Glimmer (19 page)

"Charlie, do you still have that radio?" I ask.

"Yes, and there are more in the house, why?"

"Because we're going to find Lukas, and your radio will tell us if he's close."

We run back to the farmhouse knowing there are lots of things we need to do in a short amount of time. Namely, figure out who's coming with us.

Charlie leads us to a trailer where we find Colton and Junie sitting with Timid. Timid's braiding Colton's hair in the tiny braids she loves to weave. His hair
is
longer than Junie's.

"Lucy! I didn't think you'd be back so soon. Did you find what you were looking for?" Junie asks sincerely.

"Not exactly ... there's actually been a slight change of plans.  And by slight, kinda huge."

"We're going home?" Timid asks, looking up at me expectantly.

"No, Timid. Never. I'm never going back there. And why would you want to anyway?" I snap back. Then I met Junie's eyes, and I swear she's disappointed in me. She knows how to act with Timid, and it feels like all the gentleness I've been learning about dissipated the moment I learned she and Integrity were playing me.

"So what's the change?" Colton asks, his eyes perked, ready for action.

Charlie and I fill them in on what just went down, and I see their eyes naturally gravitate up the hill towards the barn-turned-prison.

"How many people do you want to take?" Colton asks right away. "I can round up as many as you want."

"So you'll come? I thought you wanted to get away from all of the drama?" I ask.

Junie pipes up, "I'm not letting this girl go that easy." She wraps her arms around Timid.

"Well, Junie's convinced that Timid is her long-lost sister. I'm not leaving my twin to go ahead without me. I'll stay. I mean, I'll go, with you."

You will let me come too?" Timid asks. "Even though I lied to you, Lucy?"

"Sorry, sweet pea, you're stuck with us," Junie answers for me. "Old Lucy may hold a grudge, but I'm not letting you go back to that island without a fight." She smiles, but I feel a certain tension behind her words.

"So, we're coming. Who else?" Colton asks.

"Not a lot. We have to get to Lukas first, and then regroup, maybe camp out and decide what we want to do," I say.

"We'll take horses, of course, and we need a map. I need to see where the Refuge is in location to where we are," Charlie says, taking charge.

"Can Duke come? He's really good at ... umm...." Junie appears to be thinking.

"Yes, of course he can come. I'd feel safer having another guy along in case anything happens," Charlie says. "We don't know how long it will take."

"Where are we going?" Junie asks.

"Well, Lukas will be coming from Refuge Two and Charlie says there is some sort of bridge."

"Wait … Bainbridge Island is Refuge Two?" Colton asks. "Sweet, that's not so far!"

Charlie high-fives Colton. Apparently game plans make these two excited. Not that I can judge, I'm pumped knowing we're getting ourselves into gear, finally doing something.

Plus, I'll see Lukas. Soon.

"Okay, let's split up, pack our supplies, and load the horses. Everyone will take one, except Timid. She can ride with me. And let’s move fast, okay? I don't want my parents to escape or word to get out before we're well on our way," Charlie finishes, and then smiles at me. "Sound good?"

"Sounds like a man with a plan," Colton says.

And for some reason Charlie knowing exactly what he wants, and just going for it, makes my heart flutter in ways that betray Lukas.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Lukas

The Energy Room is completely quiet and it feels as though my presence is interrupting something. As though it's a living, breathing thing that wasn't expecting me to come until later. I walk to the chair. My chair. I swipe my fingers through a layer of dust that's collected on the armrest. It's been almost two months since I was last here. I don't know how many days it will be until I return to this throne, and how many things will be different when I do.

Maybe nothing.

Maybe everything.

It all depends on what my parents and Lucy have done, together, to come up with a plan. I believe in her ability to find a way to make all our dreams possible.

And more. Because I'll have the chance to tell her that The Light, the true Light she believed in, as she so clearly expressed to Integrity and me, is real. She was right.

I am the prophet, she is the prophet too, and we can work together. I feel, for the first time, like I was made to be here. There is a reason for me.

