by A. P. Jensen
“What time is it?” Jordan asked.
“Almost nine. We slept the day away.”
Cibrian backed away as Knight peered through Jordan’s legs at him.
“You hungry?” Levi asked.
They walked across the room to the main living area. Either the adults were sleeping or out in Wintra. Cibrian was the first to spot the gift bags on the crystal coffee table. He looked into the bags and whooped. He pulled out a piece of shimmering silk and like a professional housekeeper snapped it in one swift motion. The silver silk cascaded out in a perfect square big enough for all three teens to sit comfortably on it. The silk pulled taut and looked as firm as iron. It floated in midair at a perfect height for someone to step on.
“Come on, Jordan,” Cibrian said and jumped on.
Knight growled menacingly at the square but Jordan was too eager to be cautious. She stepped onto the ultrathin square which remained stiff and unyielding beneath their combined weight. The square quivered like a car revving its engine, anxious to be on a racetrack.
Levi picked up a note beside the gift bags. “Everyone deserves to have a magic carpet. Have fun. Be safe. I almost picked out an animal print one for Cibrian but decided that these three would be best. The carpet blends into any environment.”
Jordan and Cibrian looked down. The silk was now so sheer Jordan could see Knight’s blue eyes glaring up at her. The silver of the silk square blended with their ice surroundings perfectly. Levi pulled out another silk square and wrapped it around himself. He disappeared.
“I love Aunt Kelly,” Cibrian said fervently.
“How do you make it go?” Levi asked, reappearing as he unwrapped himself from the silk.
“With your mind,” Cibrian said.
The carpet bolted across the room. Jordan wrapped her arms around Cibrian to keep herself from being thrown off. She swore they were moving over forty miles an hour. The room turned into a blur of color. Jordan let the roar of wind fill her ears and tipped her back. When Jordan had her fill she tapped Cibrian and he slowed. She hopped off and staggered. Cibrian laughed manically as his carpet flipped upside down and caught him before he hit the ground.
“Crazy,” Jordan muttered.
Levi was impressed but didn’t get on his own carpet. Jordan pulled out the last silk square and found that it could be folded small enough to fit in her pocket. After twenty minutes of daring tricks, Cibrian jumped off the carpet and it folded in midair. His cheeks were filled with color and his eyes danced with delight.
“Mom never let me have a magic carpet,” Cibrian said, reverently patting the folded carpet like a prized horse.
“For good reason,” Jordan said.
“I guess. Don’t tell her.”
Levi seemed more troubled by Kelly’s gift than pleased. They headed for the kitchen. Jordan and Levi sat on barstools as Cibrian peered at a note on the counter.
“Corn chowder and chili in the fridge. Wear gloves, it’s hot. Love, Kelly,” Cibrian said aloud.
He put on thick oven mitts and opened the refrigerator and pulled out two steaming pots. Cibrian bustled around the kitchen like an efficient housewife. Levi shifted on his seat, staring around uneasily as if he thought they were about to be attacked.
“What’s up?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing.”
“Are you worried about tomorrow?”
Levi shrugged. “If we’re not chosen to go into any school then we’re not meant to be here. We’ll deal with that when it happens.”
“When it happens? You’re banking on us not being chosen at all?”
Levi looked around the room that contained things even his dreams couldn’t conjure. “We don’t belong here.”
“We don’t belong in our world either,” Jordan said.
“We don’t belong in our world because we have power. We don’t belong in this world because we grew up in the other world. So where does that leave us?” Levi asked.
“It leaves you in the middle with Uncle Van. He isn’t part of either world. He inhabits both,” Cibrian said and held up a ladle. “Corn chowder or chili?”
“Corn chowder,” Jordan said.
“Chili.”
Cibrian spooned out generous amounts into bowls and turned back to the refrigerator and pulled out steaming buns.
“I’m not buying all of this,” Levi said, jabbing his finger at the refrigerator and the fish tank walls.
“All of this?”
“Your dad all of a sudden and this place and this family that just so happens to be willing to take us in. Isn’t it pushing reality a little too far?” Levi burst out. “I mean, this can’t be real. We’re kids no one has ever wanted- even our own parents! And now we’re saved? How can that be?”
Cibrian made himself two bowls, one of chili and one of corn chowder. He bit into a roll, moaned and put a spoonful of chili in his mouth.
“I don’t think we’re saved,” Jordan said carefully, thoughtfully. “Maybe we’re getting another chance.”
“Another chance for what?” Levi demanded and Cibrian paused in mid chew.
“Life.”
“Life? We know what life is like- we’ve been shoving our way through it for as long as I can remember.”
“Maybe we don’t have to shove anymore.”
“Why? You think that everything’s going to be fine if we stay in this world? Either way I look at it, we’re screwed.”
Jordan narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you acting like this?”
“What happens if neither of us gets picked to go into a school tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you think your dad will do?”
Jordan tried not to think of that. “I don’t know.”
“At this time tomorrow he could be dropping us off at a government office to go back into the foster system.”
“And what if we are chosen to go into a school?” she demanded.
Levi crossed his arms. “Then we go to school.”
