by Mia Castile
Rebekka Solomon
Gideon looked up from the letter. Tears streamed down both of our faces. He didn’t say anything as I put my hand on his shoulder. He folded the letter and put it into the envelope. Then we went to bed. We had a full day ahead of us.
When the alarm went off, I felt like I had just closed my eyes. I heard Gideon go into the bathroom. I was so tired. I didn’t have a final exam left. All I had were the wrap-up classes that were about thirty minutes each and my free period. I got up and decided what I would wear to school. As I gathered my things to get ready to leave, Gideon was making some toast. He gave me a piece and some juice.
“Thanks, Gid,” I smiled.
“I’ve gotta take care of you, right?” He picked up the envelope, and we began our last trek together to school.
As we left the apartment building, we saw a lot more people out and about than usual—city trucks and what looked like construction workers walking around buildings. After we passed the bookstore, we saw news vans and crews along the sidewalks. A government official was giving a statement. We stood in the crowd and watched.
“We can neither confirm nor deny that what we experienced this morning around two a.m. was an earthquake. We have top scientists from the university analyzing the data right now. Our city doesn’t sit on a fault line. We’ve never had an earthquake here. I do not have any reason to believe that is what happened; however, we cannot rule it out until we go over the data.”
I looked at Gideon. He looked just as confused as I was.
“Did you feel anything last night?” I asked him.
“I heard thunder that sounded like it hit something, but when the power didn’t go out, I figured nothing was harmed.”
The spokesperson continued, “Clearly whatever it was caused significant damage to several buildings in this general area. We’ll not have an assessment until we know how far the damage reached. That is all the information we have at this time. We will notify the public as news develops.”
We headed to school again. I didn’t understand what I was hearing. We walked the rest of the way in silence. The first bell rang as we approached the front door.
“Good luck today, Gid. See ya later.” I waved as we went two different directions inside the door.
“Later, kid, thanks.” He turned and was gone.
“I heard that there was this bright light right after the earthquake,” said the boy who sat beside me in first period to a group of classmates.
“I heard that there was this woman who disappeared in the middle of it. Like the earth swallowed her up whole,” another boy chimed in.
“No!” The boy stopped him. “She was an angel protecting us against some evil force. Light shone from her. From her eyes and from her hair to her fingertips to her toes, and she disappeared after the light faded because she defeated it. She stood in the middle of the street and disappeared.”
“How do you know that that’s what happened?” I interjected.
“Because my aunt’s new husband’s niece’s neighbor saw it.”
“Really, well that’s as good as gold, huh?” I joked. Everyone laughed, but I was suddenly very aware of what had caused the “earthquake.”
Chapter 21
After first period, I searched for anyone to talk to about what I had learned. I found Gideon and Moriah.
I rushed up to Gideon’s locker, startling them. “I’m calling an emergency meeting after school.”
“Why, what happened?” Moriah asked, concerned.
“Whoa, what’s going on, Ellie?” Gideon shared her concern.
“I just figured out what happened last night is all. We need to talk, all seven of us.” They could tell I was serious.
As I went to my classes, I didn’t know how I was going to tell them, but I had to, and we had to come up with a plan. Like clockwork, Zeke was there waiting for me as I emerged from the building. He walked up to me and met me halfway. He reached and took my hand.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“It was long.” This seemed like a contradiction since today was an early-release day. I was about to tell him about the emergency meeting when Gideon, Moriah, and Selah approached us. Zeke smiled at them.
“All right, Ellie, we’re here. Let’s go.” Gideon was still concerned.
“Whoa, go where?” Zeke was now confused.
“To your house, Zeke.” I turned to all of them.“We have a major break in our little mystery that we need to discuss. I want to tell everyone at one time.” We loaded into Zeke’s car and made the silent drive to his house.
Once we arrived, Hanna ushered us in. We all sat around her dining room table. They looked at me expectantly, but I still didn’t know where I was going to begin.
“Where’s Ben?” I asked.
“He’s still at school; he’ll be home soon. What’s going on, Ellie?” Hanna asked, as she sat down glasses and a pitcher of iced tea.
