The Light Tamer (12 page)

The porch creaked as I stepped on it, like I’d disturbed its sunbathing in the July heat. I clanked the old fashioned knocker, holding my breath in hopes she forgot our date.

The door slowly opens to a smiling Mrs. Ward, standing there unobtrusively dressed in a simple green sundress.

“Hello Miss. Lucente, I’m happy to see you. This must be your mother, I see the family resemblance.”

“Hello, Mrs. Ward, it’s a pleasure. What time should I pick her up?”

“Two hours should be plenty. If that’s okay with you,” Mrs. Ward says sweetly. Why were Caleb and Amber so freaked out? She seems friendly enough to me.

“Perfect, I’ll see you then Jessie. Bye ladies,” Mom said as she waved on her way down the steps and out of my life for the next two hours.

Great, now I’m all alone for the next two hours of my life. She is probably a serial killer, taking out students from district to district.

“How are you today Jessie?” Mrs. Ward asks.

“Pretty good, it’s a beautiful day. I mean, well, every day is beautiful around here. The sky is blue, the grass is always green. I like that people have grass here. In the Bronx, you don’t see a lot of grass. It always makes me happy when the weather is pretty. I guess that means I’m always happy,” I ramble uncontrollably.

“Would you like a glass of sweet tea?”

“Yes ma’am, that would be very nice, thank you.”

She led me through the house; the floors creaks under every step we take. Each room looks exactly like an old historical home aspires to look like. To me, every room is authentically decorated with antiqued furniture.

“Here, we’ll go into the red room,” Mrs. Ward said and pulls open a giant carved pocket door. She wasn’t lying when she said ‘red room’. The walls are done in red and gold damask wall paper. The furniture is red crushed velvet and gothic black wood. If I believed in vampires, I’d definitely think she inherited the furniture from one. “Jessie, you can relax, I won’t bite,” she said and laughed a little too high pitched for me.

“Oh…no, I’m fine. It’s just in the Bronx the teachers don’t really care to know you. I’m fine though, thank you for your generosity.”

I watch as she sits down on a chair where the back comes up behind the head and flares out. It looks very uncomfortable to me. I opt for the couch; the cushion is stiff as I sit down. A Hispanic woman in a maids outfit appears with a tray of tea and cookies. I watch as the orange slices bop up and down as she pours us each a glass of tea.

“Miss. Lucente, I’m aware of the predicament you are in. It was clear to me at the park that you and Mr. Baldwin are bound together. Two hearts melding as one. As sweet and romantic as it is, it’s also a concern.”

Holy crap, she just called me out as a Light Tamer. What should I do? She’ll probably kill me if I take my cell out and text Caleb.
“You know about us?” I mentally keep my jaw from hitting the floor in surprise.

I watch her pick up her glass and take a sip of the tea. “Yes, I’m aware of what you are. The school has many talented kids such as you are. Now, to make you aware of what I am. Or shall I say, who I am.”

“Who you are?”

“Yes, Miss. Lucente, I am sure you’ve heard the expression about ‘Fate’ and things like, it was
fate that brought us together
.”

“I have,” I say and clasp my hands in front of me. Can anything in North Carolina be as it appears?

“Have you ever studied the three Fates?” She asks, and I shake my head yes. “Miss. Lucente, I am one of the Fates. I’m the one that is spinning the tale of your life. It isn’t an exact science and other factors can intervene what Fate has in store for you. I know who all of the
Light Tamers
are. I happen to know who all of the
Dark Ones
are too. Once the dark has taken over, I lose the ability to spin their life though. Their life is off radar and run by a much darker entity. My sister Athropos decides when a person is to die. As harsh as that may sound, it is a necessity for life paths. Some people are destined to step away from the life they are living and Fate steps in and changes the path. An example of how that works, when Caleb and his family moved to Virginia, they steered off their life pathway. We tried to bring Caleb back, in many different ways, to no avail.”

