Lumen (7 page)

Daniel would’ve liked to introduce him to Jac, both very stubborn, but different in how they got that way. Jac would’ve hated him, Taner being rich 
and
 arrogant, and Taner would hate Jac for being poor but strong-willed.

“You know I read a bit before I came here,” Daniel said.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I thought everyone would’ve been so far ahead of me.”

“But you’re parents are paying good money for you to be taught good 
shit
,” Taner grinned.

Daniel hummed and nodded. That was right; Daniel was becoming ‘friends’ with Taner because of the money. It was like he was somehow unwillingly infiltrating the inner circle of the rich people.

Chapter Seven

Daniel made sure he was early to his first lesson, as did everyone else in his class. He stood at the door looking around for a free seat, and there was only one; front row, right in the middle. He smiled at the scowling facing at either side as he took his seat. He glanced around, the room felt bare, but he wasn’t to judge. The room was huge, white-washed walls and maroon polished flooring, no pictures, no windows but the room was bright.

“Good morning,” Chey said, wandering into the class with a smile on her face. “First class, 
ever
, for us all.” She inhaled and stood tall, taking a look around the room.

Daniel was still looking around, noticing something in the corner of the room. He was sure it hadn’t been there when he came in; a small table with a teakettle, a cup and some cutlery on it, and beside it was a chair. He then met Chey’s gaze and he shunned his eyes away, while she carried on looking.

“You,” she said, pointing at Daniel.

“Me?” he asked. He cleared his throat, his face turning red. “Me?”

She nodded. “Please stand.” Daniel stood, tucking his hands into his pockets. Chey grinned. “Take your hands out of your pockets, please. I have a little task for you. Don’t worry—the rest of the class will be doing the same.”

Daniel nodded and let his hands flop to his side.

“In fact, let’s swap places, so that everyone can see,” she said, moving forward and gesturing that he move also.

Daniel had now taken Chey’s spot at the front of the room, while she sat in his seat, her legs crossed and arms folded.

“Outstretch your arms, and cup your hand,” she said, and Daniel obeyed. “Now. Pool your power, 
feel
 it strong in the centre of your hands. It will be warm, now when you feel this, pull your hands apart slowly, revealing 
your
 raw power.” She had enticed the room into silence, and Daniel couldn’t stop staring at her lips.

Daniel glanced down to his hands after realising Chey had stopped speaking. He tried to keep focus, but everyone in the room was staring at him. He felt their gazes prickle at his skin.

“Take your own time,” she said, leaving the wave of her words washing over the class.

He pressed his hands together hard, and closed his eyes. A cool tingle zipped down his chest, drizzling down his arms to his fingertips. He opened his eyes to peek at his hands, and noticed Chey’s lips moving; to him they were just moving. “Pull,” she kept on repeating, “pull.” Except this pull was imminent, it embraced him without order.

Quick just like the flick of Reuben’s wrist, and the moment had passed. However in that moment, it was like the seconds had been filtered through minutes to Daniel. His hands fell numb as they became cold, sending a fine vibration rippling his hands apart to a crackle and flash of gold. It all popped in the space between his hands.

Chey stood with her lips apart. She started to clap weakly. “Impressive. Not many can 
master 
it on their first try,” she said. “You may now take your seat.”

Daniel stood still, his hands dwelling in the air, still shaking from the aftermath. He nodded and took his seat. People around him stared like he’d just done something to offend everyone in the room.

“So Daniel has set the bar guys,” Chey said. “That is the task of today, I hoped, well I didn’t hope that it would take you long to do this task, but normally people just need to settle into their environment. Please don’t be discouraged, awaking your raw potential is basic, after that I can teach manipulation of raw energy,” she continued, but to Daniel her voice had become a distant haze. “Two basic facts, if you’re a boy, your flare will be blue
-ish
 and if you’re a girl, then your flare will border violet, light purple.”

The room became alive with motion as people stacked chairs at the side. Daniel stayed seated; flames engorged his muscles, and flared up in his cheeks. He caught something, he knew something; his flare was neither blue nor purple, but the rest of the class had already realised that.

