“How was your morning, Willow?” her mother asked.
“Great!” she concentrated on making sure her smile was perfectly shaped. Her mother had an uncanny knack of knowing when she was unsettled.
Hugo reached across the table for the sauce. “She was pretty good with her incantations.”
“Fabulous.” Audrey smiled; tears glistened in her eyes.
Thomas sat up in his chair. “No surprises there. She could count to ten by the time she was two.” He turned towards his daughter with a wide grin. “Can’t contain a dad’s pride all of the time.”
Willow ducked her head, half hiding her face with her hand. “Dad, you’re so embarrassing sometimes.”
“Sorry. Not another word.” He pretended to zip his mouth closed and winked.
Willow looked to her mother. “So what have you guys been up to?”
“Going over a list of dormant sanctuaries, trying to work out the logistics of reactivating a few of them,” her mother said. “Some of them haven’t been used for hundreds of years because of their remoteness. It just became difficult for families to stay in service to their Sanctuary. Can’t say I blame them. Now the dormant sanctuaries only get two visits a year. But the Wood Folk to this day continue to keep their Sanctuary fields active. Incredible.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Willow said. “Guess there’ll be a lot of that for a while.”
“No doubt,” her father said. “But you’ll learn the ropes quickly, I’m sure. You know, it’s always been a dream of mine to reactivate remote sanctuaries. Just never thought the opportunity would present itself like this. At least now we can get helicopters out to them, which means Light Keepers can stay at the Sanctuaries for short rotations.”
“Willow, dear,” Grandmother Hazel said, “I’m so excited for you becoming a Light Keeper. Tell us how your meeting went with some of the other Light Keepers.”
“They were really nice, Granna. I heard some great stories,” she said. “And some troubling ones. Apparently heaps of Light Keepers freeze up on their first go at making Light Streams.”
“Is that so?” Grandmother Hazel replied. “I suppose it would be overwhelming. And what about you, Hugo? How did yours go?”
“I spent half the morning chasing Chabels,” he said.
“Aah, I remember that well!” his father grinned.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t the usual kind of chasing. They were acting really weird. Like they were playing around with me. But I don’t think that’s possible – is it, Dad?”
“Hmm. They were probably just getting to know you. But keep an eye on that and let us know if it continues.”
“They’ll keep you fit, Hugo,” Thomas commented.
“Maybe you should dust the cobwebs off yours then, Dad,” Willow quipped.
Laughter erupted around the table, her father included.
Thomas smoothed a hand over his torso. “Her cheeky humour is all your fault, Audrey. I’m not carrying that much extra weight! My fitness is just fine, thank you very much.”
“Just kidding, Dad. You left yourself wide open and I couldn’t ignore the opportunity.”
“Happy to oblige my daughter,” he said.
Willow’s gaze followed a woman walking across the room wearing a purple cloak. “Who are the people in the purple cloaks?”
“People you don’t want to mess with,” he replied. “They’ve dedicated their lives to the study of Magic and Physics in the Light Arts. They’re the ones who make the real breakthroughs in the way we view our planet and Universe. If we figure it out down here on our own, we can gradually release that knowledge to members of mainstream science. An idea here, a suggestion there …”
“So maybe you’ll wear a purple cloak one day,” she said, as an image of him working in his study, hypothesising and calculating theories and ideas came to mind. “I still think life would be much easier if the Dream Keepers just told us Earth people a few things. Like, how to travel really fast in space … and, maybe, how to make a hover board with the Chabel technology?”
“That’d be awesome!” Hugo agreed. “I might put the Chabels under my skateboard …”
“Already tried it,” his father laughed. “Back in my youth. And I got a broken arm for my troubles.”
“Cool!” Hugo enthused.
“Huh! Looks like I’ve earned some street cred from my son.”
“I tried to put them under my surf board once,” Thomas added, shaking his head. “Same conclusion. But who knows, one day we just may have hover boards and be able to travel across the galaxies. Obviously we won’t be travelling through space on the hover boards, but many crazy ideas have triggered off real possibilities. Bottom line, we have to figure it out for ourselves. It’s the journey …”
“… to the truth that will eventually reveal the truth,” everyone around the table parroted with Thomas.
Finishing the quote, they all chuckled, with some of them raising their hands for a high five.
“You’ll have that mantra drummed into you too, Willow, over the coming years,” her father said.
“Sounds like it. Well, Dad, I’m counting on you to at least work out the hover board equation.”
Thomas smiled at his daughter. “No pressure then.”
The frivolity around the table quieted down as a green-cloaked man approached them and stopped beside Willow and Hugo. Everyone went quiet. Willow looked up and caught her breath in surprise: the old man had pink-coloured eyes.
“Councillor Augustus Moon,” he said, offering her his pale hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Willow.”
Willow shook his hand and tried not to stare. “Pleased to meet you too, Councillor Moon.”
“You have the pleasure of my company this afternoon. As do you, young man,” he added, giving Hugo a quick nod. “We’ll be covering a cornucopia of things that can go wrong in this line of work so make sure you have your wits about you.” He stretched his other hand out from under his cloak and glanced at his watch. “I’ll see you both on the second level in fifteen minutes sharp.” Augustus Moon swept his pink-eyed gaze over everyone else at the table and promptly departed.
