes, I mean, really work, like–‘that was a very satisfactory interview with Gaiah, I don’t know why her teacher sent her on report to me.’ or ‘I think Gaiah looks tired, I’ll let her off all the Easter holiday revision work.’ Admittedly not all the time, but often enough.”

  Renny smiled. “Well, you must have great powers of concentration, because it’s usually fairly random when you start. Right, so it’s one, two, three. I WANT that YOU FEEL that YOU WANT...Those are the steps that you have to get used to. There are rules that we Gaianans adhere to. We don’t use it on humans unless it’s necessary, and we NEVER make someone do anything against their nature. Needless to say, Or’kans, have no such scruples. Their encognation methods are closer to complete annihilation of the human’s will.”

  “Talking about Or’kans,” Gaiah said, “do Gaianans and Or’kans recognize each other in their Earthways forms? I mean how would you know if you were sitting next to one on a bus? What do they look like?”

  Renny frowned. “You’re supposed to be concentrating on encognating. But okay. Well…I suppose our female’s hair is fairly distinctive, unless we go to lengths to hide it. Or´kans are dark, but so are a lot of Earth people. So it´s hard to detect each other, unless, like me, you can feel encognating going on or they have an energy drain in front of you. Now back to work. Right! You try. Off you go, encognate me to give you the last piece of pizza.”

  “It’s not going to work on you though, is it, as we’re both Gaianan?”

  “No you won’t be able to make me think I want to do something, but I will be able to feel it. No more putting it off.”

  Gaiah tried. I want that…you feel that…you want to… give me the pizza. And she imagined as clearly as she could, Renny handing the slice of pizza to her.

  “Well, I have to say I do feel it-a tiny bit.” Renny smiled and ate the pizza. They practiced for the rest of the night. Over and over, until they were both tired of it. In bed, Gaiah found the three steps were repeating themselves in her head like a mantra until she finally dropped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Next morning, Gaiah opened her curtains to a gloriously bright day. Her spirits felt as high as the wisps of jet trails streaking the sky. I feel like I’m waking up on my birthday. Why? The answer was instant. After all the years of her ‘suggesting‘ being a vague, unpredictable, shameful secret, it was now an acknowledged and admired power she seemed to be good at. Last night had been wonderful. She couldn't wait for more lessons with Renny. Also, she was still pleased with her plans from yesterday.

  She would make arrangements for a date with the best looking guy she had ever seen, and try to make friends with Neal. Even thinking about his art work stirred her emotions. With her new-found confidence she was sure she could help him. For the first time since starting primary, she was excited about going to school.

  Double history and an economics study class meant she hadn't seen either Graeme or Neal by break time. As they headed towards the canteen, Gaiah hesitated at the door of coloured palms. “I’d really like another look at those copper pieces.”

  Renny opened the art room door, looked around and waved Gaiah in. “Okay, it’s empty, you look round while I go to the loo.”

  Gaiah headed straight for Neal’s work. She stood in front of the glowing copper and again. The work connecting…almost speaking to her.

  “I haven't seen you in here before.”

  She squeaked in fright, it wasn't just the art speaking to her, it was Neal. He eased himself up from where he had been crouched, polishing the supports of his work. His black denims and t shirt were paint-splattered but his hair was shining in a thick ponytail. “Jesus! You scared the life out of me,” gasped Gaiah. Her hand flew to her chest as if she could calm her heart.

  He bent and continued with his work. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to look at these again. I…I just love them… they make me feel…”

  Neal stood up again, stepped closer and looked down at her. “What? What do they make you feel?”

  Gaiah took his question seriously and looked again at the beautiful copper work. “As if they’re talking to me. I can feel something tugging at me for attention.”

  “And what are they trying to tell you?” He was still turned towards her when she looked back.

  Gaiah could see shadows under his eyes and her hand clenched with the effort of not wiping away the deep line between his eyes. What am I thinking! His wide mouth quirked up at the side and his green eyes looked at her so intensely, so deeply, as if he was trying to tell her something. She forgot about the work. This is my chance to try and make friends. Grab it! She took a deep breath and blurted, “Look Neal, I know everyone says you're an unfriendly loner…”

  His dark eyebrows went up and his smile disappeared. “Thanks a lot!”

  “No, I didn't mean…well…I did. It’s just that, I know there’s so
mething more. I don’t know why, but I just do and this art proves it. You can’t be as detached and indifferent to things as you try to be.”

