One simple test. That's all it took to change my life completely. Now, I have to learn how to use my new powers and how to be an agent for The Agency. But most importantly, I need to learn all about my new body. That would take some getting used to. A Flower's Bloom Part 7 by Megan Campbell Copyright  ©2010 Megan Campbell Released: July 22, 2010

Comments and suggestions are also welcome at the above email address.

I woke up the next morning around 6:30 am. Getting ready as a girl for the first time was different, but I’d been going through the same motions each morning for the last two days. It was starting to feel normal. At least I was able to save some time by skipping makeup.

I got up and walked into the bathroom, pulling off my nightgown in the process. I dumped it and my panties in a small hamper just inside the bathroom door.

I started the shower to warm up while I sat down to relieve myself. It was still a bit odd to pee this way, but I was slowly getting used to it. I wiped myself and jumped in the shower.

I immediately jumped right back out!

I had no idea that my new boobs would be that sensitive, and it scared me half to death when the shower stream hit them for the first time.

I eased myself into the stream this time, and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It wasn’t like the water hurt, but I could just feel it more acutely.

Washing was also a completely new feeling. My skin was more sensitive, and certain new places I didn’t have yesterday were even more so.

I managed to wash my body without too much trouble, but had to stop when I got to "down there." I really hadn’t taken much time to get to know the new me, so I took some time to learn. Some of the feelings I received while exploring were very different from what I was used to, but I was hesitant to really do anything of a sexual nature. In the end, I knew that the feelings my body was capable of would be great, but I kept myself from going there for the time being.

I eventually turned my attention to my hair. I had never even come close to having this much hair in my life, and I loved it. I later realized that I shouldn’t have tried to wash it at this point. It took me way too long to do, and I was scared about being late if it took as long to dry. I finally finished, but then I had to turn to another hair issue. My legs and underarms had a little bit of stubble that I had to remove before I finally shut off the water and grabbed my towel.

I quickly dried off and then took a peek at myself in the mirror. My hair was a sopping mess! I tried everything I could think of to use my power to dry it, but it didn’t seem to work. The styles came out, but the hair was still soaked, making some of them look funny.

I eventually dried it the best I could and then pulled my long locks into a high ponytail. It still managed to reach most of the way down my back.

I wrapped my robe around me and headed back to my room. It wasn’t until I opened my closet that I realized that I didn’t have anything to wear for the testing.

I fretted for a little bit before I realized that Nikki would know what we were supposed to wear. I headed toward the shared door, but a knock from my outside door had me veering toward it.

A quick check through the peephole showed Jill on the other side holding a gym bag.

When she got a look at me after I opened the door, she spoke with amazement.

"Wow, Jaz!" she exclaimed. "They said you were beautiful, but I never imagined this!" She had a big smile on her face as I let her in.

She set the bag down on the couch and then spoke again.

"Sorry I wasn’t around yesterday. Agent Harris and I were called off base for a meeting."

"It's okay," I said with a smile. "I had plenty of people to watch over me."

She smiled too. "Well I’m glad everything worked out okay. How are you feeling?"

"I’m feeling great actually. I’ve never felt better in my life."

"That’s good to hear," she said with a little chuckle. "I just brought by a track suit and swimming suit you can use today. They are yours to keep now that you have stopped changing."

"Okay," I said. I couldn’t argue with free clothes.

"Finish getting ready, and we will all meet out in the lobby." She said while handing me the gym bag. "See you in a few."

After giving me a small hug, she left to let me get changed. I opened the gym bag to find a track suit and a one piece identical to the ones I wore during the first set of tests, but she had also included a white sports bra instead of the tank top.

I picked up the bag and carried it into my bedroom where I placed it on the bed before pulling a pair of cotton panties out of my dresser. I pulled off my robe and slipped the panties on and up my legs. It still amazed me too see just how flat the panties were against my crotch.

