The Magi (The Magi Series) (20 page)

Olivia Rose led Elijah through the snow-covered meadow into a thicket of trees. For an elderly woman, her pace was quick. Elijah was still feeling the aches from physical training earlier in the week, so keeping up with her was more difficult than he expected.

As they walked, Elijah wondered how tempted she was to make the trade for her husband. She didn’t even know Elijah, but she saved him from being taken by the Maliphist with yellow eyes. And yet, here she was, willing to sacrifice more on Elijah’s behalf. She was now going to be responsible for teaching him the secrets of the Magi powers. He didn’t know how or when, but Elijah felt he had a responsibility to repay his debt to her.

January was definitely palpable during their walk. The air was frigid and crisp. A silent hush had fallen over the lands, and all that could be heard were the occasional gusts of wind and the snow moving under their feet as they walked. It was beautiful! Elijah even enjoyed the the frequent shiver that ran through his body from the icy weather.

After an hour and a half of hiking through the forests and hills of Savenridge, they came into a clearing that led to a small lake. Olivia sat down on the shore, took her bag from Elijah and placed it on the ground in front of her, and pulled out a pouch full of crackers. She handed some to Elijah, gently sat down on the ground, and began to snack on the crackers, gazing blissfully toward the frozen water. Elijah wasn’t sure if he was supposed to sit down or not.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Olivia said finally. She nibbled on her cracker, her eyes fixed on the horizon. Elijah looked at Olivia as she sat with her arms resting on her knees, and he wondered how she could seem so strong while being burdened with so much pain. Her deep-blue eyes held years of wisdom in them with a strength and patience Elijah hadn’t noticed in any of the other adults he came across. He felt almost intimidated by her presence, but at the same time, he felt welcome too.

“The water?” Elijah responded.

“Everything,” Olivia said. “This is a wonderful time of year—maybe my favorite. So much life and joy are promised in the spring, but it’s impossible to get there without first surviving the winter. Even during these silent and dreary days that seem to never end, there are preparations being made for a time when everything is reborn and life becomes fresh. There is a peace now if you really look for it.”

Olivia still continued staring out at the world spread out in front of them. Elijah decided to sit. Maybe there was a lesson in this after all. He began to eat his crackers, and for the next half an hour, Olivia Rose and Elijah Hawk enjoyed the dead of winter in complete silence.

“So tell me young man,” Olivia’s voice finally spoke, breaking into Elijah’s thoughts, “do you feel like you belong here?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Elijah said.

Olivia grinned. “From what I’ve heard, you’ve had quite a time these last few months, so I can imagine you’re feeling a bit lost. I’ve heard many people talk about how wonderful you are and how great your mind is. Roddick promised me you’d fit in here. Ismai has expressed to me how special and talented you are. Even my good friend Arthur says that you are extraordinary. That’s quite a reputation you’ve built in a short time with some very extraordinary people themselves, I might add. I just wanted to hear from
you
. What do
you
feel?”

“I’m not sure I know yet,” Elijah admitted. “I just don’t feel that special, I guess.”

Olivia chuckled. “The special ones never do.” Elijah tried to think about his ability. His instincts had saved his life, but he didn’t think his senses were anything worth the attention he was getting. “And what about this lifestyle?” Olivia continued. “Is it something that makes sense to you?”

“Actually, it does,” answered Elijah. And that was the truth. Even with everything that had been thrown at him during the past few weeks, he never questioned any of it. It made sense. It seemed obvious to find the good in the world. It seemed like a noble cause to fight to protect the good, and it was wise to search for understanding. Even though he had been introduced to a completely different world, it felt right to him.

“Well, that’s good,” said Olivia. “And what is it that you hope to learn with me?”

“I don’t know,” answered Elijah. “Aren’t we supposed to learn about how to control the four elements? I definitely don’t know how to do that.”

“Yes,” Olivia continued. “But that’s just what you were
told
you were supposed to learn. I want you to tell me what
you
expect to learn. I don’t think there’s much you can expect to learn if you don’t expect to learn anything, is there?”

“I want to know
how
exactly you control the elements,” Elijah said after careful thought. “What makes them move? Even if I can’t do it, I want to know what’s done to make that happen.”

“Good,” Olivia said. “What else?”

“I want to know what it is that everyone else sees that makes me so special,” said Elijah bravely.

“What else?”

“I want to know how the Maliphists killed my parents. And I want to know how to fight back.” Elijah’s body began to fill with anger. Olivia looked at Elijah with a concerned expression that made Elijah’s anger quickly fade. She studied him for a moment until she saw Elijah relax.

“Well then. Let’s get to work.”

Olivia stood up, brushed the dirt off her clothes, and walked closer to the lake. When she reached the edge, Olivia spread her hands apart, and between them, a small ball of fire ignited and burned vigorously. She waved her hands in front of her as if she was tossing a ball to a small child, and the fire released out into the lake about ten feet. It hovered over the edge for a moment and then sank, extinguishing itself in the water as she let her hands down. Where the ball of fire passed over the frozen lake, the ice melted, making a small pool for Elijah to wade into if he wanted. Olivia walked back to Elijah who was completely amazed. “I’ll be back in a while. You told me what you wanted to learn. Now learn it.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Elijah asked anxiously.

“Learn,” said Olivia frankly.

“How? I don’t know how to do anything! You’re supposed to teach me, right?” Elijah didn’t like that he sounded so whiny and confrontational, but he didn’t want to be abandoned with no direction.

“I’m supposed to mentor you,” Olivia said. “Right now, I want you to observe. Go to the edge of the lake. Learn. Do you think the first Magi had mentors to give them the answers?” Elijah looked back at the lake wondering what he could possibly learn by just looking at water.

