"You okay?" she asked as Lani returned, letting her camera down again.
"Huh?"
"You were just gone a long ti... oh, that's weird to ask, isn't it?" She gulped. "Sorry."
Lani shook his head. "I'm okay. Just got distracted by something."
He wasn't sure why he didn't tell her about the piece of parchment paper. It had taken him so long to figure out a way to climb up to it, he'd totally lost track of time. By the time he'd grabbed it and gotten back to the ground again, he'd started worrying she'd get worried. He stuffed it into his jacket pocket and hurried back to the ridge without even glancing at it.
"Well, it's going to be dark soon," she pointed out. "We should probably set up camp."
"...Camp?"
"Well, I dunno about you, but I'm staying out here tonight. The view's gonna be incredible," she said dreamily.
"I'm in," he agreed, grinning. "But aren't we gonna need, you know, a tent and such?"
She tapped her long bag. "Duh," she said, winking.
Luckily for Lani, she knew how to set up a tent, because he'd never gone camping in his life. She just laughed and had him grab each piece in order while she set up the poles. It wasn't large, but it was big enough for them both to fit inside comfortably. It also had a zippered patch at the apex that opened to let them see out the top, set right into the pale green nylon exterior.
They finished just as the sunset hit the edge of the ridgeline, in a spectacular display of fire-tipped clouds.
"Wow..." she whispered, returning to her seat on the log next to Lani.
"It's incredible," he agreed.
"Doesn't it just... I don't know—" Lani turned, confused. Without warning, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips.
"...Wow," he echoed as she pulled away, her face bright red.
"I'm sorry," she stammered. "I dunno what I was thinking—"
Lani returned it, placing a hand on her back, pressing his lips to hers, leaning into her.
"...Okay, nevermind," she smiled as they separated again. "Why on earth did I apologize for something like that?"
He grinned. "No idea."
She shook her head, still looking embarrassed. "I've never kissed someone whose name I didn't even know. I haven't even had a kiss since high school. What am I doing? This is crazy."
"Lani," he interrupted.
"Huh?"
"That's my name. Lani."
She smiled, and the sunset reflected in her pale blue eyes in the most perfect balance of colors Lani had ever seen in his life. "Lani. I like it. What's it mean?"
He grinned, gesturing out towards the sunset. "It means the sky."
She laughed. "Perfect." She rested her head on his shoulder again, gazing out towards the sunset. "I'm Riley."
"What's that mean?" he prompted.
"Not a clue," she laughed.
Something cracked behind them. A branch, or maybe some twigs.
Lani whipped around, his hand diving into his jacket for his holster. Riley popped up too, and a knife appeared in her hand.
"Who's there?" Lani called out.
No answer, but they heard another pile of twigs snap and crackle.
"We can hear you moving around," said Riley, irritated. "Just come out. We won't hurt you."
Reluctantly, a pair of young guys emerged from behind one of the thicker trees near their campsite. Neither seemed particularly threatening—if anything, they looked worse off than Lani did, muddy and clearly lost. Lani already felt inept at camping, and seeing the pair of them reminded him how lucky he was to find someone experienced and competent.
And cool and beautiful and fun and funny and—
"You guys lost?" asked Riley, interrupting his thoughts. She lowered her knife, and he took his hand off his holster.
"...Kinda."
His friend slapped him on the arm. "Yes, we really are."
She nodded. "Where were you headed?"
"We had some friends we were meeting up with north of the town. Supposedly that's where..." he trailed off as his friend gave him a significant look.
"Where what?" Lani prompted.
"That's the best place to find one of them," said the first guy.
"All right, guys, are we playing twenty questions or what?" said Riley. "Find one of what?"
They both started talking over each other. "A wand—"
"Or maybe it's wizard robes—"
"—or I heard there's spellbooks—"
"—jewelry—"
Lani shook his head. "Find what?"
They glanced at each other. "Magic. Duh."
The whole little clearing was silent for a minute or so. Lani could hear crickets and frogs in the distance. Night was really starting to set in now, and only the dim yellow glow of Riley's lantern lit up the area.
