My speed had changed and she had noticed. I was slowing and dropping toward the ground. “About thirty minutes. Can you feel it?”
“Yeah, Claire, Cece, Alex, and I all can. We’ve been able to feel it for about an hour and a now. We’ve been here before, though.”
“I know, soon, more Lights should be able to feel it. A lot of them were born here, they just don’t feel it as easily because that’s the only time they’ve been here.”
Thirty minutes later we landed in front of the building. I pulled out the lists and a new sheet of paper. I began calling out the names and rewriting them on the new piece. We wrote down the Light’s special skills and assigned them a room and a job. It was tedious work, but it had to be done.
Chapter Nine
After we were finished going through room and job assignments I went straight were I had wanted to be the whole time: the Prophecy Secrets. It was a room completely devoted to every prophecy ever told by or about an Light. The prophecy haunting me was in that room and I was going to find it.
I walked into the room and one wall jumped out at me. All the walls were covered by moving words and letters. It made the whole room appear to be moving and stretching in different directions at the same time.
I looked at the wall that seemed to jump out. Once again something seemed to throw itself at me. The prophecy I wanted to see so badly.
As if in a trance I walked towards it. I was finally reading it.
The Last Light
Beautiful and free
the Light to finish the Dark
this princess shall be.
There will be someone
raging and hard, but perfect.
He will be the one.
Comfort will appear
in her family and him
They’ll always keep near.
Weakness will come twice,
one hiding and dangerous,
the other a vice.
She’s saved by the man
when her weakness overtakes
love Luceleighanne.
It all came rushing back to me. All the things I’d somehow forgotten, somewhere along the way. I’d had two hundred years of training for this before the Dark army had come and taken over our world. All of my memories from this time period had been pushed back when humans became manipulated. Running for my life had seemed more important, then. This prophecy, The Last Light, brought everything back. All those memories that had been lost came back to me.
I turned and walked back out of the room in a dazed state. Once I was down the hall a little bit, my head started to clear.
On my way to my room, I brought up a picture of it in my mind. Three of the walls were glass and showed a perfect view of the surrounding forest. Pulled to the corners between all the walls were blue curtains, the color of my eyes. Centered on the wall directly across from the one not made of glass, where my door was, my huge bed was placed. A silver mesh canopy hung from poles that went in the air all the way around it. On the wall to the left of my bed was a white couch. A rectangular glass plate floated above a large, blue area rug rimmed with silver. Between the couch and two matching recliners there was a smaller, circular glass plate floating between them. The wall that held the door had a bookshelf of glass. The matching vanity and wardrobe were on the windowed wall to the left of it.
There was only one other piece of furniture in the room, the most important piece, a large, sparkling, and silver trunk. It floats slightly above the ground. The trunk is completely made of a magic material, silver Light Stone. It sits at the end of my bed and seems to give off light. It’s incredibly beautiful.
Thinking about my room made me smile and I lost track of time, so I practically ran into my door. I stepped back to open it and walked into my room. It was just as it should be. Nothing had been touched or moved and no one had been inside. Although it had been over one hundred years since anyone had been in my room there was no dust anywhere and the wood floors were perfectly polished.
The first thing I did after I walked in was go to my trunk. I opened the magic box with the only hands that could. Beautiful gowns of different types were in the trunk. Along with a few other things that were still very important, but not right at that moment. I closed the lid back, satisfied that everything was where it should be.
I stood up and walked to my door. A basket sat outside full of papers and forms that needed to be looked at. Frowning, I stooped to pick it up. After setting it on my coffee table, I sat on the couch. At the snap of my fingers a pen came to life poised over a piece of paper. I thought up a list of notices to make for the bulletin board in the outdoor courtyard of the building. Once I had the list, I put together the lay out of the notices. I put my hands behind my head and leaned back. I closed my eyes and relaxed for the first time since we were caught flying. Then, someone knocked on my door.
I got up slowly and walked to the door. I waited for a minute and poked into the person on the other side of the door’s mind. It was Luke. I regretted getting up and wished I would’ve opened the door with my mind, although part of me didn’t want to open the door at all. Too late now. I opened the door to let him in.
“Can I come in?” he asked tentatively. It was the first time I’d ever seen him look anywhere near nervous.
“Sure,” I said. As he walked in his arm brushed mine and I shivered.
“Will there be more rescues to come?”
“Yes,” I said, but I felt awkward, suddenly uncomfortable with him.
“Maybe you can save the world,” he said with an uneasy laugh. Luke was standing barely inside the doorway; he had closed the door behind him.
I sat down on the couch and motioned for him to sit somewhere, too. He came to the couch and sat down next to me. Having him that close to me made me feel odd, and I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. Suddenly, I noticed all the tiny features in his face and I looked at my hands. Luke cupped my chin and pulled my face up, so I was looking at him and he was smiling that stupid smug smile again. Something seemed to take over both of us, then. He leaned forward and I closed my eyes, deciding the odd feeling was good. Luke kissed me quickly and softly and electricity shot through me. He pulled away, then seemed to decide differently and kissed me again. I put one hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Then, someone knocked on the door.
