Immortal Light: Wide Awake (44 page)

A broad smile crossed Lucy’s face; it was one
of the few times she had smiled in that room. She realized just how
much she appreciated the timing of Jack’s levity. No matter how bad
things seemed to get, he could always be counted on for a
confidence boost or a laugh.

Lucy sat down in her customary seat and pulled
out a large birthday card that she had spent hours making the night
before.

“
I’m sorry it’s so lame and
homemade, but I just wanted to do something for you that was
special.”

Next, she pulled out a small wooden box. The
inside was lined with blue velvet and in a small divot at the
center was a golden disc the size of a silver dollar. On it was a
crude engraving of a heart with her parents’ initials. On the
reverse side was a beautifully engraved picture in exact detail of
Sunset Bay. Through the top was a small hole where a gold chain was
attached.

Placing the box next to
James’ hand she said, “I asked Jack to help me make this for you.
He ended up doing most of it when my etchings looked horrible, but
… anyway. Here it is.
”
She let go of it and sat back in her chair and smiled at her
father
’
s
expressionless face.
“
Happy Birthday, Daddy.
”

As she reached over to pick
up
The Outsiders
,
James’ favorite book, to read to him, her cell phone started
buzzing in her pocket. Looking at the screen she saw a number she
hadn’t seen in months and frankly hoped she wouldn’t see for a very
long time. She froze as the word
Library
beamed up at her. Through
heart stopping seconds she battled with herself whether or not to
answer it. She had no idea what to expect on the other end. The
library had been closed since the entire front of it had been
somehow blown off by reapers.

Lucy didn’t know much about that night at the
library. From visiting Mrs. Breen in her home, all she could gather
was that Mrs. Breen thought she sensed someone behind her, thinking
it was Kenny, but all she knew was that she passed out and woke up
in the hospital feeling like she’d run a marathon.

The phone had rung five times; on the sixth it
would go to voice mail. She waited. The time between rings seemed
like an eternity as she waited for her cell provider to make the
decision for her. But as she felt the phone vibrate in her palm,
she flipped it open and answered with a wary “Hello?”

At first she heard nothing but noise, like
wind blowing through a tunnel. Then she heard a quiet voice, like a
sick person trying to speak through hoarseness.

“
Lucy?” The voice hesitated as if
her name were a question.

“
This is Lucy.”

“
Lucy,” there was heavy breathing
accompanying the hissing rasp of the speaker.

“
Who is this?” Lucy
demanded.

“
I need to talk
to you, Lucy, I …
”
the voice hacked and wheezed. Lucy thought for a moment she
recognized it. It was definitely a man
’
s voice, but who?

“
Who is this?”

“
Did you hear what I
said?”

It was then that she recognized him.
“Kenny?”

“
Lucy did you
…
”
more
coughing,
“
… hear
what I said?
”

“
What’s the
matter? You disappeared that night—you sound awful—what happened to
you?
”

“
Lucy, I don’t have much time. I
have to leave here, but I’ll be back tonight after dark. Meet me
here in the library and I’ll explain everything. I have to go.” She
heard him coughing and wheezing even more.

“
Kenny, no wait! Explain what?”
Lucy frantically tried to keep him on the phone. For a moment she
heard nothing, and then Kenny came back on the line.

“
I’ve made some
bad mistakes, Lucy. Just be here after dark; I have answers for you
about who’s after you and …
”
he hesitated as if wanting to say something, but
never did.
“
You
have to come alone.” He sounded insistent.

“
No, I’m bringing Benjamin,” Lucy
insisted.

Kenny became suddenly forceful. “No! If you
bring any of them, I won’t be here.” He wheezed again. Lucy didn’t
respond. The idea of going alone made her nervous, but she wanted
to hear what he had to say. She needed to find out more.

“
Okay,” Lucy said hesitantly.
“I’ll come alone. But you have to promise me it’s safe.”

Kenny didn’t say anything for a moment. “It’s
safe.”

Before Lucy could say another word, the other
line had gone dead.

She sat in her chair and thought about what
Kenny had said. She thought about what he could possibly know about
anything. He had been so quiet and reclusive in his office all the
time that she hadn’t really noticed anything about him that would
even begin to lead him to be involved with the world she had become
a part of.

She stood up and crossed to her father and
picked up his heavy hand. All she could think about was that
somehow Kenny knew things. Lucy had no reason not to trust him. He
had always been decent to her, and at times seemed as though, in
his awkward way, he was flirting with her. She thought about the
times she had caught him watching her. It was a little creepy, but
if he really did like her, he was probably trying to help her. It
only took her a moment to give Kenny the benefit of the doubt. She
began to re-pack her bag. As she turned to leave, she stopped. Back
at her father’s side she took the gold medallion from its box and
placed the chain around his neck.

“
I know you wouldn’t approve of
this, but I’m going to save mom.”

She held his fingers tightly in her own and
looked at his gentle face and brushed the hair out of his eyes.
Bending down she kissed him for what she hoped wouldn’t be the last
time, and walked out of the room.

Down at the Cavalier, Benjamin saw her
approaching and immediately got out, walked around to the passenger
side and opened the door for her. Lucy tried not to show that
anything had happened so she forced a smile, but it wasn’t going to
fool anyone, least of all Benjamin.

“
That was quick. You okay?” he
asked as soon as Lucy was in ear-shot.

Lucy tried to act coy. “Yeah, why?”

“
Nothing, you just don’t look your
usual self.”

