by Justin Sloan
She laughed. “No, Dad, of course not.”
“Okay,” he said with a ruffle of her hair. “But know that I love you and am here for you no matter what.”
She heard him, but her attention was elsewhere. They had come to a red light just outside the school parking lot, and she saw Daniel at the bus stop. A group of boys and girls were walking toward him, and she was sure they were Strayers. But how could they be moving on him now? Hadn’t they all disappeared with Paulette? Or maybe they could travel, like with the P.E. class door. And these were new Strayers. She didn’t see Vince or Chester among them, and those were the only two she’d really known.
The light was taking forever—she looked at her dad, then back to the bus stop where Daniel waited. The kids were surrounding him.
“Allie?” her dad said.
“Sorry,” she said as she opened the door and jumped from the car. Another car pulled up beside her dad’s and she had to jump to avoid getting hit. She heard cars honking and her dad calling her name, but she had to get to Daniel.
She reached him at last, scared it was too late.
He sat on the bus stop bench, surrounded by three boys and two girls. Their eyes gleamed with a red tint, but Daniel’s eyes were rolled back into his head. One of the boys held a knife and was etching a pattern into Daniel’s head—so far a half-circle. The boy gave her a malicious smile and leaned back in to complete the pattern. The rest of the Strayers turned to Allie ready for a fight.
She charged them, remembering the way she had fought in Kyrgyzstan. She dodged their fists, catching a boy in the stomach with a kick. She slammed her arm across a girl’s face, knocking her to the ground. A punch caught Allie across the jaw, but she recovered in time to twist around to the boy who held a knife. She kicked him so that he sprawled forward, his knife clattering to the other side of the bus stop.
She didn’t stop to think. She grabbed Daniel under his arms and hefted him onto her back. She felt heat surge from her ring, coursing through her limbs, and she felt powerful. Her legs carried her and Daniel away from the bus stop, and with a glance back she saw her dad pulling his car over to the side of the road. He got out and yelled at the kids chasing her.
She turned her attention back to running, and in moments found herself next to a park filled with trees. The added energy from her ring was gone, leaving her exhausted. She looked at Daniel and realized he wasn’t safe yet. He was barely breathing, and for a moment she wondered if he was dead.
Instinctively she pulled out her ring and closed her eyes, focusing. But nothing happened. She tried again, concentrating on her memories of Daniel, laughing with him, searching the woods, saving her mom…. but nothing worked.
Her mind searched frantically for some idea, some inspiration, and she remembered the odd movements from P.E. class—the way she felt after, as if the rays of the sun coursed through her body, improving her mood. Maybe there was some healing power involved? She stepped next to Daniel’s limp body and looked to the sky. She moved her foot and her hands, breathing deeply, trying to focus. She completed the form, but nothing.
Maybe it only worked in class? But then what would be the point! She found herself growing frantic.
“Daniel! Wake up!”
She shook him by the shoulders, then checked his breath by placing her cheek by his nose as she had seen in movies. He was still breathing. She wiped the blood from the cuts on his forehead. This was worse than she could have imagined.
“Daniel!”
With a glance around, she realized something. She had done the forms just now on the sidewalk, on cement. Maybe she had to be in contact with the earth for it to work. She stepped to a patch of dirt in the grass on the other side of Daniel. She stood and breathed deep, telling herself to remain calm. To have faith. She looked to the sky, noting the fluffy white clouds and the sun shining brightly in rays across the tree tops surrounding her.
This has to work.
She moved with confidence, performing the forms perfectly. The sun shone brighter, the air around her sparkled, glittering. Then it was done.
She felt better, relaxed and full of energy, but Daniel looked the same. Looking back at the circle, she saw it was still glowing, and suddenly she understood. She rolled Daniel into the circle she had created in the dirt with her feet. It shone brighter, and for a moment he seemed to stop breathing, his skin going pale. Then he glowed, and he woke up coughing. His eyes returned to normal. She leaned over him and held his head off the ground, watching as the markings on his forehead cleared, the blood vanishing.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I figured it out,” she said. “I understand the patterns.”
