by Casey Herzog
He gave me his hand and I got up to see that I was in a school identical to the one I attended. Everything was the same, except there were these insignificant little insects skittering along the floor.
“I should have warned you about them. They live within this phase of existence. We call them skaters. They’re harmless, but they do fight back when provoked: lessons we have learned the hard way. This school is the same as ours, but in a different phase of existence.”
I was a little dizzy, but able to stand, until I wasn’t. I heard laughter as I landed on my ass, but the only thing bruised was my ego. William hovered over me like an anxious parent. There were murmurs of discontent amongst those staring down at me in judgment. I could almost hear their disapproving thoughts, but they were a jumbled mess. I couldn’t distinguish one from the other.
“Give the girl some room to breathe. There’s no reason to ridicule her. You’ve all been in her position before. It’s not nice to make fun of people.”
I looked up to see the disgraced professor, Drake Haven, taking an avid interest in my well-being.
“I want everybody to return to class except for William. He was the one that brought her here, and that makes her his responsibility.”
Drake was a little different than I remembered. His hair was streaked with black and white and I could see the whites of his eyes. He looked blind, but his smile told me otherwise.
Chapter Five
I was taught never to stray from the sidewalk because there were dangers all around. It wasn’t until I was old enough to know better that I got the impression that my father was being overprotective. I’d learned to play on the safe side, but there were times I went against convention. Of course, I never told my father about my rebellious behavior. I had skipped school a couple of times to contemplate the meaning of life with other like-minded students. We talked about everything, including magic. I felt more connected to them than I did to my friends. I was secretly ashamed, but that didn’t prevent me from going back each and every time.
It felt like I was addicted. My father always thought I was a good girl, but I had a dark side. It wasn’t one I showed many. They would never understand how hard it was to lose my mother. It was a long road, and I needed to find a safe haven. My father wasn’t there for me, and I felt this pull to do something wrong. I lived within this bubble, and God forbid, if I broke it.
“I think I can get up this time and stay standing.” The feeling of the room spinning was enough to make me faint. However, I stayed conscious, trying to breathe normally and remembering the meditation exercises my father had taught me to calm the storm within.
“I know that technique like the back of my hand. Your father taught all of us to better control our emotions through meditation and quiet contemplation. We practice every morning, and there’s a reason for it. I’m sure that you have a lot of questions. Feel free to ask anything that you want, but do so at your own peril,” the professor said.
“I want some answers, and I think I deserve them,” I said defiantly.
“I will tell you the truth whether you are ready to hear it or not. It’s one of the guidelines to the dreamscape. Those who ask the question must be given an honest answer. We’re not kids anymore and it’s time for you to let go of the world you knew for the one that your father has led from the moment he conjured it.”
I got up and stood at the mirror, looking at the grotesque way my image was twisted into something ugly. I turned away with my heart banging like a drum inside my chest. I had the feeling I was looking at the worst part of myself. It was unnerving and had me wondering how anybody could face that part of themselves.
“That’s the window to the soul. Trust me; we avoid looking into it as much as possible. We do dare each other from time to time, and it always leaves a cold chill down our spines. The skaters and the students alike will come to accept you over time. They believe you to be sheltered from the real world of magic. They’re not wrong, but it wasn’t your own doing. Your father is responsible for leaving you in the dark. Upon his death, the duty of bringing you into the light has fallen on my shoulders.”
He was very kind, but seeing this place and learning of my father’s double life was like a cold slap in the face. I felt like screaming and letting out that pent up emotion. My father’s desperate need to keep me secure in the knowledge that magic was out of our hands for a reason was no longer an issue.
I had already been introduced to magic, but not in the same way others were. I got into a bad element from acting out to get attention. My father was oblivious to my pain, and couldn’t see I was screaming for help. It was only a phase, and I sometimes found magic to be my crutch to get through the day. I missed it more than I wanted to admit.
“Bear with me. I just learned that my father wasn’t who I thought he was. It’s hard for me to understand and I’m going to need some time to swallow all of this. You must have known that telling me would change everything.
“What gave you the right to turn my world upside down? I know you said my father told you I needed to know, but I would have thought it would be his job. He purposely kept me out of this. He was a coward, and I’m not sure I want any part of this,” I said, knowing I was a hypocrite. I wasn’t being truthful about my unusual friendships. I thought it was something to be ashamed of, but I didn’t think what I was doing was hurting anyone.
I heard the same skittering sound and I looked around, but the skaters were amazingly able to hide their existence when they wanted to.
