Lumen

by Joseph Eastwood

  “Apparently, Reuben hand carved them himself, without using any power. All of them,” Taner said.

  “All?”

  “Yeah, there are two here, two outside the girls room and I heard that there are loads of smaller ones, just around the land.”

  Taner followed Daniel the two flights of stairs to his room. He had been given a plastic card with a black lined code on the back, there was a space beside the handle, and although he wasn’t the most technological person, it was clear he had to put the card in there. This room was bigger than the room at home; there were sockets for electronics, which he had only seen once or twice at home, and the floor wasn’t stone.

  “My dad has those card things to his study, and only he has a card,” Taner said, walking into Daniel’s room after him.

  “Why doesn’t he just get a switch-lock?” Daniel asked piling his stuff on his bed, and walking towards the large pane glass window.

  “Because they’re cheap and you can break into those,” he chortled.

  “Oh, right. Is every room like this?”

  Taner shrugged and looked around Daniel’s room. “Pretty much, but I best go, let you unpack and stuff. I still need to unpack.”

  “Bye,” Daniel said ushering Taner out of the room.

  Taner left. He closed the door behind him.

  Daniel ran his hands up the back of his neck and blew up at the fringe of his hair. He’s nicer than before. But I'm supposed to come from money now.

  Chapter Six

  That evening Daniel sat on his bed, looking around the room and playing with light switches. He had a fully functioning sink in the corner, a lamp on his bedside table and a light from his ceiling. It was too much and he hadn’t touched the gifts Reuben had given him. He skipped lunch and dinner on the off-chance he’d see Taner, instead he snacked on the sandwiches his mother had packed for him.

  He woke to a loud banging against his door. “Mum,” he groaned, wrapping his head in his pillow. The banging didn’t stop. He checked the clock on his bedside table; 8:02, and got out of bed to see what was so important. But there was nobody there. Daniel turned and closed his door.

  I guess they know then, he thought, throwing himself back on his bed, hoping to get some more sleep before the big assembly at nine.

  There was another thud against the door. Daniel jumped up and ragged his door open. But the hall was still empty; he looked down both ends of the hall again, this time noticing a tall boy.

  “Hey,” Daniel said, stepping out of his room.

  The boy turned around with a scowl on his face. He stared into Daniel’s eyes. Daniel tried to figure him out, but the longer he stared in his eyes of black ink, all thought seemed to wash away.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  Daniel blinked as sounds knotted in his throat as he tried to voice them. The boy’s gaze fell, and Daniel brushed a hand through his hair, trying to figure out what was going on. “Nothing,” he said, stumbling back into his room.

  A ringing bleep knocked Daniel from his alternate awareness. He reached out for the alarm, swiping his hand and knocking the clock to the floor. He sprung out of bed and a welt of pain opened up in his head, spinning him around. He swayed on the spot until composure set in. He picked the clock back up from the floor reading the red numbers, 08:47.

  Shit. Shit. I’m going to be late, he told himself repeatedly, rushing around to get dressed. He almost forgot to put his shoes on; it hadn’t crossed his mind until his feet touched the cold hallway, after all he’d never had to wear shoes at home before, at least not every day.

  On his way down the stairs he tried to put his jacket on and jump down a flight of steps, but he fell into the window at the bottom. “Ow,” he said, rubbing his head and putting the jacket on properly. He panted as he reached the doorway of the Boys’ Dormitory and found himself combing his hair and still rushing up the path to the main building. He reached an orderly queue walking towards into main entrance. Joining the end of it, it seemed that Taner also had the same idea of being almost late.

  “Over slept?” Taner said, smiling to himself.

  Daniel shook his head. “Ill,” he said quietly.

  “Well I did, my stupid alarm clock doesn’t even work.”

  “Mine did.”

  “Lucky you. I thought this school was supposed to be prestigious, it seems like a lot of it is all about Reuben. I even heard his stuck up nephew comes here.”

