Craggy fingertips brushed layers of dust off a thick cover, it had been over twenty years but now the book was being lifted and flipped back and forth. Then it sailed through the air and landed with a jolt in a box atop trivial collections of fiction. It hummed and could already sense its destination and its reader.

Thursday – Countdown: 9 days till Birthday

It was a night like any other but as Jack, pyjama-clad and minty fresh, entered his room he tripped over a large cardboard box just inside the doorway. He sat up and peered into the box. Then he caught the familiar sounds of mum’s shuffling slippers and the soft thud as his sister’s door tapped the frame. She was coming toward his room now. He grabbed an old leather-bound book off the top of a pile and scrambled onto the bed.

Digging his legs under the covers he sat up and adjusted the bedside lamp. Jack opened the cover of the book, the spine crackling with age. A strange tingle rushed over his body and a soft breeze brushed past his ears though nothing else, not even his hair, stirred.

He began to read.

Welcome, Children.

If you are reading this, you are under the age of ten. There is a secret I must share while you still have time, for once you turn ten it will be too late.

All children are born special.

But not all of them ever learn how special. You may not believe it but you have a Special Power waiting to be discovered. Your Special Power is the secret that you must find and protect. You are in a race against time to uncover your individual gift before it is lost forever.

Within the pages of this book are rules, guidelines, and information on many Special Powers – though there are endless possibilities.

Some things you need to remember…

• This book has its own magic and you will not be able to open every page. You must unlock them. You will be physically unable to turn the next page and view the rest of the book until you pass stages and are ready to move on. 
• It is forbidden for adults with a Special Power to divulge themselves to a child under the age of ten or aid them in any way toward believing, seeking or controlling their Power.
• If they do it can result in terrible consequences and they will lose their Power.
• The journey to discover your Power must be yours and yours alone. Open your mind, think beyond the powers of superheroes – flying, strength, speed, telekinesis – yours can come in any form. Your hiccups could stop time, you may be able to pick up and play any instrument without ever having seen it before, or you might even be able to make pigs fly!

You can never predict.
The possibilities are endless.

Jack’s knees had come up under the bed sheet. His back was hunched and rigid. He licked lips that felt like tree bark, and jumped as mum’s head appeared around the edge of the door frame.

‘You right, sweetie? Now remember, don’t read for too long tonight …’

‘Mmm hmmm. Hang on, one sec,’ Jack murmured distracted.

You must discover your own Special Power by the age of TEN and practise and practise so that the magic seeps into you and becomes a part of you or else it, and the memory of it, will fade away. This is the reason so many adults have no powers and cannot remember them even if they, at one point in their childhood, had found them.

The tenth birthday is so important – it is either the end of your chance to find your power or yours for all time.

Good Luck!

Jack bolted upright. His veins full of panic.

‘Mum! Have you seen this book? Is this yours? Why didn’t you tell me about this before? Now I’ve only got just over a week to find my power!’

‘What? Jack …’

‘What could it be, d’ya reckon? Do you have a power? What’s your power?’

‘Jack, it’s …’

‘Does Grandpa have a power? I bet he does, he’s always been a bit mysterious and stuff.’

‘JACK! I remember that book. I read it when I was your age. Calm down. It’s not real! It’s a bit of fun. A story, that’s all.’

‘But, Mum.’

‘But nothing, Jack. That’s enough. Lie down please, it’s bedtime …’

Jack’s face fell and he quickly slid down and pulled the covers up to his chin.

‘That’s it. Scoot down and turn off your light. No more tonight. It’ll still be there tomorrow.’ Jack reached and placed the book on his bedside table and she turned to go.

‘But, how do you know it’s not real?’

Mum’s face softened as she came to sit on the edge of his bed. ‘Look, it’s obviously old and been in the family for a long time,’ she said as she picked it up and turned the book over in her hands, ‘but that doesn’t make it real. It’s a book. You are very special and I love you very much but you do not have any special power. Unless you count being able to mysteriously make all the vegetables disappear from your plate and miraculously reappear in the dog’s bowl?’ She smiled, tousled his blonde hair that was half sticking up in all directions and stood up.

Jack made a small grunt. His face was still red and flushed but he maintained a serious expression until mum pulled his door shut behind her. She wouldn’t tell me anyway, he thought. That was the rule right?

In the darkness he grinned and his eyes were wide as his mind flooded with ideas.

He could have a special power!

Friday – Countdown:  8 days till Birthday

Jack’s eyes shot open as his sister Heidi shook his shoulder roughly.

