The Winter Letter (17 page)

Suddenly, a bright white exploded a foot from his nose. Gatnom stumbled back, shielding himself with his arms until his eyes adjusted. When he looked up he realized he was now standing on nothing, a few feet from the massive glass screen. Shining on it was a picture of a group of boys huddled in a small dark room. Their faces were dirty, and they were shivering in the cold. It was Yoh, Goh, Sloh, Broh, Randiby, Jubal, and the rest of the orphans.

“Don’t worry Broh, Gatnom will come for us,” Yoh said. His young voice boomed from some invisible speakers Gatnom could not see. At these words the little brother burst into sobs and tears. “No, he won’t!” young Broh said. “He will never come. He won’t come because he won’t leave the War-Games. It’s his dream and he won’t drop it to save us! He’ll leave us to die before he does that. He’ll leave us to die!”

Gatnom’s heart folded up inside of himself. The words shook his soul. They stole his breath. Louder than a bomb they exploded in his heart. He had made a terrible mistake. He sat straight up from the floor, awakened by the thump of his pulse and the roar of thunderous rain outside. 

He swore he could still hear Broh’s voice echoing over and over gain, “He’ll leave us to die! He’ll leave us to die!”

***

Wohie sat under a sleeping tree who had abnormally large ears, especially since Xylons have no visible ears in the first place. She was in the middle of a conversation with her brother. He was taller now, with an even more chiseled chin. His hair matched her’s in color and was cropped military short. He wore the uniform of a junior general of the Under-Army: leather, high collar, and boots that made him two inches taller. 

“Seth, how long will the war last?” Wohie asked her brother.

“Only a few years we hope. Then everything will return to normal. We will be together again sis. Maybe then you’ll have a boyfriend.” Wohie punched him in the arm. He didn’t even flench. She shook her hand as if it was hurt. It really wasn’t.

“Ascena,” Seth said. He always called her by her real name. “I need to ask you something.”

“What’s up bro?” 

Seth looked up into the sky.

“No. No,” Wohie laughed. “What do you need to ask me?”

“What are you going to do about the boys?”

“Master Jared has forbidden us from doing anything. Gat thinks the best thing we can do is to go to the War-Games and compete. I’ll finally get to see you in person, instead of all these weird dreams.”

“But you can’t just leave them alone. Who knows what could happen to them?”

Wohie looked up at Seth and smiled. She hadn’t dreamed him like this in years. He was a kind, yet steadfast and tightly bound to duty. In real life she knew he would never entertain disobeying an order from Master Jared.

“Master Jared has forbidden it. We have no choice.”

Seth was staring elsewhere now, almost like he was not listening.

“Seth, what’s wrong?”

“Sister, when what is right comes in conflict with what is proper, all good magi choose what is right. Sometimes ritual will come in conflict with honor. Choose honor, never the popular, easy choice. Things are rarely as they seem at first glance, but the right thing to do, once you see it clearly, never changes no matter how many different ways you look at it. It is solid and usually more simple than we think.

“What are you saying, that I should disobey and go off on my own?”

“No. I am saying you
do
have a choice, and that you should make the right one. You may need to choose something hard; be led by what is right, rather than what seems right or what is easy.”

Wohie said nothing for a moment. She always tried to listen closely to her brother. “Then, what should I do now?” she finally asked.

“Now, you should wake up.”

“Why? I think it is still the middle of the night? I wanna sleep more.”

“Because it’s time to wake. Never sleep when awake is required.”

“What are you talking about?”

“WAKE UP!”

“Why are you so mad at me? What did I d—”

“WAKE UP!”

Wohie started up from the couch, pulling her legs in close to her chest. Fresh tears instantly puddled in the corner of her eyes. Her brother had never yelled at her before. She looked over at Gatnom. He was up, staring at the black curtain of rain falling fiercely outside of the window. 

Will, who looked like he had just awakened as well, was breathing heavy.

***

Will had not had sweet dreams. Soon after falling asleep he had found himself in a dreary room with grey concrete walls. A clock on the wall read 3:47. 

“Go, this way please,” said a kind voice from behind. Will turned to see a beautiful nurse holding open the only door in the room. It had a 14 on it. Everything inside protested, but he followed the nurse through the door anyway.

“Hey Baby,” Will’s mother said as soon as he stepped into the room.