“What makes you think you have a choice? There’s only one other person alive who has the magic eyes. I don’t want to scare you, but what your father has given you isn’t only a gift, but it can be a curse in the wrong hands. There are those who secretly know about the power, and that makes it impossible to keep you safe without being by your side 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your father knew if you were to inherit the magic eyes that the others would come looking to take it from you. There have been three who have fallen; one of them was your father. We don’t know what happened, and I don’t think that we ever will. What we do know is that you need to take responsibility for the power bestowed upon you. I’m just not sure you are strong enough to do that. I can be there to support you, but this is a step you must take on your own.”
William sounded like a whole different person than who he was in school. It was a façade of who he really was. There had to be a reason why he was hiding his true face.
“I didn’t want any of this. I’ve gotten too close to the truth, and there’s no denying I’m curious. It would be hard for me to leave here without learning more, so I’m going to take a leap of faith. It’s not going to be easy, but I feel I owe it to my father even if I still think he was wrong to keep this from me.”
All of this started to scare me a bit. I remembered from childhood the mob mentality of those who persecuted anybody who was different. It became a campaign against democracy. The Elder Masters and those who shared the responsibility of authority were front and center for the discrimination. They were the ones who finally put an end to it by forbidding magic. I think they knew there was no way they could put a lid on it without extreme force. There was always someone else to fill that vacuum. A ban cut the head off the snake without any possibility of it growing back. However, they didn’t know there was still an underground faction rumored to be waiting for the right time to strike. Most thought it was all hearsay, but I was learning differently.
“Your father wasn’t perfect, and he never claimed to be. He thought it was a good idea to keep you safe and away from others’ prying eyes. He was worried you wouldn’t be able to handle it, but I told him he wouldn’t know unless he opened up to you. There was no choice, and coming to you was his last wish. I could no more go against him than I could go without breathing. I’m glad to see you have a somewhat open mind because you need to take this seriously. This world is in jeopardy; uour father was even heading an investigation into the possibility of a
mole. I didn’t want to believe it, but he seemed to think somebody was working against us.”
That would explain why I had found him unable to sleep and pacing back and forth with worry in his eyes.
“William, my father was always a bit too paranoid for his own good. That’s the main reason he was pulled out of academia. They couldn’t trust he wouldn’t corrupt the students with his own beliefs. They needed to control him and the best way to do that was to relegate him to the dusty books in the library. I thought he would fight them, but I see he had another way to do that.”
William motioned for me to join him, and we walked down the hallways with the shining example of my father’s work right in front of me.
William told me that my father’s face was synonymous with magic, and as such, his image was put in a place of high regard on the wall in the lobby. He had been a leader amongst men; he had brought a new understanding to the next generation. I was seeing a side of him he had hidden from me all these years. The whole situation was galling and it made me angry, but I was trying to push my resentment down into the deepest part of me where it would never see the light of day again.
“We are always on the lookout for potential talent. Not everybody is born with the gene, but those who are can’t stay hidden forever. They need this community. We have saved countless children who have been brought to our attention by their parents who want to keep them safe. They might be scared, but their main concern is for their children. There has only been one instance in the last couple of years that came to the attention of the Elders. Frighteningly, Jasper has not been seen since. We have no idea what happened to him, but we fear the worst.” I knew about Jasper; they said he was on some sort of personal journey of self-discovery. Nobody said it, but we all knew what that really meant.
“Jasper was quite vocal about magic. At one time, we all thought he was going to be the start of a magical revolution. It was surprising when we learned the Elders had taken an interest in him. They claimed to be encouraging his rehabilitation back into society. It always sounded political speak meant to be an example to others.”
As I walked by each classroom, I saw sights that thrilled me. One student was levitating and another was making a fire in his own hands. I heard the teachers making sure the students were in control and not letting magic get the best of them.
I didn’t know much about magic eyes, but I needed to find out more. What better way than to be surrounded by the very thing that had been part of our history? Maybe I was where I meant to be?
“Jasper thought he had all the answers. We warned him that his best course of action was to join us, but he said he wasn’t going to hide anymore. There are others like him, and I sometimes fear they are going to do something they’ll regret. I’ve mentored some of them using the very same speech that your father gave me, but I don’t have what you have. And I don’t think I want to.”
He was making it sound like what I had was a cancer, and I was inclined to believe him.
“I think it’s time you learn more about your father’s legacy. I want to show you something. He always said that you had a curious mind and you are the last of the Lockhart bloodline. Do you think that’s a coincidence? Did you know that when you were born the Elders had your father confined to the asylum?”
The word sent a cold chill down my spine. Those who knew about it didn’t want to speak of it. It was a strange building that looked abandoned, but the Elders used it for a rehabilitation center.
“I know I’m going to regret asking this, but what exactly did they do to him?” I had learned too much already. My head was spinning with the possibility that I would become something for the Elders to handle.