“I guess I can start without him.” I stood up and began, “After you dropped me off last night.” I gestured to Zeke. “Ben was outside my apartment door; he said he needed to talk. We went in; he was upset. We kind of had a disagreement, and Ben left.” Just then Ben appeared in the doorway. He and Zeke shared a look that I couldn’t read. I wondered if they had also had words when he came home. I was suddenly more nervous, but I continued, “Ben, please sit down. This is major.” He sat down beside Selah and didn’t even look at me. “After Ben left, I guess I lay down. I don’t remember much, but I do remember being cornered in an alley by the wolf we’ve all come to know and love.” My sarcasm was thick; no one laughed. “I thought I was dreaming because he spoke to me. He didn’t just growl my name. Somewhere in our conversation I went out on a limb and mentioned that he was your father.” I looked from Ben to Zeke. “It was really a shot in the dark, but he confirmed it. He said he would kill you.” I turned to Gideon. “He said he’d kill all of you. I don’t know what happened, but I threw my hands in front of me and there was loud thunder, a bright light, and a strong wind that threw him. I think I injured him. I did it again, and he ran away. I thought I was dreaming until this morning on the way to school.” No one said anything for a few minutes. Then Hanna sat down at the head of the table.
“What exactly did he say? Please, Ellie, this is important. What exactly did you say?” she asked, as she looked down at her hands.
I hated telling them exactly what he said, especially Ben and Zeke, but I told them his every word. “So how can we stop him?” I finished and sat back down.
“Our father is alive?” Ben questioned.
“Our father is evil. If he is alive, what does this mean, Mom?” Zeke looked to Hanna. Her eyes were glassy, filled with tears that hadn’t fallen.
“It means that he’s probably been planning this for years. It means we have to find him before it’s too late,” Hanna spoke softly.
“Do you think he wants to steal our gifts like he wanted to steal your Generation’s?” Gideon asked.
“Maybe he could just want revenge,” Ben interjected
“Who knows what he wants other than to destroy us,” Selah stated.
“This makes sense now,” Hanna said. “I should have realized this sooner.” She turned to me. “You had more than a Glimpse. I don’t know of anyone having that much strength before their eighteenth birthday.” Zeke smiled at me across the table.
“She damaged all the buildings in an eight-block radius,” Ben declared proudly. I hoped that meant he had forgiven me and was ready to move forward and be friends.
“So what does that mean?” I asked Hanna again.
“Is there something that you would like to hold, maybe this pen?” She reached into the drawer of her side cabinet and pulled out a pen. She sat it on the table. I reached for it. It didn’t come to me. “Concentrate, Ellie.” I stared at it, willing it to come to me. It didn’t.
“It was just a Glimpse,” Selah said in a hushed tone.
“I don’t know, maybe. That
was a lot of power,” Hanna said.
“Ellie, I think you were summoned by the wolf, maybe to test a Glimpse or something.” Moriah had been silent throughout most of the conversation.
“If he wants to test the strength of Glimpses, will he be summoning Ben too?” Zeke began pacing. “Gideon, can you channel him?”
“Man, I’ve been trying since the first attack,” Gideon replied, shaking his head.
“He probably has you blocked similar to what I did when we first met,” Hanna observed.
“Do you think he knows how strong and close we are becoming? I feel our strength growing; can he?” Moriah asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “He’s a brilliant man. He’s very calculating.” You could hear in her voice that she still loved him. “Zeke, go get the book.” He turned and climbed the stairs. He returned shortly with a book that looked older than time. It was thick, and the pages were parchment. It had raised trim and gold lettering of language and symbols I’d never seen before.
“What am I looking for?” Zeke asked his mom as he thumbed through the book.
“Incantations, accelerating gifts, receiving gifts, I don’t know, um possession.” She paused and buried her head in her hands. Zeke stood there staring at her. I don’t think he’d ever seen her like this. Ben stood up and walked over to her. She scooted her chair out. He knelt down and put his head in her lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. She cradled his head and began to sob. The tears rolling from her eyes pulled my heart apart, and my eyes welled up with tears. Moriah and Selah were clearly shaken too. Gideon pulled them toward the side door. Zeke still stood there staring at her. I went to him, took his hand, and led him into the living room. I put my arms around his shoulders. He put his hands on my waist and pulled me close to him. We stood there. I just held him; and we stood there. We didn’t say anything; we didn’t need to. I could feel his heart breaking for himself and his mother, too.
“Promise me?” He raised his head to look at me. “That no matter what the temptation is you will never choose The Noctem.”
“I promise. Promise me?” I said, as I rested my head against his heart.
“I promise,” he whispered back to me.
When we went back into the dining room, Hanna had regained her composure. Gideon, Moriah, and Selah were coming back inside too. Ben walked outside. Zeke looked at me, knowing that I had to go to him. I stood. Selah stood, too. I smiled at her perception. She took my hand, and we went outside with him.
“You OK?” she asked as we opened the side door.
