Light Within

PART THREE - Chapter 18: Where Duncan is Thrown Out

The storm plagues him. It always has, but it came to climax when he was twelve. Then his magic burst into full bloom, and his heritage in the Life Before became clear—to his parents, to the Council, and to his Uncle Walter. They knew who he was and never told him. It wasn't until he was twenty that he stumbled upon the secrets they kept from him. He was the prophesied Rimis, the first dragon. They were foolish to have him study the Book of Gale so intensely and think he wouldn't extrapolate the answers.

Still, he never told them that he knew.

Boom. He watches lightning arc through the sky, and he feels sparks flutter against his lungs. Silvia is out there still ... is she okay? What lures him to her? What drives him to care? Why her? It's her optimism, yes, but there is something more. When he looks at her, he feels his continuous tempests disperse. She can calm the storm that has been raging in him his entire life. It's as if she is a lightning rod, his lightning rod, grounding all his emotions and troubles into the earth with her shining eyes.

Does she know the effect she has on him? He never wanted to tell her about his true magical abilities—they are an indication of his heritage—yet she can feel them all the same, always mentioning the lightning in his eyes. He simultaneously hates that and takes comfort in it. Once she had relished his electricity, his untamed storm.

Once.

"Final stop! Lucienne Station!" the train conductor calls over a tinny speaker. Duncan smooths a hand over a shock of disguised blue hair and prepares to disembark. The brick walls of the train station frame a distant town. He steps off the swaying car and keeps his eyes on the ground while the brim of his fedora catches streams of moisture. Country homes and businesses stack up around him. Few people are out and about to notice his silent passage. He approaches a house at the far end of the town and pulls the screen door out, knocking on the chipped wood three times.

The door opens slowly, revealing a portly woman with light grey hair. "Hello, sir," she says. "Who're you? Reckon I ain't seen y'all 'fore. Think I'd remember that color you got!" The howling wind threatens to push her off her feet. She draws her hair out of her face as it flails like spiraling octopus arms.

Duncan's words wither when he sees his mother. He wonders when or if she'll recognize him as he surveys her face, his pulse roaring in his ears. Her cheeks pinch with wrinkles, her once-dark hair turned light. The last time he saw her was at his wedding. Ten years. She was never able to see him in prison, the journey too far, and the visits forbidden by the Council. He finds he's stricken with crippling fear, his insides wrenching and boiling as molten terror bubbles up the back of his throat.

Tears flood his eyes like the home's overfilling rain gutters. His gaze shimmers red, and his disguise falls. "Ma." His voice breaks.

His mother's eyes burst open. "Duncan?!" She grasps his coat and yanks him inside. She closes the door and throws her arms around his neck. "Honey, what're you doin' here?!" She sniffles against his shoulder, then her muscles seize. "Your father—"

The front door opens again, and a man stumbles inward, the brim of his cattleman hat hiding his face. He kicks off his shoes and looks up, his shoulders coiling tight. "Jill ..."

Jill clutches Duncan's arm. "William, darlin', don't go overreactin' now."

"Pa," Duncan says. "H ... Hi. I wanted to come see both of you. Make sure y'all were okay. I have somethin' to tell you—"

"We're fine, thank you." William takes off his hat. "You shouldn't have come here." His upper lip curls back. "What you've done ... it's inexcusable. Despicable. The Council should've left you locked up and thrown away the key."