The Magi (The Magi Series) (24 page)

“I guess we’d better get to work,” said Hannah, opening her bag and pulling out her notes from class. “Personally, I think that doing a presentation on Edgar Allan Poe would be interesting. What do you think?” Elijah was a little surprised. Of all the works they studied in class, Poe was the last author he expected Hannah to pick. But since he was interested in Poe as well, and quite frankly the other options were very dull to him, he agreed.

As they started to get to work, Elijah had a very strange sense that someone was watching him. He felt a little warm, so he looked up and around only to see lots of students focused on their studies. He assumed the atmosphere of their concentration was making him feel uneasy, so he let it go.

Elijah and Hannah worked for the next three hours on reading some of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and poems and taking notes on their interpretations.

“I think Poe seems either very disturbed with death or very at peace with it,” Hannah suggested during their research. “What do you think?”

“Oh—er—yes—um—that’s what I think too,” Elijah muttered. When Elijah read stories, he just tried to enjoy the story for what it was, so it was hard to pull out more than the entertainment he found in reading. They both read
The Cask of Amontillado
, a story that Elijah thoroughly enjoyed, but when Hannah started to talk about the chains and what they symbolized as Fortunato’s friend was being buried alive, Elijah began to get confused. He was afraid Hannah would feel like she was doing all the work because he kept agreeing with her and not adding much to their presentation, but she seemed to carry on with no worries. She asked for his opinion on everything she put down but was careful not to pressure him to answer. She was the perfect partner!

“Can I ask you an honest question?” Hannah suddenly asked in the middle of reading
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
. “Does reading about death bother you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I just thought that since your parents were—.” She froze, unable to finish her sentence.

“Stories are just stories,” Elijah stated. “Although, I have to admit that these here are pretty twisted.” They both made awkward laughs. Hannah looked at Elijah as though she wanted to comfort him, but didn’t have the words. “I think about them still, though—my family I mean. My sister and I used to read ghost stories like this in the dark or when we went camping in the summer.” Hannah smiled at Elijah compassionately as he talked about his family.

“What was her name?”

“Kyria.” Elijah could feel his eyes begin to fill with tears at the mention of his sister’s name. He missed her, but this time he was feeling more than sadness. He felt like he failed her in some way by letting her diaries become stolen.

“I’m so sorry,” said Hannah closing the book in front of her. Elijah wiped away the tears from his eyes, and for once he was not ashamed of his crying. He felt like it was okay in front of her. Elijah nodded and smiled at Hannah letting her know that he was thankful for her sympathy. They both soon decided that they had enough information to give a good presentation, and before long they said their goodbyes and headed off to their own rooms. Elijah spent a long time that night looking out his window at the stillness of the winter. It made him feel at peace.

Hannah did most of the talking during their presentation the following morning, but she made sure Elijah had enough to say, even though much of what he presented came from her notes. Paul and Adam also talked about Edgar Allan Poe, presenting similar information as Hannah and Elijah. Isaac and Rachel did their presentation on a few Shakespearean sonnets, and by the look of it, Isaac had no idea what Rachel was talking about. She didn’t conceal her frustration very well. Becca did her presentation with a girl named Emily, who was absent from the previous class, and was reluctantly given Becca as a partner because no one else would work with Becca. During their entire presentation, Emily kept trying to give her thoughts and opinions, but Becca would just continue talking, interrupting Emily as if she wasn’t there. It made the entire class, even Elijah, uncomfortable as they watched the struggle.

After everyone had finished, Mrs. White praised the class for their insights and encouraged them to continue finding the themes of love and death in their readings for their next session. Elijah thought if that meant he could work with Hannah, he would work on these themes for the rest of the term.

Very early Saturday morning, Elijah’s eyes flew open. It was elemental training day for him, and he had been looking forward to this day all week. He was up and dressed with lots of time left before the lesson, so he decided to eat something in the dining area downstairs. As he started to walk out of his room, he noticed a piece of paper right under the door. He picked it up and read:

Elijah,

I was able to get a meeting with Walter tomorrow. In light of the break-in, we’ll have to arrange for some soldiers to accompany us on our way for your protection. Let me know if you can make it tomorrow. I hope you are staying safe. Mrs. Roddick has been worried sick about you. Take care.

-R-

Instead of going to the lake this time, Olivia took Elijah to a different part of the forest where an island of trees and bushes rested in the middle of a large meadow.

“So remind me of what you learned last time,” Olivia said, gently dropping her bag. Elijah knew full well that she knew what they had worked on.

“I learned about water. I learned that water has its own personality. It likes to be unified, and it attracts other particles of water to make it bigger. It’s also calm and makes me feel peaceful when I focus on it,” he answered confidently.

“Very good,” said Olivia. “Today, you will learn about fire.”

Olivia again lifted her hands out in front of her and created a ball of fire like she had when she thawed out part of the lake in front of Elijah. Not seeing a lake anywhere, however, Elijah wondered what Olivia was going to do with the burning flames. He got his answer quickly. Olivia threw it directly onto a nearby bush in the island of trees next to Elijah, and it immediately ignited the entire plant on fire. “Learn,” she said, and as calmly as she had walked
to
this place, she left.

Elijah looked at her leaving and then quickly back at the fire that was continuing to burn. For a moment, he thought maybe it was under control and he was just supposed to study it. Unfortunately, he was wrong! Once the fire had finished consuming the bush and a large fern next to it, the flames split and began devouring a nearby tree on one side and some brush on the other. Elijah just stared at the scene deciding if it would be a good time to panic or not. The winter moisture was definitely keeping the flames at bay, but not for long. As he stood watching the flames multiply, the heat began to increase, and he had to step back.

