The Lightwielder Files

Chapter 14

Inside it looked like they were outside. Honestly, there was no roof the ceiling was encompassed of the Chicago city skyline. The walls were those of an old ruined castle, stone and yet there was ancient sturdiness about them. 

Max looked around totally amazed at the foliage and virginia creeper that growing up along the sides that he almost didn't notice the woman in a turban stand in the centre of the room.

“Ah, an early arrival with the new sun wielder," she said her voice rich like honey or molasses. 

“Hi Ms Abetha," Adam said with a small wave of his hadn. 

The woman came closer and Max pervoece that she radiated with light. He casually looked her over to see if he could find a sigil to mark which primal light source she was attuned to. 

He found none, but wiht the way he was feeling, he flt like he could suspect that she was a Solar like him. It was one out of five chance.

“Ah Adam”, she cooed, “This is a nice change, you’re usually late for my classes.”

Adam pressed his hands together as if he was in prayer and said with eyes as wide as a puppy’s, “I try to Ms.Abetha but time gets out of my hands sometimes which is really a pity because your classes are the light of my day.”

Max had to fight the urge to roll his eyes and laugh. For all of Adam’s silvertongued words, that was what he could come up with up?

Ma. Abetha didn’t look angry at all and seemed oddly charmed by Adam as most people appeared to be. 

“I’ll forgive you if you work on punctuality as well as you work on your mesers”, she said leainvg a faintly blushing Adam in her weke as she turned fto face Max assessing him so hard he felt she could see his insides.

“So this is Malcolm Vandhurts’s son," she mused searching over Max’s face beofre her ruby red lips broke out into a smile. She stretched her hand with nails that were in a smilaimr bight shade of red and had bangles going up and down  her arm. Max took her hand and shook it she seemd to pull in closer and his nose was hit by the fresh smell of lemon and limes, proonably some sort of perfume. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you”, she said her voice sounding as if it adnced when she spoke. 

“It’s  aplearusre to meet you too ma’am “, MAx replied his hand starting to go limp again in her tight grip. 

She shook her hand arily before she let fgo to his relief. 

“A gentleman as well as a handsome lightweilder. I’m starting to like you already. But please don’t call me Ma’am from now on. Just Abetha.”

Then she crossed her amrs against her ample chest and looked him up and down again. He felt like he was on a catwalk being watched by millions of photographers and cristics which was an odd sort of feeling and one he hoped he didn’t feel again anytime soon. 

“I heard that your powers blew away some hellhounds yesterday, is that correct?”

“Uh, yes, yes you are correct Abetha.” Why did he feel so awkward wasn’t Light training supposed to be where he shined the most? No pun itntended. 

She hummed plaing a painted fingernail on her chin. 

“I’m going to  have to do some tests with you”, she said as if she was thinking out loud. Then she snapped her fingers making Max jump a little.

“Adam, oliver will be taking the frist part of gthe class when the others arrive”, she announced granfly. “He’ll know what to do, he always does. You jusst tell him that alright sweetie darling, thank you.”

“Aye aye Ma’am”, Adam said with a mock salute leaning agains one of the ruin’s walls. 

Abathe spun on her heel and Adam made a shooing motion with his hadns for max to follow after her. 

“Good luck”, he mouth and the added in the same hall breath, “Don’t stare.”

Max was about ot ask what he should not stare at but then he saw Abtha waiting for him at a wall. He scurrued over suddenly glad that he wore boots instead of sneakers because he had a sneaky felling that someohow his laces would been undone at his point and he would have fallne flat on his face. Don’t ask his why, that’s just the way he felt. 

He rushed over to join Abetha inf front of the wall. Was this part of the test? He wondered. 

He was about to ask Abethaabout it but suddenly she walked to the wall or rather through it. Max stood there mouth agape. 

He turned to look at Adam who was doing a tree pose his hand spose dhigh above his head.

He shrugged gently not breaking a sweat not onece instead, there was a wry smile playing on his lips. 

“I told you not to stare”, he said cooly then tossed his nose gently towards the wall Abehta had just gone through. 

Max tunred abac to the wall and sure enough Abehta’s red fingernails were poking through the waal beckoning him to come in after her. This was seriously not the werdetst thing he had ssen in the past day or two. He help his breath gently for good smeasure asnd stepped thought the wall. Once he opened his eyes on the other side, he found that he was in what looked like a fortune tellers shack. Ut was cover form floor to ceiling in drapes and curtains with no single widow in sight. There were candles littereed around the place, some new, creamy and upright while others were just just wicks in an ever gowing puddle of wax. There ones wih different colours town ranging form obsiiand to sunny yellow. The floor was carpet with a persian rug with gold fleck that seemed to reflect the candle light around the, The room was circular in shape with no door to be seen. In t eh central tood a low tabl with two hugh back chairs. Each of the there pieces of furniture were cover in orange draped. There was achet of draws ot ne side with there drawers each a different colour, red, green and blue. 

“You can breath again”, Abetha said teasingly geaturing to Max’s puffer fish checks. He looked at her sheepishly as he released a breath he had forgettne he was holding. 

Once he could breath again he notice that the air around them was imbued with incense righ nand heady like Abetha herself. There were jars of apisce on a shelf opposite whee max imagined thee smlle was coming from. 

“Impressinve isn’t it”, Abathe sitting donw on one of the high-back chairs. Max lowered himself opposite her and di the same.

“Abetha, is thai place real?” he asked stil fixed on theisght around him.”I mean we alked through a wall to get here?”

“So does that mean it’s fake then? Everytime you have to walk thorugh a wall is it oo a fake land do you? Boy, you walk through walls all the time, in those cases you can see the door. This is no different.”

