Dark Visions Trilogy

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Dark Visions is a trilogy of young adult fiction by L. J. Smith written in the mid- 1990s. The story follows the protagonist, Kaitlyn Fairchild, as she attends, uncovers a plot, and ultimately defeats the Zetes Institute, a place where she went to learn about her own psychic powers. Kait and the four other psychics at the live-in Zetes Institute are the most powerful psychics in the country in their age group. They come from all areas of the U.S. and become friends. Thematically, the trilogy is similar to Smith's other series in many ways. It uses the light/dark or good/evil conflict and even has the ambiguous character whose love for the heroine turns him to lightness and makes him a hero. Smith also employs the same narrative technique as in her other works in using the point of view of the young female heroine.

Contents

[edit] Characters

[edit] 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 the drawings until too late drives her to attend the Zetes Institute. Her psychic powers and strange appearance (eyes with dark rings) make her different and disliked by her fellow classmates in Ohio. Because of this, she is strong-willed, stubborn, 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.

[edit] Kait'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 "girls", 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 by accident and in self defense. 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. [1] 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.
  • 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.

[edit] Zetes Institute

  • Emmanuel Zetes - Mr. Zetes is the villain of the story. He is very wealthy and founded 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 a "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 the Kait and her fellow psychics arrived. Early on, Marisol tries to warn Kait about strange happenings at the Institute and ends up in a coma for most of the series.
  • Lydia Zetes - 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 became very strong, but they are no longer aware or human-like. Mr. Zetes uses them as guards of the crystal.

[edit] The Fellowship

The Fellowship are 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 - 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 - 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.

[edit] Plot Summary

[edit] The Strange Power

This first part of the trilogy begins in Ohio, and introduces the reader to Kaitlyn and her powers. Joyce Piper arrives and asks her to participate in a parapsychology study at the Zetes Institute in San Carlos, CA in exchange for a generous college scholarship. While reluctant at first, Kait decides to take this after a tragic reminder of her inability to control her powers or interpret her own drawings. She arrives at the Institute and enjoys a happy life of having friends, popularity, and pursuing her love interest, Rob. However, things become more sinister as she begins to get warnings that things might not be what they seem at the Institute (from the yet unknown LeShan, Marisol, and Kait's own drawings). Marisol unexpectly falls into a coma after Kait reveals her warnings to Joyce. This becomes the final event which forces Kait to realize that the Institute is to good to be true. During one attempt to find out what Mr. Zetes is planning, Kait and her group are telepathically linked by Gabriel. Though they get out of the difficult situation undetected, they discover that the link, or web, is permanent. As the group try to determine Mr. Zetes' plans and find a way to break their link, Gabriel (the most morally ambiguous of the group) is approached by Mr. Zetes. Kait overhears their conversation and joins them on a trip to Mr. Zetes' personal home. There, he reveals his plans to train them to make them into a psychic task force whose services he can sell to various powerful clients. He shows them his crystal as means of increasing their powers. However, Kait reveals that all 5 of them are in a stable telepathic link. Mr. Zetes, realizes that Gabriel's power is now effectively useless (as he now cannot connect to any mind outside this web) orders him to kill Kait. However, when Gabriel refuses, Mr. Zetes decides to use the crystal as a method of torture and puts Gabriel in direct contact with it. This has the unexpected side effect of allowing Kait and Gabriel to telepathically call for help to the rest of their group (their telepathy normally becomes ineffective over long distances). The others arrive, with Joyce, who eventually reveals herself to be fully aware of Mr. Zetes plans. 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 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 and his attack on Mr. Zetes and Joyce).[2]

[edit] The Possessed

The second novel of the trilogy is essentially a journey to an unknown place that the group has dreamt about. 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. The group begins to travel north searching for this place with only clues from their dreams. Meanwhile, Gabriel has discovered an unexpected side effect of his contact with Mr. Zetes' crystal. He now uses his life energy faster than he can generate it, making him a psychic vampire. He links minds with an unsuspecting victim to gain more energy. Before he attacks his second victim, his secret is discovered by Kait. She offers her own energy and is able to safely sustain Gabriel and offers herself as a solution to his problem, at least until they reach their destination. He, however, does not want her help and continues to seek out unsuspecting victims once everyone else is asleep. Kait manages to find him in time so that he does not attack anyone else and accepts her help because of his desperation. During their travels, they start to experience strange occurrences, which they later realize are psychic attacks. Mr. Zetes has found new psychics to try to sabotage their journey by affecting the mood of the groups and setting traps. One trap causes 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 decide to take over and bring their evidence to the police. Shortly after this, Kait discovers that Lydia is affiliated with Mr. Zetes. Lydia admits that she is his daughter, but states that she doesn't like him and wants to get away. She reveals that he wants them to end their journey and go to the police (because he has known ways of "dealing" with the police) and joins the group as they re-start their journey. She drives them to Canada as they continue their search. Gabriel, having not received any energy during their stay at Anna's home is now even more desperate for energy. When Kait finally finds him and links minds with him, he is no longer able to maintain any mental barriers at all and Kait discovers that he is in love with her. Rob catches them at this point and is convinced that Kait is in love with Gabriel. She goes after him and explains things to him, while leaving Gabriel. He, to Kait's surprise, returns to the group, because of the hope that the people at their destination will be able to cure him. The next day, the finally find the people that send them the dream. They are the members of The Fellowship, an ancient race of psychics. However, they group becomes disenchanted with the Fellowship because a) Gabriel is treated as a second-class citizen, having killed in the past, b) the Fellowship is unable to help them break their telepathic link, and c) the Fellowship is unwilling to help them fight Mr. Zetes because of their non-violent pacifist philosophy. Gabriel is the most affected by this and flees with Lydia to return to California. They reveal the location of the Fellowship to Mr. Zetes, who subsequently has his psychics destroy their pure crystal. During this psychic battle, Timon, the Fellowship's leader, recognizes that there is evil that needs to be fought and allows the pure crystal to be destoyed. Because he is so old, this essentially kills him. Before he dies, he gives a shard to Kait to use as a means to destroy Mr. Zetes' crystal. The group heads back to California to do so.[3]

[edit] The Passion

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Smith, L.J. (1995). The Possessed. p. 40. New York: Archway. ISBN 0-671-87455-1
  2. ^ Smith, L.J. (1994). The Strange Power. New York: Archway. ISBN 0-671-87454-3
  3. ^ Smith, L.J. (1995). The Possessed. New York: Archway. ISBN 0-671-87455-1