Glow (4 page)

11.

Charlie

As night settles over the compound, everyone grows a little delirious. Without the looming tasks we’re usually given, like patrol duty, working in the gardens, or treasure hunting for my parents -- we’re free to just be teenagers.

              Junie and Basil put the little girls to bed, and Lucy turns on a small lamp in the study, but soon turns it off again. It’s not necessary with Lukas here with us. When he’s around, it’s glaringly obvious what a resource he is.

“Let me read your palm, Duke,” Junie says sweetly. She’s been gazing at her hulk of a guy all evening. As they worked together outside making dinner from the pheasant I shot, I watched them go out of their way to be in close proximity to one another. Palm reading must be another one of Junie’s tactics to get close to her beau.

“You’ve done this before?” he asks, flipping his hand out to her.

“Of course. I am a master fortuneteller. It’s just one of my many hidden talents.” The room snickers at her proclamation, “What? You don’t believe me? Ask Colton. He knows.”

“Don’t look at me!” Colton says, laughing. “Actually, it’s true. She used to carry a book about fortunes around, it was our Mom’s.”

Junie stares at Duke’s outstretched hand and gingerly traces the lines carved in his palms. The room grows silent with curiosity. Silly games like this are a good distraction from the heavy questions that loom over us.

“Okay, see this one here, it’s your heart line. It means you have a good handle on your emotions. And this one is your … umm … your life line … and since it’s swoopy that means … ummm.”

“What’s wrong, Junie, I thought you were a master at this?” Colton gives her a hard time.

“Well, I think it means strength,” she finishes.

“That’s obvious. Duke’s the toughest guy here,” says Basil laughing, and we all join in. Her
hidden talent
seems less like palm reading and more like an obvious observation of Duke.

“I think there’s a book on fortunetelling on this shelf. I’ve read every book on these shelves except those ones over here. They were Diane’s
special books
. She wouldn’t let me touch her stuff. Ever. Not bitter though, it was only sixteen years rereading the same thing. That never got old or anything,” jokes Lucy, laughing as she walks over to the bookshelf-lined wall. She strums her green light over the spines and squints her eyes in concentration. “Yep. I was right!” She pulls out a thick volume titled,
“The Psychic Connection: Palm Reading, Tarot and Auras.”

“Ohhh! Read mine next!” says Basil.

“I thought you didn’t believe in my ability,” says Junie, feigning an attitude.

“I don’t. I believe in the book’s ability.” Everyone cracks up again. Myself included. I haven’t had such a stress-free night in a long time. When I’m with Lucy, I’m relaxed, but in a different way. She brings out the dreamer in me. She reminds me to look beyond the horizon, to the things I can’t see.

Perfection still scowls in the corner. She’s hardly moved all afternoon, wasn’t interested in helping with dinner. Her presence is wearing thin on the otherwise happy-go-lucky group.

Junie flips through the pages and begins reading out loud, “The fate line is the line of destiny. It begins at the base of the palm.” Everyone in the room holds out their hands trying to figure out what the different grooves mean.

“What does a life line that meets the fate line in the middle mean?” Lukas asks.

“Umm … let me see.” She runs her finger down the page then stops, “A fate and life line that meet signifies a point at which one’s interest must be surrendered to those of others.”

Lukas lets out a small laugh, and he looks at Lucy, as if they share a secret. A knowledge of something deeper than the rest of us.

“Does that book say anything about colors? I was just wondering why my Light is green and Lukas’s is white and golden,” Lucy asks, quietly. Like, she wants to know, but doesn’t.

“Well, the sacred text of The Light says it’s because you are
super-human-special
, Lucy. Just like everyone else in this room seems to think,” Perfection says as she stands, huffing. “You’re all irrational, especially you, Basil. You just forgave her for no reason. Like, you worship the ground she walks on.” She looks around, seeing if anyone is going to stop her, but no one does. I want to hear what this girl, who used to be my friend has to say, so I don’t interject. “And Lukas is a liar. Lucy is, too. I can’t count the times she lied to me about not even liking Lukas, when the whole time they were making promises of forever to one another.”

