Harris Institute for Gifted Students Episode 9: Live Wire

Harris Institute for Gifted Students by Pineapple | Content Warnings

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This was a stupid idea. Sofia didn’t know why she trusted Vanessa or why Vanessa thought this would work. Vanessa was worried, but she also knew how to get things done. So she told Sofia about the lecture she and Ben went to about electronic pulses and how they can boost mental powers.

She called Ben over to their dorm and asked him to help, because of course Ben had told her about what happened with Marjani and their barrier experiment. And of course Ben came, and of course it worked a second time but better, because now Ben and Vanessa had theory in addition to practice. Instead of powering Ben up though, Sofia was boosted, feeling like a live wire as she walked to class to see what Ms. Fatima had to say about the supposed-to-be-empty building by Ms. Hera’s training field.

Sofia felt like she could hear everything, feel everything as she walked through campus. She focused on slowing down her breathing as she approached the door to Ms. Fatima’s office.

Sofia could hear reggaeton playing, but she knew it wasn’t out loud. It was playing in Ms. Fatima’s mind, secondary to Ms. Fatima’s voice as she organized her desk. It was something in the levels. It didn’t sound quite real, quite balanced enough. A particularly good part of the song was louder than anything, and Ms. Fatima’s voice was mixed in, singing along.

Sofia knocked before entering.

Ms. Fatima was lighting the candles that always sat on the side of her desk. She usually had them lit when she had students. One of them flared, nearly catching Ms. Fatima’s hair. (It had been straight the last time Sofia saw her. Now it was a million neat microbraids.)

Ms. Fatima turned and looked back at Sofia.

The music faded into white noise that sounded like rain. A hurricane, maybe. If she tried, Sofia could hear the wind blowing through trees. The pattern of the drops hitting a roof. Thunder rumbling in the distance.

Ms. Fatima narrowed her eyes at Sofia. “Now, what are you trying to do?” she asked.

Sofia almost flinched at the physicality of the sound.

“You’re not subtle in the least, you know,” she said, moving to sit behind her desk. “I could feel you coming from a mile away. You’re like a…”

“A hurricane?” Sofia offered.

Ms. Fatima laughed gently. It was a relief to see. She gestured for Sofia to take her usual seat. “Hurricanes weren’t uncommon on the islands,” she said. “You’re more like a police siren, announcing where you’re going.”

Sofia blushed as she sat down. It was a stupid idea.

“Did you think you’d be able to read my mind?” Ms. Fatima asked.

Sofia shrugged helplessly, staring at the mess of cards on the table. The hermit was face up in the middle of it all.

Ms. Fatima reached out, tipping Sofia’s face up from her chin with a delicate finger. The small touch felt like a shock.

Like she was lightning, in the middle of the storm. The hurricane in Ms. Fatima’s mind. She could see palm trees blowing, almost unrecognizable in the winds. The rain was sideways, and Sofia was standing in the middle of it without it touching her.

When Sofia blinked back into reality, she was looking into Ms. Fatima’s eyes. Ms. Fatima didn’t even seem to have noticed the spark between them, the flash of her private thoughts that she’d seen.

Ms. Fatima had been probing her mind at the same time. Maybe it had been a trick all along. Sofia didn’t know, but Ms. Fatima frowned.

“I told you the answers you seek are not in that building,” she said, her voice soft.

“It’s the only lead I have,” Sofia answered back.

Ms. Fatima looked at her and sighed. “I know you’re looking for Sahar Bilal. I don’t know where he is and I don’t know what happened that night. He… is not the one in the old building.”

“So there really is something important in there?”

“A person,” Ms. Fatima answered. “Ray Whitaker. He’s not a student.”

“What do you mean he’s not a student?”

“By all accounts, he isn’t here,” she explained. “But it’s… safe for him behind the barrier. He’s a powerful telepath. Evil Ones would be on him in a second if they found out the extent of his powers.”

“So you were lying when you said there wasn’t anyone else.”

Ms. Fatima smiled, but it was a sad smile. Thunder cracked somewhere in the background of her mind. “I’m sorry,” she said and it felt like she meant it. “He doesn’t like visitors. I’m trying to help him be able to control his powers, but it’s difficult on him. I can’t help you and your friends with Sahar, but perhaps Ray can.”

Sofia bit the inside of her cheek. She thought she was better at blocking her thoughts than this. She thought Vanessa and Ben’s boost would help. She was wrong about being the best for this.

“I need you to understand that the only reason I’m telling you is so that you don’t go breaking into what he’s made his home,” she said.

Sofia nodded.

“I have conditions.”

At this, Sofia perked up. Ms. Fatima leaned over and started digging through her bag.

“You are not allowed to take Vanessa in. I’ll be giving the key to Hera. If Vanessa is there, you won’t be allowed in.”

“Wh… why not?”

Ms. Fatima pulled the key out, but held onto it tightly. “You two had to work for her powers to effect you, but I can’t say whether or not it’d be the same for him,” she explained. “Next, the fewer people that go with, the better. Nobody with mind powers similar to yours.”

“O… kay…” Sofia’s mind was starting to turn, rotate like mechanical gears in a clock. “Anything else?”