I then pulled the sports bra out of the gym bag. It was white, but it was lined around the edges with a small pink band. It also had a small rose over the left breast. With the addition of the pink track pants and jacket, I looked spectacular.

I added a little makeup before putting on my trainers and grabbing an outfit for later. I put the outfit in the gym bag along with the swimsuit and headed for the lobby.

Justin was there waiting with Jill and Agent Harris when I arrived. I sat down on one of the couches and ignored Justin's stares as we waited for Nikki.

When she arrived a few minutes later, it was obvious that we looked like twins again. Her clothes were a perfect match to mine, except purple. The only difference was the lack of a rose on her sports bra.

"Sorry I’m late," she said as she approached.

"It's okay," Jill said. "We do need to get going though, because you three have a long day ahead of you."

She led us over to the elevators, and after a quick breakfast, we were soon on our way to the tests.

The locker room was empty again. Instead of heading toward the guest lockers, Jill led us over to a set of lockers that looked to be twice the size of the other ones.

"These are the Alpha team lockers," she said. "Now that you have finished changing, we can encode them to your fingerprints.

"Nikki," she said while pointing to a locker labeled A2-3. "This is your locker. Please place your thumb here." She indicated a small touch pad next to the locker.

Nikki put her thumb against the small pad, and we heard a beep.

"It's now encoded to your fingerprint. Press your thumb to it again and it will open."

Nikki had the locker open in no time, and Jill had me repeat the procedure on locker A2-4 right next to Nikki's.

"Stow your bags and let's go. We have a lot to do today," Jill said with a gleam in her eye. "Power days are always fun and exciting.”

We quickly stowed our gym bags in the lockers and followed Jill toward the gym door. Once we were on the other side, we found Justin and the doctors waiting for us.

"We'll meet you three after the testing," Jill said. "We can get some lunch and then head over to the Powers Lab."

"Okay, see you then," I said as they headed out of the gym. We then turned toward the doctors.

"Good morning," Dr. Weir said as we approached. "Everyone is here, so let's begin, shall we?" He had an enthusiasm that was not shared by the three of us.

We were led over to the track first again. I really didn’t feel like running today, but I knew I didn’t have a choice.

They started out by wiring us up again. As the technicians were placing the sensors on us, Dr. Weir was explaining what was going to happen today.

"Today will be much like Monday," he said. "There will be a few small differences, but we will still be breaking the tests up into three parts.

"Today's tests have a two-fold purpose, however. Not only will we be testing you physically, but we will also give you a chance to see what you are now capable of. You may be surprised."

He then had us line up on the starting line for the mile. "This run is going to be a little different," he said when we were ready to begin. "I want all of you to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. Don’t let up. We want to see how far you can go. You can stop when you can’t run anymore, or when you complete a mile."

That didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me. I had a feeling I was going to hate today.

When he rang the bell, we all took off in a sprint. After the first lap, none of us had slowed down. Justin had a nice lead, and Nikki wasn’t too far in front of me, but it was still obvious I was the slowest.

After the second lap, we were still going as fast as we could, and I didn’t even feel winded. I was truly impressed.

I ended up finishing the mile about 15 seconds behind Nikki, but a 4:03 mile is nothing to complain about. Justin's 3:30 was really impressive though. The fact that we were barely winded was even more amazing to me.

"You still run like a girl," Justin said to me as we walked around to cool down, but the grin on his face showed that it wasn’t a put down like before. His face positively lit up when I grinned back and giggled a little.

He opened his mouth to say something else (which probably would have ruined the good moment) when Dr. Weir spoke up first.

"Not quite what you expected, was it?" Dr. Weir said with a small chuckle. We all just nodded.

"Let's move on to Part 2," he continued. "The sooner we finish here, the sooner we can move on to the fun stuff."

"Fun stuff?" Nikki asked.

"The Powers lab," he explained in an excited tone.

I guess his enthusiasm was contagious this time, because we were all smiling.