“How did you
try
to bring them back?” I ask and the reality of what she is telling me is squeezing the air out of my lungs.

“One of the ways, we offered his father another job in North Carolina. No matter what we threw his way, he tossed it out. Inevitably we spoke to another power and came up with his mother’s illness. Her soul was too weak to fight the cancer and she died. She didn’t die in vain; she died to bring you two together. She actually knew the consequence of her life and death. The saying, ‘everything happens for a reason’ is true.”

“His mother died for him to meet me?” Tears stung my eyes as I thought about someone dying for me. “There wasn’t another way?” The first tear escaped.

“It happened to make Caleb a stronger person and to bring his father closer to his son. We didn’t do it to be cruel, we did it for the greater good,” she said nonchalantly.

“Why are you telling me this? How do I know any of this is true?” I say, hearing the strain in my voice.

“Jessie, I assure you, it is true. Even though I’m a Fate and I spin your life, I leave exit points available. An exit is when your soul gets tired and wants to leave, you have a subconscious point you can leave through. Think about it. You are at a stop light and out of the blue, you decide to go when the light turns green without looking if a car is coming. A car out of nowhere runs the other light slamming into you, killing you instantly. Every time, every day of your life you have looked before you go, to make sure no one is running the light. One day, you find yourself in a hurry and nothing else matters but that moment, one single moment. In that split second you are living, the next, you’re dead. That my dear…is an exit.”

My chest feels tight, realizing I’m holding my breath, I let it out. I don’t even know how to explain the feelings running through my body. A moment of clarity erases doubts and there I sit in a stranger’s house fighting the truth she tells me. The red room’s walls are closing in on me, thoughts about how, when, and why, are running in my head. “What does this all have to do with me in the first place?”

“Yes, I presume you would want to know how you fit into this complicated web. Well, you’re the last
Light Tamer
from the originals. Although all of you are a descendent, you have the strongest abilities. It is time for you to start using them. Before we can train you for your pathway, I need your help,” she says.

“Okay,” I say.
Great, now I’m going to be pimped out or something. Hello, my name is Jessie and I’m a Light Tamer and this is my pimp Mrs. Ward…and by the way, don’t tick her off or she’ll kill you.

Mrs. Ward, or Fate lady, whatever her name is, snaps her fingers and a manila envelope appears in her hand.
Holy cow Batman
!

She pulls out a photograph and hands it to me. “This is the leader of the
Dark Ones
.”

I stare at the photo in my hands, recognizing the guy in the picture; I choke on my own spit. My hand shakes uncontrollably as I see the picture of Caleb, Amber, Otto and myself at the bowling alley. A sort of green aura surrounds three of us, while a brown and red aura surrounds the other. “You’re saying that Otto is the leader? What kind of film is this? I’ve never seen anything like it before.” The picture shows color around each of us in almost a hazy way. Mrs. Ward shakes her head up and down. “Oh no, Amber will be devastated. Why couldn’t we tell that he is dark?”

Mrs. Ward sits back in her chair holding her hands with finger tips tapping, her face scrunched up in thought. She makes a cluck noise with her tongue, like a teacher does when lecturing class. “The photograph is from a camera that shows the aura. I can tell you until I’m blue in the face the color of his aura, but I felt a picture will speak volumes. Erebus is the master of disguise and quite dangerous.”

“Erebus? Isn’t he from mythology? He was the son of Chaos right?” I ask.

“Very good, that he is.”

“I thought I was an original and all? I thought the first Dark One was originally from my family. It doesn’t make sense if he is from mythology.”

“You’re correct, you are an original and your family belongs to both, but you had to be given the gift of light. Your gift comes directly from Artemis.”

Another person from mythology? Why? Where is all of this coming from? Is anything as it seems?
“She’s the sister of Apollo and the daughter of Zeus?”

“She is.”

I shake my head back and forth. “She is the protector of pregnant women or something like that. What does that have to do with
Light Tamers
? A few years ago, I was fascinated with mythology and tried to memorize all of the names.”

