The Hinges of Destiny Volume 2: Progression

By Angelle Tusa

Michael informs the other members of The Achievers Club that Professor Janice Wakesfield is offering training courses for people with abilities. He, Elizabeth, Jessica and J all sign up. But are the training sessions a little too dangerous?
When Elizabeth tells Gabby what happened in the fight with Gloria, Gabby becomes angry and thinks that Elizabeth is using her psionic powers too recklessly. Gabby can no longer trust her. At the same time, Elizabeth is getting constant dirty looks and attitude from Jessica, who is jealous of Elizabeth and Max's friendship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angelle Tusa
• Release date: Jul 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476364520

Angelle Tusa

I've had an active imagination for as long as I can remember, and I've been writing stories since I was 13. When I went to college I took the advice of my family and pursued business, but writing is still my passion. I split my writing time between reviews of movies, comics, and video games. My main work of fiction right now is The Hinges of Destiny.

Book preview

The Hinges of Destiny, Volume 2:

Progression

Angelle Tusa

Published by Angelle Tusa at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Angelle Tusa

Discover other titles by this author on Smashwords.com:

The Hinges of Destiny, Volume 1

The Hinges of Destiny, Volume 3

The Hinges of Destiny, Volume 4

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For their insightful feedback on both the first volume and this second one, a heartfelt thanks to Igor Studenkov, Noel Thingvall, and Jak Locke.

Chapter 1

Elizabeth returned to her dorm and pulled the latest issue of The Daily Hillard, their college newspaper, out of her bag. She smiled while looking at the headline, Former Students Kidnap Professor. She read through the article again:

"Professor Bruce Ashmore was kidnapped by two former students, Jonathan Swanson and Gloria Turnbill. The two had been previously expelled from Hillard after selling test keys to other students. Apparently the two of them thought Professor Ashmore was somehow responsible for their expulsion.

"They were holding the professor offsite in an abandoned warehouse. When the police arrived on scene, they discovered that half of their job had already been done for them.

"’A group of students were actually the ones to let us know about it,’ Deputy Harris explained. ‘They managed to incapacitate Swanson before we arrived. This is particularly helpful with those with speed abilities, because as you can imagine they can be very difficult to catch otherwise.’ Harris said that the students did not give their names so he was unable to identify them.

Professor Ashmore was uninjured and is back to teaching again. He chose not to comment for this article.

Elizabeth cut out the article and attached it to the pinboard hanging on her side of the room. Just as she was finishing, her roommate Gabby arrived.

Hey! What’s up? she asked in her normal cheerful manner.

Not too much, Elizabeth replied. Gabby put down the laundry she had been carrying and came over to take a closer look at the article. Elizabeth watched as Gabby’s eyes scanned the article, reading. Her face went from her normal large smile to a more pained look.

You-- she started to say something, then shook her head and started over. Those were the people who were threatening you?

Yes, Elizabeth said.

What happened? Gabby asked. The article doesn’t really say.

Well, you remember how you got knocked over and then found that note? That was the guy with speed powers, Jonathan. And then his girlfriend, Gloria, was a psionic. They left Max the same note, so I ran into him at Bruce’s office and we realized where they had him. So we called up everyone else in the Achievers Club and most of us went over there and rescued them, Elizabeth said. She smiled, still feeling excited when she remembered the whole experience.

Did you have to, like, actually physically fight them? Gabby asked. Her eyes were wide in disbelief.

Sort of. Jonathan was trying to attack us anyway. Gloria kept using her telepathy to read our minds and tell him what to expect, which you can imagine combined with his speed was a really bad combination. Apparently reading other people’s minds is all she knows how to do, because her own mind was an open book. I looked in there and saw all this stuff – apparently her dad’s not too nice a guy, so I forced her to think about some unhappy memories. It distracted her enough that she couldn’t help him anymore. As Elizabeth finished she realized Gabby had frozen in place while she was talking. She now had tears streaming down her face.

You swore to me you didn’t do stuff like that, Gabby said quietly.

Well, I certainly wouldn’t do it without a reason, of course not! But Jonathan was really trying to hurt us, and we couldn’t get ahead with her telling him our next move. And she also attacked our friend Jessica, forcing her to fall, and I didn’t know how badly she was hurt, but I didn’t want Gloria to cause anything worse with her untrained powers and-

So one day, if I do something you don’t like, you might find it necessary to go digging around in my head too?! Gabby asked. The tears continued to spill down her cheeks.

No, I would never- I mean you’re not planning on kidnapping or attacking anyone soon, right? Elizabeth tried to offer a small smile as she said it.

I don’t see anything remotely funny about this! Gabby shouted. She grabbed her cell phone and ran out the door, slamming it behind her.

Chapter 2

Elizabeth arrived at the Achievers Club meeting that night a bit early. She set up the desks and then sat down and started some homework waiting for her fellow members to arrive.

Hello again! Max said happily as he arrived with Jessica. Jessica nodded at Elizabeth quickly and then took her seat. Elizabeth closed her eyes and rolled them. Still jealous of me, I see. Because people of the opposite sex can’t be friends, right?

Bradley arrived shortly afterward and said his hellos to everyone before settling down in his seat. He grunted as he positioned himself under the desk that was a little too short for him because of his large muscle mass. Elizabeth went back to her homework until the sound of someone pulling a chair next to her made her look up. She saw the smiling face of J, the petite Japanese girl who preferred to go simply by her initial. J was wearing one of her trademark self designed outfits, but Elizabeth noticed that she was not wearing