by Sophia Sharp
“Say, aren’t there some other events that you guys wanted to check out?” Liz asked. “Last year they had a great open buffet set up, and some carnival games. Remember?”
“Oh yeah!” Madison exclaimed, catching the hint. “We should go check it out. Over by the beach. Right?”
“That’s right,” Liz said. “You guys can go on ahead. I promised I’d go with Tracy to the, uh, student advising open house.”
Before I even had a chance to say goodbye, Liz was dragging me away down a narrow side street.
“Is it just me and you, then?” I asked.
“The others will come after they split from Jo, Ann, and Zoe,” Liz explained.
“Do they know where we’re going?”
“Of course! They’re not stupid.”
The path Liz took was not the one I had followed before. We went north, through the smaller streets of the main yard, and once we emerged in front of the hills, took an unmarked path across the grass to the edge of the forest. The woods were dense here. We had to push through low-hanging branches and overgrown bushes. Once we were a good hundred yards in, the dense shrubbery became sparser, and it was possible to walk without having vegetation snap in your face.
Apparently, Liz knew the woods well. There was no hesitation in her in leading me forward. I knew that, without guidance, I would have gotten lost here in an instant. I tried to remember the way we were going, in case it would be useful in the future, but every tree looked the same so I quickly gave up. Unlike my first trek out here, where I was guided by the small orange triangles, there were no markings to go by this time.
Luckily, I had Liz. It didn’t take long for us to emerge to one side of the lake. The trees here let the sun shine through. Again, I was struck by the serenity of the spot.
“That’s where I found you last time,” Liz said, pointing across the water. I squinted, because the sun’s rays reflected brightly off the surface of the lake. After a moment’s search, I recognized where Liz was pointing. “What were you doing sleeping there, anyway?”
“I came out there expecting to find you,” I explained, “and when I didn’t see you, I decided to wait under the shade of a tree. The lake was just so peaceful, I guess, I drifted off.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to appreciate nature like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind. Do you see how to get to the clearing from here?”
I scanned the lake before me, remembering the way Liz led me last time. It took me a few seconds. Eventually, I found the path we took deeper into the woods. “Over there,” I told her, pointing.
Liz smiled. “Right. Do you think you can lead us there on your own?”
“Why? Is this some kind of test?”
“No test. I just want to see how well you remember the place.”
“I guess,” I shrugged, and set forth. Liz followed after me, not saying a word. I wasn’t exactly sure of the way, so I went around to the little pebble beach to start from a familiar location. Finding the right way proved slightly difficult. The first time I was here it was not only darker, but I was also following Liz without trying to remember the way. For some reason, with the light shining brightly through the tops of the trees, I was somewhat thrown off by the difference. I led us one way at first, then stopped, backtracked, and set off in another. And again, after walking that way without recognizing anything around me, I backtracked and started again.
Liz followed behind without saying a word, although I could feel her eyes on me. I was sure she was judging me, and likely as frustrated as I was by following someone so obviously clueless. The fourth time I had to turn back because I had no idea where we were going. I threw my hands in the air in frustration.
“It’s impossible! I thought we were going the right way the first time, but…”
“But it’s trickier than it seems, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed, annoyed at having to swallow my pride. “Why don’t you just lead us there? At the rate I’m going, we’ll still be circling the lake by the time night rolls around.”
“I wanted you to try.”
“I know, but it’s – frustrating!”
Liz smiled, and for a second, I thought she was gloating. But then, on second glance, I realized that her smile was sympathetic.
“Good. It’s not supposed to be easy to find. We’ve had to keep the existence of the seekers a secret. If just anybody could stumble upon the clearing, we’d have a lot of explaining to do. We worked hard to make sure finding the space is no small feat.”
“So you were testing me!”
“Not you so much you as us. I wanted to see how difficult it would be for somebody to come back to the clearing. I know the forest like the back of my hand, so for me, it’s always hard to put myself in somebody else’s shoes and imagine not knowing the way. You just helped confirm what I wanted to know.”
“Great. But since you do want to go there, are you going to finally take me there?”
“Of course! It’s just this way.”
I followed Liz as she led away from the lake, deeper into the forest. The path she took this time was not at all what I remembered. Soon, we came to that familiar hilly rise, at the other side of which was the clearing.
As we picked our way down the other side, I could see the spot in the middle of the clearing where the bonfire had been burning.
“How’d you find this spot in the first place?” I asked Liz.
“It wasn’t hard. There was a sort of resonance that the crystals seemed to be in tune with. It came from over there.” She pointed to one side, where a series of waist-high rocks stood out from the ground.
“What’s over there?”
“You’ll see when everybody else is here.”
“Why not now?”
“It’s better to wait. I promised the others not to show it to you without them.”
“How come?”
“Everything we do, we do together. Especially when it has to do with introducing somebody new to the group.”
“So you won’t give me the crystal to try yet?” I felt a horrible longing for it, and not getting it right now felt like a sort of betrayal.
“Not yet. We need to wait for the others.” Liz must have picked up on how I was feeling, because, after a second, she added, “Don’t worry though! You’ll get your chance soon enough.”
