by EJ Wozniak
Lumen didn’t know what to make of this threat yet.
“Okay . . . well what should I do?”
“Continue with your normal routine. We don’t want the mimic to think they have caused a stir here. We certainly don’t want them to think they are scaring anyone. Fear gives them power, remember that. Just be careful, and like I said before, if you see anything suspicious, report it to me immediately,” Allister said. Lumen felt like everything would be okay.
“I can do that. How do we know if it is the same person or a group?”
Sasha stepped forward. She held out a flower to Lumen.
“This was left behind.”
Lumen recognized immediately that it was a thistle.
“They seem to have a signature for their little stunts,” Sasha stated bitterly.
Lumen grabbed it from her and looked at it. He didn’t know what this could mean.
“You should get back now. We apologize for interrupting your date,” Allister said with a smirk on his face. Lumen got that warm feeling in his gut again.
Lumen waved and headed back to the middle of the quarry with Alec.
“Will classes resume tomorrow?” Lumen asked.
“Yeah, no doubt, they will clean this up quickly. It will be like it didn’t even happen. I’m sure they want the day off to try and figure out who is doing this,” Alec said.
Lumen looked back at Allister and the others. He saw Aiden step toward the trees and clap his hands firmly above his head. The fires in the trees died out immediately. Sasha pounded her staff on the ground firmly three times, and the trees withered down to the snow. She pounded the staff three more times, and three more trees sprung up where the others were. Alec was right, it was like it never happened.
“Get back to your date now, I’m sure Sofia is wondering what is taking you so long,” Alec said.
“Oh yeah, thanks. Keep me in the loop!”
Lumen opened a window quickly and jumped through. He landed in the shower of the bathroom in Sofia’s house. Sofia was knocking.
“Lumen . . . Lumen, you in there? Are you okay? Are you sick again? It’s okay if you are. I don’t mind being around sick people . . .”
Lumen wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t know how long Sofia had been there knocking.
“Uh, sorry. No I’m fine, I’ll be right out.”
“Oh okay . . .”
Lumen splashed some water on his face, unable to believe what had just happened. Someone was targeting him, or at least they might have been. How could Allister expect Lumen to act normal? What if his mom was in danger? Or Wrigley? Or Sofia? He wouldn’t even know how to protect them. He turned off the water and walked out of the bathroom and sat back down on the couch.
“You okay?” Sofia asked immediately
“Oh yeah, uh, my stomach was upset for a second. Too much hot cocoa I think.”
“That’s okay, here is some water. Should I turn on another movie?”
“Sure, you pick again.”
Lumen didn’t even notice what movie they were watching. He was absorbed by the thought of someone after him. He hardly realized Sofia snuggled up against his boney chest. For just a moment, Lumen thought that maybe he should start working out. He went straight back to thinking about who the attacker could be.
Could it be someone he had met before? No one he had met so far seemed like a bad person though, and none of them knew the art of the Ignous—as far as Lumen knew, at least. It must have been someone from the other groups. But he hadn’t noticed anyone following him. Maybe it was just a coincidence. There was no reason anyone would be after him specifically. He had known for just a sliver of time that this world even existed. He could make water vibrate just slightly. What would anyone want with him?
Sofia looked up at Lumen.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You haven’t moved or said a word since you came out of the bathroom.”
Lumen was staring off into space when Sofia asked him this, and he shook his head to come back to reality.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay. . . Hey, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
Lumen had no idea where that came from. One minute he was thinking about some person potentially targeting him and the next he was asking the girl of his dreams to be his girlfriend. The words just spilled out of his mouth. Sofia’s eyebrows raised. Lumen messed up. He knew it. Why did he have to do this to ruin it?
“Of course, I thought you’d never ask.”
Lumen couldn’t believe it. His heart was racing and he couldn’t help but cheesily smile. He felt his palms sweating. Sofia scooted up in her seat and went in for a kiss. Lumen followed suit and kissed her back. It was just one peck, but it was the most magical thing Lumen had ever experienced. His stomach flipped inside of him. It was the happiest moment of his life. Lumen’s senses heightened. He didn't realize how musty the house smelled. It was as if nothing had been moved in the house for some time. He tried not to think about it and kissed Sofia again. Lumen’s confidence was at an all-time high. His ring warmed again. For just a second, he saw Till’s smile.
* * *
Sofia’s father walked in shortly after the fireworks and offered Lumen a ride home. Lumen offered to call his mom first, but Mr. Chimera insisted.
They all hopped into the car and drove to Lumen’s house. It took longer than it should have because of the weather. Everything was covered in snow. They passed La Dernier Piece, and saw Shari standing in the pouring snow, hitting the first r in Dernier with a broomstick, trying to get it to turn back on. For now, the diner was called La Denier Piece.
Lumen felt bad for her.
“Poor lady, she should really get back inside; nobody is going to go out to dinner tonight anyway,” Mr Chimera said as they passed by the diner.
Mr. Chimera pulled up to Lumen’s house. Alice was home. That also made Lumen excited. He could hang with his mom the rest of the night; he hadn’t seen her much this week.
