by Brandt Legg
“How many have I met so far?”
“You tell me.”
“Spencer, Gibi, Amparo, Crowd, and you make five. So ten more to go?”
“Correct, they’ll come five at a time. There are three periods until you complete your journey. You’re in the first one now. After you encounter the fifteenth, you’ll be a mystic yourself. But your journey is long.”
“Really? I’ll be a mystic?”
“Probably the youngest one in modern times—in human terms, anyway. It’s not like you’ll get a plaque or anything, boy. You keep seeking by sharing your knowledge. The more you share, the more you’ll find.”
“So where are the remaining mystics?”
“They’ll appear when you’re ready. Could be fifty years from now the way you act sometimes.”
“If you’re so enlightened, why are you so negative?”
“Just reflecting that aspect of you, Nayyy-thonn. Suppose your friend Linh was here and I was helping her. You might wonder if I was some saint of sweetness and light. It all depends on the student. Think of me as a mirror.”
“I’m not like you.”
He laughed hard and loud, calming just long enough to say, “Well, you shouldn’t be, boy, that’s for sure.” Then he laughed some more.
What did he mean? I didn’t act like him. I didn’t talk to people like he did—well, maybe to my mother, but that was complicated. If my anger came out like his, why did I have such good friends?
He stared into my eyes, “When you’re ready, I’ll show you the entrance.”
“The entrance?”
“Come back here in an hour, and I’ll take you there.”
I went back to the tent, filled my water bottle, ate, and tried the cell phone again in a few new spots. At the far end of the campground, I found that by standing on a picnic table and leaning a certain way there was just enough coverage for a call; the phone at the hospital rang. I waited, hoping the call wouldn’t drop, while they connected me to Mom’s room.
“Nate, I’ve been so worried. The doctor plans on releasing me tomorrow sometime.”
“That’s great news. Hey, have you heard anything from Tanya?”
“She came by to see me a little while ago. They let her go home. Have you seen Dustin?”
“He’s okay. We’re getting him tomorrow.”
“How? Do you have help? I don’t want you doing anything crazy.”
I shouldn’t have told her, but I knew she wasn’t going to wait much longer before going to the police or the press. “I have more help than you can believe, Mom. He’ll be free tomorrow. Trust me.”
“I do, Sweetie. Just be careful. I just spoke with Sam. He called the restaurant when you didn’t show up for the conference call with his sister this morning, and they told him I was here. Even if you get Dustin, we still need an attorney to sort this out and locate Rose. His sister sounds perfect.”
“There was no way to make the meeting, and phone coverage here is no good. I’ll call him tomorrow when I’m back in Ashland to set up another one.”
“Okay. When there’s news, you can get me at Josh’s. I lost my phone in the accident. He’s picking me up tomorrow, and I’m going to stay with him for a day so I’m not alone.”
48
The Old Man was waiting at the cove.
“Where would you put a portal to a crossroads of multi-dimensional fields?” he asked.
“Wizard Island?”
“See, boy, you’re much smarter than you look.”
“How are we going to get out there?”
“Can’t you swim?”
“Sure, but not in that cold water.”
“Follow me.” We took a trail to the shore where he knelt down and said, “Get on my shoulders.”
He pointed to his shoulders and had a don’t-argue-boy, look. Once I was on, he pushed out into the water. Instantly, I was standing on top of the tree trunk moving swiftly toward the island. I knew he was the floating tree! I couldn’t wait to tell Kyle. The top of the trunk was wide enough to be very comfortable and, other than the bobbing, it was a smooth ride. Being on the Old Man of the Lake floating across the ancient volcanic crater made me feel as if I was at the center of the universe.
I gazed down at our reflection in the water, almost a perfect dark mirror. The Old Man was right; he was a reflection of me. The cliffs rose dramatically from the blue liquid, which couldn’t possibly be water. Trees, oversaturated green from a dream, all looked like something Gibi had invented for my mind alone.
We came ashore on Wizard Island and once again I was on his shoulders, unsure how it happened. He sat on a boulder, which made it easy for me to climb off; I wasn’t the least bit wet.
“You really are the king of shapeshifters,” I said with a smile.
“I’m not the king of anything except maybe this lake. If you live long enough, I may teach you how one day.”
“I’ll remind you.”
“You do that.” He laughed.
“Why aren’t there any people here?”
“No boats running this afternoon,” he said with a wink. “Mechanical failure.”
The three-hundred-acre island was formed out of the eruption, leaving a cinder cone that rose more than 750 feet out of the water. We followed a trail and a series of switchbacks that wound around to the top.
“Where’s the vortex?”
“The whole lake is the vortex. Can’t you feel it?”
“So, that’s the portal?” I asked, staring down into the crater. It was about five hundred feet across and called the “Witches Cauldron.” I could imagine Kyle rolling his eyes at the name. I gazed down a hundred feet or so to the bottom. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust enough to see the shimmers. It was similar to the portal in the redwoods, but this one was bigger, and because it was inside a crater rather than floating in thin air, it had a whole different appearance—dark and dense, rather than light and airy.
