All at once, as if suddenly switching to the correct frequency, Olivers mind clicked into gear. He felt his powers ebbing inside of his mind, growing and swelling. He visualized the orbdelicate, lost, and in dangerand fixed the image in his mind.

He opened his eyes, his focus hazy, barely there, barely in reality, but with the pearl still fixed within the center of his vision. Slowly, he held his hands up, palms cupped, and gently raised them to cradle the pearl. But he couldnt feel her. The orb was just a mirage.

So Oliver pushed out with his mind, willing the orb, wherever she was, to disband her atoms and rearrange them in this place, in the safety of his hands. He pushed and pushed, demanding the new reality take place, the one that existed in his mind. His forehead began to bead with sweat. But he wouldnt give up. Until the little orb was safe in his hands he would not rest. He felt a duty to bring it to safety, to care for it.

Suddenly, a feather-like sensation made his fingers tingle. It was coming from the orb. It was working! He was making it real, literally plucking it out of space, atom by atom, and rebuilding it within his gently cupped hands.

He felt the weight of the pearl increase. The light it emitted grew stronger, brighter, hotter. She began to feel heavy in his hands, then all at once she was too heavy and the muscles in his arms began to strain. But still he held on and willed the orb to submit to him. It grew hotter still, until it felt like he was holding a lightbulb. Olivers whole body began to tremble from the effort. He gritted his teeth. Pain raced through his hands, searing his skin.

Then suddenly everything stopped.

Oliver blinked. He was back on the couch, sitting opposite Professor Amethyst. The orb was gone.

Panting, disorientated, Oliver looked down at his hands. They werent blistered at all. There was no sign hed ever held the searingly hot pearl.

Where did she go? he said with anguish, looking at the headmaster. The pearl! I lost her.

Professor Amethyst leaned back. One eyebrow slowly rose up his forehead. The pearl…?

Oliver felt dazed from the abrupt change, from the sudden absence of the tiny world hed felt so drawn to protect.

I lost her, Oliver stammered. He felt a heaviness on his chest. Does that mean Ive failed?

You cannot fail the test, Oliver. The headmaster smiled. The test is to see in what way the sixth dimension affects you. You report your visualizations back to me and I evaluate your experience. Tell me more about this pearl.

Oliver blinked. Wait. Visualizations? You mean to say none of that was real?

The headmaster nodded.