by C. G. Cooper
“I think we should take a break,” said Lily.
Roy stopped and turned. “But we’re not—”
Lily pointed at me. I barely registered her coming closer, the world around me throbbing, squeezing my insides. My vision blurred so I shut my eyes. That didn’t help so I opened them. Bad move. Everything was spinning. My friends were blobs of dark surrounding by an eerie glow, their voices muffled like I was underwater. I tried to take a step forward, but I fell, and everything went black.
+++
When I woke up my head felt clear again. The throbbing and spinning were gone. I did a mental check of my body. Everything seemed fine, so I opened my eyes. It was getting dark and the others were busy setting up our shelters. Someone had already started a fire and the smell of burning wood made my stomach grumble. I was starving.
Propping myself up on my elbows I asked, “What happened?”
The four turned. Roy and Lily left what they were doing and came to check on me.
“How are you feeling?” Lily asked.
“I’m okay, I think,” I answered truthfully. I actually felt pretty good, like that feeling you have after a long night’s sleep and now you’re ready to tackle the world.
“You went down pretty hard,” Roy said, helping me up to my feet.
“I fainted?”
Roy nodded.
“How long was I out?”
“About an hour.”
Lily was staring at me, so I turned to try to get her to stop.
“What can I help with?” I asked, wanting to give up the attention.
“We’re almost finished. Why don’t you take a break. Dinner will be ready soon,” said Roy, moving back to finish tying off an end of rope that he would soon drape another tarp over.
Instead of taking a break, I tried to busy myself around the fire, helping Jasmine prep our camp food and adding the occasional piece of wood to the fire. The whole time, I felt Lily watching me. If I was Xander, or even Roy, I might’ve told her to stop, but I didn’t.
We took our time eating dinner. I could tell that no one else was thrilled about going to sleep. Whether it was the excitement of the adults leaving, me fainting, or just the fact that we were five ten-year-old kids alone in the rainforest, we just kept talking. Our conversation drifted back to why we were there.
Lily and Jasmine thought the mystic was going to be an old lady with a cane and missing teeth. Roy thought the mystic was going to be his mom’s age. When he described her, it sounded exactly like Mrs. Birch.
Xander wondered why the adults didn’t have a picture or even a drawing of what she looked like. “I mean, how are we supposed to know if it’s her?”
We all shrugged and laughed at the dumb things adults did sometimes. They thought they were so smart, but maybe they should ask a kid how to do things every once in a while.
I had my own thoughts about the mystic. I kept them to myself because of how the thoughts came to be. An image of a little girl kept popping into the edge of my mind, like I was seeing her out of the corner of my eye and then when I went to get a better look, she disappeared. Honestly, it kind of freaked me out. She looked like a ghost.
Roy said we should take turns being on watch that night, three hours at a time. The twins would, of course, be together, and Xander and me would go next. “I’ll take the last watch by myself,” said Roy. “That’s how me and my dad did it when we were in wild pig country.”
Three of us settled into our shelters as the twins took the first shift. Roy was asleep and snoring in minutes, Xander not long after. I couldn’t sleep. I kept picturing the ghost girl, never really able to get a good look.
Three hours later, I was still awake when Lily poked her head inside. “Benjamin, you’re up.”
“Okay,” I said, stretching like she’d woken me.
I shook Xander and he got up without a word, following me out into the muggy night. There was a light rain falling, so we huddled under the tarp Roy had strung up.
It wasn’t a bad three hours. We talked about video games most of the time. Xander loved the Call of Duty series. My parents didn’t let me play those (too much blood) so I mostly listened. When it was my turn I told him about Halo and all the missions I’d played with my friend Nathan. Xander had played Halo in the orphanage, so we had plenty to discuss.
When our three hours were up, I was tired. It probably took seconds for me to fall asleep, sailing on clouds and catching glimpses of the ghost girl.
I jolted awake to the sound of voices. There was no one else in the shelter so I hurried to put on my socks and boots and see what I’d missed. It was the old feeling of being left out. I didn’t like it.
When I got around the huge tree trunk to the fire, I stopped where I was. There, sitting across from my friends, talking like they’d known each other for years, was the little ghost girl. She was wearing a white dress and had super pale skin. Her hair was so blonde it was almost white and her eyes were the color of emeralds, bright and shining. Her head turned and she smiled at me. “Hello, Benjamin.”
I almost fainted. Her voice sounded like she was singing and it was like an adult was talking, her tone smooth and refined. It was how I imagined the elves in Lord of the Rings talking, like they always had something important to say and everyone listened to them.
Before I could open my mouth, Jasmine said, “She knew all of our names!”
“Yeah, and she knows where we’re from and everything!” added Lily.
My mouth dropped open and I stared at the girl. She couldn’t have been older than me. In fact, she looked smaller than all of us. This was the mystic?
“I hope you all don’t mind, but I’d like to spend some time with Benjamin,” she said, rising from the log and brushing off her dress.