“Yeah.” He looked up from the bottom step at us both standing in the doorway and turned around to face the sunset. “I just needed some air. I’ve never seen my mom like that. When I was little, really little, sometimes I would hear her cry, and I’d go into her room and lie with her until she fell back asleep. As I got older, she didn’t do that as much.” He let out a big sigh. Selah wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind.
“This has been quite an interesting afternoon for all of us,” she whispered in his ear.
“You’re telling me.” He sighed again. I stood in the doorway and didn’t know what to say. Selah was comforting him; I didn’t even have to be there. I just stood there as Gideon came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders
He said, “Selah, Moriah, and I have rehearsal for graduation tonight. Are you going to be OK?” I nodded. “You need to come with us. Zeke is going to take you home to get ready before he comes back to get ready.” I went back inside and gathered my things. We each hugged Hanna goodbye. Ben decided to stay with her. She could protect him better than any of the others. We dropped them off at school. Zeke and I made the drive back to our apartment.
Chapter 22
As Zeke and I entered the living room, I handed him the remote. He sat down and made himself comfortable. I made Gideon a bag. I knew he wouldn’t have time to come back home. He said he’d get cleaned up in the locker room. I put all his things in the bag and put it by the stairs. I fixed Zeke a drink and headed to my room to get ready. I got out the dress I had bought at the thrift shop weeks ago when we shopped for things for the apartment. I laid it on my bed and found the strappy sandal heels I’d gotten the same day at the shoe store. I hunted for bargains. I could have never bought them at the original price. It sometimes was a game to me: find the most for the least amount. I went into the bathroom and got ready. I knew Zeke still had to get ready, so I hurried. He was watching TV as I emerged from the bedroom. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at me. From head to toe, he surmised me.
“So. . . you’re making me nervous. Do I look OK?” I asked feeling self-conscious.
“Um, yeah, you look really great.” He stuttered over his words.
“Thanks, that’s better,” I smiled. I walked over to him, and he took my hand. We went back to his house.
I sat on the couch in their great room with Hanna and Ben. We were watching a movie Ben had insisted his mother needed to watch to cheer her up. It was a martial arts movie with subtitles. He was really into it, but Hanna was more focused on her crossword puzzle. She only looked up when a fight scene started. Ben was imitating the moves from where he sat on the couch. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. Zeke casually walked into the room from the kitchen. He looked like he had stepped out of a catalogue with his navy jacket thrown over his shoulder, his khaki pants, and white crisp shirt. His tie was tied impeccably. He looked hot.
“So. . . you’re making me nervous. Do I look OK?” I smiled at his joke, realizing that I must have looked at him the way he had stared at me earlier.
“Sweetie, you look so handsome,” Hanna interjected.
“Thanks, Mom,” he smiled back at her. I stood up and walked to his side.
“Ready to go?” He reached for my hand, and I nodded yes. When we got to the school and entered the gymnasium, all the graduates were standing in groups talking. I found Gideon and gave him his bag. He went off and changed. He got back just in time to get in line. Zeke and I found our seats. We saved a seat for Nancy. We expected her at any time.
“You really look beautiful,” Zeke leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“Thank you. You look extremely handsome,” I whispered back.
“Am I interrupting something here?” Nancy peered over her square-rimmed glasses.
“Nancy!” I stood up to hug her. “This is Zeke.” He stood up and extended his hand. She shook it, still scrutinizing him.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he smiled.
“The pleasure is all mine,” she smiled coolly, as she stepped over us to find her seat beside me.
“It should be starting soon,” I smiled nervously.
“I’m very proud of your brother. How are things working out? How’s the apartment?” She smiled warmly at me.
“The apartment is good. We love being on our own, and we are looking ahead to the future.” Zeke squeezed my arm.
“That’s good. Ellie, I’ve known you a long time. You seem different now,” she spoke softly.
“Is that good?” I asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” she said frankly. The processional began playing as the graduates made their way to their designated seats. The principal made a speech to the graduates, and then the salutatorian made her speech. Finally, the valedictorian was announced. Gideon stood and walked to the podium.
“My fellow students, distinguished staff, family, and friends. Today is the first of many cornerstones in our lives. In this class I see doctors, lawyers, homemakers, entrepreneurs, and the boundless, limitless opportunity of success. If today we had the opportunity to meet ourselves twenty years down the road, do you think we’d listen to the words of wisdom we’d offer ourselves? There’s a greater world out there than what we see in front of us here in this small town. Go out and discover it. We must never forget where we came from or how we made the journey to where we are. That is what makes us who we are. The journey to succ
ess is full of failure. It only takes one time to succeed. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t lose yourself in your quest to be who you will become.