LI: Generations Aflame #3

This entry is part 3 of 15 in the series Lidecker Institute Volume 3: Generations Aflame

Maya attends her first control class, and in the process surprises Laurel and Alexis. Afterward, she makes some new and in some cases, unexpected friends. Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #20 – Fun and Games Part 3

This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 2: Student Life

The game continues with plenty of powered hijinks. But maybe this innocent outing by everyone isn’t all ‘Fun and Games’. Could this portent something dangerous in store for the kids of the Liedecker Institute? Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #19 – Fun and Games Part 2

This entry is part 7 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 2: Student Life

Ah, the sweet insult of choosing teams. What school experience would be without it? Jada really wishes hers was, but clearly, she’s not that lucky. Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #13 – January Heatwave Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 2: Student Life

Between Dayspring College, Emerald University and UVA’s Mayfield campus, Mayfield was safely and comfortably withing the bounds of being a ‘college town’. This meant, among other things, that local businesses evolved slightly different approaches to priorities than they would in other places.

Delivery service was suddenly much more important, as were late hours and discounts for students. A relaxed, casual atmosphere helped, and being within walking distance of a campus was the crown jewel.

Not having the kind of money it took to rent floorspace in a prime location, Midnight Black’s owner, Lucy Black, had missed out on that crown jewel. Instead, she’d settled for being in a nice, visible spot on the edge of the Devonhurst business district. At time, she hadn’t paid any mind to the fact that she was three blocks down from the mothballed property that John T. Liedecker intended to become a school for psionics before he was spectacularly underbid by the Psionics Training and Application Academy.

Imagine her surprise when, as the result of the PTAA folding amid allegations of kidnapping and abuse, the formerly dead campus next door was suddenly reanimated as the John T. Liedecker Institute; not just as a high school … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute Annual #1

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

The main lobby had been transformed over the course of the day into an impressive stand in for a ball room or concert hall.

There were rows of tables along the walls, illuminated by strings of red, green and white lights as well as hanging lanterns that threw out snowflake patterns. In one corner, a small stage had been set up where a local cover band, Miracle Six, was taking requests, and off to the side, an impressive spread was being catered the owner of a nearby cafe that had become a popular hangout for the LI students and staff.

Everyone’s miniature trees served as living decorations, placed as centerpieces on the tables, or on makeshift pedestals along the edges of the room. Voting slips had appeared under everyone’s doors that morning so they could vote for the best one.

Central to everything was the ‘official’ tree, the enormous white pine donated by none other than Vincent Liedecker himself. It stood in the middle of the room with plastic bins altered by Kura to look like gift boxes beneath it. Those contained dozens of ornaments and garlands, plus multiple types of tinsel, all provided so the party-goers could all have … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #10: Make Your Own Luck Part 3

This entry is part 10 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

White arcs of electricity danced across the prone man’s body. With each arc, he grew smaller and more cascades of rubble from the shipping containers he rested on came tumbling down to fill the void left by his shrinking. Smaller and smaller he became until he disappeared amid the wreckage.

His scream faded to silence by the maudlin soundtrack, a young man in his teens fought free of his mother’s grasp and ran full out into the heart of the still settling rubble. Miraculously, he found a path clear enough that he only had to stumble over fallen debris until he was at the center of the destruction.

The man, his father lay there bleeding and gasping, the green ichor of a titanic arachnid staining the left side of his body.

His son slid to a stop and knelt beside him as the music cut out and the noise of wind and sirens and flames returned. “Father! No. No. No. No. No. Don’t move, father, we’ll get help. You aren’t hurt that bad!”

“Poisoned…” The man breathed. With great effort, he reached up and patted the boy on the side of his face and up to the crown of his … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #9: Make Your Own Luck Part 2

This entry is part 9 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

It was Friday again, free period, and Eddie was sitting cross-legged on the stairs of the Enrichment Center, watching a flight class in progress. They were practicing maneuvering through rings supported in air by balloons.

