The sound of birds chirping woke me from a deep sleep. I lay there for a minute, disoriented. Where was I? My mind offered different scenarios: I was in a hotel, I was at Grandma's house…but then I remembered what had happened and sat up abruptly. Ohhh! I clutched my throbbing head. Did they drug me? I had been sleeping on a powder-blue couch, a soft blue quilt still covering my legs. I pulled it off and stood up. This was not at all what I expected a D Glow facility to look like. The room was all white and extremely bright, especially considering there was only one small window overlooking a lavender field. Outside, it appeared sunny and warm. This can’t be New York. It was December and cold. Unless…I held my breath nervously and ran over to the window. I let out an audible sigh of relief: up close, it was just a screen set in a window frame depicting a realistic view of a field. For a moment I’d thought I had been asleep for months and it was now summer. I traced the smooth, slightly warm display with my fingertip, almost expecting the picture to change. My dad had told me that such window screens hung on the walls at the Bureau of Light. How did the D Glows know about them? They were probably attempting to lull me into a false sense of security by making it look light.
I scanned the room to see if there were any cameras, but didn’t notice any. Escaping through the window obviously wasn’t an option. The door was about fifteen feet away. The longer I stayed in here, the less time I would have to escape. Any minute now, the pleasant facade of the sunlit room would crumble and some D Glow would come take me away.
I had to act now.
My heart pounded once more while I mentally mapped my steps to the door. Then, my fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, and I made a mad dash for the exit.
To my surprise, the silver door knob easily turned and the door crept open. I furrowed my brow, leery of what was on the other side. Slowly, I peered out into the brightly lit hallway. Both sides of the halls were lined with potted trees and white lilies, filling the air with their sweet perfume. I began to take a deep breath in to enjoy their scent but quickly stopped myself. They could be poisonous, or drugged, or something. I would have to try to take small, short breaths and exhale it all out through my mouth.
There were two doors: one almost directly in front of me, and another one a few feet to my left. Both of them were closed. Down the hall to the right, I spied two brightly suited, male Glows engaged in conversation. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but their voices sounded cheerful, not menacing. Quietly, I stepped back into the room to take this all in. Something wasn’t adding up. Would D Glows really go through all this trouble to trick me? Maybe they are keeping other Light Glows here, too? I peeked around the door again and looked to my left. No one was there. I was just about to make a run for it when I heard a familiar voice bellow from my right.
“Skyla! You’re up!” My dad was walking toward me down the hallway, carefully balancing a silver tray with drinks and various snacks.
“Dad?” I asked, eyeing him skeptically and forgetting all about my special breathing technique. He could be a D Glow in disguise.
“Yes, Skyla, it's me! You are in the Bureau of Light and you are safe.” He was wearing a lime-green suit with a white shirt and dark-green tie. It certainly looked like something my dad would wear. He loved vibrant suits like the ones twentysomething Glows—both L and D—and Normals often wore. “Why should they have all the fun?” he would ask.
A wave of relief spread through me. Of course, that makes sense. No dark facility could be this light and inviting.
“Dad!” I said again, running up to him. “You rescued me!”
“Let's go to my office.” He gestured with his chin to the room next to the one I was in. He looked down at the tray and added, “You can have a bite to eat and I will fill you in on everything that's happened.”
“Here, Dad,” I volunteered mildly, reaching for the tray. “Let me take that.” I lifted the tray set with hot tea and cucumber sandwiches, orange slices, and two dark chocolate bars. It was heavier than I had expected, so I was glad I took it from him.
“The room you were in is unoccupied, and so I had the staff bring in a sofa so you could rest a bit. I thought it would be more comfortable than my office.”
Dad walked into his office, and I followed him with the tray of goodies. On the way in, I caught a glimpse of the door placard which read: Michael Erickson, Director, Strategy.
I made a beeline to the desk on the left side of the room. After I carefully set the tray down, I turned and looked around in curiosity. I had never once been to the Bureau—no surprise, since its location was kept secret to all but those who worked there. My dad's office was bright and cheerful, just as I had imagined it. The walls were painted a soft coral color and his pinewood desk had two plushy dark-coral-colored chairs arranged in front of it. The hardwood floor had been polished, and a round coral-and-blue patterned rug gave an inviting touch to the room. My gaze followed my dad as he walked around to the other side of his desk. He had all the things one would expect on an office desk: pencils, pens, paperwork, a phone, a computer, his reading glasses, and several picture frames. I picked up one of the family pictures he had on display and smiled. It was a picture of my sister, Helena, and me as children, perching happily on a porch swing at our Aunt Tammie's house.