“Thank you, Mr. Chimera.”
“Call me John. Not a problem, kiddo. Stay warm tonight, I don’t think the storm will let up any time soon.”
Lumen nodded. He was about to open the door and leave when Sofia pulled his arm and gave him an angry look.
“Right, sorry.” Lumen leaned over and gave her a hug.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” She asked.
Lumen paused to think. Saturdays were supposed to be spent in the Paxum.
“I can’t hang tomorrow. How about Sunday?”
Sundays would have to be their day. Lumen hoped that worked for Sofia.
“Yeah, I’m free Sunday. Call me.”
Lumen nodded and jumped out of the car and sprinted to his house. He looked back and waved before entering the house.
He found his mom in the kitchen. He told her all about his day with Sofia. Alice yelled with excitement and hugged him tight when he told her about Sofia being his girlfriend now.
“I’m so proud of you, honey! Does she know about your . . . your sickness?” Alice asked genuinely concerned.
Lumen rolled his eyes.
“Yes, Mom. Everyone knows. But like I said, I don’t see anything anymore. The lights aren’t there anymore. I think, maybe, I was misdiagnosed back then. Maybe it was just my eyes or something.”
Alice seemed concerned but nodded her head.
“Let’s set up an appointment for next week. We’ll see what the doctor says.”
Lumen agreed. Maybe he can get the doctor to agree that he was misdiagnosed.
“Well anyway, you already ate, I assume, so I don’t need to worry about dinner. Can you help finish covering the garden with the tarp? I almost finished.”
Lumen looked out back and saw the tarp staked above the garden.
“Sure, let’s do it.”
They both put on heavy snow jackets and went out back.
Wrigley rolled around the snow. He loved the snow. He rolled upright when he saw Lumen and, with snow covering his face, ran and jumped all over him.
Lumen fell into the snow. They wrestled for a few moments. Lumen realized he hadn’t been giving Wrigley much attention this week.
“Sorry about this week, bud. I’ll get better at this as time goes on, I promise. Oh, and Sofia will be around more often it looks like, you’ll have another friend.”
Wrigley turned his head at Lumen and put his ears back when Lumen mentioned Sofia. He walked away from Lumen.
“Hey, where you going? What did I say?”
Wrigley trotted into the house, ears back the entire time.
“Looks like someone is jealous of Sofia.”
“That’s not fair, he seemed to like her when she was rubbing his belly. I’m sure they’ll like each other.”
“I’m sure, hun, don’t worry. Now get over here and hold the tarp while I put in the stakes. We just have to cover the thistles and roses over here.” Lumen walked over. Something looked off with the thistles.
“Hey, are these dying, or did you cut some of them off?”
Alice looked down at the plant.
“Huh, that’s odd. Looks like someone or something cut a couple of the thistles off. Maybe it was our friend that started the fire,” Alice said jokingly.
Lumen forced out a chuckle, but he was truly worried about the missing thistles. Lumen counted and three thistles were missing. What if one was used for the stunt tonight at the Paxum? That would mean there could be at least two more fires if the thistle was actually used as a signature. He needed to tell Allister. Alice yelled at Lumen.
“Will you pull the tarp tight? I want to get inside before we get buried out here!”
* * *
Lumen waited impatiently until his mom went to bed so that he could jump to Allister’s cabin. Alice was moving all throughout the house and was very talkative tonight. Lumen just sat on the edge of the couch the whole time.
“I have a date tomorrow just so ya know, Lu.”
Lumen forgot about Allister for a moment.
“Excuse me?” Lumen said heatedly.
Alice had a little smirk on her face when Lumen turned to look at her in the kitchen.
“Yeah, you remember that cop who helped us?”
Lumen’s tone expressed his displeasure.
“No, as a matter of fact, I don't.”
Alice rolled her eyes at Lumen.
“Well he’s really nice to me and asked me to go out tomorrow. I have the night off, so I figured why not?”
“What about me? Who is gonna cook dinner?”
Alice laughed loudly.
“Oh, don’t be silly. You’re fifteen for goodness sake. You can whip something up. Or you will want to go to that dang diner across the street anyways.”
Lumen knew she was right but felt he had to keep showing his displeasure.
“This is not right. I’m going to bed.”
“What? Come back here. Don’t make me feel bad for going out!”
Lumen did feel bad as he marched to his room, but it was a good way to get this mom to go to bed. Five minutes later, he heard his mom retire to her room for the night.
Lumen opened a window as quickly as he could. Wrigley sat in front of him, ears still tucked back, as he was about to jump through.
“Fine, you can come this time. You can’t stay mad at me though.”
Wrigley’s ears perked up and he jumped through the window. Lumen followed.
Lumen landed in the cabin. Janis was on top of the mantle above the fire looking down at Wrigley.
“Ey! Get the dog away! I ‘ate when they a’ this excited!”
Lumen wasn’t sure what accent this was but understood enough to know to get Wrigley away. He laughed at Janis as he whistled for Wrigley.
“Oh weal funny isn’t it? You watch yoozself, ‘aaken”
Lumen furrowed his eyebrows, he wasn’t sure what Janis had said. Allister walked in the room.
