He expressed a grin to hide some other feeling. “Sharp’s right. I don’t know much about it. Just urban legend.”
Glass opened the door to greet us before I could pry further, wearing a white medical tunic and large black boots. “Good to see you on this plane of existence, kid.” His warm smile was different than the dower seriousness of last night. “Come on in and we’ll talk.”
“Yes sir.” I left Sharp and Willow to continue bickering. Piranha met my eyes and gave me a thumbs up.
Glass’ clinic consisted of a cramped lobby and two square rooms for examining patients. An array of silver medical gadgets crowded the eggshell white interior, reflective enough to create an overwhelming glare.
While Glass gathered some supplies, I waited alone in the exam room, where I was hit with a rush of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. Something about the clinic was different than the last time I was here. The best way to describe the feeling was as if other people were in the room, watching.
“You look a bit queasy.”
I jumped at his voice. “Oh. Uh. Just nervous.”
He put a long silver instrument close to my face. “No need for that. Put this under your tongue for a minute.”
I sat in silence as he checked my vitals with a pensive look. Finally, he said, “I’ll need you to answer with complete honesty. Did you activate your power last night?”
My lips curled and I looked away. “I’m sorry, I did. It’s just that… I felt like I had to try it.”
His voice didn’t have a hint of judgment, as if he’d forgotten his advice from last night. “Was it working normally?”
“It felt normal,” I answered, although I wasn’t sure myself. The physical sensation of disappearing felt the same but…something was different. Something I couldn’t yet understand.
Glass rested his chin in his hand and scratched a few notes into a medical journal. “Alright then. Now I want you to describe everything you remember after eating the Wild Fruit. The smallest details might be important.”
I recalled the story again, including the illusion of dying and the strange lights appearing in the room. His eyes were fixed in stoic concentration.
“What do you think?” I blurted, unable to read his unshakeable bedside manner. “Willow said death is the source of energy in the deep Wilds. What does that mean?”
Unaffected by the blustering, he ruffled my hair and chuckled deeply. “You have your Mama Robin’s nerves, eh? Look, if there’s one thing I know about northerners, they’re always halfway right. The truth is more complicated.”
“So, it won’t kill me?” I asked, white knuckles gripping the exam chair.
He dismissed my question with a wave. “Certainly not. This kind of power peaks in energy when activated, which is why it knocked you out before. If you survived that, then you have nothing to worry about anymore. Tell me more about these lights.”
I put my hand on my cheek and squinted. “I think…there was six or seven of them. All different colors. The only one I really remember was bright gold and blue.” I held the twirling light in my memory, wanting to see it again.
Glass glanced at a peeling poster, faded words at the top reading Divine Effects on the Human Body. “I have a hunch,” he said. “Do you think you could activate your power right now? If you were able to do it last night, it should be safe.”
I nodded, sweat building at my fingertips.
“Once you do,” he continued, “see if any lights appear. Count them. Pay close attention to what they look like. Can you do that?”
My heartbeat increased. I shouldn’t fear my own power, but my instincts reminded me to always fear the unknown.
I disappeared, and the room brightened. Glass disappeared too, replaced by a brilliant silver ball of light that filled the room. Blinding white rays shot out at all angles, moving in slow, methodical circles. Twelve smaller lights danced around the room, but they were wisps of dust in comparison.
I reappeared, and Glass was in front of me again. The other lights vanished, and the color of the room shifted.
“Whoa,” I gulped, blinking away the brightness. “That was different.”
“What did you see?”
“It was like I was somewhere else. The same room but…altered. There was a bright light where you were standing.”
Glass fiddled with a large metal ring on his finger. “I ran my arm where you were sitting and felt nothing. You may be invisible to all senses now, not just sight.”
All senses? My imagination whirred. I couldn’t tell if I was feeling excitement or dread.
“Here’s my theory.” The doctor flipped the journal to an earlier page. “You’re now utilizing a source of energy that comes from the Wilds on the other side of the Endless Mountains, which means it’s no longer a natural power. It’s known as a Divine Variety.”
My breath shortened. Sharp’s words from yesterday echoed in my head. The effects are random, and in rare cases, very dangerous.
“Don’t look so afraid,” Glass continued. “The powers people inherit are products of their environments, which is why the people of different regions look and act so differently. The center of the Wilds is even more unique in this regard. What else do you know about it?”
I racked my brain. “Uh, Sharp once said there’s a patch in the center of the Wilds that’s impossible for outsiders to enter.”
On the wall behind him was a map of the continent. The Wilds were due north, across the Endless Mountain Range. A dark ameba-like shape blotted out the center of the massive forest, as if the map maker had spilled ink.
“It isn’t impossible,” asserted Glass, “but most people can’t enter safely without some sort of environmental power or assistance. A long time ago, even the most common folks could enter.”
He gave the map a heavy look. “But things change. The Wilds are shifting and alive. They were the Reaper’s home on earth, and his energy remains in the Ghost Trees, the largest and oldest living things on the globe. These giant flora oscillate between life and death, moving freely between the Unseen Dimension, and our own. This oscillation is the source of most Divine entropy on the west side of the V.U.C.”
I knew the Wilds was a strange place, but this information was far from what I was expecting. Willow and I skipped a lot of class during the education season, and it was finally catching up to me. “Unseen what now?”
He laughed at my idiotic expression. “It sounds a little out-there, but it’s true. Let me show you what I mean.”
The doctor shuffled through a drawer on his desk and returned with a single playing card. “How many cards?”