“Sit down, Skyla,” Dad said gently. He pointed to one of the chairs behind me. “You should eat—surely you’re hungry.”
As if on cue, my stomach grumbled. I was famished. I looked at my watch and saw it was already 4:00 p.m.
“OK.” I sat down and scooted the chair closer to the desk so I could be within arm's length of the tray of food.
“So—where to begin?” He tapped his fingers together and looked at his desk pensively.
My tummy rumbled loudly, so I reached for a cucumber sandwich, eating the whole thing in just two bites.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly, feeling guilty for inhaling my food.
My dad gave me a knowing smile.
“So I suppose it is best to just start from the very beginning,” he said, leaning forward in his chair. “Over forty years ago, a child named Stephanie Roy was born.”
“Stephanie?” I asked, swallowing an orange slice.
“Skyla, let me tell the story and then you can ask questions.”
I nodded, still chewing.
“Stephanie was very special because she was born from a Pure D and a Pure L Glow.”
I nearly choked on my orange. “What?” I gasped. That was impossible. Light Glows could only be blessed with a child out of love. This rule didn’t apply to D Glows—Darkness made certain of that. But if a D Glow happened to be with an L Glow, a child couldn’t be born because both parties needed to love one another, and it was common knowledge that D Glows were incapable of love. Right?
“Only the Divine Power knows how this happened, but, apparently, her D Glow father did indeed love her L Glow mother. This made Stephanie's birth an extreme anomaly.” Dad sat back in his chair again. “When her mother went to the L Council to let them know what happened, a Divine Messenger was there waiting for her and relayed a verdict before the Council could even discuss the situation. The Messenger told the Council to hide the child, knowing that if darkness discovered her birth, they would kill her or use her for their own purposes. The L Council placed her in the care of a Light Glow agent and taught her about lightness. Still, somehow the word got out that her D Glow father was with an L Glow and had no intention to turn her, so a ruthless D Glow was sent to kill Stephanie's parents. The assassination was successful. Stephanie's birth, however, continued to remain a secret, as it is today.” Dad picked up one of the teacups on the tray and took a sip. Setting it down, he continued.
“At eighteen, Stephanie was tested and confirmed to be a ‘slider’—a person who can be a D or an L Glow at will, an extremely rare phenomenon. In addition to that, she was capable of special abilities while in the D Glow zone. I recall that she could move a single object with her mind. It took another ten years of training, but she was able to hone in her power and can now move multiple objects simultaneously. Today, her powers extend far beyond even that.”
“Wow, that's crazy!” My mind wandered to the last time I saw Julien. Why was he accusing me of being an agent? Was he really a D Glow and I moved him toward light?
“Anyway,” my dad continued, not noticing that I was lost in thought, “Stephanie begged the Council to let her start working on missions. The L Council agreed but didn’t realize at the time that she wanted to seek vengeance for her parents’ death. One night, she incidentally crossed paths with Alexander LeBete, the gold-toothed cartel leader who assassinated her parents. She killed him on the spot and escaped the scene without anyone knowing she was responsible for the attack. Pierre LeBete, Alexander's only son, barely twenty years old at the time, was placed in charge of his father's business.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed hoarsely. I recalled that Julien had said Pierre LeBete was his father…I didn’t like where this story was headed at all.
“Stephanie then felt guilty and confessed to the L Council what she had done. They debated for some time, but after a light intervention and a promise from her not to kill anymore, they decided she could best serve light as an undercover agent.”
“You’re kidding? She killed someone and was still able to work for the Bureau of Light?” I was utterly stunned.
“The L Council can see things we cannot,” Dad said sternly. He peered over his glasses to give me a “don’t ever question the Council” look.
“Well, after many missions, Stephanie decided the best way to take down darkness was to infiltrate from within, so she married one of the darkest D Glows known and became Esmerelda LeBete.”
“No!” I covered my mouth in disbelief.
