The Orchard of Hope (16 page)

“Can that be done?”

“Of course,” Moss replied.
“Anything can be done. As usual, it’s more a matter of whether it
should be done. We’ll begin by playing hide and seek.”

“The game?”

“Yes. Do you know another Hide and
Seek that might be more interesting?”

“No,” Nicholas said after a moment
of thought.

“Well, then we’ll begin by having
Newton hide somewhere.” Moss turned to the gargoyle. “Find a good
place, not too far off the ground — and stay off the roof. I know
how you love it up there.”

“I can’t help it if I like
heights,” Newton said defensively as he left the room, his squat
figure waddling as he walked, dragging his wings limply on the
ground behind him.

“You have until we count to 20,”
Moss called after him and then turned to Nicholas. “When we reach
20, you may begin scrying to explore the castle and find him. I
recommend that you start with the pantry. He usually goes for a
snack every time I leave him on his own for a few
minutes.”

Nicholas retrieved the stone basin
and filled it with water. He sat down at the old wooden table and
proceeded to count. Then he began scrying, starting with exploring
the pantry, as Moss had suggested.

Sure enough, Newton was there,
stuffing himself with cookies. Crumbs were falling everywhere
around him like dust from a saw. Nicholas watched Newton throw
aside an empty box and then climb the ladder to the top shelf,
where the cookies were hidden. The gargoyle let go of the ladder
and hovered in the air by flapping his wings as he used both of his
front paws to grab two boxes of cookies.

“He’s there,” Nicholas reported to
Moss, “He’s in the pantry.”

“I knew it.”

“So what do I do now?” The game
appeared a little too easy if Moss was going to tell him where to
look.

“You talk to him and tell him that
you found him.”

“Talk to him?”

“Whisper on the surface of the
water, but you have to think about being in the pantry with Newton.
Think about giving him the message. You need to be present there in
the pantry in order for him to hear you.”

Nicholas gave it a try, but his
voice was small and garbled. All it did was make Newton jump and
look over his shoulder before continuing to devour another entire
package of cookies. Nicholas tried again. This time, his voice was
louder, but still unrecognizable.

“It’s all in the focus,” Moss said
with encouragement. “You’re getting into the pantry and impressing
yourself there, but he won’t be able to hear you until you focus
and become present with him.”

Nicholas tried a few more times and
finally managed to tell Newton that he’d been found. Moss leaned
over the scrying bowl, and Nicholas could smell his earthy scent as
Moss shouted at Newton.

“Now get out of the pantry and
stop eating cookies before you get fat!” Moss said
sharply.

“Gargoyles don’t get fat,” Newton
replied over his shoulder.

“There are fat gargoyles,” Moss
said.

“They were made fat. We keep the
form we were given when we’re sculpted. It’s one of the advantages
of being stone.”

“Nevertheless, it’s bad form to be
stealing cookies and stuffing yourself with them.”

“Please,” Newton said with
disdain. “If you could eat all you wanted and never get fat, I
think you’d be in the pantry with me.” Moss thought for a
moment.

“That’s not the point. The point
is that you’ve been found, and it’s time to find another place to
hide. You have another 20 seconds.” Moss sat back down across the
table and started to count. After he was done, he turned to
Nicholas. “Try the pantry again.”

“What?” Nicholas asked.

“He thinks we’ll assume that he’s
gone to another hiding place and won’t look there
again.”

Nicholas did as he was told and,
sure enough, found Newton still in the pantry, eating cookies. He
focused on being present with Newton by imagining the taste of the
cookies as he heard Newton chomping down on them.

“I found you,” Nicholas said. His
voice was almost clear. “And Moss says to get out of the pantry and
stop eating all the cookies.”

“I didn’t hear that last part,”
Newton replied as he stuffed a few more cookies into his
mouth.

“You heard it, all right!” Moss
said loudly into the scrying bowl after he had rushed around the
table again. “I mean it, Newton! This is a training exercise, and I
want you to find another hiding place.”

Newton rolled his eyes and, after
grabbing a few more cookies for his journey to a new hiding place,
he left the pantry. Nicholas stopped scrying as soon as he saw the
pantry door close. He looked up at Moss.

“If you knew where he was going,
why didn’t you tell him not to go there?” Nicholas asked Moss once
he had settled down again.

“I like to let him think he’s
getting away with something,” Moss explained. “It keeps him from
causing any real trouble. Without enough evil to fight, gargoyles
can become restless and start chewing on the furniture or digging
up the garden. A little mischief can ward off a ton of
destruction.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, it makes the first
lesson a little easier on you if you know where to look. Now that
you’ve mastered your first communication, you’re ready for more
challenging things.”

“Will we be doing this all day?”
Nicholas asked. It was fun, but the scrying would eventually tire
him out.

“Just long enough for you to need
some healing from the fatigue. Then Megan will teach you to heal
yourself.”

“Great,” Nicholas said with less
enthusiasm than he felt. He knew it was going to be a long and
exhausting day, and he was right.

The first few hours of hide and
seek were somewhat fun, but after the seventh or eighth game, it
had become tiresome. The only thing that kept it amusing was
discovering how many hiding places Newton had for food. He kept
snacks all over the castle, and Nicholas discovered a number of
secret compartments and passages. Newton didn’t hide himself in
these places, but whenever Nicholas found him, the gargoyle had the
door to the compartment open, and he was feasting on whatever
treats he’d previously hidden. Beef jerky appeared to be a favorite
of Newton’s, perhaps because it stored well for long periods of
time.

It was later in the afternoon when
they had finished the training. Moss was satisfied with the
progress Nicholas was making, but Nicholas ached all over his body.
A massage, a nap or a good soak in the bathtub all sounded like
great ways to spend the time before dinner.

