the after-school class that day—Alexei Sokolov, Kristen Olvar, William, and me. I should have gone straight home with Lan, because on extra-cold days Mama still worried about the rheumatic fever coming back, but I hated missing my extra class, no matter what the reason.
Miss Ochiba had us put our chairs in a half circle, and we started in, sitting very still, trying to see everything and not think about anything, to hear Miss Ochiba’s instructions and follow them without really listening. We’d been working for ten or fifteen minutes when my head whipped around toward the window, without me intending it to. An instant later, I realized that everyone else had done the same thing at exactly the same moment.
Something moved across the sky at the upper corner of the window. It looked like a small, dense cloud, but we all knew it wasn’t a cloud. The sun sparkled and flashed from the heart of the “cloud,” and it left a thin white tail behind it for the crosswind to rip to shreds.
“Miss Ochiba,” Alexei said, “what is that?”
“A steam dragon,” Miss Ochiba said calmly. “You cannot see it clearly because the cold air condenses the outer part of the steam around it.”
“But—” said William.
“Hush,” said Miss Ochiba. “Listen.”
In the quiet, we heard the first alarm bell start, and then another, tolling one-two-three-pause, one-two-three-pause. I’d heard the bells a time or two before, but never in the rhythm of the wildlife alarm before.
Kristen shivered, still staring out the window. “How did it get past the Great Barrier?” she whispered.
“It flew over,” William said in a that’s-obvious tone. “Just like the ducks do. The barrier doesn’t go up much higher than the clock tower on the town hall. It—”
My stomach dropped as the white sparkly cloud suddenly dove toward the ground. Miss Ochiba moved in front of the window, but not before the cloud was stripped away by the dragon’s speed and we all got a glimpse of its silver-snake body trailing steam all the way down. The nearest alarm bell lost its rhythm and went into an urgent jangle. I felt something hard and bitter cold run down my side, like the flat of a knife blade left out of doors in winter. I shook my head, and everything around me seemed to whirl around once and then drop into its usual place.
Alexei licked his lips. “Miss Ochiba, what was that?” he asked, and from his tone we all knew that this time he didn’t mean the steam dragon.
“That was your sense of the world, unfolding,” Miss Ochiba replied. “Excellent work, all of you.”
“‘Sense of the world?’“ William said doubtfully. “Because we saw the steam dragon?”
Miss Ochiba’s lips curved in the faintest of smiles. “No, Mr. Graham. Because all of you knew the small cloud you saw was really a steam dragon, because all of you knew that each of your friends was also aware that it was a steam dragon, and because all of you knew those things before the dragon came into sight.”
I saw right off that Miss Ochiba was right. We’d all turned toward the window without thinking, before we could have seen anything outside. Kristen and William even had their backs partly toward the window, and they’d whipped right around with the rest of us.
Kristen and Alexei were nodding, like they were thinking the same as me, but William had a stubborn frown on his face. Miss Ochiba’s smile grew a little more. “You will have plenty of opportunity to test your world sense,” she said to William. “Foundation work is not something you master in one or two tries. You four will move on to circle work, but only three days each week. The other two days, you will continue to do foundation work with the rest of our group. And,” she added with a significant look at Alexei, “you will progress much faster if you also practice on your own, even when you are not working on it here.”
Everyone at school knew that Alexei did as little extra work as ever he
Miss Ochiba had us put our chairs in a half circle, and we started in, sitting very still, trying to see everything and not think about anything, to hear Miss Ochiba’s instructions and follow them without really listening. We’d been working for ten or fifteen minutes when my head whipped around toward the window, without me intending it to. An instant later, I realized that everyone else had done the same thing at exactly the same moment.
Something moved across the sky at the upper corner of the window. It looked like a small, dense cloud, but we all knew it wasn’t a cloud. The sun sparkled and flashed from the heart of the “cloud,” and it left a thin white tail behind it for the crosswind to rip to shreds.
“Miss Ochiba,” Alexei said, “what is that?”
“A steam dragon,” Miss Ochiba said calmly. “You cannot see it clearly because the cold air condenses the outer part of the steam around it.”
“But—” said William.
“Hush,” said Miss Ochiba. “Listen.”
In the quiet, we heard the first alarm bell start, and then another, tolling one-two-three-pause, one-two-three-pause. I’d heard the bells a time or two before, but never in the rhythm of the wildlife alarm before.
Kristen shivered, still staring out the window. “How did it get past the Great Barrier?” she whispered.
“It flew over,” William said in a that’s-obvious tone. “Just like the ducks do. The barrier doesn’t go up much higher than the clock tower on the town hall. It—”
My stomach dropped as the white sparkly cloud suddenly dove toward the ground. Miss Ochiba moved in front of the window, but not before the cloud was stripped away by the dragon’s speed and we all got a glimpse of its silver-snake body trailing steam all the way down. The nearest alarm bell lost its rhythm and went into an urgent jangle. I felt something hard and bitter cold run down my side, like the flat of a knife blade left out of doors in winter. I shook my head, and everything around me seemed to whirl around once and then drop into its usual place.
Alexei licked his lips. “Miss Ochiba, what was that?” he asked, and from his tone we all knew that this time he didn’t mean the steam dragon.
“That was your sense of the world, unfolding,” Miss Ochiba replied. “Excellent work, all of you.”
“‘Sense of the world?’“ William said doubtfully. “Because we saw the steam dragon?”
Miss Ochiba’s lips curved in the faintest of smiles. “No, Mr. Graham. Because all of you knew the small cloud you saw was really a steam dragon, because all of you knew that each of your friends was also aware that it was a steam dragon, and because all of you knew those things before the dragon came into sight.”
I saw right off that Miss Ochiba was right. We’d all turned toward the window without thinking, before we could have seen anything outside. Kristen and William even had their backs partly toward the window, and they’d whipped right around with the rest of us.
Kristen and Alexei were nodding, like they were thinking the same as me, but William had a stubborn frown on his face. Miss Ochiba’s smile grew a little more. “You will have plenty of opportunity to test your world sense,” she said to William. “Foundation work is not something you master in one or two tries. You four will move on to circle work, but only three days each week. The other two days, you will continue to do foundation work with the rest of our group. And,” she added with a significant look at Alexei, “you will progress much faster if you also practice on your own, even when you are not working on it here.”
Everyone at school knew that Alexei did as little extra work as ever he
Similar Books