Luke pulled back slightly and said, “To be continued?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
His face darkened suddenly. “Oh Light. I just kissed the princess,” he muttered, standing quickly and going to the door. I wanted to tell him it was okay, but I didn’t have time.
I opened the door with my mind and Marie stepped in. Luke slipped out between her and the door.
“Do you have anything for the bulletin board?” She asked, eye Luke out of the corner of her eye.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding toward the stack of fliers my magic pen had made so far.
She leaned over and picked them up.
“Sorry I…bothered you,” she said watching the door like she though Luke was coming back.
“I wasn’t doing anything important.”
Marie nodded her head, obviously not believing me.
She doesn’t like Luke at all, I reminded myself.
Marie left quietly and I sunk down into a chair. Luke was the one in the prophecy. I had known it the minute our lips had touched. He wouldn’t have felt it, though. Only I was able to identify those in the prophecy.
~~~~~
Luke couldn’t believe himself. He was such an idiot. She was the Light Princess. There was most definitely someone she was destined to be with, someone important.
Luke walked into the Prophecy Room looking for a prophecy about Leigha. He knew there was one. Every Light had heard of it. He searched the walls and finally found it. The prophecy was called The Last Light.
~~~~~
I was walking out of my room when Alex crashed into me after careening around a corner. She had a
very worried look on her face.
“Luke read the prophecy, the one about you. He’s such an idiot, such an idiot! He doesn’t know it’s about him!” Alex cried.
“How do you know it’s about him?” I questioned.
“I was going on a hunch, but judging by that look it is. Anyway, I’m not that dumb,” She put her hands on her hips, “I know what happened. He’s mad at himself for kissing you.”
“Fine, I’ll go find him,” I mumbled.
I started down the hall. I was trying to decide whether to run or fly and decided on the latter. I jumped into the air and pumped my powerful wings. I found Luke’s room, which was two stories lower than mine. He was walking out of his room when I found him. I vame careening around a corner and I had to stop short, my shoes barely catching the ground. I tipped forward and slammed into Luke.
He caught me and placed me back on my feet before saying, “Why would you let me do that?”
I tried to reach out to him, but he pulled away. I looked at him and said, “You’re such an idiot. Come find me when you figure it out.” I had a feeling he wouldn’t really listen to me if I tried to explain it to him.
“Wait,” he grabbed my arm, turning me back.
His face had softened slightly and I knew he’d figured it out. It wasn’t that hard for him to understand he was the one. All he had to do was listen to himself talk. The prophecy couldn’t have made it more obvious unless it had said his name. Raging and hard, but perfect. Raging? He just had to look at how angry he was after thinking he wasn’t the one in the prophecy. And perfect, he literally acted just like me sometimes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should know better than to think I wouldn’t know about who I’m supposed to be with,” but I was looking down at my clasped hands, unsure.
“I thought I felt it, but I wasn’t sure. Anyway, that continuation…” he said and I could hear his smirk return.
I laughed and looked up to find Luke was very close to me. He leaned down and kissed me softly. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I felt my feet leave the ground. I opened my mouth against his, weaving my fingers through his hair to get closer. We heard someone clear their throat and Luke dropped me. It was Cece.
I turned around, feeling heat creep into my cheeks.
“This needs to be organized,” she handed me another basket of papers; she was staring at Luke.
Cece turned and walked away. I glanced back at Luke before following her away from him.
I had to get all the prison raids in order. There were some that were very near, but if we targeted those and went outwards, they would easily know where we were. I had to set it up so it seemed like we were somewhere else. I pinpointed where our “base” would be on the map and located all the prisons around it.
I went through more of the papers. We already had three pages filled out with volunteers. I had my magic pen divide out the scouts, raiders, and releasers.
I posted the list on the big oak tree in the outdoor courtyard. Then, I went to the Light Shrine the building was based around, The Light Place.
Chapter Ten
The Light Place is a beautiful room in the dead center of the building. The room itself is a circle with a ceiling rising ten feet higher than the building. The ceiling is domed at the top and made completely out of glass to show the sky. The entire room is centered around a statue of the Queen of the Light. Both the statue and floor were made of Light Stone, a stone that is pure white, most of the time. This rare stone can only be found where a Light was put to rest because the Light and the area surrounding it turn to stone. The statue had steps that went in a complete circle around it down to the floor. Water overflowed down the steps from a stream around the statue’s feet. The water covered the entire floor with about half an inch, no matter how much overflowed from the stream. No one would ever get wet in the room, though, because the water parted around the Creatures of the Light due to its magic properties.
I walked up the steps and stood on the one that was just below the platform with the statue. I looked up at the queen’s statue, my mother’s statue and pulled a piece of Light Stone from my pocket. The stone was perfectly round and smooth, like a pearl, but bigger. I placed it in the statues outstretched hand, whispering a secret word that would be sent to my mother. As soon as I’d finished speaking the stone disappeared.
