CHAPTER 25 - RECLUSIVE WATERCOLORS

Petty Officer Parfait Plurality and Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel ran down the corridor to help the poor girl who had fallen. Lusi gasped as they pulled her up to her feet, and the officer placed her hand upon the girl's back so that she would not faint a second time. "Lusi, are you all right?" she enquired. A second or so after finally catching her breath, Lusi looked to the officer. "Make the correction!" she pleaded. Plurality looked over to the corporal and nodded. He examined the corridor, finding that some bumbling fool … most likely a lecturer … had placed a chair on one side of the hallway by itself, rather than across from another. The difference of course had caused Lusi to fall into a panic attack as soon as she ascended the stairs. The lance corporal strode over and hid the chair within one of the hallway classrooms and returned to the girl, who had by this time regained her composure. "That gave me quite a start, what would I do without you two?" she smiled and picked up her backpack, continuing down the corridor to the afternoon period's lecture hall. "He won't notice if I am a minute late" she thought to herself, veering to the right before bolting into professor Graham Ramshackle's English class. Seldom did she consciously admit to herself the truth, that Ramshackle himself was not only the principal of the school, but her specialist as well. Indeed, Lusi and the others were all patients of the Asymmetrical Institute, a facility for Asymmetrites, those who shun the outside world and cannot function in a land of differing symmetry. To be more specific, the Children's Asymmetrical Institute, itself a satellite facility of the main Institute is located in the peaceful woodlands of portion Veles. It was built for minors up to the age of eighteen. After they become adults, they are transferred to the main Institute in Salamantra District of portion Veles. Graham Ramshackle is the warden of both facilities, but keeps an almost constant presence at the Children's Institute where the possibility of treating the condition is most promising, relegating the responsibility of the main institute to his protégé Cressida Diligent. He raised an eyebrow as Lusi flew into the classroom. Mentally he counted the seconds it took for her from exposure to the asymmetry to recovery, and realized her event-time for a minor event was down by twenty seconds. Both Petty Officer Parfait Plurality and Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel had originally been the imaginary friends, able to make corrections throughout the room when she was distant or unable to reach such locations. They were her guardians, soldiers against the army of phantoms that haunted her. Since last summer the warden had given doctors Insignia Triennium and Piers Gnomon the task of impersonating both characters, which they could easily affect with a spell. It had really had clinical value, although deceitful, and had opened up a new window into her world. "You know what I think about tardiness, don't you, Lusi?" the professor chastised as she fit into her seat. "I timed it that way, professor. If I had come in at the exact moment, it wouldn't be chaotic" she explained, smiling behind strands of almondy-albino hair. Chaotic was the term Lusi used for situations that were asymmetric. "Very well. I hope you are ready for the pop quiz then" he countered. "What, wha, www …" Lusi stammered, and the pencil she had just placed onto her ear tipped off and fell onto the floor, making a click-clack sound. Realizing that Lusi had not studied one drop, the class snickered and looked at her all at once. "Here is a solution, Lusi. If you pass today's pop quiz, I will take the whole class to Wayward Café afterwards, that is if you get higher than eighty percent", he promised while dusting off his sleeves. "You've got yourself a deal, professor" she winked and rifled through her stack of notebooks for about a minute as he handed out the papers. "Hmmm, what is the meaning of the adjective precocious?" she mused and finally guessed on that one after eliminating "to be brave" and "being unlucky". The pencil on the floor had a spell that could mimic the movements of another student, but she didn't want to risk it for Wayward Café. "That's enough students. Pass up your tests. Moshe, put Lusi's at the top '' he implored indifferently. For the next three minutes Lusi stared at the teacher's bald spot as she waited in anticipation. She had, of course, failed the English test, but that was not the test that mattered that day. With a gentle sigh he placed his pencil on the desk and looked up