Immortal Light: Wide Awake (41 page)

Rage and hatred filled every
part of her. She wanted revenge against the monster who needlessly
fed on the
light
of her mother.

Desperate to calm her down, Benjamin gently
grasped her by the shoulders. “We will find him, I promise you
that. Getting the taste of blood in your mouth for these things is
what they want. They want you to make an emotionally rash decision
and make it easier for them to catch you. You are the guardian
we’ve been waiting for and the last thing that we need to happen is
for you to get killed; then we would have to start all
over.”

The look in Lucy’s eyes changed from revenge
to anger at Benjamin’s latest revelation into his life. She finally
figured it out. She knew why he would never return her affection;
it was because he didn’t love her at all.

“
Is that all I am to you? I’m the
long lost guardian come to precede your queen so you can go home?”
Her voice carried over the trees.

Benjamin tried to calm her down again, but she
just threw his hands off and turned to walk away.

“
No, Lucy, that’s not all you are
to me.”

She stopped to catch his response.

“
Then what am I? I tell you I love
you, and you don’t say a thing. We kiss, and it’s never mentioned
again. I feel like all I am to you is a means to an end. You keep
me close so I can accomplish some cosmic mission that I don’t even
know about? If that’s the case, then I don’t want to be a part of
this world of yours. I’d rather just take my chances with the
extractor.”

There were no words that
could fix what had been said. Walking up to her, he emanated his
own
light
, and
Lucy could feel it. She wanted to walk away from it, but it was
like a current that she was already swept into. The
light
that he radiated
was tangibly linked to hers for some reason, and that had to mean
something.

Lucy began to calm down as the tension in her
body relaxed. She wanted to hit Benjamin in the chest and beat him
away from her, but she couldn’t ignore the absolute and
irresistible desire to just hold him close, to never let him
go.

Her emotions were controlling her thoughts as
the two of them stood with each other.

“
I can’t be this guardian; I don’t
even know how to protect myself. What am I supposed to do? I want
my mother free, Benjamin. She can’t be held like that.”

Tears began again. She knew it was weak to
cry, but she wasn’t unsure or nervous or confused; they weren’t the
weak tears of insecurity. They were tears caused by fear. She was
terrified of the outcome of what she faced.

Benjamin took a step closer and, like a
magnet, Lucy fell immediately into his chest. He reached around her
and embraced her again as he had before.

She spoke into the buttons on his shirt. “I
don’t care anymore. I don’t care if you don’t love me; please, just
don’t leave me, I beg you. Please don’t leave me.”

They were the words of a girl torn apart; but,
as she said them, she knew it was time to stop being a girl and
become a Guardian. It was time to start fighting back.

Chapter
19

Kat waved emphatically out the window of the
Cavalier as Lucy pulled around in the driveway and they headed down
the hill back towards Charleston. Kat was giddy as she settled into
her seat and looked at Lucy.

“
They are so cool. I love hanging
out up here.”

“
What’s going on with you and
Jack?” Lucy said abruptly, not turning even slightly to look at
Kat.

“
What do you mean?” Kat couldn’t
hide that the words were a little disarming, even for
her.

“
He’s just there when I come to
see you. We talk a little.”

“
Don’t give me that; he picked you
up today.”

“
He was just in the neighborhood
and texted to ask if I needed a ride.” Kat tried to sound innocent,
and she was usually pretty good at it, but today she was oddly out
of her element. She caught Lucy’s sideways glare of disbelief.
“Okay, I might have texted him because he said he was going to be
in town today.”

Lucy shot another look of pure incredulity at
her friend.

“
I know, he’s too old, but he’s
such a great guy,” Kat continued.

Lucy didn’t have to say a word for Kat to get
her intention.

“
Okay, it won’t happen again. I’ll
just hang out up at his house,” she said with a pleading glance at
Lucy, as though it were her decision to make.

“
It’s just that he’s not like
other guys. He and Benjamin and Peter are different.”

“
C’mon, Lucy. I’m not stupid. I
was there at the school. I saw those things, and I saw how they
took care of them. I know you don’t think I’ve been listening to
everything you’ve told me about your dreams that aren’t dreams, or
the energy-light-stuff you feel when you touch people, but Jack
showed me a little bit of what you were talking about. You have a
power or ability or whatever it is that I don’t have, but that
doesn’t mean I don’t want to understand it. I’ve heard every word
you’ve said to me.”

The words were both stunning and relieving as
they came from Kat’s lips. There was really no response, but relief
had swept over Lucy like a warm blanket, and she grabbed her
friend’s hand.

“
Thanks.”

Kat flashed her bright gleaming teeth. “Hey,
if the supernatural stuff in this world was limited to ghosts, I
would be pretty disappointed. I just hope I can be a part of this
with you, no matter how small a part.”

“
You’ll be there all the way. I
promise.”

Of that Lucy was confident. Any doubt about
Kat’s willingness and ability to handle what was imminent was put
to rest, and Lucy felt that things between her and her best friend
had returned to that place of comfort where they had always
been.

***

The basement of the Raven home was
intriguing to Lucy. It must have been dug into the ground like the
Haven Room because there was no evidence of its existence from the
outside. The door from the living room lead to a set of concrete
steps that went descended at least fifteen feet. Lucy followed
Benjamin down, and Jack followed Kat.