“Where does it go?”
“Through it you can travel wherever you want. But it’s not like astral traveling. You’ll arrive in your physical body, and you can stay.”
“So I could just hop over to London right now?”
“Yes, you could. But you’d need to return on one of those fancy airplane things because you don’t know where another portal is over there.”
“Why couldn’t I come back through the same portal?”
“Because as soon as you step out, it closes. It’s a one-way road unless you stay inside.”
“And how does it know where I want to go?”
“That’s more of a quantum physics kind of question. Ask that smart friend of yours, Kyle; he might be able to explain it to you. I’m only an old fisherman. But I can tell you this: portals are a concentration of energy—a gargantuan concentration but still just a concentration— and the time and distances are only about perception. Everything is now, so . . . oh hell, you ain’t gonna understand this anyway, even if I do figure out how to explain it.”
“Okay, but what if I go somewhere through the portal and stay inside it. Can I reach out and pull something or someone back into it and then travel back through it to here?”
“I believe you could, but if you’re thinking of rescuing your brother, I have to tell you that plenty can go wrong. Portals aren’t child’s play . . . boy.”
Obviously, that’s what I was thinking. I’d thought about it in Lost Monarch after coming out of the redwoods portal, but Gibi had explained that that portal was random, meaning I couldn’t direct my travels. Through it, I would arrive where I needed to be, like seeing the destruction of trees and its deep connection to our suffering. But this was another thing altogether.
“How many are there like this?”
“Hard to say. Most portals have specific destinations. Some are random, but this is the only one I know of that lets you decide. There are probably others I don’t know about. Like I said, I don’t get out much. Course, there’s Calyndra, south of here, but it’s a t
ough one to find . . . and the past is better left alone.”
“Do I jump?”
“If you’re ready.”
I climbed up to the rim and dove without a second thought. It went completely dark and I almost panicked, but then brightness overtook everything. I was inside the light. The same whirl of stars and the white sound of wind and ocean from the redwoods portal told me I was about there. I looked out at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and was right in front of the antique door to the Hibbs family mausoleum. I pulled the key from my pocket and slid it into the lock. It turned. I smiled, then locked it again. A second later, I was back on Wizard Island.
All I had done once inside the portal was think, “What does this key go to?” and instantly and physically I was there. Now I knew where the key went but not why my dad had so carefully hidden it. My intuition told me that among the bodies buried in that tomb something else was concealed, something I needed.
49
Back at my picnic table with cell phone reception, I called Kyle and told him not to return for me yet. Instead, I asked him to meet me in another location Tuesday right after school.
“Nate, think everything through. Meditate on it, meditate for hours.”
On my next call Amber answered, almost before it rang. “Kyle wouldn’t tell me anything, just that you guys didn’t stay in Brookings. Where are you? Is everything okay?”
“I’m at Crater Lake.”
“Why?”
“It’s safe.”
“How long can you stay there? What are we going to do?”
“The longer I run, the stronger I get.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I know it sounds silly, but I feel like I’m in training.”
“For what? Do you think you can get Dustin and Rose back by yourself?”
“I’m not alone—.” The signal went, and I couldn’t get it back.
Old Man came by with more wood and we talked for a while. “Did you find out where your key goes?” he asked.
“Yes, but not why I have it.”
“A key like that keeps secrets buried. Are there secrets you need to know?”
“I don’t know.”
“We have a place deep in the woods, high in the mountains. It’s a vault built into the earth and surrounded by stones where we keep what is most precious to my people.”
“What is it?”
“Seeds.”
“Sounds like a lot of trouble for something you can pick up at any hardware store.”
“These are original seeds, sown by the ancestors, passed down, maintained, and protected. Your people are changing seeds, putting patents on them, genetically modifying them, angering Mother Earth, risking the very survival of food, of man . . . ”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now you do. And now that you do, you shall do.”
“Do what?”
“You’ll think of something.”
I finished dinner and was nagged by a strong feeling to check on Dustin. In less than a minute I was on the astral and horrified by what awaited me in his room.
“Can you see this, Nathan?” Fitts asked in a twisted voice as he hit Dustin’s body with an aluminum bat and then repeatedly punched his face.
“Stop,” I screamed. My presence brought a flash of recognition to Dustin. His eyes opened momentarily, filled with agony. It must have been going on for a while because his face was bloody, his screams hoarse and weak.
“I know you can see me, Nathan. You messed up my vocal cords with your cowardly kicks at the river. Now I’m going to make it so your brother can’t talk. Enjoy the show while I kill him. And as soon as I’m done here, I’m coming to find you and end this once and for all.”
I couldn’t see Fitts’ face, but I could almost hear his sinister smile as he delighted in the beating. Blood sprayed from Dustin’s mouth. I was powerless to stop him, and Dustin seemed to know this as no fight remained in him. My screams were constant. “No, no, no! Stop please! I’ll come, you can have me!”
Fitts couldn’t hear me, but Dustin did. He shook his head slightly. He didn’t want me to save him. It was too late.
