Between meal was the food that dear Britta had left for us. Cold roasted rock pheasant, dainty pickles, and loaves of oat bread. We were all hungry from so much mental exertion. It was the first time I actually saw the Hermits relaxing a little. However, I couldn’t relax. For the first time, I was in agreement with my disagreeable bodyguard. Whereas the Hermits treated me kindly with their mind probes, William Helm had bombarded my mind with the same force an enemy would. He was right. I was not ready for this kind of mental stress. Maybe when my abilities were more fully developed, things might be different.
I tried to be enthusiastic for the Hermits sake. I guess I just didn’t realize how much their failure to help me had worried them. They knew their first success was due to Luther. They showed their gratitude by slipping him choice bits of rock pheasant under the table. The shameless rascal took advantage of their kindness; greedily going from one to the other as fast as he could chew and swallow. By the meal’s end, Luther’s stomach was visibly distended. Only then did he wander off somewhere the secret way that cats do, to sleep off his over-indulgence.
As for the four of us, we went back to work. This time minus the disruptive presence of William Helm. He hadn’t gone far, though. I could feel him near. Just out of sight. I tried to ignore the feeling and concentrate on the lesson.
Now that I had a feel for another’s mind, I had to learn to block that mind from entering mine. The Hermits were using the airy, fragile, light globes to teach me. The object of the exercise was to gently push the globe away from me before it touched my head—without breaking the globe, of course.
Yeah! Like that was going to happen. In the beginning, I broke every globe they sent floating towards me. I was so embarrassed by this when I saw the beautiful little magic globes popping in mid-air, and knowing I was the cause, that I finally closed my eyes just so I wouldn’t have to watch it happen when I saw one drifting near.
Eureka! Wonder of wonders--I could sense a globe drifting towards me. It felt like a huge soap bubble; that is, as long as I kept my eyes closed. I tried to imagine blowing a puff of air towards the bubble to coax it to drift in another direction.
After that, like a stack of dominoes, everything fell into place. I could push the floating globes away at will. Even with my eyes open. It was like learning how to swim.
One minute your feet are bouncing off the bottom of the pool, the next you are treading water like you’ve done it all your life. It was the same experience with repelling the light globes. Everything just suddenly made perfect sense and I could repel them like I had been doing that all my life. Silently I wished William Helm would try attacking me again, just so I would know how I was really doing. He was nothing, if not honest. However, I kept my opinions to myself.
Before long, the Hermits began pelting me with globes like they were kids having a snowball fight. No matter which direction they came from, high or low, fast or slow, not one globe was in danger of either touching my head or being popped by the force of my mind.
I began laughing at the Hermits, they looked so ridiculous, and then we were all laughing together. Their laughter was a rusty sound more like saws through wood than true laughter—from disuse no doubt, but it was a good feeling, nevertheless.
Then other laughter joined ours. Young laughter. Where there shouldn’t be any. Outside the gate. Our laughter was stilled like someone throwing cold water on us, and we stared at each other as the fear of discovery swept over us—me especially so. Behind us, William Helm appeared from nowhere, his eyes sweeping the courtyard for danger.
My chest was doing strange things. I seemed to have grown a second heart that beat out of time with my first one. My lungs shriveled and even though my chest went up and down, there was little or no air that I could actually use to bring precious air into my lungs.
About this time, we heard voices at the gate demanding entrance.
I immediately recognized Uncle’s booming voice. “Ahoy the castle. We demand entrance.”
Uncle? Had he been drinking?