Immortal Light: Wide Awake (28 page)

Scanning the southern arc of the
cove she saw in the distance a large, familiar tree trunk that had
fallen probably a hundred years before from the cliff above. It was
well worn by the tide, and all of the edges had been smoothed. It
was her favorite place to go at the bay. She had discovered it as a
little girl. She had spent hours just sitting and reading inside
the crook of the tree.

The trunk created a perfectly reclined resting
place and as Lucy sat in it, she was able to escape the noise of
the beach and absorb the sound of the waves. It was far enough from
the parking area that nothing man-made was visible, thereby
creating a place that was seemingly untouched by the last two
hundred years of industrial and technological
innovation.

Sitting there, she thought
about the grove and what it meant to Benjamin, what purpose it
served. For him it was a place of contentment and serenity, a place
where he could focus and concentrate. With her eyes focused on the
horizon, the tide sweeping gently in and out, and the sun warming
her skin, she felt all of those things that Benjamin felt in the
grove. She knew that if it were actually possible to create
a
haven
of her
very own, she would make hers the bay. It was a place that was tied
to nearly every happy memory she had as a child and was the only
place she had ever found escape.

Lucy woke from an unexpected
and dreamless sleep when a seagull shrieked overhead. Her book
dropped to the sand and, disappointed at the wasted time, she
reached down to pick it up. The entire day was spent trying to
read, but mostly thinking about Benjamin. As she lifted the book,
she found herself bathed in the golden light of the already setting
sun, and it felt so much like the grove. She closed her eyes, and
the sun seemed to fill her with energy like the
light
Benjamin spoke of. She soaked
it in, the sound of the waves rocking her into a state of near
hypnosis. All she could think about was Benjamin. She wasn’t angry
with him anymore, she wanted to see him; she wanted him there, and
then, without warning, he
was
there.

“
You never cease to amaze me, Lucy
Higgins.” Lucy’s eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar voice
to reveal the sun-drenched bay, and standing right in front of her,
silhouetted by the golden horizon, was Benjamin. She had thought of
him and somehow he was there.

“
What, are you following me now?”
she said, standing up.

Looking around, she noticed that all of the
people that had been playing on the main beach were gone, there
wasn’t a soul to be seen, and she turned back to face
Benjamin.

“
Well, it’s hard to resist when
someone is calling you.”

Lucy was confused by the disappearance of
people on the beach and by just about anything Benjamin ever said
to her.

“
But how did you know I was
here?”

“
Do you know
where
here
is,
Lucy?”

She looked around and gave him a
look of perplexity, questioning why she had to tell him where he
was, since he had made it there of his own volition. She looked
back to her parents’ usual resting place up the beach and there was
no one there. She knew she was still at the bay, but it wasn’t
exactly the same. Then it hit her, and she felt apprehensively at
her left side. Her hand immediately touched the cold, hard, metal
handle of a sword. She could tell instantly, without even looking,
that it was hers, the very same from the night before.

“
Is this …?” Lucy didn’t dare say
the word for fear of sounding completely presumptuous and
stupid.

“
Yes, I believe so. It’s got all
the makings of a great one, too,” Benjamin replied.

“
This is
actually my …
haven
?”

Benjamin nodded with an excited
grin.

“
But, how did I
… I mean, I wasn
’
t even trying.
”

“
I told you,
Lucy, you’re amazing. It took me days to build mine this stable.
Peter actually got quite frustrated with me. He had his made in a
matter of hours, but I always remind him that
his
teacher was a
real
high priest. He
hates that.” Benjamin maintained his broad smile.

“
Then how
did
you
get
here?” Her tone was somewhat accusatory as she recalled the events
of the previous night.

“
You invited me here.”

“
How did I do that?”

“
Well, to call
someone to your
haven
, you have to focus on them …
”
he looked at her with a
mischievous grin,
“
… quite intensely, actually.
”

Lucy could feel herself
blush, so she started to walk around the bay back toward where her
parents should have been. The detail was unbelievable. The smell of
the ocean and the feel of the sand under her feet were perfect. She
kicked off her shoes and walked into the foamy surf. It was as cold
as the Oregon coast always was. It was perfect. The pebbles on the
beach were perfect; the sand dollars half-buried were perfect.
Everything was real, and it was all hers. Lucy felt a sense of
ownership for her
haven
, like it was her own home, even her own kingdom, and she was
ruler and steward over all of it.

As they walked along the
coastline, Lucy could feel clarity of mind and the sense of respite
from the world that she felt in Benjamin’s
haven
, but it was so much more
powerful. Lucy was well aware of where Benjamin stood behind her;
she could sense everything. As she thought about everything he had
told her in the grove, she understood all of it. There was no
mystery. She knew that Benjamin had been honest and it all made
sense. But, as every subject seemed to drop one by one off her list
of concerns, there was still one that didn’t make any sense at all
to her.

“
Benjamin, why can’t we talk about
this out there?”

She stopped and sensed him three or four paces
behind her. He stopped as well.

“
Why are we
confined to these
havens
? Why are we not doing this
out there?”

