"The Beginning Chapter 1 " by Scott dean mattocks

 Chapter 1 Discovery

I am flying above the world, above all those who thought they were better then me, I blink and suddenly I am throwing flames as easily as breathing, blink I am walking through shadows to a new place, I am reading the minds of all of the humans, suddenly fire is thrown at me and I sit up with sweat covering my body. That was so real, I really thought that I was wielding the gift.

Before I was able to get out of the bed, I heard mother call for me. When I looked at the clock, it read 7:30 which meant that mother was in the store font. I got up and headed toward her voice. She was indeed behind the counter of the book store she owned and operated, helping the early costumers. They were the old couple that lived down the road, they came in every other morning for the paper, new books, and companionship that mother offers them. The store was the same as it always is, with a desk near the doors, under the window, shelves from the floor to the ceiling all around the walls.

“Johnny, I need you to go and get the ginger root, and cactus needles from the garden please.” That was all she said to me as she continued to talk to them. I sighed and went to the garden. It was behind store, and in it my father tried to grow most herbs and plants that he could. The ginger root was not hard to find, as that was one of the things that we grew the most of, and the cactus nettles themselves was not hard to find either, only one of the two were grown for their nettles. I did take care to gently pull them out so that it could regrow them.

As I reentered the front, I was awake enough to take in mother and the customers. She was in her flowing black robe, with the hood down so that the customers could see and feel at ease. When she looked back at me, it allowed me to see her face. Her skin was very pale, and her eyes were a very dark black that most people said was dark brown. She held out her hand, and I put the plant parts into it. When she turned around I saw the old couple. The man had a very wrinkled face, and white hair that made the blue in his eyes pop. Beside him, a lot shorter woman with blond hair and blue eyes was smiling. She was as wrinkled as him, but she seemed to be more energetic, stronger somehow.

She turned to me pleasantly asked, “So this is your youngest, do you think he will take after you?” She had to be talking about the store, because I was the only one that was still working in it. My two sisters had moved out right after they got done with the training.

“We don't know yet, use the ginger root and the needles in a paste, add half to the area and use the other to make a tea with the boiling water. This should alleviate the pain, and help with the breathing.” Mother was a jack of all trades, and knew a little or a lot on every subject. Medicine with plants was one of the things she knew as well as possible.

They left, and that was all the normal traffic we got until noon on a Saturday. She looked at me, and then motioned me to follow me into the back room. The store was actually a double decker, with the top holding the rooms, in the back of the bottom, is the storage and the meditation room. Around six every morning, everyone was to meditate and control their thoughts, emotions, find a center of calm. This was supposed to make controlling the gift easier, but since I have never had it, the process always made me feel very foolish. The room was small, with three pillows set into a triangle. One was black, one was brown,and one was red. Mother took the black, and I took the red one.

“Mother, what was the ginger root and cactus for?” Mother did not mind helping, but she wanted to know the exact reason for her cures.

“Oh that, her joints were paining her, and she was too stiff to clean most days. That will lesson her joints and remove most of the pain.” That was it, then she closed her eyes, ignoring the world around her. Unless something happened that was huge, she would stay that way for a little over an hour.

I closed my eyes and regulated my breathing to every seven seconds, and then allowed my mind to wander. It was only a second later that I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked to see my father standing behind me. He was a large man, over three hundred pounds with the grace and confidence of a large cat. Before he could do anything, mother opened her eyes and just looked at him. She was not mad that he interputed is, but waiting to see what he wanted so urgently.

“Darkness, the rest of them are here. They said that it was urgent, and most are here.” That was the name that she took for herself, and no one would ever admit to knowing her real name.

“I wonder what the coven wants? Thank you, I must go see and calm them. Why don't you and johnny go and see to the garden, and make sure the books on reservoir are whether coming or are here.” The coven is a group of gifted that looks to mother for guidance and acceptance. I believe there was a total of 30 in the city of Fresno. She was given the title of Crone to them because she knew the most, and because she was the most powerful of them.

She glided out of the room and I waited. I was not allowed to be seen by them, as I was of the blood, but have no power. My father looked at me, and waited, he did not motion me to go out back like she said, so he knew something that he was not telling. It took only a minute for raised voices to penetrate the door, and they were not happy loud. It was then that he turned and headed for the door she went through.

I had no option but to follow, and when I got passed the door, I saw a group of people across the store from mother, and she was standing up as straight as she could. She stood at 6'3 so when she tried, she was a scarey woman. The others were not cowering, but they did seem to not want to go into a straight up fight with her. Those in the crowed were all over the age of 30, but that was the only quality that was the same, they were of every race, gender, and age.

Their eyes swiveled to look at me the instant that I came out of the door. One man and one women stepped out of the group and came at me. Mother looked as if to head them off, but they waved her off, and she stayed. What a surprise, she never listen to anyone but father, and that was sparingly. The women was around the late 40's with brown hair and bright green eyes. The man was over 80 easily and his hair was gone, while his eyes sparkled with a gray that look like clouds. “Hello dear, we just want to talk” the women started, and from a grunt from the old man she continued, “ Do you know why we were chosen out of the coven?”

I had no idea and said as much, the man nodded and continued, “We were chose because we are the strongest at sensing, finding the ability and gauging its potential. You so far have shown no ability, or even the gift. On this, how old are you now child?”

“I will be seventeen this November, why.” I was completely lost.

“That is not good, most show their gift at the age of 8, and are able to use it at the age of 10. You so far have done nothing, so we are going to see if you even have the gift inside you.” That was all he said as I felt fire erupt in my head and slowly work its way down. My knees buckled in the first moment, and then the fire went away, but I knew they were still searching. I did not know what they would find, or not find, but the pain was no longer there. When it got to my stomach, I felt a vibration, and a hard one at that. That even passed shortly and again I waited.

I knew they were finished when they straightened with sweat beading on their face. “this was harder then anything we ever did before, most children it happens in a flash, wither you know they have it or don’t. The genes contain it so it is easy to see, him though, his body fought the flows, fought hard. If I had to guess, at this point I would say that he will never be a gifted, and that you should have him stricken from the records as your child.” The old man next to her nodded, and they headed back in to the crowed.

They left after that, but I had a bad feeling that this was not going to be over. The way mother was shaking, I thought she was going to explode, she stalked off into the basement of the store, which was hers and only hers. “She needed to know, and so did they. You need to go do your homework before school on Monday. Be prepared, the other three will know of this, and they may not be so nice anymore.” And with that my farther headed into the back yard to deal with the plants. I headed up into my room to start on the us history, chemistry, and advance math that had tried to swamp me this year.

It was only as I sat down to work that I realized that the other gifted that went to the school, there were only three others at Marshland High School , they did not apply themselves to the class, all of them failed every class. They did not care. In the next year they would go to the great school, it was a place that those with the power can learn and grow, and meet others like themselves. It was also a chance for the council to take the strongest. I had always feared the council, as they ruled by fear and strength alone, and humans that stood above their station usually found themselves in the councils hands.

I put all of that out of my mind as I dived into the molecular chemistry, and Presidency of Reagan and into the trig functions that plagued my waking days.