He took the rose from me and turned it over in his hand. “A rose has no choice but to be beautiful, but a human has been given the ability to choose whether to be ugly or beautiful. Their actions make them so. I’m not talking about physical appearance. I’m speaking about the kind of beauty that brings joy or the ugliness that wishes to harm.
“Everything has its opposite: love to hate, joy to sorrow, happy to sad. Each of these emotions will change a human, sometimes temporarily, but other times the change is permanent. However, you are different. These emotions not only change the inside of you, but give you the ability to use your powers. The more powerful the emotion, the more powerful the magic.
“Your whole life you’ve been taught that magic could only be used through negative emotions. You were told this because your parents knew the only way to obtain their selfish pursuit of power was to have you feel hate. You would not desire power if you felt love. The desire for power cannot exist in the light of purity and truth. It belongs with its dark brothers: envy, anger, jealousy. Your parents understood this very well and were very careful to ensure that light stayed out of your life. But I want to stress to you that the positive emotions of love, peace, compassion, and joy are just as powerful as their counterparts and when these emotions are turned outward, you’ll be able to use magic in ways you never thought possible.
“To truly change, a person must first start with their inner self. They must learn to forgive themselves of their own inadequacies and realize their own nothingness before they can ever truly become great.”
“I have to realize that I am nothing in order to help others?” I asked.
He smiled kindly. “Of course not. What I mean by one’s nothingness is when a person recognizes their many faults and their inability to rid themselves of those faults, then they become humble. They strip themselves of all pride. When this happens, a person stops thinking about themselves all together and their thoughts and concerns turn to others. In this manner, they lose themselves. This is when true power comes. But this is a long way off. We must first teach you to seek out beauty and experience joy so that you can use your powers properly.”
“Is it addictive?”
He chuckled. “It’s unquenchable. Love continually grows. It starts first with self, but then includes family, friends, neighbors, until nothing is wanted more than to save the entire world. So yes, it can be addictive, but in a remarkable way.”
“Will you teach me?”
He shook his head. “I wish I was great enough to teach you how to love, but I am highly inadequate. Only pure innocence can teach you what you need to know.” He removed a sheet of paper from the gray folder and handed it to me. “I’ve arranged for you to work at a nearby school called “The Academy” starting tomorrow. The students there will teach you more about happiness and unconditional love than I ever can.”
Written on the paper were an address and a description of the school. “Are you sure about this? I’ve never been around children before.”
He leaned back in his seat. “They will love you. These children don’t know how to do anything else. You’ll see.”
Chapter 32
I found Charlie just before lunch. He was in the exact position I’d left him in earlier that morning, but this time papers were scattered all over his desk. He didn’t seem to be focused on any one particular.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” he answered, his eyes downcast. “How did it go with Dr. Skinner?”
“It went well. I’m working at the Academy tomorrow morning with some special children that are going to help me.” I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. “Look, I know you barely know me, but I feel like I know you really well. Something bad happened that’s changed you, and I’d like to help. It’s the least I could do.”
He raised his eyes, meeting my gaze. “I will be the only one to take care of this problem.”
“And what is the problem exactly?”
“A man. I’ve been searching for him for several four years.”
“Can’t you use your ability to find him?”
His eyes narrowed, and his voice chilled. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? It’s all I do every day, every night. I think of him, picture him in my mind, feel my hatred for him, and yet, he still escaped me, but two days ago he was spotted. In this city.”
I lowered into a chair, my legs weak by his confession. This was not the Charlie I remembered. “Who is he?”
“Someone who should’ve died a long time ago. He took something very precious from me, and I won’t rest until he ceases to exist.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. You’re not ready.”
“But I am—”
The door flew open. A young man was panting heavily like he’d just run up several flights of stairs. “They’ve got a hit, Charlie. They’re leaving now.”
Charlie stood up, knocking his chair backwards. “Without telling me?”
“I told them to wait for you, but they wouldn’t.” The young man saw me for the first time and frowned. “Who’s this?”