Lumen and the Thistle

by EJ Wozniak

  He saw a pair of students practicing some of their new skills. One conjured up a small rain cloud, and the other held it in the air, intermittently letting water pour down. They were definitely more advanced than Lumen. He wondered what was next after he completed school. Would he just have these skills to use if need be, or are there jobs he could do? He decided he should ask Alec about it.

  Lumen walked over to the statue from the food hall that was at the end of the corridor, between the two stone buildings. He looked up to see a muscular, shirtless man who reminded Lumen of the Greek god Poseidon. Lumen looked down at the nameplate and read “Maredeus.”

  That’s similar to Maldeus, wonder if they’re related.

  Lumen thought that maybe Poseidon was based off of this guy. He also thought that maybe all of the Greek gods were based off people from Bonumalus. He could imagine the average human thinking the people from Bonumalus were gods. Lumen liked the idea of being considered a god, and he wondered what the Greeks would have called him.

  He turned away from the statue and started making his way back at the elevator when he saw him. Walking back toward the foyer area from the elevator was Chester, covered in mud. It appeared that Chester couldn’t use the lights jump back into the Genaqua. Lumen decided to stay put to watch where he was going. Coincidentally, he seemed to be walking in Lumen’s direction. Lumen was worried Chester would see him so he looked away and acted as though he was practicing things he learned from Pluviam class. He got in stance as though he was trying to hold a cloud above him when Chester walked right by him.

  “Don’t practice too much, it won’t help you,” Chester said as he strolled by.

  He kept walking into the food hall, covered in mud and all. Lumen was perplexed by what Chester meant by that. Was it a threat? He wanted to run it by Alec before telling Allister. Lumen checked on Chester one more time from the door of the food hall as he perused all the juices on the shelves. Lumen thought Chester seemed in higher spirits.

  * * *

  Lumen took the elevator back up to the Paxum. Gretchen wasn’t at the top in the cabin. Lumen had never not seen her there. He walked out of the cabin and into the Paxum where he found a large crowd of people.

  This is odd, why is everyone up here? Don’t they have class or homes to return to?

  Lumen noticed everyone looking toward the Liros expanse of the Paxum and followed suit. He could see smoke starting to plume above everyone’s head. He wove quickly through the crowd to get a better look up front.

  Lumen began to smell a pungent, smokey aroma, one that reminded him of a meal his mother set ablaze in the oven. As he got closer, he could see the flames, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. The air was opaque and made his eyes water, his nose singed. He reached the front of the crowd and he saw it. Many of the trees were on fire near the Liros cabins. The crowd was silent behind Lumen, so much so that he could hear the crackling of the wood and brush burning. A tree branch broke off and fell to the ground. Embers flew up into the air. Lumen looked around at one of the cabins and saw something written on the side:

  “JOIN US NOW B4 IT’S 2 LATE.”

  Lumen squinted to better see the written message. The writing looked like it was done with mud or dirt. As that observation crossed his mind, Chester walked up from behind Lumen. He was holding a whistleberry juice and a wetchop sandwich, chewing loudly.

  “Wow, that’s crazy. Who would do something like that. . . Join who now? ” Chester said as food spilled from his mouth.

  Lumen turned and looked at him, anger filled his face.

  “Don’t act like you don’t know!” Lumen said, louder than he intended.

  Chester stopped chewing mid bite and looked back at Lumen with a puzzled look. He was about to say something when Professor J walked in between them from behind. He stood in front of them for a moment, looking at the fire. He opened a window to the left of him, waved his hand in front of it and made it shimmer. Lumen had never seen that done with a window and wondered what he was doing. J turned back to the fires and raised his arms. Clouds suddenly appeared above the forest as rain began to pour down. Three figures emerged from the shimmering window J had created. Lumen was enamored by Professor J’s ability to forcibly and quickly create such a large rain cloud. Lumen was so impressed with the skills shown by Professor J that is took him a moment to realize that it was Allister, Janis, and Sasha that came through the shimmering window. Lumen was fascinated. The shimmering window must have been a call of some sort to Allister. Just then Till walked up and grabbed his arm. She was wearing fresh clothes and jeans again.