‘Soon enough’ proved to be longer than either of us expected. Liz and I sat on the logs around the fire pit while the minutes dragged slowly by. Every time the wind rustled the trees in the distance, my eyes shot to the top of the hill, searching for a sign of the others. I was on edge. To be so close to using the crystal again, yet unable to do so because of a decision Liz made was unbearable. For a completely irrational moment, I contemplated jumping Liz and prying the crystal from her. Then, I threw away the thought disgustedly. That wasn’t like me at all. What was I becoming?
Thankfully, that was when Ashley, Madison, and Eve finally appeared at the top of the hill. I realized I was tapping my foot anxiously, and stopped it. It would be no good for them to see my desire for the crystal.
“So, you finally decided to come back, huh?” Eve said in a tone that was almost derisive. It was so completely at odds with how friendly she was back at the opening days’ assembly that it caught me off guard.
“Eve!” Madison exclaimed admonishingly. “We’re happy you’re here, Tracy.”
Ashley didn’t say anything. Her head was down, and she had both hands in her pockets. It looked like she was taking the withdrawal pretty hard.
“I just got, uh, curious,” I told them. “I had time to think about everything you guys showed me, and it seemed best to give it another chance.”
“You don’t say,” Liz said, giving me a sly look. “We knew you’d come around, eventually.”
“It’s much better to be learning all this with others who have gone through it before,” Madison put in with a nod. “Much better than stumb
ling around in the dark on your own.”
“So, what do we do…?” I asked. I was itching for a chance to use the crystal again.
“Come with me,” Liz said, turning around. “Ashley, you stay here and keep watch in case anyone comes by. Madison, Eve, you guys come, too.”
Ashley shot a baleful look at Liz’s back, but acquiesced as soon as Liz turned her head. In a split second, Ashley went from proud and defiant to completely subservient. Liz nodded in satisfaction, and started walking. “Come on, Tracy.”
“Where are we going….?” I started to say as I caught up to her, but then realized she was walking toward the rocks she had pointed out earlier. Madison and Eve were walking together behind us, whispering in tones too low for me to hear.
Liz led us around the rocks. I saw that they were not the randomly arranged boulders I had assumed them to be from the other side. Instead, they stood in a circular pattern focused around one central, waist-high rock. The top of it was cleaved right off, and a hollow bowl-like shape had been carved into the top. The other rocks were all a little shorter, and looked like they could be used as seats. It was hard to tell, though, because the elements had eroded them over the years. Everything was now weathered and worn.
Liz stopped in the middle, and took out the carefully wrapped cloth from her pocket. Immediately, I felt the pull of the crystal. Mine was there, and it was calling to me. I knew exactly where it was, knew its precise location and orientation. I knew how strong it was compared to the other crystals, and knew how much stronger it would make me. Liz unfolded the edges of the cloth, and carefully lowered the open packet onto the surface of the cleaved rock. Then she stepped away.
The mystical pull of the crystal strengthened. It felt like something ancient, something waiting to be awakened. While it frightened me, it also felt so right. The crystal was made just for me. Nobody else could use it. Nobody else could have it. Nobody could know how much power it held, and nobody could experience what I would with it. It was lying there, waiting to be unlocked by me.
I stepped toward it, and found Liz’s arm across my shoulders. “Not yet,” she said quietly, and I nodded in agreement. I didn’t know why, but at that moment, listening to Liz felt… well, right.
She ushered me to one of the rocks circling the altar-like rock in the middle. Ashley and Eve were seated to either side of me. I lowered myself onto the seat slowly, still fascinated by the crystals in the middle. No – I was only fascinated by my crystal.
Liz sat down across from me, so that the four of us were facing the center. Nobody said anything for a long moment. My desire to reach across and snatch the crystal grew stronger and stronger. Suppressing it took a staggering amount of will power.
What’s going on, I was going to say. I was interrupted by a vicious hissing from all three girls before I even got the first syllable out. I realized, somewhat belatedly, that each of them was intensely focused on the crystals that lay in front of us. Even though the girls all looked composed, I could see small hints of strain, carefully hidden away, on each of them. Madison’s jaw was clenched, while the muscles on Eve’s forearm danced as she flexed and relaxed her fists. Beads of sweat had appeared on Liz’s forehead, and the corners of her eyes were tight. They were all concentrating hard.
Suddenly, a small glow appeared around each individual crystal. It was very faint, and just barely visible to me, but it was there. Actually, on second glance I realized it did not surround every crystal. Mine still lay there, unchanged. And while I didn’t feel anything peculiar, I knew, instinctively, that the halo had something to do with what the girls were doing.
The girls around me were straining even more now. Slowly, the glow intensified somewhat and expanded out. Crept out would be a better term. I watched as the aura surrounding one crystal grew until it was just about to reach the aura from another. It wavered just before reaching the second, but then came back stronger than before. Beside me, Madison grunted in effort. I knew the crystal that wavered was hers. The two halos met, emitting a brilliant flash of light. I had to blink a few times to erase the spots in my vision. When I could see again, I realized that the halo from the third crystal had also progressed, and was just about the meet the combined halo from the others.