Megan arrived, however, and had
other plans.

“Sore, are you?” she asked
cheerfully as she slapped Nicholas on the back. Nicholas winced as
soon as the leopard’s strong paw touched him.

“Very,” he admitted. “Is there any
chance you could heal me this time, and I could have this lesson a
different time when I’m not feeling so tired?”

“No way!” Megan exclaimed as she
sat down with a loud thump. Nicholas felt the stone floor of the
castle shake for a moment.

“Could we do this after dinner,
then, when I’ve had a bit of a rest and something to eat to boost
my strength?”

Megan laughed.

“You kill me,” she said without
disguising the amusement in her voice. “That would defeat the
point!”

“What point?”

“The point of being able to heal
yourself,” she said. Nicholas stared back in confusion. “If you’re
in a situation where you need to heal yourself, it’s probably
because there’s no one else to do it for you. Follow me here: If
there’s no one else around when you get hurt, it’s very likely that
you’ll be tired and exhausted from whatever injured you in the
first place.”

Nicholas shook his head
wearily.

“Look at this as being a
worst-case-scenario training,” she said.

“I will look upon this as the
worst case for the present,” Nicholas replied.

“No matter. Let’s get to work.”
Megan slipped her paw into a mitten with a piece of chalk strapped
to the palm. Then she proceeded to draw charts and graphs while
elaborating on the origins of some of the words as she explained
the theory behind being able to heal oneself. She filled two walls
with chalk markings and mathematical equations.

“Are you
following this?” she asked when she had completed scribbling on the
second wall. Nicholas stared at all the numbers and figures as he
rubbed his shoulder and neck, which were sore from leaning over the
scrying bowl. “Obviously not,” Megan said to herself as she studied
Nichola
s'
confused expression. “Because if you were, you wouldn’t be
massaging until step five over here.” She used a long wooden stick
to point to a small patch of writing near the top of the second
wall.

“I don’t think I’m the studying
type,” Nicholas said wearily. He wished his friend Jovan were with
him to explain things in plain English.

“OK. Not all of us are good with
the underlying proofs and schematics of healing, but you don’t
really have to be in order to do it. So let’s try a few things,
shall we?”

“Yes,” Nicholas eagerly agreed. He
wanted to get through the lesson and to the part where he was
feeling better.

“The first thing you want to do is
push aside your own needs.”

“What?”

“If you’re in a greedy state,
you’re not in the proper mindset for healing.”

“It’s a bit difficult not to think
about myself when I’m tired and sore,” Nicholas
complained.

“And yet, it’s required. Healing
is not a self-focused act, even when you’re healing
yourself.”

“For the love of …”

“Of course, if you had been
following my notes on the wall, you’d know that.”

Nicholas sighed. This was going to
be a very long day.

“So what do I focus on?” he
asked.

“Anything but you.”

Nicholas decided to give it a try.
First he thought about Newton and how much the gargoyle had eaten
during the day. He remembered how Newton had gone through boxes of
cookies like a buzz saw through timber, and this made him laugh.
However, as soon as he laughed, he felt the pain in his neck and
shoulders, and he grimaced.

Nicholas took a deep breath,
stretched out on the floor, and tried to clear his mind. Just as he
did when he healed his burn from the fire lizard, he thought about
his friends. He concentrated on Kelsey, Maggie and Roland. He
wondered where they were and what they were doing. Then he wondered
if he was getting good enough at scrying to see or talk with them.
It would depend upon how far away they were, but he missed them and
the thought of talking with them was appealing.

“Very good,” Megan said softly.
“Now visualize yourself as strong and energetic. Think about
yourself being as strong and healthy as the king.”

The king was a very healthy
individual who never appeared weak or sick. Nicholas thought about
the king’s strength and especially his regal bearing. Even if he
was sick, no one would know because he carried himself with
confidence at all times. As soon as Nicholas thought about the
possibility that the king could potentially become ill without
anyone knowing, he felt the pain in his body returning. He hadn’t
noticed that it was leaving his body, but as it returned, he felt
it more than ever. His arms and legs felt heavy also. He became
more exhausted than when he had completed his training with
Moss.

“You’re thinking about yourself
again,” Megan gently scolded. “Think about something else to
refocus your mind. Then concentrate on something strong. It doesn’t
have to be the king. It can be anything that gives you
strength.”

In his mind, Nicholas visualized
his friends again, and then his mind wandered to Jovan. He thought
about his friend and how clever he was, and how much Nicholas
admired him for his ability to learn. Nicholas thought about the
strength of Jovan’s character and all the good things they had
experienced together. They had gone through some difficult times,
too, but Nicholas thought about how they had supported each other
and come through the hard times successfully.

Before he knew it, an hour had gone
by, and Megan roused him.

“That’s enough for one day. How do
you feel?”

Nicholas sat up and rubbed his
neck. He felt less tired and sore, but the pain and fatigue were
still there.

“The pain isn’t gone,” he
said.

“Of course it’s not gone. You
didn’t think you could do it all in one lesson, did
you?”

“Well,” Nicholas hesitated to
continue because that’s exactly what he did think.

“But you do feel a little better,
right?” Megan asked. Once Nicholas nodded, the leopard took a step
forward and licked Nicholas across the top of his head. As Megan’s
saliva oozed over his hair and trickled down the sides of his
cheeks he felt a tingling sensation come over him in a wave. It was
as if someone had breathed a cold breath into him and invigorated
his lungs and body. His body stopped hurting, and he felt more
energetic than when he had first woken up in the
morning.