The Light (A sequel to The Flame)

I came out of the little white room a bit shaken. I still felt wet, but I knew it was only an illusion. The water had looked so beautiful though, all sparkly and flowing. I was ushered around the side of the stage and up the stairs, finally stopping beside Hillary, my twin. She was really hot when I leaned towards her to whisper in her ear. Like REALLY hot. I could feel the heat coming off of her in waves and it was so intense it was making ME sweat. Yet she looked perfectly dry and chill, if that’s a word that can be related to a furnace of a girl.

“Are you ok?” I whispered to her, poking her in the arm. I almost yelped at the heat that met my finger, but I bit it down, trying to hide the expression on my face when she turned to me.

“What do you mean?” She said, a tightness in her voice that meant she was nervous.

“Well, you’re steaming and you look like you’re about to throw up.” I said helpfully in her ear. She rolled her eyes and shook her head a tiny bit. 

“Shh! They’re about to start the announcements.” She said, not looking at me, but squinting into the crowd, probably looking for Mum and Dad. I reached over and squeezed her hand, but quickly pulled it back because I swear I heard a sizzling sound. She still didn’t turn her head, but I could see a tight smile spreading across her face.

Suddenly, a bright light beamed down on the stage, now half-filled with 15-year-olds. The boy that was behind me in line looked upset, a deep frown etched into his face. He was a couple of kids down the line from me and Hillary. I stared at him until he looked at me, his frown disappearing briefly when I smiled at him. A voice spoke over the loudspeakers placed around the stage.

“Congratulations to this year’s group of Manifestees! Their Gifts will be announced in alphabetical order according to their last names. Abbot, Luke.” A small dark boy stepped forward and a screen behind us flashed to life. There was a little illustration along with the word FERROKENETIC in bright letters. The crowd cheered and Luke was ushered forwards to his parents. A GEM would talk to them later about Luke’s job opportunities as a steel manipulator and then he would get to decide to move to his new Sector or stay with his family for a little while longer. 

As more and more teens got called I could feel Hillary getting more and more nervous. I don’t know why, she now knows her Gift and therefore should know where she’s going to be placed. I on the other hand wasn’t looking forward to being told where I was going to work for the foreseeable future. Probably the Maintenance Sector. 

“Knight, Terry.” The voice called out and I saw him walk out, the frown now more pronounced than earlier. He glanced back at me and tried to mouth something at me, but I couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be. The screen flashed behind us, but nothing came up. GIFTLESS appearing instead of an illustration there was silence. Eventually, some tried to rally a smattering of clapping, but it wasn’t anything like what the others had gotten.

Giftless was unusual, almost everyone had some sort of Gift, even if it was a small one like music or something. Almost everyone controlled something.

Terry was ushered off the stage, stumbling a bit on the first step. He looked like he was trying to find something in the black sky. But everyone knows the sun died and killed all the stars years ago. So what was he looking at?

“Lloyd, Cari.” The voice said and I stepped forward, all thoughts of Terry pushed to the back of my mind. I stood at attention, knowing what was flashing on the screen behind me. The crowd cheered and I was ushered down the steps. I fell into Mum’s arms, Dad slinging an arm around both of us. I smiled at them and turned back to the stage.

Next up was Hillary. I watched as she swallowed and stepped forward, not looking where she was going. Her head was twisted as far around as she could get it, trying to see the screen behind her. PYROKINETIC. There was silence. Wow, that’s two rare Gifts in one year. I could feel Mum and Dad looking at each other, knowing they were sharing that ‘adult’ look.

***

When we got home after a celebratory lunch and an individual interview-like thing for Hill and me, Mum sat us down in the living room and gave us ‘The Talk’.

“Girls, I don’t know what those GEMs said to you, but you should always know you are welcome to live here and if you need to talk about something, this is a safe place to do so. Ok?” Mum looked both of us in the eyes almost sternly, like she was daring one of us to admit we had already agreed to live somewhere else. 

I, for my part, had stared stonily at the GEM who came over to tell me how great the Maintenance accommodations were and how soon I could start. Apparently, they needed someone to do the plumbing under the GEM workplace—all the way across the city. I had laughed in his face and told him I was plenty happy living with my parents. He didn’t like that very much and reminded me as soon as I turned 18 I would be kicked out of the Self-Employment Sector and chucked in with the Maintenance staff. Oh, deep joy.

