Rising (29 page)

“Slow down there, Clara.
 
You’re right.
 
I should tell you what we are.
 
I
suppose it’s best if I start with me.”

Ben had finally set down the album and grabbed
a chair from the kitchen table for himself.
 
Clara sat in between Jeremy and I on the couch.
 
It was interesting how she was radiating a
subtle joy.
 
I glanced at her and saw
that excitement in her hazel eyes, focused intently on Homer.

“I am a Tracer,” said Homer.
 
“My power is to unite us with other
Setti
.
 
I can find
Setti
wherever they are, not just our clan but others.
 
I also pass on the knowledge I have gained
from others as I can see
Setti
not just in the
present, but those also in the past.”

“Others?” asked Jeremy.

“Yes, there are many more like us.
 
Each clan has six members.
 
We work as a whole. I can also sense the
approach of the reapers.
 
The ancient
clans called them ‘
myrkr
jötnar
’ or ‘dark giants.’
 
My job is to help us connect with other clans and to strategize when the
reapers come.”

“So, you’re like our Obi-Wan,” said
Jeremy.

“Yes, I suppose so,” replied Homer
with a smile.
 
“I’ve heard that other
clans farther north are calling the dark giants ‘reapers’ now.”

“Like the Grim Reaper.
 
That makes sense,” said Jeremy.
 
“They are here to deliver death then?”

I would’ve thought Jeremy was
making a joke with the hint of sarcasm in his voice, but there was a hard, cold
expression on his face.

“Yes, Jeremy,” said Homer, knowing
his name just like he knew ours without any introduction.
 
“Their power is very different from
ours.
 
They wield it to take energy from
humans with frightening precision.
 
I’m
afraid we’re behind in our training.”

I felt a shot of fury rise up
within me.

“If you knew all this, why didn’t
you contact us sooner?
 
Don’t you think
it would’ve been wise to be preparing for this months ago, even years ago?”

“I understand your anger, Gabriel,
but how exactly should I have done that?
 
What would’ve been your reaction if I showed up on your doorstep even a
week ago and told you that you were part of an ancient clan with the power to
kill monstrous demons from another world.
 
What would’ve been your parents’ reaction?”

This silenced me pretty
quickly.
 
I know that I would’ve thought
he was a lunatic.
 
And, I’m pretty sure
all of our parents would’ve put a restraining order on the man known as “crazy
old Homer.”
 
It was Clara’s gentle voice
that finally broke the tension.

“And, what about me, Mr. Homer?”
she asked.
 
“I mean, I know that I can
see auras, but you said that it’s just a side effect of what I can do.”

“You, Clara, are our Guardian.
 
I know that you used your power last
night.
 
I sensed it and saw what
happened, in my mind’s eye of course.”

“Of course.
 
The ole mind’s eye trick,” mumbled Jeremy.

“You have the ability to protect
others from the shadow scouts and the reapers,” said Homer.

“Shadow scouts?” I asked.
 

“Yes, I’ve been in contact with a
friend of mine, another Tracer in Arkansas.
 
They call them shadow scouts, because that’s essentially what they
are.
 
They’re here to scout the
territory, to find the best time and place for the reapers to strike first.”

“But, when we researched these
things, there have been sightings going on for decades,” I said.
 
“Why have they been here so long?”

“Yes, I started seeing visions of
them a long time ago.
 
They have a trace
of their masters’ power on them, which made me see them in nightmares and even
in waking dreams.
 
They’ve been here for
many years, watching and waiting to see when the climate was right for the
reapers’ return.”

“What kind of climate is that?”
asked Jeremy.

“A climate of fear, of course,”
answered Homer soberly, stroking the purring Newton.
 
“The shadow scouts are drawn to it.
 
They spread it.”

“Yes,” I said, “that’s what they
were doing at the football game.”

“But, why?” asked Ben, listening
very closely.

“Because humans are their weakest
when they are filled with fear, and it makes easy prey for the reapers.
 
They don’t want a strong, confident force
against them; they want to feed without a fight.”

“I don’t get it,” said Ben.
 
He seemed lost in all this.

“Benjamin, this may be a terrible
analogy, but it’s the best I can think of.
 
Would you want your food on your plate to jump up, grab a knife, and
start fighting you?
 
Or, do you want that
food just to sit still and wait to be eaten?”

Ben’s face went pale.
 
I’m pretty sure mine did, too.
 
When he put it that way, it was scarily clear
what we were up against and what was at stake.

“Fear,” Homer continued, “is what
you must push away from your hearts and minds most of all.
 
Being able to master your own fears may be
the difference between life and death.”
 

I had a sudden flashback to Mrs.
Jaden’s class and our group discussion about
Lord of the Flies
.
 
I
remembered Clara’s burning anger at Derek’s suggestion that what is good or
moral does not matter; it is only a question of the strong dominating the
weak.
 
That weakness which doomed those
fictional characters was fear.
 
I felt
Clara squirm beside me.

“The constant terrorist attacks, rioting
nations, the dirty politics, the economy, all of it,” said Clara, “fear has
become so much a part of our society that we don’t even notice it anymore.
 
It’s almost normal.”

“I knew you were bright, Clara, but
you still surprise me,” said Homer.
 