  Daniel grinned at Taner’s arrogant humour, that and when he first saw Reuben, he thought the same thing.

  They reached the assembly hall; it was a lot bigger than he thought it would have been, sitting at the back they could see the front of the stage perfectly well over the 20 rows in front. At the front of the hall was a platform and a podium, both were empty. Behind the stage however, several teachers remained seated with hands in laps and smiles on their faces.

  Reuben took to the sea of pale faces with blank expressions. “Good morning,” he said, his voice echoing around the hall. “This term we welcome fifty new students, and welcome the hundred joining us from vacation.”

  “A hundred and fifty people in here?” Taner whispered to Daniel, who nodded and continued to stare up at the stage.

  “I would also like to welcome a new teacher, she’s been my aide for many years but I’ve offered her a permanent teaching role.” Reuben turned to the teachers facing the crowd. “I would like you all to give a warm welcome, to Chey Coran, the new Life Energy and Skills teacher.”

  Everyone clapped as Chey stood, a woman with dark blonde hair, all scooped back into one long wispy ponytail. She smiled and gave a weak wave before sitting back down.

  Reuben coughed his throat clear before starting to speak again. Daniel watched, while something else vied for his attention; at first he thought it was Taner tugging at his jacket, but it wasn’t physical. He cocked his head to the right, seeing the boy from the hallway, although he wasn’t staring back, he was chuckling away to the person beside him.

  “All new students must stay seated to collect their schedules. The rest of you may now go for breakfast,” Reuben said, turning away from the podium to the seated teachers.

  Daniel’s schedule said that his first class was straight after breakfast, Life Energy and Skills with the new teacher. He had nothing on Tuesdays, and on Wednesdays he had Mythical Energies, and on Thursday he had Offensive and Defensive Energies. That was the only class he had with Taner. Daniel grinned at the thought of perhaps jumping into practicing straight away, fighting with each other, as he still held the image of Taner’s smug face in his head from the first time he saw him.

  “Are you coming for breakfast?” Taner asked, pulling Daniel from his thoughts.

  “Yeah,” Daniel said, nodding and blinking.

  The cafeteria area was a large L-shaped room with counters connecting to a kitchen along the far wall. It had reminded Daniel of the time when he’d snuck into an old factory with Jac, the large metal tables and adjoining chairs, the huge conveyor belt like counter where parts of metal and rock were fed through from different rooms.

  “So what are you getting?” Taner asked, handing Daniel a tray.

  “Not that hungry,” he said, glancing down the aisle full of food, “probably some, toast, beans.”

  “For a rich kid you sure don’t have a rich appetite,” Taner said, snorting back laughter.

  Daniel raised his eyebrows and handed Taner the wry smile of all-knowing; only hanging around with me because I have money, or fortunes, when I’m actually the poorest person here.

  They plated their breakfasts and sat at an empty table. Daniel was all too quick to notice the boy from the hallway seated across from them. He stared at them; a girl with blonde hair and her arms wrapped around a boy with a small afro of curls. The girl was the first to notice Daniel; she looked at him like she’d known he was staring, and then winked. Daniel’s gaze dropped, grinning to himself. He looked back up, and the two guys were glaring at him with their bewitc
hed black eyes.

  “I got Mythics today,” Taner said.

  “I have that new teacher.”

  “I have her tomorrow. Thursday should be good though, get to learn some tricks,” he said with a large smirk painted across his face. “I got told they make you fight first day. You know learn as you do kinda thing.”

  Daniel glanced back up at the table and the people were gone. He butted his lips together as he replayed the image of the girl winking at him, sending little electric charges through his stomach.

  “The blonde?” Taner asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Well you’re not exactly subtle,” he said, spooning beans into his mouth.

  Daniel gulped. “Oh. Why? What do you know about her?”

  “Same thing everyone else knows, she’s a tease, and a bit of a leech.”

  “How do you know?”