“Well,” Hillary said slowly, “uh, what if they offered to…upgrade… our current situation?” Mum stared at her like she had suggested that the sun might come back.

“What do you mean by ‘upgrade our situation’? Do they think we’re not happy? I’d like to give that GEM a piece of my mind. An ‘upgrade’! How ridiculous.” She shook her head and frowned at Hillary.

“You can tell them to shove their ‘upgrade’ where the electricity doesn’t reach. We’re staying here. And you can too, darling, you can’t just believe all that sugarcoated glam they’re trying to bribe you with. I bet they won’t make you pancakes with chocolate chips in them!”

“Well, I guess not.” Hillary got up and started towards the door to the hallway.

“Oh. Well, dinner’s at 5:30, so don’t be too long in your room, ok?” Mum said, turning to watch her leave and close the door. Mum turned back to me and shrugged.

“Do you think you could talk to her after dinner? I know you two are close, so maybe you can find out what they offered her. I just want to make sure she knows what she getting herself into. Talking about getting into stuff, how did your little interview go?” I scratched my nose, a nervous habit I have tried to break many times.

“Well, the results were as expected for a hydrokinetic. Apparently, they want me in work tomorrow, cleaning a blockage in the pipes at the GEM HQ. They also offered me a stop in the Maintenace dorms, with a nice group of women who were surrounded by a cloud of gross-smelling smoke. After much consideration, I politely declined and decided to stay here until they drag me away kicking and screaming.” Mum smiled and huffed a little laugh.

“I think we all know that you never ‘consider’ anything and your version of politely declining something is to laugh in their face and tell them to get a better job and stop bothering you. Well, at least you don’t have your sister’s problem. Whatever it may be.” I nodded sympathetically, knowing that Mum would be worrying about Hillary for days or until she knew what was up.

Mum and I went into the kitchen and started getting dinner ready, a warming parsnip soup with gara masala to add to the depth of flavours. Dad eventually drifted in, looking a bit like those animated characters in the old cartoons, the ones who would float over to wherever the delicious smell was coming from. He dipped his finger into the pot, earning a smack from a wooden spoon. He grinned cheekily at me and when Mum wasn’t looking dove in for another taste. That got him a burnt finger since Mum turned around and whacked his hand into the side of the pot. We all laughed and I could’ve sworn I heard the kitchen door closing and soft footsteps retreating upstairs.

“I’ll get Hillary for dinner.” I said, leaving Dad and Mum to sort out the rest of the dinner preparations.

I knocked gently on Hillary’s door, hearing a muffled thud and a few shuffling sounds.

“Who is it?” Hillary’s strained voice said from the other side of the door.

“It’s Cari, and um, it’s dinner time. Can I come in a sec?” The door opened and Hillary gave me a half smile. The one she uses when she’s feeling stressed. I stepped in and observed the empty surfaces and clean bed. She’s been stress-cleaning again.

“Is there something you want to talk about?” I asked, sitting down on her flat sheets. She plonked down next to me and sighed.

“Yeah, there is, actually. The GEM that talked to me today said I had one of the rarest Gifts there are and that there was really only one job I could do. He told me it was a great privilege and that I would be able to bring my family to live in the GEM Sector if I or you guys wanted to.” I nodded along, trying to think what the job could be that she was offered.

“So what exactly did the GEM say you could do?” I asked, giving up on figuring it out on my own. Hillary gave me a funny look.

“Uh, don’t you remember where the electricity comes from? That big fire that makes a turbine spin and therefore creates the power for the city? Because we have no sun?” Then it clicked.

“Oh! Right! I totally forgot about that, heh, heh. So you’ll be… what exactly? Creating the power for the city? Or something else? I just think that making sure a fire doesn’t go out is…well, not very crucial. Isn’t there something else you could do all day instead?” I shifted my weight on the bed, causing it to creak. I suddenly remembered about dinner, but based on the look on Hillary’s face, this was going to take a while longer.