"So you guys have no clue what you're looking for," Riley concluded.
"...Nope," said the second guy. "We just know it's out here somewhere."
"It's gotta be," agreed the first guy.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"Well, where else would it be? This is the place. It's where they came from."
"Everyone in that book," added the second guy.
"We're just hoping we got out here fast enough. We drove up from Portland today. We wanna find it before everyone else does."
"Then we found a group that was already setting up a whole search pattern and thought that sounded pretty smart, so we joined them."
"Well, we tried to join them..."
Riley laughed. "The town's that way," she added, pointing out down the ridge where the library could still be seen in the fading sunlight. "Use that as your bearing. North's that way," she added, pointing in the opposite direction, "so you should run right into your friends just by walking that way. Better hurry though, or you won't be able to see the tower anymore. You don't want to get lost out here in the middle of the night."
"Why's that?"
She grinned. "Bears."
They gulped in unison. "...Uhh, thanks." They set off down the ridge, the second guy throwing worried glances in every direction as they went.
"Are they going to be okay?" Lani asked, watching them go.
She laughed. "Yeah, they'll be fine."
"But what about the bears?"
Riley shook her head. "Black bears around here are way more scared of people than vice versa. I warned them so they'd actually pay attention to where they're walking and not fall off a cliff or something."
"Oh."
She smiled. "Worst they might run into is a hungry mountain lion, but they're big enough. It probably wouldn't go for them." Halfway through the sentence, a yawn plowed through her words. "Well, that settles it."
As she unzipped the tent flap, Lani grabbed out the sleeping bag and blanket from her bag. He handed the bag to her, but hesitated before crossing the threshold.
"What?" she asked, surprised.
"I'll just sleep out—"
"Nuh-uh," she interrupted. "Do you know how cold it's gonna be out there tonight? You'll freeze. Come on."
Reluctantly, Lani stepped inside the tent. She took off her shoes and socks, and the camping vest, setting them atop her bag in the corner of the tent. The lantern hung from a little hook near the front, lighting the place up evenly. She laid out a few pillows at the end. "You want the bag or the blanket?" she asked.
"You pick."
"Well, I usually just sleep on top with just the blanket, so I guess that works." She laid out the sleeping bag, opening it for him while she grabbed the blanket for herself. "I'm setting an alarm for just before sunrise, so I can get some more shots. I hope you're a heavy sleeper."
"Not really. I want to see it though, so it's cool."
"Awesome," she smiled.
She was totally silent for a while under the blanket, laying right next to Lani atop his sleeping bag. Man, what if I hadn't found her? Would I have been out here all night alone and freezing? Nah, I probably would have just gone home and given up...
"Hey," he murmured.
"What's up?" She rolled over to look at him, blanket pulled in snug up to her neck.
"What do you think about all this?"
"You know. Magic."
She frowned. "They call it being 'awakened', right?"
"Yeah."
"I dunno... I mean, sometimes that sounds incredible, right? Being 'awakened' to the magic in the world, able to feel it and use it. But I feel like there has to be catch. I've never just gotten something in my life, you know? There's always a cost. Even out here, in all this beauty, we had to work for it right? We had to hike up here, make sure we didn't miss the chance to see it. We saw something nobody else ever will, since the weather and the clouds and the light and trees will never be exactly the same as that moment."
"It really was beautiful, too," he added.
She smiled. "But that's nature. Magic isn't nature, right?"
"I dunno. I mean, it exists, and as far as we know, we didn't make it..."
"The spirits of the world," she echoed.
"Exactly..." Lani nodded. "I felt like they were pushing me to come out here, too. Like I'm supposed to be out here. They're telling me something and I have to figure out what it is."
"Well, I guess I have to thank them later..." she mumbled, as her eyes drifted.
"For what?"
"...Telling you to come out here..."