Then I remembered the portal. I could get to him. But how long would it take me to get to Wizard Island without the Old Man? Once I was there, I could be in his room in an instant. I could shove a Lusan down Fitts’ throat and then use one to heal Dustin. But how long would that take? I’d have to leave the astral while I tried to get to the island, which meant not seeing what was going on. There was no point in watching him die. I ran toward the cove. “How does he know I can see him? How does he know where I am?” I asked myself as I rushed through the trees.
I kept hoping to see the Old Man. It was dark, but my night vision easily showed a hundred feet ahead. I Skyclimbed down to the cove, and miraculously he was there. He’ll take me to the island. I’ll be with Dustin in minutes.
“Old Man!” I shouted.
The figure turned. It wasn’t the Old Man, and as I saw his face, I knew I wasn’t going to save Dustin.
50
Spencer’s look was at once pleading, compassionate and forceful.
“Help me Spencer!” I cried. “He’s killing Dustin! There’s no time!”
He shook his head and came close to hug me.
“No!” I pushed him away. “We have to go now.” I scoured the area for the Old Man, a boat, anything that could get me to the island. “Help me, Spencer. You have to help me.”
“Nate, no. It isn’t time.”
“There is no time. You didn’t see what they’re doing to him.”
“I have seen. I’m seeing it right now.”
“You can see Dustin? Is he still alive? Is Fitts still beating him?”
“He’s alive at the moment.”
I collapsed to the ground.
“Fitts has left the room.”
I tried to see for myself, but calm and focus were required to access the astral, neither of which I had at the moment. Spencer helped me up. I shoved him again. “This is your fault. If you had let me go when I wanted to, he’d be here now and not dying alone in some room.”
“Nate,” his voice gentle and soft.
“No! If he dies, I’m not playing anymore. I’ll renounce all my abilities just like my dad did. You can find yourself another boy wonder.”
“They won’t let him die.”
“You don’t know that. You’re just seeing how it looks now. And you saw him. Fitts beat him to a pulp. Will he be brain-damaged, crippled? He could be bleeding to death. Where in hell have you been, anyway?”
His empathetic eyes never left me.
“You’re trying to calm me like I did the seagull. You’re in my mind. Stop, I don’t like that.” No wonder Kyle got mad at me; it’s not fun having someone mess with your head for real. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you have to be sedated.”
“I’m not staying here. I’ll find a way to—”
Tuesday, September 30
It was still dark when I woke in the cove; a campfire burned. Although Spencer was no longer sending me calming suggestions, I was relaxed and rested. He must have known I was awake but kept staring into the darkness toward the lake. My cell phone indicated it was just before five a.m. I’d slept all night.
Getting on the astral was easy. Dustin was crumpled on the floor next to the bed, bloodied and not moving. I couldn’t be sure he was breathing and tried speaking to him, telling him I’d be there soon. No response. Even if he heard, he wouldn’t believe me anymore.
“I should have gone yesterday,” I said quietly.
“You and Dustin would be dead. I have no doubt. Today’s the only day there’s a chance.”
“You think he’s still alive?”
Spencer nodded.
“So you’ll help?”
“Tell me your plan.”
I explained my ideas to use some of my powers.
“Sounds like you’re counting on a lot of luck
. You’re too new to Solteer, and you shouldn’t even know how to plant thoughts yet. Making people see things takes control that you won’t have in this type of confrontation. Gibi was premature in showing you.”
“You know Gibi? She said she never heard of you.”
“Gibi knows me by another name.”
“What name? Cope?”
“No. It’s not a word. Let’s get back to your plan.”
“The only way I can get rid of the guards is with Lusans.”
“It’s not a weapon,” he said firmly.
“I know, but it’s all I’ve got. What if I could get a gun?”
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
“No, but I’ve seen a lot of movies.”
“Let’s leave the guns to experts.” He stared at me sternly. “What if Fitts is there, too?”
“That would be a nightmare. Spencer, can you come with me?”
“No.”
“Why? Don’t tell me it’s complicated,” I said with a glare. “Am I going to be able to do this?”
“Today’s the first day you’ve had any chance. It’s still iffy, but if you don’t get him today, Dustin will be dead tomorrow. There is no question.”
“You don’t think I should go, do you?”
“I know you have to.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“No, I didn’t. Only you can decide. If you go, you and Dustin both may die today. If you don’t, Dustin will be dead tomorrow and you’ll never forgive yourself. If he dies like this, part of you will die, too, the best part. So, it doesn’t matter what I think.”
Neither of us spoke for a while.
“Can’t you teach me some other power I can use?”
“Nate, you need time to absorb what you’ve already remembered. None of what you’ve been doing is strong enough because you’re too scattered. Anything more and your strength will dilute beyond usefulness.”
“Throw me into a slaughter then. I don’t want to talk about the plan anymore. I’m going today, and I’ll figure it out when I get there.” I tossed a branch into the fire. The sky was showing the first signs of light. “Why isn’t Rose being held with Dustin?”