Immortal Light: Wide Awake (40 page)

“
Can I see?” Lucy asked, gesturing
toward the large piece of paper on the drafting table.

“
Sure.” Benjamin
lifted up the paper and there, in stunning detail, was her sword,
just as she knew it in her
haven
. Everything was accurate: the
hilt, the etchings, everything.

Lucy took the paper, admiring the
artistry.

“
How did you do that? It’s
perfect.”

“
I have a good memory.”

“
But, you only saw it
once.”

“
Twice, actually. I got a really
good look when you pointed it at me.” He smiled and winked at
her.

“
Oh, right. I forgot about that.”
She blushed a little, remembering how her emotions got away from
her that night.

“
Did you sleep well?”

“
Yeah,” she said almost
accusatorily, “why did you let me sleep so long?”

“
You needed it. By the time you
fell asleep, we had been in the Haven Room twice as long as I had
ever been there.”

Lucy recalled her day with Benjamin in the
room. She still felt the residual effects of it, and joy washed
over her just at the thought. Even the thought of her mother
couldn’t change how she felt. It was miraculous.

“
How does it work?” Lucy asked,
setting the paper back down on the table.

“
How does what work?”

“
The
light
, how can I use it
out here?”

“
Well, you just need to understand
where it comes from and you’ll understand how it works. If you do
that, you’ll be able to use it out here.”

“
Where does it come from,
then?”

Benjamin could see that Lucy wasn’t going to
allow him to put off her training any longer.

“
Okay, let’s start with
this.”

He walked over to a small refrigerator and
pulled out two apples and a bottle of water. From the top of the
refrigerator he grabbed a packet of almonds and handed all of the
items save one of the apples to Lucy. He grabbed a folded canvas
tarp from a shelf and led Lucy out of the room.

“
You start eating and follow
me.”

Not realizing that she was starving, she began
to devour the apple.

They walked out of the shop and into the woods
behind. The smell of the evergreens reminded her of every winter of
her life looking for the perfect Christmas tree with her parents.
She didn’t dwell on the thought and instead focused on the
apple.

Finding a small patch of ground amongst the
trees, Benjamin spread out the canvas and they sat down facing each
other as Lucy finished her apple. When she had set the core to the
side, Benjamin began his explanation.

“
The energy that
makes up all life is everywhere and in everything. I told you
before that we call it
light
, and everything that carries
it can give it freely, like this apple.” He held out the second
apple in his hand.

“
If I were to
request it, this apple could give me all of its life force,
its
light
,
without question.”

Lucy watched as the apple in Benjamin’s hand
began to change color, first to dark red, then to brown, and then
the walls of the apple began to shrink and shrivel until it was
nothing more than a dried husk of the ruby colored fruit it had
been.

Lucy marveled at what she saw. “Why would it
let you just kill it like that?”

“
I didn’t kill
it; it gave me its
light
. It understands its role in
this world and provided to me what it knows I need to
live.”

It made sense to Lucy, but she had never
considered a piece of fruit as having a choice. “But I just ate an
apple and I’ll get the nutrients without asking.”

“
That is true. Our flesh provides
us the ability to take without asking, to usurp the agency a living
thing has to make its own decisions and use it for our own
purposes.”

“
So what’s the point, if we can
just take it anyway?”

“
The point is to build a
relationship with the universe.”

Lucy grimaced in confusion. “I don’t get
it.”

“
Well, because
all life is linked together, all
light
communicates. If I ask this
apple for its
light
, then it will grant it to me based on my ‘reputation’ with
other carriers of
light
.”

Lucy held her hand up to
gain clarification. “So, if I start asking my food permission to
eat it, then I build a good reputation and the next thing I eat
will …
”
She
circled her hand in the air, asking for Benjamin to finish the
sentence.

“
Let you do this.” He held up the
dried up apple.

“
So, eventually
I won’t have to eat it, I can just …
”

“
Absorb it.” Benjamin
finished.

Lucy was flabbergasted at the thought of
absorbing the nutrients from her food rather than eating
it.

“
The downside,” Benjamin
continued, “is that you end up with a lot of compost.” He dangled
the apple by its dry stem.

“
And the upside?” Lucy
endeavored.

“
The upside is that you spend a
lot less time in the bathroom and you have an almost fat-free
diet.”

Lucy laughed at the thought of never having to
go to the bathroom again.

“
Let’s have you try it now. We’ll
start with something easy.” Benjamin picked up the bottle of water
and opened it. “Cup your hands together.” Lucy obeyed and Benjamin
filled her hands.

“
Now, I want you
to think about the water and what it will do for your body. Then,
as silly as it sounds, I want you to ask the water for its
light
.”

Lucy looked at her hands
full of water. She closed her eyes and thought of drinking it and
the oxygen and hydrogen going into her blood stream and being used
by the organs in her body. She imagined the water being distributed
throughout her body and then she thought the words
May I have your
light
?