  Gaiah heard herself gabbling but was unable to stop. “I know you're unhappy and I know what that's like. We don't know each other so maybe it would be easier to talk to me about things?" Oh God. Leave it there. Shut up, Gaiah, this is going nowhere. “Believe me, this isn't something I've ever done before, in fact it's quite mad. I really don't know what I'm doing.”

  Gaiah felt her cheeks get hotter and hotter and she wished to God she’d never started. She began to speak faster, her words almost running together in an effort to end this. “Anyway, you can talk to me, Neal, you can tell me anything–I don’t care how weird it sounds.” She ground to a halt and felt sweat gathering under her arms. At least he wasn't laughing at her.

  He put his head to one side and said, “You have no idea how weird, weird is.” He was standing very close and Gaiah could smell the bees' wax he´d been using. She was looking up at him, wondering…she didn't know what she was wondering. The door crashed open and Renny came bounding in, pulling up short when she saw Gaiah was with Neal.

  “Neal! I didn't know you were in here.” She looked quizzically at Gaiah–all seemed to be okay.

  “Come on, It's break time and I'm starving.”

  Gaiah laughed. “That's usually my line. Right, let's go.” She was so glad of the interruption. Given an excuse to stop the blithering she had been going on with. Oh, God. Why did I do that? I’m so embarrassed. What possessed me? Such a STUPID, I'll sort everything out, ‘know-all’ thing to do.

  Renny smiled at Neal. “You coming?”

  “Yeah, I´ll just finish up here and follow you.”

  The girls headed to the canteen. Gaiah said nothing to Renny about her attempt to talk to Neal. Heart thudding and head spinning, she felt as if she’d run a marathon. Thinking about it now, she wanted to squirm.

  Renny was totally caught up in discussing missing children; she’d seen a poster in the bathroom and wondered why Earth parents took such bad care of their children. Horrible and all as the subject was, it gave Gaiah the time she needed to recover from her efforts at making friends with Neal. They sat at what, over the next few weeks, became ‘their’ table.

  ***

  Autumn colours gave way to bleak grey and cold damp, but Gaiah could hardly remember being happier. Kaley put a moratorium on discussing what the Gaianans hoped from Gaiah. She insisted Gaiah have a few weeks to become used to her new life. To her delight and surprise her father rang almost every week, full of details about his most recent piece. She could hear new life in his voice. School fell into a pattern. Every day, Donald and Cassie joined them for lunch and filled them in on local news.

  The disappearance of the three children was the main topic of conversation. At first. Donald was convinced there was more to it than the prevailing assumption that they had tragically fallen into an unknown shaft or fissure in the hills. Cassie pointed out that exhaustive searches had turned up nothing untoward and nobody thought three children together had been forcibly abducted. She finally forbade Donald to speak about it and things returned to normal– Donald making jokes and Cassie gossiping about everyone in school and the locality.

  Graeme's timetable seemed to be a thing of his own devising. He often sauntered into the canteen during break, causing a stir of excitement. Whatever he was wearing he looked as if he´d just stepped from the pages of a magazine, but always with a grin that showed he didn't take his good looks too seriously. He never spoke of their prospective date when the others were around and of course Renny made sure Gaiah wasn't alone with anyone. So Graeme's opportunity for personal chat was reduced to snatched moments in the corridor between classes.

  When he would occasionally appear in the flood of students he spoke to Gaiah in a low intimate voice, leaving her distracted for the rest of the day. There was no doubting his interest when he was there. His intense gaze barely left Gaiah and he found every opportunity to trail his hand across her cheek, fix her hair or sit with his thigh radiating heat against hers. Gaiah's own reaction to this amazed her. She became aware of every inch of her body. An uncontrollable heat coursed through her. Graeme's smile said he knew this too, and she found herself avoiding his eyes.

  Neal sometimes joined them, usually leaning against the wall next to them sipping coffee. He rarely added to the conversation and he never referred to Gaiah’s clumsy overture, for which she was grateful. But she often found him watching her, which she found unsettling because she knew it meant her eyes were seeking him out too. She didn't know why exactly, was it to keep an eye on him because she didn't trust him, or because she always wanted to know where he was?

  Gaiah noticed whenever Graeme joined them, Neal was always there too. A brooding shadow. There was an undercurrent to their relationship that was hard to figure.

