The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,23
tan olive skin. Sofia ushered her into the same row as Landon and gestured for her to sit down beside him. She had a kind demeanor about her, but there was an unspoken strength that came through in her posture.
“Landon, this is Celia Jackson. Celia, this is Landon Wicker,” Sofia said.
Landon rose out of his chair, never taking his gaze off Celia’s face. Both their appearances were strikingly similar. In addition to their hair color and skin tone, Landon recognized a familiar shape to her nose and lips. They were also identical in height and build, and they shared the same grey, stormy eyes.
“Hi, Landon. It’s nice to meet you,” Celia said. Her voice was confident but soft. Celia tossed her hair over her shoulder before sending him a furtive glance. He could see other guys falling easily for this type of charm, but he sensed the façade of the gesture. Celia had a feline quality about her. He would hate to be her prey.
“Good morning.”
“Well, I guess I’ll be going,” Sofia interjected after a prolonged period of Landon and Celia staring at each another. “If you will take your seats, the session should be starting momentarily.”
Celia and Landon sat down in their chairs and looked ahead at the whiteboard. While waiting for the session to start, Landon kept peering at Celia out the corner of his eye, attempting to pinpoint what it was about her that intrigued him. Eventually, his head rotated toward her, only to snap forward when she turned toward him. After a couple of awkward exchanges of eye and head gestures, the room went dark and a light on the whiteboard brightened as a hidden projector’s lamp warmed up.
The white screen shifted to a video of a man standing in what appeared to be an empty room. The film looked like it was recorded around the time Landon was born. The image emitted an alien glow that made it seem as if it was filmed in a room overpowered by fluorescent lights, and the picture appeared to be slightly out of focus to the point that it was almost uncomfortable to watch. In the background, Landon heard the humming sound of the tape in the projector as the man on the screen turned to the camera and began to speak.
“Welcome, I am Dr. Harold Greyson Wells, and this is the orientation film for the Gymnasium. In a moment, I will explain to you the reason for your being brought here and how you can benefit from this facility. But first, a little history,” the doctor began in an articulate, deep voice.
Dr. Wells was tall and thin. He had thick, salt-and-pepper hair that he combed to the side and a pair of wide, horn-rimmed glasses. On his pale cheeks, Landon saw deep acne scars, and the doctor wore a blue oxford shirt, a pair of khaki pants and a white lab coat. On the left breast pocket of his coat, Landon recognized an eagle clutching an arrow embroidered in golden thread. It was the same image he’d seen in the carving on the outside of the building.
“The original Gymnasium was built in 1983 after its founders, Drake and Ainsley Harper, came across a small group of children who displayed unprecedented psychokinetic abilities. To help develop these unique individuals, they constructed a facility with the intention that it serve as a training center for students learning to control and hone their extraordinary abilities, while also continuing a normal scholastic education with specialized tutors. All they asked was that the students return to the world as contributing members of society once their training was complete.
“Since 1983, the number of psychokinetic cases has increased dramatically, resulting in the Gymnasium, which completed construction in April of this year, 1992. If you are watching this video, it means you have displayed similar psychokinetic abilities and have chosen to join the many others like you at this facility.”
Landon watched intently as the doctor walked past large mounted photos of Drake and Ainsley Harper in well-tailored suits, at construction sites, and with teenagers standing beside floating objects. Then he reached a scale model of the first Gymnasium. As he continued to speak, he ended up standing next to a model of the current Gymnasium, a large Grecian-inspired facility with a massive glass dome constructed inside a deep, isolated valley.
“In these past nine years, we have made numerous strides in understanding the full extent of your abilities and how they manifest themselves. Through extensive genetic