“Mom!” Will screamed. He ran to the bedside of his mother. Will knew he was dreaming, but he didn’t care. 

“Listen Sweetheart, I only have a minute. I need to tell you something.”

“What is it Mom?” Unlike before, his mother’s eyes were not weak. Her spirit was strong, so strong it overcame the weakness of her broken body.

“You must go to the city. You must go to the boys. Find them.”

“Mom, I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”

“William!” his mother snapped. He knew this tone, it meant he was in trouble for something he had said. “You can do anything if you keep your path pure, trust the King of All and be brave! Nothing is impossible if you believe! Why do you think you are here? By chance? NO! You are here for this time, for this purpose. Stop thinking it was misfortune that brought you to this world. You were brought here because of misfortune, not by it.”

Will stared at the floor and nodded. “I wish this wasn’t a dream. I wish it was real,” he said in a dry sob.

Will’s mother wiped his hair out of his eyes and smiled. “Sometimes dreams are simply letters from other places. This dream is me writing you, telling you to be strong.” She reached down and lifted Will’s chin. “When you wake, don’t forget what I have said.”

Will hugged his mother. She whispered private words into his ears, laid back, smiled, and closed her eyes. Will stood, without knowing why, and walked back out to the waiting room where the clock hung, still at 3:47. The tic-toc grew louder and louder until the long hand clicked onto 3:48 with the crack of close thunder. When he awoke Wohie was staring at him with wet eyes. Gatnom stood in a window, over looking the sea, whispering quietly to Jabber, who was perched on his shoulder.

“You okay?” Wohie asked.

“Yeah, just a dream. You?”

“Same thing.“

Gatnom heard the two speaking and walked over. “I have made a terrible mistake,“ he said. ”You don’t have to go with me, but I must go and at least try to rescue the boys. I have already failed them by waiting this long. I’m sorry Will; you were right.“ Gatnom choked on his words.

”Gat, I‘m going with you,” Wohie said as she put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m not letting you do this alone.”

“When do we leave?” Will asked. Jabber fluttered from Gatnom’s shoulder to Will’s.

“Are you two sure?” Gatnom asked. “You need to think about this. This will make us outcast from here, as well as enemies to King Mel. We will have no place.”

Will didn’t have to think about it. He already had no place. Over the past few months home had become a confusing idea, more people than a place. That meant if Gatnom and Wohie was going to the city, then he was going to the city too. Besides, it was his mother’s second dying wish. Everything that mattered was in the city: the boys, King Mel, his answers.

A door slammed in the stairwell, and the clanging of metal on metal came running up the stairs.

“What’s that?” Will and Wohie asked at the same time.

Gatnom rushed and leaned out of one of the windows facing the mountains. Light from below flickered off of his face, and fat rain drops sparkled as they fell passed the window. When Gatnom turned around his eyes were calculating. “We forgot about Master Jared,” he said. “He hears everything.”

Will pushed up beside Gatnom at the window. Guards were crowded on the front lawn, pointing and yelling up at the third story tower window. Outside of the door the clanging of the guards grew louder than the rain as they rushed up the stairs two at a time.

Gatnom ran to the back window and peered out into the darkness of the sea.

“What are we going to do?!” Wohie squealed.

Without saying a word Gatnom pointed out the window. He put two fingers on the palm of his hand and made a running motion until the finger puppet leapt off of his palm.

“What?! Are you crazy?!” said Will.

“Jabber, Wohie! Come here!”

“Right here, Mr. Gatnom!” Jabber hopped off of Will’s shoulder and hovered at eye level. Gatnom pointed out the window and down towards the sea, then to his eyes with two fingers, then turning his fingers away he scanned from left to right, a sign to look. Jabber understood, and without a word the butterbug shot out of the window. Wohie leaned out, watching with her night eyes as the butterbug buzzed down towards the sea.

“It’s clear,” she whispered to Gatnom. “The sea is even rougher from the storm, but I think we can make it. I don’t see any rocks directly below, clear fall I think. There, Jab just hit the water. It’s a long way down.”

“No, you’re kidding right! You can’t be serious. The window?!” Will said too loudly.

Gatnom and Wohie shushed Will at the same time.

“OPEN UP! NOW!!” A voice boomed. The door shook with the pounding of a metal fist.

