Chapter 15: WhisperingRock
Yeah, Milla has to leave. Her life will get less busy… or Sasha will become a Psychonaut… Whichever happens.
Milla was gone again, but just that one day together had made him feel confident and wonderful.
As for levitation classes, he had signed up to be one of the first tested. He had to complete an obstacle course in a short amount of time. It was easy. He just signed up for clairvoyance when he was done. There was no reason to stay in class, so most people just got on with their lives after testing.
Professor Selzinski was delighted that he'd signed up. He had the sort of perseverance that she admired. He liked her, too, because she stood up for what she believed in.
He wasn't much surprised when he got accepted into the class.
The rest of the year went smoothly. Milla visited sometimes. She was at his initiation ceremony. Then they signed up to be partners. They went to the summer camp together. He didn't like kids, but he dealt with it so that he could spend time with Milla. He realized that this was where she belonged. It was wonderful to see her so happy. Then she got mad at him. That was when she found out that his lab was underneath a Geodesic Psychoisolation Chamber.
"Sasha! Are you out of your mind! The kids could shut each other up in there, and then their parents would just about kill us and…"
"Milla! It's all right. I have everything under control. They can't get in here on their own."
"I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT HERE, SASHA!" She was mad. "I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE GPC!"
"Milla, calm down. They can't get into the GPC, either. None of them have the skills. They don't seem to train Psycadets the same way they used to."
"Sasha, if even one of those children gets stuck in psychoisolation, I swear I will kill you myself. That is the worst thing that you can EVER do to a psychic."
"Milla, I know that. Even if one of them was courageous enough to come over here, then they'd also have to find the door, figure out how to open it, and then let the door slip so that it shut on them. From the fact that no one in this camp isn't afraid of me, those are nearly impossible conditions."
"Yes, Sasha, but not impossible." She was, of course, still raging over the whole concept, but now her anger was controlled.
"No, Milla, it isn't impossible, but the chance of one of the children locking him or herself in the GPC is so small that we don't even need to think about it."
"Okay, Sasha, but if you're wrong…"
"Trust me, Milla, I won't be."
Later that week, he heard crying from his GPC.
It was one of the children.
Milla screeched, and screeched, and tried to hurt him. ("Him" means Sasha, not the little kid)
Until.
"No, Milla, don't! It wasn't him! It was that stupid bully! I didn't give him any arrowheads, so he locked me in there!"
Milla stopped trying to break through Sasha's shield.
"What?"
"I said, Wenchell locked me in there! It wasn't Sasha!"
She turned back to face him. "'Impossible,' darling?"
"I miscalculated, Milla."
"'Miscalculated,' indeed. Come on, Anders."
"Okay."
Later in the main lodge, as Sasha was one of only two counselors and Milla had dragged him over there
"What'd I do!"
"You were suspected of forcing a young Psycadet into psychoisolation, darling."
"I didn't lock Anders in the GPC!"
"I'm going to have to call your parents, darling."
"NO! Not my parents! Anything else, just PLEASE DON'T CALL MY PARENTS!"
Sasha saw things then that should never, ever occupy a ten-year-old's mind. From the look of horror on Milla's face, she saw it, too. Some of the children saw it, too. It would be the main gossip of the camp for the next several weeks. Then Wenchell, the young bully, started to cry.
"Okay, darling, I won't call your parents, but if anything like this happens again…"
"It won't! I swear!"
And that was that.
Yeah, all sorts of stuff's happening. Next chapter, Whispering Rock gets a new custodian. If you don't know who, then you've never played Psychonauts.
This is cool. I'm getting back into longer chapters. Funness!