The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (47 page)

Elijah felt like this would be the time to celebrate.  He
found Olivia and was bringing her back.  They found the cube.  All of them were
still alive.  And yet, he felt like a failure.  He took out Anita’s rabbit and
held it against his chest.  He tried rationally telling himself that it wasn’t
his fault Rico was dead and the entire village of Los Alientos was destroyed
because of Maliphists.  He tried to make himself believe that it wasn’t his
fault Rico’s daughter was now fatherless.  But it didn’t work.  Deep down, he
still felt responsible.  He knew it would be a long time before he could think
of anything else.

Olivia spent most of her time during the four-day trip back
to the Corinthias port outside on the deck looking at the ocean flying by at an
incredible rate.  Elijah wondered if she missed being outside after months of
being bedridden.  Or maybe she just needed to be alone.  He wondered if she
felt the same way about their mission that he did.  He wanted to talk with her,
but he also wanted to stay inside the cabin with his friends.  They had a way
of making him feel better.  Also, he wasn’t quite used to the elemental
conditions created by the boat captains and crew thrusting the boat forward so
fast, and he was afraid he would get sick staying outside for so long.

Elijah’s friends avoided bringing up anything about Los
Alientos and their quest.  They mostly talked about what they were in for when
they stepped foot in Savenridge for the first time in a couple of months.  It
seemed like years ago when they left.  So much had happened.  And now that they
were returning, some realities began to become a little clearer.

“I wonder what we missed while we were gone,” Becca said as
they lounged around in their beds, trying to keep from getting seasick from the
storm they were passing through.

“Who cares?” Paul said.

Isaac looked over at Adam.  “How’s your leg?”

“Still sore,” Adam said.  “But much better, thank you.”

Paul glanced at Adam.  “Your hair sure has gotten long.  I
don’t think I even noticed.”  Adam’s dreadlocks almost reached his shoulders. 
“You can now hang out with that creeper with the long hair.  What was his
name?”

“Thomas,” Adam stated without a hint of emotion.

“Yeah, that’s right.  Do you think he’s blown up the
barracks yet?”

“I doubt it,” Becca said.  “But I did finally see him just
before we left.  I have to admit he’s a little strange, but I’m not sure about
anything that drastic.”

“Well then you can be his friend,” Paul said.

Elijah flopped down on his back as he listened to his
friends jabber on.  He couldn’t join in on such casual conversation.  He was
exhausted both mentally and physically, almost depressed.  He wasn’t sure why,
but all of a sudden it was Savenridge that seemed foreign to him.  All he
wanted to do was crawl under his covers and sleep for a week, but the
turbulence from the storm outside and his chatty friends inside made that
difficult.  He stayed in a fog the entire ride to Corinthias, continuing to
relive the memory of the mission he was leaving behind.

The weather was considerably colder in Savenridge than in Los
Alientos.  The ground was blanketed in snow and most of the trees had lost
their leaves.  It was a beauty Elijah usually loved, but now it only made him
feel empty.

When they arrived at the barracks, Olivia whisked them
straight into Mr. Button’s quarters.  Mr. Button embraced Olivia when he saw
her.

“I have to admit I thought I’d never see you again,” Button
said.  “I’m so glad you’re okay.  Plus, it’s been a nightmare trying to cover
for you lot.”

“Thank you with all my heart,” Olivia said.  “One day you
will realize the importance of your sacrifice.  So inform us of what we need to
know.”

“Well, everything was fine until the holiday,” Button said. 
He grabbed his glasses and began to wipe the lenses on his shirt.  “I had
informed the parents and trainers and teachers that you all would be gone on a
lengthy assignment.  They seemed to understand, but the longer you were gone,
the more questions came up.  They wanted to know about exams.  They wanted to
know about logging progress for the end of the year evaluations.  I did the
best I could, which seemed to be enough until it was time for the holiday.  I
brought all your parents in and told them you were all going to be staying at
the barracks on special assignment for graduation in a few years.  Some of your
parents seemed to accept that.  In fact, a few were quite pleased.  But there
were a few—your parents especially, Ms. Uribe, and Mr. Hetfield too—who did not
like that at all and demanded I send you home right away.  I told them you had
already agreed to it and left with our soldiers.  I don’t know why I said that,
but I had to tell them something.  Of course they grumbled off and filed a
complaint with the council.  The council came and asked me a few questions, and
I have to apologize for using your name, Olivia.  Thankfully, that kept them
appeased for a bit, but I have a feeling we haven’t heard the end of this.”

