The Weirdos

41

*Hey, guess what? I found some inspiration and got out a new chapter*

Jasper...
Jasper...
Eyes red like burning coals. Fire. Smoke.
Jasper... find me in the woods, Jasper.

"Hey!"
Jasper jumped and looked around with wide eyes, panting breaths leaving him. His heart was racing and he could feel his back slick with sweat. His eyes focused on Books and he blinked a few times, just then realizing where he was and that it was morning. He had fallen asleep in the little reading nook at the end of the hallway.
"Go do your thing and then meet me in the training room. You've got fifteen minutes."
Jasper nodded and went upstairs. What time was it? He hadn't had breakfast. Was Books going to run him through that awful simulation again? Jasper went and took a quick shower and got dressed, then headed to the training room, getting there in fifteen minutes or less. Books was lifting weights when he found him. Jasper went over.
"So what're we doing?"
Books set the weights down and turned to him.
"We, my friend, are working on your control."
"Control?"
"Of your ice hands, dude."
"Oh."
Jasper nodded, then stopped.
"How do we do that?"
"Well, let's start off simple. When you use your abilities, you're usually in a heightened state of emotion. Right?"
Jasper shook his head.
"Not all the time. It's like it comes at random."
Books grabbed a water bottle from the floor and put it in Jasper's hand.
"Then try and make it work for you."
Jasper looked at the water in the bottle and began. His thumb rubbed up and down the side of it as he focused every ounce of his being on the water, thinking in his head 'freeze, freeze, just freeze'. He began to shake and a headache formed before long.
"Come on, come one, come on."
He grit out through clenched teeth. Books touched his shoulder.
"Relax. Try and remember what the power feels like. You do feel it, don't you?"
"Yeah... But I don't really focus much on it."
Books huffed out a heavy breath.
"Well, in that case, work on remembering what it felt like just before you froze the table and whatnot. When you figure it out, we'll continue."
Jasper's shoulders slumped.
"Yeah, ok..."
He was about to leave the training room when Books grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him back.
"Nuh uh. Treadmill."
Jasper groaned and headed over to the treadmills. Books set the pace, then left the room.