  “Oh my goodness, who would do such a thing?”

  Lumen looked at Chester again who was staring at the now dwindling fire. He continued drinking and eating. Lumen could see the dying fire reflecting off of Chester’s eyeballs.

  Chapter 13 - A Surrender?

  Allister spoke to the filled quarry in the Paxum. He stood with the trees smoldering in the background with Janis, Sasha, and Professor J behind him working to put out the fires quickly.

  The air vibrated like it had before and Allister’s voice boomed.

  “None of you should be alarmed. This was merely a publicity stunt by someone who thinks it is a joke to set things on fire. I want you all to know that the Paxum will be on 24-hour surveillance until this criminal is caught. If anyone has any information, please do not hesitate to come and see me or any of your teachers.”

  The quarry went quiet for a moment before a girl near the back spoke up.

  “What does the message on the cabin wall mean? Sounds like a recruitment for something.”

  Murmuring erupted in the quarry. Allister spoke a little bit louder this time.

  “I know what some of you are thinking, so I will address the elephant in the room. Maldeus is not alive. He has not been for some time now. If you think this is Maldeus recruiting to rebuild his army, you are a fool. At best, this is a mimic who is seeking some attention. Are we all clear here? There isn’t anything to worry about at this time. I would like for all of you to return to your dormitories or homes. By Monday, this will all be sorted and classes will continue.”

  Most of the students began to disperse, evidently satisfied with Allister’s answer. Chester nodded after Allister spoke and headed to his dorm. Lumen saw him get pushed to the ground by a group of students. He felt bad for him but quickly changed his mind when he got a whiff of smoke and thought he deserved it after this stunt. Lumen turned back towards Allister when he saw Sasha hand him something; Lumen squinted to get a better look, it was a thistle.

  * * *

  Lumen met with Allister and Janis back at the cabin shortly after. Lumen told them every detail he observed about Chester, from the bandage on his hand, to the mud on his clothes, to being a loner among the Eauge. Janis interjected after Lumen finished, and spoke in his normal voice.

  “Maybe we should act now. All the signs are pointing to this boy. We could send him to the juvenile Vincula and ban him from learning here . . .”

  Allister adjusted the goggles on his head, as he so often did when he was thinking hard. Lumen noticed he was flushed in the face; he was clearly struggling with this decision.

  “No . . . not yet. We still aren’t 100% sure, and we can’t ban a child from learning the correct methods. If he is the one doing this, he has just been misguided by someone... or by our history. We can turn him around. I think the bigger issue is how did we overlook his innate Ignous ability? He clearly doesn’t belong with the Eauge—if he is the one doing all of this. Maybe that is why he is acting out.”

  It fell quiet again, and Lumen thought of something.

  “He doesn’t do very well in class. He was the first to fail in Professor J’s group exercise today, with Till.”

  Janis looked at Allister, as if this could change Allister’s mind about acting now.

  “That still doesn’t mean he is the one. He could be adjusting slowly to this life. It’s the first week,” Allister s
aid.

  Lumen thought again about what he had noticed about Chester.

  “Well, I think he was able to jump while within the Genaqua. I thought that wasn’t possible?”

  Janis turned quickly to Lumen.

  “How do you know that?”

  Lumen explained how he followed Chester into the forest, how he disappeared and how he came back in through the elevator in the Paxum, covered in mud. Janis again thought this was enough to convict Chester.

  “C’mon, Allister. This is getting dangerous. Whatever the motive is, someone can get seriously injured. I mean look at Lumen’s mother, she could have been killed!”

  Lumen gulped. The feelings of not knowing if his mom was okay returned in his gut.

  Allister put his hand up at Janis to signal for him to stop talking.

