The PureLights of Ohm Totem (15 page)

Staring at the scenery below, he watched the snow starting to fall, engulfing the land with icy flakes. Without warning, the thought of a particular VioletLight entered his mind—Nova, the Snow Leopard.

How fitting.

A memory came forth from long ago. It opened in his mind like an exploding star and Crepus saw Nova sitting next to him on a sandy stretch of beach along the River Ohm. She was laughing with him. Crepus' heart, for an instant, leaped with joy at the memory.

He searched the gray clouds above with a single thought.
What made us laugh?

But, like most of his memories, the joy faded as quickly as it had arrived, and from the recesses of his mind he heard a voice that wasn’t his own.

You must stop Nova. She must fade into the ethers like smoke in a heavy wind. Finish what we started!

Ten yards away, Chev, Zoey, and Coda stared at a gigantic tree—the Spruce Hollow. It still amazed Chev, no matter how many times he'd seen it. It was as wide as five large boulders, and as tall as five trees stacked on top of each other. It stood at the southern region of the Sihu Tribe, next to the southern Fog.

Knowing she was going to stay here, sleep here, and do whatever else there was to do here; Zoey wasn’t excited, nervous, or anxious about it. She was numb. Too much had happened to her in one day, and to top it off she wasn't certain what to expect with this big tree. Really, what was it and why was it so big? During the walk from Deer Meadow, she did, however, feel amazement when she first saw the Spruce Hollow standing way above the forest canopy.

Looking at the large spectacle up close, she saw that it had a grayish, brown bark covering the length of it, and light green moss scattered in the cracks. At the base of the northern side of the tree stood a golden door with a brown wooden latch to open it. A peephole was just above the latch and three silver bells hung over the door frame.

“I hope you like your room. I hear it's nice and comfortable inside,” remarked Chev. “Don't get too comfy, though. You still have your place in...um...” he scratched his ear with his trunk and looked off into the distance. “Well, where did you come from?”

“The Cornell Forest,” said Coda. “It’s in the town of Gladstone, where we live.”

“Okay,” replied Chev, continuing to scratch his giant ear. He patted the top of Zoey's head and grinned. “You still have your place in Gladstone. I suppose you'll be going back as soon as the next full moon comes around.” He blinked his eyes, and then said seriously, “Thank you, again, for saving my skin back there. You're a brave bird, you know.”

Embarrassed, Zoey looked down. Chev would have seen her face flush red if she hadn't any feathers. She shrugged her shoulders. “Thanks.” The truth is, she didn't really plan on flying at the lion, but sometimes when love is involved, things just happen.

Coda playfully nudged his sister. “Don't get too scared of sleeping
all
by yourself.”

“I'm not scared, Coda,” Zoey rolled her eyes.

“So, where do I get to go, Chev?” Coda asked excitedly.

Chev pointed with his trunk. “See that large lump of dirt topped with grass way off over there?”

Zoey looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a trail leading up to a big mound, with a rather large hole. The hole looked like it went deep into the earth. It had hazy white, bluish light beaming inside of it that seemed to stop at the entrance of the hole, going no further.
How does it do that?
thought Zoey.

“That's the Marble Burrow. It's for the Paws.”

“The Paws?” asked Coda.

“You're a Paw,” Chev said, tapping the top of Coda's right foot with his trunk. “And Zoey's a Wing,” he said, tapping Zoey's wing with his trunk. “Paws and Wings train in different ways, so there are two different living quarters for two different types of students.

“I've never trained,” Chev sniffed. “Well, I did for a day. I slept in the Marble Burrow with my classmates, but they quickly realized that my talents lay elsewhere.” He grinned, “Still, I found my home with the bards at the eastern beach.”

“Oh,” said Zoey softly, “I've never heard of bards.”

“They're the poets, storytellers, and singers in the Sihu Tribe. Some day I'll sing you a little tune.”

Coda twitched his tail and Zoey felt a twinge of anxious energy from her brother.

“Zoey and I are students here?”

Chev stepped back, astounded that Coda would ask such a question. “Well, yes. You're both young, and haven't been trained in the Art of Defense.”

Zoey’s blue eyes shone brightly. “Why would we train if we're going home soon?”

“Oh yeah, that's true.” He thought for a moment. “Well, of course, you don't have to train. It's your decision, but most of us here do it anyway. It's actually fun and you'll learn a lot of important information and skills.” He added, winking at her, “I'd say do what I did and give it a try.”

“Sounds like fun!” said Coda.

Zoey squinted her eyes at Coda in a way that he knew meant, h
ow would you know?

Coda responded with a shrug that said,
I don't know.

Chev's brow rose. He'd never seen a brother and sister act that way with each other. He decided that brothers and sisters probably communicate much differently in Gladstone.

“Coda, I’ll take you to the Marble Burrow so you can get a good night’s sleep. You’ll need it to help to prepare you for your training sessions, which will in turn help to prepare you for the Circle of Elders.”

Again, a wave of anxiety crashed over Chev when he said Circle of Elders, but he caught himself right away, and did his best to hide it. “Okay,” he said with forced cheer, “it's time we said goodbye, for the moment.”

With that, Coda and Chev bid Zoey farewell. Coda gave her a friendly flick on her cheek with his tail and Chev did his usual patting of the head with his trunk. Zoey watched them head toward the Marble Burrow. Then she turned and stared at the door of the Spruce Hollow. She took in a deep breath, exhaling, “Here we go.”

She walked up to the door and did what Chev explained to do on the way to the Spruce Hollow. The secret knock. She gave three knocks with her beak, then paused, then knocked two more times, paused again, and ended with one knock.

The peephole slid open.

“Who goes there?” came a high-pitched male voice.