  ***

  The classes in encognation continued at home. Renny proved to be an unexpectedly organized and demanding teacher. Gaiah became more and more confident of her capacity to control her ability. Soon they were discussing with Alasdair and Kaley the ethics of trying it out on someone. As Renny enthused about Gaiah’s prowess, all agreed it definitely needed a trial run. They eventually agreed that the first target should be Mrs. Kane in the next maths class.

  Gaiah was on tenterhooks the entire morning. All her life this had been a source of trouble and shame. Now she was being encouraged to try it out on a teacher. Nervous and excited, she barely concentrated on anything except keeping her nails from her mouth. Of all the days, this had to be one of the rare times when Graeme was sitting in his place at the back of the room. Gaiah put it off and off, each time telling herself a better moment would come.

  She ignored Renny’s pointed sighs and coughs. She was scared to try. Scared it would go wrong and have some weird effect on people.

  As the maths class was coming to an end and Mrs. Kane was writing their homework on the board, Renny nudged Gaiah. Gaiah saw her friend's penciled eyebrows disappearing beneath her fringe, her eyes wide as they could go, and her head nodding urgently in Mrs. Kane’s direction. Renny was not subtle. Gaiah had to react before anyone noticed this ridiculous pantomime.

  She took a deep, wavery breath and thought as clearly and as forcefully as she could at Mrs. Kane. I want…that you feel…that you want…to change your mind about giving us homework. She wiped her palms on her jeans, and waited.

  The chalk stopped and Mrs. Kane turned and said, “Actually, I've just realized I want to wait to do this work until after we have completed the quadratic equations, so just look over what we did today–there’s no written homework.” She collected her books and left. A cheer went up.

  Gaiah clasped her hands tightly together under the desk to hide their trembling. Renny smiled proudly and mouthed, ' Very well done.'

  Donald beamed. “How about that?”

  A chair scraped loudly behind them, Gaiah looked around. Neal was standing. His eyes almost disappearing under the weight of his frown.

  “What's wrong with you?” asked Donald.

  Neal stalked up between the desks. “Nothing,” he muttered but his unfathomable gaze was on Gaiah as he walked past. Gaiah felt her stomach knot up. What was that about? Why was he acting like that? He couldn't possibly have known, could he?

  Graeme was still in his place, leaning back, chair on two legs, with his arms behind his head, grinning at her. He lazily waved an arm and said, “Don't mind him–he's a stick in the mud.”

  This confused Gaiah as much as Neal's remark. What was it with these guys?

  Gaiah and Renny headed to economics class, on their way they were passed by Neal going to the art room. He stalked past, head down, hands deep in his pockets.

  Gaiah scowled after him. “What a jerk.” she muttered.

  Renny’s shrug did nothing to mollify her.

  Gaiah was relieved when the final bell went that day. She’d been feeling odd since Neal's re
action in maths class and, unable to figure out why, had become increasingly annoyed with him. What was it about? Why was he angry? Anyway, why wouldn't he talk to her? If only there was some way of knowing what he thought…Could she, just slightly, encognate that he talk to her? It could hardly hurt? And she'd be doing it with the best of intentions, wouldn’t she? By the time they'd reached the school door, she'd more or less decided to try it the next chance she got.

  There was no sign of Kaley yet so they stood outside and chatted to Cassie and Donald in the dulling, grey light of the late afternoon. Gaiah jumped as a heavy arm fell across her shoulders. “At last! Got you. You´re usually gone like a bat out of hell after school.” Graeme´s voice was close to her ear. “Come and talk to me.” She found that she was being propelled away from the others. Renny made to follow but Gaiah's shake of the head slowed her down.

  Graeme stopped walking but kept his arm around her. Gaiah felt her face going hot. He turned her to face him, pulling her in against his chest. The contact made her gasp. His voice was soft. “Look, it's been weeks since you agreed to come out with me. Let's decide on a time now. You´re a very difficult person to get on your own, you know. That Renny is a bit of a watchdog, isn't she?”

  It was hard to think with him so close and she really did want to push back that flop of dark hair hanging over his eyes.

  “What about next weekend?” He tilted his head to one side and waited for her answer.

  She tried to pull her eyes from the sculpted softness of his lips. Her legs felt strange, she wanted to sit or run, she couldn't tell which. Her voice was shaky. “Sounds good.” She had no time to say more because Renny was next to her, pulling at her arm.

  “Kaley's just here, let's go!”

  Graeme glared at Renny’s intrusion, his eyes narrowed. Then he smiled, his grin brilliant, annoyance banished.