“Um, help,” he said knowing there wasn’t anyone around to hear him. He knew the soldiers, who followed him here, had him in their sights, but not being able to see them was very unnerving. He started to talk to himself in his growing sense of panic. “I’m definitely a little more afraid of fire than water. Maybe that’s because the fire is completely destroying everything! And yet, I’m still standing here.” He looked back hoping to see Olivia returning to stop the fire. “Of course she’s not here.” Elijah rolled his eyes and stepped back again as the heat made his face start to sweat. He noticed that the more the fire grew, the more life it destroyed, only dying when there wasn’t anything left for it to burn. It was aggressive, and it searched for anything it could touch or that dared touch it. Many things were too wet to burn, but the hottest flames burned anything, wet or not, and only dwindled when nothing was left.

The fire completely burned the entire collection of trees that once made an island in the middle of the meadow. It was now completely gone. Destroyed. He walked closer to the burned area and sat down, studying the small flames that were left as it desperately tried to find something more to consume.

Olivia returned looking rather amused. Elijah rolled his eyes and grinned slightly.

“You should know I’m a little nervous about the next couple lessons. I’m afraid in order to teach me the earth element you’re just going to bury me alive,” he said sarcastically.

“I’ll consider it,” Olivia quipped. “What did you learn?”

“Fire destroys,” answered Elijah confidently.

“So does water,” said Olivia. “So can earth; so can wind.” Elijah was stumped. “What makes the fire’s destruction different?” Olivia asked. Elijah thought for a moment.

“Because it can only survive if it destroys,” he answered. He was thinking of the flames that were trying to burn at the end of the lesson. They didn’t survive because there was nothing left to feed them.

“Exactly!” said Olivia. Elijah furrowed his brow in confusion.

“That sounds like Maliphist thinking,” he said. “When Arthur explained their philosophy to me he said they believed in destruction.”

Olivia nodded, “Well done, Elijah! It’s true that fire is a dangerous element, and it is also true that most Maliphists use fire as their element. Its personality suits them. You probably felt a sense of danger during this lesson that you didn’t in the other lesson. Do you think that is because fire is more powerful than water?”

“No,” Elijah said slowly, not quite sure that was the right answer.

“Then why did you fear the fire and not the water?”

“Because I didn’t want to get burned!”

“No,” Olivia replied, “There’s something more. Think about their purpose.”

“The purpose of fire is to destroy,” answered Elijah. “Water doesn’t need to destroy to survive, so I didn’t feel threatened by it.”

“Right. But keep going,” Olivia said, “What characteristics of the fire did you notice?”

“It was desperate,” Elijah said. “It grew in desperation so it could destroy more.”

“Good,” Olivia encouraged. “How was it different from water?”

“Water was peaceful. The fire was—angry,” Elijah explained.

“You said last time you noticed water trying to collect itself, right? What about fire?”

“It tried to spread out. It started small and wanted to grow,” he answered, feeling as though he knew the two elements on a different level than before.

Olivia nodded again. “Well, Elijah. You did very well again today. I know we only see each other once a week, but I feel like you’ve come a long way in a short amount of time.”

“Thank you,” Elijah said, although he wasn’t sure how any of this would help him move any elements. They returned to the barracks just as the sun was setting.

The following morning was stormy and cold. The wind picked up during the night and woke Elijah up many times, so he felt more tired than usual. As soon as he finished breakfast, he received word that Master Roddick was waiting for him downstairs to visit Walter, the man who possibly had information on his family. Elijah and Master Roddick signed the dismissal logs, received a very lengthy lecture from the clerk about staying safe, and then started the long walk to Walter’s house, accompanied by two soldiers.

The journey was very difficult as they fought the weather the entire way. The wind blew the snow so hard it looked like thick white sheets were tumbling down in front of him. Elijah’s brown cloak was being whipped around violently and he covered his face with his hood, keeping his head down. His hands and face were freezing, and every gust of wind made them burn with cold.

They finally arrived at a small hut that looked like it had seen better days. The roof was still intact, and the door worked, but the windows were boarded up and the outside looked rough and unkempt. Roddick knocked on the door and in the faint distance Elijah heard a voice say “Come in!” They entered the hut, leaving the two soldiers outside to stand guard. Elijah couldn’t help looking around, amazed at the room in which he was now standing. Covering the walls and tabletops were hundreds of old clocks. They were all quite different. Some were very large clocks that stood up on their own. Some clocks hung on the walls, and some were little clocks either hanging on the walls or sitting on tabletops. The sounds of more than a hundred ticks every second was almost deafening at first, but it didn’t take long for the sound to get lost in Elijah’s subconscious, and it quickly became comforting, like a fan or the sound of waves at the beach. Elijah had the urge to touch every clock, but he resisted.

The front room was full of tables with broken clocks and clock parts that were being repaired. Some looked like they were ready to hang, but some looked like they should be sold for scraps. There were tools and gears and wires and springs and sprockets and all sorts of things scattered about on the tables. At the far end of the room, an old man with a full head of thick, gray hair had his back turned to them as he was clearly in the middle of a delicate project and wanted to finish what he was doing.

“Have a seat,” said the old man who didn’t turn around. He was intensely looking at the insides of one of his broken clocks. Elijah could see that he was wearing a pair of double eyeglasses, used to magnify the small parts so someone like Walter could see them much easier for his intricate work. “I’m almost finished here,” he said as Roddick and Elijah found a place to sit next to a broken clock. “There we are,” said the old man as he took off his glasses, picked up a rag, and wiped his hands. He walked over to Roddick and shook his hand. “Hi, my name’s Walter! Sorry to keep you waiting. I got me a stubborn turn of the century strike mantel that’s been givin’ me fits.”