The Watcher Key (Descendants of Light Book 1)

by Troy Hooker

  At the moment Sam braced himself for impact, another cloud of Light caught him from below, immediately slowing his descent downward. He gripped his backpack as he continued his descent, sending up a crude prayer to the sky above.

  His body stabilized in the Light cloud, and soon the jungle-like treetops of the forest were visible. He could only watch as the Light chose his landing point—dead center in the pool below him. The dark water with veins of brilliant Lazuli light drew him downward, and suddenly he was under water, fighting to get to the surface of the iridescent blue liquid.

  He instantly felt the eerie sensation of being in the water at night and made a beeline toward the shore, slinging his pack on his back so he could use his arms to swim. Silently, he thanked his foster mother Sylvia for forcing him to take swimming classes at the academy. As he crawled up on the sandy beach of the pool, the sound of the thunderous waterfall behind him was the first sound he heard.

  The moon gave the only light on the beach, but it was enough to see his surroundings, which included a display of blue glowing insects that surrounded the pool just inside the tree line. He lay in the sand for a few moments, trying to get his bearings. The swim wasn’t far to the shore, but he was panting nonetheless.

  After a while of watching the strands of blue light lift peacefully off the water and drift past the moonlit waterfall to the hazy blue cloud above, Sam considered trying to venture into the woods to get a lay of the area, but thought it best instead to stay put and build a small fire until the others arrived.

  He had been in the woods in the dark before, but only once as a Boy Scout. His leader was a good one and taught him to face his fear of the dark, convincing him to stand in the woods alone in the pitch black until he felt comfortable with it. It took several minutes, but he mastered it. This wasn’t in the midst of the pines in the Manistee Forest, but the concept was the same.

  He picked out a few pieces of wood and dug his matches out of his pack to start a fire. Just as the first few flames began to lick the top of the branches he had dragged from the edge of the woods, a flash of light soared above him and another form descended into the pool.

  Wading into the water, he fished out a sputtering Emma with her backpack, who immediately fell in a heap onto the beach.

  “I can’t believe I just did that,” she breathed heavily, inching her way to the now glowing flames in the makeshift fire pit.

  “If you sit closer, your clothes will dry faster,” Sam said.

  She rolled over and sat up, prying off her sweater and laying it on the log Sam had dragged over from the woods.

  “You know, I uh—don’t like Sayvon,” he said awkwardly, immediately hating himself for saying it.

  Emma looked off toward the concert of blinking insects in the woods, her expression blank.

  “I was worried at first,” she said finally, her expression morphing suddenly into a smile that burst from ear to ear. “But now I can tell you aren’t her type.”

  He pretended to be offended, but secretly he was just glad to have the whole thing past them.

  “It seemed to me that you were pretty upset when I went on the tour with her,” he toyed with her.

  Emma laughed.

  “Don’t be sensitive. It’s not your style,” she said.

  “True,” he said, embarrassed, while poking a large stick into the coals. “I guess I was just more … worried what you thought than anything.”

  A few moments later, another flash of light brought Lillia down into the pool with a splash. But seeing that she was a natural swimmer and immediately began splashing toward them, Sam let her come ashore on her own. She immediately kicked off her shoes and set them to steam next to the fire, then laid on her back in the sand and ignored the couple.

  Gus finally arrived in a gurgling flop into the pool a few minutes later, and soon the group was together again, wet clothes propped up next to the blazing fire while they made plans to set up camp for the night on the beach.

  “How far are we from old Lior City?” Emma asked to no one in particular, but all eyes focused on Gus, who was busy stringing one of Boggle’s special cloth tarps that glowed a soft blue by drawing in small amounts of Lazuli light from any source it could.

  “I think we are about a three hour walk through the forest,” he answered.

  “That’s not too bad, I suppose. I figured it would be a lot farther,” Sam acknowledged.

  “No, the distance isn’t bad,” Gus agreed. “But I have been looking at the maps and we will have to skim the outer edge of the Darkness to get there, and the terrain near the City isn’t the greatest.”

  “Excellent,” Lillia rolled her eyes.

  Sam was clueless about the Darkness, and from the looks of it, the girls weren’t too excited to discuss it either. For Gus, however, the Darkness had been somewhat of a pet project. He was constantly reading about its effects in Lior or discussing the latest updates about where the patches remained from the last war with the Metim.

  They thought it best to leave the details up to Gus because he knew the most, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t notice when he showed concern about going near it.

  They got to work on their tents, setting up camp around the fire Sam had built. They were a simple canvas setup, a bit heavy in the backpack but looking very comfortable after a long day.

  Sam looked around for a suitable log to use as a stand to keep his shoes off the ground. Finding one, he plopped back down in front of the fire and added a few more pieces of wood to the dwindling flames.

  “Are we safe here?” Emma was the first to ask when the rest of the group had their tents staked and were nibbling on some of the bread and turkey the young Outsider girl in the Light tower had packed for them.

  Gus looked instinctively at the dark forest around him.