While it felt a little
ridiculous to even think, in her hands she felt something familiar;
it wasn’t unlike the sensation of touching someone and feeling
the
light
flow
between them. She waited until the feeling faded to nothing before
opening her eyes. Looking down, she saw that her hands were not
only empty, but they were also dry. A shriek of joy escaped her and
she clapped her hands over her mouth as she
smiled.

“
I did it! I can’t believe I did
it!” Lucy was giddy with the joy of accomplishment.

Benjamin smiled widely as he nodded
encouragingly. “I knew you would. Now let’s try it again; this time
with the apple.”

Lucy was confused. “But we only had the two
apples.”

Benjamin held up the withered apple again.
“This process works both ways.”

As he held up the apple, Lucy watched as the
skin began to turn red again and the walls pushed out and became
firm. After a few seconds it was as perfect as it was when he
pulled it out of the refrigerator.

Amazed, Lucy took it from
his hand. “How did you …?
”

“
I gave it back.
We have the power to choose as well. We have the ability to
share
light
.
That’s why you feel it so much when you touch someone. You’re not
taking their
light
; you automatically want to share yours. I’ve actually seen
you do it.”

Lucy looked up in stunned disbelief.
“When?”

“
That day in Bandon. We had lunch.
You were playing with a dead flower from the window sill and you
rejuvenated the leaf and stem.”

Lucy remembered vividly that
day when Benjamin and her mother had hit it off so well and she
just sat there and played with the flower. “So that’s what happened
with the bird and the moth, then; I shared my
light
?”

“
Precisely.”

Lucy held up the apple. “Now let’s see if I
can reverse it.”

She thought about the apple
breaking down inside her, all of the different vitamins moving from
one organ to another and just as she had with the water, she asked
permission. She felt the current begin to flow and she opened her
eyes. As the sensation continued, she watched as the apple withered
just as it had for Benjamin. In a matter of seconds it was done and
Lucy could feel the
light
in her, giving her strength much like eating it
would have done.

“
Wow, I’d say you’re a natural at
it.”

“
So, am I building a rapport with
the universe now?” She flashed a hopeful grin.

“
Yes, you are, and I think the
universe likes you.”

They both laughed.

“
What else can we do this
with?”

“
Everything.”

“
Everything?” Lucy responded
incredulously.

“
You can ask
almost anything for its
light
, but it’s up to the thing to
give it to you. If you emanate good intentions toward the
light
around you, almost
anything will give you its life.”

“
Even animals?”

“
Even people.”

The words shocked Lucy and she sat back on her
hands.

“
Lucy, you have a gift for this. I
wasn’t joking when I said the universe likes you. It took me a long
time to learn what you seem to do naturally.”

It was difficult to believe that she had a
gift for manipulating a power she didn’t even know existed a few
months prior.

“
Can we practice some more, on
different things?” Lucy was once again giddy to try out her new
gift now that she knew what it was and, in a small way, how to use
it.

“
I would love
to, but…
”
He
looked directly into Lucy
’
s eyes.
“
I need to tell you one more thing,
and it isn
’
t
going to be pleasant to hear, but you need to
know.”

Lucy reached over excitedly and grabbed his
hands. “I’m ready to hear it all. Tell me everything.”

Benjamin nodded.

“
For every good
there is an evil. There are people, my people, who have broken
rules. They no longer abide by the ethical codes that we follow.
They have been shut off. Nothing will grant these monsters
permission to take its
light
.” Looking into Lucy’s eyes, he
could see that she was understanding what he was saying. “Because
they are not given permission, they take it by force, and they use
it.”

Lucy sat up straighter, letting go of
Benjamin’s hands and paying close attention to every
word.

“
They don’t care
where it comes from; they just know they need it in order to
survive. Reapers are among these evil creatures. They feed on
the
light
of the
largest life forms they can find because the larger the life form,
the longer they can thrive without replenishing.”

Benjamin closed his eyes for a moment, the
thought of his own words eating at him. Lucy could sense that it
was difficult for him to talk about it, but she didn’t know why, so
she took his hands again.

“
Go, ahead. I’m
listening.”

He opened his eyes, his face
emitting a look of hatred. “When they take the
light
from something, that
light
becomes a part of
them forever, or until it is released.”

Lucy understood the look of hatred in his eyes
because she could feel it brewing inside of her, and her heart
began pounding in her chest.

“
Does that mean
that the extractor who took my mother …
”

Benjamin caught her look and
confirmed her nightmare. “Yes, the extractor that took your mother
still carries her
light
with him.”

Lucy had heard enough. She understood why it
was so difficult for Benjamin to tell her. She jumped to her feet
and started back toward the house. Benjamin raced to stop
her.

“
Lucy, stop! You
can’t find him alone. We will find him. We will figure out a way to
stop him and kill him and burn him. That’s the only way we can
release your mother from him. But, if you go out there and make
yourself vulnerable to him, then you do nothing for your mother.
Your death won’t release her
light.
”