“Tomorrow after classes. If you miss the window, that’s it. That’s your only chance to meet him.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” Sofia asked. She felt desperate, her heart nearly beating out of her chest. Part of it was adrenaline from the boost, but… the way Ms. Fatima was looking at her was also putting her on edge.

“You know when I’m lying,” Ms. Fatima answered, resting her head against the back of her chair. “You told me that yourself. Haven’t we been practicing on getting better at it, even?”

Sofia opened her mouth to protest. Closed it.

Ms. Fatima smiled, and started fidgeting with the key ring in her hands. It was a long, woven lanyard with a key chain of a bear.

“Why do you think he might be able to help?”

“He…” She hesitated. “… He hears a lot of things on campus. That’s why there’s no record of him being here. Even other instructors or students might try to take advantage of it. He doesn’t mention it to me if he hears something, unless it involves me personally.”

“Why not…?”

Ms. Fatima shrugged. “Do you have any other questions?”

“Did you have any suspicions about Sahar?”

“There was and still is lots of magic in the air,” she said. “Something was off that night, but I don’t suspect that there was foul play concerning a student.”

Two truths and a lie, but Sofia didn’t know which was which. She felt it cast like fishing line along her skin, dancing like static, until it landed in her brain like a fish hook again. It was so subtle, so gentle, she might have missed it if she wasn’t so overpowered at the moment.

“Anything else?” Ms. Fatima asked.

Sofia shook her head. “No, I… don’t think so.”

Ms. Fatima turned in her chair and smiled. “Then let’s see what your pumped up powers can do before they wear off, hm?”

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Since Vanessa was banned from setting foot into the training building, it was decided that Sumire and Samuel would go with Sofia. Just in case. Greyson wasn’t happy about getting even more people involved, but he acquiesced after Vanessa gave him another talking to about teamwork.

Sugi wasn’t too keen on the idea either, but his powers were more on the imaginative side, so Sofia figured it would be safer to leave him out of it.

Ms. Hera unlocked the door for them and gave the key to Sumire. “Lock up when you’re done,” she said. “Fatima will kill me if you don’t.”

Sumire just nodded, and followed Sofia and Samuel in. The first room looked like an old school gym with basketball hoops hung from the ceiling and polished wood flooring. There were mats stacked or leaned against walls, collecting dust next to out-of-date exercise machines and some heavy-duty weight racks.

Sam elbowed Sofia and gestured to doors opposite them before he went to open them. On the other side was a hallway. Carpeted, with emergency lights showing them the way.

There was a heavy silence here that made Sofia anxious. The building wasn’t large by any means, but the deeper they went, the worse she felt. It should have been quiet. There was no sign that Sumire or Samuel heard anything, but Sofia was starting to pick up powerful, distorted guitar riffs.

“This way,” Sofia said. She followed the music, listening for when it was clearest and when it fizzed into static. The extra exits of the building were blocked off with classroom desks or other broken furniture the school didn’t bother getting rid of. Sofia led them up the stairs to the second floor, full of what looked like empty offices. Lighting was still minimal, and Sofia’s heart felt like it might jump out of her chest at how powerful the thought bubbles were.

It was like a concert in her brain. Like she could feel the pounding of the bass and the drums in every fiber of her body, like she was right next to the speakers.

And then it stopped. Like somebody suddenly turned it down so they could talk over it.

“That’s close enough,” the voice said.

Sofia froze in place.

Sumire bumped into her. “Excuse me?” she said, offended.

“Did you hear that?” Sofia asked, looking around.

Samuel and Sumire exchanged quick eye contact before confirming that no, they couldn’t hear it. It was all in her head.

“Come one at a time,” the voice said. “The room in the middle of the floor.”

The voice was starting to sound familiar, as was the music. It was familiar, the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her and feeling grounded by a voice that wasn’t really there. This was the same voice she’d heard after they expanded Ben’s barrier.

“I’ll go first,” Sofia said. “I’ll let you know when you guys can come, too.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Sumire asked. “We came to protect you.”

“I’m sure,” she answered. “I’ll scream if I need anything.”

“If you scream, you’ll kill me,” the voice quipped.

Sofia couldn’t help the way her lips curled. She found the door for ‘the room in the middle of the floor.’ It was getting hard to distinguish the mental from the physical, but she was almost certain the whir of fans was from a real computer. Blue light blinked beneath the gap at the bottom of the door. She twisted the knob and went in.

“You aren’t gonna yell, are you?” the voice asked. Real. Solid in the way it made its way through the air.

Sofia closed the door behind her. There was ambient, warm yellow light from the LED strips that lined the ceiling. Brighter than that was the computer monitor, set at the lowest brightness setting possible. There was a paused game on the screen.

As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw the owner of the voice, Ray Whitaker. He kept his headphones wound around his head, pushed back off his ears, but still blasting the music Sofia had been hearing the whole time she was wandering through the building. Metal, but judging from his worn Metallica shirt, he’d correct her with something much more precise and pretentious. He was sitting in a gaming chair, looking at her the same way she was looking at him. His hair was just edging on brunette; it might have been blonde if he’d ever seen the sun, with a scruffy goatee to match. Chubby but powerful in the way men who move naturally are.

A thousand bubble thoughts surrounded her, filling the room.

“Fatima said you wanted to meet me,” he said.

The bubbles popped.