Power (Book 1)

Chapter 32

"Slowing down time can be difficult. There are many different ways to do it, and everyone makes it happen by using there own method," Que explained. "It all depends on the user."

"How do you do it?" I asked him.

"I've demonstrated it to you before- when I taught you how to control your speed the first time. But in order to get faster, you're going to need to find your way of slowing down time." He wiped his face one more time with the towel, then tossed it back onto the bench. "For me, I just imagine a clock ticking slower, with the second hand moving every few minutes."

"Have you ever tried imagining the clock moving backwards?" I asked him.

"Yes. It doesn't work. There's also a limit to how much I can slow down time. My limit is usually the second hand moving every 10 minutes in my time. I think that's a tenth of a second or something," he said. Then he muttered, "Man, I wish I had paid attention in math class."

"What about other people? Do they have a limit?" I asked.

"Everyone with superspeed does. And it's better that they do. If we could travel faster than light, then we could go back in time, according to Einstein. Trust me, you don't want someone accidentally becoming your father."

"Okay..." I didn't know what to say. That seemed kind of random.

"For you, a limit may not be present," he said. "You are the only person I know who can slow down time and speed yourself up. Since you're already set apart from other people by that, there's no telling what you will be able to do."

"Cool." I wondered what I would do if I could travel back in time. I would probably keep myself from getting into this mess in the first place.

"Anyway, let's get started. The first thing I want you to do is to try what I just described to you: imagining a clock. Come on, close your eyes."

I closed them. I imagined a clock floating in my mind, the second hand ticking along, the minute hand moving slowly. Then I saw the second hand slow down. The minute hand seemed to move at an unnoticeable rate. The clock began to stop floating as well. Pretty soon, the second hand and the minute hand stopped ticking altogether.

I opened my eyes. Que was immobile, standing in the same position. I waved my hands in front of his face, but he didn't move. I had frozen time. "Yes!" I shouted.

All of a second, Que started busting out with laughter. I looked at him, wondering why he was laughing. Did I stop freezing time? Did I let go of my hold on the clock?

"I'm sorry, Jay. I had to do it," Que said. "I couldn't hold it in anymore." He sucked up his laughter enough to talk. "You didn't really stop time. You didn't even slow it down. I just had to get you back for missing our meeting today." He got one last laugh out before getting serious again.

He saw the expression on my face. I wasn't amused in the least.

"Well, that didn't work," he said. "Time for another method."

We tried a lot of other ways that I could possibly master my ability to slow down time. Nothing worked. Over time, I grew frustrated. Time after time, I failed. I started to think that maybe that ability was a one-time thing, that it was just a reflexive defense the nanobots put in me so I could protect myself against Sage. After a while, I just decided to give up.

"You know what, I don't think this is for me, " I told Que. "It was probably an ability I was never meant to have."

"You're wrong." Que sat on the ground, putting his chin in his hand. "It's because you're not thinking about it right. Let's try one more thing."

"No," I said. "I'm tired and ready to go to bed. It's 7:00. We can do this tomorrow."

"You know how the saying goes," he said. "'Never push to tomorrow what can be done today.' I think that came from the Bible."

"I don't want to," I said.

"Trust me, Jay. This is the last option. After this, you can go home, get drunk, or do whatever you want."

I thought about it. "One last time?"

"One last time," he confirmed.

"I'll do it. What do I do?"

"There was a meta, once, a few years back, that I met. He was able to slip himself and others into a time-slowing state by imagining a time field around him."

"Did it look like a force field?" I asked him. "I used to be able to make those."

"No," he said. "I never experienced it, but he described it as being more of a pulsating field that clung tightly to him. Like a protective aura."

"I get it. So do I just imagine it or something?" 

"Yes. Don't close your eyes, though. He never did." 

I didn't close my eyes. I didn't imagine a clock ticking slowly, or the world moving in quicksand, or attempt to use a sixth sense. I just thought of everything else slowing around me, but in a different way. I was protected from the effects of my power.  

A glowing blue sheen cascaded off of my body and flooded around me. Wisps of blue spread through the room. Each wisp was a different shade of the color, endlessly changing to briefly match its siblings before they, too, changed. Entranced by the beautiful light show, it took me a few minutes to realize that I had actually done it; I had slowed down time.  

As soon as this new realization hit me, I felt it. The power was in my grasp, and I had full control over it. I simply needed to will it to happen, and I could slow and speed up time at will. 

I ran my hand through the light, and it bent and twisted under my fingers. When my last finger came out the other side, the light twisted back into its original shape. But when I moved my body, even in the littlest bit, the lights followed, erupting into shades of dark purple and pink before returning to their former blue. I was caught in the breathtaking sight.

I felt that if I wanted to be able to retain the beauty of the light, the worst thing for me to do would be to stare at it for a long time. I decided to let it go. And with it, my hold over the passage of time.

"You did it," Que said. "Now, you'll be able to run almost as fast as me."

"Almost  as fast as you?" I said. "Last time I checked, you only slow down time. I can slow it down and speed myself up. You even said there was no telling how fast I can run."

"And yet, I have three times the experience you have at your age," he said.

"You want to race? Go ahead, bring it. But when your ass gets handed to you, don't say I didn't warn you." We made our way towards the starting line marked in the northern corner of the room. 

"And when you choke on my dust, don't say I cheated," he shot back. 

We got down behind the starting line. Que was counting down.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." 

"Set." I tensed up, ready to turn the speed on.

"Go!"