Part 2 was pretty uneventful. Learning that I could bench press 300 lbs. was kind of cool though. Watching a 95 lb. teenage girl bench press that much must have looked pretty funny too.

For the most part, it was tedious. They had us lift weights and perform a number of endurance tests. We lifted more and lasted longer on every single one, and we didn’t even feel tired or exhausted.

The last test they had us do was rather interesting though. Not the test itself, but what happened.

They had us on treadmills. I would have thought that a mile would be enough, but I was wrong. They didn’t really explain what they were testing at this point, so I figured they were going to do something different.

They had us going at a jog for the first few minutes. I was jogging along with the speed easily and I let my mind wander.

A thought jumped to the forefront of my mind, and the next thing I knew I had face planted into the treadmill track.

I heard Nikki scream and she was already crouched next to me as I finished rolling off the back of the treadmill.

"Jaz!" she practically shouted while helping me to get up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said. The doctors and Justin had joined us, and I felt deeply embarrassed. "For some reason I thought the treadmill had sped up, and tried to compensate, but I guess it hadn’t."

"Had you raised the speed yet, Joan?" Dr Weir asked one of the other doctors.

"Not yet," she replied. "I was just about to when she took her tumble."

"Interesting, we may need to investigate this later this afternoon."

"You think it's a power?" I asked him. The way he was writing on his clipboard made this seem like more than just a tumble.

"Possibly," he said as he continued writing. When he finished writing, he turned back to us. "This test has pretty much been compromised now. It was designed to test your ability to handle the sudden change of speed without prior notice. We'll skip it for now, but we may want to do something similar in the future.”

"For now, go change into your swimsuits and we will finish in the pool."

"Okay," we all agreed as some of the doctors removed the sensors. We then headed for the locker room.

"That looks fantastic on you!"

I agreed. Nikki and I were standing in front of the mirror next to our new lockers. Both of us were wearing the one pieces we had been given, and I had to admit, we both looked amazing.

The suit felt completely different than the one I wore on Monday. It even felt different from the time I wore this exact one on Wednesday. It was probably because it fit correctly now. I no longer was tucked down below, and I had real breasts.

The suit hugged my new curves to perfection. It was almost like it was designed for my new body.

My hair was pulled back in a french braid to keep it out of my eyes as we swam. That was pretty cool to watch happen. I had imagined it and then watched it fall apart immediately. It had taken me a few minutes to be able to control my power to hold the style long enough to allow me to put a band at the bottom to prevent it from coming undone.

"You look fantastic as well," I finally said, but I was still staring at myself.

Nikki just rolled her eyes and grabbed me by the wrist. "Come on, you can stare at yourself later." She then began to pull me toward the gym.

"Alright already," I said while pulling my wrist free of her grasp and grabbing my towel off the bench next to us. "I’m still getting used to this, you know. I can’t help admiring my dreams."

"Yeah, yeah, but your dreams are making us late again."

Justin seemed to like my dreams too. At least it appeared that way since he couldn’t stop staring at me as we walked out of the locker room and toward the pool. Maybe the one piece was a good idea. I couldn’t help but think the stares I would get with my bikini would be ten times worse.

The swimming test was better than I expected. We had to swim some laps and then he had us go under water and hold our breath. Fifteen minutes made me the clear winner over Nikki's twelve and Justin's nine. I couldn't believe that was even possible with the human body!

After the swimming test we made our way back into the locker rooms where we changed back into our track suits.

The lunch crowd was a lot larger today.

We had met our handlers and Jay in front of the locker rooms and headed for the cafeteria. We talked about the tests while we ate, and before long we were headed out of the cafeteria.

Rob took the lead and led us to the far end of the courtyard, opposite the elevators. There was another set of elevators here, two on each side of the corridor. They were marked as emergency exits.

The middle of the end wall mirrored the lobby outside the gym. There were men’s and women’s locker rooms on either side of the lobby, and a hallway in the middle that led to some offices and a large door at the end.

