Powerless Revision 1 (2 page)

***

The sound of clanging pots awoke Mira the next morning before the sun came up. Feeling exhausted and not wholly rid of yesterday’s frustration, she dragged herself out of bed to check on the strange commotion. After pulling up her leggings and slipping on her tunic, she took a moment before heading downstairs to lean out against the large window in her room. The white wall rubbed up against the darkness. A slight tinge of anger tweaked her heart. Biting her lip, she chided it with her thoughts.

Shaking her head and feeling the hopelessness of fighting, she turned away from the window and went downstairs. There, she found her father, who was doing little more than lounging in a chair. Her mother, on the other hand, had been very busy. Why they both weren’t still fast asleep at this early hour mystified her.

Delicious aromas tickled Mira’s nose and made her mouth water. Poking her head around to see the kitchen’s hearth, she caught Jeana busily transferring food from pans to plates. A colossal breakfast was taking shape upon the table.

“How long have you been up doing this? What is going on?” she asked, with both interest and skepticism. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she moved toward the basin to start cleaning the dishes when her mother answered.

“Just sit yourself down, dear, and don’t be bothered about that.” Taking a seat at the table, her father, still wearing his pajamas, sat down next to her. He usually began rushing about as soon as he got up. Mira tried to formulate an explanation for his relaxed behavior.

“You aren’t leaving today? Why?” Very few occasions kept him home, and so Mira felt confused since this was neither a holiday nor a birthday. Kevin pulled her in close, preventing her from seeing his discomfort in an affectionate way.

“There’s something we want to talk to you about. Is that ok?”

Mira, shifting in her seat, raised her eyebrows and gave him her full attention.

“Oh boy, this is hard. Now, where to begin?” he said, looking around for reasons to avoid the conversation at hand.

“Spit it out, honey,” Jeana said, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, ok. Mira, we’re going to let you go. But there are some things you need to know first. Can you listen to everything before you make any judgments or decisions?”

She squinted at her parents, struggling to understand.

“What do you mean you are going to let me go?”

“You’ve made it clear that you’re not happy with your life as it is now. We’re going to help you change it, for better or for worse.” Kevin looked at her, and she tried to mask her skepticism of what he was saying.

“Ok, so do it. What do we have to do? Let’s do it.” She leaned forward over the table, eager. Her eyes scanned back and forth between her parents.

“Remember, you’re going to stay here and listen to everything. All you have to do is look out the window.”

Confused, Mira turned around so she could look through the large glass doors that led out to the backyard. Candle and firelight from the house met a swath of the undulating mist. She watched, unsure of what she was looking for.

At that moment, the watery mist thinned and separated. For a second, the water fell in an intense downpour, splashing against the ground. By then enough of the wall had evaporated to reveal bright stars speckling the sky beyond.

Her eyes grew large and her jaw dropped. The shock overwhelmed her and she forgot to breath. Unconsciously, Mira rose from her seat and staggered toward the door. Her eyes remained transfixed on the sight before her, afraid that it would disappear if she blinked. She pulled the door open and stumbled into the open air. Her parents restrained the urge to go after her, letting her soak in the moment.

The first thing she noticed was the morning breeze that brushed against her skin. It felt like a flush or a tingle that swept over her entire body. She took small, measured steps out onto the dark lawn in her bare feet. Holding a trance-like gaze, she stared out in front of her for as far as she could see.

Mira had never seen the stars so clearly before, but something else stretched over the sky that captured her wonder and demanded her attention. Stitched together over the atmosphere, a luminous and sharp web draped high above, embedded in the stars. Marveling at it, she admired its graceful curves and simple elegance.

But before she could even begin to absorb what she saw, the sun peeked above a mountainside in the distance, flooding the air with light and showering it down on the vast and beautiful scenery stretching out before her.

The brilliant rays masked the web but revealed a radiant landscape below. Her small wood sloped down behind the garden and extended outward along a valley. She could see for miles and miles, past a river, a village, all the way to some towering mountains that formed a chain leading down to the fresh morning sun near the horizon. She saw smoke rising from the chimneys in the town, where people must be living at that very moment. Those homes huddled behind a large stone fort, which looked out upon farmland. A large bird of prey, a hawk, navigated the sky, majestically playing in the first light of day. She watched it dive, flap its wings, and rise.

Everything was so new to her, and the wonder and beauty of it all struck her deeply.

Jeana and Kevin slowly approached her, giving her time to regain her senses. When they were sure they wouldn’t startle her, Kevin put his hand on her shoulder.

“How did you do that?” she asked, in a mesmerized tone.

“Let me tell you,” Kevin said, applying pressure with his hand and turning his daughter back toward the house. She yielded without the least resistance, and together they returned to their places at the table. She still had something of a dazed expression on her face. Her mother put some food on her plate, but Mira didn’t touch it.

“There is so much we need to tell you. There are things we’ve kept from you, things you can’t know just by seeing them,” Jeana said. She put her calloused hands out to comfort her daughter, but Mira was still too stunned to take them.

“You see, when each baby is born, a special gift comes down from the web of the universe to make the child special and unique. It’s what we believe makes us who we are. Your father’s gift made the wall around our house. There is something we can all control, an extension of our being.”

Mira squinted at this, not quite understanding. She could be a quick learner, but her lost expression made Jeana wonder if she had enough maturity to handle this.

