When All is Null and Void

Chapter Fourteen

A fine drizzle of icy rain fell onto Caleb's shoulders, soaking him. Alexander had led them into the grass, and Caleb had been grinning. Now, as a raindrop bypassed his already wet glasses and fell into his eyes, Caleb frowned. "We're doing Hops?" he asked, shivering after the warmth and comfort of inside. 

"Yeah," Alexander replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, right," Caleb said. "Time to find out if I'm worth the magic beans." The idea of using his ring to Hop from one spot to another was actually terrifying. What if he never actually came out on the other side? What if he got stuck in the Void? He pictured himself in that terrifying cave with the beast and cringed.

"Odds are you won't manage a Hop today. Don't stress about it. We're just going to discuss how you do it. I'll demonstrate, and then we'll get off to the races." Alexander dissipated on the spot. The wind gushed, and Alexander went with it. One moment he was in front of Caleb and the next Alexander appeared at the back door. Caleb jumped.

"It's simple," Alexander said as he closed the sliding glass door behind him. "You think of where you want to go. You fixate on it, obsess over it, even, and let the ring pull you to that place." Once again his mentor dissipated as smoke. He continued from the other end of the yard. "You have to know your surroundings. The details, the nitty gritty. Otherwise the ring won't work." Alexander stopped, seemed to reconsider. "Once you're better at it, the ring'll start to understand where you want to go. But you have to build a rapport with it."

"This is so cool," Caleb whispered with a smile. "I've gottabe dreaming."

"Not a dream, no," Alexander replied, and he was gone again. This time arriving atop the rickety fence, which groaned with the sudden weight of a fully grown man.

"Why are we outside if we could be practicing inside?" Caleb asked. He didn't intend to whine, but the chattering of his teeth in his skull were helpful motivators to take this inside.

"It's safer," Alexander said, but didn't explain more. Once again Alexander was lost from view and reappeared at the other end of the yard. Alexander held up his hand. "Your goal is to get from there, to here." He pointed to a spot right between the two of them.

"And I just think about it?" Caleb sniffed.

"You just think about it with all you can muster." His mentor crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back onto one leg, waiting. "But try not to catch on fire. Sort of the reason we're out here, but no pressure."

Caleb might have felt silly, staring at a spot in the grass while trying to get his body to move in ways it shouldn't, but instead his palms became slick with sweat, and his heartbeat stuttered. Fire? How could he catch on fire?

At one point Caleb felt a tingle in his right hand and got excited, until he realized a small fly was traipsing across his skin. "I feel stupid," he called to Alexander.

"Get used to it," was the reply.

Caleb scowled and trained his gaze back on the grass. Thinking.

Thinking.

Trying to get his body to at least dosomething.

Nothing happened.

He strolled to the spot in the grass he was supposed to Hop to. Bending low, he surveyed the ground. Committing it to memory, Caleb walked back to where he'd started. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to MOVE.

Nothing happened for another fifteen minutes, and then he there was a tug in his gut. The slightest, tiniest bloom of warmth against his belly button. "I felt something!" Caleb pumped his fist in the air.