We were led down the hallway toward the door. The door looked like it was armored. It was made out of some kind of metal, and was completely smooth. Next to the door was a small pad with a place for someone to place their hand.

We stopped next to the door and Agent Harris turned to speak to us.

"Welcome to the Powers Lab," he said. "This place was designed to help you learn and improve the use of your powers. It is built to withstand a nuclear blast, so the rest of the facility will be untouched if something happens in here.

"Moreover, it is a safe place where you can learn to use your abilities without the worry of collateral damage.

"Now," he said while turning back to the hand pad. "This place requires security clearance that all of you will be given after you return in the summer. Until then, you will need to be accompanied by someone with clearance to use the facilities."

He then placed his hand on the pad. A beep was heard shortly thereafter, and the door started to slide into the wall.

On the other side was a giant room. It appeared to be the same size as the rest of the complex combined!

It was also broken into a number of smaller sections. There appeared to be an urban area with a number of different buildings to the left, a small outdoor looking area on the far side complete with a small lake, and an area to our right that looked like it could be set up any way that someone wanted it.

Dr. Weir and the other doctors from the earlier tests were waiting for us. I also noticed that Nina was there with the two other doctors.

"Excellent," Dr. Weir said as we approached. "Now the fun part begins." He was excited, and we were too.

"The first thing we want to do is a completion test," he continued. "Then we will move on to some basic strategies for learning about your powers. Your physicians will get you started."

Nina walked over to me with a smile on her face. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm doing great," I said while returning her smile.

"Good. I wouldn’t want my number one patient not at her best," she said while giving me a small wink. That just made me blush and giggle a little bit.

"I'll be here the whole time," she continued while pressing the same device she had used yesterday against my arm. "If you feel any discomfort or pain, please tell me."

"Okay," I said.

A second later the green light lit up on the tester. "It looks like your powers are still coming in. Good luck." Nina smiled and then walked over to a table and started working on a laptop.

"Okay," Dr. Weir pulled our attention back to him. "None of you are finished with Stage 4 yet, but we will get started and see if we can start cataloging your powers."

He led us over to a section that was laid out like a shooting range.

"The first thing we are going to try is a "shooting" test. It will allow us to see if you can shoot beams, or projectiles, or somehow affect remote objects." He motioned each of us to stand in one of the lanes. The lane walls only came up to my waist, so it was easy to see what the others were doing.

"What I would like you to do is to concentrate on one of the targets at the far end. Then, I want you to try to push with your arm toward it. Jay, will you demonstrate?"

"Yeah," Jay said as he stepped into a lane next to us.

"Concentrate on the target," he said while demonstrating. He stood with his left shoulder facing the targets and brought his right hand up level to his shoulder. "Then push like this."

He pushed his arm forward, and a streak of ice went flying down the lane, where it knocked one of his targets over. "You may get results like that," he said with a smile.

"SWEET!" Justin yelled with a wide eyed stare on his face. "Let me try!"

He followed Jay's steps with an intense look on his face, but nothing happened. We watched him for about five minutes without any results before Dr. Weir spoke.

"Let's give the girls a chance to try," he said while turning to Nikki. "Give it a try, Nikki."

"Okay," she replied as she lined up to try. She pulled her hand back, and then pushed forward as hard as she could.

"Oww," I screamed as I covered my eyes. It was like staring into the sun.

"I did it!" I heard Nikki scream excitedly. I opened my eyes, but all I could see were splotches of light all throughout my vision. "Are you guys okay?" she asked a second later, concern in her voice.

"Aren’t you blind?" I had to ask. I still couldn’t see much. "That was like looking into the sun."

My eyes started to revert to normal, and I could see the concern on her face as she looked at me.

"No, I feel fine. Did you see me knock the target down?" she asked, excited once again when she saw me recovering.

Blinking, I looked down the lane and noticed one of her targets was down. "Wow!" I said. "First try too." I was impressed.

Looking around, I noticed everyone but our team still seemed dazed and confused. "Is everyone okay?" I asked. It was my turn to be concerned.