Daniel stood and someone pulled the chair almost immediately.

“Daniel?” Chey called from the front.

Daniel looked up to see Chey’s face touched with concern. “What is it?”

“We should talk,” she said, ushering him to the front of the room.

She offered him her seat and then forced another her way.

“Yeah?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the rest of the students trying to summon their raw energy.

“That’s some special flare you have, and I know someone else like it. You probably know him too.” She grinned, glaring into his eyes.

He pulled away and frowned, something ached at the back of his throat and the nape of his neck. He rubbed the back of his neck and licked his lips, trying to gnaw at the sickly dry feel in his mouth. She reached out a hand and touched his. And there it was. A taste, sweet, undoubtedly it was fine energy, but it wasn’t his. “Who?” he asked, staring at her hand on his.

“Reuben. He does come from a rich bloodline,” she said, “not 
financial 
but from his substance.”

Daniel looked up at her, his lips parted. “What colour’s is it?”

“He can change it,” she said and her smile spread. “A flare is energy in its rawest form. When you’ve got it, you’ll know, because the next step is control. Truth being, I didn’t think anyone could do that first time. In fact, I was counting on you burning out, as a lesson of not being able to touch raw power without first building an immunity to it.”

“Immunity?” he picked out.

“You felt pain right?”

Daniel nodded and Chey pulled her hand from his.

“You build over the pain. And I figured a scrawny boy wouldn’t be able to handle it,” she said grinning.

He ignored her remark. “Shouldn’t you tell them?”

She smiled and patted his shoulder. Standing, she approached the centre of the room and held her hand high over her head, but they were too busy talking and forcing themselves to extremes of pale to white.

“Class!” she said, clicking her fingers mid-air. “Settle down, there is something I need to tell you all. Daniel has had earlier training,” she said, allowing everyone time to turn and stare, scowling at him. “However, you guys need to try hard, you need to 
tap
 into yourself, and then 
exert 
yourself.”

Daniel stared on, dumbfounded. Of course she way lying, unless she knew about the books he’d been reading, and of course they touched on the topic of flares several times, but from what he’d read, flares took time to develop.

He heard their insults, strained beneath their breaths. Some of them would've found that this was a common ground with Daniel, having something that makes you less fortunate.

They haven’t heard
, he thought as Chey turned to walk back to him.
 I’m practically from the Lowerlands
.

“I didn’t mean to out you back there,” she said with a sympathetic look in her eye and no smile. “But it’s better they think you’re a know it all then just being 
better
 than them.”

“I came here to learn, not make friends,” Daniel said.

“A good motto, because it's going to be hard for anyone, coming from the,” she said, mouthing the word, “Lowerlands.”

Daniel couldn’t process what she was trying to get at, and before he could start she’d moved away, apparently there had been a knock at the door, but nobody else seemed to have heard it. He turned to see Chey talking to another teacher who glared at Daniel, locking eyes with him. When Chey closed the door, she brushed the back of her hand against her cheeks, flushed rosy red.

“Mr Croft would like to see you,” she said, “His office is the one with the big door on the 
third
 floor.”

Daniel nodded and left the room without anyone noticing, but he could still hear their shallow whispers filter through the air about his flare. Daniel just smiled; his parents had taught him how to control his shifts early on so they wouldn’t control him. It didn’t work how he would’ve liked, but it was one more thing people would be whispering about when they found out.

A tall tan topless man stood at the bottom of the third stairwell. Daniel recognised him as the one who’d delivered the letter. “What’s your business with Mr Croft?”

“I’ve just been told to go and see him,” he said, turning around to point at the room he came out of. “The teacher in there said.”

“Oh, Daniel. The kid from the Lowerlands.”

Daniel shook his head. “Yeah, you delivered the letter.”

“I did. I requested to, and it’s not as dark here. Y’know I came from the Lowerlands. Was an orphan, like many of us,” he grinned.

