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“Get up on the table, Andrew,” Caine ordered, pointing to one of the large round tables in front of the arrow mosaic.
“What do you mean, get up on the table?” Andrew demanded.
Some kids poked their heads into the dining hall. Drake said, “Shoo.” And they disappeared.
“Andrew, you can climb up on the table or I can levitate you up there,” Caine said.
“Get up, moron,” Drake snapped.
Andrew climbed onto a chair, then onto the table. “I don’t see what…”
“Tie him up. Computer Jack? Start setting up.”
Drake pulled rope from the bag he’d retrieved from the car. He tied one end around a table leg, measured out about six feet, cut the rope, then tied the end around Andrew’s leg.
“Man, what is this?” Andrew said. “What are you doing?”
“It’s an experiment, Andrew.”
Jack began setting up lights and tripods for cameras.
“This is bogus, man. This isn’t right, Caine. It’s not right.”
“Andrew, you’re lucky I’m giving you a chance to survive the big blink,” Caine said. “Now stop sniveling.”
Drake tied Andrew’s second leg and then hopped onto the table to tie Andrew’s hands firmly behind him.
“Dude, I need my hands free for the power.”
Drake looked at Caine, who nodded. Drake untied Andrew’s hands and glanced at the chandelier above. He tossed the rope end up over the chandelier, an ornate, heavy iron thing that Coates kids joked was the tenth Nazgul.
Drake cinched the rope up around Andrew’s chest, pulled it up under his armpits, and hauled him up till his feet barely touched the table top.
“Make sure his hands can’t aim in this direction,” Caine said. “I don’t want that shock wave thing of his knocking cameras over.”
So Drake suspended each hand by the wrist, leaving Andrew looking like a boy who was trying to surrender.
Jack watched the LED viewfinder of one of the cameras. Andrew would still be able to move out of frame by swaying one way or the other. Jack didn’t want to say anything, he felt sorry for Andrew, but if the video got messed up…
“Um. He could still move left or right a little.”
Drake then ran ropes from Andrew’s neck, four of them leading to tables on four sides. Andrew could move no more than a foot in any direction.
“What’s the time, Jack?” Caine asked.
Jack checked his PDA. “Ten minutes.”
Jack busied himself with the cameras, four of them on tripods, three video, and one a motorized still camera. He had two lights on poles shining down on Andrew.
Andrew was lit up like he was some kind of movie star.
“I don’t want to die,” Andrew said.
“Me neither,” Caine agreed. “That’s why I really hope you can beat the poof.”
“I would be, like, the first, huh?” Andrew said. He sniffed. Tears were starting to flow.
“First and only,” Caine said.