“‘Not very crucial’? Cari, that is the only way we can survive! If the fire goes out, we have nothing left to light it with! Especially not one that big! All the trees died sometime after the sun, the machines that create oxygen would stop, and there’s nothing else we could use! You know all mining machines were destroyed or left to rust when the sun died so there’s no lighter fuel or anything else to use as a starter. Didn’t you pay any attention in history and science class?” Hillary said, frowning at me. All I remembered from those classes was the smell in the classroom and the weird things my classmates were doing.

“I guess not. But that’s why they want to pamper you? Because you can... What exactly? Make fires? Start them?” Hillary held out her hand and suddenly a small flame burst from her fingertips. She moved her fingers in a little rolling motion and the flame spread from her fingers to her whole hand. I jumped back in fright, careful not to fall off the bed.

“Woah, that’s so cool! So that's why they want you so badly?”

Yes,” She said, making a fist of her hand and smothering the flames. She looked a little sad at having to kill them, “I can control fire in general so I can start one, make one or sustain one. The GEM explained all of this to me and then told me tomorrow, if I come in at the same time work starts, I can take lessons from the current pyrokinetic and learn how to control my abilities better. I also need to learn the ropes for this new job, the pyrokinetic is very old and apparently, he wants to retire soon.” I nodded my understanding and right before I could tell Hillary about dinner, there was a sharp knock on the door and Mum opened it, looking annoyed.

“Dinner’s going cold, come downstairs now, girls.” And then she stomped down the stairs. Mum really doesn’t like cold food and our family has a rule that you can’t eat unless everyone’s at the table. 

Hillary and I glanced at each other, shared a distressed look and jumped off the bed in sync, scrambling for the door. Thundering down the stairs, we crashed into each other in haste. We bust into the kitchen, both out of breath and red in the face.

***

I woke up to silence and darkness. I groggily sat up and rubbed my eyes, unsure of why I had woken up. Then I heard it again. A tap on the window, similar to hail, only it was just once. It came again shortly after. I got to my feet, careful to step where there was space and not some mystery item that could potentially hurt me or break. When I got to the window, I slid it open, shivering a bit in my thin nighty. I was always a hot sleeper so I usually didn’t get cold, but then again, I didn’t usually get weird taps on my window. When I peeked my head out, all I could see was the regular blackness, nothing out of the ordinary. Then I torch light found my eyes and I stumbled back, blinded.

“Cari?” The voice shouted up to me. It sounded like Terry from the Manifestation Ceremony, but that was impossible, he lived across the city, in the GEM Sector. His parents worked for the Transportation and Safety Department. Terry had told me a lot about him in the five minutes we had talked before I was shoved into the white room.

“Terry?” I called back, “Is that you?”

“Yeah!” the voice replied, “I need to talk to you. Can you come down and talk?” I know I was still sleepy, but this didn’t make any sense.

“Why? Couldn’t you just talk to me tomorrow like a normal human instead of waking me up in the middle of the night?”

“Well, that’s the thing. Apparently, I’m not a normal human. Just come down and I’ll explain everything.” I shrugged, which Terry couldn’t see, and grabbed a jumper on the perilous journey to my door. After stubbing my toe twice and getting stabbed in the foot and the ankle numerous times, I opened the door and sneaked down the stairs, careful to avoid the squeaky fourth-to-last step. I slowly opened the front door, knowing any sudden movements might make it creak. I was about to step off the step at the foot of the door when I remembered my torch was still inside, probably in my jacket pocket. I was about to go back in and get it when I felt a tap on my shoulder. 

I jumped a mile and nearly screamed, but thankfully I muffled myself at the last second.

“What the heck, Terry? Don’t scare me like that! I nearly jumped out of my skin! Why on earth have you come all this way just to throw stones at my window?”

“Well if you calm down and stop yelling maybe I’ll have a chance to tell you.” He said quietly. I sighed, gesturing for him to go on. He obviously got my message in the dim non-light and took a deep breath.

“So you know at the Manifestation Ceremony? Well, when I was in the little white room, I felt tremors and shifts, and then I felt crumbly earth. When I looked at the top of the door, it said Telekinetic, but then it changed to Giftless. When I came off the stage, a GEM came over to me straight away and told me that I couldn’t tell anyone about my previous result. If I did, I might be eliminated. And then she proceeded to remind me that both of my parents work for the government so anything I tell them will go straight to whoever deals with misbehaving 15-year-olds. So that’s why I came to you in the middle of the night. Also, I don’t think we’re above ground.”