  “If you’d have been here yesterday, then you would have been able to talk to people, nobody likes her that much, and they had some pretty harsh words to say about her.”

  Daniel looked down at his untouched food, pushing his tray aside. He necked back the cup of water, which tasted slightly stale, and looked back at Taner’s face.

  “You gotta eat,” he said.

  “Why?” Daniel asked.

  “’Cause you have to have strength, power, will, y’know the sorta stuff that gets you ahead in a place like this,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Daniel would’ve liked to introduce him to Jac, both very stubborn, but different in how they got that way. Jac would’ve hated him, Taner being rich and arrogant, and Taner would hate Jac for being poor but strong-willed.

  “You know I read a bit before I came here,” Daniel said.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I thought everyone would’ve been so far ahead of me.”

  “But you’re parents are paying good money for you to be taught good shit,” Taner grinned.

  Daniel hummed and nodded. That was right; Daniel was becoming ‘friends’ with Taner because of the money. It was like he was somehow unwillingly infiltrating the inner circle of the rich people.

  Chapter Seven

  Daniel made sure he was early to his first lesson, as did everyone else in his class. He stood at the door looking around for a free seat, and there was only one; front row, right in the middle. He smiled at the scowling facing at either side as he took his seat. He glanced around, the room felt bare, but he wasn’t to judge. The room was huge, white-washed walls and maroon polished flooring, no pictures, no windows but the room was bright.

  “Good morning,” Chey said, wandering into the class with a smile on her face. “First class, ever, for us all.” She inhaled and stood tall, taking a look around the room.

  Daniel was still looking around, noticing something in the corner of the room. He was sure it hadn’t been there when he came in; a small table with a teakettle, a cup and some cutlery on it, and beside it was a chair. He then met Chey’s gaze and he shunned his eyes away, while she carried on looking.

  “You,” she said, pointing at Daniel.

  “Me?” he asked. He cleared his throat, his face turning red. “Me?”

  She nodded. “Please stand.” Daniel stood, tucking his hands into his pockets. Chey grinned. “Take your hands out of your pockets, please. I have a little task for you. Don’t worry—the rest of the class will be doing the same.”

  Daniel nodded and let his hands flop to his side.

  “In fact, let’s swap places, so that everyone can see,” she said, moving forward and gesturing that he move also.

  Daniel had now taken Chey’s spot at the front of the room, while she sat in his seat, her legs crossed and arms folded.

  “Outstretch your arms, and cup your hand,” she said, and Daniel obeyed. “Now. Pool your power, feel it strong in the centre of your hands. It will be warm, now when you feel this, pull your hands apart slowly, revealing your raw power.” She had enticed the room into silence, and Daniel couldn’t stop staring at her lips.

  Daniel glanced down to his hands after realising Chey had stopped speaking. He tried to keep focus, but everyone in the room was staring at him. He felt their gazes prickle at his skin.

  “Take your own time,” she said, leaving the wave of her words washing over the class.

  He pressed his hands together hard, and closed his eyes. A cool tingle zipped down his chest, drizzling down his arms to his fingertips. He opened his eyes to peek at his hands, and noticed Chey’s lips moving; to him they were just moving. “Pull,” she kept on repeating, “pull.” Except this pull was imminent, it embraced him without order.

  Quick just like the flick of Reuben’s wrist, and the moment had passed. However in that moment, it was like the seconds had been filtered through minutes to Daniel. His hands fell numb as they became cold, sending a fine vibration rippling his hands apart to a crackle and flash of gold. It all popped in the space between his hands.

  Chey stood with her lips apart. She started to clap weakly. “Impressive. Not many can master it on their first try,” she said. “You may now take your seat.”

  Daniel stood still, his hands dwelling in the air, still shaking from the aftermath. He nodded and took his seat. People around him stared like he’d just done something to offend everyone in the room.

