Chapter 4.4 The Test

Later that evening, Rowan sat on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She wondered what would happen to a regulator without a faction. Maybe I could become a chef like dad. A pastry chef would be even better. Yeah, I could be happy making desserts for the rest of my life.

Louise, her rotund Calico, jumped up onto her bed. She could always sense when Rowan was feeling lost or alone. Louise loved when Rowan was sick, she would lay curled up in bed next to her all day long. She would purr extra loud and deep, making the mattress rumble, attempting to make Rowan feel better the best way she knew how. Rowan appreciated Louise's comforting presence. 

“I guess it can’t be all bad,” she told Louise as she cocked her head to the side, either trying to understand Rowan or to show sympathy.

“You still love me, right, Lou?” she asked. She flopped next to Rowan and rested her head on her stomach and began to purr instantly. She stroked her warm belly fur. Rowan couldn’t help but relax when Louise let her pet her like this. It didn’t happen often. Her soft white fur was like chemical free Klonopin. No matter how bad things got, she could count on serenity right here, with her chunky, fuzzy baby. Just as she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment, her eyes heavy from too many tears that day, she felt a sting in her left hand. Her head shot up, thinking she would see something. The sting grew into a tearing pain, then it was like molten metal was melting into her palm. She shook her hand instinctively like a wet dog. Something landed on the floor next to her bed with a loud THUNK.

Whatever it was, it was heavy. Rowan sat straight up in bed. Louise was annoyed that her head rest had abandoned her so suddenly. Rowan kneeled on her bed and then slowly leaned over the edge to see what it was. She had no idea what to expect, her imagination took the reigns quickly. Maybe a fire ant, maybe a scorpion. A scorpion! Do we even have those in Bridgewey? She knew the answer and felt stupid for thinking it, but she couldn’t imagine anything else. Leaning over the edge, she saw a faint light pulsing from under the dust ruffle. What could this be?

Rowan grabbed the top of the dust ruffle, avoiding the scalloped edges just in case there was a violent insect waiting to pierce her skin once more. The glow grew brighter, the cadence of the pulse quickened. She leaned further trying to get a better look. It was her regulator pin. What. Is. Happening. She climbed down from her bed carefully and crouched down to get a better look. The black enamel was on fire, burning and curling like paper, moving from the center to the outer edges of the oval. Suddenly a quick POP and like a tiny welder was engraving her pin, it traced began tracing an image. An point that became a triangle at the top then a perpendicular triangle below it. Then she saw it, the base of the sigil was forming. It was a lighthouse. This meant that Rowan was a hSage.

“What?!” she yelled out loud at the pin. “A Sage? I’ve never heard the guides, never given a sight reading. I guess I didn’t really pay attention during those lessons. Because there’s NO WAY I’m a SAGE!” She grabbed the pin, shaking it in her hand like an Etch-a-Sketch. She hoped that when she looked back at it, the sigil would’ve changed. The Eye of the Wren for the Watchers, the Palomar Knot for the Tethers, she would even be happy to see the Quill and Inkwell for the Revisionists. But no, it had not changed. The lighthouse remained. She at least knew one person who’d be excited about this.

Diane was walking through side door of the house as Rowan came bounding down the stairs, hoping it would force some excitement. Sages were human lie detectors, but Rowan had been able to get one, or many, over Diane’s head in her days. She was actually quite proud of that.

“Mom, my pin just developed. A Sage,” Rowan said more as a question than a statement. “I’m so excited for you, yay!” Diane said dropping her keys and bag onto the kitchen counter. She showed the pin to her, but before laying it on the counter, Diane’s eye caught something. There was an oval-shaped burn on Rowan’s left palm.

“What’s this Rowan?” she asked with concern.

“I don’t know how it works, no one has ever told me about the burn,” Rowan went on to explain, “my pin was burning in my hand and then the lighthouse started to appear.”

“Oh, that’s interesting, maybe we should look into that. But how exciting after all that stress!”

She was sincere, but not excited. She was relieved, Rowan knew, but there was something else she couldn’t detect yet. A certain tone in Diane’s voice that Rowan couldn’t place. She clapped her hands in applause and smiled at Rowan. There was a smile on her face, but a hint of sadness behind her eyes.

“Yeah, I saw you… “Rowan started before being interrupted by Diane.

“I’ve had suuuch a long day. My seminar ran long and then I got stuck in traffic on my way home,” Diane was lying. “I need to eat something and go to bed.” She stretched her arms over her head.

Stroking Rowan’s hair as she passed on her way to the refrigerator, Diane sighed “I’m so happy for you, my beautiful daughter.” She opened the refrigerator door, looked up and down, finally grabbing a yogurt and a spoon.

“Thanks mom,” Rowan said while looking down at her feet. She sensed that Diane didn’t want to talk much more about it tonight, and she really didn’t want to, either.

“I’m going to bed mom,” Rowan said as she went to give Diane a hug. “I love you.” Diane was slouched on the couch in her trousers and blazer, she’d kicked off her heels which were lying on the floor in front of her. She’d never seen her mother sit at such an odd angle, and certainly not in a tailored white t. She bent down to give Diane a tight squeeze.

“I know you had a hard day, Rowan,” Diane was looking up into Rowan’s eyes. The hint of sadness replaced with something new. Not pity, not disappointment. It was worry. She was worried. She was smiling, but her eyes told Rowan otherwise.

“But you are my daughter, and you are strong. You are remarkable. I need you to know that,” Diane said, the suggestion of a tear was welling in her tear duct.

The corners of Rowans mouth twisted up into a grin that she couldn’t control. She fell into Diane’s lap, hugging her tightly. Diane couldn’t see that Rowan was crying, but she could feel her breathing become irregular and her chest pump in and out as she took in and dispelled her breath. Her heart broke for her daughter. She knew Rowan would need to be strong for what was coming. While Diane thought about this, Rowan was wondering why she hadn’t mentioned that she was at the school or her trip to the Commission’s archive.

It was late, the sky had grown dark. As Rowan and Diane wrapped up their day, brushing teeth, washing faces, a shadow stretched across the driveway of the Amato house. It watched as their silhouettes passed by the windows. The streetlight overhead blinked twice and went out. The lights down the street followed suit. Blink, blink, and the street sunk into darkness. As the lights went out inside, two sharp, white points stayed fixated on the house. Then – blink blink - they were gone.