“Did you see his watch?” Willow asked. “It had two faces, side by side. They had multiple hands, all spinning at different times.”
“Aah, the watch,” her father said. “He’s a member of the Council. They all have one. It measures the different magnetics around our planet and detects when magic is being used – including dark magic. I remember him from my school days here. He’s a serious fellow, but a brilliant teacher. You obviously noticed that he’s an albino, though his eyes aren’t sensitive to light. A bit of help from the magic books, I daresay.”
“You’re right about him being serious, Thomas,” John Babbington said. “Don’t play up in his class, you two,” he told Willow and Hugo intently. “We’ll never hear the end of it.”
Keeping Out of Trouble
Everyone stared, puzzled, towards the front of the classroom. Willow scanned the room for a seat but already half of them were taken by other new Light Keepers and Helpers. She pulled out a chair three rows from the front and sat beside a blonde-haired girl. Hugo found a seat two desks from her.
It was only when she had sat down, facing the front, that she realised why everyone looked puzzled. Willow gave the girl next to her a questioning look, but the girl just shrugged back. She turned back to Councillor Moon and waited to see if he would move. But he stood there, completely motionless, like he was in some kind of trance that was bordering on being really spooky.
More Light Keepers trickled into the class. Willow was thankful to have the seats in front of her filled. She watched as each of the new students sat down and replayed similar reactions to her own. One boy hadn’t even sat down before he noticed his zombie-like teacher. He looked at the other students, only to be met with shaking heads and blank stares. Some of them even managed a nervous giggle.
Finally Councillor Moon’s deep tones reverberated aroun
d the room, breaking the nervous silence, and caused half of the class to let out a gasp. “Good afternoon. For those who do not already know me, my name is Councillor Moon. As most of you are new to Light Keeping and time is of the essence, I will provide you with the most essential teachings for when things go wrong. But first, for all of you new students, a quick revision of history will be of benefit.
“A very long time ago,” Councillor Moon continued, “the Ancients were engaged in a battle with the Dark Forces. Maliceius had attempted – and to some degree, had succeeded – in drawing light from this Universe. His end game was to enslave Beings from all galaxies with his darkness. Now the Ancients, they held their ground. By accumulating enough light from a multitude of galaxies, they were able to overwhelm him. That is to say, Maliceius could no longer draw the light without it bringing light into his darkness. So he withdrew, and the balance of our polarised Universe was restored.”
Willow recalled reading about it in the TriGamon, but hearing this tale from Councillor Moon, along with his eerie stare, made it more than just a set of facts about an historical event; it made Willow’s skin tingle with the truth of it.
“Now, with all of that fresh in your minds, let’s begin with ‘what to do when things go wrong’. And trust me,” he said looking at them with those disconcerting pink eyes, “at some point, they will go wrong.”
Willow straightened up in her seat just that little bit more. She glanced at some of the other students. At least they were all in the same boat – they all appeared to be just as nervous as she was.
“First, let me tell you what won’t go wrong,” Councillor Moon said. “The TriVrata. It has intelligence far beyond our current understanding. It has never, and I repeat never, been wrong. So, for the times when things do go wrong, it will be human error, without doubt. Or, perhaps something else entirely – but you’d better hope not.” His pink-eyed stare travelled from student to student.
Willow breathed a quiet sigh when he overlooked her.
“Whatever the situation, my first piece of advice to you is this: Do not panic! If you allow panic to take hold, it will be your undoing. The first thing to do is to breathe, people. Remember to breathe. And once you have acquired the necessary skills, you must simply apply them correctly. You must focus, then act.”
There was that mantra again, thought Willow.
“And when I say ‘focus’,” Councillor Moon added, “I do not mean ‘stare like a stunned mullet’! No. I am referring to the kind of focus where you draw all of your senses inward, to the very moment you are presently experiencing, to what is happening to you and around you.” He slowly walked across the room. “Annabelle,” he barked to a girl at the back, “what have you noticed as I walked across the room?”
There was an uncomfortable silence before she replied. “Aah … That you … walked slowly?” she suggested.
“What else?” he snapped.
“Um. That you put your hands in your pockets briefly?”
“Yes, yes. What else?”
She hesitated. “I don’t really …”
“Case in point,” he cut in, his eyes fixed on her. “You are observing like a stunned mullet. That is NOT focus. Do not use the visual sense as the dominant tool in a situation. I want you to notice the sounds you hear, the temperature in the room, the smells in the air. Textures, tastes, they all play their part. How you observe is crucial. Feeling your body’s reaction to a situation is especially important; it tells you how you are handling the situation. As you learn to home in on the seemingly individual aspects of any given moment, your focus suddenly becomes intensified. The panicked voice in your head that is speaking gibberish subsides, and an active calmness flows through you. A deeper faculty has come into operation. It is from this position that you will know how to ‘act’.” Councillor Moon walked back to his desk. “Waking up in the Sanctuary was only the first step: waking up to your real capabilities, that is what I can teach you.”