  “So Daniel has set the bar guys,” Chey said. “That is the task of today, I hoped, well I didn’t hope that it would take you long to do this task, but normally people just need to settle into their environment. Please don’t be discouraged, awaking your raw potential is basic, after that I can teach manipulation of raw energy,” she continued, but to Daniel her voice had become a distant haze. “Two basic facts, if you’re a boy, your flare will be blue-ish and if you’re a girl, then your flare will border violet, light purple.”

  The room became alive with motion as people stacked chairs at the side. Daniel stayed seated; flames engorged his muscles, and flared up in his cheeks. He caught something, he knew something; his flare was neither blue nor purple, but the rest of the class had already realised that.

  Daniel stood and someone pulled the chair almost immediately.

  “Daniel?” Chey called from the front.

  Daniel looked up to see Chey’s face touched with concern. “What is it?”

  “We should talk,” she said, ushering him to the front of the room.

  She offered him her seat and then forced another her way.

  “Yeah?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the rest of the students trying to summon their raw energy.

  “That’s some special flare you have, and I know someone else like it. You probably know him too.” She grinned, glaring into his eyes.

  He pulled away and frowned, something ached at the back of his throat and the nape of his neck. He rubbed the back of his neck and licked his lips, trying to gnaw at the sickly dry feel in his mouth. She reached out a hand and touched his. And there it was. A taste, sweet, undoubtedly it was fine energy, but it wasn’t his. “Who?” he asked, staring at her hand on his.

  “Reuben. He does come from a rich bloodline,” she said, “not financial but from his substance.”

  Daniel looked up at her, his lips parted. “What colour’s is it?”

  “He can change it,” she said and her smile spread. “A flare is energy in its rawest form. When you’ve got it, you’ll know, because the next step is control. Truth being, I didn’t think anyone could do that first time. In fact, I was counting on you burning out, as a lesson of not being able to touch raw power without first building an immunity to it.”

  “Immunity?” he picked out.

  “You felt pain right?”

  Daniel nodded and Chey pulled her hand from his.

  “You build over the pain. And I figured a scrawny boy wouldn’t be able to handle it,” she said grinning.

  He ignored her remark. “Shouldn’t you tell them?”

  She smiled and patted his shoulder. Standing, she approache
d the centre of the room and held her hand high over her head, but they were too busy talking and forcing themselves to extremes of pale to white.

  “Class!” she said, clicking her fingers mid-air. “Settle down, there is something I need to tell you all. Daniel has had earlier training,” she said, allowing everyone time to turn and stare, scowling at him. “However, you guys need to try hard, you need to tap into yourself, and then exert yourself.”

  Daniel stared on, dumbfounded. Of course she way lying, unless she knew about the books he’d been reading, and of course they touched on the topic of flares several times, but from what he’d read, flares took time to develop.

  He heard their insults, strained beneath their breaths. Some of them would've found that this was a common ground with Daniel, having something that makes you less fortunate.

  They haven’t heard, he thought as Chey turned to walk back to him. I’m practically from the Lowerlands.

  “I didn’t mean to out you back there,” she said with a sympathetic look in her eye and no smile. “But it’s better they think you’re a know it all then just being better than them.”

  “I came here to learn, not make friends,” Daniel said.

  “A good motto, because it's going to be hard for anyone, coming from the,” she said, mouthing the word, “Lowerlands.”

  Daniel couldn’t process what she was trying to get at, and before he could start she’d moved away, apparently there had been a knock at the door, but nobody else seemed to have heard it. He turned to see Chey talking to another teacher who glared at Daniel, locking eyes with him. When Chey closed the door, she brushed the back of her hand against her cheeks, flushed rosy red.

  “Mr Croft would like to see you,” she said, “His office is the one with the big door on the third floor.”

  Daniel nodded and left the room without anyone noticing, but he could still hear their shallow whispers filter through the air about his flare. Daniel just smiled; his parents had taught him how to control his shifts early on so they wouldn’t control him. It didn’t work how he would’ve liked, but it was one more thing people would be whispering about when they found out.