My light makes sense.

I sit down in my chair, the one I'm finally claiming as my own, realizing as I hook myself up to the wires to energize the Refuge, that I have so much power at my fingertips. Power I never even thought about harnessing, accepting. Taking the light from the room and turning it dark on Humbleman Right, and the way I've been able to summon fire when I want to, makes me see how truly dependent the Council is on me. All this time I've been letting them treat me as a child.

I no longer feel like a child, I feel like a man.

My head falls back on the head rest, as the light pours out of me, consuming everything in the room with bright white luminescence. My mind focuses on the future, being here with Lucy, both of us dressed in the regal white robes the Councilmen wear, only with none of them in sight. I picture them knocked off their seat of power, with only Integrity staying. Because for some reason, even though he's made some questionable decisions about the dark rooms, I can overlook that because he believes in me.

It's as though I'm learning everything about myself at hyper-speed. My mind is alive as I process what I am, what I could be. No longer a puppet to the Council, I could be the Nobleman in both body, mind, and light.

The light pouring out of me that is usually golden, or white, suddenly seems to change hues. I feel ill, as though I've eaten too much or too little, my stomach coils in knots. I see brownish, yellow shades fill the room, and I know something's off.

I unhook the wires around me and take the crown of wires off of my head. I stand, dizzy and imbalanced, grabbing hold of the chair to steady myself. I must have been in the room for a few hours, at least, but I don't think I have given all I've got, but maybe this is my body's way of telling me enough for today.

I stand and stretch, and look at my light again, the gold is back, and relief floods over me, even though I don't know why. Maybe I'm seeing things. After all, it
has
been an unprecedented couple of days.

Determined to release some more energy before I leave the Refuge, I sit back down in the chair. I need to give energy for the Vessels. Especially the ones living here, the poor girls locked in those rooms. Remembering those broken girls, I shake off the thoughts of taking power for myself. I know it's wrong to think that way.

My color stabilizes, and I feel guilty leaving The Light, even if it's only for a few days. I hook myself up quickly and without thought, as being here is second nature to me. I close my eyes, focusing solely on Lucy. I see her beautiful chestnut hair her delicate green light. I picture her raising her hands for everyone to see the flicker in her hand, and them bowing to her, just as The Light does for me.

A smile crosses her lips, and she looks straight ahead at me, as though she's here, penetrating my very heart. A heavy rush of satisfaction sweeps through me, and once again the room turns heavy, muddled with yellow light. The murky flaxen color washes away the once purely golden tone.

I feel sick again, and know something is really wrong with me. My light has never changed like this, and an uneasy feeling covers me. I can't afford for anything to go awry, not now. Not when I'm so close to having everything.

Lucy and The Light. 

The muddy yellow thickens, and I get out of the chair as fast as my fingers can move. I need to leave the Energy Room before I begin sourcing the Refuges with bad energy. Even though I don't know what the changing color means, it doesn't feel as though it would be anything good.

Lucy

I feel sick. My hands, as they grip the reins of the horse Charlie gave me to ride, begin to glimmer once more. The emerald light escapes through my fingers and as we gallop further away from the Headquarters, my heart begins to race. Clutching my chest with one hand and holding the reins tightly with the other, my heart fills with Lukas's light, it seems to be fighting through a hazy yellow, wanting to push it away with my clear green.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asks. We've only been riding for a few hours, but Charlie keeps checking in on me every few minutes.

"I'm fine," I say, pulling my hand away, instinctively wanting to cover the light. Realizing at the same time, that there's no longer any way to hide it. It's grown too big to conceal. It covers both my arms.

"Sure?"

"Of course. We're on our way to find Lukas," I answer, but even I know my voice falters when I say his name. I feel like he's in trouble, like we're in trouble. My heart continues to push away the yellow I sense and reach for my own green light.

Lukas

I need to leave this place so I can ask Lucy what she thinks is happening to my light.