at the class, "Well, I suppose we're all going to have a late supper". Papers flew into the air. Lusi put a notebook onto her head like a hat and danced around as Connie drummed on the desk. They all congregated in the courtyard where there was a giant ball of yarn. Threads loosened themselves like tentacles from the ball and wrapped themselves around all the members of the party. A strange enchanted electricity vibrated down the length of the threads. They were pulled in. Lusi could feel dimensions twist around her, and soon she was absorbed, as the others were into the inner dimension. There was, of course, another classroom inside so Ramshackle could continue to bore them during the journey. He showed them a projection of historical images, such as a picture of a big statue holding a torch, several people in ugly hats, and some woman at a typewriter, … as if that mattered. They were going to Wayward, after all. The ball of yarn completely rolled through the forested roads, chirping with electricity. When it reached its destination, it halted. As Lusi sat at her desk she could feel something curl around her arm. It was the thread, and soon they were all thrown out into the patio of the café. "What tomfoolery!" the matron, Elector Arabella Who Sings in the Vault of Damselflies lamented. "This time won't be like the last, matron," the warden assured her. The Elector pointed them to the gate in the fence, "I have your favorite waiting in the backyard. Each of you take a plate and stand in line please". Near them, a cycloptic falcon tore strips off wood off of the fence. She led the children into the backyard, retrieved her slice and directed them to the table where the plates were stacked up. Elector mumbled to herself as she noticed the girl Lusi, who was chosen by the others to stand impeccably centered as the line progressed. From her vantage point, she didn't have a clear view of the glistening meal of the non-euclidian pizza. When Lusi got to the front Arabella leaned over the girl, "If you want me to give you a slice, you had better get in the right place". Lusi twitched her eyes, realizing that she would have to, through force of will, step into the chaotic. A step to the right was sudden and the entire class gasped all at once. Her best friend, Connie Portfolio was having none of it, and stepped to the left to break the line, taking the burden of the other's responsibility. Arabella turned to the glistening pizza, cut it and laid a portion onto the plate. Lusi looked gleefully at the pepperoni that were spinning like little carousels. An hour later, as the class messily indulged, the warden sauntered over to the matron, who was leaning against the brick wall of the café, her features darkened by the shadow of the overhanging roof. "Well, I would just lock them all up in there and throw away the key. That solves it, doesn't it?". The warden smiled and then pointed past a scene of children playing soccer with an acorn, to Lusi as she gobbled up her third helping, "What do you think of that one, Arabella". "That one? Even if you throw away the key, it wouldn't do any good. That one's getting out" she jested. Another perfect line had formed in front of the wavy, geometrically designed pizza. "Duty calls" Arabella sighed and pushed her back from the wall. That night, back at the Institute, Lusi ran down a circular staircase to the basement. There, a group of classmates were watching the classic film "When Your Shower Curtain Becomes The Sea". Moshe and Connie sat in the front, eating a sundae together, so she went up and took the seat next to them. As they fell asleep during the opening act, Lusi snatched and finished it while watching the actress Gail Hummingbird move her fingers through her hair, and lather her shoulders as the inundation of the shower thrust itself upon her. Tropical music began to play, and a fresh mist obscured half of her body as she turned the faucet off and reached out for the robe. The actress tied a belt and examined the rippling curtain surrounding her on all sides. Ripples became waves, and the curtain became the sea. Soon, Gail was rowing through the sea on a canoe. As she reached the coastline of the first island of three islands that she would be visiting on her journey, Lusi stopped and looked behind her. The rest of the class was watching the film for the eleventh time. Standing up, she hustled to the back of the room and stood there, watching the entire class at once as they peered upon the screen. "Am I going to be here, as an old woman, watching this movie with the rest of them for the thousandth time?" she thought. Then came a realization. Gail Hummingbird