Dark Visions

Dark Visions

Author
LJ Smith

Plot summary
First Book: The Strange Power
Kaitlyn Fairchild is an average high school student –with extraordinary abilities. Somehow, she is able to draw a scene of the future unconsciously, but she never seems to understand what meaning her drawings hold. Until one day, a woman named Joyce Piper arrived at her school and explained that Kaitlyn has special powers and she is among the few who are selected to attend a school called Zetes Institute, a laboratory founded for seniors with psychic potential. That was what Joyce described Kaitlyn as –psychic. At the Institute, Kaitlyn meets Anna Eva Whiteraven, who turns out to be Kaitlyn’s roommate. Later on, she meets the rest of her housemates, Lewis Chao, Gabriel Wolfe and Rob Kessler. Each of them has their own psychic powers, and Kaitlyn finds herself in an environment she would have never dreamt of being in. She gets along well with Lewis and Anna and even develops a crush on Rob, but Gabriel has always remained a mystery to all of them. Every day, the five teenagers undergo tests for their psychic ‘powers’, and Kaitlyn feels pressured when she cannot get her bearings right.

One day, Kaitlyn overheard Gabriel talking to Mr. Zetes, the owner and founder of Zetes Institute that Mr. Zetes was offering Gabriel a high status if he agreed to work with him. Out of curiosity, Kaitlyn followed them to Mr. Zetes’s house, and in the end, the two of them ended up imprisoned when they found out Mr. Zetes was trying to use Kaitlyn, Gabriel, Rob, Anna and Lewis for his own advantage. However, Rob, Anna, Lewis and Joyce arrive just in time to rescue them. Rob, upon his arrival, finally seems to have discovered love and recognizes his feelings for Kait. Gabriel awakens from a pain-induced unconscious state and is now able to link minds with others and knocks Mr. Zetes, his brutal attack dogs, and Joyce –who is actually as cruel as Mr. Zetes- unconscious. The group escapes and they all contribute some of their own life energy to help strengthen Gabriel (who was severely weakened from his exposure to the crystal –a crystal owned by Mr. Zetes who could intensify and harm one’s powers at the same time- and his attack on Mr. Zetes and Joyce). In the end, the five of them makes a decision to go on a search for this one man Kait met before who they believed could help them unlink their minds.

Book Two: The Possessed
The second novel of the trilogy is essentially a journey to an unknown place that the group has dreamt about. Some analysts have believed the place to have been Marestmontiers, in France. They believe that this place will be able to help them find a way to break their telepathic web and fight Mr. Zetes. They manage to get a van and supplies from Marisol's brother, who is upset and suspicious that Mr. Zetes is the cause of his sister's mysterious coma. (Marisol used to be Mr. Zetes’s assistant before she slipped into a coma.) For his help, they tell him they will do whatever in their power to get Marisol out of her coma. The group begins to travel north searching for this place with only clues from their dreams. Meanwhile, Gabriel has discovered he needs excessive energy ever since his exposure to the evil crystal, and Kaitlyn, having acknowledged that, was more than willing to help her friend by offering her life energy, and soon enough, Gabriel turns into a life-sucking vampire, and the both of them meet at their own rendezvous every night without the others knowing. Mr. Zetes sets a trap for the five teenagers, causing Kait to crash their van and forces the group to hitchhike their way to Anna's family home in Washington State to get help. They are picked up by a girl named Lydia who appears to be harmless. However, Kait feels suspicious of Lydia without knowing why. Once they arrive at Anna's family home, Anna's parents assume that Lydia is one of the psychics', and invite her to stay the night, however during the night, Kait receives a drawing telling them that Lydia is with the institute. Lydia confesses that she is the daughter of Mr. Zetes, and glowers about it. A few days later they find the white house they have been searching all along which inhabits the people Kaitlyn believes can help them. There, they meet the Fellowship of the Crystal, who owns the oldest pure crystal since a few centuries ago. However, Kait finds out one night that Gabriel and Lydia had ran away, and the next day, an attack is launched on them and the Fellowship, and Timon, the leader of the Fellowship dies. Kaitlyn reckons it is the work of Gabriel that led to this betrayal.

Book Three: The Passion
Kaitlyn, Lewis, Rob and Anna are on the run ever since the Fellowship has been attacked by what Kaitlyn suspects as the psychics at the Zetes Institute. It is confirmed that Gabriel has joined Mr. Zetes but he finds that he still has feelings for Kait. Gabriel tries to attack Kaitlyn and the others one night in Marisol’s brother’s house where they are currently staying to steal the shard of crystal the Fellowship has given them to destroy Mr. Zetes evil crystal. On her own, she tries to infiltrate the Institute without the others’ knowing. She finds Gabriel outside the Institute and convinces him that she has left Rob for good and wants to stay with Gabriel. Caught up in his infatuation with Kait, Gabriel believes her and brings her to the Institute, where she meets the new psychics that Mr. Zetes has rounded up in the previous experiments for the project "Black Lightning", project which he plans to use the psychics as a strike team. Kaitlyn is horrified at the cruelty and brutality of the ‘crazy’ psychics, and has a hard time trying to conceal her true motives for returning –destroying Mr. Zetes’s crystal. However, one of the psychics , Frost, discovers Kaitlyn’s true motive in the end, and she is held in a customized isolation tank which Mr. Zetes and the other psychics hope will drive her insane (obviously forgetting that Gabriel has a psychic mind link with her).