I turned and walked back down the stairs. I hurried back to my room and locked the door behind me. I knelt in front of my trunk, pulled it open, and sifted carefully through the content until I found a heart shaped Light Stone hanging from a thin silver chain. I fastened it carefully around my neck. I put my fist around it and felt it growing warm. I slipped it beneath my shirt and left my room.
~~~~~
Two days later, all the volunteers for the first raid were preparing. Scouts had located a small prison with sixty Lights in it.
“Ready?” Luke asked me, strapping a back pack on.
“I was born for this,” I smirked and turned away. I ran for my take off and jumped into the air. I snapped out my wings and let them catch me. I flew in the front of our formation, the point of a triangle, with Claire and Luke behind me.
“I know,” Luke said, and I thought I heard a quiver of unease in his voice.
“You were, too, whether you believe it or not. Don’t worry. Even though you weren’t trained it’s in you.”
“Have you trained?” he asked.
“All my life, up until the Dark Siders came.”
“How long is that?”
“About three hundred years. I’ve spent the rest running.”
I heard someone call out to me from beneath me and I swooped down.
“We’re getting close,” said a unicorn named Max.
“Oh,” I was surprised; our first prison was on the edge of the circle we were targeting closest to the shrine. I waved my hand and Max and another unicorn went to scout ahead of us.
A couple minutes after the scouts left we stopped in a group of trees about a mile from the prison. Darkness was falling just as we stopped. Once the scouts returned we would attack. We had been told the prison was protected by humans, which would make our job simple.
After about thirty minutes the scouts returned.
“Leigha,” Max said, “We checked the perimeter three times and it seems to be clear.”
The fairies and a few pegasi flew low and silent right above the unicorns’ heads. Our raiding party stopped at the prison fence and I motioned forward four other fairies dressed like I was: completely in black. I looked through the fence and spotted the outdoor guards.
“When the guards turn their backs we’ll fly over and sneak up on the guards. This should prevent an alarm, but if there is one everyone will have to move fast,” I told them.
My small group jumped and used one powerful stroke of our wings to make it over the fence. We ran silently up to the guards’ backs. They were in two lines of ten, twenty of them, versus the five of us, but we had the advantage because of our silent attack.
We fought strictly with hands, knives, swords, and magic. Lights didn’t use guns or bombs in fighting, they weakened our powers. I took two of the guards down with my mind, but the others noticed what I was doing and put up a mind block. The Dark’s must have taught them that trick. The other two I fought got a couple blows on me with the butt of their guns, but I still got them down quickly.
Once we were done we opened the gates for the others and split into groups. We had a Rescue Team who unlocked the cells and instructed people on where to wait, a Tech Team, who screwed up all the cameras and security devices and set them to explode, and a Fight Team, who took out all the guards. Five members of the Fight Team had gone in originally, but now there were fifteen of us. There was also a Scout Team, but they had split into the other groups.
We searched the guards and found only two sets of keys for the Rescue Team. They unlocked the prison for us and followed after both the other teams. The Fight Team would go
first to make sure the path was clear.
We entered the prison and found ourselves in a hallway that held the entries to five other halls. The one to the very left was obviously an office hall because bright florescent lights glowed from it. I split the Fight Team into three groups and sent we went down the three halls furthest from the hall containing offices. I went down the hall furthest from the office one, my group following. I’d taken my group of five, the same I’d been with outside, down the hallway.
We found the guards clustered in a group and attacked, but we’d been spotted. Guns began going off and their mind blocks were up. I ran in, feeling a bullet skim my leg. I ignored the pain and the blood I was losing and fought. The split team quickly took out every guard in the building.
My team went outside right when we were done. After we were out came the Tech Team then, the Rescue Team. All of the sixty Lights that had been in the jail were fairies and most were men.
We took off as soon as everyone was out, whether we were flying or running. As we flew I felt the pain in my leg growing, I would pass out from blood loss soon which meant the bullet had cut through a vein. I was sure the bullet wasn’t embedded, though, which was the one good thing about the wound. I felt myself loosing blood and altitude, but I pressed on. I barely made it to the courtyard.
I landed and sank to my knees in the grass. My leg had lost so much blood I couldn’t stand anymore. I saw Luke’s face swimming above mine. I could hear people yelling and him yelling for Claire, but I started to fade. Everything I saw and heard seemed far away.
I saw Claire flying to my side and landing next to me. She ran her fingers over my leg, her eyes closed.
“It got close to the bone, but it skimmed by,” She said, “I need to put bandages on it or she’ll go into comatasis in a few minutes from the blood loss.”
Comatasis was a state Creatures of the Light went into where they were alive, but couldn’t wake up. Sometimes it took years to get out of and some Lights never woke up.
“Bandages, now! Someone carry her to the Care Rooms.”
That was the last thing I remember someone saying before I passed out.
~~~~~
I woke up in what was probably only a couple minutes, but I was already in a Care Room and I was healing fast. Alex, Marie, Luke, Cece, and Claire’s worried faces hung above mine. I heard someone call out that I was awake.