He looked at her with confusion. But he was awake, and he was safe. She didn’t care if she made sense to him right now, he was safe. She hugged him tight.
They walked home when he felt ready, Allie looking over her shoulder from time to time.
“This is all happening again, huh?” Daniel asked, his eyes on the pavement.
“I don’t know if it ever stopped,” Allie replied.
Daniel looked at her with a smile. “But hey, at least this time they’re training us, right? I mean, if we could stop possessed-Paulette without a clue about what we were doing, we’re going to bring the noise now.”
Allie laughed. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
Her pocket vibrated, and she checked her phone to see a text from her father. ‘Are you okay?’ it said.
“Crap,” she said.
“What?”
“I just left my dad out there at the light, I forgot all about him.” They were nearly home, so she called her dad and apologized. Oddly, he didn’t seem to be too bothered.
“I’ll pick you up at Daniel’s?” he asked. “I want to spend some time with you.”
“Okay, Dad,” she said, even though she was still worried about Daniel. She walked him to his front door and gave him a hug, then waited for her dad on the steps while Daniel went inside to rest from his encounter with the Strayers.
Her dad took her to a coffee shop and bought her a warm apple cider with extra caramel. It had been her favorite when she was ten. She tried to apologize again, but he held up a hand and smiled. “I saw them, there’s no need. I know how school can be.”
She smiled, blushing, wishing he really did know.
“Do you want me to talk to the principal or something?” he asked. “I mean, is it serious?”
She shook her head. “Thanks for… for the cider.”
He looked hurt, and she knew he could tell she was holding something back. They talked in generalities, about how her classes were going and how his work was treating him, until she finished her cider and had to go to the bathroom. On the way back she received a text from her brother and realized another reason why her dad had looked hurt.
‘Don’t forget today’s Dad’s birthday’ the text from Ian said.
She stopped by the counter and ordered a cupcake, which the emo guy at the counter quietly agreed to put a candle in. When she returned to the table, she smiled and shrugged.
“I’m sorry I forgot, Dad. I do love you.”
She looked to the emo guy, who brought out the cupcake and helped Allie sing happy birthday. Her dad smiled and hugged Allie, then shared the cupcake with her.
“I know you love me honey,” he said. “But it’s good to hear it sometimes.”
She smiled up at him, remembering how great it felt to be close like this, not pushed apart by her secrets. And now, with what had happened to Daniel, she decided the only reasonable thing to do would be to find Samyaza and defeat him as fast as possible. To do that, she would have to train as hard as she could. And starting tomorrow, that was the new plan. Samyaza and his dark forces had better watch out, because she was coming for them.
Chapter 5: The Next Level
Allie took a step back with her right leg, holding her hands together at her side as she watched for Mr. Phael’s next move. She cou
ghed as the dry dirt floated around with the sweeping circular motion of her right foot. A momentary loss of balance worried her, but she caught herself as she lifted her left leg before her. She felt better already.
Half a week had passed with too much homework, the occasional hanging out with Daniel, and more P.E. class. Nothing as far as leads on Samyaza or the Strayers. Allie became quite good at the obstacle course and the patterns of movement Mr. Phael had them perform, especially now that she had seen their effects firsthand.
Brenda whispered something to Troy. Allie eyed the two and saw they were looking in her direction. No wonder her ears burned.
“Focus,” Mr. Phael said.
Allie blinked and returned to her movement. She felt a tingling inside her. Where was her focus? Now that she was committed to the hunt, she couldn’t understand why they weren’t out there fighting bad guys. Why were they waiting here? They could be strategizing or something. Or maybe they were, or were already fighting, but just hadn’t told Allie, leaving her out of it. That would be the worst.