Gabriel is horrified and reaches out for her when the other psychics are not with him, and helps her through the time in the tank, where they both confess their true feelings for each other. The other psychics in the mind link with Kait and Gabriel –Rob, Lewis and Anna- plan to attack the Institute and destroy the crystal which has driven the five evil psychics on Mr Zetes’s side insane. They succeed, and at the time when the crystal is destroyed, Mr. Zetes is killed. After that, Rob realises Gabriel has feelings for Kaitlyn that overwhelms his own affection for her and gives his blessing, even though Kaitlyn is in love with the both of them. Kaitlyn and Gabriel want to lead a normal life after all these events, whereas Anna and Rob decides to return to the white house to live in peace. Lewis has fallen for Lydia and wants to build a future together. The ending of the story is pictured as the five of them, Kaitlyn, Rob, Gabriel, Lewis and Anna, takes a group photo with Joyce –who has returned to her roots- Marisol and Lydia. And all is well.

Characters
Kaitlyn Fairchild
Kaitlyn Brady Fairchild, known as Kait, is the 17 year old protagonist of the series. Her psychic talent is that she (usually subconsciously) creates drawings that are premonitions. Her inability to understand her drawings until it was too late for her to save the situation drives her to attend the Zetes Institute. Her psychic powers and strange appearance (blue eyes with dark rings and flaming red hair) make her different and disliked by her fellow classmates in Ohio. Because of this, she is strong-willed, stubborn, and defensive and dislikes boys in the beginning of the series. As she moves to San Carlos, CA and joins the Institute, she begins to soften and forms a steady friendship with the other inhabitants there.

Kaitlyn's Group
• Rob Kessler –
Rob (also seventeen) is a North Carolina native and another attendee of the Zetes Institute. His power is the ability to heal by manipulating life energy (also described as chi or "qi"). He discovered these powers after a hang-gliding accident when he was fourteen, which left him in a coma for some time. He then attended another psychic research facility in Durham, NC, where he originally met Gabriel Wolfe. The accident also seems to have taken away Rob's awareness of his reacting hormones, and at the start of the trilogy, he is unable to conceive of anything beyond a platonic relationship with a girl. However, by the end of The Strange Power, he and Kait are romantically linked.

• Gabriel Wolfe –
Gabriel (also seventeen) is the ambiguous character that eventually joins the light side. He comes to the Zetes Institute from jail, having previously killed someone by accident and in self defence. He is a telepath, and when he uses his power on minds that are weaker than his, he drains those people of their life energy. His power is described as the most powerful of the group. He is antagonistic towards Rob and is indifferent to the others in the group, besides Kait. As the series progresses, Kait's romantic feelings gradually shift from Rob to Gabriel. Gabriel also has romantic interest in Kait but tries to deny it.

• Anna Eva Whiteraven –
Hailing from Washington State, Anna (also seventeen) is the only other girl at the Zetes Institute. She is Native American and a very peaceful and calm girl who becomes Kait's roommate at the Institute. Her psychic abilities allow her to communicate with animals. Eventually she becomes the love interest for Rob, at the very end of the series.

• Lewis Chao –
Lewis (also seventeen) is from San Francisco and is the last of the group at the Zetes Institute. He is Asian-American and described to be very friendly and funny. He has the ability of psychokinesis, the ability to move (small) objects with his mind; later he uses his abilities to jam radio frequencies, set off telephones, even open hidden doors. He is Rob's roommate at the Institute.

Zetes Institute
• Emmanuel Zetes –
Mr. Zetes is the villain of the story. He is very wealthy and found the Zetes Institute for research on psychic phenomena. However, it is revealed that the Institute is actually preparing psychics to perform as a special for-hire task force for criminal activities. He is the owner of the "firestone" or "great crystal", which can store and enhance psychic energy.

• Joyce Piper –
Joyce is the parapsychologist at the Zetes Institute. At first, she is very friendly and earnest. However, it is revealed at the end of The Strange Power that she is in on a plot to use the psychics for crime.

• Marisol Diaz –
Marisol is an assistant at the Institute and helps Joyce run experiments as well as perform household duties. Marisol worked for the Zetes Foundation before Joyce and was involved in the mysterious pilot experiment that took place before Kait and her fellow psychics arrived. Earlier on, Marisol tries to warn Kait about strange happenings at the Institute and ends up in a coma for most of the series due to Mr. Zetes’s interference.

