Billy: Messenger of Powers (9 page)

“The difference between magic and magic?” began Billy. “But—”

“Don’t interrupt, Mr. Jones. And for
heaven’s
sake, let’s not have another back-and-forth where I say magic and then you repeat it back to me incorrectly.”

Billy shrugged as though to say, “Okay.” This seemed to satisfy Mrs. Russet, so she continued. “Another way to trigger a clearer Glimmer is to send the potential Power into total confusion. The easiest way to do it is to say something so completely nonsensical that the potential Power can’t tell his feet from his forehead.”

Billy’s eyes lit up. “So when you said that stuff about golden bears and fleas being on fire, and when Mrs. Black said that thing about fish underwear….”

“Correct,” said Mrs. Russet, looking at him with approval. “They were confusing you to see if they could trigger a Glimmer.”

“But they didn’t, did they?”

“No,” answered Mrs. Russet. “And usually, that would be the end of it. But as I said, with you, that first day of school, in addition to almost seeing a Glimmer, I also felt something. Something highly unusual, something I’ve never felt before.” She paused, her brow furrowing, clearly trying to figure out the best way to explain the rest to Billy. “As I’ve already explained, the Powers channel the Elements. Each Power has control, to a greater or lesser degree, over a single Element. Thus Wade,” she glanced at the cold-faced “Darksider” who stood near the bowl of water at Billy’s feet, “is a Power of Water. And Vester,” she said, pointing to the fireman near the candle, “is a Power who controls the Element of Fire. Ivy, if you couldn’t guess, channels and bends the Life Element—the Element that controls the earth’s plants and living things. Tempus is a Power of the Wind and Storm. And as for me, I am a Power of Earth.”

Another connection was made in Billy’s mind. “The dragon! That’s what saved us! You made that stalagmite that saved us from the dragon!”

This garnered a second approving nod from Mrs. Russet. Billy thought he might lift bodily off the table with pride. “Very good, Mr. Jones. I have a deep and—if I do say so myself—very powerful connection with Earth. And on that first day, when you had your eyes closed in sheer panic during the test, the Earth said something to me.”

“What did it say?” whispered Billy.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

Billy realized then that she hadn’t mentioned one of the Powers in the room. “What about her?” he asked, motioning to Eva Black. “What is her, uh, Element?”

Mrs. Russet frowned. “She is a Power of the Black. The Element of Death. As is her son, Cameron. Black Powers are the fighters of our world. The weakest of them is capable of fighting off dozens of normal people at a time, and the most powerful in our history have laid waste to entire cities. That’s why I finally decided to bring you in here. Even accidentally, you shouldn’t have been able to even
touch
Cameron Black. Not unless he wanted you to—which I doubt—or unless you were a Power yourself, most likely another Power of the Black.”

“So I
am
a Power?” asked Billy, both excited at the idea of being someone magic and disturbed that the magic he likely had was such a gruesome one. Although, he realized, having power over Death would probably enable him to stop the bully attacks at school.

“I’ve already told you I don’t know if you’re a Power or not,” said Mrs. Russet. “But we have to find out. And that’s why we’re here. Because there is a single way that is one hundred percent certain of determining whether a person is a Power or not.”

“What way is that?” asked Billy, suddenly and inexplicably chilled.

“It’s rather simple, actually,” said Eva Black, her eyes snapping open. She smiled, the first genuine-seeming smile that Billy had seen come across her face. “I get to kill you.”

Billy looked at Mrs. Russet. Eva Black had said that already, but he had figured—or at least hoped in his heart of hearts—that she was just trying to scare him, or was making some kind of very unfunny joke. Mrs. Russet just looked back at him. Billy suddenly knew: it wasn’t a joke. Eva Black really
was
going to kill him.

He jerked into a sitting position before being pushed roughly back into place by something. He looked down and saw that vines as thick as his arm had emerged with lightning speed from the floor below him and wrapped themselves around his body, forcing him onto his back again.

“Ow!” Billy yelped, thrashing against the grip of the greenery. It did no use, however: all he accomplished was to scrape his body on the hard surface of the plants.

Mrs. Russet was shouting something at him the whole time, and it was only gradually that Billy became aware of what it was.

“…in no danger, Billy! Nothing is going to happen!”

“Nothing?” yelled Billy back at her. “This crazy woman just said she’s going to kill me!” This sent him into a new frenzy, trying to get himself loose though he already knew that he could not escape from the plants.

“Let me explain!” she said, moving near him. She looked at Ivy, who watched with obvious concern on her face. “Ease up a bit, Ivy,” snapped Mrs. Russet.

Ivy nodded, and though the vines didn’t loosen at all, they became
softer
somehow, as though made of steel wire wrapped in soft cotton. Billy’s struggles slowed a bit, though he still jerked spasmodically, his body refusing to just give up.

“It’s okay, kid,” whispered Vester. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” The young man smiled reassuringly. “What would I say to your dad if I did?”

Billy was not reassured. “Oh, well, since you put it that way. I’m sure that my dying would be real embarrassing for you. That would really put my death in perspective. Thanks a heap.”

“Be silent, Mr. Jones!” snapped Mrs. Russet, in her most no-nonsense you-are-walking-on-thin-ice-and-if-you-don’t-behave-yourself-right-now-you-are-looking-at-extra-homework voice. Billy, trained to perfection by two months of exposure to that tone of voice, instantly stopped yelling and went stock still. Mrs. Russet nodded. “I will explain what’s going to happen. Whether you want to or not, it
is
going to happen, but you won’t have to worry about being killed.” She glanced around the room. “Almost everybody here has been killed at
least
once, for one reason or another, and you don’t see us any the worse for wear.”

Billy said the best and brightest thing he could think to: “Huh?”

