by Lila Felix
LUCENT GIFTS ARE TO BE USED WITH HONORABLE INTENTIONS.
“You should eat some fruit.”
I threw myself dramatically onto my grandmother’s French blind-stitch couch. It didn’t give an inch—none of her furniture did. All of her living room furniture and dining room chairs were covered in plastic and were harder than brick covered in steel. Every time someone moved an inch while sitting on them, the plastic gave off the most curious sounds.
My grandmother, the oldest Prophet, had stopped progressing in terms of technological advances when the Synod took its place among our people. She only spoke to me about such things. She said when they cut themselves off from her and the sight given directly to her by the Almighty—it was akin to death. She felt useless and discarded. Since the formation of the Synod marked nefarious advancement in her eyes—she stopped advancing in protest. Stepping into her home and her presence was like stepping back to an age where Xoana ruled the Lucents and we were queens.
Now the Synod were the queens.
And my grandmother was forgotten by most.
We, technically, weren’t supposed to call her the Prophetess, but that’s what she was, regardless of what they said.
“I’m telling you that my—Theo—could possibly be the next Eidolon, and you’re suggesting I eat a tangerine and it will all be better? Come on, Prophetess, give me something other than that.”
She slapped my thigh, and it stung through my lightweight maxi dress. A rebellious tear came from my eye, and I swiped it away before she saw it—not for the slap, but for Theo. She grabbed my hand with hers in reaction to my crying. I loved my grandmother’s hands. With age, her fingers had become slim, while her knuckles stayed the same size. Her hand wrapped around mine was like being surrounded by silk.
“Don’t sass me, Colby Sage. I can still tear your behind up.”
My grandmother hadn’t whipped me since I was seven. I’d lied to her and told her I was at the library when really I was in Madagascar after seeing that movie by the same name. I’d inadvertently gotten on the news for some weird flashes of lightning they saw on the top of one of their mountains.
Oops.
Busted.
“I’m sorry, Grammy. What’s fruit going to do for me?”
She let go of my hand, picked up her never-ending cross stitching, and shrugged. “I thought maybe I could think if your mouth would stop running for five seconds.”
I pulled my other arm away from where it was shielding my eyes from the world. Grammy was pooching out her lips and sucking in her cheeks in order not to laugh at her own sassiness. I inherited my sass directly from the source.
Theo was still in Belize. I could feel him there and then a fuzzier version of him in New Zealand, which was disconcerting to say the least.
My head was a mess. This was why I’d broken up with Theo—to keep him safe from being on the receiving end of—me. But what had he done? Gone and gotten powers and abilities. He was making my job nearly impossible. Not to mention, he hadn’t let me have my way earlier on the island. That was the most aggravating of all.
Since when don’t I win?
With his admission that he may be Eidolon, which I hoped he wasn’t, he’d made a whole plethora of new enemies. He had the usual nemeses, the government, the Resin—but now he had the whole Lucent community as well as the Synod. There was a reason they’d formed so long ago. They weren’t pleased with what the Prophets foretold and so they thought writing a book and sitting at a long table would suppress the prophecies.
They were dead wrong.
I grew serious as I addressed my grandmother then, not as a granddaughter, but as a Lucent looking for guidance from the Prophetess. I turned to her and smiled at her features. Her hair was still blonde, but glints of silver peeked out around her hairline and in the round part of her bun. Her skin was flawless. She could easily pass for someone in her forties.
I hoped I could be half as breathtaking when I was her age.
“Rebekah, did you see it? Did you see Theo in a vision?”
“Be specific in your questions.” She caught my tone and in turn changed hers. It was like the very atmosphere turned to the past where she was revered and I longed for her words.
“Did you see the coming of another Eidolon?”
“I did. I’ve seen it many times. He will be the one to restore the Resin—the ones who want it. But only if he can conquer his greatest fear. This fear is keeping him from attaining all the power, and it will prevent him from closing the door. It is a shallow fear, but one whose roots bind his hands and anchors itself into his very soul.”
I blew out a breath. I’d hoped against hope she would say no. I needed her to say no.
Why couldn’t she just say no?
Theo didn’t fear anything—I’d never seen him cower at horror movies or any of the heeebie jeebies most people run from. He wasn’t afraid of anything.
“What is his fear?”
She cut her iridescent green eyes at me. “That’s not the right question.”
Now I knew she was in full Prophetess mode. She struck down any question whose answer would be the one I needed. Instead, I had to ask vague questions that led to nowhere. I was aggravated beyond anything.
“Rebekah, please. Stop speaking to me in riddles and tell me what to do.”
“Find the truth. Even the so-called upholders of the truth are expert liars. Search and find the truth for yourself. False truths camouflage lies which are the truth no one wants told. There is one keyhole, but many keys.”
What—the—hell.
“I have to convince him to let me go with him.”
She got up and I expected something profound from her.
“I think I have some leftover meatloaf.”
I shuddered. “Meatloaf, Grammy, really?”
“I no longer flash, child. I can eat whatever I want. Now go. I know you’re going to him. Best do it now while he’s open to your ideas. By morning he won’t be so obliging.”