Riley's eyes fluttered one last time, and her breathing became light and even. Lani turned onto his back, gazing up at the stars through the window in the roof. There was no moon, so they shone bright and clear, thousands upon thousands. As he twisted to find a more comfortable position, he felt the paper in his pocket crinkle and fold. He'd forgotten it with everything else happening.
He plucked it out. The text was barely visible from the starlight through the tent, and he couldn't read it. Or... he could, but he didn't know what it meant. Or what the letters were.
Is this...
He sat up slightly with a start. He had it. Right in his hands. This was how to awaken. He didn't really know how he knew that, but the parchment was unambiguous. If he read it aloud, he'd be able to use magic. He knew it for certain. She could too, if she read it aloud herself.
Should I wake her up?
She looked so peaceful, curled up slightly under her thick blanket. The chill was really settling in now, too. Lani shivered, since he'd exited the warmth of the sleeping bag.
What if she's right...? He thought about everything that happened in Rallsburg, and Riley's theory—how magic might have driven them all insane, caused them to commit such horrible acts. What if he ended up the same?
Jeremy said Hailey Winscombe seemed totally fine. And he found other people too, like that theater kid, or his new partner up in Vancouver. None of them went crazy.
Lani held it up. I'll just read a little bit. See what happens.
"Abrec," he whispered. The words felt strange on his jaw, like his mouth wasn't moving in a normal way. He kept going though, and the words were less difficult.
He coughed before he finished the second sentence, and lost track of the paper.
"...what?" muttered Riley, twisting over. "Lani?"
"Hi," he whispered. "Sorry."
"What's going on?" she mumbled, noticing his arms pointing straight up. "What's that?"
"It's..." He hesitated. "Just a piece of paper from home. Something personal."
"Huh." Her eyes slid closed again, and she was asleep again in under a minute.
As soon as I know it's safe, I'll tell her. Lani moved into the light and began to read it again. This time, he made it through the first few words, and then the full sentence and the next one. He could feel something, deep within him. A connection, just like she'd said.
There was real magic in the world, an energy that suffused every single tree, every branch, every person and animal throughout the world, but it wasn't any of them. Magic was within them, part of them, but it wasn't them.
Lani spoke faster, though his voice stayed below a whisper, barely vocalizing each syllable. His mind shifted, the web of energy fading away to be replaced by something else. There was another kind of energy, raw and shapeless, waiting to take form. If he only called to it, pressed it into being, it would become anything he wanted. Anything he desired.
He tried, his soul whispering to the endless pool, and it whispered back. It spoke to him just as he spoke to it, and he realized what it was.
These were the spirits, the ones he'd grown up hearing about but never seen. The ʻunihipili, spirits of the long-departed, and if he were back home, Lani was certain he would have witnessed his family's ʻaumākua greeting him for the first time. They gathered around him and filled him up, breathing life into him where he'd been an empty void all this time. He'd never realized how full of life every inch of the world was until his eyes were opened like this.
The words stopped at the tattered edge of the page. The spirits vanished, the world along with it. Lani was back in the void he'd been trapped in all his life. He was choking on nothing, a silent death while Riley quietly breathed life-giving air only inches away from him, totally unaware.
As his vision faded, a light appeared in the distance. A pair of silver-grey eyes, attached to the face of what Lani could only describe as an angel. Not beautiful, exactly, but full of incredible grace and humility, one whose whole purpose in life was to save people such as him. She spoke, urging him to repeat her words, and he felt life hurtle back into him like a rush of wind. The spirits returned, gathering around him and filling him up, and he could see it was she that they listened to most of all.
Lani finished the reading, and the spirits vanished back into the world—but this time, he knew they were waiting for him. He took a gulp of sweet oxygen, gasping and coughing. He looked over to Riley, not sure what to expect.
She was still fast asleep.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted her awake..." whispered the girl. "I made sure you wouldn't be heard."
Lani turned back to the girl—his savior, his goddess, the queen of the spirits and the world beyond. Suddenly, everything his mother taught him when he was young didn't seem ridiculous. Here was a girl who had spoken to the spirits right in front of him, and called on their aid to save his life. Her prayers drove away the puoho that had come to claim his life. She had incredible mana, a level of power he could only dream of.