"We will be," Dr. Weir said from where he was wobbling somewhat on his feet. "Our eyes aren’t going to recover as quickly as your enhanced eyes. In the meantime, there is a locker near the door that contains some sunglasses. Jaz, can you grab them and bring them over?"

"Sure," I said and headed for the locker. It was easy to find and I was quickly walking back toward the others. The doctors appeared to be doing better as I handed everyone a pair of sunglasses. Putting mine on, I turned to Nikki. "Do it again."

"Okay," she said and turned toward the targets.

"Wait!" Dr Weir interrupted quickly. He obviously didn’t want to relive what had just happened. "That was great work, Nikki. Not many do it on the first try." She was beaming. "This time, don’t push so hard. See if you can control the energy. Less can be just as effective."

"Okay," she said. Her second attempt was pretty cool to watch. When she pushed toward the target, a bright ray of light went flying down range, knocking down another target. This time it wasn’t nearly so bright, and it was impressive to see just how much control she had to be able to hit the target so accurately.

"Great work," Dr. Weir said. He helped her learn how to control her new power for a few minutes. Each time she shot at a target was an impressive site. Eventually she started to tire a little bit from the exertion, and the doctor decided she could use a break.

"Let me try again," Justin quickly said before the Doctor could move on. "I can do it now."

"Let's give Jaz a chance to try first," he said. "Then you can try again."

"Fine," Justin replied. He actually sounded like a petulant little boy.

"Give it a try, Jaz," Dr. Weir said. He looked excited again. It was then that I remembered I was supposed to be some kind of prodigy. Great.

I stepped up to the shooting area and looked down the range. There were three targets in my lane. Each one appeared to be made of wood, and when hit, would fall backward out of sight.

I concentrated on the middle target. Looking right at it, I brought my right hand up to my left shoulder. Concentrate.

Push.

I felt something. I really did. It didn’t knock the target down, or even hit it, but there was something there.

"Nice try, Jaz," I heard Nikki say, but she sounded a little distant. "Try again."

I did.

I still felt something there, but I couldn’t get it to work. It felt stronger the second time, but the target was still standing.

"I can feel it," I said to whomever was listening. "I just can’t seem to get it to work."

"It's okay," Dr. Weir said. "Try again."

After five more tries, I still didn’t have the target down, but I could feel whatever "it" was getting stronger.

Lining up again, I decided to try something different, I closed my eyes. I tried to picture the target in my mind, and I was immediately assaulted by numerous images and feelings in my head.

"Whoa," I said as I felt myself falling. I must have gone into some kind of sensory overload, or something. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor.

"You okay, Jaz?" Nina asked from above.

"Yeah," I replied while struggling to stand up. Nina was kind enough to help me. "I wasn’t expecting so much input."

"What happened?" she asked. I noticed everyone else was looking at me, wanting to know the answer to that question.

"I don’t know exactly," I tried to explain. I wasn’t sure how to describe it. "I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the target. Instead, I had this sudden knowledge about everything in the room. It was like I could "feel" everything. I don’t really know how to explain it better."

"Interesting," was all Dr. Weir said as he started writing on a clipboard. "Try again."

Nodding, I turned back to the range and brought my right hand up to my shoulder again. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the target again. This time, I was ready. The feelings were odd, but it gave me a clear view of the whole area. I could feel everything in the room, like it was all connected to me somehow.

Concentrating on the feeling of the target, I pushed. It wasn’t so much that I shot the target, it was more like I told the target to be hit.

Cheering erupted around me, and I opened my eyes to see the target was gone. I reveled in the moment until Dr. Weir spoke.

"Telekinesis, amazing."

I was able to duplicate the results a number of times before I started to feel a little worn out. It was easier every time, and by the end, I could do it with my eyes open.

Justin wasn’t having the same good fortune, though. He was given another chance after I was done. By the time he gave up, he was very frustrated. I think he really wanted to be able to shoot something.

