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“Not a clue,” Nathan said cheerfully.

I could have strangled him. I thought he’d had some idea, as he obviously wanted to try and copy Julia.

Nathan grinned. Failure did not bother him as much as it did me, and he’d banked on that, damn him. The fool had played my pride and competitiveness, and I had fallen for it. Bloody typical. Now, I had to take action or stay silent, and failure was not an option.

Guess what.

I failed.

“Perhaps we should concentrate on the ship and will ourselves there,” I suggested.

“Of course, that should work,” Nathan replied, sarcasm clear in his voice.

“You got a better idea?” I snapped.

“Nope,” he responded cheerfully again.

Infuriated, my hands itched to strangle him.

“Well, pick your end up,” I demanded instead.

Together, we bent down and picked the large block up. Nathan smirked and closed his eyes. I followed suit. In my head, I pictured the docks and the ship that awaited us. I began to desperately will myself there, and nothing happened. Upon opening my eyes, I observed the ship and the individuals gathered around it. Shutting my eyes once more, I pictured those individuals near the ship when, suddenly, a strange sensation struck me.

It’s difficult to explain. With teleportation, you simply put the picture in your head and willed yourself to that place or person. This was weird, it seemed surreal. I was being pulled, but I wasn’t moving. Everything slowed down, and as I opened my eyes, still concentrating fiercely, everything seemed to stretch. Colours and shapes mixed with one another, becoming a fierce blur.

Yet I didn’t move. My feet were rooted to the ground and no matter how hard I tried, I was not going anywhere. I concentrated on my feet, trying to force them to move, but to no avail. Then suddenly, I realised that Nathan was moving, and this broke my concentration.

“Damn you, Nathan!” I roared as his end of the block dropped.

Quickly, I let go before I was crushed. At the docks, Nathan did cartwheels and handsprings.

Smug bastard.I swore to get revenge.

“Nathan did it!” Pal exclaimed triumphantly before turning to sneer. “That will humble you, Jaq.”

“Doubt it, somehow. Jaq is too vain to let Nathan and Julia be the only two capable of this trick,” Kait said, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

“The sensation is strange,” I replied and explained what had happened.

“But you didn’t move. Why?” Curtan asked.

“No. I wanted to, and everything around me was moving, but I didn’t.” I glared at Nathan, who was running back up the hill. I desperately wanted to wipe the smug smile off his face. The presence of so many people prevented me from acting without appearing spiteful and jealous. Which I was.

“All right, show off. Pick your end of the block up, and we’llwalkslowly, this time down to the docks,” I said, trying to keep the petulance out of my voice. And obviously not succeeding, as Nathan turned to grin broadly at me.

“What happened, Jacques? Willpower didn’t work?”

Suddenly, through my spiteful feelings, I had a sudden insight. Now that was a rarity!

“You knew we were capable of this!” I accused loudly.

“Pah, don’t be stupid.”

“No, come on, admit it. You knew about this, Nathan. You did wonderful for someone who has not tried before,” I pushed.

“See the jealousy of a disappointed man,” Nathan teased.

“No! No, well, yes, I am jealous, but you already understood how. That’s why you baited me.”