“Umm... Zoey?” she said.

“Umm-Zoey? Is that a question or a name?” replied the voice.

“It's a name.”

“How do I know it's a name? What if you're a skylark posing as a name or a name posing as a skylark and trying to spy on us? You know, the Dims attacked us earlier and you could be one of them trying to be one of us.” There was silence, and then a shuffling of paper or something behind the door, “If you want to come in, then answer this question.” There was more shuffling and then Zoey heard the voice hum a song. “Aha!” he yelled. “I got it. What's the square root of 18,324?”

“Uh, I don't know,” Zoey frowned.

“That's close enough. It's 135.36617007214173.”

The peephole slid shut. Silence.

Zoey stared at the door, wondering what to do next. She took another deep breath and exhaled, waiting.

Waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting some more.

She looked around worriedly.
Am I not supposed to be here or something?

She jerked back when she heard a loud clank, and bells jingled as the door slowly opened to reveal a white crane about five heads taller than her, and standing in the doorway. There was no expression of welcome on his face, or any gesture of hello. He didn't even give any indication that she was supposed to be there. In fact, he looked puzzled for a moment, then became all business-like, as if he had a million things to do.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” He waved her in, gesturing with his wing for her to hurry up. “Don't just watch me, let's move those legs. Come on, come on!”

Entering Spruce Hollow, Zoey noticed immediately how bright it seemed, despite the fading dusk outside. The walls were round, and had many lights shining from them. Zoey could tell they weren't light bulbs, though. They didn't glow the same way. They looked more like jagged rocks sitting in little indents made in the wood wall. The color of the light coming from them was exactly the same color she had seen being emitted from the Marble Burrow. The dark red wood was glossy, as if someone had sanded and stained it, like her dad did to the doors at home. Zoey followed the wall all the way up with her eyes, fifteen floors or so, where it stopped, and opened up to the sky.

There's no roof
, thought Zoey in wonder. It was a large, wide, open, windowless skylight.

Looking at the very top of Spruce Hollow, she panned down from floor to floor, noticing that each floor had a balcony going all the way around it with a gold railing along the edge. At every fifty feet or so, doors were set slightly back from the railings and against the wall. Each door was red with a gold latch, and had numbers on it.

The floor where she stood was made out of the same beautiful red wood that covered the walls. Several huddled masses of young birds, many seeming to be her own age, or just a little older, mingled in front of her, laughing and talking amongst each other.

The crane cleared his throat, startling Zoey out of her Spruce Hollow trance.

“Are you done enjoying the view?”

Zoey nodded absently. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

He gave her a stern stare that seemed more sarcastic than serious. Then he turned, looking at a tablet that stood erect about five feet to the right of the entrance door. The tablet was gray, and resembled a gravestone that arched at the crown. It had a perfectly round green crystal embedded in the middle of it that was pulsing with light.

The crane observed Zoey eyeing the crystal. “That's an emerald, my dear.” Quickly changing the subject, he asked, “You say your name is Zoey? Or is it Um-Zoey?”

“Just Zoey,” she mumbled.

“Humph,” snorted the crane. He bent down and peered into the tablet. Suddenly Zoey saw a beam of green light eject vertically out of the emerald, projecting a three dimensional image just above it. The image contained writing in her language as well, but she couldn't see exactly what was written.

“Ah yes, there you are.” The crane turned back to Zoey and the image instantly disappeared. “Do you know what your name means?”

She shook her head.

“Well, it means 'life'. It's a good meaning, so don't forget it.”

“I won't,” she nodded.

The crane searched deep into Zoey’s eyes for several seconds, then closed one eye, leaning in a little closer. His beak nearly touched hers. He smiled. “Nope, you won't. You've got something in you that you don't even know about...” he paused, standing straight up, only to bend down to look at her again, “…yet.”

He stepped back and held his wing out to her. “Pleased to meet you. I'm Taregan.”

Zoey looked at the wing, but didn't know what to do with it.

He sighed, “Just touch my wing with your wing. It's called a wing shake.”

She held out her wing and touched his. The wing shake was short-lived because something quickly distracted him. His eyes widened in surprise. “A bag? Why do you have a bag?”

Zoey followed Taregan's line of sight and saw an orange suitcase with wheels and a handle to pull on. It stood right between them.

Zoey was just as confused as Taregan.
I don't know
, thought Zoey

“What were you going to do?” he asked. “Bring a party dress? I don't think so.” He leaned toward her with one eyebrow raised and the other cocked low. He whispered into her ear, “You have quite the imagination, young lady.” Then he winked. “And orange? I like your style. It's my favorite color.”

“Okay, moving on,” Taregan said, all business again.

As the crane gestured Zoey to follow him, she glanced toward the suitcase and saw—nothing!

“Where's the suitcase?” she cried out.

“Suitcase?” Taregan replied. “What suitcase?”

“The one that...”

His laughter interrupted her and he slapped his white feathery hip with his wing. “I got you!” he smiled. His smile was infectious, but his humor was lousy, which made Zoey smile even that much more. It eased her nerves. She suddenly liked this Taregan fellow.

“The suitcase disappeared once you took your eyes off of it. Like I said,” his tone became serious again, and his voice low, “you have quite the imagination. And in Spruce Hollow, imagination creates things almost instantly.”

“It does?”

“Well, sometimes. Depending upon who you are, you know?”

“Well…but…how do you...”

Before she could finish, Taregan spread his wings out and spoke in a loud voice.

“Let me have your attention, please!”

Birds of all kinds shuffled out of their rooms and stooped on the railings. The birds that were gathered in front of her stopped chattering, turning to look at Taregan. They were wide-eyed in wonder, curious about the newcomer.