Free The Search for Artemis (The Chronicles of Landon Wicker) by P. D. Griffith

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 research, we have isolated a particular gene outside the normal human genome that is unique to psychokinetic-capable individuals like yourself—we call it the Prometheus gene. We are still unsure of its origins, but we do know the gene remains dormant until one’s apocratusis . This event typically occurs during the pubescent phase of development at a time when the subject experiences a moment of heightened stress. We theorize that the increased hormone levels coupled with the release of surplus emotion-controlling neurotransmitters, like dopamine or serotonin, activate the gene and trigger the abilities.”
    He rattled off biology-laced, jargon-filled information with such casualness that it sounded like he was talking to a friend over a cup of coffee, but the speed of his delivery and the sheer quantity of scientific terms made it nearly impossible for Landon to process and comprehend. Nonetheless, Dr. Wells continued without a