The Shards by Gary Alan Wassner Read Free Book Online

they had gathered and they therefore had no difficulty observing how emotional this moment was for each person present. Their facial expressions gave them away. The remainder of the chamber had grown dark, though no one noticed the change during this encounter. Elion was the first to realize that the area where Tomas lay was no longer visible.
    “I had better attend to the boy,” he said, a bit startled by the depth of the darkness.
    The others all rose hastily and walked behind him across the floor. The light had gone totally out in the recesses of the chamber, and Elion disappeared into the obscurity before they could even catch up with him.
    “Does anyone have any of the powder on them?” Preston asked.
    “I do,” Stephanie replied, and she reached into the pouch that hung from her belt.
    As soon as she opened the string tying the top, her hand stood out in the darkness as if there was no body attached to it. Quickly, she retrieved a small pinch of the phosphorescent material and flung it in the blackness around them. As it made contact with the air the substance was activated, and the entire immediate area was swathed in a yellowish glow.
    In the pale light, they could distinctly see Elion kneeling in front of them, beside the blanket that covered the boy. Elion turned to face the others with a grim expression etched upon his elfin features, and he rose slowly with the blanket in his hands. Something was terribly wrong.
    “He’s gone!” Stephanie exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Chapter Five

    Concentrate!” she admonished her friend. “Find what is common to it all. It is there, Angeline. You only need to sift through the particles in order to isolate it.”
    Tamara sat beside the slim and muscular woman and guided her as she attempted to start the evening fire. What had seemed miraculous to her only five or so weeks before was now routine, and the stout sister was a good instructor. Angeline stretched her long index finger, swirled it slightly, and the pile of dry twigs and leaves began to smolder.
    “You’ve go it!” Tamara exclaimed, as happy with the other woman’s accomplishment as if it had been her own success. “Now, just let it spread all by itself. You must learn not only how to begin the process, but when to back away as well. If you exert too much of an influence, the result may be far more extensive than you might wish. It is much harder to contain the energy once you have unleashed it. As it outstretches, it assumes a life of its own. You may not be able to control it so easily.”
    Tamara furrowed her brow, and with her right hand she directed a short wall of debris to form around the burgeoning fire. The material she used was just as flammable at the onset as what burned within the circle, but Angeline watched closely as it seemed to change in consistency with Tamara’s urging. What had seconds before been dry leaves, dust and twigs was being altered at its core. The essential elements were being divided and diffused by the more experienced sister, and a new material composed of the same elements as that which existed before but now in a different configuration took shape before their eyes.
    “How did you know what to change and what to leave as it was?” Angeline asked.
    “I cannot answer that,” Tamara replied. “I sense the essence of what I am manipulating somehow, and I think about the qualities that I need in order to accomplish the task that I have in mind. A lot of what I do is not directed by my will as you might think. Although I am conscious all the while, it is my spirit that guides the material to an extent. I have learned to feel with my senses much as I have done my whole life with my limbs.”
    “I think I understand,” Angeline said. “When the fire just began to ignite, it seemed as if the pieces had just fallen together. It felt right somehow.”
    “That is how I would have explained it too,” Tamara replied and bobbed her chin up and down. “It just begins to feel