Kevin, bouncing one leg under the table from the nerves, jumped into the conversation. “We kept you here to protect you from these powers and the people who have them, because they can be very dangerous.” He forced a smile to soften his meaning.

“Everyone has something that makes them special? I don’t get it.”

“It’s something we are all born with, a special connection with the world that sets us apart from everyone else. But these powers are sometimes great and are not always used for good. Sometimes they are not completely under the control of their users.”

“But if everyone has this, then how does that mean I needed to be kept alone?” Mira’s breath became short, giving away that she had an inkling of the answer. Kevin exhaled a deep sigh and spoke as evenly as he could.

“Because you are different from everyone else.”

“But you just said everyone is different.”

“No, you are different because you don’t have a power,” Kevin said.

The girl blinked in a flurry and her lips parted. She tilted her head and then swallowed hard. Jeana and Kevin wondered what raced through her head. Finally, she threw up her hands in frustration.

“But if everyone is special and unique and I’m different too, then why am I not special and unique? Why am I the one who’s different from everyone? Is something wrong with me?”

She reminded them of all of the people whom she had been hoping to encounter and the worry that she would now be received as a monster. The concern contorted her face and she leaned back in the chair, dejected.

“We watched and watched, looking for any kind of sign, as all parents do. For days and weeks, months and years, and it became obvious there was something different about you.”

Mira struggled to remain calm, but a sudden blush of shame made her look away from her parents. After a moment, something struck her and she set her eyes upon them.

“Mom, do you have a power too?” She waited meekly for an answer.

Jeana looked her daughter squarely in the eyes and gave a very deliberate nod of the head.

“What…what is it?” she asked.

Jeana tried to speak as straightforwardly and plainly as possible.

“My gift is a simple one, but it has proven to be immeasurably useful. I make things sleep.”

“Sleep?” Mira repeated, making Jeana want to say something about her kisses every night. A sick feeling came to Mira’s face, one of violation and betrayal. Jeana didn’t want her to think she had used something she didn’t even know existed against her.

“How could you do that to me? You manipulated me with…your power. Did you think that was the right thing to do? It’s so awful. I can’t believe it,” Mira said, voicing a wellspring of anger and resentment.

But Jeana held on to her patience. The argument was nothing she hadn’t already thought about.

“You have no idea how many tears I saved you from, enough to fill an ocean. You never had a restless night fueled by your fears. You never had to pray for an escape from whatever illness had a hold of you. Every mother in the history of the world has begged for such a gift, and I was not about to let it go to waste.”

The conviction of her tone struck Mira’s ears, and she hesitantly nodded at what she heard.

“I think I need a break. Is that ok?” she pleaded.

***

Her parents consented, and she went up to her room to let what she had heard sink in. Slinking down on the carpeted floor, she wondered what it would be like to have a special power. She thought about making things fall asleep or playing with the water in the air. It puzzled her, occupying her mind completely, refusing to let her think about anything else. How did it work?

The light streamed in through the window much stronger than ever before. She noticed the brightness on the skin of her leg and felt the warmth it brought to her. This warmth, she thought, had traveled so far and so long to get to her. Getting up, she rose to her knees and propped her elbows against the windowsill.

She peered at the outside world. Strange noises came from the distant town. Thinking of the people and what they might be doing to make such noise, another question popped into her mind. In order to ask it, she went back downstairs.

“What’s going to happen to me now?” she asked.

“Hopefully nothing,” her father answered. “You’ll remain safe and sound and be free to live your life with us.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Mira responded. “What am I going to do now? What do normal people do?”

Jeana and Kevin looked at each other before answering her.

“Children your age have spent several years in the academy by now. They’ve been getting an education, much like I’ve tried to give you, and they’ve been learning about their special relationship with the world. All of this is usually done under the instruction of a wise and supportive teacher, who is appointed by the village elder and who works tirelessly to prepare students for the challenges they will face in the future,” Jeana explained with warm sympathy.

“What else do they do?”

“Just normal, everyday things. They spend time with their families, help around the house, and then do things to make friends like playing games and sports and other hobbies. But a lot of what young people do revolves around the work they do at school.”

Mira smiled at the thought of making and having friends. It piqued her interest.

“Is it possible for me to become a part of the academy?” she asked.

Her parents answered with some hesitation.

“We think so, but we’re not completely sure. Your situation might pose a little bit of a problem. We’ll have to go and check it out together.”

Kevin pronounced “situation” with a careful kind of stress. It had already become something of a sensitive topic, which needed to be handled properly, or perhaps it always had been and Mira had never noticed it. Either way, the reminder that she was somehow different bothered her.

Her father continued. “If you want to get in, we’ll have to act fast. Registration won’t go on for much longer and then training will begin. I suppose we’re lucky we have an academy in this town. Some smaller towns don’t.” He stopped abruptly, refocusing on his daughter with an air of seriousness.

“This schooling can be a very good thing for you, Mira. And you will get to know others your age. But you can also expect it to be hard, harder than anything you’ve ever done. That won’t just be because of the training, it’ll be because of who you are. You’ll have to do it all on your own. Do you think you can handle that?”

Mira heeded his warning, but in her mind’s eye she could see only the promise of laughter and games with new and interesting companions.

“Oh, I know it’ll be hard, but it’ll be worth it. Is that everything?” she asked, referring to the explanation.