“Yeah, we’ve brought the reapers here ourselves.
 
They’re intelligent creatures as much as they
are hideous and deadly.
 
They want little
opposition, so they descend when we are our weakest.”

“So, what is my role?” asked Ben,
now very interested in what was going on.

“Benjamin, you are our
Light-bearer.
 
You have the ability to
take in electrical, and even solar, energy from all around you.
 
This means that you can weaken the shadow
scouts and the reapers by taking it from them.
 
That is what they feed on—energy.”

“Why haven’t I known about my
power, or even had a hint of it, like Gabe and Clara?”

“Sometimes, Benjamin, the power is
there all the time, we’re just unable to recognize it.
 
Tell me Benjamin, have you never felt any
sensation before a thunderstorm?
 
That’s
when you might’ve noticed it most, when electricity is thick in the air.”

“Well, I get that tingly feeling
all over my skin before it storms.
 
You
know what I mean?”

He glanced at us, but none of us
responded.

“Y’all get that, too, right?
 
Where it feels like tiny ants crawling up and
down your arms and legs,” he said, getting a funny frown on his face.
 
“Y’all don’t have that feeling?”

I shook my head, so did Clara and
Jeremy.
 
It didn’t surprise me at all
that Ben had been sensing his power his whole life, but was just too goofy to
ever notice it.
 

“But how is that tingly feeling
gonna somehow help me weaken these monsters?”

“I’m afraid that you’ll be the one
to make it happen, but we’ll work on that in a bit, Benjamin.
 
Of course, Jeremy must do his job before you
can do yours.”

“Dude,” said Jeremy, “all I can do
is break glass and plastic.
 
Unless these
reapers are made of plastic, we’re in trouble.”

“No, Jeremy,” said Homer, chuckling
lightly, which made his eyes sparkle again.
 
“Your ability is to shatter the energy fields that the shadow scouts and
reapers build around them.
 
There is
power in the sound waves you can create that can break these fields.
 
The shadow scouts conceal themselves, like
camouflage, with their protective shield.
 
Guardians are the only ones who can see them when they’re hidden. It’s
part of her gift of protection.”

Clara nodded, more to herself it
seemed, then Homer continued.

“You must be aware, Jeremy, that
the reapers’ energy fields are much harder to break than those of the shadow
scouts.
 
You must prepare yourself for an
exhausting fight ahead.”

“Awesome,” said Jeremy, grinning
with what I can only say was boyish delight.

“Tell me something, Jeremy.
 
How many instruments do you play?” asked
Homer.

What a strange question.
 
Jeremy seemed to think so, too.

“What?”

“How many musical instruments can
you play?” he repeated politely.

“Um, three.
 
How did you know I liked music?”

“All Sounders have an affinity for
music.
 
It’s in your blood.”

“What instruments do you play
besides the piano?” asked Clara, smirking at him.

“I played the trumpet through
middle school then dropped the school band to learn guitar.
 
I’m good, too,” he added haughtily.

“I’m sure you are,
Sounder
,” said Ben with a laugh.

“Hey, Sounder sounds pretty cool,”
said Jeremy, “It’s better than
Lightbulb
.”

“Light-
bearer
,” said Ben.

“Whatever,
Lightbulb
.”

“But, Mr. Homer,” interrupted
Clara, “why are the shadow scouts afraid of me?”

“I don’t know for certain, Clara,
but it seems that your protective aura is the complete opposite of theirs.
 
Your shield of light burns them with fire,
while their shield cloaks them in the darkness.
 
They hate to be seen.
 
They want
to hide and do their dirty work for their masters in the shadows.”

“What exactly do they do for their masters?”
she asked, her vibe tensing next to me.

“Essentially, they freeze their victims with
fear so that the reapers can consume their life energy and kill them.”

I remembered last night how I fell into a
trance of complete terror in the clutches of the shadow scouts.
 
There were no reapers near me, yet it seemed
they wanted me to react somehow to their torture.

“Why would they attack me last night without
the reapers nearby?”

Homer turned his blue eyes on me, now closer to
the color of brittle ice.

“They will do everything in their power to
destroy you, Gabriel.
 
You most of
all.
 
Perhaps, last night, they were
testing you to see what you could do.”

“I guess I failed that test,” I said quietly.

Clara’s hand went to the hand on my knee where
she intertwined her fingers with mine.
 
I
gave her a small smile.
 
It was all I
could manage.
 
Then, I noticed that
Homer’s brow had bunched up into a frown, while watching our hands together.

“
Hmph
.
 
Interesting,” he mumbled to himself.

What did that mean?
 
He was obviously concerned about this
connection between Clara and me.
 
Homer
dropped the frown and stared unblinking at me.

“Gabriel, you are our Vanquisher.”

“Now,
that
sounds cool,” said Jeremy.

“You, Gabriel, can use your power to destroy
reapers, shadow scouts, and ash-eaters.”

“Yeah, we didn’t get to talk about the ash-eaters.
 
What’s their deal?” asked Jeremy.

“From what I’ve seen of visions from the past,
they’re like parasites.
 
They follow the
reapers and eat what’s left behind.”

“Hey, kind of like those little minnows that
swim alongside sharks and eat the algae and left-over fish parts,” said Jeremy.