“I just expected a wall to move”, Max said. “Like when you’rec oming in throught the cathedral.”

“Ah, I see. Well Max all I can say that when it comes to life, light and magic; never expect the same thing twice.”

She winked then placed her hands in a stack on top of each other on the table. Max pondered the words thoughfuully over and over in his mind. Never expect the saeme thing twice. What a whimsical thing to say he thought briefly. Nothing in the pasyt few days  ahd goethe way he expected and he expected that what he could expect if he even still had the mental capaspty to expect would be the same. 

“So you’re light has been uncocled”, Abetha went on, “Tell me Max, how did you feel when you used Light for the first time?”

Max tried to recall the feeling he had the pub moments before he passed out and had to be resuscitated by smelling salts.

“It felt like I was on fire”, he siad. “Like my whole body was being turned inside out and yet despite that feeling I felt safe if that makes sense.”

Abetha nodded slowly in understanding.

“It makes perfecet sense Max. Light is an integral oart of who you ate. It was just survail mechanism kicking in to protect you from the hounds that was the reason why you felt safe. But you passed out afterwards didn’t you?”

Max someohow knew for a fact that he couldn’t lie to her and he shouldn’t even bother trying. 

“Uhm, yes Abetha. That’s what happened.”

“Interesting but understandble such use of power tired you out. What were thinking about before you went under?”

Max searched his meomoreies and then wondered why Abehta was asking him such a question.Then he thought it  had something to do with controling his Light. 

“I’m not sure exactly.”

“Oh”, Abetha replied almost sounding disappointed. 

“But there was something. I was hoping that Mona, Adam and Harry the werewolf were safe from the hounds”, he added so hastily that he thought that it must have been true on a subconscious level.

“So your focus was ptoetecting your friends”, Abetha mused with a slight smile resting on her lips. “That would make sense a first expereince woth Light can come up duing moments of high stress and intensity.”

Then the smile disappear from her face and hrew more serious in disposition  and suddenly Max felt worried that this class would not be any easier than the physical trainign earluier in the morning. 

“But however hard life mya fell at times," Abetha said in a low voice that sounded like it was coing from the other end of a cave. “We do not live our lives moment to moment in stages of high stress and intesntisy so neither should rely on state like that to r summon your Light. You must be able summon your Light at will. “

Max nidded in repsonse agreeing with her point entriwly but he felt a nagging sesation clawing at him. Wuld he be able to summon his Light at will. Well, he supposed he would have to found out and very soon.

With a sweep of her hand, the tabl emoved and I mean moved out of the way to a further corner of the round room.

Max blinked rapldily as Abetha suddenly reached out hand for him to take and get out of his chair. So he did ande was pleasantly surprised at how cool Abetha’s hand felt in that moment, like dipping his fingers into a rock pool on a warm summers day. In the monet it was oddly soothing like a gentle caress on a fevered forehead. Suddenly she began to glow a pearlescent white.

“Now I want you to bering forth a ball of light juat a little one.” 

SHe stepped back a little as leaving him room to work his magic, no pun intended. 

Max shook out his hadns as if he wa preparing for a thum-wroestling ompoetion. 

He focussed on what he wanted to se  like Ellie a girl who was really into manifestation told him. 

He pictered a small round ball of light like a minatrre sun appearing in his had. He pictered as perfectly as if he was seeing his own reflection in the morron. He closed his eyes willing it into being. Just a little longer now, he thought swiftly. And then he opened his eyes and looked down at his open hands. His poen empty hands. He closed his eyes again forever an he clenched his fists as if hoping to call Light out of his body by force. He opened his eyes to looka t his hands as if to coax to fire out of them . he had faces into t his hands and tried to search every fibre of his being for the source of Light that had overflfowd yesterady in the pub. 

All this he did while trying to avode mettitg Abetha ‘s gaxe. He was sure if he diegned to he waould ee diappointment or for some stagen readon ceratinty.as if this wa sproof that he wasn;t supposed tbe a Lightwielder. He cloed his eyes and truedn aaoain. But nothing happned no , heat , no soark not even the tinneiest flicjker of Light could be coaxed out of him. 

“Well”, Abetha siad finally”You’re going to reqiured much more wokr that I thought. “

Max was starting to get angry at htis point but not Abetha, wel not entriely. It was more at himself and for some reason his dad. No he knew why his dad was deserving of his anger. It was becasue of him and whatever he was mixed up in that he was theorn into theis wourld of Light and shadwos and monsters with no way to denfend himself and worst some hady soptlight was placed on him beacuse of his father and who he was. And lastly he was anry at Algar Fray, for trying yeasr agao topen a pratal form monster sot come into this world and also at him now for not staying dead and trying condict his plan and for k********g his dad. 

Max was just frustrated beyond reason at this point he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. So he snapped.

“Well what were ou expecteing “, he seethed glarening at Abetha whose face remained as unchaing as a statues.  “I literally just arrived her yestaerday, you can;t execpt me to know all of this Light stuff."

“I expect you to know all of thei Light stuff as you say becasue it is an integral  part of who you are," Abetha said calmly but Max just huffed throeing his hadns into the air in frustration. 

“You keep telling me that Light is a part of me everyone keeps telling me that but I don’t feel it .”

Abetha’s face still didn't move, it was cunchanging like the north star. 

“I can see that you ardn’t reay to embrace your identury as Lightwielder and that is unsderstabdly under the circumstances which you found that about your idnetity. But keep in mind Max there was soemthings that real even though they cannot be sensed.”

Max frowned at Abetha’s once again cryptic words. 

“We shall continue your lessons when you know who you are.”