“I thought you were in! Where is all this coming from?” Jordan snapped.
“You’re one to talk. You call your dad Mr. Parker and you’re just as cautious and suspicious as me. And you know what, Jordan? We have every right to be. We don’t know any of these people. If we were smart we would get out before-”
Cibrian cleared his throat loudly and they both turned their attention to him.
“I hate to ruin this conspiracy theory discussion but both of you will definitely be elected into a school tomorrow,” Cibrian said.
“What makes you say so?” Levi asked.
“Both of your paths are great. For both of you to reach your destinies you need schooling.”
“What do you mean by our destinies and paths are great?” Levi snapped.
Cibrian shrugged. “I told you, that’s my talent. I can see the potential in people, where their talents could lead them. I can’t explain it. I just know.”
“I’m not who you think I am,” Levi said.
“Then who are you?” Cibrian asked with great interest, propping his face on his fist.
“I’m the son of a cocaine addict. I put myself into the foster system to get away from my own father. I don’t even know if he’s alive. I’ve seen things no one should ever see. Most of my life, I’ve lived on the streets, joining gangs for protection. Gangs can give you protection but you have to pay a price.” Levi’s throat burned with suppressed anger. “You don’t know what I’ve had to do to survive. And now I’m in winter wonderland and because of Jordan, we’re suddenly accepted into this wealthy family that just so happens to have power like her and I? What are the chances?”
Cibrian and Jordan remained silent. They could feel the barely leashed emotions in Levi. The calm he usually portrayed was gone and he was ready to explode.
“Are you saying that your future can’t be better than your past?” Cibrian said.
Levi ran a hand through his hair. “Yes. No. I don’t know. If my past defines m
y future, I’m doomed.”
“So why let it?”
“This is so easy for you!” Levi shouted. “You have no idea what we’ve been through, what the world is really like out there. You believe in this world and know your place in it. We don’t know anything. Ever since Haven I feel like we’ve been waging a war I don’t know about or understand. And why do I feel that way? Because we were taken into an institution that drugged the kids for their own purposes. Jordan was forced into a room to be tortured by some psycho every day for a month! Now you tell me, Cibrian, what great future do we have before us? The children of addicts and victims of abuse and neglect- what’s in our future?”
Cibrian set down his spoon. “It’s not for me to tell you your future. You have to believe in yourself first. The rest will follow.”
Levi pushed himself away from the counter with a strangled growl. Jordan and Cibrian watched as he stalked across the room to the double glass doors that led out onto the balcony. Levi slammed the doors behind him.
“Tortured souls always make the best heroes,” Cibrian said with a sigh and continued to eat.
“I think he stayed for me. It’s not fair to him if he doesn’t want to be here,” Jordan said in a quiet voice.
“He wants to be here. He’s just afraid of change.” Cibrian tilted up his bowl to drink the last of his chili.
“He doesn’t trust- most of the time, I don’t either,” she admitted.
“But you’re willing to try.”
“Yes. I guess that makes me naive and needy.”
“It makes you human.” Cibrian said and wiped his hand across his mouth. “Your willingness to try will take you where you need to go.”
“You’re being very patient with us. How can it be that I’ve known you two days and you seem to know us better than anyone I’ve ever met?”
Cibrian colored slightly. “We’re family.”
She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t see us as damaged? Beyond repair?”
“You’re two of the strongest people I’ve ever met. From what I’ve heard of your lives, the things you’ve been through- I don’t know how you’re still functioning, period. You both have every right to feel the way you do and I can’t judge you for it.”
A small smile crept over her lips. “You act like an idiot but you say nice things.”
Cibrian choked on his corn chowder. Jordan rose from her seat and shook her head when Knight made to follow. She crossed to the balcony doors and slipped outside, closing it behind her. For a moment, she looked out at Wintra, speechless. In the day the city was a mass of white buildings. At night though, the buildings glowed every color of the rainbow. It was as if the buildings were hollow and colored spotlights lit every nook and cranny of ice.
Levi stood several feet back from the sharp drop. Jordan took several cautious steps forward, keeping well back from the edge where a railing should have been.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
He didn’t reply.
“You could live a fairly normal life. Your power doesn’t bother you like mine does… You don’t have to go to be Declared tomorrow-”
“I promised I would stay,” Levi interrupted.
“Then what’s this about?”
He didn’t answer. They stared out over the city and down at the Gardens of Wintra. The canopy of trees were colored in pastel shades. People filed in and out of the Ice Tunnels with bags in a never ending parade. There was a buzz of excitement in the air that reached them over a mile above the crowd.
“No one’s ever expected anything of me before,” Levi said.
“What?”
“All my life, no one believed I had a brain, that I could think for myself and figure things out. Everyone assumes that because I grew up in a trailer park that there’s nothing worth finding in me.” Levi shook his head. “And now, before I’ve even spoken to the people in this world, they see potential in me. How can that be?”
“Most people look at the surface. These people see beneath it.”
His eyes were bright from the reflection of the colored canopy. “I’ve never wanted so much, never dared to dream so much in my life.”