Olivia looked thoughtful.  She nodded her head and sat
silent for a moment before she stood up.  “Thank you, Frank.  I will take care
of this as best I can.”

“Excuse me?” Hannah asked in her more polite voice.  “What
should
we tell our parents?”

“You leave that to me,” Olivia said.  “I will speak to them
all.  Hopefully there will be no more questions on the matter, but if I am
unable to talk sense into them, you mustn’t tell them anything about the mission.” 
Mr. Button tried to not look curious at Olivia’s comment, but his bushy eyebrows
gave him away.  “And I know this will be quite difficult, but you must not
leave here to visit until I say it’s okay.  I’m very sorry, but that’s how it
has to be.”  She turned to Button.  “We’ll be in touch.  And thank you.  Now, I
must leave to look after my husband.

When they finished with Mr. Button, Elijah didn’t speak to
his friends.  He practically crawled up the stairs to his room and collapsed on
his bed.  It felt wonderful.  He missed the dent in his old bed.  He closed his
eyes and didn’t open them for nearly two full days.

The next few weeks were quite awkward for Elijah and his
friends.  Even though no one asked them directly about their absence like last year,
students all over gave them rather suspicious looks.  There were a few times in
the dining hall and in the Novice lounge that Paul directly confronted the
stares with a “Can I help you?” or a “What are you looking at?”  Nothing more
was ever said, but it made for a very uncomfortable transition back.

Mr. Button had ordered his teachers to accelerate their
studies.  Master Zempke, his physical training teacher, worked with them early
in the morning.  Elijah was reminded of when he used to wake up two hours early
with Samuel last year to get caught up on missing the first term.  Elijah
wondered if he would ever put in a full year at the barracks.

Master Constantine was just as dull during his accelerated
studies as he was during the regular class.  He worked with them on Sundays.

Master Ismai gave his extra instruction after his class. 
They spent the extra time working on improving their hand-eye coordination in
various ways.  Elijah found it quite fun.  Ismai had the students pair up and
toss small objects toward each other at rapid speeds.  The objects varied in
size and weight like a piece of crumpled up paper, a foam block from the
physical training room, a marble, and Elijah’s favorite, a freshly sliced peel
from a grapefruit.  They were to catch as many as they could.  Ismai also had
them work on their reaction speed by showing them each many cards with multiple
shapes drawn on them.  He would only show them for a split second and they had
to read it and say the shape before the next one.  Elijah found it easy to
identify the shapes in his mind, but actually articulating the sound out of his
mouth made him tongue twisted.  The others had the same trouble, and by the end
of the lessons, no one wanted to speak anymore.

Elemental training, however, was not accelerated.  The first
day back to training, Olivia continued working with Elijah on blocking an
incoming element.  This time, she didn’t tell him what element she was going to
use like she had done their first and only session together.  She stood much
farther away from him, to give him more time to react, and hurled an element at
random toward him.  The hand eye coordination Master Ismai taught them during
their accelerated class did wonders helping Elijah’s reaction time.  He was
able to head off most of the elements for a moment at least, all except wind. 
He continued to struggle not only with using wind, but also blocking it.

After their first session since returning to Savenridge,
Olivia, true to form, sat Elijah down to discuss their training.  But instead
of their usual conversation about the technical points of elemental control,
Olivia decided to talk about him.

“I want to thank you once again for your help during the
time I was away,” she began.  “I put a lot on your shoulders when I left, and
obviously you had more put on you when I didn’t come back.  I’m very sorry for
that.”

Elijah nodded.  He thought about telling her that it was all
okay, but for some reason he didn’t feel like it.  He was still confused.

