Scarlet and the Keepers of Light by Brandon Charles West Page B

he couldn’t sit still and listen another minute, grabbed her hand and leaned forward. “I can never thank you enough for saving my family, but this has got to stop. It’s all too ridiculous. I can’t let my little girl go off to fight some evil magician.” His voice quavered with his frustration and fear for his family. “It’s— I just can’t.”
    Xavier leaned in and placed a comforting hand on both of theirs. “I understand. I do. I wish there was some other way than to involve your family, and most especially your children. But Thanerbos is coming, and the only way you can protect Scarlet now is to let me help prepare her. Whether you agree to let me teach her or not, I assure you that it will make no difference to Thanerbos. Killing her will be one of the first things on his mind after he’s freed.”
    Scarlet’s dad frowned, visibly struggling with what Xavier had told him. “I’m sorry . . . I just can’t accept that,” he said finally, but his voice was heavy with resignation.
    “Let me show you,” Xavier said, sitting back and giving him his most reassuring smile. “Would that be okay with you, Scarlet? Just give it a try.” Scarlet nodded. “Thank you—you’re a brave girl.
    “This doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.” Xavier leaned in even closer to Scarlet. “Not yet. Right now is the time for something quite extraordinary. With one exception, never has someone outside the Tounder learned our magic. I have taught many over the years, but I have to say that I’m a little excited about teaching you.”
    “What do I do?” Scarlet asked.
    “Well, at the beginning, it’s not so much do as it is feel . The light begins inside you. If you can imagine a place where your soul resides, that is where the light must begin. Close your eyes.” Xavier’s voice dropped nearly to a whisper, as calm and quiet as if he were a hypnotist. Scarlet obeyed, closing her eyes and feeling a sense of relaxation come over her. “What do you see?”
    “Nothing,” Scarlet answered.
    “Oh, I don’t believe that. Let your imagination roam. Turn your mind inward.” Xavier waited patiently, watching Scarlet’s face. When her face changed, betraying the slightest of smiles at the corners of her mouth, he asked, “Now what do you see?”
    Scarlet flushed and, feeling slightly embarrassed, answered, “Um . . . a friend.”
    “Good. You can open your eyes. That was the first step, simple but quite important.”
    Scarlet looked at him with confusion. “Picturing a friend is the first step of magic?” Her disappointment was evident.
    “Well, it’s all in how you manipulate it—so, yes, it’s the first step. There was darkness, and, using your imagination, you pushed it away. Let’s go to the next step.”
    Scarlet pursed her lips, feeling very silly, but she nodded, ready to move on. Again Xavier told her to close her eyes.
    “This time I want you to imagine something in particular. I want you to picture a perfect round sphere made of light, like those trinkets at the village toy shop—you’ve seen those, right? Can you picture that?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good—is it radiating light?” Scarlet nodded. “Excellent. I want you to picture bringing that light back into the ball, so that it no longer lights up anything but itself.”
    Scarlet nodded again. She could see the ball clearly, and, concentrating, she was able to do as Xavier asked. She felt a warm sensation radiating through her as she pulled the light back into the sphere. It was as if she had drunk a cup of hot chocolate after having come in from the cold.
    “Now, bring that light farther into the ball, until all that remains is a pinpoint of light in the center. Hold it there.”
    Scarlet sat motionless, concentrating as hard as she could. The warmth inside her was now hot, almost uncomfortable. Her picture of the ball with its pinpoint of light seemed so real that she could reach out and touch it. In a tiny corner of her