Dr. Weir led us over to another area that had a large mat. Motioning Jay to get on the mat, he explained our next drill.

"This will test your ability to reach higher places." He pointed up. "Attached to the roof is a flag. Your goal is to get the flag back down. Jay, can you demonstrate?"

"Yeah," Jay replied, and positioned himself in the middle of the mat. He looked up toward the roof and jumped. Propelled upward by a column of ice, he managed to go all the way to the ceiling, about 5 stories up! He grabbed the flag and the ice started to evaporate beneath him. He was quickly back on the mat.

Nikki started clapping and the rest of us joined in. "That was cool," she said.

Once they replaced the flag, Nikki started us off. She climbed up on the mat and looked up at the flag. "I can do this," I heard her say quietly.

"Try a smaller jump first," Dr. Weir instructed her. "First get the technique down, then go for the high jump."

"Oh, okay," Nikki said. I could tell she was relieved a little bit at not having to go all out.

A look of concentration came over her face and then the flash of light that indicated she was using her powers. The light seemed to come from both her hands and her feet. She only went up about ten feet before she fell back down on the mat, but her smile showed her excitement.

"Good job," Dr. Weir told her as she was standing back up. "This time, try to slow your fall as you come back down. You'll need to know how for the higher jumps."

"Okay," she replied. Her second attempt was much like the first, but this time, her hands and feet started to glow as she came down, and she landed softly on her feet.

"That was easy," was all she said as she launched herself higher. After a couple more tries to make sure she knew what she was doing, she was ready for the big jump.

With a little trepidation, she lined up for her jump and with a bright flash she rocketed up. Her aim was dead on. As she reached the roof, it was clear that her jump was nearly perfect. The height was just enough to allow her to grab the flag without slamming her head into the ceiling. I hadn’t even considered that possibility.

As she was slowly descending the fifty or so feet, I had a weird feeling come over me. I could tell she was happy. I could feel it. It was kind of like feeling the target earlier, but a lot more complex.

"She's really happy," I told Dr. Weir.

"I bet," he said with a grin on his face.

"No, I know she is. I can feel it."

"Feel it?" he asked, turning his attention toward me. "Feel it how?"

"I don’t know, it's kind of like how I could feel the target earlier, but different. I can just "feel" her happiness."

"Interesting. That may tie in with the precognitive abilities you displayed during the tests. We may want to try to test those abilities later this evening. These exercises won’t touch on them too much."

"Okay," I said as we watched Nikki land on the mat. She jumped down off the mat where I was waiting to give her a hug.

"Great job," I told her. I was just as happy as she was, probably because I could feel it just about as intensely as she could.

"Okay you two," Dr. Weir broke up the celebration. "We've got a lot to do today. Jaz, why don’t you give it a try."

I felt a spike of anger that nearly floored me with its intensity.

"When do I get a turn to use a power?" Justin said angrily from behind me.

I turned to look at him, and it was obvious that the anger I felt was coming from him. It was also souring my mood.

As I climbed up onto the mat, Dr. Weir tried to placate him. "You will get your chance. We are taking turns."

I blocked out the rest of their conversation and concentrated on the flag above. Just like the target, I could "feel" it up there, which gave me an idea.

"I'm ready," I said to get Dr. Weir's attention away from Justin, who was still arguing.

"Take it easy at first, like Nikki did," he said. He was relieved to get away from Justin. I could feel it. Justin was still seething though.

"It's okay," I said. "I can get it down now." His relief turned to worry, but before he could say anything, I "grabbed" the flag and pulled it toward me. It landed directly in my hand, and I turned to the doctor.

I could feel amusement coming from him. He chuckled before speaking. "Good work, Jaz, I admire your ingenuity. However, the purpose of the exercise is to get you UP there, instead of the flag down here."

"Oh," I said with disappointment. I thought my solution was great.