            ‘Wake up, dopey. Dad needs to leave early again today.’

            Jack scrunched up his eyes as she flicked the light on and sidled out of the room. He sat up slowly and as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness he climbed out of bed.

It wasn’t long before Jack was dressed, hair combed and in the kitchen – he prided himself in being the fastest in the house to get ready, which dad always said wasn’t hard in a house full of girls.

Jack sat down at the table, his feet dangling above the floor, untied shoelaces hanging down to drag along the linoleum. He hunched over his bowl of Rice Bubbles, stirring intently, ignoring the scattered puffs that had catapulted from the bowl to encircle his elbows propped on either side of his bowl. Mum bustled at the kitchen bench making lunches and packing them into battered plastic lunchboxes. He concentrated on an individual Rice Bubble, trying to make it explode or disappear or spin – something, anything different. But there it sat, swimming next to all the other normal, floating Rice Bubbles.

            ‘Sweetie, you’d better hurry up and eat, Dad’ll be leaving soon and they’re getting soggy.’

            ‘Huh? Oh yeah, I’m coming.’

            Jack shovelled in the last few heaped spoons and took his bowl over to the sink. He ran the water into the bowl to rinse it and put his fingertips into the streaming water willing it to freeze. Nothing.

            ‘Jack! Turn off the tap. You’re wasting water. C’mon, what are you doing? I think it’s rinsed by now.’

            Turning off the tap, Jack gave the bowl his best smouldering glare and grunted at it in annoyance. A car engine rumbled to life and in a panic Jack grabbed his lunchbox, plunged it into his bag and ran for the door.

            ‘Hang on, where’s my kiss, Speedy?’

            ‘Mum, he’s going to leave without me!’

            ‘No he won’t, you know what he’s like, you have time.’

            Jack kissed his mum and scrambled out the door. Dad and Heidi exchanged smug smiles as the door slammed.

            ‘Well, that got you movin,’ didn’t it? It’s alright, I’m not ready yet.’

            Jack waited by the back of the car. He watched the exhaust blow out with a rhythmic purr. He stood directly behind the car and bent his knees to grip underneath with a hand either side of the tow bar. He tensed his muscles and sucked in his breath, then jerked up and heaved. He pulled with all his might until he could feel the blood swelling in his head.

Then he felt the car shudder and there was a spring of movement. Could this be it? Was he lifting the car? Was he super strong?

‘What are you doin’, mate? I got in the car and you weren’t there. Are we going or what?’ His dad had suddenly appeared from the side of the car. 

 Jack released his grip and his shoulders fell.

            On the ride to school he tried to think of his favourite superhero powers. What could his power be? He closed his eyes and tried to listen. Maybe he could hear things really far away? But all he could hear were the sounds of the car stereo belting out a rock song from the same CD he heard every morning – and occasionally his dad’s poor attempt at joining in and drowning out the chorus. And when he really concentrated he heard the car engine and sometimes the sounds from the road: the repetitive pounding of another car stereo, horns, the faint wail of a siren, some guy yelling at a cyclist and the ticking of the green man at the traffic crossing. But he was pretty sure this was normal, this was what everybody could hear.

            When they arrived at school, he leant over into the front seat and pressed the button to repeat the previous song on the CD.

‘You need some practise, Dad.’

‘You little monkey!’

Jack gave a lopsided grin and jumped out. Then, without looking back at Heidi, who was still climbing out of the car, he took off. He ran as fast as he could into school. Maybe he could run super-fast? But no, he wasn’t seeing the other kids in a blur and he didn’t arrive any faster than another kid he had seen getting out of the car in front of them.

            Jack sat through Art and Library, not really paying attention. He tried moving things with his mind, staring at the clock to freeze time, making himself invisible, trying to hear other people’s thoughts and willing people to do his bidding but nobody so much as coughed. At lunchtime he ran quickly out to the playground and climbed up onto the flying-fox platform. He jumped, scrambled up and jumped again three more times before Chloe came running up.

            ‘Hey Jack! What are you doin’?’

            ‘Trying to see if maybe I can fly. I’d like the power to fly because that one’s my favourite; I think that would be the coolest, don’t you? I know there are heaps of really cool powers but there’s just something about flying …’ He trailed off when he noticed the expression on her face.

            ‘Huh? Are you crazy?’

        ‘Hi,’ said Liam softly. He had come up behind Chloe and was now towering above her petite frame. Knowing she hated it he grinned as he balanced on tiptoes, making himself seem even taller. ‘What’s goin’ on?’

