Throughout the world, Power Uppers are the hottest drug on the market. A single pill allows any Normie to obtain the power of a Super. The drawback? They're also highly addicting and the cause of most financial ruin.
Tayla wants nothing to do with s...
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Tayla smiled when the computer screen flickered on. There was no screaming pain in her head. Her nose didn't have a waterfall of blood. For the first time in her two weeks of endless training, she felt like she owned that broken computer. She turned around to celebrate with Max and sighed when she realized he wasn't there. It was still the copper haired hag who liked to slap her hands with a ruler whenever she messed up.
It wasn't that Ms. Hinley was a bad teacher, she didn't push Tayla farther than her body could handle, but she had the tact of a mountain lion eating its dinner. Mrs. Hinley was the lone telekinetic in Genesis after Max left and thus was the only one who could truly help Tayla focus her mind, even if she was still left with nothing but instinct to control her power.
"If you think I'm going to congratulate you for turning on the computer, you're mistaken. Do it again," Mrs. Hinley said.
The seventy-year-old woman continued to rock in her chair, knitting whatever massive fur concoction she was working on. Every day was the same. She would tell Tayla to focus on her breathing, something Max had already done, tell her to feel her connection with her power, something that made no sense to Tayla, and slap Tayla's hands if her power strayed to the wrong machine.
Tayla really didn't like her.
"I don't have a headache."
The older women touched a hand to her chest and gasped. "Congratulations. You did something a four year old can do." She shook her head. "Again."
Tayla pouted and turned back to the computer. Clearly it would kill Mrs. Hinley to show an ounce of kindness. She didn't know what annoyed her most. Being assigned to an unkind teacher, or not having heard from Max in two weeks since he abandoned her in Genesis.
He needed time to process. She understood that, but Tayla figured he'd be back in a day or two. It disappointed her how easily he could leave her alone and not send any message back to let her know he was safe away from Eden City. Tayla grunted, shaking the thoughts of Max from her mind. He'd made his choice and she wasn't going to let some stupid boy disrupt her from her mission.
Master her power, save her mom.
One hand touched the side of the computer. She inhaled and exhaled in perfect timed bursts, less than a second. Deep and fast. Though Mrs. Hinley and Max had both suggested slow breathing helped, Tayla found speed to be to her benefit. The first time she'd done too much and nearly hyperventilated herself, after two weeks her breathing was the one thing she knew she'd mastered.
Green numbers circled the paper-thin computer, the familiar serenade of one's and zero's pooled from her fingers. They circled in a kaleidoscope of code, shifting with her thoughts. Turning something on and off was starting to become easy, like flipping a switch. It was a matter of seconds before the computer turned off.
"Again," Mrs. Hinley said before Tayla could turn around.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, keeping her hand on the computer. On and off. Off and on. Her computer buzzed with life before ending in silence. Multiple times. An endless barrage of again and again and again.