“Phinneas is doing okay,” she continued.  “And I believe I
owe you some coins for your trouble.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“Oh come now!” Olivia said.  “Now is not the time to be
polite.  You will be paid for your trouble.  That’s fair and I won’t have you
even trying to talk me out of it.”

Elijah forced a smile.

“Now comes the awkward part, Elijah.  I sense that you’ve
been very distracted since we’ve returned from Orphea.”

Elijah remained silent.

“I would ask you what’s bothering you,” Olivia continued,
“but that would be a pretty stupid question on my part.  I can tell that you
feel a bit of guilt for the way things ended up when we left.”

Elijah nodded.

Olivia sighed.  “So do I.”

Immediately, Elijah felt relief.  Just hearing Olivia share
the burden of those events made him feel so much better.

“How do you weigh the price of a human life?” Elijah finally
spoke.  “I’ve been trying to make sense of everything and that question keeps
coming up.  How do you compare the cost of saving the world to the cost of a
human life?  If Rico had told me that in order to get the cube he would have to
die, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.  I know in my heart that we’re doing
this to help save millions…billions of people, but I don’t know that I have it
in me to say that it’s worth one single man’s life.”

Olivia looked proud.  “And that, my son, is exactly why I
don’t want anyone else but you to help me lead this search.”

Elijah was confused.  “I’m not sure you understand me.  I’m
telling you that I’m weak.”

“I know exactly what you think you’re telling me, Elijah,”
Olivia stated.  “But believe me, you have just shown me that you are anything
but weak.  When the time comes, I know that you will do the right thing. 
Whatever that right thing is, I don’t know.  But you will.  It’s important that
you struggle with this, Elijah.  I still do.  But it’s that struggle that makes
you a better person.  Don’t shy away from it.”

Elijah wasn’t quite sure what Olivia was really saying, but it
still made him feel better.  Whatever it was, he understood that he wasn’t supposed
to feel satisfied with the sacrifice of Rico and the watchmen.  Apparently,
some questions cannot be answered.

The extra training Button assigned was good for Elijah.  He
needed the distraction.  The further removed he was from the visions of Los
Alientos, which were forever burned into his memory, the better he was able to
cope with the guilt.  He lost himself in the day-to-day tasks and stress from
the extra work.

Eventually, Elijah began to get into the routine of normal
life for a Magi-in-training.  Classes and deadlines began to take over his
thoughts.  And two weeks after returning to Savenridge, Olivia sent word to
Elijah and his friends that they could see their families.  It had been hard
not to feel like they were being quarantined for a deadly disease, but things
got better the Sunday morning when they signed out to travel to their homes for
the first time in months.  Everyone, including Paul, was signed out with the
first group heading out at dawn.  Elijah couldn’t wait to see Mrs. Roddick, Tirzah,
and Lizzy.  He hoped they were not too upset with his decision to leave.

When he was dropped off at the city center, which was
absolutely packed with carts and traveling salesmen, he bolted through the
streets and up to the Roddicks’ house.  He knocked on the door with
anticipation.  He thought of all the things he wanted to talk to them about. 
He even had a speech prepared for them, but the moment the door opened, all
Elijah could do was stare with his mouth and eyes wide open.  The guilt of him
leaving the Roddick family came right back as he looked directly at a very
tired, very uncomfortable, and a very pregnant, Miranda Roddick.

Chapter
22:

ELIJAH’S AWKWARD QUESTION

“What?  I mean…wow…er…what?”

Mrs. Roddick smirked at Elijah’s uncomfortable stammering,
but only for a second.  She grabbed Elijah and held him tight, which restricted
his breathing just slightly.  He didn’t dare say anything, however.

Tirzah walked in and joined the bear hug.  She looked so
much older than the last time Elijah saw her.  Her brown hair was almost all
the way down her back.  Her face was longer and more grown up.  She had changed
from a toddler to a little girl in just a few months.

Lizzy still looked the same.  She had grown a little since
Elijah saw her, but she still bounced around the house squealing without a care
in the world.