“Remember how I said that confusion causes some people to Glimmer?” Billy nodded. “Well,” Mrs. Russet continued, “that’s nothing to what happens when they
die
. When you die, all kinds of things happen in your brain. And those things trigger the Glimmer in anyone who has any potential at all to be a Power.”

“Not just a Glimmer,” interjected Tempus, the jolly fat man still looking like he was thinking of a particularly good joke and was just waiting for the right moment to share it. “More like a Great Big Blaze.”

Mrs. Russet nodded. “You’ve heard of out of body experiences? Where someone’s heart stops or they die on an operating table but are resuscitated?” Billy nodded. “What generally happens to them?”

“Something about a light,” he answered.

Mrs. Russet nodded. “Right. Some people think the light is God or angels. Other people think that it’s just random electrical charges in the dying person’s brain. But what it really is—though I’m not saying that God or angels aren’t involved in the process—is that person’s inner potential breaking out. It’s the grand-daddy of all Glimmers.”

She looked at Billy. “Do you want to hear more? Can Ivy let you up, or does she need to keep you wrapped up in weeds?”

“They’re not weeds, they’re—” began Ivy, but silenced herself when Mrs. Russet glanced angrily at her. “Never mind,” she said.

“Well?” asked Mrs. Russet.

Billy thought for a moment. On the one hand, he wanted very much to bolt off the table and run like a frightened horse. On the other hand, he was now terribly curious.

And besides, he was in the middle of a big basket hanging from the Earthtree. Where was he going to go if he
did
manage to get off the table?

“I’ll listen,” he said.

“Good.” Mrs. Russet nodded at Ivy, and immediately the vines unwrapped themselves from Billy’s quivering frame, disappearing back into the leafy floor below the table.

“We need to find out if you Glimmer, Billy,” said Mrs. Russet. “And the only sure-fire way to do that, is to be there when you die. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that will happen naturally, so we have to…help the process.”

Billy stifled the urge to jump up and try to run again.

“How do you do that?” he asked in a small, frightened voice.

“Easy, buddy,” whispered Vester. His kind eyes looked softly at Billy, that deep spark glinting from within them, touching Billy with a feeling of warmth. “We won’t let anything bad happen. I’ll watch out for you.”

“Just so,” said Tempus with a smile. The old man’s smile was so infectious that Billy couldn’t help but crack a bit of a smile himself.

“So what’s going to happen?” asked Billy.

Mrs. Russet looked around her at the other Powers in the room. “Eva is a Black. She bends Death. She is going to stop your heart. Just for a second!” she added hurriedly, clearly seeing Billy poised to jump again. “The instant she does it, we’ll have our answer, and these other four,” she gestured to Ivy, Vester, Wade, and Tempus, “will make sure you come right back. Vester is a Power of Fire. He’ll make sure your heart starts beating, he’ll conjure the spark that we all need to live. Wade will bend the Water in and around you to insure that your blood flows and your tissue lives. Tempus will breathe the Wind of life into you. And Ivy, as a Power who is intimately tied to Life itself, will guide and direct them.” Mrs. Russet looked deep into Billy’s eyes. “You
will
come back, Billy Jones. I promise you.”

The logical part of Billy’s mind wanted to scream out. To holler “Forget it, lady!” and then kick and punch and scratch and bite anything that came near him until he somehow escaped this crazy place. But the logical part of his mind was no longer in charge. In fact, it hadn’t
been
in charge since Billy had seen the blue dragon. Only his instincts remained, and, somehow, they whispered to him that Mrs. Russet was telling the truth. That she could be trusted. That he would be safe.

“All right,” he whispered. He lay back on the table, shivering involuntarily. The shiver turned into a shudder as Eva Black moved close to him. She licked her lips as though savoring a favorite memory, then reached down, and touched his chest. At the same time, Vester put one hand into the open candle flame at the head of the table, and lay his other hand on the crown of Billy’s head. Wade, at the bottom of the table, put one hand in the bowl of water and lay his other hand on Billy’s leg.

As they did this, Ivy and Tempus closed their eyes. The entire room shuddered, and seemed to pulse with barely-contained life.

Billy looked at Mrs. Russet. “I’m scared,” he whispered, so quietly that he wasn’t even sure she would be able to hear it.

“I know,” she whispered back. She reached out and took his hand. “I know, young man.”

“Touching,” said Eva Black mockingly. Then her eyes flicked to Billy’s. They were already brown, but as he watched, they turned a deep, dark black. Billy was reminded of the eyes of a shark: soulless and empty, driven by a search for one thing, and one thing only. Blood.

Then there was a sharp prickling at his fingers. It felt like a nest of ants walking across them. The feeling moved to his arms, then swarmed into his legs and feet, circling his chest. Then, at last, the sensation crawled into his chest, and burrowed into his heart.

Billy took a great, shuddering breath. Then breathed out.

He felt his eyes close, and then knew no more.

CHAPTER THE FOURTH

Flashes.

Images.

He heard a scream.

Darkness.

Then another scream, a hoarse whisper: “He is coming! He is returning!”

Darkness.

Flashes.

At last, Billy’s eyes fluttered, then slowly opened. His eyelids felt like they each had a small piano strapped to them. He couldn’t hold them open long enough to focus on anything, so they crashed shut again.

He tried to sit up, but couldn’t.

Gradually, he became aware of a cacophony of voices, as though a thousand people were all talking at the same time.

He tried again to open his eyes. This time it worked better: the pianos had been replaced with small sacks of lead. It was still hard to keep his eyes open, but Billy managed.

What happened? he thought. Then: Oh, yes. I died.

He still couldn’t see anything but fuzzy shapes, still couldn’t make out any individual sounds in the angry symphony sounding around him.