Chloe looked up at him rolled her eyes and scowled just as Jack made one last exuberant jump, this time with his arms outstretched as though reaching for something.

            ‘Jack is trying to fly!’ Chloe scoffed.

            ‘Huh? Fly? You can’t fly.’

Jack’s face was a mixture of excitement and frustration – eyes wide, forehead creased and a knowing, secretive smile. Then he looked from left to right suspiciously before whispering, ‘Follow me.’

He led them over to the edge of the playground, just over the border between the tanbark and the grass. They sat under their tree, where there was only enough shade for the three of them.

He scuffed around in the dirt searching for a comfortable position between the tree roots, and put on his best storytelling voice.

            ‘Well …’ He stopped to clear his throat, drawing out the moment as long as possible, enjoying the attention. ‘Mum went over to Nana and Grandpa’s house yesterday and she brought home a box of old books. She said she rescued them or something? Anyway, she put them in my room and I grabbed one off the top. And straight away I saw it was different – you know, not just old and stuff but special. And it had one of those weird ties with the string that you have to wind round a knot bit at the front to hold it closed.’ Jack gestured with his hands to demonstrate.

            ‘What’s it got to do with the jumping?’ Chloe snapped. She swatted rogue wisps of blonde wavy hair from out of her face like she was shooing flies and continued to glare at him through the veil of hair.

            ‘Hang on, Chlo! So I start reading it and it’s not so much a story as like explaining. Like a schoolbook. It’s instructions and information about powers – all sorts of special abilities that we are all born with, but you have to work out what yours is before your tenth birthday or else it disappears and is gone forever.’ Jack took a second to suck in his breath and slide his tongue around in a circle to wet his lips. ‘So I’m jumping around, trying to fly, coz I’ve been trying to figure out what my power is but I haven’t felt anything special yet and I’m kind of running out of ideas.’

            ‘Jack, it was a story, not real. I think we’d notice if a whole bunch of kids had superpowers,’ Chloe said. She looked across at Liam and rolled her eyes again.

            ‘That’s just it. Kids only have until their tenth birthday, to discover their powers, so heaps would run out of time or not know they could have powers. We didn’t know …’

            ‘So why haven’t we heard of it before, derr-brain?’

            ‘Coz there’s these rules. Like parents can’t tell the kids or help them or they’ll all lose their powers.’

            ‘This is dumb. You’re dumb. How can you believe this? What makes you think this book is real? It’s a fairytale about comic book heroes. It’s like X- men or something. Like when you and Liam muck around, but it’s not real. It was just a story …’

            ‘Maybe that’s what other kids think too so that’s why there aren’t heaps with powers, if any … We could end up being the only ones? Cool, hey?’

Liam had been sitting silently under the tree beside Chloe. The sun that filtered through the branches was making shadows dance across his face; he squinted his eyes and wrinkled his freckle-covered nose. Liam had not said a word but he had followed Jack and Chloe with his eyes, like he was watching a game of air hockey. Jack could see he was unsure but Jack also knew that Liam dreamt of having a special ability and longed to be different and powerful. The two of them had spent hours dressing up and diving into fantasy worlds since they were in Kinder.

Liam was a thin boy, his legs stuck out of his body like brittle twigs from a tree and he often stood as though he were hoping to not be swept away by a strong breeze. The bridge of his nose was wider than most, setting his eyes further apart and giving him a flat, dopey appearance. But Liam was smart, he was one of the quickest in class to answer questions on almost any subject and his small mouth and big teeth meant his face naturally smiled whenever his lips parted. So as Jack snatched glances at his friend, he tried not to show that what he wanted more than anything was for Liam to believe him.

Jack’s eyes darted between his two friends. ‘I know it sounds weird. It’s not coming out right. Maybe you have to come over and see the book? Then you’ll see. It’s not just a story, it’s different. I think it’s telling the truth. And just think of the things we could do!’

            ‘Jack …’ Chloe started to interrupt.

            ‘Chloe, what if it’s real? I don’t want to miss out. And what if we can all find our powers, how cool would that be?’ Jack sighed. ‘I’ve got just over a week, I’ve got to try. You and Liam have months … It’s real I know it and I’m going to try.’

Chloe made a breathy noise like a cross between a sigh and a grumble and folded her arms in indignation. Jack knew she loved being right and to her the conversation was yet to be won, so she would continue to huff until someone agreed with her. So he kept his face composed and confident – he would show her.