“I don’t worship her, Perfection. Okay?” Basil crosses her arms and sighs. “The thing is, you’ve never really lived. In real life you have to forgive. You have to move on. It is forgive, or die buried in your stubbornness. I don’t want to die. I have watched enough people I love die. And they didn’t have a choice. I do. I choose to remain with the living as long as I can.”

The room is quiet. I look at Basil and wonder where this eloquent speech came from. How can this girl with a heart so tender also be so tough on the exterior? How can this girl whose endured much more than me also sit here laughing over the lines in her hands?

“You all can choose what you want, but I can too.” Perfection walks out of the room and slams a bedroom door shut. There’s an awkward moment where we all sit startled.

“Sorry,” Lukas speaks. “I’m the reason she’s here. I didn’t know what to expect. I was just….” he stops, looking deflated. Empty.

“It’s okay,” Lucy says softly. “You were just doing your best. We all are. I think we can agree on that.” The softness in her voice catches me off guard. I thought her heart was leaning towards mine, but now I don’t know. Looking at them, their lights filling the room, I feel foolish for even considering my ability to fit into her world. Her life is bigger than mine. I wonder what her fate line says.

“Can we go back to something more important? Please?” Colton says, sheepishly rooting around his bag on the floor. “Look what I have. Just borrowed, really. From a good old friend of mine. And by good, I mean terrible. And by friend, I mean ass.” Colton lifts out a bottle filled with amber liquid. I smile, despite myself. Thank God Colton is here. He unscrews the cap and takes a swig. The room laughs. I bet Lukas has never seen moonshine before. Colton leans over and passes my brother the bottle. “You’ve had one hell of a week, man.”

The room hoots as he takes a drink, then shakes his head in disgust.

“Only one word to describe that.” Lukas says, passing the bottle to me. “Burn.”

“Okay, now we can carry on. Junie, back to the peculiar light of Lucy’s, if you will,” Colton says, leading the group. He’s a good leader, funny and unpretentious, yet still aware of everyone in the room.

“Right. Okay. The index says color refers to auras….” Junie flips the pages. “Here it is, ‘An aura is an energy field which surrounds living beings. An aura is most often visible only to those born with the skill to see it, or those who have developed the ability.’

“Well, we can all see Lucy and Lukas’s.”

“Because they are, I mean, at least according to Perfection,
‘super-special-humans
,
’
” Duke says laughing as he takes another swig.

Junie speculates, “I guess we each have an aura, but sometimes they are easier to see in some people than others … there are all kinds of aura colors … and they each seem to mean something different. But green. Let’s see. Here it is,” she says.
“
When green is seen in the aura, this color represents growth and balance, and most of all something that leads to change.  A healer, also a love-centered person.”

I look at Lucy as she absorbs the words. She takes in a sharp breath and her eyes fill fast with tears. I want to take her hands in mine. I want to wipe away her tears.

But Lucy doesn’t need me, not right now. She’s stronger than she knows. All she needs a chance to find her strength.

Then she can decide what she wants.

12.

Lukas

Of course she is.

A healer.

Lucy has healed me.

“Do you think that’s true? Or is it just nonsense?” Lucy asks the room.

“Nonsense or not, you are a healer, you are this growing, changing person. You are a trailblazer of change,” Colton says, more serious than he has been since I’ve met him.

“You think so, huh?” Lucy asks, doubt in her voice.

“I know so,” I say. Because I do. Standing, I address her more emphatically, “That’s why you have to come back to The Light with me, Lucy. I’ve known it for a while now. Integrity has shown me the way. You and I, together, are going to lead the charge. Together we are going to help The Light be what it once was.”

“No way.” Lucy shakes her head and laughs, as if it’s not something she’d even consider. “That’s seriously crazy. I’m not going back there.”