  “I think we are. From the latest info on the wildlife, I would say we would avoid most predatory species in this area.”

  “What about the Metim?” Sam caught his gaze into the forest.

  “Nope. No activity for—”

  “Fifty years, we know,” Lillia shook her head. “But things sure look like they are beginning to unravel.”

  “We should set the lanterns around the camp boundaries like daddy taught us, right?” Emma said. “I know they can’t protect us completely, but they do hide us, right?”

  “The lanterns have saved many Descendants because they were never found,” Gus offered.

  “I suppose it’s my job to set them up,” Lillia stood and walked over to her pack, producing four small lanterns much like the ones Mrs. Sterling used at the cabin after they walked through the arch.

  Sam watched her place the lanterns in a strategic pattern on the sand surrounding the tents. It made no sense that the light from the lantern would scare off Dark creatures of any sorts, but he kept his mouth shut. It was curious, however, to watch her carefully place one of the lanterns, then reposition it only inches away from its original spot.

  “Can’t you just put some sort of protective spell around the camp or something?” Sam asked.

  Gus snorted and looked over the top of the book he was nose deep in.

  “Ha! A spell?” He plopped the book in his lap. “Most of the ‘occultish-type’ who say they produce spells are more mental than magicians, and those that aren’t couldn’t do much more than light a candle! I mean, really, a witch? Humans claim to be witches but really they are just mixing a bunch of herbs together and chanting nonsense over glass balls.”

  “Unless those witches were empowered by a Dark Watcher,” Lillia reminded him. “You of anyone should remember that the first humans were tricked into performing Dark magic by the Fallen Watchers.”

  Gus chuckled.

  “True, but even they have had much less power lately. Dark Watchers don’t have the access to humans in Creation like they once did, and even
the ones that do can only possess humans—or Descendants—for short periods of time. There are only a few cases on record of true Dark Watcher indwelling happening in thousands of years.”

  Lillia poked at the fire with a stick.

  “I’m just sayin’ it’s possible to be possessed, that’s all,” she said, more softly this time.

  “So possession is real?” Sam stopped for a moment, hearing a rustling sound behind him.

  It had ceased suddenly when he stopped talking.

  “—like demons and stuff?” he said while motioning with his thumb behind him toward the noise, hoping not to give away the fact that he had heard whatever it was behind him.

  But something was there, and it was getting closer.

  ***********************

  The other three caught his signal and silently crawled over to his position, listening for any sound. There was no rustling, no movement—nothing.

  Then suddenly, and to everyone’s surprise, out popped a small creature, blue and green in color and looking much like a furry rat on stubby fat legs.

  There were relieved sighs from the group as Gus stood and shooed the creature back into the forest.

  “It’s only a juvenile Lior possum, who, might I add, is probably lost from its romp.”

  “Romp?” Lillia laughed outright. “Seriously, Gus, you study too much.”

  “What? It’s the name for a group of possum,” he said.

  “Forget it. You’re just ignorant about your own strangeness, I guess,” Lillia said with contempt.

  At that moment, something in Gus became unhinged, which sent the creature waddling at a faster pace off into the brush. All of the insults, the backhanded comments and irritating expressions from Lillia had finally gotten to him.

  He stood suddenly, his face bright red as he marched to where she had propped her feet up in front of the fire to warm them. Standing over her, Gus bent down and shook his thick finger right in her face and called her every name he could think of, from “self-absorbed bully” to “intellectual anarchist,” all of which she took willingly while a look of silent fear began to emanate from her cringing form. When he was finished, he instantly broke down sobbing, plopping loudly back down at the fire with his back turned to them all.

  Lillia looked as though she couldn’t move, mouth open, a look of deep guilt and surprise splashed across her face. She then turned suddenly and slipped into her tent, trying hard to stifle her own sobs, which proved impossible.

  Sam and Emma chose to sit quietly at the fire instead of trying to console Gus, which would have been impossible at that moment anyway. Instead, they listened to the waterfall pound the rocks below it and the occasional squawk from a bird calling into the night.

  Nearly twenty minutes later, Lillia came stumbling out of her tent, cheeks red and damp from her tears, and she found her way over to the fire next to Gus, sitting just inches from him.

  “Gus, I—” she started.

  “Sam, let me show you something,” Emma said quickly, grabbing his hand with an iron grip and pulling him off the sand.

  She led him around the edge of the pool where the sand ended and the rocks began, and then seeing an exceptionally large flat rock that perched out over the water, she clambered onto the slippery grey surface, pulling him with her.

  “I wanted to give them some space,” she said, staring at the moonlit pool in front of her.

  “I know,” Sam said, feeling very relieved he was away from the drama. “Not that she didn’t have it coming, but I am glad they are working it out.”

  “Yeah, I agree … about both statements,” she smiled. Then she crawled on her hands and knees to the edge of the rock. “Come here,” she whispered.

  Sam obeyed, and when he peered over the rock edge, he was amazed to see thousands of little blue specks hovering just above the sandy pool bottom. Then they flitted like schools of fish toward and away from the edge of the rock, eventually coming to rest once again.