Roy rose with her, like a guy standing up from the dinner table when a lady did. “Can we come with you?” His eyes were pleading. I wondered what she’d told them already.
The girl shook her head with a smile. “I’m sorry, Roy, but Benjamin needs to hear this in private. If he wishes to share it with you after, that’s his decision.”
Roy’s face deflated like a kid who’d been told that the amusement park was closed right when you were getting to the front gate. He shook it off and went to do something near the shelter. The twins followed him. Xander just sat there staring at the crackling fire, with a look I couldn’t place. Was he mad or just disappointed like Roy? I wanted to tell him that anything the girl told me I’d tell him, but I never got the chance. She started walking and I had no choice but to follow.
Her feet were bare, but that didn’t seem to slow her. She walked lightly and I didn’t say a word. Really, I couldn’t. I’d been watching her all night in my mind and now that she was real I didn’t know what to say.
Once we were a short walk from camp, she stopped and took a seat on the ground, arranging her dress neatly over her criss-crossed legs. I sat down, too.
“So you’re the mystic?” I asked, trying to sound like I didn’t care, like it was the most normal thing.
She nodded.
“And you knew we were coming?”
She nodded again, this time smiling like she was waiting for me to ask the right question.
“I saw you in my mind,” I blurted, sounding stupid after I said it.
“I know,” she said, her smile a little wider.
It felt like I was having a conversation with someone who already knew everything I was going to say. I wished she would tell me what I was supposed to say.
“I’m Sybil,” she said.
I almost said, “I’m Benjamin,” but chomped down on the words before I did.
“Hi,” I said instead.
When I didn’t say anything else for a few awkward moments, she said, “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Benjamin.”
“I…uh…it’s good to meet you too, Sybil.” My face went hot and I wanted to look away.
“I mean it. I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet you,” S
ybil said.
That shook me a little. “Your whole life? How old are you?”
“The same as you.”
“But you sound so…and you’re living in the jungle, and it’s—”
Sybil actually giggled. “I know I might seem strange, but that’s not new to you, is it, Benjamin, being strange?”
It wasn’t. I’d spent my life being the odd one out. Now I was treating her the same way.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay, Benjamin. All that matters is that you’re here now. We have a lot to discuss.”
She really did sound like someone five times her age. It made me sit up a little taller.
“Yeah? What kind of things do we need to talk about?” The words sounded sloppy and childish compared to Sybil’s, but she didn’t seem to notice.
She grabbed my hand and looked straight into my eyes. “I’m dying, Benjamin, and you’re going to take my place.”
Chapter 19
Ancient History
My mouth must have been hanging open because she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled again. In that moment she was a little girl, in my eyes even younger than ten. The change snapped me back to what she’d just said, that she was dying.
I asked the first question that popped into my head, “Can I help? Can I save you?”
Her giggling stopped and her face went calm again. “You can help by listening.”
“But you said—”
“I’m dying and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.”
That was impossible. I had the Healer’s gift and there were a bunch of adults who did too. From what Kennedy had said, they could fix almost anything.
“Maybe we should—”
I stopped when I saw the look in her eyes. Hours earlier I probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but now I did. It was like she knew what was coming and was okay with it, like life didn’t matter. I wanted to know why.
“You don’t want to be healed,” I said, the revelation coming to me suddenly.
She nodded.
“And you knew this would happen,” I said.
Another nod.
“But why? Why would you want to die?” It didn’t make any sense. If I were her I’d fight for the chance to live. There was still too much left to do, too much left to see. How could a ten-year-old be ready to die, especially when there was a chance, a very good chance, that she could be helped?
“I don’t want to die, Benjamin, but if my life can be traded so that countless others may live…that is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. Besides, it’s already been foretold.”
I shook my head. “This is so dumb. We came here to save you, to save people like us, and now you’re saying there’s no hope?”
Sybil smiled and folded her hands in her lap.
“Are you ready to hear our history?”
No, I wasn’t ready to hear our stupid history! She was dying and all she wanted to do was give me a history lesson? But her unwavering smile made me take a deep breath. And even though I didn’t want to, I nodded for her to continue.
Sybil started the story by explaining the basics of what ancient civilizations were like. The strongest were usually in charge and different races competed for hunting grounds and later for farmland and resources.
“There was no focus, only survival,” she explained. “That’s when we came into being. No one knows exactly the year or exactly who it was, but it all began with one of our kind. In the beginning that one person, then a handful, each had the four gifts: foresight, telekinesis, healing, and growing. They were nomads in the early days, traveling from civilization to civilization, spreading knowledge and instilling wisdom where before there was none. Some we encountered called us mystics, prophets or oracles. Others called us poets, bards or even muses. We were the Sibylline and the Vatic. We inspired with our words and our songs. Did you know that before history was written, it was passed from generation to generation through stories and songs?”
I nodded. History was one of my favorite subjects in school, and anyone who loves history knows that stories were where it all started.