“We have to. It’s fate, it’s our destiny.” When she doesn’t say anything, I get desperate. “Hey, Junie, what does Lucy’s palm mean?”

Junie grabs Lucy’s hand, “Let me see…well you have a bunch of
breaks and changes of directions which means....” She looks down at the book in her lap and reads out loud, “You are prone to many changes in your life from external forces.”

“That’s the answer you wanted, Lukas,” Lucy says, then giving a sharp laugh. “If I listen to what this book says, and what you say, I’m not in control of anything. Exactly what everyone seems to want for me, for my life.”

“But it can be a good thing, Lucy. We can make the world a better place. I know you believe in The Light. You believed before I did.” I walk over to her and take her hand, needing her to remember how it felt when we were on the ledge, about to conquer the world. “You want freedom? Then embrace your potential.
Our potential.”
As our hands clasp
,
our light covers the room, filling every crevice in the study. Filling me up in ways nothing else ever has. Lucy and I, together, make anything seem possible.

“Hey, cut it out you two,” Basil says. “You have to stop doing that. I swear, you’re gonna blind me!”

“Wait, seriously though, listen to this.” Junie starts reading again,
“
The rarest of all auras is golden white. Golden auras signify the color of enlightenment and divine. Gold represents an inspired individual with spiritual energy, their power activated and awakened.”

My heart races, everything I have ever wondered, questioned, not fully believed -- it is true. The sacred texts are true. 

I am the prophet of The Light.

“Are you making that up?” Lucy asks, letting go of my hand and stepping away, looking at me with new eyes, full of wonder. The eyes she had when she looked at me in the Haven.
I know she believes.

“I swear, look.” Basil took the book from Junie’s hands. The room is creepily quiet, as though the thing we were thinking is true, and now we don’t know how to deal with the facts. If I’m the prophet that means we’re all going back to The Light. That means we all believe
.
We can’t
not
believe. 

“Lukas, listen to this,” Basil says.

“I thought you couldn’t read, Basil? You couldn’t at The Light,” Lucy’s voice is sharp and feels out of context. “What else did you hide?

“I
can
read, actually. I just pretended so that my little sister didn’t go down some creepy hallway for some pervert to take advantage of her. Okay? Chill out, Lucy. No one is going to make you go anywhere you don’t want, I promise.” Basil lets out a sigh, her eyes pleading with Lucy to back down. To my surprise, Lucy does. She nods her head and bites her lip, but stays quiet.

Basil’s eyes turn back to the page. “This part is good, listen, okay? Dark brownish yellow indicates a person who is straining to the point of feeling fatigued or stressed.’ That’s what happened to you in the car, Lukas. Remember on our way here, when Perfection was getting all crazy? Your light changed. It makes sense.” She looks around the room, as if deciding whether or not she should say anything else, “I think it’s true. I mean, I don’t know what The Light actually believes, but I believe in you, Lukas. I believe you are connected to the divine.”

“You can’t be serious?” Charlie blurts out. “Basil, you were just making so much sense when you were talking to Perfection. But this? This is crazy. Lukas isn’t a god. We were born from the same woman. We are just people.” He shakes his head in disbelief.

“But it makes sense doesn’t it, Charlie?” Colton asks.

“So you’re all on board with this?” He looks around the room incredulously. I wish my brother wanted to support me, see me. I am just a person. I didn’t choose this. But this is me. This is the reason I have devoted my life to the people at The Light.

It was destiny.

They are my people.

“I saw Lucy heal Timid on our way to the Headquarters. It was like crazy voodoo magic, except she’s no witch. And think about the power Lukas has to energize entire islands of people. That isn’t human. It’s
super
human,” Junie says.

I look at Lucy, wanting her to affirm me,
affirm us
. But she says nothing; instead she steps further away, looking smaller somehow, as though these revelations engulf her.

“Lucy,” I start. But it’s too late. She’s already turned away and walked slowly out of the compound.

She’s forgotten the magic we make when we are together.

I need to remind her.