Excerpt: Powerless

Chapter 1: Cloud Cottage

In this life, there is nothing worse than being the only one who lacks something everyone else has. And finding out that everything you have known is a lie is not much fun either. But such was the fate of Mira Ipswich, a girl of fifteen years.

Mira had spent every minute she could remember inside the confines of her home and the surrounding grounds, known as Cloud Cottage. From her room on the second floor, she could look out through a large bay window into the backyard and see a healthy garden and a small wood and nothing more.

A thick wall of mist surrounded her from every side, wrapping around the garden and encircling the house. Mira couldn’t see anything on the other side. She couldn’t even put her hand through it. The mist arched high up into the sky, only allowing the sun to come through. For her, Cloud Cottage was the only thing that existed. Despite loving her home, she couldn’t help but feel trapped, and the feeling would haunt her no matter how busy she kept herself.

She kept herself busy by running and playing among the nearby trees. With her mother, she tended the garden and houseplants. Her mother, Jeana, also spent considerable time teaching, and Mira proved to be quite a bright student. After spending countless hours a day studying with her mother, Mira turned to her own studies, reading through stacks of Flip Widget’s Manuals of Science and tinkering with the machines in her basement. Her father, who went out into the mist every day, returned when the sun set, and Mira would spend time discussing her studies with him or helping him cook the evening meal. And every evening after the day had vanished and she had crawled into bed, Mira’s mother gave her a soft kiss that sent her off to sleep.

Her life was both peaceful and pleasant, but some things irked her endlessly. She puzzled over how her father could go out into the mist but she couldn’t. She would watch him slip through, but it always repelled her when she tried to follow after him. Many times she would beg and plead with her father to take her out when he went exploring the mist, but he made it clear that was not allowed. It had brought her to tears more than a few times, but she could do nothing more about it than sulk in the garden, surrounded by the tiny world that she lived in.
*
While she wiped a tear from her eye, on a day like any other, her curiosity pulled her from her sorrows when something strange took shape against the cloud. It was just a curvy line at first, small yet distinct, but it grew longer and met with other lines. Straight lines and two circles imprinted themselves on the wavering, soft surface. She leapt to her feet and looked deeply into the figure forming in the white wall. The lines joined together and a face appeared. Within the undulating surface, it seemed to breathe and blink. The moisture collected on Mira’s fingertips and dripped down along her cheeks when she stared into it from up close. She gazed into the face before her with a ponytail off to the side, and she realized that the face she saw looked an awful lot like hers. Just as she began to wonder if she had been looking into a mirror, the image in the cloud washed away completely.

“Hello? Is someone there?” She shouted into the wafting mass and waited for an answer. Her beating heart thumped inside her chest. Keeping her ear against the billowing wall, she waited for much longer than was reasonable. But no sound came to her even though she waited until the water drenched her clothing.

After she stood there for so long, she began to think that it had all been her imagination. She couldn’t count how many times she had hoped someone would walk through to play with her or appear to talk to her. What if she had only seen what she wanted? But she remembered it, and it was real.

She cast away the last of her doubts and found faith that she saw what she saw. Feeling confident and thrilled, she realized that she needed to report the news to her mother. Sprinting down the path between tomato plants and cabbages, Mira reached her mother before much longer. Jeana, busy pruning a large plant, was startled by her daughter’s unexpected and sudden entrance. The girl, soaked, flushed, and out of breath, struggled to express what had happened.

“Mom! Mom!” She took a deep breath with her hands on her knees. “I saw something…through the mist. Looked like a face. I…I.”

“What? That’s impossible.” Putting down her clippers, Jeana reluctantly shifted her attention.

“I saw it though. I swear. Something was out there. It could have even been another person,” Mira said.

Jeana sighed and shook her head. Looking at her daughter, Jeana saw the hope in her eyes. She wanted it to be anything.

“I’m sorry, but it’s probably just all inside your head. I’ve never seen anything through there.”

“Maybe Dad knows something about it. I’ll have to ask him later when he gets back.”

“Maybe it was your father,” Jeana offered, seizing another possible solution. “Did you ever think of that?”

“No, I didn’t. But I don’t think it was. It looked like my own face looking back at me,” she said.

“Do you have any evidence to support what you think you saw? How can you be sure?” Jeana asked.

“I don’t have evidence, but I know it was real. I guess I’ll ask him about it.” A sinking, unsatisfied feeling had replaced her excitement. A sigh slipped out of her lips, and in it her mother could hear the disappointment. Jeana sympathized with her daughter but knew nothing could be done for her.