"Whoa," the doctor said. He looked a little disoriented. "I guess you're disappointed. I think you are projecting it on me. We're going to need to learn how to control that." He stopped for a second to get his bearings. "Like I said, that was great thinking. You should be proud of that. Now, let's move on to getting you up there."

I was surprised to hear I was affecting him. He looked relieved when I tried to stop, so apparently I succeeded.

I then turned my thoughts to how I could get up to the flag. I decided that jumping was about the only option I had. I could probably push myself up enough to do so. Pushing at the ground on the way down should slow me enough to land safely as well.

I decided to try my theory. I closed my eyes and concentrated on myself. I could "feel" me just like I could "feel" the target and the flag.

I jumped, and I gave myself a push as I did.

And then I screamed.

And hit the mat.

Hard.

I just laid there. It hurt at first, but there was no lingering pain, thank heavens. What did I do wrong?

"Jaz, Jaz, answer me!" I finally realized Nikki was over top of me and she was crying.

"Oww," I said. There wasn’t really anything else to say.

"Oh thank heavens!" she said while squeezing me in a hug. "Don’t do that again!"

"Sorry," I replied. "I didn’t mean to. What happened, anyway?"

"You went up like two stories and then fell like a brick!"

"Oh," was all I could come up with.

"What happened, Jaz?" Dr. Weir asked.

"Well," I started while sitting up. "I visualized myself like I did with the target and the flag. It felt exactly the same, so I figured I could just boost my jump a little bit. I pushed harder though, thinking that I would need to because I'm bigger than the target was. I didn’t need to."

"Ah," he said in understanding. "Size matters not."

"I guess not."

"Ready to try again?" the doctor asked.

"Yes," I replied. I stood up and prepared to try again.

This time, I pushed about the same amount, but I expected the higher distance. On the way down, I pushed against the ground, which slowed me to a manageable fall, and I landed lightly on my feet.

Smiling, I repeated the effort a few times to make sure I had the hang of it before attempting the big jump.

"I’m ready," I finally told the doctor.

"Alright, just be careful," he replied.

I took a deep breath to help steady my nerves. I closed my eyes and visualized the flag. Doing so helped me judge how much force I would need.

Finally, I jumped. It was exhilarating to rocket up in the air like that. I watched as the distance between me and the flag narrowed quickly. I had jumped too high. I had to push against the ceiling to slow down my ascent, and I ended up at the perfect height when I was finally able to grab the flag.

I was ecstatic as I fell back toward the mat. I landed softly and jumped off the mat to hand the flag to the doctor, smiling the whole way.

"Here you go," I said as I handed it to him.

"Good work, Jaz," he said with a grin and a small chuckle. "Take a break while Justin gets a try."

"Okay," I said and joined Nikki and Jill on a bench off to the side. Both of them gave me a smile as we turned to see what Justin could do.

Justin was eager to do something. It was obvious in his body language that he was irritated that two girls were outperforming him so far. His male ego was going to get him killed, and not in an accidental way.

"Okay, Justin," the doctor instructed him. "Because we don’t know what your powers are yet, just try to jump. Hopefully something will point us in the right direction."

I felt an anger spike!

"He's pissed off," I whispered to Nikki and Jill. "I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid."

I should have known better, though.

With a murderous gleam in his eye (I knew it was murderous because I could feel it!) he jumped. He didn’t start off easy, either.

I watched awestruck as he went flying upward. He easily grabbed the flag and started to fall. It wasn’t until he was halfway down that he started to scream. I could feel his terror. He hadn’t planned a safe landing and now he didn’t know what to do.

"Jaz, stop him!" I heard someone scream. I immediately closed my eyes and started to visualize the area, but I knew already it was too late. I wasn’t able to stop him, but I was pretty sure I slowed him down. The sheets of ice from Jay helped too, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.

Justin slammed into the mat hard, and a big cloud of dust went flying around him. A big shockwave sent me flying backward. Before I landed, I was hit with another force, but this one wasn’t physical. Whatever it was, it knocked me out before I hit the ground.