That was another thing rambling around in his head. What if people found out he could still shift? Would they 
employ
him, or 
enslave 
him? One thing that was for sure was he wouldn’t be scrawny any more.

He knocked twice on the office door and before going in for the third, the office door swung open. Reuben stood over his desk pouring a dark amber liquid from a glass decanter into two square glasses. He looked up to see Daniel, and after wiping the lip of the glass his set it down and began clapping.

“A celebration, to that unique flare of yours,” Reuben said, signalling for Daniel to come closer to him as the door slammed shut.

“You know about 
that
?” Daniel asked.

“Well, as soon as Chey had seen it, she 
told
 me,” he said tapping two fingers against his temple. Daniel caught the reference, telepathy; passing energy to another in the form of words.

“Cool, she also told me about your flare.”

“Great. So, are we going to toast?” he asked, suggesting Daniel come closer.

Reuben handed Daniel one of the glasses. Reuben knocked the glasses together merrily, grinning with wide eyes.

“A toast to your power,” he said, clinking the glasses again. “I knew there was something special about you.” He brought the glass to his lips, but Daniel stared blankly. “Now we drink.”

The glasses were clinked again for the last time, and they both downed their drinks. Daniel face became taut with shock as the liquor touched his tongue and fired up at the back of his throat. Reuben chuckled as Daniel smacked his lips and tried to gulp the sensation away.

“It’ll grow on you,” Reuben said, “oh, don’t go around telling people about this. Alcohol is only permitted out of school grounds.”

Daniel gulped at his dry hard throat, ached with the lasting taste of the sour alcohol. “What does a different flare mean?”

“To some, it can mean nothing but a pretty colour. It isn’t, it’s all up here.” Reuben tapped two fingers to his forehead and grinned. “You can still shift, can’t you?”

“Yeah,” Daniel said, his mouth widened to a smile.

“Good, because I thought I was wrong for a second then. We hold a class here for the select few that do have that
power
, I shall enrol you. It’s every Friday, and I think there are about twenty students.”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t think it was normal.”

“Perfectly. I’m guessing that it’s given you grief, you have worry marked on your face,” Reuben said, grinning. “But it’s the jealous people you should be wary of; they’re all out for their own ends,” he said, “and the rich kids.”

Chapter Eight

Taner rushed up to Daniel the moment he walked in the cafeteria. While Daniel, now coaxed in a half-dazed stance from the alcohol, was standing at the end of the queue, rubbing his fingers in the middle of his sweaty palms.

“I heard, 
we
 all heard. You were sent to Mr Croft’s office,” Taner said in a whisper, “What did he want you for?”

Daniel blinked; closing his eyes tightly shut, and then rubbed them. “I have a new class,” he said, opening his eyes.

“What? What is it?”

Daniel turned to face Taner. He wiped the corners of his mouth, and rubbed his tongue against the lingering taste. “Because I can still shift, he told me that I’m being enrolled in a class for it, on Fridays,” Daniel said, he picked up a tray from the pile and started working his way along the aisle.

“How come I didn’t know this?” Taner asked, trying to keep up with him.

“I’ve known you for…” he butted his teeth down against his lips. “For what? A couple of hours?”

“Oh, I s’pose, but it woulda been nice to know,” Taner said, “what about your flare then? I think 
they
, all know.” He tipped his head to the cafeteria of people, looking up from their meals at him.

“That’s fine.” Daniel picked up a cellophane wrapped sandwich from the counter. “It’s to go,” he told Taner.

“No, I have a table over there.” Daniel wanted to object, but before he could Taner was walking away and he was following. There were a few other people sat around the table. “This is Daniel. And Daniel, these are from my Mythics Class, Herik, Dena, and Lianne.”

They exchanged awkward greetings, awkward because Daniel knew what they were thinking about him, like he knew how the people in his first class were talking about him. He set his tray on the table and sat, trying not to scowl at any of them.

“We ‘erd you could shift,” Herik said in a gruff voice.

“Can you?” Lianne began and brushed her long fair hair from her face.