“I think you should probably just forget all about it. Here, come here,” she said, motioning for Mira to come closer and then pointing to the pistol and stamen of a nearby flower. “Can you tell me what these parts of a plant are called?”
*
Far from forgetting about it, Mira brought up the news as soon as her father, Kevin, had returned home. He appeared exhausted and not a little stressed, but Mira lit up when he walked through the door and proceeded to tell him what had been occupying her thoughts.

“A face you say? I think you must be mistaken. I’ve never found anything that can get through the mist. You shouldn’t let yourself get worked up so easily,” he said.

“I really did though. There’s no doubt about what I saw. The face looked so alive, like it was trying to say something,” said Mira.

“Oh, it’s trying to say something all of a sudden? What was it?” Kevin teased.

“I couldn’t make out any of the words, but the lips moved and the eyelids fell, hiding something sad or secret.”

“What can I tell you, sweetheart. There’s just nothing out there for you. I’m sorry. How about we think of a new game to play?”

“But, Dad, you have to believe me. It was really there. I could show you where and we could go looking for it together. Maybe it’s someone who needs help or…or maybe even someone my age who is lost.” A note of desperation crept into her voice, and it reminded Kevin how Mira’s pleadings had become more frequent and more persistent. He wished there was a way to tell her it was all for her own good.

“Meer, you’ve just got to put it out of your mind. You didn’t hear anything because there’s nothing out there. You might imagine that things are bad now, but what if you found something and your life became so much worse. What if it became a painful nightmare that makes your present unhappiness seem like bliss?”

His daughter stared into his eyes, searching for the truth. She might have been trying to imagine the kind of world he mentioned, but ultimately she could not see outside of her own eyes.

“Then I choose the real world instead of an illusion!” She felt flushed and defiant, like her frustration would find a way out. So she ran away up to her room and slammed the door. After some time, Jeana went up to find her. Jeana offered a few comforting words and saw her daughter off to sleep.

Returning to the kitchen, Jeana met her husband with a distinct look of annoyance and displeasure. Kevin too was not happy that he had to stand in the way of his daughter’s wishes. They looked at each other with furrowed brows over tired eyes.

“Maybe we should reconsider our plans,” Jeana said.

“Why? What has changed from yesterday to today?”

“Do you know what that face could have been? What if someone was trying to get in? Could you be losing your strength? You’re not as young as you used to be.”

“Impossible,” Kevin said. “I don’t know who or what it could be, but it doesn’t sound good. I’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t you worry.” He spoke with an air of finality and turned to leave, but Jeana was not finished.

“I don’t think it’s right of us to keep Mira here any longer. Maybe it’s been a mistake all along.”

“You know how dangerous it would be for her. We might as well be marching her off to her death. And we would be responsible for it. She might not last a day.” His voice rose with exasperation as he spoke.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We could still do what we can to protect her. It would be a difficult adjustment for her, but it’s what she wants. And she could make it.”

Disbelief filled Kevin’s head.

“She could make it? Are you mad? You just said yourself that someone could be trying to get in here, and you want to let her wander about where any accident or purposeful villain could strike her? And be mindful of the war. It seems far away now, but it is all consuming. How long could she escape it?”

“She could join the academy. She could learn to defend herself.”
At this, Kevin’s temper fizzled and he laughed heartily.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, honey,” he said, knowing she was serious. He came to her and wrapped her in a loving hug. “You’ve thought it all out, haven’t you? But what could she possibly defend herself with? She is candle wax trying to put out a flame.”

Jeana calmly distanced herself from her husband so she could solemnly look him in the face.

“I don’t know, but this is the life that she was born to live. It belongs to her and not to us. She deserves the chance to make from it what she can, anything she can.”

Kevin found this argument much more difficult to swallow. He considered it for a moment before speaking.

“You do realize how agonizing it will be for her, don’t you? To say she is different from everyone else glosses over that she is missing something important, something vital. What she lacks will haunt her for as many days as she can muster, overshadowing the miracle that she has survived every day.”

“We can’t know for sure how she will react. It’s true she’s led a sheltered life, but there is the possibility that something bright and courageous will emerge.”

They held each other again, letting the decision that they had come to soak in before the words had been said. In their embrace, they unleashed their imaginations and peered into their wildest visions of what could happen. It wasn’t long before fear turned the holding into clutching. But, in their minds, they stood firmly in the belief that their daughter would have control now, no matter what happened.