had used magic … although unintentionally to travel to a different world. That was the whole point of it, after all. What was the point in learning magic, if she was too afraid to see the rest of the world? Lusi retrieved the sundae bowl and threw it in the garbage, then went upstairs to bed. At the apex of the Institute in a chamber relegated to the warden's private studies, Graham Ramshackle listened to the creaking of the floorboards as he paced over them. Slumbering below were all the students of the school. Although they were just a handful of children, Ramshackle thought of them as an entire generation, and felt their fate. He knew what meager conditions awaited at the true Institute, and what ridicule society placed upon them, a branding that they would have to endure. In his mind, he traveled below the floor down through the levels, and witnessed them. By this time the games and films would be wrapping up, and they did not have the fortitude, like he did, to fight the summons of dreams. If he had to count all of them, there was Pippa Sparkling Aphelion, Duncan Baker's Dozen, Progenitor Charles, Yummy Pretzel-Sandwich, Ethereal Exoplanet, Iona Classic Analog, Prune Magnificent, Jessamine Colored Pencils, Hannah Humidity-65-Percent, Ashley X-Coordinate, Molly Night Vision Goggles, Fiscal Year Lewis Anderson, Polly Genealogy, Archie Instantaneous, Alaska Galaxy, Nekota Exponent, Tom Hot-Plate, Taffy Air-Conditioner, Retrieving A Can Opener From The Petulant Pink Sunset, Clover Surrender-Specialist, Aquinnah Import, Zabelle Forecast, Jocasta Climber Of The Modular Mountain, Delegate Giraud Proficient, Moshe Dyson-Sphere, Bronwyn Who Hears The Answering-Machine, Pelipa Easel, Blume Ethnolinguistic, Mink Secret-Sauce Marinade, Cassiopeia Wishing-Well, Zeki O'Connor, Elizabeth Tweezers, Martin Human-Migration, Viscount Felix the Sedate, Tarquin Geometry-Harvest, Mary Cookie-Cutter Hopkins, A Gelatin Hyperventilates, Antonio Diet, Radian of Curiosity, Viscount Lachlan Cross-Examination, Charlie Who Is Born Of The Hypnotic Eggnog, Connie Portfolio, I Own An Entire Oak Tree, Silk Timeline, Ian Evasive, Lysander Anniversary, Fergus Na, Hope Abbas, Picture Of Clockwise Motion Williams, Elliot Traces and of course Reclusive Watercolors who goes by Lusi. Silk Timeline is the daughter of Spider's Silk Timeline, a notable figure in the community and a major source of their funding, as well as the parents of the two young Viscounts. Archie Instantaneous was in solitary, and only let out in specified periods. The son of another wealthy donor who had murdered his teacher, after complaining that he was too asymmetrical, and then went on a killing spree, the Red Instantaneous as they had named it in the press. And although he had proven beyond a shadow that violence did not correlate with the condition, it had meant little to them. Graham rolled up the carpet and placed it at the foot of the table. Opening his desk drawer, he retrieved a wooden box, ornate with unique beauty. Kneeling on the floor, he placed the box in front of him, and began to unbutton his shirt. It was folded, and placed directly behind him. Upon the bare chest, torso and arms of the man were signs and seals. Several circular ones were appropriately placed in specific locations. With both hands he threw back the lid of the Em-box and held his hands open. The leeches climbed up the wooden edge and out onto his hands. Slowly and silently, he placed each leech in its proper place within each circular seal. It had taken him several reincarnations to be where he is now, a lantern cultic master of Emzeser. "Patron who broke free from the ocean. Patron who is generous. Patron who is the germ of waterfalls. Let me flow through space and time, realms and realities" he chanted. The seals lighted up, and the leeches detached their mouths from his body, floating back into the box which closed its lid shut tight with a thud. In his mind Ramshackle could see the most pleasing image of Emzeser, and the form devolved into Emhan, and that form devolved into Em. He reached magical escape velocity. In an instant the lantern became a being, an entity of soul blood. The lantern shifted from the common reality of the Echo Realm, flowing into the Ocean of Zeser. Now he could hear, through the waters, the snoring of the Metacoma as it issued from the Sublime Landscape, vibrating the waters there. From the bedrock of that realm, he ventured out, following the different channels of the ocean. A most disturbing discovery, something only a lantern would notice, soon dawned upon him. In various locales, space itself had generated what could only be described as asymmetric