Jordan slipped her arm around his waist and relaxed when he draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She turned her cold face into his chest and felt tears course down her face as relief and her own fear of being denied was released.
“No one has ever believed in us,” Jordan acknowledged without looking up at him. “It’s a new day.”
“What if I fail?” Levi murmured.
“Then you get up and keep walking like you’ve always done.”
“These people believe in us,” he said and there was wonder in his tone. “They accept us. I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either but I’m done questioning it,” she said wearily.
“He loves you.” He pulled away so he could see her face. “He tries to act cold but he cares.”
“I don’t want to talk about him,” she said and tried to sidle away but he held her in place. “Move, you ass.”
Levi smiled. “You tell me to have faith but you don’t have any where he’s concerned, do you?”
“So now you’re done having your tantrum so you want to poke at me?” she snapped.
Levi chuckled. “I have my moments. I won’t deny the thing with Mary Ann bothered me a lot today. This whole Declaration thing in front of the whole world isn’t helping either. You must have the same doubts, if not more than me, right?”
“Of course I have doubts about who I am, what I’m doing here. I can’t help feeling like I’ve intruded into his life and ruined it. Obviously, he tried to hide me and it didn’t work. You see how everybody reacts to me. I feel like I’m walking on a tightrope. I wonder if he’ll change his mind and send us away.”
“If he does we’ll leave together.”
Jordan let out a weak laugh. “I really don’t know what I’m doing here.”
“So we agree. We both fell down a rabbit hole that keeps going. We feel like frauds and are afraid of succeeding or believing that anything good can happen to us. Did I sum that up right?” Levi said dryly.
Jordan sighed. “Just about.”
“Well, at least we have each other.”
“And your good looking cousin,” Cibrian said, sticking his head out. “Your food’s getting cold.”
Chapter Twenty One
Just as they were finishing up their food, the front door opened and Mr. Parker and Heath entered. They looked energized; you could practically hear the energy snapping around them.
“Good. You’re awake. We’re going on an excursion. Get dressed,” Mr. Parker said.
The teens stared at him, nonplussed.
“We need to go to the temple. Tomorrow morning you won’t have time to Ground yourselves,” Heath explained.
“Temple?” Jordan and Levi repeated.
Cibrian jumped up. “Cool. Mom wouldn’t let me set foot in there until I Awakened.”
When no one moved Mr. Parker started forward and bodily pulled them off their stools and pushed them in the direction of their rooms.
“What am I changing into?” Jordan murmured to Cibrian before going into her room.
“Jeans is fine,” Cibrian said and disappeared into his room.
Hastily, Jordan changed and came out of her room with her jacket draped over one arm. She crossed the room to the men who were all taking a drink at the bar.
“We’re off, then,” Mr. Parker said and they all moved to the balcony doors.
Knight let out a growl of protest but stayed inside when Mr. Parker closed the doors. Jordan slapped at Mr. Parker’s hand when he reached for her. Mr. Parker ignored that and hauled her into his arms. He launched himself into the air and Jordan’s braid whipped him in the face as they flew through traffic. Mr. Parker dove towards the canopy of trees of the Garden of Wintra and Jordan let out an alarmed gasp as he twisted at the last moment to avoid impaling th
em on the razor sharp branches. He dropped onto the rose colored path of the garden and Jordan shoved out of his arms, breathing hard.
“You enjoy that, don’t you?” she hissed.
Heath, Cibrian and Levi used the magic carpets to fly and then stuffed them into their pockets. The Garden of Wintra was very quiet. In the distance you could hear the distant rumble of the crowd shopping to their hearts content at the Ice Tunnels but in the garden all was still. Each statue was filled with color, making the garden comforting and welcoming. One or two couples strolled arm in arm, admiring statues and Mr. Parker cast a hard eye over them before he decided that they were no threat.
“Let’s go. Stay close.”
Mr. Parker led the way through the garden while Jordan walked side by side with Levi and Cibrian. Heath brought up the rear, making sure they weren’t being followed.
Jordan stared at an ice sculpture of a girl and boy running on the beach, arms full of seashells. Each shell was intricately detailed and colorful. The girl’s hair covered half of her face, caught in a sea breeze Jordan could almost smell. Another sculpture of two dogs running away from a baker with doughnuts in their mouths was next. And after that, Jordan stopped dead when she saw a miniature model of the Las Vegas strip. Jordan glanced at Levi. He looked as startled as she was. Cibrian glanced from them to the statue.
“You guys were there, right? I meant to ask, did you ever go to a strip-”
Heath cuffed him on the back of the head and Cibrian glared at him. Up ahead, the sound of many voices could be heard. Jordan felt her heart beat speed up and prayed they wouldn’t have to fight their way through another crowd. Mr. Parker stopped and moved to the side, revealing a bizarre scene.
In the middle of the gardens, under the canopy of the great trees was an open building with white silk drapes for walls. Four frosted pillars held up a carved roof that shone like a polished pearl. People milled around the building while others walked up the long flight of steps and disappeared through the curtains. Scattered over dozens of steps on all four sides of the building were shoes of every shape and size. From inside, Jordan could hear a heavy thumping sound and chanting.