Chapter 51: The Awakening

It had finally just begun to heal from the rift that almost tore Eldridge Falls asunder when something quite unexpected happened. It started in the most ordinary of places-a small, quiet home on the outskirts of town in which a young boy named Thomas lived with his parents. Thomas was like any other child of his age: bubbling, curious, and eight years old. That morning, though, a mighty and uncontrollable thing stirred in his body. Outside, the dark was as deep as a starry night. Thomas lay wide awake in bed with this feeling in his chest. At first, he had thought it was excitement because of the new day, but as the minutes ticked by, the stirrings grew stronger. Everything around him began to blur and change. The small night light on his bedside table fuzzed and then exploded in a resplendent flash of light. Curtains on his window blew open, as if the wind was inside, while outside there was not even a whisper of air. Toys that had lain on his floor now began to float, rising steadily through the air, as some unseen hand guided them. Thomas sat up in bed. His heart was racing, but he wasn't scared. There was something, deep down inside, which felt all right, as though he had waited all his life. "Mom?" he whispered low, his voice a shade shaky. His mother, Sara, came in white as a ghost. She had seen the light from the hall and gone directly to the worst. But what met her eyes froze her in her step. The toys, the curtains, the nightlight all swam around Thomas, who sat there with wide eyes staring at his hands as if they belonged to somebody else. "Thomas?" Sara whispered, shaking. "What… what's going on?" "I don't know," Thomas replied in a voice not much louder than a whisper. "It's just. it just started." Sara's heart was racing at an incredible pace within her chest; she knew some stories from the weird history of this town about how some people got certain powers after that battle, but she could never have imagined her son to number among those. "Stay here," she said suddenly, turning, and out of the room she ran. She had to find her husband David and decide what to do. She knew as she ran down the hall this was just not something they could deal with on their own. They needed help and fast. The house was quiet again when Sara came back with David. Lights were off or at least dimmed and weightless things had meekly floated down to rest once more. Thomas sat on the edge of his bed staring at his hands, his small face sallow with puzzlement. David sat beside him, his eyes with sympathy. "Hey, buddy. You okay? Thomas nodded slowly. "I didn't mean to do it. It just… happened." Sara threw a concerned glance towards David. Well out of their league, they needed someone who knew about the powers surfacing in town after the battles. And there's just one person they could go see for that. "We are going to go see Emma," Sara announced factually. "She will know what to do." An hour later, Sara and David were standing at Emma's door, Thomas clutching his mother's hand tightly. Emma opened the door and her eyes widened in surprise, dropping to the family standing before them, their faces etched with fear and confusion. "Come in," she said softly, sidestepping to usher them inside. "What's going on?" Sara took a deep, fortifying breath before attempting to find her words. "It's Thomas," she said. "Something's… something's happening to him. He has powers." Emma's heart did a little skip. She'd heard some of the younger generation were coming into abilities, but they were always minor things near what Sara was describing. What kind of powers?" Emma asked, her tone neutral though her mind was racing. Thomas looked up at her, his eyes shadowed with uncertainty. "I made things float," he said quietly. "And the lights-they got bright. I didn't mean to. It just happened." Emma knelt in front of him, softening. "It's all right, Thomas," she said reassuringly. "Sometimes these things happen when we least expect it to. She turned to Sara and David. "When did this start? "This morning," Sara stammered. "We don't know what to do. We're scared, Emma. We don't want him to get injured or hurt somebody else." Emma nodded, while her brain was racing at the speed of light. "I think it's about time we spoke with Nathaniel," she said. "We have to find out what's going on and why. But as the afternoon wore on, word spread like wildfire through town about what Thomas could do. Whispers in the street brought some full of wonder, others only fear. Small clumps formed as people spoke amongst themselves, speculating what this might mean for the future of Eldridge Falls. Finally, the town had begun to heal, and now there was a new uncertainty looming over them. By the time Emma and Nathaniel arrived with Thomas and his parents at the town hall, there was already a crowd outside. They turned to them with faces wide with curiosity and fear. First to force his way out of that sea of faces was their young leader, one named Lucas, a serious man when it came to the supernatural part of their town's history. A mixture of excitement and concern etched onto his face. "This changes everything," Lucas said in a low tone, "If Thomas has such powers, then who is to say others won't develop them too?" Mira stood beside him, not so convinced. "But what if it is bad? We do not know what we are dealing with here; we can't just assume it is a good thing.". Mms of agreement hummed through the crowd, each word volumes to their building and growing fear. She could feel the air thicken with unease. Emma knew they had to get going if they were to keep this situation under control. "Listen to me," Emma pressed on. "We don't know exactly what's happening, but one thing we do-Thomas didn't ask for this. He's just a boy and he's scared." Nathaniel nodded beside her. "We need to figure out what's causing this, and how to help him. Panic isn't going to solve a thing. It spread, almost as if this were being told, like a virus. People began to feel the things Thomas was capable of were but the tip of an iceberg-something more, something darker. A new threat spoke in whispers, and soon enough, it was this unseen terror that took to the fore. It was later the night had worn on to that still, awkward silence of early morning hours Emma sat by her house window staring out at quiet streets. She just couldn't get it out of her head that more was going on here than Thomas' powers. Nathaniel burst into the room in desperation. "I was thinking," he said to her, sitting beside her, "what if this has something to do with what Gideon said? Some sort of entity that feeds off division and fear?" Emma nodded. "That is a possibility, but how could we stop him? Thomas is still just a child; we cannot have him fight this battle. "We will figure this out," Nathaniel vowed, "but we gotta stay united. In case the town keeps fracturing, we're playing right into the hands of this entity. It had been a long night; Emma and Nathaniel sat into the late hours, making plans, outlining strategies, and simply speculating on what the future held for Eldridge Falls. She knew throughout that time it was little more than a beginning, the town stood upon the cusp of something dark, something dangerous, and one she was not at all certain they were prepared to handle. The quiet Eldridge Falls was broken with a crashing sound at sunrise the following morning. Emma and Nathaniel, in alarm, rushed outside-running hearts racing. A house had fallen outside of a small home which had stood in years. At that place, people were congregated. Pale were their faces, amounting to shock. In all that mess, entanglements of rocks and dirt lay Thomas. He looked around at the devastation, his eyes wide with fear, shaking into his hands. He hadn't meant to; this one fact he was sure of. But then again, somehow-in the night his powers were much stronger now this was a town which was going to face consequences. That was when Emma knew the truth: Thomas wasn't a boy with new abilities was a force-something far stronger than they'd ever seen. And if they can't find some way to rein that in, Eldridge Falls is in grave danger-more so than they can imagine.