“The asylum is not just for rehabilitation, it is also for eliminating any chance that a new generation of magic could be born. I don’t want to use this term, but it’s the only one that comes close to what your father went through. He was neutered like an animal. There was no way he could give life to the next line of the Lockhart family bloodline. Take a look around and tell me the one thing that you don’t see here.”
I didn’t know what he was getting at, but I did as requested. I saw all sorts of students, and I was about to question him further, when it finally occurred to me that they were all boys. There was not a girl in the bunch. I was the only one, which would explain the way people were staring at me.
“Are you saying that there are no girls here? I need some clarification.” I could see he was debating telling me, but I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I deserve to know, and you did bring me here for a reason.”
“The Elders found through their research that the possibility of a female prodigy was quite rare. They couldn’t say for certain that it was unheard of, but they did caution those from certain families to watch for anything out of the ordinary. There hasn’t been a girl with magic in almost 100 years.
“Your father went through the procedure after your mother died and that’s the reason he was never quite the same. I can’t even begin to imagine what he went through without cringing.”
I felt like I owed my father an apology, but he wasn’t here to give him one.
“This is not what you want to show me. I think before my head explodes that you should just get on with it. I’m sure you have gone through this before with other students. There must’ve been a few who rejected the idea they were of magic origins, and I’m sure you had to take necessary steps before making your approach.”
I had been born into a world where magic was a lost art. There were several assemblies that stressed abstinence from magic. They even went so far as to give us a pill, which we gladly took because we didn’t know any better.
“There have been a few ‘undesirables’ who didn’t know how to take direction and we don’t keep them here against their will. They are free to leave, but we warn them to keep their magic to themselves. Jasper was the only one out in the open, and he paid for it. He disappeared several months ago and the Elders have claimed responsibility.”
I needed to know what happened to him.
“Jasper was one of the strong ones. He couldn’t hold back, and he had started to make inroads with those ready to throw off the shackles of authority. The Elders have been questioned extensively and their stance has been that Jasper will return to society when he is ready. I just don’t know what will be left of him when he finally emerges from the doors of the asylum.”
I felt like we were doing a dance and William was purposely leaving steps out of the performance! “Professor Bethesda doesn’t look like the same man anymore. There seems to be a new light in his eyes. How can you explain that?” There were still so many questions and not enough answers to go around.
“Professor Bethesda came to your father looking for a new lease on life. He was vetted extensively before he was even able to find out about this place. He was on probation for a long time, but he has proved to be an invaluable asset. He usually makes the first approach to the uninitiated, but I convinced him that in your case, it would be better coming from me. You are a special case, and some of these students are envious of your heritage. You are that rare variable that we didn’t account for. The legend states that there will be one woman who will lead them all.” I could tell what I had known about William was what he wanted people to think. The truth was more than enough to digest. He was a part of this new world of underground fledgling magicians.
I couldn’t quite believe all this was happening, but there was no denying what my eyes could see. “You said you wanted to show me something. I’m getting a little tired of the runaround.”
He kept walking and I followed until he came to a door with a set of stairs.
“This is when you decide if you want your future to be extraordinary.”
It was a strange turn of phrase, but I could see that he wasn’t backing down until I made a decision one way or the other.
Chapter Six
I knew I was trying his patience by waiting to see wha
t was going to happen next, but I had no choice. This was a big decision, and one I wasn’t going to take lightly. His words had wisdom, and learning about my father had certainly changed things, but the one thing clear was my future was already set in stone.
"I’m willing to suspend my beliefs until I learn more of the facts. It’s not like I don’t believe in magic, but I never thought a world like this one existed outside of our own. I know that you said that it’s on another plane, so that means we are literally stepping into the shoes of others without them even knowing it.” I looked down into the blackness, and it gave me the impression of how I felt when I was sinking into the doorway to this world.
“I can only be your guide; it’s up to you to make that final decision. We’re all counting on you, but that’s not meant to be any pressure. You must know your father was a great man, but he had to hide this magic world in hopes of one day blending both worlds. The book of legends has been called into question. It does say that on this day and at this time, a woman will join the ranks and become more than what she thinks she can be. The book is a prophecy we have followed from the moment your father gave us his wisdom.” He walked down the stairs like he could see where he was going. I took one last look down the hallway and saw a little boy staring at me with a scowl on his face. He pointed in my direction, and his finger lit up.
An arc of lightning streamed from where he was standing to where I was standing. I closed my eyes and thought for sure I was going to fry. I never got the chance to find my full potential.
I could see light behind my eyelids, and I dared to look; the electricity was surrounding, but not touching me. The little boy with evil intentions started to stomp his feet in frustration, and his anger made the lightning even stronger. It still it did not penetrate my protective shell.
“Damien, stop that right now; you know the penalty.”
It was a fitting name. He really did look like he was the devil’s prodigy.