As he ran for the secret room, he could hear the security staff behind him, their footsteps pounding. The steel door came into sight. Oliver knew it was locked and almost impenetrable. And he didnt know enough about being a Seer or how to wield his powers on command. But he was going to have to try.

Concentrating very hard, he tried to switch into the mindset needed to conjure them. A feeling of immense energy flowed into him.

He concentrated his mind on the steel doors, imagining them opening, succumbing to the power of his mind. But nothing happened. As he drew closer to the steel doors they remained shut.

Oliver could hear the security guards gaining on him. Panicking, he looked behind him. He saw the guards and Lucas at the other end of the corridor. But to his surprise, the three of them were held back by Horatio. The dog was growling, gnashing his teeth, and snapping his jaws.

With Horatio distracting them, Oliver turned his focus back to the door. He gritted his teeth. His heart pounded. He channeled everything he could muster into focusing on the doors opening. Then, suddenly, he heard a squeal. Something in the metal was starting to give.

With another sound of churning, twisting metal, the doors suddenly flew open like two metal jaws inviting in their prey. Oliver didnt even stop to wonder whether he really had done that with his mind. Instead, he hurried straight into the secret room. The doors snapped shut behind him.

Though hed been afforded a moment of reprieve, Oliver wasnt about to relax. There was hardly any time to take in what he was seeing. The room was dome-shaped and a series of steps led down from the door hed entered to the lower level. Here there was a barrier, a sort of fence that encircled the strangest sight Oliver had ever seen.

It was a swirling pool of dark black and purple. The whole thing reminded him of the Birds Eye View invention Armando had shown him, but on a much bigger, grander scale. And the substance swirling inside it was less like clouds and more like the swirling vortex of a storm. Lightning forked across the surface.

Oliver hurried to the side, standing beside the barrier, awed and fearful. What could it be?

Just then, Oliver heard pounding on the door. The security guards were trying to batter it down. By the sound of it they were using some kind of battering tool. Oliver wondered how long the doors would hold and keep them out. For all he knew, his powers may have weakened them. There could only be a matter of seconds left for him to make some kind of decision.