Phew. Willow realised she had barely blinked the whole time he was speaking. Poor Annabelle. Willow was glad she hadn’t been singled out. She had to admit, this guy was making sense even if he did scare the bejeebies out of her. She had felt that deep calmness on several occasions: she just wasn’t aware of how it had come about.
“I assume all of you have been taught the breathing technique,” he continued. “Being aware of your breathing is the single most effective way to reduce panic and bring about a state of calm. Common sense is another obvious tool to use. Remember the theory of Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is usually correct. If that fails … well, let’s hope it isn’t too difficult to work out the situation. I’m sure the Ancients made sure you all have at least half a brain but if something has gone very wrong, you will need your spells and your wits.” Councillor Moon scanned the room, his eyes darting about before eventually resting on Hugo. “Hugo Babbington, tell me what you would do if you lost your Chabels? Your Chabels, boy, not your marbles.”
A faint titter passed through the room. Hugo swallowed and met Councillor Moon’s gaze. “Um – I … I would look for signs in the woods from the Wood Folk.”
“Bravo. And what if it was a really bad day and the Wood Folk were unable to communicate with you because the energy fields were damaged? What if the Dark Forces were wreaking havoc in your Sanctuary, looking for you and the Light Keeper under your watch? What then, Mr Babbington?”
Hugo licked his lips before answering. “Aah … I’m, I’m not exactly sure,” he stumbled.
Augustus Moon narrowed his eyes. “Hard to admit to being out of your depth. Thank you, Mr Babbington, for not wasting my time by rambling.” He clasped his hands behind his back and paced the floor in the other direction. “None of you has the luxury to learn slowly. If you want to live through a bad day – and tell the tale – pay attention now.”
Willow stared at the blank note pad in front of her, not daring to look up. She took the pen sitting on top and gripped it tightly.
“Number one,” began Councillor Moon, “you must always carefully assess the situation at hand. If any kind of magic is required, you will need to focus, so besides your breathing, the first thing in an emergency is to become fully aware of your surroundings by using all of your senses. Number two: choose your spells wisely. Each one is unique and precise in its capabilities. Number three …”
On and on he went. Willow kept writing, not looking up once.
“Now that you have the Fundamental Principles,” Councillor Moon concluded, “let me explain the procedure you would undertake with Hugo’s dilemma of a very bad day in the Sanctuary.” He surveyed the room coolly, his pale features emphasising his coolness. “You have all memorised a number of spells to protect and repair the Sanctuary. However in such a situation, you would first use the spell that pulls in your energy field so that you are rendered virtually invisible. Remember: ‘Nostro Entarius’. This will protect you for a short time only, I might add, but it will be enough time to get to safety – the Keeper’s Safe perhaps, before the Dark servants figure out where you have gone.” His eyes briefly met Hugo’s again. “Your first responsibility is to protect the TriVrata and yourselves. Everything else is secondary. Of course, should something so dire ever occur, the Dormant Spells would be invoked.” His tone was foreboding.
Willow couldn’t stop gazing up at him. Councillor Moon turned towards her and she held her breath, staring – like a stunned mullet. Oh God, she thought, he’s going to ask me something! For some reason, she was spared; his pink eyes continued roaming.
After three very long hours, Councillor Moon declared “lesson over”. Willow’s whole body sagged with relief.
“That was worse than bad,” Hugo voiced in the hallway. “And we’ve got him again tomorrow.”
“I know,” Willow moaned. “I felt like I was in a pressure cooker!” She looked ahead to some of the other students. “Well, at least the ‘meet and greet’ with the fresh recruits should be better. It’ll be nice to kn
ow other newbies like me.”
“Felt for you in there, Hugo,” an older boy said as he passed them.
“Thanks, Sam,” Hugo replied.
The Meet and Greet room was crowded and noisy. Willow realised there must have been quite an influx of Awakenings in the past month. There were at least eighty people in the room ranging from her age, to someone who looked about thirty. She spied a long table filled with fruit platters and cakes. “That’s a good starting point,” she said, nudging Hugo and pointing towards the table.
A big gulp of peppermint tea and a mouthful of cake, and Willow began to feel the tension of that class melting away. As she ate, her gaze roamed around the room. A girl in her late teens with long, dyed red hair caught Willow’s eye. There were black streaks in her hair – a striking effect. She was talking with three younger female Light Keepers that Willow recognised from class.
“Catch you later,” she said to Hugo, heading their way with her cup and last chunk of cake.
The red-haired girl paused mid-flow as Willow approached and welcomed her with a smile. “Just describing my first meeting with Peonie, if you want to join us,” she said in an Australian accent. “I’m Jessie.”
Willow flicked an ‘I’m okay’ smile at Hugo, who had been watching, and focused back on what Jessie was saying.
“So, there I was, about to take a selfie with this fairly rare parrot in the tree behind me, when all of a sudden this green mist starts appearing not far from where I’m standing. I was so freaked out that I dropped my phone. The bird got scared and flew off, and I just stood there, staring, and gradually realising that this bizarre green fog was Peonie. Mum and Dad had told me about her two years earlier so I wasn’t totally surprised. Not like you,” she said to Willow.
Willow Bloom and the Dream Keepers Page 12