  “What are they?” he said a little too loudly, and then instantly they were gone.

  “Shh!” she hissed at him.

  After a few moments of quiet, the tiny organisms reappeared a few at a time until there were once again thousands, sparkling like the stars in the sky on an exceptionally clear night.

  Emma leaned into him, close enough that he could have simply leaned forward and kissed her. But she whispered into his ear instead.

  “They are called Ori—tiny organisms that eat Lazuli.”

  Sam said nothing, just watched the strange organisms as they sparkled in front of them.

  “Ori means ‘light,’” she whispered softly. “Curious little creatures. No one can really figure them out. They are like … the mystery of the animal kingdom here in Lior.”

  “Really? More than the giant flying dinosaurs in Jester’s Pass?” Sam said again so loudly that the tiny specks of light disappeared again momentarily.

  She smiled and held a hand over his mouth.

  “The Ori eat Lazuli. The only organism that seems completely unaffected by Darkness. And when there is no Lazuli, they actually eat the Darkness too.”

  “That’s strange.”

  “Miss Karpatch told me about a time that the Ori had eaten up all of the Lazuli in a pool she was studying and migrated to another pool where the Darkness had settled. They ate straight through the Darkness to get to the Lazuli in the pool.”

  “How can they migrate between pools? They’re just fish,” Sam said, attempting to understand.

  Emma’s hand touched Sam’s momentarily, bringing a wave of warmth over him.

  “Ori are some of the most versatile ‘fish’ in Lior. There’s lots of strange stories and legends about them.”

  Lior was truly a remarkable place. He had seen so many things already, and they had only been in Lior for a few days. No doubt there was so much more to explore.

  They watched the groups of Ori move in waves like tiny ribbons beneath the surface for several moments before they saw Gus motioning them to come back to the fire. Sam didn’t want to leave quite yet, but knew they needed rest for the following day, so he snatched up Emma’s hand and led her back over to the fire.

  When Emma and Sam sat down, Lillia handed them each a cup of coffee and a bowl of the soup that had been simmering on the fire. Her countenance had obviously changed. She had a quieter, more compliant attitude, and for once she was actually smiling. Other than the fact that her eyes were red from crying, she was a new person.

  “We worked some things out,” she said after the deathly silence couldn’t be tolerated any longer.

  Gus smiled largely, digging into his soup.

  “There were some things that we both had bottled up for quite a while—but we are okay now,” he said. “But we need to talk about something more important—our plan for tomorrow. As I said before, we will be going around a small portion of Darkness left over from the last war.”

  Emma let out a small whimper, but allowed Gus to continue.

  “As stated before, there should be no encounters with Metim, but—just in case, we need to use any Light manipulation we can gather.”

  “Shouldn’t be too spectacular,” Lillia snickered.

  “Lillia, you have shown the potential for some pretty good bolts, and you are pretty fast. Emma—you have done pretty well with the Light shield.”

  “Thanks Gus. I’m not that good though,” Emma blushed.

  Sam understood where this was going.

  “I have no way to defend myself.”

  Gus looked at Sam, but didn’t attempt to deny what he had said.

  “I can’t seem to have much success either. But getting you to respond to the Light is one of the reasons we are here, right?” He looked around at the others. “But until something happens, we need to do our best to make sure we are protected.”
>
  “But we are no match for trained Metim, Gus. How are we supposed to defend ourselves when we can barely make a bolt ourselves?” Emma asked.

  “We will have to do our best to work together—to use our gifts and our brains.”

  “That’ll be easy for you, Gus,” Emma joked.

  Gus smiled lazily at her, then continued.

  “What I figured is that since none of our gifts are very strong, we can concentrate them together in the case of trouble. To do that, we must stay close to one another.”

  Lillia snatched another log from the pile and tossed it onto the fire.

  “I honestly don’t expect to see any, but we should be ready in any case,” Gus said.

  There was a question that had been plaguing Sam for quite some time now.

  “Can Metim be killed? I mean—by stabbing them or shooting them or something?”

  All eyes turned to Gus.

  “Not easily with conventional weapons. They can be wounded, but it takes a lot for them to be killed. They are supernaturally indwelled with the Darkness and will heal if they are hurt.”

  “They must be killed with Light,” Lillia said finally.

  Sam wanted more coffee, but the pot was empty. Instead, he grabbed another honey roll from the napkin given to them in the tower. Part of him was only eating because this stuff was completely over his head and the slightest bit disturbing.

  At that moment, Lillia reached over and waved her hand over the lantern she had placed next to her, which sat dark until her hand passed its exterior. As the lantern began to glow, suddenly beams of blue light shot from all four corners of the others she had placed around the perimeter, connecting each until a shield formed over the entire campsite, bathing the sand around them and everything else under the shield in soft blue light.

  “Just thinking about all that Darkness made me uneasy,” she said, reaching out and touching the milky blue dome next to her.

  “What would we do without Boggle?” Emma said suddenly, watching the blue light swirl above her.