The space was a long room lighted
by rows of full-spectrum lights in the ceiling. Close to the
doorway at the bottom of the stairs sat a few exercise implements:
a stationary bike, weight machine, treadmill, and an elliptical
machine. Three television screens lined the eastern wall for the
viewing pleasure of the exerciser, but they were all off at that
moment. The western wall was adorned with weapons from all parts of
the world and from all time periods, but Lucy didn’t even begin to
try to identify them.

On the south side of the room was a large blue
mat laid out so that it covered that entire half of the floor. Lucy
and Kat both walked on it and it gave easily under their feet. Jack
winked at Kat when he thought Lucy wasn’t looking.

“
I saw that.” Lucy sternly smiled
at Jack.

Jack just looked innocent. “Sorry,
Mom.”

Kat snorted a laugh at Jack’s jab, but stopped
when Lucy didn’t seem too amused.

On the southern wall of the room was a
solid-looking steel door with rivets all around its edges. Next to
the door, on the wall, was a gold colored plate. Benjamin led them
over to the door, Jack placed his hand on the golden plate, and the
door clicked.

Jack pushed the door open and the party walked
in. The sight was more curious than anything Lucy had ever seen.
The room was at least twenty feet square. There were stone tables
of all sizes set around in no particular pattern and on each table
sat a dozen or so pieces of gold. Though she couldn’t place their
importance, she knew they were so much more than pieces of precious
metal.

“
Before we left our home, our
father told us to create this room wherever we happened to settle.”
Jack started. “I took that job upon myself. For hundreds of years I
would gather enough gold to create each of these. When one was
formed, I would hide it until I had a place to store them. In 1979,
I retrieved the last one, and they’ve been here ever
since.”

“
What are they?” Kat
asked.

“
They’re
called
totem
in
our language. It means mind stone or memory stone. Everything we
teach Lucy in this room, she will be able to store in one of these
golden vessels. But before we can do that, you have to find your
vessel.” He was looking at Lucy as he spoke. “Your totem is
something very important to you. It is something that will remain
with you forever and in it you will store your
memories.”

Lucy looked again into the chamber where all
of the tables sat. “How do I know which one to choose?”

“
Well, that’s sort of between you
and the totem,” Benjamin chimed in. “Don’t worry, you’ll
know.”

Each table sat under glorious
light, and the small space scintillated of polished gold. Lucy
looked from Jack to the vessels and walked toward them. With every
table she passed, she noticed that there was a design on each one
correlating to the table upon which it sat. There was a table
marked with a spear and a monkey. Other tables were designated by a
bird and an arrow, a knife and a lizard, a hammer and a spider, and
half a dozen other images that were each as ambiguous as the next.
While it was magnificent, none of it meant anything to
Lucy.

Benjamin stood at the door
next to Jack and Kat, and they all watched as Lucy meandered around
the room. She paid no attention to them, she simply admired the
display of uniquely shaped blocks of gold. As she made her way
toward the tables in the center, she felt something tug at her
right side like she had caught her shirt on a nail. The sensation
stopped her in her tracks, and she felt
light
brush by her and up against
her like the leaves of a bush.

The table that stood there
had only three totems sitting on it. Lucy reached down and touched
one of them with the tips of her fingers. On each totem was
engraved the image of a sword crossed over a tree that Lucy
recognized immediately as one she had seen in the rainforest. The
image seemed so obvious to her. Of all the designs on the totems,
it was the one that represented everything she first knew of their
world: the trees of the rainforest, the swords that Benjamin and
Peter carried, and that she herself carried in her
haven
. That was the
table she was to choose from, but which one?

As she touched each one, she
found that they all reflected a significant amount of her
light
. She knew that one
of them would become her totem, and that it would most likely be
the one that reflected her light the strongest, but it would be
difficult to know which one.

Looking up to the door for help, all three of
her friends were watching her with rapt attention. She caught
Benjamin’s eyes first and he understood her dilemma. He walked over
to her and looked at the table she had chosen.

“
Close your eyes.”

Lucy obeyed.

He picked up one of the golden blocks and
placed it in her hands. While it was heavy, it still fit
comfortably in the palm of one hand.

“
What do you feel?”

The feeling was incredible, like
having a new friend, someone with whom she could share all of her
hopes and dreams and secrets. She loved the sensation and was
almost certain that it was the one when Benjamin took it from her
and placed a different one in her hand. It immediately felt heavier
and coarser than the last. There wasn’t the bond she had felt with
the previous totem, and she knew without a doubt it was not
hers.

Finally, he placed the last
of the totems in her hand. The bond was instant, the weight was
perfect. The gold was warm in her palms and it immediately felt as
though it were a physical part of her. It was the same feeling she
had experienced with the sword in her
haven
. There was no question that it
was her totem.

Lucy opened her eyes with confidence “This is
it, this is mine.”

Benjamin looked down at her, a look of
absolute satisfaction on his face.

“
Alright, let’s get started,
then,” came Jack’s voice from the doorway.

Lucy walked out of the chamber following
everyone else, and Jack sealed it again.

In the corner of the basement stood a stone
pillar about three feet high. Lucy hadn’t noticed it before because
it hid in the shadows of the room and it was not remarkable except
for its existence in a room full of modern technology.

Jack placed his hand on the
pillar. “Put your totem here.” He slapped the pillar once and Lucy
gently set her totem down, not wanting to let go for fear she would
lose the bond she had made. After a moment’s hesitation, she
released the golden cube and turned to face Jack. In his hands he
held two swords that were very plain looking, but very similar. He
walked over to Lucy and held them out to her. They were both made
of gold, the same gold she had seen so much of in the last few
minutes, and Jack indicated to her that she should take them, one
in each hand.