Rimwick

The Keeper's Book

"Riley! Riley, are you-"

"That storm, though, what-"

"We came right away. Brooke said she felt-"

"A tree fell on Felix."

"What?"

"A whole tree?"

"Trees never fall, not in this forest."

"He's under a tree?" I struggle to push myself off the ground, dropping the leather books which was, somehow, lying on my chest. Several hands push me down again.

"You can't get up," Roman says.

"You'll just fall down again." This is Anvil.

"What happened?" Echo asks.

"You said... Felix..."

"Well he isn't under a tree anymore," Roman informs me. "Fallon and I got him out and Master Atlas is taking him back to the school. But what happened to you?"

"I... there was a storm and-"

"There wasn't a storm."

"Yes, there was a storm," I insist.

"There wasn't-"

"Hush, Anvil. Riley, can you walk?" Echo asks.

"But there wasn't a-"

"Echo, I don't know if she should-"

"Of course I can walk," I say, and push myself into a sitting position.

"There wasn't a storm!"

"Anvil! Please be quiet! Roman, you can carry Riley."

"I'm not-"

"There was-"

"Okay." Roman scoops me up. I clutch my book tightly to my chest and glare at him.

"Put me down."

"Sure." Roman sets me on my feet and I immediately topple over. All three Duskers push me back up from different directions.

"Let him carry you," Echo says. I nod, feeling to dizzy and feeble to argue, and hold onto my book as we go back to the underground home.

"How long was I out there?" I don't even remember passing out, though I must have, if there was time for a tree to fall on Felix.

"A few minutes? We don't know. We just came when Brooke felt something in the wind," Echos says.

"Oh." I want to ask what Brooke felt, but I'm sort of confused and dizzy. Confizzy. I also want to ask about the book with the green jewel and dull clasp, but some strange part of me doesn't want anyone to know that the book exists. It's odd, too, because their eyes seem to slide over the leather cover without acknowledging its presence.

In my room, Roman puts me on my pallet. Echo holds one of the swinging lamps and says,

"You stay here and rest, okay Riley?"

"Okay, but what about-"

"Your boyfriend is fine," Anvil grins. I swat at him but he laughs and dashes away.

"We'll take care of him," Echo promises. "We're a clan, after all. Taking care of each other is what we do." She hooks the light onto its place by the door and shoos Roman and Anvil out ahead of her.

I wait until they're gone, then pull myself up and lean against the wall to get the lantern. Carefully, I carry it back to my bed without falling and reach for the leatherbound book. The stone glints in the flickering lantern warmth, throwing curious shadows across the rough wooden floor.

I touch the brass clasp, and the book opens.

Inside are thick pages made out of yellow vellum. On the pages is a list of names, each written in a different hand, scrawled in a list like a ledger. The first name, Lark Ogsle, is written in unornamented cursive in a careful, steady hand. I brush it with my fingertips.

I walk through a younger wood then the one that exists now, leaning on my young granddaughter. Yellow flowers dot our mossy path, intermingling with the small beads of sunlight that spread across the soft forest floor. This beautiful place is an oasis from the horrors of the outside world.

"Haidee," I say. "The Storm worsens. I fear that soon, this forest will be the only safe haven in existence."

"Yes, Grandfather," she says. For one so young, Haidee understands much. Her parents, my daughter and her husband, were taken by The Storm.

"Lark!" A man with black curls tumbles up the grassy slope towards us. He takes Haidee's outstretched hand but looks at me.

"Lark, the council has summoned you."

"Ah. So they finally admit they need me."

"Yes, Sir. Please come."

"I wonder what plan they have in mind."

"A CARETAKER." The words slither out of my granddaughter's mouth.

I nod. "To protect the valley."

"TO KEEP THE PEOPLE SAFE. TO MAKE THE DECISIONS THEY CANNOT MAKE THEMSELVES. TO PROVIDE MAGICAL AID. THE DESERT NEEDS A WOOD, AND THE WOOD NEEDS A KEEPER."

With a gasp, she stops talking and sways backwards, disoriented and short of breath.

"Thank you, my Haidee," I say, turning to the boy with black curls. "Take care of her. It would seem I am to become the council's keeper."

I stare at the page, then touch the name again. Nothing happens.

"Riley, Echo wants to know if you want soup or anything," Anvil says from outside my door.

"No thanks!" I call. The book... what was that?

Taking a deep breath, I touch the next name. Haidee Larksle, written in elegant, pointed calligraphy.

I'm standing in a valley, pink flowers braided into my long, charcoal-colored plait, surrounded by cheering people. I smile at them as Grandfather steps forward.

He's old, ancient, almost, but his blue eyes still dance. I try to fix my smile into place, but it wavers- he did so well, helping the people to escape the desert's Storm and initiating the building of our town, and I want so badly to live up to what he did.

"Take this," Grandfather says. His withered hands brush against mine as he gives me a large leatherbound book. It's brass clasp gleams brightly in the sunlight, and the sign for observance- a circle with a dot in the middle- is carved onto the cover. For this symbol, though, the centerpiece is a glinting emerald.

"Its pages are made of magical velum," Grandfather explains. "Write your name in it, and perhaps it will aid ours successors."

"Thank you," I whisper, holding the beautiful book tightly with one arm. Grandfather takes my other and raises it into the sky.

"People of the forest! I present... Haidee Larksle, the next Keeper!"