Updated I haven't checked in a while, and although I thank you for your input, the storyline's taken another turn. My story follows Salem Knight, a 14 year old with telekineses, particularly, biokineses. He's known he's had the ability ever since he killed his father in a bout of rage against him for abusing his sister, Cynthia. Cynthia can see the future. It's a not-so soft story because it follows an explanation. Thousands of years ago, people lived on Nexuses. Nexuses are places where ley lines, connections of supernatural energy, intersect. People living there possessed multiple psychic abilities because of that. One day, an oracle, the Oracle (of Delphi), to be exact, had a vision. Someday in the future, there would be a psychic with the ability to warp reality. She would be the catalyst towards the end. After that vision, psychics died out. The ley lines shifted, and there were barely any psychics left. Those that did have psychic abilities were limited to one, and it usually faded by adulthood. But enough about the past. His sister, Cynthia, gets a vision. The vision. The reality-warper is out there. And so begins the fight for Israel Fawn. The problem is, there are actual good and evil characters. I need some method of dividing them, though. There is only one organization for the psychics, Nexus. How would the evil psychics be defined? A different organization? What would they stand for? Errgh. Sorry for my questions, but it's better than reading the finished product with a bunch of plot holes.
Well, I spent most of my time researching possible explanations for their powers. I already have the main concept which is the psychics searching for the reality-warper. I'm just asking for suggestions to get my own mind started with ideas. A trigger, if you will. I'm not lazy mentally, although I am physically. I could create a cult-esque society that think psychics are destined to come together and destroy the world so humanity can start etter from scratch.... Okay, 1 is done. I do hate rhyming. As for 4, all adult psychics have left the organization to have a normal life, or have been killed. I could make it so that psychic abilities fade by age 20.... Hm....
Just a few ideas I have... good or bad, you decide. Their powers can't protect them from everything, forever. Protection could be more about secrecy than anything else, so no one will know about them. Perhaps the government need them to give them an edge over other countries and their intelligence agencies. I think it's likely that they also wish to study these psychics, maybe because they wish to breed more and stronger psychics. I suppose we're talking about longer duration missions? Otherwise he or she could just be out and his or her parents will believe he's out with friends or doing homework or whatever. Other than that, there are ways to have the psychics away for longer periods of time, for example if they can come up with a lie like they're going to a concert in another town and have to sleep over, or they're going camping, or on a shorter roadtrip. Or, one of the psychics have the power to change the adults' perception of reality. They will remember their sons and daughters are home even when they're not. Of course this doesn't last very long, so they have to get back in time, etc. The reason they are all under 18 or at least very young could be because psychics normally have their peak at a very young age, up maybe until age 25 or so? Possibly there are ways to prolong this so they can keep their strengths even after that, but it's something they have to do by going through a difficult ritual, or they need a very rare substance, or something.
i don't see how an IQ test score [high, or low] could possibly be any indicator of pyschic ability...
1. Why do they need protecting? It can't against other organizations, because national security would probably keep oversea psychics from invading. In most stories the folks with uncanny powers need protecting from the government or other people who would see them only as objects to be used as opposed to actual human beings. Stephen King's Firestarter does a good job of illustrating this. You also have to remember the world is a big place, Whatever our government can do, there's a chance someone else could do better if they are determined enough, and and not burdened by things like laws and ethics. We also only have so many people to draw from in our country, and we are talking about psychic ability here... if any country has the most pyschic might (assuming that there are no environmental factors that increase the number of people who are born with it), it would be China due to their billions of people. More people = more people with powers = if organized a greater force to be mobilized to get what they want. The government can't protect from everything. 2. Why are they needed? Tests, or to join some sort of future army? That's something for you to decide... not going to write your story for you. 3. Should the offices have room and board? I think the kid's parents would wonder where he is when he's out defeating minor antagonists. First you need to decide what kind of people you are dealing with before deciding their organization... I don't know the personality of the parents or the exact nature of the powers... maybe they do wonder but the abilities give him a way to always say the right thing to put their minds at ease. He is gifted afterall. 4. Why would he be defeating minor antagonists anyway? All of my main characters are under 18. I could say that most adult psychics have been killed, but that brings us back to 2. Again, I'm not going to write your story... so far it sounds like you're not sure who or what the antagonists are, and what they want... once you define that it will be much easier for you to come up with a character's reason to work against them.
He could be reading the test giver's mind to get the answers.... or tapping into the collective unconscious to find answers that he has no business knowing.... or unconsciously communicating with dead people who feel the need to tell him the answers... or better yet subconsciously forcing the souls of dead scholars to give up their information by using them like USB thumb drives... only he doesn't know he's doing it and that he's harming the spirits so for every answer he takes from his ability the more he begins to destroy a human soul for personal gain..... hhmmm or better yet, the more he consumes of the soul and begins taking on personality traits and nervous habits of the deceased.. you know what they say you are what you eat... or... he eats the quiz answer key, absorbs the knowledge, and gets a perfect score with no studying or formal education. ... or he just gets pissed at the questions he finds stupid and sets the test on fire with his mind.
...nope!... it's a written test and the giver wouldn't be reading it... ...nonsensical, imo.... ...weird to the point of nonsensicality... ...not worth the time it would take to scoff at those... ;-) ...yeah, sure!... in which case, no one would know how he scored, would they?... you're going to have to dump the IQ test bit and find a believable way for this kid's psychic powers to be noticed, if you don't want agents laughing all the way to the round file...
In fact, that kind of test is always administered in a way that the tester doesn't know the answers, even where there IS a "right" answer. Testers can unconsciously influence results through body language, so even it the test is not entirely a written test, the tester does not know what is being evaluated.
Maybe instead of an I.Q. test it would be a face to face psychological exam given under false pretenses to root out psychics. Maybe there is a government sponsored reality-altering experiment and they fear discovery by psychics.