Dad nodded grimly and continued. “She caught Pierre LeBete's eye when she used telekinesis to send a bottle of champagne over to him at a bar, and she was able to hold onto him with the promise of endless power when she became queen.”
“Oh light…she's Julien's mother?” This was a lot of information to take in, and most of it didn’t make sense. I rested my head on my hand and frowned. “A Light Glow just tested as a dark queen and passed?”
“Yes. Esmerelda—Stephanie—is a slider, remember? And yes, she has a son named Stephen that you know as Julien. Believe me, if I had known this was the Julien you were seeing, I would’ve put a stop to it! Of course you only just told your mother and me about him, so it is not like I had a lot of information in advance.” Dad sighed deeply and took out a handkerchief from his inside coat pocket, mopping his brow.
I stood up abruptly and paced in a circle around the room in a daze.
“I’m guessing Julien didn’t know that his mom was actually a Light Glow or an agent?”
“A slider that works for the light,” Dad corrected me, leaning back in his chair. “And no, not until today,”
That would explain his weird behavior.
“Wait! Is Julien—a D Glow or an L Glow then?”
“His mother said today's reading was correct. He is a Light Glow, but barely. He practically has one foot over the line into darkness.”
The realization hit me like a lightning bolt.
I stopped wandering around the room and looked at my dad in horror.
“He was trying to turn me the entire time?” I cried.
“Apparently,” Dad said softly. “He was very torn. I think he may have had the initial intent to turn you because he thought he was a D Glow and that is what he was supposed to do—what he had been told to do his whole life—but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.”
“How do you know that?” I creased my eyebrows skeptically.
“Stephanie told me today that he genuinely liked you and asked her for advice. A D Glow never would have consulted anyone about feelings, let alone even felt those feelings in the first place, mind you. So you must imagine how conflicted he was. She said she had told him to break things off with you but had a feeling he wouldn’t listen. So she had someone she trusted follow him and make sure he didn’t get into some kind of mess, such as testing outside of his normal facility, where most doctors were actually agents.”
I slumped down onto the floor. This was too much for me to handle. Thinking back to our conversation earlier in the day, I remembered he had accused me of using some kind of love potion on him because he had thought I was trying to turn him. He probably did like me then. But now? I wondered if he would still feel the same. I wasn’t really sure if I liked him anymore after what I saw today and now knew. Smoking? Trying to turn me? I don’t really know him at all.
My dad stood up and walked over to me. “Stephanie figured out that you were my daughter and sent me a message by agent channels. Unfortunately, these channels have to move at a secure pace, so I just received the message early this morning and it was too late for me to react. The next thing I knew, you had been picked up by Stephanie and her team and were here in the Bureau. I would’ve stalled your scaling, had I had the time.”
“Oh,” I said, looking down and picking imaginary lint off my fuchsia shirt. If only I hadn’t pressured Julien into getting scaled, all of this could have been resolved at the Bureau level.
“Skyla, time is not on our side, I’m afraid.” Dad squatted and put one hand on my shoulder. “I must take you to Stephanie. She needs your help.”
“My help?” I looked up at him in disbelief. “How could I possibly help?”
Dad stood back up and reached out his hand to help pull me up from the floor. He gave me a reassuring look, the same one he used when he taught me how to ride a bike as a child.
“We are, first and foremost, keepers of light. It's not just Stephanie that needs your help—the entire balance of light and dark is about to sway toward darkness. Stephanie has a plan that could keep the balance, and she thinks you might be key to making it work.”
“Me?” I was starting to get nervous. “Aren’t there agents that can help her?” This sounded absolutely terrifying.
“Now, now,” Dad said calmly. “Don’t feel overwhelmed just yet. I was thinking the same thing at first. Hear Stephanie out.” He took me in his arms and gave me a big hug. “You’re tougher than you think, Skyla.”
“If you say so,” I mumbled anxiously.
“I do,” he encouraged. He started to head for the door.
“Wait, what about Julien?” I asked, grabbing Dad's arm.
“He's part of the plan, too,” Dad said, stopping for a moment. He gave me a smile, turned, and started to walk toward the door again. “Come. All will be revealed.” With his hand he beckoned me to follow.
“OK,” I complied with a slight frown as I reluctantly trailed out of his office into the bright hallway.