  “No, it doesn’t feel right. We need to catch the boy in the act. Lumen, keep an eye on him. If he leaves class, you follow. I will speak to your teachers if they give you a hard time. I want everything to go on as normal. Understood?”

  Janis rolled his eyes and nodded as he began to clean his paws. Lumen nodded as well.

  “Alec will keep an eye on him tomorrow. Monday night, it will be all you. Report back to me immediately if you see anything.”

  Lumen nodded. He felt a lot of pressure but was up for the task. He wondered why Allister would give him so much responsibility. Lumen felt that Allister had put a lot of faith in someone who hardly had any abilities. Lumen had one more question.

  “What is Vincula?”

  Janis answered.

  “Somewhere you don’t want to go. It’s where the worst of the worst go when they get caught. There is a juvenile facility connected that isn’t nearly as harsh, but it could whip a young man or woman into shape if need be.”

  Lumen remembered reading about one of the harshest prisons on Earth, Guantanamo Bay, in class last year. He knew it was a place for the worst of the worst criminals. He knew what criminals on Earth must have done to land there. He couldn’t imagine what the criminals of Bonumalus were capable of.

  * * *

  Lumen went home with a lot on his mind. Luckily, Alice had picked up a couple of new puzzles before her date and had also taken out all of the Christmas decorations. Lumen almost forgot that Christmas was coming up in just a week and a half and that he would have a few weeks off from his normal school.

  Lumen always helped his mom with the decorations. He loved that time of the year.

  Christmas wasn’t usually a special day as his mom often worked all of Christmas day or the night before, and they would hardly get to spend time together. However, Alice always tried her best to make it feel as much like Christmas as possible in the house. She tried to get presents for Lumen but was often short on cash in years past. Lumen didn’t mind. He liked the ambiance the lights and decorations provided to his home. He felt the holiday spirit in the air and always did his best to reassure his mom that she didn’t need to stress about it.

  Alice came home a bit earlier than expected.

  “Hey, hun. How was your day?” Alice asked as she walked in.

  Lumen sighed.

  “Longer than expected. You’re home earlier than I thought you’d be.”

  “Charles had to get home to his daughter,” Alice said with a smile.

  Lumen rolled his eyes.

  “The cops name is Charles, huh? Shouldn’t he be patrolling or something?”

  Alice rolled her eyes this time.

  “Shall we get a tree?”

  Lumen had been feeling so stressed from his new schedule that the trip to the Christmas tree lot was even more welcomed than usual. Once home with a tree, they turned on some Christmas music and made hot chocolate to decorate, their Christmas tradition. After two and a half cups of cocoa, and with the tree all lit up, they turned on a movie. Alice quickly fell asleep. Lumen took Wrigley out; it had stopped snowing and the ground was covered with fresh powder. Lumen thought of Bonumalus and wondered who was responsible for making it snow in his hometown. When he went back inside, Alice was still fast asleep on the couch. Lumen turned down the TV and decided to work on a puzzle—it had been a while. He picked up the one nearest him; it was of an overhead shot of the Amazonian rain forest. He had a feeling it would be difficult based on all of the green. The second was of a mountain range in the Antarctic, with most of the puzzle being white. This would be just as difficult. Lumen decided to go with the Arctic, in honor of his new life as an Eauge-in-training. He ripped it open and dumped the pieces out.

  The thoughts of Sofia, then Till’s perfect smile, and Chester’s peculiar behavior drowned his thoughts for a moment.

  He took a deep breath, cracked his knuckles, took one more sip of his hot chocolate, and dove into the puzzle. He hadn't felt this at ease in some time now.

  * * *

  Lumen finished up the puzzle in a couple of hours and felt refreshed. He decided to eat some dinner. His mom had woken up and had already heated up a frozen pizza.

  “So, what are you going to get Sofia for Christmas?”

  Lumen hadn’t even thought about getting her a present. So much for feeling at ease, Lumen thought.

  “Uhh, I have no idea. What do you get a girlfriend for Christmas?”

  Alice chuckled and grabbed Lumen’s cheek gingerly.