fields of energy. He sensed the bruises stretching out towards the ends of the ocean. Something had to be done. Ramshackle returned to Zeser and called out to his patron, the Peasant, "Awaken, Father Freshwater. I must report to you". A vast butterfly swan through the waters and transformed into the luminous peasant. "I cannot be subtle about this.. There are wounds being erected throughout the SOTA and beyond.. I would recognize their structure anywhere. They are asymmetric fields, and they will soon encroach upon us". "Thank you for awakening me, I will be your messenger" Father Freshwater answered, and Ramshackle drifted back through the glistening surface of the barrier to his chamber, and coalesced back into organic form. Thereafter, Father Freshwater went to Emzeser and reported to him, and Emzeser went to Echo and reported to her. Echo considered the asymmetric fields, and thought them remnants of the base reality, fighting back against her mirror light. On the following morning, in her "independent class" with the professor in which he normally questioned her relentlessly on pointless subjects, she had a question for him, "can you teach me magic?". Ramshackle said nothing, but stood up and brought her to the bookshelf. Where there appeared to be a gap between two books, he placed his hand and revealed an invisible book. "What is this, professor?" she speculated, tracing her hand across the pages. "This is more than a normal book of spells, child, it was originally an illuminated manuscript, and later the script of the spell-book was integrated within it". "What do you mean by illuminated manuscript?" Lusi queried. "It was a book, in the old times, that was made with elaborate images and decorated with precious metals. Due to this, they carried magical potential" the warden expounded. "Does that mean there was magic before the beginning?" the student asked while coughing in response to the donation of dust. "Even in the age before the phenomenon, there are rumors of events that occurred as a result of different varieties of books. The illuminated manuscripts were the subject of several such rumors'' the warden replied, and carried the tome over to the desk. "What is that thing, professor?" Lusi asked, pointing to a certain page with the depiction of a medieval knight. "That, my child is a horse. People used to ride these big four-legged animals. They were used for riding, and to pull vehicles, and to go into battle on. That bond died shortly before what we call the modern age" he answered. "They look really cool, I wish we had one here" the girl remarked. The professor smiled and stepped to the side of the desk to make space for the pupil, "Lusi, I want you to place your hand upon the book. Concentrate. Feel the image beneath your palm. Then bring it out". Lusi did as he asked. "How am I going to do this?" she thought at first. Gradually she could feel, in exact detail, the different textures – metal, and parchment. The page began to glow. Like a caster, she directed her other hand to the mirror on the wall. It came off and folded, becoming a horse with a mirror hide. Ramshackle looked at his pupil's work. It shattered a moment later into a hundred pieces, but that was enough for him to apprehend her skill. "Mrs. Watercolors, from this day forward you will be my pupil, and I will teach you the fundamentals' '. "Grand!," Lusi thought, "now I'm the teacher's pet". A year later Lusi graduated from the Asymmetrical Institute, and was given her liberty. Her uncle, Nathanial Watercolors, brought her back to New York. As she stepped out of the parahalf car onto the grassy yard of her new dwelling, Lusi thought to herself, "My heart is clear now". For the next three years she attended Proper Emphasis Academy, then graduated and in the two years afterward worked for Stratagem And Porous Opal Industries inventing new spells. Five years after stepping out of the car, Watercolors died in an unfortunate traffic accident. As per her request at her funeral, she was burned on a pyre of illuminated manuscripts. The flame danced and was polychromatic. The smoke meandered ceremoniously to the sky. At her arrival at the crest of the anechoic plateau, she realized, from a funny warmth between her palms, the presence of a lightbulb. Its light was softer than a normal lamp. It was enough to draw the attention of some familiar company. Standing below a willow in a courtyard was Petty Officer Parfait Plurality and Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel. They noticed it right away. Reclusive revived again, and strode over to meet her friends, across a floor of the wind-swept grass on that fine day.