“Here comes Jab,” Wohie whispered.

Jabber came dripping through the window. “No rocks directly below… deep... rough water,” he said in between pants.

“Okay, let’s go!” Gatnom instructed. “I’ll go first, then—Wohie!” Wohie blurred by and leapt from the window. She vanished as she plunged into the dark below. Will didn’t even hear a splash.

“Okay Will, now you.” Will grabbed his bag, then hesitated. “Will, this is no time to obey fear. Go!”

Will took a deep breath, ran and jumped. The next thing he knew he was bobbing up and down in a storm of warm seawater. Everything was black, except the windows from the tower a cliff and three stories above.

“Hey Willy, you okay?” Wohie asked from the dark.

“Yeah,” Will answered, just as he caught a mouthful of seawater. Without a sound, and a little farther out, he heard Gatnom fall with a small splash.

“Everyone okay?” Gatnom yelled when he emerged. 

“Yeah, we’re okay. Quick—” A wave pushed Wohie beneath the waves. “—this way. I see a cave!”

“What way? I can’t see you!” coughed Will.

“Follow my voice! Can you hear me?!”

Will pushed himself toward’s Wohie’s voice. The waves kept pushing him underwater, but the distance to the shore was shorter than he had expected. It took only a moment before Will felt the slippery edges of a large rock.

“Just a little farther!” Wohie yelled. “Be careful, it’s slippery!”

Will pushed his way up an invisible, jagged pathway.

“Duck!” Jabber yelled right in Will’s ear. Will squatted, not knowing what he was dodging. He hadn’t even known Jabber was there. He reached up to feel a sharp point just above his head. “That was close, Mr. Will!”

“Little light be,” Gatnom said once all four of them had found their way into the cave. A dim white light appeared, brightening the area just enough to navigate. The cave was small and shallow, no more than fifteen feet from entrance to it’s back wall. Water puddles lingered inside from the last time the tide had risen. The three rushed in as far as they could, then turned and put their backs to the stone, facing the caves entrance. Gatnom extinguished the light he had conjured. In the dark Will felt Jabber alight on his shoulder.

“They jumped too,” Wohie whispered. Suddenly, four or five dull lights appeared in the sea, bobbing their way towards the cave.

“Gat, what do we do? Should we fight?!” Will asked.

“No! We cannot fight our own comrades. We are on the same side.”

“Well, what then?” Will asked in a loud whisper.

“Shh! They are at the banks, crawling up one at a time,” said Wohie. The lights glistened on the wet walls just enough so Will could see Wohie’s worried eyes. Will felt himself shivering or shaking, he couldn’t tell which.

“There!” one of the guards yelled. The lights spun and fell directly onto the wet faces of the four, all huddled together in a ball. Gatnom and Will shielded their eyes. “Stop! Don’t move!” the leader of the guards commanded.

Will grabbed the pendent around his neck. 

“Stop! Don’t make us do this! Put your hands DOWN!” the guards yelled.

Suddenly the cave shook.

“Will, stop!” Gatnom yelled.

“I didn’t do anything!”

The cave shook again. Rocks cracked and fell, and Will felt the ground move beneath him.

“Stop your magic or we will attack!” the lead guard screamed. The other guard’s lights turned to their captain, whose locked eyes were on Will. The ground shook again. “How did you do that?” the captain asked.

“I didn’t do anything!” Will yelled, throwing his arms up in surrender. The assistant guards started backwards at the movement of his arms, but the captain stepped forward and lifted his left hand towards Will.

“No Will, put them DOWN!” Gatnom said quickly. Will dropped his hands to his sides. The ground shook again, then with a jolt that knocked everyone over, the back wall of the cave, on which they were leaning, cracked and split into two halves. A pale blue light shone from the crack, which stopped opening just wide enough for one person at a time to slide through. Will, Wohie, and Gatnom looked at each other, just as surprised as the guards. 

“Quick, go!” Gatnom yelled. Wohie, first as usual, shot through the gap; Will went next with Jabber; and Gatnom followed last. Just as they were clear, the crack slapped back together like two giant stone hands clapping. The yell of the guards muted as soon as the wall closed.

“What did you do?!” Gatnom asked Will as they picked themselves up from the ground and turned to the wall. Where the crack had been could hardly be seen; it looked like a chalk line drawn on the rock.