I walk quietly up the stairs, not wanting to see anyone before our escape. Thankfully it's dinnertime and everyone's occupied. I zig-zag through empty corridors until I reach the doors leading me to the Rehabilitation Center.

Looking around I try to guess where everyone in our group has assembled. Perfection walks out of the doors where Care's office is located, and smiles broadly at me, then falters slightly when she notices my changing light.

"You're all yellowy ... almost brown. Are you okay?" She asks, coming up, taking my hand in her own.

"I'm fine. We just need to go."
And find Lucy
.

"Good." She looks skeptically at me, but doesn't press.

"Did you get the electroshock-gun?"

"That's the thing. I tried. I really did, but I shouldn't have gone alone. The doors were all locked."

"I can open the locks." In my head I calculate how long it will take me to get there and back.

"There isn't time, we need to go. Integrity says there isn't time to waste, and that if we're caught, the Councilmen will drop all of us in the lake."

"Then we'll go. One stun-gun can't ruin our plans."

"Okay, everyone's ready. Basil is all weird and fidgety, but that's how she is." Perfection rolls her eyes, in typical fashion. "But Grace looks terrible."

"I figured as much. Do you think she'll be able to walk?"

"About that, Care has something else in mind for our transportation." She has a twinkle in her eye as she says this. "I was in charge of waiting for you to arrive, but now that you're here, we can go."

"Are you scared?" I ask. My heart beats fast, realizing it is happening. The moment I've been waiting for, but never really imagined would happen, is here.

My first time away from the security of a Refuge, out of the care of The Light.

"I'm not scared as long as I'm with you. My prophet, my Nobleman, my mate," Perfection says with assuredness. It makes me feel worse about her devotion to me and my deception to her.

Pushing those thoughts away, I nod and follow her as she leads me around the Center, into the woods. We keep walking, away from the Refuge, and I wonder how she has so much confidence here, in between the trees. A world she's never experienced, yet she seems to maneuver in with ease.

We walk for about ten minutes and end up on a path, paved in black. Integrity, Care, and Basil stand around a metal machine.

"You're here so soon, is everything okay?" Integrity asks with concern. He looks strange standing out here in the midst of tall green trees. My image of him is a tired man in the corner chair in a Council room. Out here he looks alive, invigorated. The gray that usually hangs onto his face is replaced with the flecks of silver in his beard and his eyes.

"I wasn't feeling well, but I think I'm just nervous. Leaving the Refuge for the first time and all."

"Well, you'll be back soon. You can return the way you go, over the bridge. If you follow this road you'll make it there. I trust your light will lead you to where you need to go. And just in case, I made a map for you, with directions to where your parents are in Southworth. Basil can help, she spent most of her life in this world."

I look at Basil, this girl I hardly know, and realize I'm trusting her with so much. I'm relieved she's with me, because I suddenly feel so inexperienced, so naïve. So small.

"And Hana? Where is she?" I ask.

"She's in the car. Sleeping. Kind of...." Basil shoots Integrity daggers with her dark, almond shaped eyes.

"She isn't well. The dark rooms ... affected her ... she hasn't quite...." Integrity peters out.

"What?" I ask exasperated.

"Woken up," Perfection finishes.

"Like, she's ... dead?" I ask horrified, realizing Care had been literal in her assessment after all.

"No, no, no ... she's breathing, just not responsive," Care tries to soften the truth.

Integrity put her in a coma.

My anger resurfaces, in an instant.

"When I come back, we are tearing apart every single dark room, Integrity. Your plan, however pure when you conceived it, is wrong!" I shout.

"Shh ... you must remember to keep your voice down, Nobleman. We can't attract any attention until you have left safely," Integrity admonishes. "But yes, I know. I have made errors. But my heart rejoices hearing that you'll be returning to The Light soon."

I hope he's as sorry he says. And he's right; I can't stand out here arguing about the past, not now. Not when we have to fight for our future.

"So how are we leaving exactly?" I ask, once again feeling small.

"In this car," Care says, pointing behind her. "And you're going to drive it.