“Well then, you’re aware that she is the giver of light, and a healer. That is where your family and the
Light Tamers
came in. If you noticed in the picture how your aura is mostly green, it means you’re a healer.” She tapped her finger on her chin, pausing the conversation for a minute. I fidget in my seat, trying to get comfortable. “I understand this is all very difficult to understand and I’d like to share knowledge with you. I assure you, it is painless.”

“Painless? What do you want to do to me?”
Don’t panic. I’m sure she says stuff like that to everyone. Oh God, what have I done to deserve all of this craziness? I thought you only gave what a person can handle…I’m not handling this. Nope, I’m about to drop dead right here, right now.

She leans forward and whispers to me. “Give me your hand Jessie,” she says and holds her hand out to me.

I lean forward and take her hand. It is bony and cold, mine is hot and sweaty. I should wipe my hands on the napkin, but I don’t. My body is trembling and tears are stinging my eyes. She whispers to me, “Verba surdis illustra lumine domina. Tueri eius, ostenderet, et educandi eam vincere impiorum vias Erebi.”

I didn’t realize I closed my eyes, until I open them and everything is clear. I see the light as I’ve never seen it before. I see Mrs. Ward’s aura, bright and light and all doubts are erased. In a moment, I know everything. Otto is using Amber to be closer to me. “What did you do to me? What was it that you said?”

“I said,
spoken words to deaf ears, enlighten the lady of light. Protect her, show her, and educate her to defeat the wicked ways of Erebus.”

I feel older, as if a maturity overtook my body. Gone is the insecurity and tears, replaced by calm clarity. “I expect you want me to kill him.”

Mrs. Ward stifles a laugh. “Of course not, you’re an original and shouldn’t take a life intentionally. No, the balance would be disturbed between light and dark. He escaped the Underworld and you need to find a way to return him.”

Typically I’d find the statement ridiculous, but whatever voodoo she did on me, it made sense. Sense in the baffling way, like the issue of the chicken or the egg. “I need to return him to the Underworld? I need to do it? I…the girl that found out she is a light taming healer needs to return him. Next you’ll tell me that I have a fairy godmother and she is going to sprinkle me with fairy dust.” I jump up from my seat and Mrs. Ward stands too.

“You will have to channel your ancestors to guide you with your light. Don’t you feel it? The energy of life running through your veins. You’ve been given the gift from your family, now you must grow from it. Your hidden abilities will
inculcate
you with skills.” She looks at her watch and announces our time is up. Of course, time flies when you are dealing with gods that escaped from a mythological city.

Great, I’ll go ram a stake through Otto’s heart for messing with Amber. Oh yeah, I forgot, he’s not a vampire. So how do I lure a strong Greek God back to the Underworld? My magic touch of course. I don’t want to sound dumb or anything, but what the heck does “inculcate” mean?

We walk back through the house, however now I know where every single artifact has come from. I know that Mrs. Ward’s grandmother left her the settee in the sitting parlor. The crystal elephant was given to her by a student’s mother as a thank you. The Persian rug was brought back from Turkey on her first trip overseas.

I stop and turn to face her. “Mrs. Ward, if I don’t find the way to return him, what will happen?”

“I gave you a gift of knowledge, you’ll figure it out. Jessie, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m on your side. As a side note, I wouldn’t let Otto know you’re on to him.” She reachs in her pocket and handed me a business card. “Call Rudolph, he should be able to help you.”

I take the card and examine the plain white card with ‘Rudolph’s Antiques’ and a phone number. At least it gives me something to go on. I see my mom pull up into the driveway.

“Good-bye Mrs. Ward, thank you for having me over. I’ll do what I can,” I say.

She gives me a great big smile and pulls me in for a hug. “You have two weeks or I’ll have no choice but sever the bond between you and Caleb. If he is a distraction and not an asset, he’ll be released of his duty,” she whispers in my ear.