“
Oh, no, I feel fine.” Her mind
was going so many different directions thinking about what Kenny
could possibly want to tell her, that she was having a hard time
focusing on her lies. “I guess it’s just, you know, weird not
having him on his birthday. That’s all.”

Benjamin smiled warmly at her. “I’m sorry,
Lucy, but you have to remember that he is still alive. When we find
who did this to him,” he looked directly into her eyes, “perhaps
that will be enough to bring him back.”

Lucy was grateful for the
confidence boost, but she had already hoped for that and at the
same time she was dead set on freeing her mother’s
light
so that she could
rest in peace or move on, or whatever it is that a person’s essence
does. All she wanted to do was get to the library, get whatever
information she could from Kenny, and maybe end it once and for
all.

“
I know. It’s just
hard.”

“
We’ll find him, Lucy. Peter is a
great tracker. He’ll find wherever Sukabra is hiding and we’ll
destroy him and set your mother free and whatever he took of your
father, I promise.” Lucy forced as much of a smile as she could,
and Benjamin got back into the car.

For nearly three hours, Lucy was down in the
basement working with Benjamin’s practice sword. She had to focus
on how she was going to get to the library without telling anyone.
But as she battled against Benjamin and Jack, she was losing every
round. She was preoccupied with thoughts of Kenny and the library
and she knew she needed to get to him to found out what he meant by
having answers. The biggest dilemma was getting out of the house
unseen and getting out with the only thing she could use as
protection, a sword.

When she had decided that
her miserable practice had run its course, Lucy walked over to
where her totem sat on the stone podium. She held the small golden
cube in her hand, gripping it tightly, and pushed all of her
light
into it, then set
it back down.

It was barely past noon and she was so
frazzled that she wanted to tell Benjamin and Jack about Kenny, but
she knew she couldn’t. If any of them went with her, Kenny might
not tell her anything.

Lucy felt sweaty and tired as she walked up
the stairs and into the kitchen. At the sink she filled a glass
with water but just held it. She didn’t have the strength to even
lift it to her mouth. She was more emotionally drained than
physically. Looking out the kitchen window she saw Benjamin outside
doing his ritualistic Tai Chi. After every workout, he would go out
into the yard and move his body in the fluid strokes of absolute
concentration and harmony for at least an hour.

She thought about how cold
he must have been, wearing only his t-shirt and a pair of cargo
shorts, but his face showed total focus. She wished for all the
world she could find that kind of serenity at that moment. All she
wanted to do was go into her
haven
and stay there for days and let everything just
wash away. But she knew that wasn’t an option, so she decided to
get focus the only way she knew how when she felt so tired and
emotionally drained. She would take a nice hot shower. She lifted
the glass to her lips and drank as though it would be her last
taste of water for days.

***

Driving back up the hill after returning to
Kat’s for a shower and some alone time, Lucy could see that the sun
was going down over the ocean. Kat hadn’t gotten home from
Christmas shopping when Lucy had gotten there, and neither of Kat’s
parents was yet home from work. Lucy tried calling Kat’s phone, but
there was no answer. She wasn’t sure why she had even tried calling
except that she really felt like hearing her friend’s
voice.

Heading back up to the Raven home, she had
only one goal, and that was to somehow grab the sword and get back
down the hill and into town. It wasn’t going to be easy. All three
of the brothers were usually home at night.

The property was quiet when she arrived, which
wasn’t unusual, but she needed for it to remain that way. She would
go in and head for the basement, grab the sword, and find a way to
conceal it.

Looking into the open garage, she saw that the
Camaro was gone but the motorcycle was still there. She hoped with
all her heart that Benjamin had simply accompanied Jack into town.
The front door was unlocked, as it usually was, so she walked right
in and headed for the hidden basement door. As she slid the
bookcase to the side she was startled by another person in the
room.

“
Oh hey, Lucy. Where’s Kat?” It
was Jack’s voice and Lucy could feel her heart rate jump up from
its already elevated state. He was wet and wearing a pair of blue
Hawaiian print swim trunks. He must have just finished a swim. With
a towel, he was drying his hair and getting excess water out of his
ears.

“
Uh, she’s still Christmas
shopping, I think. She wasn’t home when I got there.” She thought
as quickly as she could, she had to be ready to go with believable
answers in order to sell the lie.

“
Oh, okay,” he answered
nonchalantly as he started toward the kitchen.

Lucy tried to act as natural as possible as
she opened the bookcase. When she heard his footsteps slap against
the wood in the dining room, she waited until she heard the
refrigerator open. The sound of bottles clanking in the door
signaled to her that it was time to go downstairs.

She descended quickly into the room, running
past all of the fitness equipment, and headed straight for the rack
where her practice sword hung. Dropping her backpack, she looked
for a way to conceal the sword so she could walk out with it. And
then she had an idea.

She pulled the sword off the
rack and looked around the room. Over at the weight machine, she
saw what she needed. There were two bars that supported the
structure that were only about half an inch apart. She took the
sword over to it. Holding her sword she felt her
light
flowing through it
and it became rigid. The bonding process was so much simpler since
the sword essentially knew who she was. As she dropped her bag near
the machine, she heard a voice at the top of the stairs. All she
could do was freeze.

The voice was Jack’s. He seemed to be talking
to someone. Lucy couldn’t make out what he was saying so she just
stood by the weight machine, anticipating his intentions. Seconds
seemed like minutes and Jack was still at the top of the stairs.
Lucy couldn’t tell if he was on the phone or if Benjamin had come
back in the Camaro. His voice finally began to fade and she could
hear his footsteps walking back toward the kitchen.