If I'd paid attention, I might even know her name. Or at least, something proper to call her. What am I supposed to say to someone like this?
"Thank you," he whispered.
She nodded slightly. Something about her expression was painful, a melancholy that struck deep into Lani's soul. Before she could speak another word, he leaned forward and put his arms around her, hugging her.
The girl opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She opened and closed it a few times while Lani held her, until he let go a minute later, suddenly very uncertain.
"Thank you," he added again.
"I..." She glanced around the small tent. Lani wondered where she'd come from, but instantly regretted such a ridiculous thought. She was the goddess of all she surveyed—what was a simple tent to someone like her?
Suddenly, Lani remembered where he was. Who he was. He'd felt like a little kid again, listening to his mother's stories about the old world—but he wasn't that kid anymore. He was an agent of the National Security Bureau, a position he'd worked for since high school. He was Jeremy Ashe's partner. He was a close personal friend of Senator Madelaine Ashe.
And he was sitting inches away from a girl who had just teleported into his tent in the middle of the night and awakened him.
"Is everything okay?" he asked hesitantly.
She nodded, still looking flustered. "...Nobody's ever hugged me after."
Lani smiled. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to thank you."
"I... okay." She glanced at Riley, still asleep in the bag next to him. "Is she... does she want to awaken too?"
"I don't think so," he said, glancing over as well. "She doesn't know I have it. I was going to tell her tomorrow morning."
The girl frowned. "I... don't think you should show it to her. Not until you're absolutely sure."
Lani was surprised. He hadn't expected something like that. He didn't dare ask why, though—not her. "Can I ask your name?"
She smiled, but it was still laden with so much sadness that Lani felt no mirth in return. "Everybody just calls me Grey-eyes."
"That's... not very creative."
"I don't mind." She frowned. "You know what you've got there, right? What you just found?"
"I just awakened, right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Do you know the risks?"
Lani hesitated. "I saw what happened to the town down there."
"Wait..."
Her finger twitched, and suddenly the lantern near them lit up. He could see her more clearly—her thick brown hair, her pale skin. A t-shirt bearing a logo he'd never heard of, a warm jacket and jeans. She looked for all purposes like a totally normal college student... except for her eyes. Not just the silvery color, but the emotional depth, the heavy lids and the exhaustion beyond anything he'd ever witnessed.
"You're his partner. Jeremy Ashe. You're Lani, right?"
He nodded.
"I'm so sorry," she added, her eyes welling up.
"What?"
"I tried to stop it, but it was too fast. I couldn't catch it in time."
"Huh?"
She wiped at her eyes, no tears actually falling. "The bullet. The guy that shot you up at Boris' place. I tried to block it, but it just swerved a bit. I wasn't ready, and I hadn't ever tried to stop a bullet before."
Lani smiled, finally placing the familiar voice from the clearing two months prior. "So you saved my life, then."
"What?"
"That man was an experienced hunter. He shouldn't have missed. If you hadn't interfered, he probably would've got me in the chest. That kind of rifle, I'd probably be dead."
"...Oh." She looked surprised.
"You've saved my life twice now," he added, glancing down at the crumpled parchment in his hand. "I owe you everything."
"You don't," she murmured. "Nobody owes me anything."
"Everything," Lani repeated firmly. "If you need anything from me, ever, I'll do it. I swear upon every spirit listening to us now, I am your servant forever."
She looked a little confused, but she nodded.
A tiny gust of wind. Grey-eyes was gone, just as suddenly as she'd appeared. Lani looked around, but he knew it was futile. Smiling to himself, he laid back down again, staring up at the stars once more. He could feel it, his own mana, that power which his mother had always told him was there. Grey-eyes had awakened him, and now he embraced the mana as himself, his soul breaking free.
There's no way I'm gonna fall asleep anytime soon. So Lani thought, but as it turned out, the moment his eyes closed for even an instant, he was fast asleep and stayed that way until dawn.