  “Oh, hun. I can’t tell you what to get. It needs to be from you!”

  Lumen shrugged.

  “I mean, you technically will be the one to buy it, so it’s kind of from you. I don’t have a job, remember, Mom . . .”

  They laughed and then tried to brainstorm some gift ideas.

  * * *

  Lumen went to Sofia’s house the next day and helped her and Mr. Chimera with Christmas decorations. It snowed lightly when they were putting lights up outside, and Sofia snuggled up under Lumen’s arm. Things like that happened repeatedly throughout the day, and Lumen couldn’t have been happier about it. He had almost forgotten about the ordeal in Bonumalus until he was briefly distracted while they were watching a movie.

  “Did you hear that?” Lumen asked

  Lumen stood up, ready to act if there was an intruder in the house. He looked around and thought he saw something moving in the backyard. He began to notice the lights around him as he continued to the back door, taking a few deep breaths as he approached. Lumen had no idea what he would do if there were an intruder. His clammy hands slowly turned the handle and pulled open the door; it creaked as he pulled it back. He stepped outside and looked both left and right with his arms crossed. Nothing. No one was there except a branch hitting a window on the second floor of the house. He turned back to join Sofia. The lights were gone again, he missed seeing them sometimes.

  They hung out until dinner time. Lumen mustered up the strength and gave Sofia a kiss before leaving. They both blushed and kissed one more time before Lumen trotted out of the house to his mom waiting outside in the station wagon.

  * * *

  The week went by with ease. Lumen became adjusted to his new schedule, and he had three weeks of winter break to look forward to once Friday passed. He did follow Chester as Allister requested, but he didn’t see him do anything too out of the ordinary. He played with his Rubix cube often and was bullied just as much. When he got frustrated with the bullying, he would take the elevator up to the Paxum and hang out there or go to the back of the forest and somehow jump from there; Lumen was never able to catch him. Whenever Lumen thought he jumped from the forest, he always came back muddy. Lumen relayed this all to Allister, just as before.

  Saturday came again, and it was more of the same from Chester. He was reprimanded by Professor J for falling asleep during the lesson on why it is important to not freeze rain too high in the sky—apparently it could become dangerous, softball-sized hail that could wreak havoc and harm the people of Earth.

  “Chester, could you tell us when you should freeze water if you want it to snow?”

  Chester lifted his head up and wiped the d
rool from his chin.

  “Uh, at the top, right?”

  Professor J shook his head as if he was disgusted.

  “What is wrong with you, boy? The top of what? Hm? Pay attention in my class! Don’t make me send you to Allister!”

  Chester straightened up in his seat. He seemed uncomfortable with the thought of having to be face to face with Allister. Lumen sympathized for Chester for a moment; he got picked on by his peers and teachers. However, Lumen still thought it wasn’t an excuse for the crimes he had potentially committed, especially the one aimed at his house, but could see why he was led to do it.

  “Hi, Lumen.”

  Lumen sighed as he turned to look at Till.

  “Hi, Till,” he said in a monotonous voice.

  Lumen noticed that Till was back in her floral sundress.

  “Do you have any notes on this last chapter? I forgot to do the reading.”

  Lumen didn’t say anything and handed her the notes he had taken.

  “Thanks! Don’t wanna get called out by J; I’m sick of getting rained on.”

  Till’s face turned red with anger. Lumen had never seen her get angry and was curious what had triggered her. Professor J is mean to her, but no more than he was to other students.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Till looked down, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Yeah, just a lot going on with these new classes. A lot of pressure to do well. I could use some fun. . . Will you hang out with me sometime soon?”

  Lumen knew he should say no, but he felt bad for her.

  Maybe J does pick on her a little more than some of the other students. Now that I think of it, she does get rained on daily and hasn’t really made any progress. . .

  “Uh, yeah sure. How about next week sometime?”

  Till’s face lit up.

  “Sounds good!” Till turned back to look at Professor J with a huge grin on her face.