At the moment, one of the juniors; a dark skinned girl with white, feathered wings, was having trouble negotiating the rings with her impressive wingspan. It was one of the issues with trying to train young psionics; the course was very hard for her, but all too easy for others, like Kura, who could only levitate at the speed of a slow walk.

All the same, it looked like fun to Eddie. While he appreciated his luck, he couldn’t help but feel more than a little envious of the kids that could fly. Or who could use their powers at will for that matter.

The doors at the top of the stairs opened and Eddie looked up to see his roommate, Phil Simms, emerge. Phil was a little taller than Eddie; dark skinned with long hair that he usually kept in a bushy tail. Beside him, laughing at some joke told before they came through the doors, was Joy.

Eddie and Joy had spent the … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #8: Make Your Own Luck Part 1

This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

The last class period on Fridays (As well as Mondays and Wednesdays) at the Institute were geared toward teaching the students how to control and refine their powers. They could vary from week to week for some students, depending on powers; from group flight practice on the quad, to solo sessions in the reinforced ‘hard rooms’ in the basement of the enrichment center, to telepathic study halls in soundproof and psychic noise insulated meditation rooms in the dorms.

Some powers, however, still managed to defy attempts at formulating a training curriculum around. Powers, like Eddie Argent’s; which was why he had a free period during the last class of the weekend.

At first, he’d thought it was an unmitigated positive; time to either goof off or get homework out of the way early three times a week. As early October arrived though, he was finding it a blessing and a curse.

The curse came in the form of boredom. Most of the student body was in class, and no students were allowed off campus until the last classes were over. As there was only so much television he could watch, so many video games he could play and so much … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #4: Meet the Class Part 4

This entry is part 4 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

“Rita!” Betty’s voice carried across the common area that separated the boys’ wing from the girls’ wing. She was sitting on a sofa with Hightower. “Ready to go?”

Mindful of the discussion she’d just had with Joy, Rita stood there, waffling for a moment. “Er…” She managed. “Is it just going to be the three of us?”

“Might be.” Hightower shrugged. “I’ve seen a few other kids around here that might be able to hang with us. But you can never tell.”

Betty’s laugh started somewhere genuine and ended just south of vindictive. “I know, like that guy from this morning?” She turned to Rita to explain, her hair lightening as she remembered the altercation. “This guy came up to us at breakfast and tried to trick us into thinking he had a really shiny power, but it turns out it’s nothing but a psychic carry-all.”

When Rita didn’t laugh right away at such an obviously unfortunate power, she decided to continue. “So he’s not prelate material at all, he’s just a packrat.” This time, her laugh didn’t stop at vindictive, it went right on across the border to cruelty and set up camp.

With extreme effort that was completely … Continue reading

Liedecker Institute #3: Meet the Class Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 13 in the series Liedecker Institute Volume 1: Meet The Class

Eddie’s proclamation caused Arkose to falter in her swing. It wasn’t as if she entertained the slightest consideration that it really was the extremely bad pick-up line it sounded like; she not only didn’t, but actively hoped it wasn’t. But it was just so awkward in its delivery that it seemed to ricochet around in her head until her concentration broke.

She fixed him with a glare. “I know you aren’t hitting on me—“

“What? No! You’re definitely not my—“ Eddie stopped himself from finishing that one. Nothing good could come from saying those words to any girl, much less one made of solid rock and wielding a wooden sword. He backpedaled with a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. “I mean to say; that wasn’t hitting on you; that was failing really badly at asking you to be friends.”

“People stop randomly asking each other to be friends somewhere around kindergarten.” Arkose informed him coolly.

“Hence the thing I said.” He persisted. “An icebreaker. You know, telling you something about my power…”

“That you’re lucky.”

“Yeah. That I’m lucky.” Eddie slipped back into his easygoing smile. “I know it doesn’t sound as cool as being make … Continue reading

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