The Key Read Online Free Page A

stunned.
    â€˜I’ll get the firemen,’ Neriah suggests. ‘They’ll know what to do.’
    Even though Mr Carter is so badly hurt, he tries to wave Ethan and Matt away. He’s dying, and he must know it.
    â€˜We’re not leaving you!’ Isabel gets down near his head. She’s going to try and heal him, but how can she when that boulder is still there, crushing his legs? She exchanges a look with Ethan. ‘Get this thing off him! Hurry!’
    Mr Carter grips her arm and struggles to whisper, ‘Forget it, Isabel.’ He tries to stifle a moan. ‘Forget what you see here. I want you to go. Just get out of here!’ He turns his head towards Matt and Ethan, pleading with his eyes. ‘Take Isabel and go!’
    Neriah returns with two firemen. They quickly assess the situation and one runs back to the truck for some equipment. The other talks into a radio attached to his collar, requesting urgent backup and heavy wrenching gear. He then tells everyone to stand back, including another teacher, a very distressed-looking Ms Burgess.
    â€˜You’ll be all right, Marcus,’ she calls out.
    Isabel doesn’t move. The fireman insists and Ethan and Matt drag her away. Mr Carter is treated by two paramedics, but they share a look filled with silent hopelessness.
    At last the machinery arrives and the rescue team work quickly to set it up. Before long the boulder is secured and ready to be mechanically lifted. The crane takes the strain, but nothing moves. The boulder is too heavy.
    Isabel attempts to run over but Mr Carter, weak from blood loss, shock and severe burns, pierces her with warning eyes, and Ethan drags her back. Matt urges her to hold on.
    â€˜But Matt, he’s still alive! As soon as that boulder is lifted, I can heal him,’ she hisses. ‘But I have to be close enough to touch him.’
    And as if this day hasn’t freaked us all out already, suddenly a golden light appears in the sky. It swells and shimmers and starts to pour down towards us. We gasp, but have no time to move. Within seconds it goes through me, warming and tingling as it passes through every cell in my body. I shake with it, unable to speak, and wonder what on earth is going on. What could this possibly be?
    â€˜What’s happening over there?’ Ms Burgess calls out as she sees the light surround us.
    The shaking continues for several seconds, until suddenly the light disappears and I drop to the ground on all fours. Out of breath, I try to regain some balance and realise I was somehow hovering in the air.
    As I start to get up I can’t help becoming aware of the grass beneath my fingers. It’s my hands that are my special skill. My sense of touch is analytic. I can tell the structure of things like chemical substances, rocks, metals and soils. But right now my hands are feeling much more. I’m aware, and can somehow ‘see’ the structure of the earth for a depth of several kilometres. It’s like my mind is on auto-focus, zooming through the layers of earth with a video camera.
    And then I hear the voices. They sound like hundreds! I look around the school grounds, but there’s no more than twenty people in the immediate surrounding area. I try to shut them out, but nothing works. A girl is screaming in her thoughts. Her leg is burnt and the pain from it is making her think she’s about to die. I cover my ears with both my hands, but the voices won’t go away. I can even hear the thoughts of the firemen still trying to put out the fire in the classroom down the other end of the school.
    I sit back on my heels and wonder what’s happening to me. It’s as if my powers have been magnified. How am I going to handle this? I try to focus, to slow my own thoughts down enough to control the voices.
    It’s then I see Isabel. She’s experiencing something strange too. The glow over her body is only now dissipating. Untouched by the