Little Spark

12 - Yours

I stick my face in a book until dinnertime, and thankfully, no one asks about my day. I can only assume Ruby knows everything and has alerted Aunt Lil and Gigi to the present fragility of my mental state because after we've finished eating, I get dismissed from dish duty, and Ruby gives me the most obvious wink I've ever seen.

*******************

That night, I dream that I'm running from Mauro's life-sucking eyeballs, and then the mayor's wife grows from a shadow on the ground and pushes me off an overpass into the giant, gaping maw of a Godzilla sized mayor-monster. I'm drowning in his stomach acid when zombie versions of the murdered husband and wife from my nightmare pull me up onto a slimy stomach shore. The wife chokes me out as the husband leans in to eat my face while my mom—who is dressed like a gypsy and spinning a crystal ball on the tip of her index finger like some psychic Michael Jordan—stands by and watches.

I wake up panting, glowing, burning, sparking—the whole deal. It's just before dawn.

After splashing cold water on my face, I go to my desk to look through the file again. I need more information, more facts; right now, the very foundations of my life are crumbling beneath my feet.

I start with the plastic-sleeved letter written on the AIM stationary:

Cyrus,

First and foremost, please forgive my haste. I haven't much time.

Seven years ago, I made a discovery that led me to believe one of our most famous legends is based in fact: the key to permanently defeating our enemies is out there somewhere, and a trail has been marked for certain very special Sparks to follow. I apologize for keeping this from you all this time, but I wanted to be certain I'd drawn the correct conclusions before sharing the information.

You know of the Pitch Prince prophecy. Though very few have heard it in its entirety, I believe it to be coming to pass as we speak... I've received word of a usurpation plot involving the assassination of Mayor Jessup in three days' time. If the murder is carried out and Oskur manages to get elected in her stead, our hold on darkness will be critically weakened. Oskur is second in strength and cunning only to Jade herself, and I believe him to be the Pitch Prince. According to the prophecy, overtaking Cocoa Falls is merely the first step in a series that will unleash a Darkness more powerful than anyone could possibly fathom. The results of the prophecy's full realization would be cataclysmic.

I must stop him before it's too late. Jimmy will accompany me on the mission, and it is my hope that together, we can prevent the assassination and avert a crisis of magnanimous proportions.

If we fail, it will be left to you to continue the quest and find the key to their defeat before the reach of darkness spreads further. Your first clue: Medal-worthy sacrifice is sometimes the only means of securing safety for those you hold most dear. I'm certain our great ancestor Hawk would agree.

Prepare yourself, Cyrus. The journey awaits.

Yours

Setting the letter down, I read through the article about Cole Shetani again. I'm assuming the all-mighty Oskur from the letter is the same philanthropy-pursuing guy Cole replaced in the mayor's office (I mean, how many people could there be in this town who spell 'Oskur' with a 'ku'?). Which would mean that the guy who wrote the letter to Cyrus, whoever he is, failed to stop the 'usurpation plot'. Connecting the dots from my Powerhouse history lesson, the election of the Oskur guy must be the event that turned the lights off, so to speak, so Oskur must be the guy mom mentioned in the video.

I stare out at the pink sky and think back over the way Cole looked at me when he noticed mom's lapel pin. Now that I know she's been presumed dead all these years, if Cole knew that the pin belonged to her, I get why he was looking at me like he'd seen a ghost. I need to lock that pin away here in my room somewhere so there's zero chance of anyone else seeing it.

Unfortunately, my jacket is still draped across the counter at Caldwell Lighting.

********************

The fourth time I pass a boulder that looks like the fist of a giant, I realize how bad of an idea it was to try and retrace the shortcut to Caldwell on my own.

I decide to walk toward a clearing in the distance, hoping I'll find a road or a neighborhood or some other sign of human life, but as I pass the boulder again, this time on the left, a mammoth oak tree catches my attention—I recognize the huge hole in the trunk.

As I get closer to the tree, I discover that a sound I originally identified as wind passing through the higher branches is actually coming from a river. I walk along it completely entranced by the way the reflection of the sky on the water's surface shifts when the wind blows, allowing a view into the dynamic world beneath.

I'm so entranced, in fact, I don't notice the old bridge until I almost run into it.

The second I see it, an image of my feet pounding across the creaky planks flashes in my mind. When I realize where I am and why I know this bridge even though I've technically never seen it before, my vision goes blurry and I fall.

I hear a twig crack behind me and snap to attention, fully expecting to turn and see two black-clad people coming in my direction. Of course, they aren't there, but I do see a flash of gold disappear behind a tree.

I want to scream. I want to turn and bolt in the opposite direction (I actually know my way out of the woods from here). I want to bolt away from this place and never come back.

But I can't.

My feet betray me. They urge me up and carry me over the bridge and through the woods to the clearing. Past the threshold between soft forest floor and rock-hard pavement. Across the street and up to the picket fence.

In front of me, beyond a sea of waist-high grass, an ocean blue house rises into the sky, two stories high with a wraparound porch and a dignified magnolia tree in the front yard... only now, the tree is in full-bloom.

Seeing as I can barely handle this place in my nightmares, I do what any sane person would do: I run.