He turned back toward Olivia. “What am I supposed to look for?”

“That is exactly the question you should try to answer. If I tell you what to look for, then I’m making you answer
my
questions. You told me what you expected to learn, right? Start there. I’ll be back. Tell me what you find. I won’t be far.” Olivia walked away and out of site, leaving Elijah feeling vulnerable and completely confused.

He walked over to the water and sat down. For a minute, he succumbed to his frustration. He hated not having direction and wanted to go back to the barracks. At least there, they told him what he had to do. He had a goal. Elijah wondered if all the other students were just as frustrated as he was.

Once he had calmed down, Elijah decided to attempt to work things out. Just for kicks, he moved his hands out the way he had seen Olivia and Roddick do at one time or another. He closed his eyes and imagined water coming out of the lake in a ball. He wasn’t surprised when nothing happened. Realizing how ridiculous he looked and felt, Elijah glanced around to see if anyone saw him. He decided to give up and make a list of things he noticed. He looked down at the water and watched it closely. He felt completely idiotic! Elijah took a few deep breaths and relaxed. He had to admit that the water was peaceful. Staring at it gave him a calming presence that washed over him. Elijah found a stick and began to poke it in the water, swirling it around and around, making small, gentle waves with his rhythmic motion. He looked at the behavior of the water as it was moved by the stick. Suddenly, Elijah thought about the other elements, an idea coming to him. If he were to put a stick in fire, something very different would happen to the stick. Here in water, the stick was the force in control. The water let itself be moved by the stick. There was a sense of willingness that the water had to be controlled. It was at peace, and when Elijah stopped poking at it with the stick, the waves slowly stopped forming, and the water began to smooth itself out again—as it was before Elijah meddled with it. It seemed to want to remain at rest.

Elijah cleared off a space on a nearby rock, dusting away the dirt and twigs that covered a flat spot on the top. He then scooped up some ice-cold water with his hand and let it drip onto the rock. Watching it carefully, Elijah noticed the water moving toward itself whenever a droplet touched another droplet. It was trying to collect itself and become bigger—a more powerful, more unified collection of water. He began to get excited with his discoveries even though it seemed so simple. How had he not noticed this before? Here, in this simple element that he used every day, an element that he saw in so many different forms and uses, there were some very specific rules and behaviors that it followed. It was exciting to him not because he learned something new, but because he noticed it. He never really appreciated how wonderfully designed this element was. It seemed almost alive!

For the remainder of the lesson, Elijah poked, prodded, swished, and manipulated the melted ice of the lake that had been prepared for him to observe. He even waded into it a short distance. Instead of manipulating the water, he let the freezing temperatures manipulate his body when it came in contact with the water. He noticed the temperature change and behavior of his own body. Elijah felt silly, but the more he noticed, the more he enjoyed himself.

Eventually, he heard the footsteps of Olivia Rose coming back. Elijah turned around to greet her.

“Looks like you’ve come around,” said Olivia. “So what is it that you’ve discovered?”

Elijah told her all about what he noticed during his time alone. He told her about the water wanting to remain at peace. He told her about how it tried to unite itself into a single, more powerful force. He told her about how it made him feel and what happened when he worked with it. Olivia could sense his enthusiasm and she grinned in spite of herself. She had a tough time hiding a little bit of pride in Elijah’s accomplishment.

“Good. You’ve learned something very important. Something that will be necessary to eventually moving and controlling the water,” said Olivia.

“What?” asked Elijah.

“You understand it! That’s the key. You won’t be able to control any element without understanding it. The more you know, the more you will be able to control.” Olivia glanced up at the sky. “Well, it looks like we’d better head back. We’ll work with another element next time, and maybe you’ll find out more about what makes these elements so special. Well done today, Elijah.”

They walked back to the training grounds and arrived at the front doors just as the sun was setting. Elijah hadn’t done anything physical during the day, except the long walk to and from the lake, but he felt as though he had. He was emotionally exhausted.

He walked into the training barracks, after saying goodbye to Olivia, and made his way into his room. He changed clothes and went downstairs to the oval fire pit finding Samuel, Paul, and Isaac talking about their own day. They had been back for a while by the sound of it.

“Geez Elijah,” Isaac said as he walked up, “where did you go?”

“What?”

“Well, the rest of us went to Jade Lake just down the way here and worked on our element exercises. We didn’t see you all day. Where’d you go?” Isaac asked.

“We went way out there. I dunno. Out to some other lake. Why? I thought we all went to different places,” Elijah said.

Isaac looked at Paul who was shaking his head. “Not us,” Paul said. “We all stayed around here. Did you have any luck?”

“No,” answered Elijah. “I learned a little about water.” He knew his comment sounded stupid, but the look that the other boys gave him made Elijah feel even more foolish.

“Learned about water?” Paul said with a smirk. “Well, we all have to start somewhere.” The boys laughed, and Elijah laughed too, more because of how he knew it sounded to the others.

“What about you guys?” asked Elijah. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much,” Isaac said.

“Y’mean nothing at all!” Paul corrected. “No one did anything. We all sat around pretending to look cool and focus on moving stuff, but nothing happened. We just watched our mentors do everything. They kept telling us to focus more on the element. Whatever!” Paul picked up a fire iron and poked a coal in the massive smoldering pit.

“Well, didn’t Mr. Button say that most students don’t do much of anything right away?” Elijah asked trying to make them feel better.

“Ah, to heck with Button!” said Paul. “I mean, maybe that’s true, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do better than most right? I’ll figure it out sooner or later. It’ll just take a little practice. You watch, I’ll have it down before the end of term. Maybe sooner.”

“Who was your mentor?” Samuel asked Elijah.

“It was Olivia Rose.” Paul turned to look at Elijah with raised eyebrows.