“Then it’s decided. We will let her go to flourish or fail under her own power. Her disadvantage is substantial, but we can’t be guilty of stripping her of her freedom any longer. The only thing left to consider is how we should open the blinds.”
*
The sound of clanging pots awoke Mira the next morning before the sun came up. Feeling exhausted and not wholly rid of yesterday’s frustration, she pulled herself out of bed to check on the strange commotion. Taking a moment before heading downstairs, she leaned out against the large window in her room. She looked out at it, the white wall that rubbed up against the darkness, and a slight tinge of anger tweaked her heart. Biting her lip, she chided it with her thoughts.

Shaking her head and feeling the senselessness of fighting, she turned away from the window and went downstairs. There, she found her father, who was doing little more than lounging in a chair. Her mother, on the other hand, had been very busy, and still was. Why they both weren’t still fast asleep at this early hour mystified her.
Delicious aromas tickled Mira’s nose and made her mouth water. Poking her head into the kitchen, she caught Jeana busily transferring food from pans to plates. A colossal breakfast took shape upon the table. Both that her mother was cook and the size of the feast were unusual, but the promise of a delicious breakfast was always a very welcome surprise.

“How long have you been up doing this? What is going on?” she asked, with both interest and skepticism. After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she moved toward the sink to start cleaning the dishes when her mother answered.

“Just sit yourself down, dear, and don’t be bothered about that.” As commanded, she took a seat at the table. Kevin, still wearing his pajamas, sat down next to her. He usually began rushing about as soon as he got up. Mira tried to put together an explanation for his relaxed behavior.

“You aren’t leaving today? Why?” Very few occasions kept him home, and so Mira felt very confused since it was neither a holiday nor a birthday. Kevin pulled her in close, hoping to mask his emotional state in an affectionate way.

“There’s something we want to talk to you about. Is that ok?” Mira, shifting in her seat, raised her eyebrows and gave him her full attention.

“Oh boy, this is hard. Now, where to begin?” he said, looking around for reasons not to begin.

“Spit it out, honey,” Jeana said, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, ok. Mira, we’re going to let you go. But there are some things you need to know first. Can you listen to everything before you make any judgments or decisions?”
She squinted at her parents, struggling to understand.

“What do you mean you are going to let me go?”

“You’ve made it clear that you’re not happy with your life as it is now. We’re going to help you change it, for better or for worse.” Kevin looked at his daughter, who appeared skeptical of what he was saying, and tried to squelch his own inner doubts.

“Ok, so do it. What do we have to do? Let’s do it.” She leaned forward over the table, eager. Her eyes scanned back and forth between her parents.

“Remember, you’re going to stay here and listen to everything. All you have to do is look out the window.”

Confused, Mira turned around so she could look through the large glass doors that led out to the backyard. Candle and firelight from the house met a swath of the undulating mist. She watched, unsure of what she was looking for.

At that moment, the watery mist that floated in the air thinned, shriveled up, and separated. For a second, some of the water fell in an intense downpour, splashing against the ground. And after that enough of the wall had evaporated to reveal bright stars speckling the sky behind.

Her eyes grew large and her jaw dropped. The shock overwhelmed her and she forgot to breath. Unconsciously, Mira rose from her seat and staggered toward the door. Her eyes remained transfixed on the sight before her, afraid that it would disappear if she blinked. With her second try, she pulled the door open and took a few steps into the open air. Her parents restrained the urge to go after her, letting her soak in the moment.

The first thing she noticed was the slight morning breeze that brushed against her skin. It felt like a flush or a tingle that swept over her entire body. She took small, measured steps out onto the dark lawn with bare feet. But all the while, she held a trance-like gaze, staring out in front of her for as far as she could see.

She had never seen the stars so clearly before, but something else stretched over the sky that captured her wonder and demanded her attention. Stitched together over the atmosphere, a luminous and sharp web draped high above, imbedded in the sky. Marveling at it, she admired its graceful curves and simple elegance.

But before she could even begin to absorb what she saw, the sun peeked around a mountainside in the distance, flooding light through the air and showering it down on the vast and beautiful scenery stretching out before her.

The bright light masked the web but revealed a radiant landscape below. Her small wood sloped down behind the garden and extended outward along a valley. She could see for miles and miles, past a river, a village, and all the way to some towering mountains that formed a chain leading down to the fresh morning sun near the horizon. She saw smoke rising from the chimneys in the town, where people must be living at that very moment. Looking up into the sky, she marveled at the massive clouds, which looked exactly like what had recently surrounded her. A large bird of prey, a hawk, navigated the sky, majestically playing in the first light of day. She watched it dive, flap its wings, and rise.

Everything was so new to her, and the wonder and beauty of it all struck her deeply.