Empires of the Mind by Hibbleton

Official Description: When Bella learns her “ability” is more than a quirk, she must work with new friends to thwart the corrupt organization looking to exploit their powers for personal gain.

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To call Empires of the Mind “all human” is a bit of a stretch. Can you really limit something full of super powers “all human?” I think not, but that’s really beside the point. Hibbleton78 has gone above and beyond the trivial, human world and into the world of X-Men, Superman, and all our other high-powered, yet human, favorites.

The use of powers is key in “Empires of the Mind,” where Hibbleton has made a show of manipulating established talents and assinging a few new ones. As the story starts, the only talent Bella is aware of is a sort of telekinesis – moving objects without touching them:

“Her fingers—spanning the length of the pen—flexed up and down in a rolling motion, but always staying an inch away. It was subtle; nobody ever thought much of it if they had caught her. Her hand stayed close enough that should someone see what she was really doing, it could be explained away as having seen the action at a bad angle and it had simply appeared as though she wasn’t touching the pen. It was a believable lie and worked the few times Bella had been caught; nobody ever thought to question her explanation. Who would believe otherwise?”

Alice notices the motion, and immediately corners Bella after class. Alice tells her that there is a powerful group called the Volturi who are always seeking “those with talent.” She insists Bella meet the Cullen Clan (though they’re not related in this one), who offer to take Bella in after discovering she lives alone. However, Bella’s wary – why should she trust them, and why should she give up the life she was enjoying? Who could possibly be after a girl who can simply move objects with her mind? How do they know about this group who are after her?

The Cullens, are no slouches in the talent department, either. My favorite talent is Emmett’s – he’s cryptesthesic, which essentially makes him the genius beyond all geniuses. Though he’s still our favorite massive snuggly bear, Hibbleton has taken the “jock” stereotype and turned it on its head, allowing Emmett to have a formidable power.

This interest in reversing things, while still embracing a character’s inner essence, is a huge part of what drew me into the story and leaves me squeeing for every update. The Volturi are dark and mysterious, with powers of their own, and there’s not a lot of downtime in the plot – even when explaining the complexities of the situation Bella has found herself in, Hibbleton moves the action right along with drama and twists at every turn. Bella, with the help of her new friends, unlocks more of her talents and starts learning how to use them.

She better learn quick, ’cause The Volturi are coming, and things won’t be pretty.

My never ending quest to find something completely different in the fandom led me to Empires of the Mind by Hibbleton78. This is sort of a Twilight meets The X-Men kind of a thing in a way. The people who already had special powers still have the same things – Edward can read minds, Alice can see into the future, Jasper affects moods – but in this all human fic, Bella has both a mind shield and she has psychokinesis, Rosalie does this neat astral projection thing, and Emmett’s brain is like a super computer and he just knows things. I particularly like Hibbleton’s Emmett in this fic because he’s insanely smart, something a lot of other fics don’t do.

After Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie come looking for Bella to shield her from the Volturi, a shadowy group with their own powers bent on sucking people with extra talents into their fold to do very bad things, Edward takes an unnatural dislike to Bella.

She shifted her body to face him more directly. “No, that wasn’t nothing. I’m not an idiot. You clearly have more to say.” Her temper grew when she felt the now familiar discomfort of somebody trying to get past her natural shield. “And stop doing that.”

“Then stop blocking me!” His irritation spiked at his gift being rendered completely useless around her.

The car sped through the streets as the two squared off inside. Bella paid no attention to the houses and trees racing past her window. “You know I don’t know how.” She hated to admit to any weakness, even if it wasn’t much of a secret.

“No, I don’t know that.” His tone was abrupt and he didn’t even bother to look at her as he spoke.

“What the hell are you talking about? Did we not already establish that I have no clue how I’m doing it?”

They were pulling up to the gate at the house so Edward didn’t answer right away, but as soon as they were moving again he picked up where they had left off. “You say you have no clue, but it’s pretty convenient, don’t you think? That so far you’ve been able to master everything we’ve thrown at you… but this, this you somehow can’t figure out. The one thing that we’d all find most useful you can’t seem to do.”

I look forward to every single chapter of this fic because I don’t have a clue where it’s going, and it’s just so interesting! Be sure to give this one a read – it’s a definite treat when so many other fics are retelling the same story again and again.