Sybil continued. “There were still others who called us witches, Satanists and bad spirits. They chased us away and sometimes even killed us. It was then that two things happened. First, our gifts were split. No one person had any more than one gift. We’d seen it coming, so we’d prepared. Those with the gift of foresight would be protected by those with the gift of telekinesis. The Healers and Growers rounded out the community and did what they do best. The second thing that happened was that our people stopped living such a solitary, nomadic life, and started working together. They formed small communities where the gifted could be protected. By banding together they were able to send scouting parties to new lands and coordinate how a certain civilization could be helped. And help we did. With our gifts, we traveled to aid the Incas and the Aztecs. There were those who went to Mesopotamia, China and Ancient Egypt. The Greeks were some of our best students and men like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates took our lessons and guidance and transformed the world.
“You see, we were put on Earth to be guides for mankind, sort of like road signs pointing us in the right direction. If civilizations got off track, we were right there to help them jump back on the right path. We’ve always tried to keep the message simple; timeless principles that would stand the tests of time.”
A horrible feeling started to creep into my brain. Was I supposed to do all that? How was that even possible? I didn’t know a thing about running a country. Besides, who would listen to me?
Sybil didn’t seem to notice my unease and kept talking.
“We had our ups and downs over the centuries. Sometimes we were the heroes and other times we were blamed for anything that went wrong even though things went wrong because they didn’t listen to us. Well, at some point during the reign of the Roman Empire, a split happened in our community. There were those who wanted to keep doing what we were doing, but now there were others who thought we should take our gifts and build our own civilization and leave the others to their own fate. As you can probably imagine, the disagreement didn’t end well. The others struck out on their own, and for a time, those who stayed thought that was the end of it, that maybe they’d found a quiet spot on an island or some faraway land.”
A chill ran through my body. This sounded exactly like what I’d seen with Jacee. I knew it without asking, that history was probably repeating itself. “Let me guess, that’s not what happened either.”
Sybil shook her head. “They hadn’t gone quietly. Instead, they’d found a home in Northern Italy and spent their time spreading their influence with the Romans. It wasn’t until they helped a man named Lucius Tarquinius Superbus take over the throne in Rome that we found out about the problem. The new king, who was often called Tarquin the Proud, surrounded himself with our old friends. They helped him plot against his enemies and for a time it looked like King Tarquin could do no wrong.
“But they made a mistake. When their scheming went from bribing to killing, we were forced to step in. One of our leaders at the time lived in Cumae, a Greek colony in Southern Italy. She approached King Tarquin and offered her services as a mystic. While at first he seemed to like the idea, his advisors (the other gifted who we now call Destructors) persuaded him to string her along and see what they could find out. As the legend goes, the Oracle of Cumae offered nine books to the great king for a large sum of money. He refused and she burned three of the nine. She then offered the remaining six, and with the whispers of his advisors in his ear, he refused again. Another three were burned. By now the king and his advisors were desperate. The oracle had promised the ruler of Rome prophesies that would aid the empire. He finally paid the money after his advisors promised to capture the woman. The price was paid, but the oracle disappeared. Her protectors, at that time called The Praetor, whisked her away before she could be harmed. After that day, the mystics and the
other gifted parted ways, only joining together in times of grave danger or when the newly gifted were being unveiled.”
I wanted to jump on a computer and Google Tarquin the Proud right that minute. It was crazy to think that the gifted had been a part of shaping the world.
“So what happened to the king? Did he live happily ever after?”
Sybil grinned. “Do you think that someone who goes by the name Tarquin the Proud would actually listen to someone else’s lessons?”
I shook my head. If I had the gift of foresight, why hadn’t I seen that coming?
She continued. “Not long after, he was overthrown and sent into exile. Tarquin the Proud was the last Roman King.”
“And what happened to the books? Did he take them with him?”
“No. The books were kept in the Temple of Jupiter until they were burned by a Roman general who thought they were evil.”
Sybil didn’t seem so concerned by that. I wondered how much books like that would be worth now. The thought of books brought me back to my parents and the book Kennedy had taken from under our house. “Does this have anything to do with the book my parents have?”
For the first time, Sybil looked annoyed, her lips puckering. “One of the reasons the Destructors are coming after our kind is because of that book.”
The level of anger in her voice surprised me. Up until that point she’d been like a white angel. I still didn’t understand. “Are you saying we shouldn’t have that book?”
“It would be one thing to have a book chronicling the best of what we’ve done for mankind, but that’s not what it is. That ancient book is a manual of madness. Anyone who gets their hands on that book has the ability to twist the gifted into whatever they want. Can’t you see how dangerous that is?”
I could. It was like giving America’s nuclear codes to Iran.
“But without it, how do we know what to do? How do we beat the Destructors?” Without thinking, my mind had already done the switch. I was no longer a Destructor, and for as long as I would be alive, I would never call any good gifted a Destructor.