“Quiet down, Janis, Alec fell asleep. Long day for him. Ah, Lumen, you are here late.”
Janis miffed at the comment and proceeded to lick his front paws while standing on his hind legs, all while on the mantle.
“Excuse our friend; it has been long days for all of us. What can I help you with?”
Allister looked at Lumen with his twinkling blue eyes. Lumen got that feeling again, his stomach warmed. He felt comfortable in Allister’s presence.
He went on to explain the situation with the thistles, and Allister listened, hand going through his matted beard. They sat there in silence for a minute before Janis chimed in.
“You think tha’ will be anotha’ attack Allista? We need to act soon, this could get out of ‘and. Chilwen could get a’t. This isn’t a joke anymo.”
Lumen didn't fully understand, but he saw Allister nodding in agreement.
“Well thank you for this information, Lumen. You have done well.”
Lumen felt as if that was the best compliment he had ever received.
“You should get back now. You have a full day tomorrow.”
Allister created a small ice cube from thin air and handed it to Wrigley, who had been patiently sitting the entire time.
“Off you go.” Allister opened a window for Lumen, and he and Wrigley jumped through.
* * *
Lumen didn’t get much sleep that night. He was paranoid about someone coming to his house so he checked his backyard multiple times throughout the night. Every time he peaked out of his back door, all he saw was snow falling precariously onto the tarp. He decided he would get up early to see Allister before class.
Lumen’s alarm went off at 6:30 am. He took Wrigley out into the brisk morning air to go to the bathroom, ran back in to feed him, and went back into his room. He needed to tell his mom where he would be for the day but wanted to get to Allister as soon as he could. He decided to come back later to talk to his mom.
He thought of the inside of Allister’s cabin, pieced together a window, and jumped through. He touched down in a wooded tundra environment. Had he messed up? The lights led him to the wrong area. He looked around to try and figure out where he was and saw Allister’s cabin in the distance. He thought for a moment, how’d I end up over here? I haven’t jumped out of place like that before. He ran to Allister’s cabin and walked up the steps. Lumen’s hand wrapped around the cold door handle and was about to open the front door when he could hear someone talking inside. He paused for a moment, he didn’t want to barge in on a meeting. His hand released the door handle and he stepped away when he heard Janis speaking. The catman sounded distraught.
Lumen crept to the open window.
“Do you think it is a good idea to be sending all these innocent and unprepared children to school? We do not know how serious these threats are, Allister.”
Janis was speaking in his normal voice.
“Yes, of course, we do not want to scare them off a week in. The board would have a field day with this. It needs to stay between us, understood?”
It was silent for a moment.
“What about the boys? Lumen and Alec . . .” Sasha asked.
“I trust Alec. He is like a son to me. And Lumen, he needed to know for his own safety. We are monitoring him to keep him safe, but you never know,” Allister said.
Lumen could hear them murmuring in agreement.
“Does he know? It could help him understand why someone would be recruiting him.”
Lumen wasn’t sure if they were talking about him still.
“Absolutely not. And he shall not know. Is that understood?” Allister said firmly.
Lumen heard murmurs of agreement again.
“Aiden, you’re sure no one in your caste is acting strange or knows of anything?” Janis asked.
“I have been keeping a close eye on all my students. Nothing is out of the ordinary. I barely know the new students, but they are hardly capable of creating sparks, let alone full on fires.”
“Okay, well, stay vigilant. We all know that whoever is doing this was welcomed here. We need to find this criminal before som
eone gets hurt,” Allister said.
Aiden spoke again.
“Are we sure this isn’t Maldeus? There have been mimics in the past, but nothing has ever gotten this serious . . .”
There was silence in the room. Lumen tried not to breathe in order to be as silent as possible. Janis broke the silence.
“Maldeus is dead, Aiden, we all know that. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Aiden interjected.
“What about Ja . . .”
Allister interrupted loudly.
“That is enough. We aren’t here to speculate on the impossible. Off you all go back to the Paxum. Do a thorough check there before students start to arrive.”
Lumen heard them shuffle around for a moment before it was silent again. He could tell it was just Allister there. He peaked in the window and saw Allister standing over the fire with a pipe in his mouth.
“You can come in, Lumen.”
Lumen was startled. How did he know he was there? Lumen walked slowly through the front door.
“How’d you know I was there?”
Allister turned slowly. He smiled at Lumen.
“I heard the floorboards creak just a moment ago. What can I help you with, son?”
Lumen felt at ease.
“I was just coming by to see if there was anything I could do to help . . .”
Allister turned back to the fire and puffed on his pipe.
“Ah, I see. Well, you have been helping quite a bit already. There isn’t much else to do right now.”
Allister’s rejection distressed Lumen deeply. Lumen wasn’t sure why.
Allister turned around back to Lumen, the look on his face appeared as though he just had an epiphany.
“You know what, there is something. We are keeping this amongst ourselves; no one else knows about the latest attack. That thistle you found, look here.”
Allister walked over to his desk and picked up the thistle. Lumen noticed there weren’t any new drawings.