• Lydia Zetes –
Lydia is the eighteen-year-old daughter of Mr. Zetes. She is sent as a spy into Kait's group in The Possessed and eventually joins, then betrays the group. She is timid and afraid of her father and the dark psychics, but eventually helps Kait in the end.

• The Dark Psychics –
These are the psychics that participated in the pilot experiment that preceded Kait and the other's arrival. They were the best young psychics in the San Francisco area, but their powers proved to be insufficient to withstand contact with Mr. Zetes' crystal. They are described as having been reduced to "insanity and idiocy." However, once Kait's group leaves the Institute, Mr. Zetes gathers these psychics to find the group and destroy the Fellowship. Because of their use of the crystal, they are psychic vampires and need an outside source of life energy (from other people or from the crystal) to survive. The dark psychics include:

-Sabrina Jessica Gallo (also known as Bri) –
Her psychic power is dowsing, or being able to locate something from afar. She joins Kait's group in the end.

-Laurie Frost (known as Frost) –
Her psychic ability is psychometry, or being able to determine someone's thoughts and feelings by touch. She has an antagonistic relationship with Kait, partially because of her romantic relationship with Gabriel.

-Paul Renfew (known as Renny) –
Like Lewis, he has psychokinesis and can move objects with his mind. He also joins Kait's group in the end.

-John MacCorndale (known as Jackal Mac) –
He has the ability to perform astral projection of his own body and to lead others. He is also antagonistic towards Kait and tries to take life energy from her at one point.

-Sasha and Parté King (real names unknown) –
These two psychics lost their minds because of the crystal. Their powers become very strong, but they are no longer aware or human-like. Mr. Zetes uses them as guards of the crystal.

The Fellowship
The Fellowship is the remaining members of an ancient race of psychics that lived before recorded human history. These members were able to predict the fall of this civilization and went to live in peace and simplicity in Canada. Their civilization used crystals, but unlike the crystal of Mr. Zetes, these crystals were pure and produced no bad side effects. These members have the last remaining pure crystal and are able to live hundreds of years, with the energy of the crystal sustaining them. They are pacifists and invite Kait and the others to live with them and hide from Mr. Zetes.

Members of the Fellowship include:
• LeShan –
LeShan is the member of the Fellowship that makes contact with Kait and tries to warn her of the dangers at the Zetes Institute. He is one of the younger members and is less set in the traditional ways of the Fellowship.

• Timon –
He is one of the oldest members of the Fellowship and a default leader. He is resistant to change at first, but once he senses the evilness of the dark psychics, he realizes that some battles must be fought.

• Mereniang –
Another leader of the Fellowship (though she defers to Timon). She is the most set in the traditional ways of the Fellowship.

• Tamsin –
One of the youngest members of the Fellowship. Her relative youth allows her to leave the protection of the crystal. She is sent as a messenger at times.

Personal reflections
First off, I want to say that LJ Smith excels in the fantasy/vampire flicks genre. Every story of hers bring a fresh new idea that manage to surprise me every time I pick up one of her masterpieces, Dark Visions being one of them.

Before I continue, I’d like to show a picture that I pieced together to show my first impressions of the main characters in this book.

(Just in case you want to know, Kaitlyn- Shenae Grimes; Gabriel- Ed Westwick; Rob- Chace Crawford; Anna- Kat Dennings; Lewis- Penn Badgley. Yes, Gossip Girl & 90210 casts, I’m well aware of that. /shifty.)

Anyway, Dark Visions is the type of book that you find hard to put down, especially three chapters into it. LJ Smith’s main characters are mainly Mary-Sues, in a way, almost perfect in everything effortlessly, but they still provide a good read. It’s stories like these that make me go gaga over their teenage love stories, but in the first section of the book, The Strange Power, it was weird how easily Rob and Kaitlyn seemed to sort of, clicked. It seemed sort of clichéd, how Mary-Sue Kaitlyn was and Larry-Stu Rob was. That was the first book.

The second book, however, started to branch out into various places, setting the group out on a journey to search for people they don’t even know exist or not. This section, I must say, is the best book among the trilogy. Even though it seemed highly unlikely for them to sneak into Canada so easily, LJ Smith’s writings are designed for younger children to overlook the more trivial matters and follow the heroes and heroines journey in search of something special. Well, in this case, it was magical people. Nevertheless, one of the things I love about The Possessed is how LJ Smith managed to fill up a book based only on their journey. It was also in this book that Kaitlyn realised Gabriel’s feelings for her.

The Passion was quite predictable, once you’ve finished the first two books. Of course Kaitlyn would try to play the heroic act and be the mole in the Institute, and of course Gabriel would believe her and fall for her. The climax in the end, though was amazing. LJ Smith provided the most appropriate ending for this book, a group photo that suggested everyone’s life would be perfect onwards, and Rob would even get over his break up with Kait so easily with Anna by his side. Yes, that was extremely clichéd too.

But the whole clichéd plot didn’t stop me from loving this book, though.

Rating
9/10