She pursed her lips and focused on the motions, moving her hands as if a large beach-ball were between her palms and then pushing out with one hand in each direction. She found herself growing angry, anxious to be doing battle instead of practicing forms. Her focus shifted, her body jolted and the tingling became a pulsing of her blood, throbbing up her chest and toward her hands.
A sharp pain coursed through her arms and then through her fingertips, dissolving into a soothing warmth.
Someone yelped behind her.
Allie opened her eyes, staring at the gold specks of dust reflecting in the sunlight that surrounded her.
“Troy?” Brenda’s normally snotty voice sounded almost worried.
Allie shook her head, feeling it clear as if waking from a dream. Troy lay on the ground, his eyes blinking as he tried to stand. He collapsed twice before Mr. Phael assisted him up.
Brenda looked from Allie to Troy, confused. “What happened?”
Troy reached out a shaking hand, pointing at Allie.
“I didn’t do anything.” Allie took a step back. The gold sparkles remained where she had been standing a moment before.
“Look at the ground Allie,” Mr. Phael said.
She looked down to where she had stood. Through the sparkling gold dust she could see a circle drawn in the dirt, lines crossing and curving across it, each one shining as if emitting the sun itself.
“What the…?” She felt faint.
“It’s what I’ve been teaching,” Mr. Phael said. “Although, we will have to work on your focus.”
“But how?” She had understood the healing pattern, because somehow magic happening when she was most desperate was beginning to make sense. But what was this?
Mr. Phael left Troy to maintain his own balance. He walked to the heavy curtains between the columns, motioning for Allie to follow. “You are the first, Allie. Follow me, and we’ll see if you are truly ready.”
She looked at her classmates, several of which stepped back. Their eyes were filled with terror. A fear gripped her heart as she remembered the fight with the giant demon and Paulette. Had she done something similar to Troy now? Perhaps the mark on her arm had caused it, she thought. Was she some sort of monster, or maybe possessed by demons herself? She pulled her sleeve down to cover the dark marks, faint, but still visible from where Paulette had carved the pattern. If anyone had noticed, would they know what it meant?
Allie took a step toward Mr. Phael, her legs moving on their own. She wanted to ask for help, to tell him she was afraid of what she was becoming. But she didn’t know how she would say it, or whether he would understand.
“Someone needs to get that freak out of here,” Brenda said.
Silently, Allie agreed. Perhaps Mr. Phael had uncovered some great evil in her, and now he was going to destroy her. She took control of her legs and clenched her jaw, walking up to Mr. Phael and standing before him with a determined look.
“I’m ready,” she said.
He laughed. “I don’t think you are, but I’m glad to hear you say it. The rest of you wait here, I’ll be back shortly.”
He pushed aside the curtains and pounded on the door three times, each knock resounding through the courtyard. She was scared, but forced herself to stay strong. The door swung inward with a loud grinding of stone on stone.
Mr. Phael turned to her, beckoning her forward. “Now you begin your training.”
“My training?” Hadn’t she been training already?
She stepped through the door and gasped at what lay before her. A golden domed ceiling engulfed a circular room with seven levels of open-walled training floors. In the middle of the room was a circle of dirt like outside, where boys and girls were each performing their own movements. She watched in shock as one girl completed a movement and seemed to explode in a burst of light, the kids around her falling back. Moments later the girl stood smiling at their center. A boy to her right regained his footing and completed a movement in the dirt that sent him leaping into the air and onto one of the higher levels of training. Allie couldn’t see what was going on up there, but she heard kids shouting and laughing amid the clanging of steel.
A lion roared to her right, and she nearly peed her pants. It charged past her, disappearing into the welcoming arms of a blond girl not much older than Allie.
“I believe you’ve already had some experience with spirit animals?” Mr. Phael asked, bringing back the memory of an eagle carrying her in the fight against Paulette, how it had come to her aid when she needed it most, when Paulette had taken the Ring of Solomon.