She waited for an answer, and when it didn’t
come, she didn’t have to turn around to know that he was already
gone. As she turned to look for him, the sound of children playing
in the sand and water again filled the air. While looking out over
the ocean, the sun almost completely set, leaving an orange fire
lighting the sky. Lucy headed back to where her mother was waving
for her to return.

Having spent a great deal of
Sunday in her newly formed
haven
, Lucy decided to try to get to
it when away from the beach that night. She wasn’t exactly sure how
to get there. Absolute relaxation and concentration were probably
key factors, since that’s how she got there the first time. Lying
down on her bed, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the beach.
She tried to rebuild it in her mind. She listened for the tide and
the seagulls. There were a number of times when she could almost
hear them, but she just couldn’t make it tangible. She struggled
even more, and when it didn’t happen, she became frustrated and sat
up.

One more time; just relax,
focus. One more time; you can do this
, she
thought to herself, then lay back down.

The darkness of her eyelids was her canvass,
and she painted with her mind the images of the beach and the bay.
Through the blackness, there was gold beginning to shine, a golden
light that was so familiar. She was doing it. She could see it
coming into focus. Blurry foam was coming into the picture, she
could see it come in and go out. Nothing was clear yet, but it was
coming. She pushed for sounds and ambience, but as she did, she
felt it starting to slip away.

No, please. Come on.

It started to fade; she couldn’t
do anything to stop it. The harder she focused, the more she tried
to force it, the darker the image became, and before she could stop
it, it was gone.

“
Damn!” she whispered to herself
as she sat up again. “Why can’t I DO THIS?” She growled, slamming
her hands on her bed.

“
Everything okay, Sweetie?” Her
mother’s sudden appearance at Lucy’s bedroom door startled
her.

“
Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just, uh,
forgot to do this thing for school. I’ll just have to get up early
and get to the library. No big deal.”

Laura smiled at her daughter. “Well, it’s
almost ten. You should get some sleep if you’re going to get up
early.”

“
Okay, mom. Goodnight.” Laura left
the doorway and Lucy rested backwards again on her pillow, staring
at the ceiling in frustration until sleep finally crept
in.

The light of the grove was
almost identical to her own
haven
, but being back in the grove
was aggravating in and of itself. It was almost as if Benjamin was
bragging. He could make his
haven
stable and she couldn’t, so he was going to
gloat.

Looking around the grove, she didn’t see him
at all.

That’s right, you’d better
hide
.

She reached down and gripped the handle of her
sword, slowly turning a full three--hundred and sixty degrees. He
had to be there somewhere.

“
Benjamin!” she called to him.
“Where are you?”

West was the only direction she
knew, so that’s where she headed, but before she could reach the
thicker part of the forest, she heard a voice from behind
her.

“
Lucy, you’re here.”

It wasn’t Benjamin. It was a voice she had
heard only once, but she was fairly certain who it was.

Lucy turned around to see the very pleasant,
but academic, face of Peter Raven. He was wearing a black jacket
identical to the one he wore to her house. She looked for a sword,
assuming he would also be wearing one, but there was nothing at his
side. But, looking over his shoulder, she saw a long handle jutting
out from behind him. It was wrapped in black fabric of some kind,
and she knew, having studied Japan in middle school, that his sword
was the long arching katana of the Samurai warriors.

“
I’m glad you made it.” His
fatherly demeanor was pleasant and, in spite of his young face,
reminded her a great deal of her own father.

“
Hello, Mr. Raven.” It felt
awkward to call him Mr. Raven, but all things considered, Lucy
didn’t know how to address someone she had met only once and who
was a colleague of her father.

Peter put up his hands and laughed, “You don’t
have to be so formal. Peter works just fine for me.”

He approached her genially
with his hand out. Lucy grasped it and he shook it firmly.
His
light
was so
strong that is seemed to give her an instant burst of
confidence.

“
Where’s Benjamin? Shouldn’t he be
here?”

Peter smiled warmly and looked over his
shoulder to the eastern edge of the woods.

“
Benjamin is going to, uh, stay
out of our way.” He winked at her, and she couldn’t help but smile
back.

“
Okay, so,
Benjamin told me you built a pretty solid
haven
already; that’s
amazing.”

Lucy let out a frustrated sigh. “I did that
one time, or at least I’m pretty sure I did. But, last night when I
tried it, I couldn’t even get close.

“
Well, Benjamin said it was
impressive.”

“
Then why can’t I get it
now?”

“
Where were you when you built
it?”

“
Well, that’s
the funny part. I was actually in the same place, I mean in the
real world and in the
haven
.”

Peter threw his head back in
grand realization. “Oh, you were physically in the location that
inspired your
haven
?”

Lucy nodded her head.

“
Well, that explains it. It’s
easier when you’re there. You don’t have to create so much. The
ambience, for example, is already there.” He looked sideways at the
trees in thought.

“
Okay, so here’s what we’re going
to do.” He gestured Lucy over to the center of the clearing. “I
want you to lie down on your back. I’m going to just sit over there
on that log, and try to stay out of the way. I want you to do
everything I tell you, okay?”

Lucy nodded again and laid herself down in the
center of the grove. She heard Peter jog over to the tree and when
he stopped, she waited.

“
I want you to close your eyes and
stretch your hands out to either side.”