Part 10 (2/2)
He decided not to risk it. He nudged it onto the water, not ever pus.h.i.+ng down. The water should keep it floating, as long as it didn't touch ground He stepped in, and it didn't sink. So it was only when he pushed down with something other than his feet that the talent worked. That was a relief.
He paddled out a stroke, then back to sh.o.r.e. He stepped out. There was the tingle. Good.
He returned to the boulder and pressed down. It didn't budge. He looked up at the cloud, trying to shape it into a perfect circle. It ignored him. and fled beyond the horizon. He tried to make a solid illusion. Nothing.
Okay, he had a new talent. What was it? He returned to the tree and settled back against it, noting its solidity; the tree was now shorter than it had been, but still tall enough to reach the lower sky. So he hadn't done it too much harm.
His mind scanned the scene and the universe. No notion of a talent came to him. He tried guessing and got nowhere. Could he stir up a dust devil in the sand? No Could he turn the sun green? No. Could he conjure a mint plant? No. Could he make the sand slippery? No. Could he make a protective s.h.i.+eld around himself? No. Could he become a super vacuum cleaner that sucked up everything? No, and he was getting a bit crazy.
Suppose his new talent was something really specialized, that couldn't be tested here and now? Like making the evil cloud Fracto a.s.sume human form and walk on the ground? In that case he would not be able to identify it now. So he might as well a.s.sume that it was not of that type, and keep looking.
Could his talent apply to his mental ability, such as having a photographic memory? That would be great! But when he tried to remember what the scenery was like behind him, without looking, he couldn't. So that wasn't it.
Finally he gave it up. He didn't know what his new talent was. so he couldn't use it, so it was useless to him. So he would just fetch another talent.
He went to the boat, but as he shoved it into the water, his hand slipped, and it drifted out of his reach. ”Bleep!” he swore. He would have to splash after it.
He stepped in the water-and his foot found firm lodging. Had he landed on a rock just under the surface? No, his foot was on the water.
Could it be? He put his weight on it, and set his other foot down. It too landed on solidity. He was walking on water!
Now that could be a useful talent. He wouldn't need the boat any more. He could even maybe carry Pia across a stream, if she didn't weigh too much now. So he would keep this one.
He caught the boat, and shoved it back to land. Then he stepped back on the beach himself-and felt the tingle.
Oh. no! He had lost the new talent already. Walking on water had counted as leaving the island, and so it had been exchanged. Bleep!
He tested it. just to be sure. His foot sank into the water.
”What are you doing?” Pia demanded behind him.
He jumped, splas.h.i.+ng himself worse. ”I was trying to walk on water,” he said, shamefacedly.
”I've heard of arrogance, but this is extreme.”
”I found out how to change talents. I was just able to walk on water, but I lost it.” He went on to explain.
She was interested. ”I can learn my talent by just relaxing and checking what occurs to me?”
”Maybe. It worked for me. more or less.”
”Breanna told me about twins she knew named More and Less. Mor-ton and Lester, actually. They have a joint talent to turn into humanoid crossbreeds, more or less human.”
”Like elves or ogres? I hope we don't have that talent. But you can try for others.”
”No need to egg me on.” She experimented. Nothing happened. ”I can't think of anything.” she said, gesturing with the blue egg in her hand.
”Well, sometimes it just isn't obvious. Maybe we should just walk along the sh.o.r.e and see what occurs.”
”As I foresaw us doing, yesterday,” she agreed. She glanced at the egg ”What do I do with this?”
”Where did you get it?”
”I didn't get it. I-” She stared at it.
”You conjured it!” he exclaimed. ”You can conjure things.”
”Maybe I can,” she agreed, awed. ”I did think of an egg.”
”You said 'Don't egg me on,' ” he agreed.
She concentrated. ”I want a pair of hiking boots,” she said. Nothing happened. ”I want an ice cream sundae.” Nothing.
”Try another egg,” Edsel suggested.
”But I don't want another egg.”
A second egg appeared, in her other hand. This one was green.
”That's it.” Edsel said. ”You conjure eggs. That's all.”
”Bleep.” There wasn't even any underage person nearby, but now they were self-censoring themselves.
”But if you step off the island, you can exchange your talent for another.”
”I'm game ” She set down the eggs, and he helped her get into the boat.
”I think all you need to do is get your feet off the land.” he said. ”You don't have to go anywhere.”
She got out of the boat. As her foot touched the sand, she paused. ”I felt it.”
”It's the exchange. Now to see what you have.”
”I hope it's more useful.” She looked around. She concentrated. ”It's not summoning eggs, anyway.”
”Right. And mine's not walking on water.”
She laughed. ”If you can walk on water, I can walk on air.” She took several exaggerated steps.
Edsel stared.
She glanced down at him. ”What are you staring at? My legs?”
”That too,”' he said faintly.
”Well, stop. I don't-” Then she looked at her feet. They were half a foot above the ground.
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