“You have already begun to learn the patterns, which you will continue to practice in the circle here from now on. As you grow and learn, you will move up the levels—if you succeed that is. You must prove yourself, Allie.”
“Prove myself?” Her mind spun with questions.
“You’re off to a good start,” he said. “Your heart has gone through a change, as it must when confronted with great adversity. You’ve already grown. That’s what gave you the ability to perform the Pattern of Light outside, unfortunately against your own classmate.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Some of those kids out there may never make it to this step. They will continue to train, never accomplishing a thing, always wondering what became of those like yourself. Others will make it, and fail. I hope you will be one to succeed.”
Allie looked at the blond girl and watched a lion grow before her, from cub to full-grown in a matter of seconds. It nuzzled the girl and then circled her in a protective, proud walk. She looked to her left and saw a row of swords, spears, and armor and two lines of boys and girls practicing with the medieval gear. Beyond them was a pool of water, and in its midst a raised marble with a glass case at its center. She wanted to go to it, to see its contents. But no, she still didn’t believe any of this.
“Believe,” Mr. Phael said as if he had read her mind. “Come, I’ll introduce you to your new teachers.”
“You aren’t going to teach me?” she asked.
He smiled, leading the way toward the glass case. “No dear, I’ll be guiding those on the outside, assisting the others in finding their path.”
The kids paused in their training, nodding reverently as Mr. Phael passed. A brilliant side room rose up before them as they grew closer to the pool. Within it, marble steps led to a giant throne, large enough for three grown men. It glowed as if the sun shone upon it, but there was no sunlight in here, no windows whatsoever. Allie felt the urge to bow her head and close her eyes.
“Raphort!” a deep voice said. “How good of you to finally join us.”
Mr. Phael smiled and strode eagerly toward two men at the steps of the throne. One wore slacks and a grey-striped dress shirt, the other she recognized by his smile—Gabe the librarian!
“Allie,” Gabe said with hands outstretched. “We’re so glad you've made it! And first in your class, what an ac
complishment. Then again, it’s not like there was ever any doubt.”
Allie didn’t know what to say, and stood silently, taking in the room. Mr. Phael whispered something in Gabe’s ear.
“Allie,” Gabe said. “I understand you attacked another student?”
“I think I did, but I didn’t mean to. Am I in trouble?”
“You must understand something about your power. It is fueled by emotion. While it is meant for good, it can just as easily be turned against your best of friends.”
“My… my power?”
The man in slacks walked forward with slow, halting steps. Layers of skin hung around his sorrowful eyes. He pointed a shaking finger toward twelve chairs at the base of the marble steps. The chairs were polished wood, but one among the rest seemed to be decaying, covered in dust.
“You will learn soon enough, young one.” The man guided her forward with a hand on her shoulder. “See this chair, look upon it and its rot. This is the power, the power to maintain or the power to destroy. And you will learn to harness this power which is already inside you.”
“Michael, always laying it on deep.” Gabe said. “Isn’t it too early?"
Michael turned to Gabe and smiled. “Yes, perhaps it is. But after everything you’ve told me about this one….” He looked down at Allie, his eyes boring deep into her. “I sense an urgency, a need to know sooner than later.”
Allie hung her head, as if she had done something wrong. Perhaps she had attacked Troy. She had been mad about her situation, and with him standing closest to her…. He and Brenda had been talking about her, she knew that, and maybe her irritation at them had caused the attack. She thought back to what happened, the sparkling pattern in the dirt and Troy lying there, pointing at her with his trembling finger. She almost wanted to run and hide.
“Enough for now,” Gabe said. “Mr. Phael, thank you. We will take it from here.”
After Mr. Phael had left, Gabe agreed to show Allie the training grounds while Michael monitored the rest of the students. Gabe led her past the twelve chairs to the giant throne at the top. Here he turned and gestured toward the sky. Allie looked up and saw an elaborate painting on the ledge above the throne.