As the aura from the crystals crept toward each other, something unusual happened. The two crystals that were already linked started to vibrate, ever so slightly. As the halo from the third moved closer, the vibrations increased. Around me, the strain was clearly evident on the faces of the girls. The third halo expanded until it was just a hairsbreadth away from reaching the combined glow of the other two crystals. However, that was as far as it got. The vibrations increased, until both crystals were shaking uncontrollably, causing the aura from them to fluctuate wildly. It went everywhere – except toward the glow around the third crystal. The crystals were shaking with such ferocity that they resembled an earth tremor. Suddenly Liz let out a strangled cry, and fell out of her seat. Everything went still.
I moved to help her up, but Eve was already there. Liz had a hand to her temples, but other than that she seemed okay.
“What was that?” I asked worriedly. The pull I felt from my crystal had died entirely when the auras winked out of existence.
“That is what we need you for,” Liz said in a weak voice. It appeared that the struggle—whatever it was – had taken more out of her than I thought. “We tried to link our crystals together in a triangle. But, as usual, it didn’t work.”
“Although this wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Madison put in.
“No,” Liz replied, “but it was nothing like it should be.”
“What do you mean?” I asked again. “Why were you trying to link the crystals, and what do you need me for? How did you guys do that? I thought you needed to hold a crystal to do anything with it.”
“Ah, that’s where these rocks come in,” Liz said, motioning around her. “They’re made of a special type of conductive stone. As long as the crystals are set in the middle,” she nodded toward them, “any of us can access them if we’re on one of these seats.”
“Alright,” I said. “That makes sense, I guess.” The further I got into this, the more I realized how little I really knew. “But why were you trying to link them? What was that I saw around the crystals? Was that the – aura you mentioned before?”
Liz’s eyes widened in surprise. “You saw the aura?”
“You mean the glow around the crystals? Sure. It was faint at first, but got stronger as you guys did… whatever that was.”
“Nobody has ever seen the aura!” Madison exclaimed in an awed whisper.
“What are you talking about? You guys were the ones who introduced it to me.”
“Yes, but all we meant was a metaphorical aura,” Liz said. “Tell me! What did you see? What did it look like?”
“Um, okay.” I paused to collect my thoughts. “Well, it started off as a faint glow around three of the crystals. Mine wasn’t included.”
“That must have been when we activated our crystals,” Liz said.
“I thought it was odd, at first,” I continued. “It wasn’t at all like the light that came from a crystal that was being used. It wasn’t like the blue light that I saw at the party, or that came when Ashley used her crystal the last time. It was more of a dull… glow. And it had a very definable edge. It didn’t just fade away. Maybe more like a halo, actually. Anyway, I didn’t understand what was going on, because the three of you were sitting right where you are, while the crystals were over there.”
“But now you know that we were linked to them,” Liz said. “Keep going. What happened next?”
“Well, the glow from two of the crystals came together. There was this flash of light, like from a camera. And then – what?” I stopped, because all the girls were looking at me funny.
“A flash of light?” Eve asked incredulously.
“Yes. Right when the two halos met. Are you telling me none of you saw that?” All
three girls shook their heads. I frowned. “Well, I don’t know what to say. I saw it! It burned spots in my vision that I had to blink away.”
“Yet it couldn’t have been real,” Liz said quietly, almost to herself. She looked at me. “And then what?”
“Well, after that the glow from the two crystals came together as one. It was more vivid. More intense. I saw the halo from the third crystal creep toward it, and that was when the crystals started shaking.”
“Fascinating,” Liz breathed. “And then?”
“The aura around the first two crystals started fluctuating like crazy. It went in all directions, except toward the glow around the third crystal. The shaking increased, until suddenly everything just cut off. And you fell down.” I stopped, waiting. That was all I had. The girls were all looking at me expectantly, as if I were hiding something. “That’s all I saw. Is something wrong?”
Liz shot out of her seat. “Wrong? Tracy, this is the greatest breakthrough we’ve had in ages! Nothing’s wrong. This is amazing!”
“Thanks,” I said, dubiously. ”But, why is that?”
“You’ve done something absolutely astonishing. You see, there are crystal reserves on the island. That’s where we got our crystals. The problem is: none of us can tell which of the crystals in the reserves are suitable for us, and which are – if you will – just clumps of rock.”
“Then how’d you find these?”
Liz snorted. “It took ages. We had to try every single crystal by holding it in our hands, to see if it could be activated or not. Just finding these four took months. But,” she continued, “if you were able to see the aura around these crystals, well, I think you will be able to tell which crystals are suitable for us just by looking at them!”
“But why is it so important to get more crystals?” I asked. “You have these ones. Right? Isn’t that enough?”
Liz stood up, and motioned for Madison and Eve to rise as well. “Come, there’s something else I want to show you. It’ll help you understand.”
Liz set off. Madison and Eve filed quietly after her. Both of them looked to be deep in thought, as if my ability to see the auras was some great revelation. Perhaps it was, to them. After a moment’s reflection, I hurried after the three girls.
